3 – August 10th (Thursday) – Starting point

7 AM, a midsummer’s morning. The bright sun shone down as Kei received an e-mail. Reaching for his phone, he squinted at the enthusiastic sunshine streaming in from his window. The e-mail turned out to be from Haruki, and as usual, it was short and sweet.

Are you prepared to leave?

Today was the day that he and Haruki would be traveling to the Bureau to meet with some bigwig. They were told that the Bureau would send for them, so he assumed they’d be picked up in a car. Still, it was more efficient to get both of them in one place.

Haruki’s house was about a 15 minute walk from Kei’s. He figured he at least had the time to get up, wash his face, brush his teeth, and change clothes. Doing the calculations, he responded to Haruki, Sure am. He sat up, stretched out, and heard his doorbell ring.

Kei didn’t need to be a detective to figure out who was at his door. The doorbell only rang one time, but he knew from experience that no matter how long he waited, it wouldn’t sound off again. He also knew that he shouldn’t just ignore it.

With a sigh, Kei stood up, walking over to his door. He shook his head to try and clear away his sleepiness. He unlocked his door and opened it to a sudden assault of sunshine. The violent onslaught of sunbeams made him feel pity for all the villains in TV shows that had ever been attacked by some kind of light of justice.

“Good morning to you, Kei,” came Haruki Misora’s greeting from his doorway. She was wearing the ever-familiar school uniform that Kei had gotten so accustomed to seeing her in over the last four months.

Kei smiled reflexively. Ah well, the morning isn’t all that bad. “G’morning, Haruki. You had breakfast yet?”

“No, but I prepared some sandwiches, and brought them with me,” Haruki replied, holding up a small paper bag in her left hand. “Have you eaten yet?”

“Not quite. I just got up, actually.”

“Then we shall eat them together. I prepared enough for two.”

“That sounds wonderful. Could I ask a favor first?”

“But of course. What do you need?”

“I’m gonna change, so I need you to wait for just three minutes.” Unfortunately, Kei only lived in a simple studio apartment, so he didn’t have the luxury of a separate changing room.

Haruki tilted her head ever so slightly. “But that does not bother me.”

Was she talking about him wearing the clothes he slept in? Or even worse, changing in front of her? Either way, Kei only had one reply. “It does bother me, though, at least a little. I need to ask you to wait outside.”

“Understood,” Haruki answered, nodding. Kei closed his door, whipping off his T-shirt and shorts as quickly as he could manage. He decided to put on his school uniform to match Haruki. Besides, if they were going to be meeting a Bureau VIP, they could at least afford to look the part.

He threw his T-shirt and shorts into the laundry basket on his way to the door, and opened it back up. There was Haruki, standing in the same place, with the same expression. Evidently she hadn’t moved at all.

“Sorry to make you wait,” he said, welcoming her in.

“May I borrow your plates?” she asked after entering.

“Sure thing,” Kei said, heading to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. He returned to find a beautiful arrangement of sandwiches on his table, with Haruki standing to the side. He gave her a cushion, and she silently sat down.

“Iced coffee is fine, right?”

“I would very much appreciate some.”

Kei grabbed some plastic bottles of iced coffee from his refrigerator, and poured two glasses’ worth. He brought some milk along with him to the table. He sat opposite to Haruki, and put his attention on the sandwiches. “They look really tasty.”

Some were prepared with tomato and lettuce, while others were stuffed with egg. The white bread offset the red, green, and yellow fillings wonderfully.

“Please help yourself.”

“Sure thing. Time to eat,” Kei said, grabbing the rightmost egg sandwich. “It couldn’t have been easy putting all these together. What time did you get up for this?”

“Somewhere around 5:30.”

That wasn’t at all a normal time to wake up during summer vacation. Even the more energetic children waking up for radio calisthenics would be sleeping in later than that. “You’re not sleepy, are you?”

“If I told you that I was, would you allow me to sleep here?”

“Best to shut that idea down. Your uniform would get wrinkled.”

Haruki mixed some milk into her iced coffee and took a sip. “I went to bed early last night, so I do not feel tired at all.”

“Well, that’s the way to do it,” Kei responded, yawning.

“Did you stay up late last night, Kei?”

“Only a little. I had a lot going through my mind.”

