Come in.
Good morning, Jun.
Breakfast is ready.
Good morning, Kaya-san.
It seems a bit bland.
Yes, you're right.
Bring over the salt, would you?
Are you making fun of us?
This isn't who I am!
Today's another scorcher, huh?
Hajime-chan!
Come on, it's morning, Hajime-chan!
You'll be late, Hajime-chan.
Kaya's gonna yell if you're late.
Morning, Arashi-san.
Morning, Hajime-chan.
What were you doing? Were you up all night?
Yeah.
In our time, there's this annoying thing called "Free Study" that's part of our homework.
What do you think this is?
Just looks like a cherry.
It is a masterpiece created by me, Yasaka Hajime!
And I call it...
THE CHERRY BOMB!
Cherry bomb?
At first glance, it just looks like an ordinary cherry...
HOWEVER!
In reality...
Inside is a mix of pop rocks, Cayenne, Japanese, and normal pepper,
along with powdered wasabi!
Anyway, I don't think "bomb" is really a good idea.
Then what should I do?
Change the name.
Call it "Cutie Cherry-chan," maybe?
I'm turning this in at school!
I can't name it something like that!
But it's cute!
The matter's settled. Cutie Cherry-chan it is!
Come on...
Man, this Cutie Cherry I made is the ultimate weapon.
It's perfect.
I can't wait to see it in action.
What are you smirking about, Yasaka?
Nothing!
I guess if I had to say, it would be a mad scientist's crazed laughter.
Huh?
Oh, right. Something was bugging me.
What is it, Master?
Actually...
It's Akagi Keiichiro!
Excuse me.
She really likes him.
Actually, so do I.
I wonder if it's really him.
I guess I'll go see, too.
Me, too.
You're going too?
What, you don't understand the attraction of the third man, Tony?
I'll show you.
Come with me.
Wait, Tony-
No one's here.
Maybe it was a prank?
Come to think of it, Akagi Keiichiro died before I was born.
Remember that in the first place!
Jeez, what a waste of time...
I think it's in a slightly different place.
So, what were you talking about?
Actually, this here, you see...
Again?
There was one more in the back of the fridge.
What is that?
Expired milk.
June 1st...
That was two months ago.
I want you to time travel back to May with this.
Oh, that makes sense. If it hasn't expired yet, you can drink it!
That does not make sense!
Is it not OK?
Spoiled milk is spoiled, no matter where you take it.
It's the same reason you don't get younger when you go to the past.
You won't be able to drink it.
Oh, I get it!
Arashi-san, is it possible you're just now realizing this?
Master, stop trying to fool people.
Someone might really believe you.
Come on. After last time, I contemplated it and came up with a better way.
The problem is we're trying to drink the expired milk.
Go back in time, to before it expires, and trade it for the one that hasn't expired yet.
Then bring the fresh milk back to the present and drink it?
I see.
That would work.
Since it's just sitting in the fridge and no one drank it,
there's no problem with exchanging it for the spoiled milk.
Wow, you're smart, Master!
I don't really get it, but nice one!
Naw... Anyway, go back to the past and trade this for a fresh one.
This still doesn't seem right.
If it sounds like a good idea to Master, that's good enough for me.
Huh?
What's wrong, Jun?
If we take this to the past and it works-
no, let's say it already did work-
that would mean this milk spoiled once and we took it to the past. And then it spoiled again,
so it's spoiled twice, right?
That implies it's already repeated those two months twice.
Therefore, it's four months expired!
Who cares?
No one's drinking it, so who cares if it's been spoiled for two or four months?
That's true...
Wait!
Doesn't that mean there should be two old milks in the refrigerator?
If it's gone through these past two months twice, then both the two-month-old milk
and the four-month-old milk should be in the fridge.
But there was only this one.
I know what happens. Effects on a quantum level suddenly cause it to spoil twice as much!
Like Schrödinger's cat-opening and observing inside the carton causes the quantum wave function
to collapse, becoming milk four months past its expiration date!
The uncertainty principle, right?
You know some complicated things, huh?
It was in a book the detective brought me.
No, wait!
That doesn't make sense.
We go back, return with unspoiled milk, and drink it. Right?
That's right.
If we drink it, the milk vanishes while it's still fresh.
Thus, the expired milk, itself, ceases to exist!
So there shouldn't be any milk left!
The more that we drink before it's spoiled,
the more of the milk will spoil, no?
We've proven that time travel can't change history.
The simultaneous existence of spoiled milk and unspoiled, drunk milk is impossible.
Does drinkable milk actually exist?
Which milk spoils?
We may be staring in the face of an incredible time paradox, previously unsolved.
This is a mystery never before seen by humanity!
I'm going to go buy some new milk. Let's throw this out.
Humanity's mystery!
Welcome!
Hey, Arashi-san.
Yamashiro-san.
It's hot today, Arashi-san. Aren't you warm in that kimono?
I'm fine. Actually, I get a lot of fresh air.
The jerk...
He forgot he owes us for saving him, and now he's going after Arashi-san.
Ungrateful bastard!
But I've got just the thing for you.
You always order a lemon squash.
I'll put my new weapon, Cutie Cherry-chan, in your lemon squash, and that'll show you!
Taste my ultimate weapon.
Have you decided on your order?
Let's see... I'll have my usual strawberry shortcake and some green tea.
OK!
Why?
Not your usual lemon squash?
Sometimes, it's nice to have a hot drink on a hot day.
It makes you sweat and cools you down, doesn't it?
Oh, no!
I never calculated for the possibility that he would change his drink!
Is this plan a failure?
No, I still have some more tricks up my sleeve!
What are you doing, Yasaka?
Cherries don't go in the green tea.
I'm just adding special service for a regular.
That's not "special service." That's being a dick.
It doesn't matter, as long as I add sincerity!
It does so!
Oh, my. You done?
I'll take this.
A-Arashi-san...
Here you are.
I worked on it all night, too.
That sounds interesting!
I'll bring the book next time.
Really?
I can't wait!
Jeez, if I'd known this would happen, I'd have put it in the cake, not the drink...
I bought some new milk.
What? Is this the expensive stuff?
It's organic milk, from cows raised on chemical-free natural feed.
This time, drink it before it expires.
Oh, and cherries were on sale, so I bought a bunch.
Oh... Maybe I'll make a free menu from them.
Here are your free cherries.
Here you are.
Enjoy some cherries, too.
Here you go. Something special for you, Yamashiro-san.
Thank you, Arashi-san.
I should've just done that from the start!
These are good.
You try one too.
I'm fine.
Come on.
I don't want it!
I don't even want to look at cherries!
What's your problem?
Weird kid...
Is this the Cutie Cherry-chan?
It'd be really bad if you accidentally gave it to a customer. I'll hold on to it.
Ah, Arashi-san, that's a normal cherry...
No, more importantly, the Cutie Cherry-chan is in there.
Oh, give me one.
These are good.
I'll take one, too, I guess.
May I have one, also?
Me, too.
My, these are good.
They're juicy and sweet!
This is Russian roulette.
I need to do something or I'll go nuts!
Oh, right, Arashi-san. Can you do this?
Wow!
I'll try it, too.
Me, too.
May I try it as well?
What are you doing?!
Huh? Is something wrong?
See?
Master's pretty good, isn't she?
Did you know?
People who can do this are good at kissing.
K-K-Kis-
What are you teaching Yayoi?!
What? I didn't do any-
Good, no one got it.
Think logically.
Somewhere in there is the Cutie Cherry-chan.
My ultimate goal is to recover or destroy it before it hits someone.
Or, if possible, to target Yamashiro with it, per my original objective.
For that to happen, I must be able to determine the original Cutie Cherry-chan.
But my work was perfect, so I can't tell them apart.
There are three possible options here.
One: Recover them all.
Two: Destroy them all.
Three: Feed them all to Yamashiro.
What? I can't eat all these.
They say people can eat as many cherries as they want, so eat up!
What are you doing?
Something special for a regular customer...
That's not "special." It's being a dick.
There's such a thing as a limit.
That won't work, huh?
I know!
The problem is that I try to deal with it once it's in there.
Everything's fine if a real cherry gets thrown in.
I'll just time travel to the past and replace the Cutie Cherry-chan with a real cherry!
But that means I need to take a real cherry back to the past.
If I screw up and take the Cutie Cherry-chan instead...
I know!
Go back to this morning?
Yes, I want to take the Cutie Cherry-chan that you took from me back to this morning.
I was thinking about what the master said about the milk this morning...
Oh, taking something spoiled into the past and exchanging it, right?
I thought we'd do an experiment with the Cutie Cherry-chan.
Experiment?
For my free study.
Free study!
For my homework...
It was a real cherry she took.
If I take it back to the past and exchange it, we're all good.
I see. If it's for homework, it can't be helped.
Wait a second. I'll go get it.
How many times do we have to tell Master before she understands?
Just drink it before it spoils...
I spent all that money on organic milk, too.
Let's exchange it and go home.
Jun, please run the decoy plan.
I guess I have to.
OK, Hajime-chan.
Ah! It's Kobayashi Akira!
Excuse me.
She really likes him.
Actually, so do I.
I'll show you the attraction of Might Guy.
Everybody went outside.
Well done, Jun.
Let's exchange the milk right away.
We did this before, didn't we?
I'm pretty sure I yelled, "It's Takakura Ken!"
Takakura Ken?
I remember now.
When that happened, I received unbelievable humiliation at the hands of Hajime.
I won't forget it until the day I die!
You're already a ghost.
All right. I'll show Hajime just what he did!
I'll mix wasabi powder and Japanese pepper with cayenne and normal pepper,
then add Tabasco to make a super-spicy cream!
Then I'll cut a cherry in half and scoop out the insides with a spoon,
then put that cream inside, and seal it!
And then...
Put it together with cellophane tape, and it's done.
Cellophane tape?
Don't worry. It's transparent, so he won't see it.
This tiny difference in common knowledge reminds me that she's from the past.
See? You can't tell.
Amazing! Her skill has overcome the inherent flaws in the technology.
I'll make him eat this and understand the humiliation I suffered.
Um, Kaya-san. Is that the, um...
No way.
I thought for sure that was because of Master's arm.
Have I made something awful?
Ah! I'm disappearing!
Might Guy wasn't there.
Too bad. Maybe he was busy filming.
Oh, no. We have to go!
Wait, Jun!
If we don't act, something terrible happens.
It's too late, Kaya-san!
There's no time left.
We'll disappear!
No, no!
Is it impossible to change history?
You sure it wasn't a trick?
I was hoping that Might Guy would fulfill my hopes...
What's with the self-confidence?
If you leave this out, it'll spoil.
I'd better put it where we can see it, so it won't spoil.
OK, Hajime-chan. Let's go.
Right.
Now then, the only question is how to switch this with the Cutie Cherry-chan.
We're inside the café...
Leave that to me.
It's Akagi Keiichiro!
Ah... This morning, that was you...
I'm exhausted.
It was really busy today.
It was thanks to the cherries Kaya-san bought.
We used almost all of them.
The cherries are one thing, but please drink the milk before it spoils, Master.
True that.
All right! As a reward, I'll make you some fruit juice.
What?
OK, I took out the detonator.
It won't explode now.
Ah... That was close.
I need to learn my lesson from this
and next time, design something that takes them out in one hit.
So, how was your free study?
Huh?
What happened when you took it to the past and switched it?
It went perfect!
Perfect!
Here you go.
Drink up!
That's Kaya and the rest screaming.
Maybe they saw Might Guy.
So, I read a fascinating book yesterday.
Yeah, what was it called?
Well... I forgot the title.
Tell me what kind of story it was.
Sure, why not.
It was the story of a boy, much troubled by justice.
He worships a legendary hero and, in his zeal to fight evil and wield the hammer of justice,
he hurts those who are innocent.
With his brilliant mind, he fights a pitched psychological battle with a detective,
but troubled by his crimes, he...
That's Crime and Punishment.
Dostoevsky?