Mikomi took a few steps beyond the school gates and began to walk up the path to the main building. To the right of him was the school’s football field where you could see the Muskrats, the school’s football team, engaging in morning practice. Adjacent to that was the school’s Track and Field area. To the left was the faculty parking lot and beyond that was the main building which stood three stories tall. Mikomi still couldn’t believe he had to go through all of this again but he couldn’t just skip out on it. It could cause a major ripple through time if he did so. For now, he would have to endure it.

As Mikomi walked towards the building, he heard a voice call out his name from behind.

“MI-KO-MI!”

Mikomi looked up when he heard that voice. While the person wasn’t in front of him, his face lit up as he instantly recognized the sound of it. The voice belonged to someone who he hadn’t seen in years… his old friend Ryan. Ryan was always chipper and sporting a smile. He was just one of those happy-go-lucky kids, sometimes too happy to the point where it made you feel a bit sick to your stomach. Mikomi and Ryan would typically hang out with each other after school as the two had been friends for years, however, in the original timeline Ryan had grown distant as the years passed by, and while Mikomi remembered that happening, he couldn’t remember the reason why. All of this was pretty overwhelming so Mikomi figured that he could take some time later to try and recall what happened.

Suddenly, Mikomi’s face transitioned from elation to a sense of impending dread as he remembered something else. Whenever he heard Ryan call out his name, he knew it was just the prelude to something else. That’s when Mikomi braced himself for impact.

*WHOMP*

Ryan launched himself at Mikomi and jumped on his back. He then wrapped his arm around him, putting him into a semi-headlock. This was Ryan’s typical greeting. He had done it nearly every time they met up to where Mikomi knew what to expect the split second his name was called out. While Mikomi was, technically, twenty-four now, it was a bit annoying to be greeted in such a way but there was just something calmly nostalgic about it at the same time.

“Took you long enough to get here! I’ve been waiting here for you for at least five minutes!”

Mikomi laughed a bit to himself as he remembered that Ryan had a pretty shallow sense of humor. He rolled with it anyway.

“Yeah, sorry, I…”

As Mikomi was saying that, another scene from his past flashed in front of his eyes. He remembered exactly what he said to Ryan at this very moment in time. The conversation played out in Mikomi’s head.

“I’ve been waiting here for you for at least five minutes!” said Ryan.

“Only five minutes? Your legs must be killing you from all that standing!”

“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not again. You’re always like that, Mikomi, but I don’t mind it! Say, want to go to the mall after school? Game Lot is getting a new shipment in. I want to see if they have a game I’ve been looking for!”

At that moment, the flashback ended and Mikomi was just standing there staring off into space. Ryan waved his hand in front of Mikomi’s face to which Mikomi gave no response. It wasn’t until Ryan spoke up that he snapped back to reality.

“Mikomi? Are you okay?”.

Mikomi shook his head and laughed a little bit. Ryan raised an eyebrow as Mikomi offered an apology to him.

“Yeah… sorry, I just kind of blanked on what I was going to say. Sorry for making you wait so long. I bet your legs are killing you from all that standing!”

Mikomi realized just how lame that comeback was and rolled his eyes. He almost felt embarrassed that a twenty-four-year-old would say something like that but he also had to keep in mind that he was supposed to be fourteen. With that, he felt he could let that one slide and just gave a faint laugh at how terrible that comeback was.

“Wow.. you usually never laugh after a comeback. Usually, I can’t tell if you’re serious or not. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Mikomi didn’t know if his noticing the change would affect anything but he remembered that Sebastian said that as long as it’s insignificant, then there shouldn’t be any problems.

“Sorry, I guess I’ll try to be a bit more condescending next time,” said Mikomi as plain as he could say it.

“Now I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not again. I guess you’re okay, after all,” said Ryan. “Say! Want to go to the mall after school? Game Lot is getting a new shipment in and I want to see if they have a game I’ve been looking for!”

Mikomi breathed a sigh of relief as Ryan asked the same question which meant that the future didn’t change. Mikomi easily remembered going to Game Lot with Ryan because it was the day he finally found the game he was looking for. He remembered the excitement on Ryan’s face when he finally found it, only to realize he didn’t have enough money. Mikomi ended up lending Ryan the rest so he could get the game. Mikomi smiled to himself as those memories made him feel good about himself.

“Sure, I’ll tag along.”

“GREAT!”

