7 — Sorry, Mom. Your Son Became a Terrorist (02)

"Come on, Satoshi! Say something! I'll never call you four-eyes again, okay? Just stop messing with me."

"Are you deaf? I said he can't hear you."

A girl with short black hair was standing on the tracks. She wore a yellow summer dress so bright it almost hurt to look at, and I did everything I could to ignore her.

"You're not seriously thinking I'm an idiot, are you?"

She stepped closer. 

The moment she did, I sat down on the bench next to Satoshi and popped open another drink. There was no reason to freak out. This was probably just some teen doing pranks.  

All I had to do was act natural and she'd go away. 

Act natural.

"I know you can see me, Kobami Haruki. I didn't use magic on you. There's no point pretending. I'm not leaving."

What the hell is this? Could she read my mind?

"And no… I can't read your mind. But judging from that dumb look on your face, it's pretty easy to guess."

Waaah, what's with this rude attitude?

Lately everyone's been treating me like an easy target, huh? They walk up to me and say whatever they want without caring how offensive it sounds. Fine. If that's how she wants to play, then I'll play too.

Let me show you who the idiot is here.

I tossed the can to the side.

The moment it left my hand, it froze in midair.

The speed at which her magic affected objects was actually impressive (and a little terrifying), but I made sure not to let her see my surprise.

"So a crazy little girl with red eyes decided to annoy adults, huh? Found out about your powers and now you think it's fun to mess with people."

"Little girl?"

She didn't react at all to my tone.

"You know what time it is? Pretty sure you're supposed to be in school right now, aren't you? Does your mom know where you are?"

"..."

"No. How would she? What would she think if she knew her precious daughter was skipping class to play around freezing people in abandoned stations? What would your dad say if he saw you abusing innocent civilians?"

"Are you… losing your mind?"

I didn't let her attempt at belittling me get to me. I got up and continued:

"Oh, but you can't blame the kids, right? You blame the system. The system is broken, incapable of protecting the next generation. We pay absurd taxes every year just to see our efforts wasted. No decent security to keep delinquents in check."

"..."

"It always starts like this. I've already seen through you, girl. First come these little tricks, then the insults, and next thing we know you're blowing up a bank and thinking it's normal to stage a coup."

"..."

"What? Don't look at me like that. I'm telling you this for your own good. My job as an adult is to guide the younger ones. To teach what's right and wrong before it's too late."

I placed a hand on her head.

"But hey, luckily for you, there's still hope. You're what? Fourteen? No… maybe fifteen, right? You still have a lot to experience before giving up on everything and freezing people in abandoned stations."

"..."

"It might sound annoying now, but one day you'll thank me. Now shoo. I'll let you go. Undo this magic and head back to school, alright? I'll pretend I didn't see anything, and we both walk away winners."

Honestly, I needed this.

Even at the cost of my dignity, it made me feel infinitely better.

"Are you done?"

She brushed my hand off her head with the same disgust someone uses to throw away a used tissue. Then she said, with pure disdain:

"If so, come with me."

"Huh? Oi! Didn't you hear me? There's still time for you, little girl. When you're my age—"

"Enough!"

Her sudden shout made me flinch.

"I was going to let it slide, but you managed to piss me off. First of all: I'm eighteen, not fifteen. So stop treating me like a kid when you just turned twenty."

"Wh— wh—"

Unintelligible noises left my mouth.

"And what's all that crap about my parents? Who do you think you are to talk about my family like that? My dad? My mom? They're not here anymore. And even if they were, I don't owe you an explanation."

"I…"

"Just so you know, I'm a special case and I already finished school. So I don't have any classes to attend. But you… Neural Connections student at the University of Tokyo? Shouldn't you be in class right now? Oh wait. No. Considering your last grades, would it even matter? I wonder what your parents will think when they find out."

How does this brat know where I study?

No... before that… how does she know me?

"Who exactly—"

"When Ichika-senpai asked me to go pick up the new member, I didn't imagine it'd be like this. Guess it's my fault for expecting anything. Maybe I should break one of your bones and call it an accident?"

The cold way she said that made it very clear how deep in shit I was.

My illusion of being free from these lunatics evaporated instantly.

Illusion. False. Lie.

Did any of that matter?

They had all my data.

They knew everything about me.

Thank god there's no governmental obligation or registry proving whether someone is a mage.

Because if there was…

This conversation would be a one-way ticket straight to the afterlife.

"How long are you planning to sit there making that stupid face? Let's go."

"What?! Wait. Hold on. I can't go. I can't go right now!"

"Why not?"

"Because… uh… I need to grab something at home. I forgot to take it when I left."

Shit! I need to find a way to run.

"Home?"

"Yes, it's a place where adults— Anyway, I need to stop there first."

"Sigh… okay."

Okay?

She said okay?

Great. That bought me a little time. I didn't care if people thought I was insane. I was going straight to the police.

"Where are you going?"

"I-I'm going home, didn't I say that?"

"No. I asked why you're walking in that direction."

How is that even a question?!

Am I the only sane one here?

"That's the exit."

When I turned to answer her, I suddenly remembered a crucial detail.

"Satoshi! Shit! Some friend I am… I almost forgot you! Hey! What about him? What's going to happen to my friend?!"

"My name is Minami, not 'hey'. Anyway, don't worry about him. Once the effect wears off he'll be fine. Now let's go."

"!"

When she grabbed my hand, my face heated up involuntarily.

"What's with that reaction?"

"You grabbed my hand out of nowhere, Mi… Minami-san."

"..."

"How long have you been out of your house, Kobami Haruki?"

That's what I call changing the subject.

Completely ignored.

"How long? I don't know. Maybe three hours? Why—?"

"『Advanced Magic: Distortion — Rewind』"

"WHaaAAAT?!"

The warmth of our interlocked fingers shot from my hands up to my neck.

My blood pressure dropped so fast I almost stopped breathing.

I saw the vending machine. 

The train. 

Satoshi. 

The station. 

The kid. 

The TV. 

The mother. 

The door. 

The phone. 

The jacket. 

The reporter. 

The helicopter. 

The neighbor. 

The shoe. 

The coffee. 

The pants. 

The shower. 

The water…

Everything.

Everything and then nothing.

A flash.

And a tick-tack.

And suddenly… I was back in my apartment.

◈ ━━━━━━━ ◆ ━━━━━━━ ◈

Staring at the TV and the rest of the mess, I tried to make sense of what just happened.

"T-this… Temporal magic?"

The words slipped out before I realized.

"I'm seriously questioning your intelligence, Kobami Haruki. You only realized that now? Even after I froze time in the station?"

"I was just trying to start conversation. Of course I already knew."

How is this possible? Not even the past was safe from these maniacs?!

"Get what you need and— Coughs!"

"Hey! What happened?! Are you okay?! I-is that blood?!"

"I-it's nothing. Just a side effect."

"Are you kidding me? Coughing up blood is just a side effect? Look at this, tufts of your hair are falling out!"

"I told you it's nothing. And get your hands off my hair, you pervert."

"What?  I'm not a pervert!"

"Say that again after you look in the mirror."

Look in the—?

"Aaaah! Why am I only wearing boxer briefs and one sock again?!"

"Looks like you finally understood what I was talking about."

What kind of depraved magic is this?!

"That's not fair! Why am I the only one like this? You went back in time too!"

"W-what exactly are you implying? That you wanted to see...? Ah! Get out already and grab what you came for. Don't make me lose my patience."

I darted into the bedroom and locked the door.

Immediately, I rushed to the window.

All the time in the world wasn't enough to come up with a solution.

"If I jump from here, is there any chance of surviving?"

I tossed a small cardboard box out the window.

Weight force X gravity. How long until it hits the ground…?

"..."

Even though I had a wall clock, I counted the seconds on my fingers. About thirty seconds passed and the box still hadn't hit the ground, meaning:

Jumping out the window: survival rate = zero.

"The bathroom. Do I have chloroform?"

Knock knock! "Are you gonna take long in there?"

Kiiiik! What do I do?!

I couldn't think under pressure.

Nothing seemed good or fast enough.

"My phone… where's my—?"

On the verge of collapsing, I started seeing things.

For a moment, I swore the closet door opened on its own.

Could it be a sign from heaven?

I already knew there was nothing useful inside, but still, I stuck my head inside the closet.

Under my socks, there was a metallic sphere, about the size of a baseball.

"This?"

It was the gift my grandpa had given me months before he disappeared.

A protection charm, he called it.

If I remembered right, he dedicated years of his life to making it. I'd kept it with me my entire childhood…

"So this is where you were."

Seeing it, my eyes began to shine.

A bright, vivid shine.

The shine of tears gathering in the corners of my eyes.

In fact, this was the item I'd kept with me my entire childhood.

And also…

…the one that was never useful for a single damn thing.

"Ha… ha… I'm not making it past today."