There are so many things that

conjure up emotion...

The softness of dirt in Spring

Clouds in the summer sky...

The smell of the Autumn wind...

The sound of raindrops on a silk umbrella...

The chill in the air on the way home

from school...

The scent of the chalkboard eraser...

The sound of a distant truck driving away

in the night...

Or the safe and comforting feel of a

convenience store late at night...

I just wanted to share all those feelings with you...

For the rest of my life.

Mikako's POV:

My 'world'

Not so long ago I took it for granted that 'In my world' I could get in contact with anyone easily. But now,
as I travel further and further away from you I takes longer and longer for my messages to reach you.

"It's going to take a long time. The officers messages have priority. Although I'm just sending personal
emails."
My world is starting to fade away. And some days... I don't even know where I am.

Meanwhile,

Earth 2046 A.D.

Noboru's POV:

He is just sitting, looking up in the sky with hope before he goes to school.

*New message received* phone rings

It's Mikako's message. It reads-

"Hey Noboru, how are you? It's winter there now, right? I hope you are keeping warm! Are you still
studying for your entrance exams? How is that going? Of course, I know you are going to do well. You
were always so studious. I'm on Mars now... We got here yesterday. I got to fly over Mt. Olympus, The
mariner valley and the Tarsian ruins. They are much bigger than I ever imagined. What they taught in
school... wasn't even close. So I guess it's true... we really aren't alone in this solar system. I started
training for real tomorrow. Wish me luck. And good luck to you too Noboru."

“Hmm... She saw all these places with her own eyes... Incredible. Until just recently, Mikako Nagamine
was my classmate. And my good friend.” Noboru said to himself. Lonely, but trying to be happy for her.

He reached school.

“I see we have some time left today. Well then, let me fill you in on a little history.” The teacher
exclaimed, as he was trying to get attention. “Ever since 2039, when the first manned mission to mars
discovered the existence of extraterrestrial beings, the entire world as joined forces to tackle the
problem. It started when the mission discovered alien ruins in the Tarsis Plateau on mars. They
immediately began a study. And thanks to what we’ve found, mankind has already made incredible
leaps in technology – Faster-Than-Light travel, for example—and so the investigation continues.
Unfortunately, the first team were all killed by the aliens we now call ‘Tarsians’. But the mission
continues, for the benefit of mankind. In fact, someone from this class—”

All this while Noboru is thinking while the teacher goes on, “We were in this same class, but now we
aren’t on the same planet.”

Noboru left the class. He was heading towards the locker when one guy from his class called for him.

Hey, Noboru!!
Noboru looked back. He waited for his classmate so that they can talk.

“Is your student-teacher conference today?” he asked

Noboru replied, “Yeah, I’m 4th.”

“No way!! That’s terrible. Terrible cause I’m 5th! I can’t believe I have to go after a brain like you… he’s
gonna give me so much grief. I did so bad on midterms. And I know I’m gonna just blow all the entrance
exams. Exams sucks. I wish I could trade places with Mikako!”he goes on.

“What? What’s a tracer?” a second classmate joins in while Noboru is standing quietly, lost his own
thoughts.

“Those are the vehicles they use on the Tarsian missions. They are like Giant robots…So cool. How come
Mikako got to go? I bet I’d e way better than her at stuff like that.”

“No way, you’d suck at it!”

“ Well even so, I’d much rather be fighting in a war against aliens than stuck here taking these useless
exams! I wish I was her. Seriously…”

They both goes on talking while Noboru is lost in thoughts, “I heard that the U.N. space force has some
computer program that just selects people for each mission at random. Maybe Mikako is lucky.
Schools… Jobs… Life can be so boring. And maybe the truth is… I agree with him, agree that she should
be here.”

He is riding home on his bicycle, still couldn’t get those thoughts out of his mind, “Then again, Mikako’s
really smart and she’s good at sports. Maybe it wasn’t so random. But still, she’s just 15 years old! That’s
just wrong.”

He gazed up in the sky, watching a spaceship flying, “A spaceship? It’s smaller than the Lysithea, maybe
it’s a new one.” Suddenly he remembered a memory, a memory of her.

Look Noboru! A spaceship!

“See? That’s the U.N. space force’s new flagship, the Lysithea.” It was her, Mikako.

“ It’s huge! It’s for the 3rd Tarsian mission, right? I wonder if they’ve picked the crew yet. I wonder who
will end up on it… maybe someone from this town, even…”Noboru said while taking out his cycle out of
the parking stand. He didn’t get a reply. “Hey, let’s go to the store!”

They started heading to the store they usually used to go. They were on foot as Mikako don’t have a
cycle. They went to the store and took what they usually have. As they left the store, after a while it
started raining. They both ran to the shed, it was like there little hideout. They drained their clothes and
waited under the shed until the rain stops. They drew pictures of what those Tarsians might look like.
Noboru’s one was vey childish which made Mikako laugh and ended up teasing Noboru. After a while
the rain stopped. They hopped on the cycle.

“Look, a Tracer!”

“Yeah”

“Noboru, guess what?” she whispered in his ears.

“I… I’m… I’m going to fly one of those.”

He snapped out his memory. He went to the conference.

“So Jyohoku High School is still your first choice, eh? Ah, I see you haven’t any backup schools. Hmmm…
Well, with your grades I suppose you don’t have much to worry about!” the teacher said.

“Mikako…” suddenly a word slept out of Noboru’s mouth

“HM?”

“Uh… It’s just Mikako always wanted to go to Jyohoku High. She was studying for it even harder than
me. I think what they did to her was unfair! If they were going to send her off into space, why didn’t
they give her some warning? She was working hard to get into Jyohoku. If she’d known she was going to
have to leave she wouldn’t have had to bother with all that.” Noboru tried to explain to the teacher.

“Ah… But miss Nagamine did know that she was leaving.” This word of teacher gave Noboru a shock.

“I’m not totally clear, but I believe she was notified a long time ago. Most nominees go ahead and join
the mission as soon as they’re selected, but they don’t have to. They’re allowed to do whatever they
want while they are waiting. Miss Nagamine wanted to keep studying. I admit, it’s somewhat unusual.”

All of this shook Noboru’s already broken heart. He left the school. He started thinking again.

“When did she find out? I’m really not sure. But you all must have taken the mandatory screening tests
when you were young. Seven years ago, when the Tarsian project was first being planned. I wonder if
they told her back then? How does it feel to follow a path that’s been chosen for you…?” while thinking
all this he continuously keeps getting those random memories of her.

“Mikako, you’re so great at sports! You should stick with the athletic clubs. Even in high school.”

A memory came up from that shed. When they were drawing aliens, “Hey, Noboru… have you ever
wanted to see a Tarsian? ‘Cause I don’t think I want to.”
Then a memory came up, which tore him apart. I question which she asked once, “Noboru? Do you think
we’ll get into the same high school?”

What am I thinking? How can I say she’s “lucky”?

He took out his phone o send a reply to her message. He wrote this while sitting in the same shed-

“Hi, Mikako. Have you started learning to fly a tracer yet? I hope you’re not practicing that hard… like
you always do. Nothing is going on here. It’s just the same old, same old, every single day. Oh yeah! The
first snow of the winter fell today. But it’s really just flurries so, I didn’t think that we are going to get
snow on the ground. We had our conference today. It looks like I’m probably going to go to Jyohoku
high school. We should both go. Let’s go to the same high school.”

But the next spring, Mikako didn’t return. And I entered Jyohoku high alone…