“Should I have waited longer before coming over?”

“No, nonsense. It was worth getting some of these amazing sandwiches.”

Haruki was very good at cooking. Or, to put it more accurately, she made it impossible for herself to fail. She followed directions exactly, taste-testing at every possible interval. She essentially assumed that she would fail at every step in order to ensure her success. People always assumed that she was emotionless, but she put a lot of care into her chosen activities.

“What sort of topics were you considering last night?”

“Well, I was all over the place, really.”

“Could you give an example?”

Kei gave it some thought, then answered. “I thought about a young boy and girl who met and fell in love.” He spoke slowly, fleshing out his allegory to be as verbose as he could manage. “It happened as quickly as a rainstorm in monsoon season. And just like a heavy rainstorm, it drowned out everything else around them, until the other person was all they could see. That was how falling in love felt to them.”

Haruki stared right at Kei, biting into an egg sandwich that she held in both hands. She looks just like a chipmunk, Kei thought. She would look absolutely adorable if she puffed her cheeks out right now. Of course, if he asked her to, she probably would puff out her cheeks without a second thought. Despite knowing that, Kei decided to leave her cheeks’ charm to himself, and instead continued his story.

“The two of them were madly in love, and spent their days together in bliss. But their parting was soon to come, as the girl was the princess of another country, and needed to return home.”

Haruki swallowed the last bite of her sandwich before saying, “Did the girl consider her home country to be of more importance to her than the boy?”

“That’s hard to say. It’d be a different story if she was asked to prioritize the two. But that had nothing to do with why she needed to return home. Her mother was deathly ill, you see. The girl promised that she would return to the boy once her mother was well. But even so, the girl wondered to herself if she was making the right decision.”

Kei took a drink of his iced coffee, then continued. “They promised that they would meet again before their parting. But when the girl got home, she found out that her mother’s illness was fabricated by her father, the king. The girl had an arranged marriage set up long in advance, and the king couldn’t afford her to marry a boy from another kingdom. The king made a deal with a wizard to remove all memories of the boy she loved from her mind.”

“He is a horrible king,” Haruki said.

That’s absolutely right, Kei thought. But I know that’s not how you really feel. Haruki was simply imagining the most appropriate response to the story.

“Around that time, the king sent the boy a message. He went out of his way to tell the boy that the girl could no longer remember their promise. I’m not sure if I find that to be kindness or cruelty, personally.”

After fumbling around with a few filler words, Kei kept going. “The boy started thinking, ‘What should I do? If she can’t remember our promise, what will become of us? Is a promise that only one person remembers worth anything?’ What do you think, Haruki?”

A thoroughly verbose allegory. It was shamelessly similar to what that girl who died two years ago used to do. Granted, her old tales used to be much more complex and difficult to understand than his practically transparent storytelling.

Without even a moment’s hesitation, Haruki shook her head. “I believe that a promise is vitally tied to both individuals who made it. A promise is of no worth to a single individual.”

“Then should the boy forget his promise and move on?”

Again, Haruki shook her head. “That is not necessary. Even if his promise has been forgotten, he does not have to lose his purpose alongside it. If the boy wants to meet the girl again, then he should do everything in his power to make that a reality.”

She was right. Painfully so. “I see,” Kei replied, nodding. He took another bite of his sandwich. It was incredibly delicious.

Haruki spoke again. “If it was you, Kei, then I know that you would find a way to meet the girl again, no matter what.”

Kei stared deep into Haruki’s eyes, but as always, he could read no emotion from them. They were serene and calm, almost artificially so. He smiled. “I dunno. I could really give it my all if I knew that would be what made the two of us happiest.”

But could that boy truly believe in the girl’s desire to see him again once she had forgotten their promise?

With a quick, “By the way,” Kei changed the subject. “I met somebody who wanted the MacGuffin from me yesterday.” He explained the basic details of his meeting with Sasano before saying, “I may ask you to reset some time soon.”

“Understood,” Haruki said, giving her typical, simple nod. “Is there anything else that I could assist you with?”

“I think I can manage everything myself for now, but if I need you, I’ll make sure to call.”

“All right.”

Kei picked up a tomato sandwich. He admired the brilliant red and green stuffed in between the clean white slices. Its beauty was almost unreal.

