Chapter 4 – Sakurada Reset

1 – October 24th (Tuesday), 4 PM

After taking a shower and cleaning his room, Kei started washing the pot of his rice cooker. Nakano Tomoki’s parents had gifted him the rice cooker once he started living on his own. That was half a year prior, and he still hadn’t used it a single time. He had wanted to try cooking for himself, but just never got around to it, mostly because he found all the prep to be such a bother. He hadn’t even taken the cooker out of its box before. He felt bad for Tomoki’s parents.

The small, round rice cooker reminded him of a robot head from a sci-fi movie he had seen before. It was actually kind of cute. He resolved to cook for himself at least once a week from then on.

After finishing his preparations to host Souma Sumire, he sent Haruki an e-mail.

You may very well get a visit from Oka Eri. Let me know if you become unable to reset. Delete this as soon as you’ve read it.

Haruki’s reset being sealed away could cause no end of trouble. But, unlike the last time it had happened during the situation with the Witch, Kei had Sakagami Yousuke around, someone who could help him circumvent the issue. Sakagami could copy Kei’s perfect recall onto Haruki, helping her remember how to use her ability again if the need arose.

But the more precaution, the better. He was going to have to reset, and sooner rather than later. Still, he couldn’t afford to until at least after meeting Souma. He had taken a few minimal precautions for the time being, like calling Tomoki before noon with a voice message to send to Oka Eri, but he couldn’t think of much else beyond that for the moment.

Kei laid down on his bed, hoping that he might be able to get some sleep. But then his phone rang with the notification of an incoming e-mail. It was Haruki.

Understood. What are you doing right now, Kei?

Just cleaning my room, he replied.

Have you finished with your business?

Almost, but there’s still a little bit left.

Will you be done by the end of the day? And… is it okay for me to keep sending you e-mails?

Sleepiness blurring his head, Kei continued with the e-mail exchange for a time.

At the exact moment his cell phone displayed 4 PM, the doorbell rang. Kei got up from his bed, holding his breath.

He was oddly nervous. He walked slowly towards the door, only noticing on the walk over how dark it was in the room, leading him to switch on the fluorescent light. Then, he was in front of the door. He slowly exhaled. Then he grabbed the doorknob, turned it, and pushed the door open.

A girl stood in front of the sunset, backed by a deep blue sky. Her hands clutched a sports bag.

That stray cat of a girl. Souma Sumire. She smiled. “It’s been a while, Kei.”

It felt like he hadn’t heard her voice in such a long time. Her voice was so similar to two years ago. He thought he might cry if he wasn’t careful.

Forcing on a smile, Kei opened the door wider. “C’mon in. It’d be nice if you came over to see me more often.”

“I wish I could have, but so many things got in the way.”

Souma passed by Kei as she entered, and Kei got a whiff of shampoo from her hair. That made it hard to believe she was really there to take a shower. He stepped back inside, closing the door behind him. He almost locked the door out of habit, but managed to stop himself.

Souma looked around the room with apparent interest. “You really tidied up in here.”

“Not much to tidy, really. Gave it a quick vacuum earlier.”

“I would have loved to clean up for you.”

“Well, that’d be more than a bit embarrassing. Oh, should I put some coffee on?”

“Maybe later. Let’s start with the chicken curry. That’s what this is for!” She exclaimed, pulling a paper bag out from her sports bag.

“And what’s that?”

“An absolute essential for cooking.” She gently ripped the tape off the paper bag, stuffing her hand inside.

Out came a deep green apron. The chest was adorned with an illustration of a cartoon-style bear hugging a heart. Souma put on the apron with quite a bit of difficulty, pressed her hands to her hips, and asked, “Whaddaya think?”

Kei put a hand to his chin, feigning seriousness. “Mhm. Looks every bit the part of a home-ec cooking class. I’d expect to see you walking around during a break, handing out all the cookies you made.”

“Hm, a lukewarm reception. You don’t think I look housewifey at all?”

“I think you look like a normal girl. It looks wonderful on you.”

Souma nodded, seeming to accept that for the time being. “Well, whatever. Time to make chicken curry. Mind if I take command over your kitchen?”

“Do whatever you need. Any way I can help?”

“Sure, go ahead and wash the rice.” Souma grabbed all the ingredients from the fridge, washing the carrots. She then opened a cupboard underneath the sink, pulling out a knife and cutting board. “Wow, these look like they came right from the store.”

