3 – The same day, ~8:45 PM

Their car pulled up to the target building at roughly 8:45 PM. Shrouded in darkness, the small building looked somewhat like a tombstone to Asai Kei. It certainly didn’t give off a pleasant ambience.

They passed by the building, turned the next corner, and parked. There were still some 30 minutes before their planned time of infiltration. Sasano began taking photos of the roads and areas surrounding the building. Since the Witch’s escape was entirely dependent upon using the world of Sasano’s photographs, giving her as much room as possible to navigate was crucial.

Time passed without any particular conversation. At 9:10 PM, they spotted Oka Eri entering the building. Three minutes later, everyone got out of the car and made their way towards the entrance. It was deserted, just like the last time. The door wasn’t even locked, though that was more likely the work of Oka Eri. Even as they walked in and passed through the foyer, there was no staff present. No alarms went off either, as far as Kei could tell.

Standing in front of the elevator, Kei told Sasano, “Make sure to take a picture of the entrance here, too.”

Sasano nodded, pointing his camera towards the empty hallway. The snap of a camera shutter followed, and the Polaroid camera spit out a photo, grabbed by Murase.

Everyone filed into the elevator. Kei remembered back to his initial visit, and pressed the same button that the large man in the black suit had pressed.

“Are we even moving?” Murase asked.

The elevator was indeed exceptionally quiet. Kei remembered how the last time, it was hard to believe they had even gone anywhere until the doors opened up to a new floor. “I’m pretty sure it is moving,” he answered.

“Are you sure we won’t walk out of this thing with guns pointed at us?”

“I’m pretty sure that won’t happen.” Standard Bureau staff were not equipped with guns, and even in that edge case, Kei was sure that Murase could manage to erase bullets. “Honestly, it’d probably be scarier to find someone with an ability on the other side of the door than a gun.”

“What if that’s the case?”

“If the Bureau staff were actually well equipped to protect the woman, we wouldn’t have even made it this far.” Besides, if bad came to worse, then they could always reset.

Before Murase could respond, the elevator doors slid open. Kei and his group stepped out into a cramped hallway bathed in white fluorescent light. The hallway was similarly empty to the rest of the building. Sasano pointed his camera towards the end of the hall, snapping another picture. Murase grabbed that photo as well.

They slowly moved down the hall. Out of the many doors lined up on the right, only the farthest back was open– the door to the Witch’s room. Quiet voices were coming from the doorway, but Kei couldn’t make anything out. Kei glanced at the wall clock. 9:18 PM, on the dot. The time Oka Eri made it to the Witch.

Kei creeped up to the door, peeking in. There were two doors separated by a short passageway. Both were wide open, giving full view to the Witch’s room beyond, easily noted from the bookshelves filling the walls. While he couldn’t see the Witch, a girl with red eyes stood in the room with three men in black suits. Oka Eri had made it through the two doors, successfully infiltrating the Witch’s room. The future sight was precisely correct.

Two of the men in suits were standing in front of the door that led directly into the room. Further back at the end of the room, Kei saw a door that he recalled the Witch describing as leading to her bedroom. Perhaps she was in there. The third man was subduing Oka Eri, but was also currently making eye contact. If Kei let it continue, then Oka Eri would become capable of controlling him.

Immediately, Kei said, “That’s enough, Oka Eri.” The man holding onto Oka Eri turned towards Kei, breaking his eye contact and successfully preventing memory manipulation.

From behind, Kei heard the snap of another photograph from Sasano. He was most likely taking a photo of the hallway with the two open doors, but Kei instantly knew the picture was no good. As it was, the photo would contain the men in suits, and even Oka Eri. They would be a difficult obstacle for the Witch during her attempted escape. Kei needed a good shot of the two open doors with nobody inside.

The man in a black suit spoke. Even in the current situation, his voice was flat and emotionless. “For what purpose have you come here?”

“I’m a friend of hers,” Kei claimed, pointing a finger at Oka Eri and walking down the short passageway. Haruki was directly beside him, while Murase and Sasano followed behind. He needed Sasano to come in so he could take a photo from inside the room out into the hall. Otherwise, the open doors wouldn’t be of any help.

“You really didn’t have to come all the way out here just for little old me, y’know,” chimed Oka Eri. There was a tightness in her voice, but despite the overall situation she was still managing a confident grin. Her self-made persona was as strong as ever.

The black-suited man glared at Kei. “Do you mean to say that you are her accomplice?”

Continuing down the passage, Kei shook his head. “No. Quite the opposite, in fact.” He turned towards Oka Eri. “I’m here to stop you.”

The black-suited man’s expression hardened as he shook his head. “There is no need. We will handle this incident ourselves.”

“Sorry, but that’s not good enough. Just let me have a talk with her.”

Oka Eri chimed in from beside the man. “I’ve got nothing to talk about with you, Senpai. Why’d you even have to show up here? I had everything running smoothly.”

She was right. Things were going so smoothly for her it was scary.

Kei and the others continued walking down the passageway. One of the other men blocked the doorway, as if trying to hide the room. “Do not come any closer. Entering this room will be regarded as a serious criminal offense.”

