1
"Adolescence Syndrome? Is that a new nickname for ADHD or something?"
I asked, unable to recall ever hearing about it.
She gave a small laugh and shook her head.
"Not quite. To make it simple, think about a bottle of soda. You can shake it around, but it won't burst open if you just set it down right?"
"Well if you take the cap off it would definitely make a mess. But otherwise I suppose not."
She nodded
"But very rarely, it could happen. Those times when the bottle explodes, that's what adolescence syndrome is. Because your body is changing is why it's even possible to experience the syndrome."
"Moments or emotions that overwhelm you are usually the trigger for it. Did something like that happen recently?"
I looked down, unable to meet her eyes in that moment. Even now it was still raw and painful to think about it, especially after seeing it with my own eyes.
I fought back the urge to completely break down, I was thankful that she didn't say anything and waited.
"I..."
I paused, realizing this was the first time I'd ever actually said it aloud.
"I lost someone very close to me, the first person I could ever call a friend. She was..."
I broke off as I saw the look in her eyes.
"I understand. So because of that, you felt overwhelmed and that led to you experiencing adolescence syndrome."
She looked away for a moment, lost in thought. I continued snacking while she did, offering her some but she declined.
"So what has your adolescence syndrome manifested into?"
I thought over the events of the past day.
"I've woken up three times in a row today and could see my other past self doing things that I was supposed to do."
She perked up for a moment before coming back down.
"Hmm, this is a bit different than last time. Guess there's no easy route."
I looked at her puzzled.
"So you've had this happen before too?"
She shook her head again.
"I've dealt with the syndrome before, but my case was different from yours. A friend of mine repeated the same day like you, but his situation was different than yours so I don't think the same solution will work."
She lightly rolled her eyes as she said friend, clearly there was some history there.
"That reminds me, where are you staying?"
I looked down again, remembering the fiasco I had this morning.
"Well, I live in Toyama Perfecture, and stayed here last night for shelter but when I woke up, there was a slight issue since I hadn't paid yet due to the syndrome."
She then pulled out her phone, and after scrolling through her contacts held it up to her ear.
"Hi Kaede-chan, it's Rio. Is Sakuta there?
"..."
Can you put him on?"
She smiled menacingly as she waited for Sakuta to come to the phone.
"Hey Azusagawa, I'm going to need a favor from you.
"..."
Oh come on! Do I need to tell Mai-san that you don't want to help one of your friends?
"..."
"Great, I'll be over in a little while. Do you need anything from the store? I'll be heading by there first."
I waited as she wrote down whatever Sakuta was saying, and then she ended the call.
"So since you don't have anywhere you can stay and probably not enough money to keep paying twice per night, you'll be staying with my friend Sakuta. He's the one whom I mentioned went through similar cases like this."
She smiled
"Oh! I should probably introduce myself, I'm Rio Futaba. Nice to meet you."
She held out her hand.
Before Sakura, I would never have considered shaking someone's hand so soon. Then again, I'd never even be in a position like this, having a conversation with some stranger for so long.
I reached out and shook her hand, telling her my name in return.
"I'm Haruki… Haruki Shiga. Nice to meet you too."
She gathered up her things, and stood up.
"Well, we better get moving then. Do you need anything in particular, otherwise I have a store in mind that we can go to."
I checked my bag, noticing a few things were low in my toiletries.
"No, we can go to wherever you have in mind."
I followed her out of the cafe onto the busy street. Most people seemed to be headed to lunch, and as we got further from the cafe and surrounding restaurants, the people around us thinned out.
"Thank you for helping me, but I think there's a flaw in your plan."
She looked over to me, and raised her eyebrow.
"Oh? And what would that be?"
She stopped and waited for me.
"Well what happens when I wake up and your friend doesn't know who I am? Isn't he going to freak out that some stranger broke in and slept in his place?"
She continued to walk.
"I've been wondering about that myself. Sakuta may seem rough when you meet him at first but he's a good guy deep down. So if you're worried he'd start attacking you in the morning, then you're safe."
She looked back, smiling again to reassure me I would be safe.
"As for how to deal with explaining things, I've had a few ideas. He and I can write notes and you can give them to us. We know our own handwriting well enough."
I began to agree, but then something bugged me.
"Last night I received a receipt for my spot but when I woke up I couldn't find it anywhere. What if the same happens with the letters?"
She sighed, and muttered.
