"So, do you know how many times the day repeated?"
Curious to know how many times she's gone through today before to drive her into this state, I ask.
"Roughly 7400 times. I'm not sure. I lost the exact count halfway."
Aira's eyes were red from bawling her eyes out.
"Alright, let's start from there then. Have you ever thought of other ways to find the culprit other than killing them? Are you sure it's not some extraterrestrial being that's doing this?"
"Hehe, I'm sure it isn't. After all, I spoke with Veritas."
Aira giggled, her mood lightened by the words I said. But-
"...You spoke with Veritas?"
"Mmm, a couple times, actually. Veritas was pretty friendly, you know."
What. Are you kidding me?
"Is Veritas the "person" in our dreams?"
Wait, is "Veritas" even a person?
"Yeah, Veritas pretty much told me right away before we started discussing anything else. They said they forgot to tell us in our dreams about it."
"Huh. So I guess something that's capable of talking to us in our dreams can forget too. So what'd they say?"
Aira stays silent for a second.
"They didn't tell me to not tell you, so I guess it's fine. Basically, they wanted to mess with you a bit, by saying something that sounds like foreshadowing but forgot to tell you that I also got caught up in this mess and that the culprit's in the school, something like that."
"WHAT HAPPENED TO 'always checking the places with the people that would know who you are'!? YOU'RE SAYING VERITAS JUST TOLD YOU!?"
ARE YOU MESSING WITH ME!!?? They forgot to tell me something THAT IMPORTANT!? Still, it doesn't change the fact that I got involved in this craziness multiple times...
Stolen novel; please report.
"Okay, sorry 'bout that, so... Why's it always me who gets involved with you?"
"Who knows?"
Aira's complexity brightened a bit, but she hears the bell that tells us classes are about to start and goes back to looking sad. Here it comes.
I had another question for her, but I decided to save it until lunchtime.
The classes went on as usual. I'm still shocked how Leo's still here alive and unharmed like nothing happened. But that's just how time loops work.
The bell rings, signaling that it's lunchtime, and as I was about to approach her, she stabs a classmate, says something, and kills herself with her knife. I thought that after our exchange in the morning, she'd stop. But I remembered,
"...I did too. That's why I'm trying to find the culprit behind this whole thing."
"......Because if I don't, one important person to me will vanish. It's gonna keep happening until I have nobody left. The day's gonna repeat anyways, so I can go ahead and kill myself all I need."
So I recalled my memories, and now I know what she said—
"Not this one."
And once again, the clock goes backwards, slowly getting faster.
***
7401st Loop
I wake up, laying on my bed. I remember as clear as night and day what happened yesterday. No, it wasn't yesterday. This stuff's so confusing. It's crazy how I don't feel anything after what just happened. I'm sure it's because I know nobody's dead for real when they get killed. Maybe they're dead in other timelines though, but let's not think too deeply about that.
I remind myself that it's June 6. After all those loops, it probably became a habit of mine along the way. I wonder what my mental age is right now...
I walk to school at a faster pace than usual, arrive 20 minutes early, and try to find Aira as fast as I can to discuss our game plan. Or that was supposed to be the plan. I find her, sitting on the staircase, like before. Aira notices me and calls out to me first.
"Kai."
I was a bit surprised that she called out first.
"Yes?"
"I hope you know why I did it."
"...Yeah."
There's a bit of awkwardness between us right now, probably because of what happened.
"...I'll head to the classroom."
"Same. I might do it again, so I hope you're fine with it."
"Yeah."
We both head to the classroom, not saying a single word to each other.
The day progresses as usual, just like how I remember it.
It's lunchtime. Here it comes.
Aira pulls out a knife, stabs it into a classmate, but when I see her looking at the person she stabbed, she looks shocked for a moment. The corner of her mouth rises a bit, but this time, she doesn't say anything—and kills herself.