Chapter 9

Joining with everyone else at the table, I noticed there seemed to be someone missing. "I asked Kaede if she wouldn't mind going to her friend's a little earlier tonight, I figured it would be for the best." Sakuta spoke up as I had looked around the table, noticing the empty chair. I nodded, still a bit shaken up from my encounter with Kyoko.

Mai and Rio had a look of concern on their face, clearly Sakuta had given them a brief rundown after he had left his post outside the bathroom door. Rio spoke up first. "If it's any consolation, tomorrow will be a fresh start and that whole situation will have never actually happened, unless you boys plan to romp around the beach again."

I cracked a slight smile, appreciative of the effort. Mai, however, was a bit harsher. "Just because she's upset, she shouldn't have lashed out at you like that. Unfortunately, you can't exactly expect an apology. But the nerve of her, if she knew what you were going through..." Sakuta cut her off, placing his hand on hers.

"It is what it is. I think it's best if we move on to hopefully better news, you do have some better news for us, right Rio?" I noticed that instead of the one notebook that she had brought to lunch, she now had three stacked in front of her.

Rio quickly flipped through the first notebook in the stack, finding her starting point. "In regards to having an ultimate solution, I'm sorry to say I don't have one for you. But, I think I may have found a way to merge the two versions of you once you figure out how to save her."

I immediately sat up. True, saving Sakura was my ultimate goal. But what if I saved her only to still wake up trapped in this loops? Trying to not sound over excited, I asked the only question that mattered. "What do I have to do?"

Rio pulled the magnets she used during our lunch out of her pocket. "You remember what I said regarding how you essentially are reversed from Sakura? Well, again this is just a theory, but it may be possible to reverse that effect which should merge the two versions of you back to one."

She flipped a few more pages in her notebook before continuing. "Throughout history, medicine has been practiced both through pharmaceutical as well as natural, and sometimes considered mystical methods. I don't think you'll be able to go to a pharmacy and pick up a prescription, but after doing some research, I found references throughout history of medicine men treating cases that couldn't be explained any other way than unnatural."

I felt a shiver as she spoke those words, as though we were speaking of things that were best left undiscovered. She had turned the notebook around so the rest of us could see. On the open pages, there was an anatomical photo of a man, with lines pointing out specific areas of the body. I tried to read what they said, but it was too small for me to make it out clearly.

"Acupuncture has been used as a healing method for years, but from my research it looks like things were done to focus on a more metaphysical level in those days. Most of this research is buried and hard to find, thankfully the lab I work at has a direct access line to the local municipal office, so we are able to access it."

I thought about all of the needles used during acupuncture, and instinctively flinched. I never had an issue with needles before, getting shots over the years was never a big deal. But simply having a needle in your arm for a few moments was a lot less scary than having to lay down with dozens of needles in your body.

"Don't worry, it wouldn't require a ton of needles like normal acupuncture, but it still will require using a decent amount." She turned the page again, this time showing a similar photo but with certain areas highlighted. "From the research, these would be the areas required for this to work."

I quickly counted how many spots were highlighted, giving up once I got to thirty. "And how sure are you that this would work?" She quickly did some mental math. "I give this plan a 60% of working. It's not perfect, I'll admit it. There's some more steps involved but none of them involve anything like needles being poked into you."

Once again, she flipped the page in the notebook. Now, there was notes about different ancient rituals. "As far as any other supplies, it's simple things like incense, Himalayan salt to be placed around your body, and a personal object that belongs to the other you."

I tried to think through the few things I had brought from my home, wondering what I had that might work. "I have my ID, would that work?" Rio shook her head. "You need something special, it has to have meaning to you. An ID might be personal, but do you have any sort of connection to it?"

She was right. If I ever lost my ID I would be upset for sure, but I could always get it replaced. Mentally going through everything I had brought with me, I couldn't seem to think of anything that would work. But then I had an idea, though terrible it may be.

"No, but I know something I could grab from my house." I expected someone to immediately shoot my idea down, but the reaction I got was much different. "Can you get it without being spotted by anyone there?" Sakuta was the first one to raise a question.

I nodded, recalling how I had previously gone back to grab some supplies. "Though I would appreciate if someone else came with me and grabbed it, I know exactly where the item is. I just want to play it safe."

There was no reason to risk everything now, if one of them was willing to come along with me. I hated the idea of having to involve any of them this much, especially as it would technically be breaking and entering if they were caught.