"Yeah no easy route, I get it."
"I'm sorry, I don't want to be a bother to you and your friend. I can just do things myself."
She stopped again, this time looking sad.
"Us helping you isn't a bother, though I know he might complain at the beginning. We both know what it's like to go through this, and we were only able to get through it because we helped each other. I remember how it felt at first dealing with it alone, and I don't want to know that I left someone alone when I could have helped them. So please don't feel bad about our help."
I saw her smile at the end, and realized that she meant what she had said.
"I'm sorry, I believe you. Shall we continue? I'd hate to keep your friend waiting for us."
She looked over and noticed the worried look on my face as we left the store after buying some food and groceries.
"His place is not too far from here, in case you're worried I was going make you walk across the city."
I shook my head.
"No, I was just thinking about how to make this syndrome stop."
Scenarios of what I could do had been running through my head, intermingled with the failure I had experienced yesterday.
"In order to find a solution, I'd need to know more. What you've done, things that have happened because of the syndrome, anything that you can think of that would help. Have you ever dreamt of today's incidents and if you posted about that in social media or SNS before?"
I thought through the events that had transpired since that night, and told her what felt relevant.
"You haven't gone up to the other you in person, right?"
She immediately stopped once I told her about what happened when I woke up a second time.
"No, the closest I got was from down the street but that old me never saw this me. I tried to call and text but that didn't work either."
She looked relieved.
"Be thankful that you didn't get any further than that, you would have been in serious trouble. A paradox is the last thing you ever want to have happen. The reason why the call and text didn't work is most likely to prevent a paradox from happening."
"But I got a call and text before the syndrome even occurred. So how did I contact myself before I started this loop?"
At this point we were in front of the apartment building where her friend lived.
"Your syndrome is dealing with time, and like I said it's different from the last time I saw something like this. Perhaps because you tried to interact with yourself, you pushed against the flow of time and caused an abnormality. That's why I'm glad to help you, you could cause some serious damage if you make any further mistakes."
I shuddered at the threat of the consequences. Pulling out the phone I had bought, I saw that I was still out of minutes.
"But today is a different day and I can't make a call on this phone.
So wouldn't that mean that today I don't get the call?"
She reached out and pressed the elevator call button.
"Do you still remember getting the call and text?"
She looked over as she asked.
"Well yes. I haven't forgotten anything about that day."
She nodded.
"Think of the other you as a time trial ghost in a racing game. The car will make the same moves that you did, so anything you did and anything that happened to you will still happen. Even if you don't make the call today, it will still happen because you made that abnormality. That's why you need to be more careful."
The elevator arrived, and we stepped inside. Pressing the button for the fourth floor, the doors closed and we headed up. I continued to tell her the events that had transpired, and I could see her making mental notes at certain parts.
"So the things you grabbed from your room are still here, as well as the phone you bought but it is out of minutes. Did you notice that it had minutes this morning?"
I tried to recall my sudden awakening by the cafe employee.
"I think it might have been out, I only glanced at it once but I'm pretty sure I saw the message on screen."
"We'll have to test that tomorrow just to be sure. It's a small detail but it helps."
The elevator chimed and came to a stop as she finished, and we headed out. The number outside the apartment was 402, with a nameplate underneath that simply said "Azusagawa Residence"
2
As Rio reached out to ring the doorbell, the door in front of us opened up. Standing in front of us was a girl, she looked to be around the same age but a bit older than me. She glanced at me before seeing Rio, and a big smile filled her face.
"You came, I'm so happy you're here Rio-san."
Rio smiled back at the girl in front of us.
"Hey Kaede-chan, I wish this was under better circumstances but it's nice to see you too."
She lifted up her hand holding her bags from the store
"Do you mind if we head inside? These bags aren't getting any lighter unfortunately."
Kaede moved into the apartment, and we followed her inside.
It was a nice and small 2BHK apartment, even as someone who didn't go inside a lot of apartments could tell that much. The living room had framed posters of different movies, shows, and even some product ads near a white wired-telephone on one of the walls. The kitchen looked new, with the appliances looking as though they had been put in recently. Either this Sakuta had just gotten the apartment, or he was well off to keep it looking so nice.
We set the bags down, and Rio quickly put away our purchases.
"By the way, where's Sakuta? I thought he was going to be here."
Rio called out as she finished up.
"He had to go out for a second, he didn't say where he was going but he promised me he'd be back soon."
