2 – The same day, 6:20 PM

The closing ceremony marked the end of the school festival at 6:20 PM. By the time students were filing out of the gym, the sky above them was entirely dark.

Asai Kei waded his way through the sea of students, looking out the door of the gymnasium. He found Haruki Misora soon enough, and Minami Mirai right beside her. Kei waved, and when Haruki noticed, she gave him a natural smile. She looked for all the world like a symbol of peace.

“You made sure to praise Misora like she deserved, right?” Minami pressed. She was speaking of the play.

Haruki’s performance was perfect, no other way to put it. Everything Kei had imagined while reading the script came out from her on stage. It was incredibly emotional, and a spectacularly moving experience.

“Of course I did,” Kei responded. “I lobbed every praise I could think of at her.”

“Oh, really?” Minami asked, eyeing Haruki.

Haruki nodded. “He told me that I was really great.”

“…That’s it?”

“I couldn’t think of anything else.”

In response to Kei’s admission, Minami put her hands on her hips, shooting him a withering glare. It was a pose he had seen quite often from her in recent memory. It must have been a favorite of hers. “Surely you could think of something else,” she admonished.

“I’ve never really been that good at complimenting girls.”

“Well, you’ve made it this far, so put your back into it!”

She was really becoming quite the troublemaker.

After holding his hand to his chin for a few moments, Kei put his thoughts into words. “If you were hung in the sky, the sun and moon would be driven to such jealousy that all lights would disappear from the heavens. That was how wonderful you were.”

Minami pasted on a lifeless grin. “Yikes, talk about a swing and a miss.”

Utter disappointment. His best efforts were reduced to nothing.

Minami pointed her index finger at him. “Try again, but better.” She knew no mercy.

Kei looked at Haruki with a gaze that cried, Help me.

She seemed to catch on. With a slight nod, she remarked, “Kei can be rather incompetent at times, as you can see.”’

“Really? I thought I could expect better from him.”

“Do not hold your expectations too high. Despite appearances, he is the type to overexert himself and fail rather adorably.”

“Wow, doesn’t get any more direct than that.”

Haruki was silent for a moment before tilting her head. “On second thought, that was rather embarrassing to say.”

Kei had never heard that from her before. Haruki Misora was embarrassed. Looking again, he saw that although her face at a glance seemed normal, the corner of her mouth was actually slightly raised.

Preempting a second call from Minami to praise Haruki, Kei decided to change the subject. “Well, I guess it’s time to head on home. Where do you live, Minami-san?” They had met on the way to school a number of times, so he assumed they’d at least be able to walk halfway there together.

Minami shook her head exaggeratedly. “It’s a real bummer to say, but I live in the opposite direction from you guys.” No doubt that was her way of being considerate.

“Really? Then, I guess we’ll just catch you tomorrow. Great work today, Minami-san.” Kei waved to Minami, walking away. Haruki and Minami shared waves.

Once Haruki had made it to his side, Kei quietly whispered, “You did really great today. I mean it.” He just couldn’t put it any other way.

Haruki smiled bashfully. “Thank you very much.”

The pair walked together as slowly as they could to Haruki’s house. Every streetlight they passed made their shadows dance and spin around them, overlapping and coming apart.

Standing before her house, they talked for another 20 minutes. It wasn’t an important conversation by any means, but nothing could have made Kei happier.

Then, right around 7 PM, they saved. They couldn’t reset that day away, so of course they would.

After watching Haruki go into her house and hearing the door close, Kei walked away.

Walking down the nighttime road, he looked up, seeing the moon waxing past its half-moon phase. He hadn’t even noticed it during his walk with Haruki. I’m really happy right now, he thought. It was an embarrassing, yet comforting feeling. But he knew he couldn’t afford to stay wrapped up in it forever.

As he prepared to turn a corner, the face of Souma Sumire floated before his mind.

Surely she was going to show herself before long. She’d have something to say about affections, about love, or about Haruki Misora. Maybe she’d launch into one of her long-winded rants.

It was less of a prediction, and more of a hope. I want to see Souma Sumire. He wouldn’t have any way of discussing his relationship with Haruki Misora without Souma Sumire, so he really wanted to meet with her and have a proper talk, if possible.

