Somatō The Longest Revival

Fujinuma Satoru walked dejectedly into a subway station. He had been working with a publisher for some time, but after several submissions, the publisher's representative still did not like Satoru's work.

"If you don't dig deeper, the readers will not be able to see you in the work" said the representative. Satoru had been turned down yet again. Once he was back home he stared at the ceiling and occasionally glanced at the writing utensils and drafts on his desk. "I'm scared to get to the heart of my own mind" Satoru thought. The news reported talked about the upcoming 2006 World Cup being held in Germany.

The next day Satoru went off to his day job, Osai Pizza. Delivering pizza was good to keep his body form going stale and he needed a job to live by. Once he got to work he put on the uniform. It was a red coat which had an extended body component going farther down than normal. There was a yellow line chest level that extended around the coat. On the front left above the stripe was an Osai Pizza emblem. On the back in yellow letters read "Osai Pizza" Completing the uniform was a red helmet and any black pants the employee brought to work.

Fujinuma Satoru grabbed another pizza box to bring to his motorcycle. He already knew the route and all seven deliveries were on the same block. "I'm going out" said Satoru. The manager, a dark haired man in the Osai Pizza red uniform appearing to be in his 30s waved him bye.

"Katagiri is going out on a delivery too." said Fujinuma Satoru's co-worker. "Oh, Fujinuma-san, don't eat any pizza on the way." Katagiri Airi was a pale skinned high school student with long brown hair working at Osai Pizza. Satoru put the last pizza in the cargo compartment and shut it while giving an automatic reply.

"That girl says the same thing to me every time. In fact it's the only thing she says to me. It's not like she has any special feelings for me. Weird girl…" thought Satoru. Katagiri-kun might be a young pretty cute girl but "Well, I'm not interested in high school girls." A blue butterfly passed by his field of vision.

Satoru grumbled as he passed the same intersection that he crossed earlier. Satoru had an experience he called "Revival." In pop culture references, a Groundhog Day Loop. Satoru would be thrown back in time being the only to remember anything. It was already triggered when something bad was about to happen. He continued driving while watching intensely. "It happened again. Where is it? What seems out of place?" thought Satoru. He scanned the streets and saw elementary school children. None of them seemed in immediate danger.

Satoru continued on for three minutes. The blue butterfly passed him again. Once again, Satoru repeated the experience of crossing an intersection. This "Revival"… was it a phenomenon exclusive to him or a curse for him? It was as if a higher will was trying to possess his body and say "stop it," but it could not and only force him to do it on his own will (to some extent). These repeats are usually 1-5 minutes long, but occasionally it was an hour, a few times sent him to the beginning of the day, and three times he was sent back seven days' worth of time. All Satoru knows is that the bad thing he has to prevent would happen very shortly after the point it should have happened without his intervention. One of them took 35 days for him to figure out what he was trying to prevent because he went away from the bad event in the first few tries. Since it was the first time he was forced to go back to the beginning of the day he didn't realize he was near the problem the first time he saw the blue butterfly. In other words Satoru spent a whole month to save a drunken stranger from breaking his arm. Satoru got a bruise for his trouble thanks the weight of an adult landing on a middle school student at moderate speed.

Going through the second "Revival" Satoru looked at the people he was now passing for the third time. Was it the truck? It looked like the driver on the opposite side had run a red light. If he ran another light, perhaps he might kill someone. The truck and threw cars on the right side of him passed by. Satoru turned into the oncoming traffic and tried to make a 180 turn. He ran into a car and lost consciousness, possibly suffering lethal trauma. Satoru thought he might have seen the butterfly.

For the third time, Satoru passed by the same intersection. This time he tired moving to the oncoming traffic and started honking. The truck passed by him and full speed. Satoru tried to start his motor bike and catch up. He yelled trying to get the driver's attention. After some time, they got close to the same intersection and the blue butterfly passed by Satoru's vision again.

Satoru once again went back in time a few minutes. He was getting annoyed. Perhaps the bad event was not related to the truck. But then again, perhaps it was. Did the brake lights of the truck come on? Or maybe the driver was about to run another red light. The truck passed by his right. Satoru made his decision.

Satoru went onto the oncoming traffic to his right and turned around, trying to catch up to the truck. He called out to the driver. Maybe since he was only meters away any moving in the same direction instead of head on the driver could hear. Satoru looked into the truck's side mirror and realized that the driver had fallen asleep. The driver would certainly run another red flight. Satoru realized yes, the truck was going to cause the event he had to prevent. He tried to close the distance. Maybe if he was closer he could wake the driver up.