Kaede peeked her head around the corner and the look on her face made it seem like she was sorry, even though it wasn't her fault.
"So I guess we'll just have to wait for him to come back."
Rio shrugged and headed out of the kitchen, beckoning me to follow her as we ended up in the living room. The TV was on, there was a documentary about Pandas playing. Kaede eagerly jumped onto the couch and patted the spot next to her for Rio to sit down.
"By the way, who's the guy that's with you?"
Kaede looked over at me before staring at Rio. I meekly smiled and waved, and Kaede waved back.
"This is someone I met today, he's going through a rough spot because of adolescence syndrome. So I brought him here to get Sakuta's help."
Kaede nodded, and looked back over to me. "My name is Kaede, Sakuta is my older brother. If Rio-san is helping you out, you must be a good person"
She smiled and tilted her head slightly. I introduced myself, and felt a little more at ease.
As we sat waiting for Sakuta to arrive, I watched the pandas on the documentary currently in the middle of a nap, as the voice over talked about their sleeping habits. The low tone of the speaker mixed with the peacefully sleeping pandas had affected me, and it was only the sound of the front door opening that prevented me from joining the pandas in their nap.
A guy with earphones entered the room, the look on his face making it seem as though he was trying to avoid any contact from the world. As he opened them from his ears, I could hear a faint song stopped playing.
Turn The World Upside Down
I once heard Sakura listening to that old popular album, made by Touko Kirishima few years back.
"I'm glad you could join us Azusagawa, I was beginning to think you ran off instead."
Rio crossed her arms and stared at Sakuta. He ruffled his hair and sighed.
"Koga and Himeji called, and said there was some guy following them so I walked them home. I would have let you know but they made it seem pretty urgent on the phone so I didn't have the time."
He sat down across from us, leaning back and closing his eyes for a moment. Rio reached out and lightly kicked his leg after he did this.
"Alright alright! You don't have to abuse me."
He opened his eyes and looked at her.
"So what help of mine do you desperately need?"
She rolled her eyes at this.
"Actually this is just a favour to me. He's the one who needs the help."
She looked over at me as she said this, and Sakuta and I stared at each other. I introduced myself and held out my hand. Sakuta reached back and we shook hands.
"Kaede do you mind going to your room for a bit, it might make our guest feel a little more comfortable."
Sakuta looked over at Kaede, and I felt grateful to him. Having to tell someone else everything was already going to be hard enough, having a third party there would ruin my concentration.
Kaede nodded, and turned off the TV. As she left the room, she paused and messed with Sakuta's hair, much to his dismay. Laughing, she continued walking away until we could hear the panda documentary faintly from her bedroom in the apartment.
Sakuta grumbled and tried to fix the damage to his hair, but it was a half-hearted effort.
"You should appreciate your sister giving you help with your looks Azusagawa, your hair looks leagues better than before."
Rio looked as though she was very amused. He ignored her comment, and finally gave up on fixing his hair.
"Sorry for asking, but Kaede is your sister right?"
I asked as Sakuta placed his hands down. He nodded.
"If the help you need is asking my sister out, you're on your own there."
I started to stammer before Rio spoke up.
"It's a shame your sense of humour is so bad, I'm sure Mai-san could have introduced you to some comedians."
Sakuta grumbled at that, and I managed to stop stumbling over my words.
"S-sorry but no. I was just curious about the nameplate outside."
"Ah, yes. Kaede is my younger sister, but there's actually one other person that lives here as well. Well… half if you go into details."
Sakuta's face lit up as he began talking.
"Right now, the one I'm talking about is my fiancé, Mai Azusagawa. She lives just in front of this apartment in the condo but sometimes stays overnight here either in mine or Kaede's room."
Finding out that I would be staying with two strangers was already tricky enough, now there could be even another stranger?
So, this unassuming man in front of me is engaged. He seemed to be similar to me in how we treated the world, but when it came to relationships we were on completely different levels.
I nodded.
"Now that that's out of the way, it's time for why we're here."
Rio nudged me as she spoke.
"Right, sorry. It's all still new to me, but I am suffering from a strange phenomenon known as Adolescence Syndrome. She brought me here because I have nowhere else to stay."
At that, Sakuta began to pay attention.
I started from the beginning once again, and just as Rio did, Sakuta also spoke up once I mentioned almost meeting myself.
"...and then as I was at a computer at a net cafe, that's when I meet Rio."
