Sorry, it's taken me this long to publish another chapter. College and life have caught up with me lately, and it's just lately that I've had the time to sit down and write, edit, and publish a new chapter. I hope that there will be more to follow! But we will have to see since there is a lot coming up in my life. But thank you for reading! Let me know what you think!

13- 'Twist of the Knife'

"Ulrich! Ulrich! Wake up, man!"

"Huh?" Ulrich's mind felt super foggy like someone had run it through a blender.

"Ulrich!" cried a voice nearby, "Man, I didn't want to do this, sorry good buddy!"

The brunette felt a stinging sensation on his face and everything was thrown into sharp contrast. Odd was standing over him, back at the restaurant that he ate at the night before.

"What? Huh?" sputtered Ulrich, "Ow!" he said feeling his cheek where Odd had slapped him.

"Oh thank goodness!" sighed Odd, "I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance!"

"What was that for?" asked Ulrich, massaging his jaw, "And what are we doing here?"

"What was that for?!" cried Odd, "I thought that Yumi fried your brain earlier! She kissed you and then it's like you passed out!"

"What?!" said Ulrich, that didn't seem right. Well, kind of, Yumi's kiss caught him off-guard, but Odd was talking about it just happened. Had this happened before? Ulrich wasn't sure.

"Yeah, then her bodyguards came and hauled her away with that sleazy manager of hers," said Odd looking around the surrounding area.

"Mr. Durand? I thought she hated that guy," said Ulrich instinctively.

"How do you know him?" asked Odd, taken aback, "I didn't think that you two had ever met before."

"Of course I've met him," said Ulrich, "Small, greasy, nerdy guy? Tries to make Yumi call herself Evonne?"

"Evonne?" asked Odd, Ulrich could tell he was trying to suppress a laugh, "Who calls Yumi Evonne?!"

"Everyone I thought…" said Ulrich, "Didn't she change her name to get away from…" The look on Odd's face started to tell him that what he was saying didn't make any sense.

"Where did you hear all of that?!" laughed Odd, "Yumi has been Yumi for long as I've known her! She would never change her name!"

"But, I heard it from Yumi!" defended Ulrich, but that didn't seem right, "She even said that she never told you because it would ruin the secret!"

"Look, I'll give you that Mr. Durand is small and sleazy, but never has he tried to get Yumi to change her name!" cried Odd, holding back fits of laughter, "So I don't know why Yumi would tell you all of that! Maybe kissing you fried a few circuits in her brain!"

Circuits? The super calculator. Ulrich remembered Yumi confessing that she knew about the supercalculator, "Odd, before Yumi left did she mention the super calculator?"

"What? No, she didn't. She didn't seem too happy being dragged off though," said Odd.

Dragged off? Didn't this already happen? Was everything that just happened a dream he had while passed out? Ulrich wasn't sure, but there was one way to find out.

"Where did they go?" asked Ulrich, "The bookstore?"

"Yeah, how did you know? There's a signing…"

"A signing event with Yumi and the twins about Sean's book," finished Ulrich.

So, this did happen before. Whether in a dream or otherwise, Ulrich didn't know. But if they could go forward in time, why couldn't he be able to go back every now and again? Maybe what got them here in the first place was trying to set things right? Ulrich felt like it was kind of like pulling back on a record while it was playing. Everything that happened would happen again. Ulrich realized it didn't make any sense, but it gave him a second chance to maybe do things better this time, or at least speed up the process a little. Ulrich went to get out of his chair, but Odd stopped him by placing a hand firmly on his chest.

"Ulrich, slow down…" said Odd, "You're starting to scare me. How do you know all of this?"

"Because this has already happened!" said Ulrich trying to get up from his chair again. Odd stopped him again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Odd, "Hold up? Already happened? You know how crazy that sounds, Ulrich?"

