So, let’s start from the very beginning. It was on January 5th. It was the second of January 5th that I experienced. I remember everything clearly because it was the first time I noticed that I was trapped in a time loop. So, it was Sunday. Like every Sunday, I lazed around after waking up at nine in the morning. I opened my social media, looking at the fun facts, looking at cute anime waifus, and whatever was in my only social media. It was my daily morning activities after all.

So, that was when I noticed that I was in a time loop. It was easy to notice because I felt that it was weird to see a lot of posts that I had seen before. If it were only several posts, I would think that they reposted something similar, but the more I scrolled down, the weird it became. The post that I had seen yesterday, or the day before that, disappeared. When I checked the account, it was as if the posts were deleted. If it were only one or two accounts, I wouldn’t be surprised, but there was a lot, in fact, all accounts that I followed deleted their posts.

Weird, huh? At that time, I also felt that it was weird, but I thought maybe the social media I was on was hacked and it deleted some posts at a range of time. I didn’t think about it too much.

The second, however, I couldn’t ignore. I have a brother. He was in an army. So, he rarely returned home. However, before that day, so, January 4th was the day when my brother returned home after more than a year. He would only stay for a few days though. But anyway, since he rarely at home, my parents were excited to have him at home.

See how surprised I was when I noticed my brother was eating breakfast with my parents? He should have returned to the army on Wednesday! I was wondering whether he forgot something, so I asked him that, but the way he and my parents looked at me was... well, it was weird. They told me that he just returned and me asking that question was as if I wanted him to leave soon. And that time, I was shivering for an unknown reason.

Of course, I didn’t show that to my family, but I nonchalantly laughed it off and said that I was joking. And we had breakfast together. And the morning... repeated like the previous Sunday.

After having breakfast, I returned to my room and looked to the calendar on my phone. Yes, it was January 5th. It should be on January 12th now. I thought that it might be a prank by my brother and the others, but I didn’t confront them directly. If it were a prank, that was alright. But I remembered all the posts that disappeared and the possibility of time loop scared me, so I didn’t ask them about it. Instead, I tried to ask Google and it gave me the answer. Sunday, January 5th, 2020.

There was no way my family could make a prank like this. Unless they had an expert hacker that hacked into my computer and phone, but it was almost impossible. I turned on my PS4, looking at the save file of my games. The last time I saved was on January 4th. They wouldn’t be able to change the auto-save even if they could delete some of my newest save files. At that time, I noticed that I was in a time loop and I believed it truly.

There were a lot of questions in my mind. I remembered everything, well, almost everything that I did from January 5th to Saturday 11th. It was a holiday, so besides playing games, watching animes, reading some webnovels, I went out one time. It was to buy something from the nearest convenience store. To make sure that it was really a time loop, I went to that convenience store again at the same time as the previous January 5th. And as expected, I saw the same customers, doing the same thing as the previous Sunday.

“I am repeating today.” That was what I thought.

I liked science fiction, so I knew about the time loop. For example, there was a set of... key events happening in a time loop. To break the time loop, I had to interference with those key events. Or, as Wikipedia said, a time loop usually occurred because I died or at the same time. For now, I assumed that something happened to me between next Saturday and next Sunday. So, at that time, I wouldn’t sleep. If it was caused by my death, I would know how I died. If it was because of other things, I would know too. Maybe I wouldn’t experience the time loop anymore the next Sunday?

With the latter part, I thought that I would enjoy the day like the day in the previous iteration. Well, except the fact that I could read more mangas, watch more animes, read more webnovels or play more games, I did this iteration similar to the previous iteration. And when Saturday night came, I didn’t sleep at all. I didn’t die, by the way. And I didn’t feel any different. I was reading a webnovel and the next thing I knew, the sun rose from the East.

I checked the calendar on my phone. January 5th.

I repeated this day, huh? Even though I didn’t feel anything at all, but I repeated this day. From Sunday to Saturday. That meant, I repeated these seven days again. Well, at that time, I thought that it was not a bad thing. I always thought that there were a lot of things that I wanted to do, but I didn’t have enough time to do them all. For example, reading webnovels. Even though I only read several of them, even when I sacrificed my sleep, I didn’t have enough time to read what I wanted to read. Not to mention that I wanted to play countless games, watching a lot of animes and movies, and reading mangas. So, the time loop was something that I really wished to happen, and when it happened, I did everything that I wanted to do.

It was really fun. I didn’t have to worry about having not enough time. Seriously. It was really the best week of my life. Until I did them all. There were no more animes that I wanted to watch. I had watched all the animes online, from the best to the worst animes. Similarly, I also read all the mangas. And the webnovels. And the novels. And the movies. And the games. I couldn’t play a game that needed a lot of playtime like RPG, because when the time looped, the save file would disappear. When the time looped, even if I didn’t notice it, my clothes changed back into the clothes I wore on January 5th. Weirdly, once, I tried looking at the mirror to see when my clothes changed. It changed at random times. Sometimes, it was between 3.15 to 3.16 in the morning. Sometimes, it was from 3.19 to 3.20. I wasn’t sure, but it never less than 3 am and never passed 3.30.

So, there was no exact time when I looped back to the previous Sunday.

Anyway, let me continue telling the story. I was getting bored after the countless iterations. I felt like I had been living in the iterations for years and since I had done everything that I wanted to do, I had to find more things that I wanted to do. But... I didn’t have anything that I wanted to do besides doing my hobby.

Well, that was when I noticed it. Even if I found what I wanted to do next, if I didn’t escape the time loop, I would be bored too. So, I started searching for a way to break this loop. It was not easy, seriously. In the beginning, I did everything based on the movie and anime about the time loop. In those stories, the time loop happened because of the time machine accidentally invented by a group of, well, students or NEET. Anyway, I thought that there was a group that accidentally created a time machine and so I was trapped in a time loop.

So, based on that, I started searching everywhere. Well, at least, everywhere that I could go to. I couldn’t go to a military facility, so I didn’t check places like those places. Also, there were a lot of places that I couldn’t check, so, saying that I started searching everywhere was not correct.

Though at the latter iterations, I became desperate and forcefully entered those places. I had experimented that I would be teleported back forcefully when I was not in my own room. Anyway, it was a story for later. For now, I started with the first iterations when I started searching from my surrounding.

Yes, the basics of this kind of event, especially when playing a game was to search for the nearby area. Usually, the key was not far from the starting area. And in this case, the starting area was my room. So, I started searching for some artifacts in my room. Maybe there was an unknown artifact in my room, but after searching in my room, I couldn’t find anything that was out of place. I also tried to move the things in my room out temporarily. For example, my pc, I put it in the hallway, but in the next iteration, it returned to my room. It seemed the key... anything it was, it was not in the room.

By the way, while doing those experiments (putting the things in my room... house out of my house), I also did various things. Mainly, studying. Yep, studying. Since I had done everything that I wanted to do, this time, I planned to do what I needed to do. And so, I started studying. I thought that I would be able to escape this time loop before I finished studying but... well, after reading all the college materials that I had, I also finished reading interesting papers. After that, I also read almost all the papers. And before I knew it, I finished everything regarding studying. Well, not everything, as I didn’t learn the arts, only science. 

Anyway, there was no progress whatsoever with the search of the key, but I was not desperate yet. Still, I was getting impatient a bit. I called my best friend and asked him about it. I told him about my experience, but he only laughed it off. Fortunately, even if he laughed it off, he still gave me a suggestion. Yeah, for example, he told me to kill myself, because there are stories about how the main protagonist kills themselves to trigger the time loop.

Of course, that is not something that I would do and will never do. How if I permanently die? That is not funny, right? So, don’t kill yourself voluntarily.

Anyway, he told me that the key might necessarily not be an artifact. It might not be an item. It might be a place. Or an event. Something that I had to do. For example, saving the world. Well, the world was not threatened at that time, so that was just an example. Or saving the girls that close to me. Unfortunately, with my life, I was not close with anyone at all. Except for my family and several of my best friends. And none of them were in danger, after repeating several iterations to protect them.

But still, an event, huh? Maybe, I should save someone’s life? That was what I thought. That was what I tried to do. After my friend told me that, I started patrolling the city that I lived in. I tried to stop any crimes happening in my city. Well, I didn’t act like a Hero, I just ask my brother to walk with me. He is from the military after all, so it should be easy for him to subdue a thief or two. Not to mention that I helped him.

While doing this, I learned a lot of skills from my brother. Mostly, close-quarter combat. I improved a lot after several years of training though. Maybe. I didn't count how many years it was. After that, I also learned a lot of things from my brother. How to pick a lock, how to intimidate or threaten people, how to use a gun, well, everything he knew. I also learned some martial arts. From an online video-sharing platform. Of course, my brother helped me sharpen the skills I learned from those videos. And after hundreds of iterations, I could beat him and I started going to stop crimes alone. Also, I got to know some acquaintances from the underworld because of it. 

So, after making sure that I covered the entire city and stopped every crime... I was still trapped in the time loop. It was not the time for me to be in despair though. If stopping crimes in my city was not enough, I had to increase the coverage. From my city to the neighboring city. And then the next city. And then the next. And so on and so forth. Until I stopped every crime in the whole country once, but still, I couldn’t escape the time loop.

“It seems stopping crimes is not the key to escape this time loop,” I told my friend this information. He laughed it off, like in the previous iteration. But he still gave a suggestion. “How about saving lives?”

So, after stopping crimes, the next thing to do was saving lives. I stopped someone from doing suicide. I prevented an accident from happening. As for the lives lost related to crimes, I didn’t do anything as I had saved those lives before. And like before, after I saved the lives of the whole country, I was still trapped in the time loop. Well, I wasn't sure whether I saved all lives since some people might die in a place that I didn't know. In the middle of the ocean, for example. 

“Maybe you should save the life of someone on the other side of the world?” My friend said jokingly again.

For me, it was not a joke though. So, I started going to one country to another, and saved the lives of people, stopping crimes, going to the supernatural hotspot, and doing everything. I didn’t know how much time had passed. I didn’t count anymore. Perhaps, it had been more than ten years? I felt like I had repeated this week for a thousand times after all. Or even more.

One day, when I went to a dangerous country that was in a war, I was shot and I died. I thought that it would be over, but then, I woke up, still remembering the pain of being shot. I was drenched in a cold sweat at that time. It was really scary. Stopping crimes was not difficult, as the criminals tended to only use a knife. At most, a gun. A simple gun. However, in a war, they used not only guns but also, higher-caliber bullet, grenades, and something even scarier.

I told my friend about it, and again, he laughed it off. “You are immortal then! You don’t even fear death!”

No, I was frightened. That was what I told him, but he seemed like he couldn’t believe me. Well, it was understandable. If I were him, I wouldn’t believe such a story as well. Anyway, I still trying to go to that country to save people there. However, I didn’t want to die again. I wanted to return to my room after the time passed. So, I trained like crazy. I asked my brother about tips and tricks in war. Well, except the fact that it was real, it was not much different than games, you know? Like, there were a lot of things to prepare before going to war, especially mental preparation.

By the way, my mind became a little weird at that time. Maybe because I participated in the war, or maybe because I watched people dying. It seemed like my heart died as well. Watching people dying became normal for me. Maybe, if it were my family, I would feel something, but seeing strangers dying, I didn’t feel anything at all. Maybe, I just thought something like this. ‘Ah, he dies again in this iteration.’

Also, one time, before I went to the warring countries, I saw a crime happening on the way to the airport. It was just a petty crime. A man molested a girl on a train. I didn’t think anything at that time. I just stopped the crime as usual, as if it were normal. Well, it was normal for me, after stopping a lot of thieves in the countless iterations before this, stopping a molester should be normal. So, I grabbed that molester's wrist and threw him back. The girl seemed relieved and wanted to thank me. As for the molester, he took out his knife. Seriously, he brought a knife inside a train and took it out easily. He was dangerous. Or so I thought.

When he attacked me, I instinctively snatched the knife in his hand and stabbed his neck. And he died instantly. Yeah, he died. I thought that it was normal. After all, I had watched countless people died in a war before this. But for the normal people on the train, it was not normal. Everyone screamed and ran as if they saw a ghost. Even the girl that I saved was terrified when I smiled at her. She took her huge backpack and retreated from me. I didn’t care though, so I sat on the now empty seat. And I was caught by the police.

