Two

Kaho spotted a few of her schoolmates loitering along the familiar route to Hanagawa High School. Sayuri and her boyfriend Hikaru were arm in arm, drinking sodas from the convenience store, heads together as they spoke quietly. She'd been in their class since she was eight years old. Sayuri had cut her hair over the break; it had been hanging toward the bottom of her shoulder blades, and was now down to her shoulders. Hikaru was gazing down at her, beaming. A wave of jealousy struck her, wishing he was with her. 

Some of the new first years were gawking at their new schoolmates, awed by how High Schoolers carried themselves. The new students walked with trembling hands and knocking knees among the flocks of uniforms, their eyes wide like deer in the headlights. More students were trudging toward the crest of the hill by their school from the train station. 

That's when she spotted Mamoru, waving frantically from the other side of the street. He hadn't tied his school tie, and his blazer was tied around his shoulders. He crossed the road and slung his arm around Kaho's shoulders, greeting her with one of his winning smiles. His skin was sun-kissed and freckled, from a school break abroad. 

"Good to be back, right Kaho?" 

Kaho nodded, "Can't wait." 

Her voice betrayed her, quieter, squeaky almost. He frowned, raising an eyebrow at her. 

"I got you a souvenir from my holiday! Some postcards for your art." 

"Thank you, Mamoru, that's so kind of you." 

He shrugged, "I know you love to draw, and I never take enough pictures that inspire you." 

Kaho held her tongue, forcing herself to refrain from commenting on how he expected his adventures to inspire her. The postcards often did inspire her, not necessarily with what was printed on the front, but the colours – emulating photography with watercolours, let alone inks was always tricky, but she loved to try making sunsets like the ones Mamoru gave her. She tucked the small wad of postcards he produced from his trouser pocket inside her blazer. He raised his eyebrow, catching a glimpse of the black envelope in her pocket, but turned his gaze away. 

"You okay?" Kaho asked as they neared the school gates. 

Mamoru shrugged, standing on his tiptoes and finding his class assignment on the bulletin board. Right at the top of Class 2A. Because he wanted for nothing, beauty, money or intellect. 

"Oh! There's Kikiyo! Catch you later!" 

Kaho raised an eyebrow and watched him run off. She frowned and waited her turn to look at the bulletin boards. She found her name in the middle of the roster for class 2B, along with some of her friends, and usual classmates.

 She turned her head and saw Mariah in the queue. Kaho hollered to her "You're in 2B, with me!" 

Mariah left the queue and hugged her friend, "Let's go!" 

They walked together into the main school building, putting their shoes in their lockers, and changing into their white school shoes. In the corner of her eye, she spotted Mamoru taking the stairs two at a time, rubbing the back of his head, like he'd been struck. Kaho frowned, locking her shoes up and making her way to the stairs. Mariah followed her. They headed to their classroom; seeing familiar faces dotted around, and offering the occasional greeting. 

"What did you do during the break?" Kaho asked, "I wish I could have gone away like Mamoru, but I did get to leave town for a bit - I visited my auntie, but mostly stayed here."

"We went to Niagra Falls!"

"No way!" Kaho exclaimed, "I bet you got soaked!"

"We did," Mariah laughed, "I saw one girl lay on the floor and just get completely soaked by the splashing water. It looked like it felt really good – like a release or something." 

"Did you make a wish? Aren't you supposed to make a wish?"

Mariah shrugged, "Can't say – otherwise it wouldn't come true."

Kaho elbowed her in the ribs. Mariah laughed. 

"My Mum has wanted to go since forever – when Grandad passed, he left her money to 'empty the bucket'."

"What? Like a bucket list?" Kaho said, brows furrowed. 

Mariah shrugged, "Guess so? She and Grandad were really close, you know, so she was choked up the whole time, but wow – like wow. Actually wow."

She opened the door to Class 2B. Some of her classmates were already inside, choosing their usual seats. Kaho liked sitting at the window, and Mariah usually sat to her right. Their chairs were unoccupied. They put their bags on their tables, staking their claim. 

Mariah leaned against the windowsill, gazing out at the incoming tide of students, corralled through the gates by the Student Council and staff, inevitably telling them all the class rosters were not only outside the classrooms, but on the other bulletin boards jotted around campus, and to stop blocking the gates. Not that anyone was listening. 

"Please tell me you have a million pictures!" Kaho said hands together in a false prayer, drawing Mariah's attention back, away from the crowds outside. Mariah nodded frantically.

"I'll show you at lunch, promise!" She said, holding out her pinkie finger. 

Kaho didn't take it. Her own gaze was snatched from the discreet manicure on Mariah's fingers, by one of her classmates. She stared at him, almost daring him to move again, so she could catch a glimpse of what she thought was a black envelope, just like the ones in the box she'd received that morning. 

He had claimed his spot, right at the front of her column, in the seat directly in front of the teacher's desk. He was straddling his chair, his blazer hanging open, the inside pocket exposed as the back of his chair resting against his chest. He nodded as he listened to Hikaru, who leaned against the windowsill. His girlfriend, Sayuri was under his arm, burying her face in his chest, ears bright red. Whatever Hikaru said had been embarrassing. 

"What are you staring at Makoto for?" Mariah stage whispered, making Kaho jump. 

"I'm not!" She lied. 

