He nods quickly, grabbing a pancake and stuffing it into his mouth as he heads out the door. The m sus him like an old friend, and as he steps onto the front porch, the weight of his predit settles heavily on his shoulders.

  This isn’t just a sed ce—it’s a test. And Jiko has no idea if he’s ready for it.

  But then, as Jiko steps outside into the warm embrace of the m sun, a cold realization grips him. His brother Tito and Julie’s love story hasn’t even beguhe thought sends a jolt through his system, more intehan any caffeine could muster.

  Julie—the bride who had been the focus of Tito’s joy and Jiko’s ret reciliatory efforts—is nowhere in this timeline. She’s not part of their lives yet. She’s still just a stranger somewhere out in the world, living her life without any idea that one day she’d cross paths with Tito and ge everything.

  Jiko pauses mid-step, the weight of the situation sinking in like a heavy stone dropped into the depths of his mind. This isn’t just about him navigating his teenage years again or fixing his rets. This timeline is fragile, every moment ced with the potential for unintended sequences.

  What happens if he messes it up?

  The question gnaws at him as he recalls the whirlwind of events that led to Tito and Julie falling in love. Tito’s awkward yet heartfelt fession at the college fair, Julie’s hesitant but genuine smile as she agreed to a first date, the shared ughter over te-night coffee runs, the arguments that made them stronger—all of it a series of delicate domihat had to fall in just the right order.

  And now, Jiko is a wildcard in that sequence.

  The responsibility feels suffog. What if his as in this timeline somehow prevent them from meeting? What if Tito’s life veers off course because Jiko intervenes where he shouldn’t? Or worse, what if Jiko’s meddling creates a rift between them before they even have a ce to ect?

  He rubbed his temples, but the warm m sun couldn't shake the chill he felt ihis is crazy,” he mumbled to himself. “How am I supposed to live like this? Knowing what I know about the future?”

  The faint sound of the school bus ing closer snapped him out of his thoughts. Tito rushed out of the house, throwing his backpack over his shoulder and grinning at Jiko.

  “e on, slowpoke!” Tito yelled. “Don’t wane on the first day of the new year, do ya?”

  Jiko forced a smile and ran to catch up. As they start walking, he looked at Tito, who had no idea what Jiko was going through. This was Tito *before* he became so fident, *before* he met Julie and fell in love. This was Tito *before* everything.

  He’s stu the past, walking a tightrope between preserving the timeline and improving it. One wrong step could shatter Tito and Julie’s future, and Jiko isn’t sure he could live with himself if that happens.

  For now, there’s only ohing he knows for sure: he has to tread carefully. Very carefully.

  “…and if it works, it’s gonna totally blow Mr. Emon’s mind,” Tito said, grinning from ear to ear. “I mean, who else would think of using a soda as a mini peor?”

  Jiko nodded, a small smile appearing on his face. He’d heard bits and pieces of these stories before, but only through other people or in quick versations much ter. Now, hearing Tito tell them with so muthusiasm, Jiko felt a little sad about how distant they’d been back then. He’d been so caught up in his own stuff—school problems, feeling insecure, daydreaming—that he hadn’t really paid attention to Tito.

  When they got close to the school gates, a wave of memories hit Jiko so hard he almost stopped walking. Seeing the old brick building, the windows shining in the m sun, and all the students milling arou like stepping into a memory he could almost touch.

  He could smell the freshly cut grass mixed with the faint smell of food from the cafeteria. The sound of lockers banging shut and friends ughing and talking after the weekend made a noisy mix of sounds that Jiko had fotten he used to hear every single day.

  He took it all in, his heart beating a little faster. It felt good to be ba this familiar pce—the heavy backpacks, the school jackets, the way groups of kids formed and moved around like fish in the o. But he also felt a little uneasy, remembering hoard and unsure of himself he’d been back then.

  “Hey, Jiko, you good?” Tito asks, nudging him with an elbow.

  Jiko snaps out of his reverie, realizing he’s been standing there a sed too long. “Yeah, just… weird being here again, you know?”

  Tito raises an eyebrow but shrugs it off. “Whatever, ma’s go. I wanna grab a good seat before math starts. ’t be stu the back again.”

  They pass through the gates of the park that leads up to their school and Tito’s Varsity which was not that far from Jiko’s school, the hum of teenage energy surrounding them. Jiko keeps his gaze forward, avoiding the groups of students chatting in clusters, but his ears catippets of versations that make his heart race.

  “…did you see the game on Friday?”

  “…she totally likes you, dude. Just ask her out already!”

  “… you believe Mrs. i gave us another essay? It’s, like, torture.”

  The voices are fragments of a world Jiko thought he’d left behind, a here he is, thrust bato the middle of it. Every sound, every smell, every flicker of movement feels like a direct portal to his younger self—the awkward kid who tried to blend into the background, who wrestled with self-doubt and barely had the ce to speak up in css.

  Just as Jiko about to asked something to his brother, a sudden, pierg scream ripped through the air, making him jump. He looked up and immediately saw Julie—she was running dowh, her backpack boung wildly as she sprinted as fast as she could. Chasing her, with its teeth bared, was a wild-looking dog, running with a fierce, hungry look in its eyes. Its eyes looked mean, and the way it s the air made Jiko’s stomach .