The door to the guidance counseling room clicked shut behind them. A six-tatami room. One steel desk. A handwritten poster on the wall reading *"Seize Your Youth"* practically screamed for attention under the fluorescent lights. Four folding chairs were lined up in a row in front of the desk. "[cold] Sit down." Hiratsuka-sensei's voice was quiet. But it carried a weight that brooked no defiance. Hachiman sat down on the chair at the far end. The cold feel of the metal pipe seeped through his uniform. Yukino sat next to him. Her back perfectly straight, she stared at the poster on the opposite wall. Yui sat beside Yukino. Her hands were clenched tightly together on her lap. Iroha was at the other end, opposite Hachiman. Her usual mischievous little-devil smile was gone, and she fidgeted with her hair, looking uncomfortable. Hiratsuka-sensei pulled four sheets of white paper from the pocket of her suit, which looked almost like a lab coat. She laid them out on the desk, one by one. "[serious] Written apologies. For the unauthorized gathering on the rooftop. All of you, write them." Silence. Only the second hand of the wall clock moved, ticking away. "[cold] I won't write one." Yukino's voice broke the silence. "Going to the rooftop was my own decision. It wasn't a gathering or anything of the sort. I simply wanted to talk with him." "[angry] Hey, Yukinon! That's not fair!" Yui leaned forward. Her folding chair creaked loudly. "I went to the rooftop because I wanted to talk to Hikitani-kun too! It wasn't a gathering or anything!" "[cold] Yuigahama-san, you simply barged in on your own afterward, didn't you?" "[angry] I didn't barge in! I went there to see Hikitani-kun!" "[sarcastic] Which is precisely what I mean by 'on your own.'" "[angry] You're the one who's being unfair, Yukinon, calling him out all by yourself!" Hachiman looked up at the ceiling. (*Here we go again.*) It was no different from the rooftop. The location had just changed to the guidance counseling room. "[whispers] This atmosphere… I seriously wanna record it…" Iroha pulled her smartphone from her pocket. In that instant. "[cold] Isshiki-san." Yukino's lapis-lazuli eyes pierced through Iroha like a blade of ice. "[scared] Y-yes…" Iroha froze as if turned to stone and quietly slipped her phone back into her pocket. "[gentle] Sorry, force of habit." "Could you not make a habit of filming other people's emotional trainwrecks?" "[excited] But Senpai, the sight of two great beauties fighting over you is super rare footage!" "[sarcastic] You're as consistent as ever…" Hachiman muttered in disbelief. —BANG! Hiratsuka-sensei slammed her fist on the desk. The four white apology forms fluttered up into the air, then drifted back down. Everyone froze. "[serious] …Be quiet." The strange atmosphere from moments before vanished instantly. Hiratsuka-sensei slowly looked around at each of their faces. Hachiman. Yukino. Yui. Iroha. Then, she spoke. "[serious] Hikitani-kun." A chill ran down Hachiman's spine. "How about you start using your real name soon? —Hikigaya Hachiman." The air froze solid. The color drained from Yukino's face. Yui's mouth hung open, dumbfounded. Iroha's little-devil smile vanished completely. "[scared] …Huh? Hikitani-kun… isn't Hikitani-kun?" "[surprised] Hikigaya… Hachiman?" Hachiman stared back into Hiratsuka-sensei's eyes. Those eyes weren't the eyes of the demon teacher who always lectured him. They were the eyes of an adult—lonely, but kind. "[whispers] …How do you… know that?" He desperately fought to keep his voice from trembling. "[gentle] 'How,' you ask? I knew from the very beginning." Hiratsuka-sensei pulled a clear file labeled *"Seize Your Youth"* from her lab coat pocket. She extracted a single sheet of paper from inside. "This is the basic blueprint of this parallel world—or something like it. Everything about the system you unconsciously created, Yukinoshita, is written here." Yukino stood up, her chair clattering loudly. "[scared] …I did? I have no memory of creating such a thing." "[serious] I said it was unconscious. This is a world born from your wish. However—" Hiratsuka-sensei looked straight into Yukino's eyes. "There is one rule in this world that even you don't know about." Yukino's hand tightened around the edge of the apology form. The white paper crumpled with a rustle. "[serious] A countdown. This parallel world has a time limit of seven days remaining. On February fourteenth—at the end of Valentine's Day—the world will be reset." Yui let out a small gasp. "[scared] Reset… what do you mean?" "[serious] Exactly what it sounds like. Everything will return to how it was. And then—" Hiratsuka-sensei shifted her gaze to Hachiman. "Hikigaya, your memories from before your reincarnation will also be completely erased." Yukino's face went pale. "[whispers] …I didn't hear about this. I was never told about a rule like that." Her voice was trembling. The voice of the supposedly perfect Yukinoshita Yukino sounded like it might shatter at any moment. "[sad] Even though it's a world I created… why is there an ending I don't know about?" She stood there, rooted to the spot, still clutching the apology form. Her lapis-lazuli eyes wavered with tears. "[sad] Then… then, Hachiman-kun… is he going to forget all about me too?" Yui's voice grew thin, on the verge of tears. Her large brown eyes were already brimming. "[serious] The future can change depending on what you all do in these seven days. But if things stay as they are now—everything will disappear." Iroha started to pull her smartphone from her pocket, then stopped herself and put it back. "[serious] …I really can't turn this into a joke." It was the first time she'd shown such a serious expression. Silence. Only the wall clock ticked away, marking the time they had left. Hachiman looked up at the ceiling. The fluorescent light buzzed faintly. "[gentle] …I was thinking, you know." His own voice sounded a little distant to him. "That if I could turn this reverse-harem system on its head and just dodge it all skillfully, I could manage for about seven days." If he just kept running. If he stayed cold. If he kept his distance. That was his specialty. "But—" Hachiman slowly turned his face back forward. "[serious] So running is pointless, huh? If even my memories are gonna be erased, there's nowhere to run to." Yukino bit her lip and looked down. Her black hair fell over her face, hiding her expression. Yui couldn't hold back anymore, and tears spilled down her cheeks. Iroha stared intently at the floor. Hiratsuka-sensei looked around at the four of them, one by one. Then, she picked up the apology forms from the desk. "[gentle] …I'll let you off the hook for the written apologies today." She tore the four sheets of white paper to shreds. The pieces fluttered down into the trash can. "[serious] You have to find the answer yourselves. How do you want to live? Who do you want to be with, and how? That's what youth is." Leaving those words behind, Hiratsuka-sensei walked out of the room. The door was left unlocked. Only the four of them remained in the guidance counseling room. Seven days left. Valentine's Day. The erasure of memories. Yukino lifted her face for the first time. Her lapis-lazuli eyes, wet with tears, gazed at Hachiman. "[whispers] …What do you want to do?" Yui was also looking at Hachiman, still crying. Iroha still said nothing. Hachiman leaned back in his folding chair and looked up at the ceiling once more. "[gentle] …Who knows. But—" He couldn't keep running anymore. For the first time, his escape route was completely blocked off. "At the very least, letting it end like this—is a pain in the ass." The wall clock continued to tick away mercilessly. Tick. Tick. Tick. Seven days left.