Back and forth
The missing 15 minutes.
"I'm not seeing anything special…" Mamoru muttered.
Igawa suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Of course it wouldn't work the instant he would put those glasses on his nose. That would be overkill. He leisurely planted a hand on his left hip.
"That's because you didn't link it yet. Say 'Back to the future'."
He heard him snort at the name.
"Back to the future? That's worse than 'Bucket Brigade'. Aren't you infringing on the copyrights?" he said as he smirked.
"Shut the hell up," Igawa replied, twitching an eyebrow, before reading up the lengthy manual aloud. To his satisfaction, the swordsman remained quiet for about half a minute.
"…and to stop the feature running, you will have to push that white button on the-" he paused when he heard a soft groan, "hey, are you even listening?!"
"…hnn, where 'm I?" he muttered, "...is't mornin' already?"
Igawa looked up and cocked his head slightly. He never heard that man talk like that.
"Eh Mamoru, if you encounter some side effects, tell me 'kay?"
The swordsman completely ignored the request.
"…is that you? Why did you get so big?"
Igawa processed the sentence and stared down to measure his own height, and then he reached over to have a closer look at the shades.
"Uh no, I didn't grow one single millimeter since one minute ago. Are you sure everything is fine?"
"...don't know. I feel a bit light in my head."
"Perhaps we should stop the test then."
"Test?"
Igawa stared in disbelief.
"Uh hello? Earth to Mamoru-chan? From which planet are you? Which country? What's today's date?"
"Earth. Japan. …27th April, 2029. That enough?"
"Yup, alright…" he paused and turned back to yell at him, "WHAT THE- 20-freaking 29?!?"
At first Mamoru winced at the loud reaction.
"What's wrong Ryou? Is the growth spurt bothering you?" he said, as he stepped away from the couch, and reached for the other man's hand, "Come over here…"
"What the fu-" Igawa edged away from the couch, but his hand had already been caught by the swordsman.
Mamoru smirked.
----------
Haruka looked up from her mirror; she could have sworn she just heard Igawa …scream. Well, this was a little unexpected… Just a little. She opened the door and returned her answer.
"Igawa-san?! What's wrong?"
When she didn't hear a reply she began to get worried.
----------
"Is that Haruka?" An overjoyed Mamoru had assailed Igawa into a teary embrace, but then he faintly heard a female voice calling.
"Wha- Lemme go, at this—instant!" Igawa pushed him away, almost crying of shame, and yelling angrily as if he had been squished like a tomato, "ugh! What crack are you on man?!"
"I was just asking," Mamoru raised an eyebrow, "was that her?"
"Huh? You heard? Yes, of course it's her! Have you gone deaf too?! Who else would be- oh shit!" Igawa's realization dawned in when he heard the young girl yell for him once again.
"Igawa-saaan? What happened?"
"It is Haruka…" Mamoru sheepishly smiled.
The other man gasped in sheer horror at the sight. 'That, this would mean they are already married by then?! If Mamoru of the future were to meet the girl that's… that's out of the question!'
Igawa pushed away from him and ran out of the doorway, then bumped into the girl herself and dragged her back upstairs to her room.
"Hey, Igawa-san!"
"HARUKA STAY IN YOUR ROOM IT'S A PEDOPHILE!"
"A pedo-wha-?" She asked, frowning.
"LOLICON!" He spat out from the urban dictionary in his head.
Haruka dropped her jaw, as if he were speaking a foreign language. "Huh?"
"Oh of course you wouldn't understand since you're just a kid… ahaha," Igawa pushed his glasses up and tried to look as manly as possible, "J-Just stay away from the guy and everything will be alright! It's my job to protect you!"
"I don't understand what you're saying!" A ticked off Haruka yelled angrily, "…I don't need another bodyguard! What happened to Mamoru-san?!"
"That's what I was warning you for, that monster turned into a pe- oh crap, here he comes!" He whispered.
