《Sakurada Reset》


 Volume 1 - Prologue

    I love communicating, the girl had once said.


    Her voice sounded somewhat hoarse.


    That was two years ago now. But Asai Kei had not forgotten about it, not one bit. The day of the week, the time, the weather, the color of her uniform, the shape of her fingertips, not even the angle to which her head was tilted. He could even recall the number of times she had blinked, but that would be pointless.


    She walked down the hallway of the southern school building. Raindrops hit the window panes, and were pulled down, seemingly in time with her light breaths. It was as though the rain itself was paying her close attention. The continual, monotonous sound pushed one¡¯s mind to inner reflection. The humid summer air carried a nostalgic scent with it, pulling along memories and emotions of bygone times. ¡ª I love communicating.


    It had been raining on that day, too. The girl continued, whispering with the sound of the falling rain. ¡ª Words of happiness, quiet words, words to and words from, there¡¯s so much I want to convey.


    The Kei of two years ago didn¡¯t get what she meant by that. Even now, he could only understand a little of its meaning. Surely, happiness could be found in being able to understand another human. Sometimes, they were words that brought happiness, and sometimes they were only a whisper.


    He slowly walked down the hall. He stepped carefully, politely, one foot at a time.


    In his memories, Kei asked the girl a question. What if the thing you had to tell someone was sad?


    The girl answered. ¡ª I would devise a strategy to tell them. If I had to tell them no matter what, then I would use the right method, with the right words, and convey it to them in the right way.


    Kei had agreed with her in his mind. But then, what if you yourself couldn¡¯t understand the full meaning behind what you knew you had to tell them? Ultimately, he never asked her that question. And she died before he ever could.


    Kei stopped, having reached his destination. The staff room. He knocked first, then opened the door. In the room, seated in the closest chair to the second window down, was a teacher. He had particularly unruly hair, and sleepy looking eyes. His name was Tsushima Shintarou. He wasn¡¯t in charge of any of Kei¡¯s classes. He had previously taught a mathematics class to Kei, and was currently his club¡¯s advisor. Their relationship was a bit more familiar than just a homeroom teacher and student, you could say.


    The teacher turned Kei¡¯s way and smiled, ¡°Yo.¡±


    Kei walked up to him, and answered in a low voice.


    ¡°I have a message for you.¡±


    ¡°Ah, who could it be from?¡±


    ¡°The you of yesterday.¡±


    Tsushima frowned as he brought his coffee cup up to his lips.


    ¡°The MacGuffin is going to be stolen.¡±


    That was the entirety of the message.


    It would¡¯ve been nice if it could make someone happy, but that wasn¡¯t very likely.

 Volume 1 - CH 1.1

    Chapter 1 ¨C Saturday Begins


    1 ¨C July 15th (Saturday) ¨C Starting Point


    Good morning, Kei!


    From your perspective, this was sent to you yesterday, July 14. Now now, don¡¯t give me that annoyed sigh. I know that surely, as youths living in the vibrant times of our first year of high school, yesterday is history, already worth being forgotten. But, from my point of view, it¡¯s still going on, and is of great importance.


    I¡¯d like you to take a moment and remember yesterday. Despite nearing the end of the rainy season, it was still an overcast, rainy, and dreary day. What¡¯s the weather like from your perspective, Kei? Oh, wait, let me make a prediction.


    The weather is¡­ clear skies.


    How about that? I was spot on, right? I¡¯m sure you¡¯re already tilting your head in confusion, thinking, ¡°How did he know that?¡± But I promise it was nothing too crazy. I read the weather forecast, you say? No, no, my friend, that¡¯s not it. There¡¯s a much simpler answer staring you in the face. Oh, you think I kicked my shoe up in the air and made my prediction based on which side it landed on? Truly, a brilliant mode of divination. That¡¯s because, all things equal, the shoe¡¯s center of gravity favors one side over the other. It¡¯s quite similar to buying a fortune slip on a New Year¡¯s shrine visit. The best methods of divination allow you to stack the odds in favor of your desired outcome. I, however, was capable of predicting the weather without having to risk my favorite sneakers getting dirty.


    Have your memories of yesterday surfaced yet? If so, I¡¯m sure things are clicking into place. You made a very important promise yesterday, remember? That¡¯s right, yesterday, from my perspective, you promised a lovely young lady that you would go out with her for tea on Saturday, July 15th.


    Truly, such a promise stokes the flames of jealousy in others¡¯ hearts. The world has showered blessings upon you. Everything is moving in your favor. Even the heavens themselves have cleared up for you. Unless, of course, your plan was to share an umbrella together, so you could walk side by side, your shoulders in almost constant contact.


    And so, to make sure that you don¡¯t oversleep, and don¡¯t have to rush out of your house with horrible beadhead, I¡¯m sending you this wakeup call.


    How about that? Aren¡¯t I just the greatest friend of all time?


    So that¡¯s how it is, Kei. Don¡¯t you think you should be getting up about now?


    ¡­So said the voice that Asai Kei woke up to. It was quite possibly the worst thing he could imagine hearing first thing in the morning.


    Kei hated alarm clocks. He preferred quieter starts to his day, and yet he had to deal with such an obnoxiously loud and rude awakening. Unfortunately, there was nobody for him to vent his anger to. That said, alarm clocks did have their good points. You could push the switch to turn it off, or choose not to set it in the first place. If it broke, then no matter how much it wanted to, it would not be able to continue its incessant ringing. Perhaps all of civilization should be structured that way. Technology that can¡¯t be stopped with a hammer is a threat to humanity.


    Kei frowned at the loud voice in his head, and hugged his comforter. The alarm clock beside his bed had yet to make a sound. The clock¡¯s hand was positioned just slightly before 8. While one couldn¡¯t call it early, it was still difficult to convince himself to get up.


    The noise that was bothering Kei was slightly more sinister than that of an alarm clock. This alarm had no off switch, and you couldn¡¯t hit it with something. He didn¡¯t even have a way to set the alarm. Even if he tried wearing earplugs, it wouldn¡¯t block out the noise.


    The familiar-sounding voice continued ringing in his head. Nobody else was in the room with Kei. It wasn¡¯t coming from outside his window, and of course it wasn¡¯t Kei himself producing it. Instead, the voice was echoing directly inside his head.


    The voice was correct in saying that Kei had promised to meet with a girl today, though it was missing some slight nuances. For example, the meeting had been arranged to begin at 10. He could have slept for an additional hour. As he considered closing his eyes once more, he heard a different voice. A girl¡¯s voice. It was slightly deep for a girl, perhaps even husky, yet comforting, like the touch of linen.


    And now, our one and only idol, Haruki Misora, will take the stage.


    ¡°Uhm¡­ Kei, have you woken up yet? You¡¯ll make sure not to be tardy, won¡¯t you?¡±


    And there you have it. She said it herself, she wants to spend even the smallest of moments longer with you, if possible. You wouldn¡¯t deny her such a wish, would you? Well, that¡¯s all from me¡ª


    She was right, being late was certainly in poor taste. Just thinking of how he had been late in meeting Haruki last Sunday gave Kei pangs of regret.


    Kei pushed his hands above his head, stretched his back out, and finally got out of bed, grabbing his cell phone. Looking through his contacts list, he selected the name Nakano Tomoki, and pressed the call button. For whatever reason, he counted the rings, and on the 14th ring, they finally answered.


    ¡°What do you want? Do you know what time it is?¡±


    It was the same voice that had just earlier been ringing inside his head. Although, having just woken up, it didn¡¯t sound quite as energetic.


    ¡°Just getting revenge on you for messing with my beauty sleep.¡±


    And with that as his only answer, Kei cut off the call. He pulled a bottle of oolong tea out the fridge and chugged it down while opening the curtains.


    The skies were bright and clear. The shrill cry of cicadas ran through the air. They compounded with Tomoki¡¯s boisterous voice, so Kei tried imagining Haruki¡¯s voice instead to cut them off.


    In the end, Kei decided to leave his room a little bit ahead of schedule.


    ?


    Sakurada is a town in the corner of Japan, facing the Pacific Ocean. It holds enough people to be considered a city, and about half of those people possess some sort of special ability. Each ability is wildly different, and while most want to keep their abilities secret, there are too many people to be able to keep the knowledge of their existence hidden. To put it simply, most residents just accept that Sakurada is a city of espers.


    Such were the things on Haruki Misora¡¯s mind, as she considered the rather normal morning that Sakurada was experiencing. Haruki had never lived in any other town than Sakurada. With that in mind, comparing it to other cities was mostly conjecture, but she figured that it was easy to forget about special abilities when faced with such an ordinary-looking town.


    It¡¯s easy to explain why so many people with special abilities are all gathered in Sakurada. Anyone who ever left Sakurada would immediately forget about their ability. Forgetting how to use an ability is essentially the same as not having one. No matter how many ability users left Sakurada, there was never news of abilities being used outside of it. Therefore, it stands to reason that ability usage is limited to Sakurada. Nobody could take their abilities outside of Sakurada.


    Generally speaking, most abilities are nothing earth-shattering. For example, Nakano Tomoki can transmit a voice message to any specified person and time period. On the other hand, there exist several dangerous abilities, and even the more docile abilities could become harmful in the wrong hands. In response, agencies were created to crack down on ability abuse. One such organization was the Administration Bureau, focused on the management of abilities and the handling of public issues regarding them.


    The Bureau does a good job. At least, on the surface. It isn¡¯t that there are no complaints, but at the same time, there aren¡¯t enough people riled up to lobby against them. Haruki couldn¡¯t remember a single front page headline or breaking news report about them, either. For a public institution, they¡¯re good enough at what they do.


    Perhaps thanks to that, the town of Sakurada was peaceful on July 15th, at 9:30 AM. At some unknown point, Haruki had even begun humming a familiar song. Perhaps I¡¯m in a good mood, she thought.


    Likely due to it being an early Saturday morning, there wasn¡¯t much traffic or people around. Although it had been raining through last night, the skies were bright and blue right now. The sunlight was strong, but not too hot, probably because the ground hadn¡¯t absorbed too much of the heat yet. It was a pleasant summer day.


    There were still, however, some things worth being concerned about. Perhaps she had gone too far in asking Nakano Tomoki to send a message to Kei yesterday. What if Kei was angry? She might never know, because Kei wasn¡¯t one to express his anger. That would be terrible. With no way to know, she could only look from the sidelines, forever wondering if he was upset or not.


    Haruki walked slowly and carefully, working her way around the many puddles. There was still plenty of time before their meeting. But all the other shops¡¯ shutters were closed, and she didn¡¯t feel much for taking a detour.


    After checking the time in front of the coffee shop that was her destination, she entered. Despite being fashioned as an old-style cafe, there was no bell on the door to ring as you opened it. That was probably one of the many reasons Kei liked this shop.


    There weren¡¯t many customers inside.  A man sat on the corner counter, reading a newspaper. A woman was resting her chin in her hands, staring at a watch she¡¯d removed from her wrist. Finally, there was a young man sitting with his back to Haruki, at a table for four. That was Asai Kei. He¡¯d already ordered a morning breakfast combo with buttered toast.


    She considered sneaking up to him and putting her hands in front of his eyes. For whatever reason, meeting with him on a weekend made her feel so much more excited than usual. But, before she could decide what to do, Kei raised his head and looked toward her.


    It was a little disappointing. But, she didn¡¯t let it show on her face. Haruki made her way to him, and offered a reserved greeting.


    ¡°Good morning to you.¡±


    He smiled and responded, ¡°¡®Morning.¡± A stereotypical exchange, like opening the door that someone knocked on.


    Haruki sat in the seat to his left. Such was Haruki¡¯s natural position. Kei took a bite of toast, swallowed, and opened his mouth once more.


    ¡°It¡¯s great that it¡¯s so sunny today.¡±


    When asked by the sleepy-looking part-timer, Haruki ordered her usual iced coffee.


    ¡°Do you really think so?¡±


    She nodded meekly, for no reason in particular. If asked why, she would say that it was because such an act suited Kei¡¯s tastes. It was the same reason behind her efficient speech mannerisms, short-length hair, and simple jeans and T-shirt attire.


    Kei smiled in that unique way of his, only bending the corners of his mouth.


    ¡°I do. Tomoki seems to think that the world is showering blessings upon us.¡±


    Now that she thought about it, Tomoki Nakano had in fact said that in his message yesterday. Kei must have heard it this morning.


    ¡°I apologize. I¡¯m sure it was quite irritating.¡±


    Kei tilted his head with an ambiguous expression.


    ¡°I certainly don¡¯t care for that ability of his. But at the same time, I can never think of a way around it. D¡¯you think it could count as A-Rank?¡±


    Abilities are evaluated based on various competence perspectives. Strength, for example, evaluates the brute force of one ability interacting with other abilities. If one user has a destructive ability, and another has a protective ability, then the destructive ability would rank higher on strength evaluation. The Bureau uses such methods to evaluate several aspects of abilities. That isn¡¯t to say that it¡¯s a great scale, though.


    A-rank is generally considered the highest rating. Some abilities outclass A-rankers so far as to be given an S-rank, but there¡¯s no consistent standard for giving an ability S-rank. Under the right circumstances, some A-rank abilities have an advantage over other S-rank abilities. Much like rock-paper-scissors, some abilities are given to win over others, and then others are in their own outside category. Another job of the Bureau is trying to control and understand abilities that slip through the cracks of standard categorization.


    ¡°But Nakano-kun¡¯s ability is only transmitting his voice. Surely you can¡¯t cause much harm with that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure. If he only sent five-second intervals of sound, he could stack 720 intervals in an hour. I don¡¯t think that would be healthy.¡±


    Kei brought his toast to his mouth as he spoke. The toast had so much butter that it swelled over the bread. Haruki didn¡¯t think that was very healthy, either. However, she doubted he¡¯d do anything about it if she pointed it out, so she left it alone.


    ¡°Do you really think he could use his ability that many times in succession?¡±


    By and large, abilities had a limitation of some kind. Whether it was the number of uses, meeting specifications, or something else entirely. As far as Haruki knew, there were no abilities that didn¡¯t have some sort of limitation. Therefore, Tomoki Nakano¡¯s ability must have had something to hold it back.


    ¡°Well, I dunno. Maybe he could. I wouldn¡¯t want to make him angry enough to find out.¡±


    Kei put his mouth on his coffee cup. Haruki wanted to retort that, even in that case, they could combat him with their powers¡ª but ultimately, she only gave a small nod. Saying that would only lead to a predictable response from him, and the conversation probably wouldn¡¯t go anywhere interesting.


    Haruki searched for an alternative conversation topic. Something simple, straightforward, boring even.


    ¡°By the way, I bought a wind chime recently. I found one in the shape of a cat.¡±


    Haruki was something of a collector of cat-shaped accessories. At any given time, you could see her black cat strap attached to her phone, but her closet back home was stuffed full of items she¡¯d built up. It was unexpectedly challenging to find cat merchandise.


    ¡°Oh, a wind chime, that¡¯s nice. Feels like I haven¡¯t heard one of those in a long time.¡±


    Kei closed his eyes momentarily, then opened them back up.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. The last time I heard one was two years ago. Feels a little nostalgic now.¡±


    ¡°Shall I lend you one? I own one that isn¡¯t cat-shaped.¡±


    ¡°I dunno. It¡¯s kinda nice to run into the sound of wind chimes unexpectedly. It makes me feel happy, like finding a rainbow by coincidence.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be wonderful if you could create a rainbow on demand? For example, an amusement park booth that you could visit. I¡¯d enjoy that.¡±


    ¡°I might like to visit that once myself. But, it wouldn¡¯t be the same if you always saw it in the same place. There¡¯s just something about glancing up and happening upon a rainbow.¡±


    Haruki didn¡¯t completely agree, but could understand his logic. Perhaps. Haruki¡¯s iced coffee was brought over, and she poured plenty of milk in. She didn¡¯t use any syrup.


    ¡°It would be unfortunate to be a rainbow that disappears before anyone notices you.¡±


    Like wind chimes that didn¡¯t reach anyone¡¯s ears, a clock that ticked away in the back of a drawer, or a billboard that flashed and spun without anyone seeing. It was sad to see work go unappreciated.


    ¡°Unless you think about it in a different way. Maybe the rainbow is happy by itself, wrapped up entirely in its own beauty.¡±


    Kei smiled as he responded, picking up his coffee cup.

 Volume 1 - CH 1.2

    At the sound of the door opening, Asai Kei checked the shop¡¯s clock. 9:55. Exactly five minutes before the agreed meeting time.


    Kei stood up and turned around, facing the entrance. Haruki also stood from her seat beside him. A girl wearing red glasses entered, having just pushed open the door.


    After glancing around the shop with serious eyes, she walked up to the two of them.


    ¡°Are you Murase-san?¡±


    At Kei¡¯s question, the girl scrunched her eyebrows and gave the tiniest of nods. Her face was unmoving, but he couldn¡¯t tell if it was from nervousness or caution. Kei made an effort to smile warmly.


    ¡°Pleased to meet you. My name is Asai Kei. This is Haruki Misora.¡±


    The girl, that is, Murase Youka, seemed to be doing her best to smile in response. Her face was still as stone, but her cheeks lifted slightly. Her eyes, however, glared harshly at them from behind her lenses. Kei wondered if there was a hidden meaning to her gaze, but decided not to harbor suspicions of someone he just met. He instead focused on keeping his smile up.


    ¡°I am Murase Youka. Tsushima-san directed me to the two of you.¡±


    Tsushima Shintarou is a teacher at Ashiharabashi High, the school Kei and Haruki attend. He also happens to be a member of the Administration Bureau. All schools in this city have a Bureau representative among their staff. It¡¯s much akin to how one should hire a qualified professional for the nurse¡¯s office. Abilities can cause any number of problems in a school setting, and nobody wants to be caught unprepared in such a scenario.


    Kei and Haruki had come here upon Tsushima¡¯s demand. But as far as the girl was concerned, they only were given her name and age. Evidently, she was one year older than them.  She was likely a year above them in school, although Kei didn¡¯t know which school she attended.


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m not really sure what to do here,¡± Murase muttered.


    Kei responded with a chuckle. ¡°Well, honestly, neither do we.¡±


    It was rare to receive inquiries from anywhere other than Tsushima directly. For now, Kei requested that they all sit down. He had thought it would be bad manners to greet her while sitting, which was why he previously stood up, but since then had not been able to find a good opportunity to sit back down.


    A clerk came over to take Murase¡¯s order, and she simply responded, ¡°Coffee.¡± Kei took the opportunity to order an ice cream.


    Once the clerk left, Murase asked a question in a low voice.


    ¡°Are you a high-school student, Asai-san?¡±


    ¡°That I am. A first year.¡±


    ¡°Why are you assisting the Administration Bureau?¡±


    Kei gave a vague smile at her question.


    ¡°Because of the club I joined.¡±


    ¡°The Service Club?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the one.¡±


    The Ashiharabashi Service Club. Every school within Sakurada has a club by the same name. Similarly, the Bureau liaison staff always serves as its advisor.


    The Bureau keeps close surveillance on those with special abilities. While technically all abilities are special, the Bureau keeps a closer eye on those with particularly dangerous abilities.


    Joining a Service Club is one way of helping soften said surveillance. The Bureau assigns jobs according to the abilities of the club members, which are overseen by the advisors, and requires detailed reports on their activities and progress. Club members can follow a template to file and submit their reports, and could show their trustworthiness in following the process, which offers some unique freedoms.


    ¡°I think the name is somewhat distasteful.¡±


    ¡°The name?¡±


    ¡°Calling it a Service Club.¡±


    ¡°You think so? I quite like it.¡±


    Kei¡¯s answer created a lull in the conversation. Murase seemed to be searching for her next words. Kei gave her a moment to collect her thoughts, then asked his own question.


    ¡°How about you explain your situation to us? What exactly is it you want us to do?¡±


    ¡°You mean you don¡¯t know anything?¡±


    Her voice was forceful, with a hint of displeasure. She corrected herself with, ¡°Was the situation not communicated to you?¡± Her mannerisms suggested she wasn¡¯t used to speaking politely to others.


    Kei had only received a basic outline of her request.


    ¡°In my understanding, you were looking for a lost cat. However, in that case, I would think there would be several people more qualified for such a task.¡±


    ¡°I heard you two were experts at finding lost things.¡±


    That was more or less true, depending on when the item in question was lost.


    ¡°When did you lose track of your cat?¡±


    ¡°About a week ago.¡±


    That was far too long ago. They could have helped if the cat had only been lost since noon three days ago, however.


    Murase¡¯s eyebrows lowered, a dark shadow crossing her face.


    ¡°But, the cat isn¡¯t lost. I found it just yesterday morning, in a nearby neighborhood, on the side of the road.¡±


    ¡°Then, what is it you need from us?¡±


    ¡°When I found the cat, it had already gone cold.¡±


    What a horrid expression. ¡ª It had already gone cold.


    ¡°A traffic accident?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    The true nature of the request was becoming more obvious. But, in that case, why had Tsushima-san described it as ¡°searching for a cat¡±?


    Kei moved his eyes back towards Murase, noticing that her gaze had not budged. Her eyes held the same glare from before. Ever since she had taken her seat, the look in her eyes had not changed one bit. Her face may have expressed different emotions, but her eyes stayed focused, looking straight ahead. They neither looked down in defeat, nor up in admiration. Those eyes would never find a rainbow.


    Murase spoke again, her tone forceful.


    ¡°In short, I want you to revive my dead cat.¡±


    A difficult request indeed. To Kei¡¯s knowledge, nobody in Sakurada possessed the ability to raise the dead, be it humans or cats. But this was undoubtedly a request tailored for Kei and Haruki.


    ¡°I understand.¡±


    ¡°You can do it?¡±


    ¡°No. What we can do is make it as though it had never died.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    Murase didn¡¯t smile. Neither did relief show in her expression. But her eyes kept their glare, challenging them.


    Kei answered her question with another question.


    ¡°Why do you want to save this cat?¡±


    ¡°I just want my pet back. Is that not enough?¡±


    ¡°No. That¡¯s quite enough.¡±


    Kei was in no position to refuse a commission from Tsushima-san in the first place.


    He turned to his side, acknowledging Haruki. She seemed to have no interest in Murase¡¯s story, simply fiddling with the black cat strap hanging from her phone. Just as usual. Negotiations were always left solely to Kei.


