Tyler watched her disappear.
His eyebrows slowly drew together.
He didn't understand.
Not even slightly.
What did I even say?
He replayed the sentence in his head.
I shouldn't have come here in the first place.
That was true.
He hadn't meant anything else.
Yet somehow, Eris had taken it differently.
Tyler clicked his tongue softly.
He picked up his chopsticks again.
Why is she acting like that?
He had seen people do this before.
Someone said something they didn't like, and suddenly they became upset.
Angry.
Sometimes even close to tears.
Over something that wasn't meant that way.
To Tyler, it was exhausting.
"What does she want?" he murmured.
Clara looked at him.
Tyler didn't notice.
He stared at the ramen.
I only wanted her to listen to me for once.
He picked up another mouthful.
Just once.
His thoughts grew heavier.
I'm doing this for all of us.
He swallowed.
For our future.
Another bite.
For a better future.
He lowered his eyes.
Why can't she just listen?
He had handled the situation outside.
He had prevented those boys from making a bigger scene.
He had kept the problem contained.
That should have been enough.
Yet somehow, he was still sitting here arguing.
Tyler's grip tightened around the chopsticks.
It's not even a big deal.
He took another bite.
She just needs to listen.
Clara watched him quietly.
The anger wasn't loud.
That was what made it noticeable.
Tyler wasn't shouting.
He wasn't slamming the table.
He was simply eating his ramen with a faint scowl, staring at the bowl as if the noodles had personally offended him.
"Tyler."
He didn't look up.
"What?"
"Nothing."
He continued eating.
Clara waited a few seconds.
"Don't make it worse."
His chopsticks stopped.
"I'm not doing anything."
"You look angry."
"I'm eating."
"I can see that."
Tyler finally looked at her.
Clara gave him a small smile.
"Just calm down."
"I'm calm."
Her eyes moved to his hand.
His fingers were still tight around the chopsticks.
"Right."
Tyler followed her gaze.
He loosened his grip.
He said nothing.
The café remained quiet around them.
A few minutes passed.
Eris still hadn't returned.
Tyler glanced toward the hallway.
Nothing.
He looked back at his bowl.
Another minute passed.
He looked again.
Still nothing.
His irritation returned.
How long is she planning to stay there?
He sighed through his nose.
Clara noticed.
"You upset her."
Tyler kept eating.
"I didn't."
"She was upset."
"That's her choice."
Clara frowned.
"She was worried about you."
"I know."
"Then maybe you could understand why she reacted like that."
Tyler looked at her.
"I understand that she was worried."
"Then why are you still angry?"
"I'm not angry."
Clara stared at him.
Tyler took another bite.
She gave up on that argument.
The ramen was slowly losing its heat.
Tyler noticed.
He took another bite anyway.
Clara remained across from him.
She had stopped trying to force him to talk.
That was probably for the best.
Tyler wasn't in the mood.
His thoughts had already moved somewhere else.
Lucas.
That was the actual problem now.
The boy had already become involved.
His brother had confronted Tyler.
Three older students had followed.
Tyler had dealt with them, but that did not mean the situation was finished.
If Lucas became more hostile, he could make another decision.
If his brother reacted again, another person could become involved.
If that person spoke to someone else, the chain could continue.
Tyler didn't need that.
He had spent too much time keeping the future close to the one he remembered.
He didn't want to start repairing unnecessary damage now.
Clara broke the silence.
"Are you thinking about what happened outside?"
Tyler didn't answer immediately.
"Partly."
"And the rest?"
"I don't know."
That answer surprised her.
Tyler rarely admitted uncertainty.
Clara leaned back.
"Then why are you so sure you need to deal with it?"
Tyler looked at her.
"Because I know how these things go."
Clara frowned.
"You know how what goes?"
Tyler didn't answer.
There were too many things he could not say.
In his previous life, he had known where people would be.
He had known who would become friends.
Who would argue.
Who would leave.
Who would stay.
Some events had seemed insignificant until they became important years later.
That was why he watched.
That was why he interfered.
Not because he wanted everything to be perfect.
Because he knew what happened when small things were ignored.
A person made one different choice.
That choice led to another.
Then another.
Eventually, something that had once been certain disappeared.
Tyler had seen it happen.
More than once.
And now he had the ability to stop it.
So he did.
It was simple.
At least, it had once been simple.
Clara's voice pulled him back.
"Tyler?"
"Hm?"
"You aren't listening."
"I am."
"What did I say?"
Tyler paused.
Clara smiled slightly.
"Exactly."
He gave her a tired look.
"I'm thinking."
"About Eris?"
Tyler's expression tightened.
"What about her?"
"You sound annoyed."
"I am."
"Why?"
Tyler stared at his ramen.
"Because I don't know what I did."
Clara was quiet.
That was probably the first honest thing he had said since Eris left.
"You really don't?"
"No."
He looked at the bowl.
This conversation isn't going anywhere.
"You seriously don't know..."
Before she could finish Tyler set the chopsticks down.
"I'm done."
Clara frowned.
"What?"
He reached for his wallet.
Clara noticed.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm leaving."
"You're leaving?"
"Yeah."
"But Eris is still in the washroom."
"She'll come back."
"You aren't going to wait?"
"No."
Clara frowned.
"Tyler."
He stood.
"Eris already paid?"
Tyler stopped.
"What?"
"She paid earlier."
Tyler slowly looked at Clara.
"She did?"
"Yes."
He put his wallet away.
For some reason, the information irritated him.
He couldn't explain why.
Perhaps because Eris had made a decision without telling him.
Perhaps because he had spent the last few minutes complaining about people making decisions without listening to him.
The contradiction didn't escape him.
He simply didn't care.
"Then I guess I'm free to leave."
Clara watched him.
"You're really going?"
"Yeah."
"You aren't going to wait for her?"
Tyler glanced toward the hallway.
"No."
Clara's expression fell slightly.
Tyler picked up his bag.
"Tell her I said goodbye."
"Okay."
He took a step.
Then stopped.
For a moment, he looked toward the hallway again.
He couldn't see Eris.
He didn't know what she was thinking.
Normally, that would have been easy to solve.
One look.
One thought.
One correction.
But he didn't use his ability.
Not this time.
He didn't know why.
Maybe because he was angry.
Maybe because he simply didn't want to.
Whatever the reason, he turned away.
"See you later."
Clara gave him a small nod.
"See you."
Tyler walked toward the entrance.
The bell rang softly when he opened the door.
Then he was gone.
Clara watched the door close behind him.
She remained standing for a moment.
Then she sighed with a smile.
A few minutes later, Eris stepped out of the washroom.
Her expression was calmer now.
She looked toward the table immediately.
Then stopped.
Tyler's chair was empty.
She looked at Clara.
"Where's Tyler?"
Clara didn't answer immediately.
"He left."
Eris stared at the empty chair.
"He left?"
"Yeah."
"When?"
"A few minutes ago."
Eris slowly returned to the table.
She sat down.
Her fingers rested on the edge.
"I didn't want him to leave."
Clara sat opposite her.
"I know."
"I was angry."
"I know."
"I just wanted him to explain."
"I know."
Eris lowered her gaze.
"I didn't mean for it to become like that."
Clara leaned back.
"He didn't understand why you were upset."
Eris looked up.
"What?"
"He genuinely didn't."
Eris's expression changed.
"You talked to him?"
"Only a little."
"What did he say?"
"Mostly that he didn't know what he'd done."
Eris looked down again.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then she sighed.
"That idiot."
Clara smiled faintly.
"Yeah."
Eris looked toward the door.
"I still want to know what happened outside."
"You probably will."
"Eventually."
"Probably."
Eris leaned back.
"I'll talk to him later."
"That's better."
Eris looked at Clara.
"You don't think I should apologize?"
Clara thought about it.
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because you're still angry."
Eris nodded slowly.
"That's true."
"And he's still angry."
"Very true."
Clara smiled.