I finished and waited for one of them to begin speaking. Sakuta leaned back and thought to himself.
"So, I guess doing it that way wouldn't work huh?"
He said to himself and sighed.
Rio laughed at him with an amusing smirk.
"Even though you had overcome your adolescence long time ago… but still it isn't ready yet to leave you alone, Azusagawa."
Sakuta sighed and looked over at me.
"I get it. But you don't have to worry, we believe you and can figure it out together. I'm guessing you need a place to sleep?"
I nodded.
"I hope I'm not being a bother by asking this."
I appreciated the help so far, having people who understood that I could talk to was already a huge help. Rio was right, being alone and trying to deal with this would be a nightmare.
Without having someone to help, it would be like trying to swim in a storm without a life vest.
"Well, I'd have to check up with Mai-San, but I think she'd say yes. She's dealt with the syndrome too so she's no stranger to these situations."
Sakuta smiled at the mention of his fiancé.
"You can sleep in my room. I'll manage on the couch."
I started to speak, and at that moment the sound of the front door opening could be heard. Immediately, Sakuta sat up straight.
"Oh! I didn't realize we were having guests tonight. Did Sakuta offer you anything to drink?"
The woman speaking must have been the Mai-san that had been mentioned.
With her looks, she must have to be a model or an actress. She smiled sweetly at me, and introduced herself. Then she looked over at Sakuta and her sweet smile faded slightly.
"Sakuta, you know you shouldn't slouch in front of guests."
She pinched his ear as she spoke, and Sakuta began to wince as though she was ripping his ear off.
"Ow! I wasn't--"
"Your clothes give you away, so don't try to lie to me."
She released his ear and gave him a kiss on the cheek, before sitting down next to him.
Beside me, Rio looked over to Sakuta and then to Mai.
"It might have been better to wait, but long story short. He's Haruki Shiga and is dealing with adolescence syndrome. Plus he needs a place to stay because of it."
Sakuta looked over to Mai and nodded.
"I just got told the story by Futaba or I would have given you a heads up before, but then you came home."
"Sure, you'll have to catch me up on everything though Sakuta."
Mai looked at me, and I nodded in agreement with a bow of gratitude.
"That's more than enough, thank you for letting me stay here."
Rio stood up next to me.
"I thought we might eat dinner and then after we could discuss possible solutions. We have two immediate problems to solve, so some time to think things through would be good."
The rest of us agreed, and Sakuta and Mai stood up.
"If you'd like, you can go wash up. There's nothing a nice warm shower can't help fix, and we can cook in the meantime. Also I'll get caught up from Sakuta so you don't have to tell everything again."
Mai said this to me, wanting to give me some time to myself. I thanked her, and she pointed out the bathroom and handed me a towel.
The sound of the water and the heat of it helped me relax, and my mind began to wander.
"I hope they can figure things out, they seem fairly confident in themselves"
I thought to myself.
As I massaged the shampoo into my hair, my eyes closed to prevent any of the shampoo from getting in them, when suddenly things changed.
3
I was staring at Sakura, running away from something. Tears ran down her face as she moved past.
"I don't understand, W-Why?"
From where she came, I could see myself, chasing after her. The look on my face was an insane one, eyes wide and bloodshot.
"Please just listen to me!"
I heard myself say, and soon he too was gone.
The scene before me changed again. I looked through a window to see myself seated at a table, a police officer on the opposite side asking questions.
"So you came across the body? And you didn't get a good look at the guy who did it or where he ran off to?"
The other me shook his head.
A flicker, and then the scene changed again. Sakura sat speechless, face turning pale in shock as the other me laid on the ground, the knife that would have taken her life instead in his chest.
"No no no NO NOOOO!."
She cried out, but it was too late.
Knock-knock-knock.
The sound of the bathroom door being knocked upon pulled me out of that nightmare and back into reality.
"Hey, are you okay in there? It's been a while and just wanted to make sure you're alright."
I could hear Sakuta calling from the other side.
I washed the shampoo off, and cleared my head.
"Yeah sorry, I think I just nodded off for a little bit."
I leaned my head back and sighed.
What have I just seen? I hadn't experienced anything like that in my life, yet those three scenes felt so real.
"You know, I get it. It can be a lot to take in, even after days of seeing multiple instances of it. If you want to talk about it, I'm here to listen"
Sakuta waited after finishing, and I told him about what I just saw.
