Chapter 1 – A Replicated World

1 – September 22nd (Friday) – Second time

Haruki Misora, sitting to his left, had her cell phone to her ear as she spoke. “September 22nd, 12:47:08.”

Asai Kei looked her way. “It would appear we’ve reset.”

They were about 20 days into their second semester at Ashiharabashi High. Sunlight streamed in from the windows near their perch on the stairs leading up to the rooftop. They both sat in a position that avoided the harsh sun. Fall had just begun, and the sunlight and shade were very easy to tell apart. It was still hot under the sun, but shade now provided a comfortable respite.

Haruki Misora nodded in confirmation, handing one of the stacked bentou boxes in her lap to Kei. Her mannerisms clearly indicated she wanted to move along.

Kei thanked her, took his lunch box, and continued his explanation. “Everything went perfectly. Tomorrow, September 23rd, we wandered around town together, ate dinner, and reset.”

Kei had performed a control day as preparation for entering the dream world, like the Bureau had instructed him to do. The best way to tell the differences between the two worlds was to have the same person go through the exact same day, which was fortunately doable thanks to Haruki’s Reset ability. She could rewind up to three days of time, allowing Kei to experience the exact same day in the real world and the dream world.

Kei had already told Haruki of all the surrounding circumstances, so he kept the explanation short. “We’ll be going into the dream world tomorrow.”

“This is all to the end of testing whether Souma Sumire can be removed from Sakurada, correct?”

“Right, but we’re covering it up as a Service Club investigation. We should do our best not to talk about Souma. She doesn’t want the Bureau to know about her yet,” Kei said, opening up his bentou box. The lunch consisted mainly of grilled salmon and nimono, with various other Japanese dishes assorting the sides.¹ Haruki would occasionally make such lunches and share them with Kei, though not every day. He had noticed the frequency of these lunches rising as of late, and wanted to find some way to show his gratitude, but had a hard time settling on what to do.

“Time to eat,” he remarked, putting his hands together then picking up his chopsticks.

Haruki did the same, then turned to face him. “Do you really want Souma Sumire out of Sakurada, Kei?”

“As things stand, that seems to be the most effective option.”

“But… would that really be okay?”

“I dunno. It’s probably not ideal, but I’m still thinking up the methodology. All I want is for Souma to be a regular girl.” He would do whatever it took to accomplish that goal.

Haruki’s gaze dropped slightly. “Understood.” Her face looked rather unusual. It was tinged with sadness, like a child watching their sandcastle crumble away.

Is Haruki… feeling sad? That seemed to be the case, but Kei couldn’t figure why. He didn’t think the concept of Souma Sumire leaving Sakurada would be something to put her out so badly.

Kei had assumed that two years of knowing Haruki had taught him a lot about her, but recently, his grasp on her psychology was slipping. The girl who had been so simple when they first met was rapidly growing into her own complex individuality.

Kei picked a small piece of tofu from the nimono and pulled it into his mouth. He noticed Haruki watching each movement with a serious expression. Taking care to swallow first, he tilted his head towards her.

“How does it taste?” A question that had been asked of him before, in the now reset timeline.

“Mm. It’s really good,” Kei answered, nodding. He followed up with a question he already knew the answer to. “Did you make this?”

The bentous that Haruki gave him were typically a mixture of her and her mother’s cooking. Usually, it wasn’t hard to tell the difference. Haruki’s tended to taste stronger since she precisely followed each recipe. Going by that metric, the nimono would have been made by Haruki’s mother.

But Haruki’s response was, “Yes. I made everything in today’s bentou.”

“You changed recipes, then?”

“I used slightly less soy sauce than the recipe asked for.”

Kei nodded. “Hm. I like it this way.”

Haruki smiled. “I am glad to hear that.”

“Mhm, you should be proud.” Thanking her once more, Kei went after some of the grilled salmon.

He had no idea why Haruki would suddenly go off-recipe. Maybe there was a special reason, or maybe she just did it on a whim. But the specifics weren’t very important. She was changing things up, and that was wonderful.

Kei ate slowly, taking care to savor each bite. “By the way, we made a promise just before the reset. Can you guess what it was about?”

Haruki tilted her head slightly, but from the way she answered, she had probably guessed it right away. “The school festival?”

“Exactly.”

Haruki broke her gaze with Kei ever so slightly. After a thoughtful moment, she responded, “If you are too busy, then you need not mind it.”

“It’s okay. The Service Club really isn’t asking that much of us.” They would spend the next day wandering the dream world, and Kei would note any discrepancies. Those discrepancies, if any were found, would be investigated in further detail the following day. After those results were relayed to the Bureau, their work was done.

They would, of course, also spend that time conducting the experiment on removing Souma Sumire from Sakurada. It would likely become very difficult to re-enter the dream world once they lost their front of Service Club work.

Ultimately, their time was quite limited. Enough that he could afford to keep his pre-reset promise with Haruki.

“In that case, please become my boyfriend, Kei.”

Just as before the reset, Kei had no intention of refusing.

✽

That night, Kei was sitting on his bed, cell phone to his ear. He was on the line with a girl by the name of Oka Eri, who he had made a habit of calling twice a week. They needed to nurture their friendship, after all. Oka Eri acted as though she hated the calls, but she always answered regardless.

“How about you come to our school festival next month?” Kei asked. Ashiharabashi High held their student festival near the end of October. It was still a month away, but preparations had been on since the beginning of September.

“And why exactly would I wanna go to your school festival?”

“I’ll buy you some takoyaki. I’ll even throw in a hot dog.”

“Those’re way better at a food joint where pros make ‘em anyway.”

“You can’t compare school festival takoyaki with pro takoyaki. That’s like comparing rock music to classical.”

“You makin’ fun of rock, Senpai?”

“No need to read into it that way. I’ll have you know that the majority of my music CDs are Chuck Berry.”

“Chuck? The heck is that?”

“You makin’ fun of rock, Oka Eri?” Technically, Kei wasn’t lying about the Chuck Berry CDs. He wasn’t actually all that familiar with Chuck Berry, but Oka Eri didn’t need to know that all of those CDs were just gifts from friends. “Look, takoyaki or not, just come along. At the very least, I can show you around school.”

Oka Eri was a third-year in junior high. Kei figured they could kill two birds with one stone and get her acquainted with the campus during exam season, but Oka Eri put up a stubborn resistance. “As if I’m taking the entrance exam for Ashiharabashi. They grade real harsh, it’s super far from home, and you’re there. Not a single thing worth my time.”

“Bummer. I thought I’d get another chance to get you as a kouhai.”

“I think I’ve already had a lifetime’s worth of experience in being your kouhai.”

It really was a bummer. Kei believed he could do a much better job as a senpai than his previous performance.

Sounding particularly uninterested, Oka Eri continued, “So what’s your class doing, anyways?”

“A play.”

“Oh. If you’re the lead, I’m more than willing to come along and laugh at you.”

“Actually, Haruki’s the lead. I’m playing her boyfriend.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.” Each class was required to do something for the festival, and Kei’s class had settled on a play at the beginning of the month. It took about three weeks for the script to get put together, only just having been finished the previous day.

A girl by the name of Minami Mirai had put the script together. She immediately asked Haruki to play the lead role, cheerfully remarking, “She’d just be perfect for it!” Haruki acquiesced without so much as proofreading the script. Haruki was almost never one to refuse a request, after all.

It turned out that Minami had written a romance. Of course, every love story required a love interest for the main character. According to Minami, it was important that she personally chose the person who would best suit that supporting role, to make sure the lead could optimally perform. And so, at lunch time, on the top of the stairway leading up to the roof, Kei was nominated as the love interest. Most likely to nobody’s surprise in the class.

Oka Eri’s somewhat surprised tone echoed through the phone. “You sure sound gung-ho about this. Thought you hated that kind of stuff, Senpai.”

“No, I’m really looking forward to it. It’s just, all this stuff was chosen so suddenly. I’d feel bad if anybody else wanted to play my role.”

“Eh, no biggie. Not like anyone really wants to be in a class play.”

Kei hoped that was true, but had a hard time admitting it. Minami seemed to want the class to have fun with the play, and even Haruki was showing her own form of enthusiasm, so he was probably in the clear.

Trying to smooth over his reaction, Kei asked, “Are you trying to make me feel better?”

The girl on the phone laughed. “Ha! No way. Villains only ever speak to point out the cruel truth.”

So she still refers to herself as a villain. “Well, anyway, if you’re up to it, then c’mon over to our festival.”

“I will if I want to. Probably won’t, though. Seeya,” she remarked, ending the call.

Kei put his phone on charge, laying down on his bed. Man. I feel kinda guilty for some reason. It was similar to feeling guilty for telling a lie.

He had just finished a completely replicated conversation with Oka Eri.

Word for word, breath for breath, he had repeated the same conversation he had prior to resetting. Oka Eri had unwittingly done the same. When she breathed, when she hung up, all of it was the same, and she never even knew that a reset had occurred.

How would Oka Eri react if she learned that truth? Would she be angry? Sad? Indifferent? At the very least, Kei didn’t think it’d make her happy.

As he thought that over, the doorbell rang.

Kei checked the clock. It was exactly 7 PM. Kei was supposed to go buy leftover sandwiches and vegetable juice from a nearby bakery for supper, eating them in his room. After supper, he’d read the play script, scribbling notes, summaries, and questions. Then he would shower, then read a book.

Those were the only events that were meant to happen on the evening of September 22nd. The doorbell did not ring at 7 PM prior to the reset.

Kei took a breath to prepare himself, then got up from his bed. He went straight to the door, unlocking it and turning the knob.

The season was getting to the point where dark arrived earlier. The moon, soon to be approaching its full cycle, already hung high in the sky. A girl stood underneath its moonlight. Her skin was a pale white, as if it absorbed the properties of the moonlight, and her hair was blacker than the night sky. She wore a high school uniform that differed from Kei’s.

“It’s been quite some time, Asai,” she said.

“That’s true, Nonō-san.”

The girl’s name was Nonō Seika.

All Kei could manage to prepare in such short notice was coffee.

“Do you like it hot?”

“Yes.”

“I have some milk, but I’m out of sugar.”

“I like it black, and hot enough to burn my tongue.”

“Very well.” Kei put on a kettle with two cups of water, setting a pair of mugs beside it. “So, you know where I live.”

“I heard from around.”

“You mean Haruki?” The only mutual acquaintance between him and Nonō he could imagine was Haruki, but there was still a small part of him that doubted it. If Haruki were to direct Nonō to his house, it would probably have been by just going along.

Shaking her head, Nonō responded, “It wasn’t her. It was this other girl I met yesterday. I don’t even know her name, but she sure seemed to know a whole lot about me.”

“So, what are you here for?”

“I have a favor to ask of you.”

Having put instant coffee into the two mugs, Kei turned around. Nonō was sitting on a cushion on the opposite end of his table. Seeing the girl in his room was quite an unusual sight. It felt awkward and out of place, like accidentally taking home a ballpoint pen from a public facility. She just fit in so much better at the small mountainside shrine.

But Nonō’s gaze carried the exact same perfect calm as it did when she was at the shrine. “There’s someone I want to go see. I want you to take me to them.”

There was nothing inherently wrong with the request. But…

“Can’t you just go by yourself?”

“Well, probably.”

“Okay, what’s this person’s name, and where are they?”

“I don’t know his name. I only ever knew him as Gramps, the old man that lived at the cat house. From what I understand, he’s in the dream.”

In the dream.

Kei sighed inwardly. “How do you know that I’m going into the dream?” Service Club work was generally kept under strict confidence, only known to those involved. That should have been even more so for the current job, given its contents.

“She told me. The girl whose name I don’t know, the one that told me where you live. She said that the Cat House Gramps was in the dream world, and you would take me there if I asked.”

“I see.” The water began boiling. Kei quickly poured it into the two mugs, stirred them, and brought them over to the table with milk. He offered a cup to Nonō Seika. “Here you are.”

“Thanks.”

Kei sat down opposite of Nonō. She took a sip of her coffee, keeping it black. Kei chose to pour milk into his cup. The milk spun, swirled, and melded into the coffee.

“Did this girl look to be around her second year of middle school?” Kei asked.

“Sure. I guess somewhere around there.”

“Short hair, big eyes, thin as a rail?”

“Yup, just like that. You know her?”

“Yeah. She’s a friend of mine.” No doubt about it, she was talking about Souma Sumire. It couldn’t have been anyone else. “When and where did you meet her, Nonō-san?”

“Just a bit ago, maybe like an hour or so. She came to me at the usual spot, up on the shrine.”

A full hour. Kei figured Souma would be long gone.

Souma Sumire. The girl who had just been reborn on August 28th. It had already been nearly a full month since their meeting up on the tetrapods. In that span, she had shown herself to Kei several times. It was like middle school all over again. She’d show up, say some meaningless babble, and vanish just as quickly as she came. That had gone on time and time again.

The only difference from two years ago was that Kei currently had no way of contacting Souma. At least back then he could visit her classroom, call her, or slip a letter in her shoebox. But the present offered him no such choices. He didn’t have the slightest clue where Souma was at any point, being relegated to just waiting for her to show up.

He didn’t even know what her goals were. Why contact Nonō? What would that do for her? He didn’t have the slightest idea.

Surely Nonō-san must be connected to something bigger. After all, Souma Sumire had turned a simple pebble into the MacGuffin as part of a large, long-winded plan to come back to life. It also wasn’t exactly wrong to state that the MacGuffin brought Kei and Nonō Seika together in the first place. The only conclusion to draw was that Souma’s plan somehow involved this meeting.

After mixing in his milk, Kei blew on his coffee. “Did the girl say anything else to you?”

Nonō nodded. “Just one more thing. She wanted me to tell you something.”

“What’s that?”

“Pretty sure it was… ‘Make sure to read No. 407 of the Script carefully.’”

Yet another item to put on the list of stuff Kei didn’t understand. The only script Kei could think of was his school play. But that script only took up about 20 pages, so the number 407 didn’t seem to fit with it.

Nonō set her mug down with a quiet clack. “Asai. I want to meet him again, if at all possible. Would you please take me with you into the dream world?”

For all Kei knew, introducing Nonō to the dream world would only bring about more problems, but he wanted to grant her wish as long as it was within his power. “I understand. You’ll need the Bureau’s permission to get into the dream world. I’ll contact them,” he answered.

He finished with a nod, ending the conversation that no doubt went exactly according to Souma Sumire’s plans.

✽

The moon, so close to entering its full phase, shone through the cracked windowpane. Souma Sumire sat on a springless mattress, bathed in its light. It was so bright.

September was coming to a close, and even though it was still warm in the day, the setting sun swiftly invited cold temperatures. Souma counted herself lucky that it wasn’t a windy night. The window panes were prone to making a terrible racket with even the slightest disturbance.

Souma was using the light of the moon to read. Specifically, she was reading The Blue Bird, a century-old play written by Maurice Maeterlinck.

I’ll bet that reading The Blue Bird by the light of the moon makes me look elegant.

It mainly just seemed to be bad for her eyes, though.

Souma Sumire was living in the abandoned remains of an old business hotel. There was no electricity or gas, of course. She had a flashlight, but could never bring herself to turn it on out of fear that someone could notice the light leaking from the building.

She had sheets and blankets laid on an old, battered bed. Beside it lay a cheap alarm clock. A sports bag sat in the corner, holding various clothes and towels. She had money in her wallet, and a few cosmetics in her purse. Then, there was the paperback of The Blue Bird in her hands.

That was everything that Souma Sumire had to her name. With the exception of the paperback, she had stowed all of it away in the very room she now lived in two years prior, in preparation for her death. The hotel had already been in ruins two years ago, and she had known that it would all be in the same condition two years later.

She flipped to the next page of her paperback. She had already read The Blue Bird before, so it was somewhat boring to follow along. But it was only 7 PM, and she wasn’t tired at all. She needed to stay up as late as possible to maximize her sleep the next day.

She glanced out the window. Being all alone really brought down her spirit. Sure, the moon was pretty, but prettiness by itself just wasn’t enough.

It’s like I’m living in a grave.

She couldn’t make noise, couldn’t make light, and had to minimize her movements. All she had was the blue sky during the day and the black sky of the night. If her only illumination was the night sky, then that didn’t make her all that different from the dead. In fact, being conscious probably only served to make her even more isolated than the dead.

She shook her head, trying to brush off all the negativity. She was where she was due to her own decisions. She had no right to be unhappy about it.

But still.

I want to see Kei.

 The desire was stronger than it had ever been two years ago. But that was only natural. She didn’t have anyone else. None of Souma Sumire’s friends or family even knew that she existed. If she didn’t have Asai Kei, she really would be no different than the dead.

If only she could spend her time in his room, chatting with him until her drowsiness set in naturally. That would be true happiness. But she couldn’t afford that lifestyle. Being seen by any of her middle school acquaintances could cause no end of trouble. It would even be best to avoid becoming recognizable by any of Kei’s neighbors.

So, her current solution was the best one. All alone, living as if she were dead, making sure not even her breathing could be heard. It was for the best.

Kei.

Asai Kei.

It was around the time that he would be meeting with the girl known as Nonō Seika. She was the kind of woman that would draw Kei’s eye. There was a part of her that rejected people, pushed them away. Just like Haruki Misora. She was a loner, tended to keep her distance from others, and had simple personal values. He had always liked those kinds of women.

Of course, not even Nonō Seika would pull Kei’s interest nearly as much as Haruki. Haruki Misora was always special.

Oh, what am I even thinking about?

Souma laid down in her bed. She closed her eyes, though she had no intention of falling asleep.

Nonō Seika didn’t matter. Haruki Misora had nothing to do with anything. She hadn’t come out of the photograph to spend her time worrying about such pointless nonsense.

I only want one thing. It was the only thing worth thinking about.

Nothing else was of concern. Whether it was Nonō Seika, Haruki Misora, or even Souma Sumire, they were only tools to be used. And she would use them well.

As long as her one wish could come true, she didn’t need anything else.

✽

She knew that her memory had never been very good.

Haruki Misora sat at her desk, leafing through the script for the class play she would take part in during the school festival. She knew that the next two days would be filled with Service Club work, and rehearsals began the following week, so she was trying to use her time wisely. She was trying to spend her afternoon memorizing the maximum number of lines that she could.

But no matter how many times she read through the script, be it in her head or out loud, the lines never seemed to sink in. The words slipped straight through her consciousness, falling away into nothing.

In their place, something else was taking up the majority of her head space. A single girl.

Souma Sumire. The girl who had died two years ago, only to be brought back to life. Why couldn’t she stop thinking about her?

She called it thinking, but those thoughts were so different from the ones she typically had. They were so disordered, and didn’t lead to any meaningful conclusions. Conflicting thoughts flickered in and out in bits and pieces. Haruki had a hard time giving a name to the unstable stream of consciousness she was experiencing.

Perhaps I am… confused. It was the best she could manage.

She flipped to the next page of her script, scanning over the lines and parts. The woman she would be playing was crying, but Haruki wasn’t sure why. She couldn’t remember what had happened on the previous page even though she was pretty sure she had just been reading it.

She was so confused. There was some kind of disorderly lump in the center of her chest. It seemed to block all information coming in from the outside.

Haruki Misora closed her script.

It seemed that nothing more could be accomplished without first dealing with the lump in her chest. If she was going to memorize her lines, which was necessary, then she needed to begin with the lump.

She closed her eyes, trying to line everything up where it went.

The lump in her chest seemed to come into being the prior month. If she really wanted to trace it all the way back, it likely began two years ago, but it had noticeably surfaced thanks to the events of the previous months. More specifically, what had happened with the Witch and the red-eyed girl.

The red-eyed girl, Oka Eri. There was a time where she had taken away Haruki’s Reset ability. Haruki had reacted with an intense fear.

But why? The answer was obvious.

Without the Reset power, Haruki had lost any reason to be with Kei. That was scary. But the confusion she felt back then was nothing compared to what she was facing in the present. The previous problem was simple, and it had a very easy solution. Haruki wished to get her power back, and Kei granted her wish.

That should have been the end. Haruki should have been able to rest assured, returning to her normal life.

But then, just a little while later, August 28th happened. The day that Souma Sumire came back to life.

That was fear. It was like the issue of losing her Reset power, but more permanent.

Asai Kei used the Reset to avoid problems that he came up against in real time. But with Souma Sumire’s future sight, resets became obsolete. He could gain the ability to know what happened in the future with perfect clarity. There would be no need to turn back the clock if he couldn’t make any mistakes to begin with. As long as Asai Kei had Souma Sumire, he didn’t need Haruki Misora.

Kei said that he wanted to get her out of Sakurada. He wanted to remove Souma Sumire’s memory of abilities, of her death, and move her to another town, somewhere that she could be a normal girl.

Could that be Haruki’s saving grace? Is it even okay for me to feel relieved by the idea?

If Kei had his way, then resetting would retain its value. Haruki would still have a reason to be by his side.

But something was still bothering her. The disordered lump in her chest was still there, and it was only growing bigger. She couldn’t understand the problem, much less solve it. She didn’t know how to define it, only that it was there.

She was feeling sick. It was similar to motion sickness. Her head felt woozy and she was losing her balance, her body overtaken by an unpleasant sensation.

She needed to know. She had to discover what it was that was going on inside of her. She needed to know what to call her inner chaos.

Unless she dealt with that first, nothing more could be done. Like memorizing her script. The lines for the play in which Kei would act as her boyfriend.

1. Nimono is typically fish or vegetables, but refers to any base ingredient simmered in a stock, traditionally eaten at every meal except breakfast. It can be served in restaurants with an association of eating your mother’s home cooking. ↩︎