“Well, I’ve used them more than the rice cooker, for what it’s worth.” Kei added two cups of rice to the cooker and began washing it. Two cups would be more than enough for them, but he could use whatever was left over for breakfast the next day.

Souma looked more serious than he had ever seen her, and she peeled the carrots with slightly unsteady hands. Then, her voice low, she spoke. “So, let’s start the conversation.”

“What do you want to tell me?”

“How about we start with…” Carrot skin a little thicker than she had probably been hoping for fell to the ground. “The story of an ability user and his child.”

✽

Urachi Masamune had always been smart, even as a kid. He excelled above his classmates, his teachers, and any of his peers. He could observe with incredible concentration to detail, think deeply, and quickly come to conclusions.

As a result, he knew how special his parents were without anyone needing to tell him. The everyday conversations of his parents informed him of the many problems present within the town.

Sakurada’s problems, of course, referring to ability problems.

When he entered elementary school, he told his father, “The sooner abilities disappear, the better.” It was meant to encourage his exhausted father. He had intended to continue with, I hope this town moves in a better direction, just as you’ve always hoped.

But his father shook his head. “Abilities won’t be disappearing. That’s what we’re here for.”

It wasn’t the answer Urachi Masamune had expected.

His father had created the Administration Bureau. The Bureau didn’t capitalize on abilities, but simply managed them, to ensure that abilities never threatened the peace of other citizens. The obvious end goal of such an entity would have to be the elimination of abilities. After all, as long as abilities were around, the problems would continue. The best way to eliminate those problems was to pull out their root.

“But, Dad, don’t you want to get rid of abilities?”

His father shook his head. “Not at all. Our goal is to make this town a place where abilities can exist without creating problems.”

“Why?” If abilities simply went away, then his father wouldn’t have to endure so much hardship.

His father smiled. “I used to hate abilities before, myself.  They’re convenient, but they cause so many problems. I used to think the best choice would be to remove them.”

“Mhm?”

“But… then you were born, and it became clear. Abilities are so valuable. I want this town to be a place where wonderful miracles can happen. That became my goal.”

But that doesn’t make sense, Urachi thought. His father’s personal gain from abilities was no proof of their validity. Even his own birth wasn’t any kind of proof. “Miracles aren’t supposed to happen.”

That went without saying. People shouldn’t be saved by miracles. Relying on such things was no way to live. People needed to be happy through their own power, to accept hardship and suffering, pushing through the reality of their humanity.

His father shook his head. “You’re such a strong child.” He stroked Urachi’s head gently. “But I believe that a world where the weak can be offered mercy is better than a world where everyone has to be strong. I don’t think it’s wrong for a weak person to be saved by a timely miracle.”

But what about the times where those miracles hurt someone? If abilities could cause misfortune, then they weren’t worth the risk.

“You are incredibly strong. But you must learn weakness.”

Those were his father’s words.

He heard those same words a few years later.

It was the day after Urachi Masamune turned 12 years old. His father was scheduled to work away from home from that day forward. An end date was not discussed. Urachi Masamune knew that he would never see his father again.

His father was basically going to die. It wasn’t what the normal world would consider death, but the end result would be no different. He planned to go into an everlasting sleep in order to offer a form of control over his ability.

Urachi’s father spoke with him before leaving. “I’m sorry that I have to leave you all alone.”

Urachi Masamune shook his head. “That’s not really important.” He would be lonely without his father, but that wasn’t the crux of the problem. His loneliness wouldn’t really mean that much in the grand scope of things, and was certainly not special within the world. Urachi Masamune wasn’t undergoing some uniquely specific level of loneliness. “But it’s unacceptable for abilities to take another victim.”

The problem had to do with the foundation of Sakurada itself. It was a town that allowed certain people to become sacrifices so that others might have abilities. That foundation was flawed and shaky. It needed correction.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to save you, Dad.” No matter what angle he approached it from, he couldn’t free his father from his ability. The ability was simply too important, and it needed protection. Ultimately, he had to accept his father’s sacrifice. “But I want to make sure that nobody else has to be like you.”

It didn’t matter how long it took. He would remove abilities from Sakurada.

His father shook his head. “You are deeply convicted about the line between right and wrong. But I need you to listen to me.”