Kei sighed inwardly. As if going in the room made any difference when they had already infiltrated the building to such a degree. They all continued down the passageway. Before long, they were only three steps away from the man.

The man spoke once more. “Stop right there.”

They found themselves in a situation where a Bureau employee was blocking their path in a narrow hallway. They had discussed this possible scenario during their previous meeting at Sasano’s house. Kei answered, “Understood,” and stopped in place.

Suddenly, Murase rushed from behind him. She called out in a whisper, “Whole body, abilities.”

The man pushed out his right arm towards Murase. He was likely trying to use some kind of ability, but that didn’t matter. Murase pressed a photo against the man’s arm and tore it. Sasano had taken the photo just moments prior. The man disappeared, but Murase remained. As per their tests, Murase’s ability would cancel out Sasano’s, leaving the man alone in the world of Sasano’s photograph.

Kei slipped past Murase into the Witch’s room, noting the two cameras mounted on the ceiling.

“Do you understand what it means to use your abilities against us?” Another man asked. Although his voice was different from the other man, it sounded eerily similar. It was also entirely emotionless. Perhaps the Bureau suits were just as integrated into the system as the Witch herself.

“Of course we do,” Kei answered. “Normally, we wouldn’t even think of pulling a stunt like this. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t find any other way.” Kei took a few more steps forward as he answered. The rest of his party trailed in behind him.

“No, I don’t think you understand. This has nothing to do with normalcy. This is about absolutes. Nobody, under any circumstances, for any reason, can be allowed to do what you have just done.”

Kei agreed, of course. He shook his head at himself inwardly. “There’s a lot of stuff at play here.” A shutter snap went off behind him once more. Sasano must have taken a photo of the passage from this side, with the two doors open. If anyone tore that photo, they would have a direct escape route outside of the room.

The Polaroid camera spit out its photo, and Murase took it, immediately dashing away. Their first major hurdle was buying enough time for Murase to escape the building. Only Murase’s ability could bring those photos into the new timeline following their reset, but she would also remain in the same location. They needed to stall their reset until she made it out.

One of the men watched Murase as she ran off, but Kei doubted he would make chase. Their main focus should’ve been on the Witch in her back room. But just in case, Kei asked a question to buy some time. “Hey, what do you guys think about the nameless woman’s situation?”

“I am not at liberty to divulge that information. It is not my position to make personal judgments.”

“Then what’s the Bureau’s stance on her as a whole?”

“I am not at liberty to divulge that information. The residents of Sakurada are not permitted to know any information regarding her.” His expression remained unchanged, though he added on, “Geez, you’ve made a real stupid move, kid.”

“Yes, I understand that quite well.”

“The Bureau’s not gonna forget this.”

Kei sighed. He at least wanted to try fishing for forgiveness. “Would it be possible for you to forget everything you saw tonight?”

“That would be quite impossible.”

“I see.” Kei’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket. It had to be Murase. That was her signal that she was outside of the building. They had finally jumped the first hurdle. Staring at the man and his black suit, but more importantly the door beyond, Kei mumbled, “Reset.”

Hopefully that would be enough to get them to forget everything. Otherwise, the real problems would start sooner than he had accounted for.

✽

Kei sat on the lighthouse stairs next to Haruki as she spoke into her cell phone.

“August 8th, 9:28:55 PM.”

At that time, Kei had just finished meeting with Oka Eri and retrieving Haruki’s reset ability. It had been almost precisely 24 hours. Kei held his head as the next 24 hours popped into his memory. So many things had happened in such a short span of time. Almost too many things.

“It would appear we’ve reset,” he said. Haruki turned to stare at him. Kei watched the sandy shores while he explained the following day’s events. The waves rose and fell under the moonlight, following their own rhythm, as if breathing in and out.

The night was so quiet. Only Haruki was there with him. His voice alone was the only sound echoing in the moonlit night. He was surrounded by incredible peace just 24 hours prior to a break-in to go after the Witch. He wanted to stay in that peace and quiet forever. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t do that.

Kei finished his explanation before adding, “With all that said, I have to go meet up with Murase-san now.” If everything went to plan, she would be the only one unaffected by the reset. She was probably still very close to the building where the Witch was confined. “Will you come with me?” Kei asked.

Haruki nodded. “But of course.”

As soon as he had the photos from Murase, they would be prepared to evacuate the Witch. Kei stood up, carefully pushing his feet out. Haruki followed closely behind him. The staircase was incredibly dark. After taking just a few steps, Kei stopped and turned around. Once he faced Haruki, he held out his hand.

“Give me your hand.”

She looked at Kei’s hand in surprise. “Are you certain?”

“It would be dangerous to miss a step.”

Haruki’s palm met Kei’s. They were both slightly sweaty due to the summer heat. Kei slowly squeezed down, enough to hold it firmly, but also making sure it wouldn’t hurt. Haruki returned his grip in kind.Side by side, the two descended the staircase. Thunk, thunk, thunk, their two footsteps went, echoing in tandem.