{TICK, TICK, TICK, Tick, tick, ti-)

Shiro once again awoke in her bed, tears running down her face. “What just happened? Why- wha- wa- Cat Ears…?” Shiro was unable to figure out anything that Robert had said, why Kurono had all of a sudden changed tone and what was up with the cat ears?

Shiro exited her bedroom into the kitchen, too exhausted to attempt going to school.

*It’s probably the second one again isn’t it…* If she was correct then it would end in her getting stabbed once again, unless Robert changed his methods but she knew he wouldn’t try that straight away. “Wait… Kurono… He had wolf ears. I can feel cat- wait, what do I even look like again… I can’t- I can’t remember… That’s the key! Isn’t it..!”

“The body of a young girl with long white hair has been found in the west river, currently there is no information about the death or the identity of the girl.”

She looked down at the table, seeing the same cover as she had in the first timeline. *River? Wasn’t it a…? White hair… Who was she again…? 17… Dark blue… Type AB… 5’10ft… Tachibana..!? Wait… I’m not… no- if- am I?*

Shiro felt her heart drop at the speed of light remembering everything that had been revealed about the girl in the papers. She ran into her bathroom and looked into the mirror. All the windows since the start of the loops didn’t have reflections, the TV as well seemed to not have a reflection, it was too dark that night to see the reflection in the lake.

Staring back at her in shock was a girl with long white hair, dark blue eyes, around 5’10ft with cat’s ears and tail. It couldn’t be more clear to her, she was the one who had been murdered. Shiro Tachibana.

“Doe-Doesn’t that mean I- With what Robert sai- Am I dead…?” Shiro felt herself throw up in the sink. When she looked back at it she saw blood. She started breathing heavily, tears fell into the messy sink in front of her eyes, her face was going numb, her cheeks felt stretched, her head hurt, her eyes felt like they would fall out, her ears were stinging and ringing, her heartbeat was louder than everything around her, her stomach was numb, her legs and arms were weakening. Eventually the girl fell onto her knees, still just barely able to see through her fogged vision. *What the fuck… What does that… I… I didn’t wan- What..?* Her mind was racing.

“Fuck this…”

With the remaining strength the girl had left she pulled herself up the sink enough so that she could reach the mirror. `SMASH!` She launched her fist straight into the mirror, the glass shattered around her, a couple of pieces hitting her arm.

“Ow… Didn’t think that through…” The fist that had hit the glass started to bleed.

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“`sniff` `sniff` I- I… why…?”

*I know in my head that this is true but I can’t accept it*

“I-I should clean this mess up…” Shiro cleared her mind, even if only for a brief moment.

She grabbed out cleaning equipment from under the sink in her kitchen and cleaned the bloody-watery-vomit up, grabbing any glass she found and throwing it out. She then looked in the kitchen cupboards for bandages and patched her bloodied fist up.

“`huff` `huff` I CAN’T ACCEPT THIS…!!!” While walking to the living room Shiro fell onto the ground, tears running down her face like a waterfall. “Dammit… why the f- `huff` `huff` fuck… I’m gone… Is this what hell is..?” Shiro stood back up wiping her tears away “No. We know Robert has something to do with this, I can do this… huh..?” She turned around to see the paper on the table, but something was off. There was another body on the front image of her in the lake, just barely visible.

“Oh fuck… That’s- Isn’t it..?” It was the back of Kurono’s body. “If he’s… He’s dead too…”

*That’s why he didn’t remember our conversation… If we both got the animal ears but no one else did… and he’s dead as well… Is it something to do with differentiating the dead from NPCs…? And if Ren was in his house and the school does that mean multiple assets are loaded at the same time but your memory is manipulated so that you don’t break the world and do something that would lead you to find the reused assets…?*

{Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick}

“Stop ticking… STOP FUCKING TICKING `huff` `huff` `huff` `huff` I CAN’T TAKE THIS SHIT!! WHY WOULD YOU THROW ME INTO THIS FUCKING HELL HOLE!!!? I-i did-… `huff` `huff` `huff`.” Her voice was breaking with every word she screamed “I can’t..” She began pulling the fur off her ears “I can’t, I fucking just- why why why whywhywhywhywhy…?” Her ears started to bleed, blood trickling down onto the wood floor.

{Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick}

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” She started to claw at her eyes, eventually they started bleeding and the girl couldn’t see anything anymore. She felt a horrific pain where she had been clawing, her eyes fell out and her consciousness faded. *It doesn’t matter anyway… Oh, I felt Kurono’s knife wound… He’s probably feeling this too… Fuck... why would I do that to him…? What even happened that day…? I won’t- I refuse to die again after this…”

{Tick, Tick, Tick, Ti-}

Once again she woke up to the same bed, the same date as every other loop. *If I’m right then this should be the first timeline… right..?”

“S-Shiro I-I’m s-sorry b-but”

“Ena… Don’t…” Ena grabbed a plastic bag out of her pocket and put it over Shiro’s head

“I-I don’t w-want to but I h-have too…”

“Ena…” Shiro felt her head getting hotter as she ran out of air.

`Thud!` Shiro’s unconscious body fell onto the ground.

“Y-you want me to bring h-her to the b-basement… R-right?”

“Yes. And make sure she’s still breathing, I don’t want her dead now.”

Ena hung up her phone and put it away in her uniform pocket.