H
Ren didn't approach Serika directly this time.
Instead, he waited.
Loop after loop, he observed her: where she walked when no one watched, what she sketched alone during class, how she stared too long at staircases… and how she sometimes whispered to herself when she thought she was alone.
She was unraveling too.
---
It was in Loop 22 that it happened.
Ren caught her crying — not quiet, poised tears like before — but trembling, full-body sobs behind the school auditorium.
She didn't see him approach.
He stood there for a moment, unsure.
Then softly: "Serika."
Her shoulders stiffened.
She turned slowly. Her eyes were red.
But not afraid.
Just… exhausted.
---
"I'm not going to stop you," Ren said. "Not this loop."
She blinked. "…Then why are you here?"
"I want to know the truth."
---
Silence.
The grass rustled.
Then, almost a whisper:
> "You remember, don't you?"
Ren nodded.
She looked away. "So do I."
---
That broke something.
Her voice cracked as she sank against the wall.
"I've been here longer than you, Ren. Loops before you even existed in them. I tried to save him too. *My brother.*"
Ren froze.
"…Shou Mizuno."
She nodded.
"He died. In the original timeline. Pushed. Blamed. Forgotten."
Ren whispered, "But that wasn't Yuu's fault."
"I know!" she snapped. "It wasn't anyone's fault. That's the cruel part. It just *happened*. And no one cared."
She looked at him again, softer.
"And then… one day, I woke up on the same date. *Again.* And I thought—maybe this was my chance. My chance to make it right."
---
"But every loop changed," she continued.
"Sometimes Shou lived. Sometimes he didn't. But the world always corrected itself. Always *took someone else instead.*"
Her hands trembled.
"Then you appeared."
Ren stayed quiet.
"I didn't understand it at first. You weren't supposed to be part of this. You were new. *Wrong.* And yet… the loop kept folding around *you.* Like you were infecting it."
Her voice lowered.
"The story needs someone to die. That's the rule. And if it's not Shou, or me… or Yuu…"
Her eyes met his.
> "It chooses you."
---
They sat in silence for a long time.
Finally, Ren asked:
"Do you hate me?"
She looked away.
"I did."
A pause.
"But now… I just envy you."
Ren blinked. "Why?"
"Because you're still trying to save someone."
---
She stood.
Wiped her eyes.
And said something he never expected:
> "I'll give you one loop. Just one. I won't interfere."
> "If you can break it… do it."
---
She walked away.
And for the first time, she didn't look back.
---
Ren stood alone in the field, the sky soft with orange light.
He didn't know what loop he was in.
Didn't know how many more were coming.
But for the first time…
He felt like he wasn't alone inside the nightmare.
---
**April 2.**
Again.
---