Though I said that it was self-defense, they didn’t believe me. The CCTV showed that it was self-defense though. But they didn’t let me go easily. How annoying. For some unknown reasons, I wanted to kill them all. I wanted to go to save people, yet they stopped me, and because of that, I wanted to kill them all. It was not impossible. I remembered that it was morally wrong to kill people, but I didn’t feel that it was morally wrong to kill people. Yeah, I just remembered. Not felt.

However, thinking that I would commit a crime forced me to suppress the killing intent surging from my heart. I also thought that maybe, the trigger to escape the time loop was to commit a crime. But thinking that I would be branded as criminal in my whole life, I forced myself not to try that event. I didn’t want to make my family sad after all. Murder? That was self-defense. If the molester didn’t take his knife out, I would at most beat him until his mother couldn’t recognize him anymore. That was what I told the police, but they still detained me.

So, I spent that iteration behind the bars.

...

After that, I went to the warring countries again. I didn’t manage to stop the war, but still, I managed to save a lot of people. It didn’t stop the time loop though. So, maybe, it was not the correct answer as well.

I consulted with my friend again about this. “Well, maybe... I don’t know? Maybe, you should do the things that you haven’t done before? If you want to commit a crime, how about try to commit a small crime first? How about littering?”

Even though that advice was not helpful, I still did it. I sat in a park near my house. After emptying the can of juice that I drank, I threw it carelessly behind me. It was my first time attempting a crime. As I said, murder before was an act of self-defense, not a crime, so it could be said that it was my first time attempting a crime intentionally.

“Hey! Can’t you see the sign over there!? No littering!” A girl yelled at me. I looked at her. Ah, I remembered her. She was, a young girl with a huge backpack that was molested in the train, huh? Though, she hadn’t molested in this iteration, so she shouldn’t remember about me. I ignored her, by the way. She pouted at me, but I kept ignoring her. She gave up and sighed. I thought that she would go and left me alone, but instead, she picked the juice can that I threw carelessly and put it beside me. After that, she sat beside me.

“...” I didn’t say anything. I just stared at her curiously. She was staring back, still pouting.

“I’m not going to leave you alone until you throw that trash to its proper place!” She glared. As expected of girls. They were really annoying. Even when she was such a young beauty, she was still annoying. Some animes characters were perfect. Like that short blue hair maid oni. Or the stupid red-haired devil that befriended an angel. Yeah, they were perfect. Real girls, however, was annoying.

“...suit yourself,” I replied nonchalantly as I looked back at the sky. I thought that she would leave me alone after a few hours, but still, she didn’t move at all. I threw that can early in the morning, and now, it was afternoon. But the girl was still sitting beside me.

“Don’t you have to go somewhere? To the neighboring city, maybe?” I asked her. She was wearing the same clothes she wore on the train. So, it was easy to guess that she was going to the neighboring city using that train at around this time.

“How did you know!?” The girl exclaimed in surprise. The way she looked at me was... suspicious. It was as if she was looking at a stalker.

“...secret,” I replied nonchalantly.

“If you know that I have to go, then you should help me!” The girl said something incomprehensible. Why did I have to help her if I knew she wanted to go?

“I promised that I won’t leave you alone until you throw that trash to its proper place, remember?” She leaned closer. She sure was bold, huh?

I pushed her forehead casually. “That’s what you said to yourself. I have nothing to do with your promise.”

“No way! I said that I won’t leave you alone, so there is ‘you’ in my promise!” She yelled.

How annoying. Also, stop rubbing your forehead as if it hurt. I didn’t use any strength at all, you know? But the way she rubbed her head was funny, so I didn't stop her.

“...that’s your fault for making a promise carelessly. I have nothing to do with it.” I ignored her. She looked troubled, but I didn’t care. No, in fact, I thought that it would be better if she didn’t go using that train. She would be molested in the train after all.

“Please! I’m begging you! I have something important to do, so, can you help me? Please?” She begged. Not tearfully, but her expression showed that she was really troubled.

“If it really bothers you that much, you should toss that juice can to trash can by yourself. Then you can leave me.” I offered a piece of advice.

“I can’t do that! I said that I won’t leave you alone until you throw that trash to its proper place! Not until the trash goes to its proper place, remember? So, I can’t do that! Please, the trash can is only a few steps away, it will take less than ten seconds... please?”

She looked like she would cry if I kept doing it. Annoying. It made me even reluctant to do what she asked me to do. So, I ignored her again. I thought that she would break her promise and go away, but she was sitting in this place, looking gloomy. Only for a few minutes though. She looked at her phone and sighed reluctantly. And then, she turned around and glared at me.

“You make me lose the chance to meet my little nephew today!” She yelled. See her little nephew? And because of that, she begged like that? Well, I was glad that it was not something important. So, I started ignoring her again. She blabbered a lot about how cute her little nephew was. Also, she complained a lot about how I made her lose the chance to meet her little nephew today. Or this week, because she could only go there at the weekend.

“Hey.” I interrupted her.

“I’m not ‘Hey’! My name is... Deera!” She declared loudly. Why did she hesitate though? It was suspicious, but I didn’t want to get tangled with this girl, so I didn’t ask her about it.

“Whatever. You won’t leave me alone until I throw it to a trash can?” I asked her as I pointed at the juice can beside me. She nodded seriously.

“Fine then.” I got up and started walking. Of course, without picking that trash.

“Ah, hey! Where are you going? Wait for me!” She yelled. I glanced at her. She picked the trash and brought it with her. Why was she so stubborn?

“Where are you going?” She asked again as she caught her breath beside me.

“You annoyed me, so I want to annoy you.” I shrugged nonchalantly. I entered a minimarket nearby, buy another can of juice and bread, and returned to the park. She followed me dutifully, by the way.

I stretched out my hand and grabbed the empty can in her hand. I tossed it to the trash can as we passed it. “There. Satisfied?”

She nodded reluctantly. I thought that she would leave me alone soon, but she still followed me. “What is it?”

I asked, annoyed. She shook her head and sat beside me without saying anything. She was staring at the sky beside me, but once again, I ignored her as I ate the bread. I heard her stomach rumbling. She was hungry too, huh? Why didn’t she buy some food while we were in minimarket?

“Here.” I gave her half of the bread that I ate.

“No, it’s alright.” She smiled faintly. It was the first time I saw her smiling. It was not bad. If only her personality was not as bad as her smile, I wouldn’t mind becoming her friend.

“I insist. Or else, I will throw this bread.” I said to her. She stopped smiling. Instead, she was glaring at me.

“Don’t waste food!” She yelled. But she accepted after I threatened her like that. The way she ate was like a small animal.

I offered the juice and we shared half. If she were an anime girl, she would be troubled by the indirect kiss, but she didn’t seem to mind it. After that, I started ignoring her again. The trash... she tossed them to the trash can properly, so I couldn’t litter casually. Not without her being around me. I wondered when she was going to leave me. As I thought like that, I glanced at her and she... fell asleep beside me. No wonder she didn’t talk. She looked cute when she was sleeping though. And so, I ignored her again.

...thinking about it, it was the first time in forever that I did nothing, huh? In the past iterations, I went everywhere to stop crimes or go to war. It was really the first time that I did nothing in a day, just sitting there peacefully. Well, without her here, my day would be even more perfect.

“Nn...  ah? I fell asleep?” The girl yawned as she looked at me. “You didn’t do anything to me, did you?”

Stop accusing me without proof. I flicked her forehead and she yelped in pain. Yeah, I used a bit more strength than I intended to. So, it should be a bit painful. Sorry, but no sorry.

“I was just asking jokingly! You don’t have to hit so hard, you know?” She yelled at me.

“Yeah, whatever. You should go home. It’s almost dark.” I told her.

She shook her head. “Who do you think I am? A little kid?”

Yes. After all, for me, I felt like I had been living a thousand lifetime now. Maybe I had been living a hundred years already? I didn’t count at all. Anyway, I looked at her as if she was a little girl, not as a woman.

She sat down again. I couldn’t help but ask her curiously. “Is it that fun? Sitting here, doing nothing with someone like me?”

“Of course it’s not fun! I would be happier if I go to see my little nephew, but you ruin my plan!” She complained.

“Why don’t you go home or somewhere else if it’s not fun?” I asked again, out of curiosity. Her promise had been fulfilled, so, she shouldn’t stay with me, right?

“...I don’t know? I think that the other place might not be as fun as this place.” She said after thinking. What a weird girl.

“How about you? You look like the whole world is going to end, you know? Your face tells me that!” She pointed at my face. What a rude girl. I flicked her forehead while telling her that pointing at other people faces was rude. She nodded tearfully.

“So, what is it? Even though you haven’t even told me your name, but you can tell me what your problem is, young man! I promise you that I won’t tell anyone else about it!” She said convincingly. Well, after knowing that she kept her promise like that, I couldn’t help but think that she would keep her promise no matter what.

“...by the way, you look younger than me.” And even comparing our mental age, she should be younger than me.

“Don’t mind such detail.” She laughed playfully as she tapped my shoulder.

I sighed. Well, it was not a problem telling her about it, I thought. After all, in the next iteration, she would forget it all. So, I told her. About how I trapped in a time loop. About how I stopped crimes. About how I went to war. About how she was molested in the train today. And about how I killed the molester. I wondered if she would be scared like she was on the train when I saved her.

“...you are making a story, right?” She asked curiously. I flicked her forehead again. “Ow, stop flicking my forehead! It really hurts, you know!?”

“I know, that is why I’m doing that if I don’t like what you said,” I told her truthfully.

“Ahaha, that... is too heavy. I’m sorry that I can’t help you!” She apologized. Well, I didn’t mind, so I casually waved my hand.

“Ah, I don’t know if it will help you, but I think you should stop trying so hard! I have an idea! You should have a holiday! I mean, you know, not trying to stop crimes or not going to war, just doing something like today. How about it? Hey, how about you accompany me for this week?” The girl... Deera said. Her eyes were a bit too bright, weren’t they?

“Ah, yeah, I don’t mind. I don’t have any plans for this week. I just want to do a little crime like littering for experiments. So, I will be in this park since morning.” I replied half-heartedly.

“Then, it is a promise! I will wait for you here tomorrow then!” She said. No, I thought that I was the one who would wait for her. But well, whatever. She stretched out her pinky finger. What was it?

“Promise me that you will come here again!” She said firmly. Doing pinky-swear at my age... it was embarrassing, but I didn’t like how she hounded me incessantly, so I promised her that I would definitely come here tomorrow morning.

It was getting late, so I parted with her and went home. It was a peaceful day. Maybe, all I needed was a peaceful day like this. Thinking like that, I fell asleep after having dinner.

...

The next morning, I went to the park early in the morning. I thought that I arrived first, but I was surprised when I saw her waving her hand cheerfully from the bench we sat down yesterday. I didn’t wave back. It would be too embarrassing if I waved back while actually, she was waving at someone behind me. Though no one was behind me.

“You are early!” She complimented me.

“You are earlier,” I replied back.

“Mm. I just can’t sleep, you know? After all, it is my first date!” She said excitedly.

I flicked her forehead and she glared at me begrudgingly. “It’s not a date, you know?”

It would be troublesome if someone overheard us and created misunderstanding.

“Eh~? But I thought that we are going on a date! Two people of opposite genders going out together to have fun, it’s a date, right?” She said.

“...I’m going home.” I got up but she pulled my shirts while begging me to stay. I sighed and sat again.

“Yes, yes, it’s not a date. But you promise to accompany me, right? So, should we go?” She asked.

“Isn’t it too early? Where are we going? It’s not even 7 now.” I looked at my phone. Yes, it was only 6.48. “More importantly, I’m hungry. Have you had your breakfast?”

“Yes, I have. If that’s the case, I know a place to eat! You don’t mind eating chicken porridge, do you?” She got up and pulled my hand.

“I don’t mind. But don’t casually grab me. Especially from behind. I’m warning you.” I told her.

“Why?” She tilted her head questioningly.

“I might hurt you,” I said with a sigh. It was a reflexive action. I would counterattack if someone grabbed me suddenly. Earlier, I wasn’t surprised so I was able to hold back the instinct to counterattack. But if she grabbed me suddenly from behind, I might do a shoulder toss. And it hurt a lot when you fell on the pavement.

“Hmm, well, alright! By the way, I still don’t know your name!” She asked.

“I’ll tell you later.” I waved casually. She led me to a stall that sold porridge. I sat down and sighed as the girl order a bowl of chicken porridge. I ordered another one, by the way.

“Are you so hungry that you want to eat two bowls?” She asked curiously. My hand reflexively flicked her forehead. I didn’t know why but she was really annoying, huh?

