Chapter 11: Time Will Reveal

After their day of exploring Airi’s grandpa’s house, Makoto decided to spend the night at Airi’s house.

The next day after just waking up, Makoto went to the kitchen and made some coffee. Airi was still waking up, but decided to grab her laptop and open it up for the first time in a while.

Makoto came back into the room and stood next to the bed where Airi was sitting.

“What are you up to?”

“I’m just checking up on my laptop to make sure everything works fine. I want to figure out what’s on that MicroSD card my grandpa left behind in that box.”

“Oh yeah, I’m surprised the old man even knew what that was.”

“Well, he liked keeping up with technology. Said it made him feel younger.”

Airi stared at her computer screen reminiscing for a bit. Makoto took a sip from her coffee.

“I didn’t take you for a coffee kind of girl.”

“I like to drink it every now and then. Helps me wake up sometimes.”

“I see.” Airi said, setting her laptop down on the bed. “I’ll be right back, I’ve gotta use the bathroom.”

As Airi left the room, Makoto threw herself onto the bed. Her carelessness and the sudden impact led to coffee splashing out of her mug and onto the laptop. A popping sound emanated from the device, alongside a small amount of smoke.

“Crap, this isn’t good.” Makoto thought in a panic.

She grabbed a towel that was sitting in Airi’s laundry basket in a futile attempt to soak up the coffee. She suddenly heard Airi’s footsteps approaching the room, so she threw the towel aside and quickly shut the laptop before standing up.

“Hey, Airi, do you think we could go to Akihabara?”

“Huh? What for?” Airi replied in confusion.

“Well, we’re gonna need a MicroSD card adaptor to find out what’s on it, right?”

“Sure, but Akihabara? Isn’t that a bit out of the way to go for something that small?”

Makoto was getting nervous. She knew she was just stalling the inevitable, but still did her best to keep Airi from realizing what had happened.

“Well, I just thought that it’d be a good place to get one. You know, Electric Town and all that.”

“Hmm…” Airi thought to herself a moment. “Alright, I guess we can go there.”

“Great, let’s get going then.” Makoto said, trying to rush out of the room as quickly as possible.

“Wait, let me close my laptop then.”

“No! I mean, I already did it for you.”

“Alright, well I still need to get dressed.”

“Ok, I’ll just stay here.”

“And watch? That’s kind of intrusive isn’t it?”

“You haven’t had a problem with it before. Besides, you’re probably into it, weirdo.”

“I am not. I just… whatever. Go ahead and watch if you want.”

Airi changed into a different outfit while Makoto stealthily tried to hide the laptop out of sight.

“Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

Airi and Makoto left for Akihabara. Makoto spent the train ride worrying about what would happen when they got back and Airi found the laptop completely nonfunctional.

“Hey, you ok?” Airi asked.

“Huh? Yeah, just got lost in thought. Nothing to be worried about.”

“Uh huh. So what is it really? I know that when you say that there’s actually something you’re worried about. I mean, just the way you said it is enough to give it away.”

“It’s really nothing to be concerned about.”

“Is it about… the thing? You know, having those nightmares again?”

“No, it’s not. If it was happening again, I’d tell you.”

“Alright, I believe you. We’re here. Come on, let’s find somewhere to look for the adaptor.”

The pair exited the station and looked around trying to figure out where to look.

“Well, we can just start going into places that might sell what we need and check them, and if they don’t have what we need, we just go to the next place.” Makoto suggested.

“I guess so. I mean, I don’t really know where to start, so let’s just go everywhere.”

The two started walking until they came across a very small store selling electronics.

“Hey, let’s check here.” Makoto said.

“Are you sure? This place doesn’t look like they’d have what we’re looking for.”

“Nah, we’ve gotta check anyway.”

The two looked around the place, which took them only a few minutes. All they could see were old radios and other miscellaneous things like flashlights and batteries.

“Ok, well that was a waste of time. Let’s go somewhere bigger.”

Airi and Makoto kept walking until they came across another small shop that appeared to sell electronics.

“Oh, let’s try here, Airi.”

The two went in and found more radios. This time, they also saw some old cameras, a few CRT televisions, and more batteries.

“This place doesn’t have anything. Let’s stop wasting time and just go to one of the bigger stores.” Airi complained.

“No, we can get a better deal at one of these places, trust me.”

“Since when did you become an expert on electronic shopping?”

“I never said I was, but I know a deal when I see one.”

“Ugh, you’re too much to deal with sometimes. Alright then, let’s keep going.”

The two checked a few more small shops before taking a break.

“We’ve gone to five different places now, all your suggestions, and we’ve found absolutely nothing.”

“Well, I never said I was good at finding electronics, just good at spotting deals.”

“Well we’re wasting our time. Can we PLEASE just go to a bigger store now?”

Makoto seemed hesitant to say yes. She knew that she couldn’t stall forever, but Airi was starting to get impatient.

“Alright, you win. Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Thank you. It’s about time.”

