[FFML] [orig] Pandora's Paradox Chapter 2: College Blues

[Abdiel]

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Pandora's Paradox

An Anime-Inspired Original Story

By Abdiel


http://www.fictionpress.com/s/3185673/



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Chapter 2: College Blues


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On February 14, 1997; Valentine's Day; a Friday...


From below a fire escape ladder, all dirtied and sticky because of all

the snot that was coming out of his nose, was a crying Junpei Endo, Age

Twenty-One.


Pandora Endo, Age Fifteen, put her hands on her hips and sighed. "What

am I going to do with you?"


"N-Nothing. I failed again. Nobody would ever love a fat tub of lard

like me."


"Well, there's grandma," Pandora quipped, which only succeeded in making

Junpei bury his head in his hands and bawl even more.


With a sweet, lyrical voice, Pandora promised, "If you wipe off that

disgusting snot out of your nose, I'll give you a treat."


"If you're going to bribe me with food, then don't ask me to go on a

diet anymore," Junpei retorted. He then blinked back tears as he caught

a chocolate bar. A Kit-Kat bar, to be exact.


She smiled. "Happy Valentine's Day, Daddy." She moved in and kissed him

on the cheek. "Don't let that bitch Inoue bring you down. Grandma loves

you and so do I."


To her annoyance, that only made Junpei cry harder. "Oh jeez. Man up,

will you?"


"B-But... B-But... this is the sweetest thing a girl has ever done to

me all this time! Even my mother... your grandma... and my big sisters

were never this kind to me! Never!"


"Well, Aunt Reiko says that's because you're a gigantic wuss," pointed

out his big sister's smart-alecky niece.


"Is that the reason why I left you with Reiko-neechan? So that she'd

suffer the same way as I do with your sharp tongue?"


"No, the aunt who took care of me was Aunt Minami. The nice sister," she

disclosed.


"I wonder what terrible thing Minami-neechan did to me to unleash you

upon her and... whoever it was she ended up marrying."


"Uncle Seiji? He's okay, I guess." She shrugged.


"Hey, isn't it dangerous for me to know more about my future? Or my

sister's future?" Junpei paraphrased from the movie Back to the Future

with a twinkle in his eye.


"Quote that movie one more time and I'll stab you with a spoon."


"Boo! Out of all the movies _you_ could quote, it just had to be Kevin

Costner's Robin Hood? The one Robin Hood without an English accent?"


"Oh, come on! Professor Snape... I mean, Alan Rickman from Die Hard said

that quotable quote as the best Sheriff of Nottingham ever! Also, _that_

Robin Hood was one of the last VHS tapes we had that still worked! _And_

Aunt Reiko even has a DVD copy of it too!"


"Oh, so _DVD_ is the next big format. By the way, I'm guessing it's

Reiko-neechan that ends up an old maid, isn't she?" asked Junpei,

although he already knew the answer to that.


"Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Here you are crying about people being

mean to you, yet you're just as mean as they are," berated Pandora

before handing Junpei the potted plant he gave to Inoue as a present.


"This is...!"


"Protip: Don't give women potted plants to save on money on buying a

bouquet. _Ever_," she said.


"It's more expensive than a bouquet!" the freeter protested while his

daughter rolled her eyes.


"Whatever, Daddy. You can put this back at your apartment. You certainly

need plants there in that dump you call home."


"You mean the dump _we_ call home."


"I've already told you. There's no way I'm going to admit to that in

public."


"You're already entering your rebellious phase, huh?"


"CAN YOU BLAME ME? You left me stranded in the past to make your

disgusting freeter self get a date with Mom! I have every right to be

rebellious!"


"Uh-uh. My older self did so. Not me. Big difference."


"Same difference, old man!"


"Mmm. This chocolate tastes good for something so cheap. I wish it was

homemade, though."


"Keep eating. You're going to have heart problems in the future."


After choking on a piece of Kit-Kat, Junpei promptly broke the candy bar

in half. "Wanna share, then, Honey?"



===



The next day...


"Tokyo Denki University?" Junpei read the title of the brochure. "But I

already have a job. Why should I go to college?"


"You have a _low-paying_ job. In three years, you're going to be a

father soon, and I don't want my younger self subsisting on minimum

wage!"


The Elder Endo looked at the piece of paper as though it were a menu

from a restaurant. "Hmmm. Interesting. It's a private university and

there are actual courses in programming that I could attend." He then

threw the brochure away. "I'm not terribly interested, though."


"Why not? I just remembered that Daddy... your older self... got his

degree in Tokyo Denki University," said the Younger Endo.


"Maybe it's an honorary degree after the fact?"


Pandora grabbed hold of Junpei's puffy cheeks and looked at him eye-to-

eye. "Don't you get it? This may be the place where you could meet Mom!"


"For real? Then great. I'll get into cram school next school year or

something."


"The school year is about to begin two months from now."


"...Which means that I have no time to study for this year's entrance

exam."


"Yes, you do. You may have flunked out of Toudai, but you only missed a

couple of points, right? That's what Daddy always used to tell me

anyway."


"It was Toudai or bust for me. Tough luck, I ended up with bust. A ronin

with no schoolin'."


As Junpei turned his attention back to his freelance programming work,

Pandora pulled the plug.


"HEY! I'm working here! Rice for two people every month doesn't come

cheap, you know!"


"If you were to graduate, then you might get a worthwhile job. You know,

enough to support a _family_. Or create a time machine. Hint, hint,"

said the cross-armed time traveler.


"You know what would be nice? If you gave me some betting tips in the

future! That way, money won't be a problem at all!" said Junpei.


Pandora threw her hands up. "It's like you didn't even watch Back to the

Future Part II at all. Did you see it just for the inane quotes? Michael

J. Fox..."


"...Marty McFly," Junpei corrected.


"...Marty McFly almost screwed up his timeline because he used time

travel to gamble! This isn't even about money! It's about you turning

into the Daddy I know so that I'd be born! Is that such a hard concept

to grasp?"


"The only problem with Marty's plan was that Biff Tannen got a hold of

the Sports Almanac. There's no Biff Tannen here, only you and me. And so

far, you're the worst time traveler from the future I've ever seen!"


"I can't help it! There's no way any normal human being could memorize

future lottery numbers, I don't have a history book covering _the

future_ along with me, History was never my favorite subject, and

Wikipedia doesn't exist yet!" countered Pandora. "It's not like I have

a smartphone handy to look it up on Google or anything..."


