Editing City Series:Volume7 Layer 5 (section)

===Record 96: I Had Forgotten===
[[Image:TOKYO_083.jpg|thumb]]

'''12/19/1998

'''20:08

After night fell, we left your house and walked through the city.

“How about we grab a drink at the milk hall by the station?” you suggested.

You and Senpai took the lead as we walked down a long road following the railroad.

The Boss was drunk and humming to himself and Snowy was holding her aching temple.

Lady was in high spirits after drinking.

Little Boy had passed out after a single cup.

“Kid’s got some good fuel efficiency,” the Boss laughed.

I agreed and took a look around.

We were surrounded by fields with a scattering of houses. There was a single dent in the guardrail.

Oh, right. This was the place where my past self spoke with my future self last year.

I fell one step, two steps, three steps behind the others and sat on the guardrail.

Once I was alone, I spoke.

“Come to think of it, I met another future me today.”

The wind carried away my voice.

“What a coincidence. So did I.”

I heard a voice from right next to me.

I felt like I could see someone in the very corner of my vision.

I heard a railroad crossing from the mountains toward Oume in the north. A steam whistle’s slow but hysterical sound arrived from the distance.

“I’m stumped,” I said. “I know I can trust my past self, but can I trust my future self too? What do you think?”

“Why would you ask me that? Today, I came to think my power is useless.”

Probably so. I felt the same when I remembered what had happened on your birthday last year.

“But the future self I met today couldn’t dodge my attack. That was honestly a disappointment. I mean, why wouldn’t it be? That means my future self is worse than my present self.”

'''If you throw a punch with belief in your heart, all things will receive the blow in accordance with the conservation of energy.

When I spun around and threw my fist, it crashed into another fist.

The colliding energies burst and bent the guardrail we were sitting on.

It was a solid blow and I knew he had to have been blown away, so I spoke to him.

“Remember this. I’ll overwrite the weak me you saw today. I’ll make him a fake. Tell me I’ll polish my skills even further. I’ll make the stronger me the real one.”

“Even if that power means losing things?”

“Yes. Even if I lose everything else and hate it so much, I doubt I’ll ever lose this power. It’s the one real thing I have. It’s permeated me to the point I could never forget it even if I tried.”

“I see. Then you remember this. No matter what might happen, that power will be the final thing you remember.”

With that, my past self left. I could only hear the steam whistle on the wind.

Then I realized there were two of me.

My past self was seated next to me.

'''Author Comment:

Another appearance of his other self.

The rest of the conversation with this other self will be told in Record 97.

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