Amelia Watson's Another Worldline: After the Time Loop, It's You
Amelia Watson, the time-traveling detective, finally escapes the endless time loop. She thinks she's found the perfect, peaceful worldline to settle down in—until she realizes her next-door neighbor and new partner is Iris, the girl she was absolutely forbidden from getting close to in any other timeline!
Amelia knows the rules. In every single loop she's experienced, the cool, perfect, and secretly obsessive detective-in-training Iris has confessed her love for her. And every single time, that
Amelia Watson's Another Worldline: After the Time Loop, It's You - The Button's Whereabouts and Their Line of Investigation
The heavy air from the night before still lingered in the corners of the room like sediment.
Watson Amelia sat cross-legged in front of the chabudai table, staring at the small button resting in her palm. Its brass-gold surface gleamed dully beneath the overcast Wednesday sky filtering through the window. She had found it in her coat pocket last night, after Iris had left the room in tears.
(*This button… there's no doubt about it. It carries residual temporal anomaly.*)
As she rolled it between her fingertips, a cold, crawling sensation crept across her skin. Her Chronosense was sounding a faint warning. It felt like a tiny bell chiming deep within her head. Amelia narrowed her amber eyes.
This wasn't just something someone dropped.
Someone had been swallowed by a rift in time. And this button alone had been left behind in this world.
(*What I need to do just became crystal clear.*)
Amelia clenched the button in her fist.
" I've decided. Starting today, I'm moving in earnest."
She murmured the words to no one in particular.
That was the moment.
*Knock, knock.* A hesitant rapping at the door.
Amelia's shoulders twitched.
" …Senpai, I've brought you breakfast."
Her voice was just a little quieter than usual. A faint tremor remained, as if the traces of last night's tears still clung to her words. Amelia rose to her feet and opened the door.
Iris Ashford stood there, clutching a tray to her chest. Her waist-length black hair was braided only on the right side again today. Her clear silver eyes sparkled in the morning light. But her eyelids were slightly red. She might have cried herself to sleep last night.
" …Morning."
" Good morning."
They exchanged greetings in hushed voices.
Iris stepped into the kitchen and began preparing breakfast with practiced efficiency. The pleasant *thunk-thunk-thunk* of the knife filled the silence. Amelia gazed absently at her back. The tip of her braid swayed gently with each movement.
(*Is she still upset about yesterday?*)
Awkwardness settled heavily in the pit of her stomach.
Soon, breakfast was laid out across the chabudai. Fluffy scrambled eggs, bacon fried to a crisp, and miso soup packed with ingredients. A perfect breakfast, just like always. But what was different was that Iris wouldn't meet Amelia's eyes.
" Um, Senpai."
Iris fidgeted with the hem of her apron as she spoke.
" About yesterday… I… I'm sorry for being so selfish."
She bowed her head deeply. Her braid slipped from her shoulder.
Amelia set down her chopsticks.
" …No, I'm the one who should apologize. I was too harsh."
Even as the words of apology left her lips, something else churned inside her heart.
(*I'm the one who should be apologizing.*)
Iris's rampage in the prime timeline. All of it had been to protect Amelia. She had strayed from the path for Amelia's sake. The Iris standing before her now had no memory of any of that. But Amelia knew. She knew everything.
" So, about that."
Iris lifted her head. Her silver eyes gazed directly at Amelia.
" Please, I'm asking you again. Let me help with the investigation."
Her voice did not waver.
Amelia caught her breath for a moment.
" …No. It's too dangerous."
" Then if you're going to put yourself in danger, Senpai, I'll just do it alone!"
Iris shot to her feet. Her silver eyes blazed with anger and resolve. The exact same words as last night. Amelia's chest tightened painfully.
(*This girl really doesn't understand anything.*)
(*It's precisely because she doesn't understand that she can say things like that.*)
To Amelia, who knew the Iris of the prime timeline, those words stabbed into her like a blade. Acting alone. To protect someone. Going berserk. It was all the same pattern.
" …Fine. I have conditions. You follow my orders, absolutely. Don't go off on your own. Understood?"
Amelia let out a deep sigh and spoke.
To prevent her from acting alone, there was no choice but to keep her close.
" …Yes!!"
Iris's face lit up brilliantly. As if the dark atmosphere from moments before had been nothing but a lie.
" Thank you, Senpai! I'll definitely make myself useful! I'll protect you!"
Saying this, Iris, perhaps overwhelmed with emotion, spread her arms wide and tried to embrace Amelia. Amelia hastily shifted her body to the side.
" Stop! Don't hug me, don't hug me! How does it always come to this?!"
" Huh… But, I was just so happy…"
Iris's eyebrows drooped dejectedly. The gesture was so unbearably cute, its destructive power was off the charts.
(*The walls around my heart right now are thinner than paper. Please, stop. Don't spoil me any more than this.*)
Amelia desperately fired off a retort in her own mind.
The shopping district was still sparsely populated, likely because it was late Wednesday morning.
Walking beneath the arcade of Nanatsuji Shopping Street, Amelia glanced at Iris's profile beside her. The dejected expression from earlier was nowhere to be seen; Iris was already brimming with motivation. Her silver eyes sparkled brightly.
" Senpai, where should we go first?"
" Lamp Noir. We're going to talk to the master."
Café Lamp Noir was located around the middle of the shopping district.
When she opened the door, a *clink-clank* echoed from the doorbell. Inside, the bitter aroma of coffee mingled with the slightly dusty smell of old books. Behind the counter, the grey-haired master, Touno Genta, was polishing a white cup with a cloth. Fifty-eight years old, a former detective. His solid build and sharp gaze still gave him an active, on-duty presence.