To their left, Katagiri Airi watched the chase go on. "Fujinuma? What are you doing?"

Satoru realized they were coming up to the same intersection that began the loops. If only he had stayed put on the first "Revival," he would have been able to figure out the probable cause of this "Revival" series. A schoolboy waving a crossing flag started crossing the intersection. Unfortunately, no flag or red light was going to stop a dead driver. Satoru continued to bang on the door. "I knew I shouldn't have gotten involved. But…" thought Satoru. He thought about an actor who played his favorite superhero in his youth, patting his past self's head. This thought triggered strength his subconscious insisted on keeping in reserve. He reached into the truck cab and pullet the driver's arm.

The truck turned and avoided the boy. Satoru managed a weak grin and realized he had completed his mission. He smiled and looked at the truck for 15 seconds. Unfortunately, while the truck was on the left side of the new road, Satoru was heading into oncoming traffic. A horn sounded and Satoru turn to see his impending doom. SPLAT. No revival undid this particular collision.

Satoru saw a vision of his past. H was crying in front of his mother. Then his childhood friends were playing a ball game. Another he was simply walking home. "Oh is this the thing where my life flashes before my eyes?" Satoru thought. He knew nothing good came from intervening with other people. He saw a girl in the park.

Satoru's opened his eyes. Assuming the room he was in was built with a rectangular shape and was level to the ground, it appeared as if he was lying down. "Hi Fujinuma-san. You were out for 2 days" called a familiar voice.

Satoru saw turned left and saw a brown haired girl in what appeared to be the sky blue short sleeved undershirt of a blazer uniform-like. A red bow circled the collar. There was a medium skirt with a grid pattern that nearly reached her knees. As the "I just got up and I'm too tired to think" disorientation wore off, Satoru recognized his younger coworker. "Katagiri-kun?"

"Do you know who you are and why you're here?"

"Fujinuma Satoru, 29 years old. I was chasing a truck and I got into an accident" said Satoru. It looked like a hospital room now that he had time to think about it.

Katagiri-kun breathed a sigh of relief. She explained the collision and the doctor's assessment. Apparently, he wasn't too hurt visibly and his bones were not broken. "Do you want me to call someone? A friend or girlfriend?" asked Katagiri Airi.

"There's nobody I want to bother telling" said Satoru.

Katagiri Airi looked at Satoru with an annoyed look. She took out her right and used 2 figures to make a scissors. She then started a cutting motion. "Snip-snip" she said.

"What's that? A generation Y joke" asked Satoru.

"It's like you're covered in some sort of membrane. Fujinuma-san doesn't seem to be the type of person that opens up to other people" said Katagiri as she put away the scissor hand. "You never laugh either. But I do see you in a new light."

"What do you mean?" inquired Satoru.

"You saved a kid's life, right? I was there" said Katagiri-kun. She explained why Satoru's attempts at altering the driver were futile due to a heart attack and was impressed he noticed the danger. Katagiri also filled him in on the aftermath. "After I explained everything to the manager, he said 'tell him not to worry about the bike or the car he hit, just get better and come back to work." She moved her hands from her lap to putting the elbows on Satoru's hospital bed and using her hand to rest her chin.

"Thanks" said Satoru, cracking a smile. He was already going to have some trouble making ends meet even if he turned the heat to 13 degrees when the winter came. Being responsible for the bike would be a total disaster.

"You smiled for a second there" said Katagiri, smiling herself.

"Katagiri-kun, why do you work there?" asked Satoru.

"I'm surprised you got to the heart of it. I have a dream" said Katagiri.

"I see" replied Satoru.

"That's all you're going to ask me!?' demanded Katagiri Airi.

Satoru thought about one of his failed manga strips from three years before. In light of what happened, he's not regretting telling more people about his own dream. "When you tell other people about your dream, don't you think 'what if it doesn't happen for me'? You had high hopes for yourself and they all know you failed?"

"I'm not especially embarrassed to talk about it. I feel like if you say the words over and over, it will actually happen down the line" said Katagiri.

Satoru opened his eyes wider. "Those words… for some reason hey resonate with me" he thought.