With that, the bell sounded and it was time to head to homeroom. Ryan began to walk away but looked back as he walked up the steps.

“Well, I’ll see you after school. Wait for me here if you’re out first and I’ll do the same!”

Mikomi gave Ryan a nod. Despite being friends, he remembered that neither of them shared a class throughout the day. They each had separate lunch periods too so they never ran into each other unless it was before or after school. As Mikomi went to take a step toward the doors, it suddenly hit him.

“Oh crap! What was my homeroom!?” said Mikomi to himself.

He stood there pounding his fist against his head while muttering the word “think” to himself over and over again but it just wasn’t coming to him. Luckily, one of his teachers saw him standing there.

“Mr. Saigo... you’d better hurry along or Mr. Vanders is going to mark you tardy.”

Mikomi looked up at Mr. Kendrick, his Plane Geometry teacher. It was just dumb luck that he had been passing by but at least he now remembered where his homeroom was. It was as if everything had become clear.

“I will! Thank you, Mr. Kendrick.”

Thanks to a little bit of dumb luck, Mikomi found himself in homeroom. His seat was on the far left row by the window, the second seat from the back. He sat there and looked out the window as thoughts raced through his mind.

“I still can’t believe all of this is real. Time travel? The fact that I’m kind of believing that is a bit worrisome. If I did leap back in time, why me, though? There is just way too much about this that doesn’t add up. Sebastian said it was because of my regrets but my regrets are not strong enough to be chosen. I mean, sure, I did break my promise to Alice and caused her great pain, but even though she’s my co-worker and a friend to the family, those regrets shouldn’t be deep enough for this so-called special judgment.”

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“Still, on the flip side, if it was enough… if I’ve truly been given this second chance, then I have to make the most of it. One thing is for sure… this is not a dream. I have never dreamt this long about anything before in my life. Even basic science tells you that dreams are simply short periods so if this were a dream, it should have ended by now. That means that this is about as real as it gets.”

As Mikomi was staring off, lost in thought, he was brought back to reality with the sound of the first period’s bell. The homeroom teacher left the classroom as did the rest of the students. Mikomi saw a card in his backpack and noticed it was his school schedule.

“Wait… I had a schedule this whole time!? Oh, of course, I would. It’s September which means that the school year just started. I guess anyone who just went through what I did would overlook an obvious detail like that. It doesn’t mean that I don’t feel really stupid right now, though.”

After internally sighing at his overlooking of the obvious, he saw that he had Plane Geometry up first and noticed the letters “AP” next to it. In fact, all of his classes were marked as Advanced Placement. Mikomi noticed the room number and made his way there. The memories came back to him and he remembered exactly where he sat this time. He took his seat as Mr. Kendrick entered and wasted no time getting into the day’s lesson.

“Okay everyone, take out your textbooks, and let’s go over the Pythagorean Theorem once again as it will be on your exams tomorrow.”

Mikomi cracked a grin and his inner thoughts took over once more.

“A squared plus B squared equals C squared. That’s child’s play. I guess while I’m a twenty-four-year-old trapped inside of a fourteen-year-old’s body, I might as well make the most of this.”

All of a sudden, a quick flashback of Sebastian saying the same thing before he disappeared flashed in Mikomi’s mind.

“So, that’s what he meant…”

With a devilish grin on his face, Mikomi took out his textbook, flipped open his notebook, and gripped his pencil with determination. A look of burning determination filled his eyes as he was genuinely excited to see just how minimal effort he would have to use to ace this class.

“Let’s do this!”

Class after class, Mikomi showed the same look of determination. This was becoming quite the game to him and, perhaps, a means to inflate his ego just a bit. The final bell rang for the day as Mikomi shut his textbook with an evil grin on his face as if he had just gotten away with murder. Mikomi triumphantly walked out of the front doors of the school, grinning the entire way. The grin faded as Mikomi remembered that he was supposed to go to Game Lot with Ryan now that school was done for the day. He looked around and noticed that Ryan wasn’t there yet so he decided to wait for him as promised. It was a few moments later that Ryan darted out of the front doors of the school.

“MI-KO-MI!” shouted Ryan as he ran down the steps.

A sinking feeling came over him and just like earlier in the day, Ryan jumped on Mikomi and wrapped his arm around him, placing him into a makeshift headlock. Ryan had a bright smile on his face like always while Mikomi gazed up at him with one eye as he looked a bit annoyed by all of this.