"Sure, so this doesn't have anything to do with your boyfriend being all the way across the prefecture at the fancy pants school?" Mariah wiggled her eyebrows. Kaho sighed, and slumped down in her seat. She fought the urge to fish out her phone from her bag and send Tatsuya a text. Even just a 'hi' text. 

"Lovesick?" Mariah said gently, "Or morning sick?"

"Sick of you," Kaho bit back, blushing furiously. 

"Are you sure?" Mariah asked raising a brow. 

Kaho's cheeks burned, she reached out and swatted at the air around Mariah, who was giggling furiously, clutching her sides. 

"Yes, I'm sure! Tatsuya didn't – I didn't – we haven't! We didn't even go anywhere during the break! We only hung out a few times, he's busy," Kaho said, her hands flailing. Mariah's giggles were infectious, catching in Kaho's throat, and soon they were both in stitches. Mariah slumped into her chair, gasping for breath. 

The door swung open and another familiar face from the class barged in. Two of his friends were lounging by their usual spots in the back of the class, but he strode straight past them, making a beeline for Kaho and Mariah. 

Ryota and Kaho had been friends since they were, effectively, babies, he was like another annoying brother, just as irritating if not more so than Taiga, both had a basketball in their skulls instead of an actual working brain. 

"Ya-ho! Kaho!" 

"It's 'yoo hoo'," she said, getting back up and elbowing Ryota in the ribs. He keeled over dramatically, landing on his knees with a thunk. Mariah's eye twitched. That would have hurt.

"Not if I have a bone to pick with you," Ryota declared, slinging his arm around her shoulder, grinning, "How come you didn't tell me Taiga got a job here." 

"Same reason Taiga didn't tell you," Kaho retorted, turning her nose up at him, "None of your business, Ryota." 

He stuck out his bottom lip, brows upturned; a caricature of a puppy dog face. Kaho rolled her eyes, "You know you'll need to try out to make his starting lineup, right?"

"As if I would fail to be a starter now we've lost the whole line up to college," Ryota snorted, "I've been practising all break!"

He wasn't wrong, when Kaho and Tatsuya had gone to the park during the break, she'd seen Ryota in the basketball court, practising his shooting, and playing one-on-one matches with his friends and the occasional stranger. Hell, one time she caught sight of him in there, spinning around in circles and attempting to shoot, as if he would be made to spend the whole pre-game setup in a waltzer, or a washing machine. 

Kaho sighed, "I know, I'm sure you'll do great – Taiga just didn't want you to get the drop on your underclassmen." 

Ryota rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "Whatever you say." 

"I mean it!" she protested. 

Ryota sighed, trudging to his friends, who jostled him, jeering with them, a chorus of sounds that made no sense. He babbled on, grinning and shoving them. Kaho smiled and turned her attention back to Mariah. 

"You okay?" 

"Huh? Yeah!" Mariah said running a hand through her hair, "Hey Kaho?" 

"Yeah?" 

Mariah's eyes flickered from Makoto to Hikaru to Sayuri, and back to Kaho. Kaho frowned. 

"What's up, Mariah?" 

Mariah didn't get the chance to ask her question, she was interrupted by the warning bell. The rest of the class rushed through the halls, their school shoes squeaking against the varnished floors. As everyone made their way inside, followed by a short, balding man in a blue and white chequered shirt and brown trousers. He had small rectangular glasses perched primly on the edge of his nose. He pushed his glasses up and rummaged in his leather satchel, removing a thermos flask and some tea-stained paper. 

Hiro Sensei was one of the maths teachers at Hanagawa High School, and their homeroom teacher for the year. He'd taught Kaho in her first year, and his short, wheezy breathing in cold season had drawn her classmates into a frantic mission to sneak earplugs into school. But, it was only homeroom, she could handle his breathing for half an hour each day. Though, she wasn't sure some of the other girls could. They were already scowling and Hiro Sensei hadn't even taken attendance. 

As he did, Kaho lowered her head and produced the letter in its black envelope, prising it open gently with her fingernail. Nobody looked her way as she pulled the sheets of paper from inside the envelope, each word completely clean and effortless to read, not a smudge in sight among the perfectly printed kanji. 

 'Dear Kaho,

If you're reading this, then you're probably wondering what's going on, where those letters came from, and what is going on. My name is Kaho too, and I'm you, but from the future, I'm from a different Dimension Of Light within the same planet. And you don't need to believe me right now, but you will. It's important that you do.'

Kaho frowned, furrowing her brows and continued to read, her mind whirling through half-assed notes she'd made during science lessons, surely the only times they'd talked about alternative universes had been in jest – there wasn't any proof? No real tangible proof from a lab, at least. Just those letters, claiming that they were from another timeline. This was probably just a prank, a very well-orchestrated prank. 

Yet Kaho felt a tug, deep in her gut that something on those pages needed to be read. It was like magnetism. She wondered if bookworms felt like this all the time, and made a mental note to ask the girl behind her, Mori, if she felt like that when her favourite authors released books. Would that be weird? Would she want to talk about books after? Kaho frowned. Maybe not.

She turned back to the pages laid out in front of her. 

'I know this sounds crazy… but I heard from someone about the possibility of these letters getting to you, soon you'll find out how this is possible, but for now, I need your help. There's this really, really special person for me that was detrimental to me and our world. His name is Naseru Matsuoka. In my timeline, I failed…'