"Are you sure you weren't just day dreaming? Or maybe between everything you've experienced, the heat of the water created a hallucinatory effect?"
I thought it over a moment.
"No, this felt too real. Like I was watching some of the scenarios I had been coming up with as a way to fix this."
I got up and dried myself off.
"I think this is something Futaba would know, she's always been better at the scientific side of things."
Sakuta spoke up.
"I'll go talk to her and check on dinner, it should be done soon."
I hurried and got dressed, heading out to meet everyone for dinner.
I thought the mood at dinner might be a bit awkward, having a stranger in the group. The only person I had really eaten with outside of my family was Sakura, and even then it was only just the two of us. Now I was sitting with four people who barely knew me, yet still went out of their way to make me feel welcome.
"Did you get enough to eat? There's some more if you're still hungry."
Sakuta asked me, finishing up his own bowl moments before.
"No. I'm good, it was delicious. Thank you though."
Around the table, everyone looked to be satisfied with dinner. Throughout the meal, I listened to the four of them catch up and talk about their lives.
Mai was a famous model and an actress, and recently she had been filming some commercials in the area.
"There were plenty offers to do some shoots but they were all out of the area, I wanted to stay locally for a bit."
She poked Sakuta on the arm.
"Because someone gets a bit lonely when I'm gone for a few days."
Sakuta smiled at her.
"Are you sure it's not you getting lonely? After all, last time you… Oww!"
He cut off what he was saying as she began pinching his arm where she was poking him. He rubbed where she pinched him after she let go, though any hard feelings were clearly missing as she placed her hand over his.
Mai looked over at Rio.
"How's the academic work coming along? You mentioned you had a big project you were working on."
Rio looked away for a moment, in thought.
"It was going well, but we hit a roadblock in our research."
She looked over to me.
"I recently started an internship in my university for Quantum Science and Research Division that's trying to uncover what causes these type of strange phenomena related to the syndrome, and coming up with ways for people to solve things by themselves. That's another reason why I'm helping you, it might help out our research get past the roadblock."
By this point, we had all finished eating. We cleaned up the table, and shortly after any sign that we had dinner was soon gone.
"Hey Kaede, we're going to keep talking for long here, you don't have to stick around."
Sakuta looked over to his sister, dropping hints so that way we could discuss my problem.
"No problem. Also, I've to study and revise for the exams with Kotomi on laptop."
We waited until we heard the sound of the door closing.
"Sorry about the wait, I just don't want to involve her with this. She's dealt with it enough in her own life."
Sakuta finally said. I nodded, understanding enough from what he said. Rio pulled out a notebook and her phone, opening up a recording app.
"It's easier to record everything said, any missed detail could be a big help."
Rio drank some of her water in front of her before continuing.
"As of now, we have two main problems to solve. One, how to get you out of the syndrome and back to your normal life. Two, what we can do so that tomorrow morning, we won't have to start from scratch."
She wrote on the paper the two problems and circled them.
"The second should be our first priority, as the chances of us solving this the first time around isn't high."
Sakuta nodded, beside him Mai looked deep in thought.
"What if we write ourselves letters?"
Sakuta asked, but Rio was already shaking her head.
"I don't think that will work, if the receipt for his stay at the net cafe was gone in the morning then chances are the letters will be gone as well."
She paused for a moment, then looked over to me.
"We can try having you write the letters instead, if you don't mind the extra work."
I nodded, having to write a few letters was no problem.
"Just tell me what to write and I'll get it done."
Rio took 3 pages from the notebook and handed them over to me.
"We'll do the letters afterwards, so just hold onto these for later."
I set the pages to the side, and looked back at Rio.
"There's probably something I should say before we move onto the next problem."
Everyone's eyes looked to me.
"When I was getting cleaned up earlier, something happened. I saw things that never happened, but they felt real. Like events that could happen but haven't yet."
Rio picked up her pen.
"Do you remember what they were?"
She asked, ready to begin writing. I thought back to the scenes from the bath.
"It was three different scenes, in all three I was watching myself like a bystander. I couldn't interact with anyone or anything, but they were all so vivid and realistic. The first one..."
I paused remembering the look on Sakura's face. The confusion and pain, the tears falling, the crazed look on my own face as I chased after her.
"It looked like I was trying to talk to Sakura, but it didn't go so well. She was confused and scared, running away from me. I didn't see what was said, just the aftermath."