" Welcome, Amelia-chan. Oh my, you've brought some cute company today."
Touno looked up and grinned.
" Master, there's something I want to ask."
Amelia took a seat at the counter, and Iris sat down beside her.
" Kogure Misaki. A twenty-four-year-old office lady. Do you know anything detailed about the story that she went missing near here on Friday night?"
Touno's hand stopped for just a moment.
" …Misaki-chan, huh. She was a regular at Lamp Noir. The last sighting was someone seeing her walking alone on the south side of the shopping district after parting ways with a friend on Friday night."
Touno set the cup down and continued with a grave expression.
" She had a bit of an unusual hobby, you see. She collected antique brass buttons."
Amelia's hand, inside her coat pocket, clenched the button.
" Brass buttons… Are those something you can find around here?"
Iris leaned forward.
" Who knows. They're not quite antiques, so maybe a used clothing store, or a general goods shop… Ah, that's right."
Touno snapped his fingers as if remembering something.
" Also, Detective Yarimizu was concerned about this case too. He said to let him know if I got any information."
Amelia's eyebrow twitched.
(*Yarimizu is making moves too, huh.*)
That was the moment.
A high-pitched ringing echoed deep within her head. At the edge of her vision, the second hand of the wall clock on the counter spun backwards. *Tick, tick, tick.* For just three seconds.
(*My Chronosense… reacted!*)
Amelia stood up.
" Iris, let's go. We're checking the scene."
" Eh? Right!"
Amelia slapped the coffee money onto the counter and hurried out of the shop. Iris scrambled after her.
The place they rushed into was a back alley on the south side of the shopping district.
Despite it being daytime, the sun didn't reach between the buildings, leaving it chilly and dim. Water dripped, *plip, plop*, from exposed pipes. A sour smell, like garbage, drifted from somewhere.
" This place is a little scary…"
Iris gently grabbed the hem of Amelia's coat.
" …There."
Amelia stopped, staring at a single point on the ground.
A circle about thirty centimeters in diameter was drawn on the ground. Inside it, a single dead leaf continued to dance in a spiral. It showed no sign of falling. It repeated the same trajectory, at the same speed, for eternity. Only the surrounding air wavered, shimmering like a distorted heat haze.
" A temporal stagnation… Someone was erased here, along with their time."
Amelia's voice was stiff, even to her own ears.
" This is… a temporal anomaly…"
Iris gasped.
" Absolutely do not touch it. If you go inside, you'll end up just like that leaf."
" …Understood."
Amelia began to carefully observe the perimeter of the stagnation. She used her Chronosense to perceive the minute temporal disturbances invisible to the naked eye. The chiming bell deep in her head rang out far louder than before.
(*A stagnation of this scale means the time rift should still be nearby.*)
(*This case… it's not just a simple disappearance.*)
" Senp—"
At that moment, Iris, who had been crouching a short distance away, suddenly choked on her words.
" What is it?!"
" This… it's not trash, is it?"
Iris was pointing at a gap in the drainage grate. Something was caught between the iron bars.
Amelia took out a handkerchief and carefully picked it up.
It was a small earring. A women's piece, with a small pearl set on a silver base. Only one of the pair. The pearl's surface was cloudy, and a familiar iridescent oxidation film floated on the silver parts.
" Iris… you found this?"
Her voice trembled.
It was something even the police investigation had missed. Normally, no one would notice something this small.
" Yes. It's like… how do I put it, I smelled it…"
Iris furrowed her brow in confusion and pressed her fingers to her temple.
" Ever since we entered this alley, I've felt strange. Like a strange smell… or a ringing in my ears… and it was really strong around this earring."
(*Is she sensing the traces of time attached to objects with Chronosense?*)
A chill ran down Amelia's spine.
Iris's latent abilities were undoubtedly beginning to awaken. And with remarkably high precision, at that.
" …This earring smells the same as that button from earlier."
Iris tilted her head curiously.
" The button in your pocket, Senpai. It has the same smell. How should I describe it… like time has rusted."
Amelia was at a loss for words.
(*In the prime timeline, this power was… used to destroy evidence.*)
A sharp pain lanced through her chest. The Iris before her eyes, bewildered by her own ability, purely wished to be of help to Amelia. That smile was breaking down the walls around Amelia's heart, audibly shattering them.
The afternoon sun was beginning to cast long shadows across the shopping district arcade.
The two of them sat facing each other at a table in the "Marutomi" diner. Steam rose from the daily special, miso-braised mackerel, set before them. 750 yen. While Amelia poked at the heaping mound of rice with her chopsticks, Iris's chopsticks had barely moved.
Iris kept looking back and forth between the button in Amelia's pocket and the earring they had just found.
" Senpai, I really think these two are connected."
Iris lifted her head. Her silver eyes held a serious light.
" Misaki-san collected antique brass buttons. And this button is made of brass. Then, the place where we found this earring had a temporal stagnation. The stagnation formed where Misaki-san disappeared. Which means—"
" This earring also belongs to Misaki. The button and the earring, both pieces of evidence, were exposed to the same temporal anomaly. It's chrono-corrosion."
Amelia picked up where Iris left off, twirling the earring between her fingers.
" Chrono… corrosion?"
" It's a phenomenon where matter exposed to a temporal anomaly undergoes a unique oxidation. An iridescent film forms on the surface. This is proof of that."
Amelia pointed to the cloudiness on the earring.
" I understood your deduction, Senpai, even before you put it into words. It's strange. It's almost like—"
Iris broke into an innocent smile.
" Like we have a telepathic connection, Senpai. Isn't that like lovers?"
In that instant.
Memories of the prime timeline flashed back through Amelia's mind.
Iris was smiling. But her eyes weren't sm
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