"Let both of you cool down first."
Eris looked toward the empty chair again.
"Hopefully he doesn't avoid me."
Clara hesitated.
Then she gave her an honest answer.
"He probably will."
Eris gave her an annoyed look.
"You're supposed to encourage me."
"I am."
"You're terrible at it."
"I learned from Tyler."
That finally pulled a small laugh from Eris.
The tension didn't disappear.
But it loosened.
Neither of them noticed the ramen bowl still sitting on the table.
It was empty now.
The crisis had at least allowed Tyler to finish his meal.
Outside, however, Tyler was already several streets away.
He wasn't going home.
He had another problem to handle.
Lucas.
The evening air brushed past him as he walked.
His thoughts had already moved beyond the café.
The three Highschoolers had been one problem.
Eris was another.
But Lucas was still the source of both.
Tyler slowed near a crossing.
He remembered Lucas's expression from earlier.
The anger.
The resentment.
The way his thoughts had shifted after Tyler interfered.
That was where the problem had begun.
He had expected Lucas to back down.
Instead, Lucas had involved his brother.
That had created another confrontation.
And Tyler had dealt with that confrontation himself.
Now there was another question.
What would Lucas do next?
Would he try something else?
Would his brother come back?
Tyler didn't know.
That uncertainty bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
He crossed the road.
The city around him continued normally.
Cars moved.
People talked.
Children played near a small shop.
Nothing looked different.
Yet Tyler knew how little it took for a normal evening to become the beginning of something else.
That was what he had learned from his previous life.
Small things mattered.
A conversation.
A meeting.
A decision.
A person deciding to take a different road home.
None of them looked important at the moment.
Until they became important.
Tyler had spent years learning that lesson.
At first, he had been careful.
When something changed, he watched.
If the difference was harmless, he left it alone.
If it threatened something important, he corrected it.
Simple.
Necessary.
His abilities made the process easier.
Someone thinking about making the wrong decision could be pushed away from it.
Someone preparing to do something dangerous could be made to reconsider.
A conversation could end before it became a problem.
A conflict could disappear before anyone knew it had almost happened.
It worked.
That was the problem.
It worked so often that Tyler had stopped questioning it.
He didn't think of himself as controlling people.
He thought of himself as preventing problems.
There was a difference.
At least, there had been.
Tyler continued walking.
He thought about Chris.
Chris had ignored his warning.
Then Lucas pushed him.
Tyler had intervened.
He thought about Oliver.
That entire situation had never existed in his previous life, at least not in a MIddle school.
Tyler had interfered there too.
Then Clara.
He had spent years trying to keep distance between them because he knew how his previous life had ended.
Eventually, that distance itself had become a problem.
So he corrected it.
Then Eris.
She had become someone who existed much more deeply in his second life than she ever had in the first.
Another variable.
Then this café.
He had never been supposed to come here.
He had only come because Eris asked him.
Now the Lucas's brother had confronted him.
Another variable.
Tyler stopped at the corner.
He looked across the street.
His mind automatically began arranging the pieces.
Lucas.
His brother.
The other high-schoolers.
Chris.
Eris.
The party.
The café.
Too many things had become connected.
He needed to separate them.
That was all.
He needed to make sure Lucas stopped.
He needed to prevent his brother from getting involved again.
And Eris...
Tyler's expression tightened.
He didn't know what to do about Eris.
She wasn't supposed to be angry with him.
At least, not over this.
He had simply told her the truth.
He shouldn't have come here.
That was a fact.
Why was she making it into something bigger?
Tyler resumed walking.
If she would just listen.
The thought came naturally.
He didn't question it.
If she listened, he could explain things.
If she listened, she wouldn't worry.
If everyone listened, problems would disappear before they became serious.
It would be easier.
For everyone.
Tyler's pace remained steady.
He was thinking about fixing the problem.
That was what he always did.
A few minutes later, he turned onto the street leading toward Lucas's neighborhood.
His expression had returned to its usual calm.
Let's finish this before it becomes another problem.