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 Four Thousandth Goodbye
The thin darkness before dawn covered the room in Corpo Mizunashi.
Watson Amelia was slumped over the chabudai table when her smartphone's ringtone jolted her awake. The screen read *Yarimizu Hayato*. Her amber eyes glowed dimly, still not fully free of sleep.
"...Yeah, hello?"
"Watson-san, we have a fifth missing person."
His voice was stiff and trembling.
"Saeki Shiori, twenty-five years old. A librarian at Fuchigami City Library. Last night, after closing, a coworker witnessed her heading toward Kaminari Hill. She hasn't been seen since."
The moment she heard that name, something exploded inside Amelia's head.
Four. Thousand. Times.
Four thousand loops. Four thousand Septembers. Four thousand times—Saeki Shiori vanishing.
It was always the same. Friday night, leaving the library, walking the road to Kaminari Hill, and then—swallowed by the rift. Amelia had seen it thousands of times. Had reached out her hand thousands of times. Thousands of times, she had failed to reach her.
Nausea surged up.
Her vision warped, and a ringing stabbed into her brain. Her Chronosense was screaming, far beyond a warning. Amelia pressed her hands against the floor. Stomach acid crawled up her throat.
"Watson-san? Can you hear me?"
"...I hear you."
She barely recognized her own voice.
"The scene is near the ruins of the Kaminari Hill observation deck. I'm heading there now. You should—"
"I'm going alone."
She hung up.
With trembling hands, she opened the drawer. The silver pocket watch. The crack on the dial. The hands—were moving again. Nine more minutes than last time.
(*It's already started.*)
(*The prime timeline is beginning to erode this worldline.*)
At that moment, the door burst open.
"Senpai!"
It was Iris. Her waist-length black hair was disheveled, the braid on her right side coming undone. Her clear silver eyes were red, as if she'd cried herself to exhaustion. But what dwelled within them now was something different from the jealousy and possessiveness of the night before—a hard resolve.
"Iris, today is—"
"You're trying to go alone, aren't you?"
Iris cut off Amelia's words.
"Last night, I had a terrible dream. You were in a burning building, with a horrible burn on your neck, and even then, you smiled at me. You lied, saying you were fine."
A chill ran down Amelia's spine.
"And then, at the end, you always—you vanish. Right in front of me, just... gone. In the dream, over and over, again and again."
(*Her memories of the prime timeline are awakening.*)
(*My existence is the trigger.*)
"So I understood. I can't let you be alone."
Iris grasped Amelia's hand. Her fingers were cold and trembling.
"When you held my hand back yesterday, I understood. You're scared too, senpai. You carry everything by yourself, and even so, you can't tell anyone, and you're scared."
"...Iris."
"I won't be a burden to you. I'll set aside all my jealousy, all my selfishness. So—please, let me go with you."
Her silver eyes gazed straight at Amelia.
Amelia couldn't say anything.
How could she?
(*I don't want to drag you into this.*)
(*But letting you go alone is even more dangerous.*)
The Iris of the prime timeline had always been like that. Acting alone to protect Amelia, destroying evidence, leaving cases unsolved—and then meeting her ruin.
"...Fine. But you follow my orders. Absolutely."
"Yes!!"
Iris's face lit up brilliantly.
Seven in the morning. The two of them were on a bus heading to Kaminari Hill.
The streets of Fuchigami streamed past the window. The August morning sun bleached the asphalt white. No one else was on the bus. Only the driver, silently gripping the wheel.
Iris gently touched Amelia's hand.
"Senpai, your hands are cold."
"...I guess so."
"I'll warm them up for you."
Iris wrapped both her hands around Amelia's. Slender fingers. But warm. Amelia couldn't shake her off. No—she didn't want to shake her off.
(*This warmth makes me weak.*)
(*But—right now, I want to lean on it.*)
The bus stopped at the entrance to Kaminari Hill.
Without a word, the two began climbing the mountain path. The paved promenade soon gave way to an overgrown animal trail choked with weeds. The air was damp, and a lukewarm wind clung to their skin.
Before long, the ruins came into view.
The closed weather observatory. Rusted fences. Shattered windows. Ivy crawling up the walls.
And then—.
"...Senpai, this."
Iris's voice trembled.
At the center of the ruins. On the ground, a circular distortion about two meters in diameter. The air there, and only there, warped grotesquely. Like a heat haze, but far more sinister—a lesion in time itself.
A stagnation of time.
At the center of the stagnation—a single high heel hung suspended in midair.
A black pump. The kind Saeki Shiori had been wearing. Amelia knew. She had seen it countless times across four thousand loops.
Around the stagnation, within a radius of about five meters. Fallen leaves appeared and vanished, vanished and appeared. Insect carcasses flickered between their forms of yesterday and today. Past and present were mingling in this place alone.
"It's like time itself is sick, just here."
At Iris's words, Amelia caught her breath.
(*That's exactly how Iris described it in the prime timeline.*)
(*Her Chronosense is already entering the awakening stage.*)
"Iris, wait here."
"But—"
"I said wait!"
Amelia shouted. Her voice was desperate, even to her own surprise.
She approached the stagnation. One step, then another.
Her Chronosense tolled like a bell inside her head. Nausea. Ringing. The edges of her vision flickered and flashed.
(*This is the precursor to the September Knot Incident.*)
(*Until this stagnation grows into a full rift—less than twenty-four hours remain.*)
Amelia reached out for the high heel.
The moment she touched it—.
A flash.
The scenes she had witnessed across four thousand loops exploded through her mind.
Saeki Shiori, swallowed by the rift. Her screams. Amelia reaching out. Fingertips that couldn't reach. And then—darkness.
