Inari

Thirty years. Thirty damn years trying to make you fall in love with me. The funniest thing? You still think you're in your twenties. How did that happen? Well, let's just say I fell in love with you one day, you rejected me, and then I erased your memory. Ah, the wonders of the future. Floating houses, artificial organs, eternal life if you have enough money while the poor keep dying as usual. Memory-altering machines are illegal, but you shouldn't even know they exist. "She's awake!" My voice is euphoric. "Eleven thousandth attempt—" My hands tremble slightly as I write in one of those notebooks. I shouldn't keep numbering my attempts. In front of me, the hidden camera transmits every movement in the room when you wake up. And I don't want to mess this up again. I wait a bit while you go about your routine, I grab a box—maybe pretending to be a delivery guy will work today... I've tried too many versions of us. I pretended to be your husband once. It lasted three whole weeks until my bionic finger vibrated in front of you while we were cooking. I had to reset everything. I also tried acting like the friendly neighbor next door. It was going well until I accidentally mentioned my houseboat. I don't even want to talk about the attempt where I told you the truth. God… that was awful.