    He almost let out a sigh, but swallowed it at the last moment. He turned back to Murase, fixing his face into a serious expression.


    ¡°Are you prepared to sacrifice three days of the world¡¯s time for your cat?¡±


    It was a meaningless question. Kei was only asking out of his own personal interest. She would forget about the whole conversation soon enough, anyway.


    Murase scrunched her eyebrows.


    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡±


    ¡°You may lose today, yesterday, and the day before for this cat. Do you have the resolve to make everyone in the world live out those days a second time?¡±


    Murase seemed to be in thought for some time. In that span, the clerk brought over their requested coffee and ice cream.


    After waiting for the clerk to walk away, Murase gave a straight answer.


    ¡°I do.¡±


    Kei took a single bite of his ice cream.


    ¡°Alright, then please tell me everything about this cat.¡±


    According to Murase Youka, the cat was originally a stray. She had picked it up about half a year ago. It was a kitten back then, but had grown quickly. It was a male moggy. His name was Mike.


    Murase had taken several pictures of the cat with her cell phone. Kei gave her his e-mail address and asked for a few pictures. He received a picture of a blue-eyed cat with dirty gray fur and a crooked tail, eating in the shade of a telephone pole. He didn¡¯t seem very friendly, but looked charming nonetheless. Yesterday morning, he had been hit by a car in a neighborhood nearby, and died. Murase found him at around 9:15 that morning. He was in front of a bread bakery.


    After finishing her story, Musare bowed, stood, and left with, ¡°I¡¯ll leave it to you.¡± Her untouched cup of coffee remained on the table.


    ¡°What will we do?¡±


    Haruki finally looked up at Kei with a question.


    Kei scooped his melting ice cream into his mouth as he answered.


    ¡°We¡¯ll save the cat, of course. It was a formal request, and I like cats. We don¡¯t have any reason to refuse her.¡±


    If all went well, the cat would be alive once more, and the girl¡¯s harsh glare might even betray some happiness. The Ashiharabashi Service Club would gain more acclaim, and their club budget could go up. The club budget in this case was more like part-time payment. As long as you ¡°accidentally¡± cut up your expense receipts, there was a pretty good degree of freedom in expense claims.


    Haruki noisily slurped down the rest of her iced coffee, then spoke.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you find this request even a little bit strange?¡±


    ¡°Strange how?¡±


    ¡°The contents, for starters. Unless the death of the cat had to do with an ability, the Bureau has no reason to care about it. Don¡¯t you agree?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right.¡±


    The Administration Bureau only acted in response to problems created from abilities. Otherwise, there would be far too much to handle.


    ¡°Not to mention that this happened far too recently for them to put in a request under normal circumstances.¡±


    ¡°Mhm. I think so, too.¡±


    The instructions to meet with Murase had come from Tsushima yesterday at lunch break. According to Murase¡¯s story, her cat had been run over just yesterday morning. In a few short hours, Murase had contacted the Bureau, received permission for an official investigation, and obtained a relay with Tsushima. That was abnormally fast compared to the usual process.


    ¡°So, what will we do?¡±


    Haruki repeated her question.


    ¡°We¡¯ll save the cat, of course.¡±


    Kei repeated his answer. Although this time, he left out the rest. It was quite possible this was not a formal request. What if she had gone directly to Tsushima without contacting the Bureau? It wasn¡¯t impossible that she already knew him through attending Ashiharabashi High. Not even Kei knew the names of every student in the school. If Tsushima had placed this request privately, then everything Haruki pointed out would make sense. The timing would be perfectly reasonable.


    Thinking critically, there were other aspects to consider. But at the same time, knowing everything wouldn¡¯t necessarily make Haruki feel better. Besides, she rather liked how Kei¡¯s gut response to the request was, ¡°I want to save the cat.¡± It was nice.


    Haruki nodded gently. Her movements betrayed no emotion. Then, she spoke.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s go to the festival tonight.¡±


    Changing the subject abruptly was a specialty of Kei¡¯s, but Haruki had taken to it recently as well.


    ¡°Festival?¡±


    It certainly was that time of year, thinking about it. There was always a festival in mid-July signaling the beginning of summer vacation. Such was the progression of summer in Sakurada.


    ¡°Okay. Tonight should work out just fine.¡±


    There was definitely something about this request they weren¡¯t being told. At the heart of it all was a cat that died yesterday.


    An innocent smile flitted across Haruki¡¯s face.


    ¡°With that decided, let¡¯s give our all to help this cat.¡±


    ¡°Mhm. We¡¯ll start by gathering information.¡±


    Their effective deadline was tomorrow morning. The cat would get into an accident by at least 9:15 AM. Kei¡¯s senses told him that he would have two days. Two days to find this cat.


    Haruki tilted her head.


    ¡°So, you¡¯ll ask The Index?¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯ll go for The Operator this time. I don¡¯t want to risk blowing things out of proportion by asking The Index.¡±


    After taking the last bite of his ice cream, Kei stood from his seat.

 Volume 1 - CH 1.3

    After leaving the coffee shop, Kei instructed Haruki to find the bread bakery where the cat had been found. He figured that while she wasn¡¯t much for striking up conversations, she also wasn¡¯t so shy that she would run into problems asking around for the location.


    After seeing her off, Kei headed for a pay phone in the corner of the shopping district. It was easy to miss, since it had no booth, so he preferred it for privacy. Picking up the receiver, he inserted a coin and dialed a number from memory.


    Before long, he heard a voice.


    ¡°The number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please check the number, and¡ª¡±


    Kei hung up the phone and re-inserted the coin that rolled out, dialing the same number.


    ¡°The number you have dialed is no longer in service.¡±


    He repeated the process over and over again.


    ¡°The number you have dialed i¡ª¡± ¡°in service. Please che¡ª¡± ¡°and try again. The num¡ª¡± ¡°dialed is no¡ª¡± ¡°check the number, and try again.¡±


    The woman¡¯s voice continued to chide him.


    Kei repeated the movements again from muscle memory.


    ¡°The number you have dialed, is no longer¡ª¡±


    Finally, Kei heard a discrepancy. Despite having the same robotic tone, the timing of its sentences changed.


    ¡°in service¡ª¡±


    Kei spoke quickly.


    ¡°Asai here. I have to ask you something.¡±


    ¡°Please check the number, and¡ª¡± the voice was overlapped by three short, electronic sounds. Beep, boop, bop.


    ¡°and try again¡ª It¡¯s been a while, Kei.¡±


    The robotic voice responded. Kei let out a small sigh, though he made sure it wouldn¡¯t be heard on the other end.


    ¡°Can we quit it with this whole process already, please?¡±


    The process aside, Kei wanted to stop talking with a disembodied voice. Although he was more or less used to it now, he never enjoyed the feeling.


    ¡°Absolutely not. What if my identity was discovered through my voice?¡±


    Would that really make a difference? It¡¯s not like you¡¯re in the business of making friends.¡±


    ¡°What, so I¡¯m just some friendless loser to you? That hurts, I¡¯ll have you know.¡±


    In all honesty, Kei doubted that The Operator had anything along the line of close acquaintances, let alone friends. But then, the only times they met were through occasional chats on the phone, so for all Kei knew, they could have hundreds of friends.


    ¡°So, you do have friends?¡±


    ¡°Of course. You and Tsushima-san, for example.¡±


    ¡°Seems like I¡¯ll have to call again later to set that straight.¡±


    ¡°How rude! To think you would say that to someone as friendly as me.¡±


    Even joking around with that voice made Kei feel unsettled..


    Kei had no idea who was on the other end of the phone. Not their face, name, or even their gender. All he knew was that Tsushima had started calling them ¡°The Operator1¡± for convenience. What mattered was that this guy, or perhaps girl, was very good at gathering information, and was always willing to share it¡­ if the price was right.


    ¡°Moving on, I understand you¡¯re looking for a cat today?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct.¡±


    He2 had probably already grilled Tsushima about it. The Operator was a big fan of digging around where nobody asked him to. Perhaps he had been a puppeteer in his past life, given how much he enjoyed pulling strings3.


    ¡°I can introduce you to the residential cat expert. In exchange, I¡¯ll need three sets of both T-shirts and bedsheets, all pure white.¡±


    ¡°Just ask Tsushima-sensei for whatever you want later.¡±


    ¡°Hasn¡¯t Tsushima been getting on your case about that recently?¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay, T-shirts and bedsheets, got it.¡±


    Kei would deal with the billing himself later.


    ¡°Good. Transaction approved.¡±


    With just that, Kei¡¯s bank account would be debited for the cost of the items. The Operator had connections with the Bureau, so Kei didn¡¯t have to give his PIN. Kei tried not to think about the implications of that too hard, opting to push the conversation forward.


    ¡°So, who¡¯s this cat expert you were talking about?¡±


    ¡°Non¨­ Seika. She¡¯s your age and in the same grade, but attends a different school. Her ability allows information transfer, much like you. Her ability is limited to cats, though. I doubt anyone else in Sakurada knows and loves cats more than her.¡±


    This girl sounded incredibly convenient, whoever she was.


    ¡°Where do I have to go to find her?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, on a weekend, she¡¯ll most likely be at Kamisaki Shrine. Lots of cats like to gather there and nap.¡±


    Kamisaki Shrine was incidentally where Kei had just promised he¡¯d take Haruki for the festival tonight.


    The Operator continued with an amused lilt.


    ¡°Any more services I can provide you with?¡±


    ¡°I want everything you have on her.¡±


    ¡°More than happy to help out a friend. Non¨­-san attends Ooyama High, and spends all her free time at the shrine. She¡¯s known to skip class fairly often, but she¡¯s smart enough about it that she won¡¯t be held back a grade. Also, due to the people she knew growing up, she doesn¡¯t talk much like other girls her age. She never bothered bridging the communication gap, so her relationships with her peers are rather strained.


    ¡°An interesting detail. I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±


    ¡°I could tell you where she lives, but we don¡¯t want to break the law, now do we?¡±


    That knowledge would likely cause more problems than it would solve. Just knowing where she went to school gave Kei plenty of wiggle room.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s necessary. Thank you for your help.¡±


    ¡°Mhm. Oh, and Kei, just one more thing for the road.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Do you know what a MacGuffin is?¡±


    A MacGuffin? It was certainly familiar. Just two weeks ago, Tsushima had used him to send the message, ¡®The MacGuffin is going to be stolen.¡¯ He couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of it.


    ¡°Tsushima-sensei seems more informed than me on that.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s inconvenient. The thing is, I was specifically told not to ask you about it. But I just couldn¡¯t keep my curiosity down.¡±


    ¡°If they tell you not to ask, then don¡¯t ask.¡±


    ¡°But they were so specific about it. How could I resist?¡±


    Talk about circular reasoning. But admittedly, it was strange. Tsushima was going out of his way to keep it under wraps.


    Maybe there really was something bigger to this MacGuffin.


    ¡°So, you really don¡¯t know?¡±


    ¡°I know the dictionary definition, and could tell you some myths that use one. But for this specific instance, I really don¡¯t know anything. Sorry, that¡¯s all I got.¡±


    With a curt farewell, Kei hung up. When the receiver dropped down, his coin ejected, like all the times before. Kei once again had to question the legality of these calls, since they never registered for payment. It made him uncomfortable, so Kei immediately turned and headed for the bakery, leaving the coin in the return box. A pretense of justice was better than none at all.


    By the time Kei had caught up with Haruki to check her progress, she was holding a bag bearing the logo of the bakery they were searching for. He figured she had done her part. The bag turned out to contain cream-filled buns.


    ¡°Please, have one.¡±


    Kei accepted the proffered bun and bit into it. A heavy and rich custard cream spread throughout his mouth. It was very sweet. He liked sweet things, though, so that wasn¡¯t a problem.


    He swallowed, then spoke.


    ¡°How did things go?¡±


    ¡°The clerk claims that they didn¡¯t see the accident, but they vaguely recall the sound of brakes screeching.  They said it was probably somewhere around 8 or 9 AM, but they weren¡¯t certain.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    Kei nodded in response. Murase claimed to have found the cat at 9:15, so the times lined up.


    ¡°What shall we do next?¡±


    ¡°The Operator pointed me to a girl who loves cats. From what I heard, her ability should be quite useful to us.¡±


    Kei checked the time on his phone. 11:22. They were running out of time. He wanted to meet this Non¨­ Seika in the time of ¡°today¡±, if possible. He decided to quickly head to the shrine she was said to always be at.


    Kei made his way through the shopping district with Haruki. As they walked, he could tell that she was interested in his conversation with The Operator, so he gave her the play-by-play. After hearing through to the end, she looked up at his face, tilting her head to the side.


    ¡°What is this MacGuffin?¡±


    ¡°Wish I could tell you.¡±


    No matter how he looked at it, Kei couldn¡¯t find a link between a MacGuffin and finding this cat.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know what it is, either?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s less that I don¡¯t know, and more that I¡¯m not sure how to explain it.¡±


    He had read a paragraph or two regarding the topic in the past..


    ¡°A MacGuffin is like¡­ like a trap to catch lions in Scotland.¡±


    ¡°Scotland?¡±


    Kei nodded. Haruki¡¯s confusion was understandable, since it sounded like a random example.


    ¡°The catch is, there aren¡¯t any lions in Scotland.¡±


    Haruki¡¯s well-shaped eyebrows bent inwards.


    ¡°Is this some sort of trivia quiz?¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s not what I¡¯m going for. The idea is, a MacGuffin is a tool that would otherwise be useless, which gets you out of a specifically created problem.


    Haruki thought it over for a few seconds, before resigning with an ¡®I don¡¯t really get it¡¯ in her typically frank manner. Kei knew he had explained it poorly, so he gave it another try.


    ¡°A MacGuffin is typically movie or theater terminology. When the protagonist is given an item that kicks off the plot, like a pointless trinket or a letter full of nonsense writing, they call that a MacGuffin.¡±


    ¡°What does that have to do with a Scottish lion trap?¡±


    ¡°That was a story Alfred Hitchcock told to illustrate what a MacGuffin is.¡±


    ¡ª One man says, ¡®What¡¯s that package up there in the baggage rack?¡¯ And the other answers, ¡®Oh that¡¯s a MacGuffin.¡¯ The first one asks ¡®What¡¯s a MacGuffin?¡¯ ¡®Well,¡¯ the other man says, ¡®It¡¯s an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands.¡¯ The first man says, ¡®But there are no lions in the Scottish Highlands,¡¯ and the other one answers ¡®Well, then that¡¯s no MacGuffin!¡¯


    ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t really get how this all connects. MacGuffin is just a nonsense word to begin with.¡±


    MacGuffin was really just a byword. The title of MacGuffin was meant to be given to something else, like a prop used in the story. ¡®The MacGuffin is going to be stolen¡¯ would never be said under normal circumstances. It would only make sense within the realm of meta commentary, where the author considers their own story.


    ¡°Maybe MacGuffin is a codeword or something.¡±


    If he knew what it meant, would that make him the protagonist? What kind of crazy story could involve jumping through all these hoops? It was starting to give him a headache.


    Having been fully engaged in the conversation, Kei finally noticed they had reached the shrine they were heading for. Preparations for the night¡¯s festival were well underway, and various stalls for takoyaki, goldfish scooping, cotton candy, and more were lined up by the dozen. Most were still under construction, but some were already open to the public, leading to higher foot traffic than one would normally expect at a shrine.


    ¡°I thought we would be coming here later tonight,¡± Haruki grumbled beside Kei.


    She wasn¡¯t much for making faces, but Kei could¡¯ve sworn he saw a glimmer of dissatisfaction. She was definitely doing it on purpose, too.


    ¡°We¡¯ll still be coming here later. How about I buy you a candy apple to tide you over?¡±


    ¡°No. It¡¯s only noon, I mustn¡¯t eat one now.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s gonna taste the same no matter what time you eat it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not true at all. A candy apple is the most delicious precisely when you eat it at night during a festival. It would be wrong to go out of my way to eat one in the daytime.¡±


    She was right, the things being sold here probably got most of their value from their festival attachment. After all, candy apples were never up for sale in the supermarket. With that in mind, Kei decided to hold back on the mini castella cakes for that evening as well.


    When he nodded in assent, Haruki smiled and remarked, ¡°We had this same conversation last year.¡±


    Sure enough, she was right. He could remember every word.


    ¡°On the other hand, if you¡¯re buying, then I¡¯ll gratefully enjoy a candy apple.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s save it for tonight. We don¡¯t have the time to spend on that right now, and there are still cream buns left.¡±


    Even as he said that, Kei¡¯s senses told him that the time called ¡°tonight¡± wouldn¡¯t be coming for a much longer time.


    The pair quickly walked through the assorted stalls, glancing back and forth, before making their way up the flight of stairs leading to the shrine proper. Kei hadn¡¯t been here in quite some time, probably about a year. He could¡¯ve recalled the exact number of days if he wanted, but that would be pointless.


    The atmosphere was much calmer atop the steps. Despite the number of people visiting the stalls, it wasn¡¯t the typical time for going to a shrine. Still, likely due to the festival, things were slightly more lively than he recalled from his last visit. But also just as he recalled, there were no girls sleeping with a group of cats.


    ¡°Is it possible she didn¡¯t come here today?¡±


    ¡°I suppose so.¡±


    ¡°Shall we search around a little longer?¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡± Kei nodded in response to Haruki¡¯s question, still sweeping the area, when he happened upon a calico cat.


    Kei walked closer to it. The cat seemed to be deciding between staying in place and running away. Before it could decide, Kei spoke to it.


    ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯m looking for a Non¨­ Seika-san.¡±


    It was a little embarrassing to talk to cats at his age, but he had been told that Non¨­ Seika¡¯s ability let her transfer information using cats. It was worth testing if this cat could signal Non¨­ somehow, or do something else unexpected.


    The cat began walking away disinterestedly. Kei could¡¯ve accepted that as a sign of failure, but he didn¡¯t want to give up yet. He continued speaking to the retreating back of the cat.


    ¡°I¡¯m looking for information about a cat that was in a traffic accident yesterday. He died in front of a bakery in the shopping district. We want to do everything we can to save him.¡±


    The cat suddenly stopped, turned around, and stared Kei in the face. The cat¡¯s eyes were unreadable. In fact, getting stared at like that by a cat made Kei feel judged.


    ¡°Please.¡±


    As Kei bowed his head, the cat walked up to Kei¡¯s feet. It sat down, then gently and purposely pawed at his calf twice before turning around and walking in the direction of the shrine.


    Haruki spoke up. ¡°Do you think it wants us to follow?¡±


    ¡°I sure hope so, or I just made a fool of myself for nothing.¡±


    The cat walked forward confidently, without looking back, so Kei and Haruki followed behind so as not to lose it. Kei checked the time again. 12:46. They were really cutting it close now.


    The cat walked towards the back of the shrine, which faced the mountains. The path led to an aging stone staircase, which was narrow and weathered like an old tombstone. The stone was so old that it was sun-bleached white and rounded from erosion.


    The cat quickly stepped up the stairs, with Kei and Haruki in tow. Cicadas chirped as the sunlight shifted through the swaying trees. Eventually, the stone steps wore away, no longer assisting their ascent up the weed-ridden hill. The fresh grass felt good under Kei¡¯s shoes, to the point that he internally chided himself for getting distracted in their circumstances.


    Eventually, the cat broke into a dash. At the top of the hill was a shrine much smaller than the one they were just at. Many more cats lazily spread themselves around the area.


    There, atop the steps in the center of the shrine, sat a young girl with her eyes closed. Her skin was a pale white.


    ¡°Non¨­-san?¡±


    When Kei called her name, the girl slowly opened her eyes. She responded with, ¡°Good morning.¡±


    She looked Kei directly in the eyes. Kei noticed that all the cats surrounding her were also looking his way.


    ¡°Did someone really get into an accident yesterday?¡±


    Kei nodded.


    ¡°He was a cat with gray fur, blue eyes, and a crooked tail, owned by a girl named Murase Youka.¡±


    Non¨­ closed her eyes once more. Kei checked the time. She was already staring at him again by the time he moved his gaze back up.


    ¡°Since when?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°When did this Murase become his owner?¡±


    ¡°About half a year ago.¡±


    Non¨­¡¯s eyes immediately lost all interest, and she looked away.


    ¡°There is no such cat in Sakurada.¡±


    What a preposterous claim.


    ¡°Surely you don¡¯t mean to tell me that you know every cat in Sakurada.¡±


    ¡°And why couldn¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°Nobody could possibly keep track of all that information.¡±


    As long as new books continued to be written, it would be impossible to read every book in the world. It would similarly be impossible to keep track of every new cat being born every moment of every day. It wouldn¡¯t be humanly possible to know just the number of cats currently in Sakurada, let alone all the details about them.


    But Non¨­ retorted without missing a beat. ¡°You just can¡¯t understand how to think in cat time. Things impossible within human time can be done inside cat time. Of course, the same is true in reverse.¡±


    Cat time? Kei couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine such a concept. But Sakurada was a town of infinite impossibilities within its abilities. Kei needed to allow a margin of error in his understanding, because there was no time for doubts. He decided to shift gears, and began trying to accurately and efficiently tell Non¨­ the story as he knew it.


    ¡°Take a look at this. Yesterday morning, this cat was run over in front of a bakery.¡±


    He pushed his cell phone towards Non¨­, displaying the picture of Mike that he had received from Murase. She reluctantly looked at the phone, before muttering to herself in a quiet voice.


    ¡°I suppose I haven¡¯t seen him in a while.¡±


    ¡°It is true that the accident occurred. At least, that¡¯s what I was told.¡±


    ¡°So, if it really did happen, how do you plan on saving him?¡±


    ¡°Her ability can make that possible.¡±


    Kei turned the attention to Haruki. She seemed disinterested in the conversation, but noticing that she had become the center of attention, she held out a cream bun.


    ¡°Would you like one?¡±


    Non¨­ paused, then shook her head. ¡°No, thank you. Instead, next time you come by, bring the cream puffs from Sangatsudou in front of the train station.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡±


    Kei quickly responded, trying to speed things along. Time was of the essence. It was already 12:55.


