Tenohira I Decided Not to Lie
June 2006
"I call this phenomenon 'Revival" I usually go back between one and five minutes where everything is the same as before. It's always right before something bad happens. As a result, I've kept trouble from happening again and again. Unfortunately, while this often results in the event coming natural to me, sometimes a negative result happens" thought Fujinuma Satoru as he lied on a hospital bed after Katagiri left.
One week later
Satoru finds his mother stabbed to death and is framed for it. The blue butterfly signals "Revival" kicking in.
February 8th, 1988 (67th year of the Showa Era)
Satoru came into the vaguely familiar building. He made his way over to his old classroom. There were faces he had recognized, but were unable to put a name to most of them. This elementary school did not have a standard winter uniform, so his classmates were in casual clothing. The teacher directed him to take his seat. Satoru randomly picked an empty seat, but it was Hinazuki Kayo's seat. A random girl asked if he had a crush on her since they were both weird.
Satoru picked the correct seat. As attendance was called out, he moved into keep through. "Why am I here? What is the meaning of this?" "Revival" never was more than 7 days. If he was supposed to keep his mom from being killed, a full day repeat would have been effective. Tell her to lock the door would have been sufficient. It can't stop a determined break in, but no murderer smart enough to set up a scapegoat would be dumb enough to attract attention by breaking the door before his scapegoat arrived. At least, Satoru assumed he was the intended scapegoat. The police arrived while the landlady was talking on the phone, so obviously it wasn't her. Instead it was 1988. If this was revival the will that orders Satoru and says "prevent it" obviously did not have the goal of saving his mother as a primary goal.
Satoru excused himself from the classroom and started leaving the school. "What is going on? Is it 'Revival'" thought Satoru. He rushed past a tardy girl who had brown hair clad in red. Satoru went by a few grey apartments and arrived at his old house in half an hour. He entered the building. There was a kitchen and some rice balls. A feeling of nostalgia picked up. Satoru went into his old room. There was a picture of him playing with his friends. He picked up a mask of his favorite TV superhero.
Hours later, Satoru woke up. He had drifted to sleep. When we woke up, there was a shadow over him. "I'm back" said a familiar voice.
Satoru turned to see Fujinuma Sachiko, his mother. Except for having a 30 cm ponytail, she looked more or less the same as he saw her yesterday (his perspective). "ka-san (ma)…" said Satoru. Satoru's mom was surprised at this greeting. "I meant 'oka-san' (mom)" said Satoru. His eyes had some tears in them.
Satoru's mom prepared a meal with hamburger being the main dish at his request. When they started eating, they had small talk and Satoru realized he had been crying. They had times like this without him realizing it. Time that he had lost. "This is 'Revival' after all. It's another chance. And no way am I going to lose this time" thought Satoru.
The next day going to school, a boy wearing glasses and a long cap that ended in a white cloth sphere greeted him. It was one of Satoru's circle of friends. "Oh… Hi Osumu" Satoru said weakly. He thought he remembered the name. The boy didn't correct Satoru and seemed satisfied at the answer.
In class Satoru observed Hinazuki Kayo. She lived with her mother. She was going to be murdered the next month. Before lunch Satoru saw she had a bruise just at the level of her skirt. During break, Satoru talked with his friends. One of them commented about their preferences for video games and Satoru didn't even have a Nintendo Famirī Konpyūta/Famicon/NES. One of them called attention to Satoru looking at Hinazuki earlier that day. They quickly all jumped on. The spiky brown haired large boy Kazu grabbed his shoulder. "Why didn't you come to us for advice? Leave it to me. I can make it so you can talk to Hinazuki!" said Kazu, the same spiky haired boy who greeted him the previous day.
"It's not that I 'like' her. More like she's on my mind" said Satoru.
"Satoru-kun, you're got guts!" said Hiromi, a boy with black hair that nearly reached his chin.
"I'll arrange it so you can see her after school" said Kazu.
After school, Satoru and Hinazuki Kayo were on a riverbank. "Are you an idiot?" asked Hinazuki. Satoru realized she cut to the chase quickly with no pleasantries.