“I wonder if it would change the future too much if I asked him to cut this out? It was nostalgic the first time but now, it’s just plain embarrassing…”

“Let’s head to the mall!” said Ryan as he gave Mikomi a thumbs up.

“Okay, okay but let go of me first!”

Ryan did so and Mikomi brushed himself off. Ryan led the way and Mikomi started to follow him. As they walked away, Ryan turned around and noticed something was amiss.

“Say, where’s your backpack?”

“I left it in my locker. I don’t need anything that’s in there.”

“What about your homework?”

“I have a study hall in seventh period so I finished it all in there. It’s rather convenient to have that at the end of the day.”

“Figures someone like you would get study hall as their last period. Bookworm for life, I guess” said Ryan with a half-serious look on his face.

Mikomi was an intelligent student back in the day. He had always found information captivating which is why he was so good at figuring out puzzles. With his father being the CEO of a technology company, it was only natural that a high intelligence was expected of him by his parents. With the events that were going to transpire over the next few years, the higher the education he received now, the more it would become the foundation for his future.

“It’s not all bad, though. If I can get my homework done in the final period, it means I’ll have more time after school to do things… like go to Game Lot with you.”

“Leave it to you to find ways to goof off. I guess I can’t argue with that thinking. Get through the crud first so you can enjoy life later, I suppose. Wish I had a study hall so I could do the same.” said Ryan.

The two of them continued to walk side by side. They eventually arrived at the mall where they made their way inside and headed to Game Lot, a mom-and-pop shop for vintage video games. They also sold new ones as well and Mikomi spied a poster for a new game that came out today… a game that he had played many times over and mastered. Mikomi accidentally let one slip.

“Gun Slaves II.. the key is to get the rocket launcher in time for the tower stage’s boss. It’s tempting to use it beforehand, but if you wait, it makes that boss very trivial.”

Mikomi caught himself and covered his mouth as he realized what he had just said. Ryan turned to Mikomi and raised an eyebrow, thoroughly confused.

“How do you know that? That game just came out today.”

Damn my love for video games! How could I let something like that slip!? I wonder…

“That’s because I’m from the future! I’ve played and beaten this game a million times already. I know everything there is to know about it!”

Mikomi said that with an exaggerated tone in his voice. After all… sometimes the best lie is the truth!

“Of all the corny things you’ve said since I’ve known you, that’s got to be the corniest. You need some better material.”

Coming from someone who had a shallow sense of humor himself, Mikomi stood there a bit shocked that Ryan would say something like that. Maybe he didn’t realize just how shallow his own humor was… or maybe that was Ryan’s humor coming out once again. These two did have a hard time believing each other after all. Ryan walked over to the clerk behind the counter shaking his head.

“Excuse me, Did you happen to get a copy of VX Command today?”

The clerk reached under the counter with a smile and pulled out a copy of it, placing it down on top of the counter.

“I sure did! I know you’ve been waiting for this one so I kept a copy set aside for you.”

Ryan’s eyes lit with excitement as he reached for his wallet. Mikomi looked over at Ryan knowing just what was about to happen. He watched with interest to see if the same event from his past would play out.

“How much!?” Ryan asked with excitement.

“It’s a rare one so it’s sixty-five dollars.”

Ryan’s face sank as he opened his wallet and looked inside. A frown came over his face and you could just hear the defeated tone in his voice.

“All I have is forty-five...”

Mikomi grinned as the same situation he remembered happened. He knew that all he had to do was pull out his wallet, and loan Ryan a $20 bill, and everything would continue as normal. Feeling like the hero sweeping in to rescue the innocent bystander in need of assistance, Mikomi reached for his wallet and spoke up with a reassuring tone.

“Don’t worry, Ryan. I’ll lend you the $20.”

“YOU WILL!!!??”

“Sure, just hold on one sec…”

Mikomi stuck his hand in his pocket and felt nothing but emptiness. He felt around but didn’t find his wallet in his pants pocket. He reached into the opposite pocket and, again, found nothing. He began to pat his pants as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

“Oh no! I must have left my wallet inside my backpack and it’s back at school! How am I supposed to pay for Ryan’s game without it!? This is bad! This is really bad!”

A look of worry and shock washed over Mikomi’s face as he knew that this was more than just a simple letdown. This would be the beginning of a massive ripple that would alter both of their lives forever.