Completely frozen.
The moment she heard the girl's name, Togawa Sakiko suddenly recalled a certain "chance encounter."
It was back when she was at Shiba Seki Ramen, and happened to run into two girls from Kessoku Band.
One of them was a pink-haired girl named Gotoh Hitori, who stammered and mumbled whenever she spoke. At the time, she had sat right beside Sakiko, but because she was hunched over and her hair was so long, Sakiko couldn't even see her face clearly.
Only now did Sakiko truly realize the kind of potential this "Gotoh Hitori" possessed.
No longer slouching, she wore a short, vibrant dress that brimmed with youthful charm. Her cherry-blossom-colored hair was clipped at the bangs and temples with yellow and blue hairpins. And when her flawless, princess-like skin and features were fully revealed, she became the very picture of a girl who could command every gaze without trying.
Sakiko couldn't help but take a half-step back, fluster showing on her face. Her slightly narrowed eyes seemed to be avoiding the light radiating from this girl, a light like that of an angel descending to earth.
Nervous inside, she spoke with a stiff politeness:
"…I'll remember you, Gotoh-san."
"You can just call me Hitori~"
The difference was just too much!
Sakiko couldn't help grumbling inwardly. She really wasn't good at handling this type of person.
But seeing such a drastic change in Gotoh Hitori made Sakiko's eyes involuntarily drift toward Haru, who was watching from a short distance away, his expression as calm and interested as ever, almost as if he was simply enjoying her awkward reaction.
That normal demeanor made her quietly breathe a sigh of relief.
Sure enough, Haru hadn't changed at all.
"Speaking of which, Sakiko-chan, why did you suddenly come to STARRY?"
Her momentary calm was instantly shattered by the girl's question.
Sakiko's expression froze. She had come here instinctively, thinking Haru was the "abnormal" element in this dream world, so she'd rushed over to make contact with him.
But when she thought about it, she realized she had no particular reason to come looking for him.
After all, their relationship right now was still just "ordinary" friends.
Even so, Sakiko reacted quickly, her thoughts spinning at full speed. Without hesitation, she replied:
"I just had some errands to run in Shimokitazawa, and happened to pass by STARRY, so I thought I'd drop in and say hi."
"I see!"
Hearing that, Gotoh Hitori seemed to accept her casual excuse without the slightest doubt, and the weight pressing on Sakiko's chest slowly eased.
But of course, this flimsy cover wouldn't fool Haru. Sakiko stole a glance at him and met his eyes for a fleeting second before she quickly looked away, almost as if shocked by static.
After all, she wasn't the type who could lie without her face or heart betraying her.
Feeling vaguely guilty and unsettled, Sakiko's lashes trembled slightly before she forced herself to speak casually:
"…S-so, are you guys heading to a LiveHouse for practice?"
"Nope~ Actually, practice is already over for today~"
Her voice was like spun sugar, light and sweet. With a smile that drew glances from every direction, she suddenly stepped up beside Haru and rather assertively pulled his left arm into her embrace. The sudden indent of her curves made Sakiko's eyes fly wide open.
A faintly smug, joyful smile curved Hitori's lips, her actions bold and direct, brimming with unabashed affection.
"Since it's break time, I'm going to the amusement park with Haru!"
"Haru's already promised me, you know?"
He… already promised her?
Sakiko, who had been about to speak, was left momentarily speechless. She could tell that Hitori's words carried a hidden message, something like: Haru already agreed to a date with me, so you'd better not try to interfere.
Realizing this, Sakiko's expression darkened. She never imagined that the timid girl who once couldn't even meet her gaze would be so strong in this dream world.
Especially when it came to matters of a woman's pride, Hitori seemed to leave her in the dust.
Damn it, what a shameless woman!
"Ugh…"
Even though she was anxious and at a loss, the pure and innocent Sakiko had never competed with another girl over someone before, and so she naturally froze up, not knowing what to say or how to "take Haru back" from this bad woman.
