Chapter 3 – The Nameless Woman

Sasano Hiroyuki woke up late into the night. A gentle breeze blew through his screen doors, leading his gaze to the ancient sakura tree outside, illuminated by the light of the waning moon.

A strange feeling was expanding in Sasano’s chest. It was as if a great weight of happiness was slowly evaporating into a billowing cloud of sorrow. As he questioned the strange feeling, the dream he had just taken part in slowly resurfaced.

It was such a sweet dream. It took place in a time where there were no special abilities and no Administration Bureau in Sakurada. A time where he had never imagined that the girl who was by his side would be taken away for nearly 30 years. The farther away that time got, the harder it was to reassure himself that it had ever been real in the first place.

She was a distant relative of Sasano’s. Ever since childhood, her parents had come to visit his house, bringing her in tow. Her visits only increased in frequency once she was allowed to go out on her own.

She was just a year younger than him, but even that was a difficult hurdle. Her parents would leave them together to play, but he didn’t know how to play with a younger girl. Ultimately, he found that reading fairy tales was the way to go. The girl enjoyed stories, but she would always rather be told a story than read it herself. Even as they got older, she would continually plead for Sasano to read her more stories.

This memory took place in springtime. Sasano was 13 years old, and the girl was 12. Sasano saw the girl squatting down in the garden, and carefully made his way toward her. The sakura blossoms were in full bloom above her head. Countless white and pink blossoms gently opened, shining in the sun. But instead of watching the flowers, the girl was staring intently at the ground below her.

Even as a young boy, Sasano was captivated by the girl’s profile. Her face carried an unusual solemness for her age. Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn’t appear to be crying. Instead, the sight suggested a certain strength of willpower.

“What are you doing?” Sasano asked, getting her attention.

The girl remained in her squatting position, but looked up at Sasano, pushing a smile onto her face. “I was watching the sakura petals.”

“The sakura petals?” But those are above her head. “You won’t find any by staring at the ground.”

“You’re right,” she said. “I was looking up at the tree, at least at first. There are so many blossoms on the tree, and I thought it looked so pretty.”

Sasano nodded in agreement. Sakura blossoms were beautiful.

“Then, while I was watching, the wind blew. A whole bunch of petals danced in the wind, and they looked even more beautiful.”

Sasano nodded once more. Petals whirling in the wind truly made for a beautiful sight.

“I felt so happy watching the petals fly around. Then, when they fluttered to the ground, I realized…”

Tears streamed down her face as she smiled. The breathtaking beauty of her face pierced directly through Sasano’s heart.

“I had been stepping on the same kind of petals that I was just watching. All those pretty petals up in the air were the same ones I was walking all over.”

“Was that… sad?”

“I don’t really know. I don’t think it’s supposed to be all that sad, but I couldn’t help crying a little bit anyway.” She picked up a petal from underneath her feet. It was hard to tell when it might have fallen. The petal had already browned and withered. “What do you think of this petal? It is pretty?”

The answer was obvious. Sasano considered lying for a moment, before shaking his head in honesty. “No, not really.”

She stared at the petal in her hand as if she wanted to embrace it tightly. “I don’t think so, either. I think that’s why I wanted to cry.”

Sasano wasn’t sure how to answer her. He wasn’t even sure exactly what her problem was. It was just the fate of a sakura petal to wither. They would be beautiful for a moment, then wither away and be forgotten. But as he stared at her serious expression he knew he had to say something. “If you want to cry, then it’s okay to cry.”

The girl stood up to face him, nodding. “Right. Thank you.” She smiled softly under the sakura tree as a single tear tracked down her face. Her tears were so lovely. Even more than sadness, the look on her face portrayed immense beauty.

It had been nearly 50 years since that moment, but he remembered it clearly. Sasano fell in love at the sight of those tears. Now 50 years later, he was still captivated by that smiling face beset with tears.