"But I'm not going to tell you what it is Fujinuma-san. It's not like we are close or anything" said Katagiri-kun as she stood up to leave. Taken out of context, the last statement was spoken in the tone of a Tsundere with a crush, but in this case the words were accurate and the tone, paralanguage, and any nonverbal cues were wrong. "I'll tell the nurse you're up and then I'm going home. Bye-bye" she said.

"Weird girl" thought Satoru. Hours later he was discharged from the hospital. He put on his work uniform, still there waiting for him, and got into a taxi. "Revival" brings him usually from 1-5 minutes where everything is the same as before, although periods can be longer. It was as if someone came along and put Satoru there with the order "Prevent it!" In most cases, negative incidents come out even, but sometimes it turns negative for him. In this case he got hospitalized.

Thanks to Japan's nationalized healthcare insurance for citizens, the costs would not break Satoru's bank account unlike third world countries, South Africa, China, the Middle East, or America. In case you are wondering, no, those don't overlap. Not even the first two, despite the poverty. And America's health care system would be a conservative version of Japan's if Richard Nixon got his way with "National Healthcare Strategy" and Ted Kennedy didn't try to get a better deal by being uncompromising. Assuming people spend even 30% of their health care savings on consumer goods, Nixon's plan would not even increase the net deficit.

Satoru walked up to his apartment. He heard the frying pan. The door was unlocked. An hour glass figured woman with short black hair was over the stove. "Mom…" said Satoru.

"I went to the hospital, but you were still sleeping which was boring so I came here" said Fujinuma Sachiko. "I'm glad you're fine. I'm surprised given that they said it was a head on collision. I'm going to stay with you for a while."

Satoru was surprised and argued with his mother about her staying over, such as his only futon or practicality. But in the end, she had a point and didn't want to be reimbursed with the hospital bill. She decided to go sightseeing since she was going to get tired of seeing his face every day, even though she hadn't seen him for a whole day yet. Despite being her son, Satoru couldn't believe Sachiko was 52 years old. She never changed with time. Sometimes he wondered if she was a Yokai. After they finished Sachiko's meal, they started getting ready for the night. Sachiko watched the news.

"The elementary first year who went missing yesterday evening was found on Yokohama" said the anchorman.

"Satoru, do you remember? What happened when you were a 5th year in grade school? Your memories are probably hazy. We tired ot make you forget. Your life was in danger" pondered Sachiko.

That night in his sleeping bag, Satoru tried to remember. Some of his classmates went missing. Years ago he played with guy called Yuuki. It wasn't his real name, but the kids, particularly Satoru who was the closest, often called him that because he'd often sy "Yuuki Yuuki/courage" Six months after the disappearances, they found the serial kidnapper and murderer, Shiratori Jun, or as Satoru called him Yuuki.

The next day, Satoru went back to the hospital. An officer wanted to interrogate him about the incident. After all, for anyone not paying attention until the swerve, it just looked like he reached into a truck, turned it, and then crashed himself. The kid might be grateful, but would not know this was intended to save him since he didn't see the truck until the last moment. Thanks to Katagiri-kun, he was labeled a hero. No doubt Satoru would be scrutinized more if it wasn't for her. Instead they were praising his eyesight and judgement, although still curious. "I saw the truck moving strangely and running through a red light from faraway"

"Do you have a strong attention to detail since you draw manga?" said the officer.

"Probably" said Satoru. He just wanted to leave. After some time he got his wish and headed off to Osai Pizza. Satoru told the manager he was going to get back to work the next week. After that Satoru wanted to get some fresh air.

Sometime later Katagiri caught up to Satoru. He was surprised her shift was over. "You know the manager says you're as useful as three full time employees. He hopes to see you back soon" They walked by an old abandoned building. Katagiri said she thought when it was maintained, it looked nice and retro. The newer things only looked functional and lacked aesthetics.

Satoru groaned as the blue butterfly came by his vision. After a few false tries, he concluded that it had something to do with the building. He walked past the fence. "I wonder what they are going to build here… huh? Where are you going Fujinuma-san?" asked Katagiri. She followed him in.

Satoru scaled the building with his eyes darting around looking for the trouble. He called out. Soon he found some backpacks. They must be kids with a hideout. Satoru wondered if calling out backfired. Suddenly, Satoru saw a figure falling through the elevator shaft. That must be what he needs to prevent. He rushed downward, but knew he could not outrun a falling kid and even if he could, it's not the fall that kills you; it's usually the loss of all momentum on hitting the ground.

