Morning light spilled through the classroom windows, but the warmth didn't reach me. My mind was still replaying Airi's trembling voice from the night before—"I saw another you."
The Cycle. The man in black. The message: Round two begins.
It wasn't paranoia anymore. Someone was manipulating time again, and Airi and I were caught in their experiment.
I stared out the window, pretending to listen as our homeroom teacher droned on. Students laughed, swapped notes, scrolled through their phones—living lives untouched by the weight of death and rebirth.
Then the door slid open.
The teacher stopped mid-sentence. "Yes? Can I help you?"
A tall transfer student stepped in—jet-black hair, sharp eyes that gleamed like steel. He carried himself too calmly, too precisely.
"My name is Ren Kuroda," he said with a polite bow. "I've just moved here."
Ren.
The name slammed into me like a bullet. That was the name mentioned in the stranger's warning: 'You shouldn't have interfered with Ren.'
Our eyes met. For an instant, I saw something flicker behind his calm smile—recognition.
He knew who I was.
By lunch break, whispers had already spread.
"Ren's from Tokyo."
"He's smart, polite—kind of scary though."
"Did you see how he looked at Ryo?"
I ate alone on the rooftop, pretending not to notice the shadow moving near the stairwell door.
"You can come out," I said.
Ren stepped into the light, his hands in his pockets. "You're more perceptive than I expected."
"I've been through worse."
He smiled faintly. "I know. You've been through death."
The wind froze around us.
"How do you know that?" I asked quietly.
"I remember it too," he said. "The fire. The betrayal. The Cycle's reset."
My chest tightened. "You're part of them?"
He shook his head. "Not anymore. I was reborn, just like you—but unlike you, I didn't run from the truth. The Cycle wants control, Ryo. You're just one of many test subjects."
"Test subjects?"
He stepped closer, his voice low. "They study emotional triggers—betrayal, grief, vengeance. Every time one of us dies, they record how our choices shift when we're reborn. They want to find the 'perfect loop.'"
"And Airi?"
Ren's eyes darkened. "She's their constant variable. The anchor. That's why she keeps remembering first."
Before I could speak, a scream echoed from below.
Airi.
We raced down the stairs. The hallway outside the science lab was chaos—students yelling, teachers trying to calm them down. Smoke poured out from inside.
I shoved through the crowd and burst into the room.
Airi was on the floor, coughing, surrounded by shards of glass. Someone had smashed a beaker rack near her desk. The fire alarm wailed overhead.
I knelt beside her. "Airi! Are you okay?"
She nodded weakly. "Someone… someone pushed me."
I looked around, scanning the broken room. Then I saw it—painted on the wall behind her desk, hidden under the smoke: the same circle with three lines.
The Cycle had been here.
Ren appeared in the doorway, his eyes narrowing as he saw the symbol. "They're accelerating the experiment."
"What does that mean?" I snapped.
"It means," he said grimly, "they're trying to make you break."
By evening, the incident was labeled an "accident." The teachers cleaned the lab, and no one asked too many questions. But Airi didn't go home that night. She stayed late in the library, silent, pale.
I found her there after sunset.
"You shouldn't be alone," I said quietly.
She looked up, eyes red. "Ryo… every time something like this happens, I see flashes. I see you bleeding. I see me crying. It feels like déjà vu that won't stop."
I sat across from her. "That's because it's real."
She shook her head, trembling. "It can't be. I would never hurt you."
"You didn't," I said softly. "But in the last life, you couldn't stop what happened."
Her tears fell silently. "Then why am I here again?"
"Because someone doesn't want us to move on."
Her gaze met mine. "Then let's end it. Together."
Those words cut through the fear. For the first time since I woke in this timeline, I felt something like purpose—not just revenge, but rebellion.
Later, as I walked Airi home, Ren's message buzzed on my phone:
Meet me at the old gym tonight. Come alone.
I knew it was a trap. But traps can be useful—if you spring them on your own terms.
At midnight, the school was silent. I slipped through the back gate and entered the gym. Dust hung in the air, moonlight filtering through cracked windows.
Ren stood at the center, facing a wall marked with faint runes—symbols that shimmered like veins of light.
"You came," he said.
"Tell me what this is."
He turned, his expression unreadable. "A door. The Cycle uses places like this to store their data. Every rebirth, every death—it's all coded here."
"And you're helping them?"
"I'm showing you," he said calmly. "Because once you see the truth, you'll understand why revenge is meaningless."
He raised his hand, and the runes flared brighter. Images flashed across the walls—Airi's face, my death, the fire, the betrayal. The same scenes replayed over and over, slightly different each time.
"Every loop changes something," Ren said. "Sometimes you die saving her. Sometimes she dies saving you. Sometimes neither of you remember. But the result is always the same—The Cycle continues."
I stepped forward, fury boiling in my veins. "Then I'll destroy it."
Ren smiled sadly. "That's what you always say."
I drew the knife from my pocket. "Then this time, I'll mean it."
Lightning flashed through the windows as we clashed. His movements were fast—inhumanly precise. Metal rang as my blade met his.
"You're strong," he admitted. "But you still don't understand—you can't kill what's already trapped in a loop."
"Then I'll break the loop."
He twisted my wrist, sending my knife clattering across the floor. Then he leaned close and whispered, "To break it, Ryo, you'll have to kill her."
I froze. "What?"
He stepped back, eyes gleaming. "Airi is the anchor. As long as she exists, The Cycle resets. You destroy her, you destroy the system."
I stared at him, heart pounding. "You're lying."
"Am I?" he said softly. "Or do you already feel it—the pull between you, the reason you keep finding each other in every life?"
I wanted to deny it. But deep down, I knew something about his words felt true.
Ren lowered his voice. "Decide quickly. The Cycle doesn't tolerate errors for long."
Then he vanished into the darkness, leaving only the faint glow of the runes behind.
When I stepped outside, dawn was breaking. The city felt colder, emptier.
Airi's name flashed on my phone again. One unread message.
Ryo… I think I remember everything now.
I stared at the screen until the sun rose.
And for the first time since my rebirth, I was afraid—not of dying, but of what I might have to do next.