Day Three

  Classroom, Present

  Niche stares at his desk. The classroom feels like a furnace. Sweat beads on his forehead.

  A couple days ago, Ryota managed to convince Ms. Tanaka, usually a very strict teacher, to move Ryota next to Niche. Ryota leans over to his uncomfortable classmate. "You good? It's pretty hot in here."

  "Yeah. I'm not good with heat."

  "Ms. Tanaka, can you turn down the thermostat?"

  She glances up from grading. "Sure,” she says, a slight smile appearing on her face when she makes eye contact with Ryota.

  The air conditioning kicks on. Cool air floods the room.

  "Finally. Thanks, Ryota,” Niche says, coming back to reality.

  A lot happened yesterday. I'm glad it's quiet now. Peaceful.

  But…it's boring.

  The things that used to excite me - Maruka glancing over, Ryota's jokes - they feel lame now. All I want is the real thing. The action. That fight with the light person... it felt good to outsmart her. I want to be back there.

  No. What if someone gets hurt? Ryota almost died.

  But I'm immortal now. I can protect them all.

  I shouldn't go back. Just stay put until the merging.

  Or... I could prepare. Make sure everyone stays safe while preparing to resist.

  Yeah. After school, I'll go back to the cave.

  Ms. Tanaka gets up to start the lesson. She writes something on the board; Niche doesn’t care enough to pay attention to what it is. Ms. Tanaka starts talking. Normal sounds. Normal classroom. Everything exactly as it should be.

  It makes Niche’s skin crawl.

  He taps his pencil against the desk. Once. Twice. The rhythm's off. Everything's off. Last night he burned someone alive and now he's supposed to care about history?

  Maruka glances back at him. He doesn't meet her eyes. That concern on her face was another normal thing. Another boring, predictable response. Their intimate interaction last night doesn’t even cross his mind as she stares back, her eyes begging desperately for attention.

  The cave at least had stakes. Had purpose. This is just... waiting.

  The fire alarm goes off. That piercing, mechanical shriek that fills every corner of the building.

  Everyone starts filing out, groaning about another drill. Niche freezes while everyone piles out.

  His eyes are immediately wet. Not crying exactly, but just tears forming involuntarily.

  "Dude, come on," Ryota, who stood up to exit the room, nudges him. "It's just a drill."

  Niche wipes his eyes quickly, confused. "Yeah, I'm coming."

  They file outside with everyone else. The alarm keeps blaring until they're all on the field.

  "You okay?" Maruka notices his red eyes. "You look like you're crying."

  "I'm not." He's genuinely puzzled. "It's just... the sound."

  "The alarm?"

  "Yeah, it's weird. I don’t know.”

  Fuck, I gotta get out of here. This sound is gonna kill me.

  A few minutes later, Ryota looks around for Niche.

  "Hey, where you going?" Ryota calls at a figure in the distance, sneaking around in the bushes.

  Is this Niche? Ryota thinks. No, it definitely is. Who else would be in the forest? How did he get away from the class? More importantly, how doesn’t Ms. Tanaka notice he’s gone? She’s usually really strict on every student being present in class during drills.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  "Something I need to check on,” Niche mutters, not loud enough for Ryota to hear.

  The rationalization comes easy to Niche.

  I'm just preparing. Just making sure we're ready.

  But he knows what he really wants.

  Residential District Streets, Present

  "Why do loud sounds affect you?" Raizen asks from his sword as Niche pulls it out of his backpack while they walk across the city.

  "No idea. Been that way since I was little. My mom thought I was scared of everything. Took me to specialists."

  "And?"

  "They said my nervous system processes sound differently. Triggers tear production." He shrugs. "Just another thing that's wrong with me."

  "Or right, depending on perspective. Makes you seem more human when you cry, even if it's just noise response."

  "I'm not crying. It's physical reaction to—"

  "I know. But they don't." Raizen's voice carries amusement.

  Same as yesterday, Niche looks up during this conversation and suddenly appears in the cave.

  Cave, Present

  “Damn, I didn’t realize how fast we got here,” Niche says.

  Niche ignites a flame in his hand, instinctively throwing it on a corner. The crevices of the cave light up, revealing the bare, empty nature of the cavernous void.

