Chapter 11

I had so many things I wanted to say, but I found myself speechless. I pinched myself, testing to see that this wasn't just another dream. But no, Sakura was really standing there, and I rubbed my arm as I stood up from the table.

"Were you just so eager to see me that you came all the way here? I'm sure this would cause quite the scandal." She smiled teasingly, and came down the stairs. She was wearing the same outfit I had seen from that terrible day, and I quickly tried to forget that memory before it caused me to lose momentum.

"It probably would, but I wouldn't have come if it wasn't important." Her face had a look of surprise, before slightly blushing. "That sounds rather mysterious, and a little embarrassing." She sat at the table, in the same spot her mother had sat before.

My poker face must have slipped, and she was quick enough to notice. "Hey, what's wrong? You don't seem like your usual self?" If anyone could have caught on that fast, it was her. I took a deep breath in, the last calm before the storm that I was about to unleash.

"There's some things I have to say, and it may sound crazy but please just listen to what I have to say first. Afterwards, if you want to call me crazy, you can." She tilted her head, thinking. "I could think of a lot of things to call you, but crazy would never be one of them."

"Let's see how you feel afterwards." I thought to myself. I prepared myself for her reaction, and finally said the words I had been dreading from the moment I saw her come down the stairs. "Please don't leave the house today, if you go to that date with the other me, you'll die."

The stunned look on her face made it clear that I had her attention, and I was ready for her to freak out and run away like I had seen before. But instead, she stayed seated, though still shocked. "Other you? I'll die? If this is some kind of joke, it's not very funny you know."

I shook my head. "I wish it was a joke, but I'm serious." I paused, finding the courage to keep going. Before I could continue, she got up from the table. I feared that it would be a repeat of that vision, merely a delayed reaction before everything went downhill.

Instead, she sat next me to, placing her hand on mine atop the table. "I don't understand, so please try to help me understand." The warmth of her hand touched the frozen tundra of my soul that I had endured these past few days, I could feel the ice inside my heart begin to thaw away.

"I've experienced today five times now. The first time, I waited at the cafe for you but you never make it, you..." I trailed off, unable to bring myself to tell her she had died. "I die?" She picked up the slack, squeezing my hand gently in a comforting manner. I nodded, unable to look her in the eyes as I confirmed it.

"I ended up splitting, for lack of a better term, and the other me goes about the day as usual with no knowledge that the day is repeating." I thought back to all the talks with Rio, about the syndrome and what was happening. "There's someone who could explain things a lot better than me, but that's the basics."

She leaned back, but her hand never left mine. She gave a small smile though. "It sounds like you made some new friends, I'm proud of you." I was taken aback, still sure that things would blow up and end badly. "But what about everything I said so far? Doesn't it sound insane? Don't you think I'm insane?"

She laughed. "Of course you are, you'd have to be to have put up with me and everything I've put you through all this time. But do I think you're crazy for what you're saying?" She paused for a moment, thinking it over. "No. I think I know you well enough by now. You wouldn't lie to me about something like this, as crazy as it sounds."

She squeezed my hand once again, before letting go. A worry flashed through my mind, that maybe she was just trying to get me to relax before she ran away. But instead, she leaned over and hugged me. "I don't understand everything, and I think we need to have a longer talk about this. But if it's all true, and you've suffered so much for me, how could I be anything except happy?"

My walls finally crumbled, and as we hugged the tears began to flow. "I'm so happy you're safe Sakura." Her grip on me tightened, and I realized it was the first time I had ever called her by her name. I was glad we were still hugging, so she couldn't see how red my face had turned.

Knock-Knock-knock. Sakura loosened up from the hug, and I quickly wiped my eyes before she could notice. I wasn't quick enough, as she handed me a tissue before standing up. "I should probably see who that is, since mom is getting ready." Before she turned away, I could see a big smile on her face.

Relieved that she wasn't running away from me, I got up and followed her, staying a little behind to give her some privacy. She opened the door, and raised her arms up in excitement. "Kyoko, you came too!" She quickly turned to me, but I shook my head. "It's okay, I'm not running away today."

"If he did, I'd just have a reason to be mad." Kyoko retorted, but there was no malice behind her words like usual. She came inside, being enveloped in a hug from Sakura. "What brings you here? I didn't skip out on plans we made, did I?" But Kyoko never responded, simply holding Sakura close in joy.

I went back to the table, not wanting to interfere with the moment. Before long, the two of them joined me at the table, Sakura once again sitting next to me. "So you two are finally getting along now? I'm so very happy." Sakura had a big smile on her face, finally seeing the two of us not at odds with each other.

"It's complicated." Kyoko simply said, giving me a look as though wondering how much I told Sakura. "She ended up in a similar situation to me, and really without her today might not have even happened." Kyoko blushed, perhaps not used to our changed relationship. "A-anyway, what did he tell you so far?"

