A Matter of Time

Written by
 Directed by

**"A Matter of Time"** is the sixth episode of *StarLight*. It was published on FictionPress and SparkaTale between 2 November and 23 December 2015, in a more irregular schedule than previous episodes. "A Matter of Time" revolves around a scheduling conflict that requires Sanae to be in two places at once; to solve the conflict, she uses time travel to create a "time duplicate" of herself.

## Plot

The episode starts on Wednesday, 21 October 2015, as White Star foils an inept bank robber. Afterwards, she is hailed as a hero by Mitsuzawa's mayor, who announces he will be holding a parade in her honour. White Star is initially thrilled by the announcement, until she learns that the parade will be held next Monday, at the same time she is expected to sit her mid-term exams.

As she ponders the situation with Kousen later that day, a second White Star suddenly appears from nowhere. This White Star reveals that she had travelled back in time from next Monday in order to attend the parade, while her past self takes her exams. Past Sanae agrees to this, and Future Sanae assures her that nothing will happen.

The two Sanaes co-exist for the next few days, occasionally getting on each other's nerves. While Past Sanae attends school, Future Sanae stays at home and teaches Kousen English. On Monday, Past Sanae goes into school and takes her mid-terms as agreed, before meeting with Future Sanae atop Fujitsu Tower to say goodbye. She then travels back in time to the previous Wednesday, becoming Future Sanae.

On Monday morning, Future Sanae heads downtown to attend the parade as planned. Not long after it starts, a monster suddenly and unexpectedly attacks the parade, forcing White Star to battle. Despite interference from the crowd, she succeeds, and the parade carries on as before. That night, after saying goodbye to her past self, Sanae realizes she had forgotten to warn herself about the monster attack; as she reassures herself that she will never have to worry about time travel ever again, another White Star appears with an eyepatch and proclaims, "Alright, kid: this is where it gets complicated."

## Cultural references

The episode begins on Wednesday, 21 October 2015, the day Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel back to in *Back to the Future Part II*, and a date which coincidentally occurred while the episode was being written. The episode thus contains several other references to *Back to the Future*:

* Future Sanae's explanation of how two Sanaes can exist at once mimics Doc Brown's explanation of how the alternate 1985 came to be during *Part II*.
* The name of the Fujitsu Tower is a reference to Mr. Fujitsu, Marty McFly's boss in 2015.
* The time-travel spell reportedly requires "1.21 gigawatts" of power in order to work, the same amount of power that the DeLorean requires. White Star even pronounces it as "one-point-twenty-one jiggawatts", mimicking Doc Brown's speech pattern.

Other cultural references include:

* After travelling back in time, Future Sanae assumes a "manly pose" and remarks to her past self, "Your next line is going to be...", a reference to *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure*.
* After her past self asks "You're me?", Future Sanae replies, "And I am you," a reference to *Persona 4*.
* While the two Sanaes play video games against each other, Past Sanae quotes a line from the *Sonic the Hedgehog* OVA.
* One scene parodies the famous "tooth-brushing" scene from *Bakemonogatari*.

*[to be filled in]*