    ¡°I need you to tell me everything you can about the cat, where he was and what he was doing in the last three days. If you can tell me that, I can definitely save him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t just know all that. But, I can try and find out.¡±


    ¡°Then, please try. I promise it¡¯s all for him.¡±


    Non¨­ furrowed her eyebrows slightly. She was probably trying to make a face at him, though it was hard to tell.


    ¡°I must say, I¡¯m a bit worried. How can I trust you, a man stuck walking in the footprints left behind by a young girl?¡±


    Kei swallowed back an exasperated yell. He had no idea what she was talking about. He forced his brain into overdrive, and figured she must¡¯ve gotten the wrong idea about Haruki.


    ¡°You¡¯re wrong. Kei and I walk together, side by side.¡±


    Haruki herself denied it, but Non¨­ didn¡¯t react, to the point that she may not have heard it at all.


    ¡°Hm, I see. Is this Murase a girl with red glasses?¡±


    ¡°She is. Do you know her?¡±


    ¡°You could say that, I suppose. Just a moment.¡±


    Non¨­ closed her eyes once more, her body relaxing into the stairs. Kei stared at his cell phone¡¯s display, watching the moments tick by. Nearly a minute later, she re-opened her eyes.


    ¡°Can¡¯t sleep.¡±


    She what?


    ¡°You can¡¯t use your power unless you¡¯re asleep?¡±


    There were no abilities that didn¡¯t have some sort of limitation.


    Non¨­ scratched at her head with her pointer finger.


    ¡°Not exactly. The gist is that I have to separate myself from my own consciousness. It¡¯s really just that sleep is the quickest option.¡±


    This ability was anything but convenient. It needed activation time, and would be extremely easy to interrupt.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ll admit that this is basically your fault, right? You woke me up when I was sleeping so peacefully.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s an unfair way of putting it. I couldn¡¯t talk to you unless I woke you up.¡±


    ¡°Then you should just show up in my dream. How come you didn¡¯t do that?¡±


    ¡°Why would you just assume I¡¯m capable of that?¡±


    ¡°Dunno. Just a thought I had.¡±


    The conversation was starting to break down, but Kei steadied his emotions. He had learned just about everything he wanted to know, so the next best step was to use their time to confirm one important detail.


    Kei asked his final question.


    ¡°If you use your ability, can you learn where the cat is?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really know, since he¡¯s dead.¡±


    That didn¡¯t make a difference.


    ¡°What if he was alive? Would you know his current location?¡±


    ¡°Sure, I would. So he¡¯s alive?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    It seemed they would have no problems. This had turned out better than Kei had expected. He would have to thank The Operator later. If you had the right information, Sakurada always had the perfect ability for the job out there somewhere.


    Non¨­ closed her eyes yet again.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try a little harder to sleep. Why not sing me a lullaby?¡±


    ¡°Haruki.¡±


    Kei turned around to a puzzled Haruki tilting her head.


    ¡°You want me to sing?¡±


    ¡°Here¡¯s a song I like. I don¡¯t remember the name, but it goes¡­¡±


    Non¨­ hummed a tune. Hm, hm-hmm, hmmm-hm, hmmm.


    Haruki stared at Kei, searching for words.


    ¡°Do you really want me to sing?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to sing.¡±


    Kei checked the time. 12:58:47. It wasn¡¯t safe to risk any more.


    ¡°Reset.¡±


    Just one word.


    With that alone, the last three days were wiped from existence.


    End of Chapter 1


    1The Japanese for this designation is ·Ç֪ͨ¤¯¤ó, or ¡°Hitsuuchi-kun¡±. ¡°Hitsuuchi¡± is a term referring to a withheld-number phone call, designed to hide caller identity and prevent call logs. I removed the honorific as this is a title rather than a proper name, and opted for ¡°The Operator¡± as a reference to phone call management. I also found it more efficient than a longer name like ¡°The Unknown Caller¡±.


    2From this point forward, the referential pronoun for The Operator is ±Ë, ¡°kare¡±, which is a direct ¡°he/him.¡±


    3The original noun Kei uses to describe them is ü\Ä»µÄ, Kuromakuteki, or ¡°black curtain master¡± which is in reference to ancient kabuki theater. It describes the person performing all the stage theatrics behind the black curtain, modernly used to refer to a mastermind pulling the strings in a place unseen.

 Volume 1 - CH 2.1

    Chapter 2 ¨C The Wednesday Incident


    1 ¨C July 12th (Wednesday) ¨C Three days ago


    ¡°July 12th, 12:59:12.¡± said Haruki Misora, holding her cell phone to her ear.


    A thin wooden box lay on the wall next to Asai Kei. Its label revealed it to hold ore samples. A celestial globe, imitation vellum crumpled into balls, and other boxes with unidentified contents were strewn about. The two students were on top of the stairway leading up to the roof. The door leading to the roof was locked, with the landing being used for the storage of old classroom materials. Kei was certain that it was out of sight and out of mind for the vast majority of the student body. As such, it was his location of choice for eating lunch with Haruki.


    Kei closed his eyes, trying to remember the last five minutes.


    Five minutes ago, he should have been eating lunch with Haruki. Perhaps he was drinking tea, or making some kind of small talk.


    But neither of those scenes were what flashed through his head. Instead, he was in the mountains, in front of an old shrine, chatting with a fair-skinned girl. He had never seen her before¡ª wait, she was Non¨­ Seika.


    Immediately, massive amounts of information burst into his head, in no logical order. Friday night¡¯s dinner, tonight¡¯s news broadcast, the conversation he would have with his classmate tomorrow after school. It included, of course, the request that would come in three days to save a particular cat. Kei remembered the next 72 hours of his life, up until 12:58:47 on July 15th, in the same span of time that he took a sharp inward breath.


    Kei held his forehead as the vertigo set in. Sharp pains stabbed the back of his head. When he opened his eyes, Haruki was looking his way. He gave her a meaningful smile.


    ¡°It would appear we¡¯ve reset.¡±


    Such is Haruki Misora¡¯s ability. It could be compared to rewinding time, but it¡¯s more accurately described as restoring the world to a specific point in time.


    Its effect is all-encompassing. Clocks, the sun, people¡¯s memories, and even the cat that died on the 14th would now be restored to the way they were on July 12th. Its range is incomparable to any other ability in Sakurada, affecting the whole world.


    However, as would be expected, her ability has a number of limitations.


    A reset can only be performed on events that are ¡°saved¡± in advance. Any save made will be lost after exactly 72 hours, and only the most recent save will be active at any one point in time. For example, if it had ever passed 12:59:12 on July 15th , this reset would have become impossible.


    The greatest caveat of a reset is that its effect also includes Haruki, meaning her memories are also restored to the point at which she had saved. She can¡¯t even remember if she has used her own ability. She remains doomed to the same decisions that led to her reset, unable to know why it happened, let alone that it ever did. While she contains a power like no other, it at the same time makes her uniquely powerless. Kei and Haruki became a team in order to solve this very problem.


    Asai Kei¡¯s ability lies in the perfect recreation of his past experiences, including all five senses. Anything that he has experienced once is permanently remembered.


    By itself, it isn¡¯t much more impressive than having a slightly better memory than the average person. But in the right circumstances, it becomes a most powerful skill. He has the ability to bypass Haruki¡¯s reset, and retain his memories of the world as it was. He can remember up to three days in the future.


    ¡°Today¡± now meant July 12th. Haruki had just made a save, as Kei had instructed her to make a new save every 72 hours when the previous one expired. And so, Kei found himself on July 12th, at 12:59:12.


    ¡°We lucked out on the timing for this one,¡± Kei remarked. They would be out of options if they had saved after the cat died.


    ¡°That¡¯s nice to hear.¡±


    Haruki¡¯s response was entirely detached.


    For one half of Sakurada, ability users were an anomaly, something special. For the other half, ability usage was simply part of life, as natural as breathing. There were slight exceptions in both categories, but Haruki was in a category of her own. She simply didn¡¯t care. Not about her ability, or anyone else¡¯s. That by itself wasn¡¯t strictly detrimental, as living without consideration for such things was arguably more normal. But Haruki¡¯s indifference was not limited to abilities. She held no interest in the world, with only a few minute exceptions. She lacked fundamental desires, and lived with little purpose.


    With an almost mechanical persistence, she asked her typical follow-up question. ¡°Why did we reset?¡±


    Making sure to keep up his smile, Kei responded, ¡°We met a girl named Murase Youka on Saturday under the instruction of Tsushima-sensei.¡±


    Kei had promised Haruki that he would never lie about the events leading up to a reset. To this day, he kept that promise to the letter. It would be far too easy to lie and manipulate his way through resets, and Kei didn¡¯t want to test those waters.


    He explained everything step by step. The request to save a cat from an accident, the start of their investigation, and the girl they met just before they reset.


    Once he finished speaking, Haruki gave a small nod. ¡°So, we have until Friday morning to save this cat?¡±


    ¡°Yup, that¡¯s what we know.¡±


    ¡°Does that mean we¡¯ll be going to meet this Non¨­?


    ¡°That¡¯s probably our best bet. Let¡¯s head to the shrine once school¡¯s out.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡±


    As they spoke, Kei unconsciously rubbed his forehead. Just as usual, remembering three days of information took a toll on him, and his throbbing headache hadn¡¯t subsided.


    Haruki leaned to the side, and peered into Kei¡¯s face.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    Haruki¡¯s typically expressionless face was colored with an almost motherly concern. Her eyebrows were reflexively furrowed. The sight made Kei break into his first genuine smile.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m just feeling a little tired-¡± Kei broke off his sentence with a large yawn. ¡°Too bad our lunch break will be over soon.¡±


    ?


    Haruki Misora returned to her classroom and sat down, nestling her cheek into her left hand. It was the perfect position to keep Kei¡¯s seat, normally diagonally to her right, in the center of her vision. He had chosen to spend the remaining 10 minutes of lunch break chatting with his friend, Nakano Tomoki.


    Haruki was stealthily eavesdropping on the two boys. They were discussing Schrodinger with very serious expressions. Haruki could only recall that Schrodinger was some kind of famous particle physicist, with a theory about a half-poisoned cat in a box, or something to that effect. However, the two boys weren¡¯t talking about the fine details of a minute science. Instead, they were heavily engaged in an argument over whether Schrodinger was a cat person or not. Nakano started it by claiming he wasn¡¯t, and Kei was hotly refuting him. Personally, Haruki had no investment in their squabble. But she still found herself silently rooting for Kei, a fellow cat lover.


    On the outside, Kei seemed to be fully enjoying their conversation. But, due to the nature of his ability, he had undoubtedly experienced the entirety of it three days ago. They had reset, after all, and it wasn¡¯t possible that he had forgotten.


    In fact, he was undoubtedly using his memory to perfectly recreate the scene as it happened the first time. Be it facial expressions, word choice, or the ebb and flow of conversation, he was likely hard at work reconstructing each minutia of detail down to a T. He considered it his responsibility. After all, changing any details to the slightest degree had a chance of altering the future, and Kei didn¡¯t want to change anything in his control.


    Kei¡¯s attention to these details extended outside of his social life as well. After a reset, he ensured that every way he lived his life matched the first timeline. He ate the same meals, slept and woke at the same times, and even listened to the same music. Even Haruki thought it a step too far that he would make sure the music he listened to in his personal time was exactly the same. But Kei was resolute in his desire to take no risks. He followed the script in his memory as perfectly as possible.


    Will I be the only one to notice what Kei does? Haruki thought. Nobody ever knew the lengths that Kei took every day. He would never be recognized for all his hard work.


    The nature of working with resets was inherently unjust. Something unfortunate would happen, and a request would be made, followed by a reset. Kei would stop the event before it ever happened, and the person who made the request would never know. They would simply take the good fortune and the happiness before them for granted, not knowing the difference. You can¡¯t be thanked when nobody knows what you did.


    Haruki found it absolutely horrible. Like a wind chime that went unheard, or a rainbow that was never seen. Kei¡¯s plight was more unfortunate, and much more obvious, than either of those.


    Why was it that Asai Kei chose this way of life?


    Was it strictly for his club? No, he could not be forced to accept requests on behalf of the club, so his participation was voluntary.


    Maybe if it wasn¡¯t for me, he wouldn¡¯t be seen as dangerous, Haruki thought.


    Indeed, Kei was only wrapped up with the Bureau due to Haruki¡¯s ability. Without his unique ability to persist through resets, he would be left alone. He could probably live a fairly normal high school life if he decided to separate himself from involvement in resetting.


    Why does he insist upon utilizing resets? Haruki couldn¡¯t help but pose the question, though the answer was plain to her.


    It was because that girl had died two years ago. The girl that Kei described as ¡° like a stray cat¡±. Haruki was inclined to disagree with that description, but respected Kei¡¯s judgment. Haruki didn¡¯t think of her as anyone special. However, she knew that the girl was someone special to Kei.


    At the time, the girl was fairly short for her age, yet quite slender. She was energetic and outgoing, with many friends, but was known for saying some very strange things on occasion. Perhaps she would have been described as eccentric. As far as Haruki was concerned, she wasn¡¯t all that different from other classmates, but she did talk to Haruki more often than most people, and did indeed say strange things from time to time. Then, two years ago, as summer was giving way to fall, she died.


    It was an accident. However, the accident was an outlier, as she died in a second timeline following a reset. Asai Kei had told Haruki Misora to reset, and that command led to the permanent death of someone special to him. His regret for that action traveled with him every day. It defined the person he had turned into.


    Perhaps he saw his current utilization of resets as a form of penance towards the ¡°stray cat¡± of a girl. Perhaps he wanted to save people with the very ability that killed her. He could be acting in solitude because he saw it as a personal responsibility, not for anyone else to get involved with. Had the girl¡¯s death ripped such a large hole in him that he was willing to fill it with even the life of a single cat?


    No, maybe that¡¯s not it, Haruki corrected herself. She didn¡¯t think he was the kind of person to equate values of lives and deaths. Shortly after her death, he had been searching for methods to resurrect her. The most obvious conclusion was that he had never given up on that goal. Sakurada was home to countless abilities, with more being generated every day. An ability that could revive the dead was more than possible.


    If Kei wanted to revive her, he probably would in the end. Of course, Haruki had no idea how, but she had never seen any of his plans fail in the end. There was no precedent for this situation, but there was a part of Haruki that believed Kei could do anything.


    Haruki would also be grateful if the girl was brought back. If she died from a reset, then that meant Haruki had killed her, in a way. She had probably cried for a long time over it when it happened. At least, she thought she did, but her memory of that time was strangely hazy. She must have cried, but it was hard to create a mental image of it. Perhaps there was some kind of problem with her memory. Regardless, her regret over that reset was baked into her mind. That she could not deny.


    As Haruki was lost in thought over the girl who died two years ago, she found herself fiddling with the cat strap attached to her phone. She shifted her gaze to Kei once more, and realized that a female classmate had inserted herself into the conversation between him and Nakano Tomoki.


    ?


    Minami Mirai was a girl who never stopped emoting. She had big eyes and a bigger mouth, never-ending energy, and no special ability. She was always toeing the line, wearing flashy accessories while trying to escape the ire of the school staff.


    Kei was busy arguing over Schrodinger¡¯s preferences when she interrupted with, ¡°Got a minute?¡± Just as he remembered, she put her hands on his desk, leaned in, and kept going without waiting for an answer.


    ¡°Are you free after school on Friday, Asai-kun?¡±


    Friday. The day that the cat would get caught in a traffic accident. Said accident took place in the morning, however, so his after school plans were currently empty. Kei responded according to his memory.


    ¡°Nothing planned at the moment. You need me for something?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve got some stuff for U-Lab.¡±


    Of course that was it. This wasn¡¯t the first time she had singled out Kei for U-Lab. The U stood for Unidentified, as in UFO, and the formal ¡°research society¡± was commonly shortened to ¡°lab¡±. The full name for the U-Lab was the Research Society of the Unidentified.


    Their name had to be breaking some kind of rule for proper research delegation. If something was already identified, then nobody would be researching it. You could call any research laboratory in the world a Research Society for the Unidentified if you wanted to.


    Minami kept up her comically large smile. ¡°Do you know about the Spirit Mountain, Asai-kun?¡±


    ¡°Only by name.¡±


    Spirit Mountain was a common nickname for Mt. Tsukube, the low mountain that Kamisaki Shrine was built under. It was a common mountain named in stories of ghost sightings, hence its nickname. It was even rumored to have been named with a more foreboding kanji in the past, but there was no historical evidence to back that up1.


    Following his memory, Kei responded, ¡°What¡¯s the deal with Spirit Mountain?¡±


    ¡°Did you know the rumors about a vampire living there?¡±


    ¡°No¡­¡±


    At least, he didn¡¯t know until July 12th, when Minami told him.


    ¡°Did you know, Tomoki?¡±


    ¡°Well, it sounds familiar. Wasn¡¯t that going around years back?¡±


    Minami quickly turned towards Tomoki, despite his disinterested answer. Her tied up hair swished back and forth in front of Kei¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°It¡¯s not just a rumor. There have been victims recently.¡±


    ¡°Victims of the vampire? Was he sucking their blood or something?


    ¡°Probably. There have been stories of people fainting at the base of the mountain.¡±


    ¡°What does that have to do with vampires?¡±


    Tomoki¡¯s interest was waning as fast as his patience. Kei also wanted to extricate himself from the conversation.


    Spirit Mountain this, vampires that. It was much easier to assume that it was the effect of one of Sakurada¡¯s many abilities. Sakurada could be considered one of the worst places to try and spread this type of horror story. If there was really something fishy going on there, the Bureau would investigate and put a stop to it. A calm and orderly investigation would set any spirits or vampires straight.


    ¡°Why would a vampire be in Spirit Mountain, anyway?¡± Kei posited.


    Vampires weren¡¯t ghosts, after all. The discrepancy was annoying.


    Minami folded her arms and turned her head towards Kei.


    ¡°Look, if you¡¯re gonna tell a horror story, you have to have both. Ghosts and vampires are both important for the atmosphere. Just think of it like a field day, but at night and for the graveyard, okay?¡±


    That made even less sense, but rumors were probably more believable when they were slightly less logical.


    ¡°So? You free on Friday, or not?¡± she repeated, poking out her index finger for emphasis. ¡°Friday night is the new moon cycle, so it¡¯s the perfect time to look for the vampire.¡±


    ¡°What difference does the new moon make?¡±


    ¡°Well, vampires are supposed to be strongest at the full moon, right? So, I think I could take him while he¡¯s weak during the new moon.¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t fight him,¡± Tomoki groaned.


    Seriously, don¡¯t, Kei agreed in his mind. Whatever was being called a ¡°vampire¡± up there was undoubtedly a skilled ability user, if they really did exist. It wouldn¡¯t be worth dealing with an ability so aggressive that it could be described as vampiric. Best to leave that up to the Bureau.


    ¡°Why do you want us anyway? Can¡¯t you just go with other people in U-Lab?¡± Kei asked. What good would the club be for otherwise?


    But Minami gave an exaggerated shake of her head. ¡°No can do. The president said that they had investigated before and found nothing, so they aren¡¯t willing to expend the manpower.


    Tomoki tucked his hands behind his head with a sigh.


    ¡°Of course they didn¡¯t find anything. It¡¯s just an old, out of circulation rumor.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t say that for certain. What if they were in hiding since then, and chose to come out just recently?¡±


    As Minami made her plea, the school bell rang.


    ¡°Just think about it, Asai-kun. You can bring Nakano-kun with you too, if that¡¯s what it takes.¡±


    Without waiting for a reply, Minami returned to her seat.


    ¡°Can we not?¡± mumbled Tomoki.


    Sifting through his memories, Kei recalled that he would formally decline her offer during Friday¡¯s lunch period. Tsushima had instructed him to meet with Murase, so he had prioritized keeping his Friday afternoon schedule empty. After all, it would be bad manners to show up half-awake and inattentive.


    Kei put his head down on his desk and closed his eyes, since the teacher was going to arrive five minutes late. Those five minutes would hardly count as quality sleep, but he could at least try to get some rest out of it.


    Whenever he closed his eyes after a reset, a particular memory always sprang forth. Although, perhaps that was the wrong way to word it. It was less that it sprang forth, and more that it never went away. It was a memory of the girl who had died two years ago.


    It was during their second year of middle school. The girl had a habit of asking Kei to join her on the school rooftop, specifically of the southern junior high building. Sometimes Haruki was up there, and other times it was just the two of them. Almost every time he went up there, she¡¯d be sitting in front of the fence, her slender face pulled up, peering into the southern sky. Kei never did figure out if there was something in that direction or if she was just posing that way for show.


    The girl always used a variety of strange metaphors and outlandish hypotheses in her conversations. Perhaps she found the world¡¯s vocabulary too limited to properly express her thoughts. Perhaps her true intentions and desires were incapable of being conveyed with the thickest of dictionaries. At least, that was why Kei thought that she resorted to metaphors and hypotheses rather than plain words.


    Following her typical format, she began.


    ¡°Let¡¯s imagine that the language you know and the words I speak are completely different,¡± she said, on a bright and sunny summer day.


    ¡°What good would imagining that do?¡± Kei asked in return.


    The girl looked up and squinted in the sunshine, as if tickled.


    ¡°It would help us understand each other, you could say.¡±


    ¡°Is that really necessary?¡±


    ¡°Necessary? I¡¯m not sure how to answer that. But we¡¯ve got nothing to do, so let¡¯s imagine. For all you know, it¡¯ll be interesting.¡±


    Kei couldn¡¯t think of a way out of it, so he nodded. It was embarrassing to remember, but he hated nodding back then, perhaps because he felt like he was weak for giving in to what other people wanted. Now, he knew that things didn¡¯t work that way.


    ¡°Fine. Whatever. So, the language I know isn¡¯t the one you speak, right?¡±


    ¡°Mhm. Now, despite that, can we still have a conversation?¡±


    He tried to consider it seriously. Normally, he would scoff at such a question, but the reason he didn¡¯t was that somewhere, deep in his heart, he held a deep respect for her. He never would have vocalized it, but looking back, it was obvious. He saw her as a much greater person than himself. Or at least, he wanted her to be.


    What if the words she spoke were from an entirely different language?