Sakura quickly recounted what I had told her, and Kyoko gave me a quick scowl. "Well I guess the basics are good enough for now. But, what he said is true, believe it or not." She gestured for me to take the lead. As much as it probably pained her to do so, at the end of the day I had a lot more experience in this situation compared to her.

Sakura looked over to me, questions clearly on her mind but saving them for later. "I'm sure it's all a shock, but it's best if you just stay here today. You and Kyoko can spend some time together and then tomorrow we can go out together." She placed her hand on mine once again, though this time flipping mine over so our palms were touching.

"Well I was really excited to go out today, but it has been a while since Kyoko and I got to spend quality time together. But you better hold up your end of the promise then." I couldn't look towards Kyoko, I'm sure the look on her face would have scared me off from being this close to Sakura.

Sakura looked to Kyoko instead, and laughed. "Oh come on, don't make that face. Would you mind going up to my room, I want to talk with him a little longer first." I still couldn't face Kyoko, so I didn't know what kind of look she gave Sakura. But she sighed, and stood up from the table.

"Okay Sakura, just don't keep me waiting too long." Sakura gave her a happy wave, and soon it was just the two of us in the room. I became increasingly aware of our hands touching, and felt a little nervous. It was the first time I'd ever really held someone's hand, and it being Sakura made me even more nervous.

She looked back to me, smiling. "I didn't want to make her upset, though it does seem like you two are getting along a bit better now. I'm proud of you." I could feel my face turning red, out of all the outcomes I had imagined, being praised and holding her hand was nowhere near the top of that list.

"Is this another item on your list?" I squeezed her hand lightly to give an indication to what I was asking. She shook her head. "Maybe I just wanted to hold your hand, so I can keep feeling your warmth." She squeezed my hand back, and we simply sat there in the moment for a bit.

"Sorry, don't mind me." Her mom had come back down, heading towards the kitchen. I was a bit embarrassed, but Sakura still didn't let go of my hand. Her mom just far enough that she wouldn't hear us talking, but Sakura still kept to a whisper.

"Thank you for coming today. I was so happy to be out of the hospital, to finally be free to go out again, to see you again. I really don't understand everything, but I know enough to appreciate what you've done." She pulled me in for a hug once more, her words becoming softer that I almost missed what she said next.

"Does this mean you still want to eat my pancreas?" I couldn't find the words to speak, she had read the text. I simply nodded, and she drew me in even tighter. "I don't want to keep Kyoko waiting too long in case she decides to come back down, but I think we should have a talk tomorrow."

She held on for a few more seconds, before letting go of me. I could see a single tear rolling down her cheek, and without even thinking I reached out and wiped it away for her. "You should be more careful, that could be considered very scandalous." There was no bite behind her words, the smile and blush of her cheeks saying more than her few words could.

We both stood up, and she walked me to the door. "I promise to explain everything, but for today just have fun with Kyoko. And if you wanted, there's some people who are interested in meeting you." She smiled. "The new friends of yours, I'm assuming?" I nodded.

"Without them, I don't think I'd be standing her in front of you right now. They've been a big help to me." She pulled me in for one last hug, this one feeling different from the rest. I could feel her shaking slightly, I tried to pull away to look at her face, but she held me without any slack.

"Thank you, for everything." We didn't say anything else to each other, simply staying in that moment, as though we were afraid that by letting go everything would change.

After what felt like an eternity in heaven, we let go of each other. I promised to talk to her tomorrow, letting her know about my phone situation. I headed down towards the street, turning around to see Sakura standing in the door frame, waving me off before I was completely out of her view.

I started to head towards the apartment belonging to Mai and Sakuta, and without realizing it I had ended up in the same alley as the first attempt. I looked around, but there was no one else in sight. I quickly hurried ahead, not wanting to spend any more time there then necessary.

Despite it being the same day the past few days, I felt as though the world was much brighter than it had been. I listened to the sounds of birds chirping, their song filling the air as I walked along. I may have had more hurdles to clear, but I could feel the biggest weight on my shoulders lifted away as I traveled.

Before long, I could see the park that Kyoko and I had talked in up ahead. Seated at the same table as before was Sakuta and Rio. Rio spotted me first, waving me over. I took a seat, and Sakuta passed over a canned coffee. Thanking him, I opened it and took a drink.

"Well seeing as how you seem to be in a good mood, it looks like things went well?" Rio spoke up first. The image of Sakura's hand on mine flashed into my head, and I felt myself turning red once again. "Yes, though it looks like one of your theories was wrong. I was able to reach her."

She raised an eyebrow, but smiled. "I did say there was a chance I could be wrong, but I don't think my theory ended up being wrong after all. I think you simply found the willpower to make it happen regardless of what I said." She took a drink from her own coffee.

