Part 9

I woke, it was still dark. I found myself in a fast-asleep Emma's lap. I got up. I thought to myself, "I need to find him." I walked up to the lake, looked at my reflection. I never put any thought into it, but I realized that I haven't aged at all since the accident. Still fourteen, still a child. I'm not sure what happened to Emma, but the same had happened to her, only effective now. I looked the other way and wondered where my doppleganger might be. I thought to myself, "Maybe back home?" Then I remembered home. I remembered mostly why I had left in the first place, then thought: "Who would encourage somebody to run away from everything they cared about?" I thought about what would happen if I were to go back home. I thought about what the others would think, what my family would think..... then I found the perfect answer. The answer that could help me with every problem that I've had so far. I said to myself, to anyone that might have been listening, to Emma "Who cares?" and with that I took off.

Thirty Years Later
I didn't go back home, I would never go back home. I wanted to go someplace where I could start all over again. If anyplace I could go, I wanted no chance of anykind in finding anyone that I knew here... "Gate 43 to Japan is now boarding, all passengers may now board the plane." Backpack, lolipop, ticket. Walking towards the gate I felt something, something tugging at the back of my heart, I paused I felt like my heart was beating against the rest of my body trying to break free. I realized that it was not my heart, rather, my shirt being tugged. I turned around, a modest looking girl with big brown eyes and smooth looking skin stared back at me with a sympithetic look on her face. Big gray sweater/jacket draped over black and gray striped shirt with gray jeans with complicated flower designs beaded onto it. "H-hi... I noticed you were alone, and.... it kinda made me feel bad....." Almost immediatly my eyes started welling up, I blinked them back and said "My feelings are of no concern to you, whether you can see them or not." Her eyes get big and says "Are you alright? I really do care!" As she clung to my arm. "Hey! What the fuck are you doing?!" I shouted as I started wiggling my arm. "What do you mean? I'm pretending like I care!" She yelled back. I told her "Oh thats nice! I'm so glad you care that much!" The look on her face softened as she said "Yeah, I guess. Where are you headed?" She asked, I told her "Japan, whats it to you?" She grows a huge smile on her face as she says "It just so happens that I'm going there too. My name is Jina Minesuki by the way, you can call me Jina-chan, what's yours?" I thought a moment and made up a Japanese-sounding name. The best I could think of was "Nico, Nico Ugesaki, nice to meet you." We decided to sit in the back of the plane since we were the only people that we recognized. From where we were sitting we could see maybe four other people on the plane. I looked at Jina and said, "Where are you heading in Japan?" She responded "Okatsu, you?" "Same." "Cool."