"That's just it. You barely know anything that could affect 1997 at all,

and here you are..."


"ALL RIGHT!" she shouted. "I know a surefire bet back in 1997. I

remembered it just now. Do you know how to bet on boxing? There's a

famous fight about to take place this year. Around summer. I wasn't born

yet when this happened, but every time there's a documentary about Mike

Tyson, it was a featured story."


"If you're talking about Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson, you

got your dates all wrong. That already happened. Waaay back in 1990. In

Tokyo Dome. I was the same age as you are right now when I watched it

unfold with my dad."


"No, no, no. Mike Tyson has an upcoming fight against uh... Holyfield,

was it?" she clarified.


"Yeah, I guess, but they just had a fight last November, and Tyson lost,

so I'm pretty sure he's going to lose the second time they meet. Tyson's

chin hasn't been the same since that Douglas fight and after being sent

to prison for rape charges. That's the reason why he's ducking Lennox

Lewis and George Foreman. The only question about the Holyfield fight is

which round he'll lose."


"Third round, but that's not the point," Pandora said excitedly, which

was one of the rare times Junpei saw her so pumped up. "I'll tell you

the result of Tyson-Holyfield II later, but only if you study for the

upcoming Tokyo Denki University test right now. This is a _really_ good

bet that _no one_ would ever predict!"


Junpei waved his future daughter off. "There's no way it could be even

bigger than Tyson's upset loss against Buster Douglas," he insisted, but

he then asked, "What about Michael Jordan and the Bulls?"


"What about them?" asked Pandora.


"Come on, Dora-chan! Jordan just came back from retirement and he still

got _it_! The Chicago Bulls are going to make it and win the NBA finals,

aren't they?" asked Junpei.


"Oh. I don't know... I guess? The only things I know about basketball

are the Slam Dunk or Kuroko's Basketball comics. Sorry," she apologized

while sticking out her tongue all Jordan-like. "Now if you really want

to know my surefire boxing bet secret, then I want you to pass Tokyo

Denki University's entrance exam! I'll even enroll with you!"



===



A couple of months later, after the actual examinations, they got the

results for the tests. Junpei passed with the skin of his teeth... but a

deal was a deal, and he got the actual, accurate results in regards to

Holyfield-Tyson II. He thought at first that she was pulling his leg and

tricked him into passing a test for a joke result that never really

happened.


Nevertheless, around summer, when the odds were most favorable, Junpei

made a huge bet on a DQ win for Holyfield on the third round and a side

wager among his die-hard Tyson-fanatic sempai that Tyson would self-

destruct in the third round and bite Holyfield's ears off.


Oh, how they scoffed at him, claiming that Tyson wouldn't only bite

Holyfiend's ears, he'd also eat him alive.


He was quite nervous about the results regardless, because he'd look

like a gigantic clown if what he was claiming (and what his daughter was

predicting) to happen didn't happen.


Then, after June 28, 1997, he became millions of yen richer.


As he expected (he should've made a bet about it too), all his sempai

reneged on their deal, saying that he cheated with his wording on his

prediction (or something). As such, he unleashed the wrath of his

German-suplexing daughter on them to collect their debts.


The pair never had any problems with food, rent, and utilities for the

rest of 1997 (and all throughout 1998 at that), although they did

continue their jobs doing freelance and part-time work to build their

savings.


This was because he also heard from Pandora about something regarding

the upcoming collapse of the Japanese economy and the asset bubble

bursting, and he didn't want to take any chances. People were already

worried by Japan's economic slowdown during the Early Nineties.


Thanks to that Mike Tyson "Bite Fight" prediction, he was able to

confirm that Pandora was Nostradamus instead of P.T. Barnum.



===



April 22, 1997; Tuesday; a week before the Golden Week (April 29-May 5)

School Break...


"I still can't believe you were able to get into college when you're

still barely fifteen."


"I can't help it if Inoue-san was able to hook me up with a guy who made

convincing fake IDs. As far as you're concerned... Endo-_sempai_... I'm

already eighteen. You, on the other hand, wasted three years of your

life doing freelance outsourced coding instead of actually studying.

Don't waste your time again, _Daddy Dearest_," Pandora said.


As she promised, "Dora-chan"... now under the guise of "Hakono Pandora"

(a lazy pun which meant "Pandora's Box")... took the exam with Junpei

Endo, scoring much higher than him and passing with flying colors and

then some, to her father's eternal chagrin.


Something occurred to Junpei at that moment. "You know, I bet as soon as

I find your Mommy, your... um... Pandora's Box will return to pick you

up and send you back to the future."


"Are you sure about that?" asked Pandora. "How will my stupid, sadistic

old man know the date of when to pick me up, for example?"


"Of course, I'm sure! The date when your Mommy and I will meet will be a

date which I'll have etched into the synapses of my brain!" he assured.


"Don't you mean your neurons?" she asked.


"I don't know. What are synapses first?" he questioned in return.


She exhaled. "Study _hard_. Very hard. Hard enough to make sure you

invent a time machine by the time I'm fifteen or younger."


"Yeah. No pressure, huh?" the still-stout but somewhat slimmer than

before... he was down to 99 kilos (220 pounds), at least... Junpei said

before bumping hard against a woman who smelled of freshly plucked

roses. Even with his extra helpings of antiperspirant, he felt like he

stunk in comparison.


"Why don't you watch where you're going, you big, fat tub of...?"


"Oh. Sorry, I...!"


Their eyes met, which led Pandora to look to and fro the two star-

crossed individuals. Could this be it? Could this be the chance that

she'd been striving for months to achieve? Was her father staring

straight into the perfect, hazel eyes of her... mother?


Pandora furrowed her eyebrows. The eyes Junpei had for the woman he

bumped into was that of recognition... there was no doubt about that...

but not of an old friend. More like how a prey would react to its

predator. His were the eyes of someone who was afraid. Deathly afraid.


One word escaped the fat man's stuttering lips. "M-M-M-Mamiko-san."


Mamiko chuckled as she finally put two and two together. "You're E-E-E-

Endo-kun, aren't you?"


She laughed an aristocratic cackle that bordered on insanity.


"It's been a long time. Is that your girlfriend beside you? Or, more

likely, a relative or 'best friend' who put you in the Friend Zone? It's

been forever. It looks like you put on a little weight."


"He lost weight," corrected Pandora.


"And who might you be?" Mamiko asked.


"You haven't even introduced yourself."