    Kei decided on his answer. ¡°We couldn¡¯t communicate. It wouldn¡¯t be a true conversation, just two people in their own one-sided conversation.¡±


    ¡°But, you were able to answer my question just now.¡±


    ¡°Because I understand the words you¡¯re saying.¡±


    ¡°Assume that you don¡¯t. What if even these very words were from a different language, one that just sounds very similar to the language you knew?¡±


    That¡¯s stupid. It¡¯s really just a trick question, Kei thought, frowning. Yet nonetheless, he thought things over again, using the framework of her suggestion.


    ¡°Raise your right hand,¡± he told her.


    Once she heard him, the girl put her right hand in the air. It was a very slender hand.


    ¡°Put it back down slowly.¡±


    Her hand slowly went back down.


    ¡°Even if it¡¯s another language, you still knew what I meant.¡±


    ¡°That was just a coincidence.¡±


    ¡°If even that much could be a coincidence, then we¡¯d never realize that we spoke different languages.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right. We would just continue to talk back and forth, when in reality, neither of us actually knew what the other was trying to say. We would be deceived by coincidence, having a completely unrelated set of exchanges.¡±


    Kei could hardly imagine anything more unfortunate than to be convinced that you truly understood someone, never realizing that nothing they said ever really got through to you.


    ¡°If that was the case, we definitely couldn¡¯t communicate. We would just be stuck in our own little worlds, self-satisfied with our personal conclusions.¡±


    As Kei replied, he considered that this ¡°imagination¡± may have been the girl¡¯s form of advice, or even warning. If you can¡¯t accept other people¡¯s words at face value, then you¡¯ll never truly be able to communicate with them. It was the perfect warning for someone in his position at the time. He was a very self-righteous person, no stranger to shutting others out on principle alone.


    However, as Kei considered the purpose behind their conversation, he couldn¡¯t help but feel disappointed. He wanted more from her than some cheap advice or filler conversation.


    Kei studied the girl¡¯s profile. She was staring up at the sky, like always, as she shook her head slightly. Then, she suddenly locked eyes with him, as if to catch him off guard.


    ¡°Despite all that, I believe in my ability to communicate with you.¡±


    Her tone was brazen and confident. She had always managed a natural air of quiet and composed confidence around herself.


    ¡°I may not know your language, and we may have misunderstandings. But even so, I believe that I could understand you, and you could understand me.¡±


    ¡°As if. That would take a miracle.¡±


    ¡°But you didn¡¯t know any languages when you were born. Are you saying that you¡¯ve never made a single mistake in language comprehension throughout your entire life?¡±


    Kei knew that wasn¡¯t true, and yet he couldn¡¯t force an answer out.


    The girl smiled. ¡°If miracles like that couldn¡¯t happen, then there would be no need for language in the first place.¡±


    It was a memory of a sunny summer day from two years ago.


    But it was hardly two weeks later that the girl died.


    1 Mt. Tsukube is initially written with the characters ¡°¾¡Þx¡±, the first meaning to run out of a resource with the implication of having used it all for one cause, and the second meaning ¡°border/boundary¡±. The second, rumored name replaces the first character with ¡°‘{¡± which is used for spiritual possessions or hauntings.

 Volume 1 - CH 2.2

    After school, Kei and Haruki went to the staff room together. Since they had reset, it was their responsibility to meet with Tsushima and begin filing a report over their request. The Service Club required detailed reporting regardless, but special attention was needed in their case due to the relationship between saves and resets. Since Haruki couldn¡¯t reset before creating another save, and a new save could not be made within 24 hours of a reset, Haruki¡¯s ability could not be relied upon within certain time periods. Thus, time-specific and intimately detailed reports were required for the Bureau to keep a handle on things, but also to help Kei keep their capability for request completion in check.


    Tsushima¡¯s desk was, as always, messy. An assortment of textbooks, workbooks, binders, folders, printouts, envelopes, cups of cold coffee, and even a book on dealing with truant kids was strewn about his small workspace. Tsushima used what little space remained to put up his arm and rest his chin in his hand, listening to Kei¡¯s report. Once Kei was finished, Tsushima responded with a brusque, ¡°Great, I¡¯ll just leave you to it.¡±


    Tsushima handing off his responsibilities was nothing new, but this time he even graced them with an excuse as for why.


    ¡°My teaching work has kept me busy lately. If any problems pop up, just come back to me and I¡¯ll do what I can.¡±


    Indeed, the business of teachers was a difficult concept for students to grasp. Even when final exams had all been finished and graded, he was still overburdened to this extent. Searching for a cat would surely remain in a low priority spot for him. He may as well have added that if the problem wasn¡¯t disastrous, he would prefer to be left alone.


    Kei and Haruki left school, with their first stop being Sangatsudou in the shopping district. Individual cream puffs were $1.50 apiece, so Kei made sure the receipt was labeled as a purchase for the Service Club.


    Putting them into a box filled with dry ice, they headed for the shrine. It was a bright, sunny day, and blue skies spread out as far as the eye could see. Kei knew that it was going to rain by the end of the night, however.


    ¡°How would you describe Non¨­-san?¡±


    Kei considered Haruki¡¯s question for a moment. ¡°She¡¯s an extremely relaxed girl. I guess, if you were to compare her to a cat, she¡¯d be less of an adorable kitten and more of a stylish queen. It¡¯s kinda a bummer though, she doesn¡¯t add ¡®nyan¡¯ to the end of her sentences.¡±


    ¡°Would you prefer that she did?¡±


    ¡°Prefer what?¡±


    ¡°Using cat speech.¡±


    ¡°Oh, for sure. It¡¯s pretty cute,¡± he said jokingly.


    ¡°Wonderful weather we¡¯re having today, nyan.¡±


    She even said it with a straight face. He had to reign it in quickly, before something even more embarrassing could happen.


    ¡°Uh¡­ um¡­¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, nyan?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I lied. I¡¯m begging you, please talk normally.¡± He needed to be honest and efficient, or it might not go away. Who knew what kind of rumors could spread around if he didn¡¯t nip this in the bud.


    ¡°Oh, really? Understood,¡± Haruki nodded placidly.


    ¡°You should hold yourself in higher regard.¡± Kei truly believed that, from the bottom of his heart.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you mean by that, but if it¡¯s what you want, I¡¯ll try to work on it.¡±


    ¡°I want you to do it for yourself, not for me.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t make a lot of sense sometimes.¡±


    Her situation was quite serious, but the last thing Kei wanted to do was rush her into a half-hearted change, so he decided to drop it for now. Besides, they had a cat to find.


    They traveled around the back of the shrine, and climbed the stone steps. They encountered a calico cat who seemed to be taking a leisurely walk. Kei considered Non¨­¡¯s comment about cat time and its strange implications.


    Non¨­ sat atop the steps with her eyes closed. It was as though time had stopped. She looked just as she did three days in the future, what felt to Kei like only a few hours ago. He had a second opportunity to meet her for the first time.


    ¡°Non¨­-san.¡±


    Upon raising his voice, the girl¡¯s eyes soundlessly opened.


    ¡°And you are?¡± She spoke bluntly, looking directly at Kei. Her eyes held no feeling. Kei introduced himself and Haruki, followed by an explanation of what had happened three days in the future.


    Non¨­ furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. ¡°So, you claim to know the future?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s about what it comes down to.¡±


    Technically, they knew of a past that no longer existed, but the specifics weren¡¯t all that important here. Going into detail about how resets worked would be a waste of time.


    ¡°And you met me at some point in that future.¡±


    ¡°Our goal is to get you to believe that, yes.¡±


    ¡°Fine, then. The important thing is that you know my favorite snack.¡±


    Kei handed over the paper bag from Sangatsudou. ¡°If the current series of events continues, a cat will get into a traffic accident the day after tomorrow.¡±


    Non¨­ accepted the bag, and grabbed a cream puff out of it. She wasted no time biting into it, getting cream stuck to her cheeks in the process. She stuck out her tongue to lick the remainder off her cheek. With the half-eaten cream puff still in hand, her expression shifted, becoming more serious.


    ¡°Since when did this Murase person take the cat in as her pet?¡± A familiar-sounding question.


    ¡°Six months ago,¡± Kei replied, adding, ¡°You asked the same question on Saturday. Does it have a special significance?¡±


    Non¨­ took another bite of her cream puff. Custard cream spilled from a crack in the pastry. She wolfed the rest of it down, and licked the cream from her finger. Finally, she answered Kei¡¯s question.


    ¡°I happen to know the cat you¡¯re talking about. But that cat is a stray, not owned by Murase or anyone else.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. As it happens, I haven¡¯t seen him in a few days.¡±


    Although Non¨­ explained that could mean he had been picked up very recently, that didn¡¯t work in tandem with Murase, who had claimed to pick him up six months ago.


    ¡°What if you¡¯re just confusing him with a similar-looking cat?¡±


    ¡°Fine, then, run me through all the details again,¡± Non¨­ offered.


    ¡°Gray fur, fairly young, blue eyes, and a crooked tail.¡±


    Non¨­ slowly shook her head.


    ¡°Only one cat in Sakurada fits the bill, and he¡¯s a nameless stray.¡±


    Kei sighed. Things were as bad as he had imagined. Murase Youka had lied, probably more than once. Several things about the request had been bothering him from the start.


    Take the photo Murase sent him; granted, it was gone now that they had reset. But it was a picture of her feeding the cat on the side of the road. Murase had likely taken the photo herself, but why would you feed your own cat on the side of the road?


    ¡°Things aren¡¯t lining up here,¡± Haruki stated. Kei nodded in response, before following up with a request to Non¨­.


    ¡°Could you find out where the stray cat is currently?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but it would take some time.¡±


    ¡°Can you try it for us?¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s the only way to save his life, then I have no choice.¡± With that, Non¨­ closed her eyes.


    Just as Kei was realizing this left them stuck with nothing to do for a while, he felt several light pulls on his shoulder. Haruki was tugging on his shirt sleeve. Still holding his sleeve, she began walking away. Having no reason to resist, he followed behind.


    Once they were some distance away, she spoke. ¡°Are we going to continue fulfilling this request, Kei?¡± She was keeping her voice down so as not to disturb Non¨­¡¯s sleep.


    Kei nodded. ¡°We have no reason to stop.¡±


    It was very likely that Murase had lied to them, and who knew how many times. But, if the cat had truly died in an accident, there was no excuse not to save him.


    Haruki¡¯s eyebrows drew together in confusion. ¡°But, don¡¯t you find this all a bit strange?¡±


    ¡°Of course it¡¯s strange. But at the very least, Murase-san had no reason to lie to us about wanting to save the cat. And it being a pet or a stray makes no difference in whether it deserves to be helped. At this point, it shouldn¡¯t cause too much trouble just to save him anyway.¡±


    Haruki seemed unconvinced. ¡°But, if she was willing to lie to us during her request, there must be a reason behind it.¡±


    ¡°Such as?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t claim to know. But she might be trying to use us in some way.¡±


    ¡°Probably. But what difference does it make? If using us is what it takes to bring someone happiness, then I¡¯m all for it.¡±


    ¡°You really don¡¯t have a problem with that?¡± Hesitation mixed into Haruki¡¯s voice. It was rare for her to question Kei¡¯s judgment. Looking closely, he saw her fiddling with her phone¡¯s cat strap.


    Kei shook his head in resignation. ¡°Every possibility has the chance to turn into a problem.¡± With every opportunity to bring someone happiness came several opportunities to make someone unhappy, unfortunate though that reality was.


    ¡°What do you think Murase-san is trying to do?¡±


    ¡°Dunno. But there¡¯s usually only one reason we¡¯re given a request.¡±


    ¡°Which is?¡±


    ¡°To cause a reset. The cat¡¯s accident could have been a timely front for her own personal desire to rewind time. Of course, if that was true, then she already got what she wanted.¡±


    Haruki nodded in agreement. Almost anybody could want to rewind time back three days, for any number of reasons. Of course, they would feel no obligation to share the true and personal reason they wanted it. Not that it mattered, as it was likely Kei would refuse. For example, if someone failed an exam and wanted to retake it. Not only would the Bureau shut down such a request, several others would get their result displaced by association. There were always other perspectives to consider.


    ¡°Or perhaps she didn¡¯t want something to be reset,¡± Kei continued.


    ¡°But why ask for a reset that she didn¡¯t want?¡±


    ¡°You have a 24-hour period that you can¡¯t reset. Murase-san would have until noon tomorrow to pull off something important that she doesn¡¯t want to be reset, while we¡¯d be sitting ducks.¡± Of course, this assumed that she knew all facets of Haruki¡¯s ability.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound good at all.¡±


    Kei nodded gravely. If Murase was truly prepared for the reset, then she was in the perfect position to take advantage of the next day. After all, nobody would want to reset something that made them happy.


    ¡°Granted, all her planning would be pointless unless she has an ability that maintains her memory beyond a reset.¡±


    There shouldn¡¯t have been many abilities that could surpass a reset, but the number and variety of Sakurada¡¯s abilities were not to be underestimated. Miracle workers were commonplace here.


    ¡°I¡¯ll ask again, should we really fulfill this request?¡±


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s fine. We¡¯re just talking possibilities right now, and either way, we¡¯ve already reset, so there¡¯s no point in crying over spilled milk. Besides, everything¡¯s been reported to Tsushima-sensei.¡±


    Kei could depend on Tsushima. Or, at least, the Bureau. Follow-up with them would be consistent and required. If any problems cropped up, the Bureau was more than capable of managing them. Their lack of current action probably meant that whatever Murase was planning wasn¡¯t that big of a deal. Kei didn¡¯t have any problem with her using them for her goals.


    But Haruki still wouldn¡¯t concede.


    Nothing for it, Kei thought, as he continued to try and console her. ¡°Look, I¡¯ll be careful. But we can¡¯t just toss this request out wholesale. It¡¯s still very possible that this cat will die the day after tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°But I-¡± Just as Haruki began to counter, a voice floated in from behind her.


    ¡°Too bad.¡±


    They looked towards the voice. Non¨­ had woken up. Kei looked back towards Haruki, but she shook her head. It seemed he wouldn¡¯t get to hear the rest of that line.


    Kei turned towards Non¨­. ¡°What¡¯s too bad?¡±


    ¡°My apologies. It would appear he¡¯s sleeping right now.¡±


    Kei assumed that ¡°he¡± was the cat. ¡°And him being asleep is a problem?¡±


    ¡°When I use my power, my consciousness melds with the cat¡¯s. Their experience becomes my own experience. As such, if the cat knows where they are, I will too.¡±


    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s incredible.¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s unhelpful if the cat is sleeping. Nobody thinks about where they are while they¡¯re asleep. At best, they¡¯ll have some kind of weird dream I can experience with them.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± So cats had dreams. Kei didn¡¯t know that.


    ¡°If you give me more time, I¡¯ll keep trying.¡±


    ¡°Please do. Can you let me know if you ever find out where he is?¡± Kei took a notebook from his schoolbag, and hastily scribbled his phone number on a scrap of paper, handing it to Non¨­. She immediately began inputting the number on her phone. Something about using a cell phone didn¡¯t fit her image, and Kei almost chuckled watching her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll contact you as soon as I find out.¡±


    ¡°Thank you so much. I¡¯ll bring more cream puffs next time we drop by.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to bring anything. I¡¯m happy to help in saving a cat.¡± Even as she said that, Non¨­ took out two more cream puffs. Watching her eat them made Kei want one himself. If they were gonna count for club expenses anyway, he should have bought more for themselves.


    ¡°See ya,¡± Non¨­ waved. The setting sun dyed her white skin red. Kei looked up to behold a beautiful sunset, marred by gray rain clouds in the west. He recalled that it would start raining in two hours.


    After telling her to get home before dark, Kei left with Haruki.


    On their way home, Kei took Haruki on a slight detour through the shopping district. They walked past the entrance of the bread bakery where a cat would get hit in a traffic accident in two days. It looked every bit the part of a bakery, with no special distinctions. It was hard to imagine a cat would lose its life here.


    The shop had already closed its shutter for the day. Written plainly on the white shutter were the hours in green, 6AM-6PM.


    Kei and Haruki ambled along, making idle conversation. Seizing the opportunity, Haruki slipped in a line.


    ¡°Would you like to get some supper before going home?¡±


    Until then, Kei hadn¡¯t recognized his hunger, but he shook his head regardless. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ve got leftovers at my place.¡±


    Kei lived alone in a studio apartment, so Haruki made a habit of offering to have dinner with him. But Kei didn¡¯t want to deviate from the pre-reset timeline. Besides, Haruki had her parents waiting for her with home-cooked meals, so it wouldn¡¯t be good for her to eat out too much. As such, Kei created a rule to only accept her offers twice a month. Once in the first half of the month, and once in the second half. Every other time, he declined without fail.


    ¡°Alright, then.¡±


    Sticking to his left, Haruki gave a curt nod. She had doubtless caught on to Kei¡¯s self-made rule. And yet, she continued to invite him every other time. Perhaps there was a deeper meaning or message she was trying to allude to. But Kei once again chose not to read into it too much.


    The sound of flutes and drums floated around them from an unknown source. Other sounds combined, marking the preparation of the oncoming summer festival.


    ¡°By the way, we promised to attend the summer festival together.¡± It had been after receiving Murase¡¯s request, but before resetting.


    ¡°Did we really?¡±


    Haruki¡¯s eyebrows crinkled slightly, like they would when she was in a bad mood. But for a girl who rarely emoted, any change in expression was incredibly endearing.


    ¡°The festival is scheduled for Saturday night. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll have completed Murase-san¡¯s request by then.¡±


    ¡°Why did you wait so long to inform me? You should have said so immediately after we reset.¡±


    ¡°Sorry. Must have slipped my mind.¡±


    ¡°It seems I will have to get my yukata prepared.¡±


    ¡°Alright, that¡¯ll really make it feel like summer. You talking about the purple one?¡± She had worn that one last year. An image of her popped into his mind. Her yukata was purple with a goldfish pattern, and she was holding a candy apple.


    ¡°I was considering purchasing a new one. Would you prefer last year¡¯s?¡±


    ¡°I would prefer that you wear what you want. I don¡¯t care either way.¡±


    ¡°Then, should I find one in a goth loli style, with plenty of frills?¡±


    Did yukata even come in that style? Kei almost played it off as a joke, before remembering that Haruki was prone to doing all sorts of unpredictable things.


    ¡°I think sticking with a Japanese style would be best.¡±


    ¡°What color?¡±


    ¡°Something like the color of the sky right now.¡± The sun was dipping into the mountains, but it was still light out. The sky was like a stripe of blue paint slowly melting away.


    Kei finally found a payphone, and came to a halt. Haruki stopped beside him, gazing into the sky.


    ¡°It looks a lot like last year¡¯s yukata.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right. Why not use last year¡¯s? You looked really nice in it.¡± Wearing a yukata was already a rare occasion, so Kei didn¡¯t see the need to buy a new one every year.


    Kei picked up the receiver and inserted a coin. After he punched in the usual number, a familiar message began playing.


    ¡°But you would say that no matter what I wore.¡±


    ¡°Really? Isn¡¯t that just ¡®cause you look great in everything?¡±


    He hung up. The coin ejected. He made another call.


    ¡°I find that rather hard to believe.¡±


    ¡°Really? Why¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Why do you think?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t even imagine. I thought our relationship was made of stronger stuff than that.¡± Kei tried for a little overkill. Haruki was almost staring a hole through him.


    ¡°Do men have no interest in clothes?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no way that¡¯s true. I mean, just look at Tomoki, he spends so much money on shoes.¡±


    ¡°But you don¡¯t do anything like that.¡±


    ¡°Well, uninterested isn¡¯t the right word. I¡¯d be willing to shell out a little extra if I found something I liked.¡± But in the end, Kei would always eventually find something he liked while perusing cheaper clothes. He thought himself lucky, but others might say he just had no standards.


    ¡°But, I¡¯m right in that you have no interest in women¡¯s clothing, aren¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly. I like miniskirts, especially red-checkered ones.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not true. You wouldn¡¯t like it if I wore one.¡±


    ¡°Did I ever say that?¡±


    ¡°You have. Several times.¡±


    Haruki had a somewhat¡­ unconventional approach to clothes. She even wore a boy¡¯s uniform in middle school. The conversation was just supposed to be about what Kei liked, but if she took him exactly at his word, as she typically did, that would cause problems.


    He had recently been paying closer attention to the conversations she started with him. He honestly believed that in this scenario, she would unhesitatingly wear whatever he said he preferred. And that worried him, to say the least.


    ¡°Then we shall put it to the test. I¡¯ll buy a red-checkered miniskirt.¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t. I only like to see them by chance, like when a random girl passes me by on the street or something.¡± In all honesty, Kei¡¯s favorite outfit to see a girl in was jeans and a T-shirt. He found simple yet functional outfits extremely cute. He would have liked to see Non¨­ Seika wear jeans and a T-shirt.


    Haruki was about to respond, but he held up his hand to stop her. ¡°I got him.¡± It was pretty quick this time, he hadn¡¯t even approached the tenth call. After his usual ¡°Asai here,¡± the woman¡¯s robotic tone began to talk back to him. The Operator had finally arrived.


    ¡°Heya, Kei. What can I do you for?¡±


    ¡°I purchased some information from you prior to a reset. The cost was three sets of T-shirts and bed sheets.¡±


    ¡°Hm, I see. Thanks for letting me know.¡±


    Kei found it odd that The Operator would specify the items in the first place. After all, the money was directly removed from Kei¡¯s bank account, so he would never even know if that was what had been purchased.


    ¡°Just for the record, what kind of information did I sell to you?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re looking for a cat, and you pointed us towards a Non¨­ Seika.¡±


    ¡°I see. But why go to these lengths to contact me?¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯s wrong to leave a bill unsettled. Besides, I have something else to ask you. Do you know Murase Youka?¡±


    Haruki was right in pointing out that there were many aspects of this request worth questioning. If Kei were a hardboiled detective, he might¡¯ve struggled with the ethical implications of revealing his client¡¯s secrets, but this was just a job for a high school club, so he wasn¡¯t too conflicted. He could live without the information, but it was worth the effort of a single phone call.


    ¡°Information on Murase Youka is strictly classified, regardless of your connection to her,¡± The Operator answered.


    Kei didn¡¯t expect to hear that. The Operator was indeed connected to the Bureau, and they held tightly to their intel on abilities and situations, some more than others. But why would The Operator go out of his way to mention it was classified, instead of just claiming ignorance? It almost felt like he was being baited.