"Is that how you greet someone?" asked bluntly Satoru. "I just said that out loud" he thought. Satoru felt somewhat nervous his tone might have turned her off, which would mean his mission failed before he even started. Kazu probably flat out told her Satoru had a crush on her. Satoru just needed to save this girl's life so he can figure out what this has to do with his mother. Perhaps the killer who framed Yuuki was the same one who killed his mother in 2006. It would not hurt to have her have some fun and pleasure. But that was not the goal. Hinazuki was a means to an end, whereas when a boy has a crush and tries to talk to the girl, she is the end.
Satoru tried to focus on his objective. "I thought maybe we could be friends. We do go home the same way" said Satoru.
"Why do you say that to me of all people" said the girl in the red jacket. Satoru was thinking this brat was getting to be a pain in the ass. He just needed to tolerate it and keep his eyes on his objective.
"But I do understand. After all, you and I are both fakes Fujinuma" said Hinazuki. Satoru felt like he had been pierced. She commented on his running home early the previous day. "Is your mother that precious to you?" After Satoru nodded, she replied "Oh" and started to leave the frozen riverbank by climbing some stairs.
Satoru continued with his offer of friendship. "Would you kill someone for my sake?" said Hinazuki. She was now standing a meter above his head. Her skirt which barely covered the top part of her bruise mark now left most of her top leg exposed and the entire mark. Satoru could see with enough detail this injury happened within the week, possibly during the weekend or maybe even the previous day. What was a simple bruise was hit hard enough that the mark would need a whole week to heal.
Something was obviously wrong with Hinazuki even while she was alive. He thought back to the pseudo-funeral death announcement his school had. In that picture of her, she was not smiling, but looked almost annoyed. Satoru also thought about her calling him a fake. Satoru considered she obviously didn't mean his adult self posed as his 11 year old self. Even his first time in elementary school, he forced himself to be outgoing to make it easier to interact with his classmates and to a lesser extend please his friends, even though they would not outright desert him if he did otherwise. In other words, he was always guarding himself when he initiated conversation and action.
Satoru came back to the classroom. Kazu, Osamu, Hiromi, and Kenya were present. The first three peppered him with questions about his talk with Hinazuki. This was annoying and pressured Satoru. The blond haired boy Kenya closed his book. "Quit poking at him. What if your overeagerness blows it for him?" he said. Satoru knew Kenya was thinking about something else, but relieved to get the pressure off.
As they left a conversation made him realize he had probably left his gloves at their hideout. Well, he knew what it looked like, but didn't remember enough of the town to figure out how to actually get there. Satoru would have to wait until his friends went there. Kazu offered to have the others come to his house the next day. After most of them left, Satoru thanked Kenya for realizing he was pressured by the other boys. Kenya suggested Satoru read the student compositions.
Satoru came back to his house and pullet out the student compositions. He turned to Hinazuki's. It was titled "The Town Without Me." It started with how she wanted to go to a faraway island. There were things she could live without and things she could do there. And she thought about how the town would continue. "Kids go to school as if nothing had changed. Adults go to the office as if nothing had changed. Mom easts as if nothing had changed. When I think about the town without me, I feel a sense of relief. I want to go far far away." Hinazuki's essay was likely an unconscious SOS. Maybe Kenya thought it wasn't a romantic interest Satoru had but that he was worried after reading the essay.
At dinner, Satoru thanked his mother for the meal and talked about a possible birthday party. His mom agreed and thought to get a large cake. Later, Satoru had trouble sleeping. There hours after the lights were out, he was trying to analyze his situation. "If I change Hinazuki's behavior and avoid the crime that would otherwise occur around me soon… if I can do that I can save mom" he thought.
"Satoru, are you awake? Let's see five people…. Do you have a girlfriend?" asked Satoru's mom. While that was false, it could look that way for anyone who had been following Satoru this week without reading his mind. The all-seeing eye was perfect for a yokai.
On February 12th, 1988, Hiromi and Satoru arrived at Kazu's house. They put in the NES "Super Mario Bros." Hiromi failed the first Bowser. Satoru managed to get as far as world 4, but the spiny minions foiled his Mario. Kazu used the warp pipe to get to 3-1 and said he wouldn't use the warp pipe for the rest of the game. At world 4-1 Kazu discovered unlike other copies of the game, hitting spiked enemies from below a block with a jump would flip them over and render them vulnerable as enemies from Mario Bros would have. No other glitches were discovered and world 5-2 was his match.