"I asked first, and E-E-E-Endo-kun already called me by name."


"Right. Is it M-M-M-Mamiko-san?"


Mamiko gave a dismissive snort. "It's only funny when you do it to Endo-

kun."


"Actually, it's not funny at all."


"H-H-Her name is Hakono. Hakono Pandora," interjected Junpei.


"Hey! Da... I mean, Junpei-kun!"


As Mamiko smirked, Junpei gulped and produced enough courage to squeak

out, "And this is the girl with the third highest grade point average in

our high school, Ikezawa Mamiko."


It was Pandora's turn to giggle. "Hah! So you're only third best! Bronze

medalist! That's a laugh. And who's the person with the highest grade

point average in your school?"


With a toss of her hair and a roll of her eyes, Mamiko said, "Why don't

you ask Mister Tokyo University right there?" before leaving.


"Dad, what's she talking about?" Pandora asked Junpei, her hand already

slipping into her bag in case she needed to break out the tissues; the

freeter-turned-college-student looked like he was again on the verge of

crying.


"Ikezawa Kaori. She's the one with the highest grade point average in

our high school, and she's Mamiko's sister."


"Okay... So why are _you_ so misty eyed?" she further probed.


Junpei took a deep breath. "Kaori-san was the reason I took the Toudai

exam... and she was also the reason why I flunked out."



===



It took all of Golden Week for Pandora to complete her investigation

into her father's (one of many) failed love escapades.


The biggest surprise she got was the fact that Mamiko and Kaori Ikezawa

were _identical_ twins on top of being sisters. They were highly

intelligent, highly athletic, and highly popular among the boys.


As usual for most twins, Mamiko was the complete opposite of Kaori.

While Kaori was the gentle, sweet angel that somewhat reminded Pandora

of the saintly kanrinrin of the dormitory where she and her father

stayed at (Yukari, was it?), Mamiko was every bit as cynical and world-

weary as Pandora's fellow convenience store employee, Inoue the cashier.


It didn't take long for Pandora to piece the puzzle together. Her clues

so far were the facts that Mamiko and Kaori were twins, her father had

the second highest grade point average of their high school despite

ending up a college dropout for several years, and Kaori being the

reason why he failed his Toudai test in the first place.


Further (outside) snooping confirmed Pandora's suspicions. Kaori had a

sempai boyfriend in Tokyo U, which was why she was hell-bent in going

there. Even if her father had a crush on Kaori, why would he want to end

up in the same school as Kaori?


That was because Mamiko tricked him into thinking that she was Kaori so

that he'd be deluded enough to try to gun for the same university as

Kaori, only to find out later that the real Kaori was actually in love

with someone else and he ended up being played for a fool by the

intensely jealous third-placer known as Mamiko Ikezawa.


As book smart as Junpei was, his heart was made of glass and he knew

nothing about romance, love, or girls. _Of course_ Mamiko manipulated

him.


Feeling a bit like Conan Edogawa from Detective Conan (the anime for

that long-running show started around this time period, right?), Pandora

also speculated that for the longest time, Mamiko had a rivalry with

Kaori.


Although they were equal in the looks department, Mamiko's black heart

made her less appealing when compared to the pureness of Kaori.


Pandora theorized that Mamiko was always used to being second best when

it came to her sister despite being twins and school idols. She couldn't

stand it, so she strove hard to become better than Kaori, only for this

fat interloper to end up humiliating her by outranking her against her

own sister.


It was a petty reason, but it nevertheless established motive and

opportunity for Mamiko to act.


Pandora sighed. 'So much for meeting 'Mommy' at last. What am I supposed

to do now? Try and break up Kaori-san and her upperclassman boyfriend in

Tokyo University so she'd hook up with Daddy?'



===



Around summertime, Pandora found her opportunity to help her father...

get laid... for the sake of her existence... Goddamn, the mere thought

still made her spine tingle in revulsion.


Children shouldn't help their parents get laid, goddammit.


The Ikezawa Twins were having a summer party at their vacation house in

Okinawa... yes, they were quite rich... but it wasn't just any party.

It was a High School Class Reunion for the Graduates of Shinjuku

Yamabuki High School in 1993.


Her father already had his birthday back in June, and in lieu of a gift,

Pandora decided to go for broke and have him confess his love to the

_real_ Kaori instead of the fake, bitchy one about three to four years

ago (the best birthday gift of all for both him and for the time

traveler).


"It was a one-sided love after all," was what Pandora overheard a drunk

Kaori say in regards to her Toudai romance early in the party, which

could mean that her upperclassman boyfriend could be cheating on her.


Pandora was such a "ninja" now that she was even able to swipe the

picture of the man whom Kaori had ended up with. Tall guy. Quite

handsome. Looked like the complete opposite of her father, in fact. Good

thing he wasn't into Kaori. Supposedly.


All Pandora needed to do was compel her father to confess his love to

Kaori, and then voila! She'd exist! Hopefully. Probably. She wasn't even

sure if this was her mother in the first place. She could be assisting

the birth of a total stranger, for all she knew.


She sent letters to both Kaori's and her father's rooms to meet at a

special spot at the beach. It was already seven o'clock. She'd already

scared away the people who used to bully her father. This was her

opportunity to undo what Mamiko had done to ruin Junpei's blossoming

relationship with Kaori.


But wasn't his relationship with Kaori a lie? Something made out of

false pretenses?


It was too late to worry about that now. For a lie, it was enough for

him to never enter Tokyo U even though rumors were circulating among the

Shinjuku Yamabuki Class of '93 that he passed yet didn't go through with

entering Toudai out of heartbreak.


This was in direct contradiction to what Pandora heard her (older)

father say in the future (about him failing the Toudai entrance exam by

a couple of points), but she hoped the rumors were instead true.


'Please, please, please don't let my father fuck this up. I want to

live. I want to exist. For goodness' sake, show some spine for once,

Daddy!'


Of course, if he crashed and burned, Pandora could only cross her

fingers and hoped that Kaori wasn't actually her mother.


The twins, incidentally, had a visual shorthand to separate themselves

from each other. Mamiko wore a hairclip while Kaori didn't. That was it.

So imagine Pandora's surprise when she saw Mamiko hanging around,

holding hands, and kissing Kaori's boyfriend from behind her sister's

back.


"AHA! I caught you red-handed!"


"Ah, wait, you don't understand!"