“But hey, the petals turn into soil, you know,” 13-year-old Sasano told the 12-year-old girl. “The sakura tree will use its nutrients to bloom again next year.”

It was clumsy, not to mention forced. But all he needed was words that could possibly cheer her up. “It’s not the end for these petals. We’ll be able to watch them again next year, and we can talk about how pretty they are again.”

The girl wiped the tears from her face. “So next year’s flower petals will be the same as this year’s?”

Sasano nodded. “Yeah. I’m sure of it.”

The girl looked down at the petal in her hands once more. “Hey, tell me a story.”

“What kind of story?”

“A story about fulfilling a promise to meet again.”

“Sure.” Sasano didn’t know any stories like that, but he couldn’t let that stop him. He started speaking before he had the chance to stop himself. “Once upon a time, there was a witch.”

“A good witch, or a bad witch?”

“She was a good witch, but everyone else thought she was a bad one.” Sasano slowly stumbled over his story.

He told the story of a witch who flew through the sky on a broomstick, going to find the one that she loved, who she had promised to meet again. It wasn’t a story that had otherwise existed, and he didn’t give it a title. It was a story just for her. It was actually very poorly constructed. It made very little sense, and the chronology was damaged beyond repair. But she was listening so intently that he had to see it through. The witch overcame many difficulties, and the story culminated with her knocking on the window to the room of the one she loved. He didn’t have anything else after that. It all fell apart into a disjointed and senseless happy ending.

But when it was over, the girl smiled and said, “I’m so happy for her.” And that was all he could have asked for.

That was a memory from 50 years ago. But his feelings for her were entirely unchanged.

Some 10 years after that day, Sakurada was onset with a series of strange and inexplicable abilities. That girl gained immense power. Over time, it became harder and harder to see her. Eventually, Sasano gained the ability to revisit her in his memories.

After another 10 years, the girl was imprisoned in a small room. She was forced to give up her identity and become a nameless part of a larger system. She was given no choice, as her cooperation was vital to the survival of Sakurada and the Administration Bureau.

Just around 30 years ago, 28 to be exact, Sasano and the woman parted ways for the last time underneath that sakura tree. They decided that they would spend 28 years apart, with the absolute promise that they would meet again.

Come 28 years’ time, the woman would no longer be useful as a part of Sakurada’s system. For every single one of those years, they were both aware that reaching that limit would result in her death. Therefore, they promised that they would meet again for just one week before that moment.

Sasano stared out the window, seeing the humidity shimmer in the air. He watched the old sakura tree that would no longer bloom come springtime. A waning moon hung in the air.

The next time that moon was in the sky, their plan to meet again would be fully realized.

1 – August 9th (Wednesday) – Second time

At 9:30 AM, Kei was sitting atop his bed thinking. His last experience of August 9th was three days ago. It was only a short three days, and yet so much had happened that it felt much longer.

Prior to their reset, two important events had occurred on August 9th. Sasano contacted him asking for the MacGuffin, and Tsushima told him that the Witch had summoned him for a meeting the next day. However, both Sasano and the Witch’s trustworthiness was questionable. At the very least, Sasano was proven to be lying, and probably didn’t even want the MacGuffin.

The rumor went that anyone who held the MacGuffin could control every ability in Sakurada. Sasano claimed to want that power to regain the ability to enter his photographs since Oka Eri took it away. But now Kei knew that anyone could enter his photographs, and his ability use ended once he took the photo.

So what did he really want? Why call Kei over in the first place? Despite all the talk about the MacGuffin, he never seemed too fixated on it, so it wasn’t likely he actually wanted it that badly.

Unfortunately, Kei doubted he could put the pieces together with the information he had. He sprung out of bed with a sigh. His phone call from Sasano came at about 10:15 in the initial timeline, so he had time to eat breakfast first. He washed his face before heading into the kitchen and opening the refrigerator. As usual, it was fairly empty. One bottle of iced coffee, one mineral water, a carton of milk, a few condiments, a small serving of bread, and lettuce. Everything was fit into the small side door of the refrigerator. The main compartment of his fridge looked rather desolate.

