"Cat? Cat? What's wrong?"[J and Fuuta: worried]
Before she could even answer us, she passed out, with that faint smile intact on her face.

"She's passed out. Here, let her drink this when she wakes up."[Mrs. Rin]

"Thanks a lot, Mrs Rin!"[Fuuta]

"I'll pay for that before leaving ma'am."[J]

"No need for that! That's the least I can do for my old customers."[Mrs. Rin: reassuring]

"Old and daily customers!"[Fuuta: happy]
With that, Mrs Rin left to the billing counter again. We've been visiting that restaurant ever since middle school, Mrs. Rin became an acquaintance. Usually, when we dine, we leave tabs and pay for them at the end of the month. That's how it works for us there. If anything good happened now, it is Cat passing out in this restaurant and not any other.
It took a while for her to wake up.

"I'm glad you're awake!!"[Fuuta: finally relieved]
But the first thing Cat did was look for me. Fuuta felt a bit sad, but then realised how close we were.

"J! You were right. He was snog-"[Cat; realising she was wrong earlier]

"What's done is done. Look how worried Fuuta was!"[J: trying to change the topic]
She looked at him, and he stood there staring there back at her. I'm guessing, they had a moment there.

"Let me go order something. Trying to use your brain while your stomach is empty, is futile."[J]

"What is there right now that requires us to use our brains?"[Fuuta: confused]

"Catch the hint moron! I forgot you don't have any brains."[J]
With that, I left those two to have some private time.

"Hmm! So, how's she doing?"[Mrs. Rin]

"Quite wonderful! Just woke up from an untimely nap, and already doing her magic."[J: making fun of Cat]

"So, what will you have?"[Mrs. Rin: taking order]

"I'll take my usual, but for those two, give Cat's favourite; two veggie extra deluxe burgers, extra cheese and two large fries."

"Yes sir!"[Mrs. Rin: her usual caring smile, while making fun of me]
I went back to the table. By this time, Fuuta and Cat had settled beside each other and were acting rather awkwardly.

"What's with you two?"[J]

"Oh! T-T-That's n-nothing! Really!"[Cat: a bit flustered]
I look at Fuuta and give him a questioning nod.

"Mate! It's nothing!"[Fuuta: his voice shaking a bit]

"So, over that idiot?"[J]

"Uh, yeah. Fuuta helped me with that. But you know-"[Cat: answering J] With that, she lowered her head a bit, so that we couldn't see her tears.

"-It's a bit hard to forget him completely."[Cat: completing her sentence and wiping off her tears]

"That's the way! Now, let's dig in!"[Fuuta: seeing that our food had arrived]
We had a nice meal. Cat was able to finally take her mind of that incident. After that, we all headed our respective ways to our homes.

"I'm home!"[J: upon reaching home]

"Oh! Welcome home J! you have a visitor. I've asked him to wait in your room!"[Mom: acting a bit strangely upon the visitor matter]
As I made my way upstairs, Mom came closer and said:
"I know it's strange, but he looks almost similar to you!"[Mom]

"That explains the strange face you made as you told me about him, Mom!"[J]

"Hehe. Dinner will be ready soon. Let me know if our visitor is going to stay for dinner!"[Mom]

"Sure will!"[J: wondering how the visitor might be]
I went into my room, only to find a person exactly like me. It might have been me myself. I felt like I was staring into a mirror.

"Hey! Now now, what's there to be so startled about me?"[Visitor]

"The only thing to be startled about here is my new story plot becoming a reality."[J: wondering if this is real]

"Well, yes. I am here from the future."[future J]

"I didn't expect myself to become so idiotic in the future that I travel to the past and walk in through the front door of the past me's house."[J]

"C'mon, I miss this house. It feels so nostalgic."[future J]

"Just exactly from which year in the future are you from?"[J: getting increasingly curious and excited]

"What year is this?"[future J]

"Seriously. You came to the past without even knowing which year you landed in?"[J: surprised]

"My Timelapse device works a bit differently. I need not specify the year I want to return to, but the instance or the event I want to change. Then again, which year is this?"[future J]

"I see. And it's 2021"[J]

A short pause.

"So what are you here to change exactly?"[J]

"About that. Well, there is going to be a pandemic where people suddenly start becoming prodigies. The most under-achieving students show sudden changes and are becoming geniuses. And then, the whole brain is overridden by an AI"[future J]

"What? An AI corrupting the human brain? But that means this AI virus is affecting humans at a genetic level!"[J: in total shock]

"Exactly. And this all started when a company named Esper Inc came into existence. It's a biotechnological company that flourished unlike any company of its kind. The children of the company's employees were the first ones to be affected. And then the employees. Slowly, it has spread to every human being."[future J]

"Looks like a hassle to me. And is that Timelapse device one of their inventions?"[J: curious]

"Unfortunately no. That's the second reason I came back to the past."[future J]

"You- you lost me."[J: confused]
He proceeded to my cupboard. There is only one secret door in there, and only I know its location. Not even my parents know about it. I created it. He proceeded to open that door and pulled out some blueprints.

"Wait. Are those-?"[J: unable to believe what he saw]

"Yes. Blueprints to create the Timelapse device. And-"[future J: pulling out another sheet of blueprints]

"And this is the blueprint for an AI called Esper."[future J]
A deadly silence.

"So, we created both the AI and the Timelapse device?"[J: completely lost]

"It seems that I came back to the past twice."[future J]

"No way! You meddled with time twice!"[J]

Another deadly silence.

"Dinner is ready!"[Mom]

"Guess we have to discuss this after dinner."[J]

"Seems so! and I'm starving too!"[future J]

With that, we headed downstairs to eat dinner. But we weren't expecting Cat and Fuuta to join us for dinner too.

© Jeevan