2 – The same day, ~11 AM

The bus departed from a stop near Nanasaka Junior High at 11 AM and continued towards the heart of Sakurada. Asai Kei was looking out the window, but nothing he saw was truly registering. Instead, he was lost in his thoughts.

If Oka Eri was left to her own devices, she would face endless conflict with the Bureau. In exchange, the Witch would finally go free. If Oka Eri was stopped, she would still be treated as a normal middle schooler. In exchange, the Witch would remain trapped in her building, dying alone in that small room.

Would he choose Oka Eri, or the Witch? It was a simple choice in concept, and yet neither of those outcomes was appealing. There had to be another way. An ending where everyone was happy, where Oka Eri didn’t face retribution, but the Witch was still able to escape.

How difficult would it be to get the Witch out of her room?

Surely it wouldn’t be that hard to pull off. They could just have Murase erase all the doors and walls, and they’d get to the Witch lickety-split. Not that it would accomplish anything. That would just turn the Oka Eri problem into the Murase problem.

Two doors and a hallway separated the Witch from the rest of the world. The doors were locked via an ability, but the doors were not even close to the real problem. The Administration Bureau would desire for the Witch to stay in their possession at all costs. No matter how she escaped, it would be directly going against the Bureau’s wishes. That was the real problem.

Their threat wasn’t in size, as they were a fairly small organization. They had a section in City Hall as well as the police station, but otherwise it was just a few locations dotted around the city. Their power, however, was absolute, because it needed to be.

The Bureau had management and control over the several thousands of abilities within Sakurada. Whenever there was a problem, they could call upon an ability user to help fix it. With the sheer number of abilities at their disposal, they could always have the perfect solution.

And the residents of Sakurada were in no position to be able to go against the Bureau.

Not only would it be incredibly difficult, it would place a dangerous precedent were any single person to successfully defy the Bureau. The Bureau personally maintained the precarious balance between the existence and disappearance of abilities within Sakurada. If it were to come crashing down, then the barrier protecting Sakurada’s existence would go down with it. It was simply a necessity that the organization keeping the balance be more important than any single individual.

But despite knowing all of that, the Witch wanted to escape the building that was her prison. She tried to make it as low-profile as possible, but it still put her in conflict with the Bureau’s wishes. With all that in mind, the difficulty of the task skyrocketed.

But what if there was a silver lining?

Kei thought back to two years ago, when he himself had gone toe-to-toe with the Bureau. The silver lining that worked in his favor was that at the end of the day, the Bureau was a rational and detached organization. The decisions made by the Bureau were not guided by emotional concepts such as justice and morality. What that meant in practice was that though they would give their all to solve any given case, the solution did not strictly have to bring any offenders to justice. In most situations, they would prefer to wipe the slate clean, pretending the incident had never occurred in the first place. They would sweep all records of crime and punishment under the rug if it would benefit them to do so.

If Kei had to define an end goal for this operation, that would be it. He had to make the Bureau decide to wipe all records of the incident of their own accord.

From that perspective, the issue he faced was actually not very frightening. For example, if the Witch were to escape, the Bureau couldn’t afford to publicly charge her with a crime. Then they’d have to admit to locking a woman away for 28 years, removing her name and identity. If the Witch ran away, the Bureau’s concern would not be finding her, but eliminating the problem that her escape caused. They would work ceaselessly to prevent the abuse of future sight, but Kei could hardly see the Bureau bending over backwards just to search for an old woman.

At the same time, the Witch would be incapable of leaving the room on her own. That meant that other people needed to get involved. But the less overall involvement, the better. It was critical to levy the responsibilities wisely.

Although minimizing the number of people acting against the Bureau was important, Kei knew there were two guaranteed participants. The first was obviously the Witch. No matter what they did, it would be evident that she was in on the plan by the nature of her future sight. Second was Sasano Hiroyuki. After all, he was the one that wanted to reunite and make off with the Witch.