Urachi Masamune nodded and met his father’s eyes.

“I care about more than you’ll ever know. You’re my pride and joy, and you’re my hope. But, from time to time… you scare me.”

I scare him? “Why?”

“You are an incredibly strong child. You can take something that’s wrong and make it right.”

“And that’s… scary?”

There was some kind of loneliness in his father’s eyes. “We are all so much weaker than you think we are. We’re weak, and prone to mistakes. But even that can create its own form of happiness. I’m sure that you can see the good in that.” Urachi’s father gently stroked his head. “You are incredibly strong. But you must learn weakness.”

He didn’t understand. “What value is there in weakness?”

“If you know weakness, then you can learn forgiveness.”

“But people who do wrong don’t need to be forgiven.” They needed to be corrected.

“I’m not talking about people. I’m talking about you.” His father smiled. “People learn compassion so they can forgive themselves.”

His father’s hand left his head.

It was sad that his father was gone, but that sadness didn’t mean his father had been correct. He loved and respected his father, but that love was no reason to believe what he had said.

The day after his father went away, Urachi Masamune left his house to go to school, just as always. But that day, he ran into a particular boy.

The boy must’ve been two or three years older than Urachi, but he sure didn’t look it. He looked rather like a young child. Not for any deep or complex reasons. Just because he was crying.

The boy’s voice came out small and broken. “Are you… Urachi-kun?”

Urachi answered with a nod. “And you are?”

The boy muttered a low, quiet answer. Urachi could only barely make it out, but he understood well enough.

This is the boy that stopped my father’s time. The one who froze time for his father, so that his ability could stay in effect forevermore.

The boy stammered, “I’m sorry,” over and over again on repeat. He was no fool. He knew what he had done. Stopping a person’s time was hardly any different from killing them.

He just had an ability. That was reason enough to make the boy turn a human into a non-human. Reason enough for him to kill someone.

This is exactly what I meant. Abilities were cruel. They turned capability into cruelty.

“You don’t need to apologize.” Urachi smiled, trying to comfort the boy. “You did the right thing. Keep your chin up. My dad’s ability needed to be maintained. You’ve basically saved the world.”

If his father’s ability had stopped, then the world would be flooded with abilities. That could only invite tragedy. The Administration Bureau was overloaded just with the burden of a single city. It would likely be impossible to create an organization capable of handling abilities on a worldwide scale.

Looks like you were wrong in the end, Dad. Urachi was convinced. If you really thought abilities were so right, and if you thought people could handle them, then you should’ve unleashed them to the world.

But his father hid abilities from the world, because he understood their dangers. He must’ve actually disliked them, been afraid of them.

And Urachi couldn’t let that stand.

Abilities wouldn’t be able to save the weak. Quite to the contrary, humans simply weren’t strong enough to use them.

If protecting the weak was really what mattered most, then abilities needed to be eliminated.

10 years later, at 22 years old, Urachi Masamune joined the Administration Bureau. He desired complete control over abilities. Which meant, of course, their removal from Sakurada, just the same as everywhere else.

And so, Urachi Masamune became an employee of the Administration Bureau.

✽

By the time Souma Sumire finished her long story, all the curry ingredients were simmering in a pot. She carefully ladled out scum as she said, “And that is the story of Urachi Masamune.”

It was hardly an appropriate story to pair with chicken curry.

Kei had been sitting on his bed, watching Souma from behind. “I think I understand now. Thank you.”

Evidently pleased with the level of scum removal, Souma popped the tab of a can of tomatoes, dumping them into the pot. As she slowly stirred, she asked, “What did you understand?”

“I understand how Urachi-san came to hate abilities to such a fanatical degree.”

In a way, he was exceptionally pure. His hatred of abilities was clear-cut and pure.

Souma added blocks of curry roux and a small dash of yogurt as a secret ingredient. The smell of curry began to thicken in the air. “So are you okay with that?”

Kei shook his head. “Not at all. I like Sakurada’s abilities.”

It was in the same way that Urachi Masamune purely hated abilities. It was in the same manner that Tsushima Shintarou declared them to be unfair. It was illogical. But no matter what angle he considered it from, Kei found himself liking abilities all the same. He just couldn’t imagine that a power that manifested from a person’s wish could be declared as wrong.

