Chapter 8: The Clock Without Time
Monday.
Again.
Same sky. Same bell. Same homeroom joke from the same sleepy teacher.
It was the third time this week I lived the same day.
And I wasn't the only one who noticed.
"Déjà vu," Airi muttered, staring at her untouched lunch.
"It's not déjà vu," Ishigami said flatly.
"It's a chronolock loop. We're trapped."
I sighed.
"How long have we been in it?"
"Real-time? Thirty-four resets," he answered.
"Subjective-time? Maybe a week. Or a year."
The school clock had stopped moving.
But no one else cared.
Not the students. Not the teachers.
Just… us.
Until Suguru broke the pattern.
At loop #35, he barged into class wearing a wizard robe and holding a frying pan like a staff.
"Behold!" he yelled.
"I am Suguru the Timebender! Master of Breakfast and Destiny!"
Everyone stared.
The frying pan glowed.
And then time moved forward one second.
"Wait." Ishigami blinked. "Did he just break the loop?"
I facepalmed.
"With a pan?"
Suguru grinned.
"I may be stupid, but my magic is based on chaotic intent. I've been saving loop energy with every dumb thing I do."
Ishigami muttered, "I hate that that makes sense."
But the victory was short-lived.
Because the moment we broke the loop, the Clock Entity revealed itself.
The sky tore open.
A massive pendulum floated above the school, swaying over a frozen sun.
A clockwork monster with twelve arms descended, gears grinding, time bleeding from its joints.
[Void Entity: Omega-Class — The Horologe of the Lost Hour]
It pointed at me.
"You. Broke. Pattern."
"You. Must. Pay. Time."
Chains of golden time spiraled toward us.
Suguru yelled:
"I GOT THIS!"
He charged in.
Slipped on his robe.
Fell.
But the pan flew out of his hand—
spinning through the air—
BONK!
Right in the monster's core.
Critical hit.
The Horologe froze.
Ishigami looked amazed.
"He just... time-critted the boss with a frying pan."
Airi stepped forward.
"Let's end this before time eats us."
She drew a circle in the air—reverse runes of anti-time.
I readied my eyes.
[Void Pulse Eyes: Chrono Shatter Mode]
We attacked in sync.
Airi froze its gears.
I erased its heart.
Suguru... cheered.
The monster cracked like porcelain.
As the world stabilized, the sky rippled.
Clocks ticked normally again.
The loops stopped.
But Ishigami frowned.
"Something's off."
He pointed to the sun.
It was still broken—frozen at 11:59.
"Time's moving, but the day won't end."
And then, a voice spoke from the shadows.
"Because the next day doesn't exist yet."
We turned.
A girl stood there—long black hair, eyes of mirror-glass.
She stepped out of the ink reflection of the classroom window.
"My name is Reina Akasumi," she said softly.
"And I'm the reason the future is missing."
To be continued…