The girl turned around and it was, indeed, Serah. She had been standing there in the hallway for almost no apparent reason this entire time, holding her favorite book close to her chest. Just one look at her was enough for him to realize that his presence had startled her. He decided that the best approach was to not turn this chance encounter into a big deal. Even though he was confused as to why she was standing outside of the classroom, he shot her a warm welcoming smile before asking her the most obvious question he could think of.

“Well, hey there! What are you doing here this late?” he said, making his tone as cheerful as possible to help ease her nerves.

Serah stood there unable to move. It almost appeared as if she were caught in an act that she knew she shouldn’t be doing. She quivered a bit and then turned away from Mikomi. She slowly placed one foot in front of the other and began to walk away with the intent of leaving his question unanswered. Mikomi looked a little perplexed and reached out with his hand as if to grab her by the shoulder but she was too far away even to come close to making contact.

“Hey…” Mikomi said in a softer, gentler tone.

Despite calling out to her, Serah continued to walk away from him. Her pace didn’t exactly quicken so it wasn’t as if she were trying to run away but it was clear that she had no intention of sticking around either. Their first interaction when he ran into her was very similar. Back then, he was in a rush, and because of such, he had some regrets about not reaching out to her then. Mikomi decided that he didn’t want to repeat that same mistake and began to follow her, walking a bit quicker so that he could catch up. Perhaps it wasn’t the smartest of moves but when he caught up, he reached out and grabbed Serah by the wrist to stop her from getting away.

“Hey… You don’t have to be afraid to talk to me, you know. I don’t bite!” Mikomi said with a playful tone.

Serah turned and looked at him. She didn’t know what to say or how to even respond to something like that. She continued to look very nervous and even started to shake a little bit. Mikomi sensed that he was making her really uncomfortable and immediately let go of her wrist.

“Sorry!! I didn’t mean to startle you. I just didn’t think anyone else would be here this late. Why don’t you want to talk to me, though?”

As she looked at him, she began to calm down a little bit. It was obvious that Mikomi was trying to be as friendly as possible. It was the same kind of respect that he had shown her the other day when he properly apologized for knocking her down. Serah took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second before finally delivering an answer in a soft and gentle voice.

“I’m not good at talking to people.”

“I don’t believe that,” said Mikomi with encouragement in his voice. “You talked to me just fine right now.”

Serah cracked a smile when she heard that. She knew that he was just doing his best to encourage her. For someone like Serah, encouragement didn’t come easy but to see him put forth this much effort made her feel as if she could possibly trust him. Even still, it wasn’t as if her trust meter went through the roof immediately. Despite Mikomi’s answer, she still couldn’t muster up the courage to say anything further.

“Why do you keep wanting to leave? You ran away from me yesterday and you seemed kind of nervous this morning. Am I that scary?”

Serah shook her head no a bit frantically. Her earrings jingled and her hair waved from side to side, ending up a bit messy. Mikomi had to hold in his giggling but at the same time, he thought her reaction was super cute.

“If I’m not that scary, then why not stay and talk to me? If you’re not good at talking to people, why not use me as practice, then? I’ll be your training dummy that you can verbally punch away at if you want to.”

Mikomi put his book bag down and sat on the floor where he leaned up against the wall. He patted the floor next to him, inviting Serah to join him.

“Here.. have a seat. Let’s talk for a bit.”

Serah knew this was her golden chance to run away but something inside her prevented her from doing so. She slowly walked over and sat down next to Mikomi, placing her book by her side. She brought her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them as she was still quite nervous.

“To be honest, I’m a bit surprised that you sat down. I expected you to run away. I don’t mean that in a rude way, though. I’m happy that you decided to stay and talk! So… why can’t you talk to people? Do you just not like it or something?”

Serah hesitated to answer that question. She trembled a bit but after a few moments, she mustered up the courage to give him a proper reply. Her tone was soft and gentle just as before.

“I’ve never been good at it. People don’t like talking to me, either so it’s usually best if I just stay quiet.”

“I think you’re doing just fine with me,” said Mikomi before changing the subject. “So.. why were you just standing there in the hallway?”

Serah tensed up as she didn’t know how to really answer that question. There was no other explanation she could give other than the truth. She turned her head away from Mikomi and let out a faint reply.

“I... was looking... at you,” she muttered, her face turning a bit red with embarrassment.

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Mikomi was taken aback by that statement. He began to wonder if Ryan was right all along about her being creepy. Several thoughts ran through his mind but he knew it would be rude of him to sit there in silence. He was sure that she had her reasons, though. There was also the possibility that he was just misunderstanding what she meant by her watching him. He began to wonder if it had anything to do with him apologizing to her. Despite how the conversation was going so far, he still felt the need to ask the obvious.

“Why were you looking at me?”

Serah let out a low grumble as if she were being pressured way out of her comfort zone. She continued to look away from Mikomi and answered him again with a faint reply.

“To thank you.”

“To thank me? Why?”