It was her own slowness that had let Hitori strike first, and she couldn't exactly demand that Haru break his promise… could she?
Just then, Haru's eyes flashed with a touch of exhaustion. He reached out and lightly pressed the edge of his hand against Hitori's smooth forehead.
"I never said I agreed, did I?"
"Eh?! Why not?"
Hitori pouted, covering her forehead in mock injury. And seeing her little "fortress" collapse without a fight, Sakiko suddenly realized...
She had been lying to her!
How cunning! This curvaceous bad woman!
For Togawa Sakiko, however, this was actually a rare opportunity. She just so happened to want to stay near Haru a little longer, thinking that perhaps if she stayed by his side, she could slowly uncover whatever "abnormality" he held.
More importantly, even if this was just a dream...
Sakiko had no intention of losing to anyone!
"Haru—"
"What's everyone doing here?"
Sakiko had only just opened her mouth when a light, airy voice called from behind her.
Instinctively turning her head, she saw a cascade of brilliant, flame-red hair.
A girl with waist-length crimson locks, wearing a straw hat wrapped with a vivid red ribbon, walked up to her. Even with sunglasses hiding her eyes, her gentle, smiling voice came through clearly. The soft, wavy tips of her hair fell naturally over her chest.
Though the oversized sunglasses concealed her cheeks, her elegant yet fashion-forward aura was enough to make people turn their heads.
"So Sakiko-chan's here too. Did you come to see Haru?"
The red-haired girl in the ribboned straw hat gave a cheerful little wave. Even the loose skirt she wore couldn't hide her slender waist.
She called Sakiko by name right away, which snapped Sakiko out of her brief daze.
For some reason, the girl felt vaguely familiar to her... after all, crimson hair that vivid was rare among the people she knew.
A suspicion began forming in her mind, but she still furrowed her brow warily and asked:
"May I… ask who you are?"
"Kita-chan, don't you have work later?"
Before Kita Ikuyo could answer, Gotoh Hitori standing beside Haru had cut in first.
The moment Sakiko heard that affectionate "Kita," a look of realization flashed across her face.
Even with her shoulder-length side ponytail now grown into waist-length hair, and even if her demeanor and personality had shifted noticeably, Sakiko's past experience allowed her to recognize the girl. She was one of the two she'd met in the ramen shop before.
Kita Ikuyo!
"…"
Sakiko drew in a deep breath, quickly suppressing her shock.
After back-to-back encounters with Shiina Taki and Gotoh Hitori, whose personalities had flipped completely, she was beginning to grow accustomed to such dramatic changes. In this inverted dream world, she would have to get used to it sooner or later.
From the looks of it, this Kita Ikuyo hadn't changed too drastically or perhaps even if she had, Sakiko no longer found it so surprising.
"I canceled work today~"
Kita, still wearing her sunglasses, spoke with a faint tinge of wistfulness before stepping forward in her round-toed leather boots.
Before Sakiko's astonished eyes, the delicate Kita suddenly quickened her pace and threw her arms around Haru. Her refined, elegant face bloomed into a rosy flush, her breath warm as it brushed the air.
"The truth is, I wanted to invite Haru to dinner today, so that's why I canceled my job!"
"The great idol skipping work just to go on a date with a guy her age, if your manager found out, they'd blow a fuse, wouldn't they?"
"What's the harm~?"
Trying to nestle into Haru's chest, Kita stuck out the tip of her tongue and slyly removed her large sunglasses. Her faintly puffed cheeks made Sakiko's head spin for a moment.
It was then that Sakiko realized...
The dream world didn't just flip personalities. It might even nudge people's entire life paths.
Here, Kita Ikuyo… was a major celebrity?
"In any case, I invited Haru first today! Kita-chan, no cutting in line!"
"…You're so mean, Hitori-chan!"