But just those two wouldn’t be enough. To get past a door locked by an ability, they needed a counter-ability. But if they needed to involve more people, Kei wanted to spread the responsibility as thinly as possible. Suddenly, a method came to mind. When he was in the world of Sasano’s photograph, his steps in the photograph had affected his location in the real world. He had confirmed it earlier on the beach, where he could even see the lapse in his footprints on the sand.

If he got the perfect picture in his hands, infiltration would be simple. If he could snag a photo of the hallway with both doors open, then they would have a simple route. If possible, a series of photos that could take them directly from the Witch’s room to the outside would be optimal. They could spirit her away through the photos. Best of all, he could easily get the pictures with Murase and Haruki’s help, and the Bureau would be none the wiser.

But he couldn’t just call it there. They would still be involved. If he continued as currently planned, that made for three accomplices, including Oka Eri, involved with the Witch’s escape. Even if the Bureau wiped her existence, and even if they didn’t act directly hostile, that wouldn’t absolve them of their actions. Playing any role in the breakout would put them in danger.

Of course, there were more options available. For example, he could wash his hands of the matter entirely. In a way, that was the best outcome. Sure, he empathized with the woman’s situation and wanted her to live a better life. But did that outweigh the costs? Was it worth Haruki and Murase’s safety?

If Kei was forced to line up his concerns, Haruki and Murase would easily come before the Witch. He wouldn’t even have to think about it. In fact, if he was going to list his priorities, Oka Eri was the perfect sacrifice if all he wanted was to improve the Witch’s circumstances. Oka Eri had been planning her whole plundering business all on her own to begin with, so he could just let the chips fall where they may.

Yeah, right. I already know I’m gonna go through with my own plan. In a sense, the choice had already been made.

Not because of the Witch, or Sasano, or even Oka Eri. Not because of a selfless and pure desire to help other people. Kei knew how wrong it was, but… he wanted to play God. He wanted to reach his hand out and save everyone whenever the opportunity came his way. He wanted to generate the best and most miraculous outcome, all at no cost to anyone else.

But he didn’t have the power to do that. The only way he could make it happen was to wield the power of everyone else around him like his own personal set of tools.

I’m here to prove just how weak you are, Senpai. That was what Oka Eri had told him. But that wasn’t necessary. Kei had always known how weak he was, even all the way back to those two years ago.

The bus pulled up to the next stop, and Kei stood up from his seat. The doors closed, and the bus continued on without him. Pulling his cell phone out, Kei recalled the number that had showed up on his display back before the reset. When he called it, a man’s voice echoed from the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Nice to meet you. My name is Asai Kei.”

As soon as Kei shared his name, Sasano Hiroyuki let out a feeble, tired sigh.

It only took about 10 minutes for Kei to get a handle on the situation. For starters, Sasano had remembered how to use his ability. Oka Eri had in fact placed him under a separate memory effect. Evidently, Sasano had become convinced that if he found any more of his photographs, they needed to be mailed to Oka Eri. The natural conclusion was that Oka Eri, or perhaps the Bureau member backing her, had changed plans from plundering his ability to instead plundering all of his photos.

That proved to be a blessing in disguise for Kei. The basic forms of Oka Eri’s memory manipulation could be broken through by simple dialogue. Although the abnormal situation no doubt helped the circumstances, Kei was able to break through the effect in a matter of minutes by simply explaining Oka Eri’s ability to Sasano. Following that, Kei moved on to the true purpose of his call.

“I know exactly what you and the nameless woman are planning. I do not intend to let Oka Eri take the fall for your actions.” He explained what had happened with the photos that were sent to him, and the conversation he had on the beach.

After his explanation, Sasano simply said, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Kei couldn’t help but wonder who he was really apologizing to, and what for. Moving forward, he asked, “With all that said, are you going to give up on your plan to reunite with her?” It was a horribly unfair question, not to mention pointless. As soon as it left his mouth, Kei realized why he asked it. He was irritated.

