Lies

I was worried... The worst possible situation had happened, and there was nothing I could do.

I spent the whole class standing outside, only to be called to the staff room afterward for nearly twenty minutes of scolding.

“Here’s your phone, and make sure this doesn’t happen again!”

“I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again,” I replied.

“Good, you may return to your class.”

I left the staff room, feeling a huge weight lift off my shoulders. I really can’t let this happen again; I was far too careless.

The first thing I did on my way back to the classroom was start a new call, though this time I stayed more alert to my surroundings.

No one answered, so I tried a third time, and Dom finally picked up.

“Hey, Rei.”

The background was completely dark, and I could only see him because the light from the phone was illuminating his face.

“It’s me. Inertia is asleep. I hesitated to answer without her consent, but you would have ended up waking her. Looks like there’s a 12-hour time difference between you two,” he explained.

“I see… Well, since she’s sleeping, I’ll keep the call on but muted,” I told him.

“Alright, I’ll put the phone back by her before she catches me,” Dom said, walking away.

Despite his exotic appearance, which might be frightening to us humans, Dom exuded charisma and trustworthiness.

I returned to my desk and kept the phone on the table, hidden under my notebook. My body was in the classroom, but my mind was racing. It was the only moment I had to stop and reflect on everything that was happening to me and to Inertia.

Why me? Why is this happening to me? I couldn’t come to any conclusion… It must have been random… Once again, I was drowning in my pessimistic thoughts.

Before I knew it, it was lunchtime, and the classroom had emptied.

I quickly left the room and went to the library to use a computer there. I didn’t want to use my old phone, as it might have been hacked as well.

I typed the pendant numbers into the browser, and they were indeed coordinates, latitude and longitude, of my house.

What was the point?! The “clue” wasn’t really a clue after all. No… actually, this answered one of my questions. It wasn’t random… It was meant to be me.

But why me?

I typed her name, Inertia Nowak, into the search engine, hoping to find something else since I had no more leads.

I found some of her social media accounts, but they were all private. I tried searching just her last name, but it was very common in another country, and I didn’t find anything there either.

“Hey! Lunch is over, you can’t use the library during class hours,” the supervisor said as they kicked me out.

I thought about going home… but what good would that do? So I went back to the classroom and sank into a cycle of pessimistic thoughts, letting the classes pass by without paying attention to any of them until the school day finally ended.

“Rei,” Saori said, tapping my shoulder as I packed my things into my bag.

“Can we talk?”

I’m sure it’s about Eri.

“It’s not about Eri,” she said.

Was she reading my mind? I even stared at her, startled.

“Then what is it about?”

“Rei, you’re being insensitive. We’ve been friends for so many years, and yet you act as if… never mind. I’m just worried about you.”

“I’m fine… sorry,” I said.

“You seemed out of it and stressed during class. Even the teacher called you out today. Did something happen?” she asked.

“...”

I remained silent.

Yes, so much happened in just one day! I’m in contact with a girl I met yesterday, who’s now in the future. I feel pressured to help her since I’m the only one she can reach here, and all of this makes me anxious… But how can I open up without revealing everything?

“I… I’m fine. Thanks for your concern, Saori.”

“Rei, you know you can count on us, right? I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ve never seen you like this… So whenever you want, I’m here.”

Saori knows me very well. Any story I made up, she could instantly tell was a lie, which is why I am always avoiding her — and also why I fell for her.

“Thanks, Saori. I need to go now,” I said, standing up with my backpack, but she insisted.

“We’re going the same way anyway. Let’s go together?”

What could I do? We left the classroom and walked home together.

I just wanted to escape, but she wouldn’t let me, so my only option was to talk about Eri.

“How’s Eri doing?”

“What do you mean? Do you mean about your fight?” she asked.

“Yeah...”

“Well… she’s stubborn, but she admitted she crossed the line that day.”

“Rei?!” I heard Inertia’s voice calling me, loud and clear.

My phone was in my pocket without any earphones. Did it unmute by accident?

I quickly grabbed the phone, turned off the speaker, and held it to my ear.

“Hello, Mom? I’m already on my way home.”

“Great, my son!” Inertia joined in. “Are you apologizing to her? Sorry, I just woke up and saw the call was still connected,” she continued.

“Okay, Mom, I’ll definitely buy that.”

“Make sure you apologize to her properly, okay?” she continued.

“Alright, see you soon!” I said, feeling desperate.

I pretended to hang up the phone and slipped it back into my pocket.

I looked at Saori, sweating bullets. She knew my mom’s voice, and it was obvious it wasn’t that youthful tone coming from the phone just now.

“Isn’t your mom at work?” she asked.

“Yeah… looks like she wants me to pick up a few things before heading home, hahaha,” I said, letting out the fakest laugh imaginable.

I was spiraling, but at least she pretended to believe me.

“Hmm…” she said, giving me a skeptical look. What was that about?

Taking advantage of the fact that we were near a convenience store, I said my goodbyes.

“Well, I’ll grab what I need here. See you tomorrow, Saori,” I said, taking the first chance I got to leave.

“See you, Rei.”

I went into the convenience store and pretended to browse around. It’s over… she heard Inertia just as clearly as I did.

I grabbed my earphones and plugged them into my phone.

“Inertia, can you hear me?”

“I’m here.” She centered the phone in front of her face, and now I could see her clearly.

“I’ve connected my earphones. You can talk now.”

“Rei... you’re terrible at lying,” she said.

I know, and lying to Saori makes it even worse.

“Any news from Alba yet?” I asked as I headed back home.

“Dom is still sleeping. I’ll only find out something when he wakes up,” she replied.

She jokes about it… but here in 2025, I’m stressed and anxious about the situation. I can only imagine how she feels, being there all alone.

“Besides the hunger… are you okay? I mean, it’s not easy for me to deal with the unknown from here,” I asked, more seriously now.

“To be honest, I’m… excited? Being in such a different, advanced world has inspired me,” she replied.

“You’re not scared?!” I asked skeptically.

It seemed like I was the only anxious one here.

“... Honestly, I’m afraid of going back home.”

How foolish I am. For Inertia, the future and the past are uncertain. She only has the present to live in. Thinking about it… should I keep investigating her case? What does she want me to do for her from here?

“Don’t worry, we don’t know what happened to me, but I’m fine here.”

“Oh, I almost forgot. I looked up the numbers on Toby’s pendant... It wasn’t a clue; it was just the coordinates of my house.”

“Really? Send me the numbers.”

“Okay, just a moment... -23.545730074229677, -46.435896919657566,” I told her.

“That doesn’t make sense… there must be a puzzle in those numbers,” she replied.

We discussed what it could be, but we never got anywhere.

At home, I sent a message to Kei, asking him to take some new wireless earbuds to school from their store. I continued my routine as usual, but now I had company 24/7.

I also remembered to ask about Inertia’s father’s name. My newest lead, after quite a bit of searching, was the address of the hospital where he works.

She still didn’t seem to remember many other details, and whenever she tried to recall something more clearly, her headache returned. So I thought it wiser to avoid unnecessary questions.

The lack of nutrients wasn’t helping her at that moment either. I could hear her stomach growl several times from here, but she never complained.

Inertia was a very strong girl.

“Inertia, she made it! There’s some fruit and fish; it should be enough to last a week,” Dom said, joyfully.

“That’s great news! When is she coming back?” Inertia asked.

“Seems like it wasn’t easy to get... She’ll be back in an hour,” he replied.

End of Report 10.