Abilities were unfair, fraught with danger, and perhaps not even necessary to be happy. But there were some difficulties that only abilities could overcome. There were some people that only abilities could save. Abilities could give hope. So Kei would always choose to keep abilities.

No matter how burdensome that choice might become, he thought abandoning it would be a much greater mistake.

Souma Sumire ladled up a small portion of the curry, putting it to her mouth. “Mm. Perfect.” She put the lid on the pot, turned off the heat, and turned around. “Now then, let’s get to the main event.”

“Wait, so that conversation wasn’t the main event?”

“Of course not. Who cares about Urachi-san? He’s just a good way to kill time while making chicken curry.”

Yikes, that’s harsh. But still, Kei did have other things he wanted to discuss with Souma.

“Can I use your shower?” Souma asked, taking off her apron.

Kei sighed. “You were serious about that?”

“It’s why I came here,” she said, as if that perfectly explained the situation.

Kei stood from the bed. “Fine, I’ll just go to the convenience store. Would 30 minutes be enough?”

“No. You have to be here.”

“Look, this is a one-room apartment. I don’t have a changing room.”

“Okay, fine. Then wait outside for five minutes.”

Kei couldn’t do anything but nod. “Will you need a towel?”

“I’d be very happy if you lent me one.”

Kei took a bath towel and a washcloth from his closet, handing them to Souma.

“Are you upset?” she asked as she took them, tilting her head.

“It’s not like I’m mad or anything.  I just don’t get this at all.”

“Oh. That’s good.”

Kei headed to the entrance, put on his sneakers, and went outside, leaning back against the door. The sun was setting. He wondered how many rainclouds Ukawa Sasane had erased, as he still couldn’t find a single one. The sky was a wide and uniform ultramarine. It was almost like he was looking into the skyline of a distant, foreign country.

The wind blew across him in gentle waves, tickling his nose.

He wasn’t sure of the exact time, but it had to be before 5 PM. It looked like there were at least 30 minutes before the sun fully set. He could already see darkness melting into the air around him. A car passed by him, driving down the street with its lights on.

Kei gazed blankly at the street before him.

It was Sakurada. A town like many others. And yet, a town unlike any other. But before long, it would once again disappear into the crowd.

After making sure that he was hearing the sound of the shower inside his room, Kei went back inside. The smell of curry greeted him, making him feel as though he were returning to a very nostalgic place. He noticed the neatly folded clothes atop Souma’s sports bag, with the green apron piled on the very top.

Kei sat down on his bed, noticing his phone’s blinking notification light beside the pillow. Picking it up, he opened the phone to find an unread e-mail from Haruki.

Could we have dinner together tomorrow night?

Kei quickly typed out a response.

Of course. I’ll find a good restaurant. Anything specific you want to eat?

He pressed the send button, and noticed that the shower stopped at the exact same moment.

Souma Sumire’s voice drifted from the bathroom. “Come here. Right in front of the door.”

“Why?”

“I promised to tell you all my secrets.”

Chatting in front of the bathroom door sounded incredibly uncomfortable. “We’ll do that later. Just get yourself clean for now.”

“But I don’t have to. I took a bath before coming here.”

Good grief. Souma Sumire was as incomprehensible as ever. “And why do you need to take a bath before taking a shower?”

“Well, I can’t meet with the boy I like while being all sweaty, can I?”

He had fallen for her trap hook, line, and sinker. Unable to come up with any retort, Kei got up from his bed, putting his cell phone on vibrate and slipping it into his pocket. He walked up to the bathroom door, turned the other way, and sat down. “So, what exactly are you planning on telling me?”

“What do you want to know? I’ll tell you anything.”

The thing was, he didn’t want to ask her anything. He just wanted to smile along and feign complete ignorance. But that wasn’t an option. Asai Kei already knew everything about Souma Sumire’s narrative. And Souma Sumire knew that Asai Kei knew everything.

All that was left was to perform his little part of the play, to follow the script. To have a conversation controlled by an external scenario, where each of them knew the outcome.

“Hey, Souma.” The question came slowly. He was scared to hear her answer. “Why… did you… die?”

That was the beginning, at least from Kei’s perspective. Her death two years prior was his deepest connection to Souma Sumire’s ongoing narrative.

“Well, that’s a familiar question. I didn’t like the idea of becoming like the Witch. I wanted to avoid the Bureau getting a hold on me.” Despite the shift in conversation, her tone was entirely unchanged. Something about that pricked at him.

Sure, that might not be a lie. But Kei doubted it was the whole truth. She had a separate, real reason. “If that was all that mattered, then you could have just left Sakurada two years ago.”

Souma Sumire was born with her ability, but she had moved to a different town when she was young. That kept her off the Bureau’s radar. She could have just done it again. In fact, she could have just lived in another town forever, staying as a normal girl.

“My plan required me to be in Sakurada.”

“But going away wouldn’t have changed anything about the plan. Leaving for two years and coming back would’ve put you in exactly the same position.”

That justification certainly didn’t require her death.

“You-” Kei really didn’t want to talk about it. He really didn’t. His breath caught in his throat, and every word felt like he was swallowing a lethal dose of poison. But he continued. “You died… so you could stop being Souma Sumire. Didn’t you?”

She became her own Swampman. Another her that looked like her, acted like her, but was not her. She constructed her own android.

She needed a Souma Sumire who couldn’t prove that she was Souma Sumire.

“It’s completely absurd. I thought about it all last night. I still can’t stop thinking about it. But I don’t know what else it could be.”

There couldn’t be any other reason why the typically smart and resourceful Souma Sumire would absolutely have to die.

There was no reply from the bathroom. Panic struck him as he wondered if Souma Sumire was even behind the door at all. His speech quickened unintentionally. His observations started to sound more like an interrogation.

“That was why you sent me instructions all the way from two years ago. So that the dead Souma Sumire… from two years ago, could tell me what to do. But it wasn’t you. Because you don’t think that you’re Souma Sumire any more, do you? So technically, you haven’t told me anything.”

Her voice finally sounded from the bathroom. “Absolutely right, Kei.” She sounded somehow happy. She continued, a smile in her voice the whole time. “Urachi-san hit me with a question. ‘Will you be a hindrance to my plan?’ Well, I had to tell him no, but The Index was there. I needed some way to tell him that I wasn’t going to do anything, while also not lying.”

“So you… died first.”

“Yup. Souma Sumire’s the one plotting against Urachi-san. Souma Sumire’s the one who’s leading you, Kei. But I don’t think that I’m Souma Sumire. I’m her Swampman. I’m a nameless nobody, just a system, really. So I could puff out my chest and tell him that I wasn’t doing anything.”

It was absurd.

This is so messed up.

A girl died two years ago to accomplish that singular goal.

Souma Sumire smiled. “Urachi-san is certainly excellent, but he had a chink in his armor. If he had specified ‘Souma Sumire’ instead of just saying ‘you’, then I would’ve had to actually spill the real story.”

Her voice was light and bouncy, like a child bragging to her parents. It made Kei feel sick.

“But I stacked the deck to make sure that he wouldn’t call me by name,” Souma continued. “The condition I listed for my cooperation was that Urachi-san not do any investigation into me. Of course, he definitely knew my name, but even so, he wouldn’t be able to say it.”

As if that mattered.

As if he cared about that at all.

How could she… with that tone of voice…

“Why are you talking like that?” How could she sound so entertained?

Her response came out as happily as everything preceding it. “Well, Kei… it’s because you’re the only one who understands me. Because I can fool Urachi-san, but not you. Which means you’ve spent way more time thinking about me than about Haruki Misora.”

Kei clenched his fist as tight as possible. He slammed it into the floor with all of his strength. The resulting loud thump echoed. “You’re such an idiot, Souma Sumire!”

Her calm answer floated from the bathroom. “I am no longer Souma Sumire. I’m a nameless entity, a construction that happens to resemble a person.”

Kei’s cell phone rumbled in his pocket. He had set it to vibrate, but-

“That’s from Haruki. You better answer it.”

Souma still responded to it.

✽

Haruki Misora sat alone in her room. She was seated in front of her desk, staring at her phone screen as it displayed a list of e-mails.

Could we have dinner together tomorrow night?

Of course. I’ll find a good restaurant. Anything specific you want to eat?

She had already sent out her reply.

We do not need to find a restaurant. We can make chicken curry in your room.

Kei never cooked for himself, and he had been so busy over the last few days that Haruki was sure the curry ingredients would still be in his apartment, waiting to be used.

That being the case, she could make chicken curry for him. It was an absolutely perfect plan. He would definitely agree.