    ¡°So, you do know about her, then?¡±


    ¡°More or less. But I can¡¯t say what I can¡¯t say.¡±


    ¡°Under whose authority was her information classified?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s also classified, naturally.¡±


    That made sense. At the very least, it was still worth knowing that she had become a topic of secrecy. Kei thought a little harder, and a specific word came to mind.


    ¡°Well then, do you know what the MacGuffin is?¡± His proof of their connection was tenuous at best, but it surely was no coincidence that both of these topics were put under wraps at around the same time.


    ¡°I can¡¯t talk about that, either.¡±


    ¡°Since when? And because of who?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t answer that.¡±


    Fine then, one more question. ¡°Were both the MacGuffin and Murase Youka made confidential by the same person?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a secret, just like anything else having to do with those two things.¡± The voice on the other end of the phone chuckled merrily in its robotically feminine tone. ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t worry. Things seem to be going spectacularly in your favor.¡±


    In his favor? How? This whole situation had to be about more than looking for some cat.


    ¡°What do you mean, things are going in my favor?¡±


    ¡°You suspect a connection between Murase Youka and the MacGuffin. Originally, they were supposed to be two separate concepts.¡±


    But they had to be connected somehow. Kei could practically see the thin line that brought them together.


    ¡°Is it even okay for you to say that? Wouldn¡¯t that count as classified info?¡±


    ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m testing the limits, but I should be fine. You don¡¯t have any definitive proof. Besides, I don¡¯t know anything about the MacGuffin anyway.¡±


    The MacGuffin. A tool whose only purpose was to tie the protagonist into the story. That word had become quite the talking point lately.


    ¡°See ya. I¡¯ll be waiting for your next call.¡±


    With those quiet words, The Operator ended the call. Kei hung up the receiver.


    ¡°How did it go?¡± asked Haruki.


    ¡°There¡¯s always more people to suspect,¡± Kei answered, shaking his head. Once the cycle of distrust started, it never stopped. He would¡¯ve much preferred to be searching for a lost cat.


    It was already past 7:30 by the time Kei got home. He ate a light meal and washed the dishes. At that point, it started raining. It was a simple rain shower, no wind, no chaos, just the light sound of drops hitting the ground. Kei lay down on his bed and listened to the rain.


    It was far too early to fall asleep, however. Kei grabbed his phone, searched through the contacts, and called Tsushima-san. He was immediately connected to an answering machine. Kei stated his name and the kanji it was written with, then asked his question. Do you know a girl named Murase Youka?


    Hanging up, he shoved his phone under his pillow and let out a sigh. He was so lost. Was it even worth digging deeper into Murase? He had nothing to go off of except her email address. He considered messaging her, but stopped. If she had been affected by the reset, he would just be some random stranger. And if she hadn¡¯t been affected by the reset, that would only be proof that she was taking advantage of Haruki¡¯s ability. Either way, he wouldn¡¯t be able to learn anything from her. Most importantly, it wasn¡¯t worth the risk of changing her behavior from the original timeline. This had nothing to do with the request.


    Kei closed his eyes, and waves of the various memories in his head washed over him.


    Every ability in Sakurada had some sort of limitation. Whether the number of uses, conditionals, or something else entirely. Kei¡¯s ability was no exception to this rule. In his case, the limitation was that he couldn¡¯t manually control what it worked on. No matter what it was he experienced, he could never forget it.


    He couldn¡¯t claim that it was easy to deal with the never-ending tide of past memories that were constantly rushing through his head. It made him want to scream more often than not. But there was a small, quiet part of him constantly holding back the impulse, even now. After all, he didn¡¯t want a memory of him sitting alone in his room screaming to get caught in the current.


    He had wondered on several occasions why he had this particular ability. It was said that Sakurada¡¯s abilities were individually tied to their user¡¯s character, and that someone¡¯s true nature and deepest desires were made tangible through their granted power. If that were true, what desire was meant to be fulfilled by never forgetting anything? What did Kei want, and what was he being given?


    He never could find an easy answer to that question. At the end of the day, abilities were very mysterious. Their school curriculum didn¡¯t even account for them. Perhaps it was just one of those things Kei would have to accept, like the creation of the universe. Whether he understood the details or not, reality was undeniable. The only people with the luxury to question abilities were paid Bureau officials and children, who asked questions about everything regardless.


    Kei had no particular love for his own ability, but he wouldn¡¯t say he hated it, either. If he was offered the chance to lose his ability, he would most definitely decline. His ability had become deeply ingrained into his sense of who he was.


    That was how Sakurada¡¯s abilities worked. That was what came with the power to wish things into reality. The fact that it came with suffering didn¡¯t take away its value.


    And so, Kei relived his memories, taking great pains to be objective in viewing them. Although it was nearly impossible not to have an attachment to his past self, he always tried to strike a balance between calling out his own positives and negatives.


    Suddenly, his phone began ringing in his hand. He reeled in his consciousness, and returned to the present. The memories didn¡¯t fade, but purposefully focusing on the reality in front of him helped to center him.


    He expected the caller to be either Tsushima Shintarou or Non¨­ Seika, and it turned out to be the latter. Kei sat up and put his phone to his ear, but before he could even speak, Non¨­¡¯s panicked voice filled his ears.


    ¡°He¡¯s been abducted.¡± Quite the abrupt development.


    ¡°I assume ¡®he¡¯ is the cat. What¡¯s this about being abducted?¡±


    ¡°Yes, someone kidnapped him. A stranger picked him up earlier today.¡±


    Kei tried saying ¡°This sounds bad,¡± but couldn¡¯t quite get it out. Wasn¡¯t it just as likely that someone had picked him up to adopt him? At the same time, humans and cats probably didn¡¯t experience things the same way. If Non¨­ was panicking, that probably meant the cat was panicking.


    ¡°Alright, one thing at a time. Where is he?¡± His location was top priority. That alone could get them pretty far.


    But Non¨­¡¯s voice retained its dreary tone. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t know. If the cat doesn¡¯t understand something, then I can¡¯t, either.¡±


    That seemed consistent with the explanation she had given earlier. She could apparently share consciousness with a cat, and although Kei didn¡¯t know exactly what ¡°sharing¡± meant, The Operator had alluded that it was similar to his own ability. Kei supposed one way of looking at his ability was that he was ¡°sharing¡± the consciousness of his past self in the form of memories.


    ¡°It¡¯s going to be okay. If we keep pushing forward, we¡¯ll find him eventually.¡± Kei tried to inject as little emotion as possible into his tone. It made him sound so much like Haruki that he couldn¡¯t help but inwardly smile. ¡°Do you know anything at all? It doesn¡¯t matter how insignificant it seems, anything could help. Did he see the person¡¯s face, or the time, or any details in his current environment?¡±


    ¡°He was taken today, around 3 in the afternoon. From what I could tell, he was picked up in ¨­gichou park-¡±


    It happened today?


    The timing was worrisome. It was so soon after they had reset.


    ¡°Is the cat being kept indoors?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it seems so.¡±


    ¡°Did he see whoever lives there?¡±


    ¡°No, actually. It was kind of strange¡­¡± Non¨­ paused, likely trying to put her memories into words. ¡°I could sense someone. Then the door opened, and he ran under the bed as someone walked in.¡±


    ¡°And then?¡±


    ¡°I got curious, and wanted to see the person¡¯s face, so the cat poked his head out from under the bed to take a look.¡±


    Kei was beginning to piece together how Non¨­¡¯s ability worked. If she truly meant that their consciousness was shared, then it wasn¡¯t just a one-sided reception of the cat¡¯s senses. They both partook in a mutual understanding of each other¡¯s thoughts. That was how the calico cat had been able to guide Kei and Haruki to her back when they first met.


    ¡°What happened after that?¡± If the cat had stuck its head out from under the bed, then wouldn¡¯t he naturally have seen whoever was in the room?


    ¡°Whoever it was, they were probably on top of the bed. His head was stroked from behind, but then all of a sudden, my ability broke off.¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t that have been a coincidence?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. My ability does tend to be unstable, and can be interrupted by things like me waking up. But today was different, like we were forcefully separated.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± Things were starting to add up. Just like Haruki had brought up earlier, this entire request may have been for the purpose of taking advantage of a reset. If true, that would mean that the mastermind had an ability that could ignore a reset. Add on this circumstance, and things were leaning heavily towards someone with the ability to nullify other abilities.


    The only question that remained would be, who was the mastermind? Perhaps they had a direct connection to Murase, but that didn¡¯t have to be the case. Plus, there was the possibility that they only had good intentions. But if there was even the slightest risk of abuse, Kei couldn¡¯t afford to leave it be.


    ¡°What did the room look like?¡±


    ¡°It was pretty normal. There was a bed, television, and a desk for studying. I don¡¯t want to jump to conclusions, but it looked like a student¡¯s room.¡±


    ¡°Did you notice anything else of interest?¡±


    ¡°There was a picture frame on top of the desk. It had a young man on it, probably in his early twenties.¡±


    ¡°Was there anyone else in the picture?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    Would a guy be very likely to keep a lone picture of another guy in his room? Even if it was a friend or a brother¡¯s picture, that wasn¡¯t very typical. Did that mean that a girl lived in that room?


    Kei stopped himself. He was trying to rush to a conclusion so that he could force a connection to Murase, and that wouldn¡¯t get him anywhere. There wasn¡¯t enough evidence yet.


    Kei switched gears. ¡°So, the cat¡¯s still alive, at least?¡±


    ¡°Most likely. I once shared consciousness with a cat that was dying. It didn¡¯t feel like what happened earlier, from what I remember.¡±


    ¡°Then we have something to be grateful for.¡± Kei intentionally smiled as he spoke. She may not have been able to see his face, but expressions still had an effect on tone of voice. ¡°He¡¯s a cute cat. I¡¯m sure someone was just trying to adopt him, or take care of him for a while. He¡¯s probably having a really yummy dinner right about now.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what that criminal was trying to do. He was taken away against his will. He¡¯s still very frightened right now.¡±


    Well, his feelings certainly couldn¡¯t be denied. ¡°I understand. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll find whoever did this. Do you know of any other cats being abducted lately?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ll look into it.¡±


    ¡°Alright then, keep it up for now. He¡¯s still safe right now, so it¡¯s unlikely that whoever has him wants to hurt him.¡±


    Non¨­ was silent for a while, before quietly responding, ¡°Right. I¡¯ll keep in touch.¡± With that, the call ended.


    Kei lay back down on his bed. Why would the cat be kidnapped? If the goal was to force a reset, they already had what they wanted. What good would a cat be in the middle of all this?


    Despite all his questions, Kei couldn¡¯t find any answers. He looked out the window, and the rhythmic falling of the rain pervaded his mind once more.


    At least the cat was indoors, where it could take shelter from the rain.

 Volume 1 - CH 2.3

    3 ¨C July 13th (Thursday) ¨C Two days ago


    The rain continued into the next day.


    Haruki gazed blankly out the window of her classroom, waiting for the period before lunch break to start. According to Kei, the rain wouldn¡¯t stop until late that night, and would start up again before tomorrow morning. Tomorrow was the day that the cat was supposed to die, which meant he would have died in the rain. Perhaps that was nature¡¯s way of mourning him.


    She turned her eyes to Kei. He was messing around with his cell phone, probably keeping in contact with Non¨­ Seika.


    They had been exchanging messages in between every period. She must have skipped school, given how frequently she was checking up on the cat. As far as Haruki knew, the cat had still been alive before last period. Originally, the cat wasn¡¯t supposed to be in any danger until tomorrow morning, but it was very possible that his fate had changed due to their reset. Whether it was Non¨­¡¯s ability, Murase Youka¡¯s influence, or even buying some cream puffs, anything could have made a difference. They couldn¡¯t make any guarantees.


    Speaking of Kei, he looked rather cheerful. He was probably feeling much better today. After all, there was only about an hour till lunch break, and then Haruki could save again. As long as things went well for just one more hour, their chances of saving the cat would skyrocket.


    Haruki genuinely wanted the cat to be okay, because if anything were to happen to him, Kei would surely blame it on himself. The fact that the cat would have died anyway would be no consolation to him.


    Haruki saw Kei tuck his phone into his pocket, and immediately got up and walked towards him. But Nakano Tomoki made it there before her. She had no choice but to stop short.


    ¡°Did you hear about that hole in the wall?¡± Nakano Tomoki asked Kei.


    ¡°A hole?¡±


    Haruki watched Kei¡¯s face as his eyes narrowed. He was so deep in thought that his expressions changed without regard to his surroundings, and something about the look on his face concerned her, but she couldn¡¯t put it into words.


    Nakano Tomoki continued, waving his arms and carrying on. ¡°Weird, right? They say it happened yesterday afternoon. We¡¯ll call him witness A. So, A is walking home from school, and the sunset is shining directly onto the road. Just close your eyes and imagine that for a second, with the humid summer air sticking to your skin, everything dyed red in the evening light.¡±


    Whenever Nakanon Tomoki tried telling a long story, he always had a way of making it sound incredibly phony and cheesy.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s not enough to stimulate my imagination. Was this like a main street, or a back alleyway or something?¡± Kei¡¯s expression had reverted back to neutral now that Tomoki was waxing eloquent, but Haruki knew that he was interested, since he wouldn¡¯t ask such a specific question otherwise.


    ¡°It was on Kawarazaka street. Evidently it¡¯s a pretty upper-class area. But even the pure white walls lining the street were covered in red that afternoon.¡±


    Kawarazaka is located just southeast of the school. There¡¯s a consistent gentle slope from the school¡¯s property in that direction which eventually reaches a low mountain. A river courses around its base, and just as Nakano Tomoki said, the area is filled with fairly large and elegant housing. That mountain is Spirit Mountain, the one recently being brought up again in local rumors.


    ¡°So, A was headed straight home, with no detours. I bet he lives in that area. Must be nice to be rich. Actually, now that I think about it, rich people seem to be hated on a lot more than poor people, purely on principle. Kinda weird how easy it gets to hate people based on such simple factors.¡±


    ¡°That got kinda bleak there.¡±


    ¡°I know, right? But there¡¯s a lot of bleak stuff like that out there. It feels like there¡¯s a lot less happiness in comparison. And it¡¯s like, you gotta be careful what you¡¯re looking for, cause if you¡¯re not paying attention, you¡¯ll never find happiness¡­¡±


    The conversation ground to a halt. It was hard to tell if Kei was in agreement with Nakano Tomoki, but he cut through the silence all the same.


    ¡°So, uh, what was that about a hole?¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, that. So, A suddenly gets a really bad feeling, like someone was staring at him through the wall. Then, when he turns to take a look¡­¡±


    ¡°There was a hole in the wall?¡±


    ¡°Yes, in the perfect shape of a hand. A could clearly make out all five fingers. It wasn¡¯t big enough to be an adult¡¯s hand, it was smaller, about the size of a child¡¯s. And when A recalled his morning commute to school, he knew for a fact it hadn¡¯t been there the first time.¡±


    Nakano Tomoki was certainly trying to tell a horror story, given his wording and tone, but it utterly failed to scare.


    But, although it was a strange story, it wasn¡¯t entirely unbelievable. After all, in Sakurada, the land of abilities, anything was possible.


    ¡°Then, just as A was beginning to feel unsettled, the hole slowly began shrinking before his very eyes, and-¡±


    ¡°And the hole suddenly closed, right?¡±


    Suddenly, Minami Mirai stepped in to close out the story. She had appeared next to Nakano Tomoki without anyone noticing. Nakano frowned as his spotlight was suddenly taken from him. Haruki was left completely unmoved by his attempt at a scary story.


    Completely ignoring the contempt emanating towards her, Minami addressed Kei with, ¡°So, whadda ya think about that, Asai-kun?¡±


    ¡°I think that if that story¡¯s true, then I wanna know the ability behind it.¡±


    ¡°Whaaat? C¡¯mon, the whole hand shape deal just reeks of a ghost story! I bet even Misora was creeped out, weren¡¯t you?¡±


    Haruki had no intention of joining the conversation, but since she was asked, she answered honestly. ¡°It must have been a very polite ghost, since it had the consideration to fix up the wall.¡±


    ¡°Ooh, good point! That would make the area much safer for investigation. That¡¯s a really constructive point of view.¡±


    Having her sentence so violently mangled made Haruki realize why Kei chose to deal with Minami the way he did. As such, she followed in his footsteps and chose to completely ignore her. Minami continued on, as if acknowledging that she never cared about getting a reply in the first place.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, it¡¯s so close to Spirit Mountain! It¡¯s like God himself is telling us to go on a vampire hunt tomorrow!¡±


    Kei looked like the life had been drained out of him as he plopped his chin into his hands. ¡°Since when do vampires make hand-shaped holes in walls?¡±


    ¡°Well, if you didn¡¯t introduce new characteristics, then legendary monsters would just get boring over time.¡±


    ¡°And making holes in walls is the best way to make vampires interesting?¡± Nakano Tomoki fired back. It seemed even he was aware of how mundane the story was, despite getting so into telling it earlier.


    ¡°Well, it seems to me that the obvious call is to go vampire hunting tomorrow. You coming with, Misora?¡±


    No. Absolutely not.


    Tomorrow was the day of the cat¡¯s accident. And yet, despite knowing that the cat was supposed to die before noon, they still hadn¡¯t even located him.


    And even putting all that aside, Haruki already had plans for tomorrow. She was going to go buy a hair ornament. After all, the festival was on Saturday, and if she was going to use last year¡¯s yukata, then she wanted at least one new way to freshen up her look.


    Haruki looked to Kei.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you if nothing else comes up,¡± he replied. He hadn¡¯t told Haruki about any vampire hunting before their reset, so it was likely that he was trying to stall for time so he could eventually turn her down.


    Still looking at Kei, Haruki sidled up to him and whispered, ¡°Was the hole in the wall new information?¡±


    Kei nodded. ¡°Mhm. I¡¯ve never heard of it before, I swear.¡±


    He wouldn¡¯t lie to her. Probably.


    So he had never heard of this story before their last reset. Why? What changed to bring this about? Haruki wasn¡¯t sure, but she knew that alterations in the timeline would be more than enough to hold Kei¡¯s interest.


    ¡°Sharing secrets, are we?¡± Minami asked, smiling and tilting her head.


    ¡°Yes. That was a secret,¡± Haruki replied. Since she was already facing Minami, she made a follow-up question. ¡°By the way, do you know what a MacGuffin is?¡±


    She more or less asked on impulse. Minami knew the ins and outs of all the legends and rumors surrounding Sakurada, so she may very well know about that one too. It was worth a shot.


    But as soon as the question left her mouth, she realized her mistake. She didn¡¯t know about the MacGuffin yet at this point prior to their reset. In this situation, she was probably supposed to ask a different question, or say something else. She hadn¡¯t even vetted the question through Kei.


    What if this one question could change all of their futures?


    Haruki looked at Minami Mirai. Minami looked back. Some kind of emotion flashed onto Minami¡¯s face, but was gone just as quickly as it came. Was she feeling nervous? Haruki wasn¡¯t even completely sure she had seen it right. Maybe Minami was just confused by a word she had never heard before. Kei would probably have known what it was. He was so much better than Haruki at reading faces. You might call that a benefit of having a perfect recall of every expression he had ever seen on every person.


    Nakano Tomoki ended up speaking before Minami. ¡°What¡¯s a MacGuffin? Never heard of it.¡±


    Minami¡¯s expression had normalized by the time he was done speaking. ¡°Yeah, what he said. Want me to ask my senpai in U-lab? If it has to do with the occult, then I¡¯m sure one of them knows something.¡±


    If she did that, then she¡¯d no doubt be acting differently from the original timeline. Although the danger of timeline discrepancies were part and parcel of a reset, and Kei was willing to accept that risk, Haruki had done as she pleased without regard to Kei¡¯s judgment and foresight. Who knew what could happen as a result?


    Haruki looked at Kei.


    He could no doubt sense the meaning within her gaze. He gave her a small, comforting smile, before turning to Minami and answering, ¡°Then please do.¡±


    ?


    ¡°I am so sorry,¡± said Haruki.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be. This is actually really good for us,¡± Kei responded. He wasn¡¯t just saying that, either. Perhaps it would be worth taking advantage of a post-reset world in this instance, instead of constantly sweating the details. He was curious about the MacGuffin, and Minami Mirai was just the right person to ask, given that she knew how to ask around and was privy to info that other regular high schoolers may not have. Ideally, they could have asked after a save, but what was done was done.


    The two were on lunch break, sitting together in their usual spot atop the stairs. As usual, they sat outside the locked door, having never set foot on the roof. Kei took his phone out to check the time as they opened up their bentou boxes. There was about 10 more minutes until they hit the 24 hour mark from their last save, and the sooner they could save, the sooner Kei could finally relax.


    Just as he was slipping his phone back into his pocket, he received a call. Checking the display, it turned out to be from Non¨­. He answered on the second ring, ¡°Hello, Asai here.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t sleep,¡± Non¨­ responded, her voice heavy with sorrow.


    The situation was only to be expected.


    Non¨­¡¯s ability to share consciousness with a cat only worked when she cleared her mind and removed herself from her own consciousness.  The best way she knew to do that was sleeping. She had been calling every hour with new information, which meant she had been taking short naps in between each call. Of course she would be awake and alert.


    ¡°It¡¯s the middle of the day, so the culprit¡¯s probably out of the house anyway. Just take it easy for a while.¡±


    ¡°No, I know that somebody¡¯s there. But somehow, he¡¯s still able to sleep well despite having been kidnapped. Not to mention I still haven¡¯t seen the kidnapper¡¯s face, since every time I try, the connection cuts off again.¡±


    Her story solidified two pieces of evidence. First, whoever took the cat didn¡¯t attend any kind of work or school. Second, they most definitely had the ability to cancel out other powers, and seemed to keep it activated at all times. But why keep it up all the time? Was it impossible to turn off, or was there a reason to keep making sure it was active?


    ¡°Either way, I still can¡¯t sleep, so you gotta help me,¡± Non¨­ said.


    ¡°Do you want me to sing you a lullaby?¡±


    ¡°Not a bad idea, but I want something different right now.¡±


    ¡°Well, just tell me what to do, and I¡¯ll do anything I can.¡±


    ¡°I appreciate it.¡±


    He could hear her tired smile on the other side of the phone.


