April 2.
Again.
---
Ren didn't flinch this time.
He sat in bed quietly, breathing slowly, eyes focused on the ceiling. He didn't move for a long time. The wind tapped at the window like a question it had already asked too many times.
He didn't answer it.
---
He stood eventually. Got dressed. Combed his hair. He even wore the clean uniform today — the one that still smelled like drawer lavender and spring.
He looked like a student again.
Not a shadow.
---
He met Yuu on the path to school.
Yuu was humming something off-key and swinging his bag like a child. His hair was as messy as always. His smile too big for someone unaware of how little time he had.
"Morning," Yuu said, grinning. "You good?"
Ren nodded. "Yeah."
"No weird rooftop warnings today?"
Ren shook his head. "Not today."
Yuu blinked, then laughed. "Man, I missed regular Ren."
---
They spent the whole day together.
Ren didn't try to chase Serika.
Didn't corner teachers.
Didn't check rooftops, or file away backup plans, or write on his skin.
He just… lived.
Lunch beneath the old cherry tree near the back field. Yuu joked about his bad grades and how Reina was probably a secret yakuza princess. Ren laughed — actually *laughed* — for the first time in fifteen loops.
They skipped last period and went to the convenience store. Got melon soda and microwave takoyaki. Walked in the tall grass until the sun started falling behind the horizon like a slow breath.
---
They stopped by a lone tree near the edge of the school's abandoned field.
Ren sat down.
Yuu flopped beside him, arms spread wide. "This is nice."
"It is," Ren said quietly.
Yuu looked up. "You okay?"
"…Not really."
Yuu tilted his head. "You wanna talk about it?"
Ren shook his head.
Yuu was silent a moment, then nodded.
They watched the grass shift in waves. The light turning soft and gold.
---
Ren reached into his bag and pulled out something small.
A **silver pen** — old, smooth, slightly chipped.
He held it out.
Yuu blinked. "What's this?"
"It's yours," Ren said. "Just… hold onto it. Okay?"
"…You sure?"
Ren nodded. "It has a mic inside. Records sound."
Yuu whistled. "Whoa, secret agent stuff. You planning to catch a ghost?"
"Something like that."
---
When the wind turned cold, they stood.
"I'm glad we got today," Ren said.
Yuu smiled, puzzled. "Dude, it's just a Tuesday."
"Maybe for you."
Yuu tilted his head. "You're talking weird again."
"Yeah," Ren said, smiling faintly. "I know."
---
That night, Ren wrote a letter.
He didn't write it like a note or a plea — he wrote it like a memory, meant to be buried in someone else's heart.
> *"Whatever happens… forgive me. I just wanted one day where you smiled without fear. That's all I wanted."*
He folded it neatly.
Put it in his locker.
---
Then he went to the **rooftop**.
---
Serika was waiting.
She looked at him, confused.
"You're early."
Ren stepped forward.
"I'm not here to stop you," he said. "I just came to be the one who's in the way."
"…What?"
He smiled, tired and real.
"I'm just here so that he lives one more loop."
---
She moved.
A flash of silver.
Ren didn't dodge.
He closed his eyes and let the blade find him.
---
Yuu's scream echoed from below.
---
Then everything began to fall away.
Blood.
Sirens.
Flashing lights.
The recorder in Yuu's pocket blinking softly.
---
Ren's last thought, as the sky dimmed around him, was of **grass swaying in the wind**.
And Yuu's laugh.
---
> "You weren't meant to be here."
---
**April 2.**
Again.
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### *To be continued in Chapter 8: The Truth in Blood*
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