Morning, Day 159 (Loop 12.5)
If time was soup yesterday, today it was a pressure cooker.
Yuto stared at the blinking numbers on Kana's newest invention: the "Loop Pulse Reader 3000," which looked suspiciously like a rice cooker taped to a Roomba.
"We've got seven days," Kana announced dramatically. "Give or take a few paradoxes."
"Seven days until what?" Hiro asked, halfway through a banana and clearly unconcerned.
"Until it happens," Aira said grimly. "The Loop Collapse."
Yuto blinked. "Wait. That's real? I thought that was just one of Kana's anxiety spirals."
Kana raised her chalk-covered hands. "For once, my spirals are accurate."
---
Loop Collapse 101
Yuto had to sit through a crash course in temporal destabilization theory, illustrated with poorly drawn cats and clocks on the whiteboard.
"So the loops are fraying?" he asked, sipping a very expired juice box.
"They're unraveling," Aira confirmed. "Your retrospection isn't just a gift—it's a warning. You're seeing echoes because the timeline is starting to remember too much."
"Like me," Yuto muttered.
---
Later That Day – Courtyard
Yuto sat under a sakura tree, still glowing faintly like a dying phone battery.
Sera and Yuzu joined him with bubble tea and two questionable meat buns.
"So you've got a countdown before reality implodes," Sera said, handing him a bun. "How's that working out for you?"
Yuto stared at it. "I had a dream last night. About this moment. You handed me the bun… and then a meteor hit the tree."
Everyone immediately shuffled away from the tree.
Yuto smiled. "Just kidding. Maybe."
---
Meanwhile – Student Council Office
Yuki adjusted her gloves and stared at the readings. The Loop Pulse Reader had sent out a signal—one even they could detect.
"He's nearing convergence," she muttered.
Riku looked up from his third cup of ramen. "Should we panic?"
"Not yet. But tell the Archives to prepare."
"For what?"
"For... interference."
---
Evening – Clubroom Chaos
Back in the clubroom, Hiro was stacking books to test loop physics while Kana installed a disco ball for "mood calibration." Aira was scanning a page from her mother's lost journal.
Yuto sighed. "What are we even doing?"
Aira didn't look up. "Trying to save time itself with school supplies and unresolved trauma."
He rubbed his temples. "Of course. Perfectly normal."
---
Countdown Begins: T-minus 7 Loops
As midnight approached, the glow around Yuto intensified. His heart pounded. Something—someone—was watching.
He stood in front of a mirror.
FLASH.
Retrospection triggered.
He saw himself, older, bloodied, standing at the edge of a crater. Aira beside him. Friends broken. Shadows looming. A voice whispering:
> "You were too late."
---
Present
He stumbled back, gasping.
"Yuto?" Aira caught him. "What did you see?"
He looked into her eyes. "The end. I saw the end."
But deep inside… he also saw something else.
A spark.
A kiss.
A promise.
Not the end.
A chance.
---
Elsewhere...
The Shadow stood before a rift in the sky.
The Masked Stranger adjusted their mask.
"Seven days left," the Shadow said.
"Then let's make them unforgettable," the Stranger replied, vanishing into the night.
---
End of Chapter 16 – Countdown
Next: Chapter 17 – The Rooftop Pact