Episode 9: The Future Again...and How Mimori Explored It

Like war, for example. War “cannot be changed”, and she wasn’t even attempting to change it anyway… mostly because she wasn’t good at what very little she played of Call of Duty on the Wii.

Back on subject: For her, none of these rules even applied to her, because her power was that strong. She could go back in time and do whatever she wanted, even bad things if she wanted to. She never did, however, since she was a good girl and used old money to buy the My Little Pony toys that she wasn’t able to get in the Present Day.

For the record, Mimori didn’t do this all the time—she only did it when times (ha) were very dire.

Where there was the past, there was the future, and what this episode is about, as you can see from the title, is about Mimori going into the future.

A while back, if you remember correctly (please do), she unintentionally went into the future—to 2026, more specifically. Everything there was exactly how she wanted it to be—all of her friends had their dream jobs (or something, some of them she didn’t quite understand yet). Mimori even got the job she always wanted of being a writer (for a website, but it was something).

The best thing that she witnessed, however, was that she basically married Drew. Yessss!

The downside of her trip though was that Mimori felt like she hadn’t spent enough time there.

She was starving for more lore.

Yes. Mimori, who liked to sometimes refer to herself as a “strictly past” girl, wanted to go to the future. It was that good.

It was almost two in the morning and Mimori was laying in her bed, still fully awake after a night of scouring the Internet for some music review videos. Her brain was suddenly swimming with thoughts of going back into the future to live in it more.

That’s what she had enough of it.

You know what? I don’t care about spoiling my future! I’m gonna go back and learn some more about it!

And so she closed her eyes and counted to ten, thinking of the year 2026.

❤

Mimori went from hearing her sound machine, which was playing rain, to silence.

I can’t tell if that’s cool or freaky.

Mimori rolled over onto her stomach, even though she knew it was bad for her, and looked back and forth, her eyes adjusting to the darkness.

Right as her eyes did, she noticed there was a body laying next to her—Andy!

How does he look even cuter when he’s sleeping? She had to wonder. Well, he’d be even cuter if it wasn’t for that fucking beard he kinda has.

That was when Mimori’s brain stopped for a second.

Wait a second. I basically said to go to the future but not a specific date, just a specific year. It’s the same day here as in the future, right?

Mimori carefully got out of bed and tip-toed over to her dresser, where her futuristic-looking phone lay. She turned it on, and carefully cupped her hand over the screen, so the light of it wasn’t too blinding to her freshly adjusted eyes.

August 10th, 2026. 1:15 am.

Upon seeing the date, Mimori gasped and laid the phone back down.

Well, I was right.

And with that, she got back into bed and fell back asleep, because she wasn’t that much of a night owl.

★

Mimori must have slept well because the next thing she knew, she heard her husband’s voice.

“Mimori-chan, wake up. C’mon, Mimori-chan!”

Mimori groaned and rolled over to one side. “Mmm… not until you shave first…” she mumbled aloud. Then, realizing her bluntness—

“Gomin…”

Andy made a scoffing noise that suddenly sounded all too familiar to her. (He’s totally not Drew though, guys!) “Well, okay. But I thought you liked my scruff.”

Really? What’s wrong with future me?! He looks horrible with it!

Mimori rolled onto her back now and decided to finally open her eyes.

Yes, Andy did have scruff. And emo bangs. They at least looked cute, she decided.

Mimori giggled evilly. “Not this version of me, Duru-chan!”

The man groaned. “Augh, okay. You’re the high school-aged Mimori, right?”

“Yep.” The girl winked.

As he left the room, Mimori was still sorting things in her mind as she sat on the bed, pondering her current-but-not-actually life.

I wonder how many times I’ve come to the future at this point that he knows it’s me? Or maybe this version of me is just distinct enough that he remembered when I vaguely hinted at it?

So many things to think about, yet so little hours in the day.

Still feeling pretty tired (because that feeling never went away) Mimori got out of bed and walked downstairs, she heard the sound of the razor humming in the bathroom. (Good.)

Mimori knocked on the door, hoping that Nick wouldn’t mind, and the door opened, revealing Andy, whose facial hair was gone, almost.

“Uh, hi!” she greeted dorkily, still getting used to the matureness of her voice. “The baby’s still asleep, right?”

Andy raised an eyebrow. “Yeah…?”