As Rio wrote down what I said, Mai spoke up.
"Did it look like a place you recognized?"
I thought back to the first scene, but there was nothing familiar.
"No sorry, the main focus was her and I. Nothing else really stood out."
Rio tapped her pen against her open hand, finished writing the first scene.
"The second scene I saw was in a police station. I was being questioned about finding her and what I saw. I didn't see much but the tone of the officer didn't make it seem that it was going well for me."
I thought back to the second scene. The clock on the wall in that room showing it was 10:23 pm, so I must have been there for hours being questioned.
"You said that you called the police before, but you didn't stick around to talk to them in person right?"
Rio asked, recalling what I had told her previously. I nodded, and she took some more notes down.
"Was there anything else you saw?"
I didn't want to remember the third scene, but I knew it might help figuring things out.
"The third scene..."
I took a deep breath.
"In the third scene, I saw Sakura sitting next to me. And this time, I was the one who was stabbed."
Everyone fell silent after that, the only sound was Rio writing in the notebook. Finally she placed her pen down.
"That's the first time this has happened?"
I nodded.
"Do you have any idea about why it happened?"
Rio mused for a moment, and then looked back to me.
"This is only a theory, but I think this might be another side effect of your interaction with yourself. You're already looping in time, so I think those scenes you saw were possibilities that you could end up in. By being in the warm water and relaxing your mind, it opened you up to the ripples caused by the rock you threw when you tried to talk to yourself."
She paused for a moment, and any hopes I had were quickly dashed.
"I would try to avoid that from happening again. We don't know what effect it could have on you, seeing different possible futures. Even if you see the optimal solution, you probably won't see everything leading to it. That means if you try to copy it, you could create an outcome that's completely different."
"So no long baths and no meditation, got it."
I sighed, though relieved at the same time. I had no idea what else I would see the next time it happened, and the thought that even seeing the best path could be ruined if I tried to recreate it turned me off from wanting to go through the experience even more.
Sensing that my mood had gone down, Sakuta spoke up.
"So what can we do about the first problem? We need to find a way for him to save Sakura but it seems like there's already some roadblocks."
Next to him, Mai agreed.
"If you're right Rio, and those scenes really are possibilities, we need to be careful to avoid them."
"I've put some thought into it, and thanks to the new info I've come a little closer to understanding. The first scene seems like you tried to talk to her but ended up saying too much, possibly a future where you've repeated this day so many times that it became too much to handle. Someone who has no idea about the syndrome trying to understand would be confused, and possibly scared that you've gone insane."
"The second scene is easier to avoid, as you didn't call the police on your true first day before the syndrome started, so no matter what they'll still show up. Plus, it's probably best for your mental state to not see that again."
I nodded, having to see her there on the street once was enough for a lifetime.
"The third scene is something you really need to avoid, though I can understand why it happened. The problem is, we don't know what would happen if you die while stuck in this loop. Will the you that's currently going through the same day also die? If not, how do you explain dying in front of her and being totally fine the next day?"
Rio sighed.
"I'm glad you told us about the scenes you saw. It may not have given us a golden solution, but it does help."
She placed her hands underneath her chin.
"I think our best option right now is trial and error. I don't see enough to come up with any good answers, so we'll need some more data first."
Mai stood up, grabbing a kettle from the cupboard above the stove and filling it with water, before placing it on the stove.
"I think we could use some tea and a short break."
Sakuta stood up as well, but instead of heading towards his fiancé he sat down next to me.
"If you're feeling up to it, we can write my letter now. It'll be short and simple, don't worry."
Beside me, Rio stood up and stretched.
"Knowing you Sakuta, if it was anything other than short and simple I'd be worried."
Mai laughed, grabbing four cups and saucers from the cupboard.
"Now now Rio, be nice. Teasing him is my job after all, unless you're trying to steal that from me."
Rio went over to the stove, and she and Mai then began to talk amongst themselves. Beside me, Sakuta merely smiled.
"You get used to it after a while. We may not seem like it, but Futaba and I go way back. She's one of my closest friends, though she may try to deny that if you ask her."
He winked, and leaned forward.
"Anyways, about that letter."
As the water for the tea was being boiled, Sakuta told me what to write for his letter. As promised, it was short and simple, only taking up a third of the page.
"So who are Tomoe and Sara? Those names have come up a few times."