No matter how unwilling she was, Kita couldn't break the first-come, first-served rule. With a little sigh of regret, she obediently took a few steps back. Gotoh, satisfied, stood with her hands on her hips, grinning like a victorious general basking in the glory of the battlefield, a pose both adorable and smug enough to turn heads.
Just as it seemed she'd "won" and was about to pull Haru away, Sakiko, feeling a surge of panic, opened her mouth to object, only for a voice, quicker than hers, to call out from below the steps leading into the LiveHouse.
"Hold it. Shouldn't you at least ask what he wants first?"
"Huh?"
The familiar voice made Sakiko freeze for a few seconds before instinctively looking toward the iron gate at the bottom of STARRY's stairs.
A tall girl with long, straight, shoulder-length blue hair was walking up slowly.
Her hair was tied into a neat braid with a red-and-white ribbon. Over her collared shirt and deep-blue bow was a matching dark-blue blazer, her pleated skirt reaching the knee, with sheer black tights showing a hint of skin tone beneath.
Her refined, striking beauty was deceptive, Sakiko found herself momentarily stunned at the sight.
"R–Ryo-san?"
But Sakiko quickly noticed Yamada Ryo wasn't alone. Following behind her was a blonde girl with a side ponytail brushing her shoulder, the sleeves of a Shimokitazawa school jacket tied loosely around her waist. She wore a white shirt with a low-cut skirt and brown loafers.
A lollipop stick poked out from between her lips. On the opposite side of her ponytail, her pale earlobe bore a metallic earring.
"…"
Sakiko was now completely speechless.
The normally androgynous-dressing, blunt-mouthed Yamada Ryo was dressed like a refined young lady. And beside her, Ijichi Nijika had shed her usual gentle angelic aura, instead standing with one hand on her hip, her expression cool and aloof.
This world was way too strange!
"Ryo-senpai, Haru already promised to go to the amusement park with me!"
"What matters is his thoughts, isn't it?"
Ryo simply strode toward Haru, then pulled something from her pocket.
"For example... maybe right now, he wants to take a walk with me."
Smiling faintly, Ryo gave him a graceful little bow.
"What… is that?"
From a short distance away, Sakiko frowned, straining to see what Ryo had just pulled out. But the moment she recognized it, her expression went stiff.
Because she realized, it was…
A collar?!
"Haru, please put it around my neck."
"Wouldn't going for a walk with me be much more fun than going to the amusement park with Hitori?"
The blue-haired girl's left hand rested lightly over her chest as she spoke with the refined elegance of an aristocrat about a topic no normal person could possibly understand. At least, Sakiko certainly couldn't make any sense of it. It wasn't until she noticed the girl had even brought a leash along that she realized, she wasn't joking.
This personality shift… wasn't it way too extreme?!
Sakiko had thought she'd reached the point where she couldn't be shocked anymore, but now she was utterly speechless. The overwhelming flood of information slammed into her like a tidal wave, shattering the last defenses of her reason.
What was happening before her eyes was something she couldn't have imagined in her wildest dreams, yet here it was, vividly unfolding right in front of her.
While Sakiko stood there frozen, unable to even process it, a voice finally cut through the absurdity with Nijika's calm, matter-of-fact tone.
"Alright, that's enough. You guys shouldn't make things difficult for him."
"Haru's had a lot on his plate lately. Just keeping in touch with live venues and the record label for us has been exhausting. On a rare day off like this, the least we can do is not cling to him."
"If you've got that much free time, why not spend it practicing until we're perfect? That would be the best way to repay him."
The leader's commanding presence made the "troublemakers" glance at one another. But the sunglasses-wearing Ikuyo Kita just blinked, then smiled teasingly.
"Aha~ So that's what you were thinking, Nijika-senpai? You're just waiting for us to leave so you can invite Haru out to eat under the excuse of letting him 'rest,' right?"
"Wha—T-That's not true at all!"