"But it did! Yumi got dragged off to that signing event, you and I went to it, you were the counter for the event, and then I talked to Yumi and she said she remembered the super calculator!" said Ulrich, "She's been asking for me around CEM!"

"Ulrich…" said Odd, "That kiss may have done more than scramble your brains, I think it made you full-blown crazy…"

"But it's the truth! This has already happened!" said Ulrich, "I don't know why it's happening again, but I know what's going to happen!"

"What, did you see it in your crystal ball?" asked Odd, "Or did you see it in a vision?"

Ulrich didn't like Odd making fun of this, but he had no other explanation, "Yeah, kinda…" he said, unsure of himself.

"What do you mean 'kinda?'" asked Odd.

That line struck Ulrich as familiar as well. Where had he heard it?

"Look, let's just go to the bookstore and I'll show you," said Ulrich.

Odd finally let him up and the duo walked towards the bookstore. This time the group wasn't as large as before. Ulrich had to realize that he didn't do everything where Yumi dragged them off into an alley to explain this time around. So, they were there much earlier this time around.

"See, look, the signing event for Sean's new book. It even has a new cover for the reprint based on the movie," said Ulrich looking at the posters.

"Okay, that just proves that you can read…" said Odd, "This doesn't prove that this has happened before. If so, what happens next, o great soothsayer?"

"Well you go into the bookstore, leaving me out here," said Ulrich.

"Okay, I'll give you that, I was just planning on leaving you out here, but that could just be a fluke," said Odd.

"Well once you go in there you become the counter for the event. They will only be letting 500 people in to see the twins and the stars of the movie," explained Ulrich.

"How do you know all of this? And won't knowing this change what's going to happen? I feel like I see that all the time in those time travel movies. Someone knows what's going to happen before it happens, and it either changes what happens or makes it so that they are the reason it happened in the first place," said Odd.

Ulrich had never thought about that, but so far all they missed was a few things, long as he could still get Yumi to talk about the supercomputer, he knew that everything would still happen the same way as before.

"Just trust me, go in there, and be ready," said Ulrich.

"Okay…" said Odd, but he still trusted the brunette's orders.

This time there were only a few people in line when Ulrich jumped in. Many of them were what Ulrich would define as the "die-hard" fans. Many of them had dressed up like characters from the movie and were all jumping about as they quoted lines from the material. Ulrich didn't see all of this from this point in the line. By the time he got there, the line was starting to wrap around the corner. This would also mean that Ulrich wouldn't meet Sophia, but he was not all that upset about that. It didn't take as long this time around for Ulrich to wait for the bookstore to open. Before, Ulrich felt like he spent an eternity in line, but much of that was probably because he was stuck talking with Sophia.

Ulrich went in, bought a copy of the book, and then continued down the line. Mrs. Cardiff was there, just like last time.

"Oh, my! Ulrich dear, how good to see you!" said Mrs. Cardiff.

"Um- hello Mrs. Cardiff, how's the event going?" So far so good…

"Oh, just fine dearie, just fine!" she gushed, "Granted we just started, so I can speak for the rest of the evening. However, I have noticed that Miss Ishiyama hasn't shown up yet, and I can't seem to get ahold of her manager."

"What?!" asked Ulrich, this wasn't like before.

"Yes, I sent Mr. Durand out to look for her, but they never came back. I daresay many people will be upset if she doesn't turn up soon! The special part of this event will be all ruined!" said Mrs. Cardiff.

Ulrich was flabbergasted, he figured Yumi would come here. He just wasn't expecting that she wouldn't show up altogether.

"Oh, but don't you let me bother you with this, you enjoy the event now! We still have many people here who make this event worth it! My sons are down the line of course. If you see them, tell them to try and stall as much as they can while I try to locate Miss Ishiyama!"