Much to my surprise, the three of them nodded. "It may not be a solution you feel comfortable asking, but it is smarter this way." Mai looked over to Sakuta, waiting for his input. "She's right, it would be pointless to do all this day after day only to make a mistake now."

Rio nodded, adding in her own point. "We can use earpieces and have you guide whoever goes inside, it beats having to explain everything before hand and hope it goes well like some bad heist movie." As always, she thought logically about the issue at hand.

There was just one question left to ask. I looked at each of them, "So who is willing to come with me?" The three of them looked at each other, before looking back to me. Sakuta smirked. "Isn't it obvious? We'll all go together."

A little while after that, we soon found ourselves headed towards my house. Sakuta was the one who would be heading inside the house, Mai was going to be our lookout, while Rio would be standing by with me on the phone call to Sakuta.

"Sakuta, dear, please be careful when you're inside. Everything rests with you." Mai was clearly worried, though whether that was simply due to the love for her fiancé or that perhaps he was a bit clumsy when trying to be sneaky.

He reached down and grabbed her hand, trying to reassure her and perhaps calm his own nerves. "Hey I managed to sneak out of a hospital once, I can manage this." The two lovers drew slightly ahead, leaving Rio and I to walk together.

"So you've thought this over correct? It's risky doing this, the last thing we want is to end up grabbing the wrong item." Clearly, Rio was thinking much further ahead than just the next step. Nodding, I told her my plan. "I see, I'm glad you've put some thought into this. Let's just keep our fingers crossed then."

I pulled out the phone Mai had let me borrow, the one I had bought was still ultimately useless having no minutes on it. "I was worried that we might cause some issues by using on of her work phones, but I suppose a few minutes of talking won't matter come the morning anyway."

Rio laughed at that. "We wouldn't be able to attempt merging you back tonight anyway, so you could go crazy and call anyone in the world. They wouldn't notice it tonight with how late it is, and as you said come the morning it won't matter."

It was just before midnight when we reached the house. I had thought about delaying the visit to later, but I knew by now everyone would be asleep in the house. No reason to keep everyone else awake any longer than necessary.

Sakuta pulled out the ear piece, plugging it into Mai's personal cell phone. Once he had it situated, I gave him a call on my borrowed phone. "Check check, can you hear me?" Sakuta had placed his hand by his mouth, trying to avoid any unnecessary volume as he spoke. I was standing only a few feet away from him, but the only sound I heard from him came through the phone I was holding.

"I hear you, loud and clear." Mai squeezed his hand one last time, before heading to her assigned post to keep watch. Rio had already gone to her post, and before long they too were on the call as well. They were positioned to see if any lights in the house came on, there would be enough ambient light inside the house that Sakuta should have no problem making his way to my room.

I walked over to the door with him, unlocking it with the spare key I had taken from my last trip here. Slowly opening the door, we managed to avoid any noises that would give us away. Sakuta flashed me a thumbs up before heading inside, and I too moved towards my post.

The sound of Sakutas breathing filled the receiver, as I stood waiting. "You'll need to head up the stairs, the fourth step from the bottom will creak so you need to avoid using it." "Got it." His reply was a whisper, trying to be a stealthy as possible.

It was a full two minutes before the sound of his voice came back. "I'm at the top floor now, which room is it?" "The right door, you'll only be able to open the door halfway before the hinges start making any noise." I could almost sense his eyes rolling. "Next you'll tell me I have to place an object quickly when I grab yours or a boulder will start chasing me down the stairs."

Immediately, Mai chimed in shushing him. "If you ruin this by trying to tell jokes, you'll regret it. I'll even make sure to have a reminder in my letter everyday until this is all over." At times, I wondered just what kind of relationship they had. I'm sure it was just playful banter, but there was a part of me that wondered if it wasn't.

Sakuta was silent at that, the only sound coming from him was his breathing once again. "The first item is going to be on the nightstand next to my bed, it should be the only book on it if things are how they were last time I was in the house." Sakuta was silent for a moment. "I see it, hey I think we have this book too."

Mai let out another shushing noise, not happy about his extra commentary. "Thin ice mister..." I could hear him gulp. "Okay I have the book, what's next?" I tried to recall where the other item would be. "In the closet there's a set of drawers. The second from the top should have a card box."

Sakuta was silent for a moment. "It's not in here." Immediately, I began to panic. Where could it be then? Then I realized where it could be, and felt my spirit sink just a little lower. "This might be not work, but it might be under the pillow the other me is using."

