Alice and Cassandra finished the day’s paperwork. Alice made good on her word and led Mikomi back to her house that night. He did say much of anything to her even though Alice tried her best to ask how things were doing. She was curious about what his college life was like, the friends he had made, the things that he studied but he didn’t really care much about sharing anything with her. She gave Mikomi his space even though she wanted to know some of the more important details… such as why he didn’t have a home, why his mother wouldn’t take him in, and the such. She decided to let it go because they were awfully personal questions and it really wasn’t her business to pry.
The weekend passed and Mikomi reported for work bright and early Monday morning. He arrived before most of the employees showed up and headed straight for his office. There, he was greeted by Cassandra, George, Michael, Jared, and Colin. For Mikomi, it was great seeing so many familiar faces. Alice arrived behind him shortly after and with the entire crew assembled, he walked behind his desk and addressed them.
“Cassandra… you’ve done an amazing job as CEO of Onyx Technology Ventures. I know this job isn’t easy and that my father was a very ambitious man with a work ethic second to none. To keep this place running without missing a beat takes immense talent and dedication. Thank you for all that you’ve done.”
Everyone gave Cassandra a round of applause. She even blushed a little. She glanced over at Michael who was clapping just a little bit louder and more enthusiastically than everyone else. Cassandra shot him a death glare and he dialed back his enthusiasm quite a bit to the point where he was giving her a golf clap.
“From this day forward, I will be the CEO of Onyx Technology Ventures. My goal is to finish what my father started and launch Project: Daphne globally. I am already familiar with how the A.I. works as well as the programming behind it. I’m going to start my tenure here by making its completion my number one priority. Also, henceforth, this may sound selfish of me but Project: Daphne will be renamed to Project: Serah. Let’s just say that there’s a certain motivating factor behind the name for me. While that will not be the project’s official and final name, I feel that it’s something I need for myself to see this through.”
“Hey... we could call it Project: Cassie for all I care. The code is the code and the A.I. is the A.I. It ain’t gonna change a thing on my end. I’m still gonna see it through till the end, daddio!”
Cassandra gave Michael another death glare for using his pet name for her. Michael began to sweat a few bullets as he noticed her out of the corner of his eye. The tension between the two was reaching an all-time high when there was a knock on the office door.
“Hey! Look! Literally anything else!” exclaimed Michael.
Mikomi noted the time and realized just who that was. He looked up at Alice and gave her the nod to open the door. When the door opened, it revealed the figure standing on the other side of it.
“Michael… I know this endeavor is going to be taxing, which is why I took the liberty of getting you some more help. This is Derek Carter, my roommate in college. His skills are on par with mine and he will make an excellent addition to your team. Derek… this is Michael Murphy. He is the project manager of our programming team and is going to be your new boss. This is also Jared... He’s the Chief Technology Officer and will also serve as your superior. Working alongside Jared is Colin, who is the Director of Programming and Information Technology.”
“Actually, sir... “ said Colin, interjecting. “Our roles have changed just a bit since you last visited. Before your father passed, he promoted me to Chief Technology Officer and Michael now holds my position as Director of Programming and IT.”
“I see… then, what did you get moved to, Jared?”
“Your father created a new position in anticipation of launching the A.I. I’m the Chief Technology Ambassador for the company. In my old position, I would oversee any and all projects that Onyx Technology Ventures had in development but in this new role, I traded my desk for an airplane seat. My job is to travel the globe and establish partnerships with companies who may be interested in our A.I. I’m not a salesman, per se, but more or less someone who has been charged with educating businesses about the benefits of our A.I. It’s a much more challenging job than being the Chief Technology Officer but your father trusted me with this position and I intend to see it through.”
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“I see… so many things have changed.”
“Mikomi?” asked Cassandra, taking note of the lack of emotion in Mikomi’s reply.
“It’s nothing. Now that you know my intentions, we need to get to work. Michael, I’ll want to meet with you and Colin later today for a full report on where we are at with Project: Serah. Once I know, I can work with Jared to set up some potential prospects for our product.”
Colin nodded while Michael gave him a salute.
“Also, Michael. Just focus on your report for today. I’ll show Derek around personally and help get him situated. After all, I kind of owe it to him for not saying goodbye back on Friday. That’s it for now. Let’s work to see this project through to its conclusion.”
As Mikomi said that, a sudden thought rushed through his mind. Someone was missing from the room, someone he was almost certain would be there. Mikomi shot a glance over at Michael and asked the question that was in the back of his mind.
“Say, Michael. I was almost expecting someone else to be here. I have to ask, where is Ryan Pierson?”
Michael cleared his throat as he knew Ryan was Mikomi’s best friend and he had worked to get his foot in the door here at the company. Michael could only wonder how he would take this news.
“Ryan was terminated last year after making a huge mistake that almost jeopardized the project. It’s a shame, too. He had so much potential.”
Mikomi closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Do we know where Ryan is now?”
“No. Nobody has heard from him since he left the company.”
“I see…” muttered Mikomi.
At this point, there was little that surprised him anymore. Mikomi realized a couple of things with that statement. The first was that, in the end, the world always finds a way to balance things. The other was that it means Ryan could still be Mikomi’s killer. His ruined friendship could have been his motivation in the original timeline but since that was repaired here, he needed a new motivation to come after him. Ryan’s termination could be exactly that. Because of this line of thinking, Mikomi finally felt that he had found a bit of closure.
With that, everyone took that statement as an excuse to leave. Everyone except for Alice and Derek left the office, leaving them alone with Mikomi. Alice held a file folder close to her body as she steeled herself.
“Mikomi… I’ve been meaning to ask you this all weekend but what happened to you? You lost your…. Sweetness.”
Derek cleared his throat.
“If I may… Mikomi has been like this ever since his father passed away. I’ve tried reaching through to him many times but this is all I got from him. I’m not going to judge him because I lived with him for four years. I know the kind of person he is. I just think he needs to find the answer himself, right Mikomi?”
Mikomi looked on at Derek and was instantly reminded of why the two of them were friends. Derek had a way with words and while their friendship got off to a rocky start due to his nightmares, Derek became a true friend and that’s why he invited him here today. He just gave Derek a nod and a half-hearted smile.
“See? The old Mikomi I know is still in there somewhere. He just needs to find him.”
“Maybe… but right now, I think I should help you find your way around. Alice, watch the phones for me and take any messages for now. I’ll deal with them when I get back.”
“Will do.”
With that, Mikomi took Derek and left the office. As the door closed, Alice continued to stand there holding her file folder close to her body. She muttered Mikomi’s name under her breath out of concern for him. His monotone demeanor whenever he talked made it painfully obvious that he was hurting deep down inside but she didn’t know the real reason why. All she could do was be by his side and support him until he could find the answer for himself.
Unfortunately, that answer wouldn’t come… even for the next couple of years. Even with the successful completion of Project: Serah and its worldwide launch, Mikomi had never once shown signs of true happiness. Even on the day of the A.I.'s launch, when technology finally caught up to the point where Project: Serah could run flawlessly on modern hardware, Mikomi remained as drone-like as ever. This was supposed to be his big day but it didn’t seem that way to him at all.
Mikomi remembered the original timeline. He remembered his excitement when he completed the project. He remembered holding the meeting where he talked about the launch of the A.I. He remembered that he had to give a statement to the media that they were finally going live with this project and how it would revolutionize people’s lives forever but then he realized the grim reality. The one constant that Mikomi could not escape. The one event that was the sole purpose of this entire journey and the one event that would make everything he attempted to do even more irrelevant.
Tomorrow was the day Mikomi was going to die.