She took a picture of them with her digital camera (which was weird,

because she could've sworn there'd be a camera in cell phones by 1996...

oh well).


That backstabbing bitch! On the other hand, this was perfect fodder to

help Junpei win over Kaori for good. 'So what Kaori-san said about her

love being one-sided was true after all! Her boyfriend is a two-timing

jerk!'


Things were truly falling into place this time around. If Pandora played

her cards right, she might even have an earlier birthday than expected!


Ew. Ew. Ew. She did not just think that.


Wait, was that how that worked? Wouldn't that just result in a different

set of sperm and egg to be fertilized? Ah, whatever. This was for the

sake of her own survival. All was fair in love, war, and... birth. Yeah.


"Um, Dora-chan, was it? It's me, Kaori!" the girl with the hairclip took

the clip off.


"E-Eh? W-Wait, you don't fool me! You're just pretending to be Kaori to

cover up the fact that you're actually Mamiko!"


"It was all Mamiko's idea for them to switch!" the Toudai boyfriend

insisted. "She dared Kaori, saying that I won't be able to tell which is

which. At first, I couldn't, but..."


Kaori pecked her boyfriend on the cheek. "But when Mamiko went all shy

as soon as he started becoming... intimate, that's when he knew that she

was Mamiko instead of me. Then he came searching for me."


Pandora herself blushed. "You've become intimate, huh? So much for you

saying that it was a one-sided romance."


The Tokyo U upperclassman asked the fake Mamiko (i.e., Kaori), "What's

she talking about, Honey?"


Kaori turned away, giggled, and stomped her foot hard on Pandora's foot.

"I honestly don't know. Maybe she misheard."



===



In the designated meeting place underneath the nearby port...


"Kaori... Kaori-san."


"Hello, Endo-kun. Good evening," greeted a Kaori-disguised Mamiko, who

gave up her favorite hairclip to run interference with this big, fat

scoundrel who took away her second-place spot beside her sickeningly

perfect sister.


Was he there to plead his case? To beg for forgiveness? To show off more

of his pathetic self after he ended up a ronin for three years while

most of his former classmates were already on the verge of graduating

from their courses? She couldn't wait to taste more of his tears.


"I've been following you around ever since you helped improve my grades

in Literature Class, which is my weakest subject. You were the best

class rep we've ever had too. I've always been quite grateful to you."


Mamiko smiled wanly and nodded. He'd been following Kaori around like a

puppy for most of second year high school, completely entranced by her

charm, unwariness, and innocence.


"But it was around third year that I was able to confess my love for you

and promise you that we'd go to Toudai together," said the fatso, which

made Mamiko snort in derision.


It was around that time that she started impersonating her sister in

order to check out what was the deal with the tub of lard. Imagine his

audacity to actually ask her sister out. Kaori might be naive, but she

wasn't desperate.


She supposed she could've let him confess to her twin and be rejected

outright. She knew how enamored Kaori was with that upperclassman of

theirs that also wanted to go to Toudai. That was why Mamiko made him

promise to gun for the same school as she, "Kaori", had set her eyes

on.


The ending for both scenarios would be tragic. While he truly was the

guy with the second highest grade point average in their year, Kaori was

on a whole other level. It wasn't a sure thing for him to pass Toudai.


However, even if he did pass, he'd only end up finding out that the man

Kaori truly loved was not him, but some other guy who was actually

worthy of her beauty, intellect, and charm. Delicious irony.


Mamiko nodded to herself. That was what he got for kicking her off her

rightful place beside Kaori.


"But I wasn't able to keep that promise to you," Mamiko heard the

hambeast say, his hands shaking all around. This was rich. It was so

hilarious the first time he found out that Kaori was in love with

another man, but the double whammy of him also learning that it was

she, Mamiko, who set him up for the fall was too much for words to

convey.


He'd probably piss his pants if he found out who he was talking to. "Why

can't you keep that promise? Was it something I said? Did you

misunderstand my words to you?" To herself, Mamiko said, 'Did you

honestly think that either of us would ever date a loser like you, you

gigantic beached whale?'


It was then that Mamiko got the shock of her life when Junpei told her,

"It's because I fell in love with your sister, Mamiko-san."


'What?' Mamiko thought as she struggled to compose herself. "W-What do

you mean, Junpei-kun? You fell for my sister? But I thought..."


"I had a crush on you back in second year. There's no denying that. But

the person who really pushed me out of my shell and made me dare fall in

love was Mamiko-san. She made me confess feelings I would've kept

bottled inside forever. She helped me through my tests for Toudai. I

thought I was falling in love with you, but all that time, it was

actually Mamiko-san whom I fell for."


"Well, you're an idiot! Because everything I did back then was a lie!

Getting you to Toudai was all a ruse! A big practical joke! What do you

say to that, tubby?" blurted out Mamiko before she covered her mouth.


Junpei narrowed his eyes as though he were having trouble seeing Mamiko

even though his glasses. "Mamiko-san? Is that you?"


"Are you suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or something? You've really

fallen in love with me even though I never really felt anything for you

in the least, you big fat sack of shit?" rebuked Mamiko, but for some

reason it didn't even faze Endo. It irked her a little bit. "Well?

Answer me!"


Junpei answered in the form of a blush.


Mamiko cackled. "What the hell are you blushing for? What are you, a

fifteen-year-old schoolgirl?"


"I know you still hate me, and maybe I won't be able to change that. But

I feel what I feel. I guess the cat's out of the back. Mamiko-san, I

like you a lot." The fat freeter ended up running away before Mamiko

could get a word in edgewise.


From behind a rock, the hidden Pandora slapped her forehead and wiped

her hand across her face after hearing her father's conversation with...

her mother. Maybe.


'Why didn't you fall in love with the _nice_ twin sister, Daddy? Why'd

you have to pick the bitch as my Mommy? Kaori-san was even

_disappointed_ that her love for you... I _hope_ it was you... was one-

sided! Are you kidding me? So much for getting my 'birthday' a year

earlier!'



===



Aside from the Tyson match and the recession (which the news outlets

were able to "forecast" before she did because the asset bubble burst

was already underway by the time she realized, "Oh yeah, there was a

recession back then too!"), none of Pandora's (sparse) knowledge of the

past was of use to Junpei.


He had to wait at least three to two more years... on the new

millennium, no less... for any of her other "predictions" to start

happening.


She did assure that the whole Y2K thing was definitely a bust. He asked

about the Mayan prediction too, and she just stared at him. "Yeah, the

zombies were a problem, but we future people are tough," was what she

said, which he interpreted as sarcasm.


