The situation felt strangely familiar to the man, as if he had experienced something like this before. He found himself standing inside a large, open place that looked like an airport, though he couldn't pinpoint his exact location on any map. He was completely by himself, the only person in the empty expanse, and he stood there looking around at his silent surroundings. The sudden change didn't register as a surprise; there was no shock, just a calm acceptance of where he now was.
Then, a voice spoke. It didn't come from any specific direction, seeming to originate from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. The sound was simply present, filling the space around him. The voice asked, "Haven't you noticed? Just how weird all this is?" The question was posed, but the man felt no fear, worry, or anxiety in response to the strange event. A deep sense of neutrality settled over him, leaving him feeling detached from everything that was happening.
He began to walk through the quiet space and soon came to a long hallway that stretched out before him. Standing at the entrance to this hallway, he saw someone else. The person looked exactly like him in every detail, except for being much younger. This other version of himself appeared to be in his early teenage years.
It took a moment for the man to fully process what he was seeing. When the impossible image finally registered in his mind, he let out a simple, confused, "Huh?" He couldn't figure out why his younger self was present in this place or what his purpose was for being there. The confusion prompted him to ask, "Why are you going that way?" The man failed to understand the reason his younger self was heading down that particular hallway.
The older man moved closer, shortening the distance to his younger self. He needed answers and felt a growing urgency to get them. He asked, "Do you not plan on going with me, Aaron?" The use of his own name was a deliberate confirmation, an acknowledgment that this was truly a younger version of himself standing before him.
The young Aaron looked up at his older counterpart. His gaze was unusually intense, as if his eyes could pierce through the older Aaron's physical form, or maybe he was looking past him at something else entirely, something hidden from the man's view.
After a noticeable pause that hung in the air between them, the younger Aaron finally spoke. "I've been wanting to say this for a very long time," he began, his tone serious. He followed this with a strange question that seemed to cut to the core of the situation, "Don't you think something feels off? Or is it just me?"
Just then, the mysterious voice that had spoken earlier returned. It uttered a single, simple sentence, "I'm jealous." Much like the first time, the sound didn't seem to come from anywhere specific, but rather from the very air around them, a disembodied declaration in the empty space.
The younger Aaron paid no mind to the disembodied voice and continued talking. He posed a serious, probing question to his older self, his tone unwavering, "Older me, without all the hard times and challenges you've faced in your life so far... are you actually happy with anything?"
The directness of the question caught the older Aaron completely off guard. He raised one eyebrow, his expression a clear picture of confusion. "What?" he managed to say. His voice was laced with disbelief, as if he couldn't quite process the meaning or intent behind what his younger self was asking him.
The younger Aaron didn't wait for a proper answer and instead launched into a series of difficult questions, each one hitting harder than the last:
"Are you the strongest?"
"Aren't you just someone who tries too hard to make everyone happy?"
"Living forever is a bad thing. You made the people you love live forever too, which means they'll have to watch their loved ones die in the future. You only did this for yourself."
After laying out these heavy accusations, the younger Aaron looked up directly at his older self and smiled. He then asked, "What do you think about what I just said?"
Then, without missing a beat, the younger Aaron asked another question, his voice steady and direct, "Do you have any regrets?" He didn't wait for an answer before continuing his explanation, gesturing to their surroundings. "None of those things exist here. In this place, you can't lose anything, but you can't gain anything either. Don't you think that's strange?"
The older Aaron let out a long, tired sigh, the sound echoing slightly in the quiet space. He replied with a hint of irritation in his voice, "What's so weird about it? Why are you bringing this up now?"
His younger self simply laughed and shook his head, as if the answer was obvious. He then looked back up at his older self, his expression turning more serious. "I see. Let me be honest with you then. I'm feeling something that I shouldn't be feeling."
"Is that so?" the older Aaron responded, his tone flat and noncommittal.
The younger Aaron turned his head to look out through the large glass walls that lined both sides of the hallway. He continued speaking as he gazed into the undefined space beyond the glass, "I've realized that there are still many things I want to do."
He paused for a moment, letting the weight of his words settle before looking back at the older Aaron. He then stated plainly, "I'm not really satisfied."
A small smile appeared on the younger Aaron's face as he met his older self's eyes one last time. He asked, his voice softer but more insistent than before, "What about you? Be honest with me. Do you really have no regrets at all? Not even one?"
As they continued to talk, the world around them dissolved and reformed. They were no longer in the airport-like structure but were instead transported through a series of different places from their shared life, each location instantly recognizable to both of them. One moment they were standing in their old home in Ireland, the next they were in their new home in Kuoh, Japan, before finding themselves in their other two houses.
The journey continued, taking them to other significant spots around the world where they had spent a great deal of time, and even across the boundaries of universes they had visited. It was a seamless and continuous trip through the landscape of their own memories.
While they moved through this collage of their past, the younger Aaron continued to speak, his voice a constant presence against the changing backdrop. He posed a philosophical question, his eyes fixed on his older self. "To use your power to protect the people you care about... or to use it just to make yourself happy... in the end, what's the difference?"
He paused for a moment, letting the question hang between them as another memory formed around them. Then, he added his own conclusion, "The only time you can really tell the difference between these two things is when you're actually doing it." As he said this, a knowing smile spread across his face, directed at his older self.
The younger Aaron then began to repeat phrases he and his older self had heard countless times from other people, almost mimicking their voices:
"Aaron can definitely do this."
"If Aaron does this, there won't be any problems."
After reciting these common sentiments, the younger Aaron shook his head and let out a small, tired laugh, as if exhausted by the weight of those expectations. He said, "I never doubted that you could do anything. Not even once. We both know that if you really decided to do something, you could make it happen, no matter what it was."
Suddenly, the younger Aaron burst out laughing, a full and unrestrained sound. He slapped his sides as he looked at his older self's baffled expression. "I can't believe you're looking at me like that! Is it really so strange? For me, who is basically you, to say these things?"
The older Aaron offered no verbal response. He just stared back, his face a mask of strange confusion. His expression was a silent question, as if he was trying to figure out if his younger self had completely lost his mind.
The younger Aaron continued speaking, his gaze fixed on his older self. "All this time, you've been doing whatever you wanted to do, acting without restraint. But when no one was watching or listening, you always worried about what might happen because of your actions. You kept all those worries locked away inside, feeling nervous and stressed on the inside while putting on a different face for the world. You used your fake pride as a shield to push away everyone who got close to you, all because of your special reincarnation. Even though I'm you, the heat of your strength is too much for me to handle," he told his older self, his voice carrying a strange mix of admiration and burden.
The younger Aaron laughed again, the sound cutting off abruptly as his expression turned completely serious. He looked at his older self and said with conviction, "But you know what? That's the new you—the new me—the new us that I really like!"
He seemed to be describing their new self as:
Self-centered.
Free.
Never restricted.
The younger Aaron looked at his older self with a smile that seemed a bit tired, as if the entire conversation had taken a lot out of him.
Then, that mysterious voice spoke again, its words filling the space around them. It said, "Because of you, we are like this. Because of him, we are like that. Because of everyone... we can be ourselves."
Once more, the scene around them dissolved and reformed into something new. At first, Aaron didn't recognize where they were; the environment was unfamiliar and indistinct. But after a few seconds of taking in his surroundings, a deep sense of familiarity washed over him. He realized it was the place where he had first appeared when he was reborn, the very starting point of his new life.
The younger Aaron stood before him, looking exactly the same as he always had. It was as if he had never grown up, frozen in a single moment of time, his youthful appearance never changing. In contrast, the older Aaron had changed a lot. His hair and eyes were now a striking silver. He carried himself with a newfound confidence, and though he looked older than he had been, he still retained a youthful appearance.
"Now then. It's your turn," the younger Aaron said, a smirk playing on his lips as he looked his older self up and down. "Who is the person standing in front of me? Who are you?"
This direct question seemed to take the older Aaron by surprise. He looked down, his gaze falling into the black emptiness that spread out beneath their feet. For a moment, his face was hidden by his silver hair, his expression impossible to see. But then he looked back up, meeting his younger self's gaze with a completely confident smile.
"You're being pretty bold, talking to me like that. That attitude of yours really needs to change," said the older Aaron, his tone a mixture of warning and amusement. As he spoke, an invisible wind seemed to manifest from nowhere, blowing his silver hair to the side as if to add weight to his words.
"Who else could I be but Aaron Toole?" he asked, his voice filled with an unshakeable confidence. The question was not a true inquiry but a firm declaration of his identity, a statement of fact that allowed no room for doubt or argument.
"Ha! Are you famous or something?" his younger self shot back with a skeptical laugh, his voice dripping with disbelief. The question was a clear challenge, as if he found the idea of his future self being anyone important to be completely ridiculous.
"Fans?" the older Aaron repeated, his smirk growing wider across his face until it was a full grin. "I have plenty. In fact, there's one talking to me right now." His words were a playful jab, turning his younger self's skepticism back on him.
For a moment, both versions of Aaron just smirked at each other, a silent and mutual understanding passing between them. Then, in perfect unison, they both turned around sharply, their movements flawlessly synchronized as they started walking away from each other.
Suddenly, the scene around them flickered and changed one last time. They were abruptly transported back to the vast, empty airport where their strange meeting had first begun.
The older Aaron started walking south, his path taking him toward one end of the silent terminal.
The younger Aaron started walking north, heading in the completely opposite direction.
As the distance between them grew, that mysterious, disembodied voice spoke one final time. It shouted with commanding force, the words booming through the empty space with an undeniable power, "Go and do what you really want!!!"
This moment felt important, a critical juncture that carried immense weight. It was about:
His choice.
His decision.
These things were meaningful!
As Aaron walked forward, the world around him began to distort, seeming to spin and change in a fluid, continuous motion. The sensation was unmistakable; it felt like he was traveling backwards through his own personal timeline, being pulled from his current point in existence all the way back to the very moment he was born.
As he moved through this reverse flow of time, he saw a cascade of important moments from his life. He witnessed the big goals he had set for himself over his entire lifetime, the triumphs and the turning points flashing before him. Each time one of these significant memories appeared, a genuine smile touched Aaron's lips.
These scenes served as a powerful reminder of all he had accomplished and everything he had experienced. Even though he was going backwards through his life, reliving his history in reverse, seeing these moments again made him feel a profound sense of happiness and pride in the man he had become.
.
.
.
.
.
.
…I'll wait for you.
Now tell me…
…Are you satisfied?
.
.
.
.
.
Definitely!
With you…
I am…
I…
...
-Aaron Toole.
— ○ ● ○ —
Chapter title: Ode To The Past and To The Future