“You don’t have to flick my forehead every time I ask you a question, do you?” She protested weakly while rubbing her forehead.

“Sorry, I just found that you are annoying, so, my hand moves automatically,” I replied without putting my feeling into it.

She was pouting, as expected. “I just curious, you know? And I can’t help but ask you when I am curious. Do I have to wear a metal headband like a ninja?”

Hoo, I never expected that she was a girl of culture. My impression of her increased because of it. But still, she was annoying.

“No, if you wear hitai-ate, I will attack another place,” I said.

She tilted her head questioningly. “Hitai-ate?”

“Forehead protector,” I answered. The porridges arrived and I gave one bowl to her. She looked dumbfounded.

“I’m full, you know?” She said while patting her non-existent stomach.

I raised my hand threateningly. She leaned back and covered her forehead with her hands. I didn’t mind as I patted her head. “Don’t lie. I can hear your stomach protested loudly from a mile away.”

Her face reddened. She nodded and started eating without saying anything. It seemed, she was really hungry, huh? Did she lie when she said that she had eaten?

“Well, whatever. So, where are we going after this?” I started eating too.

“Hmm... I don’t know? Um, do you like children?” She asked, a bit more hesitant than she used to act.

“I don’t hate them.” As long as they didn’t invade my own room, I added inwardly.

“Great! Do you mind we play at an orphanage today? It’s not far! Alright?” She grasped my hand suddenly. I almost yanked her and attacked her. I sighed and flicked her head, a bit softer this time.

“Do you remember that I warned you that you shouldn’t grab me suddenly?” I glared at her. She apologized while rubbing her forehead.

“Well, as for the question you ask. Alright. Let’s play with the children today.” I replied with a sigh as I continued eating. Her face brightened and she ate cheerfully. Seriously, she looked like a kid. Oh, maybe, that was why she wanted to play with the children whose mental age was almost similar to her?

...

At orphanage. The children excitedly surrounded her. She looked happy as she greeted the children. As for me, I watched them from far. Even though I said that I didn’t hate children, I also didn’t like them too much. They were noisy. But I thought that them being noisy like that was good. Rather than the children in the warzone, where they didn’t even dare to cry or smile...

I shook my head as I tried to forget about it. I was on vacation, so I shouldn’t think about that kind of thing now. The Head of the orphanage, a lady at her fifties, talked to me as I watched her playing with the children. She said that every once in a week, she would come here and play with the children. And the children loved her.

Well, her mental age was similar to those children, so they would love to play with her. As I talked with the Head of the orphanage, she approached us with a line of children behind her. “Hey, let’s play!”

She stretched out her hand carefully. The Head of the orphanage only smiled, so I reluctantly followed her and played with the children. Though I said that I was playing with the children, in fact, I was making toys for them. There were a lot of traditional toys that I could make, as long as I had the materials. So, I created some toys for the children.

“Woah, you are really skillful!” She praised me sincerely after I made a top in less than an hour. She just returned from taking a quick bath, huh? Well, playing with the children all day sure was tiring. But to take a bath casually... she was really a weird girl.

“What I told you is not a lie after all,” I said while carving another top. It wouldn’t be funny to play it alone after all.

“So, do you find it relaxing?” She sat down beside me while hugging her knees. She put her head at her arms and looked at me. I glanced at her.

“...yeah. It’s not as stressful as usual.” I told her honestly.

She laughed when she heard my answer.

“Hey, how about you take me to a date tomorrow?” She asked. I stopped my hand and raised it to flick her forehead. She instinctively covered her forehead. “Wh-what? Alright, it’s not a date... but what do you call it if it’s not a date?”

“...whatever, as long as it’s not a date. Alright, I’ll take you somewhere.”

She smiled and stretched her pinky finger again. “It’s a promise!”

...

The next day.

I met her in the same park. I brought her to my home. She amiably greeted my parents and even my brother. Well, she looked cheerful and friendly, so my parents liked her so much. No, I didn’t bring her to my home to introduce her as my girlfriend. I brought her home because I wanted to borrow my brother’s car. And since I didn’t know where she lived, we could only meet at the park and I had to bring her to my home. Fortunately, my home was only three minutes away from the park.

“Where are we going? For your information, I don’t bring enough money, so, please don’t ask me any transportation money, alright?” She asked curiously.

“Yeah, don’t worry about that. To the beach. Do you bring your swimsuit?” I replied nonchalantly. Since we were living in a tropical country, we could go to a beach all year long. As long as it was not raining. And I remembered that it would be sunny all weeks. Oh, except the final night, it would rain hard. Until the time looped.

“Eh? You didn’t tell me that we are going to the beach! I don’t bring any swimsuit and I don’t even have any!” She protested. “How about we go to a mountain instead?”

I smiled. Not at her, but at myself. As expected. “Well, how about going to an amusement park?”

Her eyes brightened for a moment before they dimmed again. “Ahaha, sorry, but I don’t bring much money. I think we can go to a cheaper place like a mountain?”

“I said don’t worry about it. It’s my treat. After all, once I repeat this week, all my money will return to me.” I told her. She still looked hesitant, but in the end, she agreed. And so, we went to the amusement park at the peak of the school holiday season.

It was crowded. I didn't really like a crowded place like this. However, she looked around excitedly. Her expression was a mix of excitement and anxiety. I offered her my hand and she grabbed it happily. “Hey, is it alright if I hold your hand? Do you think that it is not dating if we walk hand in hand like this?”

I flicked her forehead with my other hand. “You know that I have been living this week for years, right? I am now already an old man. So, I only see you as a little girl. I don’t want you to be a lost kid.”

“Eh~? But your body is still the body of a young man.” She protested while rubbing her head. “Also, if I’m lost, I will go to the information center and ask them to call your name for sure! Right! What is your name!? You haven’t told me that!”

Ah, yeah, I forgot. “Andre.”

“Andre? You are older than me, but you don’t mind me calling your name directly, do you?” She asked. In our country, it would be rude to do that but... well, I didn’t really mind it that much.

“Alright! Andre, nice to meet you! My name is Deera, and since you are so kind to me, please call me Dee!” She introduced herself again.

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s go.” I pulled her and we entered the amusement park. She pouted a little though. Only before we entered the amusement park though. She looked like a little kid once we entered it.

“Oooh! Rollercoaster! Twister! What is that? Hey, Dre, what is that—Ouch!” I flicked her forehead.

“Don’t shorten my name like that,” I told her.

“You can tell me about it later and you don’t have to use violence, you know? What would you do if there is a scar because you flicked my forehead continuously?” She protested.

“I will return to the past, so, it is not my problem anymore. Anyway, what do you want to do first?” I asked.

“Ghost House!” She shouted excitedly.

“...ghost house. Are you good with things like that?” I asked curiously.

“Nope! That is why we are going there! If I’m going alone, I will never enter that place!” She said proudly. I thought that it was not something that she should be proud of...

“Hm? Wait a minute. You aren’t trying to hug me when you are scared, are you?” I asked her suspiciously.

“Of course not! I don’t plan to do that! But it can’t be helped if I’m scared, right? That is... what do you call it? Something like how you will counterattack if you are grabbed suddenly, something like that! It can’t be helped, right?” She smiled smugly at me. My hand moved involuntarily again to flick her forehead.

“Ow, come on! That shows how much I can trust you! If I go with other girls, we will scream together and no one will protect us! And I don’t know about the other men! So, it’s alright to go with you, right?” She said angrily.

I sighed. “Why do girls like scary things when they are easily scared?”

“Because we want a man to protect us in those scary moments!” She said convincingly. I gave up. She was too weird. So, we entered the Ghost House first. And like she said, she was really scared by the fake ghost. She hugged my hand and her body was trembling. She screamed every time a ghost surprised her too. What a troublesome thing. A girl, I meant.

After that, she played a lot of games that made her legs grew weak. We ate lunch and continued playing. When it was evening, we went home. Well, we stopped for dinner first though.

“Thank you for treating me! It was really fun!” She thanked me as we had our dinner.

“Mm. It’s not that bad.” I told her sincerely.

“Oh, come on, just not bad? Don’t you mean, it’s an amazing day because you spend a day with a beautiful girl like me, right?” She smiled smugly. I raised my hand, but she had covered her forehead first. Well, I changed my target to her cheek and pinched her.

“Uuu... maybe next time, I should wear a full-helmet to protect my face from your naughty hand? No, I should wear a hazmat suit, right?” She muttered softly.

“Yeah, if you really do that, I will tell everybody that you are an alien,” I said that.

“Please don’t.” She giggled.

“So, tomorrow, it’s your turn, right?” I asked her.

“Yes! Ah, but don’t expect me to treat you, alright? The best I can do is... just strolling around the city?” She said with a bitter smile.

“No, you don’t have to worry about money. For this week, I will treat you. Oh, but from tomorrow onward, we can’t use my brother’s car as he will return to the military tomorrow.” I told her.

“Hmmm, I don’t know if I should feel bad or not about you treating me... but well, if you don’t mind treating me, I have a place that I really want to go. It’s going to be a bit expensive, is that alright?” She asked hesitantly.

“Tell me what kind of place you want to go first,” I asked her.

“Uh, rather than going to a place, I want to buy something for the children in the orphanage. I always played there, but I never bought them something, so, if you don’t mind... how about treating them to something that they never eat? Or buying them some children's books?” She scratched her cheek awkwardly.

I sighed. “I asked you what you want to do? Don’t you want to go somewhere else? Don’t you want to do something for yourself, not for the children?”

“For myself? Uh, seeing the children happy will make me happy, so, isn’t that for myself?” She said hesitantly.

“You really don’t want anything? Don’t you want to do some shopping as the other girls do? Buying a new dress or eat in an all-you-can-eat? Or eat cakes? You don’t want to do something like that?” I asked curiously.

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“Ahaha, I want to, but my finance is not strong enough to allow me to do that...” She laughed awkwardly.

I flicked her forehead. “Like I said, I will treat you, only for this week though. So, you want a new dress? Well, tomorrow, let’s buy a new dress for you. Also, you will definitely look cute in a dress, you know?”

“Um, thanks, I guess?” She said awkwardly. “Ah, but I prefer buying some sweets for the children than buying a new dress for me...”

“Yeah, we are going to buy them sweets as well,” I told her.

“Is it alright? Seriously, I don’t want to be like a, um, gold-digger?” She looked down.

“Only for this week. Also, you are not a gold-digger. Or what? Do you want to say that you want to marry me only for my money?” I asked her.

“That’s not it, of course! But, but, you see, um, even before we marry—”

“We are not going marry.” I flicked her forehead.

“Ah... I’m getting rejected even before I told you my feelings.” She said dejectedly.

“Yeah, yeah. I always said that you are just a little kid in my eyes. Do you expect me to accept your feeling? I’m not a lolicon.” I told her. She protested that I shouldn’t call her a lolicon, but I ignored her. After we ate, we went home.

“So, where’s your home? I’ll take you there.” I told her.

“Hm? Ah, you can drop me in the park.” She said lightly.

“It’s too late. Hm, ah, right, can you promise me something? Only for tonight though.” I asked her.

“Promise what?” She asked curiously.

“Make your promise first,” I said firmly.

“Hmmm, well, alright, as long as I can do it and it’s not against my will. So, what kind of promise is it?” She asked again.

“Don’t lie to me for tonight.”

“...ahaha, what do you mean by a lie?” She laughed awkwardly.

“Nothing. So, you only have two choices. Either you go home obediently. I will wait until you enter your house, of course. Or you stay at my place tonight, runaway girl.”

She seemed a bit surprised, but she calmed down fast. She looked at me and asked, a bit seriously. “How do you know?”

“It’s easy to guess, you know? You always carry your backpack every day. You are always in the park. You avoided the topic of your home. And this morning, I came to the park before dawn and I saw you sleeping behind that bench. Oh, also, you are always hungry.” I told her everything. There were some more. For example, she took a bath in the orphanage. Or how late it was every time she went home. Perhaps because she didn’t want me to be suspicious of her.

“Uuuh, it can’t be helped then. Mm, I’m running away from home. Are you going to report me to the police? Are you going to return me to my... home?” She asked hesitantly.

“No. I don’t care about your circumstance. Also, I believe your real name is not Deera, right? Though it seems Dee is really your nickname.” I said to her.

