The tatami floor.
The bile.
The stench of acid in his throat.
Mahitaro's eyes opened again. No scream this time. No thrashing. Just the faint tremor of his stomach as he drew in another breath he didn't want.
He didn't even bother to wipe the spit off his lips. He lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling, until the light from the window forced his body to move.
Another day. Another loop. Another life he never asked for.
But this time, he didn't fight it.
Not because he accepted it—no, the truth was far crueler. He simply no longer had the strength.
Scene 2: The Hollow Walk
Students bustled through the gates, the chatter, the laughter, the noise of the living. Mahitaro's footsteps dragged, his bag hanging loose from his shoulder. His face was pale, lifeless, his eyes glassy.
He felt them staring. He always felt the stares. Maybe they weren't there. Maybe they were. It didn't matter.
In the hallway, someone bumped into him hard. His books scattered. Normally, he would've flinched, maybe muttered, maybe fought back. This time, he just stared at the floor, picked up nothing, and walked on. The papers fluttered behind him like the last remnants of a dying will.
Scene 3: Eruto...
And then there was him.
"Mahitaro!" Eruto's voice rang out, warm and full of life. Too full. Too bright. It stabbed through the numb haze like sunlight on rotting flesh.
Mahitaro turned. Slowly. His friend's face was there—the same grin, the same knowing eyes. It was a sight that should have filled him with relief, but instead it tore at him like knives.
"...You're alive," Mahitaro whispered under his breath, barely audible.
"What was that?" Eruto tilted his head.
Mahitaro shook his head weakly. "Nothing."
But his body betrayed him. His lips trembled, his eyes burned, his fists clenched. He wanted to fall into Eruto's arms, to beg him not to die, to confess everything. But what good would it do? The loop would steal him anyway.
Eruto studied him, frowning. "You've been... different. More than usual. You're walking like a corpse."
Mahitaro let out a hollow laugh. "That's because I am."
Eruto's expression darkened. "Don't say things like that."
But Mahitaro didn't argue. He just looked at him—looked like it was the last time he'd ever see him.
Scene 4: The Arrival Of The Month Again!
The month dragged, every moment a slow torture. Mahitaro stuck close to Eruto, not out of hope but out of desperation. If he was going to lose him again, he at least wanted to be there when it happened.
When twilight came, the orange glow stretching across the town, Mahitaro knew. His heart began pounding against his ribs, not with life but with dread.
The overpass.
The shadow.
The inevitable.
He felt it before it happened. And then—
A flash.
The blade.
The spray of blood.
Eruto's body fell forward, his hand clutching at his throat, eyes wide in horror.
Mahitaro caught him instantly this time, as if his body had already practiced it in countless nightmares. Blood soaked through his uniform, warm and wet, spilling between his fingers.
"Stay—stay with me, please—please don't leave me!" Mahitaro's voice panicked, breaking apart with every word. His tears dripped into Eruto's hair, mixing with the crimson blood of his death.
Eruto's lips quivered. He tried to speak. "M...Mahitaro..."
Hearing his name from that dying mouth shattered him.
"Don't talk! Don't—just stay alive! Please!" His hands pressed harder on the wound, but it was useless. Blood kept pouring, Eruto's strength fading.
And then—he did something Mahitaro couldn't stand.
He smiled.
Even through the pain, the gurgling blood, the fading light in his eyes—Eruto smiled weakly at his best friend.
"You... don't have to... carry everything... alone..."
"No—NO! Shut up! Don't say that, don't act like you're leaving me, PLEASE!" Mahitaro's scream echoed across the overpass, raw, primal, tearing his throat apart.
Eruto's hand lifted shakily, smearing blood across Mahitaro's cheek as he touched his face. That smile never left him, even as his eyes clouded over.
And then he went limp.
The world went quiet. Mahitaro's breath hitched, his body convulsing as he shook the body in his arms again and again. "Wake up. WAKE UP! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME, NOT YOU TOO!"
But there was no response. Only the distant sound of sirens, only the accusing stares, only the whispers of blame that stabbed deeper than any knife in his stomach...
Scene 5: The Aftermath!?...
He didn't resist when they dragged him away this time. He didn't scream at his parents when they spat at him. He didn't cry when they beat him. He just let it happen.
Because the truth was crueler than their hatred.
The only person who ever believed in him...
The only person who ever smiled for him...
Was gone again.
And tomorrow, the loop would force him to watch it all happen once more.
As he lay in the darkness that night, Eruto's smile haunted him. Not the laughter in life, but the bloody, fading smile that told him to keep going.
It was unbearable.
It was grotesque.
It was love, twisted into despair.
And as his eyes closed, his body trembling, Mahitaro whispered one final plea to a world that never listened:
"Please... if I wake up again... let me wake up somewhere he's still alive."
But he knew the truth.
He would open his eyes tomorrow, choking on bile.
And Eruto would die again like every other random person seems to do when their around him from the murderer...
TO BE CONTINUED...