It was all easy enough to track. He was upset at Sasano and the Witch’s plan, and how willing they were to throw Oka Eri under the bus. No matter their justifications, he could never see that as the right thing to do. Not that he couldn’t sympathize. In their current situation, there were simply no other options, and Oka Eri was planning on whisking the Witch away anyway. The consequences of that plan weren’t really the Witch’s problem.

But Kei also realized that his irritation had deeper roots than that. He was also irritated at himself. Why do I have to be just like her, forcing Haruki and Murase to put in the work for my own gain? Why can’t I create a better solution, one that doesn’t endanger anyone? At the end of the day, he was just unfairly taking his frustrations out on Sasano.

Sasano’s response was swift and clear. “I apologize, but I cannot do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I want to see her again. I will not be stopped from attaining my goal.”

A simple and beautiful response. It was enough to persuade Kei, at least.

“Do you have a plan now?”

After a long silence, Sasano replied, “No, I can’t think of one. But I’m going to head to where she is anyway.” It wasn’t like Sasano could get in just by begging and pleading. If it was that easy, the Witch would have just told him so.

“Let me help you.”

“Why?” Surprise filled Sasano’s voice.

“I made a promise the last time I met her.” It was back when he had first visited her in that building.

She had asked him, Do you desire for me to have a happy ending?

Yes. Absolutely, had been his response.

Maybe you could call that a promise. Maybe not. He didn’t really care.

After being thanked by Sasano, Kei arranged to go to his house to meet him at 5 PM before hanging up. Next, he called Haruki Misora and Murase Youka. He openly shared everything relating to the Witch, Oka Eri, and his plans. He doubted that Murase would refuse in her situation. She still hated the Bureau and felt indebted to Kei for what he did a month ago. She was so greatly affected by what he did that new limits had been placed on her abilities. As for Haruki, she would take anything Kei asked as an order. His requests were absolute to her.

In the end, they both said yes. Murase sounded a tad uneasy, but was greatly upset by the Witch’s situation. Haruki just responded with a calm, “Understood.” It was obvious things would turn out that way. A choice with no alternatives was hardly a choice at all. You could call it coercion more than anything. The die had been cast long before they answered.

Kei wandered around town to kill the time he had left before meeting Sasano. He ate some fast food before visiting a bookstore and CD shop. He passed the time in much the same way he had on the previous August 9th.

Suddenly, he got the urge to meet with someone entirely unrelated to the current events. He considered a certain girl who took her naps with cats at a nearby shrine, Nonō Seika. Unfortunately, the bakery was sold out of her favorite cream puffs, so he decided against going to visit.

Nakano Tomoki was another good option, but whenever Kei visited him, the stay always ended up extending far longer than intended. Plus, that guy had always been abnormally sharp, so even a simple phone call would probably end with Tomoki catching on to his mood. Kei had always appreciated that about him, but didn’t want to deal with that at the moment.

Ultimately, Kei ended up sitting on a bench alone, lost in his own thoughts.

Was there any way to progress without involving Haruki and Murase? The possibility had to exist. But even so, he just couldn’t imagine it. It felt like every answer relied on someone else’s power. It’s almost like I’m avoiding any other alternatives, Kei thought to himself.

But he had to stand his ground. If he was going to involve them, then he needed to make sure he covered all his bases. He spent the afternoon thinking over all the details of his plan, possible problems, and the necessary solutions.

Around 4 PM, he went to meet up with Haruki Misora and Murase Youka. He had to wait until that time due to Murase’s supplementary lessons.

“You sure don’t have any problem with just foisting a big ask onto people,” Murase commented upon seeing him.

The peevishness in her tone was no greater than usual, so Kei figured he’d let the comment slide. He moved beside Haruki before properly thanking her for all her help the previous night. Murase’s powers were so simple and convenient that it was easy to become reliant on them. They all got on a bus headed towards Sasano’s house.