Tsushima had reported to the Administration Bureau that Haruki would be located at Kei’s apartment. Shortly after 9 AM, a large man in a black suit arrived at Kei’s room. He had the presence of a huge concrete wall. Not a single emotion radiated from him as he opened his mouth and spoke.

“I am from the Administration Bureau. Please come with me.”

Everything about him gave the impression of being strictly business. Kei couldn’t help but wonder if he acted and talked the same way around his family and in everyday conversation. It wasn’t likely, but Kei could hardly imagine anything else from his voice.

Kei and Haruki left the apartment, following the man in the black suit. A large, black sedan was parked in front of Kei’s apartment building. It didn’t look particularly luxurious, but it was well-maintained, without a single scratch or blemish on the entire vehicle.

The man opened the car door, and Kei and Haruki entered at his prompting. Kei got a bad feeling that he was suddenly involved in shady business, like a kidnapping or illicit trade. He was at least glad that they were picked up in the early morning. It would be much harder to imagine they were headed somewhere safe if the same car picked them up in the middle of the night.

When the car had started, Kei asked, “Where exactly are we headed?”

The man in the black suit grabbed hold of the steering wheel as he answered, “I apologize, but I am not at liberty to divulge that information.”

“Just who are we going to meet with?”

“I am not at liberty to divulge that information.”

Inwardly, Kei let out a sigh. He recalled what little Tsushima had managed to tell them. She was one of the top brass, and one of the most dangerous people they could meet within Sakurada. “Can you at least tell me her name?”

Kei didn’t expect much more than the same denials he had been getting. But surprisingly, the man gave an actual answer.

“She does not have a name.”

She doesn’t have a name?

A memory from the past welled up inside Kei’s mind. Four years ago, on the day he first visited Sakurada, he had received a phone call.

When he asked the name of the caller, her response was…

I must apologize. I don’t have one of those.

Instead, she had insisted that she was a witch. She went on to make claims about his future. Perhaps, in this case, he should call them prophecies.

Sakurada will grab hold of you, and not let go.

Was that woman the person he was going to go meet today? Just who was this woman?

Kei asked another question. “What do you mean, she doesn’t have a name?”

Unfortunately, the man simply repeated, “I apologize, but I am not at liberty to divulge that information.”

Kei wouldn’t learn anything at this rate. He tried a change of tact. “Then, can you tell me your name?”

“That would serve no purpose.”

Once again, inside himself, Kei let out a small sigh. He gave up on the thought of conversation.

The car traveled on the highway for about 15 minutes, heading southeast. Sakurada being the small town it was, the taller buildings quickly gave way to smaller structures. Kei was surprised that any important Bureau buildings would be placed this far out. He certainly couldn’t remember doing any business out this way before.

Traveling down a narrow road, the car eventually parked outside a building nearing the outskirts of town. The man in the suit stepped out and opened the door. “We have arrived.”

Kei got out of the car and took a good look at the building. It looked to be about four stories tall, but due to the lack of windows, Kei couldn’t be certain. It wasn’t a large building, relatively speaking. The concrete was sunbleached and heavily aged. It certainly wasn’t in the condition you would expect for a top member of the Bureau to work in, but in a sense, it was fitting. The Bureau was not an institution that tended to show off its power on the outside. But whether you could see it or not, that power was undeniable.

“Please come this way,” the man said, walking away.

Kei made eye contact with Haruki, and began following behind the man.

They entered the building, passed through a hallway, and got in an elevator. The man pushed some kind of switch, and the elevator began moving, but Kei couldn’t tell if they were going up or down. In fact, the movement was so smooth and soundless, Kei could hardly tell if they were moving at all.

Eventually, the door opened back up, revealing a hallway bathed in fluorescent white light. The right wall had four doors in total, and there were no people to be seen.

The man in the suit walked up to the closest door, and opened it.

“Right this way, Haruki-sama.”

Kei peered into the door to see a sparsely decorated room. There were a few sofas and tables, as well as a single phone and a wall clock. The room was otherwise empty, with not even an ornamental plant to spruce up the environment. “What about me?”

“I will take you to see her first. You are only allowed to speak with her one at a time.”

When Kei turned to look at Haruki, she was already staring at him. He met her eyes, and came to a decision. “Very well. I’ll see you soon.”

