It's been three days since we last had a discussion about Esper. That night when we last had the discussion, we cut it at those questions and left home. The future me returned back to his time and said he'd be back after three days. In short, we had three days to find an answer to two important questions:

Is Esper here now, in the present? If so, how is he coming back?

How do we stop Esper from corrupting the brains of foetuses and how is he doing it?



We already had a clue about how he might be doing it. We suspected that Esper might have another Timelapse device, as he stole it while his creation.

Three days later, we met. My future self made it in time for the meeting. But he seemed down about something. I was about to ask him but Cat prompted me to get started with the theory she thought I had come up with, regarding the current problem.



"Honestly, I don't know."[J: frowning]



"What do you mean you don't know? You did so much research right?" [Cat and Fuuta: totally mad at me]



"He's right. I couldn't find evidence in my time too. In fact, I met Mr Esper."[Future J: almost making no sense at all]



"What?"[J, Cat and Fuuta: in chorus, mind-blown]



"It might not make sense but, I met the CEO of Esper Inc. Mr Esper himself. He came to recruit me as the head of R&D in the Genomics and Immunology division of Esper Inc. He offered me a salary of 2.5 lakh per month."[future J: confused whether to be happy or sad]



"Good for you. But then, all that we discussed up until now doesn't make sense anymore, does it?"[J: totally lost]



"Yeah, we're back to square one in the problem. But then, Cerebral Re-mapping seemed so valid. Where did we go wrong?[Cat]



"There is one more problem."[Future J: interrupting]



"What is it?"[Fuuta]



"Someone else came with me back to the past today. Someone grabbed me but the hand while I was teleporting back in time. Once we landed here, he stole the Timelapse device from me. From what I saw, he looked like a school student."[Future J: completely sad]



"Great. That's what we want. More problems!"[J: frustrated about the problems]



We dismissed almost immediately. The news we just heard from my future self took away all hope of solving the problem.

I had totally given up on solving the problem, but something miraculous happened in school the next day.

We had a new transfer student by the name 'Esper'. Like the phenomenon in the future, he was a prodigy. Perfect in everything. Once school got over, Fuuta, me and Cat rushed to the club room.



"Esper is here?!"[Cat: not understanding what is happening]



"It's more than just a coincidence. If we corner him and ask him, we might be able to get some useful information."[J: suggesting]

With Cat and Fuuta agreeing with me, we left the club room and waited near the gate for him to come out. We came to know he was still looking for a club to join, so we thought he'd be in school. We waited. It was almost 6 pm. Esper still hadn't come out. We couldn't wait any longer. So we left home, disappointed.



"I thought we'd be able to figure out the solution today. Bummer, we couldn't![Fuuta: clenching his fists]



"Patience, my dear friend. Patience! We have another shot tomorrow."[J: reassuring]



We went home. My future self was asleep in my room. He was so sad about being so careless the other day, he hadn't eaten anything the whole day. Without the Timelapse device, he cannot go back. So we convinced my mother to let him stay at our place by giving some lame reasons. I believe my mother suspects us, nevertheless, she agreed. I went down, collected some snacks, and came upstairs. I offered him some to eat and we sat down for a chat.



"Why so down?"[J: enquiring the future self]



"Seriously? Why? How could I have been so careless? I lost my Timelapse device to a kid. And by the way, who teleports from a restroom lobby?"[Future J: beating himself up]



I almost laughed at that.



"It's okay. Mistakes happen and it's totally fine. I realise I didn't even ask you about your current job."[J: trying to divert the topic]



"I currently work at BioMonster Inc. It's another biotechnological company rivalling with Esper Inc. Again, the same position. Head of R&D. I was offered the same position in Esper Inc. So that they'd be able to remove our company from the market."[Future J]



"It's only natural to have spies in the rival company. It's totally fine. Now stop fretting about it. I feel like we're missing something important, will you help me find that?"[J: asking]



He seemed down even after all this talk. It was too much. I got up and gave him a really hard slap. But both of us felt the pain in the area I slapped.



"Why are you groaning idiot?"[Future J: furious]



"It's because it hurt me too."[J]



We pondered over this. Finally, we came to a conclusion: If the same person exists in a single time simultaneously, either by going to the future or travelling back to the past, any impact or changes happening to one of them will also be reflected in the other. This connection doesn't exist if the same person is in their respective time. We laughed about how both of us were hurt.



"Thanks. It's nice to have someone to talk to."[Future J: smiling]



I could tell he was missing someone. So I asked him about it.



"Missing my wife."[Future J]

I didn't expect him to be so upfront. It felt awkward he was missing someone I'd marry in the future.



"Well then, I need to start doing my homework so..."[J: looking for something]

I gave him my laptop.

"Watch something so that you don't feel bored. I'm sure we'll solve the problem!"[J: cheering my future self up]



We then went on to do our works and finally sleep. Next day at school. Cat had an unexpected meeting with Esper. They bumped into each other accidentally as Esper was in a hurry.



"Ta-Da! Look at what I found!![Cat: really excited]

She showed us the Timelapse device.



"Is that-?"[Fuuta]



"Yep! Our future buddy's lost device! I found it on the floor after I bumped into Esper!"

One problem was solved. We retrieved the lost device. Now all that was left is to sabotage Esper and draw the information about the future.



It seemed that Esper finally realised he had lost the device he had stolen. After school, he quickly left the classroom in a hurry, We thought he would go looking for the Timelapse device. Instead, he confronted us on our way to the club room.



"What are some literature rats planning to do with a piece of future tech?"[Esper: threatening]



"Well, trying to find out why living people are turning into prodigal zombies!"[J: ready for a brawl]



Easily enraged, we got into a fight. Fuuta was guarding Cat just in case Esper would make a move to steal back the Timelapse device.

Punch after punch, I felt his body to be somewhat... Rigid and hard. Each punch he threw at me came with great force and impact. He hurt me pretty bad. The fight was almost one-sided until Cat passed me a fire extinguisher nearby.



Every hit with that extinguisher left a dent on him. Soon, we could see sparks from each crack I made on his body.



"You're a robot?"[Cat: exclaiming]



"So, you managed to figure it out, huh!"[Esper: enraged but broken]

With that, he proceeded to self-destruct in hopes of killing us with him too. But I was quick to read him. I gave a huge blow to his head that temporarily shocked his systems and paralysed him. We managed to find out his power unit and cut the power. Extracted all components that looked like micro-chips or transistors and disposed of his body to a nearby e-waste centre. It wasn't easy to take his broken body undetected. Luckily, the watchman aided us.

After all the hustle, we returned home.



"We never even thought of robots! It is a physical object and can travel back and forth in time!"[Cat: again mind-blown]



We continued upstairs while speaking and proceeded to open the door of my room and-



"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED IN SCHOOL, YOU FRICCING IDIOT!!"[Future J: yelling, Literally]

He was hurt in the same places as I was, due to the brawl.



Cat and Fuuta were totally confused, and I could only give out a peal of nervous laughter as my mother barged into the room due to my future self's yelling.




{NOTE: This work is purely fictional. Any resemblance of any characters or concepts mentioned in the story is completely unintended. This is a fictional science story.}
© Jeevan