At least, she thought he would. But he didn’t respond.

Was he still busy with whatever he was doing? Had he fallen asleep from exhaustion? Or maybe… did he not like her idea?

Anxiety swelled in Haruki’s chest as she typed out a follow-up e-mail.

I apologize. Would you prefer to eat out instead?

After a moment of hesitation, she pressed the send button.

She had wanted to eat with him in his room. She had wanted to make curry with him. But maybe she was asking too much. It wasn’t worth causing any trouble for him.

She pressed her fingertips together tightly as she stared at her e-mail screen.

Just then, she heard the sound of a doorbell. For a fleeting moment, she thought it might be Kei, but when she gathered her thoughts, she realized that was impossible. He would have at least contacted her beforehand if he was coming over.

The first e-mail he had sent to her earlier flashed through her mind.

You may very well get a visit from Oka Eri. Could it really be Oka Eri at the door?

Haruki stood and headed to her window, stealing a glance outside. She saw a small, deep blue car parked outside her house. A man in a black suit, most likely a member of the Administration Bureau, sat in the driver’s seat.

Haruki thought for a few seconds, then sat back down at her desk.

Let me know if you become unable to reset. That was what Kei had said. Not, “let me know if Oka Eri visits.” Only if she became unable to reset. In that case, it wasn’t the time to overreact.

She passed the time staring at the door to her room.

Before long, a knocking sound emnated from it. She was surprised at how gentle and polite the knock was.

“Come in,” Haruki answered, and her door opened.

A member of the Administration Bureau stepped in, smiling. He looked to be around 30 years old. Oka Eri was… right there with him. She stood behind him, looking somewhat bored.

“I’m here representing the Administration Bureau,” the smiling man said, drawing closer.

“Where is my mother?” Haruki asked. It was only natural that her mother should have allowed them into her room, so she should have been with them.

“My colleague is explaining the situation to your mother right now.”

“What do you need?”

“Well, it’s quite difficult to put into words, but it won’t take very long. In fact, if you stay still, it won’t take any time at all. Ah, see–” The representative stopped in front of Haruki, bent over, and stared into her eyes. “We’re already done.”

Those were the last words Haruki Misora heard before abruptly losing consciousness.

✽

Oka Eri had never stopped watching her. But even so, she couldn’t quite pinpoint when the change occurred.

Haruki Misora closed her eyes and fell backwards as if she had suddenly lost all her strength. At that point, she still had short hair.

Urachi Masamune grabbed her body and made sure she didn’t hit the ground. By then, Haruki Misora had grown long, wavy, beautiful hair.

Urachi laid Haruki into her bed. The girl lay there unmoving.

“Is she alive?” Oka Eri asked.

“Of course. She was just asleep in the moment I rewound her to.”

Urachi’s ability could rewind the time of any target. The Haruki Misora he laid in her bed had been rewound to a state some two years and seven months prior, a time just before she became a second-year middle schooler.

This Haruki Misora did not know Asai Kei.

Urachi picked up Haruki’s cell phone from her desk. At first, Oka Eri assumed he was checking the time, then noticed his gaze was actually fixed on the cat strap attached to it. Feeling randomly curious, she asked, “Something wrong?”

“No. It’s nothing.” He put her cell phone back down. “Now then, I must get going.”

“Where’re you headed?”

“Good question. I actually forgot. But it’s fine, Kagaya will be taking me there.” Urachi turned to face Oka Eri, but never met her eyes. She noticed how cautious his movements were. “By the by, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” He wouldn’t have asked her to come with him otherwise.

Urachi pointed to the figure of Haruki laying on her bed. “An ambulance will be arriving here very soon to take her to the hospital.”

“Why? She’s just sleeping.”

“To isolate her, of course. Somewhere that Asai Kei won’t be able to see her.”

“Huh. So?”

“I want you to go with her. Then, when she wakes up, make her forget how to use her ability, would you?”

Oka Eri narrowed her eyes. “That’s it?”

“Mhm. That’s it.”

“And that’s gonna help me get one over on Senpai?”

“Oh, without a doubt. He would hate nothing more. So, I’ll leave it to you,” Urachi finished, exiting the room. The door closed with a thunk.

Oka Eri sat down in the room’s desk chair. She turned to look at Haruki Misora. The girl’s long hair almost made her look like a different person.