“Of course. Until next time.” Haruki walked inside after their short exchange. The man closed the door, and touched it with his right hand. He held still for a few seconds.

Just what is he doing? Right as Kei prepared to ask, the man turned his way.

“This way, please,” he said, walking away once more. With no other choice, Kei followed behind. The sounds of their footsteps echoed down the hall. No matter how far they went into the building, there were no signs of other people. It was as though this one structure were abandoned and alone in the corner of the world.

“It’s very quiet here.”

“That it is.”

“Is this building really owned by the Bureau?”

“I am not at liberty to divulge that information.”

They walked to the end of the hall, coming across another door. The man touched the door with his left hand, then opened it. Inside was another narrow hallway that felt somewhat foreboding. It was a short hallway with only one door on the facing wall.

Kei entered the hallway, and the man closed the door behind them before touching it with his right hand.

“We have arrived,” he said, walking up to the next door. After touching it with his left hand, he followed up with, “Please enter,” before slowly opening the door.

The bookshelves were the first thing to catch his eye. Walls and walls of bookshelves, lining the entirety of the small room. To his right, in the far end of the room, there was a wooden table beside a large chair. A woman was settled deeply into the chair.

She was a very strange-looking woman. Her noticeably short body was clothed in white garments reminiscent of hospital patients, and her appearance made it difficult to guess her age. Although she had an ambience of age, her face carried no wrinkles.

The man in the black suit returned to the hallway side of the door and promptly closed it. Now, only Kei and the woman were in the room together.

The woman’s cheeks slowly raised. Through a lengthy and rather unnatural looking process, she eventually managed a smile.

“It’s been so long. Unless, of course, you’d prefer I start with, ‘It’s nice to meet you’?” Her voice was soft, but worn with age.

“Would it be too much for me to ask your name?”

Her answer perfectly mimicked what Kei had heard four long years ago. “I must apologize. I don’t have one of those.”

“In that case, I’m not quite sure what to call you.”

“That’s understandable. However, I need no name in order to fulfill my purpose. But if you must, then you can call me a Witch.

“Yes, ma’am.” A Witch.

Kei took a look around the room. He noticed a door on the far wall.

The Witch commented, “That back there is the bedroom. There’s a restroom and bath further in, as well as a small space for exercising.”

“Are there any windows?”

“No. Not a single one.”

Kei turned around, facing the door he came through. He pushed down on the hook handle, but it didn’t budge. The door lacked even so much as a keyhole.

“The right hand locks, and the left hand unlocks,” Kei remarked, having come to a conclusion about the man in the black suit’s ability.

The Witch nodded. “Correct. Anything that he locks remains indefinitely affected.”

A windowless room, only accessible through two doors locked by an ability. This room was well and truly isolated. “They needed two sets of doors to keep you safe?”

The Witch shook her head. “They don’t keep others out. They keep me in. They ensure that I have absolutely no connections to the outside world.”

“Then, what’s that?” Kei asked, pointing to the room’s singular table. Atop it was a metallic phone of antique design.

“That phone can only connect to a single line. Every time I pick it up, I talk to the same person. Could you imagine living this kind of life?”

Kei shook his head.

The Witch made a completely artificial smile, and laughed. “It has its share of difficulties.”

Kei asked something that had been nagging him for a while. “If that’s all true, how were you able to make a phone call to me four years ago?”

“I had to raise quite a ruckus to make that happen. You can’t imagine how many excuses I had to make to manage that. Now, come a little closer.”

Kei moved closer. One step. Then another. He kept his eyes straight on her.

“Bend down just a bit.”

Kei couldn’t bring himself to go against her order. As he bent down, the Witch, still sitting in her chair, began to move her hand. She reached out and touched Kei’s neck. Then after closing her eyes shortly, she looked directly into Kei’s eyes. “I’ve waited so long to meet you, Asai Kei. I’ve owed you an apology for quite some time now.”

Kei didn’t understand. “What for?”

“For bringing you into Sakurada.”

Kei thought through their phone call from four years ago. “But all you did was give me some advice. I came to the town of my own accord.”

The Witch gently shook her head. “No, you didn’t. I knew what I was doing. I knew that if I made that phone call, you would come to Sakurada. I didn’t even have to tell you to do it. You would be attracted to the town simply by your own needs.”

