Simon in trouble

Whenever Mai spoke to the Simon of the future, it always seemed like he would drop a bombshell while they were talking. Once again, without fail he did exactly the same thing.

'From this day than years ago, does that mean something happened in the city centre? Or does he just mean something around this time?' Mai thought.

Trying to put on an Oscar worthy perforce, she tilted her head slightly and hit the top of it with her knuckle.

"Sorry, I must be losing my memory with age," She tried to joke, "Do you mind telling me what exactly happened? I remember we went shopping around this time, but why would the two of us stop talking?" Mai asked.

As soon as she popped the question, Simon's face flushed bright red. It was the first time she thought he looked cute despite now being ten years older compared to before.

"Well, do you remember… or maybe you don't remember." Simon struggled to get the words out. "You remember when you had no clothes that time?"

Now Mai's face had gone redder than Simon's was. She knew exactly what he was talking about, because she had been brought to this world just seconds after that very incident.

'So he was talking about this exact day, but then did he…did he..see me naked?!' She thought.

"It seemed like you had passed out, so I'm not surprised you don't really remember." Shirley was the first one to check up on you, in case you were still getting dressed and that's when she had found you passed out.

"As soon as she looked panicked and screamed for help, Chris was actually the one that rushed over, before even I, and when I was about to approach Chris just stopped me saying that we should probably leave the two of you. Before you woke up, Chris went and bought a bunch of clothes for you and handed the bag over Shirley.

"He had acted before I even thought about doing such things. I can see why the two of you made a good couple." Simon smiled, but it looked as if he was in pain when putting on this smile, Mai could feel it.

Hearing this, it seemed like Chris really was a caring person to have thought about doing that for someone he barely knew, he even spent his own money without hesitation on new clothes. But still, it didn't explain why Simon stopped talking to Mai.

"So you didn't see me… like that, then?" Mai wondered.

"No, no!" Simon said rapidly, waving his arms about. "But did that jog your memory a little?"

Of course it didn't because, if this really was the future, then Mai didn't have a chance to live those moments yet.

Seeing Mai shake her head, Simon gave out a big sigh as if it was really hard for him to retell this story.

"Well, you told us that a store clerk had taken your clothes, but there was only one shopkeeper in there that day, and she said she didn't even see you enter, so we never found your clothes that day." Simon emphasised. He paused for a bit as well to see if Mai would be able to remember the rest, but as she nodded and was listening in keenly, he knew she still couldn't remember.

"Well, sometime later on, when we were back at school, the clothes were found in my locker. Chris went berserk on me, treating me as if I was a disgusting perv, but Mai I promise it wasn't me! I would never do that sort of thing! If I wanted to steal your clothes I would have just done it at your house!"

Hearing this, Mai was just shaking her head, of course Simon didn't steal her clothes, but then why did her past self believe it so much? However, she started to remember what she felt like moments before when her clothes were taken. It was a horrible feeling and perhaps when the clothes were discovered, all those feelings had resurfaced for her.

"It was after that, the two of us stopped talking more and more, and eventually you got closer to Chris instead." Simon said with his eyes not daring to look up from the table.

Now she was understanding, but she didn't want the same thing to happen again. She didn't understand why the Mai of the past didn't believe Simon. I mean it was her, how could one not understand their own actions?

'Wait, there is something I can do!' Mai thought. 'If I go back now, I know that someone will put my clothes in his locker. If I wait, or get to school early, I'll be able to find out who it was!'

Her plan was genius, but there was one problem, what if this was just a dream? Still, seeing Simon down the way he was now, she didn't want that to happen again and in a way, if all this did happen it would also prove that this world was the same as the past one.

"Simon, I'm sorry. I believe you, and I promise, I'm going to find out what happened ten years ago and find who set you up!" She said, pumping her fist a little.

Simon looked back at her with a confused expression, thinking that Mai had gone a little crazy in the head. How would one find out about something in school that happened ten years ago?

'Maybe she's just fixating on this because Chris died.' Simon thought, and just smiled back and nodded along with her erratic behaviour.

The two of them talked for a little bit yet she wasn't able to find out much about herself. Due to the incident, it looked like Simon had missed out on nearly nine years of her life, but she had one more question to ask.

"I wanted to ask you about Chris's death, do you have any idea what happened to him?" She asked.

Simon thought about it for a while, he thought Mai would have known more about it than him, so why was she asking?

"I mean, I only got news from Shirley about it, but I wasn't invited to the funeral, which makes sense." Simon awkwardly chuckled. "But I would think she would know most of the details or maybe the detective."

For some reason, Mai didn't want to meet Shirley just yet. She was a clever girl, and was afraid that perhaps she would find out that Mai was able to go in between, and right now she wasn't ready for those sorts of questions.

After talking for a while longer, Simon had eventually left the apartment, and Mai was left on her own again. Simon said he would be staying in the city for a couple of days, so if she needed him for anything, he could pop over quickly.

After a great talk with Simon, she was starting to feel tired as it was getting late in the current world. She hoped that soon her sleep would bring her back as she wanted to do something for Simon.

Getting out a piece of paper and a pen, she wrote a note and stuck it onto the fridge.

"I don't know if this will mess things up like it does in the movies, but I need to do this." Mai thought as she read the message on the fridge that she had scribbled down.

"Forgive Simon for what happened in the past, I don't think he was the one who did it. From Mai, 2022. P.S. He is your best friend!"

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