How much of this did you really plan for, Senpai?

Did he really know that Haruki Misora would be rewound to a time before she met Asai Kei? If he had, she would’ve expected a bit more pushback.

Then again, Kei had perfectly predicted her instructions from Urachi.

Just before lunch that day, his voice had begun echoing on her head, entirely outside of her own control.

Oka Eri. You’re helping Urachi-san and his crew, right?

It was Nakano Tomoki’s ability. She couldn’t do anything to stop it, so she was forced to listen.

I’m willing to bet you don’t know their end goal. Listen up, Oka Eri. Urachi-san, and everyone he’s working with, wants to remove abilities from Sakurada.

That didn’t make any sense. Was such a thing even possible? And if it was, how did Asai Kei know about it?

You can believe me, or choose not to. But if you doubt them even in the slightest, you have to help me. I just want you to not take away Haruki Misora’s Reset. Don’t make her forget her ability, and don’t make her save. I just need those two things.

Oka Eri watched Haruki Misora’s sleeping face. The other girl’s expression didn’t change in the slightest as she slept. Without the rising and falling of her chest, she would even look dead.

But that aside, there was a decision to make.

Oka Eri rather liked her ability. It proved how strong she was, and gave a clear distinction between Fujikawa Eri and Oka Eri. It was a part of who she was. She didn’t want to give that up.

Of course, she also loathed the thought of following Asai Kei’s instructions. She didn’t like how everything always went his way. She would rather serve as his opposition.

But…

I’m begging you, Oka Eri. I’ve been backed into a corner. I need your help.

He had said that.

“You’re not fair at all, Senpai,” she muttered aloud.

He was definitely doing it all on purpose. Using phrases like “I need your help” was just cheating.

And all Oka Eri wanted to do was win against Asai Kei. That had been her only objective for such a long time. He knew that.

So… what now?

Was there any clearer path to defeating Asai Kei than helping him? Did she have any other options to show off how strong she was besides helping?

Oka Eri could never forget the power he showed in saving her two years ago, and how strongly she adored it.

✽

“That’s from Haruki. You better answer it,” said Souma Sumire.

But Asai Kei didn’t bother to open his phone. “I’m talking with you right now. Haruki can come later.”

“What if her e-mail says she can’t reset any more? You could be too late.”

“I doubt that. You would have told me ahead of time in that case.” Souma Sumire had already died, come back to life, and meticulously planned everything in between. There was no way that the cunning girl he knew would suddenly start to slack off. “You know as well as I do that we won’t reset until tomorrow night.”

That would put them exactly three days after the last save. That was when Haruki Misora would reset. Souma’s plan just couldn’t work any other way.

“I suppose you would see right through that.” A tinge of pride had worked its way into her voice. “We’re in far too deep to just let it all go, aren’t we? After all, thwarting Urachi Masamune’s plan has always been my– no, not my objective. The objective of the girl who died two years ago, Souma Sumire.”

Kei shook his head. “But that wasn’t the objective.” Granted, what she said wasn’t a lie, but it had been very carefully worded. “You helped Urachi-san’s plan succeed.”

Urachi Masamune’s ability was to rewind the time of any target. He had rewound ability users to a very dangerous and volatile state, back to a time before they were aware of their abilities.

But he never could have pulled off that stunt as well as he did under normal circumstances.

It wasn’t a given that ability users would wreak havoc upon their first ability usage. In fact, a large percentage of users found out about their abilities in a very trivial way that didn’t involve anybody else around them.

Urachi had moved the needle to cause problems on a much more frequent scale than usual. Those incidents would never have occurred so quickly under normal means.

“It was your choices that led to this, Souma. You used your future sight to find the perfect people to rewind so they could cause problems. At least, that’s the only way any of this can make sense to me.”

Odds didn’t matter if she used future sight to pick her lottery ticket.

Souma Sumire didn’t reply. Without waiting for her, Kei continued, “You had a reason to speed up his plan. You needed it to wrap up quickly.” Within three days, to be exact. She needed everything crucial in Urachi’s plan to go right within 72 hours. “Resets only work within three days, after all. Everything needed to be done within then, so it could all be reset away.”

No doubt Urachi’s original plan regarding “ability outbursts” was planned to take place over several weeks, perhaps even months. The escalating series of incidents his plan required would have needed at least that long to take off normally. But a reset wouldn’t be able to handle a long-term plan managed over several steadily controlled incidents. Rewinding time for three days would never have been enough.