Yumi didn't show up to the event? This puzzled the brunette, why wouldn't she show up here? Ulrich expected everything to play out exactly like it did before. Or was that just a dream, and this was the first time this was happening? Everything that Ulrich experienced earlier felt so real, from the events that transpired at the bookstore, to the events that transpired at his house. Ulrich even blushed a little when he recalled Yumi sleeping with him in his own bed. All of that had to be real, there's no way that it was a dream. But somehow they were experiencing the same events as before, just a little bit differently this time. That struck Ulrich as familiar, where had he heard of that before? To Ulrich, this didn't feel quite like a case of a premonition of déjà vu. This felt as real as the other events, the one where Yumi showed up to the signing event. But now this was happening, what was going on? Ulrich marched with the line until he got to Odd. The blond saw him and flagged him over.

"Okay, look, you're really starting to creep me out here…" said Odd honestly, "I walk in here and Mrs. Cardiff asks me if I wouldn't mind being the counter for the event. I was told to count 500 people as special guests who get to meet the twins and the stars of the movie. How did you know that?!"

"Like I told you, this already happened!" said Ulrich, "Well, sorta…"

"Sorta?" asked Odd.

"Well, things aren't happening the same as I remember them," said Ulrich, "Yumi was supposed to be here, but she hasn't shown up yet!"

"What?!" asked Odd, "What happened?"

"I don't know, you tell me!" said Ulrich, "You saw her last, what was she doing before she was forced to leave?"

"Well there's a lot I can't repeat…" said Odd, "Yumi was really upset, and I couldn't tell why, she was going back forth from French to Japanese and such, and I only caught like every fourth word like that."

"Well that doesn't help," said Ulrich, "Can you call her?"

"I can try," said Odd, "But fingers crossed, y'know?"

"Why is that?" asked Ulrich.

"Well the last time I saw Yumi this mad, she had just broken up with William. That was not a pretty sight…"

Ulrich hadn't even thought about William. Odd was right, Yumi and he had dated before in the "older" timeline. And then it ended suddenly, Ulrich figured he could care less about that since it only meant that Yumi was single now. But he did have to consider that there may be plenty of things that happened in this timeline that might have some sort of repercussions.

"Eh, she's not answering, she's probably turned her phone off," said Odd, "Why are you so determined to talk with her?" Odd gasped.

"Did something happen between you and her in this vision you had?"

"What? No!" lied Ulrich, "What would make you say that?!"

"Your defensiveness…" joked Odd, "Ooo! Did she confess her love for you? Should we be ready for wedding bells, or a plus one to the Stern family nine months from now…?" teased the blond.

"No!" hissed Ulrich, "Nothing like that…"

"Well, you seem so determined to talk to her! More than just discussing the supercalculator…" said Odd with a raised eyebrow.

"No, that's just it…" lied Ulrich, "In my…vision…Yumi said she remembers the supercalculator."

"Don't we already know that?" asked Odd.

"No, we know that she has something to do with it. What we don't know is if she remembers anything about it," clarified Ulrich.

"Right, okay…" said Odd, "So what do we do now?"

"Well there are two other people here who were also there…" said Ulrich looking up towards the line where the twins were sitting.

"Them?" asked Odd, looking up at the twins, "Look, Ulrich, I know they're really cool guys and all, but don't you think that's a stretch?"

"They went to Kadic, Odd, how much of a stretch could it be?" asked Ulrich.

"Oh, yeah, they did! Funny how many people who went to Kadic ended up working for CEM…" commented Odd.

"You have no clue…" mumbled Ulrich under his breath.

Ulrich and Odd both walked towards the signing tables. The same guard from earlier was standing there. Odd clicked the button on his counter and the guard let Ulrich through. Odd then found one of the assistants of the bookstore and handed her the counter.

"I don't know why they didn't just do that in the first place," remarked Odd.

"Well, let's be grateful you're here," said Ulrich, "In my vision, you let me in just after the last person went in. I'm just glad you didn't have to do that again."

Odd and Ulrich walked up to the table where the twins were sitting. Seth looked up and shouted.