Mimori heaved a heavy sigh. “Phew! And wait—how could you almost be done already?”

“Because I’ve been in here for a few minutes now,” Nick replied in a manner that felt like he was kind of talking down to her. “Exactly how old are you, anyway? This version of you?”

Mimori’s voice lowered. “Sixteen…?”

“Okay, thought so.” Andy lowered his gaze at her, making her blush. “Now just lemme finish, alright?”

“A-alright.”

The door closed gently. Mimori thought that she was going to pass out, so decided to go to the fridge and get a bottle of water to help hydrate herself. (Those two things are totally related.)

Wheeew. That conversation went okay.

It still felt pretty awkward to her that she was in this adult body, but it was her choice to go back to the future, after all, and that’s what happens—If you’re already in the time period then your soul will be placed into that body.

Made sense.

Sighhhh.

Mimori had to wonder what Adult! Mimori and Andy’s relationship was like, without Teenage! Mimori in it.

“Must be nice, huh?” she murmured aloud.

And then, she felt like breaking into song.

The woman’s fingers tapped on the couch’s armrest—the song in question was one that Drew knew very well.

“‘Got a big plan

His mindset

Maybe he’s right’”

It was one of his favorite songs back in 2006 as well. I wonder if Andy knows it or not?

She continued to sing as she heard the razor still buzzing away.

“‘It’s only just a crush, it’ll go away

It’s just like all the others, it’ll go away

Or maybe this is danger and he just don’t know

You pray it all away, but it continues to grow…’”

The song, she thought, described her perfectly… Well, until now, that is. Clearly the crush didn’t go away as she ended up marrying a guy that looked, sounded, and acted just like Drew, and even shared the same name—Andrew.

It then dawned on her.

Who is Andy exactly, if he wasn’t Drew? But he had to be Drew right? It’s too much of a coincidence if he wasn’t. Is he lying to Teenage! Mimori?

I’d have to seriously look at some medical papers or something but I wouldn’t even know where to begin looking for those.

What if he was the Teenage! Drew she brought into the world during Mari’s sleepover, just grown-up and with a different nickname? Did she pull him into the “present time” again at some point, but he stayed there permanently?

Mimori’s choice of song went to a different song as she heard the razor stop. (She was singing quietly so as to not wake the baby, of course.)

She hardly knew the lyrics to this one, however.

“‘Only you can stop the pain!

Something lying out in the cold!

Leave me out to die…’”

Andy was then standing right in front of her as she was in her daze, which she then snapped out of.

“Mimori,” he said, chuckling. “Mimori-chan.” Andy was doing his half-smirk, half-wink thing. “I’m done. We can… do whatever you came here for now.”

Mimori’s eyes actually focused on Andy now, who was smoothing his hair down.

Damn, he really does look better cleanly shaven.

“Wow…” she said in a breathy voice. “You look gorgeous. I mean, not that I haven’t seen you before as an adult, but… damn.”

Andy nodded, still smiling, the hair that he was smoothing back falling back into place. “Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay.” He chuckled again. “Now what was it you wanted to do or talk to me about?” He took a seat across from her on a different couch, kind of like how they do in interviews.

“Uh…” Mimori realized that she was delving far too deep into the Possible Andy Lore rabbit hole and had almost completely forgotten about her purpose of being here—oh, that and seven hours had passed since she arrived here, and she was sleeping for all of them.

“Oh, right, right! I came here to learn more about my future. And, I want to see some of my friends.”

“Oh, wow. Okay, dude. I-I guess we can make that happen.”

Curiously, before Nick figured out how to accomplish that task, Mimori added, “So you remember the last time we talked? You know, on New Year’s Eve?”

Andy narrowed his eyes and began to scratch his chin, which was likely pretty itchy. “Vaguely. I mean yeah, I do remember, just not all that clearly. But something about me telling you about your future.”

“Okay, cool. So… how are my friends?” asked Mimori tentatively.

Andy rolled his eyes. “They’re good, yeah. Nothing exciting really happened since the last time we talked, trust me.”

“Ah, okay.” Well, that’s a big disappointment. I wanted lore!

The room was quiet for a little bit.

Mimori took a deep breath and thought for a moment in the peaceful silence.

Alright. Do I ask it to him or what?

The question regarding his mysterious identity.

Yes.

