join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for dozens of advance chapters for over a dozen fics | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter
Chihaya Asagumo didn't feel well, her hand holding the pocket watch trembled uncontrollably.
This pocket watch had suddenly appeared by her side half a year ago. Although it looked metallic, its texture was actually more fragile than glass; a slight fall would shatter it.
After that, she would return to the past.
At first, the girl, who thought she had awakened superpowers, was very happy.
She would always trigger this ability, which she called 'restart,' striving to appear perfect at all times.
If there was any flaw in 'restart,' it was probably that each activation did not allow her to control the time reverted, but it gradually lengthened from an initial ten minutes.
Originally, this was a holiday, and she wanted to invite Ayano Mitsuki out to play, as she had in the past, to deepen their relationship.
However, after the phone call, she was told that he had gone to a hot spring inn in the countryside with a group of people.
Chihaya Asagumo didn't actually care that Ayano Mitsuki went out with others. The only person she was wary of was Ayano Mitsuki's childhood friend, Lemon Yakishio.
Although Ayano Mitsuki had denied it in front of her, saying he wasn't good enough for Yakishio, Chihaya Asagumo could tell that he did have feelings for his childhood friend.
This always made Chihaya Asagumo feel a full sense of crisis. She constantly pestered Ayano Mitsuki, hoping to confirm the fact that they were dating. That way, even when facing Lemon Yakishio, she would at least have a moral advantage.
Because of this, the fact that the two of them went to the hot spring inn together naturally set off alarm bells in Chihaya Asagumo's mind. She immediately took a taxi to the hot spring inn where Ayano Mitsuki was.
It's worth mentioning that Ayano Mitsuki had not told Chihaya Asagumo which hot spring inn they went to. The girl purely determined the location by comparing maps and using a GPS secretly installed on Ayano Mitsuki's phone.
The road to the countryside wasn't particularly easy to travel. Considering that taxi drivers probably wouldn't pick up passengers on the way back and would have to pay for fuel themselves, there weren't many taxis willing to take the order.
Chihaya Asagumo finally managed to reach the hot spring inn. Tracking the GPS signal, she ran to Ayano Mitsuki's room, but only found his phone there. He himself was not in the inn at all.
So she began to search the surroundings, centered on the inn.
Before she could find Ayano Mitsuki, he had already returned, arm in arm with Lemon Yakishio, with a clearly visible hickey on his neck.
With her resolve shattered, Chihaya Asagumo almost instinctively smashed the pocket watch, activating 'restart' to return to over half an hour earlier.
However, most of that time was spent in the car. By the time she could move normally, even if she didn't go to the inn and started searching from outside, it was still too late. She could only watch helplessly as the two, who had clearly just started dating, appeared before her as if showing off.
So, unwilling, Chihaya Asagumo could only activate 'restart' again and again.
Finally, when the 'restart' reversal time changed from half an hour to over an hour, she discovered the small path in the bamboo forest and confirmed that Ayano Mitsuki and his group had returned via this path.
When the girl wanted to try to intercept them in one go, she encountered an unexpected person.
The person was a boy who seemed slightly chuunibyou, wearing unfashionable black-rimmed glasses, and looked about the same age as her.
Chihaya Asagumo didn't intend to conflict with others, but the other party seemed to have noticed something and hoped she would stop doing these things.
Chihaya Asagumo outwardly agreed, but in reality, after failing to intercept, she 'restarted' again.
As a result, when she met that person a second time, the other party actually directly turned her clothes into snakes, trying to capture her, and thus discovered the abnormality of the pocket watch, which could not be assimilated into a snake.
However, the other party had not anticipated that her pocket watch's effect was activated by 'destruction,' so in the end, Chihaya Asagumo still successfully 'restarted' at the last moment, and even continuously restarted twice.
The facts proved she was not wrong. When she saw that person again, the look in his eyes towards her was noticeably much stranger.
At this point, Chihaya Asagumo actually wanted to stop.
After all, even if Ayano Mitsuki dated his childhood friend Lemon Yakishio, it was nothing. As long as they weren't married, she still had a chance.
As the saying goes, if the hoe is wielded well, there's no wall that can't be dug down.
However, at this moment, Chihaya Asagumo felt a sense of abnormality.
Something deep inside her seemed to pull an alarm, telling her that she absolutely could not stop at this moment, otherwise something very terrible would happen!
So the girl could only rely on her willpower to repeatedly go through this period of time, watching Ayano Mitsuki and Lemon Yakishio's moments of dating again and again...
At first, she would still feel heartbroken, but the more it happened, the more numb her heart became.
Even for someone as strong as her, after such prolonged torment and suffering, her mind finally began to crack under the unbearable burden.
When will it end? How will it end? What will I become?
The more she thought, the more afraid she became, and the more afraid she became, the more she could only grit her teeth and continue to 'restart'.
After all, no matter how excellent she usually performed, Chihaya Asagumo was still just a 15-year-old girl.
When the possibilities ran out, she paced like a zombie on the small path outside the hot spring inn.
But just then, someone appeared before her.
"Let's have a good talk," he said gently.
"...Ayano-kun, why... shouldn't you be by the lake right now?" Chihaya Asagumo looked at the familiar figure and was stunned.
'Ayano Mitsuki' softly said, "Let everything end here. Don't continue like this. Your current situation is very dangerous, Chihaya Asagumo"
However, as soon as he finished speaking, the girl's eyes became sharp.
"...You're not Ayano-kun, who are you?"
"What are you talking about? I am Ayano Mitsuki, aren't I?" 'Ayano Mitsuki' was startled.
"No, you are definitely not Ayano-kun!"
"How disgusting," after a long pause, 'Ayano Mitsuki' finally revealed a strange smile, "Why did you see through me?"
The girl almost instantly pulled out her pocket watch and smashed it on the ground.
But this time, the other party was faster than her.
"Scale—!"
This time, it wasn't to wrap himself to resist the reverse flow of time, but to wrap the pocket watch.
Scales in nature are a means for living beings to protect themselves, also commonly known as stacking armor.
Although the Magic "Scale" also has the imagery of 'isolation', its essence is undoubtedly for protection.
So the pocket watch, wrapped in "Scale", hit the ground heavily and bounced back unharmed.
Nothing happened.
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for dozens of advance chapters for over a dozen fics | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter