Lum had intended to wait an entire week before letting herself into Ataru's house again. For the past five nights she slept in her own bed on her personal spacecraft hovering above the Moroboshi residence.
One would be quick to assume that sleeping in an actual bed is a massive improvement when compared to sleeping in a linen closet.
That's what she kept telling herself, but the truth was after going on a second date with Ataru, her desire to sleep close to him only grew over time. Eventually, it got to the point where she could barely get any sleep the previous night. Ataru was all she could think about when she wasn't thinking about anybody or anything else. The two of them have a future together and there's no sense in delaying it.
That was when she decided to come back to his room. She just couldn't be happy anymore without him being close to her.
It was just after noon on a Friday, so that means he's still attending school.
She may have to consider enrolling in that academic establishment if it meant spending more time with him. There's a process to these things. There just had to be. She can always call her father just in case she needs help with anything.
When she entered Ataru's room through the window, she noticed that it hadn't changed much since she last left it. The only noticeable difference was that it's a bit messier. Empty soda cans, candy bar wrappers, a plastic ramen container that looked like it had been kicked into the corner of the room. It was like he wasn't even trying to utilize his wastebasket. Which has recently been emptied. Odd.
She shook her head. Now is not the time to wonder about what her beloved darling may or may not have been doing during the time she was away. This room needs cleaning. And when he comes back after a long day of school, she'll be here to comfort him again. It'll be just like she never left.
She was about to head downstairs and reintroduce herself to her future mother in law when something caught her eye.
Right next to a mug of room temperature coffee is a notebook that had been laid out.
This is Ataru's journal. She'd only seen him write in it once and now it's wide open right in front of her.
Without thinking, she moved closer. He had written something while she was away and she'll be damned if he doesn't tell her what it was.
She picked up the comp book and began reading.
'I am tired and sad.
I hate to admit it, but I had forgotten how stressful everything was before I had met Lum.
Putting myself to the side was the thing that helped me out the most back then. But I can't do that now. Not after everything.
I won't go so far to say that Lum is the direct cause of my new perspective, but at the same time, I feel like a fool if I say that she didn't have anything to do with it.
Life's not going to get any easier whether I like it or not. It's just out of my control and I just need to learn to accept that and keep working my hardest every single day.
I sometimes think back to the time when I didn't have to worry about anything. I was only just six years old when my world turned upside down. That horrible day. 11/3/11. The disaster was like a punch to the face. Even today. I still hurt.'
Lum blinks twice after reading. 11/3/11? A disaster? What disaster? Is this a secret that he's keeping from her?
A husband shouldn't be keeping any secrets from his wife. Next time she sees him, he's going to have a lot to answer for.
While she was more than willing to sit down and wait for a very small period of time, an idea crossed her mind. Something else that she could do instead of confronting the man she loves. She will go ahead and see for herself what this 'disaster' did to Ataru on the eleventh day of the third month in the year 2011.
Time travel has been available to the royal family of Oniboshi for the last half-millenia.
The first time travel machine ever created took over 20 years to develop and is powered by a massive supercomputer that's the size of a football stadium. According to Lum.
Given enough time, the technology improves. The Oni only grew smarter in developing new ways to better produce existing products. Devices have gotten smaller and smaller to the point where the most recent time machine model is less than a third of the size of Ataru's cell phone.
She carries one around in her bra. Just in case.
Along with its impressively small size, it's not powered by any electrical or chemical system. Perpetual motion is something humans have not been able to figure out yet, but that's because they have very limited knowledge of the universe so she doesn't blame them even a little.
She grabs the mug filled with cold coffee nearby and stickers the time machine on the side.
"2011… That's a little more than eleven years in the past. Hmm…"
Even though time travel is possible, it was never what the Oni would call perfect. While date and location destination targeting have been perfectly calibrated to pinpoint accuracy, the destination of exact time of the day or night was rarely, if ever, successfully transitioned over the timestream.
All time travelers without exception were only seeing what it was willing to show them. Almost as if time itself is sentient and they're messing with her people for going forward and backward.
Within a minute, she found herself eleven years into the past. 11/3/11. Just like Ataru had written.
She looked around and saw that she's near a playground that's next to a vacant lot.
"Hmm… Did the time travel work? Everything seems… the same."
Before she could finish what she was thinking, she heard the sound of a bell ringing nearby. It's not a pleasant bell like the ones they have at Ataru's school. This is one of those handheld ones that are more disruptive than anything else.
"Hear me! Hear me! People of Tomobiki!" The voice sounded familiar to Lum, yet she could not say for sure who it was.
She levitated closer to the vacant lot and became astonished by what she saw.
The voice belonged to Cherry. Despite being supposedly ten years younger, he looks exactly the same.
"Hm… So my time travel didn't work after all."
That was enough to capture the attention of the traveling monk. He walks over to her.
"Miss! Please! You have to believe me! You need to find shelter! A disaster is coming! A big one!"
Lum scratches her chin. Cherry is speaking to her like he's never seen her before. If that's the case, her darling Ataru could be in his elementary school at the moment, if he isn't heading home already.
Ignoring the stares from the few people who were passing by, she goes on to ask the younger Cherry a question.
"May I… May I ask what's the time? You see, I'm a little lost right now, and if you say there's a disaster coming…"
Cherry let out a frustrated sigh before checking his old, analog watch.
"It's… about a quarter to three."
"Oh, that means darling's going to be out of school before long." She thought.