"Hey! Mailroom dude!"

"His name is Ulrich…" corrected Sean, as he signed another person's book, "Honestly, we're going to be leading the company someday so it wouldn't hurt you to learn the names of some of the people working there!"

"Yeah, yeah," said Seth dismissively, "You can do that if you want, I'm fine with just calling him mailroom dude."

"Hey, guys…" All of Ulrich's steam had gone out, suddenly he didn't feel so sure about talking about the supercalculator with so many people around.

"What's up?" asked Sean.

"Uh, your mom told us to tell you to stall…" said Ulrich.

"Stall?" asked Sean, "What's wrong?"

"Maybe we should go somewhere else?" asked Ulrich.

"Do you have somewhere in mind?" asked Seth.

Ulrich looked around and saw a small alcove near the front desk of the bookstore. It was where a special collection was kept and was no bigger than a small closet. But it was jam-packed with shelves and stacks of books. Ulrich gestured to the alcove and the twins nodded and stood up from their table. It was a short walk, and from where they stood they could still see much of the bookstore, including the roped off area where the special signing event was being held. Sean and Seth went first, having Odd and Ulrich block the entry so that no one else could see in. Ulrich stood there for a second before he realized that Sean and Seth were waiting for him to say something.

"Hey uh- how's the parkour going-?" asked Ulrich.

Sean's face went immediately stony, "Dude! Not here! If our mom hears you talking about that we'll be so dead!"

"Not cool, man…" said Seth

"What?"

"Look, I don't know how you found out we do parkour," said Sean, "But let's just ignore that for now…"

"Huh?"

"How do you get the gall to come up to us and start talking like we're old friends? We don't exactly go way back here," said Sean shortly, "So I'm going to give you ten seconds to decide to walk away while you still can, or I'll have security see you out…"

"Whoa, hey! Sean!" said Odd, "It's cool! He's with me!"

"Well if that's the case then you better calm your friend here before he finds himself in a lot of trouble."

"Guys!" interjected Ulrich.

"What?!" growled Sean.

"I just came to talk to you about the…" Ulrich leaned in, "…Supercalculator." Ulrich was getting tired beating around the bush.

"What did you just say?" asked Seth.

"How do you know about that?" asked his twin.

"Look, guys, I already know that you remember the supercalculator," said Ulrich.

"How? We haven't told anyone since we've…gotten here?" asked Seth looking for help from Sean.

"Look, it's been a long and confusing week…" offered Sean, "We don't even know where to begin."

"I think I already know," said Ulrich looking out towards the front of the shop where Mrs. Cardiff stood.

"How did you-?" asked Sean, following Ulrich's gaze.

"Ulrich seems to think this has already happened," supplied Odd, "I have to give it to him, he's predicted a lot of things already, so just go with it."

"Wake up in a strange place, no memory of how you go there, strange people," summarized Ulrich by ticking off things on his fingers. The twins nodded, "And people who weren't there before…" said the brunette looking out towards Mrs. Cardiff again.

"Yeah…" choked Sean, trying to hold back tears, "So uh-," he cleared his throat.

"You think this is because of the supercalculator?" asked Seth.

"What else could it be?" asked Ulrich, "We all seem to remember it."

"But how? When? Who? Why?" asked Sean.

"We don't know, we're putting together the pieces same as you," said Ulrich, "I've been working to find out myself, and I ran into Odd just last night."

"So who else knows?" asked Seth.

"We think Jeremy and Yumi do, and possibly a few others as well," said Ulrich pulling out the drawing he was keeping in his back pocket.

"Hey!" remarked Seth, "That's us!" he said pointing to the two figures at the front.

"That's what I thought…" said Ulrich.

"What? I so don't remember these two," said Odd.

"Give it time Odd, you'll come around like you did with Jeremy," said Ulrich.

Seth took the drawing out of Ulrich's hand and started to fill in their faces. It didn't take him long afterward to start snickering.