Hell, the news about the seizures in Japanese children after watching an

episode of Pokemon... Denno Senshi Porygon, to be exact... the day after

it happened on December 17, 1997 (a Wednesday), all Pandora could do was

strike her open palm in amazement then say to her father excitedly, "So

_that's_ when the Pokemon seizure episode happened! I've been hearing

stories about it since I was a little kid!"


His response was, of course, "There's Pokemon in 2015? Are you kidding

me?"


She told him with a straight face, "Two apocalypses weren't enough to

kill that franchise."


"And what about Gundam? Is there still Gundam in the future?"


"Don't ask stupid questions, Daddy."



===



Christmas 1997 came and went, and so did the New Year. As expected,

every pound he lost thanks to healthy eating and constant nagging from

Pandora was quickly gained back with interest after the holidays were

over.


One thing Pandora enjoyed particularly was Junpei coming home from his

residence in Akihabara to his parents' home in Shibuya... Pandora's

grandparents, to be exact.


"You lost weight!" was what Junpei's mother said as soon as she saw her

son, as though she had to do _something_ about that. For good or for

ill, she truly did fix that "dilemma" in a hurry with her home cooking.


Even Pandora felt flab start to form around her belly from all the food

that was served in the Endo household. With that said, her grandparents

and aunties were just the way she remembered them.


Grandma Endo was the no-nonsense, domineering housewife that was growing

more and more typical in the Japanese household, the Yamato Nadeshiko

ideal notwithstanding.


Grandpa Endo was the kind, sweet, calm, and collected grandfather who

didn't talk much aside from boxing (and Junpei talked his ear off

regarding Mike Tyson biting Holyfield's ear off), which he enjoyed in

his youth like many of the post-war generation.


They talked about how many pundits claimed that the Holyfield-Tyson II

debacle could spell the end of the mainstream appeal of boxing for the

foreseeable future. Many people were calling it the biggest travesty in

boxing since Sugar Ray Leonard was gifted the decision by the judges in

his first and only match against Marvin Hagler.


Aunt Reiko and Aunt Minami were like the Ikezawa Twins, with Aunt Reiko

representing the tempestuous Mamiko, and Aunt Minami representing the

even-tempered Kaori. They were both thinner than Pandora remembered

them, especially her "old-maid" Aunt Reiko, who was many dress sizes

smaller than her future counterpart.


Minami was working at a bank (and she hadn't met Uncle Seiji yet) while

Reiko was working at her first job of many (and she even brought one of

many future ex-boyfriends to spend Christmas with the Endo Family).


It was the perfect family reunion. Almost.


To the freeter's chagrin, though, this was how Pandora introduced

herself to her future family.


"Hello! Merry Christmas!" she began with a smirk that made Junpei

uncomfortable, but he didn't quite know why at the time.


"Oh, hello there, Grandma! Aunties!" She bowed while the fat part-time

programmer and former dropout felt the withering stares of the Endo

Family's women bore unto him. He kicked his daughter on the shin, but

she kicked back.


"Junpei, who is this girl? Is she the widowed manager of your dorm that

you've been talking about?" asked Reiko before Minami corrected, "No,

she's much too young to be Yukari-san! She also has the wrong hair

color!"


"Yes. Too young. How old is this girl, Junpei? Is she in high school?"

asked Momma (or Grandma) Endo with a scowl as she examined the girl like

she would a piece of meat at the grocery.


"S-S-She's older than she looks! S-S-She's a classmate I have in c-c-

college!" reassured Junpei while Minami cheered, "We're so happy that

you decided to go back to college, Junpei!"


"Hmmm," said Momma/Grandma Endo as she invaded the "college" girl's

personal space. "So who are you exactly and what do you have to do with

my son?" She could've added, "You little strumpet harlot," along with

her question. She didn't, but the implications were there.


'No. No, you wouldn't,' thought Junpei as he saw that familiar gleam in

his daughter's mischievous eyes. Unfortunately for him, she did.


Grabbing hold of one of her father's meat-slab arm tightly under her

not-so-underdeveloped bosom, she squeezed her face against his shoulder

and said, "It's nice to meet you all. I'm Hokono Pandora. I'm Endo-kun's

girlfriend."


The slack-jawed looks on everyone's faces... even the stoic Grandpa Endo

reacted to that announcement... was worth the karate chop to the head

that Pandora received from her rarely irate father as he tried to use

some other lie to hide her identity from their family.


Aside from that little event that shaved years off of Junpei's life,

Christmas 1997 was a rather pleasant experience.



===



On New Year's Eve 1997, Junpei and Pandora decided to spend their first

"anniversary" together after meeting each other last year in New Year's

Eve 1996. They invited the manager of the dorm, Yukari Shimamoto, to come

join them, but she insisted that she didn't want to be a bother.


It would seem like the events of last year was still fresh in the poor

widow's mind.


Then, it was soon 1998, and the King of Fighters '98 was the main thing

that Junpei was preoccupied with after the disappointment that was the

KOF'97... mostly because video games were at least within his reach,

while getting a girlfriend and ensuring the existence of his daughter

was far, _far_ beyond his abilities at the moment.


What possessed him to name the girl Pandora anyway? It was like naming

her Medusa or naming a boy Sisyphus or Icarus; he was practically

setting his children up for disaster or problems.


Pandora opened her gift belatedly, but her surprise was the same as

though she'd opened it up on Christmas Day. It was a hope diamond

(imitation) necklace, and the irony (Was that even the right term?) was

not lost to her. Ever since her class had that subject covering Greek

Mythology, none of her classmates made her forget who Pandora was.


"Happy Birthday, Sweetie. And Happy New Year too."


"Daddy, it's beautiful. I never get many presents in New Year growing

up because my birthday is celebrated alongside New Years."


"Well, naturally. It's for my precious little angel."


"Thank you, Daddy. You're the best. Can you help me put it on?"


He grabbed her by the forehead and kissed her scalp. "I won't let you

die... You know that, right?"


"I won't die, I'll just cease to exist," she corrected before adding,

"I'm sure you'll pick the right Mommy, or else I won't even be here."


Then it happened. In the middle of January 1, 1998... their one-year

anniversary together... Pandora started to fade and squirm in agony,

just like in the Back to the Future movies.


The timeline was correcting itself. It was "catching up" to her, moving

in a nonlinear path and actually going with the flow of her own time

travel.