Kei knew the benefits of cooking his own meals, but it was so much of a hassle that he never felt like getting around to it. He had been given a rice cooker when he started living alone, and it still remained unused. Quite frankly, he knew it came down to being lazy. The only reason his room was fairly clean was because he didn’t have enough belongings for it to get cluttered.

Kei took out the bread, lettuce, and milk from his fridge. He shoved a slice of bread into a toaster and picked out some lettuce, washing it in the sink. He pulled out a can of oiled sardines from under the sink and seasoned them with salt, pepper, and mayonnaise. He ate his meal standing in the kitchen. As it happened, that was his second most effective method of preventing piles of dirty dishes from stacking up. The number one most effective method was eating out.

As he was brushing his teeth, the doorbell rang. After rinsing his mouth, he headed towards the door. His mind was already racing. This hadn’t happened in the original timeline. Something was changing, but Kei had already made so many deviant decisions that he had no idea what could have possibly led to this moment.

The person at the door was a postal worker. After some small talk and signing, Kei received a package. Closing and locking the door, Kei took a good look at the package. It was small and thin, about the size of two books placed next to each other. There was no return address. Opening it up, Kei found a small photo album.

The first page of the album had a picture that must have come from Sasano’s house. It was a polaroid photo of a sakura tree in full bloom. Why that photo? Sasano was most likely the sender, but that didn’t make any sense. How could any of Kei’s actions have changed Sasano’s behavior to such a large degree?

More questions turned in his head, but when he flipped the page, his breath caught.

A bright red sunset sinking into a sparkling river. A breathtaking contrast between sun and shadow. Tetrapods lining the riverside in center stage. And atop the tetrapods, a very slim girl.

It was so sudden that Kei felt dizzy. Why? How did the photo of the girl who died two years ago, the photo he wanted so desperately, end up right in his hands? If he tore into it, could he meet her? Could he at least meet someone who looked similar to her? Was it really possible? The idea was too good to be true.

Kei closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. He then slowly turned to the third page. He found a new photo, one unlike any he had seen at Sasano’s house. Just a glance at the photo was enough to see its age. In it, a beautiful woman with long black hair stood on the shore. She looked to be around 30. She seemed familiar, but Kei couldn’t quite put his finger on who she was. Suddenly, after taking another breath, it all came together.

Sasano was a founding member of the Administration Bureau. His photos were deemed dangerous, so his ability was sealed. The very photo Kei held in his hands was no doubt the reason behind everything. If you could just tear this photo up and meet freely with this woman for 10 minutes, it would cause no end of trouble.

After all, the pictured woman was the Witch.

The Witch. The woman with no name. The nameless part of the Bureau’s massive system. The woman who held Sakurada’s most powerful ability. Her photo had been taken several decades ago. Sasano and the Witch were somehow connected.

One of the photos had a memo stuck to it. Come and see me as soon as you can. Consider the other two a present.

Slipping his wallet and phone into his pocket, Kei immediately left his apartment.

Kei wasn’t very certain on the location in the photo, and it didn’t help that scenery always changed over so many decades. However, the photo had a specific white lighthouse in it, the very same lighthouse that he went to to meet Oka Eri at last night. Using it as a landmark helped narrow down the general location.

Kei got on a bus heading towards Nanasaka Junior High. The time for the phone calls he had received in the initial timeline came and went without his phone ringing once. Evidently, he would not be visiting Sasano or the Witch’s places of residence. Instead, he’d be meeting with a Witch from the past. Finally, he could learn something definitive. Kei ran towards the coast.

Come and see me as soon as you can. Kei didn’t know how pressing the “as soon as he could” was, but as long as he didn’t know, it was better to hurry. The sound of waves shortly preceded the sight of the coastline.

Kei knew that Sasano’s ability wouldn’t work if he was out of the photo’s frame, so he couldn’t afford to slip up. He compared the location of the lighthouse in the photo, and found that he was much closer than he needed to be. He continued jogging along the road following the coast. The sun was blazing down. Although there was some occasional cloud cover, Kei knew the horrible weather would continue until noon the next day.

After some more running, Kei checked behind himself again. The lighthouse had become significantly smaller, much closer to what was shown in the photo. Finding a small set of stairs, Kei walked down from the road onto the beach. The soft feeling of sand under his shoes was somewhat nostalgic. A few people were swimming and having fun, making lots of noise. A red beach ball bounced atop the waves.

Kei stopped, took a deep breath, and compared the scenery to that of the photo. He looked at rocks in the distance, the coast line, and the lighthouse. While not everything lined up perfectly, a large majority of it matched up. He was definitely in the right place.

Pressing into the photo with his fingertips, Kei ripped it, and the world was immediately blanketed in white.

The light came like the flash of a camera, and much of the noise surrounding him was swallowed up by it. Only the constant rushing of the waves continued. The air temperature dropped significantly, and it became quite chilly. Kei opened his eyes to a triangular beach floating around in white space. It was a beach from a number of decades ago, during a different season. The summer heat in his lungs was quickly replaced by cold air.

Taking a quick look around, Kei noticed a black-haired woman facing away from him on the shore about 15 feet out. Upon taking a few steps closer, she turned around. Kei figured she must have been the Witch from 30 years ago, but she looked so different up close. But it wasn’t about her clothes, or the lack of gray hair. It was something more fundamental.

It was her face. She wasn’t plastering on a fake smile. The surprise she showed looking at him was so natural and real. It was entirely alien to the Witch that he had met in his time.

She spoke first. “You– You’re… Asai… Kei-kun?”

“Yes.” Future sight was terrifyingly powerful. This woman already knew about him in a time where he probably hadn’t even been born yet. “I came here through Sasano-san’s ability.”

“Why…”

Why? “I was under the impression that you had called me here.”

The woman shook her head. “I never saw a future like this.” She closed her eyes. After some time, she slowly opened them back up. Her serious eyes pierced into his. “I see. So, I have betrayed myself.”

What did that mean? The Witch has betrayed the Witch over the course of 30 years? Why? But, more to the point, how? “I don’t know anything. Please explain what’s going on.” If this visit wasn’t supposed to happen, then what future did the woman actually see?

The young Witch’s eyes fell down to her feet. “I suppose that a me in a different photo arranged for you to come here. Evidently she wanted to sabotage my plans.”

“Your plans?”

“That’s right. I had an entire future laid out for myself.” Her voice was no more than a whisper. “I would be confined by the Administration Bureau for 28 years. After those 28 years, I would die. I had accepted my fate as a part of the Bureau’s system till my death. But, for my final week, I would return to being me.”

“You mean you were going to leave that building?”

The woman nodded. “I was going to meet someone. Someone I desperately wanted to meet again.”

“Do you mean Sasano-san?”

“Yes. I wanted to be with him when I died. Can you blame me? I didn’t want to go 28 years with no hope. Do you think it’s selfish of me?”

Kei shook his head. “No. Actually, it’s quite surprising just how selfless you are.” With future sight, it could have been easy to find a future that gave her more personal happiness. Regardless of her ability, it was absurd to only have one week of a decades-long existence left for yourself.

The woman gave a modest smile. “Thank you. We promised to meet again just before we parted. But the Bureau would never allow me to be free, not even for a single week. I’m sorry. I decided to use you all for my own gain.”

“Who do you mean by you all?”

“Mostly you and the girl known as Oka Eri.”

Oka Eri. Somehow, she played a part in all this.

The Witch from 30 years ago continued, “The girl, Oka Eri, desires a strong ability. One that is stronger than you, and stronger still than Haruki Misora’s reset. And so, she will come to plunder the ability of future sight.”

