Yakumo Beni died. On her way home from a stream, a traffic accident. A sudden end. But when she opens her eyes, she's back in a familiar streaming studio. The date is three months before her death. Beni is confused, but she sees this as a chance. She knows that her friends in VSPO! will soon face misfortune one after another. Because in her previous life, she saw it all. Her best friend, Kurumi Nozomi, falls ill and retires. Her senior, Tachibana Hinano, gets caught in a scandal and breaks down.
The Mint-Green Rewinder - The Observer's Photograph, the Chosen One's Price
One fluorescent light in the studio's equipment storage room was flickering.
Flicker. Flicker. On and off.
Beni sat with her back against a steel rack.
Knees pulled to her chest.
She exhaled.
It wasn't white. It was June already. The humidity weighed down the air in the storage room.
(No one's gonna come here.)
Beni gripped her phone.
The screen glowed.
"Tachibana Hinano: Activity Suspension"
"Vspo! Ace Retires?"
"Kurumi Nozomi: Possible Vocal Cord Damage"
"Yakumo Beni: Flame War Compilation"
She'd read every article. Over and over.
Each time, something deep in her chest went cold.
(It's my fault.)
(All of it. I did it.)
Beni looked at her left hand.
From the wrist down, it was transparent.
She could see the gray floor tiles through it.
Bones. Blood vessels. All blurred at the edges.
Like thin jelly.
(I'm fading.)
(My body's fading away.)
Beni pressed her left hand to her chest.
The sensation was faint.
Like touching someone else's hand.
Even though it was her own.
"...Because I exist, everyone around me suffers."
Her voice was swallowed by the storage room walls.
No one answered.
Of course not.
She was the only one here.
Beni opened the notes app on her phone.
Her fingers trembled.
"If I disappear, will everything go back to normal?"
She typed that far. Then her fingers stopped.
(No.)
(If I write this, I'll—)
Beni deleted it, character by character.
The screen went blank white.
—That's when.
Bzz. Bzz.
Her phone vibrated.
Incoming call.
Unknown number.
Beni's fingers froze.
(Who is it?)
(At this hour?)
She checked the clock.
Past eleven PM.
Beni pressed the call button.
"...Hello?"
On the other end.
Static. A harsh crackle.
Then, a mechanical voice.
"Yakumo Beni. Tonight, come to the third alley from Shibuya Scramble Crossing's edge."
Low. Flat.
Not human.
It was processed.
"Who are you...?"
"If you don't come, a girl you've never met will die tomorrow."
Beni's breath stopped.
"...What are you saying?"
"Midnight. The third alley. Whether you come or not—that's for you to decide."
Click.
The call ended.
Beni couldn't move. The phone stayed pressed to her ear.
(A girl will die.)
(Someone I don't even know.)
(If I don't go.)
Beni slowly stood up.
Her legs were shaking.
(I have to go.)
(I have to go.)
She felt sick with fear.
But her legs moved anyway.
Beni opened the storage room door.
The hallway fluorescent lights shone white.
No one there.
The studio at midnight was silent.
Beni got on the elevator.
First floor.
Through the automatic doors.
Outside, a lukewarm wind blew.
Shibuya wasn't asleep yet.
Somewhere far off, drunk laughter echoed.
Beni started walking toward Scramble Crossing.
Her heart was loud.
Thumping. Pounding. Deep in her ears.
(The third alley.)
(The third one.)
She crossed Scramble Crossing.
The streets were sparse.
Beni entered the area on the west side—a cluster of narrow alleys.
First one.
An izakaya sign.
Second one.
A ramen shop's curtain.
Third one.
Beni stopped.
Dark.
Only one streetlight.
Even that light was swarmed by insects. Unreliable.
The depths of the alley dissolved into darkness.
Beni took one step forward.
Concrete walls.
A damp smell.
Distant car sounds, muffled.
—The sound vanished.
The cars. The wind. Even her own footsteps.
Beni stood still.
"You came."
A voice from deep in the darkness.
Beni turned around.
A black coat.
A tall man with black hair slicked back.
Gray eyes, faintly glowing in the dark.