"Daddy. Daddy, help me!"


"I won't let you go! I won't let you disappear! I swear I'll find a way

to make sure you exist, okay? Daddy is here for you, Sweetheart!"


She ultimately rematerialized, but Junpei had the scare of his life.



===



Junpei began going to the gym. Every time he looked at the mirror,

running on the treadmill while people snickered all around him, he hated

himself a little more. But then the image of the transparent,

disappearing Pandora replayed itself in his head, so he soldiered on.


A little embarrassment never hurt anybody. Besides, his more athletic

daughter was also there with him for encouragement as well as to keep in

shape (she had to burn all the calories she gained last Christmas 1997

somehow).


It was tough juggling his freelance career, his college courses, his

bills, his rent, his food budget, his book budget, and so forth

together. However, for Pandora's sake, he'd move heaven and earth.


He had so much on his plate (no fat joke pun intended) that he had

little over four hours of sleep a day. But it was okay, because it was

all for her.


The tough part, of course, was attempting to woo Mamiko, because just as

she'd said, she had zero interest in him romantically. On Valentine's

Day, she threw his chocolate into the trash while announcing it to

everyone who cared to hear.


"What are you, a girl? Giving chocolates to the person you love? Maybe

you should find some chubby chaser gay man and see if he'll return your

affections, you big, fat loser!"


Back at home, Pandora had to comfort her father with expensive Ferrero

Rocher chocolate... because she still couldn't bake or cook anything to

save her life... as he cried his eyes out over Mamiko's humiliating

words.


Then, on White Day, March 14, it was _still_ Junpei who offered

chocolates... white ones, at that... to Mamiko even though she didn't

exactly offer any chocolates to him back on Valentine's Day.


"You should ask the trashcan for some White Day compensation for your

Valentine's Day chocolates. It was the one who 'ate' your gifts, not

me," said Mamiko.


Naturally, at Mamiko's behest, there were specifically no invitations to

be handed out to Junpei Endo and his... friend, Pandora Hokono, to the

Ikezawa Summer Villa in Hokkaido during summer vacation.


Even Kaori, who didn't want to interfere with the whole feud, wrote an

apology letter to Junpei and Pandora on behalf of her vengeful sister

Mamiko.


The most momentous thing to happen to the father and his future daughter

was watching the news regarding the launching of a Japanese probe to

Mars as the nation finally joined the space race in July 5, 1998. Aside

from, obviously, Junpei's birthday in June.


He was twenty-three now. Still a virgin, but with a daughter already.


Junpei didn't stop trying. If he didn't hurry up and get it going with

Mamiko, Pandora would suffer. However, he had a hard time becoming the

Ikezawa Twin's friend, much less her lover or boyfriend.


No matter how many letters, flowers, chocolates, and whatnot Junpei gave

Mamiko, none of them worked. And why should they? If someone wasn't

attracted to another, no force on heaven and earth would make them fall

for each other.


"You can't force your feelings on her, Daddy. You just can't," said...

almost pleaded...  Pandora as summer break came and went, while autumn

rolled around. "If you continue doing this, she'll have a restraining

order slapped onto you in no time flat, and what then?"


The now 90-kilo (200-pound) man... slimmer than before, but still flabby

and with a pot belly... answered his daughter, "We'll cross that bridge

when we get there. I've actually been holding back. I don't want her to

think that I'm some sort of stalker or anything."


"People around campus are already calling you that, Dad!" said a teary

Pandora. "I don't want them to say bad things about you. Stop. It's

enough. It's okay if I don't get born..."


"No. That's not option." Junpei stumbled, tripping over a pebble, but he

was able to keep himself on his feet. He then rifled through his pants'

pockets and found the empty wrapper of an energy bar as his stomach

growled.


"Are you hungry? We could eat some fast food nearby..."


"Nah, I want to eat your home-cooking instead," Junpei joked, and he

barely dodged the enzuiguri to the head that his daughter gave him.


"Eating fast food is expensive and those winnings we made from the Tyson

fight won't last forever. The recession is underway. I even heard back

home that your grandparents' next-door neighbors are moving back to

Hiroshima because the man of the house lost his job."


Pandora pouted and puffed up her cheeks like a petulant squirrel while

putting her hands inside her pockets. "I guess, sure. But you're

spreading yourself too thin, Daddy. I'm worried about you. What if

Ikezawa Mamiko isn't Mommy? What if you're going on a wild goose chase

for nothing?"


"N-No. I know she's the one," she heard Junpei stutter from behind her.

"There's no girl other than her that I love more... except you, of

course. She was the one who gave me hope that somehow, somewhere, even a

fat freak like myself could be loved. Even if it was all a lie, I

treasured those moments."


She heard her father gasping and wheezing, so she slowed the pace of her

brisk walk for him.


He continued. "W-W-When I realized it was her who helped me through the

Toudai tests and made it a f-f-fun experience... that it was her whom I

dated all that time... I c-couldn't get a-angry at her anymore. What I'd

felt for Kaori-san couldn't compare to what I felt for her. She has to

be your m-m-mother."


Pandora clenched her fists. "But what if you're wrong? She herself

outright told you that she lied to you. What if all you had was false

hope?"


"I-I-It was hope nonetheless, P-P-Pandora. The s-s-same hope your n-n-

namesake was able to keep inside that b-b-box s-she opened. I'm s-s-sure

e-everything will sort t-t-themselves out. Soon we'll be c-c-celebrating

your real birthday," reassured Junpei, his stuttering worse than ever.


"Hope, huh?" as she said those words, she gripped her imitation hope

diamond necklace tightly. "I just don't want to see you get hurt

anymore... DADDY! Daddy, what's wrong?"


From behind Pandora, a mere few meters away from their Akihabara

apartment, Junpei's massive form collapsed in the shower of colorful

autumn leaves, his hand clutching his chest.


"Please! Anyone! Help! HELP!" begged Pandora as she struggled to move

the hefty body of her father in panic. Meanwhile, from the distance,

Dorm Manager Yukari Shimamoto spotted the two and promptly called the

Japanese emergency hotline 119.



===



"Where's 'E-E-E-Endo-kun'?" Mamiko asked her posse of girl friends one

day. Sure enough, the annoying tub of lard was nowhere to be found in

the Tokyo Denki University campus.


"Oh, you mean your stalker? Karma hit him hard. Maybe he'll learn his

lesson and stop freaking us out with his unwanted attention."