Her claims had some merit. After all, Kei’s interest in Sakurada only began from her phone call. And then, before he knew it, it had already been four years.

Sakurada will grab hold of you, and not let go.

She certainly hadn’t been wrong.

“What exactly are you here for?” Kei asked.

She was one of the top brass of the Administration Bureau. A Witch who made a prophetic phone call to a boy she didn’t even know. And here she lay, deep inside an abandoned building, without even so much as a name.

“I am what you might call a system,” the Witch answered. “A tool meant to be used, without a will of its own. I am one of many necessary systems to create, nurture, and maintain the Administration Bureau. Unfortunately, this system is becoming quite outdated.” Her voice was quiet, and unnaturally calm. It was a real voice, but everything about it felt alien and otherworldly. It wasn’t what Kei would describe as mechanical. Rather, it was indefinite, formless, like the sound of the wind.

“Did you create the Bureau?”

“Not quite. But those who created the Bureau knew that they would need to use my power.”

Every time the Witch blinked, her eyes were closed for slightly longer than a normal blink. That strange action made her feel so alien that Kei would’ve preferred for her to not blink at all.

“I can see the future of other people.”

“You can see the future?”

“Yes. That is the ability I hold. I knew what issues the Bureau would face during its creation and continuance before it was even founded.”

That’s just… how could such a high-class ability even exist?

“I am the system set in place to monitor and protect the future of Sakurada.”

At some point, the smile had dropped away from the Witch’s face. Without it, she hardly even looked human. Entirely emotionless and void, like a system that was playing the part of a human being.

Just as Kei was considering what he saw, the Witch chuckled. It sounded incredibly fake, almost like it had been done to prove her humanity rather than due to any natural force.

“I must apologize. I forget to use expressions every now and again. I spend all my time alone in this room, and I tend to forget that I am human.”

“Just how long have you been here?”

“I’ve lived this way since before you were born. The location has changed a few times, but not my life. I’ve been alone for almost 30 years.”

30 years, living alone in a windowless room. Could you even call that living? How do you forget to make facial expressions? It was entirely beyond Kei’s comprehension. He decided to ask about something he could handle. “Could you tell me the details about how your ability works?”

“Very well,” the Witch nodded, holding out her hand once more. “First, I have to touch someone, then close my eyes.” Cupping Kei’s cheek in her right hand, she closed her eyes. “Then, I imagine opening a door. I unlock it, turn the doorknob, and slowly push it open. Immediately, I can see the person’s future, lined up in a series of images. The images all stretch outwards, filed out like an illusion in a hall of mirrors. I can see everything the person will ever see, and hear all that will ever enter their ears.” The Witch opened her eyes, pulling her hand away from Kei’s cheek.

“Did you see my future just now?”

“Yes, a little bit. It was quite a nice change. I’d gotten used to only ever seeing my own future.” Putting a hand on her chest, the Witch continued. “I am meant to stay in this room, looking ever onward into my future. Should a serious problem occur in Sakurada, part of standard procedure is to make sure I am informed. As such, if I see a future where I receive a call regarding a problem, I let them know ahead of time.”

“Does that change the future?”

The Witch removed her hand from her chest, nodding. “Yes. In a sense, it’s inaccurate to call my ability seeing the future. It’s more like I see an extremely precise simulation of the current future, one that assumes my ability is not at play. That is why I am always alone.”

People would only ever visit this room if there were any problems, but the Witch would make sure that those problems never happened. So in essence, nobody ever visited this room. The only human contact she ever received was with simulated people in a possible, yet always avoided, future.

Having dealt with the aftereffects of resets for so long, Kei could relate, if only a little. One way of describing a reset was the ability to know up to three days of the future. And the ability to know the future was the ability to change the future. Kei clenched his hands tightly to stop his fingers from shaking. “Could you please tell me my future?”

If possible, he’d like to learn about every problem he’d ever encounter in the future. If he knew that, then maybe he could live his life without making any mistakes. Maybe he could live his life making all the people around him happy. That was the kind of thing you only heard about in fairy tales. But if there was ever a chance to make that fairy tale come to life, it was right now.

Despite Kei’s hopes, the Witch shook her head. “I cannot. The Bureau is watching. I am not allowed to benefit others by telling them their future.”

