#tsushima shintarou
Text
Marble World and Candy Resist (Sagrada Reset 4) - Chapter 2
[INDEX]
(The moment the maple syrup spills from this tiny white porcelain pot into my hot pancakes decorated with whipped cream is the climax of it. The part where I pass my fork and knife through the pancakes and bring them to my mouth is more like an epilogue.)
Asai Kei, Haruki Misora, and the girl in the marble were in the terrace seat of a café a 5-minute walk away from Ashiharabashi High. It was a modest white table by the street, with just a dark green parasol above and chairs below. Kei felt like going indoors would be a waste of this pleasantly warm sunny day.
The girl stared at Kei from inside the marble placed at the center of the table. Kei, in front of a plate of American pancakes soaked in maple syrup with a fork and knife in hands, talked to the marble.
"Sorry that we can't offer you any."
The girl in the marble nervously nodded.
"Oh, it's ok. Don't mind me. I got this."
She produced a candy on a stick from a pocket of her uniform.
"A Chupa Chups lollipop. Strawberry flavor.", she said in a forcedly encouraging tone before removing the wrapper.
"Are you a fan of Chupa Chups?"
"Yeah, I... liked... sweets for the longest time."
The marble's interior projected the upside-down image of the girl enjoying the strawberry Chupa Chups in her mouth. Kei felt a sense of wonder in what he was seeing. A fantasy that fits inside the palm of his hand.
Back to his meal, Kei cut off a piece of the pancake with his knife. On the other side of the table, Haruki winded the strings of meat sauce spaghetti on her fork. The girl in the marble stared at Kei while licking her lollipop. Being watched made it awkward to move his fork.
"Is there anything wrong?"
The question made her shoulders tremble. Then she timidly started talking.
"Is it really acceptable... for a high schooler to... enter a café instead of going home?"
"Good question. I can't imagine the school regulations approving of it."
"You think so too?"
"But that shouldn't be a problem now since this is technically Service Club activity."
"Huh? Is that how it works?"
"It is. Haruki and I were also in the Service Club in middle school, so we're pretty clear on how these details of the rules go."
When working in a Service Club, most things get processed as a club activity. No one would scold them for entering restaurants and, with receipts, they can even get the fees expensed.
"Ok."
She sighed with relief.
Kei also got his share of relief and brought his pancake to his mouth. While chewing, he put down his cutlery and turned his eyes to the pile of paper Tsushima dropped on him.
It was a printed file with data presumably from the Bureau. It contained a brief profile of the girl stuck in the marble and a pretty detailed description of her ability.
Sera Sawako, age 15. First-year student at Ashiharabashi High starting today. But absent from the entrance ceremony.
"How did she enter the marble?", said Haruki after wiping the meat sauce from her face with a napkin.
"Because that's what her ability does."
Sera Sawako used her ability two times in the past. Roughly once every two years. The file compiled all the information discovered in these two instances.
Kei read the text out loud.
Sera has the ability to enter the landscapes reflected in mirrors and glass shards. It'd be more accurate to say she's in the image reflected in the marble than inside the marble proper. But when this happens, only Sera's mind enters the mirror world, and her body is left asleep. Her spiritless body collapsed in front of the school gate and was carried to the infirmary.
"Does everything check out?", Kei asked.
The upside-down image of Sera inside the marble nodded, with the white stick of her lollipop still protruding out of her mouth.
"Yes, maybe."
"Maybe?"
"This feels so out there to me."
"I see."
Tsushima's file also contained what he suspected to be the cause.
Sera Sawako cannot actively use her ability. She can't voluntarily trigger it, nor can she switch it off. Since the entire process is subconscious, the user struggles to accept that she used her ability.
"Should I Reset?", Haruki asked.
Her ability was called Reset. It was an extremely powerful ability that replicated a moment of the past—in plain terms, simulating a time rewind.
But her ability had a few restrictions.
For example, Haruki can't Reset unless she has a Save. A Reset leaves her unable to Save again for 24 hours. A Save loses effect after 72 hours, etc.
But the biggest issue is that Resetting also rewinds the user—Haruki's own memories—to a past state. She can't remember that she used her ability. Without pre-Reset memories, her ability is worthless. Rewinding time doesn't matter if you're just repeating the same actions.
Kei's ability is necessary to solve this problem. Kei's ability is to accurately remember the past. Absolute retention of memory. Kei is the only one who can remember pre-Reset events after a Reset.
"We did get an order to Reset. I'll ask you to do it soon enough.", Kei answered, spreading a forkful of whipped cream on his pancake.
Tsushima, or rather, the Bureau instructed them to Reset, return to the past, and warn Sera of the problem before it happened. Following their instructions to the letter would be easy. They could have finished the task before going for pancakes.
"But seems like there's still more that we can do."
"What would that be?"
"First off, talk to Sera."
Sera in the marble looked at Kei.
"To me?"
"Yes, there's something I want you to tell us."
Sakurada's abilities don't activate unless the user wishes for it. It's positive that Sera Sawako wanted to use her ability at some point. She wanted to enter the marble, even if unconsciously. That was something he wanted clarified before Resetting.
"Why did you use your ability?", Kei asked the marble on the table.
The upside-down Sera Sawako lowered her gaze to the sky.
"Sorry. I don't know. When it hit me, I was already like this."
(The ability's trigger subconscious. I already knew that.)
"Could you remember everything that happened, in order?"
"Starting from when?"
"Let's see. How about from waking up today?"
She grabbed the white stick and pulled the Chupa Chups out of her mouth.
"Hm, uh. If I recall right, I woke up around... 5:30?"
"That's pretty early."
That surprised him.
"I've always been like this. I'm the kind who wakes up early for school trips or sports days and gets too sleep-deprived to properly enjoy the big event."
"And today it was because of the entrance ceremony?"
"Yes, maybe."
"Then what did you do after waking up at 5:30?"
"The usual. Getting dressed, eating breakfast—Oh, should I say what I had?"
"I don't see why not."
Kei's questions cycled through all of Sera's morning actions.
She left home with ample time to make it to the entrance exam, picked up a marble at the bus stop, and missed the bus while the little glass ball had her attention.
"So were you late for the entrance ceremony?", Kei asked.
Sera put the Chupa Chups back in her slightly tilted head.
"Yeah, that's where missing the bus led me. I could still make it if I took the next bus. But this got me thinking that I didn't mind."
"You mean you didn't mind being late to the ceremony?"
Sera nodded.
"I thought neglecting it wouldn't hurt. All they say there are things we've already heard enough times before, no? Someone who knows better would be out shopping instead."
(It's true that no one ever says anything interesting at an entrance ceremony. And all the teachers do after that is hand out the timetables and the student IDs. Picking those up tomorrow is not really a problem.)
"But you still came to the school gate after all."
"Yeah, that was pretty half-hearted of me. I genuinely wanted to ditch it, but I took middle school quite seriously, so I'm not exactly used to skipping classes for no reason."
She was muttering more than she was before. Could be because of the candy in her mouth, but Kei assumed another reason.
"Then I peered into the marble in front of the gate just for the sake of it and ended up how I am now.", she continued, slightly more quick-tongued.
"Are you a fan of marbles?"
"Huh?", Sera voiced her confusion before agreeing. "I quite like them."
"What exactly do you like about them."
"Hm, I guess their inaccuracy."
"Inaccuracy?"
"I mean, look, everything you see through them is so bent and inverted. It feels like they're mocking the real world."
"They really aren't."
"I like that image they pass, though.", said the girl looking down to the sky.
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After finishing his pancakes and asking Sera every necessary question, Kei thought about leaving the café, until his phone rang.
It was from a number he'd never seen before. But he had a good guess for who it belonged to. He stood from his seat, turned away from Haruki and Sera, and pressed the green button.
Putting the phone to his ear, he heard a voice.
"Why haven't you Reset yet?"
It was Tsushima's voice.
"Haruki saved on noon two days ago. We have until tomorrow's noon to Reset."
Resetting "rewinds" the world to when it was Saved. Resetting immediately or the next noon wouldn't change what moment would be recreated. In that case, it was better to gather as much information as possible pre-Reset.
"Your job is to relay the situation to my past self. I'm not demanding anything above.", Tsushima berated.
"Yes, I know."
"Are you defying the Bureau's decision?"
His voice was vaguely condemning. Presumably on purpose.
"Not in the slightest."
"Then why aren't you Resetting immediately."
"I want to understand Sera first. I want to understand her problems and learn why she used her ability."
"What for?"
"To come up with a solution that works for her."
Sakurada's abilities were infinitely varied and incoherent. No ability was impossible. And with almost half the town population having one, they were extensive in quantity too. Competent as the Bureau might be, it was inconceivable that it could perfectly manage all of them. For that reason, the Bureau tended to cut a few corners. They simplify problems, fit them into cookie-cutter patterns, and handle them by following an inflexible handbook.
In simpler terms, the Bureau ignores the needs of the individual. The only goal is to solve the ability-induced problem, and the satisfaction of those involved isn't taken into account.
For the current case, the Bureau is not taking issue with the girl trapped inside a marble by her own ability. The biggest concern was that Sera used her ability on the occasion of the entrance ceremony and the first witnesses were parents of students. In short, the Bureau is displeased at how the ability-related issue is too conspicuous.
That was why Tsushima sped up their admission to the Service Club and said what he did.
ー You are the people for the task.
The Bureau sought the ability to remove problems before they occurred—the Reset.
He heard Tsushima's voice from the phone.
"Do you disagree with the Bureau's methods?"
Kei didn't hesitate in his answer.
"No, I think that's the right thing to do."
He really meant it. The Bureau was correct. He believed they were an effective organization that reliably achieved anything within their reach.
"Then why haven't you Reset yet?", Tsushima asked one more time.
"Holding myself to higher standards, for the lack of a better term."
Resetting would recreate the world before Sera entered the marble. If they retrieved the marble before she picked it up, she wouldn't be stuck in it. That's a solution. But it only removes the tangible part of the problem.
There is necessarily a reason for Sera Sawaka to have used her ability, even if not a conscious one. Her reason for wanting to lock herself inside the marble is somewhere to be found. The essence of the problem was outside the Bureau's viewpoint.
Kei only wanted to Reset if it was to solve both. The tangible problem and Sera's mental problem. Not for anyone else's sake, only for his own satisfaction. If possible, that's what he wanted.
Tsushima was silent for a while.
(He's either sighing or holding back laughter away from the phone. He understands perfectly well how ridiculous this conversation is.)
"I'm following your intentions to the letter.", Kei blurted out after losing his patience to continue this back-and-forth.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Your actions don't make sense from the perspective of someone who wants to follow the Bureau's policies to make us Reset immediately. There was no need to introduce us to Sera or hand us detailed intel on her ability."
If Resetting and leaving the rest to the Bureau truly sufficed, Tsuhima's actions were sub-optimal. He should have explained only the bare minimum and called for the Reset in that room, with no need to hand over the documents or put them to talk to Sera.
"It's evident to me that you don't want us to follow the Bureau's approach."
Tsushima laughed over the phone.
His answer wasn't yes or no.
"You're going to Reset when you feel good enough about it, right?"
"I will."
"Fine by me. Bye."
"Wait, please. I have a favor to ask.", Kei called him back before he hung up.
"What is it?"
"Can you give me phone numbers of Sera's middle school classmates?"
"How many?"
"As many as possible. But any number is fine."
"Come pick them up at the teacher's lounge."
He hung up without waiting for a reply.
With a light sigh, Kei put his phone back in his pocket.
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After hanging up his phone, Tsushima Shintarou stared at the ceiling.
He was on the sofa of the Service Club room. It was the perfect room to be alone since its club members didn't use it much.
Still with his head thrown back on the sofa, he picked up one of the entry forms on the table.
Asai Kei.
(As I figured, nothing escapes his sight.)
Kei observed the situation from multiple angles.
He meant today's case as a test for the special boy. He thought he should measure how far he'd obey or disobey the Bureau. But very early on, he caught on to the intentions behind the requests. That invalidated the test.
Tsushima laughed.
(I shouldn't have expected anything else.)
Two years before, at age 14, Asai Kei had already put up a fight against the Bureau. He forced a perfect organization that only ever solved problems to regard someone as an enemy.
But competence alone doesn't matter. The Bureau has more than enough of that.
Was he able to pick up what the city's management system chose to drop?
That was something Tsushima needed to ascertain.
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Story#23 || BOY, GIRL and the STORY of SAGRADA 4/5
With Tsushima Shintarou as a mediator, Asai Kei and Urachi Masamune have a face to face talk. The use of a hostage and at his wits end, Tsushima follows his request. Meanwhile Kei’s friends are all looking for escape routes. Haruki Misora, trusting Kei and waiting for him by herself, is being pursued by Sakuin-san and Kagaya. Kei tries to persuade Urachi but...
Script: 高山カツヒコ
Storyboard: 大脊戸聡
Director: 大脊戸聡
Animation Director: Ahn Jeong mi/今岡大/もろゆき沙羅
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Marble World and Candy Resist (Sagrada Reset 4) - Chapter 1
[INDEX]
Ashiharabashi High's first day of class was on a Monday, April 10th.
That day, the freshman Asai Kei sat on a sofa in one of the school rooms. It was only half the size of a classroom.
No one else besides Kei was in the room. Once homeroom was over, his teacher pointed him to this room but it was empty.
Watching the clock on the wall, Kei thought about how he wanted American pancakes for lunch. He was hungry. It was already past 1 PM and this morning he was too sleepy to bother with breakfast.
As he envisioned the pancakes decorated with whipped cream and plenty of maple syrup, someone knocked on the door. Two reserved knocks. The door opened and a girl appeared.
Her expressionless face could easily be confused with a kid trying too hard to look like an adult. But brusque movements were still vaguely childlike. The girl's name was Haruki Misora.
He wasn't waiting for Haruki there, but he knew she'd come. Their teacher gave her the same instructions he gave him. But when they left the room, Haruki had a talk with her parents, who were present for the entrance ceremony, so Kei went to the room ahead of her.
Haruki walked straight to Kei and held out a printed sheet.
"I filled out my club submission."
"Ok. Thanks."
He took her sheet on reflex, but when he thought about it, that paper was meant for the teacher supervising the club, not him. But he had no reason to give it back to her. He took his own submission out of his bag and placed it on the table next to hers.
Haruki looked at the two submission forms, and after a satisfied nod, sat on the chair next to Kei's.
The two were applying to join the same club.
The Ashiharabashi High School Service Club.
This was their club room.
Kei rested his chin on his hand and his elbow on his knee.
"But man, what a rush. Immediately after the entrance ceremony, they're already making us join a club."
(There must be a reason.)
Haruki looked straight into Kei.
"Why are you joining the Service Club, Kei?"
"Many reasons. The main one being one being that I can tell they're going to pester me until I do."
"But without my ability, you shouldn't have any reason to join the Service Club."
Haruki's voice was plain as usual, but Kei could notice faint emotions mixed in it. Dumbing it down as much as possible, it was akin to guilt.
Kei shook his head.
"The same goes for you."
About half of the people living in this city—Sakurada—have special abilities. The abilities are all different from one another and most of them break the laws of physics.
The abilities were regulated by a public office known as the Management Bureau. The Bureau nearly forces students with abilities deemed especially dangerous to be part of their school's Service Club. And the students in Service Clubs had to perform all sorts of ability-related tasks.
That said, Kei's ability was mediocre. In its essence, it's not something that would get someone invited to a Service Club. In contrast, Haruki's could be considered powerful although pointless without external help. But when paired together, Kei's ability complements Haruki's, earning them an extremely powerful effect. That's why Kei and Haruki were instructed to join the Service Club together.
"Besides, if I had to join any club, the Service Club would be my pick.", Kei continued.
"Why is that?"
"In the Service Club, I'll gain information about abilities. That's something I wanna know more about."
He wanted to accomplish something that required a particular ability. And even putting that aside, getting to know more abilities was never pointless. With the right ability, he could deal with problems he'd be otherwise forced to give up on.
Haruki Misora nodded with minimal movement. Kei couldn't tell what she was thinking. But he got a feeling that she was thinking about a girl who tragically died two years before, so he decided to change the subject.
"Aside from that, I also want to be on better terms with the teacher responsible for the club."
"With the teacher?"
"Yeah, I quite like the guy."
All teachers responsible for Service Clubs were active Bureau members. The Bureau dispatched their workers who had teaching licenses to operate in each school. The teacher currently allotted to this Club had begun his activities in this school at the start of the previous school year. Before that, he was a common Bureau officer at the city hall.
Haruki was puzzled.
"Have you already met him before?"
There was no expression to be found on her face. That signaled that she wasn't interested and asked just for the sake of it.
"And so did you."
They first met him two years prior.
Circumstances led Haruki to meet him earlier than Kei did. He considered explaining this to her but decided against it. He would be here at any moment, and Haruki would remember everything upon seeing his face.
Instead, Kei asked with a faint smile:
"You're against joining the Service Club?"
Haruki denied.
"If you're joining the Service Club, I am too."
It was always like that. Kei knew her answer before he asked. Kei maintained his smile but internally sighed.
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The next time the door opened was at 1:30 PM.
A conspicuous man with curly hair and a stubble appeared. A math teacher named Tsushima Shintarou.
After entering the room and closing the door, he glanced at Kei and Haruki.
"Sorry, I'm late."
"We haven't been waiting too long."
Tsushima knew for a fact they had been waiting too long but didn't reply.
He lazily sat down on the sofa in the back and leaned heavily.
"Congrats on making it to high school."
His voice saying this was so sleepy and lethargic that it didn't sound like a real congratulations.
"Thank you. I'm very glad to see you again.", Kei answered with a smile.
Tsushima scratched his pile of fuzzy hair.
"Really sounds like sarcasm when you say it."
"That's quite a mean response to my honest feelings."
Tsushima grabbed the two sheets of paper on the table and skimmed them.
"Your name doesn't have an official kanji spelling?"
"I don't use it."
"You don't 'use' it?"
"For whatever it's worth, my name is written in kanji on my birth certificate."
When written in kanji, his name was often misread. And people who misread his name would inevitably also get his gender wrong. About 4 years ago, he got tired of correcting people every time and started writing only the pronunciation of his name.
"Fine by me. I'll be filing it this way."
Tsushima dropped the two forms on the table. Next, he smirked.
"Welcome to the Service Club, Kei and Haruki."
"It's an honor to be accepted here."
"Sure thing. You two had to be accepted, considering how much bad you can do with your abilities."
"Questionable statement to make."
"Things are only problematic when someone wants them to be a problem. No one'll make a fuss about my remark."
It's been a long time since he last saw Tsushima but he seemed more cheerful than how he was before becoming a high school teacher. Maybe the teaching career suited him surprisingly well. But Kei still believed it was just a result of interacting in a different situation. Kei and Tsushima were opposing each other when they last met.
"So, Mr. Tsushima, why were we made to fill out our club applications immediately after the entrance ceremony?"
"I didn't want to waste a second recruiting you, of course.", Tsushima answered with a quick shrug.
"Because there's a Service Club job to be done?"
"Yup."
Tsushima put his hands in his pockets and took something out. It seemed to be a small blueish marble.
"Kei, Haruki, you are the people for the task."
Peeking into the marble with only one eye open, he continued.
"It happened almost two hours ago. A female student was found collapsed in front of the school gate at 11:30 AM."
"That's pretty much when the entrance ceremony ended."
"One of the parents present in the ceremony discovered her and immediately carried her to the infirmary. Much like you, she was going to be an Ashiharabashi student starting today, but she wasn't present at the entrance ceremony."
He handed them the marble.
"This was found on the floor right next to her. Take a good look."
The image of Tsushima and his surroundings were inverted. The world seen through to the marble was flipped vertically and horizontally.
Inside this picture, a girl stood next to Tsushima. The long-haired girl seemed to be the same age as Kei. She wore Ashiharabashi's uniform.
"She's the student who collapsed by the gate."
The girl inside the marble bowed in sync with Tsushima's words.
"Hello. Nice to meet you."
The girl's inarticulate voice came from nowhere specifically.
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Memory in Children: Mechanical Choices (Sagrada Reset 3) - Chapter 3: The end of a summer (August 12th, Thursday - The day before)
[INDEX]
August 12th, Thursday.
Haruki Misora still hadn't realized this was the second time this day arrived.
Not long past 2 PM, her house's phone rang.
It was a call from Souma Sumire.
"Can you come to the school's rooftop? Kei is calling you."
She had no reason to refuse.
"Understood.", Haruki answered.
"Then I see you there."
After those words, Souma hung up the phone.
Haruki put on her uniform and left.
It was the hottest part of August. Summer reached its peak and would only decline from there. Despite taking her usual pace, she was still sweating.
She took a look at the park along the way but Mari wasn't there. It was still too early for her to show up. Haruki headed to school without stopping.
Haruki had been searching for her feelings for over a month. That called to her attention that her city was filled with emotions.
The laughter of elementary schoolers on their bicycles. The rhythmic pace of extravagantly dressed women. The sighs of salarymen wiping off their sweat under the shades of the trees. Haruki knew that all of those were mixed with emotion but she couldn't interpret them.
Haruki passed by a girl her age.
The girl was humming a song.
(Humming... Another action I don't understand. I fail to see the point of singing. I've sung before in music classes but I don't remember ever singing of my own volition.)
Haruki tried humming but that didn't sound like a song. She couldn't recognize any rhythm in it.
She passed through the Nanasaka Middle School gate.
The school also contained countless emotions. Loud soccer team players in the yard. Cheers from the pool area. Even the wind orchestra inside the school building also contained a form of emotion.
Yet Haruki couldn't decipher them. She felt like she was the only one seeing this colorful world in monochrome. She walked through a colorless schoolyard to enter a colorless building. She headed straight to the south building rooftop, leaving her loud steps on the staircases.
She was in front of the door on the top floor. A gray, rectangular door. Would others see this door with a different color and a different shape? Did it contain emotions?
She opened the door without finding any answers.
The wind blew. The sharp light of summer illuminated the place. A blue sky with white clouds. But Haruki wasn't sure was perceiving their real colors. It was possible that the sky and the clouds would look completely different if she had emotions.
Souma Sumire, Sakagami Yousuke, Nakano Tomoki, and Asai Kei were at the rooftop.
Haruki walked straight to Kei.
"Haruki, you need to remember your emotions.", he said.
"Yes."
"Let's begin, then."
Kei looked at Sakagami and said, "Ready when you are".
Sakagami walked to them and placed his hands on Kei's and Haruki's shoulders.
"Close your eyes."
They followed this procedure every time Haruki remembered something through Kei's ability. She did it so many times it became automatic.
"What time will I remember?"
"You'll know soon enough."
With no reason to say no, she followed the command. Haruki closed her eyes.
"Here we go.", she heard. And immediately after it...
Haruki recovered her memories of tomorrow—August 13th.
Mari. The girl created by an ability. Her mother's disappearance. The black-suited men of the Bureau. Haruki's thoughts. Asai Kei's words. And the Reset.
She remembered everything. All of it. But there was one essential part. The sharp pain in her memories of tomorrow. The heavy and deep pain flowing through her blood.
(Oh, I'm sad now.)
She remembered the sadness she would feel the next day.
She opened her eyes. In her world on the rooftop, the sky was blue and the clouds were white.
She expected the colors to be more vivid once she regained her emotions, but that wasn't the case. They were far blurrier than before.
Haruki Misora didn't notice the tears welling up in her eyes. She simply interpreted this as her sight being distorted by her emotions.
Kei spoke with a smile.
"We're going to erase a girl's tears. That kind of thing should be gone from our world."
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Asai Kei watched the tears in Haruki's eyes.
"We're going to erase a girl's tears. That kind of thing should be gone from our world."
While he said that, he was remembering Souma's words.
ー I’ll give you the opportunity to do exactly what a saint would.
And then she revealed the original Kurakawa Mari was stillborn.
(It feels like everything since then has followed her plan. I don't seriously believe it did, of course. Realistically, Souma had no way of predicting how Mari's mother, the Bureau, and Haruki would act and interact. But I played the part of the false saint, exactly like she said I would.)
"So, what's the big plan?", asked Tomoki.
He and Souma had already explained the situation to Tomoki and Sakagami. They knew that a woman would leave Sakurada the next day. And, moreover, that this would deeply hurt a girl. And that the Bureau would be involved due to the ability to create a child.
"The problem is clear. The mother grew unable to love her daughter. In that case, we just need to restore that affection.", Kei answered.
Haruki was the next to speak.
"How do we do that?"
"You experienced how right now. If we copy my ability to Mari's mother, she should be able to remember her love."
"Would that solve the issue?"
"I don't know. But it's worth trying."
The same thing happened to Kei. Soon after gaining his ability, he remembered his love for his parents. People are strongly affected by their memories.
Kei turned to Haruki and smiled as casually as he could.
"If it doesn't work, we can try something else."
He said the opposite of what he believed. He thought this case had a clear cutoff point where they should give up. Kei didn't think he had the right to set the goalpost in Mari's family's case. If the mother remembered her love and still wanted to leave the city nonetheless, he would have to accept it. Mari's happiness and her mother's happiness were not for Kei to define. But until then, he had to do what he could.
Kei then turned to Sakagami.
"Will you help us?"
He had his usual smile. The timid and uninspiring smile that perfectly resembled that of a saint.
"Of course. I don't think it's nice of a parent to abandon her daughter."
(Can I trust Sakagami? I don't know yet but I need his ability.)
Souma looked puzzled next to him.
"There's one thing I don't understand."
"What?"
"What's Nakano doing here?"
"C'mon, Prez, there was a nicer way you could have worded this.", Tomoki grumbled.
It was Kei's first time hearing someone call Souma "Prez" and he liked the ring of it.
Kei sighed and answered.
"You have no idea how useful Tomoki is, Souma. It's always better to keep him around."
"Oh, I know that. He never says no to chores from girls and he's a surprisingly diligent cleaner. Every class needs a guy like him."
"Then what's your problem?"
"He's great to have when setting things up for a school festival, but that's not what we're doing, is it?"
(Ok, true. The Bureau is trying to drive Mari's mother away from Sakurada. Looking at the bigger picture, we are opposing the Bureau's decision. It's not wise to raise the contributor count willy-nilly.)
"You two suck, you know that?", Tomoki scowled.
"What was that for?", Kei asked.
"It's about the way you treat me."
"How so? I've showered you with nothing but great praise."
"I should be the one asking 'how so?'."
"You'd be hard-pressed to find other people I'd call 'always better to keep around'."
"Ok, you got a point."
(That was a joke, but it got him satisfied with the answer. Sure, fine, that's better than letting a pointless argument extend itself.)
Souma Sumire had a teasing smile.
"You're such good friends."
"Yeah, we kinda are."
Kei had a role in mind for every member.
Sakagami had the ability they needed. Souma was an effective tool to get Sakagami's cooperation. Without her, Kei would need to count on Sakagami's good will, something he had little faith in. Haruki was someone Mari cared about. And he had no reason to pursue this incident if she wasn't going to be their center player. Kei was there to help Haruki and no one else.
And then there's Nakano Tomoki. His role is to be, simply put, Kei's Plan B. Tomoki was the only one Kei was certain would never betray him no matter what. It's a blessing to have someone you can unconditionally trust when things go off-rails. It was better to keep him around.
Kei got back on topic.
"If we don't do anything about it, Mari's mother will leave Sakurada tomorrow. Which means we must solve the issue until then."
Tomoki tilted his head.
"We're just using an ability on her, right? What's so hard about that?"
"Mari's mother isn't home today. She won't come back until late at night."
"How do you know?"
"We asked Mari before Resetting."
She won't be home before Mari goes to bed. And the next day, Tsushima will take Mari to the hospital. Tsushima's company suggests the Bureau is involved with Mari's reason to regularly visit the hospital. The Bureau can't go without investigating a person created by an ability.
"The point is: we'll have few chances to approach Mari's mother. The moment she returns home late at night is our best shot. The Bureau will be driving her to the hospital tomorrow, so that'll be complicated."
Sakagami frowned, uneasy.
"So you want us to keep watch all night?"
"Yes, until Mari's mother is home. Please make up your excuse for getting home late before you leave."
There was nothing they could immediately do.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everyone goes their separate ways from the rooftop's exit.
Souma Sumire called Asai Kei before he could leave. This wasn't a necessary step toward the future she envisioned. She simply wanted to talk to him. She knew this conversation wouldn't change the future one way or the other.
(I love talking to Kei.)
That moment was comforting.
(I love watching his future.)
Souma Sumire had the ability to know the future. Her ability activated by talking. She could peek into other people's future, but only during the length of her conversation with them.
"Do you need something from me?", he asked. His tone was calm as usual. But it was about to get more flustered very soon. Souma knew that. She was looking forward to the moment.
With slow, marked steps, she walked toward Kei.
"There's one question I can't get off my mind."
"Oh? What is it?"
Souma stopped directly in front of him and whispered into his ear.
"What are your plans for Haruki Misora?"
"Elaborate."
"You were interested in Haruki because she didn't see herself as special. You believed that uncommon personality of hers was your ideal of good."
"I won't deny it."
She was almost formless. Pure and unadulterated good, with no desire for love, satisfaction, glory, or self-preservation. Pure good that can be virtuous without knowing she is.
One girl like a prayer without meaning.
(That's his ideal.)
It seemed almost pathologically inflexible. That was the most beautiful person in the world, by Asai Kei's definition.
"And yet you're trying to implant emotions on her. It seems to me that you're consciously trying to change Haruki for your benefit."
"Yeah, I am."
"You're contradicting yourself. You're trying to destroy what you find the most beautiful."
"Possibly."
"Why? I can't imagine you failing to notice the contradiction."
Souma Sumire knew his answer.
She knew it and still made a point to ask. She wanted it verbalized.
Kei smiled only on the surface.
"It's just a whim. It doesn't mean anything."
Souma smiled as kind and gently as she could.
"You liar."
"Oh my, do you not believe me?"
"I believe in you more than anyone does."
She took one more step closer.
They made eye contact at a very close distance.
"I bet you wish for Haruki to be a normal girl who can cry and laugh rather than a pure concept of good. You're prioritizing her happiness over your ideal."
Kei shook his head and answered.
"Her rules impede my free use of her Reset. So it'd be really convenient for me if she became as ordinary as possible. That's all."
"You're such a liar."
The boy chose the worst-sounding answers despite the truth being that he only wished for her happiness.
Souma found Asai Kei beautiful to the same extent that Kei found Haruki beautiful. He wasn't pure like Haruki. But Souma believed the most beautiful one was he who couldn't forget his pure wish despite experiencing the chaos. He wasn't perfectly good like Haruki. But Souma believed the most powerfully good one was he who never stopped loving virtue despite experiencing malice. His wish to reward all is what truly deserved rewarding.
(I wish my ability weren't Future Sight.)
Without this ability, she wouldn't be caught by these special feelings for Asai Kei.
If she hadn't seen his future when they first talked atop those tetrapods... If she hadn't learned how resilient his kindness was, she could have gotten away with just assuming he was nothing more than a slightly weird boy.
Asai Kei's future was indescribably heartwarming and tragic. He was always working for others without believing in his own virtue. He would grow up, grow old, and reach the natural end of his life always his beautiful self no matter how much the suffering consumed him. Always hurt but never broken. He would remain always Asai Kei, no matter how cruel to himself this was.
Souma didn't know anyone else who was like this. She mused about how merciless his ability was to him. What kind of ideals could lead one to obtain an ability as devoid of compassion as never forgetting?
The ability to see the future showed off all of him for Souma to see. When she peeked into his future, he became special to her. It was the only option available to her. A powerful precognition ability allows for no form of love other than love at first sight.
(This is sooo unfair.)
She couldn't bring herself to ignore someone whose entire future she liked.
Souma lost strength and leaned on Kei. With a flustered expression, he held her from falling.
"Are you alright? Are you sick or something?"
His panicked voice was a rarity. He sounded younger than usual and she found that very cute.
"I don't know. I might be."
Sometimes she wanted to embrace him. A simple wish to restrain him in place with nothing more than her own strength.
She slipped her hand through Kei's back and talked to him inside her head.
(Kei, did you know that I can completely deceive you if I wanted to?)
With her precognition, she could spend her whole life saying only what would please him. She could play his ideal woman down to the tiniest detail by checking the answer sheet.
(But even then, Kei, you would still love Haruki Misora.)
This dishonest method was the only way she could hug him. That's why she couldn't be Haruki's friend no matter how hard she tried. She couldn't accept the woman who would easily steal away everything she wanted and couldn't get.
Souma Sumire applied a little more strength to the arm behind Kei's back.
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Haruki Misora watched the scene from the door.
While climbing down the stairs, she remembered something she wanted to ask Kei, so she climbed back up. She was intrigued by something he said tomorrow. That is, in her memories of August 13th.
He asked what she would establish as a Zeroth Law for herself. She wanted to talk more about that.
(But what I did now goes against the current rules.)
She followed the rules and handed Mari to the Bureau, but for some reason, that felt wrong. The rules needed to be revised. Did one need to be altered or did one need to be added? With that question in mind, she remembered his talk about the Zeroth Law.
That’s why she returned to the rooftop. And there she found Asai Kei and Souma Sumire sharing a hug.
(Should I go talk to him? But the discussion about the Zeroth Law is not urgent. I’ll think about it a bit more on my own.)
With that decided, Haruki turned back and climbed down the stairs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She thought long and hard about her Zeroth Law and couldn’t come up with any ideas.
At 5:25 PM, Haruki arrived at the designated bus stop. The other 4 were already there.
Kurakawa’s residence was a long walk away from Nanasaka Middle School. Haruki’s group took the city bus going northwest.
At 6 PM, the bus arrived at Mari’s apartment complex. Mari’s apartment was the right-sided one on the third floor of the shortest building.
Haruki Misora and Nakano Tomoki could see her window and the building entrance from the street.
Kei said, “Being with someone is better than being alone. A pair of middle schoolers chatting on the street is far less suspicious than someone trying to sneak around.”
He, Souma, and Sakagami went off their own way. Kei was also of the opinion that they shouldn’t be in too large of a group.
Haruki knew what Mari’s mother looked like and Tomoki would smooth out the communication between teams.
His ability could send voices through long distances. A more accurate description of his ability is to transmit what he’s hearing, exactly as he’s hearing it, to a designated person at an assigned time. He required knowing the subject’s face to be able to contact them, but it was less conspicuous than using a phone. Kei considered it the best possible option for communication that didn’t need to be a two-sided conversation. He’d be able to report the moment he saw Mari’s mother arriving.
6:30 PM. Once it started getting dark, lights went on in Mari’s apartment. Mari’s mother was unlikely to be back before these lights went off again. Mari said pre-Reset that her mother didn’t return while she was awake.
“I wanna start singing.”, said Nakano Tomoki.
Haruki turned her eyes to him.
“We should get chatting. It’s gonna look suspicious if a pair of middle schoolers just stood around saying nothing.”
This got Haruki thinking. She didn’t have anything in particular she wanted to talk about.
“What did you mean by wanting to start singing?”
Nakano laughed. He had the smile of a tiny child. His smile resembled Mari’s.
"Exactly what I said. I'm alone with a girl in the evening during summer vacations. And in the middle of a dream-like plan to help a little girl regain her mother's love. This is the best time for a romantic remix of the show's theme song to be playing."
She couldn't understand what he was saying.
"Was that weird to you? But moments like this need to be over the top. All one needs are smiles and theme songs. I'm sure Kei would agree."
"I'm not so sure."
"Hahaha. The point is that I'm feeling good. I'll be honest, you were like the one person in school I didn't know what I thought about. But now I know you're a good girl."
"I'm good?"
"Yeah, you're like Kei. Hard to grasp, but stupidly good."
Asai Kei. That was the one she understood the least.
"Is he morally good?"
"Yeah, the most virtuous guy I know."
(So he is. That's what I imagined.)
Haruki agreed.
"I can see it now."
"Hm? What?"
"I've always suspected that he might be a virtuous person."
Tomoki heartily laughed.
Like he truly was about to start singing.
"Yup. His goodness is the kind that requires suspicion, with how embittered it is. He is basically a sheep in sheep's clothing."
"A sheep?"
"At first glance, he looks like a harmless saint. But on a closer look, you can see he's just wearing a mask. Knowing that is enough for most people. They figure he's a bad guy pretending to be a good guy and that's a satisfying answer."
"But behind the mask, there's another sheep?"
"Uh-huh. You can tell if you look REAL close. He's a good man pretending to be a good man. But most people mistake him for a bad man. If you find a zipper in a sheep suit, you just assume there's a wolf inside, no?"
She got the gist of what he was saying.
But Haruki shook her head.
"If I find a zipper in a sheep suit, I assume there's a human inside."
(It's clearly an artificial costume.)
Tomoki laughed out loud.
"Anyway, that's the twisted saint he is. I wish he could be a little less emotionally constipated about it. He's nice to you, but he makes it look like he doesn't pour his heart into it. He's got the most convoluted ways of making himself look bad."
"Is this similar to me?"
"Hmm... Now that I think about it, not as similar as I initially assumed. —Oh, but the answer you gave was exactly what Kei would say."
"What answer did I give you?"
"If you find a zipper in a sheep's back, there's a human inside."
(I don't get it. His words would be similar? That's not something that matters.)
Haruki shifted her gaze back to Mari's apartment again.
Mari was alone up there.
"Don't look so frightened.", said Nakano Tomoki.
Haruki didn't know who he was talking to. She didn't entertain the possibility that this was about her.
"Hear me out, you need to know this. Asai Kei is incapable of making mistakes."
"Incapable of making mistakes?"
"Yup. He never failed to save anyone he tried to."
"Is that true?"
Nakano shrugged with a large gesture. That was all. He didn't elaborate on the answer.
(Nakano Tomoki could be lying to calm me down. But...)
ーAsai Kei is incapable of making mistakes.
For inexplicable reasons, those words didn't leave Haruki's ears.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was almost 8 PM.
Asai Kei and Sakagami Yousuke sat on a bench by a neatly paved road. They were one street away from the street where Mari's apartment was.
There was a light pole right next to the bench, and under it, a vending machine. Flies flocked around the machine.
Souma Sumire said she was going to buy a drink and disappeared. Despite the vending machine right next to them. Kei never knew what she was thinking.
The summer nights were sweltering. The air was saturated with moisture. His sweat didn't dry when he wanted it to.
He noticed Sakagami looking around uncomfortably. He was the type who couldn't stand being in silence with someone not that close.
"Why did you want to be the student council president?", Kei broke the ice.
He wasn't truly interested. He didn't expect anything meaningful out of a chat to pass the time.
After some hemming and hawing, Sakagami answered.
"Because no one else would."
"There were no candidates?"
Nanasaka Middle School's student council president was voted from a pool of volunteer candidates.
Sakagami nodded.
"Usually someone from the student council is a candidate, but this year none of them were, so I stepped in. I'm not cut for it, am I?"
After some thought, Kei answered.
"What kind of person is cut to be student council president?"
"Someone like Souma, for example."
"Souma was still in her 1st year during the election."
"I know. That's why I ran for it. But I still think she'd be a better president. I'm afraid of talking in public."
(Yeah, Souma wouldn't be having those voice cracks when making a speech to the whole school.)
"What's wrong with a few slip-ups. No one is expecting the president to have a regal bearing."
"Sure, I suppose not."
"Also, I like your speeches."
"Why?"
"Because they're short."
"Haha... I think everyone would be better off without me."
"I wouldn't. Mari's mother will be gone from this town without you."
"I'm not necessary, my ability is. If you had anyone else with the same ability, that'd do."
"But I don't have anyone else on hand who can copy abilities, so you're necessary."
Sakagami's long sigh sounded like a computer's cooler.
"Doesn't this frighten you, Asai?"
"What does?"
"Didn't the Bureau decide that Mari's mother needs to leave the city?"
"I believe she had the final say. But at the very least, the Bureau wanted to drive her away."
"Wouldn't it be dangerous to oppose that?"
Kei sighed internally.
"Define dangerous."
"Define?"
"What dangers are you expecting?"
"Well, there's..."
Sakagami couldn't say anything.
Kei lost his patience and continued.
"Our lives aren't at risk. Our chance of injury is practically zero. We aren't doing something bad, so I don't expect us to even be insulted or scolded. It'll just get them to like us less. If that's a problem to you, I can come up with alternatives."
(I could go with threats or deception. Sakagami is the one pawn who is easy to sacrifice.)
Sakagami shook his head.
"No, I wasn't thinking anything this concrete, it was more of an emotional deal. Are you not afraid of breaking rules?"
"Not at all. Rules exist to reinforce morals."
(Rules are what define bad things as bad.)
"But here in the case of the rules set by the Bureau, they are the ones not aligned with the morals. There's no need to follow those.", Kei continued.
He didn't believe what was he saying. Rules were meant to be followed at all times. Breakable rules don't exist. If a rule is wrong, they need to first change it through proper channels. But he didn't have the time for these long-winded methods.
Sakagami shook his head again.
"You're a strong guy."
"Am I?"
"Yeah, and I'm weak. I have so much I'm afraid of and I hate how that feels, so I don't want to stray away from the rules. I never want to leave my comfort zone."
"I know how it feels."
"No, you don't."
Sakagami's smile was stiff. As if he was holding back tears.
"Asai, I think what you're saying is correct. I believe you're trying to do good. But I'm afraid of you. And of Haruki."
(I'm much more afraid of Souma.)
He wanted to reply with that but stopped himself. It didn't have anything to do with what Sakagami feared. He didn't want to complicate the conversation.
After that, the two sat on the bench in silence for a while.
Souma eventually came back. She had a plastic bag on her right hand. She produced a blue bottle out of it.
"Want a drink?"
It was a glass bottle of ramune.
"Where did you go to buy that?"
"I found a supermarket nearby when we were on the bus."
(That's some good eye she has.)
"And you went all the way there?"
"Summer nights demand ramune, no?"
They had no reason to refute. Kei and Sakagami grabbed their ramune bottles.
(Why did Souma's face look sad when I took my bottle? Must have been just these cheap street lamps.)
With nothing else to do, the three sat side by side drinking ramune. Clink, clink went the glass balls in the bottles.
Souma looked at the sky.
"All that's missing here are some fireworks."
(I really can't ever tell what Souma is thinking.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Souma looked at the sky.
"All that's missing here are some fireworks."
She was in the mood to watch something pretty.
Kei raised his bottle next to her.
The ramune she bought for him. Souma knew what he would this bottle for later. She bought it fully aware.
Souma thought of words that failed to work as an excuse for herself.
(Kei getting hurt is the last thing I want.)
But that was the optimal route. Nothing will bring smoother progress than that bottle.
Souma strived to keep her usual expression because she knew that if she distracted herself, she'd revert to a frown. Asai Kei can't suspect a thing. Deviating from the roadmap would cause nothing but trouble.
Upon finishing his ramune, Sakagami stood up from the bench.
"Thanks. It was delicious."
He crossed the street to dump his bottle in the trash can.
In the short moment Sakagami was away, Kei whispered to Souma.
"Souma, is there anything wrong with Sakagami?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know. I'm not that familiar with him. Working with strangers is unnerving."
Souma watched his profile.
"So you consider yourself familiar with me and Haruki?"
He glared at her.
"I want a real answer, Souma Sumire."
She couldn't hold back her laughter.
(It's not the time for this.)
"That's the first time you call me Sumire."
That was strangely gratifying.
Kei slightly frowned.
"We're talking about Sakagami."
"Right."
Souma already knew what would happen.
"Well, what else can we do now other than trust things will work out?"
Souma giggled again with this response, this time intentionally.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nakano Tomoki's message arrived at almost 9 PM.
A black car stopped in front of the building. With Mari's mother in it.
"She's here. Let's get moving."
Kei stood up from the bench. Souma and Sakagami followed behind.
In less than a minute, the team was together again. Tomoki was watching the building from the corner of the street and turned to his companions.
"She's not coming out."
Kei's response was concise.
"It's because the apartment lights are still on."
Light still leaked from Mari's room. The mother was avoiding an encounter with her child.
Kei took a look at the car parked in front of the building. The car lights were on, so he could clearly see Mari's mother in the passenger's seat. The driver was a familiar man wearing a creased suit.
"That could be a problem. He's from the Bureau."
Bureau member Tsushima.
"What's the plan?", asked Tomoki.
After some thought, Kei answered.
"Haruki, Sakagami, and I will enter the building. Tomoki and Souma, I'll need you two to distract the people in the car. Doesn't have to be for long."
Mari's mother knew Haruki, so he didn't want her to be seen.
Tomoki glanced at Souma.
She silently nodded.
"Why don't we pretend we're dating?"
"You mean making out in front of the car?"
"No, Nakano, I meant landing a good slap on your face."
"That's your idea of a couple?", Nakano complained but didn't say no.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kei, Haruki, and Sakagami entered the building while Souma was hitting Tomoki. Kei felt a little bad about it and considered buying him a soda on the way home.
The entrance had an interphone. He typed Mari's apartment number and let Haruki do the talking. She told Mari to turn off the lights after 09:30.
Mari's apartment was on the 3rd floor. They decided to wait on the staircase from the 3rd to the 4th floor.
He wanted to Save one more time before meeting Mari's mother. That's why Kei instructed to wait until 09:30 before turning the lights off.
At 09:25, 24 hours will have passed since the Reset. They'd be able to make a new Save. And Mari's mother wouldn't leave the building's entrance with the lights on.
09:25. After hearing Haruki's "Save", Kei recalled the past 5 minutes. He verified they hadn't Reset yet.
09:35. He heard Tomoki's voice. "Mari's mother entered the building. Alone."
It didn't take long before the elevator started moving.
A thin line of light widened as the doors came open, and then Mari's mother got off the elevator.
They approached her from behind and she turned to face them. Did she hear their footsteps? The hallway lights displayed her frightened face.
Kei initiated the conversation with a smile.
"Sorry to bother you at such a late hour. My name is Asai. Would you be Ms. Kurakawa?"
Minor changes to her expression. Less fear and more suspicion.
"Yes, uh, do you need anything?"
Kei grabbed her arm. As slowly and leisurely as possible, so as to not give her any wrong ideas. He looked her in the eye. One breath later, her face grew intensely wary. Kei spoke.
"We're Mari's friends. And we know what you're trying to do tomorrow."
Her face stiffened. It was a dramatic change. She reacted like he pointed a knife at her. He knew that would happen. She screamed and tried to pull her arm out of his grasp. But Kei wouldn't let go.
"Sakagami, hurry."
Sakagami wasn't looking too different from Mari's mother. A face stiffened with panic.
"Excuse me."
Mumbling something, he touched Kei with his right hand and Mari's mother with his left. They could save the explanation until after she remembered her past. Kei's words were to point.
"Mari will cry if you leave her. Please. Think about Mari for a moment."
And then he tried to remember the past 7 years. Starting around the time the original Kurakawa Mari died and the artificial one was born. —But before he could...
"Wait.", exclaimed Sakagami. "Not yet. I can't use my ability yet."
Kei had a bad feeling about this. He turned his gaze to Sakagami.
"What are you waiting for?"
But Sakagami shook his head.
"I can't. It's not working. Damn. Why?"
Kei whispered in a strong tone.
"Sakagami, you're trying to do what's right."
"Yeah, I know that. But it's still not working."
Mari's mother swung her arm wildly. Kei lets go of her arm. She wasn't stronger than him. But he failed. He overlooked a major problem.
Mari's mother ran. Sakagami mumbled, about to cry.
"Sorry. It's just... It didn't occur to me this would be so forceful."
Haruki stared at Kei, seemingly with her usual expression.
"Did we fail?"
"No. We just added an extra step to the process."
That was a lie. They unambiguously failed.
But he felt the need to look competent to Haruki. Making her worry would be unproductive.
The plan to use his ability on Mari's mother failed for a very obvious reason. He didn't understand Sakagami quite enough. Getting him to help required an involved procedure that he neglected.
Sakurada's abilities depend only on the user's will. Each has its own specific restrictions, but in broader terms, they depend only on the user's will. The corollary is that someone who doesn't wish to use their ability simply can't. The user's intent is a major factor at play.
Sakagami Yousuke didn't wish to use his ability in disregard to the Bureau's decision. It was a powerful phobia of him. He couldn't overcome his fears for the sake of a girl he didn't even know.
(I don't understand the feelings of others either), Kei whispered to himself. (Considering I didn't even try to, I'm far more emotionally distant than Haruki.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No one can change the future without knowing it in advance.
What would happen that evening was set in stone for the longest time. Souma Sumire knew it. Only Souma had the power to change this future. But she decided to let Asai Kei's failure come to be. Because that would lead to a more efficient route.
10:15PM. —Roughly 30 minutes after the plan to use Kei's ability on Mari's mother failed. Souma was alone at the bus stop closest to her house.
She rode the bus to take Sakagami to his house. But she didn't feel like going home immediately after it.
Asai Kei, Haruki Misora, and Nakano Tomoki. The three of them were still next to Mari's building. And she knew what Kei would do next. It's a future she saw time and time again.
She carried an empty bottle of ramune.
She couldn't find a good spot to throw it away, so it continued occupying her hand this whole time. Watching the night sky, Souma fidgeted with the bottle. The marble inside clinked against the glass.
The clinks echoed in the silent night.
The crescent in the sky was past halfway into a full moon.
She was very fond of observing the phases of the moon. The full moon wanes into a new moon. The new moon waxes into a full moon. The cycle of zero to completion to zero again was comforting. And made even better by how the true moon was always the same unchanging globe.
(Kei should be doing the same right now.)
She was sure that, sitting on the bench one street away from Mari's building, Kei was also looking at the moon as he shook the empty ramune bottle in his hand.
Souma took off her wristwatch and held it hanging before her eyes. She could hear the scratching sound of the second hand moving.
(Almost time.)
At that moment, a black car appeared in front of Kei. The car parked next to him, opened its door, and the man in the creased suit emerged. The Bureau member named Tsushima.
Kei had used Nakano's ability to call Tsushima. Their goal was to remove Sakagami's issues.
Souma's eyes were on the watch. She couldn't look away. Somewhere that night, the future she saw so many times through Kei's eyes would be re-enacted. With each passing second, that future took the present's place.
Tsushima will stare at Kei with resigned eyes.
Kei, with an empty bottle in hand, will look Tsushima in the eye and say: "I have a favor to ask. We want to help Mari. Can you grant us permission?".
Souma felt like she was really hearing his voice. But she knew it couldn't possibly be.
All Souma was hearing at the moment were summer insects and the march of the clock's second hand. All she was seeing was the watch's dial.
But in another corner of the night, Kei was making the same moves Souma remembered him doing. And saying the same words: "We'll make Mari's mother stay in Sakurada. She'll remember her love and Mari will be a normal girl living a happy life. I need your permission to do so and make the two of them happy."
Tsushima's answer will be: "I don't believe that's possible."
Both will keep quiet tones. Like every emotion was in a lull. But each had a melting pot of mixed feelings on the inside.
After explaining the ability to preserve memories, the ability to copy abilities, and what they can do combined, Kei will say: "Sakurada's abilities can't be used if the user doesn't truly wish for it. Logically, that means that when the current Mari was born, her mother genuinely wanted that."
Tsushima's answer will be: "Feelings can easily change."
Kei will say: "That's why we'll make her remember her past feelings."
Tsushima's answer will be: "Remembering is not always the right answer. Sometimes forgetting is what you really need to be happy."
To which Kei will add: "A mother loving her child is never the wrong answer."
Souma Sumire closed her eyes.
What feelings cross Asai Kei's heart when saying that? He doesn't forget anything. He doesn't allow himself to forget. What feelings cross his heart when saying that while keeping a perfect memory of how he abandoned his parents and chaining himself to the guilt associated with it?
She wished she was next to him. She wanted to see the way this didn't crack his poker face. She wanted to hug him and tell him he didn't have to try so hard if she could. But in the real world, Souma couldn't leave the bench of the lonely bus stop.
Kei will make one observation: "Mari's mother needs to remember her love."
He could talk for hours and that wouldn't get Tsushima to agree. Kei knew it perfectly well. He was just saying things for Sakagami to hear. Not to convince Tsushima, but to convince Sakagami. Tomoki's ability will later transmit this entire conversation to Sakagami.
Souma opened her eyes again.
She could see the dial of her wristwatch. The second hand kept ticking.
Kei will restate his point: "Please. Give us permission to use his ability on her."
These words will be accompanied by a signal to Nakano. A sign to temporarily interrupt his ability.
Sakagami will never know about the few following minutes.
In this interval, Kei will make the necessary preparations to persuade Sakagami.
Souma Sumire also knew his next move. She was perfectly aware of how he would use the ramune bottle she provided to him.
Kei raised his bottle.
Souma lost strength in her hands. The ramune bottle in her hand fell to the asphalt.
Small shards flew, sparkling with moonlight.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sound of breaking glass was jarring. It didn't fit the silence of the night.
That was what Asai Kei felt when he smashed the ramune bottle he'd been gripping this whole time against a street pole. Tomoki let out a short scream behind him. He took a look at them. Tomoki was leaning forward in shock, and next to him, Haruki's face was the same as before.
Everything was going as Kei predicted. But Kei didn't tell Tomoki the next part. Convincing him would take too much work.
Kei lowered his gaze to the shattered bottle.
"Are you trying to threaten me with this?", said Tsushima, unimpressed.
"Not exactly."
He didn't hesitate. Kei pressed the sharp tip of the bottle against his wrist and pulled. It slit through his skin, ruptured his vein, and spilled blood.
It hurt more than he expected. The cut was deeper than planned.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
He heard simultaneous screams from two directions. Tsushima and Tomoki. Tomoki couldn't sit still on the bench. And the biggest surprise was getting a reaction of shock from Haruki. He almost giggled.
Tomoki held out Kei's arm to stop him. Warm blood dripped from his wrist to the floor. It felt gross like a living creature crawling on him.
He looked at Tsushima and said it again.
"Please give us permission to use our abilities on Mari's mother."
"I don't have the right to."
(His tone got out of order. Is he panicking as hard as I needed? If so, things are working out.), Kei laughed internally as he slipped the ramune bottle again. More blood started spilling, this time from a taller spot, halfway between the wrist and the elbow.
"You can lie about it. I'll keep doing it until you say we have your permission."
"What the hell are you thinking? You know you'll die from this, right?"
"I do."
He didn't mind dying if that's what it took to hear the words he was after. Haruki Misora already made a Save. There was no need for him to survive this charade.
Blood poured without pause. His left hand was red like a horror movie actor. His cold fingers twitched. He had heard that shedding blood felt comforting but it was a complete lie. The sensation was gross and nothing else.
"Please. I don't mind if it's just lip service. Say we have your permission.", he requested as he put the third wound to his arm.
Tsushima furrowed his brows deeper.
"Fine."
(He's a good man. He must be a micro-hero, a champion of mundane low-stakes justice. No matter how baffling the circumstances may be, if he sees a middle-schooler getting hurt, he'll try to stop it, as he should. I don't know him too well, but I trust his virtue.)
"One more time, in no ambiguous terms.", he pleaded while raising his index finger behind his back. It was the sign for Tomoki. He used his ability again. Everything went as the two previously discussed, except the for part about Kei cutting his arm.
Editing Tsushima's dialogue was the plan from the start.
Nakano Tomoki can use his ability to transmit the words he hears to a designated point in time. By carefully timing the transmission of this last bit of dialogue so it will link with the first part sent, Sakagami won't be able to notice part of the conversation was omitted. He will hear it as a peaceful negotiation ending with authorization.
"Fine. You have my permission.", said Tsushima.
Kei had a twisted smile.
"So we can use our abilities on Mari's mother, right?"
"Yeah, you can. Now you..."
"Thank you very much."
Kei raised his finger again while he cut off Tsushima's words. The sign to stop Tomoki's ability. They couldn't risk to add any unnecessary words into the mix.
At the same time, he let go of the ramune bottle. The bottle crashed into the bloodied asphalt and shattered loudly. His forehead was drenched with sweat.
"You're crazy. None of this makes any sense."
"We're in a complicated situation."
"Nothing I say can change the Bureau's decision."
"I know that much."
Without the energy to remain on his legs, Kei sat on the asphalt.
Haruki quietly approached, looking down to see him.
"Asai Kei, what did you do this for?"
"To lie. I couldn't come up with any other way to completely deceive Sakagami.", he answered with a smile.
He wanted to force permission out of a Bureau employee and couldn't think of any way more effective than holding himself hostage.
He noticed the pain of his wounds multiplying after the procedure's conclusion. Piercing agony ran through his arm with every heartbeat.
(I can't tell what Tomoki is saying. He's sounds pissed, though. Why does he think he needs to be so loud about it?)
Haruki was still looking at Kei's face below her. Her expression was only similar to the usual non-expression but not the same. He could tell this face expressed a very complex emotion.
(It's all worth it considering I'll never forget this face.)
He wouldn't mind remembering this pain again for it. Sitting on the asphalt, Kei simply watched the girl above him with a smile.
"Haruki, can you Reset for me?"
He needed to rewind the world for approximately only an hour.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9:25 PM. Asai Kei was in Mari's apartment building. 10 minutes before he tried to use Sakagami's ability on Mari's mother. He was on the landing of the stairs between the third and fourth floors, accompanied by Haruki Misora and Sakagami Yousuke.
Kei remembers the past 5 minutes. Intense pain ran across his arm. —and the pain came along with every event that happened pre-Reset.
"We Reset.", Kei said with a scowl.
The world rewound an hour.
Sakagami raised his eyebrow, but Haruki didn't react.
"Minor change in the plans. We'll save the contact with Mari's mother tomorrow morning.", he stated, ignoring the unforgettable pain in his arm.
Sakagami's face relaxed. His relief was tangible. Noticing that, he tried to make a serious face again.
"Why?"
"A while later, around 10:30, Tomoki and I will meet a Bureau member. He was far more willing to listen than I could've imagined. We Reset because it seemed like I could convince him. If that's an option, it's best to have explicit permission from the Bureau before acting."
Kei's words made Sakagami smile. This time he didn't try to hide his relief.
"That's great news. But do you really think you can get their permission?"
"No clue. But it's worth a shot."
"Should I go with you?"
"No. Tomoki and I should be enough. Tomoki can use his ability to let everyone hear the conversation."
Sakagami agreed.
He didn't know that Tomoki's ability still takes effect after a Reset. He wouldn't even imagine that he was hearing a conversation from erased time.
Roughly one hour later, Sakagami heard that dialogue. The edited conversation with the middle portion skipped to sound like a kind Bureau member was trying to help by granting them permission.
The only problem was that Tomoki's ability calling that Bureau member—Tsushima—was still effective.
Tomoki needed to use his ability to send another message. One saying "You took forever to show up, so we're leaving".
Kei saw the silly smile on Sakagami's face and condemned himself internally.
(I don't believe lying is inherently bad, but lying for your own benefit is evil. And so is hurting your own arm to force someone else to lie.)
He couldn't think of any better alternatives. But it was as the Bureau man said:
When a choice is wrong, you must not take it.
#content warning for tactical self-harm#sagrada reset#memory in children#mechanical choices#haruki misora#souma sumire#asai kei#nakano tomoki#sakagami yousuke#kurakawa mari#tsushima shintarou
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Memory in Children: Mechanical Choices (Sagrada Reset 3) - Chapter 3: The end of a summer (August 13th, Friday - Starting point)
[INDEX]
The sun began to set.
Red light beamed from the window next to the desk. The sharp but subtle glow of twilight marked the desk with new color.
The clock read 6:45 PM. Asai Kei, Haruki Misora, and Kurakawa Mari were in the detached building of the Nakano estate.
Haruki and Mari were crouching side by side in a corner of the room, looking at each other.
"Mari, can you tell me what happened yesterday?", Kei asked.
She didn't answer. She moved her head slightly but didn't raise it. Haruki mirrored her movement next to her. Kei thought they looked like sisters despite them not being any similar to each other.
"You need to tell me if you want to see your mother again.
Affirming that finally got Mari to look at him.
"What happened yesterday?"
"Yes. Tell me what you did yesterday and what your mother did yesterday."
It took some time before Mari answered.
(An exhausted person takes time before they are ready to start moving again, was it? That's not the kind of fatigue a 7-year-old should be experiencing. When they pass their limit, they should fall asleep and forget everything.)
But at that moment, they couldn't afford to wait for Mari to recover. It wouldn't take long before the state of the board changed.
"I was home the whole day yesterday. Mom wasn't.", Mari answered.
"Your mother had errands outside?"
Mari nodded.
"She left in the morning. So I waited for her alone. Then night came and she hadn't come back."
"And this morning?"
"She was home. We went to the hospital together."
"She came back while you were asleep?"
"Yes."
"What time was it when you went to bed?"
Mari shook her head, meaning that she didn't remember.
"Did you go to the hospital by bus?"
She shook her head again before answering.
"I went by car. Mr. Tsushima's car."
"Who is Mr. Tsushima?"
Mari didn't answer.
Haruki spoke in her place.
"He said he was 'her proxy guardian, kind of'."
"Got it. Thanks."
Once Kei's questions were over, Mari's head dropped down again. Her small, doll-like hands touched the back of Haruki's.
Kei tried to find the right words to say to Mari. Promising he would reunite her with her mother would bring her some modicum of solace. But he didn't say it. He was expecting Haruki to say the words that would encourage her.
Kei believed Haruki Misora must be the one to save Mari. At the very least, it shouldn't be him. He waited for Haruki to open her mouth. He'd be fine with anything she had to say. In fact, she didn't need to say a word. He was waiting for Haruki to simply hold Mari's hand back. But it never came to be.
Eventually, Nakano Tomoki showed up, opening the door without knocking. Kei had asked him to call Mari's home on the phone.
"Any news?", Kei asked.
Tomoki answered in a restrained voice.
"Nothing. No one answered."
He predicted that. Mari's mother is no longer in Sakurada.
Tomoki's eyes turned to Haruki.
"You should go back to your house. We'll take care of Mari."
Haruki didn't answer. Instead, she looked at Kei for some reason.
Kei shook his head and answered.
"No. You should stay here. Whatever is going to happen, you should watch it."
Haruki subtly nodded. Tomoki sighed out loud.
"What is going to happen?"
"You'll know soon enough. I don't think it'll take long."
"Again, what's going to happen?"
"We'll see."
He didn't know anything concrete. And what he did know, he shouldn't say yet. It was best to leave things up to chance.
Tomoki scratched his head and returned to the door.
"I'll look for something to eat. No one had dinner yet, right?"
He left the room without waiting for an answer. The door closed loudly.
"Asai Kei, how much do you understand the situation?", said Haruki after the reverberation stopped.
"I'm not sure. I think I know all of it."
"Please tell me what I should do."
"Wait here a while longer. Then do what you want."
(All I care about is Haruki Misora.), Kei mumbled internally.
How would she answer the upcoming questions? Would she remain faithful to her rules or would she find a new answer?
Kei watched her as he wordlessly told himself that this was everything.
"You know, Haruki, you talk about your rules a lot."
"Correct."
"Would you tell me what the rules are?"
"Is it necessary?"
"No, but we got nothing else to do."
Haruki nodded.
"Minor rules also exist, but there are three major ones. I generally base my decision-making on these three."
"Ok. What's the first one?"
"I won't choose actions with the potential to inflict strong ill effects on my living environment."
"So basically, don't be a problem to others?"
"Yes."
"And the second?"
"I accept the suggestions of others as long as they don't violate the first rule."
"You obey others."
"Correct."
"And lastly, what's the third?"
"When I find someone crying, I Reset."
Laughter almost escaped him.
(What's wrong with her? She thought everything through. It's simple, logical, and kind.)
"Do you know the Three Laws of Robotics?", Kei asked.
"I don't."
"They were invented by a sci-fi writer named Isaac Asimov. Fictional androids are very often programmed with these rules."
"What are they?"
"They're very similar to your rules."
Kei summarized the Three Laws of Robotics.
Must not harm humans.
Must obey humans.
Must defend itself.
"The lower the number, the higher the priority. The first and second rules are identical to yours."
Haruki nodded, uninterested.
"But the third rule is different. And I love it.", continued Kei.
"What does that mean?"
"That you're human."
Androids compliant with the Three Laws can't harm humans, will obey orders, and will defend themselves. None of these things are active. They simply don't inconvenience humans.
But that's not true for Haruki Misora. Her last principle is an active one. She has the will to erase someone's tears.
(How beautiful. Her mindset is beautiful. So beautiful and so fragile.)
"I... don't understand."
"That's fine. You don't have to."
That wasn't something people were meant to teach. The beautiful emotion contained in the third rule she defined for herself was something she had to notice on her own.
"By the way, the androids have a zeroth law. It wasn't a part of the Three Laws at first, but it later became necessary. Do you know what it is?", said Kei with a heartfelt smile.
"No. I don't."
"Think about it. If you were to make a zeroth rule for yourself, what would it be?"
The zeroth.
The lower the number, the higher the priority.
Haruki subtly nodded.
Immediately after that, a knock on the door. It wasn't Tomoki. Kei had never heard that knocking rhythm before.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A lanky man stood by his door.
Mid-twenties. Ruffled hair and unshaved stubble. He wore a black suit but couldn't make it look imposing.
"I'm from the Bureau. I'm here to pick up Kurakawa Mari.", he said with his shadow stretched by twilight.
He was very different from all the Bureau employees Kei had met before. None of the others had any creases on their suits or showed any signs of personality.
Kei looked inside the room. He wanted to see Haruki's reaction.
No major changes to her face. She only mumbled the name "Tsushima".
Tsushima. That was the name of Mari's alleged proxy guardian, the man who drove her to the hospital that morning.
Tsushima looked at Mari and smiled.
"Let's go back."
His voice was unexpectedly gentle. Kind, humane, but with hints of resignation.
Mari hid behind Haruki.
"Back where?", Kei asked.
Tsushima lost his smile and looked at Kei with disinterest.
"Where she belongs."
"Is Mari's mother there?"
Tsushima shook his head.
"She won't come back. She left Mari under the Bureau's custody and left the city."
"So she could forget Mari exists?"
"Yes."
As he predicted.
Leaving Sakurada makes one forget their knowledge of abilities. She'll be able to forget the Mari created by her ability. That's what Mari's mother wanted. She wanted to stop being the mother of an ability creation and return to being the regular woman who experienced a stillbirth seven years ago.
"Please explain the situation.", Haruki intervened.
Tsushima shook his head.
"It's already settled."
And more quietly, he added, "We shouldn't be having this conversation in front of Mari."
(Oh, he's a kind guy. Kind and benevolent.)
"Please talk. Mari already knows what's happening.", said Kei.
Kids always learn what the adults don't want them to know. They learn and instinctively pretend they don't know.
Tsushima shifted his eyes to Kei and glared without hostility. Kei felt it as a pair of desolate eyes observing.
He whispered so that only Kei could hear him.
"There's a huge difference between knowing and hearing it said out loud."
(Good point.)
"But Mari is directly involved. It doesn't make sense to leave her in the dark."
"Yes. It makes no sense indeed. But sometimes the only choice is the wrong one."
Kei sighed. Debating this man was a waste of time.
"Then we can talk outside the room. Explain the situation to Haruki."
"It's not necessary."
"Yes, it is. It will affect Mari's and Haruki's relationship going forward. Haruki is Mari's friend. Are you trying to take a friend away from Mari?"
Kei was disgusted at his cruel phrasing but felt like the words would be effective against this man. He hoped to have judged him correctly.
Tsushima peeked around the room until his eyes stopped at the window, and at the end, he nodded.
"Okay.", he gave up.
Kei called Haruki.
"Go."
"Where?"
"Just outside the door. We're leaving the room."
Haruki stood up, pulling Mari by the hand.
Kei shook his head.
"Only you, Haruki."
It seemed like she looked at him with dissatisfied eyes, but he assumed it was just his imagination. She had the same face as always, so he assumed he saw his own dissatisfaction reflected in her eyes.
After long enough, Haruki let go of Mari's hand.
The night was falling.
The sun had already sank but the darkness still hadn't covered the sky completely. The moist sky turned indigo. In this new color, the cicadas still sang the trailing note of the passing day.
Tsushima left the detached room of the Nakano residence, closed the door, and opened his mouth.
"What do you want me to talk about?"
"Explain the whole situation."
"There are some parts I'm not allowed to say."
"We already know Mari was created by an ability."
The real Kurakawa Mari was a stillborn.
In her grief, Mari's mother created another Mari.
Tsushima shook his head.
"Right. But at some point, she lost the ability to see this fake as her daughter."
"Do you know when?"
"Not exactly. But Mari's father never accepted her. He put up with it for 3 years before he reached his limit and ran away. That's when it started."
His head was low and his tone was one of detachment.
"If you see the events in order, things get easy to follow. Can you blame a mother for gaining the ability to get her dead daughter back?"
"I can't.", Kei denied.
Tsushima nodded and continued.
"Can you blame her for losing her love for a child given life by an ability?"
He hesitated to answer.
Kei believed Mari deserved to continue receiving love. But he ultimately shook his head.
"I can't."
Kei failed to continue loving his flesh-and-blood parents. He cried but that didn't stop him from abandoning them. He didn't have the right to blame Mari's parents.
After an exhausted sigh, Tsushima continued.
"That's all there is to it. Seven years passed since Kurakawa Mari's death. She's Buddhist, so the 6th death anniversary last year was a really big deal to her. Once she concluded her mourning rites, she started considering living away from the artificial Mari. She still put up with it for one more year, at the cost of her mental health, and today she finally left Sakurada."
His every word sounded like a sigh. Like every letter took as much effort as chiseling wood.
"That was unconvincing. I have reason to believe Mari's mother tried to love her."
Even if she couldn't, she continued to make attempts. There was clear evidence of that.
"Mari's hair and nails are well cared for. Her clothes are not cheap either."
Kei said the name of a high-class brand of child clothes. He imagined the figure of a mother who would buy pricey clothes for a daughter she couldn't bring herself to love.
(My mental image obviously won't tell me everything about her. But wasn't this her attempt to prove she still loved Mari? Maybe that's not something I can call "effort" in good faith. Maybe it's just a lame excuse. But that doesn't exclude the possibility that real love existed at some point.)
Her struggles left marks. On the girl's hair, nails, and clothes. Marks of a struggle to love.
"You'd be surprised to see her face. She looks 10 years older than her real age. Full of white hairs and stress wrinkles. She also relapsed into her habit of chewing her nails. And despite all she's been through, she says like a broken record that it's her fault. She can't stop saying it's her own fault that she can't love the girl. No argument can get through to her. She's a lost cause.", Tsushima quietly declared.
(He started speaking his mind. This man must be exhausted. It never occurred to me that Bureau members are as susceptible to fatigue as any normal person.)
Kei forced a grin.
"You're dirty."
"Dirty?"
"You never mention how you're a mouthpiece for the Bureau. Recommending Mari's mother to leave Sakurada was the Bureau's idea, not yours, right?"
He had no proof but it stood to reason that the Bureau would want to take hold of Mari.
"Exactly.", the Bureau member blurted his answer. "We can't leave a person created by an ability unsupervised. The ability to create lives must be concealed. Leaving this case unattended is begging for trouble."
(He was right, we really couldn't be having this talk in front of Mari. The little girl must be more than aware enough of that, but no adult should be saying to her face that leaving her unsupervised is begging for trouble.)
"Is Mari human?", Kei asked.
"All I can say is that our exams couldn't tell her apart from one."
"How lucky for the Bureau."
"Yes."
"What do you plan to do with her?"
"Raise her as a normal child. Convince Mari that she's a normal child. The less people know about her circumstances, the better. But when this was decided, her mother was a problem. So it was recommended for her to leave Sakurada."
Kei intentionally meant his questions to push Tsushima's buttons.
(But his answer was restrained to the very end. He was taking care so Mari wouldn't hear him from inside the room. He wasn't taking any chances. He really is a good guy.)
"So the Bureau prioritized the happiness of many. They chose the method that conceals the potentially problematic ability, takes away the mother's memories of Mari, and makes this little girl the only victim of the incident.", said Kei, still with his grin.
"Yes, this is how the Bureau works."
"Do you think the Bureau's decision was correct?"
"Correct decisions don't put children to tears."
"But it's a choice you must take even if it's wrong?"
The Bureau employed chuckled.
"No way. When a choice is wrong, you must not take it.", he answered with careless abandon.
For the first time, his answer was not what Kei predicted.
"You're contradicting yourself. What do you want to do?"
"Nothing. I want no part in this trainwreck."
"But you are part of it."
"Doing what you don't want to is called having a job."
Kei sighed. He could tell this man didn't agree with a lot of the decisions made here. That was all he needed to know.
"Our conversation is over. I'll take Mari away."
Tsushima reached for the door.
Kei grabbed his arm.
"That's not for you to decide."
Having said that, he looked at Haruki.
"You choose, Haruki. Are you handing Mari to this man—to the Bureau?"
He repeated the phrase in his mind one more time.
(All I care about is Haruki Misora. Will she surpass her rules and find her emotions? That's all that matters.), he looped his thoughts.
For a long while, Haruki said nothing.
Tsushima silently watched the situation unfold, without pulling his arm away. Kei's grip wasn't tight. He could force it away at any moment. But he didn't.
Haruki spoke, searching for the right words to say.
"Asai Kei. Let go of him."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Handing Mari to the Bureau is the right thing to do."
Kei sighed and let Tsushima go.
Souma Sumire's words rung deep in his ears.
ー But Haruki can't save anyone.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mari wasn't crying when Tsushima pulled her to her feet.
Haruki Misora watched everything closely from the door. When they walked past her, Mari didn't reach out to her. Her hand moved but stopped before grabbing Haruki's dress.
Her heart hurt. It was the same pain she felt 9 years ago when the cicada died. The pain spiked and took away her sight. Haruki was inexplicably engulfed in darkness.
She's supposed to choose the option that makes the most people happy. She's not supposed to choose options that inflict strong ill effects on my living environment. And the Bureau works in defense of the majority.
That's what was defined in the rules Haruki herself established. Her reasoning followed them to the letter.
(Then why does my heart hurt? I have no reason to be sad, so why do I feel this tear-like warmth on my cheeks?)
(It should have been the opposite. Mari should have been the normal girl, and I, who am already so android-like, should have been the artificial life. That's the more natural way for things to be.)
Haruki didn't desire her mother's love. She didn't desire anything.
(I should have been Mari.)
Haruki elaborated on her thoughts inside the blinding darkness.
No one would have been sad if she and Mari were in opposite positions. And yet, Mari was Mari and Haruki was Haruki. She was sure this was some kind of mistake. They were incorrectly set. The pain deep in her heart was due to how cruel this blunder was.
In the dark, she heard a voice.
"It's not too late."
It took a while before she realized it was Asai Kei's voice.
"Haruki Misora, you now have two options."
She recalled what Souma Sumire told her.
Two white boxes with identical shapes. Choosing one or the other made no difference. Both were worthless to Haruki Misora. But she must choose one, so she made a simple rule for it.
"If you choose one, nothing changes. Everything stays as is. But choosing the other will give you a chance to save Mari."
His words were calm and gentle.
"Will you save Mari or accept things as they are? Do the two boxes really have the same shape to you? Do they really have the same color?", he spoke with out-of-place kindness.
(Choices. Shape. Color. —Same?)
Haruki opened her eyes. It felt like they'd been closed for her entire life. The darkness wasn't real. Her eyes were simply closed.
The first thing in her sight was Asai Kei's absentminded face. He stared at her with a very earnest and sincere face.
"Answer, Haruki. Can you really stay indifferent to these choices forever?"
Haruki stared back at him.
"I... cannot."
"Then choose. Choose with your emotions. Choose one with a resolute will, without leaving anything up to chance."
"I want to save Mari.", Haruki answered.
He smiled. It wasn't a kind smile. It was a twisted, daring grin. The smile of someone who felt like nothing was impossible.
"If that's your wish, I'll grant it to you."
"Can you do it?"
"If our abilities combined, we can overcome pretty much any hardship. We can redo everything, remembering what happened today, and aim toward a better conclusion."
With a calm voice,
Kei spoke as if he was making a speech to the entire world.
"Haruki, we'll Reset."
That's what he said.
#sagrada reset#memory in children#mechanical choices#asai kei#kurakawa mari#haruki misora#nakano tomoki#tsushima shintarou
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Memory in Children: Mechanical Choices (Sagrada Reset 3) - Chapter 2: Android Girl (Early June)
[INDEX]
"We should work together.", Kei suggested after class on June 7th, Monday. Souma had to see someone else and would be late, so only Kei and Haruki were on the rooftop. "If we combine our abilities, we can do pretty much anything. We'll be able to breeze through pretty much any problem that comes our way."
However, despite knowing Kei's ability, Haruki's expression didn't change.
As always she shook her head in silence, with no expression to be found on her face.
"I dislike the idea."
This was his first time seeing Haruki express a clear refusal. So far, her answer for almost everything had been a "do as you please" nod.
"Why?"
Haruki answered dispassionately as if reading from a manual.
"I'm following the rules."
She spoke as if that statement removed all doubts, and then continued to be silent.
"I wanna know more about those rules. Who made them and with what intentions in mind?"
"I made the rules to conduct how I make decisions."
"What are the rules?"
"There are many. For example, I will refuse to contribute to a situation that would inflict ill effects on my living environment."
The potential to inflict ill effects on her living environment. Her phrasing truly sounded read off a manual.
"You think us working together would cause problems?"
"It's possible."
"How so?"
She looked at him with her emotionless eyes.
"Because you can exploit Reset for your own purposes.", she declared with no malice or hostility, in an astoundingly matter-of-factly voice. "When I Reset, I lose my memory of it. I won't notice your lies. It gives you too much hegemony. And nothing indicates I should trust you."
"I see, I can't argue against that."
Haruki Misora was not a fool. She knew how to doubt people. It's just that she normally feels no need to doubt.
After some thought, Kei opened his mouth again.
"Haruki. You Reset here on this rooftop on April 28th after class, right?"
"I don't remember it clearly."
"It's the day we first met."
"Yes. I believe I did."
"Why did you Reset back then?"
"A girl was crying."
"You Reset when you see girls cry?"
"It's decided that I use Reset whenever I see anyone cry."
("It's decided". What a passive way to phrase it. This girl speaks passively even about her own choices.)
"That's another rule you established, right?"
"Yes."
"But, you know, Haruki, you using Reset without me is pointless. Your Reset won't stop the girl from crying."
"Yes, probably."
"Then why do you follow this rule? I don't understand that."
She answered in her usual tone. No emotion, no filter. Like she was merely reciting facts.
"Pointlessness is not a valid reason to break the rules."
He gulped. Her answer stabbed him like a blade.
Kei then internally laughed at his foolishness. He didn't know the first thing about this girl. He once again realized that.
Nothing about Haruki Misora felt human. He thought he already knew that well enough when he first met her, but he was wrong. The part she lacked was located much deeper.
Normal people can't withstand pointlessness. It's not fundamentally pointless to repeat actions one finds pointless. Those can induce some form of enjoyment, tranquility, or satisfaction no one else understands.
But that didn't apply to Haruki Misora.
This girl was like a computer following the programs installed in her without knowing what they were for. She laid out rules she would keep following no matter what. Always, until there is a fatal error in the code. Like an android. An artificial something created to resemble a human being.
Somewhere in the past, Haruki programmed herself. She coded herself with the word "rules". That was what made the girl so artificial.
He almost failed to hold back his laughter. Nothing came out loud, but he had a heartfelt smile.
"Haruki."
This was the point he decided to stop having a filter when talking to her.
"I will earn your trust in the near future."
She answered in a quiet tone.
"I have never trusted anyone before."
"Ok. Then I'll be the first.", he answered with pride and confidence—an intentional display of pride and confidence.
Haruki was always expressionless and Kei always smiled.
This conversation ended when Souma appeared on the rooftop.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
That day, Souma accompanied Kei on his walk home. It happened often because the path to her house was the same as his until half of the way.
"Kei. Are you getting along with Haruki?"
Since the end of Golden Week, Souma had started calling Kei by his first name. Completely naturally, as if this was to be expected of her.
"I'm not sure. The situation is kinda complex.", Kei shook his head.
"Heh. Didn't think I'd hear the word 'complex' coming out of your mouth."
"I avoid using it as much as possible, but her case demands the exception. She's a puzzle so difficult I'm starting to wonder if there is no answer."
"Really? I find her quite simple."
"She is simple, and that's the problem. I find excessive simplicity as hard to parse as excessive complication—For example, Souma, have you ever fallen in love?"
She nodded.
"I have. Very deeply. I feel in love with someone so deeply nothing else mattered."
(Unexpected answered, but it's wiser not to prod.)
"Was that emotion complicated?", Kei asked.
Souma shook her head.
"I found it simple. I found it very, very simple."
"Same for me. Love. Four letters. But I don't know how to verbally express the feeling of falling in love to someone who never experienced it."
(No matter how I phrase it, the explanation will feel incomplete.)
Souma Sumire giggled. And then she spoke with a deep and contained voice. Like the voice of God confirming the truth of the world.
"In this situation, you should give them a wordless hug. A loving, heartfelt one."
"That's not what I'm talking about.", Kei sighed.
"It's the same thing. Don't think about simple things in complicated terms. They need to be communicated simply and interpreted simply."
"And what if they don't accept what's simple?"
"You give up. Your best option is to forget about it until they're ready to accept it."
(That's a good point, but it doesn't make any progress.)
"Are you trying to say I'm better off forgetting Haruki for a while?"
Her thoughts were as simple as they could possibly get and that's precisely why Kei couldn't grasp them.
Souma shook her head once.
"Wrong. I'm saying you've already accepted her."
"What makes you think so?"
The next traffic light turned red.
Souma stopped her walk and answered.
"I have the ability to learn a lot about people from short conversations."
"That's your ability?"
"Oh, no. Bad choice of words. I'm not talking about the miraculous powers present in Sakurada. In that sense, I don't have any ability."
(I don't think she's lying.)
Every school in Sakurada holds exams twice a year to determine if the students have abilities, like regular height measurements and health checkups. The necessary number of Bureau members come to the school and use their abilities to investigate how the students' abilities work. The latest exam reported Souma as having no ability.
"Either way, I think I know you and Haruki quite well."
"Heh, that's a fascinating claim. What do you know?"
"For example, Kei, why do you want to get closer to Haruki?"
"To obtain the Reset ability."
She was quite the rare individual but that was not where his interest lay. He simply wanted Haruki Misora as a convenient tool. Kei thought this was a horrible answer. But there was no other way to summarize his intentions.
He deserved a rebuke, but Souma's expression had no hints of hatred. She answered with an approving smile on her face.
"You're the kind of person who knowingly answers this question in a way that makes you look worse than you really are. That's because your sense of justice is pretty intense. I could even call you a clean freak or a perfectionist."
"That's not true. I don't really know what justice means."
The traffic light turned green. Kei and Souma started walking at the same time.
"Imagine a god.", Souma nonchalantly started telling a story. "The god started an experiment. The goal of the experiment was to turn a normal person into a saint. And one young man was chosen as the experiment's subject."
He was already getting used to the suddenness of her long-winded metaphors.
Kei nodded.
"Go on."
"As the first step of the experiment, the god created a fake version of the man. The fake had no will of his own. He only acted the same way the real man would. The god thought that if the man had another one of himself, he could watch his own actions from an outsider's perspective and that knowledge would make him a better person."
"A god should be able to learn the result without having to actually do the experiment", Kei giggled.
"This god was mostly omnipotent but far from omniscient."
"Heh, how so? If you're omnipotent, you have the power to become omniscient."
"He had obtained all the knowledge in the universe once but quickly did away with all of it. That way he became mostly omnipotent but as close as possible to ignorant. Being a god is not easy."
(I'm curious about the god's reason to choose ignorance over omniscience, but that's not what Souma's story is about.)
"Okay. So the god made a copy of a man as part of an experiment to create a saint.", Kei put the conversation back on track.
"Yes. But the man didn't change his ways. He was definitely not evil, but he certainly couldn't be called a saint. He was sometimes kind, frequently cowardly, had common desires, and was capable of cruelty. His fake lived the same way, not good nor evil."
"And was the god satisfied with that?"
"Nope. That's why he made a second experiment. The god cursed the man. The curse made the man feel excruciating pain all over his body whenever he saw someone sad."
"Heh, sounds nasty.", Kei answered with a completely uninterested voice.
"That way, the man could no longer ignore other people's suffering. He reached out to people in pain to relieve his own pain.", Souma continued.
"That's exactly what the god wanted."
"The fake obviously did all the same things the man did. He wasn't in pain or anything, but he was built to imitate the man's actions. So, both the man and the fake lived seemingly saintly lives. The end."
The story didn't sit right with him.
"And what did the god do about what he saw?"
"He gave different names for the man and the fake."
"What names?"
"One was Virtue and the other was Hypocrisy."
(Oh, I see what this is about.)
"By the way, Souma, what's the purpose of this story?"
"It's just a metaphor. It's to make you understand the extent of your obsession with virtue."
Amidst her slow walk, Souma turned her head to Kei.
"Kei. Which do you think is Virtue and which do you think is Hypocrisy?"
He didn't even need to think about it.
"The real man is Hypocrisy and the fake is Virtue."
"What makes you think so?"
"The real man is helping others for his own benefit. The fake is helping others with no ulterior motives. It couldn't be more obvious whose virtue is purer."
"Sure, but the real man is acting of his own will and the fake is just following the leader."
"That doesn't matter. Actions you benefit from are not pure virtue."
Kei believed genuine good is something extremely subconscious. The term "good will" is only applied to instinctive, almost reflexive actions that remove oneself from the equation.
Souma nodded.
"And that's why I called a clean freak. Your sense of justice is so strong that you can't consider yourself just. One minor impurity is enough for you to see yourself as the villain. There's no one in the world you could consider good, am I right?"
Kei paused to think, then shook his head.
There was one exception. Kei knew one person who was very simple, very pure, and capable of completely ignoring herself.
He was going to say her name until he remembered something.
ー I'm saying you've already accepted her.
ー What makes you think so?
Everything Souma said since this point was the answer to his question. Always dancing around the heart of the matter, as roundabout as she could be.
Souma had the sadistic smile of a capricious stray cat.
"Haruki Misora is your ideal, I'm quite sure. The only one in the universe who can become your vision of pure good. How could you not accept someone like this?"
That was the moment.
When he first felt Souma Sumire's absolute domination. When Kei first felt that everything he knew, his thoughts and spoken doubts, every emotion he felt was under Souma's control.
"I know one possibly effective way of making you and Haruki understand each other better.", she said.
"What would that be?"
"Let's find out about Haruki's past. What did she experience to make her like this and what did she feel about that."
Kei had already investigated that.
"I couldn't find anything special about Haruki's past."
No noticeably traumatizing incident.
"I see. But there must be something. She wasn't born thinking like that. Something made that girl into the Haruki Misora we know, even if not something noticeable from the outside."
"Then that would be something we have no way to find out."
"We do. We can ask her."
"I already tried that. She'll answer any question we ask, but there's nothing worth noting."
"I can imagine. But don't you think we can find something if we explore Haruki's memories in more detail?"
He repeated her words in his mind.
(Explore... her memories?)
"How?"
"I know the perfect ability for it. I talked with its user today. I think he'll be willing to help."
Before he knew it, they arrived at the corner where their paths diverged. The two stopped walking at the same time and turned to see each other in very close proximity.
"I've always been meaning to ask this. Souma, what's your goal?", Kei asked.
She wasn't trying to obtain the Reset ability like Kei. He couldn't begin to imagine what Souma wanted out of bringing Kei and Haruki closer to each other.
She tilted her head up to take a better look at his face.
"I already told you it's my job as class representative."
"Not very convincing."
"But it's true that I just wanted to make you and Haruki friends."
"Why?"
(Souma doesn't benefit from this in any way.)
“I love messages.”, she answered with a smile.
"Messages?"
"Yes. I suppose my goal is to pass on a lot of words from one person to another."
"You lost me."
"You'll understand one day. I know you can."
Souma took one step closer to Kei, smiling like a stray cat. Their foreheads almost touched. A breeze caressed Kei's and Souma's cheeks.
"Tell me, Kei. Do you want the Reset or do you want Haruki Misora?"
He could feel her warm and moist breath. A faint sweet smell leaked out of her mouth mixed with her words.
"The Reset, of course.", Kei answered.
"And why do you want it so bad?"
"'cause it's useful."
She slipped one step back. Like she was running away.
"Not very convincing."
She said goodbye, turned her back to him, and took off.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the same time, Haruki Misora was in a small park.
The park was part of her way home from school. Normally a place she passes by without a thought, but that day she found someone she knew. The girl named Kurakawa Mari.
"Play with me.", Mari called upon finding her. Now they were both sitting on the swings.
Ever since they met at the end of April, Haruki has been frequently seeing Mari in the park. She was probably there the whole time. Just outside of Haruki's perception until then.
The park swings were too low for the 14-year-old Haruki. If she didn't watch out for the angle of her legs, she would have easily scraped her soles on the ground. That's why she was tightly holding on to her knees.
The swings go back and forth. Moving while staying in place. It added minor changes to her view, made her feel the wind on her cheeks, and then she was back. It's a playground utensil, so it's meant to be fun. Haruki couldn't tell what was so fun about the swings. It wasn't a matter of age. Even at Mari's age, she didn't get the appeal of the swings.
Mari laughed out loud next to her. Her swing swayed far less safely than Haruki's. The pouch on Mari's shoulder swung along it. Haruki thought about how far behind she was in terms of her ability to enjoy the swings. But that one thought didn't go anywhere.
Haruki expressionlessly swung around at a fixed rhythm. She did it for a while until she noticed she could no longer hear the laughing voice next to her.
Turning to Mari, she saw a stopped swing and the girl looking at her face.
Mari weakly gripped the hem of Haruki's uniform skirt. She always did that. And every time, Haruki comes close to remembering something but ultimately can't.
Mari slightly raised her head and spoke.
"Are you not having fun?"
(Honestly, I'm not.)
Haruki's head shake changed Mari's expression.
The shape of her lips and the position of her eyebrows moved—Was that a smile or a crying face? Haruki couldn't tell the difference. Mari still hadn't released any tears. But she knew it was possible for people to be sad without tearing up.
"Tell me what you're feeling.", said Haruki.
She was a little surprised at her own question.
(Why do I want to learn about Kurakawa Mari's feelings?)
She couldn't think of a reason. This was an unnecessary question, not present in the rules.
(But something inside ruled out that I must.)
Perhaps something named emotion. It voiced that doubt before her reason could process it. It could have also been because Mari was weakly gripping the hem of Haruki's uniform skirt. Her grip was stronger on Haruki's consciousness, it seemed.
Mari was once again puzzled.
"Feeling?"
"It means..."
Haruki didn't know how to define the word "feelings".
(Why do I not know? Is it that I'm unable to explain something I'm unaware of?)
If Mari started crying, Haruki would confirm she was sad. In that case, she could whisper "Reset", knowing it was pointless. But no tears poured out of Mari's eyes.
"I want to play with you.", she said.
"Why is that?"
Mari smiled. Clearly enough for Haruki to tell.
"I don't know. It's just fun."
(A very human answer.)
She recalled Souma Sumire's question.
ー Who is the android?
At the very least, this girl couldn't be further from android status.
Understanding that Haruki was troubled for no discernable reason, Mari looked up at her face again.
"Miss, what do you do in middle school?"
Haruki answered the question. For once, it was easy to answer. She knew clear answers for what classes she took and what she ate for lunch.
"What do you do for fun with your friends?"
Now this question was hard to answer. Haruki wasn't clear on the definition of the word "friends". But for some inexplicable reason, she found herself wanting to answer.
She talked slowly but without pause.
"I'm not sure if they're my friends. But there are two people I've been talking to a lot lately. One is my classmate Souma Sumire and the other is Asai Kei, from another class."
"What do you talk about?"
"Today I talked to Kei about trust."
"Tr-ust?"
"It means to accept another's decision without a logical basis for it."
Mari contracted her mouth. She wasn't understanding the conversation.
"I said I can't trust him and he said he'll earn my trust.", Haruki continued.
This time, Mari nodded convincedly for some reason.
"He loves you."
Love. A word she didn't understand.
But even she could guess that was not the case with Asai Kei. What he wanted was her Reset ability.
One thought crossed her mind and she declared:
"Love is a feeling."
(Will that suffice for my failed explanation before?)
Mari nodded again.
"Sure. I also love you, miss."
Then with (what Haruki determined to be) a smile, she continued.
"I also love mom. But mom doesn't love me. She hates me because I'm fake."
"What do you mean by fake?"
Immediately after asking, she noticed the similarity between her question and Mari's previous questions. She added that she didn't ask for the definition of "fake", she was asking why did Mari consider herself fake. But Mari didn't answer.
After a moment of thought, Haruki asked a different question.
"Do you want your mother to love you?"
"Yeah. A lot."
Wondering if there was anything she could do about it, Haruki took an envelope from her bag. A small, blue envelope.
Souma Sumire gave it to her before. She said to consider it a good luck charm.
"I'll give this to you."
"What?"
"If you open it and say your wish out loud, the wish will be granted."
"Really?"
"I don't know. I don't believe it."
Mari quietly laughed.
"How weird."
Haruki didn't understand what was weird.
"But thank you.", said Mari before putting the blue envelope in her deep green pouch.
30 minutes later, a man appeared in the park.
The man seemed to be in his mid-twenties, wore a creasy suit, and had a stubble on his chin. He walked straight to Mari and spoke.
"I'm here to take you home. Let's go."
Mari tilted her head.
"Where's mom?"
"She'll be late today. It's dangerous out here in the dark, so let's wait in the hospital."
"Oh. Ok."
Mari nodded but didn't start walking. She grabbed Haruki's uniform skirt.
"Who is he?", Haruki asked.
"Mr. Tsushima."
(Tsushima. If I recall correctly, Mari's family name is Kurakawa, so he must not be the father. It is possible her parents are divorced, but even then, I find this Tsushima a little too young to be Mari's father.)
Tsushima looked at Haruki.
"Are you Haruki?"
"Yes."
"Mari talks about you a lot. Thank you for always humoring her.", he said with what she assumed to be probably a smile.
She didn't feel like she did anything deserving of gratitude. But she wasn't going to waste her time rejecting his expression of gratitude either.
"Who are you?", Haruki asked.
"Her proxy guardian, kind of."
"Why is Mari's mother not here?"
"She will be. She's just arriving late. C'mon, Mari. Let's go."
Mari stiltedly nodded and let go of Haruki's clothes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
08:30 PM. Asai Kei was in the detached room of the Nakano residence.
Nakano Tomoki went straight from the shower to Kei's room and lay down with his wet hair on the floor. The old radio he carried played English songs with static. This happened regularly.
Kei was sitting on his wooden desk, fiddling with his small handcrafted cat. The cat measured only a few centimeters. It was a black cat with only the area around its mouth and the tips of its paws white. It was originally a keychain, but its metal fixture broke. Now it was nothing more than an artificial cat, too unstable to find use even as a paperweight.
The cat's foamy face sank when pressed and returned to its original shape moments after being released.
"This thing.", Tomoki said. "You always had it, right? What's the deal with it?"
"Nothing. I just like it."
This keychain broke twice. It was fixed the first time, then it broke again. He had at least two opportunities to throw it away, and yet, it was still in his hands.
"I'm thinking about tying it with some kind of string to carry it around."
"Like a phone strap?"
"Perhaps. If auntie lets me have one."
The children in the Nakano house weren't allowed to have mobile phones in middle school. Kei felt this prohibition was really unreasonable in that day and age, but he couldn't complain about it to the family kindly letting him live with them. His classmates found this shocking but he didn't feel inconvenienced because he never tasted the convenience of it.
"Man, I wish we had phones...", whispered Tomoki.
Kei laughed.
"Your ability is going to lose its purpose if you get a phone, you know that?"
Nakano Tomoki had the ability to send his voice to distant people.
"My ability is a one-way road. A phone's already more useful from the point it lets me hear the other person too."
"True."
Kei placed the ex-keychain cat back on his desk and pulled a book out of the bookshelf.
It was the English mystery novel he had bought over a month ago. Kei had postponed it this whole time because lately he had been focused mainly on reading sci-fi novels about androids.
"Oh yeah, have you been hearing the rumors?"
In reaction to Tomoki's voice, Kei took his eyes off the book.
"About what?"
"About you, Souma, and Haruki."
"Huh. That's a surprise."
(We've been frequently going to the rooftop together, so someone would eventually notice it. But I don't think that makes for an interesting rumor. We're just three students hanging out on the rooftop after class. We aren't calling UFOs or committing crimes. We aren't even breaking school rules.)
"Well, you know how people love watching a good love triangle.", Tomoki said.
Kei laughed.
A love triangle.
"Sorry, but our relationship isn't that novelesque."
"They talk things how they can see it from afar. And it's extra juicy that one of the members is Haruki Misora."
"Oh, true. Imagining her in a romantic situation is quite the fascinating thought."
(I can't picture anything. It's perfectly understandable that the prospect of Haruki in love would breed all sorts of rumors.)
Kei moved his eyes back to the book in his hands. In the prologue, the protagonist detective is driving to meet his client.
The screams of love on Tomoki's radio are abruptly cut by the beginning of the next song.
"So, what do you actually do?"
"We just chat about whatever. Same as you and your classmates do at McDonalds, but on the rooftop instead."
Tomoki had an amused smirk.
"Knowing you, I'd have an easier time believing it if you said you three were lecturing each other on the theory of relativity."
"We do that sometimes. There're no theme restrictions on what we chat about."
"What is the theory of relativity, by the way?"
"Light, space, and time trust each other very much, and the idea that space and time compromise on their own rules to preserve this trust is called special relativity. And the idea that, if you add gravity to the mix, space and time will have a greater need to disregard their own rules is called general relativity."
"That makes no sense."
"Yeah, I don't exactly get it either."
"And that's what you've been always talking about?"
"That and much more. Today I heard the story of an unfortunate man cursed by a god."
This conversation didn't happen on the rooftop but followed the same formula as them.
"Heh. And did you enjoy the story?"
"It's a story about people suffering. I don't enjoy this kind of thing."
"Ok, then. Keep doing your thing."
The novel finally introduced the detective's client, a beautiful woman. Kei was fond of this kind of archetypical lead-in. He only hoped the client wasn't the culprit.
Neither Kei nor Tomoki opened their mouths for the next two songs on the radio.
When an acoustic guitar song about rainy days started playing, Tomoki spoke.
"I find it hard to believe that you've been doing the same thing for over a month for no reason."
"Still hung up on this? What's bugging you so much?"
"Whenever you start something weird, it always results in something."
"In what?"
"Someone got arrested while you were at it."
"That happens every day. It's not my fault."
"It was the guy who kicked Mio's bicycle on the street. You're the one who reported him to the police."
Mio was Tomoki's sister. Currently aged 10. She got a new bicycle in March, but someone kicked it, denting its basket and fender.
"That's a coincidence.", Kei answered.
"Didn't you say the guy gave you the money for the repair?"
"I talked to him about it and he agreed to it. He's a better guy than we thought."
He just neglected to mention it wasn't a normal conversation. He induced the man to get into a fight with the policeman, but it was true that the man paid for the bicycle repairs out of his own pocket.
Tomoki sat up.
"You're a nice guy, but you got a tendency to go overboard."
An unintended sigh escaped his mouth.
"I'm not doing anything dangerous this time.", said Kei with special emphasis on the "this time". "I'm just hanging out with a pair of girls."
"Hah.", Tomoki laughed. This eased the room's tension. "Like that's not a dangerous thing to do. Dudes with no girlfriends are gonna kick your ass."
"Oh no. Protect me from them."
"I'm a dude with no girlfriend, remember?"
"You could get a girl to fall for you if you heroically saved me from bullies."
"Good point. I'll think about after the second or third punch.", he nodded in agreement. "So, what got you together with Souma and Haruki?"
Nakano Tomoki was more persistent than usual.
After his second sigh, Kei closed his book.
"Do you promise me you won't tell anyone?"
Tomoki immediately nodded.
"Yeah, of course."
(He's not a liar.)
"I want to befriend Haruki Misora."
His eyes drifted to the cat on his desk. What once was a keychain. The keyholder was naturally attached to a key.
Reset. That meant something special to Kei.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kei's first experience with Reset was during his summer vacation when he was 12.
That summer, Asai Kei visited Sakurada. Until then, he didn't know the place as a city, but rather as a name in the list of train stations. But since then, Kei has never left Sakurada.
At first glance, Sakurada is a perfectly ordinary provincial city. But not long within the city, Kei learned about supernatural abilities.
Kei got off the train and paid the excess fare for going past the station that he bought his ticket for. The ticket was bought at random. At first, Kei didn't care where he was going. Returning the wallet to his pocket, he felt on his fingertips that his keychain had broken. It was a small cat-shaped keychain.
The keychain was attached to Kei's home key. But now, without the metal fixture connecting the two, it had lost its purpose. The broken keychain resembled the small husk of a dead cicada. It was devoid of all past function, only waiting to weather away. Hanging on to it felt desolating.
Kei left the station with the keychain on his open palm. It was a thing he used because his mother gave it to him, and losing it didn't bother him. When he was about to throw it away, a voice came from behind him.
"Did you break that?"
He turned around and saw a man standing behind him. He was between his late twenties and early thirties. He was neatly dressed but didn't look like a salaryman. He couldn't guess the man's occupation.
"I'll fix it for you. I happen to have the perfect ability for it."
The word "ability" didn't catch Kei's attention at first. It was not a word that would come up in regular conversation, but he assumed it referred to a regular skill.
He was about to say he didn't need it fixed, but before he could, the man grabbed the keychain and its broken fixture.
If he had closed his hands for a moment and hid the keychain from Kei's sight, the boy would have assumed this was a silly magic trick, but the man's palm was still open. A short while later, when Kei looked at the keychain again, its fixture was fixed. It was like he edited a video. Without any flair or brag, the man simply fixed the keychain.
He returned it to Kei's hands.
"There you have it. Be sure to get home before it's late."
With a heartfelt smile, the man turned away.
At first, Kei didn't understand what he saw—That alone is obviously not enough to make someone understand Sakurada's residents have superpowers.
Kei walked around town and came in contact with abilities over time. Even under the most skeptical lenses imaginable, one would eventually accept that the city was full of superpowers. Partway through this process, Kei was already enchanted with Sakurada.
It was easy to feel the rules of the world which he thought unbreakable being violated left and right. The 12-year-old Kei felt like he was living a dream. He couldn't contain his desire to learn about this city.
He spent the next few days living in Sakurada.
At first, he didn't return home because of the train prices. If he went back, he had no idea when he would be able to afford a second visit. At that moment, he wanted a lot more information on Sakurada and nothing else mattered.
He would be taken to his parents' city if any adult found out, so he needed a plan. He decided his sleep would be divided into short sessions, all of them during the day. He needed to look like a child who fell asleep in a park from playing too much. At night, he needed to avoid being spotted and to never fall asleep.
He would call his family with an uncharacteristic frequency and make things up to them. He feared he would easily be located if they got the police on his case. Even if they eventually did, Kei wanted to buy time. His house was empty more often than not because of his parents' jobs, so he timed his calls to fall on voice mail to avoid being asked questions.
It wasn't easy to gather information on abilities. First he looked for text files, but all he could find were a few pamphlets made by the Bureau and distributed at the city hall. Only one short list of phone numbers to call in case of an ability-related issue, one campaign poster for a periodic ability evaluation, and one Bureau recruitment flier. Nothing more.
He understood that if he wanted to learn more about abilities, he would need to ask people directly. And so, Kei found a group of children.
Children usually want to talk about the things they know and rarely ever get suspicious when one asks an off-mark question. In the breaks between his sleep intervals, Kei found children younger than himself and asked them a series of questions about Sakurada's abilities. Even if not every piece of information is accurate, with enough pieces, he could begin to see the full picture.
Kei had one major question on his mind: why is such a wondrous city not public knowledge? This wasn't something one could reasonably hide without leaks, not to mention it isn't even part of Sakurada's local culture to hide their abilities.
But everyone in town seemed to know the answer. Every elementary school child he asked would tell him the same thing.
People who step outside of Sakurada lose all their ability-related memories. Completely, without a trace. If the deleted knowledge would cause a contradiction, it would have been replaced with another memory for coherence.
Kei used a library's internet to print a map of Sakurada's surroundings and tried to trace a line of where exactly people lost their memories based on the information he obtained in his interviews.
The line he drew was a circle completely encompassing Sakurada's urban perimeter. Not a perfect circle, more like a distorted ellipse. Like it was choosing the less populated areas around Sakurada. He could feel the intentionality of the shape.
Crossing the line makes one lose all memories related to the abilities, allegedly. Kei wanted to test that if possible but he was hesitant to the idea of leaving Sakurada.
Without his knowledge of abilities, he wouldn't come back.
That was one more reason to stay away from home.
4th day in Sakurada.
Kei was sitting on a red park bench with its paint coming off.
He absentmindedly stared at the cat keychain laid on the palm of his hand. It was attached to a key.
(Four days. I can't keep at it forever.)
He was long past the amount of time a 12-year-old could reasonably wander around without permission. He needed to make his final decision. To return to his parents' town or to look for a genuine way to live in Sakurada.
(I don't want to leave this city if I can help it.), he wholeheartedly felt. (Is there a way to guarantee I'll come back here if I ever leave?)
He couldn't think of any. When he was using the library's internet to print his map, he also searched Sakurada online.
He could find information about abilities when he tried. People posted about them on their blogs, social media, and forums. But there was no sign of those posts ever gaining traction. Not even from commenters accusing the original poster of making things up. Kei considered a few possibilities: maybe the posts weren't readable outside of the city or maybe they had some kind of powerful brainwashing effect that made people not pay attention.
Information about Sakurada's abilities couldn't be taken outside. And its citizens accepted this fact like it was a standard law of physics. Rules the world was built with, like gravity and inertia, rather than someone's decision.
But Kei disagreed. He suspected the abilities were being artificially concealed. He could feel someone's will. He couldn't bring himself to accept those rules without question. Thus, he needed to stay in the city to learn more about abilities.
(But is that really possible?)
There were logistical issues.
(I've been calling home from Sakurada's public phones. It's not hard to trace that.)
But there were also emotional issues.
(Am I really willing to throw away the past 12 years of my life? Staying here means abandoning my parents, my friends, and all relationships with the world that shaped me. Is that allowed? Can I do that? Can anyone do that? Is this really a thing God permits?)
Under normal circumstances, Kei didn't even believe in God, but this doubt got him questioning the divine figure deep inside his heart.
Kei recalled his parents.
He felt a clear divide between them and him. It was like they were separated by a densely opaque and soundproof glass pane. Both sides could only see vague silhouettes of each other and neither could hear what the other had to say.
Kei clearly recognized himself as the cause of the divide.
Kei had always been a child who struggled to open up. But it wasn't because he was bad at talking to adults. He could almost effortlessly decipher what his teachers wanted from him in class, for example. He knew what would sound the most honest to others, and what would affect them without offending. Sometimes he intentionally got people to scold him because he knew that's what they needed to get over the situation.
He was skilled at surface-level mimics of the adults' intentions. But that was all he knew how to do. Everything Kei said and did transmitted raw information without real emotion. It was like he provided the correct answer for mathematical problems he didn't solve. He thought only of the other person's reactions and never about his own will.
People would be creeped out by him if they knew about it. There's an expression called "uncanny valley". It says that the closer an android's appearance is to a real human, the more pleasant it is to human eyes. People prefer humanoid androids to simple boxes, and androids with eyes and mouths to those without. But if that crosses a certain point and becomes too human, that pleasantness flips into unpleasantness. Humans feel a strong disgust for non-humans that look too human, which they describe as "uncanny".
If they knew about him, they would feel like he's a fake who falls into the uncanny valley for approaching too much the concept of an ideal child. And there were only two people in the world who knew of Kei's true nature. His father and his mother.
It's been a few years since Kei realized they didn't know what to do with him. The two of them tried hard to keep loving their child despite finding him uncanny.
He wholeheartedly believed they were nice parents. He was glad to be their son.
(But if you have to try hard, that's because you don't love me.)
Every time they forced a stifled smile, he felt more empty inside. And then Kei faked a smile a lot more convincingly than they could. But they knew it was fake.
(I'm the one at fault. But how do you solve a problem like this? The more I do what they want, the further the divide grows.)
Kei knew he loved them.
That was undeniable.
But his love wasn't deep or firm. It was love that could easily fall over at any moment. Shallow love that could fade away and disappear without a trace like a scrape wound.
(What would they do if I never returned home?)
They'd be sad. On the most part genuinely, and on the remaining lesser part, out of obligation. But the obligation part is the feeling that would stand the test of time better. The genuine sadness would gradually turn into relief.
(Because I'm a living burden. My mere presence hurts them.)
Kei laughed at his own line of thought. It was wholly fraudulent. He was misaligning his own thoughts to support the idea of abandoning his past life.
(Stop sugarcoating it. Stop averting your eyes. You need to understand what you're doing more objectively. More. Be conscious of your sins.)
And so, Kei tried remembering his parents in the most accurate and detailed way he could muster. To recall every little thing they gave him.
That's how he realized it.
His memory was far too vivid.
To an impossible degree. He could remember anything in the past in a level of detail he was sure was beyond human capabilities. He remembered the tiny creases on a dress his mother wore years ago. He remembered what was written in his father's newspaper. The voices of children coming from the balcony window. The flavor of the spaghetti he ate on one lunch. The first time he ever heard his mother's voice. The first time he saw his father's face.
Roughly everything that happened in the past 12 years of his life. He could easily draw any memory his body experienced, even from times before he had a formed identity.
Kei didn't notice he was crying until the droplets fell from his cheek to the ground.
He didn't notice that remembering everything since his birth made him shed tears.
(Oh... I love mom and dad.)
He had forgotten that somewhere along the way. Kei did, in fact, love them. He never lost his love, only forgot it. The affection he held for them was more special than anything else in the world. He just remembered this feeling.
But he wasn't crying because he remembered it.
If his decision had been to return to them, he would have been smiling. He would have found his genuine answer and left Sakurada for good.
He gripped his keychain strongly enough to make his fingers go white.
Remembering everything, all their happy memories and his pure love for them, didn't change a thing.
(Now I know I can abandon them.)
He shed tears. That was all he needed to convince himself he could discard his beloved mother and father.
It was his fourth day in Sakurada.
Asai Kei learned that he gained an ability.
An ability presumably born only to remind him of the weight of his sin.
But it didn't take long for his tears to dry out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the next 24 hours, Kei spent his day in Sakurada the same way he did before.
He studied his own ability and gathered information about Sakurada. And he examined ways to live in Sakurada.
It was impossible for a 12-year-old to live alone. He could find food and a roof on his own, but what mattered most was having a social reason to stay in the city. Without one, the police could take him away. He could feel an arbitrary time limit approaching him.
He needed to look for a collaborator. An influential adult collaborator. He thought long and hard about how to obtain one. His cat keychain was in his hand as he thought. His house key was still attached to it. He gripped it instead of returning it to his pocket.
(I'm still hesitating. I can't bring myself to throw away the possibility of returning to mom's and dad's home. But that's not a bad thing. I can live with the hesitation until the answer inevitably appears to me.), he thought at the time.
On the early afternoon of Kei's 5th day in Sakurada, a black car parked ahead of Kei next to the walk. It wasn't a fancy car, but it was remarkably well-polished.
Two men in black suits and one woman in a dark blue suit came out of the car. Both men seemed to be in their mid-thirties. The woman was a lot younger than them. Very early twenties.
They surrounded Kei before he had a chance to run away.
The woman in dark blue was the first one to talk.
"You're Asai Kei, correct?"
She was assertive.
"Who are you?", Kei asked. He had no good guess. (The police? They don't look like it. I know plain-clothed officers exist, but I don't think they handle missing child cases.)
"We are from the Bureau.", the woman answered.
(The Bureau. The public office that manages abilities in Sakurada. But they told me the Bureau activity was limited to solving problems involving abilities. Why would their people need to surround a twelve-year-old?)
Kei intentionally kept his mouth shut. He looked straight into her eyes. He didn't trust the claim that they were Bureau members.
"We need to talk. Could you get on the car?", she continued without an expression on her face.
Kei answered with a bright smile.
"Depends on the subject. Could you please tell me before we go?"
"It's about your life."
"Heh."
He suddenly figured it out. He came up with one possibility that connected the Bureau, abilities, Sakurada's urban structure, and Kei's position within it.
(How did I not think about this before? I should have imagined this possibility yesterday on the bench. Maybe I subconsciously avoided the idea because it's too good to be true.)
"How did you find out?", Kei asked.
"I don't understand the question."
"Can you tell me how did you find out about my ability?"
The woman averted her eyes and shut off her expression.
"I’m afraid I am not allowed to answer."
"Really? Then can you tell me your name?"
"This is also confidential."
"Why?"
"It's a... tradition among the Bureau's information handlers."
(A form of security to prevent people from being identified? Doesn't look too effective to me. Maybe it really is just a tradition, I don't know.)
"Sounds awfully impractical. What do people usually call you?"
This conversation was pointless. He was simply reversing his mindset. Switch from being someone trying to hide information to being someone drawing out information from others.
"I'm Sakuin.", she answered after some hesitation.
Kei nodded, never letting go of his smile.
"Fine by me, Ms. Sakuin. Let's get in the car."
Kei took the lead and walked to the black car. After his face was no longer visible to any of the Bureau members, he bit his lip.
(I should have thrown away my key sooner. Here I was trying to decide if I stay in Sakurada or go home, and then the answer came to me in the worst way possible.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the men in black sat on the driver's seat and the other took the front passenger seat. Kei and Sakuin rode in the back seat.
Sakuin started talking as soon as the car started walking.
"The Bureau has decided on your verdict."
"And what would it be?"
"You are forbidden from leaving Sakurada."
"Why?"
"I'm afraid I am not allowed to answer."
"I believe what you're saying goes beyond any public office's authority."
"Are you planning to sue us over it? You are guaranteed to lose the case. You won't even get to step into the courtroom."
(What's making her so confident about it? But I don't think she's lying. I don't believe the Bureau would be able to regulate all abilities in Sakurada without this level of power.)
Kei leaned harder on his seat.
"Fine, I can imagine why my ability would be a problem to the maintenance of Sakurada. It touches upon a fundamental rule of all abilities, so it's pretty obvious."
Sakuin peered at his face, searching for an answer.
Kei spoke with certainty, thinking about how embarrassing it would be if his answer was wrong.
"I won't lose my ability-related memories if I leave Sakurada, right?"
Abilities have one rule: take one step outside the boundary and you'll forget all about them. He had the ability to remember everything. Those two elements were in clear contradiction.
Sakuin scowled for an instant but immediately fixed her expression and spoke.
"What makes you think so?"
"I can't come up with any other possibility."
That was the only way to tie together Kei's ability and a prohibition to leave Sakurada. No scrap of information about abilities is allowed to leave the city. Kei infringes on that. Therefore, he needs to stay inside.
Sakuin laughed. Not joyfully. It was a nervous laugh. He didn't expect such a sincere display of emotion out of her, but after that momentary scowl, it would be idiotic to maintain the front of emotionlessness.
"Fine. You're correct. We cannot allow information on abilities to leak outside of Sakurada."
Kei nodded and continued.
"I have one more guess."
"On what?"
"On the phenomenon that erases people's memories when they leave Sakurada. That's done through someone's ability—most likely someone within the Bureau, right?"
He was half-sure of it.
People forget their knowledge of abilities upon leaving Sakurada. If that really was a rule built into every ability, Kei would still forget his no matter what.
(But if that phenomenon is manufactured by someone's ability... If someone has a large area-of-effect ability to steal memories...)
Kei had already learned about intensity. When two contradictory abilities try to affect each other, the one with the highest intensity takes effect. If his ability to remember has a higher intensity than their ability to forget, he will remember his ability outside of Sakurada.
Sakuin coldly shook her head.
"I'm afraid I am not allowed to answer."
"Really? What a shame."
Kei shrugged for emphasis. This whole time, he had been choosing his words and gestures to be the most annoying possible. He detachedly mused about his own unpleasantness.
Sakuin cleared her throat and pulled a few documents out of the metallic suitcase next to her seat.
"Reasons aside, the Bureau wants to bind you to a contract. Independent on your will. Consenting now would make the procedure easier on both of us."
Kei took the document handed out to him and skimmed it.
It was a contract with multiple clauses.
The Bureau would ensure Kei's livelihood in Sakurada. In exchange, he needed to stay within the city borders and not mention this contract to anyone.
In addition...
"The Bureau will purchase your past. For a hefty sum."
Kei kept reading. The file did cover that. He counted all the money his parents ever spent on him and from that he could tell that he was being offered enough money to last until he finished college.
"What happens when you buy my past?"
"You'll disappear without a trace from the world outside Sakurada."
(Yikes.)
"You mean you will do something to fake my death? Like they do in spy movies?"
"No, more exactly, the very fact that you ever existed will be erased."
"But how?"
"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to answer. But our methods are not dangerous. You may have faith in that."
He didn't believe it because he was told to believe it. He did it because there was no room for doubt. He knew for a fact that all information on abilities was erased outside of Sakurada. The same method could be used to erase all information on the life of Asai Kei.
"Will my parents forget everything about me?", Kei asked after some hesitation.
Sakuin closed her eyes, in the most telling expression she presented so far. Kei thought she was a good person.
"Yes. I understand it's painful, but..."
"No, it's ideal."
(The slate will be wiped clean, without any hint of a loss. Both of us will probably be happier that way.)
Kei intentionally smiled.
"I agree with the broad terms of this general contract. So can you give me some time to read the fine print?"
"Understood."
"Thank you. Also, can you stop the car?"
Reading in a moving car made him sick.
After the car parked by a street, Kei turned his eyes back to the document in his hands.
He wasn't interested in the text. What he needed was time to organize his feelings about this event where the Bureau's will was forcing him to remain in Sakurada.
His brain had no complaints. A lucky outcome came to him on a silver platter exactly the way he wished for. But his heart couldn't tolerate this.
He thought things over again.
(Why had I not thrown away my key before?)
He didn't want the decision to discard his past and his parents to come from an unknown organization. He didn't want to have "It's because some adults told me to" as an excuse.
He was supposed to be more selfish about it. More sinful. He rejected the escape route that comes with the decision being beyond his control. He needed this final decision to have been taken alone.
He closed his eyes and sighed. To make himself give up. To exhaust his emotions.
That's when it happened.
The first Reset experienced by Asai Kei.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
When he opened his eyes, Kei was at the park.
He was sitting alone on a red park bench with its paint coming off, crying.
4th day in Sakurada.
He remembered his parents' love and still wanted to abandon his family regardless. Gripping the keychain attached to his home key, he wordlessly let his tears flow.
Tracing his memories one more time, he noticed it.
(I remember tomorrow.)
Kei could remember what was about to happen in detail. Tomorrow, he will meet Sakuin, enter a black car, and sign a contract to abandon his past.
(I remembered the future?)
It made no sense.
He could think of three possibilities. 1: Kei's ability can remember the future. 2: Someone else used an ability to reverse the flow of time. 3: This memory is fake and everything was Kei's fantasy.
He didn't feel a need to choose an alternative immediately.
What mattered was the possibility that he could leave Sakurada without losing his memories. That was worth testing. If his future memories were true, he had no reason to force himself to stay in Sakurada.
(I can go back to mom and dad, then visit Sakurada again another day.)
Common sense dictated he needed to go home. Before Sakuin found him again. He needed to return to where he belonged and visit Sakurada again in high school or college, when he was old enough to live alone.
Before he knew it, his tears were dry. Kei laughed alone on the bench.
(But... the other option is still so much more appealing to me.)
Letting go of his entire past and living in this marvelous city was more appealing. Kei wanted to be in town for as long as possible. Even if he came back for the first day of high school, that was still 4 years away. He didn't want to waste 4 years.
And if possible, he didn't want his parents to remember he existed. He didn't want to see his parents struggling beyond their limits to love their child. That's what Kei wished, for his own sake, not theirs.
He remembered what happened 4 days prior. The words a woman claiming to be a witch told him.
ー You’re looking for a place where you belong.
ー But if you set foot there, you can never come back.
ー Sakurada will never let you go.
(She was completely right. The witch's prophecy came true.)
Key removed the key from his keychain. It came out without resistance.
He got off the bench, left the park, and leisurely strolled away.
He went to the trash can by the convenience store in front of the park.
Without hesitation, Kei dropped his house in the bin for non-combustible trash. He made his own decision to throw away his past, without anyone forcing his hand. Kei's guilt was now fully his, without any missing pieces.
He had to be forced through this decision if weren't for someone rewinding time, but he was graced with the opportunity to make his own choice. It was a sad, agonizing, happy, and liberating event.
Kei looked at the keychain in his hand.
Bizarrely enough, he felt the keychain to be someone he shared fate with. The keychain that held the key to his previous home. The keychain that made him learn about abilities. The keychain no longer connected to anything. He pressed the squishable cat with his fingers, and soon enough it returned it returned to its original shape.
Kei decided that if he ever found something more important to him than the house he spent his first 12 years in, he would attach this cat keychain to it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The radio played a static-ridden song about the coasts of California. A stupidly cheerful song.
The 14-year-old Asai Kei took his eyes away from the cat on his desk. The keychain that was fixed by an ability and broke again.
"Why are you so intent on being Haruki's friend?", Tomoki asked.
"She has an interesting ability.", Kei answered.
Kei now knew that that first Reset didn't have any inherent meaning. The Bureau would still apprehend him when he tried to leave Sakurada. Because an organization incapable of doing that wouldn't be able to manage all the countless abilities in Sakurada.
But it's still irrevocably true that Haruki's ability provided a form of salvation to Kei's heart.
Kei knew what excuses he would have made to himself if he had been forced to stay in Sakurada regardless of his will. "It's not really my fault. I didn't have a choice in the matter." Those would be the words always on his mind. Life would be easier for him, but Kei could not accept the idea of diminishing the weight of his sin.
Reset.
This ability very unwittingly saved Kei.
It gave him all the guilt he sought.
Haruki Misora's ability meant something special to Asai Kei.
#sagrada reset#memory in children#mechanical choices#asai kei#haruki misora#souma sumire#kurakawa mari#tsushima shintarou#nakano tomoki#urachi masamune#sakuin
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Witch, Picture, and Red-Eyed Girl (Sagrada Reset 2) - Chapter 2: Red-eyed Girl (part 5)
[INDEX]
The same day - 01:30 PM
01:30 PM. Almost an hour after Oka Eri attacked Haruki Misora.
Asai Kei was in Haruki's room.
He hadn't been there in a long time.
A study desk, a bed, and a bookshelf. Cat plushies and small props with chibi images of cats scattered all over the place. It definitely looked like a girl's bedroom, but in an artificial manner, like a photo in a room catalog.
Haruki Misora stood in a corner of her room, scared of something she wouldn't talk about.
(What could possibly scare so much her in her own room? There's no monster hiding in the closet. And her eyes were set only on me... Ok, enough with the escapism. Face reality and take another look at Haruki. She's scared of me. She's afraid of meeting me without her ability.)
Haruki took out his wallet.
"It's yours."
He smiled, thanked her, and took his wallet back. He imagined it was as full as it was before. She wasn't supposed to pay his café bill, but he knew it wasn't the best time for that conversation.
"Are you hurt?"
He worried if that sounded caring enough. His voice didn't emote unless he did it on command, no matter how much he felt the emotion he wanted to convey.
Haruki's smile was different from her usual smile.
"I'm completely fine. Seriously. It doesn't hurt anywhere."
Her expressions, gestures, and phrasing were not her usual.
Kei could play a game of Spot the Differences with her behavior. It'd take him 10 seconds to prove all her lies.
But there was no reason to point them out to her. Her elbow was bandaged and with marks of blood. That fact alone told everything.
(The world doesn't need anything that would make Haruki put on bandages. Making her blood leave her body is unforgivable. But the cause of those wounds is me. I'm never thinking about anyone other than myself, am I? I'm always considering the possibility Haruki will be hurt. I hurt her numerous times already. Premeditately. And I have no intention of changing that. Even then, I still can't forgive myself for it.)
"Sorry, Kei.", she said.
(You did nothing you need to apologize for.)
"No, it was my fault."
(There's so much I was careless about. I've made nothing but mistakes in these past two years, and this bandage on Haruki's arm is one of those mistakes given concrete form. My power falls so horrendous short of the ideal...)
The next thing he needed to do is get a full picture of the situation. To test if her ability is truly sealed. He would have already done it if he was able to fully ignore Haruki's feelings.
But he couldn't. It was most likely true that Haruki's ability was sealed. She was going to apologize again when the Reset didn't work. He didn't want to make her do that if he could help it.
"Command me to Reset", she asked.
Her voice was firmer than usual.
It contained a level of emotion she usually didn't consider necessary.
(Hah, she's showing off how powerless I am. Haruki Misora understands Asai Kei's thoughts better than anyone. That was so obvious. How could I not have noticed?)
"Please do what you find most correct."
(How could I not notice that nothing makes her sadder than me not acting normal?)
"Wait one minute."
The coward needed to stall for one minute to decide what to do next and how to interact with the girl.
"Understood."
After hearing Haruki's voice, Kei closed his eyes.
He needed them closed to remember the past 2 years in 1 minute.
And then reconfirm what he was already tired of knowing.
Their ability was always part of their interactions. Haruki Misora's Reset and Asai Kei's Memory Retention.
Two middling abilities that didn't amount to much on their own.
(Our abilities were what connected us.)
They were like key and lock. One couldn't be used without the other. Their abilities were the reason why they promised to stay together. The two stayed by each other's sides for two years, automatically, almost naturally.
Such a casual, twisted, and cruel connection.
Haruki Misora's ability didn't mean much to her. That was a very abnormal mindset by Sakurada standards, but she rarely ever relied on her ability.
ーIf I lost the power to Reset… would our relationship change in any way?
(If that was the only thing making you sad over the loss of your ability, then I wish I could tell you that the lack of the ability doesn't change your worth. That you don't need to change over that. But I can't, because now you no longer need to be with me all the time. And it'd be way too irresponsible to tell you this truth. After all, I'm the one who wanted our contact to be centered around our abilities.)
After exactly one minute, Kei opened his eyes. He looked straight into Haruki's eyes and twisted his mouth into a visibly false smile.
(Right, I'm always smiling at times like this. Because it makes things easier. But Haruki will see through the lies.)
"Haruki, Reset."
Haruki's face was intense for a moment, and then...
"Yeah, I can't."
She smiled back at him. She didn't apologize.
(I forget how strong this girl is at her core. And I knew this for so long. What a joke. The guy with the power to remember everything can forget something this important.)
She looked straight into Kei's eyes, her expression more serious than ever.
"I have a favor to ask. Please retrieve my Reset."
Kei returned her eye contact.
"Sure, it's what I was going to do anyway. I swear you'll have your ability back."
Their twisted and cruel connection is something they need to get rid of in the future but now was not the time.
"Thank you.", Haruki sighed.
And her usual smile finally returned to her face.
"This was very reassuring."
"You cycled through these emotions pretty fast."
"Not at all. Anything you wish for eventually comes true, Kei. Oka Eri is no match for you."
(I'm not so sure. Nothing about Oka Eri's ability is confirmed yet.)
He couldn't be sure that it was possible to recover the Reset. But he couldn't bring himself to look insecure in front of Haruki at the moment.
"Sure, I'll make it work.", Kei answered as if it was no big deal. "Are you ready to leave?"
"Yes. Where are we going?"
"There're lots of places to go. The first being the street outside."
Murase Youka was waiting there.
She could have entered the apartment, but she wished for Kei and Haruki to be alone for a while.
"Understood.", Haruki answered.
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When Kei and Haruki opened the apartment door, Murase was leaning on the wall directly in front of them.
The first thing she said upon seeing them:
"Right hand, Oka Eri's ability."
Kei had asked this before. With this command, Murase could erase abilities on contact. It's possible it could erase Oka Eri's ability cast on Haruki.
She moved towards Haruki and asked.
"I'm going to touch you, ok?"
Haruki nodded.
"Please do."
Murase's hand softly touched Haruki's forehead.
It kept going up to the top of Haruki's head, and after a moment of hesitation, she touched Haruki's chest next.
"Anything?"
Haruki shifted her eyes to Kei.
"Reset", Kei commanded.
But nothing happened. Haruki shook her head.
"Sorry. Still can't use it."
"I see", Murase almost sighed.
It was as she expected.
Murase's ability required touching the target. If the target of Oka Eri's ability is Haruki's mind or memories, Murase would need to touch Haruki's mind, which is not very easy to pull off. Kei hoped this could work because Murase once managed to erase an ability cast on a cat, but the nature of the ability being used back them is not the same as this.
Opening and closing her hand, Murase whispered.
"I'm more useless than I expected."
(Absolutely wrong.)
"You have an excellent ability."
The best ability Kei knew was without a doubt the witch's future sight, but for a second place, it's hard to find an ability as "can do anything" as Murase's.
Murase gave him a half-glare.
"Better than the Reset?"
"Don't know. That's a complicated question."
He couldn't rank the Reset. Too much emotional bias attached to the choice.
"Either way, you can't deny it was useless now."
Murase was uncharacteristically frank. Kei was surprised. He was though she had absolute confidence in her ability.
"So, what next?"
"I'll ask Mr. Tsushima about Oka Eri's ability."
He had already called the teacher and decided on a time and place to meet. Without knowing the inner workings Oka Eri's ability, he had no way to formulate a plan.
"I'm going with you, okay?"
(Wasn't expecting that, but thanks.)
"You want to helps us?"
Murase shook her head, astounded by his denseness.
"What do you think I spent my morning doing?
She walked under the scorching sun to find Oka Eri. She already told him that.
(She's surprisingly cooperative. Goes to show how much she's a good person at her core. She can be aggressive sometimes, but I have no reason to refuse her cooperation. Her ability is extremely handy. If life gives you lemons, make a lemonade.)
"Then I have favor to ask."
"What?"
"Find out what Oka Eri is doing. Without being found out, if possible."
He was going to meet Oka Eri at 9 PM. He was hoping he could know the cards in her hand before the time comes.
Tracking was Murase's specialty. She can erase the sound of her footsteps, know the direction where people are, and produce peepholes. And if she's found out, she won't be in danger unless she makes any dumb mistakes.
"Understood", Murase agreed. Then she grinned and pointed at Kei. "I can do it. Not even you could notice me trailing you."
"When did you do that?"
"It's a secret. Doesn't matter either way."
(What the hell? I need to watch my back better.)
"So, how long do I need to watch Oka Eri for?"
"Until I say you're done."
"You're a really cheeky guy.", Murase giggled.
Kei responded with a smile.
"You have no idea how self-centered I am."
"No, I think I can tell."
"Weird, I thought I was great at hiding it."
"Liar. You do nothing to hide it. Right hand, what's between me and Oka Eri. I'll call you when I find her."
"Thank you. I'll message you if anything happens on my end, too. Keep your sound notifications on."
"I know. Bye."
Murase walked away.
Haruki spoke next to him.
"You've been getting along with a lot of girls lately."
"You should also be making more friends, don't you think?"
"Any recommendations?"
"Nonoo, perhaps."
Kei mentioned a cat-loving girl he often found sleeping by a Shinto shrine.
She and Haruki were both challenging small talk partners, so Kei couldn't imagine the two holding a conversation and was very curious to find out what that would look like.
"I'll try.", Haruki gave a serious answer.
"Good. We should also get going."
They need to see Tsushima and learn what they can about Oka Eri's ability.
"Roger.", Haruki nodded.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2:15 PM.
Oka Eri got off the bus. She was at the bus stop right next to Sasano Hiroyuki's house.
She took out her phone and called the first number in her call history. She called them many times but it always went to the answering machine.
She sat on the bus stop bench, listening to the dialing noise. She put down the plastic bag she had in her hand, lied down, and crossed her legs.
The dialing noise eventually stopped. Her correspondent had finally picked up her call.
She could hear a deep male voice from the phone.
"Hi there, Oka Eri."
"Don't call me Oka Eri. We're not friends."
She didn't know him very well, so she didn't want him acting too chummy in their interactions.
"So, did you get rid of the photos?", he asked.
"Not yet. I just got off the bus."
He called her immediately after she sealed Haruki Misora's ability and talked to Asai Kei on the phone. He ordered her to eliminate all of Sasano Hiroyuki's photos.
The plastic bag next to Oka Eri contained lighter oil and matches. Her role was burning Sasano's entire collection.
(Shit, I shouldn't be wasting my time with this. I'll meet Asai Kei at 9:00. I gotta prepare for that. Why now of all times I need to burn some stranger's photos?)
"Do you need anything from me?", he asked.
"I have a few questions."
She meant to ask those questions when she took her orders, but he announced he had something else to do and hung up without waiting to listen to her say anything.
"Why do we still need to burn the photos?"
"Because they're pictures of something that should have been photographed. More precisely, photos no ability should be allowed to reproduce."
She heard that before.
"Yeah, but you already made me seal the Sasano's ability, no? So why am I being asked to come back another day to get rid of the photos?"
"Does it matter why? We have a contract."
(He's right...)
Oka Eri would obey his orders, and in exchange, he would leak Bureau-exclusive information to her. Information about Asai Kei, about the Resets, and about the person with the best ability in Sakurada.
Oka Eri switches the crossed legs.
"I know that. So I'm asking for information as my deserved reward. What are you making me do?"
"Oh, ok."
She could hear a quiet laugh on the other side of the phone. She felt mocked and didn't like that.
"Sasano Hiroyuki lied about his ability. He didn't need his ability to enter the photos.", he said.
"What was the lie?"
"Sasano doesn't need to use his ability when he's ripping the photo. The activation is only necessary for the first step, when he's taking the photo."
"So basically, even with his ability sealed, as long as he still has photos he took using his ability, he can still enter them?"
"Yeah. And it doesn't have to be him. You and I could also enter the photos we ripped."
This was fascinating to hear. Oka Eri smiled.
"So we should have confiscated all the photos after all."
"Yes, exactly."
"Then why did we let him get away with just the seal before?"
There was not much of a point to disabling his ability.
"I didn't know about it back then. I thought the seal would have solved everything. But yesterday this one member of the Bureau started gathering information on Sasano, you see. I got curious and kept my tabs on him. Without this coincidence, we'd still have been in the dark about his ability."
"Hah, how dumb. Didn't think I'd ever see the Bureau be wrong about an ability."
"You can't blame us. How many abilities do you think there are in Sakurada?", the man dispassionately asked. "About half the citizens have abilities. That puts the number of abilities on the 5 digits. No way our measly public institution can manage all of them that strictly."
The man took a pause before he continued speaking in a lower tone. Like a teacher trying to speak to an underperforming student.
"The Bureau is built under the illusion that it's possible to regulate all the abilities. It's just a fantasy. Reality couldn't stray further from that. That's what makes Sakurada so dangerous. Much more dangerous than you think."
A line she heard from his mouth countless times.
"I don't get it. Sakurada is safe as long you have the ability to see the future, no?"
That was another piece of information she learned from him.
The best ability in Sakurada and the user locked in a building. A lone woman observing all potential problems in Sakurada.
"She's definitely competent. We never found anyone as useful as her. But didn't I already tell you? She's about to die.", he declared with a chilling voice.
She gripped her phone harder.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. If you want her ability, you gotta be faster."
"Is that really okay for a Bureau member to tell me?"
"Absolutely not, but we're way past the point it matters."
He spoke unemotive, as if he was talking about a distant country.
"The Bureau already extracted all the information it needed out of her. She's a dried husk now. Broken remains of the past abandoned in a deteriorating building. There's no more value in keeping people to guard her, so the security there is full of holes. Your ability can do the job."
Oka Eri gulped and asked.
"If I fail my attempt to take her away, will you protect me, perhaps?"
She heard dry laughter.
"How could I? That's not a clause in our contract."
Oka Eri cackled. "Sure isn't." Then contained her voice as much as possible before continuing. "By the way, you still didn't answer the important question. What are you making me do? What wasn't supposed to be in a photo? What's your goal?"
He sighed.
"I'm only disclosing the Bureau's info. Not my own. You have no right to ask about my goal."
Oka Eri cursed internally.
He was a Bureau member but his philosophy was different from the Bureau at large. And when he needed to things that go against the Bureau's will, he used Oka Eri.
"I gave you all the information you wanted, haven't I?", he asked.
Oka Eri asked mainly about Asai Kei, the Resets, and an ability better than the Reset.
"Asai Kei has the MacGuffin, right?"
"Without a doubt."
"He's trying to protect it, right?"
"Probably. I'm not sure and I don't care much to find out, but I assume he is."
"That's all I need to hear."
(if I can take away the MacGuffin, I win against Asai Kei.)
"Bye, Oka Eri. I pray that you can break free from your past one day."
The man hung up after delivering this final message in the mocking tone of someone who didn't mean the wish he made. Oka Eri barely knew anything about him.
But his methods resembled what Kei was like 2 years before.
Oka Eri violently pulled her hair, lost in thought.
(Break free from my past? What the hell do you know? But ok. Doesn't matter. I got the gist of Sasano's deal. I don't need the details. I'll use any means at my disposal.)
Oka Eri stood up, grabbing the bag with her oil and matches.
She was ordered not to leave a single photo unburned. No one would notice a few pictures missing from the burning pile.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
He reclined on a black leather chair.
"Bye, Oka Eri. I pray that you can break free from your past one day."
The man hung up after delivering this final message in the mocking tone of someone who didn't mean the wish he made. He handed the phone to the woman standing next to him. The phone was hers. He didn't like carrying objects in his pocket.
Taking her phone back, she asked him.
"Are you sure this is the best course of action?"
"You mean my decision on the photos? Or telling her about the photos? Or perhaps my policy in dealing with the nameless system??"
"All of them. Telling her about the nameless system was particularly dangerous, in my opinion."
"It wasn't. Everyone connected to her is under control."
"Also, Oka Eri shouldn't be disposing of the photos alone. We need someone watching her."
"No, it's fine. Her taking some photos with her won't be a major problem. If I needed a perfect operation, I'd have used someone else."
"But Oka Eri acts out self-interest. We can't be sure she will follow our orders."
He shrugged.
"I don't care what that girl does. My only interest is that no incidents happen."
(The blazes just need to burn without thinking about where their flames are spreading to. Whatever gets burned, it won't be my loss.)
He threw his weight to his back and crossed his legs.
"You know, have you ever thought about the despair in the fact that the ability to see the future exists?"
After this quote, the man smirked.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
At 3:00 PM, Kei and Haruki were in a small park. The cries of the cicadas were numerous and prevalent due to the large number of trees. The two sat under the shade of the trees, on a bench that had already lost most of its paint. They were supposed to meet Tsushima in this park. A building next to it had a Bureau office.
Kei checked his watch. It has been almost an hour since they arrived in the park. They got there about 10 minutes early. That meant Tsushima was 50 minutes late.
When Tsushima Shintarou finally showed himself, he was wearing a suit. Quite unusual for him. Nostalgic, even. He raised his hand with the face of someone who didn't want to be here. His other hand carried a brown A4 envelope.
"Sorry. I'm late."
"We're the ones who should be apologizing for the tough request."
Kei and Haruki stood up and greeted their teacher. Tsushima threw himself at the bench the two students had been sitting on.
After a light stretch, he started talking.
"Quite a mess you got yourselves into."
"Yeah, I can tell."
"Don't you think you've done enough?"
"About what?"
"Everything." Tsushima relaxed all his muscles and reclined on the bench. "Haruki's Resets aren't absolutely necessary and you know it. And without them, you have no reason to stay in the Service Club. Put this crappy job behind you and become a proper 15-year-old. Enjoy your high school life."
The rebuttal to this didn't come from Kei.
"I don't want to."
A simple refusal.
He was glad Haruki was with him. Kei alone wouldn't have been able to say what she did. He knew what she would answer but couldn't possibly answer in her stead.
"You've already done more than any teenager should. Learn to relax, geez."
This time it was Kei who answered.
"We do relax a decent amount. We do what we want when we want without stressing over what people think about it."
Holding back on your wishes for no reason is just tiring.
Tsushima laughed.
"You're practically a workaholic."
"Just like you, Mr. Tsushima."
"Don't give me that, I cut corners wherever I can. I actually want less stress in my life."
"And yet you're working during summer vacations?"
"I skipped supplementary classes at school today, you know?"
"To search information at the Bureau for us."
"Not because I wanted to. I did my share today, so I'm taking a day off tomorrow."
Kei smiled. He knew that despite what he said, he'd still teach Murase's supplementary lesson the next day.
He looked at the sky and spoke.
"What do you think Oka's ability is?"
"Probably brainwashing or something with a similar effect."
"Anything more specific?"
"I'm not sure. But my theory is the ability to manipulate memories."
Tsushima made eye contact.
"Why do you think so?"
"Pre-Reset, when we saw eye-to-eye, she didn't use her ability on me."
If creatively used, an ability to brainwash others could do practically anything. For example, she could have made him hand her the MacGuffin or cooperate in sealing Haruki's Reset.
And yet she didn't use her ability on Kei.
"This got me theorizing that her ability is not very effective on me."
Asai Kei's ability allows him to accurately remember the past. And one of its drawbacks is that he's not allowed to forget them ever again.
If Oka Eri has the ability to manipulate memories, the two abilities would cause a complete paradox. When abilities clash contradictorily, only the one with the highest intensity gets to be effective. And Kei's ability intensity is extremely high. If his memories were manipulated, he would probably remember both the correct memory and the manipulation process.
"Congrats, right answer."
Tsushima handed him the large envelope.
"Here's the file on Oka's ability."
"Thank you."
He bowed and took the document.
While he was taking the paper out of the envelope, Tsushima made his commentary.
"The file titles Oka Eri's ability as Memory Addition and Memory Subtraction. It's just memory manipulation, but they split the effects into addition and subtraction for simplicity's sake."
The envelope contained 5 printed pages. The first page was a detailed explanation of Oka Eri's abilities and substantiated speculation on the unconfirmed details. The remaining 4 pages were real usage examples and their results.
"First, there's the Memory Addiction. Basically, she can implant non-existing memories. It can be anything. If Oka Eri gives the target an unclear idea, the target's own head will make things up to turn that into an existing memory."
That's the effect cast on Murase Youka. She was convinced that something scary happened and created her own scary memory.
"When doing so, she can manipulate their memories in a way that will somewhat reliably command them into performing one particular action. For example, she can go a step beyond manipulating memories to convince them something dangerous is approaching and directly convince them that they need to run away."
That's why Murase called Kei. She planted the memory that when something scary happened she needed to call Kei.
"That's powerful."
"Yeah. She can get pretty much anyone to do what she wants by convincing them that they're lovers or belong to the same group."
People act based on their memories. If their memory tells them they want to ride a bus, they'll ride it, and if it tells them they want to make a phone call, they will. If they're convinced the person they're talking to is trustworthy, they'll believe pretty much anything they say. Controlling memories means controlling actions.
Tsushima pointed at Haruki.
"And the effect she was hit with is most likely the other one."
"Memory Subtraction?"
"Yeah. This one is simpler. It makes people forget something. Haruki forgot how to use her ability."
Kei looked at Haruki.
She nodded.
"It's true, I can't remember how I Reset the previous times."
Looking only at the consequences, taking away the knowledge of how to use an ability is the same as taking the ability away. The victims weren't able to notice the difference.
"How can I remember it?", Haruki asked.
"Oka Eri's ability has three major weaknesses.", Tsushima answered.
"Those being?"
"First: the ability requires at least 5 seconds of eye contact to activate."
That was part of Kei's theories. The account of how the ability was cast on Haruki makes it obvious enough already, but Sasano also mentioned her bragging about her contact lenses. She was using those lenses as a tool to make people look at her eyes.
The ability was as powerful as it was easy to deal with. But this weakness meant nothing now that the ability is already cast on Haruki.
"Second:", said Tsushima. "The ability falls apart easily. If a third party tells them exactly what memory was added or subtracted, they'll eventually remember the correct memory."
Kei nodded.
After checking behind Murase and explaining to her that nothing scary was happening, she became aware of the mistake in her memories. Her ability was extremely powerful short-term but manageable long-term.
"Then I'll remember how to Reset?", asked Haruki.
(No. You can't. Sasano can't remember how to use his ability after a long period of time. Tsushima said "if a third party tells them exactly what memory was added or subtracted".)
"It's theoretically possible but practically impossible.", Tsushima listlessly answered. "You, Haruki, were the only person in the world who knew how to Reset. No one else can accurately teach you how to do it."
Sakurada's abilities were abstract more often than not. It would be difficult to verbally explain how to use one.
"Making someone forget their ability is the only application where Oka Eri's ability is expected to have a permanent effect.", Tsushima said.
That application was a loophole in her ability's restrictions. By making someone forget information no one else in the world knows, it becomes impossible for it to be remembered again.
"Do you think I can remember on my own with enough effort?", Haruki asked Kei.
"It's worth trying, but I don't know."
He could use his ability to forcibly awaken her memory, but there was one number missing in that equation.
Without losing spirit, Haruki asked Tsushima.
"And what's the third weakness?"
He nodded and answered.
"Oka Eri can't keep two effects on the same person. Using it a second time cancels the first effect."
That was another restriction Kei had considered.
She didn't seal Murase's ability. It was highly likely that she couldn't seal Murase's ability and get her to ask Kei for help at the same time. Oka Eri prioritized separating Kei and Haruki over disabling Murase's ability.
Kei needed to be sure.
"So if she uses her ability on Haruki again, she'll remember how to Reset?"
"Yup, that's right.", Tsushima confirmed even though he really didn't want to.
This would get another memory of hers manipulated, but this could be reverted by Resetting back to 11:49:32.
"Thank you.", Kei nodded.
He could see a clear way to retrieve the Reset ability.
"Don't do anything too dangerous."
"I'd never."
He needed to create an environment where Oka Eri would use her ability on Haruki again. This meant putting Haruki in contact with her. He couldn't afford risky methods.
Tsushima said goodbye, stood up from the bench and turned away from them.
Kei bowed and thanked him.
When he raised his head, his eyes met Haruki's.
"Do you think you can handle this?"
Kei nodded.
"Oka Eri's ability is much less of a challenge than I was imagining."
Everything Tsushima said was among the possibilities Kei was considering, but he felt a lot better having it confirmed.
"The scariest thing Oka Eri could do is pull someone I know to her side, but that won't work. The memory manipulation will be undone as we talk."
That's the best thing he could have heard. He was actually suspicious that Murase was made into an Oka Eri spy. So before going to Haruki's house, he went through a lot of annoying and tiresome methods to make sure her account was true. It was awful, but he needed to be sure since the plan was to have her use her ability on Haruki.
"Did you ever consider the possibility she made me a mole with her ability?", Haruki asked.
"Of course I did.", Kei answered.
But if Haruki lied, he would have seen through it. He had two years' worth of her face, gestures, and words memorized. He'd need to be really dumb to still be deceived.
"I'm glad you weren't Oka Eri's mole.", Kei said.
"Yes, me too.", Haruki answered.
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Kei spent the rest of his day thinking about Oka Eri.
He read Tsushima's whole document and chatted with Murase to keep track of her actions. And then he remembered everything related to Oka Eri. Not only their conversations. Her face when they passed across each other in the hallways, her profile in the schoolyard, and even the appearance of her old house.
The biggest issue was Oka Eri's mindset. What is she thinking? What is her goal? He needed to know in full detail.
Pre-Reset, she said:
“Evildoers are always trying to cause problems.”
“Because it’ll upset you. Do I have to spell it out? I hate you, dude.”
“See, that’s what’s so annoying about you. That’s why I can’t back down until I see you hopelessly defeated.”
The girl in the middle school art room said.
“Eri once told me she wanted to be like you.”
“That you never took others seriously, never opened up, riled people with empty promises, were proud of your worst behaviors, and belittled the whole wide world. Basically, you’re a bad guy.”
“I remembered one thing. Eri said only Asai is allowed to say her proper name.”
And two years ago, Fujikawa Eri said:
“What do I have to do to get stronger?”
He remembered his own answer.
He could easily imagine how much his words chained her.
Oka Eri called him at 5:00 PM.
“Sup, big guy.”, she said through the phone.
Her voice was cheerful and carefree. It was faked.
"I decided on the stage for tonight's show. Remember that lighthouse we saw through our middle school library window?"
"Of course.", Kei answered.
The lighthouse had been closed for almost four decades. Now it was just a tall, purposeless building.
"It's there. Don't forget the MacGuffin."
Kei called her before she could hang up.
"Wait, Fujikawa Eri."
He heard a deep breath, then a scream.
"You don't get to call me that name."
A yell with hints of crying.
Hearing that, he was sure.
He knew what she was trying to reject the most.
"Sorry, Oka Eri."
"I'll never forgive you."
"Yeah, I know."
And then she hung up.
Kei sighed. He had plans for that night.
#sagrada reset#witch picture and red eyed girl#asai kei#haruki misora#murase youka#oka eri#urachi masamune#sakuin#tsushima shintarou
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Witch, Picture, and Red-Eyed Girl (Sagrada Reset 2) - Chapter 2: Red-eyed Girl (part 2)
[INDEX]
Quite a few students were present despite it being summer vacation. Most of them went to school for their club activities.
Kei and Haruki started by probing the more cultural clubs. Clubs were a convenient source of information. Most clubs mixed students from every school year and some were clearly exclusive to men or women. Their human connections were automatically categorized. In each club, they went around asking third-year girls if they knew Oka Eri. Haruki was the one asking the questions. The alumnus being of the same gender smoothed things out significantly.
Nanasaka Middle School had 6 classes for each school year. That meant one in every six third-year girls would be Oka Eri's classmate.
The first stop was the literature club. No one knew Oka Eri there. Next is the orchestra. The girl with the big trombone was Eri's classmate. She didn't bring any major revelations, but at least they learned Eri's class. 3-2.
Finding the first classmate was the hardest part of the search. From there, they could link acquaintance to acquaintance until they reached someone familiar with her. Not everyone was willing to volunteer information, but most students actively wanted to talk. That's what happens when classes are so filled with people.
The intel they obtained in one hour was easy to surmise.
Oka Eri has very few friends. At the very least, no one in classes 3-2 considered themselves her friend. She attended no clubs or committees and rarely talked to anyone in school.
Kei changed tactics.
Instead of looking for her current classmates, they started looking for people in the same 2nd-year class as her last year. Kei was still enrolled in the school during her 2nd year. He knew with 100% confidence that her class was 2-4.
They once again started approaching 3rd-year students in clubs in search of someone who was from 2-4. If they find one, they would be able to learn about Oka Eri's friends.
As such, they walked to a girl from the art club. She claimed her passion for painting brought her to school on this off day.
When they entered the art room, they found her alone, staring at a blank canvas. She wore a baggy apron full of paint stains. Probably borrowed, since it was too big for her.
"Do you have a moment?", Haruki called.
She shifted her glance to them for an instant before returning it to the canvas.
"As long as I don't have to stop painting."
Her voice was low and restrained.
She swung her bulky paintbrush, adding color to the canvas with no sketch to guide her. A faint yellow. This yellow quickly and boldly took space in the center of the wide canvas surface.
"Do you know a girl named Oka Eri?", Haruki asked.
The girl mixed the yellow of her brush with some brown. Now a clearer yellow took over the surroundings of the faint yellow. The apron girl spoke, without ever slowing down her brushing hand.
"Who are you two?"
Haruki answered.
"We're this school's alumni. We studied here until last year."
She took another look. Not at Haruki, but at Kei.
"Are you Asai?"
Kei nodded.
"Yes. How did you know?"
"You were quite famous among the younger classes. The teachers' least favorite model student."
"Really?"
(Sounds right.)
The apron girl continued working on the canvas with an even browner yellow.
"And Eri talked about you all the time."
"What did she about me?"
"Pretty much nothing pleasant."
Two-thirds of the canvas was filled with rich shades of yellow. The next part was being done with dark, dirty green. The bold image was taking form.
"Is this an abstract painting?", Kei had to ask.
"Far from it. It's a conventional landscape painting.", she answered without ever stopping her brush. "Do you know Bob Ross?"
"I don't. Who is it?"
"An American man."
Kei smiled. There was something strangely likable about her monotone non-answer.
"Is he a painter?"
"Yeah. I paint like him. Irregular colors brought together by a big brush, quickly forming simple pictures that look complex. I like this style a lot, but the teacher gets mad when she sees me doing it, so I can only do it when I'm alone. "
The apron girl switched to a smaller brush and put yellow on its middle and white on its tip.
Two colors together but not mixing. The brush ran across the top of the canvas, giving life to both the light and the dark sides of the clouds at the same time. The birth of these clouds changed the canvas from an empty mass of yellow into scenic sunset.
"That's amazing.", Kei commented.
But the apron girl disagreed.
"That's just mimicking. Anyone who knows the method can do it. That's why the teacher disapproves of it. She claims we need to understand art better before we do our own. I do understand, but I still think it's more fun to paint this way."
With an even smaller brush, she traced the darker green borders with a brown very close to black, making branches on the tree. The dark green mass became a large tree with a comfortable shadow.
"Knowing a method is essential, in my opinion.", Kei replied.
"Even if it's superficial?"
"I don't know enough about art to tell what's superficial and what's deep in painting, but I believe most people can only see the surface."
It's impossible to surmise what's in the heart of something without looking at the surface. Being able to see the surface is far more informative that not being able to see anything.
Her hand stopped. She had her eyes on Kei as she spoke.
"You're not like Eri said you were."
Kei repeated his previous question.
"What did she about me?"
"That you never took others seriously, never opened up, riled people with empty promises, were proud of your worst behaviors, and belittled the whole wide world. Basically, you're a bad guy."
"I see."
That was an apt description of Kei's 14-year-old personality. That is the age had when he first met Oka Eri. The apron girl returned to her canvas as she continued the description.
"Eri was always at her most excited when she talked about you. But she slowly stopped bringing you up, and then stopped talking to me."
"What happened to her?"
"No idea. I wasn't that close to her. You know how girls always form their little circles in every class? Eri and I weren't into that, so we were always left with each other for group projects and whatnot."
This time she was adding minute shadows to the picture, in stark contrast with the large brush movements she had been doing until now.
"Eri once told me she wanted to be like you."
"Me? Seriously?"
"Yeah. Meaning she wanted to be the bad guy."
"Why?"
"I don't have a clue. But I think Eri's definition of evil is just being strong. She hated weak people."
She stopped her brush, tutting.
"What's wrong?"
"I made a mistake. This painting is trash now."
(I have no idea what the mistake is, though.)
"Sorry for distracting you."
"Distracting? No, not at all. I love talking on the canvas. I just think this picture needed cruder brushes. I tried to go too detailed. It's not the first time."
"I don't really know what is the problem."
"Basically, my art is always artificial. Ugh."
She pulled her hair with her paint-stained hands. Then she turned to the two and bowed.
"Sorry. I need to finish this painting but finishing a failed piece is something I only do out of obligation and I really don't want people watching me running on spite to complete a work."
Kei thought she could simply leave it incomplete but he could tell she wouldn't take that for an answer, so he simply nodded.
"Got it. We're leaving. Thank you very much."
"No, thank you. ...Oh, right!"
Before Kei and Haruki could leave the run, the apron girl called them back.
"I remembered one thing. Eri said only Asai is allowed to say her proper name."
"What is it with her name?"
"She hates being called by her full name. Oka Eri is basically okaeri, 'welcome home'. I can't deny it sounds like a parody name. But to me, it sounded like that wasn't the reason."
Oka Eri.
Not Fujikawa Eri.
"Thank you."
Kei bowed and left the art room with Haruki.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kei and Haruki left the building and sat on one of the benches in a corner of the schoolyard.
3PM in August, the color of the sky was pale aqua. Bluer at its highest and whiter at its lowest, in a stunning gradient.
On the opposite side of the yard, the baseball team was practicing. Kei watched them as he asked a question.
"What do you think, Haruki?"
They asked all they could about Oka Eri. Haruki reached one conclusion:
"The most concerning point is how she said Eri wants to be like Kei."
It was rare of Haruki to call something "concerning".
"And by like me, she means she wants to be the bad guy."
Oka Eri conflates "bad" with "strong". As extreme as this mentality may sound, it has a clear cause. A conversation she once had with Kei.
"You're no villain, Kei."
"That's debatable. Besides, Oka Eri is talking about who I was two years ago."
"You haven't changed that much."
"I'm kinda shocked to hear that. I thought I had grown at least a little."
A tiny smile formed on Haruki's face.
"You don't look any shocked, Kei."
This smile looked a lot like Haruki Misora's default face. Haruki generally emoted like her face was directly tied to the bottom of her heart by a single string. When she was in a good mood, she formed a distinctive smile. In the opposite situation, her eyebrows, forehead, mouth, and eyes would gradually stiffen. This is how Kei could tell her smile wasn't sincere. He did not refrain from asking.
"Are you afraid of Oka Eri?"
Haruki feared the possibility of losing her ability. The Reset ability held an extremely major significance, both to Haruki herself and to Kei.
"I have one question.", said Haruki. "Kei, if Oka Eri sealed my ability... If I lost the power to Reset... would our relationship change in any way?"
Her voice retained all of its usual quietness.
Haruki Misora's Reset and Asai Kei's Memory Retention. An ability that deletes the user's own memories and an ability that does nothing more than remembering events. Their abilities were meaningless without each other. The ability interactions bound them harder than anything else. If she lost her Reset, the two would lose their reason to be together.
Kei slowly shook his head.
"I don't know."
Cruel words. Much crueler than Kei imagines.
Haruki's tone remained the same.
"Then I'll never let my ability be taken away."
Haruki's answer was followed by a smile.
Although Kei would have preferred it to be followed by anger or tears, Haruki Misora was smiling.
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Late that night, Kei was in bed, flipping the pages of a popular novel from 3 years back. The story was unquestionably in tune with his preferences, but the text was speaking to him for some reason. His thoughts were clashing with his reading. He had too many things on his mind.
Kei took his eyes off the book and looked at the window. A wide avenue was 20 meters away from him. Many red tail lamps crossed his vision. The moon above was waning thin. The new moon was close. Few clouds in the sky. He wasn't very knowledgeable about constellations, but he could recognize the Summer Triangle. But his stargazing was interrupted.
His phone rang. The screen displayed Tsushima's name. Kei picked up the call and was greeted by a rushed voice.
"Are you sure Oka Eri is the person you're looking for?"
He always jumped straight to the point in his phone calls. He disliked being roundabout in his conversations.
"Yes, completely sure", answered Kei.
"That's a year student in Nanasaka Middle School, right?"
"Right."
"I was also checking some information on her."
(Great to hear.)
"Thank you for that. Did you find anything useful?"
"Yeah. She's most likely connected to the Bureau. A Bureau member recently contacted a person named Oka Eri for her ability."
It wasn't rare for the Bureau to request people to help with their abilities. Their greatest power was their vast database of the population's abilities and their skill in making efficient use of the right people.
But,
"Did Oka Eri seal Sasano's ability by the Bureau's orders?"
That would be a serious problem if true. Retrieving an ability sealed by the Bureau would be antagonizing them. Something Kei finds hard to believe to be the right choice.
"I still don't know. At the very least, I couldn't find any public file making any decision about Sasano's ability.", answered Tsushima.
(Yes. Of course. If Oka Eri was operating on the Bureau's will, there's no reason why she wouldn't have informed Sasano of that. What is this about, then? Couldn't the Bureau be involved in whatever drove her to seal Sasano's ability? Or maybe a specific member or members of the Bureau are commanding Oka Eri in secret? There's also so how Sasano himself was with the Bureau. If a present member of the Bureau got a former member's ability sealed, there must be a deep background motivating it.)
Tsushima interrupted his thoughts.
"Something smells fishy. You're better off staying away from both Oka and Sasano."
"Sounds like a good idea."
(But not enough of a reason for me to drop everything.)
"Did you learn anything about her ability?", Kei asked.
Oka Eri declared she would steal Haruki's Reset. Her ability was something he couldn't afford to ignore.
"No, not yet. The procedures are pretty slow on my end."
That was unusual. It was rare for a Bureau member to struggle to find information on an individual's ability.
"Is someone concealing her data?"
"That's a very likely possibility. But the Bureau is an organization that never forbids information from going public."
(So you're trying to say a group within the Bureau is making these deals under the table. Did they order the seal on Sasano's ability? If that's the case, their reason to do so is clearly something they can't divulge to the organization at large. What could it be?)
"Well, that shouldn't be hard to find out."
"If it's not too much trouble, can you look into it, please?"
"Don't expect much. I have no clue how up the ladder is whoever is concealing this."
Tsushima abruptly warned Kei not to dig too deep into the case and hung up.
Kei tossed his phone on his bed and closed his eyes.
Regardless of whether or not someone was pulling the strings, the first person he needed to think about was still Oka Eri.
Her actions were deeply connected to Kei's own actions 2 years prior. Kei was the first person to call her Oka Eri.
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Witch, Picture, and Red-Eyed Girl (Sagrada Reset 2) - Chapter 1: The girl in the picture (part 1)
[INDEX]
She is always the only person in the room.
For that reason, only the two surveillance cameras were able to capture that bizarre image.
She was leaning back on the large reclining chair, having a relaxed conversation on her antique-motif metallic silver desktop telephone. Her voice was cheerful and she frequently laughed.
But her face was expressionless. Like a rubber mask, her brows, cheeks, and eyes were fixed solid.
The woman spoke kindly but with the face of a blank notebook with even the ruled lines faded out of it. Her voice and her face didn't match. It was a bizarre and somewhat unnerving image.
Half of her words were lies. Misinformation that quickly proves itself false with time. But at the present, no one can confirm she is lying.
In the present, she narrated false futures in order to call a boy into her room.
"Yeah. I really need to meet him."
After repeating her warning one last time, she put down the phone.
Her heart was fast, due to the long time spent without a conversation with anyone. Her chest ached more each time the heart in it loudly pumped blood. Her fingertips were listless. Keeping her eyelids open was too demanding on her body, so she closed her eyes.
Her body was approaching its end.
With her eyes closed, she took her hand to her chest and imagined a door. The door was large and heavy. It had a lock, and she held the only key for it. She spun the key in the lock and heard it click open. She turned the knob and pushed the large door open. Her mind faithfully reproduced the feel of the doorknob's touch.
Multiple fragmentary scenes played out behind her closed eyes.
It was like looking at opposite mirrors. Numerous scenes overlapped and continued into each other in opposite directions. But they didn't continue indefinitely. The rows of images had an end. And they all ended in the same picture.
She checked the lined-up scenes one by one. The scene she was watching at any given moment was the only one where the "video" moved, had a clear resolution, and played "audio". The rest were hazy and silent.
Most of the scenes lined up were set in the same background. A built-in bookshelf, and wooden table with an antique-motif telephone. No people in the room. No voices speaking. Same as the normal life she could find by opening her eyes.
But in some of the scenes lined up, the events were slightly different.
In one of them, the door opens and a boy appears.
A young but mature boy, speaking with serious and earnest eyes.
"Can you tell me my future?"
In another scene, she was being watched closely by a girl with eyes so pretty they looked artificial.
"No, I'm not particularly fond of stones."
After that, there was a long string of scenes with no one in the room. She checked each of them without ever letting out a sigh. In one scene, the door opened again.
A man in a black suit opened the door, but it was the red-eyed girl behind him who entered the room.
The girl had a daring smile.
"Sup. I'm here to steal you."
The row of scenes approached its end.
She was watching the future. Images of the future she will eventually see with her own eyes. Time lined up in front of her.
She finally reached the last scene. A near-elderly man was looking at her, his face contorted with powerful emotion that couldn't be defined as tears or a smile.
Her conclusion was set in stone. She will see this image in the near future, and the conclusion is what will come after it.
But she didn't know what she was going to think and feel at the time. Even if she knew the image she was going to see, her face wasn't part of her field of view.
(What will I think when I see his face?)
That's the one future she still didn't know. She traced the scenes backward to the moment the boy visited her one and only room.
He had a mild smile. That was his default expression. He looked like a perfectionist with a contrarian streak, but still easily hurt.
She could hear her own voice. Here's what she will say in the future:
"Boy, will you wish for my end to be a happy one?"
The boy nodded.
"Of course, I will."
She opened her eyes while he was speaking.
The string of futures disappeared.
Since she kept her eyes closed for too long, tears slightly distorted her view of the usual room. The empty and silent room without as much as a window.
That boy, Asai Kei, would soon be there.
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August 9th (Wednesday) - The day before it happened.
He pulled the can's tab with his right index finger, causing the soda to release its gas with the classic popping noise. A small truck passed by him with an audibly outdated engine. A robot woman's voice spoke from the cell phone in his left ear.
"Are you outdoors?"
Asai Kei answered only with a curt "Yes" and took a gulp of the cola in his right hand. He felt the gas popping down his throat.
"I'm kinda busy, though. I'm on my way to meet someone."
"Ok. So is it better for me to hang up and call you later?"
"No, you can talk. I'm ahead of time, and just got off the bus."
To be more precise, he got off the bus and bought cola from a nearby vending machine before his phone rang.
Kei sat down on the blue bench of the bus stop and looked at the sky. Practically no clouds in sight. According to the weather report, it was going to be like that until the next day's night. It was a very hot day.
"Sure. It's about what we were discussing the other day."
The robotic woman's voice started talking. That wasn't a woman speaking on the other side of the phone. Kei was talking to an information broker titled Unknown Caller. He never showed his face to others. He only speaks through the phone. It was hard to believe someone like this existed, but Kei met him in person once the previous month. That said, that event was a very special exception.
Kei had asked Unknown Caller to investigate something.
"Did you find anything out?", Kei asked.
"Dunno, it's all too minor.", Unknown Caller answered. He then continued in a more enthused tone.
"Just everything about it sounds fake. It's like MacGuffin exists to make people doubt its existence."
The MacGuffin.
Kei hired him to find information on this bizarre rumor.
"So your conclusion is that everything is fake?"
(Meaning the MacGuffin doesn't exist. I can tell on my own that that's the logical answer here.)
"Honestly, it sounds too larger-than-life. Would you believe if someone told you there was a legendary sword lying dormant somewhere and whoever takes it will rule the world?"
"No, that would be ludicrous."
"Right? That's pretty much what we're dealing with here. I mean, you could actually rule the world if you could control all abilities in Sakurada."
"True."
After another gulp of cola, Kei raised his can. The red can looked beautiful in contrast with the blue sky. Painfully beautiful. Far behind the can, there was a white cloud. The wind caressed his cheeks, but the cloud almost wasn't moving. The wind wasn't blowing that much higher above.
("Whoever owns the MacGuffin will control all abilities in Sakurada.")
"How does one spread a rumor this unrealistic?"
"A rumor's spread is ultimately a matter of luck. You have as much of a chance of success as a bottled message in the ocean. Both need to drift into a convenient place where someone would pick them up, or else they simply disappear. Of course, rumors can be easier to spread if you think things through beforehand."
"Would you be able to pull it off, Unknown Caller?"
"I could."
He answered without thinking twice.
"I mean, all I had to do is keep sending it until it's spread. Change a detail, send again, change a name, send again, until the numerous rumors in circulation converge into one accepted form. I can think of a few other tricks from the top of my head, but they're all pretty insignificant in comparison to the power of numbers."
"So you think the MacGuffin is a groundless rumor that converged into the current form by chance?"
"That's the most reasonable answer at this point."
"But I have the MacGuffin with me."
He obtained it during the events of the previous month.
It had the shape of a black pebble. It was easy to find many like it by any river bank. And, of course, it couldn't control all abilities in Sakurada like the rumor said it could. Or at least nothing was indicating it could.
Unknown Caller spoke.
"That's the problem. The objects of this kind of rumor usually don't exist."
Suntanned elementary schoolers in shorts passed by, racing on their bicycles. They were symbols of the summer.
"Is that another coincidence? Like, someone claimed a pebble they found was the MacGuffin and everyone else believed it?"
"I'd love to agree here, but that's a bit too unconvincing for my taste. I mean, it's just a pebble. Who would buy that?"
"So, what are our alternatives?"
"I can't think of any. Blaming chance for everything does seem to be the quickest way to settle the case. But, on the other hand, MacGuffin is also too fake to exist for no reason. The most eyebrow-raising part is that the rumor was raised only two years ago. There's no older story that could have been the prototype for this one. It's kinda insane that someone would suddenly spread a rumor this unconvincing with no prep work."
(Why in the world did the MacGuffin rumor circulate?)
"If it's all coincidence, it'd need a tremendous number of coincidences piling up. If it was spread by human hand, the person doing it is unrealistically competent. Neither of the two options is believable."
"What would a person even be trying to accomplish by circulating the MacGuffin rumors?"
"I don't know, but I'd be convinced if they told me they did it just for fun. That's why most malware creators do it."
(Could be.)
"That's all I have to report for now."
"So the gist of it is that we still know nothing."
"Yup. No matter how hard I search, there's nothing older than 2 years. That's pretty rare, actually. Bizarre and fascinating."
"Just to be sure, you haven't dropped the case, right?"
"Nor do I plan to."
Unknown Caller said goodbye and tried to hang up.
Kei stopped him.
"Wait a minute. I have another favor to ask."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Can you investigate a man named Sasano Hiroyuki?"
"Sure. Who is him?"
"I don't know his age or occupation, but judging by his voice, he must be quite old."
"You never met him?"
"I'm on my way to meet him. He called me this morning."
That was the reason why Kei took the bus to where he was.
"What's the point of me searching now if you're on his way? What got you so curious?"
"Sasano wants the MacGuffin."
That's what he said on the phone.
After a short pause, Unknown Caller's robotic female voice spoke in an intrigued tone.
"I see how it is. Where are you meeting?"
"Sasano called me to his house."
"Really? Gotcha. If you got his name and address, it'll be easy to identify the man. That will cost you a week's worth of mineral water and rubbing alcohol."
"Thank you very much."
Kei quickly told him the address. It was right next to the bus stop he was in. He was looking at the house.
"How much can you find?"
"How much do you want to know?"
"A complete background check. If possible, a reason why he would want the MacGuffin. Similar events in his past."
"I'll have everything before it gets dark. Things will get troublesome if I don't. Because that would mean someone is intentionally concealing his data."
Kei looked at the sky.
The sun was positioned almost directly south. It wasn't long past 11:30 AM.
"Looking forward to hearing your results. Bye."
Kei hung up and leaned forward.
He slowly worked on his cola. He had more than 20 minutes to spare before his appointment with Sasano Hiroyuki. He left early to find the house since it was an unfamiliar address, but he now knew he could have taken the next bus instead.
His phone rang again.
The screen displayed Tsushima's name. The man's full name was Tsushima Shintarou. He was a teacher in Kei's Ashiharabashi High School and an employee at the Bureau, the public institution responsible for supervising the countless abilities in Sakurada.
Kei took one more gulp and picked up the call.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sakurada was a city with special abilities.
The expression can be considered inaccurate, as the one with the abilities wasn't the city itself, but half of its population, so calling it that would be ignoring the other half. But the city has no noteworthy local products or touristic attractions (the big one they used to have was their port, but that was closed almost 40 years ago), so the abilities are the only thing left to describe as the city's symbol.
Sakurada's abilities are far too varied to fit into categories. Most of them are not much more visually impressive than a magic trick or a special effect on a TV show. Simple powers like levitating objects or becoming invisible. The only difference is that the abilities here have no smokes and mirrors. However, some abilities are extremely dangerous, and any ability can be abused depending on how it's used. That's why it's necessary to have an institution to keep them in check.
The abilities in Sakurada are regulated by a public office simply called Bureau. Like camouflaged insects, the Bureau is present everywhere in the city, hidden from inattentive eyes. They have physical offices tied to the police and the city hall, but the actual size of the organization is unclear. The citizens trust them to solve every ability-related problem, and there were no public scandals involving them, so they were considered an ideal organization.
However, Kei considered the Bureau a terrifying machine. They make a city where half of the population has superpowers look like an ordinary mid-to-small town, and he knew the level of strict regulation this required.
If someone ever took over the Bureau, they would control all the countless abilities in Sakurada, with or without the dubious MacGuffin.
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Tsushima's briefing was succinct.
One woman wanted to meet Asai Kei and Haruki Misora. The woman was close to the top of the Bureau's hierarchy and it was generally forbidden to refuse her summons. As such, a Bureau member was to take Kei and Haruki to her the next morning.
(She's "close to the top of the Bureau's hierarchy" but how close exactly? As an outsider, I don't have a clear image of their structure. Why does she need to see us? If she just wants us to use our abilities, we don't need to meet face to face. She could have just given orders. If it's something unrelated to our abilities, I'm even more confused.)
Tsushima grumbled.
"Hrmph. I wish you wouldn't have to get involved with her. No good teacher would want that on their students."
"Why is that?"
"I can't talk about her. And even if had the right to, I don't have all that much info to disclose. But in a sense, she's the most dangerous conversation partner in Sakurada."
Those ominous words were the last Tsushima said before hanging up.
Kei looked at the sky and sighed.
He was never glad to be tossed into an unknown situation, as most people wouldn't. He didn't have enough data to speculate on what he was getting into, and he knew prying would be ill-advised if the mystery woman was involved with the Bureau's secrets. He quickly shook his head to put his focus back on the right track. Sasano and the MacGuffin were a more pressing issue.
He finished his cola, got off the bench, and discarded the empty can in the bin next to the vending machine.
But when he was about to head to Sasano's house...
"Are you Asai?"
He heard a voice behind him. One very similar to a voice he heard on the phone earlier that day.
He turned around and found a small man.
"I am. Nice to meet you. Mr. Sasano, right?"
"Right. Nice to meet you too."
He nodded and smiled. His smile made his wrinkles more prominent. His hair was partially white. Kei estimated he was in his mid-60s but wasn't willing to commit to that guess, considering how people age very differently from one another.
"You arrived at a good time. I'm just back from the confectionary store. You'll love their azuki jelly."
He casually lifted the small plastic bag he was carrying.
"Though I think you youngsters prefer Western sweets, right?"
Kei shook his head and answered.
"I love sugar in all forms."
"That's great to hear. Let's get moving. It's hot out here."
Kei followed Sasano.
They were quite distant from the center of the city. The neighborhood was full of tiled roofs and rice paddies. The road was asphalted, but only the road. It was surrounded by bare dirt and tall grass on both sides.
"Sorry for living so far away."
Kei responded to Sasano with a smile.
"It only took one bus to get here. It's not that remote."
"Sure, but I shouldn't have asked you to come immediately. High school is busy, no? Sorry about that. I can't let my age become an excuse to be inconsiderate."
"Kids are just as willing to use their age as an excuse to be inconsiderate. Besides, I'm not that busy for high schooler standards."
Sasano flashed a kind and somewhat timid smile.
"But you're about to get a lot busier."
Sasano crossed the aged gate of his home. A single-story wooden house. The house itself was nothing impressive, but it had a huge front yard. A white car was parked further into it. The two entered through the house's sliding door. It was a lot darker inside but more due to the sunlight outside being too strong than the place being poorly lit.
"This way."
Sasano left his shoes by the entrance and went into a well-polished hallway. It led the two into a vast tatami room. Kei wasn't too particularly used to the quintessentially Japanese smell of the room.
Sasano turned on the remote-controlled AC and left the room to make tea.
Kei sat in front of the thick wooden table. He wanted to sit in seiza to match the ambiance of the tatami room but was afraid he would get his legs numb since he wasn't used to it.
He could see the front yard from the window. There was a large tree in the middle of it. Presumably a cherry tree. It was terribly old and dehydrated, with barely any leaves left. Kei absent-mindedly watched the tree.
(One aged tree surrounded by fresher ones, almost like a symbol of death... Judging by the number of shoes by the entrance, Sasano is the only person living here. Does he have a job? He's home on a Wednesday morning and it doesn't look like he works from here. He looks old enough to be retired, but I have no real proof he is. He could be taking the off days from the Obon holiday a week early. Why would a man his age want the MacGuffin? What reason could have to seek all abilities in Sakurada? To seek ultimate power?)
Sasano eventually came back. He brought a tray with two glasses of barley tea and two plates of azuki jelly. He put the tray on the table and sat facing Kei.
Kei tried the jelly Sasano recommended.
"Oh, that's great. Wonderful."
"Isn't it? I always look forward to summer for it. It's off the menu on the other seasons."
Sasano raised the piece of jelly with the toothpick.
"Besides, aren't they pretty? They aren't colorful like fruit jelly, but there's some neat depth to their color."
Kei took a closer look at the azuki jelly. The red and the black mixed seamlessly into one solid color. Kei couldn't tell want colors of paint he would need to mix on a canvas to reach that tone.
"Yeah, really pretty."
Kei ate another piece.
After the sweetness spread all over the inside of his mouth and faded away, Kei asked.
"You called me this morning to ask for the MacGuffin, right?"
"Yes. I did."
"Why do you want it?"
Sasano took a sip of his tea. The sound of the ice hitting the leaned glass resembled a chime.
"I want my dream back."
The AC spewed cold air into the room with an almost imperceptible noise. Sasano returned his glass to the table. Kei made eye contact to question him.
"What would that dream be?"
"It's a fabrication. A fantasy of the past, more beautiful and valuable than anything."
After some thought, Kei still couldn't understand what the man meant. But he could tell that he wouldn't want to clarify any further.
"Sorry, can you be a little more specific?"
Sasano smiled awkwardly.
"Do I have to say it?"
"Yes, our negotiation won't go anywhere if I can't hear your reasons."
"I'm not sure about that. I think it'd be more productive to discuss what's your price for it."
"This isn't about money."
(Being responsible for the MacGuffin is a major pain.)
Kei didn't believe the MacGuffin had its rumored powers, but he also couldn't give it away willy-nilly until he was sure the rumors were false. Before he even heard Sasano's circumstances, he had already made the decision not to give him the MacGuffin. That thing should be gathering dust in his drawer forever, for all he cared. But if Sasano had a problem that required the MacGuffin, maybe he could help in some other way.
"I'm not after power.", said Sasano. "I just want to get back something that was already mine in the first place, you see. I lost my ability. If the MacGuffin controls all abilities in Sakurada, that will naturally include mine, won't it?"
(You lost... your ability?)
"Can you tell me more?"
Sasano took another sip of tea. A quick one, only to moisten his dry lips.
"I had an ability. It wasn't powerful, but it was the ideal ability for me. But last week, a little girl... Early teens, maybe? A middle schooler? She came here and said she would seal my ability. Since then, I haven't been able to use it."
(It's hard to imagine there's a physical procedure that can disable Sakurada's abilities. If his story is true, the only possible explanation is that someone has the ability to seal other people's abilities.)
"What kind of ability did you have, Mr. Sasano?"
"A mostly useless one."
Sasano stood to show it.
He reached for the bookshelf in the corner of the room. It was filled with photo albums. He took one and opened it. Each page had 4 finely preserved photographs.
"Those are pictures of my front yard."
He pointed to one photo. It showed a large cherry tree in full, magnificent bloom. It sucked all the attention away from its surroundings, even more than the average cherry tree did.
"Any comments?"
"It's a gorgeous cherry tree. I imagine the picture was taken with a Polaroid. And it also looks quite old."
(This cherry tree is that old dried-up tree in the front yard. I don't believe it can still bloom as hard as it's doing in the picture.)
Sasano nodded.
"Correct. This photo is from 20 years ago. And this one is even older. It's from before my street was asphalted. And photographing the coast is something of a new habit of mine. I only started 7 years ago. Well, I call it new, but you were still in elementary school then, right? I heard they would cover the shoreline with concrete, so I had to take pictures before it was too late."
The photo showed exactly what he described.
"Are these photos related to your ability?"
"Yes. All photos here were taken using my ability."
Kei took another look at the photos but still couldn't find any unusual traits.
Sasano delicately pulled out one of the cherry tree pictures.
"These photos are all pictures of things lost to time. But with my ability, we can take them back."
Sasano looked at the picture with a tender gaze before making eye contact with Kei.
"My ability is to reproduce the past. In full detail, as it happened in reality. You can think of it as the power to enter the photos. Only for a short time, though."
(The ability to enter photos? I sorta get it, but it's hard to imagine it too clearly.)
Sasano subtly smiled.
"I wish I could have shown you firsthand. It's not anything dangerous."
Sasano explained his ability.
First, he has to use his ability while clicking a polaroid camera's shutter. The camera will print the photograph as normal.
"If I rip the picture, I can enter the photo, but I also need to use my ability again at this moment. The instant the photo is taken and the instant it's ripped. My ability always requires two use in total."
The world inside the photo will reproduce the past precisely. If there was a book in the picture, Sasano could read it. If there was a person in the picture, he could talk with them.
But he can't travel to the past with his ability. All he does is enter the photo. It doesn't affect reality. For example, if he broke something in the picture, the same object wouldn't break in real life.
"All my ability does is let me immerse myself in my fond memories.", Sasano spoke nostalgically. "It lets me visit different times, to appreciate the sceneries, feel the smells, and talk to people I miss. Nothing more."
(I can't be sure until I try it for myself, but it really doesn't sound like a dangerous ability. It is an ability with a lot of potential for misuse, though. By simply taking one photo of a computer, he could read all of its files without leaving any evidence.)
Sasano continued.
"Besides, it has a lot of restrictions. I need to be where the photo was taken when I rip it. Nothing happens if I rip it anywhere else. And I can't stay in the photo for longer than 10 minutes. When the time is up, I'm taken back to reality."
He took a quick break before continuing.
"But I lost the power to use it ever since the day that girl came here."
"Thank you very much. I can see what's happening, I think."
Sasano sighed.
"Great. Then let's talk about the MacGuffin. Are you willing to give it to me?"
"No. I don't think the MacGuffin has any special power."
Kei took a sip of tea, then continued.
"Your ability was most likely disabled by another ability, presumably that girl's. What we should be doing is finding a way to make her release her ability."
(That would be a lot more reliable than a mystery rock.)
Sasano smiled again.
"I can't imagine a way to do so."
"I can help if you don't mind."
"You will? Thank you, but why?"
That was a complicated question.
In looser terms, he was doing it for self-satisfaction. A more precise explanation would get long. And Kei didn't want to give either answer.
And so, he gave an answer that said nothing.
"I'm in the Service Club."
The Service Club is a school club for students with abilities the Bureau deemed exceptionally powerful. Every school in Sakurada has it. Their main club activity is following the Bureau's instructions to solve various problems relating to abilities. Students in the Service Club solving ability-relating problems felt as natural to the general populace as students in the baseball club swinging a bat or students in the brass club blowing a trumpet.
Kei continued.
"I might be able to help with your case as my club activity."
(But it won't be easy.)
Service Club activity requires the Bureau's approval. And the Bureau only acknowledges problems caused by abilities. Sasano losing his ability could hardly be called a major issue. His distress could be interpreted as a problem, but the pain of not being able to enter photos and relive memories is not significant enough to get the Bureau's approval.
But the average person doesn't know the Bureau's or the Service Club's principles. Most saw them as simply volunteers. Bringing the club up as a justification could fool most people.
Sasano looked troubled until he opened his mouth.
"But how could we possibly release the ability cast on me?"
"I won't know where to search until the basic questions are answered. Tell me everything you can about the girl who visited you."
It was highly likely that the ability's user knew how to release it. And if she didn't, they could learn the exact details of what her ability did.
Sasano answered calmly.
"It was a girl in her mid-teens. She had ripped jeans, a choker with a cross, and red eyes."
"What do you mean by red eyes?"
(It's not like bloodshot eyes or crying eyes, is it?)
"She said it was colored contacts. She was quite proud of those custom lenses of hers."
"Anything else?"
"Not much else caught my attention. Her physical features were pretty normal."
(A choker, ripped jeans, and red contacts. All very eye-catching traits, but changing clothes is easy. I got no decisive clues here.)
"When did the red-eyed girl come here?"
"Thursday. August... 3rd, was it? 5 PM, I think."
(Six days ago...)
Kei was closely acquainted with a girl, Haruki Misora, who had an ability called Reset, which could simulate a rewinding of time. But the Reset could only turn back time up to 3 days, and only to the point when they Saved.
Haruki had last Saved two days prior, August 7th. There was no point in Resetting.
"Did the girl take any photo away?"
(I can only think of one reason to eliminate someone's ability. Because it's a threat. The most reasonable thought here is that there was a scene in one of Sasano's photos that she really didn't want recreated.)
But Sasano shook his head.
"Not at all. All she did was brag about her contact lenses and seal my ability."
(So her problem is not with an already taken picture? Or did she think just sealing the ability was enough? Let me test the waters here.)
"Is there any photo that can provide some special kind of information when recreated?"
"Special information?"
"Yes. For example, do you have any photos of an archive, a letter, a computer, or even a person you normally can't meet?"
Sasano took a long time to think. But he ultimately shook his head.
"Sorry, nothing rings a bell. Most of my pictures are of scenic views."
"Really?"
(But something must have slipped his attention. I can't come up with any reason for the girl to have sealed his ability if there's no photo she found significant.)
"Can I take a look at your album?"
"Be my guest."
Kei took the large album into his hands and flipped the pages. It was the kind where you slip the photos between a backing paper and a transparent film. There were very few pages due to how thick the backing paper was.
Kei knew half of the places in the photos. An autumn mountain with gorgeous red leaves. A far extending sandy shore. The white lighthouse visible from Kei's old middle school. Sakurada wasn't that big of a city. There were only so many places worth photographing.
True to Sasano's words, all photos were landscape. A few had people in the frame, but Kei couldn't determine their relevancy.
(Yeah, these photos are not the best lead to the girl who sealed his ability. Maybe someone's house in the background is relevant. I can't single out the right photo if that's the case. Besides, there are many other albums on the shelf.)
Kei flipped to the last page, expecting nothing.
It had a photo of the street by the riverbank.
(That's somewhere I've been to often.)
It was next to his middle school.
The sun was setting low in the sky. The river occupying the right side of the photo reflected its bright orange light. The river was wide downstream, although not as much as it was directly at its mouth. Deep into the background, Kei could see the concrete tetrapods used in the breakwaters. The tetrapods formed one long black shadow.
Kei stopped breathing. It felt like time had stopped.
This was the place where Kei first met a girl. A girl who was like a stray cat. A special girl who died two years before.
And...
"Oh, this one. The sunset was so pretty I didn't think twice before snapping it. Don't you love the contrast between the sunset and the shadow?"
Kei didn't make out what Sasano was saying.
He said something but those sounds didn't take any meaning as words. They were no different from a cicada's cry or a buzzing. The words didn't need to mean anything. Kei wouldn't care about them either way. What he saw was too sudden for his brain to process anything.
"This picture is pretty recent. I think I took it only 2 years ago."
Atop the tetrapods in the picture's background, there was a slim girl. Her image was tiny and almost just a silhouette against the backlight. But Kei couldn't possibly mistake her for anyone else.
It was her. The girl already gone from his world.
She was extending her right hand to the camera. It was hard to tell from her size in the picture, but it seemed like she had a small, black stone in that hand. It looked almost like the MacGuffin.
(This is too convenient to be true. It's unnatural. Feels like a forgery.)
Kei closed the album.
"So? Any problematic picture?"
Sasano's voice finally gained meaning again.
"No, I didn't find anything particularly meaningful.", Kei answered. He was astounded by the naturality of his own lie. Sasano took the album and returned it to the shelf.
(Second row from the top, third book from the right.)
"Do you want to see any other album?"
"How many pictures do you have?"
"I don't know the exact number. Probably one or two thousand. I have some I don't even remember where I put them."
Kei shook his head.
"I'll pass."
(It's nigh impossible to find any specific clue in this sea of photographs. That must have been why the red-eyed girl didn't feel the need to take a photo away.)
Sasano nodded.
"I check the photos one by one another day."
"Thank you. I'll do some investigation my own way too."
"By the way,", Sasano tilted his head. "how am I supposed to thank you if you recover my ability?"
"Service Club activity is not compensated."
The club expenses are provided by Bureau, however.
Sasano had a troubled smile.
"I couldn't I allow myself that."
After some hesitation, Kei asked.
"Could I enter a photo with your ability?"
"Yes. You just need to also be touching the photo when I rip it."
"So, if everything goes well, can I use your ability for personal purposes?"
Sasano had a photo of the girl who died two years prior.
He smiled.
"Oh, absolutely. Use as many pictures as you want."
Kei looked deep into Sasano's eyes.
"By the way, there's one thing I've been wondering since the phone call."
"Yes? What is it?"
"How did you know I had the MacGuffin?"
(Very few people knew that. I can 4 or 5 people who do. 10 at best if I start making assumptions.)
"Oh, I heard from a friend."
"Who was it?"
"A person from the Bureau."
"Could you tell me their name?"
Sasano took a pause and closed his eyes. His face had something akin to a pained smile.
"Sorry. I'm not allowed to answer."
Kei nodded.
"Ok."
(I'm curious, but asking now won't lead me anywhere.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
After leaving Sasano's house, Kei sat on the bus stop's blue bench. The sun was still high up in the sky.
Kei closed his eyes and recalled Sasano's words.
(A dream. A fabrication. A fantasy of the past. That's a perfect description.)
Kei was smiling deep in his heart. To no surprise, he was thinking about that photo. The photo showing the street by the river, the sunset, and the tetrapods.
With his eyes closed, he could remember it vividly.
He could see her tiny figure atop the tetrapods. Holding a black stone identical to the MacGuffin on her extended hand.
She was undoubtedly there.
#sagrada reset#witch picture and red eyed girl#first witch#asai kei#unknown caller#tsushima shintarou#sasano hiroyuki
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Cat, Ghost, and Revolution Sunday (Sagrada Reset 1) - Chapter 3: Sunday's conclusion (part 1)
[INDEX]
July 13th (Wednesday) - Two days before the starting point once again
"July 13th, 12:59:15."
Haruki stated the Saved time, as usual. Kei used his ability to remember the past and immediately grabbed his hand. It wasn't wounded. It wasn't bleeding. But his body vividly remembered a chilling pain.
"Anything wrong?", Haruki asked.
Kei promptly let go of his right hand and smiled.
"It's nothing. Looks like we Reset."
(I got Murase's ability figured out. That's huge progress.)
Haruki tilted her head.
"Before or after going to the festival?"
"You used the Reset on Saturday afternoon. We haven't gone to the festival yet."
"Great."
"Is it?"
"Yes."
"Ok, great it is."
Kei told her everything that happened before the Reset. The conclusion to the cat hunt, the holes on the walls, Minami Mirai's ghost form, Unknown Caller's crime, and Murase Youka's sudden attack.
"How is your hand?", she asked.
"I hurt it a bit but you healed it."
(Am I lying? I can't say for sure because I didn't see how deep the wound was. I probably just got the part that touched Murase peeled away. I didn't come as far as losing my hand, but she might have reached the bone. Ugh, I don't wanna think about it.)
Kei ignored the memory-induced pain remaining in his hand and spoke.
"First order of action is meeting Mr. Tsushima. We have to tell him about Unknown Caller."
The text that came immediately before the Reset wasn't from Tsushima. It was from Tomoki, inviting Kei for dinner. The timing wasn't as perfect as he wished. Tsushima was still the quickest route to Unknown Caller's address.
Kei quickly messaged him. He gave a full explanation detailing how Minami was going to become a ghost and Unknown Caller was going to be the culprit, then asked to meet in Tsushima's room.
"We'll go to his room now."
Haruki nodded.
"Understood. We'll eat in his room today."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You liar!", Kei said just to be cheeky.
Tsushima frowned.
"The line would hit better if it were a woman saying it."
"Haruki."
"Oh... you liar?"
Tsushima nodded to Haruki's attempt.
"Ah, not bad. It could use some more contempt in your glare, though."
"Kei?"
"You don't need to do it."
Kei talked to Tsushima with a lot of contempt in his glare.
"Mission complete, you said? Why are things only getting more complicated?"
"I didn't say that."
"You will tomorrow."
"Not anymore. I'm not accountable for things I said pre-Reset."
Tsushima took a sip of his coffee and frowned. Kei started to wonder if he actually didn't like coffee.
Kei sighed. He wasn't doing it to call Tsushima's attention but he wasn't trying to hide it either.
"How much do you know? What's the situation and what are you trying to do with it?"
"Nothing that concerns you. I'll deal with Yoshii Ryouji and Minami's case. Everything is in order."
"No, Minami died. That's one thing not in order."
"She's alive now, and won't fall for the same distress again."
(Can Reset really undo a person's death cleanly like that? I can never get a satisfying answer to this question. And that's not the kind of topic I can have someone else do the thinking for me.)
"Tell me everything. I'm already part of the case."
(I can't let this go unanswered. I simply can't accept someone being killed by a Reset.)
"How much do you know?"
"Nothing yet. But I believe everything will fall into place if you'd please tell me more about Murase."
"Later."
"Why? The sooner I know things, the better."
"Haven't seen you make this face in a while."
Tsushima laughed. Kei saw through the obvious taunt. He thought it'd be best to fall for it, but wasn't in the mood for acting. He took a deep breath and changed the subject.
"Have you heard the rumors about the MacGuffin?"
Tsushima nodded.
"Whoever gets it can control all abilities in Sakurada, I hear."
"Is this even possible?"
"I wouldn't think so."
"Murase wanted the MacGuffin."
"Yeah, I know."
"She wants the MacGuffin to take over Sakurada."
"So?"
"I agree with your opinion, teacher. I also wouldn't believe the MacGuffin is a thing. But Murase thinks it exists."
(There must be something I don't know that's making her believe the impossible. A convincing proof or a reason why she'd want to believe.)
"Its effects are obviously dubious, but an object named MacGuffin does exist."
(I can feel Tsushima dodging the topic. He's trying to distance himself from Murase Youka. But I'll roll with it for now. I'm curious.)
"Where is it?"
"In the teacher's lounge. In my desk's drawer."
(He's not pulling any punches.)
Tsushima laughed.
"Recently I keep it on me whenever I can. You never know when Murase will go there to steal it."
"If it has no power, why don't you just give it to her?"
"I'm against giving people anything they want. I'm a teacher, remember?"
He finished drinking his cold cup of coffee and left his seat.
"You haven't had your lunch yet, right? Go eat already. You're almost out of time."
Before Tsushima passed the door, Kei spoke.
"How long do I have to wait for?"
"What?"
"You said 'Later'. When is later?"
He stopped his walk. He checked his watch before answering.
"The answer will come out in 2 or 3 days. I'll call you if it comes to the worst-case scenario."
"What would that be?"
He shrugged.
"Disappointing my friend."
Tsushima left the room with those cryptic words.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Haruki Misora's perspective, the next two days were completely uneventful.
Kei was quick to call Nonoo Seika. He guaranteed the cat would be back soon and told her not to worry. And his words came to fruition. There was no need to stand guard in front of the bakery this time around. The cat appeared in Nonoo's house Thursday night. Tsushima brought it to her by car. Kei imagined it was because he did want him to meet Murase Youka again.
After class, Kei tried calling Unknown Caller from the public phone in the shopping district, but unsurprisingly, he didn't pick up. He was almost sure he wouldn't. This confirmed that Unknown Caller's incident happened before the Saved time: in the afternoon of the 12th. Haruki didn't know why. She didn't ask.
She Saved again on Friday's lunch break, 24 hours after the Reset.
After Saving, Kei called Minami Mirai to their usual staircase. Haruki didn't feel like her company in this situation would upset Kei, so she stayed by his side listening to their conversation.
Kei told her everything that happened in the reset world. On Friday, the current day's evening, Minami was going to climb a mountain in search of a ghost, and there she would be killed by Yoshii Ryouji. Then her ability would activate for the first time, turning her into a ghost. The next morning Yoshii Ryouji would turn himself to the police.
Minami's death was very briefly described. It didn't take 3 minutes to explain everything. The Reset preamble to explain how he knew all that was much more long-winded. Haruki made this internal observation but held no opinion on it. Throughout the whole conversation, she was more invested in thinking about the place they were in.
A staircase that lost its functionality as a staircase, and was instead being used as a makeshift storehouse. Shortly above it, she could see the door to the rooftop. But it was locked. The stairs were Kei and Haruki's usual hang-out place now, or so she imagined what Kei felt like. The rooftop was his place with the girl who died two years prior. Where Kei once embraced her. Even Haruki had moments she couldn't forget.
It was raining outside. Kei's talk came to a quiet conclusion. Minami took a deep breath followed by a slow nod.
And then she spoke.
"Hearing I can die today feels surreal."
"You won't anymore. Mr. Tsushima will fix everything."
"Asai, what was it like when you found out I died?"
The tone of Kei's voice didn't get any less calm as he answered.
"A girl I knew died before."
Haruki wasn't expecting this response. She knew Kei was thinking about her, but he would never bring it up to others. He barely ever spoke about it to
Haruki.
(Actually, he was already unusual from the point he told a classmate about our Reset. I get it now, Kei had been trying to confess to his mistakes all along.)
He continued.
"The girl wasn't going to die, but she did because I told Haruki to Reset. I've been thinking about her the whole time since I learned about your case."
"What did you do about her?"
"Nothing that worked."
Kei's voice remained unemotional.
"I searched everywhere for a way to bring her back to life. I tried to reverse my irreversible mistake. But I couldn't. I couldn't find an ability that revives the dead."
(That's strange, now that I think about it. As far as I've heard, Sakurada's abilities are made from people's wishes. Wouldn't that mean no one wished to revive the dead yet? That doesn't sound plausible. And yet, there's seemingly no ability in Sakurada with the power to revive the dead.)
"That's the end of the story. I couldn't do anything about her. She's still dead. You could have turned out like her if things were timed differently, and that thought made me shudder."
His voice made Haruki tear up a little. She remembered for a moment what it felt like to cry. It wouldn't take long for her to forget it again, but she was remembering it at that moment.
"I see.", said Minami. "Anyways, I can turn into a ghost if I die, right?"
"Most likely. There could be another required condition, though."
"But I can if this Yoshii kills me tonight."
Her voice didn't sound either happy or sad. At the very least, Haruki couldn't detect any emotion. She was just confirming the facts.
"Do you want to be a ghost?", Kei asked.
"I don't know. It doesn't sound like a bad deal."
"But Yoshii wouldn't want to be responsible for your death. Tell me if you have any messages for him. Feel free to rage or hate him as you see fit."
Kei calling Yoshii by name felt seriously wrong. His real name was still Unknown Caller to him.
Minami shook her head.
"I don't have anything for now. Nothing to mull over since I'm still alive. It'd be stupid to be mad at someone for something neither of us remembers, you know?"
"Yeah, you have a point."
Kei gave a contented smile. Haruki recognized that as a genuine smile. "It'd be stupid to be mad" is the kind of phrase he liked.
"I'll tell you if I come up with anything I want to say. Do you know his phone number?"
"Ask Mr. Tsushima. He should be able to tell you. Yoshii is really knowledgable, which makes him a very useful friend to have."
"Ok, got it."
Minami nodded, then continued.
"Misora's ability is a secret, right?"
"Yeah, don't tell anyone, if you can help."
"Will do. I love keeping secrets. Makes me feel special."
Minami smiled. It was the same overblown smile she flashed every lunch break.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Friday evening was a game-changer. Kei received an e-mail and showed it to Haruki. The sender was Tsushima Shintarou.
The e-mail told that Tsushima wanted to meet Kei and Haruki tomorrow (July 15th, Saturday) at 10 AM in the café where they first met Murase. Same hour, same place.
"What do you think he wants?", Haruki asked.
"I don't know. But I can't tell it won't be nice.", Kei answered with a frown.
(I'm sure it won't. But not for the same reason you're thinking of, Kei. We're planning to go to the festival together tomorrow night. We can't have a long job consuming all our time.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kei went to bed late that night.
He remembered all the events thus far, organized them, connected the dots, and then had a short dream. Or perhaps a memory that arose shortly before he fell asleep. It doesn't matter which. One way or the other, the event of two years prior was real.
It wasn't a past he could talk about with a smile. He would rather not let anyone know. Just thinking about that moment made him want to scream. Remembering physical pain was nothing compared to remembering that scene.
That was the first time Kei used a Reset for his own benefit. He wanted to erase and undo all of it. But Kei himself can't forget. He vividly remembers all his thought, senses, and feelings.
He was face to face with a girl. On their middle school's rooftop.
It was a sunny day. Only one cloud fixed in the distance.
Kei extended his hand. The girl didn't move. He remembered the minor but deep hesitation he felt to touch her shoulders.
The blouse of the summer uniform on top of her soft skin was thin and smooth. He could feel her warmth and the bones under her skin. The back of his hand grazed her cheeks, tickling.
Her eyes were fixed on him, very up close. He wished she would close them but didn't verbalize it. It'd be a waste of time to do so.
He didn't close his own eyes either. Her lips were warm and didn't taste like anything.
After taking a breath, the aftertaste faded.
"I'm not sure.", she whispered.
She was probably talking to herself.
But Kei could hear her clearly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was a now lost past.
Kei is the only one who remembers it.
#sagrada reset#cat ghost and revolution sunday#asai kei#haruki misora#tsushima shintarou#minami mirai#souma sumire
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Cat, Ghost, and Revolution Sunday (Sagrada Reset 1) - Chapter 3: Sunday’s conclusion (part 2)
[INDEX]
July 15th (Saturday) - At the starting point for the third time
Tomoki's voice woke Kei up on Saturday morning. He was already used to it by the third time.
Not a cloud to be found. What Kei dreamed didn't affect the weather.
Tsushima still wasn't there when he got to the appointed café. Instead, he found two girls.
One was Haruki Misora. No surprise. The problem was the other one. Murase Youka was drinking iced coffee on the seat to Haruki's diagonal.
(Why? If Tsushima called her, I wish he told me in advance.)
Haruki looked at Kei, as she always did.
"Good morning."
(There's no escaping this situation.)
Kei said good morning back and sat next to Haruki. Meaning he took the seat in front of Murase. She didn't open her mouth. Kei wasn't feeling good from sitting face-to-face with the person who couldn't stop saying she would kill him.
"Good morning, Murase.", he took a risk. No response.
He kept going.
"Why are you here?"
She gave him his usual glare. The tone in her answer betrayed how much she wished she wasn't here.
"Tsushima called me. How much do you know?"
(Know?)
"About what?"
"Me. Did Tsushima explain my ability?"
(Why would need him to tell me? I saw it in action firsthand. Something is wrong here. I'm not sure I should, but let me try something.)
"I wouldn't need to ask for a briefing by now."
She raised an eyebrow.
"By now? What happened that you don't need it anymore?"
"We met before the Reset."
"Yeah. So?"
"Do you remember where?"
"Here, in this café. What are you getting at?"
"No..."
(A mismatch. Her story isn't right. She doesn't look like she's lying. I can't think of any reason why she would. In that case,)
"Murase, do you want to kill me?"
She looked confused.
"Why would I have to kill you?"
(I'd love to know that.)
"It was a joke.", Kei said.
"A really creepy one.", Murase answered. She was disturbed.
(That settles it. She doesn't have her pre-Reset memories. No, she remembers the first Saturday. We did meet in this cafeteria. And she did hire us to save the cat from the accident. But she doesn't remember the second Saturday, when she attacked me by the river. The first Reset didn't steal her memories but the second one did. Why?)
"Is the cat's case solved?"
"Didn't Tsushima tell you already?"
(No, he didn't tell me anything about you.)
"You said you adopted the cat 6 months. It was a kitten at the time, but it quickly grew up. It was a crossbreed male. Its name was Calico. "
"What's your point?"
"This was a lie. Him being a crossbreed male was true, but you didn't own him."
"Great research. So what?"
"With that in mind, I can't see why you hired us."
(I get ordering us to Reset to save your cat. There are a lot of people who care about their cats like their flesh and blood children. But making us Reset for a random stray cat is generally considered extreme.)
Murase answered.
"I wanted to test if my ability could cancel yours."
Kei advanced the conversation, unsure if he should.
"We Reset twice since we met you."
"Seems like it."
"Did Mr. Tsushima tell you?"
"I don't like the way you talk. You sound like you're testing me with every question. Why don't you just say what you want already?"
"Sorry about that. I don't think the first Reset stole your memories, but the second one worked. Why is that?"
"Why test things twice? If it worked once, that told me enough. I'm not interested in you anymore."
"I see."
(She lied. After canceling the first Reset, she kept watching us. Considering her ability's effect only holds for 5 minutes, she had to have kept using it. She kept repeating "Body, ability", which is why she undid Nonoo's ability every time she petted the cat. What did Murase do in the time she forgot? That's Thursday to Saturday of the second loop. What happened to her? She must have had a reason to show up to us and declare she'd kill us.)
The waiter noticed the talk stopped and came to take their orders. Kei checked the menu and chose a coffee float.
Murase looked disgusted.
"Why would you order that?"
"Do you have a problem with coffee floats?"
"Yeah, the ice gets stuck in the ice cream."
(True. That's a serious structural problem. To enjoy a coffee float the elegant way, you mustn't mind sacrificing some ice cream.)
"If you want iced coffee and ice cream, just order them separately. Stacking one on top of the other is disgraceful."
"But ordering them separately would get expensive."
"Why should we care? Tsushima is paying for everything."
"He is? Wow, you should have told me before I ordered."
"I have no obligation to tell you anything."
After some precious time spent chatting with the person who tried to kill him, Tsushima finally arrived. He was some 5 minutes late.
He took the seat next to Murase, as she glared at him.
"Why did you call those two?"
Tsushima's answer was nonchalant.
"The MacGuffin was stolen. I'll need the three of you to get it back."
That was sudden. When Kei thought he had all the information organized in his head, it got confusing again. Kei gasped, while Haruki simply told the waiter that the morning set of American pancakes he brought was hers. She didn't care much for Kei's conversation, as usual. Tsushima ordered a blended coffee from that waiter.
After the waiter left, Murase opened her mouth.
"Wasn't the deal that I could take the MacGuffin if I came here?"
(I can see why Murase complied with the summons now.)
Tsushima took his elbow to the table and rested his face on his hand, turning his sleepy eyes in her direction.
"How can I give you if it was stolen? If you get it back, it's yours."
"I can handle this on my own. What are they here for?"
"They have the experience you don't."
"About are you talking what? I'm older, why am I being treated as the kid of the team?"
He pointed to Kei, with his eyes still locked on Murase's. Kei couldn't move away from the accusing finger.
"This guy was the worst problem the Bureau faced in the past two years."
Murase's eyes widened for a quick moment. She didn't have much of a poker face. Kei appreciated this kind of honesty.
"How so?"
"Two years ago, the second-year middle schooler Asai Kei disobeyed the Bureau's rules and was almost successful. He set up a neat checkmate. We were with only a few pawns, while he had two queens on the board. The Bureau was at a total loss against a child."
"And what happened?"
"He left his seat then and there. The Bureau panicked and reset the board. Everything went back to normal, then 2 years passed."
Murase glared at Kei.
"Is that true?"
Kei tilted his head for dramatic effect.
"I remember it very differently."
Tsushima laughed.
"How do you remember it?"
"You started the game without a king on the board."
(No matter what I tried, without a king to go after, I didn't have a win condition.)
"What does that mean?"
Murase was confused, despite the simplicity of the metaphors. Kei tried to force his will on the Bureau. He thought he was prepared for it, but it didn't work. He learned the hard way his will wasn't enforceable by the methods he chose.
Kei received his coffee float. He took a spoon out of the ice cream, taking care not to spill the coffee under it.
Tsushima spoke, still pointing to Kei, still with his eyes still locked on Murase's.
"As I said, he has the experience you don't."
Murase frowned, even more confused.
"And what made him a dog of the Bureau now?"
"I wanna ask the same question. Why was it?"
(Not a question I'd like to answer. I wish I could just focus on my ice cream ball, but alas, I have to say something.)
"Challenging them won't accomplish anything. Besides, I never had any beef against the Bureau."
(Two years ago, I made all the preparations I could have, only to learn it wasn't enough. It all started from a misconception. At the time, I genuinely believed forcing my will on them would feel amazing. Looking back now, I only feel silly. What is the point of antagonizing someone I needed help from? I want to stay on as friendly of terms as I can be with the Bureau.)
"But the MacGuffin is more important now. Who stole it and why?"
"Oh.", Tsushima whispered. "Yesterday, after school was over, the MacGuffin was in my desk's drawer. But there was a 2-3 minute frame when there were no teachers in the teachers' lounge. That's when it disappeared."
"Are you sure you didn't just misplace it, Mr. Tsushima?"
"I know for a fact it was stolen."
Kei took a close look at Tsushima. He had numerous expression samples in his memories. He could tell he wasn't lying.
"No one saw the culprit?"
"No one. But very few people knew that's where the MacGuffin was. Even fewer could clear the teachers' lounge. The culprit is most likely Yoshii Ryouji."
(The Unknown Caller. An information broker that even the Bureau goes to. It's not farfetched to assume he had intel on all the teachers who should be in the room at the time. But that's not enough evidence. Even I knew where the MacGuffin was. I could have done the same if I tried.)
Kei noticed an inconsistency but didn't ask any questions. He deduced that Tsushima knew something else he wasn't telling. One solid proof that Unknown Caller was the culprit. Kei had some theories about what it was.
"I don't care what his motive was. Just give me the thing back.", Tsushima said like it wasn't a big deal.
"You won't get it back. It's mine.", Murase answered.
Kei had no need to intervene in their conversation. Haruki was taking a spoonful of her pancakes.
(She's being more reasonable than me here.)
"One question", Kei interjected.
He took a spoon of the ice cream in his coffee float. The surface was already melting and mixing with the coffee.
"Did Minami speak with Unknown Caller?"
After a moment of silence, Tsushima slowly shook his head.
"Doesn't matter."
Kei nodded in full agreement.
#sagrada reset#cat ghost and revolution sunday#asai kei#haruki misora#murase youka#tsushima shintarou
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Cat, Ghost, and Revolution Sunday - Chapter 2: The events from Wednesday (part 8)
[INDEX]
July 15th (Saturday) – The starting point
Kei could remember himself seeing the clock's hand hit 4 AM. Not too long after that, he finally managed to sleep.
On the morning of July 15th, Saturday, Nakano Tomoki's voice woke Kei up.
"GOOOOD MORNING, KEI. From your perspective, I’m sending you this message from yesterday, July 14."
(From my perspective, you're sending this message from 4 days ago.)
Tomoki didn't send this message yesterday. Haruki asked him to send that message before the Reset, but after it, she spent the moment she was supposed to do that in the library with Kei. His annoying ability activated past Resets. Once he established he was sending a message on July 15th of that year, the message would play every July 15th of that year, no matter how many Resets it had to go through. Basically, Tomoki's ability had a higher intensity than Haruki's Reset.
Kei looked at the sky through the gap in his curtains before the Tomoki would try to predict the weather. It was sunny. Kei already knew that. Even if the world isn't blessing anything, it's sunny when it has to be.
Eventually, the voice in his head switched to Haruki's. "Please don’t be late tomorrow, ok?” Kei sighed. He made plans to meet her at the café just like he did pre-Reset, but with Minami's problem appearing, he had to text her last night canceling it.
(Her reply was mild as always, but I know he upset her. Compared to how emotionless she was two years ago, her feeling displeased now is huge progress, but it's an undeniable fact that nothing good comes out of making a girl angry. I should have called her for the mountain walk with Minami. No, it's better to keep the Reset user safe, just in case. I'm not betting on finding a "vampire" but I don't want Haruki there if we do.)
Kei decided it wasn't the time to think about what to say to Haruki. He drank the bottle of oolong tea from his fridge in one go. Then he opened the curtains, at the exact second he did it before the Reset. Just his pointless obsession with detail. No matter how much he stuck to the finer details, his actions before and after the Reset had already changed a lot. Yesterday, he went to the library with Haruki, choosing her suggestions over his need to retrace his pre-Reset actions. He met Minami when he shouldn't have and will climb a mountain he shouldn't climb. The timing to open his curtains was trivial and pointless compared to that. But pointlessness was no reason to break a rule.
He stopped hearing Tomoki's voice while he was getting changed. But on his way to meet Minami, he got a message from Tomoki on his phone. Last night, Kei had asked Tomoki to send his voice to a set time. Tomoki was wanting to know what the sent words meant. That was one action he didn't take before the Reset. Kei only answered, "It's nothing".
He had chosen the Hanamizaki Shrine's stone staircase as the place to meet Minami. They could enter the mountain from behind that shrine. It was the same path to Nonoo's shrine, until a certain splitting point. Also, the land west of the mountain was named Kawarasaka, and that's where the first wall holes were found. Kei felt like the pieces were all falling into place, but he still wasn't sure how much of that was a coincidence and how much was planned.
Minami wasn't on the staircase. He checked the time. 8:52 AM. Still a few minutes before the appointed time. Kei sat down on the stairs and looked at his surroundings. People were setting the place for the festival, exactly like they were before the Reset. Kei wondered if he would be able to have some candy apples with Haruki that night.
(I hope we can get everything solved today.)
He heard a voice in his ear.
"Howdy."
Kei instinctively turned his head to see who it was. A head popped out of the step behind him. It was Minami.
"Good morning. That wasn't the most tasteful way to make an entrance, to be honest."
(I almost screamed.)
She giggled.
"I came up with an urban legend for myself. I call it 'the beheaded girl'. A disembodied head drops by and greets people, as you've just seen. If you don't greet her back, she steals your body. What do you think?"
"I think you'll anger a god if you use their shrine's staircase for that."
"That's not the point. I was asking if the kids would make a rumor out of that. Eh, whatever."
She took the rest of her body out of the stairs. Kei also stood up. He started walking and she was always floating by his side.
"Did you also climb through here tomorrow?"
"Yeah. I remember that part."
"How far do you remember?"
"Until around here."
The two left behind the shrine's area and climbed a small staircase. It eventually lead to a mountain track. An unpaved road surrounded by tall grass. It was practically back to its natural state, but it still had some small signs of human use. A sign on one side of the road read "Hiking course".
Kei walked, careful not to get cut by the grass.
"I'm impressed that you came here at night."
Judging by when the rain stopped, Kei imagined the ground the previous night must have been soaked, but he couldn't find traces of that anymore.
Minami tilted her head slightly.
"Did I just turn away and leave, perhaps?"
"You mean you didn't care for the vampire hunt all that much?"
"I don't know, I did want to find a vampire, but would I really try to climb a mountain on a rainy day?"
"Well, at the very least, you climbed all the way to the shrine."
"I did. But I can't remember anything after that. Sorry."
"I can't blame you for forgetting things. Let's try everything we can think of until something works."
(We don't need to be efficient here. Just get Minami convinced. Finding Minami's body here would be very meaningful, but we don't really need to find anything. The Bureau must be on the move. This is not about a cat in a car accident. It's about a human and an ability. The Bureau is guaranteed to take immediate action. They'll conduct the most optimal investigation using the most optimal ability. The lack of footprints on this mountain track could even be a sign that we're looking in the wrong place.)
Kei was fine with his search being a waste of time. All he had to do was follow Minami around to relieve her panic and fear while the Bureau solved the problem.
He asked:
"If you did leave, do you have any idea where you went next?"
"It was dinner time, so prolly home."
"So we could also search around on your path back home. What do you wanna do?"
"Hmmm. What's your vote, Asai?"
"Keep going further up the mountain, I guess."
"Why?"
"If a girl collapsed on the streets, people would have naturally already found her and taken her to a hospital or something. If that happened, the Bureau would have noticed and called me."
He wasn't lying, but his real reason was just that walking the mountain on a sunny summer day was more pleasant than he thought. It was not that hot for July standards, probably because it was still morning. He had about one hour before his mountain walk became less comfortable.
Kei heard the cicadas. Their heavy cries sank into the ground. The greenery of the surrounding mountains shone with the rays of sunlight. Behind them was only the radiant blue sky with its vibrant white clouds. Kei would have lied down on the floor if he had a picnic blanket. He was considering doing it even without one.
"Oh, that's right. I looked into the MacGuffin.", said Minami.
The MacGuffin. Haruki asked her about it on Thursday, one hour before the Save. Kei remembered the face Minami made at that moment.
"Did you find anything out?"
"Not much. There was only one note about it on the U-Res's computer."
Kei wasn't surprised about the U-Res having the information. It was very likely that they would have. Unknown Caller said they only knew the dictionary definition and urban legends about it. The U-Res were very passionate about urban legends. Passionate enough to make them up.
"What did it say?"
"It was a simple rumor. It spread around about 2-3 years ago."
"Oh. Interesting."
"It's quite the amazing one. Hear me out."
Minami smiled. With the same energetic expression she always had in class. She wasn't a book that could be judged by its cover. Kei came to realize that most of her smiles were forced. If they weren't she wouldn't be able to smile the same way now that she's a ghost and her body is missing.
She raised her finger and spoke:
"Whoever takes hold of the McGuffin will control all the abilities in Sakurada."
Kei also smiled.
"That sure is impressive."
It sounded like a prophecy from a fantasy novel. It was so refreshingly unrealistically that Kei felt silly for thinking so hard about it. But his brain still wouldn't let that part of his mind rest. Tsushima was the first person to mention the MacGuffin. Tsushima works for the Bureau, and the Bureau was, in fact, controlling all abilities in Sakurada.
"Did you discover anything else?"
"No. Just that. Someone in the club investigated that a bit before, but couldn't find the source. I think it was a pretty obscure rumor."
"I see. Thank you."
"You know what, once this vampire hunt is over, I think I'll investigate this MacGuffin for real. You got me really interested."
"Why were you even looking for a vampire?"
Kei didn't mean anything with this question. He just asked to keep the conversation flowing. However, Minami's smile was gone from her face. Her expression was troubled, complex, and uncomfortable. Kei surmised that was her natural expression.
"Who wouldn't?"
(Normal people wouldn't. If most people sneak into unknown places to look for vampires, then I've been perceiving the world horrendously wrong.)
Minami silently approached Kei. Since she wasn't walking, her shoulders maintained a constant height. Even under the bright summer light, she still looked like a real ghost.
"It didn't really have to be a vampire. You know how a lot of ghost stories start airing on TV in Summer, right?"
"I watched a few, but that didn't make me want to go out there to look for stuff. I know some people like visiting spiritual spots, but those don't go alone either."
(Those things are meant to be enjoyed with friends. It's less about finding ghosts and more about enjoying their company in a different location than usual, I think.)
Minami spoke, still without her smile.
"Still, you watch the show because you're interested. If a ghost walks past people on the street, everyone will look at it. How is that not searching?"
"Good question."
Kei nodded inconclusively. He thought "searching" wasn't the word she wanted to use, but he got the point that people are curious about what strays from reality. A decent amount of people might react to a ghost with something more positive than the expected concern and fear.
"You're right. If I knew for sure where I could find a ghost, I'd like to go see it at least once."
Kei sincerely agreed with Minami, but she didn't interpret it that way. Her face was sad and lonely. She mumbled something to herself, but Kei managed to hear it.
"That's not what I meant."
Kei knew she was serious. He stared at her. She was clear as a glass of cold water. He knew she was about to smile to pretend this emotional outburst never happened.
"It's not exciting when you know it's there. What makes it worth it is finding something no one else can find."
"Oh, so that's what it was."
Kei didn't understand.
"You have your own ability, Asai. That's why you don't care about finding vampires."
"I don't know about that. My ability is pretty boring."
(Being able to remember anything is useful, but it doesn't feel special. Intelligent people can do that without an ability. Haruki's Reset raises its value a lot, but that's not my own power.)
But Minami shook her head.
"That's not the point. Having an ability or not already makes a world of difference. I don't think you'll ever understand that."
She then apologized.
Kei couldn't find the right words to say. The essence of her problem was hard to comprehend.
Minami advanced swiftly, so Kei had to start walking after her. Her body was transparent but he couldn't see her face from behind. Nor her feelings, naturally.
The two didn't speak for a while. The cicadas were loud. They eventually found a creek. The sunlight reflected brightly on the water's surface. Minami took a look at it and broke the silence.
"Hey, Asai, I..."
But her words were interrupted by a dull ringtone. It was from Kei's phone. Minami smiled, resigned.
"Pick it up."
"No. I can call them back later."
"It's fine. I'll be down at the shrine."
"Why?"
"I'm pretty sure I didn't climb the mountain this far. Let's go somewhere else."
She flew up high, without giving him a chance to argue back. After watching her fly away, he picked up the call.
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At that time, Haruki Misora was sitting on the Hanamisaki Shrine's stone staircase.
She absentmindedly watched the preparations for the festival. A gray cat approached her and lay down. The cat looked done with everything in the world. Haruki presumed most people wouldn't find it cute.
Since she her hands were empty, she tried petting the cat. This cat didn't seem very wary of humans, as it yawned unaffectedly upon being pet. Its fur was warm, probably due to the summer sun. Haruki noticed the cat was hiding under her shadow, tired of the summertime. She made full use of her human gravitas to threaten to add that cat to her collection, but it fell on deaf ears. It was a peaceful Saturday.
Haruki came to the shrine because she was called by Minami Mirai. Last night, she had appeared in Haruki's room as a ghost and told her to come. Kei messaged her about Minami becoming a ghost before, so she wasn't particularly surprised. That said, even if she wasn't informed, people becoming ghosts is no reason to be surprised in Sakurada.
Kei said he would be climbing a mountain with Minami that day. Since she was called to the Hanamizaki Shrine, she knew the mountain in question was Mt. Tsukube. The mountain Minami called "Ghost Mountain".
She hadn't told Kei she was called there. Haruki herself isn't sure why. She might have thought it wasn't worth the effort, or that she could use the secret to surprise him. Or maybe she avoided calling Kei because there was a chance he'd tell her she didn't need to go. That last option seemed the most likely, but she didn't care enough to sort this out. She doesn't have any special interest in her feelings.
After some time, a familiar face climbed the stairs. It wasn't Kei. Not Minami either. It was Nonoo Seika. She stopped in front of Haruki, raising her eyebrow slightly.
"Morning."
"Good morning."
"Alone here?"
Haruki nodded.
"I am, at the moment. I'm waiting for Kei and a classmate."
"You came for the festival?"
"No. We were planning to go in the evening, but the plan might get canceled."
"Why? Do you have something you need to do?"
"I don't, but Kei does. He's helping a girl with her problem, and that might take some time."
"Sounds rough."
"His promise to me came first, even."
"What a shame."
"Indeed."
She was joking. It's probably true that she's somewhat upset, but Haruki doesn't take her emotions as grounds to judge things. To be precise, she does, but very rarely. She does it because these moments of selfishness please Kei. She considered appearing there in her yukata, but ultimately didn't because she felt like Kei would dislike the idea. Making him feel awkward but not enough to protest is not an easy sweet spot to strike.
"What happened to the girl?"
"You'll meet her soon. Since last night, she started floating and became transparent."
"I'm not sure I'm following. She's a ghost?"
"I'm not sure I'm following either, but yes, apparently."
Nonoo looked puzzled but didn't make any further questions. And so, Haruki stayed quiet. She wasn't good at talking. Finding the right words was as hard as completing a blank jigsaw puzzle. This was one part of her that didn't change because of Kei. She's been like that for as long as she could remember. But she did believe her newfound ability to say anything that crossed her mind came from his influence.
She tried to pet the gray cat to pass time, but it had snuggled up to Nonoo's feet. It raised its tail, with its tip crooking like a hook. Without a real cat by her, she had to fidget with the cat keychain on her phone. The keychain was made of something soft. It caved in when pressed and expanded when released.
Nonoo crouched to pet the cat's neck.
"I'm going up to the shrine."
"Ok."
"You can stay under the trees' shade there. Why don't you come?"
"No, we decided to meet here."
"Why don't you call them?"
"I should."
It was already 15 minutes past the agreed time. It was best to confirm again with them. Despite the Save ready, she'd still be worried if any accidents happened to him.
When she opened her contact list, she heard Minami Mirai's voice.
"Misora, sorry for being late."
She looked up to find the source of the voice. Minami was floating two meters above the ground. Haruki couldn't tell the previous night because her room's lights were off, but seeing her under the sunlight, she looked quite transparent.
Her classmate being transparent and floating didn't matter all that much to Haruki. That said, she was going to miss her chance to go to the festival with Kei at this pace, so she thought it'd best to close the case as soon as possible. She wanted time to iron her yukata in the evening.
Minami talked to Nonoo.
"Hi, have we met?"
Nonoo looked at Haruki. Haruki knew she'd have to introduce the two.
"This is Nonoo Seika. She's our age but goes to a different school. And she controls cats."
"She does what?", Minami asked. Nonoo was the one to answer.
"I love cats. And you are?"
"Minami Mirai. Misora's classmate, and currently a ghost."
"I can tell. How did you get like this?"
"Hm, the answer might shock you."
Minami looked pensive for a moment, and then brought her face close to Haruki's.
"Can you keep this a secret from Asai?"
Haruki nodded without understanding the point of the request. But she knew that this secret was going to be something he didn't know, so it was worth hearing.
"I think I died, maybe", she said with a smile.
Nonoo squinted. Haruki asked a question.
"By the way, where is Kei?"
"I left him behind. He should be here soon."
(Then I'll wait for Kei. He just needs to say "Reset" and Minami's case will be solved.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The person on the phone was Tsushima Shintarou.
He went straight to the point.
"We found Minami's dead body."
(This doesn't feel real.)
She was a ghost because she died. Simple as that. Kei obviously considered this possibility. Even then, these words still felt unreal to him. Which means he didn't want to acknowledge that reality.
The memories bursting open inside his head made him nauseous. Different memories stimulated different emotions. These emotions pierced his heart one after the other.
(Someone died because of my Reset.)
(Calm down.)
(It happened again, just like it did 2 years ago.)
(Calm down. You have a Save this time. This can be undone.)
(Someone died because of me. Again.)
(Don't panic. You knew your actions could have consequences, remember? You already knew it when you decided you would still keep using the Resets even after her death.)
Kei took deep breaths. He remembered who he was. That didn't stop the panic, but it put him back into a thinking condition.
"How did Minami die?"
"Murdered."
(She was killed? By who? Why?)
Tsushima's voice on the phone continued.
"It looks like an accident, but we're positive someone killed her."
"You know how it happened?"
"Yeah."
"You saw it coming?"
"The chance was extremely low."
"But it was likely enough for you to order me not to Reset for the next couple of days."
"That's right."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not a nice conversation topic. Not to mention the Bureau can't disclose information easy as that."
Kei bit his lip.
(No. This isn't about Tsushima. That's on me for not wanting to know. I hesitated, thinking it'd be inconsiderate to pry.)
(You're contradicting yourself. You were pretty inconsiderate using that overpowered Reset ability, forcing everyone in the world to redo three days just for one poor cat. How is hesitating going to help anything? Who benefits from you making subpar decisions? I hate being weak. I'm sad. I'm frustrated. My emotions are all over the place. But negativity won't fix anything.)
Kei forced a smile, trying to convince himself he could power through this.
"Understood. That's enough about yesterday. How things are now?"
Tsushima had to tell everything. If they Reset, Minami could repeat the event that lead to her death. She might have died for good if he kept his peace. He needed to be precise with his decisions. His only option was to relay the information to himself post-Reset via Kei.
After taking a moment to think, or perhaps to resign himself, Tsushima started talking.
It was a long story.
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There was a man. He had an extreme case of germophobia. To the point where he couldn't stand the fact his body was covered in skin. But he never peeled his own skin off, of course. After all, he knew that what was under the skin wasn't clean either.
At some point, the man couldn't bring himself to touch anything in the world. Everything was too dirty for his standards. The only things he could begrudgingly tolerate were white sheets and brand-new t-shirts. He could only live inside the room he disinfected to his heart's content.
His biggest problem was that he couldn't bring himself to eat any food. The only exception was pure water. The man thought that water was the antithesis to dirt. Nothing other than that could pass through his mouth. He insisted that nothing that could dirt his skin or clothes was qualified to enter his body.
A man choosing not to eat anything generally meant choosing death. It's only natural. Water has no calories, and people need those to live.
But the man didn't die.
He conveniently happened to have the ability to live without eating. In Sakurada, these things can happen less as a lucky coincidence and more as an inevitable necessity of fate. The abilities all over the city depended on the user's nature. Their truest thoughts, goals, wishes, and prayers became their abilities.
The man's ability was to convert information into nourishment. Information isn't physical. It can't get dirty. The man gathered a lot of information, but he was very inefficient about it. He was always hungry. He was on his way to slowly die of malnourishment. But one day, he noticed that his own ability was something completely different in essence. It wasn't a grandiose moment of awakening. He simply noticed something: he could find high-density masses of information everywhere around him. He realized that he could suck information from human beings, and that's what he started doing.
People were extremely efficient meals. The man spent years without feeling his stomach empty. He learned the animalistic comfort of having his appetite fulfilled.
That said, the man wasn't evil. There was no telling what would happen to his prey if he stole all the information he wanted. To avoid problems, he only borrowed a tiny bit of information from each person. The prey would lose consciousness for a while, but they would be fine shortly after waking up. They were still technically victims of assault, but all they would lose was the sucked information. Merely one hour's worth of their memories.
It didn't take long before rumors of a vampire started to spread. The man soon realized that that was him. He didn't understand how it came to that. Someone said that probably as a joke and the word spread.
The man only sucked information from people for a short period of time, a few years in the past. The vampire rumors reached the Bureau's ears, preventing him from using his MO. But on the other hand, the Bureau members were cooperative and created an environment where he could safely gather all the information he needed to stay healthy. That was very inefficient compared to sucking data straight from people, so he'd feel hungry, but would never be at risk of starving to death. He was happy with his new life. He stopped being a social nuisance and lost the need to leave his room to search for food in the dirty atmosphere of the outside world.
The man lived a hungry but joyful life, until very recently.
Problems ruined the man's environment.
Overwhelmed by his powerful hunger, the man chose to take data from a person again.
No, he didn't choose. He had no alternatives.
Last night, the man sucked information from a girl for the first time in years. Naturally, he tried to leave her with enough information inside her, like he used to. However...
That girl felt like a bottomless pit of information. The man couldn't feel her getting any drained and ended up sucking too much. And the girl died.
No one knew it, not even the girl herself, but she had the ability to preserve her data in death. In other words, the ability to become a ghost after death.
"It was a man-made tragedy.", said Tsushima. "But also the result of unfortunate coincidences piling up."
The victim was named Minami Mirai.
And the perpetrator was named Yoshii Ryouji. He was an official information dealer for the Bureau, and some personnel called him Unknown Caller.
Yoshii Ryouji... The Unknown Caller turned himself in to the police early this morning. Carrying Minami's body.
Her body was wrapped in white sheets and completely unharmed.
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Kei stayed silent for a while after the end of Tsushima's story.
Then he asked simple questions about Unknown Caller's state. He thought everything could be easily solved if he went to meet him after Resetting.
Tsushima didn't know Unknown Caller's address. Unknown Caller was with the police, so it shouldn't be hard to ask him directly. But Tsushima wasn't the Bureau member responsible for this case, so it would take a while to get the info.
Tsushima said he would tell Kei as soon as he found out and hung up the phone.
Kei still didn't have his emotions in order. The culprit was Unknown Caller and he regretted what he did. Then it shouldn't be difficult to solve everything post-Reset. One phone call would be enough. Even if he doesn't answer the phone, Kei could just follow Minami and he'd get to meet Unknown Caller. No problems. He had nothing to be sad about. That said, it would be strange to be happy with that situation. And much less to be indifferent.
He slowed climbed down the mountain. He was thinking about Unknown Caller all the way down. Conflating the man named Yoshii Ryouji with the Unknown Caller he knew didn't feel right to him.
Back at the shrine, he found Haruki, Minami, and Nonoo.
Kei didn't know why Haruki was there but didn't bother asking. After some hesitation, he called Minami in private and explained the whole case to her. There wasn't much of a point in doing so. She'd forget it after the Reset. But he still felt like he needed to tell.
Minami's floating face had a slight frown from hearing the story. She looked wholly unsatisfied. After it was over, she said she'd go see her corpse and flew away.
Kei only gave Nonoo a quick hi and a quick bye. The gray cat that was meant to die that Friday was playing with her shoelaces. It was a charming scene he wanted to keep looking at forever, but he knew it was rude to stare.
He strolled the town with Haruki. They weren't going anywhere in particular. He was ready to Reset as soon as he got another call from Tsushima. He wanted to put a quick end to Minami and Unknown Caller's case.
As they were going down the gentle slope by the river, Haruki spoke.
"Minami told me she died."
"Huh."
(She knew it. Since she knew her ability was to become a ghost, she should know how to do it. Why did she keep it a secret?)
Kei thought about it for a moment but quickly dropped the subject. There were too many possibilities. This wasn't fun to speculate about just for the sake of curiosity.
"Why were you at the shrine, Haruki?"
"Minami called me last night."
"Oh. To do what?"
"I don't know. Do you know?"
"No."
After becoming a ghost, Minami first visited Kei, then Haruki. The common thread here was that they were both in the Service Club. All members of the Service Club had abilities regarded as special.
(Matching her actions with what I heard in the mountain, I feel like I understand her a lot better now, but as she said, I'll probably never understand her for real.)
"I don't understand Minami all that well", said Kei without further elaboration.
Haruki looked at him, puzzled.
"Will we bring her back to life?"
"Of course we will."
Kei nodded. She died because of a Reset and that's not something he could ignore. It happened in the best time for them to be able to take it back. Just thinking about what would have happened if she died the day after the Reset terrified Kei.
(Why did Minami die? Haruki and I used the Reset to save a cat, and that changed Unknown Caller's state, resulting in Minami's death. There's a missing link in this chain.)
"Minami didn't seem too sad", spoke Haruki.
"Now that you mention it."
(Half of her cheerfulness must be performative. But what her smile was hiding wasn't grief or anger over her death. Honestly, the real Minami doesn't seem all that different from the regular Minami.)
"I feel like she doesn't consider a state where she can move, smile, and talk to people to be death."
Kei nodded unsure.
(What can and can't be considered death? I don't really want to establish a definition. Death comes in many forms. I don't feel like it's right to sort them. Only the lawmakers should waste their time with this kind of thought.)
"Let me see if I got your point straight, Haruki. You don't want to Reset?"
(I think I said this in my usual tone, but I might have slipped in a bit of irritation there.)
The question bothered her.
"I never said that. But Minami should get a say in this. It's only have been 48 hours since I saved. Since we have time to spare, I feel like we should talk to her. She won't remember anything if we Reset without her input."
(A rational and fair opinion. I feel like we should be allowed some unfairness when a classmate dies, but who am I to argue this with Haruki Misora? She's thoroughly objective. Although she mellowed out a bit with the years. Back when I first met, she would make all of her decision by following a big set of rules.)
He wasn't willing to argue emotion against logic. But emotion is ultimately the basis of the human decision-making process. Kei couldn't ignore his emotions completely. Besides, this is the kind of subject where he wanted to be fully honest with Haruki.
"Minami's thoughts on this don't really matter, honestly."
That was where the conversation ended. Haruki could piece together the rest of his thought process from just that.
(She died because I ordered that Reset. The ability to redo the past is a symbol of hope, and so I can't stand to see it causing problems. Never, ever. It's unacceptable. I can remember her smile before she died two years ago. I can remember myself being unable to reject the Reset's power. Even now, I still selfishly believe in it.)
"Understood", said Haruki.
Kei looked for soft and supportive words to say. He wanted to find the "candy land" of conversation topics, something coated in dreams and white lies. He couldn't find anything. His thoughts forcibly returned to reality.
A girl appeared on the next corner of the street. A girl he knew, but not too well. Murase Youka was there.
#sagrada reset#cat ghost and revolution sunday#asai kei#nakano tomoki#minami mirai#haruki misora#nonoo seika#tsushima shintarou#yoshii ryouji#unknown caller
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Cat, Ghost, and Revolution Sunday (Sagrada Reset 1) - Prologue
[INDEX]
“I love messages”, said the girl.
Her voice was slightly hoarse.
This was over 2 years ago. Asai Kei remembered everything that happened at the time. The date, the time, the weather, the color of her clothes, the way her fingers were positioned, the slight tilt of her head. He could even recall the number of times she blinked if he wanted to but there would be no point in doing so.
He walked a hallway in the school’s south building. The raindrops hit the windows and stayed there for a breath’s moment before dripping down the glass. This rain reminded him of her. The monotonous beat of the rain invited introspection. The damp summer weather had a nostalgic smell that dragged his emotions back to the past faster than his memories.
“I love messages”.
It also rained that day. She quietly whispered those words against the sound of the rain.
“I want to pass on a lot of happy words, or maybe even trivial words, from one person to another.”
Two years ago, Kei Asai couldn’t really understand where she was getting at. But he felt that now he gets it a little. The ability to transmit someone’s words to others is a blessing. As long as the message to be passed is happy or trivial.
He slowly walked the hallway, so that he could hear his own footsteps one at a time.
In his memories, Kei asked her. “And what if the message you have to pass is sad?”
Her answer: “I can figure out some clever way to say it. If something needs to be said, I’ll say it the right way, using the right words and the right tricks.”
(Let’s hope you’re up for the task), Kei thought. (And what if you don’t know what the message you need to pass means?) That’s a question he didn’t ask her.
She died before he could ask.
Kei stopped in front of the door to his goal. The teacher’s lounge. He knocked once then opened the door. A teacher was sitting in the second chair from the back of the room, the chair furthest from the window. He had bed hair and sleepy eyes. His name is Tsushima Shintarou. He isn’t Kei’s homeroom teacher, but he taught him math and supervised his club, so might be even closer to Kei than his actual homeroom teacher.
The teacher looked at him, smiled, and said “Hey”.
Kei walked up to him and said in a quiet voice:
“I have a message for you.”
“Oh, from who?”
“From the you from tomorrow.”
Tsushima brought the coffee cup in his hand to his mouth and frowned.
Kei continued.
“You said the MacGuffin was stolen.”
That was the whole message.
He hoped his message made someone happy but thought the chances were low.
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Cat, Ghost, and Revolution Sunday - Chapter 2: The events from Wednesday (part 6)
[INDEX]
"And that's what happened."
Kei was spending his lunch break with Tsushima in the Service Club room.
The Service Club had a few other members aside from Kei and Haruki. 2 to 3 freshmen were invited each year and very few refused.
That said, the club's room was rarely used. This wasn't like the other clubs, where the members got together and worked on their shared hobbies, nor did they need a space to get changed like the sports clubs did. No one needed or wanted to meet in the Service Club room. Kei only used this room when he knew his talks with Tsushima would get long.
The room smelled like coffee. The coffee maker on Tsushima's desk was something he brought just because he felt like it one day. He was the one who used the room the most.
"And what happened to the cat?", said Tsushima, scratching his unshaven chin as usual.
"Nonoo took him home."
"So you saved him. That's nice. Mission complete, right?"
(He's right. I saved a small but precious life without making anyone unhappy in the process. It was a cat this time, but I can do the same to a person. I proved once again that Haruki's Reset has that power and if I write a good report, I can get those cream puffs expensed.)
His work for the Service Club was over. Everything from that point on would be just Kei acting on his own curiosity. Kei let this curiosity take the better of him and asked.
"What was Murase's goal in all this?"
"Who knows? I bet she only wanted to save the cat."
"And nothing else?"
"What else could she want?"
(I don't know. But a lot of clues I thought would connect ended up unconnected. I'm only seeing a very small fragment of the current events. Is it too selfish of me to want to see the full picture? It might be.)
The coffee in the machine got ready and Tsushima poured himself a cup. He asked Kei if he wanted some, but Kei shook his head. July was too hot for that steaming coffee. Tsushima took a sip and spoke.
"You did great. Your job was to save the cat and you succeeded. All this rain will be over tomorrow. What else do you want?"
(He's right.)
Kei kept telling himself that.
There was a lot he was still curious about. Murase's goal, the wall holes, the MacGuffin, Unknown Caller's disappearance... but he already reported all of that to Tsushima and wasn't ordered to investigate.
(The Bureau is a highly efficient organization. Doubting their work will get me nowhere. The same goes for Tsushima. He will solve all of my doubts while I'm not looking. Or maybe none of this is a problem that needs solving.)
"One last question."
"What is it?"
"Does the Bureau know about this job?"
"Of course they do. Service Clubs can't move without the Bureau's permission. You know that."
"So did Murase make the request to the Bureau or did she make it directly to you?"
"Wasn't that the last question?"
"I'm asking the same question a second time."
Kei was suspecting that Tsushima personally accepted the job without going through the proper channels. The point of the Bureau was to eliminate problems caused by abilities, not to use abilities to make the world a better place. That was their reason and meaning, their brand of justice. The Bureau Kei knew would never have authorized Resetting just to save a cat's life.
But it was possible to make Tsushima accept requests that the Bureau would reject. In that case, the client's goal is a secret Kei couldn't be allowed to know. This was not his ideal job of saving a cat from an accident. It was something colder, something the Bureau would consider more meaningful.
Tsushima laughed.
"What's the difference? Your role is the same regardless of the Bureau putting me on the job or I putting them on the job. The Bureau knows everything. Whatever happens later is not your fault. The Bureau will take responsibility and deal with it."
(He's hiding something and he's not hiding that he's hiding it. He's probably trying to control the timing in which I gain the information. For what purpose? Wait, that's not the point. There's a much simpler question to think about now. Do I trust Tsushima or not? ... I'll trust him. At the very least, I know Tsushima is not a bad person.)
"Understood. I'll send my report on Monday. Along with a few receipts to expense."
"No hurries. Just send it this month and that's fine enough. Also...", said Tsushima, pouring milk in his mug. "your last Save was yesterday afternoon, right?"
"Yes. July 13th, 11:59:15."
"Ok. Do not Reset for the time being."
"I'm forbidden until when?"
"Until 72 hours after the Save, when the Reset time limit is about to run out."
(Tsushima is still wary of something. And that part he's not hiding. Why hide the reason, then? Haha, here I go again. I just decided to trust the guy and it didn't take me a minute to catch myself suspecting him. Why do I have to complicate everything?)
"Understood. No problem."
(I won't need to Reset any time soon anyway. My only plan for this Save's remaining time is the festival tomorrow night.)
Thinking about his plans, Kei remembered to tell Tsushima one more thing.
"Oh. And put on the record that I'm working for the Service Club tomorrow morning."
"Why?"
"Before the Reset, I used Murase's case as an excuse to refuse a classmate's invitation."
Minami Mirai's vampire hunt. Kei wanted to avoid acting differently before and after the Reset the best he could. He didn't know what could cause random changes, and he didn't want to inadvertently alter anyone's future.
"Ok. I'll say so if anyone asks."
"Also, Haruki and I are going out for breakfast tomorrow. Can I expense that?"
"To that café where you met Murase before the Reset?"
"Yes."
"You're being too meticulous."
"You have no idea how good their toast was."
"Sure, do whatever you want."
Tsushima slowly mixed his coffee with a spoon and took another sip. And then he scowled. He was always drinking terrible coffee. Kei wondered if that was some matter of twisted principles telling him that adults could only shave once a week and needed to have only the worst coffee.
"Bye then. Don't be late for class."
Saying that, he stood up with his mug still in hand. But normally he would only leave the room after finishing his coffee.
"You're really busy, aren't you?"
"Kinda."
"What are you doing?"
"My job as a teacher. Trying to convince an absentee to go back to school."
"Why you?"
Kei intentionally frowned. He hoped Tsushima was planning to shave before visiting a student's home.
"Why wouldn't it be me? I'm a teacher. It's my job to tell students to come to school. It sucks but bearing the unbearable because that's the job you signed up for is what adults do."
"Why don't they want to go to school?"
"Why? Who would want to waste their time with school business?"
(I agree, but I feel like a teacher shouldn't be saying that. Though that's just my personal opinion and I won't argue with him over that.)
"So you're telling them to go to school even if they don't want to?"
"I already learned that this doesn't work. I'm taking the angle of explaining why education is important."
"Is that working?"
"I gave her a test and she aced it. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep arguing that she needed to come here to learn when she was getting every question right. What was I supposed to say?"
"What about a more emotional approach? Something about the importance of making friends."
"Who would that convince? Emotional arguments only work on kids and hot women."
Tsushima had a point. Kei awkwardly smiled in silence.
Tsushima sipped his coffee and let out a small sigh before he started walking.
"I'll move one step at a time. Take our talk slowly. If I can't talk her out of this, I should let her do as she pleases for a while."
"You think that'll bring her back to school?"
"I wouldn't be so sure. But timing is essential, both for scolding and encouraging."
Tsushima had a friendly smile. That was one of his skills as a teacher. He knew the tricks to close the distance between student and teacher with just an expression.
"You high schoolers all have a pretty good idea of what you have to do. You don't know what you can or can't do, but that's beside the point. Even if you don't how to get to it, you already know the answer. That means we teachers don't need to teach you the answer. We just need to be a tool to you. That's easier on both sides.", said Tsushima. After those words, he left the room, taking his mug with him.
When the door closed, Kei stretched himself on his chair. He stared vacantly at the ceiling and start thinking about Murase's connection to the cat. He formed multiple theories and started evaluating each of them. Then he smiled to himself. He was amused by how automatic the process of thought was. When you start thinking, you'll think even about what you don't want to think about, and once that starts, it's hard to stop.
(Accept the facts already. My job is over. I don't need to try to forget the events of the cat search, but I don't need to make a mess by trying to involve myself with it either.)
Kei got off his chair and left the room.
A trivial doubt was consuming his normal days. He went to the staircase, had lunch with Haruki, and started thinking about a completely different question. One about himself.
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The rain after school was much thinner, looking as if mist was falling.
Haruki Misora invited Kei out of their usual route home. She had decided to do this during their lunch break. While Kei was talking to Tsushima, she was alone by the staircase, waiting for him.
Haruki remembered something every time she approached the rooftop. The memory was very fragmentary, like an isolated picture. It was about Kei and the girl who died two years before.
Haruki thought the girl was very meaningful to Kei. In Haruki's memory, Kei and the girl were hugging. It happened on the rooftop of the south building of their middle school. She was leaning on Kei, who held her gently. If this memory really was a picture, most people seeing would assume they were dating.
Haruki never heard anything about them being in a relationship. She never asked it either. Thinking back, their connection didn't fall under the normal definitions of romance. But thinking a step further, Haruki noticed her understanding of normal definitions of romance was pretty lacking, so she had no solid basis for her impressions. The only thing she could say for sure was that the two of them considered each other special. And every time she remembered this, Haruki feels indescribably uncomfortable. Even now, two years after the girl's death.
Haruki couldn't understand why, but thinking about the rooftop made her decide to spend some time with Kei after school. The cat search was over. He shouldn't have any plans.
Kei agreed immediately. Thinking back, he usually had a 50:50 chance of rejecting Haruki's invitations for no reason. Winning against the 1 out of 2 odds wasn't rare but it still felt like an accomplishment.
"Where are we going?", Kei asked.
(Tough question. I actually want to go look for a hairpin that goes well with my yukata, but he wouldn't enjoy going to accessory stores. But I need to be careful not to appeal to his preferences too much or else we're going to spend the whole evening reading in a café. I have to find a middle ground.)
"We can start with a library."
"The one on the mall?"
"Would you mind going all the way to Mikura?"
"Not at all."
The Mikura Bookstore was past an accessory shop specialized in Japanese aesthetics. The place had hairpins and taking a quick look wouldn't bother Kei too much. Although it was hard to know because Kei didn't express his distastes too often.
Kei looked at the sky through his plastic umbrella.
"The rain should be over by the time we're heading back home."
(If he says it, it must be true. It's hard to be wrong when you actually experienced what will happen.)
The two walked side by side. Their umbrellas were almost touching. Haruki thought that wasn't close enough. She recognized that sunny days were better for walking next to Kei.
The town was silent, aside from the sound of the rain. The number of students on the streets gradually decreased. Kei and Haruki were also quieter than usual.
Haruki didn't mind the silent walk. She knew Kei for about two years. She had already talked to him about pretty much everything and couldn't think of a question they needed to explore again. Even so, she still would prefer to be talking. She knew it would be impossible to perfectly understand Kei no matter how much time she had, but she still wished to increase the percentage she knew as much as she could. At the very least, she thought pursuing this wish was more meaningful than not doing so.
(I need to find a conversation topic. Anything is fine.)
"Have you been reading any books lately?"
Kei liked reading. He was reading normal novels most of the time, but his bookshelf also included some picture books clearly made for children, and some philosophy books Haruki couldn't understand. He claimed to dislike unhappy endings but that didn't mean he refused to read them. Haruki once asked him if he liked novels, and he answered that he liked the act of reading.
"I'm in the middle of a book right now."
"What kind of book?"
"A children's book. It's got a pretty big font size and easy language."
He talked about the book. It was the story of a dragon who was feared and ostracized. The dragon went on many journeys but was always sad. He wasn't accepted anywhere he went. When he went to a village, the humans screamed in terror. When he went to the forest, the animals ran away. Armies tried to defeat the dragon. The dragon didn't want to hurt anyone, so he continued his lonely journey.
"One day, the dragon met a human. A shady man speaking shady words. Someone you could tell at first glance that you shouldn't trust. But the man wasn't afraid of the dragon. The dragon followed the man, glad to have made a friend."
"And the dragon lived happily ever after?"
"I don't think so. The man clearly wasn't a good person. He would use the dragon to drive people out of their villages and steal what he could before anyone got back. Produce, hunting guns, valuable clothing, religious relics. Anything he could sell for a good sum. He would use the money to buy the dragon cheap but pretty necklaces, music boxes, etc. Because they were friends."
(Is the dragon's life happy or not? That's a tricky question. After so long alone, he should be happy to have anyone by his side, but this being a children's story, it's very unlikely they'll let a thief get away with his crimes.)
Kei continued.
"By the way, the man had a crew. A dog and a crow who, just like the dragon, were found at their lowest points and made into underlings. The dragon gradually grew closer to them as the story went. The animals all knew that stealing was bad, so they were thinking about ganging up on the man someday. They'd never lose to a human with a dragon on their side."
"And the dragon beat up the human?"
"It's hard to say. He always pretended to be as nice as he could get away with. He'd free the dragon from cages, split the only food they had, and whatnot. I think he was a great liar. Before raiding a village, he'd always tell stories about how everyone there was evil, and the dragon always bought that. He couldn't see the man as a villain, no matter what the animals said."
Kei said he hadn't read the rest of the story yet. Haruki didn't know how honest he was being. He could have read everything and lied about not knowing the ending, or he could even have made up the whole story on the spot. It was rare, but he invented stories as a cryptic way of sending her a message a few times before. Haruki wanted to find all the hidden meaning in his words, but she wasn't good at that.
"What do you think the dragon will do? Betray the human and join the animals?"
"I believe he would try to make the human redeem himself instead of betraying him."
"Ok. I like where this is going. Why?"
"Because that would be the happiest ending for everyone."
Kei paused to think about something. And then he nodded.
"Makes sense. You're completely right."
Haruki was happy that her answer satisfied him.
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The duo spoke about many other things. Their conversations were soft like cotton candy. The kind of talk that melts in your mouth.
They talked about new songs they heard lately and classics composed decades before they were born. About their best plans for the summer vacations that were coming soon. Kei said all a summer really needs is ramune and fireworks. Later they discussed which was better, ice cream or shaved ice. They both knew they liked both.
Haruki found the shop where she was planning to buy the hairpin from. She saw the pins through the window. She thought the second from right to left was the prettiest. It was simple and its deep crimson didn't stand out too much. She was sure Kei wouldn't complain.
But since the two were talking, she passed by the shop without saying anything. She chose to buy it the next day, whenever she had the time.
They visited the bookstore and spent 40 minutes there. Haruki thought that was short, but felt like even twice that amount wouldn't be enough to satisfy her, so she resigned herself and called it a day.
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Cat, Ghost, and Revolution Sunday (Sagrada Reset 1) - Chapter 2: The events from Wednesday (part 2)
[INDEX]
After their classes were over, Kei and Haruki headed for the teacher's lounge to report to Tsukushima about the job they received and the fact they Reset. The Service Club's work required detailed reports and Resetting renders them unable to Reset again until they make a new Save. And they can't make a new Save for the next 24 hours. Meaning that they can't use Haruki's ability to deal with any problems happening in this meanwhile. Reporting that is crucial.
Tsushima's desk was always a mess. Math textbooks, incomprehensibly scattered questionnaire sheets, unlabeled folders, an open envelope, a book about truancy, and a cold mug of coffee. On the last bit of space left on the table, Tsushima placed his elbow to rest his face on his hand as he listened to the report, bored. After Kei finished his story, Tsushima gave a short answer.
"Ok, the rest is up to you."
He always handled their cases with this hands-off approach. More often than not, the talk ended right there, but this time he added an excuse before leaving.
"I'm kinda busy with my teacher work. If anything happens, report again."
(At this point, he already finished grading the end-of-term tests, so what's keeping him so busy? Well, I'm a student, so I don't have a clear idea of how much a teacher works. Whatever he's doing, I can't imagine searching for a cat will be more important. I'd say it's best for both of us to keep him off the case unless anything major happens.)
Kei and Haruki left their school and went to the commercial district to visit March Hall. Kei bought a 160 yen bag of cream puffs and got a receipt in the Service Club's name.
He stored the puffs in a dry ice box and headed to the shrine. The sky was quite clear. The summer sky before the end of the rainy season had a transparent, watery tinge of blue. However, Kei knew it was going to rain that night.
"What kind of person Nonoo is?"
Kei took a second to think about Haruki's question.
"She's the calm, quiet kind of girl. Less of a cute kitten and more of an adult cute with a nice figure. Unfortunately, she doesn't meow when she speaks."
"Is that what you like, Kei?"
"That what?"
"Meowing."
"Uh, yeah, meowing is cute."
(Notice the obvious joke.)
"The weather is nice today, meow."
(She actually said it... With a straight face, no less. Is there any way out of this conversation? I'm beyond embarrassed.)
"Uh..."
"What's wrong, meow?"
"Sorry, I was kidding. I'm begging you, please talk like a normal person."
(If I don't be honest now, there's a chance she might stick to this forever. I can't even imagine what kind of rumors people would make up about this.)
"Really? Okay."
She calmly nodded.
"You should value yourself a little more."
(I really mean it.)
"I'm not sure what you mean, but if that's what you want, I'll try."
"You could start by changing this way of thinking."
"That's a difficult request."
(The problem is serious. But it doesn't demand an immediate solution, so I'll save that for later. We have a cat to look for now.)
They went behind the shrine and climbed the stone stairs. They found a calico cat along the way. It was strolling calmly, carefree. Kei remembered what Nonoo said. He didn't know how cats experience time.
The stairs finally lead them to the bottom of a quiet hill. Nonoo was sitting on a shrine's staircase, exactly like she was a few hours before from Kei's perspective, or three days later in a future that will never come from an objective perspective. It was as if time was stopped all along.
"Hello, Nonoo."
Hearing her name, she quietly opened her eyes.
"Who're you?"
Nonoo looked at Kei and spoke curtly. Her eyes were emotionless.
Kei introduced himself and Haruki, then quickly explained what happened in the next two days.
Nonoo raised her eyebrows, slightly confused.
"So basically, you know the future?"
"Not exactly, but yes."
(I actually know an undone past, but it'd be hard to explain the difference. I won't give a full explanation of the Reset.)
"And you met me in the future."
"Yes, that's what we need you to believe."
"Fine. What matters is that you knew my favorite food."
Kei handed her the March Hall paper bag.
"We also know that if we don't do anything, a cat will suffer a car accident in two days from now."
Nonoo took the bag and grabbed a cream puff from it. She bit it without hesitation. Some of the custard cream went to her cheeks, but she stretched to her tongue to take it.
With a half-eaten cream puff still in her hands, Nonoo spoke in a serious tone.
"Since when does this Murase own the cat you're talking about?"
Kei heard this question before.
"Since half a year", he answered. "You asked the same question Saturday. Is there any important point to that?"
Nonoo took another bite at her cream puff. Custard cream dripped from the bitten part. She hurriedly tried to fit the rest of the dripping cream into her mouth, swallowed, and licked the cream on her fingers. After that, she finally answered.
"I think I know what cat you're talking about. But the one I know is a stray. He doesn't belong to this human, Murase."
"Really?"
"Yes. That said, I haven't seen him in the past few days."
Nonoo said that if everything would make sense if she adopted the cat recently. But that's not true. Murase explicitly said she adopted it half a year ago.
"Could it be another very similar cat?"
(I have to check every detail with Nonoo.)
"Gray, young, blue eyes, crooked tail."
Kei slowly nodded.
"Only one cat in all of Sakurada matches this description. A nameless stray cat."
Kei sighed. He had imagined that was the case. Murase Youka lied about a few details. She never looked like she was being completely honest.
(There was that photo she sent me. The one that's unfortunately gone thanks to the Reset. There Murase was feeding the cat on the street. What pet owner would feed their own cat outdoors?)
"I told you something was strange.", said Haruki. Kei nodded. Then he asked Nonoo a question.
"Can you tell where this stray cat is now?"
"I can. But it'll take some time."
"Are you going to help us?"
"With a cat's life at stake, I don't have a choice."
She answered and closed her eyes.
With everything set, Kei started thinking about how he didn't have anything to do next, until Haruki pulled his sleeve. She started walking, still holding him by the sleeve. He had no reason to resist.
After getting some distance from the shrine, she spoke.
"Kei, are we continuing with this job?"
Her voice was quiet. She was trying not to disturb Nonoo's sleep.
Kei nodded.
"I see no reason to stop."
(The chances that Murase is lying are indeed high. But letting a cat potentially get ran over is not an option.)
Haruki frowned, concerned.
"But isn't this case strange?"
"Of course it is. Murase had no reason to lie if all she wanted was to save the cat. But the cat being a stray or a pet doesn't make a difference. Saving its life won't hurt anyone either way."
But Haruki still wasn't convinced.
"She still lied to hire us. She must have had a reason."
"For example?"
"I don't know. But it's possible we're being manipulated."
"Probably. But what's wrong with that? If us being manipulated makes someone's life happier, then it's all good."
"Does this really not bother you?"
Haruki's voice was hesitant. It's rare for her to question Kei's judgment. She was fidgeting with her cat keychain.
Seeing that he needed to answer that, Kei shook his head.
"There's a decent chance it'll bother me later."
(Needless to say, everything has a chance of making people unhappy. It's tragic, really.)
"What do you think Murase is trying to do?"
"I don't know. But there's always an apparent benefit in hiring us."
(One that we know it's actually a disadvantage.)
"What is it?"
"Using the Reset. She could have had a different reason to want to rewind time and brought up the cat's accident as an excuse. If that was the goal, Murase succeeded."
A lot of people would want to rewind time three days. And many of them would want to keep their reasons secret. For example, if someone asked Kei to Reset because they failed a test for a job, he wouldn't agree with it. That's a request the Bureau would obviously have rejected, also. If they Reset and made the person get the job, the person who originally got the job would be made to fail. Depending on whose point of view we're looking at, Kei and Haruki would have been using their abilities to make people unhappy.
Haruki nodded, satisfied with his answer.
Kei continued.
"Or she could have not wanted a Reset to happen."
"Why would she hire us if she didn't want a Reset?"
"When we use a Reset, we can't use it again for the next 24 hours. Murase could be trying to do something important while we can't Reset. If that's the case, she'll fulfill her objective somewhere between this afternoon and the next."
(Of course, that's all assuming she knows all the details about Haruki's ability.)
"This doesn't sound good."
Kei nodded. If she took measures against the Reset, that means her goal is something people would want to Reset away. And people don't try to Reset away what makes them happy.
"Whatever the plan is, it's pointless, unless Murase has an ability that prevents her from losing her memories on the Reset."
(I can't imagine there are many people with abilities that make them immune to Resets. But Sakurada's abilities are amazingly varied. Anything goes here.)
"Despite all this, we're continuing this job?"
"What's the harm? We're only discussing what-ifs. Besides, we already Reset, so if our suspicions are true, it's already too late. Also, we're reporting what we're doing to Tsushima."
Kei trusted Tsushima. Or rather, he trusted the Bureau.
(They would never let this go unchecked. If this case causes a problem, they'll deal with it without me needing to do anything. If that's not enough of an issue to set the Bureau in action, then I'll play Murase's puppet. There's nothing wrong with being manipulated by her.)
However, Haruki still had her grievances with the idea.
Seeing the talk hadn't made much progress, Kei continued.
"I am alert. But we can't simply drop a mission without a good reason. Because there's a big chance the cat will be run over for real Friday."
"I'm..."
Before Haruki could say anything, Kei heard a voice behind him.
"Didn't work."
He looked at Nonoo. Her eyes were open. Kei turned his eyes back to Haruki, who shook her head. She wouldn't finish her sentence.
Kei returned to where Nonoo was.
"What didn't work?"
"Sorry. He's sleeping now."
(He, the cat?)
"Is that a problem?"
Nonoo nodded.
"When I use my ability, I can share my consciousness with cats. My thoughts and the cat's become indistinguishable. So, if, for example, the cat knows its own location, I'll get to know it."
"That's really nice."
"But sharing my consciousness with an asleep cat gives me nothing. You don't think about where you are while you sleep, do you? All I can see is their often absurd dreams."
"I see."
(Cats dream? Didn't know that.)
"I'll try again after some time."
"Please do. Could you call me when you find out?"
Kei took his notebook from his bag, wrote his number, ripped that scrap of paper, and handed it to Nonoo. She immediately saved his number on her phone. Kei held himself not to laugh at the jarring image of Nonoo with a smartphone.
"I'll call you as soon as I know."
"Thank you very much. I'll bring more cream puffs next time."
"You can come empty-handed. Saving a cat is enough of a treat."
Saying that she grabbed and took a bite out of the second cream puff. Seeing that made Kei want one, too. He regretted not having bought any for himself and Haruki, since he was expensing it all on the club's budget anyway.
"Bye.", said Nonoo, waving. A red light suddenly reflected on her lustrous skin. Kei looked at the sky and saw it colored by a beautiful sunset. However, the west side of it had some very dark blue clouds. It was going to rain in two hours from that moment.
Kei said goodbye, warning Nonoo that she should go home before it got dark.
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On their way back from the shrine, Kei and Haruki took a detour to visit the shopping district. They passed by the bakery where the accident with the cat would happen if they didn't do anything about it. At that moment, that store was just a regular part of the district. No one would imagine a cat losing its life there.
The store had already closed its shutters. The shutters were white, with the bakery's business hours written in green letters. 6 AM to 6 PM. Simple.
The two walked slowly, chatting. During this chat, Haruki calmly suggested:
"Do you want to have dinner before going home?"
Kei only then noticed he was a little hungry. But he shook his head.
"Not today. I still have leftovers from yesterday."
Kei lived alone in a one-room apartment. Because of that, Haruki would invite him for dinner almost every day at that hour. But Kei was extremely against acting differently before and after a Reset for no reason. Besides, Haruki lived with both of her parents, and her mother cooked for the family every day. Kei felt he shouldn't be making her frequently dine out, so he established a rule of only accepting Haruki's invitations up to twice per month. Once in each half of the month. Otherwise, he always refused.
"Ok..."
Haruki nodded.
(She must have already noticed my personal rule by this point. And knowing that, she's still always inviting me for dinner. She must be doing it for a reason, signaling some kind of message to me. But for now, I don't care for interpreting the signs.)
They heard the sounds of drums and flutes. People were preparing for that weekend's summer festival.
"Oh, that reminds me we promised to go to the summer festival together."
It happened between taking Murase's request and using the Reset.
"You hadn't mentioned that before."
She frowned a little. She always did that face on purpose when in a bad mood. Emoting didn't come very naturally to her, so Kei found her manual attempts at facial expression very charming.
"The festival is Saturday night, right? We should be already done with Murase's request by then."
"Why didn't you tell me before? Immediately after the Reset."
"Sorry, that didn't even cross my mind."
Haruki wanted to complain, but instead erased her expression with a quick head shake.
"Then I'll need a yukata."
"Yeah, that's the summer spirit. You'll use that purple one?"
The yukata Haruki wore last year. Mentioning it automatically puts the image in Kei's brain. It was a very light purple yukata with goldfishes printed on it. He remembered her holding a candy apple.
"I could buy a new one. Do you prefer the one from last year?"
"Your choice. Wear whatever you want."
"Even if it's something like a gothic lolita dress all full of laces?"
(That's not even a yukata. I want to believe she's just joking, but you can never be too sure with Haruki.)
"I prefer my summer festival outfits a little more Japanese."
"What color?"
"The color of the sky right now."
The sun had set behind the mountains, but it still wasn't dark enough to be considered night. It was as if blue paint was being diluted in the air.
Kei found a public phone in a dark corner and stopped there. Haruki was standing to his left, looking at the sky.
"This color wouldn't be too different from the one from last year."
"Yeah. Why don't use that one again? You looked good in it."
(It's not a thing you get to wear many times per year. There's no need to buy a new one every time.)
Kei took the receiver of the public phone and inserted a coin. After typing the number, he heard the usual automatic message.
"You say that for everything I wear."
"Do I? That means you look good in anything."
He hung up the phone. His coin rolled down. He made another call with the same coin.
"It makes your comments harder to believe."
"Heh, why?"
"What do you think?"
"I can't imagine it. I was under the impression we were in a relationship of strong mutual trust."
He took a melodramatic approach. Haruki glared at him.
"Are all men uninterested in clothes?"
"Not at all. Remember how expensive Tomoki's shoes are."
"But you don't have any like that, do you?"
"That doesn't mean I don't care. If I liked something a little more on the expensive side, I'd still buy it."
(It's just that I always start looking from the cheaper ones and don't take long to find what I want. Maybe I'm lucky, or maybe I just have no standards.)
"But you don't care for girls' clothes, do you?"
"That's not true. I like miniskirts. Red-checkered ones especially."
"Not when I wear them."
"Have you ever done wore those before?"
"Yes. Many times. And you always hated it."
That was because Haruki's fashion sense can go to extremes. One time she went to middle school with a boys uniform because the idea came up in conversion and Kei supported it, not expecting her to take the joke seriously.
(I'm so glad she's finally learning to doubt the unreasonable. Though I still think she'd wear anything I supported strongly enough. She's concerning, to say the least.)
"Then should I get a red-checkered miniskirt to the festival?"
"Bad idea. Their appeal comes from being worn by strangers you pass by on the street."
Kei's real favorite outfit was jeans with a white shirt. Minimalism appealed to him. He thought Nonoo would look great dressed like that.
Haruki tried to say something but Kei raised his hand to stop her.
"It connected."
(It happened relatively fast today. I haven't even dialed the tenth time yet.)
Kei said "Hello, Asai here" to the phone. The usual robotic female voice answered him. It was Unknown Caller.
"Hey, Kei. What are you needing today?"
"I Reset after getting some intel from you. You charged 3 sheets and 3 t-shirts. You'll need to make the transfer again."
"Gotcha. Thank you."
(Their fees are so weird. They just take the money from my account, so how do I know if they're really buying sheets and shirts with it?)
"By the way, what info did I sell you?"
"I'm looking for a cat, so you introduced me to someone named Nonoo Seika."
"Ok. Did you need to call me just for that?"
"Of course I did. I wouldn't want you to go unpaid. And I also have something I want to ask. Do you know Murase Youka?"
(As Haruki mentioned, a lot about our mission is suspicious. If I were a detective with strong convictions, I'd be more resistant to the thought of exposing my client's secrets, but I'm just a high schooler with no reason to care about professionalism. Knowing about Murase isn't a must, but it doesn't hurt to make one phone call.)
Unknown Caller answered.
"I'm forbidden to disclose information about her. Not even to you, Kei."
(Didn't see this one coming. Nothing wrong with them withholding information. The Bureau is very particular about information about abilities, and Unknown Caller is connected to the Bureau. But I wasn't expecting them to openly tell me they were hiding something. They're practically begging me to suspect her.)
"That means you know, right?"
"Not much. Nothing I'm allowed to tell you, though."
"Who is forbidding you from disclosing her information?"
"You know I can't say."
(Ok. That's fine. Just knowing they can't talk is already a big find.)
Kei took a moment to think. One word surfaced in his mind.
"What about the MacGuffin? Do you know anything about it?"
There's nothing directly connecting the two, but there was one indirect connection. Unknown Caller was forbidden to discuss it before the Reset.
"Can't talk about that either."
"Since when? By who?"
"Can't answer."
(That's it, last question.)
"Was it the same person who ordered you to withhold information about both Murase Youka and the MacGuffin?"
"Confidential. All talk about these two is completely confidential."
They cackled through the phone. With the robotic voice.
"Don't worry. You seem to be on the right track right now."
(The right track? For what? This doesn't seem to be about finding the cat.)
"Because you suspected there was a connection between Murase Youka and the MacGuffin, even though there shouldn't be anything tying the two together."
(No. Something is tying them. I found this tiny thread.)
"Are you sure you could say that? Weren't you forbidden?"
"I know my loopholes. But honestly, I don't see the issue. You don't have anything concrete yet. Besides, I don't know a thing about what the MacGuffin really is either."
(The MacGuffin. The generic plot device that only exists to connect the protagonist to the plot. I'm really interested in this one.)
"Bye. Take care."
Whispering that, Unknown Caller hung up. Kei put the receiver in its place.
"What did they say?", asked Haruki.
Kei shook his head and answered.
"As I said, distrusting people is wrong."
(Suspicion is a slippery slope. We're better off just focusing on finding the cat.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kei got home by 7:30 PM.
After a quick meal, he washed his single dish. That's when the rain started. The rhythm of that night's pour was very simple. The drops fell straight to the ground, with no wind to disturb their pace. Kei lied down in bed, listening to the rain's melody.
That said, it was still too early to sleep. He took his phone and called the number saved as "Tsushima". It went straight to voice mail. Kei said his name and cut to the point: "What do you know about Murase Youka?"
He locked his phone's screen and rested his head on the pillow. Then he let out a small sigh. He was hesitant but slowly accepting the idea he'll need to investigate Murase Youka. He didn't know much about her. All he really knew was her e-mail, but he was still feeling against emailing her. If she was affected by the Reset, she doesn't know him. If she somehow still has the pre-Reset memories, there's a high chance she's taking advantage of Haruki's ability for some purpose. In either case, she wouldn't reply to his e-mail. And much more importantly, this was unrelated to the cat's rescue and he didn't want to do things differently from how he did pre-Reset.
Kei closed his eyes and watched a multitude of memories inside his head.
Every ability in Sakurada has a limitation. A limited number of uses, strict activation conditions, or even something else entirely. Kei's ability is no exception. Kei can't undo his ability's activations. That means that once he recalls anything, he can never forget it again.
Constantly reliving one's past moments of stupidity for years doesn't contribute to a person's mental health. He frequently wanted to scream, but never actually did. He knew that the image of him screaming alone in his bedroom wasn't one he would want stuck in his memory forever, and this idea overwhelmed his intrusive thoughts.
He already wondered why he had this ability before. Sakurada's abilities are said to be dependant on the user's attributes. Supposedly, the user's nature, objectives, hopes, and wishes become their ability. In that case, what would be the nature of the ability to never forget anything? What was he wishing for?
It wasn't easy to find an answer. Sakurada's abilities were filled with mysteries. They don't teach about them at school. People just needed to accept that they won't understand them, like they do with the origins and structure of the universe. Understanding or not, they're still there and won't go away. The only people still trying to find meaning in the abilities at that point were Bureau employees who do that for a living and children who still ask questions about everything.
Kei wasn't particularly fond of his abilities, although he didn't hate it either. If asked if he wanted to lose it, his answer would be a clear no. His ability was already deeply encroached on him, as an essential component of his identity.
Sakurada's abilities are the power to achieve something just by wishing it. Despite their potential for harm, Kei couldn't deny their value.
Kei made a conscious effort to look at his own memories as objectively as he could. He couldn't stop himself from forming opinions about his past self, but he tried to keep his self-affirmation and self-rejection well balanced.
His trip down the memory lane was interrupted by the phone in his hands ringing. He forced his consciousness back to the present. This didn't make the memories disappear, but he could at least focus on the ones relevant to his current reality.
The person he wanted to hear from the most was Tsushima Shintarou. The second was Nonoo Seika. The caller here was the latter.
Kei put the phone to his year as he sat up.
Before he could say anything, he heard Nonoo yelling.
"He was kidnapped."
(That was sudden.)
"He, the cat? What do you mean by kidnapped?"
"Taken away by an unidentified human. What else does 'kidnapping' mean?"
"That's terrible."
(Wait, is it? It's most likely just a stray cat being adopted. Though I guess cats and humans view this under different lenses. If Nonoo is panicking, then the cat must be panicking.)
"And where is the cat now?"
(What really matters now is the cat's location. Knowing that is huge progress.)
But Nonoo's voice on the phone was sullen.
"I'm sorry. I didn't find out. I can't learn what the cat doesn't know."
Kei remembered her explaining that.
She could share her consciousness with cats. Kei didn't really know what it felt like to share, but Unknown Caller commented that her ability was slightly similar to Kei's own. It was possible to describe Kei's ability as sharing his consciousness with his past self.
"It's ok. We made undeniable progress."
Kei made an effort to say this emotionlessly. He smiled to himself at his attempt to talk like Haruki.
"Did you learn anything? Any detail can be vital, no matter how minor it looks. For example, did you see when or where he was taken? The kidnapper's face? Tell me anything."
"He was taken this afternoon, around 3. Probably at a park in Oogi."
(Today, huh? Intriguing timing. It's not too long after the Reset.)
"Is the cat indoors?"
"Yes, seems to be."
"Did you see what the owner of the house looks like?"
"No. Didn't see anyone. This is strange."
She paused to remember the situation then continued.
"A person was there. He didn't see it, but he heard the door opening and someone entering. He rushed under the bed for safety."
"And after that?"
"I wanted to see the person's face. My thoughts made him go peek out of the bed."
(Interesting. Her ability is to share consciousness with cats. It's not a one-sided power to learn what cats are thinking. The cats learn her thoughts just as well as she learns theirs. That's why that cat could guide us the first time we wanted to meet her.)
"And what happened?"
(Why the cat couldn't see the person after peeking out of the bed.)
"The human was probably on the bed. They pet the cat's head from behind. And that's where my ability disconnected."
"Is that normal?"
"I don't know. My ability is unstable. It often disconnects naturally as I wake up. But this time felt wrong. The consciousness split was too abrupt."
"I see."
(As I said to Haruki, if Murase's goal in hiring us was to make us use the Reset, there's a high chance someone has an ability that makes her immune to it. The ability to negate other abilities. Sounds plausible. The question is who has this ability. My best guess is someone closely associated with Murase, but I don't have any proof. I can only hope we're being used for a peaceful purpose. If it's something malicious, I can't let that slide.)
"What was the room like?"
"Normal. It had a bed, a TV, and a desk. I can't say for sure, but it looked like a student's room."
"Did you notice anything else?"
"There was a picture frame on the desk. The photo of a man in his early twenties."
"Was he the only person in the photo?"
"Yes."
(Who would decorate their bedroom with a photo of a young man alone? This doesn't feel right even assuming he's her friend or her brother. Wait, is it really a "her"? It's too early to assume that. I'm trying too hard to connect this to Murase.)
"We know that the cat is alive, right?"
"Most likely. I already share my consciousness with a cat on its last breaths before. This disconnection was different. I don't believe he died."
"Good."
Kei smiled on command. Nonoo couldn't see him through the phone but he hoped this would make a noticeable difference in his voice.
"I'm sure someone just adopted him because he's too cute to be on the streets. He might be having a delicious dinner right now."
"I don't care about the culprit's intentions. He was grabbed against his will. He was terrified."
(I see. She's right.)
"Understood. I'll look for the culprit. Did you happen to see any other cat being kidnapped?"
"I don't know. I'll search now."
"Ok, keep me posted. Don't worry, the cat being unharmed means the person doesn't want to hurt it."
Nonoo stayed silent for a while, but then quietly said:
"Yeah. I'll call later."
And then she hung up.
Kei lied down again.
(Why was the cat kidnapped? If the goal was to make us use the Reset, then they should have already gotten what they wanted. Why is the cat still relevant? Is he important somehow?)
Kei couldn't find any answers. He looked at the window. The sound of the rain slowly returned to his attention.
(At least the cat won't get soaked by the rain, since he's indoors.)
#sagrada reset#cat ghost and revolution sunday#asai kei#tsushima shintarou#haruki misora#nonoo seika#unknown caller
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Cat, Ghost, and Revolution Sunday (Sagrada Reset 1) - Chapter 1: Starting on Sunday (part 2)
[INDEX]
Upon hearing the sound of the opening door, Asai Kei checked the café's clock. 9:55. Exactly 5 minutes before the agreed time.
Kei stood up, looking at the entrance. Haruki also stood up from the seat next to his. A girl with red glasses entered through the door.
She looked around the café with a serious expression and walked toward Kei.
"Hello. Are you Murase?"
She raised her eyebrow a little in response to the question but quickly nodded.
(Her expression is stiff. Not sure if she's wary of us or just nervous. I should soften up my smile.)
"Nice to meet you. My name is Asai Kei. And she is Haruki Misora."
After hearing that, the girl, Murase Youka, tried to smile. Her expression didn't get any less stiff, but at least she managed to lift the corners of her lips. On the other hand, her eyes were glaring intensely from behind the lenses. Kei paused for a second to think about the meaning of her gaze but decided he shouldn't be getting attached to first impressions. He focused on his own smile.
She spoke, intentionally trying to contain her voice.
"Hello. My name is Murase Youka. Tsushima told me a lot about you two."
Tsushima Shintarou was a teacher in Kei's school, Ashiharabashi High School. He was also a member of the Management Bureau. Every school in the city had a teacher like him. Just like how every school has a teacher licensed to operate the infirmary. They need to be prepared since ability-related incidents can happen in schools.
Kei and Haruki went to meet Murase by Tsushima's orders. However, all he told them about her was her name and age. He clearly remembered that she is one year older than them. From that, he could assume she was a high schooler, but he had no idea which school she attended.
Murase whispered fast.
"Sorry, I'm not used to this kind of thing."
Kei responded with a smile.
"Neither we are, honestly."
It's very rare for them to learn about their tasks from anyone other than Tsushima.
"Let's sit down before we talk", said Kei. He had stood up without much thought because he felt it would be in bad taste to greet someone from his chair, but he didn't know when was the best time to sit down again.
The waiter came to take their orders and Murase just uttered the word "coffee". Kei added ice cream to his order.
After the waiter left, Murase spoke in a quiet voice.
"Asai, you're a high schooler, right?"
"Yes. I'm a freshman."
"Why are you working for the Bureau?"
Kei reacted to the question with an ambiguous smile.
"Because I'm part of a club dedicated to helping their operations."
"The Service Club."
"Yes."
The Ashiharabashi High School Service Club. Every school in Sakurada has a Service Club and they are all supervised by the teacher from the Bureau.
The Bureau monitors people with special abilities. Technically, every ability is special, but the Bureau's tight surveillance is dedicated especially to the potentially dangerous abilities.
Joining a Service Club was one way to soften that surveillance, even if not by much. The teacher responsible for it gives them jobs according to their abilities and demands detailed reports of how they handled their missions. By filling a report form, the club members would be exempt from a few necessary steps of the regular management, gaining a certain degree of freedom.
"Not the nicest name, don't you agree?", said Murase.
"What name?"
"Service Club, what else?"
"Oh, of course. I'm quite fond of it, actually."
Kei's answer cut the conversation short. Murase didn't know what to say next. After a while, Kei asked:
"Could you explain what's happening? What do you want us to do?"
"He didn't explain anything?"
Her voice was strong, with small hints of annoyance. "Tsushima didn't tell you anything about my request?", she corrected herself in a much calmer tone.
(She's not very used to talking to strangers, isn't she?)
He had received a very simple explanation about his task.
"He told us we'll search for a lost cat. But that felt a bit off since he should have people better equipped to handle this job."
"He said you two were experts in finding things."
(Only if you lost it recently, I guess.)
"When did your cat disappear?"
"About one week ago."
(That's too late. What a shame, this would have gone without a hitch if you had lost it precisely 3 days ago.)
Murase softly closed her eyes and continued with a dark expression.
"But I'm not exactly looking for the cat. I found it last morning. I found it on a neighboring roadside."
"Then what are we supposed to do?"
"When I found the cat, it was already cold."
(I don't like the way she worded this. "Already cold.")
"Was it a car accident?"
"Yes."
Kei got the gist of his mission. He also understood why Tsushima phrased it as a "search for a cat".
He moved his eyes back to Murase, seeing she was also looking at him. The same glare as always. He noticed her eyes had been like this ever since she sat down. Her overall face changed to express her emotions, but her eyes were fixed, always facing forward. Never lowered, never raised. Those were eyes that could never find a rainbow.
Murase spoke in a firm tone.
"I hired you to revive a dead cat."
That was a very difficult request. As far as Kei could tell, no one in Sakurada had the ability to revive the dead, be it a human or a cat. That said, it's still true that Kei and Haruki were a good pick for this job.
"Got it."
"Can you do it?"
"Revive it? No. But we can undo his its death."
"Really?"
Murase didn't smile. She didn't look relieved. Kei confirmed her pressing glare was still daring him to do it.
Kei answered her question with another question.
"Why do you want to save the cat?"
"I just want my cat back. Is there any problem with that?"
"No, that's a perfectly valid reason."
He never planned to reject Tsushima's request.
He turned to Haruki, who was sitting next to him. She was playing with the black cat keychain attached to her phone, showing no signs of interest in Murase's story. It was always like this. Kei was in charge of all the conversations.
He held back on this urge to sigh. He turned back to Murase and tried his best to look serious.
"Do you have the resolve to kill three days worth of the world for this cat?"
There's no point in asking this question. Kei only did it to feel clever. After all, she would lose her memories of this conversation very soon.
Murase raised her eyebrow.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Today, yesterday, and the day before might be undone to save your cat. Do you have the resolve to force every person in the world to redo the past three days one more time?"
Murase paused to think for a while. The waiter brought the coffee and the ice cream while she did.
After waiting for the waiter to walk away, Murase gave a short answer.
"I do."
Kei ate a spoonful of ice cream.
"Then please tells us about your cat."
She told the cat was originally a street cat, until Murase Youka adopted it about half a year ago. It was a kitten at the time, but it quickly grew up. It was a crossbreed male. Its name was Calico.
Murase had a photo of the cat on her phone. Kei asked for her contact information so she could send him the photo. A soot gray cat with a crooked tail was eating under the shade of a street lamp. The cat didn't look too amiable, but Kei thought that only made it cuter. He died yesterday, ran over by a car in a commercial district. She found its body around 9:15 in front of a bakery.
After giving all the basic information, she thanked them in advance and stood up. She walked away, leaving behind the hot coffee cup she only touched once.
"What are we going to do?", asked Haruki.
Kei answered while trying to get a spoon of his mostly melted ice cream.
"We'll save the cat, of course. It's an official job, and I like cats, too. I can't find any reason to refuse."
If everything went right, the cat would be brought back to life, the girl who only looked forward would be happy, and the Ashiharabashi High Service Club's reputation would improve, potentially leading to a rise in their budget. A Service Club's budget was close to a part-time salary. They could use it for pretty much anything they wanted, as long as they remembered to get a receipt.
Haruki waited for him to finish enjoying his ice cream before she talked.
"But didn't this request feel any strange to you?"
"What part of it was weird?"
"First off, the goal of the mission. The Bureau wouldn't get involved unless the cat was killed by an ability, would they?"
"You're completely right."
The Management Bureau acts exclusively on problems caused by abilities. Things would easily get out of hand if they got involved in every problem that ever happened.
"Second, the request happened too soon after the accident."
"Yeah. I agree."
It was still mid-afternoon of the previous day when Tsushima gave them the order to meet Murase. According to her, the accident happened on the same day's morning. That would mean she contacted the Bureau, got her case approved, and transferred to Tsushima in merely a couple of hours. This was unnaturally fast.
"And considering this, what are we going to do?", Haruki asked again.
"We'll save the cat, of course.", Kei answered again. He didn't repeat his reasons why.
(This might not be an official job. It's quite possible that Murase simply asked Tsushima for help without even trying to contact the Bureau. If she's a student in Ashiharabashi, it'd make sense for her to know Tsushima. It's not like I know the names of every student there. If that was a private request to Tsushima, the inconsistencies Haruki pointed out start making sense. The timing sounds reasonable assuming the Bureau was never involved. Honestly, this whole story has many more curious points to it. That said, no one can know everything about something before trying it. Besides, I really like this job. "Save a cat's life". Really nice stuff there.)
Haruki gave a quick nod. It was a movement without emotion. And then, she said:
"Then, let's go to the festival tonight."
Suddenly changing topics used to be one of Kei's bad habits, but now it fully belongs to Haruki.
"What festival?"
(It is festival season, now that I think about it. We have festivals almost all over July, and then summer vacations start. That's how summer goes in Sakurada.)
"Sure. I'm free tonight, I think."
(That should be all for today, regarding this job. The complicated day will be yesterday, when the cat will die.)
Haruki had an innocent smile.
"Then let's hurry and save the cat."
"No, we need information first."
(The time limit is last morning. The cat will already have suffered the accident by 9:15. From my point of view, this moment will come in two days from today. I want to find him before that happens.)
Haruki tilted her head.
"We're asking Sakuin?"
"No, let's go with Unknown Caller today. The case might blow out of proportion if we rely on Sakuin."
After swallowing the last bit of ice cream, Kei stood up.
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