"I'm home."

It's almost sunset when Rio enters the house while carrying a white box—a medium cheesecake he had bought from Tower Café, where he had hung out with Valerie and Rita before. When Rio was about to rush home, he remembered his conversation with Arisa that afternoon.

"—don't forget to treat your past family well."

Rio interprets that bringing something small to his house could be a good start. Still, he didn't know what to choose when he was looking at the cafe's sweets. His face reread the menu several times to ensure that his choice would suit everyone at home. But, no matter how hard Rio thought, he didn't know what to buy.

He had never done this before in his original timeline. The sudden idea—bringing something for people at home—was completely alien to Rio.

But he still had to do it, so he decided to consider once more carefully what he needed to buy.

"Rio, what are you so confused about?" Rita suddenly appeared beside that man.

"Ah, Rita. Look, I don't know what to choose to bring home."

"For your family?"

He nodded. Rita approached and checked the menu list on the counter together. Her eyes were glued to one name while thinking about other possible options. After a few minutes, Rita pointed to one of the menus, which she believed was quite right.

"…cheesecake?" Rio asked, not so sure.

"Yup. There's nothing wrong with bringing the cake home. Unless your past family was allergic to cheese or dairy products, maybe."

"As far as I remember, none of my family members are allergic to dairy products. I have read their bios carefully on my communication ring."

"That's good. In my thoughts, bringing anything would be okay, and from their reaction, you will know their taste precisely. It's not the matter of bringing something they like, but your thought of it," said Rita with a friendly tone of voice. "Even my choice of cheesecake is my safe guess because I think other menus got a strong flavour."

Rita smiled awkwardly as Rio nodded. He considers what Rita has pointed out about bringing something home and decides to follow his friend's advice. A medium cheesecake might be the best option for now.

"Much appreciated, Rita," said Rio gratefully.

"No problem," she replied with a small smile.

So, Rio had high hopes for this cheesecake to be accepted by his past family. He feels uncertain as he walks to the dining table and puts the box there. When the man looks around, his mother seems engrossed in watching the television program accompanied by Arnando and Vemia.

"I brought cheesecake. Anyone feel free to have it," calls Rio from the dining table. Suddenly, those three people approached and examined it. When the mother sees the box from the living room, she smiles wide. Patiently, she opened the entire box, moved the cake onto a plate, and split it fairly.

"Well, take the cake yourself, will you," said the mother to others and sat down at the dining table to enjoy her sweets.

"Where's Dad?" asked Rio.

"He was out for a while," replied one of the twins.

"Oh, I see. So, it's better if we spare some for Dad," Rio suggested.

Arnando had no problem with that and took a slice of his cheesecake to enjoy the sweets immediately at the dinner table, joining his mother. Rio also did the same and joined in because he wanted to feel this sense of togetherness when he had the chance.

"It tastes pretty good, doesn't it," said Rio, who had just tasted a spoonful of it. His tongue is like being spoiled with snacks or high quality sweets that can only be found in this era. Secretly, he praised all kinds of cuisines from the past since the taste of food in the future is nothing compared to this timeline.

"I heard everything from Tower Café is quite good. That place is usually very crowded at the weekend because of the quality of the taste, and the view is also beautiful," Mom added.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"I'll have more cake later, okay!" Arnando is enthusiastic enough that his cake only remains in half.

"You can't hog all of it by yourself, Nando. Remember, Dad has not tasted the cake yet," declared the mother.

Arnando pouts and ends his snacking session when all of his cake is gone down to his stomach. Then, Rio tried to chat more with his mother regarding anything related to the tallest tower in this city. Tonight was quite peaceful and warm for Rio.

Except for Vemia. She remained alert while staring at Rio with a look that was enough to make someone's hair stand on end somehow. Of course, the said man is aware of that and curious why Vemia behaved like that.

"Vemia, are you not going to take a bite? Perhaps, are you allergic to cheese?"

His little sister stares at him intently without blinking and won't answer that question as if Vemia sees something else in Rio. The young man immediately guessed something—his record of the past was starting to get messy again, so Vemia didn't recognize him as her older brother.

"Vemia. You have heard me, right?" Rio is trying to make sure.