She laughed lightly. “Ahaha. You know, usually, when a pretty girl that is close to a boy runs away from her home, the boy will nosily help her to return to her home, despite him knowing nothing about her circumstance. But you... well, thank you. And yes, my name is Diana, but I told the children they can call me Dee. So, can you drop me in the park?”

“You don’t want to go to your home no matter what?” I asked her. She shook her head. “Fine then. You can stay in my home until this week over.”

“Um, hey, I know it is odd coming from me, but... don’t tell me that you fall in lov—ouch!” She yelped in pain. I used a bit more force than usual after all.

“It’s not that. Do you think I can let you sleep in the park after knowing about it? Besides, it is not a joking matter for you, right? Don’t you want to talk seriously?” I reprimanded her.

“Uh, I was serious. After all, isn’t it weird for you to let me stay at your house if you don’t have any feelings towards me? No, please don’t flick my forehead again! I just want to know why would you do so much for me?” She asked seriously.

“...I didn’t do anything at all. It’s all for me. You are accompanying me. I’m having my own vacation. That’s all.” I said.

“Mm. Thank you.” She said.

We returned to my home. My parents were sleeping and my brother was already sleeping too. He would go back tomorrow morning after all. So, he was already sleeping. I entered my room with Dee towing behind me. She looked surprised when she saw my room. Well, it was a room for an otaku after all. There were a lot of books, figurines, and games. Fortunately, I didn’t have adult magazines.

“You can sleep here. I’ll sleep on the couch.” I told her.

“Uh, hey! Wait.” Dee pulled my sleeves. She looked nervous. “Please don’t say that I’m a weird girl or I’m a bold woman, alright? But, um, can we, um, not sleep tonight?”

I wanted to flick her forehead again, but this time, she looked really nervous. I stopped and patted her head instead. “Fine. What do you want to do?” I asked her.

“I don’t know? Oh, how about I read books and you, um, you, I don’t know, play a game or something?” She suggested. Well, I had played all the games here, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to play them again.

“Thank you.” She sat on the floor after taking a book. I turned on the console and the television and taking two blankets. I gave her one and I used one.

“What game are you playing?” She asked curiously. She had stopped reading the book and watched me playing the game.

“An RPG game,” I told her.

“Hee... is it interesting? Can you teach me how to play?” She asked.

“It’s not interesting. Rather, do you want to play 2P games?” Well, I didn’t have a lot, but there should be some. It was a game for when my cousin from another city came and stayed here. It was made for children, so, she should enjoy it as much as my seven years old cousin.

“Yeah, let’s play together!” She said excitedly. And so, we started playing the game. She was worse than my cousin, but well, it was her first time playing a game like this, it seemed. Or she played it a long time ago.

“You know, last Sunday is my birthday.” She suddenly gave me this information.

“Happy birthday,” I told her.

“Thank you! You are the only person that told me that, you know?” She smiled wryly.

I stopped looking at her and continued playing the game. “Don’t you have any friends?”

“It’s not that I don’t have but... it’s a holiday, right? They are going somewhere. And I don’t have, um, internet to contact them, so I don’t know if they wished me a happy birthday or not.” She said.

“Oh. I thought that you don’t have any friends at all.” I said jokingly.

“Of course I have! It’s just because of the holiday that they are not home!” She angrily rebuked me.

“Yeah, yeah, I trust you. In the next iteration, I will wish you a happy birthday on your birthday day. What cake do you want to eat?” I asked her.

“Uh, I don’t know? Chocolate cake seems delicious, and cheesecake also sounds delicious. Ah, but please, only choose one if you repeat this week again, alright?” She hastily added. I laughed.

“Ah, well, alright. So, tomorrow is a chocolate cake?”

She nodded fiercely. “Yes, please!”

“Alright. Do you have any birthday wish?” I asked curiously.

“I have but I don’t want to tell you!” She answered firmly.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to tell me then. Ah, you lose again.”

“Can you go easy a little? I am a beginner and a girl, you know?” She protested.

“I don’t care whether you are a beginner or a girl, you know?” I replied nonchalantly.

She sighed. “You always said you don’t care about something, but... that’s a lie, right?”

“...I don’t think it’s a lie.” Yes, it was not a lie. I really didn’t care whether she was a girl or a beginner, when playing games, I would always play seriously. “Even if you are a girl, I will always flick your forehead as hard as I could if I don’t like what you are saying.”

“...ahaha, you are right...”

She was starting to doze off. And she put her head on my shoulder. I wanted to push her, but thinking how annoying she would be if I woke her up forcefully, I could only let her sleep on my shoulder... or rather, on my laps. She sure was defenseless. Though I wouldn’t do anything to her. I kept on playing as she was sleeping on my laps.

...

Dawn.

Dee opened her eyes just as I played with her forehead. I casually put my hand at the controller again and continued the game that I had been playing. She blinked a few times, so, I paused the game and looked at her.

“...wake up?” I asked her in a low voice.

“Mm, Wait a minute... I’m... thinking.” She said. She looked so sleepy. No, actually, I was the one who felt so sleepy.

“Can I borrow your hand?” She asked sleepily.

“What for?” I questioned her.

“Please?” She begged again. I sighed and gave her my left hand. “Thank you.” She said.

She grabbed my hand and put it on her forehead. After that, she nodded and got up.

“...what time is it?” She asked.

“4.53,” I answered as I looked at the clock on the wall.

“Your family... hasn’t wakened up, right? I should go now then. Before they wake up.” She said. And then, I flicked her forehead.

“Ow... the damage increases significantly because I haven’t fully wakened up yet...” She murmured while rubbing her forehead.

“It’s your own fault for saying such a thing. Wait a minute.” I grabbed a paper and a pen, write something, exited my room, and returned soon. She looked questioningly, so I told her. “I said that you are here in my room, and I want to sleep, so, don’t let you escape. Wake me up when it’s time for breakfast, alright?”

I patted her head and climbed to my bed. I was so sleepy, so I slept immediately.

“Wait! Don’t leave me alone, please!” She begged, but I couldn’t help it. She shook my body, so I opened my eyes again.

“Um, I want to escape, alright? Please, let me go? I’m begging you? Can you let me go before your parents wake up?” She begged, almost tearfully.

“No. If you go, I’m going to get angry for real. Just stay in my room and read a book or do something. Don’t worry about it.” I told her.

“As if I can read in this situation!” She retorted. Annoying. I got up again and decided not to sleep anymore. It was not as if I really needed to sleep. Not sleeping for one or two nights was normal for me.

“Alright, let’s stay in the living room. I’m going to make a cup of coffee. Do you want to?” I got up.

“Mm. Thank you. But... I am sorry.” She followed me behind.

“Don’t worry about it. Wait a minute, alright?” I told her to sit on the couch and turned on the tv for her. I made two cups of coffee and sat beside her after that.

“It’s weird seeing you so early in the morning.” My brother came out of his room and commented as he saw me. “Oh, hey, you are here too. How’s yesterday? Having fun?”

He sat nearby after grabbing a bottle of mineral water from the fridge. Dee seemed nervous as she nodded. “Yes, we were having fun! We forgot the time because of that, and I got locked out because it was too late.”

She laughed awkwardly. She got locked out, huh? She sure could lie without batting her eye.

“You forgot time? More like he planned it, you know?” My brother told her. “You are the first girl he brought home after all, and on the same day, he let you stay here. Little bro, you sure work fast!”

“Shut up. I don’t need your compliment.” I glared at my brother. He laughed.

“Well, Deera, you can stay as long as you want. Despite his appearance and his words, he is not a bad person at heart, so, please take care of him!” My brother said to Diana. Yes, she even introduced herself as Deera to my family.

“N-no. I am in his care instead.” She said timidly.

Seemingly wanted to avoid an awkward atmosphere, my brother decided to change the topic as he asked about his car. I told him that there was no problem with his car and it felt as great as ever. And then, my parents came out of their room. Together. They were surprised when they saw Dee as well, but they accepted her warmly.

My brother got ready and after having a quick breakfast, he left. As for me, after having a quick breakfast, I decided to take a quick nap. Even if I could stay one or two nights without sleeping, it didn’t hurt to have a quick nap every now and then. I could sleep in a minute and wake up fifteen minutes later easily. Oh, but I warned her not to wake me up by shaking my body before I went to sleep in my room.

As for her, she decided to help my mother doing some house chores. My mother refused at the beginning, but after she insistently offered her help, my mother resigned and let her help. Since she didn’t have any problem now, I slept without feeling any guilt.

...

“Do they really look good on me?” She asked curiously.

“Don’t know. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholders.” I replied half-heartedly.

“What is that? That’s just a cool way to say lazy praise! Alright, so, in your eyes, am I beautiful?” She asked with upturned eyes.

“Rather than beautiful, cute maybe? You are still a kid, you shouldn’t choose dresses that expose your skin though.” I gave her a bit of advice.

“Uuh... it’s annoying that you still look at me as if I’m a little kid...” She pouted again.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t you like dresses like those more?” I pointed at dresses that looked like dresses from princesses' stories. She pouted and glared at me.

“Those are clearly for little children! Also, even if I like them, it’s not like I can wear them!” She said.

So, she admitted that she liked dresses like those dresses, huh?

“How about you? What kind of clothes do you want me to wear?” She leaned closer. Her eyes were full of curiosity.

“...I never see them selling those kinds of clothes anywhere before.” I told her.

“Hee, interesting. So, you have something that you like, huh? So, what kind of dress is it? I can sew one, you know?” She asked incessantly. Well, showing her wouldn’t be a problem. So, I searched the internet and found one easily.

“That’s just a maid uniform! And you said that you don’t want me to expose my skin, but isn’t that maid expose her chest!?” She retorted when she saw the anime character that I loved at the moment.

“Well, yeah, she has big breast and she is seventeen years old, so she is not a little kid anymore. How about you? How old are you?” I asked.

“...fifteen.” She answered reluctantly.

“See? You are still a kid.” I told her and she reluctantly sat down beside me.

“Fine, I’m just a kid. So, what kind of dress do you want me to wear?” She asked again.

A dress for a kid in anime, huh? I could think of a lot of clothes in anime. But for her... ah, maybe that would be a good idea. I searched for the image and showed her the clothes that I thought would be suitable for her.

“...that’s just a school uniform, right? And wearing a blazer in this country... it would be too hot, you know?” She retorted weakly.

“You are right. You are a student, so you should wear a school uniform, you know?” I told her.

“But we come here to buy casual dress, not uniform! Are you actually a uniform fetish?” She narrowed her eyes. I thought that I was normal though. Well, the uniform had a kind of charm, but that was it. Just a different kind of charm than normal clothes. Fine, let’s be serious now.

“How about something like this?” I showed her another picture. I thought I saw clothes like this, though no one in this city wore it. They didn’t understand how men’s heart was.

“What is it?” She didn’t retort immediately.

“Well, actually, any clothes that have Zettai Ryouiki or Absolute Territory, is good. Do you see how this T-Shirt only shows a bit of the nape? And this mini skirt only shows a bit of the thigh? That is called Absolute Territory and rather than exposing more of your skin, I think something that can make someone curious is cuter. If I have to make an analogy for it... let’s say that it is a trailer of a movie. Do you know why the trailer of a movie usually less than three minutes? It’s because it will pique interest more than, let’s say, a trailer that is an hour long. Understand?” I explained.

“...if a trailer is an hour-long, that is already more than half of the 90 minutes movies.” She retorted. But she nodded reluctantly. “I understand. Hey, how about women wearing bathing suit? What do you think of them?"

"Bathing suit? It feels like you are watching a movie, but suddenly, the electricity is off when you are in the climax of the movie and then, you don't know how the movie ends. Honestly, I really don't like it so much. If I have to watch a movie, I have to watch it until the end. So, you understand, right?"

She nodded in understanding. "Uuh, I see. Your explanation is a bit weird though. Let’s find something that you like then! But... is it necessary to wear striped socks too?”

“...no. It’s just my hobby.” I told her the truth.

“Ah, well, come on! We don’t have all day! Don’t forget that we still have to find a book for the children and also some snacks for them too!” She pulled me and we continued our, or rather, her shopping.

After finding all the clothes that she could wear right now, she changed her clothes and showed off her new appearance to me. “How is it? Do you like it?” She asked.

“Not bad.” I nodded appreciatively. She almost looked like a cosplayer. If she wore a wig with bright color, she would be a cosplayer for sure.

“Just not bad? Don’t you mean that it’s beautiful?” She seemed a bit dejected.

“No, you will be annoying if I praise you too much.” I refused.

