Chapter 10

The period after the festival passed more calmly. Of course, Kaori hovered around me a lot at school, since I was her only friend there. During class we often got into trouble because she kept trying to talk to me by whispering.

“You haven’t seen the hamster video yet…?!”

“Pssst! I told you not now…!”

We realized too late that Mr. Garlet was watching us. After a cold scolding, we apologized in unison. We were warned that next time we would be punished. After class I scolded Kaori, saying her hyperactive behavior kept getting us into trouble, but she didn’t care at all. She excitedly took a deck of cards out of her bag, the cards decorated with little fairies.

“Aren’t they adorable??”

“Yes… very…”

Kaori pouted because she expected more enthusiasm from me — she wanted to play. I tried to turn her down by saying childish things weren’t really my world. But that never worked. Not now either. After enough pleading and puppy eyes, I softened, so we played cards during the whole break.

After school she asked if I wanted to go to the arcade. I admitted I already had plans for the afternoon. Emma wanted to go somewhere with me. Kaori was disappointed, but accepted it. She said we’d do something together another time. Even so, I felt a bit awful.

When I got home, I greeted loudly, then collapsed tired onto the couch. Emma quietly approached and rested her head on my lap. She greeted me and then softly ordered me to pet her head. I was getting a little tired of her asking this again. I even mentioned it, but she didn’t react. She was like a gentle little bunny. Emma had always been very quiet — the noise around her only came from her recent trauma. In the end, I didn’t resist and petted her.

Later, after a quick meal, we headed out. I had no idea where she was taking me. We didn’t take the bus to the downtown area but to a neighboring suburban region. After getting off, we walked for a while. We were practically in the middle of nowhere. Before us stood nothing but an observatory on a grassy plain. Emma didn’t understand it — what she was looking for was supposed to be here. I noticed her confusion and asked what exactly she was searching for. She mentioned a flower-covered meadow, and nostalgia washed over me. My dreams and all my memories came flooding back.

“In the previous timeline… we used to go there a lot, didn’t we?”

She nodded gently, then a painful sadness appeared on her face.

“The world now may be prettier… but the one before is where we grew up together…”

Back then, I met Emma because, when we were both in kindergarten, I saw her fall into a river and start drowning. Our parents were farther away, so there was no time to call for help. Somehow, I dragged her out myself. We both got pneumonia afterward, but Emma became my best friend forever. I could never get rid of her — and after a while, I didn’t want to. I grew very fond of her.

Her sadness from the observatory view faded quickly, because she said the only thing that mattered was that she had me. On the way home, she quietly but persistently begged that we bake apple pie together on the weekend. Normally that wouldn’t have been a problem, but the next day Kaori brought up that we could go to the movies on Saturday. It was getting increasingly awkward, but I had to turn her down. She lowered her head in disappointment, her hair covering her eyes.

Desperately, I tried to fix the situation with empathy.

“But it’s only Saturday! We can go on Sunday! You pick the movie — and I’ll pay for the popcorn menu!”

Kaori sighed. In the end, we arranged a time for Sunday, and she said she would come pick me up. But when the day actually came… I had completely forgotten. I had tons of missed calls and unread messages. The reason I didn’t hear my device was because I had left it upstairs in my room.

While I was arguing with Emma, who was using my lap as a pillow, someone rang our doorbell several times — but we didn’t hear that either. Emma insisted she wanted to go to school too. No matter how many times I tried to explain that she couldn’t.

Then a sharp voice cut in.

“Why would you go to school? So you can monopolize Reina there too?”

Kaori stood in the open doorway, her expression controlled and cold.

“Kaori! I…!”

Emma hadn’t expected this either but remained relatively calm.

“Hi, Kaori. Want to join us?”

She patted my thigh, signaling that Kaori’s head could fit on my lap too. I whispered at her through clenched teeth.

“Stop it!”

Kaori declined the offer and commented that the whole scene was disgusting anyway. In a cold voice she apologized for interrupting, then slammed the door behind her and stormed off.