The contours of his face were blurred.
When she tried to look directly, she couldn't focus.
Kansokusha.
The man she'd met in front of the studio that day.
"...You called me?"
Kansokusha slowly approached.
Three meters.
Two meters.
One meter.
He stopped.
He pulled something from his coat pocket.
A photograph.
He held it out to Beni.
"Look."
Beni took the photo.
Her fingers trembled.
In the photo was a girl in a school uniform.
Sailor-style.
Black hair in twin tails.
Smiling.
Innocently smiling.
Middle school age.
"Yamagishi Runa. Fourteen years old. Third-year middle school student."
His voice was flat.
"She's in a hospital bed right now. You can guess the diagnosis without me saying it."
Beni gripped the photo tight.
"...Why me?"
"You caused Kurumi Nozomi's illness to be discovered early. As a result, Yamagishi Runa's examination was delayed by one week."
Beni's mind went blank.
"The lesion is progressing. If treated now, it's not too late. But if you save her, someone else will be hurt."
He continued, matter-of-fact.
"Every time you save someone, the world sacrifices someone else. This is the price of rewinding."
Beni looked at the photo.
The girl's smile.
Fourteen years old.
Because I saved Nozomi.
Because I took her to the hospital.
Because of that, this girl's exam was delayed.
This girl collapsed from illness.
"...Why?"
Her voice shook.
"Why, because of me, someone I don't even know, something like this..."
Tears spilled.
They wouldn't stop.
The hand holding the photo trembled.
"I just wanted to save Nozomi. That's all. That's all I wanted."
Kansokusha looked down at her, unmoving.
His gray eyes showed no emotion.
"Your actions are disrupting the world's equilibrium."
The words pierced Beni's chest.
"Yakumo Beni. You are rewriting the world's script. Even if your intentions are good."
Beni sank to her knees.
The cold concrete seeped through.
"...What am I supposed to do?"
Kansokusha was silent for a moment.
Then he spoke quietly.
"There are three choices."
Beni raised her head.
Her vision warped through tears.
"One. Stop rewinding. Return to your original fate. You die three months from now, on that rainy night. Kurumi Nozomi's illness and Tachibana Hinano's flame war return to normal. But Yamagishi Runa cannot be saved."
Beni's fingers dug into the photo.
"Two. Continue saving people. The disappearance of your left hand spreads through your body. Eventually, you vanish completely from this world."
He stepped closer.
"Three. Challenge the Fate Correction Mechanism directly. That means fighting the laws of the world itself, with your very existence as the price."
The Fate Correction Mechanism.
An invisible force that seeks to repair the distortions caused by Beni's rewinding.
That's what Kansokusha had called it before.
"Whichever you choose, someone gets hurt. Whichever you choose, you pay the price."
Beni stared at the girl in the photo.
That smile.
(Any choice, someone gets hurt.)
(No matter what I choose.)
"...If I disappear."
She murmured.
"If I disappear, will everyone be happy?"
Kansokusha didn't answer.
His gray eyes just watched her.
"I won't rush your answer. Decide by dawn."
He turned his back.
"Wait!"
He didn't turn around.
"I only observe. Your choice. To the very end."
His voice dissolved into the darkness.
—Sound returned.
Cars.
Wind.
A distant siren.
Beni knelt alone in the alley.
The girl's photo in her hand.
Tears fell onto the concrete.
Dark stains spread.
"...I..."
Her voice cracked.
"What am I supposed to do?"
No one answered.
In the midnight alley, only Beni's quiet sobs echoed.
—
It was past two AM when she got home.
Beni couldn't even take off her shoes at the entrance. She just sat down right there.
The photo, clutched to her chest.
Yamagishi Runa.
Fourteen years old.
(I have to save this girl.)
(But if I do, someone else—)
Her head felt like it would split open.
Beni pulled out her phone.
One notification.
From Nozomi.
A long message.
Beni opened it with trembling fingers.
"Dear Beni,"
"I was saved because of you."
"Even if my voice is a little hoarse, I want to keep streaming."
"Aftereffects are nothing compared to being alive."
"You didn't do anything wrong."
"In fact, I'm here right now because you saved me."
"So please, don't blame yourself."
"I'm happy just knowing you're alive."
Beni stared at the screen.
The words blurred.
Tears wouldn't stop.
"...Nozomi."
Her voice shook.
(She said she's happy just because I'm alive.)
(She told me that.)
Beni held the phone to her chest.
The screen's glow lit her tear-soaked cheeks.
(Earlier today, when Nozomi said she didn't want to see me—)
(Maybe I misunderstood.)
(Maybe she was worried about me.)
(Maybe she was pushing me away on purpose.)
Beni read the message again.
Again and again.
"I'm happy just knowing you're alive."
That one line burned warm, deep in her chest.
"...Can I still protect someone?"
She murmured.
(Can I save Yamagishi Runa?)
(Can I protect Nozomi's smile?)
(And Hinano-senpai's heart?)
Beni slowly stood up.
Her legs still trembled.
But just a little—steadier than before.
Beni gripped her phone.
Call history.
The unknown number.
She dialed it.
One ring.
Two rings.
Three rings.
—Click.
"...Have you decided?"
Not mechanical.
Kansokusha's real voice.
"I'm choosing the third option."
Her voice didn't waver.
"I'll challenge the Fate Correction Mechanism."
Silence on the other end.
"Why? Knowing your existence will vanish—why go that far?"
Beni gripped the phone tight.
"Nozomi told me. That she's happy just because I'm alive."
Tears spilled again.
"That alone makes it worth it. Even if I disappear."
She looked at the photo.
The girl's smile.
"And I can't abandon Yamagishi Runa."
On the other end.
A few seconds of silence.
"...Understood."
His voice dropped, just slightly.
"Then tomorrow. Midnight. Shibuya Scramble Crossing. The day of your fate."
Beni inhaled.
"One last thing. Tell me."
"What?"
"What are you?"
—Click.
The call ended.
Beni stared at her phone.
The screen went dark.
(He didn't answer.)
(Will I ever know?)
Beni opened her messaging app.
Nozomi's chat.
"Nozomi. Tomorrow, I'll tell you everything. Please listen."
Send.
Next, Hinano's chat.
"Hinano-senpai. I might disappear tomorrow. But there's something I want to talk about."
Send.
Beni set down her phone.
—Seconds later.
Bzz.
A reply from Nozomi.
"Beni, where are you? I'm coming right now."
Beni looked at the words and smiled faintly.
(Nozomi's always like that.)
(If she thinks I'm in danger, she comes running.)
Beni typed a reply.
"I'm fine. I'll talk tomorrow. It's late—don't come."
Send.
—Thirty minutes later.
Bzz.
A reply from Hinano.
"Tomorrow, I'll be waiting on the studio rooftop. I'll hear everything."
Beni stared at the words.
(Hinano-senpai.)
(She'll hear everything.)
Beni read both replies over and over.
Tears spilled again.
But they were different from before.
Warm.
Beni slowly walked to the bathroom.
She turned on the light.
Herself in the mirror.
Mint-green hair.
Pale purple eyes.
Swollen from crying.
And—
Her left hand.
Up to the shoulder, completely transparent.
Through the sleeve, she could clearly see the wall tiles.
Beni stared at herself in the mirror.
"...Tomorrow might be the end."
Her voice echoed quietly.
"But I get to see everyone."
She smiled, just a little.
"That's enough."
She looked out the window.
At some point, it had started raining.
Raindrops traced down the glass.
A quiet sound.
Beni gently wrapped her transparent left hand with her right.
The sensation was faint.
But it was definitely there.
(I'm still here.)
(I haven't disappeared yet.)
Beni closed her eyes.
The sound of rain filled the room.
Tomorrow.
The day of fate.
Kansokusha's words echoed in her mind.
"For every life you save, the price grows."
On the other end of the phone, he had certainly murmured that.
Beni opened her eyes.
Her reflection stared back.
"...Leave it to me."
Her voice was hoarse.
But it was definitely Beni's voice.
The rain kept falling, quietly.
Outside the window, the streets of Shibuya blurred, as if soaked in tears.
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