Loan Hell

A month ago, I lent money to a friend.

The amount was 100,000 yen.

It's not an exorbitant amount, but
it's a lot of money for me right now.

And above all, I felt I couldn't forgive being cheated out of my money.

Are they not planning to pay it back?
Am I being lied to?

As time passed, those feelings began to bubble up in my chest.

I'm not running a loan business.
I lent it because they were a friend and said they were in trouble.

But after lending it, various thoughts started swirling in my mind.

In the first place, if you rely on a friend instead of a financial company when you're in trouble,
doesn't that mean you value yourself and look down on your friend (me)?

Is someone like that really a friend?

It wasn't like they had gone through every financial institution,
had no other options left,
and felt they had no choice but to rely on a friend!

It wasn't that kind of situation.

They just miscalculated their balance of payments,
and with a sense of crisis like, 'I'm in trouble with this month's payments and don't have living expenses,'
they said, 'I'll pay you back when I get my paycheck next month.'

That was the extent of their urgency.

The more I thought about it, the more anxious I became,
and I even started to feel angry.

Why should I, the one who lent the money, have to deal with this frustration?

I'll just use it.

This power.

I am a psychic.

I can peek into the past and future of any person I designate.

A person's life is spun like a scenario.

Past events,
future events,
like a film strip,
exist as a story.

I can look beyond the boundaries
of the life scenario
of the person I have targeted.

And, through current actions,
the future scenario can be changed.

Conversely, unless action is taken, the future will not change.

It is an ability I have had since I was old enough to understand things,
and although I have used it several times, it often doesn't lead to anything good,
so I usually only use it for minor things.

Also, it's quite exhausting.

Everyone has a past,
and if you only look at future events
and interfere with that scenario,
it often ends up ruining that person's life.

Therefore, when changing the future,
I must also peek at that person's past,
understand their experiences and the environment they lived in,
and grasp the values they cultivated from that
before carefully deciding on current actions.

For example, when I confessed to a girl I liked a long time ago,
she said, 'I want you to let me think about it,'
and although I waited a few days for an answer,
I couldn't stand the wait during that period and peeked into the future.

In the future, I was able to successfully date her.

However, out of curiosity, I looked even further into the future.

And I found out that various problems would occur after we started dating.

They were trivial things, but
her fastidious nature and
my own laziness would clash more and more,
and every time I invited her to the apartment where I lived alone at the time,
I would be lectured to 'clean up.'

I was aware of my own faults,
but I felt it was excessive nonetheless.

So, I tried to peek into her past to find the cause of her fastidiousness in advance,
but I didn't know which part of her life was the cause,
and it seemed more like a accumulation of small things rather than one big trigger.

I thought to myself, does mastering the ability to manipulate space-time also require "search capabilities"?

In the end, when I finally got her to say yes,
I ended up rambling on about things like, "By the way, I'm not really good at cleaning up, and I'd really appreciate it if you could overlook that..."

And she ended up telling me, "You're starting to scare me, so let's call off the dating thing..."

So, I've decided to use this ability that I only use once in a while.

I'm going to use it now.

It's a pain, but I'm going to see if this guy pays me back next month.

However, just like with the girl who was supposed to be my girlfriend,

I sometimes have too much curiosity.

I should only look at a specific future, but I end up wanting to see the rest of their life or peeking into their past.

Whether that person will be happy, what kind of experiences they've had, I look at unnecessary things and end up feeling sympathy or sometimes sacrificing myself.

This time, I'm seriously only going to look at next month.

I won't get involved any deeper than that.

Alright.

Let's do this.

Sigh...

Just as I thought.

He won't pay me back next month.

He said, "The car tax bill came and it was higher than I expected, so please wait another month."

I don't care. Manage your money better.

Actually, someone like that shouldn't even be driving.

Walk.

Master the art of walking.

How does one even become this irresponsible?

Maybe I should look into his past and find the root cause.

No, that's a bad idea.

I was about to get too involved again.

Anyway, now that I know the money won't be returned next month,

I'll demand repayment immediately.

I'll have him borrow from Acom or Lake.

Actually, I was lending him money without interest as if it were natural, but that was the mistake in the first place.

If I don't at least get interest, it's not worth this mental stress.

I wonder what they'll say.

They might just snap back at me.

Why do I have to be the one feeling so weighed down?