The cool, composed face of Nijika cracked with a hint of panic, a faint blush coloring her refined features as the others exchanged knowing looks.
"You're blushing again, Nijika-chan."
Nijika ignored them, turning to Haru. "Don't waste your time humoring them. Make sure you get your rest first."
She then pulled a candy from her pocket, the same kind she'd been eating and held it out to him.
The others, of course, weren't about to let it go.
"Giving him candy every day… sounds like you've got something on your mind, Nijika-chan."
"Don't just make stuff up! I'm only concerned about him because I'm the leader..."
"Make stuff up? I personally saw Nijika-senpai sneak a drink from the fridge and sit next to him when no one else was around the other day. And you even let him use your lap as a pillow!"
Nijika's face went crimson, a fine sheen of sweat forming on her cheeks.
"That's not… I wouldn't call it 'sneaking'! He's always working so hard for us, so I just… took care of him, that's all! How is that sneaking?!"
She rambled on with increasingly incoherent justifications,
"I brought drinks for all of you too,"
"He just looked so tired at the time,"
while the others burst into laughter, the air outside STARRY filling with a carefree cheer.
Finally, her blush deep enough to threaten her composure, Nijika took a few quick steps forward, placing herself directly in front of Haru.
Before he could say a word, she firmly declared, "What Ryo said earlier… actually made some sense. The most important thing is still Haru's own opinion! He should decide what to do."
"Haru, what do you think?"
Her serious tone drew every girl's gaze toward him. Trapped in the middle of this four-sided siege, Haru's mouth twitched as he let out a quiet sigh.
"In any case, Hitori was the one who invited me first, and I was planning to accept. So I'm sorry, but this time, I'll be going with her to the amusement park."
Naturally, he understood that the "angelic Hitori" at his side had spoken up first. Both in fairness and in principle, he couldn't just ditch her for someone else. At that reasoning, the others nodded in reluctant agreement.
After all, "first come, first served" was something they could all understand.
"Aww… I guess it can't be helped."
"I'm kinda jealous of Hitori."
"…."
Each of them voiced their feelings in their own way, except for Sakiko, who still hadn't recovered from her daze. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but with everyone else already backing down, anything she said now would only seem like making a fuss.
After a few seconds of internal struggle, she ultimately chose silence.
Haru, however, noticed the fleeting look of disappointment on her face, raising an eyebrow before speaking.
"…Sakiko, if you ever need my help, don't hesitate. You don't have to hold back, just message me."
"…"
Those familiar words froze her in place. She stared blankly at Haru's retreating figure.
With her hands behind her back, Hitori leaned slightly toward him, chatting and laughing as they walked side by side. Their figures grew smaller with each passing moment, until they seemed impossibly far away.
A sudden, sharp sense of loss gripped Sakiko's chest, making her clutch at her heart.
She wanted to take a step forward. She wanted to call out to him.
But in the end… she couldn't say a word.
The emptiness in her heart grew, a black hole pulling wider and wider as she watched the boy's dark-haired silhouette vanish at the end of the road, like one of her own piano pieces, cut short by a wrong note, leaving only a dead, silent rest.
"Sakiko, wanna grab dinner together?"
Yamada Ryo, her beauty elegant and refined, gently patted Sakiko's shoulder, pulling her out of her daze.
Turning, she saw the other three members of the band giving her understanding looks. The sunglasses-wearing Ikuyo Kita seemed to be rubbing her eyes for some reason, looking quite different from earlier.
Before Sakiko could respond, the cool, sharp-faced Nijika calmly handed her a candy.
"Since Hitori did 'ask first,' it's only fair we 'lost' this time."
"…Yeah. Kinda jealous of her."
Ryo and Nijika's oddly pointed words left Sakiko dumbstruck. She remained frozen in place, unsure of how to react.
Perhaps finding her "pathetic" expression a bit amusing, Ikuyo Kita broke into a small smile.