The "Evil" Ikezawa Twin narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"


One of Mamiko's friends then blabbed the rumor that had been hitting

the university since that morning.



===



The last thing Junpei remembered in the fringes of his consciousness was

a crying Pandora asking him, "Don't die, Daddy! If you die now, then I

won't be born either, and everything you've been doing for me would be

wasted, you stupid old man!"


She had a point. Maybe he had been spreading himself too thin. But could

anyone blame him? He saw his daughter from the future start to fade out

of existence altogether like Marty McFly or old Biff Tannen from Back to

the Future (Yes, he saw the deleted scene of 2015 Biff Tannen fading

into oblivion from Back to the Future Part II).


There was no way he was going to let that happen. In the past, he

would've been discouraged from pursuing Mamiko any further by the first

rejection. Now he was tightrope-walking the fine line between chasing

and stalking. Maybe he already crossed that line, at that.


He didn't care. There was no better motivator than seeing his precious,

lovely, and sexy young Pandora getting erased into nothingness to spur

even a lazy fat fuck like him into action. Come to think of it, "Dora-

chan" had the same tempestuous eyes as her mother-to-be, Mamiko.


At any rate, she was right. If he died now, then both of them would

cease to exist, and that was the last thing he wanted to happen. He was

not going to erase his Pandora's future. He'd die first. 'Oh wait...'


He woke up and saw the silhouette of a woman in his room with piercing

eyes. He'd been waking up several times already while seeing different

things. First, the sidewalk, then the hospital room, then his apartment.

Every time, there was one thing constantly there... the form of his

ever-loyal daughter looking after him.


Just a year ago, the mere idea of any girl aside from the women from his

family staying over his home would be preposterous. Oh wait, Pandora

_was_ part of his family. Never mind.


"P-Pandora. Daddy's sorry."


"Eeeeh. 'Daddy', huh? That's a rather kinky relationship you have with

Hokono-san, isn't it?"


That voice. He woke up with a start, and as soon as his eyes cleared, he

was greeted with the lovely visage of Mamiko Ikezawa sitting in his

room.


"Ah. I must still be dreaming."


Junpei promptly went back to sleep, only for Mamiko to punch his gut and

wake him up again.


"Did that _feel_ like a dream to you?"


"M-M-M-Mamiko-san! W-W-W-What...?"


"Shush, 'E-E-E-Endo-kun'. I came over to visit because I heard you had a

heart attack," she said while averting her gaze away from him. She

chewed on her manicured fingernail as the silence loomed over them like

a heavy curtain on their shoulders.


"H-H-How'd you get in?"


"I told your manager that you know me from college."


"O-Oh. I'm sorry for bothering you all that time, M-Mamiko-san."


"Are you going to stop now? Have you learned your lesson?" she asked.


With nary a stutter, he said, "No. Not unless you tell me to, but please

reconsider."


Mamiko harrumphed and chuckled. "Why would I want to date a fat loser

like you? I kept asking that question, yet you never could give me a

straight answer."


"B-Because there's more to me than being a fat loser," was what Junpei

came up with.


"Oh really? You can stutter too, you hambeast?" she retorted.


"Give me the chance, and I could make you a happy woman," Endo insisted.


"Why are you trying so hard to woo me?" she demanded in agitation.

"Don't you hate me for tricking you to going to Toudai? For giving you

false hope with my sister? For making you flunk out? For bullying you

all this time?"


"Do you want me to leave you alone?" he asked.


"Y-Yes, of course!" It was her turn to stutter.


"Then what are you doing here? How long have I not been at school,

anyway?" he countered. "If you wanted me to leave you alone, then you

shouldn't have come here."


"T-That doesn't count as leaving me alone, you fat freak! I want you to

decide to leave me alone. You had a heart attack. You were forced to

leave me alone because you were sick. You're still going to do the same

thing as soon as you recover."


Junpei inched closer around the threshold of Mamiko's personal space,

his heart beating fast. He might have another heart attack then and

there. "Yes, I will, unless you don't want me too. If you're going to

leave the decision to me, then I won't stop."


"Just give up already, okay? I don't like you at all! You're fat,

smelly, and you're a pervert! No girl would ever date you!" she shouted

as she inched back but moved no further.


"Yet you still dated me, remember?"


"That was part of a prank, you moron!"


"Those were some of the happiest days of my life. I wish I'd known it

was you whom I dated instead of Kaori-san sooner." Junpei winced and

grabbed hold of his chest. His heart was beating too fast.


In panic, Mamiko grabbed the fat man's shoulders and pushed him back

down. "Stop! Enough! The only person you're hurting here is yourself!

Why would you be happy about lies? Are you really going to try and kill

yourself for me? Are you really going to blackmail me into dating you

by threatening suicide?"


"...No. I'm sorry. I never meant it that way," said Junpei as his heart

sunk, Mamiko's rosewater perfume assaulting his senses. "I don't want

to blackmail you into anything. If this is how you really feel, then

I'll give up. Don't worry, I won't die for you or anyone else. I can't

die, because I have someone important I want to..."


Just then, Junpei had his first romantic kiss in all his twenty-three

years on this earth.


He almost could've sworn it was going to be Pandora who was going to be

his first kiss, even if it was by accident. And non-romantic.


Wait. A kiss? From Mamiko? He sniffed. Yep, it was Mamiko, all right.

The intoxicating perfume was unmistakable.


"D-D-DADDY?" screamed someone with a familiar voice.


As soon as it happened, it was over. Junpei licked his lips, tasting

the traces of Mamiko's lipstick smeared on its surface.


Pandora dropped the groceries she bought for her sick father as she

slumped towards the wall for support, her knees buckling. Then her

eyebrows rammed together like stags vying for mating privileges for a

doe. "YOU! What are you doing here? How'd you get inside here?"


Mamiko pursed her lips, dabbed her handkerchief on them, stood up,

straightened her skirt, and dusted herself off. "Your manager gave me

the keys. I heard your 'daddy' was sick. Anyway, I was just leaving..."


"NO, YOU'RE NOT!" Mamiko reeled (and Junpei winced) at the slap that

Pandora gave to her. "Do you know why this happened? Do you know why he

had a heart attack? It's because of you! It's all your fault!"


Indignant, Mamiko slapped Pandora back, but the younger girl blocked it

by swatting the hand away to the side. However, without missing a beat,

the Ikezawa Twin answered back, "_My_ fault? Look, I didn't force your

'daddy' at gunpoint to abandon all common sense just to chase after me!"