Yes, I do.

Mimori let the breath out.

“Okay, so this is a bit of a weird thing to ask, but… Are you actually related to Drew or not? Because it’s too strange, in my opinion, that you look, sound, and act just like the real Drew.”

Andy blinked, and then looked thoughtful for a moment.

And then, the truth was laid bare.

“Alright. Funny thing regarding that—so, I’m not actually Drew. I just really am basically a clone to him.”

“Okay…” I don’t believe it.

Then, as if he was reading her mind… “Please believe it. We met during your graduation school walk, funnily enough. You saw me and freaked out, you couldn’t believe it. Nick was still there at that time, by the way. He ended up dating Suika for a while and then they broke up.”

“Interesting…”

“But yeah. That’s it.”

“Hm. That’s neat.” Mimori was calm on the outside but absolutely freaking out on the inside.

AHHHHHH!!!

Mimori stared at him after that, which admittedly must have felt pretty awkward for Andy to be on the receiving end of.

“ … You gonna keep staring?” she snarked.

“Ah! Soo sorry!” Mimori said, jerking up from her seat. “I’m so sorry, it must be really weird for your wife to stare at you but it’s actually her past self inside! I’m so sorry!”

Andy chortled and then, once he calmed down said, “Oh, yeah. Didn’t something similar happen to Hank?”

“AHHHHH at some point!” Mimori shrieked and then covered her mouth. “Yeah, it did. But I don’t wanna talk about that. Right now, I actually wanna visit one of my friends, remember?!”

“Hmmm…” Andy thought for a moment again. “Mari’s always free since her job is performing at a comedy club a few times per week. We can schedule a lunch date right now, she’s pretty spontaneous and wouldn’t object.”

“Ah, okay. Sounds good!” Mimori was quick to agree. Then, she thought of something. “Hey, how are Ean and Miharu doing?”

“Ean’s a YouTuber vlogger and Miharu works for Google. You Snapchat her every day, actually.”

Mimori gasped. Those jobs sound AWESOME!

Snapchat still being a thing, however, angered her. Fuckin kill me, man.

“Heh heh heh!” Mimori put her hands on her hips. “Then let’s go then!”

Andy put a finger up in the air. “I texted Mari a minute ago and she already got back to me. She said that she’s good with noon.”

“Nice!” The woman froze in place. “Ah.”

“Yeah, you gotta get ready. Did that escape your mind or something?”

Mimori blushed furiously. “Y-yes,” she admitted, trying to act like a tsundere.

Andy snorted. “Tsun.”

Still got it.

★

Thank God Mari was so incredibly spontaneous, otherwise this whole meetup would’ve never happened!

It seemed that Mimori had many things to be thankful for that day.

So, to sum up their meeting:

At precisely noon, Andy and Mimori drove up to their local cafe and met Mari there, who was already sitting at the table near the door. (Andy drove there by the way, since Mimori was too scared to.)

Mari had matured incredibly well. Her body already looked mature for its age, but the outfit she was wearing (which Mimori never thought in a hundred years she would ever wear), a tank top and t-shirt combo along with a denim skirt, complimented her curves very well. Her hair was long and was in a side ponytail, something else that Mimori never thought she’d wear.

“Mimori, hey! What’s up? ‘It’s been a while~’, hasn’t it?” Mari gave Mimori a hug, and Mimori wasn’t surprised in the slightest to hear her reference that song.

“AHHHHH!” Mimori said, pretending to scream.

Mari chuckled. “So again, what’s up? I haven’t seen anything in your Story today.”

Why did I do this to myself? Mimori cried in her head. “Who can say where the road goes…”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she admitted, a disgusted tone prominent in her voice. She then remembered that this was her future self. “Ah, right. I have a Snapchat now.”

Mari gasped and sat back down in her chair. Mimori and Andy sat across from her. “Oh, you’re right! You’re the past Mimori. Right, right. That makes sense. Andy kinda alluded to it in his text. The tone of voice gave it away, though.” Then, she turned her attention to Andy.

“Ayyy Andy! You shaved! I’m impressed! You usually have that perma-clock shadow on your face.”

Andy blushed and averted his eyes. “Uh, yeah. Teenager! Mimori demanded that I do it.”

