3 – Asai Kei – Second time

Asai Kei was experiencing Wednesday, April 28th for the second time.

Once school ended, Kei grabbed his English-Japanese dictionary and immediately left the classroom. Before the reset, he had killed some time waiting before heading to the rooftop, but not this time. He quickly made his way towards class 2-1, the class with Nakano Tomoki, Souma Sumire, and Haruki Misora. There was something he wanted to confirm before meeting Haruki once more.

Why was it that when Souma called him to the rooftop, he met Haruki there? Why was it that when Haruki mumbled, “Reset,” time turned back on itself? To what degree was this planned out by Souma?

Across the hallway, Tomoki came out of the classroom Kei was gunning for. Tomoki noticed Kei and flagged him down with a wave. “Yo, Kei.”

“Hey. You can borrow this.” Kei held out his English-Japanese dictionary.

“What? Your dictionary?”

“You need it for club, right?”

“Well, yeah, but how did you know that?”

Kei knew because Tomoki told him as much in the previous timeline, but it would have been tremendously annoying to sift through all the details. “Just heard it around. I wanted to know, is Souma-san still in your classroom?”

“Uh… yup. Want me to call her over?”

“No, it’s fine.” As long as she was there, that was all that mattered. There were only two doors to the classroom, and Kei could already see them both with his position in the hallway. He killed some time chatting with Tomoki while paying close attention to both doors. They talked about Tomoki’s club, the music they’d been listening to, and some movies that caught their interest.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in Kei’s head. It synced perfectly with the voice of the boy talking to him about action movies.

Yo, Kei, got a favor. Wait in the classroom for a few minutes, would ya?

The same message he had heard prior to the reset. It was only to be expected. Kei knew from past experience that Tomoki’s messages were still effective after a reset. No matter how many times he experienced April 28th, he expected that he would hear the same message from Tomoki at the same time.

But just to make sure, Kei slipped in a question. “Hey, Tomoki, you didn’t happen to send me a voice message just now, did you?”

Tomoki pulled his head back in suspicion. “No. Why?”

“Ah, just wondering.”

Tomoki’s ability was persistent even through a reset. It was said that when two abilities were at odds with each other, the stronger would take precedence over the weaker. Effectively, that meant Tomoki’s ability of placing a message at a certain point in time was stronger than Haruki’s ability to reset that time. By the same merit, that placed Kei’s perfect recall at a higher strength than Haruki’s, since he was capable of recalling the erased time.

It was more likely than not that more abilities were stronger than Haruki’s reset. What Kei wanted to know was, did the Bureau know about that, and what was their stance? Would abilities overpowering a reset cause some kind of glitch in the Matrix? To find out, Kei would need to get more information about resets. But where would be the best place to get that information?

As Kei was deep in thought, he saw Souma Sumire exit class 2-1 in the corner of his vision. The girl didn’t seem to notice Kei, and began walking in the opposite direction. For the moment, Kei knew he had to prioritize her.

“Sorry, Tomoki, I gotta get going.”

“Oh, yeah, I should be getting to club anyway.”

With a quick wave, Kei walked away. He tailed a short distance behind Souma Sumire, keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible. She was headed straight down the hallway into the eastern school building. The east building held a few special use classrooms such as the science laboratory and art studio. More importantly, it was an area of the school with significantly less foot traffic.

As the number of pedestrians lowered, the sounds of Kei’s footsteps became louder and more noticeable. Although he had wanted to trail Souma as far as possible without her noticing, the task was becoming increasingly difficult. Eventually, Souma began climbing the stairs on the back end of the building, and Kei quickly approached the stairway. The sound of the brass band playing on the next floor up became stronger as he approached.

As he approached the top of the stairs and snuck into the hallway, he was immediately faced with Souma. She was standing directly in front of him, a wide grin plastered on her face.

“Good afternoon, Asai-kun.”

Kei wasn’t sure if she had heard his footsteps, or perhaps noticed him even sooner than expected. With an internal sigh, he sprung the question on his mind. “Just what are you doing, Souma-san?”

“I’m busy with my class rep duties.”