Asai Kei would never have stood a chance against Urachi Masamune.

“You gave me a chance.”

Thwarting Urachi’s plan wasn’t the complete end goal. It was to help Kei, through and through.

The voice coming from the bathroom was suddenly sharp and cold, even sulky. It was a tone he’d never heard before. “It was just about efficiency. Using you was by far the most efficient way to stop Urachi Masamune’s plan.”

“Efficiency?” Kei smiled. “As if. Nothing you did was efficient.”

The complexity of Souma Sumire’s plans were far beyond Kei, and he could hardly grasp the full picture. But even so, that didn’t keep him from seeing the several contradictions within them.

“If all you wanted to do was stop Urachi Masamune, why wait till the very last second to tell me? Would’ve been better to spill it all from the beginning. Then, my actions would have been significantly more precise.”

“It was a counter to The Index’s–”

Kei cut her off. “That was why you died two years ago, right? But not being able to tell me anything now is irrelevant. With what you set up, you had way more freedom two years ago. You could’ve let me in on everything way in advance, and it wouldn’t have introduced a single problem.” Kei clenched his fists so hard, his nails dug into his skin. “But all you ever said was, ‘that’s a secret, can’t tell you that.’ And I don’t think it was because of The Index.”

The girl in the bathroom was silent.

His eyes shut tightly, Kei continued. “Y’know… the day before yesterday… I was so happy. I got to say something really important to Haruki on the roof of the southern school building. I’m sure we’ll still have misunderstandings, but it was a huge step forward for us. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.”

He couldn’t stop the flow of his honest feelings. It was like everything from two years before was all being resolved. “Then there was yesterday. I picked up trash with Haruki, we ate crepes together, and we went shopping. It was… so much fun. I was so happy.”

But Souma Sumire knew. She knew that if Kei had been informed in advance, those two days would have gone significantly differently. His mind would have been elsewhere, and his actions would’ve had other purposes. He would’ve dedicated more of his headspace to Urachi Masamune than he did to Haruki Misora.

“Thank you, Souma. You prioritized my happiness.”

That was what it came down to. Sure, she wanted to end Urachi Masamune’s plan. There was some stuff she had to hide from him. But she did it all for one reason. All her effort, all her suffering, her death… everything.

She did it all to protect me. That was it.

The girl in the bathroom finally responded. “Well… what else was I supposed to do?” Her voice was high pitched, her words broken. “I’m a real idiot, aren’t I? You probably think I’m stupid, don’t you? I stayed quiet for so long… just so the boy I like could tell another girl how much he cares for her.”

The sounds of the shower overlapped her small, difficult-to-hear voice. The water pounded on the floor like rain, drowning her out.

I just don’t understand Souma Sumire. He had thought that for so long. But now, it all made sense.

According to my future sight, I simply must take a shower in your room.

Because she knew that she was going to cry.

She needed to lock herself in the bathroom for the talk, so that the tears would wash away and the shower could drown out her voice. So it would never show.

That was just the kind of girl Souma Sumire was.

Asai Kei’s chest ached deeply, but he pushed it down.

“Hey, Kei… So there’s this person. Someone I really hate.” For just that moment, she spoke through her sobs. “She’s so unfair. She’s the only one who doesn’t have to suffer. She gets to say it’s all for your sake, and keeps herself safe from all the danger. She just takes all the hardship and shoves it on me, while she takes it easy. Do you know… who I’m talking about?”

As if he couldn’t know. The answer immediately came to mind.

“That girl is so stupid… so selfish… so pathetically weak. Do you know who I’m talking about?”

It would be painful to answer her. It would be so cruel to say it.

But it would be worse to leave her to say it herself. He couldn’t bear the thought.

So he answered.

“I know. Please… you have to forgive Souma Sumire.”

The girl she hated so much was Souma Sumire. The Souma Sumire from two years ago, who died without telling anyone, making way for her.

The girl in the bathroom laughed through her sobs. “You really are the only one who understands me. I just… can’t forgive her for making me like this. But you know something, Kei? No matter what I do, I’ve always been the same as her.”

There was a moment’s pause.

“The only thing that ever mattered to me… was for you to be happy.”

So said the girl who didn’t even know her own name.