Lum's understanding of the school schedule was pretty straightforward as Ataru had told her. High schoolers leave school at three, and elementary schoolers leave fifteen minutes after that.
"Thank you so much, stranger!" She smiles as she bows to Cherry before running off in the direction of the elementary school.
"Wait! Hold on!" Cherry shouts out. "Time is short! You need to take shelter now! Prepare yourself for what is coming!"
It was too late however, as Lum was already on her way. Deciding that she'd get there quicker by flying, she got herself off the ground.
What happened next was something nobody could have seen coming.
It came without warning. While it may be true that Cherry tried warning as many people as he could. Nothing could prepare Lum for what she'll be witnessing today.
She wanted to see Ataru as a child, but instead she got caught up in the middle of the tragedy that took place in this date and time in Japan's history. The day that helped Ataru shape who he is today.
March 11th, 2011.
2:46 P.M.
Disaster.
Seeing the ground shake beneath her was enough for her to stop in midair.
That shaking only grew more intense. In the distance, she can hear glass breaking. Soon after that came car alarms accompanied by screaming. People are running scared when they were just calm and going about their day just a minute ago.
Lum had felt earthquakes before when she first visited Earth, but this is nothing like any of those. This one is much more intense. Not only that, it lasts much longer. This is much more than what she's used to and the same could be said for most of these people going through this with her.
She was scared. She wanted to stop flying and stand on the ground but she knows what will be happening to her if she does. It was still going on and showing no signs of stopping.
She shut her eyes and tried not to keep listening to the noises all around her. She's now focused on her breathing and her heart pounding in her chest.
"The first time I see you again in three days and I find out you've time traveled to the second worst day of my life."
Lum looks up from the ground to see the discerning face of 2022 Ataru Moroboshi looking down at her. The earthquake lasted for more than five minutes but to her it felt like an hour and a half.
She stood up slowly. Trying to gather up the strength to speak. "Darling… I…"
She stops talking as she realizes that he's followed her here. He must have gotten home from school a little earlier than usual.
Not just that, the way he spoke reminded her of a certain someone.
"Yeah, before you ask, yes. I'm the pervert Ataru." He sighs. "The other guy began hyperventilating as soon as he realized what was going on, so I had to take over. You know, so I don't pass out with him! I swear, I can't trust that guy sometimes!
Just what the hell are you doing time traveling here anyway!?"
At this point, Lum was doing all she could do to keep herself from crying.
"I… I saw what you wrote in your journal. You… you mentioned that something happened to you on this day… and I really… wanted to see you when you were younger."
Ataru sighs again. At this point, he's not even surprised anymore. It's much easier at this point to believe something crazy will happen in the day than not to.
When he feels like he has something to say, he's going to go ahead and say it. Nobody's stopping him.
"Well… by now, my six year old self is probably getting lectured by the teacher right about now. Tomobiki is lucky compared to other parts of Japan. Hundreds of kilometers north and northeast from here, there are thousands of people who don't have that same luck. Men, women… and children who weren't all that different from me… will not survive the massive tsunami that came with that earthquake earlier. You see, Lum, what you just faced was a lower level 5 on the Shindo scale. The 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake… it goes up to upper level 6 and 7.
It is the largest earthquake in Japanese history… and the fourth largest earthquake ever recorded."
"All those deaths." Lum buries her face in her hands. Trying to take in all the information given to her. "Wait… you said… five, six, and seven. That's… magnitude, right?"
For a moment, the pervert Ataru racked his brains trying to explain the difference so that it's easy to understand.
"Magnitude… is a simple measure of earthquakes. I'm talking about Shindo. It's a… Japanese exclusive scale. It measures the shaking of buildings and… the fear of an average person. I don't think I'm the guy who can explain it too well."
They stay silent for a little while longer before Ataru spoke up again.
"You know, not long after today, I found out that the location of Japan… It's standing right in the middle of four different tectonic plates. Giant earthquakes and tsunamis are what to be expected of this! Our society… My society… It's different compared to the rest of the world. We know a thing or two about natural disasters because we survive them.
2020 then came along and in addition to all of that, we added global pandemic as another thing to survive. We shut down our borders for two years to protect all our elderly. I myself became conflicted. Struggling with the same choice every day. Fall in line, do my part, and embrace order? Or accept you'll probably die soon and try to get with as many beautiful women as possible. Because you KNOW you'll die-"
He stops talking as he sees that Lum is starting to shed tears.
Unsure of what to do next, he reached a hand out and patted her on the shoulder. "Let's just go home, okay? You'd like that."
They didn't say anything for a long time after they've returned to the present.
Lum held on to him and she didn't let go the entire time. She buried her face in his chest as they laid in his futon together.
This is a whole new experience for the perverted side of Ataru. He has an opportunity to throw her off of him and spend the rest of the evening 'girl hunting,' but he has no desire to do that.
He was supposed to be the side of Ataru that enjoys 'freedom' over 'order.' The other guy, 'Order Ataru,' flirted with a girl during his date with Lum. He had nothing to do with that.
There is only one way to see it: The line between the two halves of Ataru Moroboshi is beginning to blur and he has Lum to thank for that.
He brings his lips closer to her and kisses the top of her head.
"I'm never going to let you go. Whatever and whenever you need me, I'll be there. As long as I can make you happy.
Lum opened her eyes a bit and spoke in a soft, quiet voice. "Thank you."