Kei almost wanted to warn them about the dangers of going against the Bureau. He would’ve offered them an out on the spot. But he wasn’t in a position to offer that. If he really cared about those consequences, he would have kept them out of it. Besides, they probably wouldn’t change their minds at this stage. It would have all been one big excuse. There was no point in brandishing an excuse that he didn’t even believe in.

It was 4:30 in the afternoon, but the sun was still shining brightly. Under that blue sky, the bus slowly headed out of Sakurada.

Upon departing the bus, Kei found Sasano waiting at the bus stop. Though Sasano was smiling, he seemed somewhat downhearted. That made sense, under the circumstances. His thirty-year-long plan had fallen apart before his very eyes. He was probably more upset than he was letting on.

After some brief greetings, Sasano led the way to his house. There was little conversation. Haruki hardly talked in the first place, and Murase wasn’t the type to start a friendly chat with someone she just met. The only words Kei could get out of Sasano were, “I’m sorry.”

Once they arrived at the house, they were shown into the same Japanese-style sitting room, and Kei began speaking. “The plan for tonight is as follows.”

It was a simple sequence. Murase and Haruki were already up to speed. They would infiltrate the building, Sasano would take photos of the Witch’s escape route, and immediately, they would reset. Of course, if it was just Kei and Haruki, the photos would disappear along with the reset. That was where Murase came in.

Murase’s ability could negate the effects of resetting. Included in that effect were her clothes, hats, and even what she was holding in her pockets. If everything went well, the entire infiltration would be wiped from existence, but Murase would still hold the photos that they had taken. After that, if they could get those photos to the Witch, then she could escape of her own accord.

The main issue with the plan was the photos themselves. Since they had no means to exist, the Bureau could easily trace them back to Haruki and Murase. It would be best to assume that when it came to investigative knowledge, there was nothing the Bureau couldn’t discover.

Currently, there was no solution to that problem. The only hope lay in the possibility of contacting the Witch once she escaped her building. If he could have a conversation with her, he could learn of what was coming in his future. Perhaps he could even discover the best way to reduce the kickback from the Bureau. It was a long shot, and even then, it didn’t reduce the inherent risk.

“Are there any questions?” Kei asked.

The first person to speak up was Murase. “How exactly will we get the photos to the Witch?”

“I’ve got something in mind. I’m fairly certain it’ll work.”

“And what would that be?”

“We’ll just have to make use of the right ability.”

“And whose ability would that be, pray tell?”

Kei sighed internally. Ultimately, it wasn’t fair to ask for her cooperation only to hide things from her. “We’re going to use the woman’s own ability. I’ll make it so that she sends for me.” Prior to their reset, the Witch had already done so. It was clearly within her power to get Kei to visit her, and they didn’t perform a body check back then.

Murase looked unconvinced. “And why would she send for you?”

“Because I’m going to ask her for it.”

“When? Don’t even try to say tonight, because we’ll be resetting.”

“I’m going to ask her in a nonexistent future.”

The Witch had future sight, which meant that changing the future lay solely within her hands. If Kei wasn’t called in by the Witch, he had every intention of storming the building to tell her about his plans. The Witch would be able to see that future, and send for him ahead of time. Effectively, that would eliminate the future where Kei stormed the building.

“We need to create a false future that the Witch can read in order to send her the proper information.” A future that was crafted purely for the sake of being torn down.

Murase stared blankly at Kei for a while. When she finally spoke, it was to ask, “Is that even possible?”

“Who’s to say? From what I know, it should be possible.”

The Witch had this to say regarding her ability: It’s more like I see an extremely precise simulation of the current future, one that assumes my ability is not at play.

The Witch’s ability did not account for her own ability. That was only natural, as if it did, it would create contradictions or loops. For example, her ability would tell her that Person A was going to be in an accident. If she called to prevent it, the future of Person A’s accident would be avoided. But if her initial vision incorporated her ability use, then, she would only see the future where there was no accident, and since she would then choose to not interfere, Person A would still get in the accident. As such, her ability would have an endless simulation loop.

As it was, the Witch’s ability avoided such a situation by not accounting for her own ability. She would see a fixed future in which no outside influence was included. The future she saw could only change if she told Person A about it. That justified her explanation of a precise simulation. Under those terms, it would be theoretically possible for Kei to manipulate his own future in such a way that it conveyed meaningful information to her.

But at the end of the day, there wasn’t enough information to confirm Kei’s hunch. “If it doesn’t work, then we can just reset and I’ll try something else,” he concluded.

He had alternatives in a worst-case scenario. He could rely on his friends and overcome some annoying bumps in the road, and still ultimately tell get what he needed. But his primary directive was to reduce external involvement.

“Well, if you’re sure you can do it, then fine,” Murase said.

As if picking up where Murase left off, Haruki spoke. “So in the end, you will be the one supplying the Witch with her photos?”

“That’s about right.”

“Would that not put you in danger?”

Of course it would. The Witch would escape shortly after meeting Kei. He would be the primary suspect, no two ways about it.

“If you wanna call that dangerous, then us just being here is dangerous. Having anything to do with the Witch is inherently dangerous.”

“But despite that, you want to help the Witch escape her confinement?”

“Yes. I’ve made my decision. And I’ll have you know I can be surprisingly stubborn about my decisions,” Kei said.

“I am well aware of that,” Haruki answered.

Following that conversation, Kei put Sasano through the wringer to learn about his ability.

He measured how long it took for his Polaroid camera to produce a picture, then tested the amount of damage needed to activate it. He tried scratching it, only tearing from one end, and tearing it more once it had been used. He had Murase nullify abilities on herself both before and after tearing a photo.

After testing, they discussed various aspects of the plan and what to do in case of possible hiccups. At 8:00 PM, they piled in Sasano’s car, with the plan to break into the building at 9:15. Sasano was in the driver’s seat, Murase rode passenger, and Kei was with Haruki in the back. It was already quite dark outside, and there was very little traffic on the roads.

Murase glanced back towards Kei, asking, “Why 9:15 specifically?”

Kei realized he hadn’t explained. “That’s right around the time that Oka Eri will be starting her own infiltration.” More specifically, she would reach the Witch at 9:18. “We’re gonna follow behind her.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s guaranteed to make it there. “ The Witch no doubt incorporated Oka Eri’s success into her plans. Kei didn’t know how it all played out, but if Oka Eri would be in that room at 9:18 PM, then it was better to follow in the footsteps of success.

“That’s odd coming from you,” Murase remarked.

“What makes you say that?”

“I would’ve thought that you’d try stopping Oka Eri beforehand.”

“Why would I do that?”

“If Oka Eri stayed out of it, then one less person would be involved.”

“Well, that’s true.” Even without Oka Eri, they had all likelihood of success with Murase on their side. Oka Eri wasn’t at all necessary to acquire the photos they were after. “But Oka Eri being there makes it that much more likely that things will go to plan.”

It really came down to a simple comparison. Haruki and Murase were there on his request. Oka Eri was there for her own purposes. It was only natural to prioritize the safety of the latter two. Besides, Oka Eri was entirely in the clear. Her infiltration would be entirely wiped by the reset, and she wouldn’t have any leftover evidence to convict her.

“Oh. Alright,” was Murase Youka’s brief reply.

✽

“Oh. Alright,” was Murase Youka’s brief reply.

It wasn’t that she was upset with Kei’s decision. In fact, she thought that Oka Eri was being profoundly foolish. It only made sense to Murase that Oka Eri didn’t get any cushion for her actions. Not that she was in any place to judge, given her position just one month prior.

Despite her agreement, she found herself short on words simply from how composed Kei was. Which meant that she, in comparison, was very nervous. They were actually going to defy the Administration Bureau. The very thought was scary. Murase had to laugh at herself.

To think that just one month ago, I was set on bringing the Bureau down all by myself.

Of course, that determination had all been a smokescreen. She never could have managed the courage to pull it off. She was angry, she was dissatisfied, but she didn’t know what she was doing. The only motivation she could find was in insisting that she would take down the Bureau, but that had all been a lie. There was no doubt Asai and Tsushima had seen right through her. The only person she was fooling was herself.

If she really wanted to fight the Bureau, then she had options. She didn’t have to believe in a fantastical MacGuffin, and could have made many more efficient decisions. But every time she said that “someday” she would take down the Bureau, deep down she hoped that day would never come.

Nevertheless, she dug her toes in, bought into her own lies, and eventually crossed the line of no return, only to be stopped by Asai Kei. It was a good thing that he had done so. Murase knew very little about the Bureau, but what she did know was enough to terrify her. Her lack of knowledge was perhaps a source of her fear, but maybe a corporation of adults simply carried a gravitas that was too much for a high schooler to handle.

Sasano’s car slowly approached their destination, and time marched ever forward. In only a few more minutes, they would be storming the Bureau’s building. Their goal: to rescue a woman long imprisoned by the Bureau.

If anything in the world was right, it would be this. It was much more straightforward than her generic and misinformed desire to destroy the Bureau from a month prior. She wanted to take part in this mission with her whole heart. But still, that which was scary remained scary.

Murase glanced towards Asai and Haruki in the backseat. They were discussing fireworks. How much they liked the sizzling sound when they put it in a water bucket, or how scared they got wearing sandals while lighting sparklers, thinking they might burn their toes. The conversation was so out of place that Murase couldn’t help but sigh.

Kei turned to her, asking, “What are your favorite kind of fireworks?”

“The pinwheel kind,” she answered, for no particular reason. She didn’t have any special attachment to them to justify her answer. In fact, she didn’t even have any particular memories of using them. “Why doesn’t this woman have a name?” she asked.

Although she asked Asai, Sasano was the one to answer. It made sense, since he was the one with the most knowledge about the situation. “28 years ago, the Bureau disavowed her personhood. All aspects of her individuality were removed.” His voice was surprisingly quiet.

“Her ability was simply too powerful. Its great utility split the Bureau into two factions: Those who wanted her to lead the Bureau, and those who simply wanted to use her ability as a resource. Generally, those in the latter faction wanted to lead the Bureau themselves. Personally, I found the split wholly ridiculous. But they created a powerful dichotomy.”

Murase couldn’t fully grasp what it meant for the Bureau to be split in two, but it certainly didn’t sound like anything that was good for the town of Sakurada.

Sasano continued, “She knew the future, of course. She had long known that a conflict would be created around her ability. As such, she knew the best decision to make.”

Asai Kei spoke up from the backseat. “So she gave up her own name?”

Sasano slowly nodded. “The sacrifice of her name was a show of her resolve. The only way forward was to give up her personal identity and become a tool. She locked herself in an isolated room, never acted or spoke on opinion, and never met with anyone. She created a single mechanical system that was impartial and fair.”

A woman, reduced to a system. 28 years of abandoning her humanity.

“The power of Sakurada’s greatest ability was too tremendous for any one person. She couldn’t be allowed to have a will. The Bureau could not function unless she was an emotionless system.”

Murase turned her gaze outside the window. The night was dark, broken ahead by a single set of red tail lights. His story was so unreal, so intangible. It felt impossible to understand or empathize with.

Sasano stared straight ahead, most likely in the direction of the building the Witch was captive in. “I want her to return to being a human, no matter what. I want to look her in the eyes and call her by name.”

Murase nodded to no one in particular.

Everyone wanted that, to one degree or another.