Katagiri caught the falling boy three stories Satoru, knees bent to try to lengthen the impact. She caught the boy with nothing more than bruising. Unfortunately, the grab took her off balance. Another three stories to the ground would be fairly painful. Katagiri tried her best to use her weight and floor friction to stabilize herself, but every few seconds another millimeter was slipped. Any movement to get away from the shaft would fail and they would fall.

Satoru Fujinuma grabbed Katagiri around the hip and hauled the combined mass. It was difficult as he wasn't the most muscular person and the kid still over the shaft hole, none of him was above the safety of the floor. After several scary moments, Satoru hauled all of them out.

The kids had explained that they used this location as a secret base of sorts. "I'll keep this a secret, but don't pick such a dangerous place for a base like this again, ok?" said Katagiri. They walked away. "Wow, Airi's hands are still numb and shaky" continued Katagiri Airi. She hadn't spoken of herself in the third person with him before. Satoru wondered if that meant they were close(er).

"What do you mean you liked the look of the building" asked Satoru. He was trying to forget about Katagiri nearly falling into the shaft.

"Did you read my mind?" said Katagiri. He also forgot part of the conversation was from an obsolete loop. "I thought I had mentioned about the future building, not the condemned one." The two of them walked past several shops and eateries. Over three hours the alternated between talking and watching the scenery. Both of them went to Sendai as tourists in the past three years before, with a week of overlap. They talked about their (obviously separate and parallel) experiences there, the danger of Japan overfishing the famed Bluefin Tuna, and prettiness of some of the rural Shinto shires.

"Fujinuma-san, what do you do in your spare time" said Katagiri.

"I go out to arcades or sometimes sightseeing. Going out to the country obviously can't be done in a day trip. There are seven different restaurants I used to frequent for dinner. A month ago I realized Osai paid as much as it did three years ago but everything was more expensive. Since then, I only ever leave the house once a week for recreation, even if it is as simple as an arcade. I watch the TV more often and play some computer games. The Wi-Fi for apartment complex is of poor bandwidth and not available. To be honest though, even before I checked the money, I spent 75% of my free time doing the same thing: trying to pursue my dreams. That is why I took a part time job" said Satoru.

"So that's how your life goes outside your obligations. The week before, Wednesday I listened to music from my CDs all evening. Friday I went over to Misaka Hinata-kun's house with another friend. We had a talk and used her GameCube. I'm a bit jealous she can afford to get something she wants even if it's something she uses to enjoy herself less than once a month. She invited me to an Okinawa trip this July. Saturday I watched a baseball game on TV. Our starting pitcher lasted 12 innings without giving a single run. After a 15 inning game, we won 3 to 0. Extra innings is always nervous as a visiting team."

There was a man screaming from behind them. Satoru scanned the immediate area and quickly found out the place had a lot less people than most of the city. His eyes turned to a long alley. "He threatened me with a knife and took my wallet!" shouted a blond man, bruised and prone but oddly not bleeding.

A burly looking man carrying a large sack and an outrageously long blade, who clearly left that alley charged, straight at Satoru and Katagiri. How on earth did someone conceal a 30 cm blade in the middle of an urban area? Satoru dodged the blade and made a jabbing motion to force the mugger to release his knife grip. In less than a tenth of a second, the knife was released, but that did not change the mugger's forward momentum. Katagiri-kun punched the man in his center of mass with little effect because brute force center of mass strikes works better against a smaller or exhausted opponent. Satoru fell down and the mugger smashed his hip to the asphalt, breaking the hip. Satoru screamed in pain and collapsed. He saw a blue butterfly passing his field of vision again. "Any second now" he thought.

Katagiri tried a groin kick, but those are harder to land than movies suggest and only caused her to lose her footing on the uneven pavement that clearly suffered too much littering. The mugger grabbed Katagiri's purse and took off with his added loot. His initial interest was getting away with the wallet. He had no intention of fighting and was content with new loot. This process took place in 15 seconds before "Revival" kicked in.

Satoru turned into the alley. The mugger was wielding the blade and the victim had his hands high in the air. Satoru knew this was the event he had to prevent. Now closer to the mugger, Satoru and Katagiri behind him could hear the threats being made. Satoru started a charge and prepared to body slam. He made contact. He heard a grunt and the mugger straggled forward.

The mugger then swung his blade in the general motion, making an exaggerated arcing motion. It was easily dodged and the long blade collided with the wall of the narrow alley. Satoru landed a punch that didn't faze the target much. Satoru didn't know much about combat. Satoru knew the technique on how to keep someone pinned to the ground if you are already on top, but he only had one other trick up his sleeve. The mugger moved towards him. Satoru grabbed him and used a hip throw. The mugger fell to the ground.

