5

The world was reset back to around 5:15 PM on September 13th.

Asai Kei didn’t take long to fulfill his Service Club duties. He met with the teacher who doubled as the Bureau representative and explained the situation. A boy would accidentally hurt a close female friend by using an ability that he couldn’t quite grasp yet.

Two minutes of conversation was all it took for Asai Kei and Haruki Misora to finish their first Service Club task. In those two minutes, one accident was eliminated. The world became a place where the girl who should have been hurt could live and laugh with the boy who should have been hurt by hurting her. But for all Kei knew, that reset could have caused misfortune for another person that he would never know.

Was that right? Kei didn’t know. But that was life. Everyone had to make decisions without knowing the full consequences. He had to take care to make the right decision, and choose wisely, but he couldn’t worry about it forever.

In all reality, Souma Sumire’s death hadn’t been caused by a reset. It had been caused by a wrong decision.

I should never have used Haruki’s reset over something so unimportant.

It was his mistake. A huge, glaring mistake that he could never take back. No amount of self-reflection could make up for it, and he didn’t deserve to feel regret. Regret was too good for him after making a mistake like that.

But despite it all, he couldn’t just stay down forever. The reset, Haruki Misora’s ability, was so beautiful. It could give him the power to reach out into the world and make it just a little bit happier.

Kei chose to believe that.

Even though he didn’t know what the right thing to do was, he chose to keep using resets. And Souma Sumire’s death would stick in his mind like a splinter, reminding him that the game was never over until it was over.

✽

From that day forward, Kei began to enforce rules for himself.

Before using a reset, he needed to ask the question, “What am I changing?” With that question answered, he could not deviate from his previous actions unless it served that singular purpose. He would eat the same food, walk the same places, and go to sleep at the same times. He would repeat each and every word he said as though reading from the script of his mind.

He was scared that he might change the future unnecessarily.

He meant it when he had said, “It’s not about abilities. Every single person, with every single decision that they make, changes the future.” But reason wasn’t enough to push through every difficulty. He couldn’t shake the fear that his ability could change the future.

Of course, living his life repeating actions and experiencing things that he had already gone through once was boring. It was like acting out some kind of dull and predictable sham of a play. His words, his expressions, the color of the sky, everything began to gloss over with the veneer of a finely crafted, yet still fake, replica. It was painful to restrict himself to the boundaries of his memory.

But that pain was a saving grace. In all of that pain was a clear reminder of Souma Sumire and her death.

Two days after their reset; Wednesday, September 15th. It was after school, and Kei was walking to Haruki’s class. Prior to the reset, Kei had met with Haruki on the rooftop stairway to discuss their first Service Club job. Of course, this time around they didn’t have a job, since it was already completed.

Regardless, Kei thought it was best to go and see her, and have another conversation on the stairs. The reason was different, but he would still be spending time with her in the same way.

Haruki’s homeroom seemed to be going on particularly long that day. Kei leaned against a wall in the hallway, watching her seat through a window. She had beautiful posture, with her back straight up and her eyes straight forward.

She’s still got that doll-like beauty. Kei snickered to himself as the thought passed through his head. Then, immediately afterwards, she blinked, as if to prove she wasn’t fake. Then, her gaze turned sideways, and their eyes met.

Her expression didn’t change, which was only to be expected. But she looked perhaps the tiniest bit surprised.

With a smile, Kei pointed towards the southern school building. He mouthed, I’ll be waiting there.

Haruki nodded. She seemed to have grasped his message perfectly.

Kei turned away from the classroom and started walking off. He wanted to leave quickly, since he hadn’t been in that hallway prior to the reset. That, and waiting in the hallway for a girl was pretty embarrassing.

Several other classes had already been let out, so the hallway was filled with noisy students leaving their classrooms. Kei thought things through as he made his way through the crowds.

When Haruki gets there, I’ll tell her everything that happened before the reset.

He figured it would be pretty difficult. Before resetting, Haruki’s voice had made her seem calm and composed, as usual. But her words had dripped with emotion. Even Kei couldn’t fathom what lay in the depths of Haruki’s inner self.

But she deserved to know the facts, to know everything that happened. She needed to know that she couldn’t reset on her own anymore.

Souma’s death hurt Kei. As a consequence, Haruki was hurt in her own unique way. To the point where she couldn’t activate her own ability of her own will.

Kei could only think of one way to heal that wound. First, he would have to find salvation for himself. He would have to erase his mistake.

I have to bring Souma Sumire back to life.

He didn’t know for certain if it was even possible. But Sakurada had abilities upon abilities. Who was to say that the right combination of them couldn’t bring a girl back to life?

By the time Kei reached the breezeway to the southern building, there were no other students around. He tucked his right hand into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone. He removed the cat strap that was latched onto it.

He had decided to give the cat strap to Haruki as a surprise present. Something about her having the cat strap just made sense to him. Not only that, he wanted her to get a cell phone anyway. He needed enough abilities to save Souma Sumire, which meant that he needed to leverage his position in the Service Club. If he and Haruki would be working together regularly, then he needed a way to easily make contact with her.

Well… I guess that’s not the only reason. Kei smiled. It was a forced reaction, but still sincere.

He looked at the cat strap in his hand as he walked down the hall. The strap was, by definition, the string holding the keychain. But as a verb, strapping something meant to bind it to something else.

In Kei’s mind, giving Haruki Misora a cat with a strap on it was symbolic. Asai Kei had just spent two weeks bound up in Souma Sumire’s death and Haruki Misora’s reset power. From the way things were going, that wasn’t going to end any time soon.

No doubt Haruki Misora was bound by something as well. In all likelihood, it was Kei himself that was binding her. He decided to accept that reality for what it was.

And what of Souma Sumire? Was she bound by something as well? She had always been like a stray cat. Daring, solitary, carefree, and strangely sincere; that was how Kei saw her, anyway.

Was that girl bound by something, even unto death?

If he only walked a little further, he would reach a place where she had once been. Before the door that he could no longer open. He continued forward, each and every step falling somewhat short, as if his body’s movement was tightly bound.

I Still Can’t Say Goodbye – END