At dusk, the river surface burned a slow, molten orange. From the factory chimney across the water, a thin white plume rose and dissolved into the breeze. Misaki watched it idly. The iron railing held the last warmth of the sun, passing it gently into her palms. The river had a smell — salt and mud and something faintly sweet, a scent that belonged to this city alone. Three years since she'd come here. She exhaled slowly. The breath vanished into the amber air. ─── On a Sunday afternoon, deep in an alley behind Komatsuhara Central Shopping Street, stood the used bookstore Touwa-do. The elderly shopkeeper often retreated to the workbench in back and didn't emerge for hours. Today was no exception. From the open door, the smell of old paper, dust, and faint mildew drifted through the air. Sunlight filtered between the shelves, and dust particles suspended in the beams rotated slowly, caught in the light. In a corner further back, where two folding chairs had been placed, Hanagaki Takemichi and Aoki Yuu sat side by side. The conversation had stopped. Takemichi couldn't remember how many minutes had passed since they'd last exchanged words. Yuu held a paperback on her lap but hadn't turned a page. Takemichi held another paperback in his hand, but the text wasn't registering in his eyes. The silence wasn't heavy. That was what struck Takemichi as strange. Silence on the rooftop was always heavy. Silence in the classroom was heavier still. But the quietness here now wasn't a silence meant to hide something. It was simply two people breathing the same air. That was all this time was. Takemichi's finger traced the cover of the paperback on his lap. He hadn't even looked at what book it was. His mouth moved. Without him noticing it happening. "[whispers]I've seen the same person die over and over again" Yuu didn't move. "[whispers]In the future I was supposed to have changed, someone else died. When I changed it again, someone else died" The words weren't organized. They weren't words he'd chosen to explain something. It was like something that had accumulated somewhere deep inside had found a crack in this quietness and spilled out. He didn't use the name "time leap." He didn't know how to use it. Only fragments from the repeated memories came out. "[whispers]I don't know anymore if it was a dream or if it really happened. But I remember their faces. I remember their names. I remember everything" Yuu set the book on her lap. She didn't look at Takemichi's face. She simply listened, facing forward. She didn't deny it. She didn't say "it was just a dream." No words of comfort came. "That must have been hard." That silence drew out what came next. "[whispers]I tried to protect them, but I couldn't. Every time I moved, someone got hurt. But I kept moving anyway. Dozens of times" Silence. Beyond the shelves, the old man moved something. Then it was quiet again. Yuu's hand slowly rested on top of Takemichi's right hand. Her fingertips were cold. There was no pressure. She simply placed her hand there. That was all. Takemichi's entire body went rigid for a moment. Hinata had tried to hold his hand last week. Back then, Takemichi's hand had withdrawn before he even realized it. It was reflex. His body's rejection of being touched had manifested before his consciousness could catch up. Now Yuu's hand rested on his right hand. Takemichi didn't pull away. For a few seconds, it stayed that way. Then Takemichi's fingers slowly curled around Yuu's hand in return. Not with force. Just as if confirming. As if confirming this was real. Takemichi himself had no words for why he could hold her hand now. Because Yuu hadn't denied him. Because she hadn't pitied him. Because she'd simply listened. Maybe that was all it was. For Takemichi right now, that was everything. ─── Along Komatsuhara Central Shopping Street, Ishikawa Hinata was walking. She had no destination. It was Sunday afternoon, and her mind wouldn't settle at home, so she'd come outside. Flags from various shops swayed in the eaves of the shopping street. She passed in front of Yamakita Bento, and her feet nearly stopped at the entrance to the alley with the used bookstore, but she kept going. She came to the front of Cafe Harunoki. Four window seats. She could see Master Zenzo moving slowly in the back. This was a place she and Takemichi came to often. Recently, Takemichi had stopped coming, and Hinata couldn't bring herself to come alone anymore. The alley across the street was reflected in the window glass. Hinata let her gaze drift, then stopped it. The entrance to Touwa-do used bookstore was visible in the reflection. Takemichi's red short hair was visible. Next to it, silver hair. Takemichi's profile was visible. Hinata understood his expression in a single glance. It wasn't a forced smile. It was a face with no tension, nowhere to escape to. A face she'd tried so many times to see at Harunoki. A face she'd tried to draw out on the rooftop through tears and screams, but never could. The true face of Takemichi that she'd been beside for years but had never seen — it was reflected beyond the glass. And their hands were linked. Hinata's feet stopped moving. Her own face was reflected in the glass. But she couldn't see it. She couldn't see anything. ─── Monday morning, Class 2-3. When Ishikawa Hinata arrived at school, Takemichi was already sitting in his window seat. The moment their eyes were about to meet, Hinata cast her gaze down. Her long black hair fell in front of her face. Her eyes were swollen and red. It was obvious at a glance that she'd cried all night. Something heavy settled over Takemichi's chest. The used bookstore yesterday. That hand. The possibility that Hinata might have seen it through the window had been on his mind since last night. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find an answer. Takemichi tried to call out to Hinata. No voice came. Yuu sat at her desk with her textbook open, unmoving. She didn't look at Takemichi. She didn't look at Hinata. Her golden eyes were fixed on a single point in the text. The three of them were each facing different directions. Within the noise of the classroom, three silences formed a triangle. Takemichi looked out the window. The May sky was blue. The leaves of the cherry blossoms swayed in the wind. Something was accumulating in his chest. Without becoming words, something was just growing heavier. ─── A little while after lunch break began, Takemichi's smartphone rang. One message. From: Hinata. "Come to the rooftop" That was all. Takemichi stood without taking his bag. He climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. His footsteps grew higher and closer with each step. He reached the door. A broken lock. He pushed with his shoulder, and the heavy metal door opened. Hinata was there. Standing with her back to the fence on the north side, facing Takemichi. Her eyes were red. The traces of crying from last night and this morning remained. Takemichi thought she'd been holding it together until he arrived. But the moment he closed the iron door, her face crumbled. "[crying]Am I not enough!?" Her voice echoed across the rooftop. It might have carried through the iron door and down to the landing. Takemichi's body froze. Hinata's voice continued. Between sobs, in fragments. "[crying]I've always been beside you. Even when I was on the verge of death, I was here. But you—you show her that face. The face you won't show me, you show to her" Tears overflowed from her light blue eyes. Her voice trembled. It was the voice of someone who knew everything. The voice of someone who had seen everything reflected in that glass yesterday. Takemichi's mouth tried to move. The words "I love you" reached his throat. They stuck. They wouldn't come out. Takemichi knew better than anyone that he could only take off his mask in front of Yuu. For the past year and a half, he'd kept a forced smile beside Hinata, until he couldn't smile anymore, until he couldn't say anything. That hadn't changed. He couldn't turn toward Hinata with the face he turned toward Yuu. Knowing that fact, saying "I love you" would mean both sincerity toward Hinata and a lie to himself, and his voice stopped. Hinata watched that silence. Five seconds, or ten. The moment came when she read the answer in his silence. "[sad]If you don't love me anymore, just say it" It was a voice wrung out. After that, Hinata's hands shoved Takemichi's chest. It was a strong push. Takemichi's body fell back, and his back hit the fence. The sensation of metal ran through his back. Hinata covered her face with her hands and ran to the iron door. The sound of her pulling it open. The sound of her footsteps descending the stairs, fading away. The iron door closed. That sound echoed long across the rooftop, then faded. ─── Takemichi braced himself against the fence. His right hand gripped the iron railing. Strength drained from his knees. Both knees hit the concrete. His body crouched down, and he couldn't move. The sky was blue. It was blinding. In the distance, the roar of an upbound JR Kaminarai Line train crossing the elevated track began. It came in the middle of the day. That low vibration entered his body, and in that moment, his vision darkened. A blood-soaked face lying still. A face he knew. He called out the name. Unable to tell which timeline's memory it was, the next face overlapped. The sound of breaking bones rang in the back of his ears. His own voice screaming at something echoed in his head — and beneath that voice, Hinata's crying face began to mix in. Deaths from multiple timelines and Hinata's screams in this moment blurred into the same place. He couldn't distinguish what was now and what was past. Takemichi wrapped his head in both hands. He curled up. Only the coldness of the concrete told him that now was now. If he'd still had the time leap ability, he could have done it over — that thought came. The moment it came, the reality that he no longer had the power crushed it. It was a conditioned reflex. Even knowing he couldn't do it anymore, his body reached for it first. He couldn't erase this choice. He couldn't recover the time when he made Hinata cry. The sound of the train faded into the distance. The images of the flashback thinned. Only the coldness of the concrete remained. Takemichi stayed curled up, unmoving. ─── Even after school ended, Takemichi couldn't leave the rooftop. The sun tilted, and the roofs of the houses in Komatsuhara town began to stain orange. The JR Kaminarai Line elevated track caught the slanting light and gleamed. Behind him, the iron door opened. It was Yuu. Her silver hair swayed in the evening light. She had the face of someone who knew from somewhere that Takemichi hadn't moved since midday. Yuu crouched down beside him. She knelt on the concrete. She said nothing. The wind blew. Yuu's tied-back hair swayed. For a while, there was silence. Then Yuu opened her mouth. "[sad]It's my fault, isn't it" Takemichi tried to deny it. No voice came. Not denying was the same as affirming. Light floated in Yuu's golden eyes. Tears. Takemichi was seeing Yuu cry for the first time. "[whispers]Because I came in. I broke someone again" Her voice trembled. It was small. But each word was certain. The weight of the word "broke" came from the past. But Yuu had never once spoken of what was in that past. "[whispers]Tell me you're just using me too. Then it would be easier. For both of us" Her voice was thin. Takemichi grabbed Yuu's hand. No — he wanted to say. He thought if he said no, Yuu would feel a little better. He actually thought it was no. It wasn't using her. The silence in that used bookstore was real to Takemichi. The coldness of Yuu's hand was real. But the words wouldn't come. Takemichi didn't understand why the words wouldn't come. He'd thought he could only show