Chapter 4:

Chapter 4: Time is Running Out

Timeagotchi


 Makoto tiredly smacked her alarm clock to turn it off before rubbing her eyes and stretching. It was already two in the afternoon. She grabbed her phone from the table next to her bed and looked at it. The screen read “Missed Call from: ‘Ai-Ai <3’.”

“Crap, I’ll call her back in a minute.” she thought to herself.

She slipped on a loose fitting cropped hoodie with a deep neckline that showed off her midriff and a bit of cleavage, as well as a pair of black sweatpants. She loved to show off her toned stomach as a sign of how much she worked out.

After brushing her teeth, she flopped back onto her bed and called Airi.

“Yo, Ai-Ai, what’s up?”

“Hey Mako-chan. You didn’t answer the phone earlier so I assumed you were still asleep.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Makoto rolled onto her back. “So, what’d you want?”

“Do you wanna go to the arcade today?”

“Arcade? Didn’t we just go the other day?”

“Well, yeah, but I wanna go back. I think I heard they were getting in some prizes from Bakemonogatari.”

“Alright then. We gonna do the money thing from yesterday then?”

“Uh, well… I thought about that, and I don’t know if we should.”

“Why not? Don’t you wanna have more spending money?”

“Of course I do, it’s just… what if something bad happens again?”

“Still hung up on what happened that day, huh?”

“Absolutely!” Airi was raising her voice now. She never usually did such a thing, so Makoto knew she was serious. “You think I can just forget about something like that?! You should be thinking about it too you know.”

“Relax, I get it if you don’t wanna do it. I just thought maybe it’d be a good idea. You’ve gotta start thinking about yourself sometimes.”

A deep sigh came through the phone.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. You’re a bad influence, you know that?”

“Heh, that’s what they tell me. Alright, meet you at Akiba station in half an hour?”

“Sure, see you there. Laters!”

Airi hung up in a hurry, not even letting Makoto say goodbye.

“Jeez, she’s always worrying about nothing. Though, I guess her and I are pretty different now that I think about it.” Makoto thought to herself. “I mean, sure, we both grew up together and still share a lot of the same interests, but I’m like, the strong protective one and she’s the smart rational one. We work well together.”

Makoto made her way to the station and got onto a train. After what felt like forever, she got off and stood around Akiba Station waiting for Airi to show up. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a suspicious man in a suit staring in her direction. She pulled up her hood and tried to not acknowledge him.

A few moments later, Airi stepped off the train and made her way towards Makoto.

“Mako-chan!”

“Sup. Let’s go.”

“Wow, someone’s in a hurry today.”

“Yeah, I’m just really excited to go to the arcade.”

“Aren’t you the one who was hesitant to go just earlier today?”

“Nope, no idea what you’re talking about. Let’s go.”

Makoto started walking away, but Airi just stood a bit confused. Makoto turned around and grabbed her hand, dragging her out of the station.

“Ow, Makoto, that hurts. Let go.”

“Sorry, just keep walking.”

“What’s up? You’re acting weird today. Well, weirder than usual.”

“It’s nothing. Really, don’t worry about it.”

Airi looked around confused while trying to keep up with Makoto’s pace. The two ducked into the nearby arcade and headed upstairs to the rhythm game floor.

“Woah, rhythm games? I didn’t know you liked these.”

“Yeah, they’re a good workout. How else do you think I keep up this look? Come on, let’s play some DDR.”

Airi and Makoto walk over to a DDR machine and start looking through songs. As they’re playing, the suspicious suit man from earlier is standing off to the side in an inconspicuous location. Makoto notices and quickly starts walking away.

“Come on Airi, let’s go get something to eat.”

“But we just got here. Aren’t we gonna-”

“I’m hungry now. A-and I didn’t eat before leaving home, so let’s get outta here.”

The two quickly make their way out of the arcade and make turn after turn, desperately trying to lose the man.


“Makoto what’s going on? You’re starting to scare me a bit.”