But when he finally turned the corner, Souma wasn’t there. He was only met with efficiently lined streetlights.

Looking up to the night sky, Kei whispered, “Hey, Souma. If you’re seeing this future, could you come to see me?”

He hadn’t been able to see her since their meeting in the dream world almost a full month before. It was making him feel uneasy. Two years prior, just before after meeting Haruki on the rooftop, then resetting that fact away, Souma Sumire had died.

As such thoughts floated in his head, he heard a voice.

“Such a worrywart. I’m alive and well.”

He spun around quickly, but Souma Sumire was nowhere to be seen.

Then he recognized the sensation. He knew it very well.

Her voice was only echoing inside of his head.

I want to see you, too, but you’ll have to excuse that I can’t right now. That being the case, I’ve resorted to asking Nakano-kun for assistance.

Could she even do that? Was it safe for her to meet with Nakano Tomoki in her reborn body?

I suppose congratulations are in order, Souma whispered calmly. Is this what you would call a happy ending?

Kei couldn’t stop his smile as he answered, “Well, it’s too early to call it an ending. But you’re right on the first part. I’m certainly very happy.”

You’re quite cavalier, considering how much you know that’ll hurt me.

“I couldn’t think of a lie good enough to fool you.”

That’s too bad. For you, I’d be fooled as much as you wanted.

It almost felt like Souma Sumire was right there by his side.

But the only presence with him was a cool breeze prefacing the oncoming winter.

Nakano Tomoki’s ability would do whatever it took to reach its desired target, even if it meant reaching beyond time and space. Kei realized he was just talking with Souma from the past. She had looked in the future to know his responses, creating a mock conversation with his future self. The distance between them was so frustrating.

Her voice continued to play in his head, carried from an unknown location and time.

I have a few requests to make of you.

“I’ll do whatever’s in my power. I’d like to know the reasons why, though.”

I’ll tell you anything you want to know, once everything’s over.

“Why can’t you tell me now?”

I can also tell you that once everything’s over.

Kei sighed. What was the future that Souma Sumire saw? What made it something that she needed to protect so stubbornly? “Is there even anything I can do?”

For now, yes. I need you to go pick up trash with Haruki tomorrow morning.

Picking up trash? “Tomorrow’s a school day. We need to clean everything up from the festival.”

Sorry, but you’ll have to take that one off.

Kei didn’t like the sound of ditching his classmates so they could do all the cleanup without him.

I’ll need you there by nine o’ clock. Is that too early?

“I’ll make do. We’d already be at school by that time, anyway.”

Wonderful. Next, the location.

Souma directed him to a particular intersection that was roughly five minutes away from Haruki’s house.

After fully hearing her out, Kei asked, “Is this all really necessary?”

Yes. It is incredibly necessary, Souma answered confidently.

“But for who?”

For me.

He couldn’t argue against that. “I’ll call in sick tomorrow, then.”

Thank you. I’m sorry, but… her voice suddenly softened. This is the last time. Everything should be over in just a few more days.

She promised to contact him again, and then her voice stopped.

Kei walked alone through the nighttime streets. He couldn’t rid himself of the illusion that someone had disappeared from beside him. After looking up at the moon, he pulled up this cell phone. He scrolled down his contacts list to Nakano Tomoki, pressing the call button.

After a short ringing sound, the call was answered. “Yo, Kei!” Tomoki’s voice was extremely upbeat, clearly still riding the high from the school festival.

“Heya, Tomoki. I got a quick question for you.”

“What’s that?”

“Have you run into any old faces lately?”

“Old faces?”

“Yeah, like middle school classmates or something.”

“Well, there were a bunch of people at the festival.” Tomoki’s tone didn’t suggest anything unusual, like he was hiding a meeting with Souma Sumire, for example.

Kei decided to shoot straight. “I got a voice message just earlier. I don’t think it could have been anyone’s ability but yours. Am I mistaken?”

After a short silence, Tomoki replied, “No, I don’t think so.”

That had to mean that Tomoki Nakano met up with Souma Sumire, sent a voice message to Kei, then forgot everything about it.

How could that have happened? What could Souma have done to take away Tomoki’s memories?