"What-? Hey!" shouted Sean. Apparently, Seth had filled in their details, but also included a cheesy mustache on Sean.

"Oh c'mon Es-ee! I've always said you'd look good with facial hair!" chuckled Seth.

"So grow one yourself!" snapped Sean taking the drawing and erasing the mustache, "We have the same face after all y'know…" he muttered vigorously with his efforts.

"Guys, guys!" chided Ulrich, "So you guys okay? We good?"

"It'll take us some time to 'come around' like you say," said Seth, "But I'm sure we'll start remembering things in no time. If it helps, we don't remember you either Odd."

The look on Odd's face was confusing, he didn't know whether to be relieved or offended, "Uh- thanks?"

"So what do we do now?" asked Sean.

"I don't know, I've really been taking things one step at a time here, one day at a time," said Ulrich.

"Well you said that Ulrich seems to think this has already happened," said Seth to Odd and the duo nodded to the twins, "So if that's the case, what happens next?" he directed to Ulrich.

"Well, that's the thing, in my…vision? If we want to call it that…Yumi was supposed to be here," said the brunette looking down at the empty chair that would have been Yumi's had she shown up.

"Is that what we were supposed to be stalling for?" asked Sean, "The fact that Yumi isn't here?"

"We already know," said Seth.

"You do?!" asked Odd.

"Yeah, she texted us saying she fired her manager and took a cab home. She seems really upset," said Seth.

"Well, about what? Did she say?" asked Ulrich.

"Well for one she said she was tired of being treated like an object and not a person," said Seth reading the message on his phone, "But other than that she said she was just tired."

"Why didn't you tell your mom this? She's so worried that she'll have to cancel the event!" said Odd.

"Eh, we were thinking the same thing…" said Sean, "Look, we've had a long week and we just want to get down to the bottom of this and see if there's some way to reverse it."

"So what do we do?" asked Ulrich.

"We'll speak to our mom and cancel the event," said Seth, "And then we'll all go to Yumi's house. I think that she could use the company. She must feel just as confused as the rest of us," said Seth.

"Are you sure? This won't cause any trouble for you?" asked Ulrich.

"What is she going to do?" asked Seth, "We are our own adults, so I'm sure she'll be mad, but it's not the end of the world."

"If you say so…" said Odd.

The twins stepped away and walked towards their mother. At first their conversation seemed terse and angry, but eventually, Mrs. Cardiff calmed down and nodded her agreement. Seth walked back towards Odd and Ulrich.

"Sean agreed to stay behind and sign a few books just for those who already here and he'll join up with us later," said the blond twin.

"Is he sure? Sophia is in line I'm sure by now…" warned Ulrich.

"Sophia?" asked Seth, "Oh, you mean that girl who works in Es-ee's department?" asked Seth.

"Yeah, I met her in my vision," said Ulrich.

"How far back?" asked Seth.

"I was 501 in line, and she was 502," said Ulrich, "But that would make her 501 or something now this time."

"Okay, I'll tell Sean to limit it to 400 or something then," said Seth, "Just to be safe" The blond twin went back to his brother and Sean lauded Seth with praise for warning him. Then Seth returned, "Okay, are we getting this show on the road?"

"Yep, let's get going," said Odd.

The three men left the bookstore out the back, being careful to avoid the growing line. Ulrich could hear many groans from the line and much of it started to disperse. He figured the word went out that the event was canceled.

"We are going to get so much flak for this…" muttered Seth.

The trio walked out to the parking lot and Odd jumped into his jeep and revved the engine.

"Hey, uh, can I ride with you, Odd? Sean has the keys to the car and I didn't bring my ride," said Seth.

"Sure, hop in," said Odd.