I ran after her. But when I tried to apologize outside, she said she wanted to be alone. I accepted this with guilt, even though it hurt. Back inside, Emma — more serious now — asked if she was the problem, but I only said it was complicated. It was clear that Kaori, who technically existed as a spirit, had relied on me alone until now — but I couldn’t abandon Emma either. I came up with an idea, but I wasn’t sure Kaori would like it.

The next day at school I tried to make up with her, but she sulked all day with her head turned away. I didn’t take it too personally, but I still felt bad. After lunch, seeing how down I was, she softened. We managed to talk more peacefully. I explained that Emma was just as lonely as she was, and I didn’t want to lose either of them. So maybe we could do something together, all three of us. At first Kaori feared Emma wouldn’t like it, but I reassured her that wasn’t the case. I contacted Emma too, and so we arranged a group outing for Friday afternoon — karaoke.

On the chosen day, we went to a karaoke café. Kaori eagerly scrolled through the song list on the tablet. She couldn’t choose, so Emma asked for the device and quickly picked a pop song. Her voice was elegant and calm — a pleasure to listen to. Like a princess. We both applauded her.

Then it was my turn. In the previous timeline I had attended some choir activities, but I wasn’t a professional. I chose something much simpler than Emma’s — a light, catchy children’s song. I thought it would be embarrassing, but to my surprise I sang quite melodically. They both enjoyed it, so I got applause too.

Kaori went next. She was visibly excited. She picked an impressive but objectively very difficult song. Unfortunately, she had bitten off more than she could chew. She sang extremely off-key — and she realized it too. When it became too embarrassing, she stopped. After a suffocating silence, she lowered her head and began to sniffle, struggling not to break down in front of us.

“Kaori…”

I felt sorry for her, but she muttered quietly in bitterness:

“So you two planned this just to show me how much better you are…? Is that it?”

I barely heard her words. Maybe Emma heard them too — I couldn’t know. Before I could say anything, Emma stood up. She fiddled with her microphone, then began singing next to Kaori, following the lyrics on the screen. She deliberately sang off-key — thanks to her intentionally adjusted microphone.

Kaori didn’t understand what was happening. She asked Emma what she was doing, but Emma just smiled. She simply said she was having fun. Kaori’s eyes widened — first at Emma, then at me. I nodded to encourage her, and with new courage she began singing with Emma.

The two of them looked so adorable together that before long, I joined them with my own detuned microphone. After the group performance, Kaori admitted it had actually been great fun. Emma then gently turned the girl toward her so she could speak kindly and sincerely.

“Listen, Kaori. I don’t want to monopolize Reina. I just missed her very much. I want to get to know you too, I’m just…”

Her face turned beet red. With difficulty, she finally confessed she wanted to be friends, but had no idea how to approach her.

Kaori became emotional and dropped to her knees in embarrassment.

“And I’m so sorry for treating you so horribly! Especially after everything you went through. I behaved terribly.”

Emma comforted her, saying it was fine, and I also apologized to Kaori for not paying enough attention to her lately. I didn’t want to leave her out of anything. After this, Emma handed her a small package, asking her to accept it. When Kaori opened it, the smell of bear-shaped cookies drifted up. She couldn’t believe Emma had made them for her. I explained that Emma had spent long hours in the kitchen.

That was enough to melt Kaori completely. She hugged Emma tightly. She blurted out that she really did want them to be friends. Emma hugged her back gently, and the three of us ate the cookies together.

We would have sung more, but Olivia suddenly appeared on the TV screen.

“Hey, brats! Come to the Ulimar outdoor arena right now. If you don’t, I’ll have some fun with a few civilians.”

In the background, she pointed at the people seated in the stands — frozen in time. Outraged, we cried out, but the woman made a sinister remark about what awaited us.

“This time I have a surprise you won’t forget.”

All three of us exchanged a look, and after paying the bill, we headed for the nearby arena to save the prisoners.