"Don't just stand there spacing out, Sakiko-san, we're all going to eat together, right?"
"Yeah, but… without Hitori this time."
Sakiko's pupils trembled. In that instant, she finally understood what they meant.
Biting down hard on her teeth, she drew in a deep breath.
"I'm not going to..."
…
"Assistant manager, it's almost closing time, you know?"
Like a magic spell, a voice suddenly reached her ears.
Standing there, Sakiko instinctively wanted to argue with the girls from Kessoku Band, but when she opened her mouth, it was like punching into a pile of cotton, she just froze in place with a stiff expression.
This scene… she had already gone through it for the fourth time.
"Wh… Why did it 'rewind' again? Why would it suddenly happen in a place like that…"
The girl's delicate shoulders trembled uncontrollably. In a daze, she took out her phone.
On the screen, the date was December 9th.
The sudden rewind left Sakiko's mind completely blank. She couldn't even think about responding to the startled café staff around her; she just stared blankly at her phone screen before suddenly looking up.
"V–Vice Manager? Are you okay?"
The blonde, braided waitress beside her had been so frightened that her eyes welled up with tears.
It was only then that Sakiko realized how strange her reaction must have looked in the eyes of others, it probably came across as completely neurotic.
Sakiko fell silent for a moment, then quickly pushed down her agitation and excitement.
"I'm fine. Don't mind me."
"As for today's shift change… it's no longer necessary. I just remembered the manager told me the shop needs to restock some supplies. So, we'll be closing temporarily for the day. Everyone can go home and rest, you'll still get paid as usual."
Her words made the other staff exchange puzzled glances. One of them raised a hand to hesitantly ask:
"But Vice Manager…"
"Is there a problem?"
The blue-haired girl, her face cold as ice, stood there and intimidated them into silence.
Realizing her own reaction had been too sharp, Sakiko's eyes flashed with a hint of apology, frustration and irritation were affecting her behavior.
She forced herself to calm down, her expression softening slightly.
"Sorry. Everyone, just clock out for the day."
"I'll explain to the manager, so you don't need to worry about being held responsible."
Once all the café staff had left and she was alone, Sakiko collapsed into a seat by the window as though all the strength had drained from her. Resting her face in her hands, her expression gradually turned serious.
"This time, the rewind went back much further than the last and the one before that!"
She took a notebook from her bag.
As she had expected, all the entries from last time had vanished, but with her exceptional memory, the young lady of the Togawa family wasn't concerned. She simply took out a pen and began writing again.
"The very first rewind, I hadn't come into contact with anything, so the cause couldn't have been me."
"Next, the second rewind happened not long after Chihaya Anon pulled Haru away, earlier than the first time."
"And finally, this third rewind!"
Her bright amber eyes gleamed faintly, a sharp aura seeming almost tangible around her.
"It happened not long after Gotoh Hitori pulled Haru away, right in the middle of my conversation with the others..."
"In that reversed-world situation, everyone's personality changed except for me and Haru. But judging from Haru's reaction, he didn't experience a rewind like I did. Still… the trigger for the rewind is connected to him."
Sakiko took a deep breath, a confident smile forming on her lips.
"I've figured it out."
"The real cause of the rewind is Haru… but it's not just because of Haru."
Whether it was Shiina Taki, Chihaya Anon, or Yamada Ryo and the others from Kessoku Band, in that reversed world they all openly revealed their feelings for Kazami Haru. Each one of them liked him.
"From Chihaya and Gotoh alone, it's obvious that in this 'dream world,' if someone enters a romantic relationship with Haru, the entire world rewinds, going back to December 9th."
Sakiko was certain this dream-loop wasn't endless or without purpose.
The way to break the cycle was hidden here, if Haru dating someone else triggered the loop, then… what would happen if he dated the only person unaffected by it: herself?
The answer was obvious.
That would most likely end the loop completely.
"In that case… all I have to do is date Haru."