I could tell from the silence that everyone was shocked. Rio was the first to speak up "This seems extremely risky, but it's a bigger risk to only have one item and it ends up being a bust." She was right, this would be pointless if the item we grabbed didn't work.

"Sakuta, do you think you can get it? If not then we'll have to think of something else you can grab." Mai sounded concerned, any lingering teasing was erased. "Sakuta?" He was still silent. "Please tell me you're not trying to grab it right now."

"Sorry, no. I was trying to see if there was any sign of him waking up. I think I can get it, trust me." At this point, we could only have faith in him. I cursed myself for not thinking harder earlier, convinced that this would be an easy in and out. All three of us whispered a prayer, hoping it would be enough to protect him.

It was silent for a few moments, then we heard Sakuta once again. "I checked the edge of the pillow, I think I felt it. But there's a small part of the box that is underneath his head. If you're positive about needing this, I'll go for it."

I could feel the pressure of the decision. One mistake could cause a lot of problems, but the risk would have to be taken. "Go for it." Those three words left my mouth, hanging in the air around me. I prayed again, wishing Sakuta any and all luck that I could muster up.

From the receiver, I could hear a sharp intake of air from Sakuta. "Sakuta if it's too much you can still abort." Rio sounded more concerned for him at that moment than I ever heard before. Still, there was no response. I knew he wouldn't risk making any more noise than necessary, but the silence was deafening.

As I was about to tell him to just forget it and quickly try and find another option, we heard his voice once again. "I really hope I get compensated for this, this really is nerve-racking." The three of us outside the house gave a small cheer. "I'm heading back down now, which stair was it I need to avoid again?"

I quickly reminded him, elated that this was actually going well. It wasn't until I saw the front door open that I allowed myself to relax. We ended the call, and the four of us regrouped down the street from the house.

Mai was shaking, her worry over Sakuta breaking through her normally calm exterior. Sakuta was sweating, finally giving up and sitting down against the wall. Rio didn't say anything, merely placing a hand on his shoulder before joining Sakuta against the wall.

"So what was the big worry about? You had us thinking you had been caught?" Mai stood next to Sakuta, running her hands through his hair to give him a small scalp massage. Finally catching his breath, Sakuta looked up.

"I almost was, or at least I thought I was about to be. He had started turning over in his sleep, right as I started to try and grab the box. Thankfully he ended up rolling in the other direction, so the box was even easier to grab." He took the small satchel from his shoulders and handed it over to me. "Do you want to check to make sure? I'd hate to get back only to find out it was the wrong one."

I grabbed the bag from him, tentatively pulling the zipper open. Inside, sat two items. I gingerly pulled out the first item, afraid that if I was too hasty it would somehow ruin the item. The box was a little worn down, having been snuck into my bad by Sakura after our overnight trip.

I recalled the last cards flipped from the deck, the 6 and 7 cards seared into my memory. I closed my eyes, and I could hear her voice. "If I told you I was scared to die, what would you do?" I was scared to say anything, unable to open myself up that quickly. "Ask me that again after this is over, I'll have an answer this time."

I placed the box back into the bag, and pulled out the second item. Just as Sakuta had said, they did have the same book at their apartment. But the copy of The Little Prince I held in my hands was the only one I could consider reading. I tapped the book against my forehead lightly, saying a small thank you to Sakura for the book, as well as her sneaky way of giving me the cards.

I put the book back into the bag, zipping it up before putting it around my shoulder. The three of them looked to me, waiting to hear whether the trip was a success or not. I felt tears forming in my eyes as I smiled. "We did it guys."

Mai pulled Sakuta to his feet, hugging him tightly. I couldn't hear the words they said to one another, but those words weren't for me anyway. Rio came over to me, grinning. "Well I wish I could say the hard part is over, but we both know that's not the case." I nodded, as much as this was a good thing, there was still more work to do.

"However, this was arguably the riskiest part of the plan, aside from the acupuncture itself. You did a good job guiding him." I started to say how it wasn't a big deal, but Sakuta came over and patted me on the back. "I knew it would turn out alright, I had faith in you guys."

He checked the phone that Mai had given him and whistled. Even though the situation had felt like it had taken hours, it had still taken them close to an hour since they had first arrived outside the house. "I don't know about you guys, but I am exhausted. Shall we head back then?" We trudged along, tired but elated that the plan went off without a hitch. Yet for some reason, I still felt uneasy about the whole situation.