"Get his legs!" said Satoru. Katagiri punched the mugger's leg hard. After that she threw on her weight. Satoru tightened his grapple on the mugger. The blond victim grabbed the head of the mugger and smashed it against the ground. Unconsciousness was immediate.

The blond man found his wallet in the pocket of the mugger. "Thanks. I didn't think anyone on the streets would hear me with all of the noises of the city. I don't even know how this guy nearly got away with my wallet in broad daylight" said the man.

"Dwindling twilight more like it… If you want to pay us back, just remember us and turn him into the police yourself. I'd rather not spent even more time with the police than I already did" said Satoru.

Fujinuma Satoru and Katagiri Airi walked for five minutes in silence. "A near death experience is followed by a dangerous one. Both of them are in the same day. Mugging isn't as common in Japan as it is on the other side of the ocean. I shouldn't save this since you saved my life hours ago, but are you a Shinigami (death god)?" pondered Katagiri-kun. Satoru froze at the statement, wondering if he should deny it, and then wondering why he wasn't denying it. She smiled and turned around. "Just kidding. See you next week when you come to work!" said Katagiri. She entered a subway station.

"Just when I thought we got closer by the way she talked, she calls me a Shinigami" thought Satoru. He considered going back for the magazines he purchased earlier. Satoru must have left it in the condemned building. Satoru decided against it. He had walked a considerable distance from the building.

Seven days later Fujinuma Satoru and Sachiko (his mom) had finished a shopping trip. Satoru was content. Satoru's mother treated him to an eatery for breakfast. The first day back at work went well. "Well, you can have curry for days" said Sachiko. A familiar blue butterfly fluttered through the parking lot. Satoru knew this translucent image was only visible to him. He sometimes wondered if it was truly living. He scanned for any clues before the new loop.

"Revival?" thought Satoru. He quickly scanned for what was going to happen. There was a boy crying next to dropped ice cream. A man walked with an elementary school girl who appeared to be his niece who was holding another ice cream cone. A teenaged girl nearby gave a child a balloon. She would lose the balloons soon. A truck made a left turn into a red light 100 meters away. "Come on… what is it?" thought Satoru. He wanted to get this over with. "Ma, would you look around?" pleased Satoru. "Don't you have this weird feeling?"

"What are you talking about?" said Sachiko. "Come to think of it, you once told me the same thing a long time ago"

"Did I?" said Satoru.

"It was about a small fire back then" she said. The two of them quickly scanned the area intently looking for something unusual. Sachiko spotted something that seemed odd. It caught her attention long enough for her to focus on the event, but insufficient recognition to consciously say it. Satoru realized he had passed the "Revival" point. Nothing had happened. Did "Revival" misfire?

"Fujinuma-san! … Hey!" called out familiar voice. It was Katagiri Airi. After everyone had greeted each other Katagiri was curious. "Your mother? I thought she was your big sister" said Kataigiri-kun.

"Do you believe in Yokai?" said Satoru.

"I do now" said Katagiri.

Fujinuma Sachiko invited Katagiri over for dinner and curry. "I'm Katagiri Airi! Thanks for the invitation. I'll help you make it too!" Satoru watched mostly in surprise as Katagiri moved forward to talk to his mom. A dash of anxiety and annoyance at his mom came in, but mostly he was still surprised.

At the Fujinuma apartment, Katagiri was amazed at Satoru being an aspiring mangaka (cartoon artist). Satoru knows that being a struggling artist is not really all that great. The curry was ready and the table was set. The curry was delicious, a fact that was quickly commented on by the guest.

"When I saw you, at first I thought you were too young to be his girlfriend, but you're not his girlfriend. Too bad, you're such a great cook" said Sachiko.

"Sorry, we're not dating. How can I put it? To be Fujinuma-san is a…" said Katagiri.

"An ally and senior co-worker" thought Satoru.

"A trusted friend I can respect" completed Katagiri-kun.

The trio finished their dinner. The curry was spicier than Satoru preferred, but he enjoyed it with the others nevertheless. "I'll take you back to the station" said Satoru.

"You're going home already? You should spend the night" said Satoru's mom.

"Katagiri-kun is a high school student" said Satoru.