    Kei still didn¡¯t quite understand Non¨­ Seika¡¯s connection to this cat, but it was clear that she was really putting herself out there for his sake. If he asked, would she be fine with admitting, ¡°He¡¯s just a cat,¡± or would she despise that very thought? If he had to choose one, Kei would prefer the latter.


    ¡°So, is there something you want me to do?¡±


    ¡°Just keep talking.¡±


    ¡°About what?¡±


    ¡°Anything you can, just to pass the time. It doesn¡¯t matter what about, as long as it makes me sleepy. Make it as nonsensical as you like.¡±


    That wasn¡¯t as easy as it sounded. Kei thought it over for a moment, then asked, ¡°What are your dreams for the future?¡±


    After a brief pause, she answered, ¡°Keeping the status quo. After saving this cat, of course.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be very easy to keep the status quo for long when you¡¯re just a high school student.¡± Whether they liked it or not, in just a few years, they¡¯d be thrust into the outside world. Their environment was subject to drastic changes in the near future.


    Non¨­ responded in a bored voice, ¡°Real talk sucks, do something else.¡±


    In turn, Kei decided to shoot for the unrealistic. ¡°If you were reincarnated, what would you want to become?¡±


    Non¨­ considered her answer for quite some time. Finally, she answered in a languid tone, ¡°I know, I¡¯d be a really big tree.¡±


    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°So that a cat could climb in my branches, and look far off into the distance. I would watch with them, and the taller I was, the farther they could see. It would just be me and them, in a peaceful world, enjoying the sunshine.¡±


    What a beautiful desire. Her happiness resonated within her words. It was the kind of stable, reliable happiness that everyone was always searching for.


    ¡°But, if the tree is too tall, the cat may not be able to get back down.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s okay, too. I would protect the cat. I¡¯d be a real big tree that grows delicious fruit. It would be a paradise just for the cat.¡±


    ¡°Cats like to eat fruit? I thought they would prefer fish.¡±


    ¡°They all have their own favorites. Some like fruit.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯d get sick of fruit if you had it all day, every day.¡±


    ¡°Well, I suppose you¡¯re right.¡±


    ¡°It really would be best to make a way for the cat to get down.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. How about I wrap vines all over my body, to make it easier to climb? Then, when the cat¡¯s done eating, he could take their time coming down. He would be safe, whether he was having a good day or a bad day.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty great tree.¡±


    Non¨­ gave a chuckle so slight that Kei could barely make it out. ¡°You know, you¡¯re pretty good at talking nonsense.¡± Then in long, drawn-out words, she asked, ¡°Kei, what would you want to be reincarnated as?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d choose to become God. A god that doesn¡¯t give people difficult trials, and that trusts humanity. I¡¯d give bread to the hungry, and happiness to those who are sad. I¡¯d like to spend every day doing that kind of work.¡±


    Perhaps it was less because Kei was a humanitarian, and more because he was egotistical, but if possible, he¡¯d like to be in a world without sorrow. ¡°And then, just for you and the cat in your branches, I¡¯d put a big rainbow across the sky.¡±


    Kei knew that humans could never presume to be gods. He knew, and yet he desired to live that kind of life all the same.


    Non¨­ spent plenty of time mulling over her words before finally giving her response. ¡°Were you one of those sad people once?¡±


    Of course he was. Nobody lived a life without sorrow. And Kei carried every sorrow with him, more so than anyone else. Right alongside the girl who had died two years ago.


    ¡°If you ask me, the world has too many of those sad people in it.¡±


    Non¨­ didn¡¯t say anything for quite some time, and Kei couldn¡¯t find the words to continue, so he sat in silence with her.


    Finally, she spoke, in a quiet whisper. ¡°I saw him, just a little. He¡¯s still safe.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh. I¡¯ll call again later.¡±


    Kei hung up, and looked at his phone¡¯s display. 12:58. He watched for a while, till it ticked to 59. He spoke to Haruki, who had been staring at him as he talked with Non¨­.


    ¡°Time, please.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± Haruki took out her phone, and tapped it three times. She read out the time. 59 minutes, 10 seconds, 11, 12¡­¡±


    Just before she said 13, Kei said, ¡°Save.¡±


    Haruki responded just a moment later. ¡°July 13th, 12:59:15.¡±


    Listening to her speak, Kei tried to remember the last five minutes. Memories of talking on the phone with Non¨­ sprang to mind.


    ¡°It appears we haven¡¯t reset yet.¡±


    Kei always made sure to recall the last five minutes following a save, to systematically figure out when they had reset.


    Haruki gave a gentle smile. ¡°In that case, it¡¯s time for lunch.¡±


    Finals ended in early July, so most of the regular classes were already finished with their material. Even so, the students had to attend their classes at their set times, like good high schoolers, so they ended up with mostly self-study in their afternoon classes. Their homeroom teacher set a chair down opposite of the lecture desk, and sat reading a book. It was the size of an average paperback, but a book cover obscured the title.


    Kei stared listlessly out the window into the rainy afternoon, thinking about the incident from two years ago. He considered Non¨­¡¯s story of a tall, paradisiacal tree, gazing out into the great beyond. It reminded Kei of the rooftop he always visited during middle school. And just like that, he was there.


    In this memory, Kei was standing on the rooftop beside Haruki, waiting for that girl to arrive. Every now and then, she would be the last one to make it up there. And so, they waited.


    The Haruki he saw was a little shorter than she was at present. But Kei had also grown in those two years, so their relative heights were about the same. Her hair was also much longer, and her face carried much less emotion.


    Back in their second year of middle school, Haruki Misora was, to put it simply, a strange girl. She was simple, pure, and intensely rational. Kei had thought of her as something like a mathematical formula, designed to perform one consistent function.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about you,¡± said the Kei of his memory.


    ¡°Which part of me, exactly?¡± If Haruki ever came across something she didn¡¯t understand, she would always ask about it right away. It was a level of sincerity he greatly appreciated, but doubted that many others did, even herself.


    ¡°Every part of you, all that makes up Haruki Misora. But, if I was forced to narrow it down, I¡¯d say it was your way of thinking and personal philosophy.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand the word philosophy very well.¡±


    ¡°Then you should look it up. A wise person recognizes where they fall short, but only a fool chooses to stay in ignorance.¡±


    ¡°Is it problematic to be a fool?¡±


    ¡°Depends on the person, but if you¡¯re wise, then you can be a problem solver. I prefer smart people, myself.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± Haruki nodded. Immediately, the conversation broke off. That was the type of girl Haruki was. If there was more to say, he was free to speak up, but it didn¡¯t bother her to stay quiet, either. Simple as that.


    Kei decided to continue. ¡°Something¡¯s missing inside of you, Haruki.¡±


    ¡°What exactly would that be?¡±


    ¡°A part of you that would make you human.¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯m missing something, then where¡¯s the piece that will complete me?¡±


    ¡°Where? Well, I¡¯m not sure that I could tell you where to find it.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. I am a human. Moreover, I don¡¯t believe that you could find any perfect humans to use as an example, you included.


    ¡°Well, you certainly are human, that¡¯s no lie. But you¡¯re still missing something. You can cut an apple in half, and it¡¯s still an apple, right? Yet at the same time, an entire half is gone. You¡¯re like that.¡±


    Kei almost continued, but stopped himself. He was going to explain what parts of himself were missing to make a comparison, but he ultimately decided that would be pointless.


    He instead continued with a general statement. ¡°You aren¡¯t wrong, everyone¡¯s missing something. The world probably doesn¡¯t have any perfect humans.¡±


    Haruki¡¯s head tilted slightly. ¡°Then, if everyone is missing something, doesn¡¯t that make missing something the standard form of a human? From what you¡¯ve defined, nobody is more or less human than anybody else.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t exactly wrong, but Kei shook his head regardless. ¡°That¡¯s not the issue. I¡¯m not talking about what the average human is like. At the end of the day, I think what you¡¯re missing is something more significant.¡±


    ¡°What is it that I am missing?¡±


    ¡°What do you think it is? I want you to give it some serious thought.¡±


    Haruki paused, but it didn¡¯t last long. As usual, she defaulted to a quick answer. ¡°Emotions?¡±


    Kei shook his head once more. ¡°I would have thought that at first. It¡¯s a really easy answer for you, and easy to believe when you don¡¯t think about it. But I don¡¯t think it¡¯s true. You do have emotions.¡±


    ¡°I do?¡±


    ¡°Do you not believe me?¡±


    ¡°I believe you, but everyone else has told me over and over that I don¡¯t. On top of that, I¡¯m unable to prove the existence of my own feelings.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the same for everyone else. It¡¯s a nearly impossible task for anyone in the world to logically prove that they have feelings.¡± Kei stared directly into Haruki¡¯s eyes. ¡°I think the idea that you have to logically prove your feelings is one of the proofs of what¡¯s missing in your way of thinking and personal philosophy.¡±


    Haruki¡¯s eyes stayed steady, with no observable changes. No wonder people thought she had no emotion.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you mean,¡± Haruki replied.


    ¡°Do you want a different explanation?¡± Kei asked.


    Haruki slowly shook her head, ¡°No. I don¡¯t really care. I probably don¡¯t have any emotions after all.¡±


    ¡°There!¡± Kei clapped his hands. ¡°Just then, some kind of feeling came up from the inside of you, didn¡¯t it? Sadness, resignation, disappointment, maybe even slight superiority. Any one of those is perfectly normal. You can¡¯t call that emotionless.¡±


    For the first time, a flicker seemed to pass through Haruki¡¯s eyes. ¡°¡­Yes. You¡¯re probably right.¡±


    Kei nodded, trying to affirm her with all he had. Hopefully, she could understand that.


    ¡°Haruki. You don¡¯t think that you¡¯re special. That¡¯s what you¡¯re missing. You¡¯ve probably never considered this, but most people think of themselves as unique, or even all-important. For almost everyone, it¡¯s unconscious yet instinctive. You, however, don¡¯t think that you¡¯re special. So since you¡¯re not special, you have no special emotions, and if you don¡¯t have those, you don¡¯t have an identity. It¡¯s to the point that you think you need to establish a logical process to prove that you even have feelings.


    There are plenty of words that someone could choose to describe your peculiarities. But I¡¯ll tell you what I think. You, Haruki Misora, are balanced. Other people warp and distort their thoughts and values as a matter of course, but not you. Perhaps you¡¯re not perfectly balanced, but you¡¯re the most stable person I think I¡¯ve ever met. But as a result, you can¡¯t even see what it is that makes you special.¡±


    In an unusual turn of events, Haruki thought over his words for a long period of time. Eventually, she came out with, ¡°I have a single question for you.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Why are you thinking about me so much, Asai Kei?¡±


    Kei smiled. His intentions were easy enough to read, but he wouldn¡¯t tell. Instead, he flipped it around. ¡°Try thinking about me, Haruki. You just might find your answer there.¡±


    After another pause, she nodded with an, ¡°Understood.¡±


    With that, their conversation was over.


    The two of them stood together in silence, waiting for the other girl to arrive.


    And with the chime of the school bell, Kei was pulled back into the present.

 Volume 1 - CH 2.4

    19-23 minutes 11.06.2023


    4


    Even after school was out, the rain continued its incessant drizzle.


    Kei tried to meet up with Tsushima, but couldn¡¯t find him anywhere in the staff room. Although his teaching duties likely kept him busy, Kei found it a bit odd that he still hadn¡¯t responded to last night¡¯s phone call.


    After making his way to the school gates with Haruki, the two went their separate ways. Kei was headed to the shrine to meet up with Non¨­, and Haruki was tasked with investigating the rumors around the wall with the hand-shaped hole in it. He couldn¡¯t afford to leave it alone, since it was a post-reset anomaly.


    Kei walked down the mountain path with his plastic umbrella in hand. Non¨­ was the same place she always was, her eyes quietly shut, sitting in the storm like a tree sapling with no choice but to accept the rain.


    The shrine she sat under had a roof over it, but it was so miniscule that even the slightest wind blew the rain underneath. Kei had brought both an umbrella and a towel for her. After weighing all his options, he had decided this was the best use of his after-school hours.


    Non¨­¡¯s investigation didn¡¯t seem to yield many results. She shook her head as she said, ¡°It¡¯s useless. I can¡¯t figure out where he is.¡± Fortunately, her voice wasn¡¯t layered with as much negativity as before. She seemed much calmer than when they were talking on the phone.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna get sick if you stay out in the rain like this.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. A little cold won¡¯t kill me, and it¡¯s easier to sleep when I¡¯m feverish anyways.¡± She placed the white towel over the top of her head, looking every bit the part of a cat sticking its head out of the laundry.


    ¡°So, how¡¯s he doing?¡±


    ¡°He was alright an hour ago. The kidnapper wasn¡¯t in the room, but he was pretty happily feasting on some high-quality cat food, the kind that comes in a gold tin.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s good to hear.¡±


    ¡°Whoever this person is, they¡¯re taking very good care of him. He might even become domesticated at this rate, and honestly, the way things are going, I might be okay with that.¡± Non¨­ rubbed the towel across her head. Her wet, jet-black hair clung to her white cheeks. ¡±Sorry for making such a big deal out of all this.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be. We still don¡¯t know where this is all going, and until then, I think it¡¯s safer for us to be honest about our worry than to force ourselves to stay calm.¡±


    ¡°Cats are very extreme in their emotional expression. If they¡¯re afraid, then all they feel is fear. But if they feel safe, they¡¯re at peace no matter where they go. They¡¯re quite simple that way. I think my ability has made them rub off on me.¡± Non¨­ wiped her face with the towel while saying in a muffled voice, ¡°I apologize if I¡¯ve caused you any trouble.¡±


    Kei shook his head. He wasn¡¯t concerned in the least. In fact, he thought that her concern for the cat, and the way it reflected in her actions and tone, was quite beautiful. ¡°We still haven¡¯t found the cat, so let¡¯s not get ahead of ourselves.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. Before, he was frightened, so I felt the same way. Now, he¡¯s calmed down, so I feel relieved too. Cats are much more aware of being alive than humans are. Of course, that¡¯s another way of saying that they¡¯re always aware of death,¡± Non¨­ said. She immediately stretched, pushing her mouth into a warped smile, but her eyes were hidden by the towel. ¡°Alright, time to give my ability another shot.¡±


    ¡°Even though we know he¡¯s safe?¡±


    ¡°Think of it as a check-up. I spent so long worrying about him that I don¡¯t wanna just drop it all of a sudden. Wanna help me out again?¡±


    ¡°Sure thing.¡±


    Non¨­ scooted over, and Kei sat down next to her. The two of them eased into ¡°talking nonsense¡± once more. Today¡¯s topic was the kindest words in the world. Which was kinder, ¡°thank you¡± or, ¡°don¡¯t mention it¡±? ¡°Good morning¡± or, ¡°good night¡±? ¡°I¡¯m heading out¡± or, ¡°have a good day¡±?1 Neither of them ended up giving a definitive answer.


    They both knew that the conversation was pointless, so Kei ended up being able to say what was actually on his heart. ¡°Could any words be kinder than the sound of gently falling rain?¡±


    Suddenly, Non¨­ fell silent, with her eyes closed. Her power was likely at work.


    As Kei absentmindedly stared at her face, her white eyelids flitted back open. ¡°He¡¯s safe. The kidnapper wrapped him up in a towel blanket, and he was quite taken by it.¡±


    The most important thing was that he was at peace.


    In the end, their conversation was over before either of them had stated what they thought were the world¡¯s kindest words. But perhaps that was to be expected, since they had never directly asked the other for an answer in the first place.


    After visiting Non¨­, Kei headed towards the park where the cat had been abducted. Perhaps it was because he couldn¡¯t understand the emotions of cats, but he found it much harder to be at ease. Was it possible that someone had taken the cat before their last reset? If that was true, then the cat was still headed towards an accident tomorrow morning. But on the other hand, if this was a new turn of events, there was a high chance that someone was working behind the scenes of Kei¡¯s influence, and that couldn¡¯t be ignored.


    It wasn¡¯t as though he expected to find anything at the park, but he at least thought he could ask around. Unfortunately, nobody had chosen to visit the park on that rainy day.


    Kei slowly made his way around the block. He finally happened across a young boy with a yellow umbrella. He looked to be about elementary school age, and was squatting on the wall of a house across from the park.


    ¡°Hey there,¡± Kei said, smiling. The boy turned to look at him. ¡°I have a few things I¡¯d like to ask you. Is that okay?¡±


    The boy stood in place, staring at Kei. He waited for some kind of reply, but all the boy did was continue to blink at him.


    Kei decided to go ahead with it, since he hadn¡¯t been explicitly denied. ¡°Do you come around here often? Like when you go to school?¡±


    The boy nodded.


    ¡°Have you seen a certain cat around here? He¡¯s gray, with blue eyes and a crooked tail.¡±


    It was pretty lucky that he found an elementary schooler who lived nearby, since elementary schoolers wouldn¡¯t overlook the neighborhood cats.The boy nodded once and, probably due to nervousness, responded with a quiet, ¡°I know that one.¡±


    Kei followed up immediately. ¡°Did you see the cat here yesterday?¡±


    After a moment of hesitation, the boy shook his head. ¡°He wasn¡¯t here yesterday. But that¡¯s normal. I only see him about once a week.¡±


    So the cat did consider this area part of its territory. It wasn¡¯t a lot, but Kei hadn¡¯t expected to learn too much anyway.


    Kei waved, thanking the boy and excusing himself. Then, another question came to mind, and he stopped before walking away. ¡°What exactly are you doing here, by the way?¡±


    After all, the boy was just sitting here in the rain, staring at a wall. It may not have had to do with finding the cat, but the boy looked so serious about it that he couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    ¡°Looking for another hole. Everybody keeps calling me a liar,¡± the boy answered.


    A hole? As in a hole in the wall? ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be talking about a hand-shaped hole, would you?¡±


    The boy¡¯s eyes widened as soon as Kei asked. ¡°You know about it?¡±


    Kei nodded. ¡°It closed right in front of you, didn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I swear I saw it.¡±


    It was at least worth considering that the hole in the wall and the cat were both related. After all, the hole in the wall was a new event that only came up after a reset, so it was worth looking into. Kei couldn¡¯t quite figure out how to tie them together, though.


    Kei recalled Nakano Tomoki¡¯s story. As he told it, the hole was found near the foot of Mt. Tsukube, which was quite the distance from this park. It was about the same distance that he walked to get here from the school, but in the other direction.


    ¡°When did you see the hole?¡±


    ¡°Yesterday, on my way home from school. I saw the hole open up in the shape of a hand, then it closed really fast.¡±


    ¡°What time was that?¡±


    ¡°Probably like 3, maybe a little before. I dunno.¡±


    That matched with the time of the cat¡¯s kidnapping.


    The boy continued, with a completely serious expression. ¡°It was definitely a ghost.¡±


    No, that couldn¡¯t be it. It was a human. A human that was intentionally using some kind of ability. ¡°Do you remember anything else about what happened then? For example, maybe you saw someone nearby?¡±


    The boy put his head down, and seemed to be thinking hard. Then, with a slight, ¡°Oh,¡± he looked back up at Kei, before responding, ¡°I heard a cat meowing.¡±


    All their information was slowly piling up, although it was hard to string some of it together.


    A kidnapped cat, a hand-shaped hole, an ability that could cancel out Non¨­¡¯s, and the MacGuffin. All of them had to have some kind of deeper connection.


    Kei walked under his umbrella, and considered everything they knew. How did everything piece together? He could think of a few ways, but without more information, he was just making guesses, not deductions.


    The rain continued pattering against the asphalt. Kei rather liked the sound. He enjoyed the tranquil atmosphere that quiet, continual sounds created. It put him at ease.


    Other than the sound, though, he didn¡¯t much care for rain. Although it was good that they wouldn¡¯t be entering a drought anytime soon, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to look forward to the incessant rain. Carrying an umbrella and dealing with the humidity was downright annoying. What was he supposed to do if his phone started ringing with his hands full of his school bag and umbrella? It was high time that someone invented umbrellas that could suspend themselves in mid-air.


    Just as those thoughts went through Kei¡¯s mind, his cell phone rang. Kei walked underneath the eaves of a nearby shop, folded his umbrella, and put it in the same hand as his bag, finally pulling his phone out of his pocket and answering. Maybe it wasn¡¯t worth tossing around any more hypotheticals.


    ¡°Hello, this is Haruki. Am I speaking with Kei?¡±


    ¡°Mhm.¡±


    Haruki¡¯s voice sounded different over the phone. It probably had something to do with transferring her voice into digital radio waves, but it sounded more tense, and wavered slightly.


    ¡°I¡¯ve looked into everything regarding the hole in the wall,¡± she said.


    ¡°Great job. What¡¯d you find?¡±


    ¡°I met several U-Lab members at the location in the rumors.¡±


    ¡°Oh, is Minami-san there?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s here as well.¡± That made sense, as the incident was certainly something the U-Lab would be interested in.


    ¡°So, what happened?¡±


    ¡°In exchange for helping them gather information, they told me everything they knew.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Those kinds of things are always faster with more people.¡±


    ¡°I agree. They already had gathered quite a lot of information, too.¡±


    ¡°Really? That¡¯s interesting.¡± The hole was spotted just yesterday, and everyone had school today. U-Lab¡¯s passion for research was not to be underestimated. But, if they already knew most of the details, that probably meant that there wasn¡¯t much to know.


    Haruki continued, ¡°It would seem this isn¡¯t the first time that rumors of a hand-shaped hole have cropped up. The last time was around one year ago.¡±


    ¡°What was everyone saying in those rumors?¡±


    ¡°Evidently, the holes were being referred to as the ¡®Reaper¡¯s Passage.¡¯¡±2


    ¡°That must have been one small Grim Reaper, then.¡± If the holes were the size of a hand, then the Reaper using it could have fit in your palm.


    ¡°They didn¡¯t say how tall the Grim Reaper was. Shall I go ask them?¡±


    ¡°No, that was just a joke. Why did they use the Grim Reaper?¡± asked Kei.