She certainly couldn’t have done it alone. At the very least, she would have needed the assistance of another ability user. Kei could think of two people that could help with that, for starters. But of course, there was always the possibility of it being someone else he knew nothing about.

So Souma Sumire has a co-conspirator.

Who could that be?

“I don’t really like the idea of using my ability and not remembering it,” Tomoki said, his voice becoming slightly inarticulate.

“Don’t worry about it too much. Lots of weird things can happen in this town.”

“Whose voice was I projecting?”

“I’m keeping that secret for now. I might tell you another time, if I feel like it.” If anything, it was better that Tomoki had forgotten. “So anyway, I think I’m gonna have to jump ship on the cleanup tomorrow,” he said, trying to change the subject.

“This doesn’t have to do with the voice I sent you, does it?”

It most certainly did, but Kei denied it. “Nah, this is totally unrelated. I just felt like I needed to apologize.”

“What do you need to apologize to me for?”

“You’ll be doing all of my work, right?”

“I might need a good reason, then. If you’re taking Haruki on a date, consider yourself forgiven.”

“Well, it’s something like that.” Depending on how one might define picking up trash at an intersection.

“Seriously? You gotta let me in on how to get in with the girls.”

“Shouldn’t it be you telling me how to do that? Why don’t you go talk to all the girls who came to see your concert?”

“I didn’t have time to waste on checking all the people who were there. Oh yeah, actually, who was that chick with you?”

“Her name’s Murase-san. You’ll find she has a distaste for both coffee floats and monkeys.”

Tomoki snorted. “Yeah, uh, doubt that info’s gonna come in handy. She have anything to say about my songs?”

“She certainly did.”

“Ooh, what’d she think?”

“She thought they were ridiculous.”

“That’s what makes ‘em so good!”

“Okay, take the volume down a notch.”

Kei walked through the nighttime streets, engaged in his conversation.

All the while, Souma’s words lingered in the back of his mind.

This is the last time.

It had been a dramatic day for Kei, a normal day for others, and an all-around fortunate 24 hours.

Throughout that day, Souma Sumire’s narrative had been progressing. He still didn’t have anything in the way of a bigger picture for understanding it.

✽

Despite closing her eyes, she hadn’t been able to get any rest.

Souma Sumire walked alone through the nighttime city. She peered into a nearby convenience store through its glass doors, noting the time. 7:15 PM. She had another 15 minutes before the promised meeting time.

Just then, a woman in a suit came out of the convenience store, and Souma called out, “Excuse me. I’m looking for a particular coffee shop. Would you happen to know of a place called Small Forest?”

“Ah, yes. You just have to–” The woman gave concise directions. Turn right at the corner, then go straight. The shop would be just past the next intersection.

“Thank you very much. You have been a great help.” With a bow, Souma began walking in the direction the woman had pointed her to.

It would appear we haven’t reset yet, she mumbled in her head.

She didn’t really need the directions. She just wanted a peek into the future. It was important to know whether she was currently in pre- or post-reset.

She turned right at the corner then crossed the next intersection, quickly finding the café that was her destination. But after pushing the door open and taking a look around, she couldn’t find the person she was planning to meet.

She sat down at a four-seater table by the wall, and a glass of water was brought to her. “I want an espresso,” she ordered, not bothering to pick up the menu.

She took another look around the room once the waiter had walked away.

It’s like I’m on a movie set. But she wouldn’t have called the place “constructed” or “created”.

The old wooden tables had nearly indiscernible scratches, and the menus were faded and discolored. The wall had pencil markings on it, close enough for her to touch if she reached out.

Everything was certainly real. But it still felt like a movie set.

Of course, she knew exactly why she felt that way.

Souma had never visited the café before, but she had seen it time and time and time again. The scratched table, the faded menu, the pencil markings. All memorized from Asai Kei’s perspective.

Kei and Haruki visited the café rather frequently. And there Souma was, finally experiencing the location that she had seen so many times in her future sight.

Once Souma had taken a few more glances between the clock and the door, the waiter brought over her espresso. She took a sip from the small, white cup. It was horrendously bitter, and only after taking her sip did she realize that she had never tried an espresso before. She spent so much time in other people’s futures that she had lost sight of her present self.