Mimori’s eyes, as the exchange was going on, wandered around the cafe, taking in all the surroundings. Things didn’t look as futuristic as the rooms that she was previously in. This must be a retro-style cafe then, or at least one that’s supposed to be free of TVs or whatever.

It was weird to not have a TV in a restaurant or cafe, in her opinion.

“Hey, Mimori.”

“H-huh?!” Mimori perked up in her seat.

“So, what do you think of the future?”

“Ummm…” The woman wasn’t sure how to answer that. “Well… besides the fact that I have a TikTok and everything’s futuristic, I do like that we all didn’t suffer as adults.”

Mari cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean by that?”

“Um,” Mimori started again, suddenly feeling super shy. “None of us died or got in trouble with the law or anything. I mean, I don’t know about Ean but the rest of you I couldn’t imagine it anyway.”

“Ha!” Mari cackled. “‘Besides Ean.’ Yeah, she did get in trouble a few times for disobeying the traffic laws, but she’s been pretty tolerable since high school.”

“Really?” Mimori couldn’t imagine it at all, but she barely knew the girl. Fair enough.

“Yeah. ‘Character development,’ as you say.”

That statement, for whatever reason, Mimori couldn’t handle.

Character development. Character development.

Did I get any?

It seemed like, from what Mari said and Andy noticed, it was easy to tell that Mimori was her past self and not her Current Year self, so it must be true.

I can’t handle it.

Mimori started to hyperventilate.

Now, it didn’t happen that often, Mimori getting overwhelmed, but when it did happen, it felt excruciatingly painful—not in the “Ow, my leg” way, but in the “Ahhh, my mind” kind of way.

In her head, the beginning of “Where Is My Mind?” by the Pixies played… Because if there was any way of her coping with having an anxiety attack, it was thinking about music.

My mind—my own little iPod.

iPods. They don’t exist here. It’s the future.

What am I like in the future? How different am I? How—?

“MIMORI!”

“Mimori, are you okay?!”

The last thing she heard was Andy and Mari calling out to her.

Mimori blacked out.

❤

Yup. Blacked out.

And, oddly enough, Mimori thought she had accidentally sent herself home.

However, she hadn’t.

Mimori found herself in front of a TV set, or something. There were cameras everywhere.

Then, Mimori realized exactly where she was.

She was on the set of Charmed—in the Halliwells’ “attic,” more specifically.

There was someone right across from her too… Drew.

Unsurprisingly enough, his mouth was agape, which would be Mimori’s reaction too if she ever saw somebody teleport into a room all of a sudden.

“ … Is there anybody around?” she said, looking back and forth.

Luckily, although the cameras were there, she saw no one else around.

I hope those cameras aren’t running…

But, seriously. Why was she here?

Mimori had to admit, though. Drew did look super cute in that blue hoodie and green shirt.

Not speaking of which…

“Uh, no,” he replied, sounding reasonably startled. “Where’d you come from?”

“From the future, but that doesn’t matter. I need to know why I was sent here, as quickly as possible.”

Drew pointed to himself, eyebrows creased. “Why me?”

“Because…” Mimori’s voice trailed off. She couldn’t think of a single reason as to how her crush could help her out with finding out whatever reason she was there.

Am I going insane or something?

Suddenly, Mimori regained her voice and froze time so that no one would come onto the set and hear her.

“ … Because I wanna go back home! A-and maybe I wanna hear you talk, too. Preferably in reverse order.”

“Okay, okay. Fine.” Drew sighed and promptly patted the seat next to him on the purposely beaten-up couch.

Mimori wasted no time sitting next to him. This is actually happening, she kept telling herself.

“I’m surprised you believe me,” she giggled. “Normally people would think I’m crazy.”

“Well, considering you appeared out of nowhere and froze time, I think I believe you.”

“And you’re so calm about it!” she shouted. Whoops. Force of habit. “Innyway. Just help calm me down so I can go back home.”

“Alright. Uh… ‘You’re getting sleeeepyyy…’”

❤

For some reason, his dumb attempt at hypnotism actually helped calm her down and she was able to travel back to her present time in her usual way.

When she got back home, Mimori remembered that it was still almost two in the morning, and so she fell asleep with no trouble.

Well, that was an emotionally extensive day, even though I didn’t cry or anything. I still had a panic attack, though. Those aren’t good.

Mimori decided to not go back to the future anytime (heh) soon.