"And how's Kōji-kun? Did he appreciate your gift?"

"My gift - yes, he liked it very well, just like you knew he would."

Who's he?

Takeshita Kōji's a boy I've been shipping Aiko-san with for a looooong time. It took me forever to manage to get them together, and they're so cute.

"I'm rooting for you."

"Thank you, Yutaka-kun."

And now for the rain.

A single drop of rain falls on Yutaka's head.

"—oh, my, we shouldn't waste so much time outside, let's go in and get ourselves warmer."

It's wild to me how little people change what they do or say. Butterflies schmutterflies, honestly.

Well, to some extent they're probably operating on rigid social scripts in a situation like this? But Haru had better - watch out for that, if this might go on for a long time. He can't rely solely on Yutaka providing novel input to remain - interesting, though of course does he really want to have lots of diverse unique snowflake experiences that are all destined for the shredder anyway -

First time around I fled about now to go find people to torment but I don't actually want to torment anyone. ...I do feel the itch, especially with Iwasaki-san right here just begging to have his nose tweaked, but other people don't deserve to take the brunt of my annoyance with daddy dearest.

Is there nothing else that would - safely, safely - annoy him?

Well, probably if I actually stuck to him as he walked around and talked to people and acted in ways that made him nervous I was about to embarrass him that'd do it, but that sounds dreadfully tedious.

What do you want to do here, then? Besides sneak me hors d'oeuvres.

...I want to catch up with my friends genuinely. I think.

Sounds good. I might loiter over by the plants there so I don't have to be looking behind my own head for crowds to avoid.

Makes sense.

"Nakano-san, father, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see about finding some people I have not had the opportunity to see in a while."

"...yes, you may go," Iemasa says.

"Please, have a lovely evening." He bows, then starts walking off.

I'm thinking of maybe telling Toshiki and Akira about the loop.

Does letting people see us work selectively?

No, but the rain's going to get really bad in about half an hour to the point that no one can see anything out on the balcony.

He grabs his phone and starts typing a text into it.

What are you hoping will happen here?

Maybe they'll write a letter to their past selves, or they'll tell me what they'd like me to do, I don't know. I'd want to be told, in their position. Probably lots of other people, too, but they're the ones I—who—we—you know.

Nod nod. Should I expect to participate in this conversation as proof or anything?