Serah sat there in silence for a little while longer. Mikomi sensed that she was highly uncomfortable so he decided to say something in an attempt to encourage her and lighten the mood just a bit.

“Take your time to gather your thoughts. I’m probably making you nervous by asking all of these questions. Sorry if I’m doing that. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Despite giving her the option not to answer, Serah took a deep breath and began to mutter her reply. Her words were even quieter than they had been previously.

“I was passing by and saw you in there. I thought maybe I should thank you for talking to me yesterday. It made me happy but I was too nervous to say anything. By the time I decided to leave, you came out of the room and I just froze. So.. um… thank you…”

Serah turned her head and shot him one of the cutest smiles he had ever seen in his life. If his heart could instantly melt into a puddle of goo, it would have right then and there. Figuring that she said what she had come here to say, she got up and began to walk away. Mikomi was so taken aback by that beautiful smile that he became the one who couldn’t say anything. He sat there for a minute and pondered what just really happened. One thing was for sure, though… Serah was walking away and he hadn’t even returned her gratitude. He shot up to his feet and called out to her.

“Hey, Serah!”

She stopped and turned around, glancing back over her shoulder.

“You’re welcome. Feel free to talk to me any time you want!”

She gave him a slight smile and continued on her way. Mikomi smiled and then snapped out of it as he realized he still needed to get home. He checked his watch and noticed that the time drew close to 4 PM and he still had about a fifteen-minute walk ahead of him. Mikomi got up and grabbed his book bag and noticed a certain book on the floor that he recognized. It was the book that Serah was reading earlier this morning. There was no title on the cover or spine, but it wasn’t his business to open it, just in case it ended up being something personal rather than a traditional book.

“Hey Serah, you forgot your bo-”

Mikomi looked down the hallway but she was already gone. Knowing that there wasn’t much he could do about it now, Mikomi placed the book into his bag, figuring that he would simply return it to her tomorrow.

Mikomi headed home for the evening. By the time he got home, the aroma of dinner was just starting to fill the house. His mother was in the kitchen preparing it and his father was still at work. After announcing that he was home, he went straight to his room where he pulled the letter out of his bag and placed it into the top drawer of his bedside table. He had hoped to mix the letter into today’s mail but the time it took to craft the letter plus his interaction with Serah caused him to miss his goal. Then again, with his father stuck at work, it didn’t matter as he wouldn’t be coming home to read it anyway.

“If dad isn’t coming home, I’ll just have to mail it to the office. Thankfully, I know the address and exactly what room he’s in. I’ll just address the envelope in such a way that it will specifically get to him and him alone. That should take care of that and then everything will be put back in order.”

The aroma of dinner was getting stronger and stronger. Mikomi usually had a keen sense of when dinner was just about ready. As soon as he felt that dinner was nearing completion, Mikomi exited his room and went to make his way to the kitchen. As he entered, his mother was sitting at the kitchen table looking a bit distraught. In fact, the reason why dinner smelled so strongly was because everything was ready and had been set out on the table. Typically, Karoline would call out to him as soon as the food was ready to eat but the fact that she hadn’t made him worry just a bit.

“Is everything okay, mom?”

“Oh! I’m sorry… dinner’s ready but I didn’t call you to come to eat.”

“Is it dad again?”

“Yeah… he called while you were at school. He said that he may not be home for the rest of the week. With the way things have been going at the office, he fears that this mess will take a bit longer to sort out. That means it’s just going to be you and me again for a while.”

“Dad’s really trying, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he sure is but it makes me wonder when enough is enough?”

“What do you mean?”

“Mikomi… I thank you for showing concern but it’s not something you should be worrying about. I know you’re at the age where you probably don’t want to be treated like a kid but this is a grown-up problem. Even though you’re in high school now, I doubt it’s something you would understand. Come on, let’s just eat. Besides, one of the best ways to feel better is to eat a good meal, right?”

“If only I could tell you that I’m not the kid you think I am it would make all of this easier. However, who would believe that their fourteen-year-old son is a time traveler… let alone dead in another timeline? Saying something like that would punch my one-way ticket into a padded room. Heck, I’m still in disbelief myself. Even with a phantom of a man appearing and disappearing out of thin air constantly, I, myself, cannot wrap my head fully around this. Still, whether it’s hard to believe or not, the fact is that this is my new reality and I have to do what I can.”

Mikomi nodded in agreement and sat down at the table. Right when he was about to grab his fork, he became startled by a sudden knock on the front door.

“Who could that be?” asked Karoline.

“I’ll get it,” said Mikomi as he stood up and excused himself.

Mikomi walked over to the door, grasped the handle, and opened it. Mikomi’s eyes widened a bit with shock as he didn’t expect to see this person standing on the other side of it.

“Serah!?” said Mikomi in bewilderment

Indeed, Serah stood there in his doorway, quivering with tears streaming down her face. Her voice wasn’t gentle this time around. This time, it was filled with fear and pain.

“Mikomi… I need help!”