"Hey! What's up? Is something wrong?" the girl asked cheerfully.
Kaede slowly turned his head toward the voice. His eyes widened in shock as he saw who it was.
"Why... why are you here?" he asked, his voice trembling.
The girl tilted her head and gave him a playful smile. "What do you mean? Am I not allowed to be here?" she chuckled, brushing some hair behind her ear.
Kaede stared at her in disbelief. Is she cosplaying? Why is she wearing a high school uniform? She... she still looks exactly like she did back then and also she isn't supposed to be here...
Without thinking, Kaede slapped himself hard across the face. "A-Are you a ghost?" he stammered.
The girl burst into laughter so hard she had to sit down on the ground. "What?! A ghost? Kaede, are you okay?" she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. She got up, walked over to him, and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Hey, is that assignment really stressing you out? You look awful. I can help you, you know."
Kaede's expression darkened. "Assignment? What assignment? Are you trying to mess with me?" he snapped. "And why are you in a uniform?! This doesn't make sense!"
Before she could answer, Kaede turned and bolted toward home, leaving the girl behind, confused and worried. She decided to quietly follow him at a distance, not wanting to alarm him more than he already was.
Kaede rushed into his apartment and collapsed onto the couch, overwhelmed. The girl peered through the window, her face a mix of concern and curiosity.
What's going on with him? she wondered. He was totally fine yesterday. Energetic, even…
Exhausted, Kaede dozed off. Soon, a fever took over his body. The girl quietly slipped inside, unnoticed, and check Kaede is he's ok or not he touch the head of the sleeping Kaede, and she notice that he's temperature is high, so she quicky finds a towel and rinses it, sat by his side, placing a damp towel on his forehead. She stayed with him through the day, caring for him. As evening came, she moved to the kitchen to cook a simple soup.
Later, she gently woke Kaede up and tried to feed him. As he opened his eyes and saw her again, his voice was weak.
"Why are you here? Am I dreaming...? I... I'm sorry..." he muttered before passing out again.
The girl heard his words, her eyes soft with concern, but she let it go for now. She spent the night in his apartment, watching over him.
RIIIIING!
The alarm blared, and Kaede jolted awake. A cold towel slid off his forehead. He blinked. "What the... did I catch a fever?" he mumbled. "How did this towel get here?"
He glanced at the time—and panicked. "Not again! I'm gonna be late!" Then the memories from the day before hit him like a truck. Wait… that girl… was that a dream? It felt so real...
Suddenly, a noise from the kitchen snapped him back to reality. His heart pounded. Is someone robbing me?! He rushed toward the sound.
There, in the kitchen, the girl was cooking breakfast, wearing a school uniform and humming to herself.
"Hey, you're up! Feeling better now?" she asked with a bright smile.
Kaede rubbed his eyes, frozen in place.
He screamed and stumbled backward, smacking his head on the wall. The girl gasped and rushed over.
"Hey! Are you okay?! You've been acting super weird since yesterday. What's going on?"
"You—you're the weird one!" Kaede shot back. "Why are you even here?!"
He staggered to the calendar—and froze. "What…? 2015?! No, no, that's not right. It's supposed to be 2025!"
The girl raised an eyebrow. "Huh? It is 2015. Are you okay? We've got class today, don't be stupid. Go get dressed already!" she said as she turned back to the stove.
"Class...?" Kaede echoed. Did she just say class?
Still in a daze, Kaede scrambled to look for his phone. But his modern phone was nowhere in sight. Instead, he found an old one—his high school phone, long broken and gone. But it was there. Intact.
"No way… this phone was destroyed years ago..."
He turned it on. The date read: January 6, 2015.
Tuesday.
Kaede sat down, dizzy. What the hell is going on...? Is this time travel? Some kind of reset? He held his head in his hands, reeling from the shock.
So… everything that happened before… the collapse, the voice… that wasn't a dream?