Kei looked around the room. There were easily visible cameras located on each end of the ceiling. “How on Earth does anyone get to tell you what you’re allowed to do?” How could someone who helped found the Bureau while holding such a peerless ability be bossed around?

“It’s not about any single person. I am an integral part of the Bureau’s ultimate system. I am one part of many, serving my own function, carrying out my own orders. A tool meant to be used.” The Witch gave a light shake of her head before continuing. “Me getting to meet you today is an extraordinary outlier. A system error. A problem to be solved.”

“There’s… a problem?”

“Yes. One that requires me to see into your future.”

“Why?”

“It is not for me to tell you. Were I to tell you the reason, I would have to tell you the future. That is why you and Haruki Misora can only visit me individually.”

Kei held back from nodding along to her statement. It made sense that the Bureau didn’t want Haruki in here with him. After all, he could learn what he wanted to know, reset, and nobody would ever be the wiser. But, going by the Witch’s ability, she could easily prevent that from happening as long as she informed the Bureau ahead of time. So why didn’t they trust her to make that call?

The Witch continued, “If I were to tell you something about the future that you shouldn’t know, the Bureau will isolate you from Haruki Misora. They would wait at least three days, to ensure that you couldn’t reset.”

Kei nodded, remembering what Tsushima told him. To generalize, she’s more or less the most dangerous person you could ever deal with in Sakurada.

Suddenly, that was starting to make sense. To meet with this woman was to chance knowing the future. That could create endless problems for the Bureau, no matter who they trusted.

“Now then, allow me to get a better look into your future, Asai Kei.” The Witch closed her eyes, placing her hand on Kei’s chest.

What could she possibly be looking for? What could be in my future that concerns the Bureau? Kei turned several questions over in his mind, but of course couldn’t answer any of them.

After opening her eyes and removing her hand from Kei’s chest, the Witch spoke once more. “There is one thing that I must tell you.”

“Is it about the future?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Won’t you cause problems by telling me?”

“It’s okay. I have been permitted to discuss this with you.”

“Then please, tell me.”

The Witch spoke indifferently, with no emotion. Quite like Haruki Misora. “I’m going to die soon.”

Kei couldn’t respond.

Eyes closed and still emotionless, she continued. “With all certainty, and with no chance of avoidance, I am going to die.”

If a Witch who could know the future said so, then it had to be true. She was going to die. But her voice was so calm, so flat, that Kei couldn’t leave it at that. “Do you… think that’s sad?”

It was a stupid question.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a death in the world that didn’t contain at least some aspect of sorrow. It could be the end of the world, with all of humanity having died out, and death would still be sad. The final human being, breathing their last with nobody left to recognize their death, would still have cause to grieve. Even the lack of anyone to mourn them would be tragedy enough.

Kei was sure that every death, in some way, caused sadness. There has to be something somewhere within her that recognizes it.

But the Witch shook her head. “No. I don’t think it’s sad.” She opened her eyes, looked up at Kei, and smiled. She may not have forgotten to put on an expression this time, but it hardly made a difference. It contained not a single hint of emotion. It was a beautiful smile that betrayed the hollowness within.

The nameless woman, more system than human, continued. “I’ve known of my end for a long time. It is certain and cannot be changed. I’ve been so familiar with it for so long that it’s hard to imagine it as something sad.”

Kei understood the logic, at least. If you knew the future ahead of time, it wouldn’t even feel like the future anymore. It was as if she remembered a past memory of her death nearly every day. But he still had a hard time reconciling with the idea of not being able to grieve his own death.

Flashing another beautiful yet artificial smile, the Witch continued her emotionless speech. “Do you desire for me to have a happy ending?”

Kei nodded, “Yes. Absolutely.” As much as Kei could manage, for his whole life, he wanted to live bringing happiness to others.

“I appreciate that.” Touching Kei’s chest once more, the Witch closed her eyes. For some time, she remained still in that pose. Kei couldn’t take his eyes away from the Witch’s face. Her head hung down ever so slightly, with her mouth fixed into a smile. Perhaps it was just the angle, but she suddenly looked much older than before.

Eventually, the Witch lifted her hand from Kei’s chest. “I would love to keep viewing your future, but it would appear we are nearly out of time.” Opening her eyes, she lifted her head. “Do you have any last questions for me?”

All Kei wanted was to ask what things would be happening to him in the future, but there was no point in asking questions she couldn’t answer. He gave it some thought, and eventually thought of a question, albeit a silly one. “Why are you a Witch?”

At the very least, calling her a prophet would be more accurate.

The Witch chuckled. “Really? That’s what you want? It’s nothing all that special. Once, a long time ago, I heard a story about a magical witch who flew through the air, knocking on the window of the one she loved. I couldn’t help but admire her.”

It was a very childish reason. At least, it would be for someone who wasn’t locked up in a windowless room.

“With that, I must bid you goodbye.” As soon as the Witch finished speaking, the door opened. The man in the black suit came in, holding the doorknob.

“Thank you very much for the conversation. Please excuse me,” Kei said, bowing slightly before moving to exit the room. I guess we’ll never get the chance to speak again.

But just as Kei finished that thought, the Witch spoke once more. “I must apologize.”

Kei looked back, smiling. “You don’t have to. I have never regretted coming to Sakurada.”

But the Witch shook her head. “Not for that. I mean for something else.”

But before Kei could ask what else she meant, the man in the black suit closed the door.

Stepping out of the building, Kei was assaulted by sounds. Car engines, cicadas, and the running water of a nearby river filled his ears. The bright sunlight almost made him dizzy. It felt like he was finally returning to the real world, even though that building was ostensibly a part of the same world he lived in.

Leaning against the back of a tree, Kei waited. He certainly wasn’t going to abandon Haruki while she took her turn speaking to the Witch.

He closed his eyes and thought. The Witch. The woman with no name who can see the future. Anybody with that power would use it as much as they could. It figures that the Bureau would pounce on her ability.

The Witch was probably the core foundation of all the Bureau’s established systems. She watched over the future, and as long as she did, Sakurada would never have problems with abilities. What would her death mean for the Bureau? Could they ever function the way they did currently without her? Could an institution with such unbalanced power over so many diverse and disconnected abilities run without that kind of support?

Of course, if this posed a problem to a high schooler, then the Bureau was no doubt well aware of the situation at hand. They probably had at least some kind of plan for replacing her. But who could perform the role of the Witch?

Kei looked over at the small, dilapidated building that held the Witch. She’s probably already outlived her usefulness. The value that the Witch brought to the Bureau wasn’t at all reflected in her working conditions. The building had no security guards, and minimal staff. The double doors were sturdy, but could easily be circumvented by other special abilities.

The Witch was well aware of her impending death. She had probably cashed in all her chips for the Bureau. For all they cared, she could die alone and isolated in that room, quietly leaving the world without a trace.

But why did she want me here? What could she have read from my future that was so important? Kei had so many questions, yet no answers.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by the patter of footsteps. They were loud and showy, like someone was slapping their feet against the ground, and they were getting closer.

Kei turned towards the footsteps, and his first thought was, I bet the Witch saw this one coming.

A girl approached him from across the street. Her jeans were ripped, and her neck was adorned with a choker. Her eyes were tinted an unnatural red. She had her hands shoved into her pockets, wielding a daring smile as she slapped her shoes against the pavement.

It was the girl with the red eyes. She got closer and closer to Kei, and her smile grew in turn. She stopped in front of him, looking bright and cheerful. She spoke first.

“Heya, Senpai.”

✽

At the same time, Haruki Misora was standing in a room full of bookshelves, facing the Witch. Her cheek was being touched by the Witch’s dry and wrinkled right hand.

Eventually, the hand was removed, but the Witch’s gaze stayed firmly fixated on Haruki.

“What makes you find another person attractive?”

The question was so sudden that Haruki had to take a moment to collect her thoughts before replying. “I believe that their thought patterns are important. By that, I mean knowing what they will think and how they will respond in different situations.”

“So you can completely understand the way he thinks?”

Haruki wasn’t sure why the Witch used “he”, but there was only one person in Haruki’s life to whom the comment could have applied. She shook her head. “No, I do not understand him.”

“You do not understand him, and yet you are attracted to him?”

“Even if I cannot understand everything, there are many things I can be confident about.”

“Like what?”

Haruki thought it over. She knew she could put her confidence in him, of that she was certain. And yet, it was difficult to put her certainty into words.