Makoto stops suddenly, turns to Airi, and places her hands on her shoulders.

“Listen Ai-Ai, I’m going to need you to leave. Go home. It’s not safe for you here right now.”

“Why not? I don’t want to leave you if it’s dangerous.”

“My dad got mixed up with the wrong people a while back. I’ll be fine, I can handle myself. You need to leave though, now.”

“I’m not leaving you. Why can’t you just run away?”

“I’ve tried, but these guys have their ways. If they want to find me, they will. Now please, for me, leave. I’d never be able to live with myself if you got mixed up in this too.”

“O-okay, I’ll go. Stay safe Mako-chan.”

Airi hesitantly left her friend, constantly looking back at her before turning a corner. A heavy hand set itself forcefully upon Makoto’s shoulder.

“Say kid, you really didn’t wanna make this easy, did you?”

“I don’t have to answer to you.”

“Ooh, a little feisty, aren’t we?” The man said before letting out a whistle.

Three other men in suits walked out from around another corner. Some had visible tattoos, and one was carrying a baseball bat.

“What do you want from me?”

“Don’t play dumb. You know what we want. Your old man still owes us money.”

“Ok, then take it up with him. You know where to find him.”

“Well, we could do that, but that’s not really our style, understand?”

“Hey, boss” one of the men chimed in. “What should we do about the other one? The redheaded hafu that’s getting away?”

“Leave her.” The boss turned back towards Makoto, one of his goons grabbing her arms from behind to restrain her. “So, how do we wanna do this? Either you get your old man to pay us, or we’re gonna go after your little girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend. And you leave her out of this you bastard!” Makoto shouted before spitting in the man's face.

“You little shit!” He shouted as he swung a fist straight into Makoto’s face, knocking her to the ground. The goon with the baseball bat slammed it down onto her left arm, a loud cracking sound following soon after. Makoto let out a shrill scream of agony.

“Alright, let’s try this again. You tell the old man to give us our money, or the girl gets it. I think the old man will get the message, seeing his little princess broken like this. Come on, let’s get outta here.”

The men in suits disappeared just as quickly as they had arrived. Makoto waited until they left before slowly and painfully lifting herself off of the ground. She limped her way to the park her and Airi usually went to. When she arrived, she saw Airi sitting alone on a swing, sadly swinging back and forth with her head down.

“Airi? What are you doing here?” Makoto said, her vision half blurred from her new black eye.

“Oh my gosh, Mako-chan, what happened to you?!” Airi asked in a panic, rushing over to hold her friend.

“Ow, ow, that hurts. Don’t touch that arm.”

“Sorry sorry sorry.” apologized Airi frantically.

“I just got into a fight with some thugs is all.”

“Are you ok?”

“No, but at least I’m still alive, and I have all of my fingers.”

“Wait, what?! I thought you said you just got into a fight with some thugs. I thought you meant like, a mugger or something.”

“Well, they’re still some shitty thugs, and it was a fight, just a really one-sided fight.”

“We need to get you to a hospital or something.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Well, the black eye will be fine, the broken arm I should probably get checked out.”

“Wait a minute, I have an idea.”

Airi reached into her pocket and pulled out the Timeagotchi.

“No. Don’t.”

“Why not? I can go back in time and just cancel our plans for today. That way, you won’t have gotten beaten up.”

“Listen, Airi… I know you think you’re helping, but trust me, that would just make things even worse. These aren’t the kinds of guys you wanna mess with, and I’d rather deal with a broken arm instead of having them show up at my house and do who knows what.”

“Fine, I guess you’re right. What should we do though? Should we tell the police?”

“Nah, they won’t do anything. If they were gonna do something, they’d have done it already. Let’s just, go to the ER and get this thing looked at.”

“Shouldn’t your parents come though?”

“Yeah, they should. I’ll call my dad right now. Oh great, my screen is cracked now. This day just keeps getting better and better.”

Makoto got off of the phone with her dad and the pair of girls headed to the nearest emergency room where Makoto’s dad would meet up with them.