"Then tell him to give up! Tell him to stop bothering you!"


"What do you think I've been doing all this time? Is it not enough that

I threw his chocolates to the trash? Just now, I told him to leave me

alone! But does he listen? NO! The problem is with your crazy, psychotic

'daddy', you sick nymphet with an Elektra Complex!"


"ELEKTRA COMPLEX?" Pandora resisted the urge to tear the bitch's long,

flowing hair out. Meanwhile, at the background, Junpei was left an

incoherent, stuttering mess. "Wait, wait. You're the one who's giving

him mixed messages here by KISSING HIM JUST NOW!"


Mamiko looked away. "He kissed me."


"For a whole minute while you had your hands all over him? A likely

story!"


"I was indulging him because he had a heart attack," Mamiko said without

meeting Pandora's gaze. "And what's your problem? Are you jealous?"


"Jealous? JEALOUS? I-I-I get to kiss him all the time!" Pandora

obviously lied.


"You're obviously lying," Mamiko pointed out the obvious.


"U-Uh, P-Pandora...?" were the first coherent words that Junpei managed

to stutter since this whole argument began as his daughter moved her

face towards his.


Well, Junpei was half-right. Or perhaps all wrong. His daughter ended up

being his second romantic kiss, and it was by no means an accident.


It was around this time that the kanrinrin arrived and thankfully led

Mamiko out, insisting that Junpei needed his rest, while a red-faced

Pandora announced to her father that she was sleeping at Inoue's

apartment tonight and for the foreseeable future.


Manager Yukari joked at Junpei, "I don't suppose you want me to kiss you

too, huh?"


The fat man hid his face underneath his covers. "So you heard all that,

huh?"


To his surprise, the widow leaned over him, brushed his hair back, and

kissed his forehead.


"Y-Y-Y-Yukari-san?"


As he looked at her, his eyes just about to pop out, she winked, said,

"I don't want to feel left out," and stuck her tongue out.



===



Somewhere around the Taito Ward, Pandora "Hokono" Endo had a lot to

think about...


As she drifted to sleep on the spare futon of her snoring coworker's

apartment (that smelled of cigarettes and was an even worse pigsty than

Junpei's apartment back in New Year's Eve 1996), Pandora squirmed over a

horrifying revelation.


She just frenched her own father. That just happened. What the hell was

she thinking? Meanwhile, the college idol of the Tokyo Denki University,

Mamiko Ikezawa, had somehow ended up falling in love with Junpei as

well.


Personally, the latter was an even bigger shock to her than her first

kiss. She wasn't afraid to admit that she might even have a bit of an

Elektra Complex.


Just a little bit. Not anything over the line.


She thought a romance between Mamiko and Junpei was a long shot... so

much so that she actually believed her fat failure of a freeter father

would have a better chance at _stealing away_ Kaori Ikezawa from her

tall, underwear-model-like upperclassman boyfriend who was smart enough

to get into Tokyo U.


The term for Mamiko's behavior didn't exist yet (or at least wasn't

prominent enough to be of note) in 1998 Japan, but that was undoubtedly

her being "tsundere".


It was classic tsundere. It was a Ranma and Akane romance, as her own

father would point out. An initially hostile and antagonistic (tsun-

tsun) character would over time gradually become more and more lovey-

dovey and affectionate (dere-dere). That was Mamiko in a nutshell.


But this was good news, wasn't it?  Why was she so angry about it

anyway? Wasn't she supposed to be happy? The unlikeliest of miracles had

occurred. Sure, Mamiko was hardly the perfect mother figure, and in

hindsight, Pandora just slapped the taste out of the mouth of her own

mother, but...


Wait. They weren't even sure that Mamiko was Pandora's mother at all.

Furthermore, she had every right to slap that... mother of hers. Mamiko

once drove Junpei to become a ronin, then she manipulated him again to

ruination by making him suffer his first heart attack. Didn't that bitch

feel any remorse for her actions? Playing with people's feelings like

that?


But what if Mamiko was her mother? Also, wasn't her mother supposed to

die of childbirth after giving birth to her? Now Pandora felt

conflicted. On one hand, she _really_ hated that bitch for almost

killing her father due to overwork while cleaning her hands of the whole

affair by claiming it was all his fault and she had nothing to do with

his decisions. 'Bullshit.'


But Pandora wouldn't even wish on her worst enemies a fate as bad as

death by childbirth. Did this even occur to her father as he went about

wooing Mamiko and Inoue? Probably not.


Junpei was too concerned over the fact that Pandora was slowly fading

away as the timeline corrected itself in a nonlinear manner.


'So it's either I live, and she dies, or she lives, and I won't even

exist,' Pandora thought, a cold chill running through her spine. What

was she supposed to do? She didn't want anyone to die for the sake of

her existence. She didn't want to make that choice.


Did she even have that choice, though? Could it be changed? Could

something be done to save Mamiko? Was Mamiko even going to date, much

less have... sex (Pandora cringed) with her father (Pandora cringed

even harder)?


What was she supposed to do? This was too much for a fifteen-year-old...

no, wait, _sixteen-year-old_... girl to take. Maybe even seventeen-year-

old girl, if she were to calculate her age by her "birthdays".


Why did it all have to end up like this? All she wanted to do was to

finally meet her father after seven years of separation. Why was life

so unfair? Why was her older father... he might as well be a separate

person from Junpei altogether... a big enough asshole to leave her

stranded in the Nineties? Why? Just... why?



===



The next few weeks prior to December 1998, Christmas, and Winter Break,

a fully recovered Junpei Endo vowed to his daughter that he'd take

things easy because, "If I die, you'll die too. I won't let either

happen before you're born."


Also, it looked like Pandora "Hokono's" worries in regards to her

"Mother" was for naught. As soon as Junpei greeted Mamiko in order to

thank her for her autumn visit at his apartment, she looked him straight

in the eye, said, "I have no idea what you're talking about," and turned

away without missing a stride.


"What's going on, Dora-chan?" a trembling Junpei asked Pandora. "Daddy

didn't just dream what happened back at the dorm, did he?"


Pandora looked at herself from behind and the front. Nope, she hadn't

disappeared yet. "Looks like that bitch isn't my mother after all,

Junpei-kun."



===



Next:  Time loop stabilization and an unforgivable sin.


Adieu,

Abdiel
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