Mamoru ran up the stairs.
"What were you just calling me? Have some respect for your elders, Ryou!"
"Listen up man, I am NOT Ryou, I am Igawa Ryoutarou."
"Eh?" Mamoru was looking really confused here.
"I-GA-WA. That's Igawa for you!" he spelled out, and was relieved that Mamoru took the time to let that fact sink in. Suddenly he looked a bit sad.
"..."
"It's the year 2009," he whispered, "…and your dear Haruka-chan is still underage!"
"Oh."
"What oh?"
Mamoru raised an eyebrow.
"I can see that," he coolly replied, as he glanced at the girl for a short while, "You're overreacting."
Igawa nearly collapsed at the answer and gasped for air. Breathe in, breathe out!
"Okay, Haruka… I think Mamoru might want a cup of water," he said to the school girl, and then back to his colleague, "I'm going to fix something."
The swordsman frowned in response.
"No, you're going to need some coffee."
The girl rolled her eyes. Did they expect her to serve beverages when she was about to go to school? What a joke. Haruka was about to stalk away to the front door when Mamoru stopped her.
"Please? He needs it," he asked with a smile made her stop in her tracks.
Please? PLEASE?! Haruka stared back wide eyed. She never heard him say that. Igawa had turned into a shell out of shock within milliseconds.
"Um okay," she sheepishly said, and felt the heartbeat quicken the moment he smiled at her. Haruka ran off the kitchen quickly.
Mamoru grinned back impishly at the technician.
----------
Mamoru seemed rather out of character today, and Igawa had changed as well within a matter of minutes as the relevant subject of the future was brought up. Eventually they ended up whispering to each other.
Haruka hesitantly looked back at the table the two men were sitting at. Just what were they going on about? Occasionally they would observe her as she prepared the beverage – coffee for two, she decided - and whisper to each other. Igawa wasn't exactly good at whispering when he was giggling like a kid at the same time – she frowned multiple times. When the words 'future', 'breast size' and 'performance' had been thrown on about – she nearly choked. Mamoru seemed rather too willing to share on the subject. Haruka nearly regretted knowing this was the man she was going to marry.
There was no further need to elaborate on her current state of mind.
Both of them said their thanks when she placed the coffee on the table. She frowned when Mamoru smiled at her so sweetly again.
"Um, I'm almost late for school. I'm going!" Haruka said quickly.
"Bye~" The two man simultaneously said.
The girl stared back for a moment. That did it. She fled the house as quickly as possible, hoping it was all a dream.
----------
He sipped his coffee and then adjusted his shades.
"After I go back, you should destroy this thing."
"What for?"
Igawa felt a little rejuvenated after their talk, but 'future' Mamoru got down to real business when Haruka left them.
"I can't say," he replied, "Just promise me one thing Igawa."
"What is it?"
"Do NOT become a mad scientist."
The technician blinked and then snorted.
"Whaaat?! How could I become something like that?"
However, Mamoru lost all amusement of minutes ago and pointed at his shades again.
"This is only the beginning," the swordsman said, "Promise me to destroy this thing and not to mess with the timelines."
Igawa gulped.
"What happens if I don't?"
"I can't say."
"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."
Mamoru glared at him.
"Or perhaps not?" Igawa tried.
"I'll only say this; an experiment gone wrong," he said with a dangerous tone, "Now will you send me back or not? I have a family to tend to."
'Family? Hmm…' The geek smiled with uncertainty.
"Alright, go sit on the couch and say the magic words."
"Magic words..?"
"Yup, 'Back to the future'."
"What a terrible name," Mamoru smirked a little as he faded into the couch and closed his eyes, "but you know, I liked that thing about you. Do what I told you to do, and don't ever change."
The swordsman said those words again, and Igawa idly wondered where his own Mamoru of the present had gone. It wasn't long after that when that person returned with a futuristic story of his own.
The End