So Oka Eri was after the Witch. It made sense. After all, if Kei knew about such an ability two years ago, he would have jumped at the chance.

The Witch from 30 years ago spoke to her shoes, as if confessing a crime. “I will escape that building by Oka Eri’s hand.”

“Could Oka Eri really get you out herself?”

“Yes. I have seen it time and again through my future sight. The man with the ability to lock whatever he touches is integral to my security. We only need his cooperation for a few minutes to ensure my escape.”

“Your security detail leaves a lot to be desired.”

“Well, I will be treated with care for most of the 28 years. But in the end, not so much. The Bureau will need to funnel all of its resources into solving the next big problem. They wouldn’t have the time to fix an old, broken system.”

A problem that required the Bureau to funnel all of its resources. Kei could only imagine one such issue. “When you’re gone, nobody will be left to watch over Sakurada’s future. Do you mean that they’ll be trying to fill the gap your absence will make?”

The woman nodded. “The Bureau will be going through an upheaval with my approaching death. I will take advantage of that to escape. I’m sure you could see that chance in your time.”

Kei remembered the building that housed the Witch. A small, desolate building with nearly no staff, crumbling away from age. It certainly wasn’t a location fit for Sakurada’s most powerful ability. But the Bureau didn’t care. It wasn’t as though they needed to be concerned about protecting her. If there was going to be a problem, then she would just call them. There wasn’t any risk of betrayal from the Witch, so they could stay focused on their internal power vacuum.

The Witch continued, “If I simply waited for Oka Eri to come of her own accord, she would be too late. By then, I would have been incapable of movement, and even she wouldn’t be able to get me out. I wouldn’t have been able to meet him again.”

The Witch’s gaze finally moved back up towards Kei. Her eyes were dry, and yet she still somehow looked like she was crying. “So I needed to speed things along. I just made sure you two met with perfect timing. The sooner she realized she couldn’t beat you… the sooner she would turn to me.”

Suddenly, everything made sense. Sasano didn’t invite Kei over to bother with the MacGuffin. It wasn’t even about getting his ability back. It was to plant information about the present-day Oka Eri. The Witch didn’t arrange a meeting with Kei to see his future, either. It was to force him into an encounter with Oka Eri outside the building she was kept in.

Everything was going to plan according to the future that the Witch saw. And Kei had played his part perfectly, pushing Oka Eri to further action. Future sight was a terrible power. She could control what would appear to be chance to the outside observer, and have absolute reign over the future.

“On August 9th, at 9:18 PM, Oka Eri will appear before me.”

Kei nodded, finally knowing how everything fit. “And you telling me that is a betrayal of yourself.”

She didn’t have to share anything. If she refused to speak, Kei would be stuck. He would never have known that Oka Eri was going after her. He didn’t even think Oka Eri could have known about her in the first place. But now, she had changed her own future. Kei could stand in Oka Eri’s way, and the Witch’s plan would be forfeit.

The Witch lowered her eyes ever so slightly. “I do not know what lies in Oka Eri’s future. I was too scared to find out. But the Bureau would never forgive Oka Eri for slighting them if she were to break me out. She would forever be in conflict with the Bureau, and in a way, with Sakurada itself. Isn’t that such a terrible tragedy?”

Despite that, she had still decided to use Oka Eri. She made a conscious decision to use Oka Eri as a stepping stone to reunite with the one she loved, while fully aware of the consequences. Various emotions raged within Kei’s chest. He blanketed over all of them with a sigh.

He couldn’t say whether she was in the right or not. She had lived in a locked cage, isolated and alone until she died. He couldn’t even begin to understand what it would be like to give his life away to become a nameless system.

In the end, Kei chose a simple and honest bow in response. “Thank you very much for telling me all of this.”

The Witch smiled. “Well, it’s not like it has anything to do with me.” Her smile was so sad. It was as though she were contorting her face to hold back her tears. “I am not the one who will be meeting him again.”