"You finish the game in the last castle by dropping Bowser into the lava with the ax just as before and you rescue Princess Peach. If he came out of the lava, made his way all the way to the next castle despite Mario's head start, and is ready to confront you again, what makes you think he is completely defeated after axing his bridge and dunking him into the lava again" asked Hiromi.
"I guess you like complete stories. No wonder you prefer Final Fantasy" said Kazu. The three of them went to talk about that game and Hiromi agreed that they should play it together sometime. They talked about Kazu's crush, second year middle school student with hair that reached her knees. Satoru didn't remember her and guessed she wasn't too memorable. By Kazu's own admission, they didn't really see each other much, but commented that they all had plenty of time. Attention focused on Satoru. To not pressure him too much, Kazu asked a simple question. "So, are things going OK with Hinazuki?"
Satoru hesitantly gave the affirmative. He went home for dinner. Satoru considered he didn't have all the time in the world, but on the other hand, thinking about heavy weight problems was going to affect his mood. Satoru needed to either let off some stress or have a harder time putting forward the intended out version of him. He decided to go sightseeing over the weekend.
February 16th, 1988
Satoru stayed to chat with his friends after school. He didn't mind Hinazuki had an hour head start. Satoru knew she would be waiting in the park as always. Her mom might be abusing her, which meant that the time in the park could simply be a way to keep away from her home. Did he just think he was weird before?
As the sun had set, Satoru moved past blocks of apartment buildings, heading towards the park. Hinazuki was there standing below a single lamp that gave an eerie orange blow to the nearby snow. "Hinazuki!" he said.
"Fujinuma, what are you doing here?" asked Hinazuki in a disinterested tone.
"I told you, I want to be friends… although I don't think I can kill anyone" said Satoru.
"I was obviously kidding" said Hinazuki. Satoru thought this was getting difficult. She was not a socialable type and his attempts to get closer were getting rebuffed. "Fujinuma, you're pretending aren't you? Pretending to smile, pretending to be nice, pretending to be worried… to be honest I don't think that's a bad thing. I'm not one to talk" said Hinazuki. "But… I can't see your true face"
Satoru tried another avenue of approach. "You're right. I am pretending. I want people to like me. I'm not the most socially skilled person. When I thought 'what can I do to help myself?' the answer I came to was 'let's try liking everyone!' That makes it easier to perform." Satoru thirded the distance between them and came into the light with a smile.
"While I'm preforming, it feels like it will become real along the line" said Hinazuki.
Satoru grasped. "I feel like if you say the words over and over, it'll happen somewhere along the line" was what Katagiri-kun said. Although it was only weeks ago form his perspective, it feels like a long time. Satoru considered this mode of operation. To get something you wat, you make and effort to inspire yourself. Hinazuki was trying to endure something painful. But a ten year old girl just isn't very strong. Even without outside intervention, she was close to breaking. Satoru felt like he gained some trust with her.
Satoru reached out for his trump card. He pulled out an envelope. "Hinazuki, I want you to have this. I'm having a birthday party I want you to come. It's on March 2nd" said Satoru. Hinazuki looked flustered and turned her eyes sideways. "You'll come won't you?"
"Sure" replied Hinazuki. Fujinuma, aren't your hands cold?"
"Oh. Yes, I actually am. I think I lost my gloves somewhere" said Satoru, looking at his hands as another snowflake fell on his right hand. Hinazuki removed her hand form her pocket and pressed her hand flat against the palm of Satoru's right hand. While still colder than body temperature, it was still war compared to the air. It was Satoru's turn to get flustered. He gasped, blushed, and stared straight forward. "Hey, you're 29 years old. Get a hold of yourself. What am I embarrassed about" thought Satoru. It ewas over before he could recover. "My hand is bigger than yours isn't it?"
"Are you an idiot?" replied Hinazuki, turning away. Satoru's shoulders slunk. "But recently Fujinuma, it's been easier to talk to you"
"That's because I decided not to die to you" said Satoru. "Oh, I just said that out loud" he thought, caught off guard by his unintentional remark. He quickly recovers "See you tomorrow" he finished off, waving her goodbye. It seemed she didn't have gloves either. He was not going to leave her in the park this time. "I'll change the future!" he thought.
