It was a pleasant summer day some time after the night that Akira Yasahonou got taken away by the Bureau of Trans-Species Alliance (BTA for short). I was in the living room of my house, settled on my couch enjoying two scoops of vanilla ice cream in a dainty glass bowl. Looking out the window, I felt like that night's events (the child who nearly died in the woods, Yasahonou's grandparents' house burning down, the angry mob that tried to kill Yasahonou, and Yasahonou himself nearly burning to death) were all a lie.
The news quickly announced the day after that the culprit behind all the fires had been arrested, so everyone could rest easy knowing a menace that terrorized our town was now behind bars. But because the culprit was underage, no details about him were given. With the serial arson case now closed, things settled down somewhat. Although, not all tension in town had been dispelled.
"Oh? Not in the mood for ice cream? It's going to melt if you don't hurry, you know?" I spoke to Mirai sitting on the floor across from me on the other side of the glass coffee table. The ice cream I went to the trouble of scooping into another glass bowl for him remained untouched.
While normally loud, pretentious, and childishly delusional, my friend and club president scowled at me. I was no empath like Homura, but even I could tell that he was in a bad mood.
"You seem to be upset," I said. "Are you still brooding over Yasahonou?"
"Of course I am!" Mirai snapped. "You heard what the BTA said about his condition. If Oota had taken even a few seconds longer to get him to the pool, Yasahonou really would have died."
"But he's not dead and he's in decent health right now, isn't he?" I pointed out. "Certainly, we've had quite a few close calls this time around, and it's upsetting. But it's over already and nobody died. I don't think this incident is something we need to brood over."
"This incident was never supposed to happen!" Mirai shouted. "It DIDN'T the last time around."
I put my own bowl of ice cream back down onto the glass table.
"So are you saying that it's our fault Yasahonou's powers went out of control and terrorized the town with all those fires?" I asked. "That it's our fault that he nearly died? Why? Because we changed the future? Does that mean it would have been better if we let the Piper run amok? That we allow Homura to get killed?"
Mirai protested, "No! But still - !"
"Then what do you want to do?" I asked. "Do you want to call it quits? To stop changing the future? Right now?"
"I never said anything about quitting!" Mirai shouted. "It's just -!"
I didn't listen. Instead, I walked over to him, grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled his face close to mind. I looked into his eyes and glared at him with the face of a madwoman.
"Don't joke with me, Mirai," I said to him. "I haven't even had my turn yet and you still have one more to worry about. And yet you're freaking out over something that almost happened? Listen up. My hands are stained. Changing the future won't ever erase that. But that doesn't mean I won't stop trying. I can't stop. Even if it means staining my hands even more. Not when the only other option is to let the horrible things I want gone happen again. So you better get your head back in the game, or I'll make you get your head back in the game."
After saying my piece, I pushed him away and watched him fall to the floor. As he picked himself up, I went back to my couch and sat down.
Neither of us said a word for a while, I guessed to give the other time to cool off. Mirai broke silence first to ask:
"So? Is that why you called me over? To give me a pep talk, if we can call that one?"
I shook my head and replied, "No. I actually had another reason to call you here. And it also has to do with that night at school."
Mirai straightened up.
"Do you remember the guy over there that kept riling that mob of idiots up?"
"You mean the guy who wouldn't shut up? Sure, I do," Mirai said. "It's because of him that things got so bad and Yasahonou freaked out. But what about him?"
"Something about the way he got those idiots all fired up again after Oota got them to settle down rubbed me the wrong way," I explained. "It reminded me of the way my mother tried to keep control of our cult's followers whenever it seemed like a meeting was going a direction she didn't like. So I took Homura with me back to the scene of the crime for a little detective work."
Mirai rose up and cried out in dismay, "You did what!? Why?"
I knew he'd be upset. He didn't seem like it, but Mirai was very overprotective of the others. Not that I was one to talk.
"I needed her sensory powers to glean some information," I replied coolly. "Don't worry. I made sure to be the perfect bodyguard and kept a lookout for any trouble. Nothing happened though and there was no one around."
Mirai settled back down.
"But Homura's power is picking up the feelings of other people," he said. "What was the point taking her to a place when everything's already said and done and completely deserted?"
"There was this theory I heard from an American TV show I liked to watch called the Stone Tape Theory," I explained. "According to that theory, things like emotions or the memories of events could get recorded into the places and surroundings where the events took place. The theory is by no means scientifically credible. But neither is the existence of psychic powers, so I thought, why not try it out? Luckily I knew someone who'd make the perfect guinea pig."
"Which was Homura," said Mirai. "Only you'd treat a senior schoolmate like a guinea pig, Lady Isaneko."
"You're not one to talk, Mr. I-mutated-an-underclassman-into-a-human-weapon," I shot back.
"Touché," said Mirai. "So? How'd the experiment go?"
A wry smile played on my face and I replied, "It ended up being those I-hate-when-I'm-right moments."
"So Homura actually sensed something?"
I nodded. "She picked up on anger, fear and resentment. That's no surprise. But that wasn't all."
As if purposely setting the mood, the clouds outside rolled over and darkened the room.
"She also picked up joy," I said.
Mirai leaned forward over the glass table and rested his chin on his hands.
"Joy, you say?" he said. I don't think he was doing it on purpose, but all that time playing the delusional fool had left him with a habit of being overly dramatic. "He was having fun stirring the crowd into a deadly frenzy?"
"Fun's putting it lightly," I said. "It's a lot worse than that. I would even go as far as to call it indecent. Poor Homura nearly threw up when she sensed it. And as we both know, the last time she sensed something bad enough to make her sick like that was when -"
"- she encountered the Piper." Mirai finished my sentenced and his face turned grim, practically spitting the infamous serial killer's name with disgust. "Does that mean there's someone out there who's just as bad, if not worse, than the Piper?"
"More than likely," I said.
Mirai pulled away and sank backward with an even worse look of guilt than before.
"By changing the future and taking out the Piper, did we create another monster to take his place?" he wondered aloud.
I chose my words carefully before responding.
"With the fire case in mind, I won't deny the possibility," I said. "But this guy was smart enough to keep out of sight the whole time he was messing with the mob. Not even you with your clairvoyance could find him. So I have a feeling that this new monster's actually been around since the beginning, and that we're only just noticing him now."
"Either way, we're no safer now than we were when the Piper was around," said Mirai.
"On top of that, to save Yasahonou, Oota ended up antagonizing both Yamimura and Soushu gang members," I said.
Mirai looked up at the ceiling and sighed.
"Yeah," he said. "We always figured that was going to happen sooner or later. That's why we formed the Community Service Club in the first place. But with that new monster roaming around lighting fires under everyone's butts, who knows if that'll be enough to keep us safe. It might even be the opposite."
"We'll have to be very careful going forward," I said. "Even more so than we already are."
I then looked out the window and happened to see my own reflection. Although I appeared calm and collected, deep inside, I was very exasperated.
A lot more troubles had been added to an already mountainous amount we had to worry about. I knew we had a long and tough road ahead of us, but it looked like it was going to get even longer and tougher.
But no matter what, I was sticking to it until the end, even if it will cost me everything I had.
"Oh, yeah!" I said. I had suddenly remembered something else important. "I got into baking lately and just yesterday made a whole lot of cookies. Want some?"
As I headed over to the kitchen, Mirai looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You? Bake?"
His doubt was irksome, but I kept my mask on nice and tight.
"Of course!" I said, pulling a large, red tin out from the pantry. The tin used to hold store-bought cookies, but I repurposed them to store my own brand. "I'm supposed to be the classic girly-girl remember? Come on. Don't be shy. Help yourself!"
I brought the tin over to the living room, removed the lid and left it on the table.
Mirai looked at the contents of the tin suspiciously, but all the cookies looked as normal as could be.
"What's the occasion?" he asked.
"Well, I thought that with Azamume hanging out with us more often, I'd do something special to welcome her into the gang," I said. "I think the cookies turned out pretty well, but that could just be my own bias. That's why I'd like you to taste test them."
"Hmm." Mirai stared at the cookies while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Meh. I guess it wouldn't hurt."
And he picked one up.
"Looks dark and feels a little hard, maybe a little crunchy?"
He sniffed it.
"Smells like chocolate."
"Well, they ARE chocolate chip cookies," I said, smiling from ear to ear. "Go on. Take a bite."
"Don't mind if I do," Mirai said. He finally brought his guard down. "But this is certainly nice of you, Lady Isaneko. I thought, after all the stunts she pulled on Yuna, you'd actually disliked Azamume. But to go out of your way to make welcoming cookies for her . . . Mmph!"
He took a bite out of the cookie and his face almost immediately twisted in disgust.
I, however, kept smiling and responded, "Oh, don't be silly. There's no way I'd dislike Azamume. She's a friend of Yuna, after all. Yuna has become one of my precious, precious friends since she became a member of the club. Any friend of a friend is my friend as well. And any friend of mind deserves the full Isaneko experience. Yuna is really delicate, so she needs to be treated carefully. But I think I can have lots of fun with Azamume."
I chuckled.
"Oh, yes indeed."
Summer vacation flew by and I spent most of it indoors with my eyes either glued to the computer screen or my phone in my bedroom. But sometimes I would go out for walks around the neighborhood. I couldn't exactly go hang out in the clubroom at school after the mess I left behind.
I was just on an aimless stroll when I noticed a trio of guys glaring at me from the other side of the road. As I passed them by, I heard them whispering. The words were too soft to make out, but I could tell they weren't nice.
However, I just passed them by, avoiding eye-contact and acted like I wasn't paying attention by scrolling through stuff on my phone. Just in case, I had my Psy-Armor on. But thankfully, giving me the stink-eye was all those guys did.
Since I had my phone out anyway, I decided to quickly scroll through my news feed. There was a headlines that gave me pause. It was news about the arsonist and how he was caught.
To be honest, I was sick and tired of the subject, so I scrolled passed it without giving it a read. I already knew that Akira's name and details would be omitted, given that he was underage. Needless to say, there was never any mention of the angry mob or the Community Service Club's involvement. Mirai said something about the Shirogami Clan capitalizing on Akira's capture, but I had no idea how that worked.
Speaking of Akira, I had heard that he made a quick, full recovery thanks to people in the BTA with healing powers. But he was going to be staying with them for a while until he got a better handle of his powers. The BTA was also helping Akira work with the courts to find a way to atone for his crimes.
As for his grandma and grandpa, I was told they decided to just move out of town. No surprise since their house was burned to the ground.
All in all, it was likely that I was not going to see Akira again for a long, long time. If at all.
As I turned a corner, there was a ping from my phone. I stopped to take a look and saw that I had a text message from Akira.
"Looking forward to the new event," it read.
I paused for a moment and my lips curled into a small smile.
"Yeah, me too," I typed. "Which character are you aiming to pull for?"
As I continued on with my stroll, Akira and I messaged each other back and forth, chatting as usual about a game we both liked to play.
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