She turned towards the window, and a second-year middle school girl stared back at her. The girl looked out of place, as if she was forcing herself to visit such an establishment. She looked like a small, nervous child. Souma admitted that to herself.

Hopefully that’s all they’ll think of me, too.

A thoughtless little girl with a conveniently useful ability. It would help her cause to be seen that way.

By the time she had forced her way through half of her espresso, the café’s door opened. Souma took another look at the clock. 7:30 PM, exactly the promised time.

A man with a smile plastered on his face entered alongside a woman with a stiff expression. The man appeared to be in his mid to late thirties, while the woman looked a little younger. They had never met before, but Souma knew both of them. Urachi Masamune and The Index. Both employed by the Bureau.

The pair walked straight towards her. Once they reached the table, Urachi asked, “Would you be the second Witch?”

“Indeed. Nice to meet you.”

The pair sat down across from her. The waiter came over with water for them, and Urachi ordered a waffle with milk tea, while The Index ordered a hot coffee.

As soon as the waiter left, Urachi asked, “Now, are you the genuine article? Not just a proxy?”

“I am.”

He looked over to The Index, who responded, “She is not lying.” Her ability allowed her to see through lies, and no they were no doubt making a show of force by checking directly in front of Souma, proving that lying would only be a waste of time.

Urachi looked Souma over. “Have you ever met anybody with an ability of memory manipulation?”

Two seconds passed. Souma took that time to think over the question’s intent before answering, “I have. But my memories remained unaffected.”

If a person wasn’t aware they were lying, then The Index wouldn’t be able to know, either. Alternatively, if Souma had convinced herself a lie was true, then she would also be able to get away with it. But of course, Urachi was simply putting up a front. He only wanted to learn more about his opponent.

Urachi nodded. “I believe you. Please, don’t take any of this personally. I never doubted you from the start, but business is business.”

“You can doubt me as much as you like, if that’s what it takes.” Doubt was one of the steps towards trust.

But forget it. We don’t need trust here.

He could choose to use her or not, and it wouldn’t matter. The end result would be unchanged.

Urachi smiled happily. “We followed your instructions to the letter. We did not perform any investigation of you in the entire past month.”

All that he said was a lie.

In fact, Souma knew exactly how much digging Urachi had done. He had rather perfected the art of information gathering.

But she didn’t bother to point all that out, mainly to avoid dragging the conversation. It wasn’t worth saying more than necessary in front of The Index. “And so I will cooperate with you, as I had always planned to do.”

“Thank you. Now, on that subject…” Urachi pulled a black notebook from his pocket. “Could I ask you some questions?”

“Of course, fire away.”

With a slight nod, he asked, “Why are you hiding your ability from the Administration Bureau?”

“Because I hate the thought of being controlled. I know all about the Nameless System. Who’d wanna end up like that?”

“But you were the one to establish contact with me.”

“Well, you’re not the Administration Bureau, are you?” He may have been an employee, but he was not the Bureau itself. “Everything you do serves a more personal purpose. That’s why you hid the second Witch from the rest of the Administration Bureau. Nobody else there knows about me.”

He smiled. “So you’re saying we have a common enemy in the Administration Bureau?”

“I don’t think of them as my enemy, but I wouldn’t say you’re wrong, either.”

The Index stayed silent throughout their conversation.

No doubt the woman was looking for lies in every crevice of Souma’s words. But she wouldn’t find any. Souma hadn’t spoken a single untruth.

Souma took another sip of her espresso. “But still, Urachi-san, should an Administration Bureau employee really be referring to the Administration Bureau as their enemy?”

Still smiling, Urachi responded, “It won’t be a problem. Nobody can hear us.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Because it’s physically impossible.”

Souma examined her surroundings. The café still had several customers, and of course several employees dotted the premises.

But then she noticed something off. None of those individuals were moving. It was almost like time had stopped for everyone except the three of them in conversation. The others in the shop were all in unnatural positions.

No. Wait.

One more person was still moving. A rather plain-looking man wearing a black suit.

It was another Bureau employee by the name of Kagaya. He walked towards the group with mechanical steps, taking his place beside Urachi.

When had he even entered the café? She thought back, but couldn’t remember. She had been paying so much attention to the entrance that he must have been there even before her.