    ¡°There was a traffic accident last year, and a hole was found opened in a wall nearby on the same day. The rumor spread that the Grim Reaper was moving through walls, and killed anybody he came across.¡±


    ¡°I see. But this time, we¡¯re only dealing with an abduction case.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±


    ¡°There was a hole in the wall near the area the cat was taken from yesterday, The times seem to match up with what Non¨­-san had told me.¡± On top of that, the cat was still alive, so it was unlikely that the culprit was the Grim Reaper. Although, perhaps you could twist the story into saying that the Grim Reaper¡®s presence doomed the cat to die the following day.


    Kei continued with his questions. ¡°Was the car crash from a year ago fatal?¡± If they could talk to the people involved in the accident, they could learn quite a lot.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The U-Lab members didn¡¯t have many details on the crash specifically.¡±


    ¡°Is the rumor about the hole in the wall well-known?¡±


    ¡°No, Minami-san had never heard about it until today. On top of that, from what I can tell, the ¡®Reaper¡¯s Passage¡¯ name was adopted by the U-Lab in the first place, so it¡¯s possible only the club members know about that connection.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s like that.¡± It was even more likely that the ¡°connection¡± was entirely made up by U-Lab, whether the club members believed in it or not. After all, the club was less about seeking truth than it was about making reality more ¡°interesting¡±. ¡°So, what did you all do today?¡±


    ¡°We went to investigate if a similar incident occurred around the hole over here.¡±


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°We received unconfirmed reports that a small child fell down on a street near the hole.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty chill Grim Reaper.¡± Of course it was nothing special. If anything, it was impressive that they managed to find out that much. The part that stood out to Kei the most was, ¡°near the hole.¡± That could point them in the right direction. ¡°I need as many details as you can give me about where and when the hole appeared.¡±


    ¡°Of course. I¡¯ve been taking notes,¡± she responded offhandedly.


    There were three eyewitness reports of holes in walls. They were all within 30 minutes of 7:00 PM. When Kei compared locations, they seemed to be moving northwest, directly towards Kawarazaka. Whether it was the Grim Reaper or not, calling it a ¡°passage¡± made sense.


    ¡°Did that help with anything?¡± Haruki asked.


    ¡°Our Grim Reaper is on the move.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The park where the cat was abducted is the only place that doesn¡¯t line up with your information timewise. Whoever it was, they had to have changed their location at least twice for all of the sightings to fit together.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s possible our information is biased. My interviews were only in the Kawarazaka area.¡±


    ¡°Yet despite that, all three of your sightings can be connected by a single line. That line can¡¯t possibly connect with the time and place of the hole over here.¡±


    It wouldn¡¯t make sense for these to be the only four holes. Surely there would have been more around this park that could directly connect to the hole spotted here, just like in Kawarazaka. But then, you had a series of holes at 3 PM, and another series at 7 PM. The Grim Reaper, or whatever it was, had to have moved significantly at least twice.


    ¡°Did the holes over there close on their own?¡± Kei asked.


    ¡°They did. All of the contextual information fits in the same way. They were small, hand-shaped holes that closed themselves after a short while. Everyone we talked to only saw it after it was already open, so we can¡¯t say for sure how long they last.¡±


    ¡°What was the longest span of time someone saw it open for?¡±


    ¡°Roughly two or three minutes.¡±


    Why did someone put a hole in the wall? Why did it close itself? Why didn¡¯t they close immediately? What kind of power were they dealing with, and what were the purposes and limitations behind it? There were too many questions.


    ¡°That summarizes everything I learned today,¡± Haruki stated.


    ¡°Roger that. You¡¯re a lifesaver.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the plan for tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Well, the best place to start would be the scene of the impending accident. I¡¯ll just have to figure things out from there.¡± If the cat showed up, he could make sure to keep it safe. If it didn¡¯t show up, he would have to get a little more creative.


    ¡°Understood. What time?¡±


    Kei thought for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go for 6 in the morning.¡± The bakery clerk claimed to hear brakes screeching around the 8 or 9 area. That time period was their best lead, but a little extra vigilance couldn¡¯t hurt, since the bakery opened at 6. They didn¡¯t have any definitive proof that the screeching brakes were connected to the accident, but the cat would have almost certainly been noticed if it were run over before the bakery opened.


    ¡°Will we be meeting in front of the bakery?¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll be fine by myself for this one.¡± This job didn¡¯t require any manpower, and they weren¡¯t even sure the cat would show up. Kei figured it¡¯d be better to minimize the number of people possibly wasting their time.


    But Haruki countered in an unexpectedly strong tone. ¡°I¡¯m going, too. I¡¯ll make us some coffee, or possibly tea, and we¡¯ll eat some freshly baked bread together.¡±


    Kei couldn¡¯t argue with that. It sounded wonderful. ¡°Works for me. Do what you want.¡±


    ¡°Would you prefer coffee or tea?¡±


    ¡°Probably tea. I drink enough coffee as it is.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡± But, before hanging up, she added in a small voice, ¡°Don¡¯t be late tomorrow, okay?¡±


    It took everything Kei had to make sure his voice sounded normal. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll make sure of it.¡±


    Before the reset, Haruki had used Tomoki¡¯s ability to send that exact same message, but she didn¡¯t know that right now. She couldn¡¯t remember that loud, obnoxious message he got. Although he made sure never to lie to Haruki following a reset and its happenings, it wasn¡¯t as though he had the time to tell her about absolutely everything.


    Ultimately, Kei was the only one who remembered all that happened within resets. There was a time he would have felt proud of that, but all he felt anymore was a slight, resounding loneliness.


    ?


    Kei finished his call and slipped his phone into his pocket.


    He headed towards the shopping district, to a payphone that blended into the background and was easy to miss. He inserted a coin and began the same familiar process once again. Another day of following the procedure for contacting The Operator.


    He needed information. Everything he lacked came down to information about those holes in the wall. He didn¡¯t need any definitive answers. All he needed was a hint about the ability causing the phenomena. Just being told that the information was confidential would still give him something.


    But the phone call wasn¡¯t going through. No matter how many calls he made, or how long he waited, he got the same robotic message. There were no inconsistencies.


    After his twentieth attempt, Kei returned his coin into his wallet. He pulled out his cell and messaged Tsushima, The Operator is gone.


    This had never happened before. The Operator was never unavailable for calls. Kei didn¡¯t even know of any other ways to contact him aside from the singular phone number, because it had never mattered before.


    The Operator had only ever existed as someone on the other side of the phone, and now he had vanished entirely.


    1 The two phrases at play here are ¤¤¤Ã¤Æ¤­¤Þ¤¹, ¡°ittekimasu¡±, and ¤¤¤Ã¤Æ¤é¤Ã¤·¤ã¤¤, ¡°itterasshai¡±, standard call-and-response phrases spoken by someone who leaves with plans to return and the one who expects to see them upon their return, respectively. In modern times, it¡¯s most commonly started by the caller leaving home for work or school, with the responder being whoever is staying behind.  Although the phrases are very standardized in Japanese, modern English culture lacks a similar structure, so various phrases could have fit both of these. The other two pairs are self-explanatory. return


    2 ËÀÉñ¤Îͨ¤êµÀ, ¡°Shinigami no toorimichi¡±, or ¡°the pathway/passage of the shinigami¡±, the Japanese god(s) of death. return

 Volume 1 - CH 2.5

    9-11 minutes 11.06.2023


    5 ¨C July 14th (Friday) ¨C One day ago


    Friday, July 14th. The day of the cat¡¯s supposed accident.


    Kei woke up and got out of bed just after 5 AM. He felt awful, having slept terribly. Looking out the window, he saw that the rain, which had lessened slightly after sundown, had once again begun pounding the ground full force.


    Kei washed his face, changed into his school uniform, and left his room. He walked through the rain, headed towards the bakery.


    He would definitely be late for school if he stayed there watching until 9, but he figured Tsushima would cover for him. Service Club activities had a level of regard similar to sports clubs skipping school for competitions, given there was proper reasoning.


    Kei arrived at the bakery about five minutes early. Haruki and Non¨­ were already there waiting for him. It was his first time seeing Non¨­ outside of the shrine. She stood under a blue umbrella in the corner of the shopping district, looking just like any other high school girl.


    There were no cats to be seen in the vicinity, so at least there was already some good news. There hadn¡¯t been any accidents yet.


    ¡°Morning. You girls sure are up and at ¡¯em,¡± Kei called out with a slight wave. His voice was still a little bleary, likely due to his drowsiness.


    ¡°Good morning to you,¡± Haruki responded.


    Non¨­ responded with a simple nod. Her eyes were drooping tiredly. She didn¡¯t seem to be much of a morning person either.


    Kei didn¡¯t feel like making conversation, so he just stood with the two girls, absentmindedly looking around. There weren¡¯t too many people around this early in the morning, not even people taking their pets out for a stroll, although that was more likely due to the rain.


    The bakery shutters rose at exactly 6 AM. The bakery only received one customer within the first 30 minutes, a female office worker in her mid-twenties. It was almost like the bakery had opened just for her.


    At 6:30, Kei became the bakery¡¯s second customer. The three had mutually decided that only one person would go in at a time, so they could keep their eyes on the road.


    The shelves of the bakery were only about half stocked. Kei went to the freshly baked section and chose a small loaf of french bread stuffed with cheese and whole grain flatbread. Haruki came out with a croissant stuffed with whipped cream, while Non¨­ went with a bread roll stuffed with bean paste and milk on the side.


    The freshly baked bread was delicious, although that was only natural. Just like everything else, it comes down to timing, Kei thought. As long as he had good timing, everything tended to fall into place. The cat had bad timing, and ended up getting in an accident. But since Kei got up early, he was able to eat fresh bread. It would be nice if everything else in the world was clearer about how to stay within the optimal timing.


    Haruki poured tea into the lid of her thermos, and held it out to Kei. Drinking some down finally helped clear the drowsiness from Kei¡¯s mind.


    ¡°Do you believe the cat will be arriving?¡± Haruki asked.


    ¡°Hard to say. I¡¯d sure feel a lot better if he did.¡±


    Non¨­ bit into her bread, then took a swig of milk. ¡°I can try to look into it. Talk some nonsense for me, Asai.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, well, how about we discuss last night¡¯s dreams?¡±


    ¡°That will do. What did you dream about?¡±


    ¡°It was a really nice dream, actually.¡± That was a lie. His real dream was incomprehensible and confusing. But that wouldn¡¯t be much to talk about, so he made something up on the spot. ¡°There was a very pretty girl, who was quite rich, and everyone around her spoiled and pampered her.¡±


    ¡°Was she supposed to be your girlfriend?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not too sure. Maybe I was supposed to be that girl.¡± Kei looked closely through the vicinity as he spoke. There were no cats or cars to be seen. Any possible traffic accidents were still a ways away.


    ¡°Would you like to become a girl?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really prefer one gender over the other. I¡¯d just like to be rich and get fussed over.¡± That was a simple and understandable form of happiness.


    ¡°But what about when men start confessing their love to you?¡±


    ¡°Well, I suppose I¡¯d rather be popular with women, if I had to choose. Younger ones.¡± Not that Kei actually cared. Being popular with older women wouldn¡¯t be horrible. As long as he could be happy and at peace, those details didn¡¯t matter much to him.


    ¡°Did you have a dream last night, Non¨­?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure I did, but I can¡¯t remember it very well. When I woke up, I did feel a little lonely, though.¡±


    ¡°Would you like to remember it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine either way¡­ No, this won¡¯t work. I can¡¯t use my ability.¡±


    That was unfortunate, but it wasn¡¯t as if the environs were supportive of good sleep. The conditions for her ability usage were strangely complex. In the first place, having to remove herself from her consciousness was an extremely vague conditional. Would it count if she could learn to reach Zen, for example?


    Kei tried keeping up the conversation, but it wasn¡¯t going very well. Non¨­ was probably getting more nervous as the time for the cat¡¯s accident ticked closer and closer.


    As far as Kei was concerned, saving the cat wasn¡¯t his ultimate goal for the day. All he wanted was reliable information. Times, locations, directions, what car caused the accident, where the cat came from. As long as they had all that, saving the cat would be a piece of cake following a second reset. He would make smoke signals in the middle of the road for all it mattered as long as it guaranteed the cat¡¯s safety. Sure, some drivers might get annoyed at him, but if he bowed his head and carried on, it would be manageable.


    Time slowly continued to tick by. The bakery was getting more customers, and more cars were showing up on the road. Kei checked his cell phone¡¯s display. 7:30. Was it still too early for the cat to come in?


    ¡°What will we do if he doesn¡¯t show up?¡± asked Non¨­.


    ¡°Nothing in particular. If he isn¡¯t here, then the accident won¡¯t happen. I¡¯ll have you check up on him, and then we can be on our way.¡±


    Of course, things weren¡¯t actually that simple. He still wasn¡¯t aware of the underlying nature of Murase Youka¡¯s request, and that was unsettling. But it wouldn¡¯t do any good to pointlessly compound Non¨­¡¯s worries. ¡°What are your plans from here, Non¨­-san?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep watching over him for a while. If it turns out he was adopted, then I can leave him be and be happy for him. But it¡¯s also fine if he ends up returning to being a stray.¡±


    ¡°In that case, if you ever found out who picked him up, would you let me know? I¡¯d be very relieved to know that he¡¯s in good hands.¡±


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll keep you posted.¡±


    The request as it was given to Kei was to save this cat from an accident, but that couldn¡¯t have been all there was. At the same time, he didn¡¯t have any leads, and wasn¡¯t sure if it was safe to look any further. It stemmed from the simple curiosity of wanting to know what he didn¡¯t know, but when you stuck your neck out where it didn¡¯t belong, bad things tended to happen.


    If using us is what it takes to bring someone happiness, then I¡¯m all for it.


    He wasn¡¯t lying when he told that to Haruki earlier. But abusing resets without their knowledge was something that he absolutely could not stand. Just as he was considering all of those things-


    ¡°A voice.¡±


    Non¨­ suddenly spoke up, and immediately ran off.


    Kei had no clue what was happening, yet had no choice but to follow. ¡°You mean you heard the cat?¡± Kei hadn¡¯t heard a thing.


    ¡°There¡¯s no mistaking it. I heard him.¡±


    ¡°You must have really good ears.¡±


    ¡°I have good eyes, too.¡± Non¨­ ran into a narrow alley with Haruki and Kei in tow. As they turned a sharp corner, Kei heard a meow.


    They stopped.


    There was a cat with gray fur and a crooked tail at the end of the alleyway. He was being held in a pair of slender arms. He was familiar with the person holding him, but Kei never thought he¡¯d see them here.


    The girl, that is, Murase Youka, was glaring at them through her glasses, with her eyebrows scrunched in just as always. The cat meowed once more and leaped out of her arms, making his way directly to Non¨­, rubbing up against the girl¡¯s leg.


    Not a word was spoken. Naturally, neither Haruki nor Non¨­ knew who was standing in front of them. It was possible that Murase herself didn¡¯t even know who they were. Kei was dumbfounded at her timing, that she should appear in front of them at this moment. But he couldn¡¯t stay silent forever.


    ¡°Good morning to you, Murase-san. Do you happen to remember me?¡± Kei kept his tone light, but he was carefully scrutinizing her facial expressions. If she was truly affected by the reset, this would be her first meeting with all of them. He could tell that she was putting a lot of force into the shape of her mouth. But she immediately turned her back to them, and began walking away.


    ¡°Wait!¡± Kei yelled after Murase, but she didn¡¯t turn around. He reflexively began to follow her.


    Then, he thought he heard Murase mutter something, ever so slightly.


    At which point her body immediately flew up into the air and disappeared behind the nearest building.

 Volume 1 - CH 2.6

    ¡°¡­and that¡¯s all we saw of her.¡±


    Kei was spending his lunch break in the Service Club room with Tsushima.


    As it happens, Kei and Haruki are not the only members of their school¡¯s service club. Typically, there are two or three new freshmen recruited every year, and the position wasn¡¯t commonly turned down. But the room designated to their club typically remains unused, since the Service Club isn¡¯t based on group meetings of common interest. They don¡¯t need to change their clothes like a sports club, and it isn¡¯t the kind of club you join because your friends are in it. There isn¡¯t even any kind of attendance requirement. More often than not, Kei just uses the room for meeting up with Tsushima.


    The club room was currently filled with the scent of coffee, coming from the coffee maker that Tsushima put in the room without permission. In fairness, he was probably the one that used the room most, though.


    ¡°So what happened with the cat?¡± Tsushima asked, scratching at his 5 o¡¯clock shadow.


    ¡°Non¨­-san took him back to the shrine.¡±


    ¡°So, you rescued the cat. Sounds good to me. Seems like another mission completed.¡±


    He technically wasn¡¯t wrong. They saved a life, no matter how small, and everybody came out on top. Saving cats today could turn into saving people tomorrow. Haruki Misora¡¯s reset ability would gain yet more recognition for its usefulness, and they could get the cost of the cream puffs reimbursed once they filed their report.


    That was all they could do as members of the Service Club. Pursuing anything more would be considered as purely out of their own curiosity. Having run out of options, Kei asked a question out of his own curiosity. ¡°What exactly was Murase-san¡¯s endgame for all of this?¡±


    ¡°Got me. Looks like she wanted to save a cat.¡±


    ¡°Do you seriously believe that¡¯s all there was to it?¡±


    ¡°What else could there have been?¡±


    That was the problem. All the puzzle pieces they had gathered failed to fit together in the end. All that Kei got to see was one very specific part of a much bigger picture. Was it asking too much to want to know more? Unfortunately, given his position, Kei was forced to admit that it probably was.


    Tsushima poured some freshly brewed coffee into a mug. ¡°Want some?¡± He offered, but Kei shook his head. Tsushima continued speaking as he drank a steaming hot cup of coffee in mid-July. ¡°Look, you did a good job. All¡¯s well, the cat¡¯s saved, and the request is fulfilled. They even say the rain¡¯s gonna stop tomorrow. What more could you want?¡±


    He¡¯s right, Kei thought.


    He continued trying to convince himself.


    There would always be tantalizing loose ends, be it Murase Youka¡¯s true objective, holes opening in walls, the true meaning of the MacGuffin, or even The Operator¡¯s leave of absence. But all of those things were reported to Tsushima, and the ball was no longer in his court. He wasn¡¯t asked to look into any of those things in the first place.


    The Bureau was an extremely effective organization. It didn¡¯t matter what he thought of things, or even what Tsushima thought, to an extent. Everything would be taken care of in its own time, likely without him ever knowing about it. In fact, it was still entirely possible that there was no problem for him to even solve in the first place.


    ¡°Okay, I just have one final thing I¡¯d like to ask.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Was this request officially processed by the Administration Bureau?¡±


    ¡°¡®Course it was. Any work done by the Service Club gets processed through the Bureau. You know that.¡±


    ¡°Then, did Murase-san go through the Bureau to process her request, or did she go to you first, Tsushima-sensei?¡±


    ¡°I thought you said you only had one last question.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re effectively the same question.¡± Was it possible that Tsushima was taking his own initiative with this request? The purpose of the Administration was to eliminate problems caused by abilities. They weren¡¯t in the business of using abilities altruistically. Giving permission for the use of the extremely risky reset ability purely to save one cat was not how the Bureau handled justice.


    But it was possible that Tsushima could accept a request that the Bureau would normally deny. That would have made it very easy to slip the true purpose of the request past Kei. While posing as an idyllic request to save a cat from an accident, it could accomplish a much more functional purpose for the Bureau.


    But Tsushima just laughed. ¡°It¡¯s no difference to you. Whether I headed the request and sent the details to the Bureau, or the Bureau headed the request and sent the details to me, your part doesn¡¯t change. The Bureau has all the details now. What happens from here on out is none of your concern. The bureau takes care of its own business.¡±


    He was definitely hiding something. He wasn¡¯t even pretending anymore. If anything, he probably just wanted to control the flow of information so Kei learned about everything as late as possible. But to what end?


    No, this wouldn¡¯t do.


    Kei paused, and forced a new train of thought for a much simpler approach. His choice right now was to either trust Tsushima or to doubt him. For now, Kei had no reason to believe that Tsushima had bad intentions, so he chose to trust him. ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll submit the completed report by next week. My expense receipts will be included.¡±


    ¡°Ah, no need to rush. You can take till the end of the month for all I care. Now then¡­¡± Tsushima paused as he poured milk into his mug. ¡°I¡¯m sure you saved yesterday afternoon, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir. July 13th, 12:59:15.¡±


    ¡°Gotcha. Hold off on resetting for now.¡±


    ¡°For how long?¡±


    ¡°As long as possible, until 72 hours after the save.¡± Tsushima was still being cautious of something. So cautious that he wouldn¡¯t even share what he was worried about. What was the purpose of all this secrecy?


    There I go again, Kei smiled. Even after deciding to trust Tsushima, he was immediately casting suspicions on him. He¡¯s not the only one being dishonest. ¡°Understood. That¡¯s not a problem.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t as though they would need to reset anytime soon. In fact, Kei would be busy attending the summer festival with Haruki tomorrow night. With that on his mind, Kei made an addendum. ¡°That¡¯s right. I need you to make up some Service Club work for tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°I used the meeting with Murase-san as the reason to decline another classmate¡¯s plans before our reset.¡± Of course, he was talking about vampire hunting with Minami Mirai. He still wanted to stick to the original timeline as much as possible. If he couldn¡¯t be sure what effect his choices would have, he didn¡¯t want to blindly toy with people¡¯s futures.


    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll cover for you if anyone asks.¡±


    ¡°In that case, can I withdraw some club funds for breakfast with Haruki tomorrow morning?¡±


    ¡°You mean at the coffee shop where you met with Murase before resetting?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Well, aren¡¯t we high-class?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t help it, their toast is surprisingly good.¡±


    ¡°Ah, whatever. Do what you want.¡± Tsushima stirred his coffee with a spoon, took a sip, and made a face. Every time he drank coffee, it looked like he hated it. Between only shaving once a week and drinking coffee while also hating it, Tsushima sure had some strange quirks. ¡°Go on, you don¡¯t wanna be late for class.¡± Tsushima stood with this coffee cup in hand, when normally, he would finish his coffee before leaving the room.


    ¡°You sure are busy,¡± Kei remarked.


    ¡°Well, it is what it is.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s taking up all your time?¡±


    ¡°Teacher work, what else? Now they got me visiting some truant student to ¡®persuade them into attendance.¡¯¡±


    ¡°You?¡± Kei couldn¡¯t help but frown. Was he really going to visit a student¡¯s house looking so unkempt?