But this time, it wasn't a flashback.
A physical impact pierced through her entire body. The sensation of bones creaking, organs twisting. Amelia screamed.
"Aaaaaaahhh!!!"
She collapsed to her knees.
"Senpai! Senpai!!"
Iris rushed over. She embraced Amelia. Warm arms. But Amelia's body wouldn't stop shaking.
"Senpai, won't you talk to me? I don't know what you're seeing, what you're afraid of. But—please don't carry it all alone!"
Her voice was thick with tears.
Amelia couldn't answer.
(*I can't tell you.*)
(*If I do, you'll be put in danger.*)
(*You'll remember your prime timeline self.*)
"Until you talk to me, I absolutely will not leave your side."
The sun set.
The two returned to the apartment and faced each other in Room 201. On the chabudai sat two cups of cold tea. The flame of the kerosene stove illuminated Iris's profile.
"Senpai."
Iris opened her mouth.
"I'll tell you about that dream in more detail."
"Stop, Iris."
"No, please listen."
Iris stood up. Her silver eyes were wet with tears.
"You're in a burning building, with a terrible burn on your neck. The burn is deeper on the right side, spreading down to your collarbone. And then you—"
"I said stop it!!"
Amelia shouted.
But Iris didn't stop.
"You're wearing a white shirt and a dark navy jacket. In the left pocket of the jacket is a silver pocket watch. That watch you always carry. And then—you smile. You say you're fine. You lie to me. And at the end, you always—"
Tears streamed down Iris's cheeks.
"You vanish. Right in front of me, just... gone. Without saying anything, you go somewhere far away. I cry, I scream, but you never come back—"
It was too accurate.
The shape of the burn. The clothes she'd been wearing. The expression just before she vanished.
That wasn't a dream.
It was a memory from the prime timeline. The real experience of the loops was beginning to awaken inside her.
Something inside Amelia's heart broke.
(*My existence is destroying you.*)
(*As long as I'm near you, you'll remember your prime timeline self.*)
(*To protect you—*)
(*I have no choice but to disappear.*)
Late at night.
After confirming that Iris had returned to her room and fallen asleep, Amelia made her move.
Her only luggage was the pocket watch and her wallet. She left everything else behind. She intended this to be a farewell forever.
She left the apartment. The night wind was cold. Only the murmur of the Misogi River broke the silence.
(*This is for the best.*)
(*If I'm gone, Iris won't have to awaken her prime timeline memories.*)
(*If I'm gone—you can live a normal life.*)
She walked to Fuchigami Station.
A platform devoid of people. Two hours until the first train. She sat on a bench and waited for dawn.
*Must not be liked by anyone.*
The words she had told herself four thousand times.
(*When I get close, people become unhappy.*)
(*When I try to protect something, everything breaks.*)
(*So—*)
At that moment—.
"Senpai!!!!"
A scream echoed across the platform.
She turned around.
Iris was running toward her. Barefoot. Still in her pajamas. Her hair disheveled, her breath ragged, her silver eyes a mess of tears.
"Why—without saying anything—!"
Iris threw her arms around Amelia. The two of them tumbled off the bench together.
"The thought of you disappearing is far more terrifying than any horrible memory I see in my dreams! You're more important to me than anyone, and that feeling isn't from some dream memory—it's my real feeling, right now!!"
Her voice rang out through the pre-dawn station.
"No matter what memories awaken inside me, the me that exists right now lives to protect you. So—please. Don't go."
Amelia couldn't say anything.
Four thousand loops' worth of self-denial. The iron precept that she must not be liked by anyone.
It—now, for the first time—wavered.
(*This girl says she's more afraid of me disappearing.*)
(*Even though my existence might destroy you.*)
(*Even so—*)
Amelia's hand slowly moved to Iris's back.
"...I'm sorry."
Her voice was hoarse.
"Don't say you're sorry. If you're going to apologize, then just don't leave."
Iris buried her face in Amelia's chest.
Warm tears soaked into her shirt.
At that moment—.
*Brrrrrrng—.*
Her smartphone rang.
*Yarimizu Hayato.*
With a trembling hand, Amelia pressed the call button.
"Watson-san, it's an emergency!"
His voice was urgent.
"A sixth missing person has appeared. The victim is a regular customer of Aoyagi Antiques. From a brooch left at the scene, we found brass fittings identical to those on Shiori-san's high heel."
"...What?"
"That's not all. The chrono-corrosion—the residual time anomaly values—detected from both items has jumped to over ten times that of Kogure Misaki's button."
Amelia was speechless.
Ten times.
"This is no longer at the level of individual disappearances. Watson-san, the time rift itself is beginning to choose its victims with intent—"
(*The prime timeline—is eroding.*)
(*The September Knot Incident is about to be fully recreated in this worldline.*)
Still sitting on the platform floor, Amelia looked at Iris's face.
Tear-drenched silver eyes gazed back at her.
(*Five victims remain.*)
(*If I don't pinpoint the source of the rift, everyone will vanish.*)
(*To do that—*)
(*I absolutely need Iris's Chronosense.*)
(*But that means—*)
(*I have no choice but to tell you the whole truth.*)
The hands of the pocket watch moved again, on their own.
Though no one had touched it, they spun a full rotation.
Time was warning them that it would not wait for their decision.
"...Iris."
"Yes, senpai."
"There's something I have to tell you. Everything—I'll tell you everything."
Iris gently squeezed her hand back.
On the platform before dawn, the whistle of the first train echoed in the distance.
The wind blew, stirring up fallen leaves within the station. One drifted down to their feet, and then—silently, vanished.
In the s
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