“Hey! I can also be annoying if you don’t praise me at all!” She retorted while glaring at me begrudgingly.

“And that is why, I praise you a little. Not bad. Alright?” I told her.

“Uuuh... fine! Let’s go find a book or two, and then we are going to buy some snacks, alright?” She gave up and she reluctantly pulled my hand again. What an energetic girl. Even I felt tired after walking for a few hours just to find the clothes that could match each other like that.

“What kind of book do you recommend?” She asked as we enter the bookstore.

“Dunno.” I shrugged nonchalantly.

“Come on, you have a lot of books, so you must have read a lot of books as well! At least, give me an idea!” She yelled.

“Fine. Let’s see. They are children, so novels wouldn’t be a good idea. Mangas... unless you give them Manga that ended in one book, it isn’t a good idea. But for them... I think it will be better if we buy them an education book. For example, that book.” I pointed at an illustrated book about the solar system. I liked reading this kind of book when I was a kid. The information was not necessarily accurate, but it was interesting.

“Well, you are right. Let’s buy it!” She chose a book about dinosaurs. Well, the dinosaur was interesting, but it wouldn’t be useful in school. Not that any of them would be useful though. But still, I added several books besides what she chose.

“Is it alright?” She asked curiously.

“Mm. Don’t worry about it.” I answered nonchalantly.

“Thanks! I’ll treat you to one of my cooking later, alright?” She smiled.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll wait for it.” I answered half-heartedly, but it still made her happy.

We bought a cake. It was a big cake. I thought that rather than buying small cakes, it would be better to buy a big cake. Let’s say that it was to celebrate Dee’s birthday. She looked happy, but at the same time, troubled. Well, it should be alright.

 “So, let’s go to the orphanage,” I told her. She nodded and we went to the orphanage.

“Hey, let’s don’t tell them that it’s my birthday. Some of the children in the orphanage don’t know their own birthday, so it might be a little awkward.” Dee said as we walked to the orphanage.

“Alright. What do you want to tell them then?” I asked curiously.

“Uh... ah I have an idea! Let’s say that it’s a celebration date for us! It’s the day when you confessed to me, something like that!” She said with a light laugh. I wanted to flick her forehead, but both of my hands were full with the huge cake that we just bought.

“Hm? You don’t flick me, so, that means, you agree?” She smiled smugly. I sighed and when we were closed, I headbutted her.

“Ooooww!!! That hurts! Can’t you hold back a little!?” She complained as she crouched down and rubbed her forehead painfully.

“It’s your own fault for saying unnecessary things. Come on, let’s go. We’ll just tell them that it’s for the new year or something like that.” I told her. She nodded reluctantly.

At the orphanage, like before, the children surrounded her once they saw her. They looked happy to see her. And they praised her appearances sincerely, unlike me who didn’t want to tell her that she was really cute in those clothes. She smiled meaningfully at me as the children started asking me questions regarding the huge box in my hand.

“That is a cake to celebrate the day he confesses to me!” Dee abruptly answered before I could tell the children. And after that, the children exclaimed happily and congratulated both of us.

“No violence in front of the children please.” She whispered softly. Annoying. I would definitely make her pay it back later.

We were having a party after that. The Head of the orphanage seemed jubilant as we shared the cake with the children. We also gave the books to the children and told them to read the books together. The children thanked both of us happily. Seeing the children smiles, she smiled as well. She turned around and met my eyes and her smile widened.

“Ah, you are smiling too!” She pointed at my face. I grabbed her finger and noticed that I was smiling too. So, I covered my mouth and my expression returned to my neutral expression.

“So, you are happy seeing the children happy too?” She elbowed me playfully.

“Maybe,” I answered nonchalantly.

“Fufu, it’s thanks to you, you know? You should be happier!” She said.

...it was not as if I wasn’t happy.

We played with the children until it was dark and we went home after that.

She ran forward a bit, turned around and with a smile, asked me. “Hey, tomorrow, it’s your turn to take me on a date, right?”

“It’s not a date.” I retorted her. She was a bit too far and I was too lazy to increase my pace to flick her head, so I retorted calmly.

“Come on, we are official now, right? Right?” She said with a smile.

“I will punish you for that later,” I told her that. She stuck her tongue out and laughed.

“...Hey.” I called her.

She turned around and tilted her head.

“Why are you insisting about that date part?” I asked curiously.

“Because you look the most troubled whenever I bring that topic out!” She laughed. “Why do you so adamantly refuse to date a pretty girl like me? I know, I’m underage, but still, you just need to wait at most a year, you know?”

The age of consent in this country was sixteen years old. I was surprised that she even knew something like that. “No, I just think that having a girlfriend would be troublesome. I still want to play games and do all my hobbies.”

“I allow you.” She said with a charming smile.

“I will ignore you when I play a game and I won’t answer your phone call at all,” I told her again.

“Then, I’ll just come to your house, enter your room, take one of your books, and read beside you! Do you have any excuse for not having me as your girlfriend besides my age?” She smiled smugly.

“...your smile is annoying,” I told her that.

“What!? Uuuh... then I won’t smile in front of you! How about that?” She yelled. She pouted as if to prevent her lips to make an arc. 

“...your voice is annoying,” I said that to her.

She pouted. She took out her phone and wrote a message to me. ‘I’m not talking anymore! What else?’

Before long, we reached my home. My mother greeted her warmly and ignored me. She started talking, but in a whisper. I wondered what she was talking about with my mother... but before I knew it, my mother hit my head.

“What do you mean her smile and her voice is annoying?” She berated me. What a snitch...

“Don’t worry dear, your smile and voice are lovely! Let’s ignore this boy!” My mother pulled her inside the house. She laughed and offered to help her cooking, which my mother agreed easily.

I went to my room and closed my eyes. It was time to take a quick nap while she was busy with my mother.

...

I made a mistake. Her face was pale, but she forced a smile. She apologized to me, while I should be the one who apologized. I frightened her. She only wanted to wake me up. Maybe, because I was too tired, I didn’t notice her entering my room. She called my name several times, but I didn’t wake up. So, she shook my body gently. I was surprised and instinctively, I grabbed her arm and quickly dislocated her shoulder.

She didn’t scream in pain, but I knew how painful it was. She smiled and apologized after I fixed her shoulder. But her shoulder should hurt right now. That was why her face was really pale.

After having dinner, I told my parents that she would stay here for a week and both of them didn’t refuse. We said that yesterday, her father went on a sudden business trip but he brought the others to go on a vacation, so, she was locked out and couldn’t enter the house, so my parents agreed to let her stay here. After that, I pulled her to my room.

“Sorry.” I apologized.

“Um, that’s my fault. But I’m surprised you can do that instantly, you know? Are you perhaps, really strong?” She asked curiously.

“Don’t know. Don’t worry, your shoulder is alright. As long as you don’t move them, that’s it.” I was glad that I learned to treat something like this before. I hadn’t learned medicine, but treating physical wounds like this was a basic necessity, so I learned it.

“Um, thanks!” She thanked me even though I was the one who hurt her. She laughed lightly to ease the atmosphere. “Unfortunately, I can’t cook you in this iteration! Hey, in the next iteration, you will still greet me if you meet me, right? If that’s the case, tell me in the next iteration about the promise of cooking you something, alright?”

“...you don’t have to worry about that. It’s not guaranteed that I will have the next iteration.” I told her.

“Come on, it’s just a simple promise! Can’t you even promise something like that?”

I could only sigh. “Yeah, yeah, I promise that I will ask you to cook me in the next iteration.”

“Yay! Thanks! That means, you will play with me again in the next iteration!” She smiled happily.

“Yeah, yeah. Now, sleep. I’m going to buy ointment for your shoulder.” We didn’t have anything to treat her shoulder, so I had to buy it before the store closed.

“Are you going to leave me alone? Oh, right, tomorrow is your turn to take me on a date, right? Where are we going?” She asked.

“Mm. I’m going to leave you alone here. Don’t move your shoulder too much. As for tomorrow, you don’t have to worry about it.” After patting her head, I went to buy an ointment for her shoulder.

I saw a drunkard when I was on the way to buy the ointment. It was only around 9 and he had drunk like that. Not to mention that he kicked a trash can and yelled angrily, saying that he lost money because of a girl that ran away from her. I ignored him, but if he came closer to me, I would definitely make him feel a pain that would wake him up.

He didn’t come closer though, so I ignored him completely. After buying the ointment, I saw the drunkard on the way. He collapsed near the park. It would be dangerous for her to stay in the park with a drunkard like him around, huh?

Well, at least, she was not in the park tonight, so it should be alright.

I returned home and found that she was reading a book while leaning on the bed. She noticed me enter the room. She smiled at me. “Welcome home, Onii-chan!”

“...” This girl was seriously troublesome.

“Is something wrong, Onii-chan?” She asked again.

I raised my hand threateningly and she hastily covered her forehead. “Hey, that’s what an otaku like, right?”

“...not all otaku like something like that.” Though my heart skipped a beat when she called me like that.

“Hmm... Otaku’s world is so deep... So, what do you like? I can roleplay it for you!” She got up and put the book in the bookshelf again. After that, she looked at the ointment in my hand.

“I don’t have any particular fetish, but—”

“You are lying! You like uniforms! Right? Right?” She interrupted me.

“...no,” I answered.

“Ah, you are hesitating! Hmm, should I wear my school uniform for our next date?” She laughed as she teased me.

“Yeah, yeah. Sit down so I can put the ointment on you.” I said. She was flustered when I told her that.

“Eh? Ah, I can do it myself, you know? It’s only on my shoulder, not on my back, so it’s alright.” She tried to grab the ointment from my hand but I skilfully dodged her.

“No, I’ll give you a massage too. What? Are you embarrassed? Even though you are always teasing me like that?” I mocked her.

“Uh, this and that is different, you know?” She murmured softly.

“Don’t worry, I only see you as a little kid.” I comforted her.

“Hey, that hurts me more, you know!? I don’t want you to see me as a little kid!” She protested.

I shrugged. “Yeah, if you are not a little kid, sit here and let me massage you obediently. As an adult, something like massaging shoulder is not unusual.”

“Uh, is that so? Oh, right! You told me that the Absolute Territory is like a trailer of a movie, right? So, you massaging me is a free sample?” She asked as she sat down with her back facing me.

“Maybe disc one of a two-discs movie.” I sat down behind her.

“Uwaah, you already have half of me then. How bold... so, should I take my clothes off?” She squirmed a bit.

“No, you only to loosen your T-Shirt a bit and pull down your brassiere strap a bit.”

She obediently did that. Though she was squirming a bit, I ignored it. When I put my hand on her shoulder, her body tensed up. Perhaps because it was the first time a man touched her body, or maybe because it hurt as I started pressing her shoulder to fix the muscles on her shoulder.

“...”

“...”

I was surprised because she didn’t let out any sound as I massaged her shoulder. Normal people would find that it was painful and most of them couldn’t help but scream. But this girl didn’t even let out any sound at all.

After fifteen minutes, I finished and told her to fix her clothes. She nodded weakly. Her body was drenched in sweat. She endured it well, huh?

“...it’s really painful, isn’t it?” She asked with a weak smile.

“But you didn’t even scream.” I retorted.

“Uh, screaming won’t lessen the pain, so it’s useless.” She said.

Screaming wouldn’t lessen the pain? That was not something someone like her should say. I patted her head and told her to sleep here while I was going to sleep in my brother’s room.

“Eh? Why don’t you sleep in this room too? You can sleep on your bed while I’m going to sleep on the floor! Please?” She asked. I wondered why she didn’t mind sleeping with a man, but seeing her eyes, I couldn’t refuse her.

“Alright. You sleep on the bed then. I’m going to take my brother’s sleeping bag.” I got up and took my brother’s sleeping bag. When I entered my room, she already lied on the floor as if saying that she wouldn’t let me sleep on the floor. She was really an idiot.

“Come on, sleep on the bed,” I ordered her, but she refused.

“No way! The floor is good for me!” She said while stretching her unwounded right-hand as wide as she could.

“Don’t be like a little kid. Go on, sleep on the bed.” I ordered her again.

“Uh, how about both of us sleep on the bed?” She asked. My bed was not a single bed. Well, my room was quite big, unlike my brother’s, so whenever my grandparents came to my house, they would occupy my room and I moved to my brother’s room or just slept on the couch. There should be enough space for two people to sleep on my bed. However, for this girl to suggest that idea...

“Are you not afraid that I will attack you at midnight?” I asked her that.