“Oh, all the way over here?” Kei could only imagine the myriad of duties she had in the middle of a hallway.

Souma slightly tilted her head. “It doesn’t really matter where I am, as long as it’s not the rooftop of the southern school building.”

“What’re you trying to pull, leaving me stuff like this?” Kei pulled the envelope he had received in his shoe locker from his pocket. The heart seal on it was already tragically torn in half.

“Well, it was just so cute. Did I get your heart racing?”

“Sure, until I saw your name.”

“I thought real hard about where to put it, and your shoebox felt like just the right place.”

“Look, if you like letters, that’s great. But if you’re gonna just pull the analog version of a ding-dong ditch, at least feel a little bit guilty.”

Souma smiled gently. “Yeah, sorry about that. I just really wanted you to meet a certain girl.”

“Yeah, and those are your duties as class rep?”

“Yup. Well, granted, about half of it is for my own sake.”

Kei couldn’t even begin to figure out what she meant by that. “And I’m guessing this girl you wanted me to meet is Haruki-san?”

She gave a short nod with her slender chin at the question. “Yes, exactly. How did you know?”

“Eh, this and that.” He definitely wasn’t about to start explaining that he experienced the same day twice in a row. He couldn’t even be sure that Souma knew about Haruki’s power. He opted for another question instead. “So, why is it the class rep’s job to get me and Haruki-san to meet?”

Souma smiled. “She doesn’t really have anybody that she’s close with.”

“And?”

“And if the two of you met, I thought you could become friends. C’mon, let’s go to the southern rooftop.” Souma started walking before she even finished her sentence.

Kei fell in line with her, but not without heaving a great sigh first. “I don’t think that’s any of the class rep’s business.”

“Really? Personally, I think it’s very important for the class rep to be aware of the relational dynamics between each student of the class.”

“I’m not even in your class. If you want Haruki to make friends so bad, then do it with someone more accessible.”

Souma Sumire replied without missing a beat. “It’s not that easy to find someone who could be her friend. I don’t think anyone in my class could manage it. So, I expanded my range.”

“There’s a guy named Tomoki in class 2-1. Tomoki Nakano. He’s good at making friends with people, way better than me at least.”

“I might be willing to try that, if she were a normal girl. But that just won’t do for Haruki. She’s a bit… strange, that girl.”

“Well, what about you, Souma-san?”

“Me?”

“You’re just as viable of an option as anyone else to become her friend.”

“That might be difficult. I tried, and I don’t really think it’d work out. We don’t have very good chemistry. We’re like a cat and a crow fighting over the last sip of water in a desert.” Still smiling, she finished, “I really don’t think we’d make for good friends.”

Something about her word choice seemed out of place to Kei, but he couldn’t be sure why. It wasn’t like he knew her particularly well to start calling out when she said something weird. But still, something about that sentence– I really don’t think we’d make for good friends. Those words seemed to carry a lot of weight.

The two of them continued down the east hallway, nearing the breezeway. Kei asked what was on his mind. “Alright, so I get that Haruki-san has a hard time making friends. But how do I enter into the equation?”

“I think the two of you are extremely compatible.”

“How so?”

“You two are very alike.”

She was beginning to sound a lot like Tomoki. Kei frowned. “And just how are we alike?”

“Your values, your ambience, your personality, the way you think, to name a few. It’s like there’s an invisible bond that ties the two of you together. It’s sort of like the relationship between water and ice, but… that’s not quite what I’m going for. It’s like the similarity between an atmosphere and a vacuum, or how beliefs compare to codified law. Actually… yeah. I think the best comparison is to say you’re like gravitation and gravity.”

Kei couldn’t even begin to make sense of what he had just heard. “For starters, I don’t think atmosphere and vacuum are similar at all.”

“Really? If you put the two in their own transparent boxes, would you be able to tell the difference?”

“That’s not what I mean. Comparing the two of them would be like saying a crescent moon is similar to a banana.”

“That’s what I mean, though. Although what makes you two up is just slightly different, I think you’d blend together stupendously. Like if you introduced the atmosphere into a vacuum.”

“Wow, that’s incredibly specific.”

“Okay, sure. If I had to put it more simply…”

This was the part where Tomoki said, Neither of you ever seem to really put your heart into anything.

With a smile, Souma remarked, “I think that both of you live your lives very seriously.” Her voice was cold. She was almost the complete opposite of Nakano Tomoki. “If you want to become better friends with Haruki, then I’ll do everything I can to assist you, Asai-kun.”

“Is there even a point to becoming her friend?”

“Oh, yes. I think the two of you could accomplish great things. For example–” Souma leaned in, putting her mouth to Kei’s ear. “Would you like more details on how Haruki’s ability works?”

Kei’s heart skipped a beat. How much does Souma Sumire really know? Kei had the feeling she knew everything. “You know about her ability?”

“I do.”

“How?”

In the blink of an eye, Souma’s smile had shifted. She now looked more like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Her smile was malicious and deliberate. “If you know what you’re doing and manage to get in the right place at the right time, you can learn anything you want to know. It’s quite convenient.”

Kei wanted to point out that she hadn’t answered his question, but she continued before he could get a word in edgewise. “Tell me, Asai-kun, what’s the difference between gravitation and gravity?”

“Gravitation is the attraction between any two objects, but gravity includes other forces, like centrifugal force.” Pure gravitational force would attract objects to the Earth, but the inclusion of Earth’s centrifugal force due to its rotation allowed for a calculation of gravity. In fact, gravity as a force was aimed more towards the Earth’s equator than its core purely due to its rotational force.

Souma nodded. “Haruki is a pure, singular force, like gravitation. But you exist as an additive force. You can become her gravity.”

“I’ll admit that she’s much purer than me.”

“But your force is stronger, although it may not seem like it while the two of you are in conflict.”

They moved through the breezeway and up the stairs, reaching the highest point of the southern building. Souma opened the door to the rooftop, and the wind beyond howled.

Haruki stood outside that door with her back to the two of them, her long hair swaying in the wind. Was she watching the girl cry all alone? Just like that time when she sighed and mumbled a resigned, “Reset”?

As she slowly turned around, Haruki Misora’s face carried no emotion, as if denying all feeling.

✽

The sunshine in the latter half of April was plenty warm, but the biting winds lowered the temperature significantly. Souma Sumire sat down on the corner of the rooftop before leading with, “Let’s have a conversation.”

With a sigh, Kei asked, “What kind of conversation?”

“Anything’s fine. Like… oh, I know. I’m really not a big fan of dividing the year into four seasons.”

Kei leaned back into the roof’s fencing. “Well, having them is useful. You can blame the August heat on summer, for example.”

“I’m not denying their existence. I get it, you look around right now and the cherry blossoms have all fallen off and it’s nearing the end of April, so it’s totally late spring. But it doesn’t even feel close to summer right now.” Souma looked over at Haruki. “You know what season we’re coming up on?”

Haruki took a brief moment to slowly blink before answering, “Next weekend will observe the first day of summer.”

The first day of summer was supposed to serve as the calendar-marked transitory phase where the oncoming season would begin to show itself.

Souma smiled. “Yup, despite what it feels like, summer is closer than ever.” She looked back up towards the sky.

Kei followed her gaze upward casually, and found himself staring at the southern, late-April sky. Day by day, the sky was slowly shifting from the weightlessly pale spring sky to the vacuously deep summer sky. Kei had to agree that it still looked more like spring. The first day of summer may have been at hand, but certainly didn’t feel any closer.

“What if we just spent our whole summer here together?” Souma Sumire posited. “We could meet each other here every single day. We could have all kinds of conversations and learn all kinds of things about each other.”

Kei tilted his head. “Would that serve any greater purpose?” Although Kei pretended to be uninterested, his mind was racing with possibilities. If Haruki truly did possess the power to rewind time, then he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. Souma’s proposal was interesting to that degree.

But on the other hand, he had no idea what was in it for Souma. Class rep or not, he had a hard time believing this was purely an effort to make a new friend for Haruki.

“Purpose?” Souma repeated, a smile still on her face. “We could just decide that for ourselves, right? All we have to do is meet up and chat. We can be like birds sitting together on a power line.”

“I don’t like doing pointless stuff.”

“Mhm. Fine then, I’ll give it some purpose.” She paused, presumably for a moment of thought. She spoke calmly, her slender chin pointed up towards the southern sky. “Let’s suppose that one of us is an android.”

“An android?”

“Yes. An artificial person designed to appear entirely human. In all respects, it seems human. You wouldn’t know even by holding their hand, kissing them, or taking a blood sample. The only true inference you could make would be by measuring its levels of empathetic response. There’s a book about that, right?”

Sighing, Kei answered, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip K. Dick, 1968.”

“Yeah, that one. Think of the androids in that story. Let’s suppose that one of us was an android like that.”

Science hadn’t even come close to replicating the sophisticated androids of science fiction novels.

“Just what purpose would this supposition serve?” Kei challenged.

“It’s all for the question. Who’s the android?”

“Does asking that question serve any purpose?”

“Oh, it most certainly does. So, who’s the android, and what brings you to your conclusion? For the purpose of finding the most accurate answer, let’s all meet with each other, and come up with our answers over time.”

Kei shrugged offhandedly. “Just check everyone’s spines. That’s how you know who’s an android in Electric Sheep.”

“Nice hypothesis, but what’s the purpose in making assumptions? We’re all just humans. So, think hard, and figure out who’s the android. We’ll compare answers at the end of summer.”

An android.

Unwittingly, the first one that Kei suspected was Haruki Misora. She had no facial expressions and lacked any sense of personal will. Kei didn’t know much about her, but it wouldn’t take much for him to believe that she was running off some sort of program. Almost like she was some kind of artificially created being.

The entire time, Haruki had been standing a not insignificant distance away from Kei and Souma. Souma referred to what they were doing as a meeting between three people, but Haruki hardly felt like a participant.

Is this whole farce just a complicated way of Souma telling me to think more about Haruki?

The essential request broke down to meeting with Haruki more on the rooftop, and beginning to learn more about her. That could definitely serve a greater purpose. Kei would give a lot to learn more about a girl who evidently had the power to rewind time.

“What do you think, Haruki?” Souma asked.

Haruki tilted her head slightly. “I have not read the aforementioned book.”

“Well, you definitely should. I’ll lend it to you.”

“Very well.”

The sun was already setting.

Bathed in the evening glow, Souma Sumire proclaimed, “Let’s meet here again once summer has begun.”

Two years later – August 30th (Wednesday)

High school first-years Asai Kei and Haruki Misora stood side by side atop a set of tetrapods, the setting sun washing over them.

Kei’s whisper almost came out as a sigh. “Souma had some kind of ability to know the future.” He could practically feel Haruki’s gaze as she turned towards him.

“So she knew in advance everything that happened two years ago?”

“I think she knew everything from two years ago and then some.”

It was possible what happened that summer was some kind of inescapable fate. Maybe it was out of her control, beyond her intentions. But it was also possible that she planned the entire event from start to finish. Either way, there was no doubt that all the events unfolding around Souma Sumire were entirely intentional.

Somehow, she knew that bringing Haruki to the rooftop on April 28th two years ago would result in a reset. Somehow, she knew that Kei would go there to witness it, if she sent him a letter. She probably even knew how invested Kei would be in the reset ability. And in the end, she would create the rooftop as her own personal stage for everything to play out on. Souma Sumire knew exactly what she was doing.

Kei touched the black stone in his pocket, the one everyone called the MacGuffin. No doubt this was another creation of hers, Kei thought. It probably was just some random stone. But Souma Sumire generated a rumor about it– Whoever holds the MacGuffin can control all the abilities in Sakurada. Baseless or not, that rumor made enormous waves. A normal black pebble became the MacGuffin, and through it, Kei became acquainted with several ability users.

First, one Murase Youka, who could erase anything she touched.

Second, a Sasano Hiroyuki, who could transport himself inside the world of his own photographs.

Souma’s indirect introduction to those two individuals was no coincidence. When their powers were combined in a unique way, they could accomplish a task that even the Administration Bureau thought impossible.

The reincarnation of the dead.

More specifically, they could bring Souma Sumire, the girl who died two years prior, back to life.

In all honesty, Kei wasn’t completely certain if the act would turn out to be a true reincarnation. His head was going in circles about whether it was or was not. But regardless, he did possess the ability to pull Souma Sumire out from a past that was generated from one of Sasano’s photos.

“Do you remember that initial meaning behind the word MacGuffin that I told you, Haruki?” Kei queried.

Haruki gave a short, affirmative nod. She answered with an echo of Kei’s original explanation. “‘MacGuffin’ is movie or theater terminology. It refers to an item that the protagonist is given which initiates the plot and is useful later.”

Kei nodded. Sometimes a MacGuffin came in the form of an attaché case forced on the main character. Sometimes it was a letter from a mysterious, unknown sender. Whatever the case, its purpose was to tie the main character into the story.

“I think this pebble is something like that. A prop created by Souma Sumire to kick off the plot of her reincarnation.”

Somehow, she had managed to twist a singular rumor about a pebble into a complex and interwoven narrative, one that went exactly the direction she wanted it to. Even with the ability to know the future, that was no small feat. It was nothing short of spectacular.

That’s just the kind of girl Souma is. Kei suppressed a chuckle as the thought passed his mind. In a manner of speaking, he felt a form of trust. A trust in the second-year middle schooler known as Souma Sumire. He believed that everything she had accomplished up to the exact point in time he was experiencing was intentional.

It was hard to explain why. He didn’t even have any real proof. There was very little reason that he should believe so strongly in Souma.

And yet Kei believed.

Everything, down to the last trivial detail, was planned out by her in full. Nothing was a coincidence.

Like the timing of her smiles. Like the way she would pull her face in closely, whisper ever so quietly, then pull herself back bit by bit. It was all dripping with hidden intent. It bound their futures together. And, of course, it aided in the question of who among them was an android.

Following a long silence, Haruki spoke. “You appear to be somewhat happy, Kei.”

She’s probably right. Kei nodded, still smiling. “I think I finally figured out the answer to the question that’s been haunting me.” He turned towards Haruki, who was no longer looking at the sunset.

She looked straight into his eyes. “But… somehow… you look very sad.”

Kei shook his head. It wasn’t supposed to be a denial. In a sense, it may have been the most effective way of affirming his sadness. In fact, it would have been appropriate to start crying at that moment. Kei knew there was no shame in crying.

And yet, he simply continued to smile in spite of his sadness, just like always. Pretending, just like a being that tried to act convincingly human while not being human at all.

“I think I’ll learn the answer, but… it’s probably going to be very sad.” His smile never left as he responded.

The girl that was so expressionless two years ago now sat in front of him, hesitating. She took a breath, fixed a serious expression, and opened her mouth. “And what was that question?”

It was obvious. No doubt she already knew.

“Why did Souma Sumire die?”

Her death was treated as an accident. It was all swept away as unfortunate circumstance. But Kei knew better. It had never sat well with him. She had been alive and well prior to his reset. Then, after a reset, she was gone. The future changed without Kei being able to know or do anything about it. It shouldn’t have been possible.

But with the knowledge of her ability, it was easy to believe.

“If she had the ability to know the future, then she couldn’t have possibly died in an accident.” She could have easily avoided it, yet she readily accepted it. She went out of her way to die and craft a complicated method for her own reincarnation. But to what end?

Kei was sure he would discover the answers soon.

Haruki was still looking into Kei’s eyes. She had never shifted her gaze. With a smile, Kei looked back at her.

From inside his mind, Souma Sumire’s voice echoed. Who’s the android?

Kei had spent a long time thinking that question over in the summer of two years past. But that was ultimately a mistake. It had never been a matter of who was or wasn’t an android.

The real question was, why would Souma Sumire ask that question? What were the thoughts, the feelings, the motivations that drove her to pose such a dilemma?

Kei closed his eyes. The light of the sunset still glowed from behind his eyelids.

In his memory, that girl who had died two years ago was smiling.

End of Chapter 1