Makoto told the doctor that she got into a serious fight, but when the doctor left the room, she told her dad everything.

“So they’re after their money, eh? I knew they’d come knocking sooner or later. I’d just hoped they’d have left you and your mom alone. I don’t have the money to pay them back though.”

“Wait, money… Mako-chan, I have an idea!”

“Can this wait? We’re kinda in the middle of something important right now.”

“This is important, I swear. Remember how we found out we can get rich from this thing? What if we use it to get the money your dad owes.”

“And where exactly do you plan on getting enough money from?”

“Easy, steal it.”

“Are you insane Airi?!”

“I get it from you. I told you, you’re a bad influence. Trust me, if things get dodgy, I’ll just go back in time and everything will be alright.”

“I’m not going to endorse stealing from people, Airi. However, I’m not exactly in any position to stop you, sooo…” Makoto said, giving a cheeky grin before looking away and pretending not to notice Airi.

“Right, I’ll be back soon. Or earlier I guess.”

Airi ran out of the room, but not after grabbing the wallets of both Makoto and her dad. As she ran out of the emergency room, she stole the wallets of both the receptionist and a patient's family member who was in the waiting room. Airi knew her best chance of not getting caught would be smaller shops, so she rampaged through small mom and pop stores, smaller restaurants, and stealing from anyone she could along the way, mostly old people, since they couldn’t fight back.

“Man, I feel so terrible for doing this, but it’s also kinda thrilling! No wonder Makoto is such a delinquent.” Airi thought to herself.

She told herself she was doing this for a good cause, and besides, it’s not like there’d be any repercussions for doing this anyway. As soon as she went back in time, everything would be back to normal, save for her newly acquired wealth.

After what felt like simultaneously forever and just a few moments, Airi had well over the amount of money she needed and quickly set the time for when she was still in the hospital room. She hit the confirm button and a huge flash of white engulfed her for a brief moment. When she regained her composure, she noticed she was still where she had been just a moment ago, but now it was slightly earlier, as it had only just started getting dark.

“Oh, right. Now I have to walk all the way back to the ER.”

After a tiring walk back after her rampage through the city, Airi finally made it back to the room where Makoto and her dad were.

“Ah, Airi. You just randomly vanished while the two of us were talking. I just told my dad everything that happened, but we don’t have the money to pay off those guys.”

“Well, lucky for you, I do.”

“Wait, seriously?!” Makoto’s dad asked frantically.

“Yeah, I wanted to help out, since Mako-chan and I are best friends after all. Here, take it.”

“Oh, thank you thank you! It sure helps having rich friends. I assume this is your parents' money, so I really should be thanking them.”

“No, no, that’s not necessary. This is, uh… money I saved up. Yeah. I wanted to take a trip to America, but this is a better use for it. Let’s just keep this our secret.”

“You’re a good kid Airi. I should probably go pay off my debts now.”

Makoto’s dad happily left the room. Makoto looked at Airi, who had taken Makoto’s dad’s place next to her.

“So, how’d you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Get all of the money, duh.”

“You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through. I had to beat an old lady with a stick to get some of it.”

“Man, that’s savage. I wouldn’t even do something that evil.”

“Don’t worry about it though. Used this little guy to get away with it.”

“Look at you being a delinquent. Maybe we could start up a girl gang with you as the leader. We can even wear cool jackets.”

“No! I can’t do that, I’m not a real delinquent. I had to do it to help out you and your dad. Besides, I’m not like that. I’m the nice one of the group.”

“I don’t think beating old ladies with sticks is what people would call nice, but whatever you say.”

“Please stop talking about it. I want to forget this as soon as I possibly can.”

Later that night, Airi walked with Makoto back to her house. Her mom thanked Airi for walking with her and waved her off.

Back at home, Airi kept thinking to herself.

“Am I a bad person now? Does Makoto think I’m a bad person? Ah, what am I thinking? I just need to get some sleep. I hope Mako-chan is going to be ok.”

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