I asked Sakuta after finishing up his letter. I could see over at the stove that Rio and Mai had stopped talking for a moment, listening in to what Sakuta had to say.
"Tomoe Koga was my junior at school, we had an encounter one morning and because of that ended up in a situation somewhat like yours. Because of the syndrome, I ended up repeating a day a few times, though in the end everything went back to normal."
"And Sara Himeji was my student when I used to teach at a Cram school near the station. Her adolescence syndrome was…"
Sakuta looked over at Mai as he said this, clearly trying to avoid saying anything that might lead to him being pinched or poked.
"Well, I-It was complicated. I mean she could read people's minds and I could read hers."
Luckily for Sakuta, the kettle began to whistle, saving him. The two girls headed back to the table, filling the cups with the now hot tea. Thanking Mai as she handed me a cup and saucer, I could smell the aroma of the tea coming from the cup in front of me. The taste was unlike any that I had before, and it was obvious from the look on my face.
"The tea was a gift from a film I worked on, the director had some connections and managed to get some for the cast. Normally it's impossible to find, they don't actually carry it in stores."
Mai said, noticing my expression after taking a drink.
"It's very good."
I probably would never had a chance to experience this flavor of tea, so I was grateful.
As we sat in silence, enjoying the tea, a thought came to mind.
"I wish Sakura was here to experience this."
She would have loved that I was spending time with other people than just her, and I made up my mind that when all of this was over, I'd bring her around to meet these people who were helping me.
"If it's not a problem, I was wondering if when this was all done that we could do this again with Sakura."
Sakuta and Mai looked at each other and nodded.
"Of course, that would be really nice."
Beside me, Rio nodded as well.
"It would be totally silly to do all this work and not even get to meet her."
I smiled, looking forward to that day. Sakuta added "Futaba, you can invite Toranosuke, it can be a triple date."
Rio made a face at him.
"I'll think about it."
We cleaned up after the tea, this time Mai came to me as Sakuta and Rio headed to the living room.
"We can write my letter now if that's okay with you."
We sat back down at the table, and she told me what to write down. Like Sakuta, it was short and simple, though her letter took up half the page. As I wrote, I could feel her staring at me.
"You must really care about Sakura, don't you?"
She said, waiting for me to finish up the letter. It was the first time any of them had brought that up.
"Sorry, it's just that you kinda remind of Sakuta, how hard he worked when we first meet."
A smile came across her face.
"Do you mind if I ask how you guys met?"
I asked, curious about the past between the three of them.
"It was because of the syndrome, at the time it was something that was affecting me. Sakuta managed to save me from myself, with help from Rio. We had some ups and downs, but everything was worth it."
She smiled warmly at the thought of their past.
"Sakuta really worked hard through all of it, just like how you're working hard now."
I could see why he did, looking at Mai. Beneath all the bantering and pinching, underneath the beauty that was Mai, was someone grateful for the special person in her life. If you saw them together in public, you might wonder how they even ended up together. But seeing them together, how they were, and learning a little of their history made it obvious that they were meant for each other.
"I'll go grab Rio for you."
Mai stood up, smiled at me once again.
"And if you need anything, feel free to ask. We all want to help, so there's no need to try and tackle things by yourself."
She headed towards the living room, and I was left with my thoughts. Before long, Rio was sitting down next to me, sparing my mind from wandering too much.
"Before the letter, there's something I want to say."
Rio finally spoke up, after we sat at the table for a few minutes in silence.
"I know things may seem a little discouraging, but we will find a way to make things right. All of our experiences in the past with the syndrome have taken time to work through, so don't take it to heart if it takes more time to solve."
Even now, it must have been obvious to her the worries I had inside. It was true, more so after what I had seen during the bath.
What if I did end up snapping from having to repeat this day so many times with no results?
Rio reached out and placed her hand on my shoulder.
"Don't worry. We will help you get this figured out, I promise. You're not alone in this, even if we do end up forgetting in the morning and have to cover old ground again."
With that, she gave me one last smile, and moved her hand back from my shoulder.
"Now, shall we get this letter done?"
Of the three, hers was the longest, taking up a page and a half, filled with a lot of what I had told her and her own personal ideas and thoughts on the matter.
Finally finished, I placed the pen down and stretched. It was already late, by the time I finished the last letter it was night once again. We stood up from the table, all the letters finally finished.