"Well anyway, you've cleared the first hurdle but that doesn't mean you're done just yet." She was right, unless I managed to get out of this loop, today's efforts would end up being pointless. I pulled the paper I had highlighted the night before out from my wallet, and passed it over to her.

"You gave me this yesterday, you said this was the best chance to get me back to normal." She took a look at it, before folding it back up and placing it in her lab coat pocket. "I'll need to go grab some supplies, but we should be able to do this later tonight."

Not looking forward to being stuck with needles, but eager to get things back to normal, I nodded. "Is there anything I need to do?" Rio shook her head. "You've already done plenty, now you can just relax for now."

Beside me, Sakuta raised his hand. "Suppose this idea works, and you get back to normal. We'll need a way to get ahold of you, so we can give you back the stuff you have at the apartment. Plus, I know Mai is pretty eager to meet the person that you went through all of this for."

I smiled, grateful I had been blessed to meet such good people. "I'll give you guys my phone number, well the one that actually works. And thank you, for everything you guys have done for me. Even if you don't remember, I always will."

Sakuta held out his hand, and I shook it. "It's been really interesting, I'm just glad things are working out for you and Sakura." Across the table, Rio smiled. "It was worth getting to hassle Sakuta some more, but I'm glad I was able to be of some help to you."

She stood up, getting ready to go buy the supplies needed. "Meet me at the lab later, no one will be around and we have some machines I can use to monitor your vitals to make sure everything is going well." Sakuta and I nodded, also standing up. "I don't know about you, but I'm pretty hungry. Having to run around looking for water guns made me build up an appetite."

I had been so focused on this morning and Sakura, I had ignored the hunger I had been feeling. We headed over towards a nearby restaurant, it was quite similar to the one I had gone to with Sakura before.

Today, however, we went with a typical order, there would be no stomach or heart meat on my plate. I savored the taste of the meat, though I found myself constantly thinking back to the time I had eaten with Sakura. "So what's the first thing you're planning to do tomorrow?"

I looked over to Sakuta, who had just finished with his meal. "I haven't really thought it over that much, honestly. I've been so worried about getting through this that I never really found myself thinking about afterwards."

He mused that over, and nodded. "That's understandable, though I think you can start thinking about now. You got the biggest hurdle out of the way, the rest is on Rio now." He seemed confidant in her, and it was contagious.

"I suppose I'd call Sakura first, to make sure it's not just a dream. After that, go back to sleep and enjoy being back in my bed again." He laughed at that. "There really is nothing like getting back into your own bed after being away from it for a while."

We went up to the counter to pay, but before Sakuta could pull out his wallet, I was already handing the money for the bill over. "You guys have done so much for me already, this is the least I can do." He nodded, not wanting to take this away from me.

By now, it was early afternoon. The streets had filled up a bit with the usual lunch rush, but we weren't in any hurry to head back to the apartment. We found ourselves talking to pass the time, as our leisurely walk continued.

"So how did she take it when you talked to her? Did she freak out at all?" I shook my head. "I'm sure she might have been deep down, but she was mostly happy. Happy that I was there, happy for what I had done for her."

My words drifted away as I found myself thinking about earlier. Sakuta didn't say anything else, merely giving me a pat on the back. We continued our walk, and soon ended up back at the apartment building.

This time, thankfully, the elevator was empty so we headed up without much of a wait. Once inside, I began to tidy up the area I had been using during my stay. I handed over the bag used for our infiltration of my house, and gathered up everything into my bag.

I double checked, making sure nothing was left around. Placing the deck of cards and the copy of The Little Prince at the top, I zipped the bag up and placed it by the front door. All that was left was to simply wait for Rio to let us know that she was ready.

We managed to find a program on the tv to pass the time, something to do with local sites that were interesting to visit. "I took Mai there once, it's a really nice spot." Ah, so he was trying to give me ideas for the future.

I took some mental notes of some of the sites, trying to think whether Sakura would enjoy going to them or not. The program had ended, and a new one about shrines had come on. It had just started to discuss one that was located atop an abandoned building in Tokyo when the phone began to ring.

Sakuta got up and headed over to answer the phone. "Sakurajima Azusagawa residence." "..." "Ah you're all set for us?" "..." "Okay got it, we'll be over there in a little bit then." "..." He hung the phone back up, and came back to the couch.

"Well it looks like Rio is just about ready, so if you're good to go we can start heading over." I quickly looked around, making sure I wasn't missing anything. I stood up, turning off the tv with the remote laying next to me. "Lead the way."

If I said I wasn't nervous on the walk over to the lab, I'd be lying. I was still elated over the events earlier, but now as I drew closer to the lab I started to remember what was coming next. "You do trust her to do this, right?" A silly question, but I still felt the need to ask, hoping it might calm my nerves to hear him say it.