“Fufufu. If you think like that, does that mean that you are seeing me as a woman now?” She asked smugly.

“...I’m going to sleep in my brother’s room.”

“Wait a minute! I’m joking! Please don’t leave me alone!” She begged tearfully. Of course not. I never saw her crying at all. Even when it was painful, she didn’t cry.

“Uh, I’m not afraid because even though it hurts to say it, but you only see me as little kid... So, it should be alright, right?” She asked back.

“...no, I mean to attack you like when I dislocated your shoulder, not attack in a sexual way. I might attack you again if you accidentally shake my body, you know?” When I told her that, she slowly turned her head and looked at me. Her eyes asked for confirmation, so I nodded.

“...it’s really embarrassing... please don’t think that I’m a lewd woman, alright?” She covered her face with her right hand.

“I’m kidding. I also think about attacking you in a sexual way. Anyway, you should sleep on the bed. I’m going to sleep on the floor. Don’t worry about it.” I rubbed her head a bit rough, so she protested with a glare.

“Fine then. I’ll sleep on your bed.” She got on the bed and tucked in. “Good night!”

“Mm. Good night.” I replied and felt that it was weird to say goodnight like that. Well, whatever.

...

The next day, I didn’t plan anything at all. No, with her injured like that, I thought that it would be better if we relaxed at home. She didn’t mind it as she liked reading books while I played games. It was a relaxing day.

...

The next day. Friday. I only had today and tomorrow before the time looped again, huh?

“What are we going to do today?” She asked in the morning.

“Just like yesterday, I guess. How’s your shoulder?” I massaged her again last night. There was only swelling left, but it could only be healed with time.

“It hurts a little if I move it, but otherwise, I feel great! Hey, I know that I say that I can’t cook for you in this iteration, but I think I can cook now! How about I cook something for you today?” She offered.

“If your shoulder is alright, I don’t mind. What are you going to make?”

She tapped her chin while thinking. “Hmm, I don’t know? What kind of food do you like? It’s your request!”

“Oriental fried rice. Spicy.” I answered without hesitation. It was not because I loved it, but it was easy to make. So, even a beginner wouldn’t make it taste... that bad.

“Hey, don’t underestimate me! Uuh, but if that’s what you want, fine then. I will make fried rice that will melt your heart!” She said so. We went to the kitchen and noticed that there was only one egg left.

“I’m going to buy eggs! You wait here, alright?” She said.

“I’ll go with you then.” I offered to accompany her, but she refused.

“You don’t have to. It’s close and I’m not a little kid, alright? Do you think that I can’t buy eggs? But, uh, can I borrow your money?” She asked timidly.

“Sure. Be careful.” I gave her the money to buy the eggs and several ingredients that she said she needed.

“Yes!” She skipped with light steps. Only for several steps though, as she grabbed her left shoulder after that. Idiot. I should give her a sling, but she refused adamantly, saying that it would make her look like a sick person.

After watching her left my home happily, I returned to my room and started playing a game. An hour passed and she... didn’t return. I wondered where she left. Was she really lost her way?

I was getting worried, so I got out of my house and looked for her, but I couldn’t find her. I asked the people there, but although they said they saw her, they didn’t know where she was going. That idiot, I wondered where she went. She left her backpack at my house, so she shouldn’t go somewhere else. I spent the entire day looking for her, but I couldn’t find her at all. I didn’t know her phone number, so I couldn’t call her either.

...

The next day, I looked for her again, but I still couldn’t find her. It was as if she disappeared into thin air, as no one saw her either. That idiot sure made me worry for her. If I saw her again, I would definitely flick her forehead like there was tomorrow. There was nothing I could do, so in this last day, I spent my days strolling in the neighborhood while looking for her, but even after spending an entire day, she didn’t appear. I would ask her about it in the next iteration, was what I thought as I returned home.

It was past midnight. I was waiting for the time to loop back to Sunday, January 5th. It was raining. As it was getting closer to the time that I would return to the past and repeated the same week again, I heard a knocking amongst the sound of the rain. It never happened in the previous iterations. If there was something different in this iteration, it was only her. So, I hastily ran to the door and opened it.

There she was. Standing under the rain. Her clothes were disheveled. Her face was pale and even though it was raining, I could clearly see the streaks of tears flowing down from her eyes. Without thinking, I embraced her and pulled her inside the house. But she refused and I didn’t force her. I didn’t want to force her.

“Dee! What’s wrong?” I asked worriedly.

She shook her head as she kept sobbing in my shoulder. “Andre... I’m sorry I can’t cook you something in this iteration of yours... I’m sorry to disappear suddenly like that... I’m sorry for bothering you this entire week... I’m sorry for everything... I hope... if you repeat this week again... you can save me again... I hope you can give me another happiness... and don’t let the ‘me’ in your next iteration feel sadness like what I feel now...”

“Why are you saying something like that!? Hey, Dee! Tell me what is wrong!” I shook her body, but she didn’t say anything. She pushed me gently and took a few steps back. She smiled at me.

“Promise me, Andre, that in your next iteration, you will play with me again.” She asked mournfully. I didn’t know why but I felt so sad.

“I promise! That is why tell me what is happening!” I yelled at her, but she shook her head.

“I know that in the next iteration... if we meet again, I will fall in love with you once again, so for now... goodbye.” She muttered. I didn’t notice it before, but I could see a glint of metal in her hand now. Before I could stop her, she cut her throat and I could see her dying right in front of me. At that time, time looped and I returned to my own room.

...

I ran. After returning to my room, I ran out of my house. I knew she would be there. I hoped she would be there. So, I ran as fast as I could. To the park. I arrived at the park in a minute. I looked around and saw her sleeping behind the bench.

She was alright. I was glad that she was alright. But what I saw before... I couldn’t shake it off. It was etched in my memories. I could remember her face, her expression, her tears, and her despair. And also, I noticed it too late.

She is the key to my time loop. If I could save her, I would be able to escape this time loop. I had experienced this time loop countless times. Just how many times did she kill herself like that? And thinking that in the first part of my time loop, I leisurely did my hobbies... I hated myself for that.

I sat down beside her. I promised myself that this time, I would surely save her. I wouldn’t let her experience the sadness her previous self experienced. I promised her that.

Maybe because she could feel my stare, she opened her eyes and she was surprised to see a stranger staring at her sleeping face. I smiled at her as she took a few steps back while her arms were covering her body. “Wh-who are you? What do you want?”

She was terrified even though I gave her my sincerest smile. “Hello, Dee. I am Andre. I... have something to tell you.”

She was terrified again when I called her nickname. “How do you know my name?”

“Please calm down and listen to my story. After that, you can believe me if you want to, or you can think that I am crazy. Anyway...” I told her my story. Everything. Including how she died just an hour before I met her again.

“...I want to say that you are crazy but... you even know about the orphanage and how I think. That is... not fair!” She pouted, but it seemed she believed me as she let her guard down.

“I know that I promise you to bring a cake with me, but... well, happy birthday.” I congratulated her.

She looked stunned and her tears... flowing from her eyes. She hastily wiped her tears though. I was surprised as I never thought that she would cry like that.

“What’s wrong, Dee?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just... happy, I guess?”

Was it a happy thing for someone to congratulate you on your birthday? My family always congratulated me every year. So, I didn’t feel that it was something special. But for her, maybe it was really special.

“I believe your story but... uh, did I really kill myself?” She asked.

“...yes. Hey, do you want to share why you do that?” I asked. I didn’t have any clues at all in the previous iteration, so I had to gather clues now.

“...I haven’t killed myself so I don’t know.” She answered after hesitating a bit.

“You are right.” I nodded in understanding. She must be confused, but she accepted it quickly.

“Do you want to come to my house?” I asked.

“Uh... even though you said that I stayed in your house and I even slept in the same room as you... but, isn’t it a bit too fast? I mean, in this iteration, I just meet you, right? Don’t you think that there are a lot of steps before introducing me to your parents?” She looked at me while tilting her head.

“Well, I’m going to take you on a date today. Don’t you want to change your clothes and take a bath before going on a date?” I smiled at her.

“You are right! But still, you are not right! Before going to a date, how about we have a nice conversation first?” She suggested.

I nodded. “Mm, I don’t mind. So, you can ask me anything.”

“We are going to talk? Here? Right now?” She asked.

“Well, what do you want? It’s too early to have breakfast. You also don’t want me to take you to my home. Or do you have any better idea?” I raised my eyebrows as I looked at her questioningly.

“Uh, nope, I don’t have any idea! So, let’s chat here.” She moved to the bench and patted the space beside her, gesturing me to sit beside her.

“Where do I start... Ah, right, so, you did fall in love with me, right? Right?” She asked with a bright smile. Somehow, seeing this smile made me reflexively flicked her forehead.

“Ouch... it is the first time someone flicked my head and it is really painful, you know?” She complained.

“Well, I just think that your face says something like ‘flick my forehead please!’ or something like that,” I told her.

“What kind of face is that!? I seriously doubt the fact that you fall in love with me now...”

It was better to see her face like this rather than her expression at the end of her life. I really didn’t want to see that kind of face again. It broke my heart. As for whether I fell in love with her or not, I just thought that it would better for her to be smiling, not crying.

“But you seem experienced... Ah! Don’t tell me that you always flicked my head in your previous iteration!?” She exclaimed and protected her forehead.

“Yep, every time you tease me, I will flick your forehead.” I nodded without denying it.

“I’m against violence! I’m seriously against violence!” She protested loudly, but I laughed it off.

She tapped her chin while thinking again. “Hey, tell me, what do you like about me?”

“...I think that is actually my line. You are following me everywhere, you know? No, on the first day, I stayed on this bench and you accompany me the whole day. I didn’t notice it at that time, but I never thought that you stayed here. No wonder you didn’t leave me alone.” I told her that.

“Uh, yeah, sorry for staying here! But if I were you and someone is bothering me, I would go, you know? Why didn’t you go?” She asked curiously.

“No reason. I just want to stay there and also, I thought that you are going soon. After all, in the previous iteration, I saw you in the train.”

She clapped her hand as if she just remembered something. “That’s right! My little nephew! My sister told me that I can see her today!”

“Please don’t forget something important like that.” I retorted. She laughed.

“Well, after hearing your unbelievable story, it’s normal for me to forget about everything else, right? So, I’m sorry but I won’t accompany you today! I didn’t promise you anything after all.” She apologized even though there was nothing that she should apologize for.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to accompany you. Or else, you will be molested in the train.” I chuckled.

“Uuh... alright then. I’ll introduce you to my sister!”

“No, thank you.” I refused her politely. I wasn’t prepared to meet one of her family. Not yet. Unlike her, I couldn’t just meet her sister and suddenly became friends with her.

“Why? Ah, are you embarrassed? Hmm~?”

And a flick flew to her forehead again.

“Ow... if you are embarrassed, you can just say so, you know? Alright, I won’t force you then... But, I will feel bad if you only accompany me... what to do?” She questioned while tilting her head. I wondered why she liked tilting her head when she asked a question.

“Don’t worry about it. Just do me a favour, alright?” I told her not to worry. There was a lot of things that I could do while waiting for her. No, in fact, even when I did nothing, I could spent all days watching the clouds moving.

“Hmm, well, if you say so. Thanks!” She said. After that, she asked what we were doing in the previous iteration, so I told her everything. It was a little embarrassing, but she looked excited as she heard about the things we did that she never did. So, I offered her whether she wanted to play around like that again, and fortunately, she agreed, even though she was a bit reluctant when I told her that I would treat her.

“It’s only for this week.” I told her that.

“Well... alright then. Hey, but you don’t think that I’m a gold-digger, right?” She asked. She was really the same person, thinking something like that. I flicked her head softly this time.

“If you are a gold-digger, you should find a wealthier man than me. I’m just a student, you know?” I told her. She laughed lightly.

“Ahaha, you are right. Well, I’ll be in your care for this week then, Mister student!” She said.

Around noon, we went to her sister’s place. She seemed excited as she said that it was the first time she was going to see her sister after several years. They were sisters, but it seemed they were separated from when they were little. I wanted to hear more about her family situation, as I thought that it must be the reason for her sadness in the previous iteration. But she avoided it when I tried to probe about her family situation. Well, I still had some time until Saturday, so it was not a problem.

On the train. I saw the same molester. I wanted to kill him when I saw him. But maybe, noticing the change in my expression, Dee pulled my hand softly and whispered, “Protect me, alright?”