Meeting Sakuta and Mai in the living room, we sat down and watched what was playing. Thankfully, they didn't have the news playing, sparing me from another reminder of why I was in this situation. Instead, they were watching a movie. It was one I hadn't seen before, though one of the actors in it seemed familiar.
"This is one of my latest films, Sakuta and I always watch them together since I have to be away while filming them."
Mai spoke up as we watched. It was a good film, even after missing the beginning portion. When it was over, we sat for a moment. Rio was the first to get up.
"I'll head home now, if no one needs me for anything else."
I stood up as well, and turned to her.
"Thank you again for everything. I guess I'll see you today."
I joked, and she smiled lightly at that.
"That's good, keep your head up. Mai-san, Azusagawa, I'll talk to you guys later. If anything happens, just let me know."
With that, and a few waves of goodbye, she left. With just the three of us now, it did feel slightly awkward being alone with a couple. Plus, after spending most of my day with Rio, I was just more comfortable being around her.
"Well, I'll be sleeping with Kaede tonight. Sakuta can you please get the bed ready for Haruki?"
"Aww… why not with me outside like last time?"
"Stop sulking in front of our guest. Fine… but don't try anything funny."
"Then I'll definitely try something lewd."
"Baka!"
They both bantered. Kinda reminded me how Sakura and I used to do the same.
Sakuta cheered up a little and left the room, and then it was just me and Mai. She looked over to me.
"We'll be getting to bed soon, if you feel like watching anything else feel free. And there's drinks in the fridge if you get thirsty."
I shook my head.
"Thank you, but it's probably best if I get some sleep too. I'm a fan of reading over watching TV anyway, no offense."
"None taken, there are some books on the shelf if you wanted something to read."
Mai stood up, heading towards the couch in the living room. She stopped and turned around.
"Have a good night."
I returned her statement, and then I went into Sakuta's bedroom.
Well, only for a moment. I barely had a chance to check the books they had when I saw Sakuta finishing up the bed.
"I hope this is enough, it doesn't get super cold in here so you won't freeze or anything."
I turned to see Sakuta carrying a somewhat thick blanket with two pillows on top.
"No that's perfect, thank you."
He set the blanket and pillows down on the couch outside the room and came back to me.
"Did you see anything you liked from the shelf? It's a bit of a mess, having three different people's choices of books."
I glanced back to the shelf lined with books. There was some that along the spine had titles like "Chewing the Scene: Acting 101" and "Channelling Your Muse". Those must have belonged to Mai.
Past the acting books, there was another section filled with books on singing techniques, and a binder with a tag that said "Sheet Music"
"Those belong to Mai's sister, Nodoka Toyohama, along with her friend Uzuki Hirokawa. They are part of an idol group "Sweet Bullet", so they left some stuff to read and practice for whenever they come here sometimes."
Sakuta spoke up as I glanced over the books. Getting past that section, the rest of the books were a mix of best sellers you'd see at the front of a bookstore with some gems hidden among them. I had almost finished looking through them when one caught my eye.
"Hey, everything good?"
The sound of Sakuta's voice was closer now, and I jumped. Turning around, Sakuta was a few steps away, looking concerned.
"Yes, sorry. I just saw one of the books and it reminded me that there's something I need to do."
How was I to know that they'd have a copy of The Little Prince?
Sakuta nodded, satisfied that everything was okay.
"If you feel like reading, you can use the lamps next to bed. That way you don't have to get up to turn out the lights when you're done."
He turned and headed for the living room. Like Mai before him, he stopped before turning the corner.
With that, he gave a small wave and walked away, leaving me alone in the bedroom. I turned back towards the shelves holding books, and started to reach out for "The Little Prince." But before I made contact with it, I stopped.
It just didn't feel right to read it if it wasn't the copy that belonged to Sakura. Glancing through the books again, there was nothing else that caught my eye. Though I did note that there seemed to be a random spattering of panda related books throughout the collection.
Heading back to the bed, I laid down and thought through everything that happened so far. I was thankful that at least now I didn't have to worry about where I was sleeping at night, and I had people who could help me.
Even with all the bad, there was some good to balance things out.
"At least everyone is nice."
I thought to myself, laying in the now dark.
I could feel the pull to sleep creeping in, and so I shut my eyes and slowly felt as though weights were on my eyelids. The last thoughts in my head before falling asleep were of Sakura, wondering what she'd say if she could see me now.
Before long, even those thoughts were gone and I was fast asleep.