"As long as I've known her, she's always been very precise. So, I don't think she'll make a mistake if that's what you're worried about." I thought back to her words, when she told me I might not be able to reach Sakura. By all the evidence, she should have been right. But maybe she was right after all, and I really had simply overcome the hurdle.

She was waiting out front for us, and once we were close enough she unlocked the front door. "We technically closed for the day, so it'll just be us three inside. We headed inside, and she locked the door behind us.

She lead us to what looked like an operating room, with machines to monitor vital scattered around a stainless steel table in the center of the room. "You can set your bag down there, you have the items from last night still correct?"

I nodded, taking them out of the bag before hanging the bag off to Sakuta. Rio now looked slightly embarrassed. "You'll need to remove your shirt and pants, but please keep your underwear on." I followed her instructions, more nervous about the needles than having to slightly undress.

I sat on the edge of the table after, and waited for Rio to begin hooking me up the assorted machines. As she did, Sakuta took a look at the supplies Rio had gathered. "Are you sure you won't get in trouble for burning incense in here?"

She nodded. "There's vents in this room that lead to the outside of the building, the most that will remain is a faint aroma. Besides, we rarely use this room so the chances of anyone finding out is slim to none." Satisfied, he took a seat in one of the chairs along the wall.

Rio instructed me to lay down, finally finished hooking me up to the medical equipment. I could hear the steady beeping that indicated my heart was beating on one of the nearby monitors. I turned my head to see her taking an incense bowl from her supplies before walking behind me and setting it down somewhere.

I heard the click of a lighter, and soon could smell the incense burning. It was a calming aroma, and I felt a little more relaxed. "It smells like lavender, but there's more to it than just that." I remarked, hoping I didn't sound too nervous. "It's a mixture of different scents, the research wasn't complete but I did some digging and did the best I could to fill in the gaps."

Next, she came over and began applying an ointment to the spots that had been highlighted on the paper. "This is supposed to help channel the healing energy, at least that's what they believed back in those days. It's more of a numbing cream so you won't feel anything, but it has the added benefit of drawing out more chemicals in your brain which should help reverse your syndrome and get you back to normal."

She finished applying the ointment, washing off any remaining residue from her hands. Putting on a pair of gloves, she stood close by where I could see her from where I was laying. "Are you ready?" I tried to nod, only succeeding in hitting the back of my head on the table.

"Yes, I am." She gave a small laugh, before getting serious once again. "Sakuta do you mind flipping that switch by you?" He got up, and soon relaxing meditative music began to play. "Thank you." She placed the deck of cards and book on my chest, and instructed me to place my hands on top of them.

"The important thing is to remain as absolutely still as possible. If you feel yourself falling asleep, don't fight it. If you try to fight against it, you can cause some serious damage to yourself."

I almost wanted to stop right there, but we didn't have the time to find a different way at this point. I simply closed my eyes, trying to focus on the music that softly played in the background.

It was so effective, that when Rio spoke up again I didn't realize how long it had been since she last spoke. "You're doing great, we're over halfway done." I'd have to ask her where she had gotten the ointment, because it was absolutely doing it's job.

Soon, I could feel the myself slowly slipping into unconsciousness, and it was becoming harder to hear her. "This is the last one, after that it's up to you." She sounded as though she was standing right near my head, but her voice sounded far away. I never heard her say anything else, as I soon faded into the blissful black of sleep.

The Author's Desk

After I started writing this story, I found myself rewatching the film in between some of the latest chapters. I always find it amazing the little details that you pick up on as you rewarch something. What stood out the most to me on my latest viewing (which was actually my first time watching the dub) was the emotion behind the words during the firework sequence. I really wanted to try and capture some of that emotion in this chapter, and I hope I did a good job.

I hope you can forgive me for having such lewd handholding in this chapter, but I think our hero deserves it. Will this lead to something more in a later chapter? I guess we'll have to see if and when they have that talk.

I think it's safe to say that we are finally getting into the final stretch of the story, though I don't believe this next chapter will be the end of the story. There's still introductions to occur, a date that was denied by fate, and all the wrapping up of all the threads that have pulled this story along.

I've debated with myself over these last few chapters on what to do once this story is over. It's been such a blast getting to visit this world again, even if it is a different take with some outside characters added. Part of me really likes the idea of doing a follow up, whether that ends up as a sequel, or simply continuing this one. It's hard to say, but I hope the idea of this story continuing is something that interests you as much as it does me.

Next chapter, I guess all I can really say is that we'll see whether the idea Rio had worked or not. It sure would be upsetting for our hero to find out it didn't work, wouldn't it? Hehehehe.

As always, thank you for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter.