I woke up in my bed. Again. It was June 6. This time, though, there might have been something new about to happen after all those loops. I arrived even faster than in previous loops, probably because I had to find out why Aira looked kind of happy after killing a classmate. Had she finally lost it? I hoped not.
I went straight to the staircase, our usual meeting spot; and Aira was already there, waiting. As I was very curious about why she smiled, I couldn't wait to ask her.
"Hey," I said, approaching her.
"Yeah," she replied, her gaze meeting mine.
She looked a little less dead inside than usual, which I figured was probably a good thing.
"What's up? You look a bit better," I commented, tilting my head slightly.
"Uh... Yeah, so..." she trailed off, looking somewhat hesitant.
Hm? Had she actually lost it?
"I may have found the culprit."
...For real?
"...What?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"Mhm," she hummed, a small nod of confirmation.
"Are you sure?" I pressed, a flicker of doubt in my mind.
"About 90%."
"That's higher than I thought. Why do you think so, though?" I leaned in, curious.
"Well, you know Jael, right?"
"Yeah. What about him?" I asked, my brow furrowing.
"So, you know how I did the thing yesterday too, right?"
"...Yeah??" I replied, my patience wearing thin.
Damn it, just get to the point already!
"He had a weird tattoo that looked like a summoning circle from a manga on his neck that I saw when I went close to him. I also kind of felt a nostalgic reaction from it."
A weird tattoo? Also, that's very descriptive.
"I won't be asking if he had some problems that led him into getting a tattoo, but a reaction? Are you suddenly a psychic or something?" I joked, a hint of amusement in my tone.
"To be honest, given the situation right now, I could say yes and you'd probably believe me, but no. I don't understand the reaction either. It kind of felt like an instinct or something like that."
Well, she wasn't wrong. I'd probably believe her. But an instinct...huh.
"If you say so. I can't really say anything to somebody who time-looped more than 7,000 times."
"Haha, you're right," she chuckled, a genuine smile gracing her lips.
I guess it was good that she'd brightened up enough. But it was almost time for class. What was she going to do now that she had a potential culprit candidate?
"Anyways, you know who it is now, so what're you gonna do?"
"Well... Kill him, of course. That already happened, though, but I'll need to check if the tattoo is still there."
"What if the tattoo didn't disappear?"
"...Huh." She really hadn't thought this through, had she?
"I guess I'll talk to him first."
"Better than mindlessly going on a genocide, for sure," I mumbled, a wry smile playing on my lips.
Finally, the bell rang. Aira and I hurried to the classroom, and I took my seat. This time, Aira wouldn't be instantly jumping Jael, as she wanted to talk to him and confirm some things. I hoped it would go well, though.
But for now, a class that I'd taken thousands of times took priority.
"So. What's up with that?" Aira's voice carried across the classroom.
"...With what?" Jael replied, sounding confused.
"That."
I saw Aira and Jael talking on the other side of the classroom and I could kind of overhear their conversation for some reason. I guessed improved hearing was a perk of repeatedly looping.
"What do you mean, 'That'? Just say what it is already," Jael pressed, his voice laced with annoyance.
"That tattoo on your neck. Where's it from?" Aira demanded, her voice sharp.
"What tattoo? I don't get tattoos done."
Aira pulled out her smartphone and took a picture of Jael's neck. But she suddenly looked confused. I wondered why.
"So? Where's the 'tattoo', huh?" Jael challenged, a smug smirk on his face.
"..."
Aira ran out of the classroom, her expression unreadable. I followed her, wanting to find out what had just happened. As I was on the way to the door, I caught a glimpse of Jael smirking.
After a solid two minutes of running around the school grounds to get to the typical staircase spot, I called out to Aira, my voice a bit breathless.
"Aira! What happened?"
"That..."
"...That?"
"That bitch!"
WOAH.I did NOT expect a word like that from her. At all.
"Just because I rejected you two months ago because you shamelessly confessed in front of half the students without noticing your weird underwear was peeking out your back because your shirt was too short, you're being a jerk now!? YOU'RE the one who confessed to me, so why are you being so— hngghhh..."
"Um..." I stammered, taken aback.
That's... a lot of information.
"Uh, looks like he's not willing to talk. I don't really want to suggest this, but I guess you have no choice now, right?" I offered, my voice gentle.
"Yeah, looks like it," she conceded, a grim look on her face.
"Well, good luck, I guess," I said, shrugging slightly.
We chatted a little more before going back for class. Then, as pissed as she was, Aira hurriedly ran to the classroom, ready to jump Jael. Come to think of it, why was Jael smirking after Aira talked to him? Was he just happy she talked to him again after the rejection? I didn't think that could even be called a conversation.
Well... Whatever it was, godspeed. Brother.