The first thing Ren Ayato noticed was the silence.
Not the usual kind that came with mornings — the peaceful stillness before alarms rang and birds chirped — but a silence that felt *too exact*. Like the world had forgotten to breathe.
He sat up in bed, chest heaving, sweat dampening the back of his neck. His blanket was tangled around him like a trap. The light filtering in through the window felt too familiar, as if it had already happened.
His gaze flicked to the calendar on the wall.
**April 2.**
He blinked. No. That couldn't be right.
He slowly reached toward the desk beside his bed, hand trembling as it passed through the thin shaft of light pouring in through the curtain. The feather keychain — the one he'd bought with Yuu at that festival last year — was resting right where he remembered leaving it.
But he hadn't seen it in days. Not since—
His breath caught.
Not since Yuu died.
Ren stood abruptly, stumbling back from the desk like it had whispered a curse. He grabbed the calendar and tore it off the wall, flipping through its pages with shaking fingers. All the dates were untouched. Clean. Nothing was marked off. No stains, no dried tears, no loops counted.
His heart pounded like it was trying to break free.
> "Not again," he whispered.
---
He walked to school on autopilot, feet following a path his mind couldn't accept. The plain field beside his house was still there — endless, gently swaying with the breeze like nothing had ever happened. The same dandelions. The same distant birds.
The same quiet.
It wasn't until he reached the school gate that it truly sank in.
"Yo, Ayato!"
A cheerful voice. A voice he had no right to hear again.
Ren froze.
There, slouched just inside the school fence, was **Yuu Kaede**, arms crossed, a big, stupid grin on his face.
Alive.
Alive.
Ren's throat tightened. He couldn't speak.
"You okay, man? You look like you saw a ghost or something," Yuu laughed, walking up and slapping Ren on the back like he always used to. His palm was warm. Real.
Ren's reply came out broken, hoarse.
"…Yeah. Something like that."
---
Class passed in fragments. The ticking clock stabbed at Ren's nerves with each second. The teacher's words blurred into fog. The classroom air felt thin.
And yet, everything was **normal**.
Too normal.
Even **Serika Mizuno** sat in her seat, three rows across, eyes fixed out the window like she had nothing to hide. Her hair was perfectly braided. No blood under her fingernails. No tear marks. Just calm.
But Ren had seen her. Over and over again. In loop after loop, her shadow lingered near the places Yuu had died.
And Yuu always died.
---
At lunch, Ren cornered him behind the gym.
"Don't go to the rooftop this week."
"Huh?" Yuu tilted his head.
"Just… don't. Promise me."
Yuu blinked. "What is this, some kind of prank? Did Reina put you up to—?"
"I'm serious, Yuu." Ren's voice cracked. "Please."
Yuu looked startled, then softened. "…Okay. I promise."
---
That night, Ren sat on the edge of his bed, watching the light fade across his wall.
He should've felt relief. Should've believed he'd finally changed something. That Yuu would live this time.
But the thing about loops — the worst part — was how clever fate could be.
Because no matter what he tried, no matter how far he bent the rules…
**The story always found a way to end the same.**