Ulrich felt a sinking pit in his stomach. The last time these events happened seemed much more pleasant. The group seemed to be in better spirits, carefree and lively. And of course, all of it led up to Yumi's confession of her feelings to him. Now Ulrich had no clue what was going on. Instead of driving with Yumi, he was driving alone. Certainly, not the way he intended this evening to go. It took a little bit to drive out into the country where Yumi lived, by the time they pulled up it was pushing late into the night. Ulrich just followed Odd's purple jeep, which was not that hard because it stuck out amongst all the other cars on the motorway. Yumi's house was nice, in a traditional French style with a long drive and several large windows that faced out. Many of the windows were dark, but Ulrich could see a faint light coming from a back room that could be seen barely from the front.

The trio got out of their vehicles and walked up to the front door. Seth rang the bell and then waited. There was no response. He knocked firmly on the door a few times and then waited again. Still no response. Seth then rang the bell and pounded on the door in rapid succession.

"Go away!" cried a voice from the back of the house.

"Yumi? Yumi! It's Seth and Odd and Ulrich! We just came to talk!" shouted Seth.

"Go away!" asserted Yumi.

"Yumi!" cried Odd, "Can we just come in?"

"Seriously! Go away!" shouted Yumi, and with that, the light in the house clicked off.

"Well, we tried…" said Odd, and he turned to walk away.

"Odd…" said Ulrich, "That's not good enough."

"What else can we do? She obviously doesn't want to talk with us," said Odd.

"She's upset, and I think being alone is the last thing she needs right now," said Ulrich.

"I don't know, I think I agree with Ulrich, Odd," said Seth, "Don't you remember when she broke up with William?" Why was it that everyone remembered this but Ulrich?

"What about it?" asked Odd.

"Well the only thing that got her to snap out of it was my family paying a visit to her and taking her out for the evening," said Seth, "She just needed to take her mind off things for a bit and then she was 'right as rain' as my dad would say."

"I'm with Seth on this, we need to keep trying," said Ulrich.

"Well what do we do?" queried Odd, "Y'know, besides busting the door down?"

"We aren't going to be doing any kind of breaking and entering," assured Ulrich.

"Yeah, that wouldn't look good on the news," said Seth, he then put on his best news reporter voice, "Three men broke into renowned actresses Yumi Ishiyama's house tonight, among the men were Seth Cardiff, co-CEO of CEM, and Odd Della Robbia, a high-ranking executive of the same company."

"Hey! No mention of me?" joked Ulrich.

"Eh, I'm sure there will be a footnote at the end of the report," laughed Seth.

"So, what are we going to…?" asked Odd, but then the three of them turned to the door with a start when they heard the bolt slide back and the door gets pulled slightly open.

The three men looked inside the dimly lit entryway to see Yumi, her face a mess. Ulrich could tell she had been crying. She wore the same outfit that she wore in Ulrich's alternate memory; leggings, a denim shirt, and a beanie cap, "You guys are being too loud…" said Yumi glumly. She was about to shut the door again when Ulrich leaped forward and put his foot and hand on the door.

"Wait!" said Ulrich, "Yumi, please let us in," he said sincerely.

Yumi's face contorted a few times as she thought about what Ulrich had said. Finally, she sighed and held open the door for everyone to come in.

"Can I get you guys anything?" offered Yumi, "My mother would kill me if she knew that I had guests in my house and I didn't offer them at least tea or something."

"Is it herbal?" asked Seth.

"Huh?" asked Yumi, wiping away tears from her face.

"Nevermind, I'll just take some water," said Seth.

"Okay," said Yumi, "And for you guys?" she asked Ulrich and Odd.

"Tea sounds great," said Ulrich, wanting to keep things simple for Yumi.

"Yeah, okay…" said Yumi and she disappeared into the kitchen, "You guys can go sit in there and wait," she said, leaning out of the kitchen to point to a spacious living room.

"Yeah, sounds good," said Ulrich, and the trio went to find places to sit.

"What are we going to talk about?" hissed Seth to the other two.

"I have no clue…" admitted Ulrich.