Night of Rain
“Alright. The truth, then.” You take in a deep breath. Yukina leans forward slightly, interested in what you are going to say. “The truth is that I am from the future.”
“From the future…” Yukina mumbles. “Oh, I understand! It is like that book Father brought back for me on one of his trips. Please wait for a moment.” Getting up, she hurries into the back of the house. You hear sounds of rustling pages, and soon after Yukina returns, a dog-eared book in her hand. She hands it to you, beaming.
“The Time Machine… H.G. Wells,” you note. The book is in English, although it is covered in hand-written Japanese annotations, most of them translations of particularly difficult words.
“I do some studying on my own, to while away the time,” explains Yukina, coughing. “Shinoseki-sama came here in a time machine, just like the one in the book, then? How exciting!” She seems rather excited to be meeting an actual time traveler, but you are more surprised at her swift acceptance of your claim as truth. Yukina pauses, frowning. “But… why did you not have any clothes on? Where is your machine?”
“I… uh… it is a different sort of time machine, Maeda-san. This is the sort where…” Racking your head, you finally come across a reference that seems to be suitable for your predicament – a movie that you remember vaguely. “…yes, only living matter may pass through, because living organisms generate a field that interacts with the machine. That is why I appeared naked.”
“I see, I see,” Yukina nods, her eyes shining.
Encouraged, you continue with your story. “A... about a hundred years from now, a disaster will happen. A supernatural disaster, which may have originated from the Sakaguchi mansion incident. That is why I am here. To find out the truth, so that I may stop the disaster from happening.” A few more lines float up in your mind, and you deliver them with utmost seriousness. “The future is not set in stone. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.”
“There is no fate… but what we make…” Yukina repeats the saying a few more times, seemingly enamoured with it. “What a poetic line, Shinoseki-sama. You are truly a well-read gentleman, even though you may not be from my time. Oh, we must seem so backward to you!”
“N-not at all,” you shake your head. Should you say something to make her feel better? Without Ei around to give her commentary on your interactions with the fairer sex, you suddenly find yourself at a bit of a loss. “I’m… I suppose I am actually more impressed that you are studying such a difficult book in a foreign language, all by yourself. It could not have been easy, not in a small village like this.”
To your surprise, Yukina blushes slightly. “It is not all that impressive, Shinoseki-sama. You recognized the book and its author at first glance… you are a lot better at it than I am.”
“A-Ah, well…” That is as far as your bravado takes you; words fail to form, and your tongue ties itself up swiftly, rendering you unable to speak further. The two of you sit there, with only the sound of the falling rain filling the gap.
“Shinoseki-sama… I must admit, I did not expect you to be from the future,” says Yukina suddenly, breaking the silence.
“Who did… who did you expect me to be, then?”
Yukina looks away guiltily. “It did not register with me at first, but as I spent more and more time with you throughout the day, I had thought… no… hoped that you were my childhood friend, whom I had not met for ten years.”
“Did he move to the city?” you venture a guess.
“No,” she shakes her head sadly. From the look on her face, you know – even without explanation – that something bad happened to him. Probably dead, since that is how these things usually go. This is starting to sound strangely familiar to you. “Anyway, that is an old story now, one you would not be interested in,” continues Yukina, “if you are planning to save the future, I am more than willing to lend you my aid, Shinoseki-sama. Even if the other villagers do not understand your noble purpose, rest assured that I, Maeda Yukina, do.”
Before you can say anything further, you hear a faint voice from outside the house, muffled by the rain.
“Yukina-chan. I’m back. Could you please open the door?”
You look at Yukina, who is sipping her tea with a faint blush still on her pale cheeks. She does not appear to have heard anything.
“Yukina-chan. I’m back. Could you please open the door?” the voice asks again. From the sound of it, the voice belongs to an older woman.
“Ah, Maeda-san… did you hear that?” you ask.
“Hear what?” Yukina looks at you in wide-eyed puzzlement, and smiles sweetly. “I did not hear a thing, Shinoseki-sama.”
At that moment, Ei walks in, her hands behind her back. Even though it is pouring outside, she is entirely dry. Was she playing tricks on you by imitating a voice just now? Before you can ask her anything, she says, “Hey, Acchan. I’m sorry to interrupt the whole lovey dovey chat, but something happened at the mansion. The head of the family seems to have snapped, and now the other Maeda is trapped there.”
You stand up at once.
“What’s wrong, Shinoseki-sama?”
“I’m sorry, Maeda-san, but I need to go to the mansion immediately.”
“In this weather?” Thunder booms overhead, as if to prove her point. The howling of the wind has grown even stronger, branches lashing and scraping against the boarded windows furiously.
“Mae… Nami-san is in trouble. I need to help her,” you explain.
“Even so,” Yukina’s neat brows furrow in anxiety, and she says, “You really should not leave the house right now.”
“I’ll be fine, I can take a little bad weather,” you grin confidently, or at least try to.
“Still…” She seems reluctant.
“Yukina-chan. Could you open the door? Please?” asks the voice again, with infinite patience and politeness. You glance at Ei, who shakes her head nonchalantly. It's not her.
You turn to Yukina. “Are you sure you didn’t hear anything, Maeda-san?”
“Not at all, Shinoseki-sama. I only hear your voice, and the noise of the storm.”
“Then why should I not leave the house?”
“I…” Yukina’s eyes dart towards the closed windows, and then at the door. There is the faintest flicker of uncertainty in her gaze. “The storm would not be good for your health.” She coughs and shivers, stoking the bright embers of the hearth to keep herself warm. “If you are worried about Nami-san, she should be fine in the mansion. It is a sturdy place. We can go meet her in the morning, when the rain has passed. Please, stay with me here, just for tonight.”
You look towards Ei. What should you do?
“Oh, she’s just a sickly girl afraid of getting even sicker. It’s just rain and wind and lightning outside, Acchan. On the other hand, the other girl seems robust enough to take care of herself,” shrugs Ei. “Besides, it’s not real. All of this… it’s all fake. Isn’t it?”
***
A. You go.
B. You stay.
I think it even occured to him, briefly:
