Editing City Series:Volume7 Layer 7 (section)

===Record 97: Something Still Unseen===

'''12/19/1998

'''20:16

During the night, I found myself sitting on a guardrail with myself.

We sat side by side but also back to back. So…

“Hey,” I said. So I…

“What do you want?” I said. And…

“Sorry, I did this last year, so I knew what you were going to say,” I added.

''How am I supposed to respond to that?'' I wondered.

“Don’t you have anything to say?”

“I’m just surprised how much of an idiot other people think I am. You’re supposed to say these things to the outside world, not to your inside world.”

My future self laughed at that, his shoulders shaking.

“You drove out your past self earlier, didn’t you?”

“And now I’m thinking of driving out my future self.”

“Why’s that? I’m what you become in the future.”

“But you’re a stranger as long as you’re here by my side. You aren’t me now. You’re just a stranger who lived in the same environment in the same way…but for a year longer than me.”

My future self fell silent there. Until…

“What makes you say we’re strangers?” I asked.

My future self quickly turned around.

“We should have the same foundation,” I said. “But after punching out my past, I chose to change. You knew what I would say. That means you haven’t changed. Even though I’m supposed to change. So you’re a fake, my future self.”

“Ha.” My future self hung his head and laughed bitterly. “So you could tell. I actually came here today to warn you that I’m a fake.”

My future self clenched his right fist and showed it to me.

“I was supposed to be a more normal person. It really shouldn’t affect you any if you don’t change. The attitude is what matters, not actually changing. There’s a part of you that doesn’t want to change and there’s where I came from.”

“You don’t sugarcoat it, do you?”

“Why would I, idiot? But I’m here to tell you that isn’t enough. If you stay the same and become me, then it all becomes fake.”

My future self stood up.

“I don’t know what happened between us. Because I’m your future self. Nothing ever actually happened between us. But the key is found in your future memories that I never experienced – in other words, in something you haven’t predicted.”

“What would that be?”

“Something that will save me from becoming this version of me. I don’t know what that is, but that’s because I’m a fake. So listen,” I said. “Whatever might happen, make sure you go out and face the things I can’t predict.”

“I will,” we both said at once and bumped fists.

The next thing I knew, my future self was gone and I caught up with my friends who had continued on ahead.

'''Author Comment:

The fake and the real.

It’s a difficult concept, but if the future is made into a fake, then is the past seen from that point in time real or fake? I can’t quite decide.

At the same time, I think this is a very immature topic.