“Do you think you could fall in love with a stone?” the Witch suddenly asked.

A stone? That makes no sense. “No, I do not carry any particular affection towards stones.” Granted, she didn’t hate them, either. She had never really thought about it much.

“Well, I suppose that’s only normal. Humans don’t tend to fall in love with stones.” The Witch smiled, yet insisted on pushing the envelope. “But, do you like his hands?”

Haruki nodded.

“Then, let’s pretend he lost his hands. Would you still be in love with him?”

“Yes.” Haruki was completely lost. Whether he had hands or not was entirely unrelated to his value of his personhood.

“Then we’ll remove his legs, too. Would you be in love with him if he had no legs?”

“But of course.”

“Then we’ll go after his face. Say his eyes were gouged out, his ears were cut off, his nose crushed in, and his mouth sewn shut. Surely you would dislike him then, right?”

“I would not.” Even all of that could not change who he was. Haruki believed that without a single doubt.

“But at that point he could no longer talk to you, or hear you talk to him. Wouldn’t that be a problem?”

“Even then, I am sure he would be thinking. He would be trying to find a way to talk to me, and a way to hear my voice.” He would always be thinking. He would never give up, no matter what. Suddenly, it struck Haruki. That was the source of her confidence in him.

Nodding her head, the Witch continued, “Let’s presume, then, that we turn his body into a stone, preserving only his thoughts. He would just be a small, minute stone. He can’t talk, and he can’t move. The only thing the cold little pebble can do is think. Do you think that you could fall in love with that stone?”

Her answer was obvious. “Yes. I most certainly could.”

“But what difference is there between a stone that thinks and any other stone that lies out upon the road? What could you possibly desire from a thinking stone?”

“Nothing.” She would desire nothing at all. Just knowing that his will was within it would be enough. I wouldn’t need anything more.

Peering into Haruki’s face, the Witch posed, “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“I think that you have a problem of agreeing with others too easily.”

Haruki couldn’t quite work her mind around the logic behind what she said. “What do you mean by that?”

The Witch smiled. She had a beautiful smile. “Are you sure that you understand what you’re saying? You mean to tell me that you would live the rest of your life holding on to that stone, dying with the belief that his will inhabited it?”

No, that’s wrong. Haruki shook her head. “If he truly wished for it, then his voice would reach me someday. He would go as far as turning back into a human, if necessary.”

“I see,” The Witch commented, nodding. “But you still desire something from it in that case, don’t you? You want him to talk to you, or turn back into a human.”

“What I desire is unimportant.” If it was his wish, then it would come true. All I want is for his will to truly be there.

“Are the boy’s thoughts really all that matter to you?”

“They are.”

“Now, that’s a lie.”

“No, it is not.” Haruki had not spoken a single lie thus far.

The Witch spoke, confidence spilling from her tone. “Then we’ll take away his thoughts as well. If his will were to completely disappear, then the stone would be just like any other rock. Could you then throw that stone away?”

Logically speaking, of course she could. Random stones had no value, after all. But, for some reason, Haruki couldn’t bring herself to nod. She couldn’t confidently claim that she could throw the stone away.

The Witch asked a familiar question. “What makes you find that boy attractive?”

It should have been the same as her first question, and yet it was drastically different.

She could give an immediate answer when it came to people in general. And yet, when it came to the boy she had already fallen for, she couldn’t even describe what she liked about him.

Haruki shook her head. “I do not know.” Then, a question popped up in her head. “What is your intention behind this conversation?”

She knew very well that he was nothing like a stone.

“I wouldn’t stoop to calling it an intention. But I just couldn’t hold back my desire to talk about love with another girl. It’s unfortunate that you’ll forget it so soon.”

I’ll forget it? Although the story was unusual, Haruki was extremely interested in it. Enough that she would like to remember it, or at least she thought so.

The Witch held out her hand, touching Haruki’s cheek. She closed her eyes, and opened them again shortly after. “It seems we are out of time. I must apologize for dragging you all the way out here.”

“There is no need to apologize.” Haruki didn’t have anything else planned today, so it wasn’t as if the trip had caused her any problems.

“You’d better be quick,” the Witch said, smiling. “Asai Kei is busy talking with another girl.”

The door behind them immediately opened up.