Volume 1 - CH 2.5

9-11 minutes 11.06.2023

5 – July 14th (Friday) – One day ago

Friday, July 14th. The day of the cat’s supposed accident.

Kei woke up and got out of bed just after 5 AM. He felt awful, having slept terribly. Looking out the window, he saw that the rain, which had lessened slightly after sundown, had once again begun pounding the ground full force.

Kei washed his face, changed into his school uniform, and left his room. He walked through the rain, headed towards the bakery.

He would definitely be late for school if he stayed there watching until 9, but he figured Tsushima would cover for him. Service Club activities had a level of regard similar to sports clubs skipping school for competitions, given there was proper reasoning.

Kei arrived at the bakery about five minutes early. Haruki and Nonō were already there waiting for him. It was his first time seeing Nonō outside of the shrine. She stood under a blue umbrella in the corner of the shopping district, looking just like any other high school girl.

There were no cats to be seen in the vicinity, so at least there was already some good news. There hadn’t been any accidents yet.

“Morning. You girls sure are up and at ’em,” Kei called out with a slight wave. His voice was still a little bleary, likely due to his drowsiness.

“Good morning to you,” Haruki responded.

Nonō responded with a simple nod. Her eyes were drooping tiredly. She didn’t seem to be much of a morning person either.

Kei didn’t feel like making conversation, so he just stood with the two girls, absentmindedly looking around. There weren’t too many people around this early in the morning, not even people taking their pets out for a stroll, although that was more likely due to the rain.

The bakery shutters rose at exactly 6 AM. The bakery only received one customer within the first 30 minutes, a female office worker in her mid-twenties. It was almost like the bakery had opened just for her.

At 6:30, Kei became the bakery’s second customer. The three had mutually decided that only one person would go in at a time, so they could keep their eyes on the road.

The shelves of the bakery were only about half stocked. Kei went to the freshly baked section and chose a small loaf of french bread stuffed with cheese and whole grain flatbread. Haruki came out with a croissant stuffed with whipped cream, while Nonō went with a bread roll stuffed with bean paste and milk on the side.

The freshly baked bread was delicious, although that was only natural. Just like everything else, it comes down to timing, Kei thought. As long as he had good timing, everything tended to fall into place. The cat had bad timing, and ended up getting in an accident. But since Kei got up early, he was able to eat fresh bread. It would be nice if everything else in the world was clearer about how to stay within the optimal timing.

Haruki poured tea into the lid of her thermos, and held it out to Kei. Drinking some down finally helped clear the drowsiness from Kei’s mind.

“Do you believe the cat will be arriving?” Haruki asked.

“Hard to say. I’d sure feel a lot better if he did.”

Nonō bit into her bread, then took a swig of milk. “I can try to look into it. Talk some nonsense for me, Asai.”

“Hmm, well, how about we discuss last night’s dreams?”

“That will do. What did you dream about?”

“It was a really nice dream, actually.” That was a lie. His real dream was incomprehensible and confusing. But that wouldn’t be much to talk about, so he made something up on the spot. “There was a very pretty girl, who was quite rich, and everyone around her spoiled and pampered her.”

“Was she supposed to be your girlfriend?”

“I’m not too sure. Maybe I was supposed to be that girl.” Kei looked closely through the vicinity as he spoke. There were no cats or cars to be seen. Any possible traffic accidents were still a ways away.

“Would you like to become a girl?”

“I don’t really prefer one gender over the other. I’d just like to be rich and get fussed over.” That was a simple and understandable form of happiness.

“But what about when men start confessing their love to you?”

“Well, I suppose I’d rather be popular with women, if I had to choose. Younger ones.” Not that Kei actually cared. Being popular with older women wouldn’t be horrible. As long as he could be happy and at peace, those details didn’t matter much to him.

“Did you have a dream last night, Nonō?”

“I’m sure I did, but I can’t remember it very well. When I woke up, I did feel a little lonely, though.”

“Would you like to remember it?”

“I’m fine either way… No, this won’t work. I can’t use my ability.”

That was unfortunate, but it wasn’t as if the environs were supportive of good sleep. The conditions for her ability usage were strangely complex. In the first place, having to remove herself from her consciousness was an extremely vague conditional. Would it count if she could learn to reach Zen, for example?

Kei tried keeping up the conversation, but it wasn’t going very well. Nonō was probably getting more nervous as the time for the cat’s accident ticked closer and closer.

As far as Kei was concerned, saving the cat wasn’t his ultimate goal for the day. All he wanted was reliable information. Times, locations, directions, what car caused the accident, where the cat came from. As long as they had all that, saving the cat would be a piece of cake following a second reset. He would make smoke signals in the middle of the road for all it mattered as long as it guaranteed the cat’s safety. Sure, some drivers might get annoyed at him, but if he bowed his head and carried on, it would be manageable.

Time slowly continued to tick by. The bakery was getting more customers, and more cars were showing up on the road. Kei checked his cell phone’s display. 7:30. Was it still too early for the cat to come in?

“What will we do if he doesn’t show up?” asked Nonō.

“Nothing in particular. If he isn’t here, then the accident won’t happen. I’ll have you check up on him, and then we can be on our way.”

Of course, things weren’t actually that simple. He still wasn’t aware of the underlying nature of Murase Youka’s request, and that was unsettling. But it wouldn’t do any good to pointlessly compound Nonō’s worries. “What are your plans from here, Nonō-san?”

“I’ll keep watching over him for a while. If it turns out he was adopted, then I can leave him be and be happy for him. But it’s also fine if he ends up returning to being a stray.”

“In that case, if you ever found out who picked him up, would you let me know? I’d be very relieved to know that he’s in good hands.”

“Sure, I’ll keep you posted.”

The request as it was given to Kei was to save this cat from an accident, but that couldn’t have been all there was. At the same time, he didn’t have any leads, and wasn’t sure if it was safe to look any further. It stemmed from the simple curiosity of wanting to know what he didn’t know, but when you stuck your neck out where it didn’t belong, bad things tended to happen.

If using us is what it takes to bring someone happiness, then I’m all for it.

He wasn’t lying when he told that to Haruki earlier. But abusing resets without their knowledge was something that he absolutely could not stand. Just as he was considering all of those things-

“A voice.”

Nonō suddenly spoke up, and immediately ran off.

Kei had no clue what was happening, yet had no choice but to follow. “You mean you heard the cat?” Kei hadn’t heard a thing.

“There’s no mistaking it. I heard him.”

“You must have really good ears.”

“I have good eyes, too.” Nonō ran into a narrow alley with Haruki and Kei in tow. As they turned a sharp corner, Kei heard a meow.

They stopped.

There was a cat with gray fur and a crooked tail at the end of the alleyway. He was being held in a pair of slender arms. He was familiar with the person holding him, but Kei never thought he’d see them here.

The girl, that is, Murase Youka, was glaring at them through her glasses, with her eyebrows scrunched in just as always. The cat meowed once more and leaped out of her arms, making his way directly to Nonō, rubbing up against the girl’s leg.

Not a word was spoken. Naturally, neither Haruki nor Nonō knew who was standing in front of them. It was possible that Murase herself didn’t even know who they were. Kei was dumbfounded at her timing, that she should appear in front of them at this moment. But he couldn’t stay silent forever.

“Good morning to you, Murase-san. Do you happen to remember me?” Kei kept his tone light, but he was carefully scrutinizing her facial expressions. If she was truly affected by the reset, this would be her first meeting with all of them. He could tell that she was putting a lot of force into the shape of her mouth. But she immediately turned her back to them, and began walking away.

“Wait!” Kei yelled after Murase, but she didn’t turn around. He reflexively began to follow her.

Then, he thought he heard Murase mutter something, ever so slightly.

At which point her body immediately flew up into the air and disappeared behind the nearest building.