CHAPTER 38

Groundhog's Day

Today is February 2nd. Of course, it’s always February 2nd.

Why am I confirming the date for today?

I’m back in Class 2-B, looking out through the window. The weather was cloudy once again.

ARGH!

I wasn’t sure if I screamed aloud, or whether it was just my own body being speechless. Suddenly I see familiar images flash in rapid succession through my head. Even though it was only for a split-second, my brain is trying it best to process everything in an instant.

“Are you okay Kaz…?”

My brain resets. Mary is staring intently at me.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” she says, raising her left eyebrow.

I think seeing Mary triggered the memories buried deep inside my head.

Mary, who is sitting in front of me, waits for a response. The same Mary who I saw got killed twice now, eerily smiles back at me. Her blue eyes bring me relief, but I can’t shake this dread. I am reliving this exact scenario once more. Was it a dream? No, it can’t be! Everything is happening over and over again, almost like I am stuck in some sort of loop.

I remember everything…the smell, Mary’s corpse, Akane Yuki – it’s happening all over again!

“Is there something different about me today?” she asks once more, looking at me with her doe eyes, blissfully unaware of her fate.

My instincts want to hug Mary and never let go, but my body stays frozen, rigid from my brain being unable to think properly. She is alive and well – and yet I’ve seen her die twice with my own eyes. I didn’t notice it, but it seems I said something to her.

“Yeah…how did you know my dad got it for me…?” as she rubs her limited-edition, super-rare Masked Avenger pin. “It makes me look cuter doesn’t it?” she awkwardly chuckles.

Daisuke soon joins us, as I relive this moment once again.

“Woah! Nice reflexes Kaz.” Mary congratulates me with a thumbs up, as I caught Daisuke’s dropped pencil once again.

He then tells us his grand plan of seducing the new transfer student once again.

“I’ll confess my love to her, she’ll definitely say yes.”

Soon after the bell rings, and Akane Yuki is introduced to Class 2-B once again.

“My name is Akane Yuki, nice to meet you.”

It’s happening all over again!

I look to Yuki-san and our eyes meet for the first time today.

Is that why she told me those things…? To make me remember?

That was way too effective! What is wrong with this girl? Showing me Mary’s corpse, intimidating me, and don’t get me started on the non-stop frowning. Akane Yuki was a like a witch, and I was under her spell, cursed to experience this loop. What could I have possibly done that wronged her? I just wanted a normal and simple high school life. I’m starting to believe that I’m not dreaming anymore, and it’s actually my true memories, which sounds insane. Mary’s corpse was the last straw, as my instincts have begun to fully take over, with her image etched permanently into my mind. There is no doubting it now – I am repeating the same day over and over again.

It was all because Akane Yuki wanted me to remember something. But I don’t even know what I’m supposed to remember. If I had that information, then I would have given it to her immediately.

Akane…?

This time she does not call me out at the start of class, opting for a more up close and personal approach. Yuki-san walks towards my desk, ignoring all the leering eyes of the class. She stares deep into my soul, as I see her hazel-colored eyes once more. For the first time, I don’t feel hostility from her. What she says makes my stomach churn:

“Do you remember now?”

“What now Kazuhira-kun....?”

I wasn’t sure how to react at Yuki-san’s sudden confrontation, and so my flight or fight response kicked in, and I chose to get away, saying I had a stomachache. It’s probably useless in the long run. Even the idea that I was endlessly repeating everything in a loop sounded ridiculous, yet I can’t think of any other reasonable explanation. And so I decided to talk to the smartest person I knew – Dr. Mugi Mori. She was the school doctor, in addition to being the guidance counselor. I suppose the school administration thought “why not kill two birds with one stone.”

Dr. Mori was a relatively mature young woman on the outside, but her mannerisms definitely didn’t change since high school. She often spiked her coffee with alcohol, which was ironic, since she could barely hold a drink apparently. She was getting to the point where she was expected to settle down at her age, but so far, nothing was working out for her. I just hoped that anyone, anyone, would give her the love she deserved. Honestly, if I was few years older, I’d probably do it myself.

“Run that by me again? You have some movie idea or something right?” Dr. Mori takes a long sip of her drink, obviously in a grumpier mood than usual – probably because my explanation for what’s going on took almost the entire break period.

I told her everything. Everything. I started with easy with the headaches and weird dreams, to the new transfer student’s peculiar interest in me, and the now confirmed nightmares. I didn’t leave out any details, including the one about Mary’s panties. The only part I omitted was Mary’s death; it would be too shocking. Instead I just said that someone dies at the end of the day, and our main character couldn’t stop it. Of course, I didn’t want her to think I was crazy, so the best way for me to tell her was saying the was some hypothetical story I planned on writing.

“Sounds a lot like Groundhog’s Day Kazuhira, have you seen it?”

“Nope.”

She sighs, heavy with disappointment. “Kids these days, it’s all about quips and superhero movies. Everyone has forgotten about the classics…”

Dr. Mori takes another long sip from her drink.

Note to self: next time Dr. Mori makes a reference, just nod and say yes.

“So anyways, what would you do if you were the main character Dr. Mori?”

“Well, obviously I would try to dissociate with this girl.” she leans back, yawns obnoxiously, and stretches her arms into the air. “This ‘transfer student’ just sounds like trouble.”

Despite my vague descriptions of these characters in my fake story, Dr. Mori quickly read between the lines, and figured out that the “transfer student” was Akane Yuki.

“Ah young love…how I remember those days…”

She smiles and says:

“It’s only the transfer student’s first day, but if all those rumors I’ve heard about her are true, then you got no chance kid.”

“Of course, this has nothing to do with your story.” Dr. Mori winks at me with a smug expression.

“But…I honestly don’t know if the main character would even have a chance against the new transfer student.” she says nonchalantly.

“W-Wait…what do you mean?”

I oddly felt a sense of relief course throughout my body. It was the right decision to confide with Dr. Mori. I’m 90% Daisuke would’ve made fun of me by now, saying I had a “vivid imagination” or something. I guess Dr. Mori was more than a day-drinking and lonely maiden.

“I mean, that transfer student has apparently been repeating this cycle for over 10,501 times right? I assume they must have run through every possible scenario at this point. Odds are, the main character has tried everything and failed.”

“I guess so…”

She was right. If Akane Yuki really did repeat her introduction 10,501 times as she claimed, then surely she must have experienced everything. Nothing should surprise her at this point right?

“But…I think the main character still has a chance. If the transfer student has repeated over 10,501 days, then couldn’t that be applicable for the main character as well?” Dr. Mori hypothesizes. “You said something about memories transferring over right?”

“Yeah…?” I nod, trying my best to follow along.

“So if our main character can somehow remember yesterday, then he should be able to remember the day before, the day before that, etc.”

“Where are you going with this?” I interject.

“What I’m saying is…” Dr. Mori sighs. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but what if the main character can somehow close the gap in the difference of repeats?”

My dumbfouned face gave away that I had zero idea what she was talking about.

“Akane Yu – I mean, the ‘transfer student’ – already has a huge advantage over the main character. So the only way there could even be a chance of winning, is either our main character remembers everything from before to be on equal footing, or…” Dr. Mori pauses.

“Or…?”

“Or if our main character manages to drag it out to the point where the gap in repeats becomes insignificant. I think a million days should do the trick?” Dr. Mori explains.

“A m-million?!?” I shouted in disbelief.

If I’m right, that’s over 2,700 years!

“She’s already ahead of you in like 10,501 days right? By my calculations, that’s around 27 years, give or take. You can’t do anything about this head start, so your only chance is in the long run. Think about it – if you reach 1,000,000 days, then the difference between 1,010,501 days and 1,000,000 is only around 1% if we round things. I don’t think that’s too much of an advantage, right?”

I couldn’t find any holes in her logic right now.

Can I really repeat something a million times over and over?

“If the main character reaches that amount, there’s no telling what kind of advantage he can get over the transfer student. I can’t even imagine how frustrating it must be to repeat the same thing over and over a million times. It might even make you forget why you were doing this to begin with.”

Could this be happening to the transfer student as well…?

“But there’s one glaring issue in your story Kazuhira-kun. Since the transfer student could retain her memories, why didn’t your main character retain his? I highly doubt meeting the transfer student is the reason. Why did he start noticing this all of a sudden?” she asked.

Dr. Mori takes another sip of her coffee. She starts to look around the office, as her eyes gaze upon the old skeleton in the corner, one that we would use for anatomy lessons. “Ah!”

It was like a light bulb lit above her head.

“You said something about seeing a corpse right?” she asks to confirm.

Seeing Mary alive and well definitely triggered my memories. But that didn’t really explain why I started to remember all of a sudden right?

“Yes…?” I half-heartedly nodded.

“Hmm…if the transfer student has experienced over 10,501 days, then surely a corpse must have appeared in 10,501 days as well right? Given how everything is in a loop. Could seeing the corpse for the first time made the main character remember?” she wondered.

“I guess…?”

It seemed like I was in the right place and time to witness that.

Or the wrong place and time…

“Then it’s simple.” an unsettling grin appears wide on her face. “Our main character has to produce a million dead bodies then.”

“Y-You can’t be serious?!?” I gasped.

Dr. Mori erupts in laughter, eventually composing herself since a few of the other teachers in the office shifted their attention towards us.

“Of course not, I’m joking. Well, sort of.” she tries to compose herself. “I don’t think your story would sell if we had a main character killing everyone over and over. It would be too edgy and nonsensical. I’d think the readers would drop it immediately if something like that happened.” Dr. Mori lets out a small chuckle. “I just think our main character needs something on the level of seeing a dead body, something creating the same amount of shock so that they can’t forget.”

“So you’re saying that our main character just needs to see something with impact, in order to remember his past?”

*DING*

The school bell rings, signaling the end of break. With that, Dr. Mori swivels her chair back to face her desk, and considers this therapy/writing session over. She goes back to filling out some forms and her work.

“Don’t be late for class Kazuhira-kun. Be sure to entertain me some more with your fantastical stories.” as she waves me off. “Oh yeah, and don’t be late for P.E. either, I’m subbing.”

After hearing some solid advice for the first time, I wasn’t ready to head back to class. I was just going to run into Akane Yuki again, who already had a huge advantage over me.

It’ll be a trap.

Now that I think about it, could I even be able to keep my sanity for a million days? I’m not even sure if the human mind was capable of remembering the equivalent of about 2700 years. Theoretically, I could be able to do it, but it was impossible for someone like me to remember. A human being can’t last that long; the human mind couldn’t last a million repetitions of the same thing over and over. Will I have to see Mary die over and over?

Then how did Akane Yuki even last 10,501 days?

Judging from first impressions, the transfer student definitely had an aura around her that makes me believe she’s a special case. I’m not sure if she was still human. Most of all, just why was she so fixated on me?

What can’t I remember?

Maybe the best approach was in front of me the whole time. Why don’t I just ask her what she remembers? Since I knew nothing, I guess the next best choice was to get it out of her.

If I really was repeating the same day over and over, I have plenty of time to figure it out, don’t I?”

I start to head back to Class 2-B, only to suddenly be interrupted.

“Hey Kaz.”

It was Daisuke. It seems he was heading back to his class as well.

“Where’ve you been?” he asks me.

“Nothing…just had a headache and so I went to Dr. Mori for a check-up. I’m feeling better now.”

I appreciated his laid-back attitude. But the last thing I wanted was my best friend to think I was insane.

“How’s your progress on Mary…?” he teases me.

I simply give him a death stare. Daisuke quickly changes the subject.

“Speaking of asking out, that new transfer student is a real piece of work. I gotta be careful when I confess to her later.”

“You’re still on about that? Why aren’t you scared of her like everyone else?”

I had to admit, my knuckleheaded friend was persistent.

“Call me crazy, but it feels like destiny! I just have no idea why she’s into you. I was actually going to confess to her earlier, but I saw her sitting quietly at her desk around break. She just had this look on her face.” he says without thinking.

“What kind of face?”

“I don’t know what it was, but I’m guessing she said something to you right? She just kinda looked…disappointed. No way was I going to confess to her icy glare like that!”

Disappointed? Was she disappointed in me?

“Ah well, wish me luck in P.E.”

Daisuke walks into his classroom, leaving me on my own.

I need to figure out a plan. I have to save Mary somehow.

Daisuke pulls out his phone, and begins to take multiple pictures of the cute décor and lunch plate.

“Look at this cute kitty cat!” Daisuke shows me his selfie with the café’s mascot, Felix-chan.

“C’mon, I’m not joking around Daisuke!”

He sighs, and looks away from his phone for a second.

“So hold on…you’re saying you’re stuck in some sort of loop? Kinda like Groundhog’s Day right? You sure have a vivid imagination Kaz.”

Has everyone but me seen Groundhog’s Day?!?

Yesterday I was stuck in P.E., resting my bloody nose on Mary’s lap. Although I was tempted to relive that experience again, I needed to plan out how I was going to deal with this time loop. Daisuke suggested that maybe we leave a little earlier today, for a change of pace. Daisuke and I stumbled across this new place called “The Purrfect Café,” a cat-maid-themed restaurant. He said that this place would be packed with girls in cute maid costumes, but it was pretty slow right now, as we were the only two customers in the restaurant.

Can’t help but feel a little disappointed to be honest…

“Hey Daisuke, maybe you should ease up on the photos?” I whispered.

Maybe we should have changed out of our school uniforms…?

Since it was technically school hours, we got some suspicious looks from the manager here, but I don’t think he cared. I have this strange feeling like someone was secretly watching us, carefully observing our every move. He finally puts down his phone, and proceeds to start eating.

“Dude, I don’t think you should be that paranoid. That transfer student would never be seen at some place like this. Can you imagine her in one these maid outfits?” he laughs, slightly choking on his food.

“Yeah, you’re probably right."

I doubt the stern and serious Yuki-san was into this kind of stuff. Based on her cold demeanor, she seemed like the type to hate anything remotely cute or cat related.

“And about Mary…you sure it was her?”

“I held her in my arms...”

I finally told Daisuke about Mary’s death. Akane Yuki had told me about Mary’s panties, meaning she’s probably played out every scenario imaginable by now. I don’t know what it was that made her snap by killing Mary. Yuki-san had definitely grown accustomed to this time loop, adapting to this unnatural situation. I wondered if there was even a way for her to be considered “normal,” given how I probably would have acted the same way.

I hear the distinct sound of the hanging bell on top the door ringing. Someone has entered.

“Are you trying to hide from me?”

I immediately drop my cup, shattering glass and spilling water over our table. I suddenly heard the unmistakable voice of the person I was just talking about. My heart feels like it has stopped, as my breathing suddenly becomes rapid.

How did she find us?

Judging from the loop, no one else ever retained their memories, so it was impossible for Daisuke to leak info to her. I can hear her footsteps, as she marches closer and closer to our table. I see Daisuke, partially frozen in fear and confusion as well.

Yuki-san finally stops right next to me. She places her hand on my shoulder.

“This is my 10,503rd loop Kazuki.” I turn my head, and she appears in my face with an disturbing smile. “Every day the same things happen over and over. It doesn’t matter since nobody manages to remember anything, and aren’t even aware that we’re in a loop.”

She lets go of me, and looks around the café, taking in the cute atmosphere. She doesn’t even acknowledge Daisuke’s presence. Yuki-san rests her hand on our table, tapping it with her fingernails. I am completely petrified.

“Do you know what the definition of insanity is? It’s doing the same thing, over and over, expecting something to be different. Normally, people do change, ranging from the littlest things to the extreme. However, it’s easy for me to predict what you’re going to do, because you are hopelessly stuck in a loop without even knowing it. It’s even easier since it’s the same February 2nd.”

“Kazuki.” she moves her lips close to my ear. “You don’t think this was the first time you’ve been here right?”

Like Dr. Mori said, I was getting first-hand experience of the significant difference in information I had. The only trump card I had over her was I was this “Kazuki Kaneshiro,” and my goal was to obtain more information about who Akane Yuki really was. If I had zero clue of what I was supposed to remember, then she would be stuck on my level. She probably knew everything else about me, yet I knew almost nothing about her. Could it even be possible for me to narrow the gap of loops?

“I applaud your effort Kazuki.” she pats me on the back. “But I want you to know, you can’t escape from me. I need you to remember. You can’t even imagine what I’ve done.” she grabs my hand. “Let me do this. Just do exactly what I say.”

For some reason, she wasn’t gripping my hand tightly like I expected. Rather, it was pretty frail, barely a loose grip. I could easily just brush her off, but something inside me doesn’t want to. I wanted to scream into her face, to defy her, but I just couldn’t. I don’t know why. I could see through her eyes, as she was expressing a feeling I never expected from her – desperation. Just like that, my hand is freed from her grasp, though not through my action.

“What are you doing?” Yuki-san snaps at Daisuke.

My partner couldn’t stay still anymore. He had enough of her vague threats.

“I can’t let you say that to my best friend, Kazuhira, even if all this time loop stuff happens to be true. I can’t ever forgive you for killing Mary!” Daisuke was never like this to anyone – ever. “It’s always the hot ones that are crazy.” he sighs.

Of course, Yuki-san has probably been prepared for this.

“That’s not what I’m saying at all you idiot. Don’t you two idiots get it? This doesn’t matter, none of it does!” she shouts loudly, attracting the attention of the café staff. “This Mary isn’t real, it’s all imaginary. It seems like you’ve chosen to side with Kazuki, but I will break him down. It’s only a matter of time until it happens. Everyone breaks. Everyone. I’d give you about 10 more loops until you’re back to confessing to me, instead of delaying the inevitable. So I’d appreciate it if you just save some time, and stay out of my way.”

Yuki-san scowls at Daisuke, unwavering, not even blinking an eye.

Daisuke backs off. He knows she’s right. If this time loop was real, then he’d just forget everything anyways. No matter how threatening Yuki-san was, tomorrow morning he’d be back to falling in love with her.

“It doesn’t matter!” Daisuke clenches his fist. “Sure, I might forget tomorrow morning, and I might not remember anything. But one thing’s for sure, I’m as stupid as I look.”

“What are you trying to say?” Yuki-san and I say at the same time coincidentally.

“You said that every day resets right? And the same things happen over and over?”

“Yes, that’s why anything you do is useless.” she confirms.

“Then that means this will play out the same way!” If Kaz tells me this story, then there’s no doubt I’m going to believe him. There’s no way I would abandon my partner-in-crime. So remember this transfer student…” Daisuke points at Yuki-san directly.

“I’ll protect him every day. See if you can do that for the next 10,000 days!”

Despite his sudden breakthrough, I could tell Daisuke was on wits end, bluffing his way through. I can see his hand was still trembling, his smug face squirming from anxiety. For the first time in a while, my knucklehead best friend looked cool.

What a loveable guy

It didn’t matter, since Yuki-san was also prepared for this. She doesn’t immediately snap back at him, but I could see her displeasure.

“You’re wasting your time. Can’t you see I’m trying to save us here? Don’t you know Kazuki is the key to all this? It’s because of him that we’re stuck in this stupid loop for all eternity.”

Daisuke glances over to me. He was probably thinking the same thing I was.

Could I really be the key behind this loop?

“T-That doesn’t change anything! I’ll always be with my best friend!” his determination stands firm. “Even if Mary dies...”

His words finally had an impact on Yuki-san. She blinks first, and bites her thumbnail pessimistically. Even if his words managed to get to her, Daisuke was the one who was going to suffer more. Every morning he’d fall in love with her, unaware of Yuki-san’s hostility for no obvious reason. My best friend essentially sentenced himself to Yuki-san’s wrath for eternity.

“I’m done here.” She turns her back towards us. “Everything is going to reset soon anyways.”

She takes one last look around the café, and spends a moment with the café’s mascot, Felix-chan. For some reason, I couldn’t help but feel that Yuki-san had some sort of connection with that cat and this place. I shouldn’t be surprised that she found this place during her 10,503 loops. Yuki-san quietly exits the café, leaving the two of us behind.

Did we manage to get through to her?

I was probably being optimistic. I doubted Yuki-san cared about what happened. Odds are she’s probably experienced this exact same scenario a dozen times. If anything, this further cemented her determination to destroy me. I didn’t feel that she was angry at us, nor was she intimidated by Daisuke’s revelation. Instead, I couldn’t shake this weird feeling I had when I thought about her.

I’m thinking too much. I should be glad I survived another run-in with Yuki-san.

However, I saw something genuine from her for the first time, even if it was only an instant.

Didn’t she just look a bit…sad?

Daisuke sits back down, exhausted from standing up this whole time.

“Hey Kaz, do you think I’m going to get killed soon?” he asks casually.

I wanted to comfort my friend, but I don’t know how to respond. We were stuck in a time loop – at least – I’m 99% sure we were now. All logic and reasoning were thrown out the window at this point. If Mary was killed, it was likely either of us had died before. I stay silent.

Daisuke and I quickly paid (or technically I paid for both of us) our bill and left. He decides to tag along with me for a bit, for his sake and mine, as I head back to school in order to escort Mary home. This time, I made sure she would stay home.

She should be fine. There’s no way she will get hit by the truck tonight.

It’s been a while since he and I walked home together at the same time. I remember as kids we would joke around while we walked, but tonight we both seemed off.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Daisuke looks at me intensely. He doesn’t answer right away and hesitates for a moment.

“I’m still processing all this.” as he rubs his temple. “Does that mean there’s no end to this? If we die, would we simply be reset back to life the next day?” he thought.

“I’m not sure, but seeing Mary alive and well, I would think so.”

That was a scary thing to think about. No one could die permanently sure, but being stuck in this never-ending loop, would we even be living? This is a world without any consequences.

Daisuke stays silent, but for some reason he gives a sigh of relief.

“Then on the bright side my little sister Yui will be fine.” he chuckles.

“What’s wrong with Yui?” I asked.

“She’s been at the hospital for the last few weeks. The doctors don’t exactly know what’s wrong with her, but knowing we’re stuck in a loop, I’ll still be able to see her every afternoon after school.” he shows a slight smile. “Sorry for keeping it a secret. You’re the first one I’ve told Kaz. I just don’t want anyone to worry about it.”

I pat him slightly on his broad shoulder.

“That’s what friends are for.” I smile to him.

We both chuckle, since we’re partner-in-crime.

“There’s one thing that’s still bothering me a lot. Everyone loses their memories right? I don’t know how you’re finally remembering things after 10,000 days, but how does Yuki-san do it? Why doesn’t she forget like the rest of us?” he mentions.

Daisuke was thinking about this more than I ever did. It felt weird to get lectured by my usually air-headed friend. He stops to think.

“So let’s assume the transfer student had some special powers to retain her memories, wouldn’t that be too simple of an explanation?” he thinks aloud.

That would be too convenient…

“Can’t we assume she might be doing the same thing you are? I mean you said something about seeing something so shocking you’ll have to remember?”

“Yeah, I think so. The first time I was aware of being in a loop was seeing Mary die.” I explained.

Slowly I was starting to understand what Daisuke was getting at. If he was saying what I think he was implying, then there was definitely something much more sinister at play.

“Seeing Mary killed by a truck triggered you to remember right? Someone with 10,503 days of experience has probably seen everything at this point. There’s no way Akane Yuki would not have been aware of this truck. She has to be killing people intentionally.”

He was right, Akane Yuki must have experienced every possibility. Daisuke and I experienced this first-hand when she figured out we were at the café.

“Then…was it just a coincidence for me to see Mary die? Why would she want that?” I wondered.

I explain to him that I also told Mary before to go on a different path, but she still died by the same truck anyways.

“Maybe there’s no escape. The transfer student is well aware of every possibility. Maybe this wasn’t the first time you told her to take a different route or something. She did manage to find us after all...”

“Darn it!” I clench my fist. “Why did Yuki-san even tell me this was going on? Is she trying to torture me?”

It didn’t make sense to me now why Akane Yuki even told me about the loop. If she was out to make me remember something by killing my friends, then wouldn’t it be easier for her to leave me clueless? Why all of a sudden did she give me a chance to rebel now?

“I guess she thinks you’re an idiot Kazuki, and would just forget like everyone else. I guess you can think of it like something she did out of boredom.” Daisuke suggests. “But…even if she was trying to kill Mary, I don’t know if she accounted for you to see it happen.”

Then does that mean…?

“She was never trying to kill me to begin with.” I let out. "She needs something shocking to remember, and killing is her twisted method."

What did Akane Yuki have in store? Why did she want me to remember so much? Will she keep killing someone every day in order to retain her memories? Just what could be so important that she was willing to kill?

Then if Mary is at home-

Daisuke tries to calm me down, noticing my sudden tension. If Mary was at home, then there was no one for Akane Yuki to retain her memory. Then she had to be at that one place, the same place every night – the site of the accident.

“Why would she do that?” I struggled to comprehend her thinking. Maybe that was the problem to begin with. There was no telling how someone like her would be thinking now.

“There’s no way someone could be sane after seeing someone die over and over, let alone over 10,000 ties. Sure she adapted to it, but there are obviously some screws and nuts that are loose.” said Daisuke.

I should have realized this sooner. Akane Yuki killed someone. Not to instigate me personally, but to retain her own memories. Witnessing Mary getting killed wasn’t a complete accident. I immediately feel a sharp pain race through my head.

“Please wait until tomorrow.”

Is Mary the key behind everything? I try to remember everything I did with Mary. Every time she would always tell me “Please wait until tomorrow.” What was so important that she kept putting it off?

Are Akane Yuki and Mary connected somehow? What am I supposed to remember?

I run to the site of the accident. Who is she going to kill? If she isn't killing Mary, then who could it be?!?

I arrive, and I see something far worse than I could have ever imagined:

Akane Yuki was struck and killed by a truck.