So, I covered her so the molester wouldn’t notice her. He looked around as I chatted with Dee casually. Suddenly, a woman screamed. It seemed that molester molested another woman because he couldn’t molest Dee. I glanced at him. The woman looked frightened, but the molester already escaped and no one knew who molested her, so she became paranoid and pointed at every man around her.

It would be troublesome if the woman kept screaming like that. As for the molester, he calmly escaped slowly. I should catch him before he could escape. But when I wanted to move, Dee pulled my sleeves. She shook her head softly when I looked at her. She leaned closer and whispered. “If you move, there is going to be a lot of blood, right?”

...well, I couldn’t deny this possibility. It was good enough that I didn’t kill him, only stabbed his shoulder or somewhere not dangerous, but there would be a lot of blood. “If you do that, I won’t be able to meet my big sister, so, let’s not do that.”

“...well, if you say so.” I reluctantly accepted it. Maybe it was already in my blood whenever I saw a crime happening in front of me, I wanted to stop it. Well, after doing that for countless iterations, it couldn’t be helped, could it?

I thought that the molester would just go like that. But I never thought that he approached us. And when the train shook, he stumbled and almost fell to Dee. I knew he intentionally did that, so, without hesitation, I elbowed his nose and broke it. The man screamed in pain as he fell down and rolled on the ground. People took some distance away from him.

“It seems that he intentionally approaching us. Sorry, I reflexively did that.” I laughed lightly as I looked at the molester. Since it had come to this situation, I should confront it directly, huh?

“So, not satisfied after molesting that woman, you want to molest my girlfriend, huh?” I spoke with a voice that could be heard by all people here. The man was still screaming in pain, but I ignored it. He glared at me menacingly and like in the previous iteration, he took out a knife from his pocket. Dee pulled my sleeves again and shook her head. Maybe she didn’t want to see a lot of blood or maybe, she wouldn’t be able to see her sister if I harmed that molester, huh? After all, the security guards would definitely detain me for a while, and she would be my witness, so, yeah, let’s not harm this man no matter how much I despised him.

The molester swung his knife, I had to say, amateurishly. I grabbed his wrist easily and locked his arms. After that, I asked the other passengers to pass me something to tie this man with. So, I tied this man with a nylon rope someone brought. And not long after that, several men in uniforms appeared and apprehend the molester. And as if it was natural, I was also caught, though it was self-defense. Well, Dee accompanied me. So, I hoped that we wouldn’t be detained for a long time.

Fortunately, the passengers helped me by saying that the man attacked me first. I only needed half an hour to write some kind of forms and after that, we continued to Dee’s sister’s place.

“I was surprised! I would never think that he still tried to molest me even after molesting another woman like that! Not to mention that you are right beside me! I wonder what he thought...” She seemed a bit relieved. She stared at me. “Hmm, maybe... he thought that a skinny guy... like you won’t be able to protect me! But who would ever think that a skinny guy like you can protect me? Not to mention that you are really skilled!”

I flicked her forehead when she said that I was a skinny guy, but this girl continued as if nothing happened. She rubbed her forehead with tears forming in the corner of her eyes though.

“It can’t be helped. Even though I do daily exercise, it is only to make me healthy, not to form muscles or anything like that. And the iteration resets my body condition too, so even if I trained my muscles in this iteration, it would be useless. So, I only trained some skills that might be useful.” I told her that.

“Hee, interesting! Thanks for protecting me, by the way! Ah, we are getting off in the next station.” She reminded me.

“Mm, alright.”

We chatted again, or rather, she expressed how cool I was, locking the molester’s arms without breaking a sweat. Or the way that I moved fast. Or the way that I asked the help of the other passengers. It was embarrassing, so I hoped she would stop, but she continued.

“Well, this is it.” She said as we reached a hospital. “Are you sure you are not coming with me?”

“No, I’ll wait for you in the lobby,” I told her.

“Are you really sure? I’m going to talk with my sister for a long time, you know? Maybe... at least two hours?” She said after pondering for a while.

“I can sit without doing anything for a whole day, so two or three hours is not a problem.” I convinced her. She didn’t seem convinced though. But I insisted that she went to meet her sister before it was too late. I didn’t want her to miss the visiting hour just because she debated with me right in front of the hospital after all.

“Alright then. Be a good boy and wait for me here, alright?” He patted my head playfully. She sure was bold. She knew that I was older than her, but she patted my head as if I were far younger than her. But that was what made her approachable, I thought.

“You too, be a good girl and don’t cause a problem.” I patted her head back. She stuck her tongue out as she half running entered the hospital. You shouldn’t run in the hospital, was what I told her, but she apologized lightly.

I didn’t even wait for fifteen minutes before I noticed her. She was with a man, and the man was holding her hand forcefully. She struggled to break free from that man, but it seemed that it was useless. I approached them as I noticed them. Without saying anything, I hit the man’s face and he finally let her go.

“Dre!” She exclaimed in surprise.

“Mm.” I pulled her and hid her behind me as the man got up on his feet. He looked at me. I remembered him. I saw his face once. He was... the drunkard that I saw near my house.

“Who are you!? What are you going to do with my daughter!?” He shouted. His daughter? I glanced at Dee, and she nodded weakly. No wonder she wanted to run away from her home if her father was like this.

“Who I am is not important. Whoever sees someone forcing a little girl like that will react the same way that I did.” I didn’t want him to think that I was her friend. No, it was not to protect me, but rather, to put my position as the same as the bystander. I wanted to tell him that it was not him against me, but rather, him against the world. Something like that. Also, even though I saw some people started recording, I also started recording as proof if the police came later.

“Shut up! I can do whatever I want to my daughter!” He growled angrily. It seemed he couldn’t even think clearly now.

“Is that so? Let’s call the police then. We can talk it out, right?” I calmly mentioned the police.

“Why would I wait for the police to take my daughter back!? Are you kidnapping her!?” He accused me as a kidnapper now.

I shrugged nonchalantly. “As you can see, I’m just a bystander that can’t stand your action of forcing a little girl to follow you. So, I stopped you. If you think it clearly, your action is more like a kidnapper for us.”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You! Come here!” He pointed at Dee. He didn’t even know her name? What a shitty father. But still, it frightened Dee as her hand clutched my shirts harder. I wanted to stop it as soon as I could. Where was the police when we needed them the most? Well, not the police, but the security guards of the hospital were approaching us.

“Sir, please calm down and tell us what is happening.” One of the young security guards tried to calm that man down, but the man shoved him angrily as he pointed at me.

“That boy hit me and you ask me to calm down!? You should do your job and capture that boy!” He shouted at the security guards. Yeah, well, I hit him, but everybody seemed to protect me now.

“Sir, why did you hit him?” One of the security guards asked me. But I didn’t have to answer as someone shouted and explained the situation to the security guard. About how the man pulled the girl behind me forcefully. About how I stopped him by hitting his face. And now, the man tried to accuse me as a kidnapper.

“Alright. You should come with us and you can tell us the detail in our office. Do you need to call cops?” The security guard asked me.

“Yes, call the police. He said that he is her father, but the way he treats her seems like he is abusing her. We should make a report about it.” I told the security guard in front of me. He looked troubled, but it was your job to do troublesome things. As for the other security guards, they tried to stop that man from disturbing the other people. After all, it was a hospital.

“Maybe you should administer some relaxing medicine to him,” I said half-jokingly. Or maybe, you should just hit him until he stopped struggling, was not the thing that I would tell them.

As for me, I pulled Dee’s hand and went to the security office for now. It was similar to when we were in the station. I told them the situation in detail and even gave them the proof in the form of the video. It was undeniable proof. So, we didn’t get in too much trouble. After that, I urged Dee to see her sister as she didn’t get a chance to meet her sister. I accompanied her until she arrived at her sister’s room. After that, I returned to the security office and saw the man was getting questioned by the security guards. It took an hour before they decided to let the man go. I followed him furtively. There was something that I had to see now. And as expected, he entered his car. I noted down his license plate. After that, I returned to the hospital and waited for Dee in front of her sister’s room.

After two hours, Dee exited the room with a man who seemed to be her sister’s husband. I hid, of course, as I didn’t want her to nosily trying to introduce him to me. After the man entered the room again, I greeted her.

“Yo,” I called out to her.

“Hm? Ah, you are here? Thank you for saving me earlier!” She bowed and thanked me.

“Mm. Don’t worry about it. So, what are you going to do now? Want to go home?” I asked her.

“Hmm, well, alright. I want to go to the orphanage, but it’s too late now. So, yeah, let’s go home.” She walked in front of me. I caught up immediately though.

“...you can stay at my house, you know?” I told her that.

She laughed awkwardly. “Well, that would be great, but for me, we just meet today, won’t you think that I’m an easy girl if I let you take me home?”

“No, I won’t. I insist.” I told her seriously.

“Hmmmmm... really?” She asked again.

“I know you really want to accept it, right?” I flicked her forehead softly.

“Ouch... but if I accept it without refusing it once or twice, you would think that I’m really shameless, right? Right?” She protested.

“Well, I already know how shameless you are, you don’t have to worry about it.” I chuckled at her. She was not really shameless though. In fact, I was the one who shamelessly followed her around in the past iteration. Even when she refused, I shamelessly insisted because I wanted to be close to her. I just noticed that when she died in front of me though.

“Hey! I’m not shameless! Well, maybe a little, but not that shameless, right? What did I do in the past iteration that makes you think that I’m shameless?” She asked quickly.

“...alright. You stay in my room, though I told you that. But you requested me to sleep in the same room as you. You asked me to sleep on the same bed. Don’t you think a normal girl wouldn’t do that?” I told her with a bit of teasing tone.

“...uh, that must be because I’m afraid sleeping alone in a stranger house, right? You can’t say that it’s shameless! How about you? If I ask you to sleep in my house would you... yeah, there is no way you would ask me to sleep with you, right? Oh, or perhaps, you would ask me that?” And then, she rubbed her forehead again. “Please don’t flick my forehead again and again... what would you do if you leave a mark there? Would you take responsibility? Will you marry—ow....”

“I always said this in my previous iteration, but for me, you are just a little kid. Wait another two or three years before you say something like that.”

I stopped as we passed a pastry shop. Right, it was her birthday and I told her that I would bring a cake to her. I should buy it now. I asked her to buy a huge cake. Of course, we wouldn’t eat it with the two of us. We would share it with the children at the orphanage, just like what we did in the previous iteration. She looked happy when I told her that, so she didn’t refuse.

“Do you like children? You seem to like them!” She said while we were near the orphanage.

“I don’t hate them, but I don’t really like them either,” I said. It was already evening. I hoped we wouldn’t disturb the children at the orphanage. Though she said that it should be alright. Maybe they just finished their dinner now. Now that I thought about it, we hadn’t had our lunch or dinner yet. She didn’t mention it, so I kind of forgot too.

Like in the previous iteration, every time the children saw her, they would run to her and surrounded her excitedly. When she told the children that she brought a cake for the children, they became happy. And when they were happy, it made her happy as well.

...

“Is it really alright? Won’t your parents think that I’m shameless for staying at your place tonight?” She asked worriedly as we entered my house.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell them properly.” I comforted her, but she still didn’t relax. Well, if she could relax after I told her that, she would be too... amazing.

“I’m home.” I opened the door. My parents were lazing about in the living room. My brother must be in his room. I entered the house while holding her hand.

“Where were you? You went from early in the morning and return so late!” My mother yelled at me.

“Ah, I’m meeting the fated girl for me,” I told her that. Dee pinched my hand when I said that. My parents stopped what they were doing and looked at me now. And then, they noticed that I brought a girl with me.

“You... why are you bringing such a cute girl home? You are not kidnapping her, are you?” My father slapped my head, but I endured it with a laugh.

“Oh, what a poor girl, to be caught by a man like this! Come, come, don’t be shy! It’s cold outside, right? Have you had your dinner? No? What a pathetic son! It’s so late and you haven’t treated her to dinner! Come, come, let’s have dinner and forget this useless son of mine!” My mother pulled Dee inside and while doing that, she didn’t forget to berate me as well.

“Ah, well, there are some circumstances in her house, so she will stay here for a week or so,” I told them that.

“Really? Is it not that you kidnap her, right? Don’t worry, you can tell me if he forces you to come here! So, what is happening? Are you alright?” My mother asked her worriedly.

We already planned what we were going to tell my parents. Just like in the previous iteration, we told them that she was locked out as her parents were going on a vacation. So, she didn’t have a place to stay now. I kind-heartedly brought her to my house because of that.

