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 - A Detective, Jealousy, and Another Face
The master of Café Lampe Noire, Touno Genta, gazed at Watson Amelia from across the counter. Morning light streamed through the window, quietly illuminating the still-empty café. The aroma of blended coffee dissolved into the air.
"You're here early. And alone, no less. That's rare."
The former detective, his hair streaked with gray, spoke without pausing his hands as he wiped a cup. Fifty-eight years old, five years retired. Now, as the master of this café, gathering the town's rumors was his daily routine.
"I have a meeting. With someone."
Amelia settled onto a counter seat. She casually swept back her short brown hair and narrowed her amber eyes. Her star-shaped pin caught the morning light, glinting faintly.
Today, she was dressed just a little more neatly than usual. A white shirt, a dark navy jacket. She was putting on her detective face.
"Who? Don't tell me it's that kouhai of yours."
"...Something like that."
She was keeping this from Iris.
This morning, Amelia had told her, "Keep working the diners for information today." A lie. The truth was, she was meeting a police contact. She didn't want Iris getting any closer to this case. The closer she got, the more the true history would try to swallow her.
Over four thousand loops, Amelia had seen that happen more times than she could stomach.
*Clink-clank*, went the doorbell.
She turned to see a tall man standing in the entrance. One hundred eighty-two centimeters, his short black hair neatly parted at a seven-three ratio, his narrow, sharp black eyes scanning the café interior. Deep wrinkles sat between his brows. A naturally serious face—the kind where even a smile wouldn't soften the corners of his eyes.
Navy suit, white dress shirt, dark navy tie. A silver wedding ring on the ring finger of his left hand.
Yarimizu Hayato, thirty-one years old. Sergeant in the Criminal Investigation Division, Fuchigami Central Police Station.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting, Watson-san."
His voice was low and composed. He approached the counter with the efficient stride of a police officer.
"Not at all. I just got here. Please, have a seat."
Amelia gestured to the seat beside her. Yarimizu gave a slight bow before sitting down. His back was perfectly straight. *Even on his day off, he sits like that*, she thought.
"So, what did you want to discuss?"
He ordered a blended coffee, then launched straight in without taking a single sip.
Amelia pulled a small notebook from her pocket. A battered notebook with a red cover. Records she had rewritten over and over, across the loops.
"All the victims in the disappearance case share a commonality."
She opened the page.
"Every one of them was sighted near the south exit of Fuchigami Station, around ten o'clock on a Friday night."
Yarimizu's black eyes widened slightly.
"...Where did you get that information?"
"Legwork. The steady kind."
A lie. The truth was, it was information she'd gained through the loops. The September Knot Incident. In the true history, a series of disappearances that occurred in September. It was still August now, but the method matched perfectly.
"The victims are all women in their twenties. Friday night, after shopping in the shopping district by the station's south exit, they vanish on their way home. The common thread is that they were all wearing brass accessories. Specifically, buttons or earrings."
Yarimizu fell silent.
He started to reach for his coffee cup, then stopped. The wrinkles between his brows deepened further.
"Watson-san."
"Yes?"
"You previously mentioned that time had rewound."
"I did."
"Please, no occult nonsense."
He was dead serious.
Amelia couldn't help but let out a soft laugh. *What is this guy, a straight man in a comedy routine?* she retorted inwardly. This detective had no sense of humor. But that was exactly what made him reliable.
"Sorry. But facts are facts. This information... it matches the police investigation files, doesn't it?"
Amelia said it with a smile.
Yarimizu's hand bumped the cup. A clatter sounded, and a little coffee spilled.
"...How do you know that?"
"Now, I wonder."
Amelia kept her smile as she closed her notebook. In that moment, she was unaware. Outside the window, from the shadows of the Nanatsuji Shopping Arcade, Iris Ashford was watching her intently.
Her silver eyes wavered, silently.
The late morning sun shone down on the town of Fuchigami.
The antique store Aoyagi stood at the western edge of the Nanatsuji Shopping Arcade. Inside, antiques, old kimonos, and brass trinkets were crammed together. The dusty air was thick with the scent of old wood and a faint hint of mildew.
Iris Ashford was crouched down in the back of the shop.
"Excuse me, was this button sold here?"
Resting in her palm was a brass button. The same type that Kogure Misaki had purchased before her disappearance.
"Ah, that one."
The elderly shopkeeper approached, pushing up her glasses. Her small back was hunched, her steps slow. With a wrinkled hand, she picked up the button.
"We stopped carrying those about ten years ago. But lately, strangely enough, just this button has been selling oddly well."
"Oddly?"
"Yes. Just last month, three different people bought one. All young girls. And, well, one of them was..."
The old woman lowered her voice.
"That girl who's been in the news. Kogure Misaki-san."
Iris's fingers trembled faintly.
"When that girl came here, she looked so happy. She said, 'It's a present for my boyfriend.' And then, a week before that, there was another customer who bought the same button..."
The old woman pulled out a customer registry.
"Here, this person."
Iris peered at the registry.
In that instant, a great bell tolled deep inside her head. A resonant *GOOONG*.
Her vision warped and twisted. Her silver eyes began to glow faintly from within.
(*I know this name...*)
Her Chronosense was reacting with abnormal intensity. An old wall clock hanging in the shop began to tick backwards—*click, click, click*.
For five seconds, time rewound.
But the old woman didn't notice.
Only Iris saw it. The images flashing through her mind.
(*Senpai, it's my fault again...*)
It was her own voice. But she had absolutely no memory of when or where she had said those words. Only a heart-wrenching sense of guilt crashed over her like a tsunami.
"...Ngh."
Iris covered her mouth. Nausea rose. A cold sweat ran down her back.
"Miss, are you alright? You've gone completely pale."
"I-I'm fine... I'm sorry, I just felt a little..."
Iris stood up on trembling legs.
(*This name... is the first victim of the September Knot Incident.*)
She had seen this name in the materials Amelia had been gathering last week. In the true history, the woman who had vanished first. The first victim Amelia had failed to save, thousands of times over.
And now, in this worldline, that same woman had bought the same button.
(*I have to tell Senpai.*)
But before that—
(*Why did I think, 'It's my fault again'?*)
There was no answer to be found anywhere.
Evening.
The hallway of Corpo Mizunashi was already dim. The fluorescent light flickered on and off. The twenty-seven-year-old apartment building was wrapped in a lonely atmosphere as dusk fell.
Iris stood before the door to Room 201.
Her heart was pounding, loud and obnoxious.
She raised her hand to knock, then stopped.
(*Senpai was smiling.*)
She couldn't get the image out of her head—the scene she'd witnessed through the window of Café Lampe Noire. Amelia, showing a smile to a man she didn't know. A face she'd never shown Iris.
(*Who is that man? Why was Senpai alone with him?*)
A tight, painful squeeze gripped her chest.
What was this?
Anger?
Sadness?
No. This was—jealousy.
Iris was bewildered by the emotion she was consciously recognizing for the first time in her life. She hadn't known she was capable of such an ugly, burning feeling.
*Click.*
The door opened.
"Iris? What's wrong, standing out here?"
Amelia peered at her with a puzzled expression.
Iris looked up.
"...Can I come in, Senpai?"
Her voice was so cold it surprised even herself.
Amelia's amber eyes wavered slightly.
"Ah, yeah. Come on in."
Iris entered the room. The low table was scattered with notebooks and documents. Case investigation materials.
"Senpai."
"Wh-what is it?"
"Where did you go today?"
Amelia's expression stiffened for just a fraction of a second.
"...I told you to go ask around at the diners. I was—"
"That's a lie."
Iris took a step forward.
"I saw you. At Lampe Noire, talking to a man I don't know. You were smiling. Behind my back... why... why were you smiling?!"
Her voice trembled. Her eyes burned hot.
"That was Detective Yarimizu, from the police. We were just discussing work."
"If it was just work, why did you leave me out?! I can help too! If it means keeping you out of danger, Senpai, I'll investigate everything myself!!"
Iris shouted.
In that instant, Amelia's expression changed.
"—Don't!!"
Amelia grabbed Iris's arm.
Her grip was strong. The will to not let her go traveled through her fingertips.
"Don't go alone. Absolutely not."
Her voice was shaking.
Iris had never seen Amelia—always so nonchalant—show this much raw emotion before.
(*Why... do you look so desperate?*)
Deep within Amelia's eyes, Iris saw a profound terror. The eyes of someone who feared losing something from the bottom of their heart.
"If I lost you too, I would—"
Amelia cut herself off.
She closed her mouth and looked down. She was biting her lip.
"...Senpai?"
"...It's nothing."
Amelia's hand released Iris's arm.
But those fleeting words, and those trembling fingertips, pierced Iris's heart.
"Senpai... were you worried about me?"
A tear spilled over.
"Then why do you try to go alone?! I'm scared of losing you too!!"
"Iris..."
"Seeing you smile with someone else... it felt like my heart was being torn apart. So this is jealousy... I never knew I had such an ugly feeling inside me."
Wiping her tears, Iris smiled.
"But I'm scared. Losing you, Senpai, is far more terrifying. So much that jealousy doesn't even matter."
Amelia couldn't say anything.
She just squeezed Iris's hand tightly in return.
The faces of all the people she had lost, over and over, across four thousand loops, flashed through her mind. And among them, the one shining brightest was—
(*It's you, Iris.*)
Amelia realized it for the first time.
The true feeling in her heart: that she feared losing Iris more than anything else.
That was when it happened.
*Brrrrring—*
Her smartphone rang.
Amelia let go of Iris's hand and looked at the screen. The name 'Yarimizu Hayato' glowed, cold and impersonal.
"...Hello?"
"Watson-san, it's urgent."
His voice was low and tense.
"A fifth victim has appeared. The scene is near the Kaminari Hill observation deck. The victim's name is—"
The moment she heard the name, Amelia clutched her head.
A sharp *throb*.
A violent headache.
Her Chronosense was reacting with abnormal intensity.
(*That name is—*)
In the true history, the woman who had become the first victim of the September Knot Incident. The person Amelia had failed to save, thousands of times, throughout the loops.
Now, in this worldline, she had vanished.
"Also, a brass button was found at the scene. It carries the exact same chrono-corrosion as Kogure Misaki's."
With a trembling hand, Amelia pulled a pocket watch from her drawer.
A silver face. A small crack.
The hands—were moving.
Even though no one was touching it.
*Click, click, click.*
It had advanced by seven whole minutes.
(*The progression rate is exceeding projections. It's already begun. The true history—*)
In the corner of the room, Iris stood up.
"Senpai... I've been having strange dreams lately."
Her voice was shaking.
"Dreams where you disappear from in front of me, over and over. Where I mess something up, and you go somewhere far away, and I'm left crying alone..."
(*Her memories of the true hi
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