Kaito woke up.
The sun streamed through the same crack in the curtain. The digital clock on his desk read 07:15. Outside, the same birds chirped the same annoying tune. He sat up in his beanbag chair. The apartment was silent.
He checked his phone. The date was June 27th.
He got up and executed his morning routine with methodical precision. Shower. Clothes. Instant noodles. Every step was deliberate. He wasn't getting ready for school. He was gearing up for an operation.
"What is the plan, Chosen One?" Fia asked, her curiosity outweighing her fear. "The System recommends a subtle approach to gain the target's trust."
"Subtlety failed," Kaito thought, remembering the kick. "She responds to strong social stimuli. So, let's give her one."
He arrived at school at the usual time, but instead of going to class, he went straight to the courtyard. The air was warm, the buzz of conversations filling the space. He found a shaded bench with a clear view of the cafeteria entrance, the school's social epicenter. And then, he waited.
He watched the previous day's events unfold like a badly shot rerun. The same groups formed. The same jokes were told. At 12:30 PM, like clockwork, Tomoe Koga and her group walked out of the cafeteria, laughing and chatting, and sat in their usual spots on the grass.
Koga was in the center, beaming. She was safe. She was in her bubble.
It was time to burst that bubble.
"Fia, what is the probability of success for a public confession from a stranger?" Kaito asked mentally as he stood up.
"The odds of acceptance are approximately 0.3%," Fia replied, her voice trembling. "This will result in guaranteed humiliation and a -50 penalty to 'Social Dignity'! Kaito, what are you doing?!"
Kaito didn't answer. He started walking toward the group. Not fast. Not slow. Just a deliberate, steady pace. He was an apathetic torpedo approaching a social cruise ship.
Conversations around him began to dwindle as people noticed the second-year student, known for his "don't talk to me" aura, marching toward the most popular first-year group.
Koga saw him. Her eyes widened in a flash of recognition—the weird guy from the lost child incident. She looked uncomfortable but tried to ignore him.
Kaito didn't stop until he was three meters from the group, a distance that forced acknowledgment. Their conversation died. All eyes were on him.
He didn't look at anyone else. He looked straight at Tomoe Koga.
"Tomoe Koga," he said, his voice monotone but loud enough for the whole courtyard to hear.
She flinched. "Y-Yes?"
Kaito took a deep breath. It was time for effort.
"I know this is sudden," he began, with the intonation of someone reading an instruction manual. "We barely know each other, except for the time you kicked me in the butt for helping a kid. However, I have been thinking a lot about it."
A murmur ran through the courtyard. The words "kicked me in the butt" were clearly audible. Koga went pale.
"I have observed you," Kaito continued, his voice never wavering. "I've watched how you struggle to fit in, how your happiness seems to depend on your friends' constant approval. It is a logically understandable, albeit inefficient, social survival strategy."
Koga's face went from pale to bright red. Her friends stared at him, slack-jawed.
"Therefore," Kaito said, reaching the climax of his speech. "After a careful cost-benefit analysis, I have reached a conclusion. I would like to propose a fake relationship."
The courtyard went dead silent. You could hear a pin drop.
"W-WHAT?!" stammered Maezawa-senpai.
Kaito ignored him, keeping his eyes on Koga, who looked like she was going to faint.
"The terms are as follows," Kaito continued, like a lawyer presenting a contract. "We pretend to be dating for a period of one month. This will solve your impending problem of having to refuse Maezawa-senpai and risking social expulsion. In exchange, you owe me a favor, to be determined later. The proposal is mutually beneficial and maximizes efficiency for both parties."
He paused, letting the most bizarre and humiliating proposal possible hang in the air.
"So, Tomoe Koga," he said, his voice resonating in the deathly silence. "What do you say? Do you accept the terms of our fake and troublesome dating arrangement?"
He stood there, waiting. He had cornered her. If she said no, she would look cruel in front of everyone. If she said yes, she would be stuck with him. She could no longer hide. She could no longer reset the day.
He had become a problem that a time loop couldn't solve.
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