Chapter 4

Attempted Kidnapping: May 2006 is the fourth chapter

of Boku Dake ga Inai Machi manga.

Summary
The chapter starts with Satoru wondering why people were nice to him and why they smiled at him. he states that he only became a normal kid because of a few elements that came together in him. He states that he didn't smile because he made friends but rather he made friends because he spoke ot them with a smile. After the culprit was caught, their parents and teachers tried to erase the incident from their memories.

Satoru is seen walking away from the convenience store with his mother, holding a few shopping bags. He sees a child crying after dropping his ice cream. His mother asks him to call a friend over and asks if he has a girl he likes. he says that manga is his life and that he doesn't. At that moment, Airi calls out to him while running towards him. A woman selling balloons accidentally leaves them and Airi trips. She is helped up by his mother and he experiences "Revival" again.

He goes back to the time he was walking away with his mother. She askes him if the bags are too heavy and tells him to use a cart. He sees the crying child again and his mother asks him to call a friend over. He looks to where Airi is supposed to come from and yells for her not to run. As she walks towards him, the woman leaves the balloons again and Airi trips while looking at her. This happens again with the difference of Airi not tripping. He looks around but still can't find any irregularities. He then asks his mother to help and looks around. She spots a man holding a child's hand and he notices her while looking around. The man gets into the car without the child and drives away. His mother notes the plate number in her phone.

Later they are walking home together and Satoru and Airi talk about his mother looking young. His mother then asks her to join them for dinner as the man from before looks at them.

At his home, Airi gets to know that Satoru is a mangaka and looks it up. While eating Satoru worries about his mother finding out about his fondness for Airi. After that, Satoru drops Airi back home. When he gets back, he reprimands his mother for looking at Airi as a potential daughter-in law and gets mad. His mother asks him to cool his head and tells him that she'll apologize to the landlord for the noise the next day. He asks her if she noticed something in the parking lot and she says that she was a kidnapping attempt fail, but then brushes it off as a joke. She then thinks she knew the person she saw. In his room, Satoru thinks that his mother was not lying and opened the book Airi returned. He remembers his friend, Hiromi and how he drifted apart from the group and became lonely. Satoru remembers what he said back then, "I could have saved him".