After a quick introduction, Dee became close to my parents quickly. She really had an amiable presence, so I was not worried about that at all. And my parents seemed like they liked her a lot. As for me, they already forgot about my existence at all.

I left them for now as I tried to make my room a bit presentable. Well, I only took a blanket from the wardrobe though.

After that, we were having dinner while my parents talked to her. After having dinner, I brought her to my room and told her to sleep in my room. “Wow, I’m so nervous!”

“Good job for passing that stage easily.” I patted her head.

“Uuh, though I like you patting my head. However, I don’t like you treating me like a little kid!” She complained. “So, this is your room? Wow, you have a lot of books! Have you read them all?”

“Of course. Ah, you can sleep on the bed. I will sleep on the couch in the living room. Or do you want to sleep in the same room?” I asked her.

“Um, I don’t know? I’m afraid of sleeping alone in a man’s house, but sleeping with you is... no, I don’t think I can sleep. Why don’t we stay awake all night? You can... ah, you can play a game and I will read a book!” She suggested. It was the same idea as in the previous iteration. And in the end, she would fall asleep while playing the game.

“Let’s play together,” I told her that.

We played until around midnight when she looked sleepy. I pinched her cheek and her eyes brightened a bit. Only for a moment though, as she started yawning again. It seemed she was not used to sleeping late. I told her to sleep on the bed while I continued playing the game. She agreed as it seemed she couldn’t stay awake any longer. And so, she slept.

I turned off the console and the tv. After telling her goodnight, I left the room. The house.

I took a walk as if I went to the minimarket nearby. Of course, it was closed already. I was looking for the car actually. The car that her father drove this afternoon. It seemed, to save her, I had to understand the condition of her family first. I tried searching for her situation from my acquaintance that I got from my experience in dealing with crimes. Well, he was a broker, so, I paid a lot of money, but at least, I got the gist of it.

So, even though legally he was her father, but biologically speaking, he was not her father. Her biology parents were divorced when she was still a little kid. Her sister followed her father while she was with her mother. Her mother remarried with her current father. Not long ago, her mother died. And so, she lived with someone who was not related to her. There was no information whether their relationship was amicable or not, but looking from how they acted this afternoon, I believed they were not in a friendly relationship. In fact, I heard a disturbing fact from the information broker, but it seemed he didn’t have any proof. Only rumors.

It was said that her father forced her to do... a compensated dating. For now, however, nothing bad happened to her... well, that was not true. Even being forced to date an older man should be bad. However, it seemed she hadn’t forced to have sex with those men. However, I believed it wouldn’t last for long. Maybe, that was why she killed herself. No, that was not a maybe. She definitely killed herself because of that.

Thinking like that, I couldn’t help but gritted my teeth in annoyance. Again, thinking that she had to experience this kind of thing countless times because of my naive thinking... I couldn’t forgive myself the most.

I found her house. It was the same as what the information broker told me. I also saw his car. For now, I entered his house from the backdoor. I could lockpick a simple lock like this easily. I carefully entered his house and checked for any security measure. There were some cameras, but I ignored it. I was wearing a mask and I covered my whole body. Besides, I planned to take all the data in the cameras for proofs.

For now, I entered the man’s room. I could hear him snoring even from the outside. I opened the unlocked door without a sound. There were a lot of empty bottles on the floor. He slept on the floor as well. Good. For now, let’s see his phone first. I brought a laptop with me, so I could hack the phone. Let’s see what we find here, I murmured inwardly.

As expected, there were proofs on his phone. From the transaction receipts, the chats to the potential clients, the picture of her with skimpy clothing... alright, let’s not see that part. I felt bad for looking at her expression in those pictures. I deleted those pictures from the phone’s memory. Of course, I didn’t copy them to my laptop. That was not what a man would do.

After that, I looked at the security cameras and took the date from the cameras. I decided to delete the data where there were pictures of her. It would be easier to delete the whole data in the memory card, but I wanted some proofs of his conversation through his phone with his clients. But I deleted the data from when I entered the house properly. I deleted the data to the point that it would be almost impossible to recover. I also deleted the data on his personal computer. I searched for a hidden place to hide something, but I didn't find any.

Now then, I already had the proofs, what to do to this shitty old man?

If I really wanted her to be safe, I had to kill this shitty old man once and for all. But I didn’t want the police to blame her for that. Well, whatever. I would protect her if the police tried to accuse her of killing this shitty old man. As for how to kill him, I decided to make it look like an accident. Since he was already drunk dead, let’s force him to drink more. I knew that people could die from alcohol poisoning. And since he already drank so much, let’s add a bit more until he died. Fortunately, he still had a dozen bottles of alcohol in his fridge, so I brought them to his room. I didn’t need to tie him. I opened his mouth and forced him to drink. Well, he woke up, but he couldn’t do anything in his weakened state.

After making sure that he died, I returned to my house. I entered my room to see her.

“I hope you will be happy now,” I whispered that while rubbing her head softly. She was sleeping soundly. From now on, she should be happy. I wouldn’t let her feel any sadness anymore. That was what I promised as I closed the door.

...

“Morning.” She yawned as she greeted me. It was not morning yet. It seemed she was the type of early sleeper, early riser.

“You wake up early.” I greeted her.

“Mm. You too.” She sat beside me and yawned again.

“Did you sleep well?” I asked her.

“I didn’t sleep at all... would you believe me if I told you that?” She smiled at me.

“Yeah, yeah, I believe you.”

“...you don’t believe me at all! Anyway, I didn’t sleep so well. Hey. Where were you last night?” She abruptly asked.

“What do you mean where? I am sleeping here.” I pointed at the couch.

“Liar.” She interrupted me. She was glaring and leaned closer. “I didn’t sleep a lot, you know? I was pretending to be sleeping to see whether you will attack me or not. So, I know that you went out last night. For a few hours. Where were you?”

“...no, I just bought cigs.” I patted her head. No, I pushed her head back. This girl pretended to sleep, huh? Well, I could understand her a bit now. It seemed that she didn’t trust me fully, so she tested me like that. But seriously. What would she do if I were to attack her?

“Uu... treating me like a little kid... I’m already an adult, you know? I can even wear a skimpy dress now!” She said smugly.

“You don’t look good in that kind of dress, you know?” I flicked her forehead because she said a stupid thing. She rubbed her forehead, but she flashed a victory smile.

“Fufufu. I win!” She said smugly.

What do you mean you win? I rubbed my eyes. Not sleeping was really bad. I should sleep a little, but I didn’t want to make her worry.

“...so, did you kill him?” She asked in a low voice.

I was surprised, but I kept my face stayed expressionless. “What do you mean by that? Even though I said that I won’t feel bad killing people, I am not a murderer, you know?”

Yeah, I didn’t kill him. I just had a friendly drink competition with him. Only, he was the only one who drank. Until he died.

I flicked her forehead again, but she didn’t complain. “I know that you are going out to kill him last night. I know you have a lot of skills, you told me that when we first met. Killing him shouldn’t be a problem for you. And for you, cracking or hacking should be easy too. So, I can imagine you coming to his house, search for proofs, find some sexy pictures of me and then kill him. Not to mention that you told me that ‘I will be happy now’. Am I right?”

...she was smarter than she seemed to be!

“So, do you save them? The pictures of me, I mean.” She asked. Her eyes were filled with curiosity.

I sighed. It seemed that I wouldn’t be able to lie to her now. “No, I didn’t save them. And you are right.”

“Great! Since you didn’t save the pictures, I will consider showing you directly!” She giggled happily.

“...no, I don’t want to. You are still a little kid in my eyes. Grow up for another three or five years old before saying that kind of thing.” I roughly rubbed her head.

“Uuu... you say that I only have to wait for a year or two! Besides, the age of consent is sixteen years old in this country, so it should be alright after a year, right?” She protested.

“Age of consent had nothing to do with how I see you. In my eyes, you are still a kid, so, give it up. Besides, in the previous iteration, I told you that you should understand man’s heart more. Don’t expose your skin too much.” I told her about the Absolute Territory again and her reaction was almost similar to before.

“Hmm, well, alright, I understand. But... thank you for saving me properly this time.” She hugged me suddenly and kissed my cheek. After that, she escaped and entered my room and slammed the door. What? Was she embarrassed? How adora... cute.

...

This week, I repeated what I did with her in the previous iteration. We went to an amusement park, we went to play with the children in the orphanage, we went shopping, we spent our time just relaxing in the home. Speaking of which, the corpse of that man was found out after the fifth day because it started to smell bad. He didn’t have a good relationship with his neighbors, so, no one noticed that he had gone missing for days. After a quick investigation, it was concluded that the man died because of alcohol poisoning. Besides, his crimes surfaced when the police investigated the security cameras in his house. Also, when they saw his phone and personal computer.

Once the fateful clock passed peacefully, which was Saturday night, I finally entered the January 12th. It seemed the key to break the time loop was really this girl that lived near my house. I told her that I finally broke the time loop and she congratulated me sincerely. I was glad that I didn’t have to see her dying in front of my eyes again.

The next day, I told the police that the girl they were looking for was in my protection. I asked them what they were going to do to her. It seemed they decided to take her to her relative, but besides her sister, she didn’t have anyone else. And she didn’t want to live with her sister. After all, her sister lived with her husband, so, it would be awkward if she lived with them. As for living with me, it would be impossible too. So, she decided to live in the orphanage and helped the Head of the orphanage to take care of the children over there. Well, she had a similar mental age with those children, so, she should be fine living there. Besides, the orphanage was in walking distance from my house, so I would visit her frequently. Or rather, she would visit my house instead.

My parents, especially my mother was happy when she visited our home. It seemed once she graduated from her school, she would force me to marry her. Dee teased me whenever that topic came out by the way, so I flicked her forehead and she cried to my mother because of that. Well, I was glad that she seemed really cheerful now. I hoped that she would never experience bad things like in the previous iteration again.

I smiled at her and she smiled back.

After Story:

"I thought you said that you can cook?" I asked her while she was cooking in her new apron. Of course, she was not naked.

"...it's not that I can't cook, but you are too skillful, you know? How can a man like you cook delicious cuisine like this! Do you want to have higher girl power than me!?" She complained as she tasted the food that I cooked for her.

It was decided that she would cook something for me while I also cooked something for her at the same time. She smugly told me that what she cooked would melt my heart and make me fall head over heels for her. So, we started the cooking competition. The result was that she was defeated by me.

"Well, you are barely reaching a professional level, I think. It's not that bad." I praised her a little since she looked so devastated.

"Hey, rather than me being your girlfriend, don't you think that you are more suitable to be a girlfriend? You really have high level in your girl power, you know? You can cook, you can sew, you can clean the house, you can bake a cake, so, you should be the girlfriend, right?" She suddenly said it.

I flicked her head. "You should increase your girl power then. By the way, you are going to school starting tomorrow, aren't you?"

"Eh~? It's difficult to increase my girl power more than this, you know? And for the second question, yes, I'm going to school tomorrow! Are you going to take me to school?" She asked hopefully.

"No way. It will be embarrassing if I were to do that." I told her that.

"And here I want to show you off to my friends... Besides your appearance, you are in God-tier, aren't you?"

I flicked her forehead again. Saying something bad about my appearance... well, comparing to her, I was really ordinary, but I didn't the way she said it, so I flicked her head.

"By the way, I have a question," I remembered something that she hadn't told me yet.

"Hm? What is it? You can ask me anything you want! Ah, but please don't ask me whether I will allow you to have two girlfriends, alright?"

She really liked talking about random things, huh? 

"No, one girlfriend is already annoying enough, so I don't need another."

"Hey! It hurts when my boyfriend keeps saying that I'm annoying, you know?" She protested.

"Anyway, I want to know what you wish for your birthday is. You said that you have a wish." I stopped her with a pat to her head. She smiled when I patted her.

"Ah, that. Um, it's really embarrassing to say, but... I promise you that I won't keep anything a secret anymore, but promise me you won't laugh?" She asked timidly. I nodded wordlessly.

She exhaled. "I wish for a prince on a white horse to save me from my situation at that time. And there you come, although not on a white horse and you are not a prince, but you really save me from that situation. I'm really happy, you know? Not only with my... family, but you also save my heart when I thought no one cares about me too."

I smiled at her and pulled her head closer. "You are the one who saves my heart, you know?"

I kissed her head and rubbed her hair softly. If a wish could come true, I really wished for this happiness to never end...