The final year of high school had begun for Mikomi. He attended his AP classes, continued to walk Serah to art class after school, and paid a visit to his father’s company on the weekends. Mikomi had tailored his elective courses towards computer programming to keep up with appearances. Even though he already knew how to program, it was more or less to convince his father that he was working toward his goal of joining Onyx Technology Ventures.

He told Ryunosuke about his plans to attend college but he also wanted to find a community college with a good art program nearby so that Serah could be with him. His father had some connections within the academic world and offered them up to Mikomi. With Mikomi’s grades, he could easily get accepted into a high-level college. When he looked at some of the choices his father gave him, he noticed that there were several community colleges in and around the Modern University of Technology that Serah could attend for her art degree. Everything seemed like a perfect fit.

One day after school, Mikomi continued what had become his tradition of walking Serah to her art class when he decided to bring up the subject of college once again.

“Hey, Serah. We talked over the summer about going to college and I wanted to tell you that my father found a solution for the two of us, although it is a bit of a long shot.”

Serah stopped walking and turned to face him. She gave him her full attention as she was genuinely interested in what Mikomi had to say. After all, this would also determine her college of choice because she was determined to not let Mikomi distance himself from her. The thought of the two of them being apart was something that instilled fear inside of her. If there was a glimmer of hope that the two of them could remain together, she would hold onto it and try her hardest to never let it go.

“My father has some connections in MUT out in Highridge. It’s one of the best technical schools in the county with very high standards. It’ll probably give me the best education that I need to fulfill my goals.”

“Not to mention that it was the school I graduated from in the original timeline but there was no way I was going to tell my father that. All I could do was play dumb in front of him already knowing that he would choose MUT for me. I really hated using my father as a puppet but it was necessary.”

“...Highridge also has a couple of community colleges in the area, each with terrific art programs. Since it’s not that far away, we could move to Highridge and still only be an hour or two away from home. We wouldn’t be far from my family and your house. We could come back on the weekends and everything would work out just fine.”

Serah’s face lit up. That was the best possible answer she could have hoped for. She gave Mikomi a big hug and didn’t want to let go. She looked up at him and kissed him on the lips but then she backed away and looked a bit nervous.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn’t have something on my mind. I’m not ready to talk about it right now. I need a little more time to think so, for now, let’s just say there’s something else I want to talk to you about once I get out of class tonight.”

Mikomi was quite puzzled but he trusted her. He told her it was fine and they continued to walk to her class. He dropped her off and promised to be back by eight o’clock to pick her up. Mikomi went home for the time being but right when he was about to turn down his street, he was assaulted by Ryan with his typical greeting.

“Really, Ryan? You’re seventeen and you’re still jumping all over me? Don’t you think that’s getting a bit old? You know… like you?”

“First off, you said it yourself… I’m seventeen. I’m hardly considered old. Secondly, it’s kinda my thing. Well… our thing. It’s become a tradition, man!”

“OUR thing? Isn’t Serah supposed to be the one to phrase things like that?”

“I’m just saying that there are things people grow out of. Maybe you should consider it.”

Ryan slung his arm around Mikomi and held him close. He began to feel uncomfortable with Ryan being that close to his face. Ryan then put his head on Mikomi’s shoulder, which made the situation that much worse. The look of confusion and annoyance on Mikomi’s face was priceless.

“Aw, but Mikomi, I thought we were close friends. What good is being close friends if I can’t tackle you every morning?”

“The scary thing is Ryan is being serious here!”

Mikomi nudged him away and straightened out his clothes before clearing his throat and walking away.

“All I’m saying Ryan is that the evidence is starting to pile up.”

Ryan tilted his head to the side with a bit of a clueless look on his face.

“What evidence?” he said to himself before realizing Mikomi was leaving him behind.” Hey! Wait up!”

Ryan caught up with him and the two of them walked back to Mikomi’s house. Ryan said his farewell to him and continued back on his way. Mikomi let out a sigh of relief and entered through the front door. Karoline was sitting on the sofa watching television when she greeted him.

“Welcome home. There was a letter for you in the mail from your school’s guidance counselor. Is everything okay, Mikomi?”

Mikomi spotted the letter on the table and retrieved it. He tucked it into his pocket and started to make his way to his room.

“Yeah… it’s probably about the appointment I requested to go over my choice of college.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Mikomi tossed his backpack onto his bed and then returned to the living room where he continued the conversation with his mother.

“I talked to dad some time ago and he said he had some connections with MUT. I put in a request to the school to set up an appointment to discuss the possibility of attending that college. Not only would I get to remain in the state but it also means I can still be with Serah. She has… well… abandonment issues and wanted to go to school close by wherever I decided to go. This would give her a ton of local options if I get accepted. I think it is the best path for us both.”

“Well, it does make me relieved that you would be close to home. MUT is a very prestigious school but with how you’ve been doing, I’m sure that you have a good chance of getting in. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.”

“Thanks, mom.”

“I can’t tell her that I’m pretty much a shoo-in for MUT. I got into college with lesser grades in the original timeline. The fact that I’ve pretty much aced every AP class put in front of me means that I should have next to no trouble getting in. Still, I can’t help but feel like this is cheating. I could use these grades to get into any school I wanted to but I think I’ve changed enough in this world to satisfy me. From here on out, all I have to do is replicate the original timeline. If I do so, then I can achieve one of my goals: to relive the rest of my life with Serah, Ryan, and my dad by my side. The only major goal left is to find out who killed me. This one, I’m afraid, is going to take some time.”

After Mikomi’s conversation, he retreated to his room to finish his homework. In what was becoming a mainstay, his father came home from work and ate dinner with the family. With his workload lightened, he was able to spend more time at home. Things have begun to wind down at the office as they were taking their time developing Daphne.

The A.I. had undergone many changes over the past three and a half years. They still haven’t taken the software to market as there were so many revisions that had to be made. Each time they made a tweak to the code, they realized that something else had to be improved. Ryunosuke wouldn’t settle for anything less than perfection so his team spent the majority of their time discovering ways to improve the logic. When they first started, the logic wasn’t perfect. Even when Mikomi created it in the original timeline, it was far from perfect. He simply pieced the puzzle together but the refining process was still ahead of him. Mikomi died before he could ever get to that stage of development so this was all new territory for him as well.

Mikomi trusted his father’s team because the majority of them were also his team when he took over the company. A few of the programmers left for bigger and better things but the majority of them stayed on to see the project through until the very end. His father’s executive team remained unchanged when Mikomi took over as well so working alongside them brought back some nostalgic memories. In the process, Mikomi also got to see just where his code was flawed and what improvements had to be made. He considered the A.I. as a labor of love for obvious reasons but now that Serah was alive and well, he no longer needed to obsess over it. Now he could simply sit back and let things happen naturally.

Not only that but as the years went on, technology advanced. Computer power grew exponentially and that meant that the company could utilize new hardware for testing. The results kept getting better and better when it came to processing and response time as a result. Sometimes, newer technology also meant a setback because now they realized that they could utilize it in more efficient ways which lead to the rewriting of the code to accommodate the newer hardware. Staying up with the times was an expensive and tiring endeavor, but the payoff was going to be well worth it in the long run.

Mikomi ate dinner with his family and then set out to pick up Serah from her art class. He got there about half an hour early and sat on a bench outside of the studio she was attending. It was still early in the school year so the temperatures were a bit on the mild side at night. Mikomi sat there wearing nothing but a navy blue t-shirt and some grey cargo shorts. He gazed out and lost himself in the sights of the highway in front of him. Serah’s art studio, A-Ry’s Fine Arts & Studio, was off of a busy main road filled with shopping centers, gas stations, fast-food restaurants, and anything else you would expect to find along such a road.

The name of the studio was a bit odd, but it was run by a younger woman named Amber Ryann. She had an infatuation with dragonflies and you could find many art pieces from paintings, sculptures, quilts, and the like all depicting a dragonfly in some form or another. Mikomi figured that if you had a muse about you then there was no harm in incorporating it into your business. Despite the oddness, she was good friends with Serah’s art teacher at school and came highly recommended. Serah’s results over the years only vouched for the authenticity of the recommendation.

Before Mikomi knew it, the doors opened and all of the art students were leaving for the evening. Serah was one of the last ones out and she immediately looked to her left at the bench and saw Mikomi sitting there. He always sat in the same spot. Serah walked over to Mikomi and stood before him. Mikomi got up and gave Serah a hug and a kiss before the two of them walked off.

The two of them left the plaza and then took the sidewalk alongside the highway. As the two of them made their way home, they began to engage in a bit of conversation.

“How was your class tonight?” asked MIkomi.

“It was great. It was a free night. We were told to do whatever we wanted as an exercise of creative freedom. I tried to draw something but I couldn’t concentrate. My mind was wandering a bit too much. I kind of understand what you go through whenever you get lost in thought. You just forget about the world around you and get lost inside your mind. Don’t think I never noticed you ignoring me sometimes whenever I tried to talk to you. I thought you were being inconsiderate at first but I’ve come to realize that you were merely thinking. You’re a pretty deep thinker and I like that about you.”

Serah wrapped her arm around him and as they approached one of the side streets, Serah stopped and tugged on Mikomi’s arm. This caused Mikomi to halt for a moment and look back at her.

“Can we take this way home?”

Mikomi looked down the street. He knew that one all too well. While that street did lead to the road where Mikomi and Serah lived, if you continued straight, you would end up at a place called Szot Park. Mikomi recalled their one-year anniversary from the other timeline where the two of them laid on the grass and gazed up at the stars. It was there that Mikomi pledged to Serah that he would never abandon her and that he wanted to be the one who would end her loneliness. In the end, he realized that he did abandon her and that, coupled with the death of her parents, was what drove her to suicide.

“Mikomi?”

Mikomi had taken way too long to answer. Serah gave him a tug on his shirt and it caused him to snap out of his train of thought.

“Is everything okay?”

Mikomi shook his head and gave Serah an innocent smile.

“Yeah… I was just thinking that Szot Park is in that direction. My mind was wandering with thoughts of what you have up your sleeve.”

“Sometimes I hate that brain of yours. I can’t hide anything from you!” she said with a bit of annoyance in her voice. “You caught me red-handed, I guess. I thought that maybe the two of us could go there and look at the stars. It’s a pretty clear night and I’ve always wanted to do that with you.”

Mikomi began to tense up, but he realized that this was a different Serah. With everything that had happened, there was no way that the same things would play out. Mikomi decided to let his curiosity get the better of him and agreed to go with her to the park.