(The room was silent. The soft hum of the night air drifted through the open window, carrying the distant sound of rustling leaves. The glow of the streetlights outside cast long, wavering shadows along the floor. It was peaceful. Too peaceful.)
Asahi sat motionless by the window, his fingers slightly curled against the edge of the desk. His breathing was slow—too slow.
Then—
MA's voice broke the silence.
MA: "Asahi…"
(It wasn't his usual voice. There was something different—something heavier. A cold weight in his tone, like he was about to say something that would change everything.)
MA: "She has to forget these memories."
(Asahi stopped breathing.)
His body froze. His chest tightened, his fingers twitched against the desk. He didn't move—couldn't move.)
Asahi: "…What?"
(His voice was small. Almost fragile. He hated how it sounded.)
MA sighed.
MA: "It's the truth, Asahi."
(Asahi finally turned, his gaze locking onto nothing in particular. He wasn't looking at MA. He wasn't looking at anything. His mind was racing, his heartbeat unsteady.)
Asahi: "What… do you mean?"
MA: "I've seen all your memories."
(Asahi didn't react. He just stared, eyes dark, unfocused.)
MA: "Every loop. Every conversation. Every version of your life."
(His throat felt dry. He swallowed, but it didn't help. Something about MA's voice—it wasn't just serious. It was final.)
MA: "You have too many memories, Asahi."
(His breath hitched slightly.)
MA: "Hundreds of timelines. Hundreds of lives."
(Asahi's fingers curled against his palm, his nails pressing into his skin.)
MA: "More than any human should ever have."
(Something inside him flinched. The words should've felt heavy. They didn't. They felt… numb.)
Asahi: "…So what?"
(His voice was quiet. But there was something sharp behind it—something dangerous.)
MA didn't hesitate.
MA: "Anari has been with you in all of them."
(His heart stopped for a second.)
MA: "Every timeline. Every loop. She's lived with you. Talked to you. Experienced everything."
(Asahi inhaled slowly, his lungs aching. His body was too tense. Too stiff.)
Asahi: "What are you trying to say?"
(A pause. Then, MA's voice dropped lower.)
MA: "Her mind is trying to recollect the memories from past timelines."
(A sharp breath. A split-second silence. And then—)
Asahi: "…No."
(His voice was too quiet.)
Asahi: "No way."
(His hands clenched into fists. His nails dug in deeper, pain barely registering in his mind.)
MA: "Because you were too involved in her life."
(A chill ran through his spine.)
MA: "Her memories are supposed to reset when you loop. But her body doesn't. She lives the same day, over and over again. The only difference is—"
(MA's voice dropped, his tone unreadable.)
MA: "You've looped too many times."
(Asahi's head tilted slightly downward. His bangs fell over his eyes, covering them in shadow.)
MA: "That's the problem."
(The air felt too thick. Too suffocating. His breathing slowed, his heartbeat pounding against his ribs like a dull drum.)
MA: "The problem is—"
Asahi: "Her mind has started to recognize that it's the same day."
(His voice was dead. Hollow. As if it wasn't even coming from him anymore.)
MA: "Yes. And if she regains all of her memories from the past timelines…"
(A pause. A hesitation. Even MA didn't want to say it.)
MA: "She will die. Or worse."
(A cold shiver ran down Asahi's spine.)
(The room felt smaller. Tighter. Like the walls were closing in.)
(He wanted to laugh. He wanted to scream. He wanted to do something—anything.)
(But he didn't move.)
Asahi: "…What…"
(His throat tightened. His voice barely came out.)
Asahi: "What… do I do now…?"
(MA's response was immediate.)
MA: "You have to live as if tomorrow exists."
(The words were simple. They should've been comforting.)
(They weren't.)
Asahi: "…Tomorrow."
(A bitter smile tugged at his lips. But it wasn't real. It was hollow. Forced. Like a cracked mask pretending to be a face.)
MA: "And no matter what… don't let her remember the past loops."
(His entire body stiffened. His fingers trembled slightly, but he forced them still.)
Asahi: "How… how is this happening?"
(His voice wavered.)
Asahi: "Aren't all the past timelines gone? I looped. I created a new one. That means the old ones are erased, right?! Then why—?!"
MA: "That's the problem."
(The silence was deafening.)
MA: "You created too many timelines."
(His breath hitched. His fingers twitched. A slow, sinking dread filled his chest.)
MA: "They still exist, Asahi."
(His stomach twisted.)
MA: "The past timelines are still there. They're still living."
(His vision blurred for a second. His mind refused to process the words. But deep down—he knew it was true.)
MA: "And now… those timelines' memories are trying to merge with the current one."
(A sharp exhale. His chest felt too tight. He couldn't breathe properly.)
MA: "If it happens… your mother, your father, and Anari… they will remember everything."
(His hands clenched even tighter.)
MA: "But they won't survive it."
(His heartbeat pounded against his ribs.)
MA: "No one can live the same day a hundred times and remain sane."
(The wind howled outside, rattling the windows. Inside, everything was still.)
MA: "But…"
(A pause. A slight hesitation in his tone.)
MA: "There is a survival percentage."
(Asahi barely blinked.)
Asahi: "…What do you mean?"
MA: "Even if they remember everything… they might survive."
(A long exhale.)
MA: "But they will go mad."
(Asahi's entire body stiffened.)
MA: "Because they are not like you, Asahi."
(The weight of his words settled in.)
(Asahi didn't move. Didn't react.)
(He just… existed.)
(The night felt heavier than usual. The wind outside whispered through the cracks in the window, but inside, everything was still. Unmoving. Suffocating.)
Asahi stood by the window, his reflection barely visible in the glass. His hands hung at his sides, fingers slightly curled, tense. His breathing was shallow, controlled. Too controlled.
Then—his voice broke the silence.
Asahi:"So I have to act like tomorrow exists…"
(A dry, humorless chuckle left his lips. His gaze didn't move from the window.)
Asahi:"But it's the same fucking day."
(His voice was void of emotion. Flat. Hollow. Like he was speaking about someone else's life—someone who wasn't him.)
MA's response came immediately. Cold. Unwavering.
MA:"Yes."
(Asahi's fingers twitched slightly. A ghost of movement. A hesitation. Then—his lips curled into something that almost resembled a smirk.)
Asahi:"I have to pretend that everything's fine… act like every day is new… all while knowing that it's not."
(He exhaled slowly, his breath fogging up the glass.)
Asahi:"I have to do something different every time."
(His voice didn't waver. It was steady. Calculated. As if he were stating a fact, rather than something that would dictate the rest of his life.)
MA's voice didn't change. It remained cold. Absolute. A single truth that couldn't be escaped.
MA:"If you don't…"
(A pause. The weight of silence pressing down on the room like a crushing force.)
MA:"They die."
(Asahi closed his eyes for a brief moment. Just a second. A single second to let the words settle.)
(Then—he opened them. And when he did, something had changed.)
His gaze was sharper.
His breathing was slower.
His mind was already calculating, already planning.
Because now… there was no choice.
11:59 PM – The Final Second Before Midnight
(The dim glow of the clock casts faint light across the silent room. The ticking echoes like a heartbeat—slow, steady, inescapable.)
Asahi: (Staring at the clock, his voice barely above a whisper)
"Huh… it's already this late?"
MA: (Calm, almost absentminded)
"Mmm… By the way… where did Anari's mom and dad go?"
Asahi: (Still watching the clock, his brow furrows)
"How would I know?"
(He exhales, eyes fixed on the final second before the inevitable shift.)
Asahi: (Voice tightening)
"What happens when it turns 12:00?"
MA: (Cold. Final.)
"Just see."
(The last tick. A deep silence swallows the room. The entire world holds its breath.)
12:00 AM
(A second passes. Then another. The air is unnervingly still.)
Asahi: (Waiting… waiting… but nothing happens.)
"Ahhh…"
(He exhales, confused. His body tenses, expecting something—anything—but nothing comes.)
Asahi: (Frowning, impatient)
"Nothing happened."
(Silence. Not just from the world, but from MA.)
Asahi: (Turning his head, irritated)
"Hey… What happened?"
(Still no response. The weight in his chest grows heavier.)
(Slowly, he shifts his gaze toward the window.)
(The street outside looks… the same. The same flickering streetlights. The same quiet neighborhood. The same world he saw before.)
(But something feels… off. He just can't tell what.)
Asahi: (His voice drops)
"Did something change…?"
(His fingers clench. A cold sweat slides down his spine.)
Asahi: (Shaky inhale)
"Is it… tomorrow?"
12:01 AM
(His eyes dart toward the date display on the clock. The numbers feel impossible, yet they stare back at him without hesitation.)
Asahi: (His heart stops.)
"...No way."
(He blinks once. Twice. But the date remains unchanged.)
February 4th.
The same day.
The day didn't reset.
The world didn't move forward.
He looped again—without sleeping.
Asahi: (Voice shaking, realization settling in)
"H-How…?"
(The truth weighs on his chest like an unmovable stone.)
Asahi: (Teeth gritting)
"How the fuck did it loop?!"
(For the first time, MA doesn't have an immediate answer. A pause. A heavy silence.)
MA: (Slowly, carefully)
"It's because of FA."
(The name alone makes Asahi's blood run cold.)
Asahi: (Confused, tense)
"FA…?"
(His mind races. He replays the last loop, the last conversation, the last second before he closed his eyes. Everything seemed normal… so why—)
Asahi: (Jaw tightening)
"What the hell do you mean?"
(The silence is different now. Not uncertainty, but something closer to… fear.)
MA: (Steady, serious)
"FA programmed it like this."
(Asahi's world tilts. His breath catches in his throat.)
Asahi: (Eyes widening)
"W… What?"
(The weight of the revelation slams into him. His hands tremble slightly, but his voice is louder now—demanding answers.)
Asahi: (Anger, disbelief)
"WHY?!"
(For the first time, MA hesitates. Even he doesn't know the full truth.)
MA: (Low, unreadable)
"Even I don't know that."
Asahi: (Eyes dull, his mind processing every detail.)
"Why did FA… do this?"
(His fingers tap against his knee, his expression unchanging.)
MA: (Voice low, thoughtful.)
"Mmm… something must be wrong."
Asahi: (Narrowing his eyes.)
"But he told me… there's a surprise waiting for me, right?"
(The room falls into silence. The only sound is the rhythmic ticking of the clock.)
MA: (Humming slightly.)
"Yeah. But the surprise… still hasn't been revealed yet."
(Asahi's breath slows. His mind races. If FA planned this, then what exactly is waiting for him? What did FA change?)
12:03 AM – ESCAPING THE HOUSE
(Asahi glances at Anari, who sleeps soundly. Her soft breaths fill the quiet room. His gaze lingers—just for a moment.)
Asahi: (Deadpan, standing up.)
"I should get out of this house…"
(His fingers clench slightly. His heartbeat remains steady, but something about this feels… off.)
Asahi: (Cold, whispering to himself.)
"She won't remember how I came here anyway."
(Asahi glances at the window, a reckless thought forming in his mind.)
"Yeah… this will be cool."
In his head, he sees it clearly—
A badass leap. A smooth landing. A silent escape into the night.
Asahi: (Smirks slightly.)
"This is gonna look heroic."
(He jumps.)
Instead of landing gracefully…
He falls. Badly.
THUD.
(Pain shoots through his body. His limbs feel twisted. His back screams in agony.)
"Ahhhhhhh… fuck."
Then, a voice inside his head—dry, unimpressed.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
Asahi: (Groaning.)
"Ahhh… shit…"
The voice scoffs, sharp and cutting.
"You thought that would be cool?"
The voice sighs, utterly disappointed.
"Idiot. Get up."
(Asahi forces himself to stand. His body aches, but he moves. The street is empty, bathed in the dull glow of streetlights.)
He has one goal—talk to FA.
The voice hums in his head, curious.
"Where exactly are you going?"
Asahi: (Deadpan.)
"Uhh… home, I guess?"
A pause. Then—
"Then…?"
Asahi: (Casually.)
"I'll sleep."
A simple answer. A terrifying reality.
The voice sharpens.
"So you're going to loop… again?"
Asahi: (Shrugging.)
"Yeah. I have to talk to FA."
(The night air is heavier now. The silence feels suffocating.)
The voice exhales, slow and calculating.
"Why don't you just sleep here?"
(Asahi stops. His chest tightens slightly.)
Asahi: (Blinking, hesitant.)
"Here…?"
Sleeping outside? On the street? Not exactly his first choice.
The voice chuckles darkly.
"Come on. It doesn't matter where you sleep, right?"
Asahi exhales.
Asahi: (Giving in.)
"Fine."
(He sits against the cold wall, staring up at the flickering streetlights.)
He closes his eyes.
The night swallows him whole.
And just like that… he loops.