Vemia walks away to go back to her room, leaving the others still at the dining table. Rio knows his guess is right, and he gets some cold sweat flowing down. What if Vemia suddenly accused him of being a stranger and told everyone in this house about Rio's true identity?

He should be extra careful. Who knows what a person from the past will do if they find out the identity of someone from the future? Various possibilities could happen, and most can lead to bad things.

Several days passed since Vemia's erratic attitude, and Rio made sure to live his life as usual. When he is at home, he will be more alert and avoid being around Vemia. He also warns himself always to pay attention to all the people in the house, just in case this error could affect other people besides his little sister.

According to his observations over the past few days, the unstable effect of Rio's record of the past had only affected Vemia. There is no similar problem that occurred to the rest of the family. Mother is still engrossed with her internet series shows that are always engaging things to watch, Arnando sometimes likes to ask Vemia questions and discuss things together, and Father often goes outside to tend to his own business.

Only Vemia showed an unstable self. There is this particular moment when she saw Rio as the eldest brother and invited her twin to discuss anything that caught their attention at that time. On other occasions, Vemia was quite aware of Rio's existence in her home like a stranger who came suddenly, and her gaze pierced Rio's very being.

On one of many nights, Rio's room is slightly bright even though the lights have been turned off. A projection screen display emanating from the communication ring was attached to one side of the bedroom's wall. A man with blonde hair relaxing on the bed with his arms folded as a headrest could be seen on display.

"So, your record of the past isn't stable either?" Valerie asked.

Rio nods his head while checking every message he receives on the other projection screen. "There is no satisfactory answer from scientists. They gave us ambiguous answers to see if this problem could be resolved. And no information about the exact date for this problem will be solved."

"So that's the case. Even if scientists are human. So, there is stuff that they can't control. There's nothing we can do about this aside of being alert at all times," Valerie said

"That's tiring, you know. If the situation continues like this, then my identity could be exposed, and the possibility of endangering the other volunteers could also occur."

Valerie strokes his chin with his mouth pouting. Rio's worries have a point. Still, he also doesn't know the right solution to mitigate that.

The blonde man sighs softly. "Sorry, Rio. I don't even know what to do if I'm in your position right now. So, basically… good luck!"

Valerie cut off his communication before Rio could interrupt. The projection screen hanging on the wall only shows the standby notification, which takes up almost the entire display.

"Ah, damn it," he curses as he turns off the display on the wall.

He stands up and scratches his hair in frustration. However, Rio doesn't give up and opens another two projection screens floating nearby. He intends to conduct research assisted by information from Ringnet in overcoming this problem.

Not to mention, Rio made an open thread in the discussion forum in the middle of Ringnet's network so that other volunteers could be aware of this phenomenon. In detail, he shared his story—but did not include Arisa's case because he hadn't asked her permission yet. To share is caring, that's what he thought.

"Who knows, there are others also experiencing the same thing and can provide a solution," he muttered.

Rio lightly slapped his cheeks to make up his mind. Then, his fingers will get so busy looking for relevant information related to the concept of this record of the past.

Opening the records and track records in the Ringnet database, Rio's gazes are so keen to absorb the information he needs. He is more or less struggling with the screen's projection floating in the air without a break. Slowly, the man's mind began to be filled with notes, concepts, and how a record of the past was supposed to work. It is a high-level algorithm that can change the social order in the past society so that someone from the future can blend in.

"It's just that there are few limitations to the said program..."

Records of the past cannot influence the social order associated with important figures who have had a tremendous effect on the course of history. For example, a person cannot position himself as the president of a country or anything on that similar level. Their existence is naturally strong enough to be disturbed by this record of the past.

He sighs while turning the two projection screens off and throwing himself to the bed. His eyes staring at the ceiling with his mind leaving this room, searching for the answer he truly needs.

There is no way that Vemia is a past figure equal to a president. I've checked her profile, and there is no related data correlated to that.

Rio sits on his bed and scratches his head roughly. A moment later, he stands up and intends to go out and get a drink.

—until he realized that his bedroom door was slightly opened. Rio forgot to lock it, and suddenly, he shudders in horror at his carelessness.

When his hand opened the door, the figure of a little girl carrying a smartphone in front of him was seen.

"Hello, a foreigner named Rio," said Vemia.

He feels that the floors beneath are crumbling down into the deep abyss.