    ¡°Yes, me. Teachers have to tell students to go to school. Nobody likes to do it, but welcome to the world of adults.¡±


    ¡°Are they resisting?¡±


    ¡°Of course they are, ¡®cause school¡¯s a pain in the ass.¡±


    Whether that was true or not, Kei didn¡¯t think a teacher should be saying that. But, well, nobody had asked for his opinion. ¡°If they¡¯re so reluctant, then how are you supposed to persuade them?¡±


    ¡°Well, when my first attempts were failing, I tried the angle that academic success was important.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯d that go?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they told me to test them, and got a perfect score. Then they asked me if our school would have even taught them how to get through all the trick questions I put in there. Really had me on that one.¡±


    ¡°Why not use a more emotional argument, like the importance of making good friends?¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯d buy that coming from me? The only kinds of people capable of pulling off an emotional argument are children and women.¡±


    He was so on point that Kei couldn¡¯t help but snicker inwardly.


    Tsushima stood up, took a sip from his mug, and let out a small sigh. ¡°You just gotta take these things slowly. I try not to overwhelm them with visits. Sometimes it¡¯s best to just let them do their own things for a little while if your initial persuasions aren¡¯t working.¡±


    ¡°Does that make them more likely to come back to school?¡±


    ¡°I dunno. But whether it¡¯s scolding someone or encouraging someone, timing is the most important element.¡± Tsushima delivered his line with a friendly smile. Learning how to effectively charm students with his facial expressions was probably a skill he attained through years of teaching. ¡°High schoolers are old enough to know what¡¯s expected of them. They know what works, what doesn¡¯t, and how to get where they wanna go. Even if they don¡¯t know some of the specifics, they¡¯ve got the answer in them somewhere. We teachers aren¡¯t here to tell them the answers. We¡¯re just here so they can use us to find them. It¡¯s easier that way, anyway.¡±


    Tsushima turned his back to Kei and left the room, mug in hand.


    Once the door closed, Kei leaned back into his chair. He tried connecting the dots for what brought together cats and Murase as he stared absentmindedly into the ceiling. He weighed predictions and scrutinized possibilities. Suddenly, he broke out into a smile. I¡¯m really just thinking on autopilot here. It was easy enough to just think away whenever you wanted, but clearing your mind really took some discipline.


    Just accept it, he told himself once more. The request is over. He didn¡¯t need to actively ignore all the other details, but there was similarly no point in getting recklessly involved.


    Kei stood up from his seat and left the room.


    If it was problems he wanted, then he could find them in abundance by just going and living his life. For now, let¡¯s just head to the stairway, join Haruki for lunch, and start thinking about some other¡­ no, my own problems, Kei thought to himself.


    ?


    By the time school was out, the rain had finally let up some, and had reduced to a fine mist.


    As Haruki and Kei walked home, Haruki suggested taking a detour together. She had been planning on asking since lunchtime. Kei had been debriefing with Tsushima at the time, which had left her alone with her thoughts atop the staircase.


    A certain memory always came to mind whenever Haruki was near the school rooftop. It was fragmented and imperfect, like a torn up photograph. It was about Kei, and the girl who had died two years ago.


    It was clear to Haruki that the girl held some special significance to Kei. After all, in her memory, the two of them were hugging each other. They were on top of the roof of their southern middle school building. The girl was leaning into Kei, and he was holding her gently in his arms. If the memory really was a photograph, they would have looked like the picture perfect couple.


    Haruki had never heard any rumors about the two of them dating, and she didn¡¯t want to ask them directly. Looking back on it, their relationship didn¡¯t appear to be all that romantic. But at the same time, Haruki didn¡¯t really understand much about love, so she wasn¡¯t the best judge of romance. What she did know was that they both considered the other to be very special. She also knew that every time she remembered what happened on that rooftop, her heart was gripped with an inexplicable anxiety. That girl may have died two years ago, but that feeling still remained.


    Haruki was unsure if that feeling was the exact reason, but while sitting alone on the top of the stairway, she had decided to spend her time after school with Kei. After all, the cat hunt was over, so there was nothing else to keep them busy.


    Kei readily agreed to Haruki¡¯s invitation. Haruki had noticed long ago that any given invitation was a coin toss when it came to him accepting or not. But as far as she was concerned, only being able to win half of the time made each victory feel distinctly thrilling.


    ¡°Where¡¯re we going?¡± Kei asked.


    This was going to be the difficult part. Haruki wanted to go shopping to look for a hair ornament that would match her yukata, but she didn¡¯t think that would be something Kei would enjoy. But if she made too many concessions for what he enjoyed, they would just end up reading books in a caf¨¦ or something. She needed to strike the perfect balance. ¡°Let¡¯s go to a bookstore together.¡±


    ¡°In the shopping district?¡±


    ¡°What if we went to Mikura instead?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    The Mikura Bookstore was located in the suburbs, and although it was a tad farther away, it always had a wide variety of stock. Coincidentally, on the way to Mikura, there was a small store that sold traditional Japanese products. Haruki was sure she could find a nice hair ornament there, and Kei was unlikely to object to such a small detour. Although, one of the difficult parts of dealing with Kei was that he rarely objected to anything.


    Kei looked up at the sky through his vinyl umbrella. ¡°The rain will stop on our way home.¡± If he said so, then it would be true. After all, he was speaking from experience.


    They walked side by side, but had to make enough distance between themselves for their umbrellas. It¡¯s just a little too far, Haruki thought. It really was better to capitalize on a sunny day if you wanted to walk with someone.


    The town was quiet as the rain fell. As Haruki and Kei continued on, the number of students on the streets naturally dwindled as they made their way home. On top of that, both Haruki and Kei had less to talk about than usual.


    Haruki wasn¡¯t upset with walking quietly beside him. Having known him for two years now, they had had countless conversations, and she had asked countless questions. Not having anything to ask him right now was okay. Still, she couldn¡¯t deny how fun it was to talk with him. There was always something new to learn about Kei, no matter how much they talked. It probably wasn¡¯t possible to completely understand anyone, but she could always increase what percentage of him that she knew, little by little. At the very least, she found that more meaningful than simply not trying.


    Haruki searched for any topic of conversation, no matter how small. ¡°Have you been reading any new books recently?¡±


    Kei was an avid reader. Typically, he was always reading a novel, but he often branched out to things like children¡¯s picture books and even confusing philosophy books. He said he didn¡¯t like stories with sad endings, but she saw him reading such books regardless. Haruki had once asked him if he liked novels. His response was, ¡°I just love reading words.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m in the middle of a book right now.¡±


    ¡°What type of book?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a children¡¯s book. The font is really big, and the more difficult kanji have their readings written above them.¡±1 Kei began describing the book¡¯s story of a dragon who was feared and shunned. The dragon was very lonely, and traveled to many different places, but no matter where he went, everyone pushed him away. Villagers would scream in fright from him, and forest animals would run in fear. Soldiers constantly chased after him, trying to earn the glory of killing a dragon. Not wanting to hurt anyone, the dragon had no choice but to continue his solitary travels.


    ¡°One day, the dragon met a certain human. He had a silver tongue, and acted very suspiciously. But he was the only being that wasn¡¯t afraid of the dragon. The dragon was so happy to make a friend that he began to travel with the human.¡±


    ¡°Was the dragon happy?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. The human was a very devious person. He made the dragon chase off villagers while he plundered their houses. He stole crops, guns, clothes, idols, anything that would sell. He used some of the money he made to buy a necklace and music box, which were both cheap but looked very beautiful. He gave them to the dragon, telling him they were signs of their friendship.¡±


    So, was the dragon happy or unhappy? It was a little more subtle than just a yes or no. He was all alone for so long that he would of course be happy to finally make a friend. But thieves rarely met a happy ending in fairy tales.


    Kei continued, ¡°The man had plenty of other friends, too. Just like the dragon, he had befriended many other animals by taking advantage of their weaknesses, like crows and dogs. Over time, the dragon became good friends with all of them. Eventually, the other animals told the dragon that they wanted to team up and defeat the human, because they all agreed he was a bad man. They knew that if they had a dragon on their side, they would never lose to a human.¡±


    ¡°So, did the dragon attack the human?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s where things get difficult. You see, the human always made sure to pretend he was a good guy at just the right times. He¡¯d release a captured dragon, or share his food just as the dragon ran out. Personally, I think he was just skilled at deception. For example, before attacking a village, he would talk about everyone in it as bad guys, and the dragon would believe him. In the end, despite everything the other animals said, the dragon refused to believe that the human was a bad man.¡±


    Kei stopped there, saying that was as far as he had gotten, but Haruki wasn¡¯t so sure if that was true. He could have already read everything while only claiming he made it halfway, or he could have just made the whole story up. He enjoyed making up metaphorical stories from time to time. Haruki always tried to tease out the hidden meanings in his stories, but she was never very good at it.


    ¡°So, what do you think he¡¯ll do? Will the dragon betray the human, and side with the animals?¡± Kei asked.


    ¡°What if he didn¡¯t betray him, and managed to reform the human into a good man?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, but why do that?¡±


    ¡°Because that would be the happiest possible ending.¡±


    Kei seemed to think it over for a while, before nodding. ¡°Yeah, I agree.¡±


    Her answer seemed to satisfy him. Haruki felt a little happier.


    From there, the two talked about all sorts of things. Their conversations were light and sweet, like cotton candy. Just like cotton candy in her mouth, the time melted away as they chatted.


    They talked about classical music from decades ago, and modern music that had just been released. They discussed their upcoming summer vacation, and their favorite ways to spend summer days. Kei shared that ramune and fireworks were the two staples of summer for him. After that, they debated over whether ice cream or shaved ice was better, although they both knew that the other didn¡¯t have a preference.


    While walking, Haruki noticed the store that she wanted to check out for her hair ornaments. She saw the rows of ornaments in the window display. She found the second one from the right to be the prettiest. It was a deep red, not too flashy, and simple, so she was sure Kei would like it. But she was in the middle of talking with him, so she continued walking past the store without making a fuss about it. I¡¯ll buy it tomorrow if I have time, she decided.


    A round trip to the bookstore took just a little over forty minutes. It felt far too short to Haruki, but she also realized that no matter how long it took, it wouldn¡¯t feel like enough, so she decided to be grateful for the time she got.


    1 Kei is speaking of furigana. Generally, the younger the target audience of a given book, the more furigana will be used, or in some cases, the kanji simply won¡¯t be used at all. It¡¯s meant to help younger readers (and, incidentally, newer translators) in learning their characters. Furigana can also be used for various stylistic purposes or for rarer kanji/kanji not in the 2,136 designated ¡°normal use¡± characters, and is always used on the first time introducing a new character name. The page this passage is on has three furigana readings, with most pages in this book having one or two.

 Volume 1 - CH 2.7

    7


    That night, Kei turned off his lights, jumped into bed, and closed his eyes, thinking through all the activities of the day. Between the cat, Murase Youka, and everything else, he doubted the day could have been any more eventful.


    Just as he was trying to discern what it all meant, he heard something say his name.


    It was a girl¡¯s voice¡­ and his first reaction was to blame Tomoki. He¡¯s probably using that stupid ability of his to send me another prank call, Kei thought. But Tomoki never spoke up to claim the prank.


    With no other ideas, Kei opened his eyes, and before him was a¡­ ghost. Its semi-transparent form hovered in his room, and if he wasn¡¯t mistaken, it looked like Minami Mirai.


    Kei took a deep breath. He wasn¡¯t sure what else to do. After all, he had never seen a ghost before. He was mostly just speechless. If he was walking down a dark alleyway at night, he could have at least screamed, but in this situation, he had entirely missed the timing to be surprised, and it wasn¡¯t like she had attempted to scare him in the first place.


    Just as Kei was starting to get annoyed at this ghost¡¯s lack of situational awareness, she scratched her head, smiled, and gave a slightly embarrassed, ¡°Uhh, good evening.¡±


    Although Kei still felt entirely unfrightened, he couldn¡¯t forget his manners, so he responded in kind, ¡°Good evening.¡±


    The two sat in silence for a while. Eventually, Kei got out from under his sheets and sat up cross-legged on his bed. As for what to do from there, he was entirely clueless. The situation had left him thoroughly confused, but since she wasn¡¯t going anywhere, he couldn¡¯t just sit staring at her forever. ¡°Minami-san?¡±


    She nodded in response to his question. So she really was Minami-san. Not that that made things any clearer.


    Still trying to calm the storm in his head, Kei desperately searched for a conversation starter. ¡°So, what¡¯s up?¡± Three pathetic words. It hardly conveyed what he was trying to say, but she seemed to understand him nonetheless.


    ¡°All of a sudden, I was a ghost. Got any ideas on why?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± If she was a ghost, then what naturally came to mind was dying. Granted, they were in Sakurada, so it was possible that she became a ghost without dying. If they were anywhere else, though, death would be the natural conclusion.


    Kei shook his head slightly. ¡°I can¡¯t say for certain, but maybe you can astral project?¡± That would at least be a start, were it true.


    Minami had exhibited no powers up until this point, so any kind of power could have awakened within her at any point, and it wouldn¡¯t have been all that strange. Everyone awoke to their abilities at different times. It was generally set in stone by the time someone became an adult, but high schoolers were known to spontaneously awaken to an ability on occasion.


    ¡°Astral projection? Wow, that¡¯s totally a paranormal phenomenon!¡± Minami shouted, jumping up and down excitedly. Granted, she was floating, but there was no other way to describe her movements at that moment.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯s just an ability.¡± With her logic, all of Sakurada¡¯s abilities could be attributed to paranormal phenomena.


    ¡°So is this my personal ability?¡±


    ¡°Most likely. Work backwards with me for a bit.¡± Over time, ability users would become self-aware of the nature of their ability. With that said, there was no one-size-fits-all manual for how abilities functioned and affected people on an individual level. Not much point in pretending I know what I¡¯m doing, Kei thought.


    Consider, for example, someone with the ability to fly. The awareness that they could fly would strike them before they had ever actually tried, but they wouldn¡¯t be aware of their limits. They wouldn¡¯t know how high or fast they could fly, or the length of time they could sustain it. They wouldn¡¯t even know how to take off, until one day, while going through their everyday activities, they would simply begin flying. Until the exact point they began flying in the air, they wouldn¡¯t be able to prove if they could actually fly or were just suffering from delusions.


    With that in mind, Kei began posing his questions. ¡°Have you ever thought that you wanted to become a ghost before today?¡±


    ¡°Well, sure I have!¡±


    ¡°Alright, have you ever wanted to become anything else?¡±


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s a vampire, and a witch, a transforming superhero, or really any kind of ability user.¡±


    ¡°Did you want to be any one of those more than the others?¡±


    ¡°Not really. I just thought they¡¯d be interesting.¡±


    That line of questioning wasn¡¯t getting anywhere, so Kei changed tact. ¡°What did you want to do when you became a ghost?¡±


    ¡°I wanted to become an urban legend, like the woman with the slit mouth.1 The kinda stuff that got you excited when you were in elementary school, y¡¯know?¡±


    ¡°So, are you planning on going off to accomplish that right now?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, well, I¡¯d rather figure out how to turn back into a human first.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know how to turn back?¡±


    ¡°Nope. I got nothing. You know of anything?¡± Minami asked, tilting her head.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t then I certainly wouldn¡¯t.¡± Sitting in his bed talking with a ghost was starting to make Kei feel uncomfortable, so he stood up, turned on his room light, and sat in his desk chair. By the time his eyes were back on Minami, she was spinning in circles in midair. ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Even when I¡¯m upside down, my skirt doesn¡¯t flip over. That¡¯s pretty convenient.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s nice.¡± Any new abilities needed to be reported to the Administration Bureau. They could get on that tomorrow, then wait for the Bureau¡¯s response before taking further action. Of course, Tsushima would have to be informed as well.


    As Kei was lost in his thoughts, Minami had slowly crept up to him, and suddenly shoved her face in front of his. It was admittedly quite eerie.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, Asai-kun, get thinking. Why is this happening to me?¡±


    ¡°Well, what were you doing before you ended up as a ghost?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t remember. I told you, all of a sudden, I was just a ghost.¡±


    ¡°Hmm,¡± Kei muttered. So, she became a ghost, but evidently it was at the cost of her memories. Of course she would be feeling a bit out of sorts. Perhaps that was the limitation of her ability at play, but at the same time, they couldn¡¯t rule out any external factors.


    ¡°In that case, just run me through what you remember. What did you do yesterday, starting right after school?¡±


    ¡°Well, first off, you ditched me.¡±


    ¡°Right, so you ended up going vampire hunting by yourself?¡±


    ¡°Mhm. Ooh, maybe I¡¯m a ghost because I went to Spirit Mountain?¡±


    ¡°Sure, that might be possible. Did you find any vampires?¡±


    ¡°Dunno. My memory gets fuzzy around the time I got to the mountain.¡±


    ¡°What time would that have been?¡±


    ¡°Oh, probably around five, maybe a bit later.¡±


    So just about six hours ago, Kei thought. ¡°Okay, what¡¯s your next memory after that?¡±


    ¡°Just recently. Probably about 20 minutes ago.¡±


    ¡°At which point you were already a ghost?¡±


    ¡°Mhm.¡±


    Kei shuffled through his memories to recall what Minami had told him regarding vampires. ¡°You said someone else was attacked by a vampire a couple years back. Do you know what happened to them?¡± If that person had really met a vampire, then their experience could correlate with Minami¡¯s. After all, if Minami really was astral projecting or whatever, that meant her physical body was just lying around somewhere out there, right?


    Minami answered slowly, likely pulling from memory as she spoke. ¡°According to the U-Lab documentation, he regained consciousness pretty quickly.¡±


    ¡°And then? What of the vampire?¡±


    Minami let out a small, ¡°ah,¡± then raised her voice. ¡°That¡¯s right. He couldn¡¯t remember what had happened, just like me. So he couldn¡¯t put a face to who the vampire was.¡±


    That didn¡¯t sound right to Kei. He didn¡¯t want to get too far off topic, but felt it was worth investigating. ¡°If he couldn¡¯t remember what happened, then how did he even know he met a vampire?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, weird, isn¡¯t it? U-Lab might have attached the whole vampire thing to it themselves. Oh, now that I put it that way, maybe that¡¯s why the prez wasn¡¯t all that into my vampire hunt¡­¡±


    Well, that was a bit of a let-down.


    At the very least, Kei did learn something positive. Even if you got attacked by the vampire, you could still regain consciousness. If that was true, then Minami could very well return to normal at any moment. Sure, it wasn¡¯t good to be overly optimistic, but it was no better to be overly pessimistic. Regardless, if something terrible happened, then Kei still had a reset up his sleeve.


    However, there were still a few negatives to consider. Since he wanted some time to think them over by himself, Kei changed the topic. ¡°By the way, why did you come here, Minami-san?¡±


    ¡°Because you¡¯re in the Service Club, Asai-kun. I figured you could do something.¡±


    ¡°Sorry to be a bummer, but Service Club requests have to go through the Administration Bureau.¡±


    ¡°Whaaat? Even for your own classmates? You meanie¡­¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean I won¡¯t help you at all. But for now, you should probably head home. It¡¯s already this late, I bet you¡¯ve got people worrying about you back home.¡±


    ¡°I think it would only worry them more if I came home as a ghost.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll call Tsushima-san and use him to get in contact with the Bureau. If this has anything to do with abilities, then they¡¯ll act quickly. You can tell your family not to worry.¡±


    In a rare twist, Minami aggressively frowned at Kei. ¡°I don¡¯t just wanna leave my body lying around in the mountains. That¡¯s gross.¡±


    She was right, but everything would be fine following a reset. Not that she knew about that. With the exception of Tomoki, Kei had never shared the details of resets with any of his classmates. It would do no good to get flooded with requests to turn back time for who knew what reasons.


    With no choice but to console her, Kei suggested, ¡°Alright, how about we both go to Spirit Mountain tomorrow?¡± He was more than happy to go, but it was possible that real danger laid in wait at Spirit Mountain. If something were to happen, specifically to Kei, then there was a possibility that resetting would be out of the question. In that case, he needed to consider measures to ensure his safety.


    Minami waved her hands in front of her face sheepishly. ¡°Oh, yeah, asking someone who was trying to go to sleep is kinda inconsiderate. Can we head there first thing in the morning?¡±


    ¡°Alright, that¡¯s not a problem.¡±


    ¡°Oh no, wait, you have Service Club work tomorrow, don¡¯t you?¡±


    Kei shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll make it work. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± The ¡°work¡± was just a cover-up to protect their reset anyway.


    ¡°You sure?¡±


    ¡°Yup. I¡¯ll meet you at the stone steps of Kamisaki shrine tomorrow at 9, got it?¡±


    Minami nodded, and that was that. After saying their good nights, Minami disappeared behind a closed window. Being a ghost had its perks, evidently.


    Kei watched her receding figure. It was already raining again, and although it was a moonless night, Minami¡¯s ghostly form shimmered dimly in the city lights. As she disappeared into the night, Kei closed his curtains and laid back down on his bed.


    Time to consider the negatives.


    Minami had somehow become a ghost. Before the reset, she had never come to his room, and she probably hadn¡¯t turned into a ghost outside of his knowledge, either. Kei should¡¯ve known better than to mess around and toy with new responses and outcomes following a reset. Which decision was the wrong one? Where did her future change?


    ¡°Damn,¡± Kei muttered under his breath. It was because he reset. Telling Haruki to reset was practically what turned Minami into a ghost. And if she was a ghost, he couldn¡¯t avoid the topic of death forever. And death only served to remind him of another girl from two years earlier.


    Setting that aside, he had a part to play here and now. First, to contact Tsushima. Ultimately, Tsushima was only a through line to the Bureau, so he decided to write an email. His message would be better preserved that way.


    After sending his email, Kei began flipping through his contacts list. He needed insurance just in case something unexpected happened. He found the person he was looking for, and started a call.


    The ringing quickly stopped, and Kei was met with an extremely annoyed voice. Nakano Tomoki¡¯s extremely annoyed voice, to be precise. Ignoring the complaints mumbled at him, Kei talked over his friend.


    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry about this, but I need to call in a favor.¡±