She was just a woman in a photo. She was a Swampman who realized that she was a replica. A doppelganger with the same appearance, but not the same identity. The woman in the photo would not be the one who escaped her confinement to reunite with her beloved. It would be the real Witch who happened to look just like her.

And now, she had betrayed her. The Swampman Witch had personally sabotaged the real Witch’s 30-year-long preparations.

The next time she spoke, her voice was laden with sorrow. “Really, it’s just someone else’s problem, so I decided to make myself feel less guilty.”

Deep inside himself, Kei shook his head. That was wrong. She didn’t really believe that it was someone else’s problem. If she believed that, then she wouldn’t be forcing a smile and choking back her tears.

Just as Kei was going to open his mouth, he was surrounded by a flash of white light. He couldn’t see her any more. Sasano’s ability only lasted 10 minutes, and his time was up.

“Goodbye,” was the last thing she said.

And suddenly, it was over.

The constant rushing of the waves continued. With them returned the hubbub surrounding the beach. The summer heat sweltered as a red beach ball floated lazily in the waves. Kei was back in reality. The illusion of the past world had disappeared without a trace. He looked down at his feet, at the beautiful sandy beach bearing not a single footprint. Keeping his head down, he closed his eyes.

In just 10 minutes, a singular woman had been created, only to be erased.

She vanished with a smile on her face, but one that only served to hold back her tears.

✽

A nameless woman sat inside an old, decrepit building. No sound came from her room, no knock was made on her door, and no whispers came from her shelves of books. Her hands were on her chest, and her eyes were closed. She was assessing her own future. The future that she had seen so many times before.

Today she would finally reach the future where the door opened. The large man in a suit walked in, just like usual. But behind him followed a girl with red eyes. She was wearing a choker with a cross attached, as well as ripped jeans.

Wielding a daring smile, she proclaimed, “Heya. I’ve come to plunder you.”

Immediately, footsteps could be heard from across the hall. She was being monitored, after all. Of course they noticed. Two more men in black suits entered. One focused on arresting the girl with red eyes, while the other moved the nameless woman into her room, closing the door.

But those two couldn’t compete with the girl’s ability. The man who had already been manipulated by her would stop the other two simply by touching them with his right hand. Even without his help, the girl would have only needed five seconds of eye contact with them to render them useless.

Her security was pathetically weak. How far my value has fallen, she thought. The Bureau had long since abandoned her. But she had never thought of that as sad. The Bureau was dangerously understaffed. They had all of Sakurada’s abilities at their disposal and near infinite freedom to use them, but they didn’t have enough resources to properly pick up their trash. Still, the state of disorder within the Bureau was what allowed her the chance to escape.

In her future sight, a voice came from the other side of her door.

As Oka Eri laughed, mumbling, “Wow, that was so easy,” the woman anxiously waited for the moment where her door would open. It was her future. It was absolute.

At least, it should have been.

Suddenly, in her future sight, a different voice sounded from the other side of the door.

“That’s enough, Oka Eri.” It was a boy’s voice, calm and somewhat indifferent.

Asai Kei. But why? He shouldn’t be there.

She had never seen this future before, not once.

“I’m here to stop you.”

What was going on? Nobody should have been able to change the future. Even the efforts to change the future were all part of her plan, all pieces of a greater puzzle.

Did he use the power of the reset? No, that wouldn’t be enough. A reset would be a known moment, a guaranteed event that could be seen and accounted for. A reset didn’t have the power to truly change this future. The only way to change the future was to know the future.

Only someone with an ability like her could manage such a feat.

Other ability users with future sight had existed in the past. But presently, only the nameless woman held claim to one. It probably wasn’t someone else. The last time that the future changed without her personal involvement was two years ago. There had been no signs since then to justify possible foul play.

Given the timing and the nature of the change, the woman could only come to one conclusion. One of my selves changed the future from within a photograph. One of them had given Kei information that he didn’t need to know.

The nameless woman accepted reality.

Her 30-year-long plan had been sabotaged.