The pair went to a large building that had multiple floors of electronics. They carried everything from TVs to computers, cameras both old and new, and even some video game consoles. There were rows and rows of cellphones, and of course a little section for various cellphone charms that some kids and teenagers liked to collect.

“Hey, check those out!” Makoto said, pointing to the collection of phone charms.

“We don’t have time to…” Airi started before spotting what Makoto was pointing to. “Well, I guess a few minutes of looking wouldn’t hurt.”

The pair made their way to the charms and started looking. Makoto liked a few of the “cooler” ones like a skull or a teddy bear with x eyes, while Airi liked the more “cute” ones.

“Hey, which one of these should I get?” Airi said, holding up a charm of a panda and a charm of a penguin.

“Huh? Why are you asking me?”

“Because I value your opinion, now answer.”

“Well, you know I like penguins, but I know you like pandas more. I say why not get both of them? They can be friends.”

“You’re so indecisive. You’re right though, I guess I’ll just get both. If neither of us can decide, that just seems like the best option. Alright, back to searching.”

After what felt like an eternity of a day, Makoto and Airi finally found the MicroSD adaptor they were looking for. They promptly purchased the item, as well as a few phone charms, and left the building.

“I can’t believe we finally found it. And I got some super cute charms too. I can’t wait to show the other girls at school tomorrow.”

“Yeah, alright, well I guess we should go eat now.”

“Oh, hold on a second Mako-chan.”

“What is it?”

“I forgot, I want to go check some retro stores for a game I don’t have in my collection yet.”

“Alright then, let’s go.”

“Wow, you seem excited about going.”

“Well, I just want you to find what you’re looking for. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”

“I’m liking this happy Makoto. Come on.”

The two made their way to their favorite retro game store and started looking around. They had everything from the first home consoles to games released just a few years ago.

Airi looked around for a bit before realizing she was looking at games for the wrong console. Makoto on the other hand was short on energy after distracting Airi for so long. The weight of her guilt was pushing down on her.

Airi didn’t find the game she was looking for, so the pair left empty handed.

“Hey, I’m kinda tired Ai-Ai. Think we can stop somewhere and rest, maybe get something to drink?”

“Sure, there’s a cafe near here we can stop by.”

“Great, thanks.”

Airi and Makoto went into a nearby cafe, Makoto promptly sitting down at a table.

“What do you want?” Airi asked.

“I don’t really care. As long as I get some energy, I’m good.”

“Alright, got it.”

A few minutes later, Airi came back with two sandwiches and two cups.

“Here you go. I got you a sandwich for some fuel and a coffee to wake you up.”

The mention of the word coffee made Makoto perk up in shock. She was instantly reminded of what happened earlier in the day.

“Listen, Airi, I’ve got something to tell you.”

“What is it?” Airi replied, her mouth full of sandwich.

“I uh, might have completely wrecked your laptop earlier.”

“Huh? How?”

“Well, when you left to use the bathroom, I kinda carelessly threw myself onto your bed and the coffee I was drinking sort of spilled onto your laptop and fried it.”

“I see. Go on.”

“So, I tried to distract you by making you come here, which worked, but I knew it wouldn’t last forever, so I purposely made the trip longer so you wouldn’t find out, but I knew it wouldn’t last forever. I’m really sorry Airi.”

“Uh huh…” Airi said, slowly taking a sip of her coffee.

Makoto felt the guilt pressuring down on her even harder now.

“Listen, I know it won’t replace everything, but I’ll buy you a new laptop, I swear. I’ll get the money somehow. Maybe I can beat up some loser kids for it, or maybe I can do something sketchy to earn up the money. I don’t care, I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

“Makoto, you’re being stupid.”

“Huh?” Makoto replied, stunned at what she heard.

“Think about it, we have the power to redo the day. We can just go back to before you spilled coffee on my laptop and it’ll be like it never happened.”

“Oh, you’re right. I’m still super sorry though. I’ll find some way to make it up to you, even if it’s not an issue anymore.”

“Well, usually I’d be nice and tell you not to worry about it, but having you locked into a promise might come in handy some time. I’m gonna hold you to it.”

“Great, what have I just gotten myself into?”

The two went back to Airi’s house and checked on the laptop. Sure enough, it was completely fried and wouldn’t turn on.

“Alright, let’s go back. Grab my hand.” Airi said, setting the Timeagotchi for earlier that day.

“Ok… I feel so bad for making you do this.”

“Relax, it’s fine.”

A flash of light engulfed the two before the bedroom came back into view. Airi opened her laptop and it worked perfectly fine.

“Awesome! It works again!”

“Yep, but you still owe me for what you did.”

“I know, I know. Hey, let’s see what’s on that MicroSD now.”

Airi looked around for the bag it was in, but couldn’t find it. She stared Makoto dead in the face for a few seconds.

“We forgot to bring it back with us, didn’t we?” Makoto asked.

“Yep. Guess we’re going back to Akihabara.”

“Alright,” Makoto said, letting out a long sigh, “let’s go.”