  Well, what do I do now? This place is empty after yesterday.

  This is no fun. I need…bigger stakes. Maybe…I could use the same stakes as yesterday.

  “Raizen,” Niche says.“What is it?”

  “You mentioned elements, right? How flame or fire was the first one. Are there such things as abstract elements I can learn to control?”

  “Why do you ask that?”

  “Well, I know my dad can move around quickly. I used to think it was teleportation, but that doesn’t make sense. People can only develop the ability to manipulate actual elements, right? Then how would teleportation work? So, I’ve considered another possibility: time.”

  “You have a keen eye, Niche. Yes, you can manipulate abstract concepts, but there is a downside. I’m sure you know how long normal elements take to control, right?”

  “Well…I know it has something to do with sleight of hand. Normal people can’t actually produce elements, but they can learn how to extract them from normal objects. Extracting hydrogen and oxygen from the air and rearranging these atoms can create water, but I’ve never heard of a normal person being able to do it before. I’d estimate with the reaction people have to this ability that it would take a couple years to do flawlessly.”

  “More.”

  “More than a few years?”

  “On average, it takes ten years for a normal person to manipulate a physical element flawlessly.”

  “Ten years?! How long for an abstract element? Double that?!”

  “Multiply that number tenfold.”Silence lingers in the air until Niche finally speaks up. “Uh…I don’t know what that means.”

  “Ten times that amount,” Raizen says, dissatisfied.

  “One hundred years?! How the hell did my dad do it, then? You’re saying he’s been alive for that long?”

  “What is this, a Q & A? I’m done explaining stuff; let’s do something.”

  “Sorry, but I’m just confused how I’ll ever be able to do something like that.”

  “I mean, you do have eternity to learn it. I’d assume you could get pretty good at most things by that time…”

  “Oh, right,” Niche replies, his voice deflated by this apparent revelation. “Well, one of the benefits of the sun bearer is that you can learn elements a lot quicker, right? I unconsciously learned flame instantaneously; I’m sure I can learn time in a short amount.”

  “Element time doesn’t just depend on the type of element; it is largely based on affinities. That’s how you learned flame so quickly; you had a natural connection to it. That might not be the case with other elements. In fact, as far as I’ve seen, affinities have a larger effect on the time it takes to learn an element than the element type. Just because your dad was naturally inclined to learn time doesn’t mean you would be; the affinity isn’t hereditary.”I don’t really want to learn another element right now.

  “Not to worry,” Raizen continues, “because learning an element isn’t the only way to use it. You can also use a crystal, which is a one-time use but allows you to use the element. So, what will we do, sun bearer?”

  “Let’s go to my dad’s room. He must have some time crystals in there, right?”

  “Crystals are also very expensive to produce…”

  “Well…” Niche smirks. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind, right? How would he even notice they’re gone? I don’t think he has cameras in his room or anything.”

  Mr. Sutori’s Room, Present

  Niche and Raizen lurk outside the parents’ room, looking for any sign of life in the house.

  Mika is still at school and both dad and mom are at work. We should be good.

  They enter the room and start snooping around, Raizen taking a humanoid form to better assist Niche.

  “Didn’t your dad warn you to not change the past?” Raizen asks, opening a drawer.

  “Nah. I mean…he might’ve said something like that, but if it was important I would’ve remembered,” Niche replies, dismissing the question.

  Raizen look at this strange drawer he just opened on the nightstand while Niche checks the other side of the bed. Raizen stares at an unknown object in the drawer, inquiring to Niche, “What is this? I’ve never seen something like -”

  Suddenly, he hears a voice murmur from the other side of the room. The speaker of these words has a grin on his face like a hyper child who was just given candy. The voice says, “What would he need crystals for anyways if he can already control the element? I’m sure it’ll be fine if we just take a couple.”

  Raizen stares at Niche, “Niche, what are you -” His question is cut off for the second time as reality warps around Niche.

  Maybe I could change the way yesterday happened.

  Present, One Day Ago, Present

  When Niche’s vision cleared, he was back in the cave.

  No fucking way. It worked.