The two of them got onto Satoru's bike and Satoru started pedaling with Katagiri sitting on the same seat directly behind, facing the side of the bike. It was slow enough she didn't have to hold on. "Thanks for having me over Satoru-san" said Katagiri.

"No problem. Just watch your eyes out for cops" said Satoru.

After moving Katagiri to the train station, Satoru came back. Sachiko was in front of the television smoking. "She's my co-worked. Don't look at her as potential wife material" said Satoru.

"Satoru, this afternoon in the supermarket parking lot… that was an attempted kidnapping" said Sachiko. Satoru responded with incomprehension. "I'm obviously kidding" she finished off.

The next day Satoru went to a magazine store early in the morning. One of them was about a case of serial murders that happened 18 years ago. He looked at the first chronological victim. "Hinazuki Kayo. We weren't exactly friends, but I saw her in the park alone" he thought. He remembered a young girl with brown hair that barely extends beyond her chin. She was in a red shirt and a yellow scarf. It was snowing. Satoru remembered waving a few times but he never tried to greet her. "That was the last time I saw Hinazuki" he thought. After the reveal of the murders, her picture was put in the auditorium for a day with flowers. She was giving a look of boredom and disinterest. Young Satoru thought that leaving her in the park doomed her and he could have saved her. This, the loss of his childhood friend Hiromi, and the police accusing another friend Yuuki combined must have been what Satoru's mother wanted him to forget. He thought about the representative from the publisher telling him the readers needed to see his heart. But he closed it even to himself.

Sachiko was out shopping. She thought about the previous day. The man with the girl just drove away leaving her behind. He seemed shifty and familiar. The man used a rental car. Sachiko browsed through archives. The serial murders attributed to Shiratori Jun 18 years ago matched the same pattern and mode of operation as a recent killed child. Sachiko called an old coworker. She thinks she solved the case. In any event, even if she was wrong, she knew how Shiratori might have turned into a scapegoat. She came back to the apartment.

Someone entered the apartment. A figure came in and stabbed Sachiko in the back. She turned around and saw she was right. She had to call Satoru and warn him not to come home. Sachiko remembered her son pleading to her that it wasn't Yuuki. She failed to reach the phone on the table. "If only I trusted him…" her last thoughts came out.

Satoru finished his shift at Osai Pizza. He was ready to go home, have dinner, and maybe spend the evening drawing. "Hey ask your mom if I can put in a requs.t the curry was good!" said Katagiri-kun.

Satoru left with a wave. He got back to his apartment. He passed by a shifty looking guy and then found his door unlocked. "Mom, this isn't your home in Hokkaido, you can't just leave it unlocked like that" said Satoru. He picked up something off the floor and went into the eating area.

Satoru saw his mother covered in blood. He reached over and tried to stabilize the blood loss. There was a wound in her back and her knee. Satoru touched a knife sticking form her stomach. Satoru screamed. The landlady came in with empty dishes and dropped it seeing Satoru's hands covered in flood. Satoru chased after her and tried to explain. She had gone into another tenant's apartment and grabbed the landline. As she spoke, police cruisers started arriving at the scene. Wait, this was all too fast.

An officer greeted Fujinuma Satoru and his bloody hands. "You're wrong. It wasn't me. I didn't do it" pleaded Satoru almost whispering as he grunted and started to flee. The blue butterfly passed by him once again.

The world spun and Satoru opened his eyes again. He was a bit disoriented and the time of the day changed. Where was he? A dark haired kid in a yellow jacket and a hat that left his slightly spiky dark hair exposed. He wore a backpack. "Yo Satoru, you're going to be late" he said. Satoru didn't recognize him immediately, but knee he knew this person well. Based on the unconscious movement of his legs, he knew he was following the kid to someplace. Satoru looked at his surroundings and realized there was snow. The kid walked past a gate that led into he courtyard of an elementary school and raced towards the door.

The school banners made a mention about Ice Hockey Champions. But it was the year that didn't seem to make too much sense to Satoru. "1988?" asked an ten year old Fujinuma Satoru outloud.

Author's note: Some of deviations form the anime are from me and some of it comes from older scripts of the first episode that didn't make it. I talk more about the older scritps here at /discussions/forum/12/458606248626265914/. (That should me a NON clickable link, if I accidentally made it clickable send me a PM and tell me how to fix it and I'll fix it witihn a week) Most of that steam thread was my ramblings weeks ago. Anyways, have a bit of patience with me, Satoru will take different actions in this fic and will earn himself a different ending.