This is the downside of this ability, too.

Even if you know the future, if you don't change your current actions, that future will arrive exactly as it is.

That said, changing your current actions takes quite a bit of courage.

Only after changing your current actions can you finally see the altered future.

Moreover, even if you peek at someone else's actions, if you don't interfere with them, things often happen just as seen. But if you peek at your own future, even if something good happens in that future, the future can change due to slight differences in actions or remarks, or changes in your state of mind from having peeked, so it's better not to look as much as possible.

It's not like you can see several patterns of branched world lines like in a parallel world or multiverse.

You won't know if the future will improve unless you take action.

Depending on your actions, the situation could even get worse.

If things get worse after taking action, you either re-examine the future each time and make fine adjustments, or you give up because it's beyond repair and accept the future.

The moment you give up,

the "changeable future" turns into "unchangeable fate," which is what makes it so troublesome...

Anyway, this is no time for escapism.

Let's take a look at the one for the month after next for a moment.

If they pay it all back by then, I'll let it slide this time.

Are you kidding me?

You're not paying me back the month after next either?

You finally pay back only 20,000 after three months, and then say the rest will be the following month...?

At this rate, I'm never getting my money back.

"I suddenly found out about an acquaintance's wedding..."

Don't give me that!
Someone like you shouldn't be celebrating other people's happiness.

And then to top it off,

"I really have to put in 30,000 for the gift..."

Don't give me that!

The gift is more than the repayment amount!
If you're going to show off, show off by paying me back.

That's why you only get invited at the last minute!

Maybe you weren't even invited in the first place!

And I'm just as bad for letting myself get talked down every single time.

I hate how weak-willed I am...

Well, whatever.

This person is definitely not going to pay me back, one way or another.

And there's no way I can keep carrying this frustration around for another three months.

Try giving them a piece of your mind once
and see what happens

Let's take action for now

Yeah,
well, I guess that's about it

In the end, the money hasn't been returned
and I was pressured into it with a "Just this month, please!"

But by speaking up, the future should have changed at least a little
I think they have more of a sense of crisis than before, too

Let's check right away

Onward to next month

No way...

There's no saving this anymore!!

I gently reminded you about the car tax earlier, didn't I?

I told you to live frugally because unexpected things like that happen, didn't I?

"Sorry, an acquaintance of mine suddenly passed away..."

You didn't say that in the future I peeked at before you hit me with that, did you!?

That's definitely a lie!!

You're saying whatever you want just because you know I can't call you out on it!

You also have a wedding to attend the month after next, right!?

If that's true, you're carrying way too much fortune and misfortune in such a short time.

I don't even know what's a lie and what's the truth anymore...

For now, I guess I'll just watch and see when the full amount gets paid back.

But it feels like installment payments have become the norm before I knew it, and I don't know where I should be looking.

What should I search for?

What should I type into the prompt?

No, well, it's not that convenient. I just close my eyes and imagine a long film strip with fragmented images playing on it, and then I jump into the part I want to peek at.

That's a pain, too.

Sometimes I accidentally see a future I didn't intend to look at and get spoiled.

It's the worst when I accidentally see spoilers for manga, too.

I can't search by date and time, set pins, or create a list of timelines I want to visit.

I can't even apply filters to sensitive content (spoilers)

Modern technology is generally more convenient than superpowers

It might finally be time to take a peek at this guy's past

I think it probably has to do with his childhood home environment

I can't really worry about privacy anymore

He seemed perfectly happy, though!

Well, I suppose there's a kind of pain that only the person involved can truly understand...

He used to be a normal, pure, and straightforward guy back in the day, didn't he?

Well, yeah, I guess that's true. Part of the reason I was friends with him was because I liked those qualities about him.

Maybe there's something going on that isn't just about his family environment.

But if I keep thinking like that, there'll be no end to it!

Maybe it would be faster to just ask him directly instead of trying to peek into his past.

Maybe I'll invite him out for a drink or something and talk.

Come to think of it, I haven't been going out for drinks with him much lately.

I never even asked why he's struggling with money right now.
He might have some kind of trouble on his mind.

I'm at an age where I'm worrying about life in various ways too.
Even with an ability like this, my worries never seem to end.

I wonder if there's something he wants to do.

Even I've started thinking that I want to be useful to others, just like a proper adult.

Maybe I'll try talking to him about that, too.