The sky above Yuki had turned wrong.
She couldn't explain it — not to herself, not to the silence. The moon was full, but it cast no light. Her shadow didn't stretch across the rooftop. It curled inward, as if recoiling from her.
And the memory — the one she couldn't deny now — kept pulsing at the edges of her vision.
Ren, bleeding.
Ren, smiling.
Ren, telling her it was okay.
As she stabbed him.
She didn't scream. She couldn't. The terror was too complete for sound.
Instead, she stared down at the petals drifting along the concrete.
And saw, clearly now, what she hadn't before:
They weren't cherry blossoms.
They were paper talismans — torn, burned, marked with looping sigils.
"Everything's been rewritten," she whispered.
"And you helped write it."
Yuki spun around.
A figure stepped forward from the stairwell — a boy in the school uniform, same year as her, face vaguely familiar.
"You… were in my class," she said.
He smiled — not unkindly.
"Only in this loop."
"What do you mean—?"
"Name's Kaito," he interrupted. "Used to be Ren's friend. Back in loop one."
Yuki took a step back. "You remember?"
"I never stopped remembering," he said. "That's the curse, Yuki. Some of us wake up too early, and the system won't let us forget."
"Tsuki," she whispered.
Kaito nodded. "The moon that watches but never warns. The thing Ren created to keep you alive… until he didn't know how to let you die."
She felt like vomiting. "I don't understand. Why would he—?"
"Because he loved you," Kaito said gently. "Too much. Enough to turn you into a story he could rewrite."
Yuki's eyes filled with tears. "So I really did… kill him?"
"In loop two? Yes."
"And now?"
"That's up to you." Kaito stepped forward. "But if you want to know the truth… you need to remember what you said to him that night. Before the knife. Before the scream."
Yuki squeezed her eyes shut.
"I said…" Her voice trembled. "I said I would never forget him."
Kaito nodded. "And that's the problem."
System Tsuki: Yuki Arisawa sync complete.
Access level: Unauthorized. Observing.
The air shimmered.
Yuki stumbled as her knees buckled, memories crashing into her like waves.
—Ren holding her hand beneath a blood moon.
—Ren erasing her memories in secret.
—Ren crying over a dead version of her, whispering: "Just one more try."
—Ren, saying: "If you remember me, you'll suffer. So forget me."
And she had.
Over and over.
Until now.
She looked up. Kaito was gone.
Only the wind remained, and a single petal landing on her palm — this one real, soft, trembling.
Yuki stood.
"I'm done being rewritten," she whispered.
Meanwhile…
Ren stood at the edge of the city, staring out at the lights he no longer trusted. The skyline pulsed faintly, unreal, as if the world knew it was ending.
He felt her before he heard her.
Yuki's footsteps on pavement. Her breath. Her presence, undeniable.
He turned slowly.
She stood in the moonlight — face pale, eyes burning.
"I remember," she said.
Ren swallowed. "All of it?"
"Enough."
He stepped toward her. "Yuki, I never wanted you to suffer. I—"
"You made me forget you on purpose. You thought it was mercy. But it was fear."
He froze.
"You erased me," she said softly, "because you couldn't handle who I became when I remembered."
Ren opened his mouth to respond, but the world groaned around them. The sky cracked faintly, like ice underfoot.
System Tsuki: Final deviation point reached.
Loop will collapse in 7 days.
No further resets possible.
"Seven days," Yuki whispered.
Ren met her gaze.
"Then let's end it."