But either way, she knew exactly what was happening. Whatever Kagaya touched with his right hand would become incapable of changing. He had stopped time for everyone in the store but their group.

A cheerful laugh rang out. Souma sourced it to Urachi.

“Well, don’t you look surprised.”

Souma moved her gaze back in front of her.

Urachi tilted his head. “But isn’t that strange? How could someone with future sight ever be surprised? I thought you were supposed to know all.”

“That’s a rather mean-spirited question, Urachi-san. Especially when you already expected this.”

Urachi tapped his right middle finger against his temple once, twice. “So you couldn’t see this future. I was right, wasn’t I?”

Souma leaned her weight back into her chair, nodding. “You are. I can’t use my ability on you.”

Her many conversations with Urachi over the phone had certainly met the conditions for her ability. But even so, she had never been able to make out his future very well.

My future sight lets me look into the future memories of the person I’m talking to.

She would take the place of that future person, and remember back into the past. Such was the nature of her ability.

“You’re dealing with my ability in a rather abnormal way.”

“You wound me. I thought it to be a rather logical method.”

It had already started the prior month. It didn’t take him a week after her first contact to figure out how to contend with her ability.

“You’re regularly erasing your own memories. After all, if your future self doesn’t have them, my ability’s no good.”

Urachi Masamune was forgetting every moment in his life as it happened, and if he couldn’t remember them, Souma couldn’t remember them.

Quite frankly, it blew away all her expectations.

“I couldn’t imagine wanting to erase my own memories. Even if I did think of it, I wouldn’t go through with it. I couldn’t possibly try to live my life off of a single notebook functioning as my entire brain.”

“Well, not one. Two.” Urachi closed the black notebook in his hands, giving it to Kagaya. Kagaya accepted it, handing over another notebook that looked exactly the same, but was certainly different. “I started taking notes in the first place to deal with the Reset ability. That alone required two notebooks.”

A locked notebook could withstand a reset, but couldn’t be written in. With a two-notebook system, he could always write down something new, while keeping one safe.

Souma Sumire shook her head. “One, two, that’s not the point. Being able to so easily erase your own memories isn’t just abnormal, it’s courting madness.”

He smiled calmly. “But I had no other way to deal with your ability. If there’s only one path, then I must take it. What else was I supposed to do?”

Urachi Masamune really was a lot like Asai Kei.

But they played opposites. Asai Kei obtained his ability so he could never forget. Urachi Masamune used his abilities to erase his own memories.

Of course, his ability isn’t just about forgetting.

But being able to use his ability that way made him quite the foil to Asai Kei.

Urachi Masamune. He really is excellent.

He refused to let future sight see his future. He refused to lose information after a reset. And the woman beside him could immediately point out any and all lies.

Everything about the situation was tilted in his favor. And he smiled, acting as though everything happening was just another Sunday. “Now, let’s continue the conversation. I have more questions for you.”

Souma almost went to take another sip of espresso, but stopped. She didn’t want to let her nerves give her away. “I’ll answer anything you want to know.”

He looked intently into her eyes. “So then, second Witch. Will my plan succeed?”

A rather straightforward question.

Souma Sumire nodded. “Your plan will succeed. I am seeing that future.”

Urachi quickly scribbled his ballpoint pen, writing notes in his notebook. “I see. Then, one more thing.” Urachi looked up from his notebook. The smile stuck to his face no longer resembled a smile. “Will you be a hindrance to my plan?”

Souma Sumire shook her head. “No. I will not do anything. The sooner this town is without abilities, the better.”

The Index confirmed that her words were not lies.

✽

Two questions were written in the notebook.

• Will my plan succeed?
• Will you be a hindrance to my plan?

Both were quite simple. Urachi Masamune’s only purpose for the meeting was to ask those two simple questions.

The second Witch confirmed the first question and denied the second. The Index’s ability proved that her words were not lies.

So Urachi Masamune was convinced.

Everything is settled now.

If someone with future sight could answer those questions, then their words were absolute. Only the one with future sight could change the future their ability saw. If she foresaw success and refused to act against it, then the outcome was already decided.

My plan will most definitely succeed.

Success was unavoidable, absolute, and guaranteed.

End of Chapter 1