I had tried to place where the feeling was coming from, but there was nothing I could figure out to be the cause. I simply chalked it up to the events of the night still tugging on my nerves. Rio pulled up along side me as we walked.

"I know it's a bit late, but there's something you'll need to do once we get back to the apartment." She pulled out a highlighter from her pocket and handed it over to me. "There's a reason I made two copies of that sheet, I didn't want to risk losing it and having to dig up the information again"

I took the highlighter from her, but then thought of something. "Would it still work even if you printed the paper?" She shrugged. "It's a 50/50 chance, granted. But remember, the letters you wrote out came from my notebook paper. So if I'm right, it won't matter as long as you're the one that does the marking on the paper."

She had a valid point, and I felt a little silly for not realizing it. "Don't worry about it, I know you have a lot on your mind. You did a great job tonight, and your idea to get two items was even better than I could have hoped." At this point I began to wonder if she was psychic. But she never gave a hint whether that was the case, so I let the thought go.

Our slow victory march finally took us to the apartment. I expected Rio to say her goodbyes then and there, but she came up in the elevator with us. "Do you think your sister would mind if I used her room for the night? I'm not sure if I can make it back to my place before I pass out walking."

Mai nodded. "It's not as if you'll really be sleeping there, so I'm sure it'll be okay." Sakuta and Mai headed towards their room, while Rio and I went to the kitchen where she had left her notebooks. Quickly opening the top one back open to where the drawings were, she pulled them out and handed both of them to me.

"It's a quick job, like I said you just need to copy the same places that I highlighted." Then she too headed towards her room for the night, and I was alone. The copying took only a moment, but I took the time to study the areas she had highlighted. "I am not looking forward to this."

Taking the copy I had marked up, I headed towards the couch. I placed the bag down, and took out the two items from it and placed them with my other belongings. The last thing I needed was to wake up only to find the items gone because they weren't in the right bag.

I never had any strange dreams as I slept. I was grateful to finally just be able to rest, having finally gotten over one of the biggest hurdles to get things set right. Just like the day before, I reintroduced myself to Mai and Sakuta, and Rio was going to meet us at her lab later on.

Sakuta was waiting by the front door for me, and we once again headed out for day. I wasn't leaving anything to chance today, so we had left much earlier than the past day. I wasn't sure what time he would be at that convenience store, so worst case we would just have to kill sometime.

Unfortunately, the elevator was being held on a different floor, so we decided to take the stairs down. "Is it usually busy this early?" Sakuta nodded, a few steps ahead of me as we headed down. "As you probably guessed, this apartment isn't exactly cheap. A lot of other actors live here, as well as some tech company geniuses. Most of them head out early to avoid traffic, as well as any prying eyes trying to make a tabloid headline."

I knew I wouldn't recognize most of the names, but I listened as he rattled off some of the occupants of the apartment building. I had to promise not to tell anyone, though he relented when I mentioned the only person I would be telling was Sakura.

I was so caught up listening to him rattle off the names that by the time I realized we were being ambushed, it was too late. "Do you know how long I've been waiting here for you?" I felt my blood freeze as I heard the sound of her voice. I turned slowly, hoping it was all just something I imagined.

That hope was quickly dashed away. "Is she a friend of yours? I didn't realize you told someone where you were staying." Sakuta spoke up first, not having the same apprehension. "I'm more of a friend of a friend, wouldn't you say?"

I looked Kyoko in the face. Her eyes were bloodshot, it looked as though she had barely slept. "How did you find me?" I had so many questions but before I could ask any more, she held up a hand. "No, I'm the one that has questions to ask. We're going to have a chat, and you're going to tell me everything."

The Author's Desk

Okay so I may have fibbed last chapter. My end goal for this chapter was always to have Kyoko show back up and completely change up everything. Sure, we could have just gone to see Gum Boy and been only a couple chapters away from the end. But where's the fun in that?

The good news: we have a possible way to get our protagonist back to normal. I debated on how to go about it, whether to take a page from Seishun Buta Yarō once again like how Sakuta manages to fix things in Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl. But making a copy is just too lazy for my taste, and the idea of using acupuncture techniques long lost fits more with the idea of IWTEYP and the words that started this story in the first place.

Next time, we'll have a "nice" chat with Kyoko, and hopefully be able to resolve things with her. Will Gum Boy finally make his appearance? Will Rio have more info for our protagonist? Find out next chapter.

As always, thanks for reading, and see you next time.