I rushed to the hospital as fast as I could without using my ability. His voice was weak, but I could tell it was Hiro on the other end of that phone call. Whatever the future held for my sister and I would have to wait, unfortunately. Toriyama High was about twenty-six kilometers from Bedford Hospital, so running was completely out of the question. I boarded the nearest metro and impatiently waited as the metallic snake tunneled through the districts. I grew impatient as the beast seemed to take an eternity getting to its destination.

  "Next stop, Bedford Hospital Complex," the intercom buzzed as the train began to slow.

  I stood up and took off as soon as the doors opened, forsaking any reservations. As I left the station, I threw away my apprehension against using my ability and froze time. The crowds stood still as I made my way through the petrified forest. Upon entering the main hospital, I ducked behind a pillar before releasing my hold on the flow. Once time resumed, I rushed to the information desk and grabbed the attention of the attendant.

  "Excuse me," my voice was shaking despite my attempts to seem calm. "Where can I find Toshinori Hiro? He's a patient here, and he called me to come see him."

  After only glancing at me for a brief moment, the older woman behind the computer clacked on the keyboard for a few seconds. "Wing E, Floor 4, Room 89." She hardly acknowledged my existence after she finished her sentence, and I took off once again.

  Bedford Hospital, at least the main building, was set up like a six-pointed star when viewed from above. In a clockwise motion, the points of the star were labeled by letters with "A" being the first wing at the six o clock position and "F" being at the four o clock position. The main entrance was in the "A" wing which meant that after a quick right turn at the central hub, I would arrive in "E" wing. A few steps after the hub brought me to one of the many sets of elevators; in no time, I was on the fourth floor and frantically searching for Room 89. After finding it, I stood paralyzed outside of the door.

  This can't be happening. Hiro was fine for the entire time that I was trapped in that time loop. He has to be alright...

  I slowly grabbed and pushed down on the handle as the door almost creaked open. Inside, I found my friend in a similar state to how I found myself after the Crescent Stadium Disaster. He was hooked up to numerous machines and buried under the white sheets of his hospital bed. The machines once again talked to each other in their own special code as soft music filled the room from the speaker overhead. Each step that I took towards him felt like I was trying to move in 100 times gravity. I felt my eyes water, and my heart beat in my throat.

  "H-Hiro?"

  "Hey, Kazuma," he turned to look at me with a smile. "Glad you could make it."

  "Hey, buddy. What's up? D-do Denki and I need to go beat up some bullies again?" I felt my voice crack in between every word.

  "Nah," he chuckled and threw himself into a coughing fit. "The only one to blame here is yours truly. I guess I finally found the consequence of my ability."

  "What are you saying, buddy?" I pulled up a chair by his bedside and grabbed his hand. "This place brought Yamato back from a gaping hole in his stomach. You already look better than he did after recovery."

  "Kazuma..." his voice went deep and cold. "They said it was a miracle that I survived this long with my organs being crushed the way that they have been. I may look alright on the outside, but I'm still dying."

  No... no no no no no. Not again. I can't lose someone I care about again.

  "The only real regret I have," he continued, "was that I couldn't help with the class project for the culture festival. Everyone seemed fired up after they finally came together. Tell me about it... please?"

  Our eyes locked, and we saw the tears filling each other's vision. I forced back mine and wiped my eyes before smiling.

  "Well, for everyone else, I'm sure it was really fun."

  "What do you mean?"

  I told him about the hell that I had endured, how Damien forced me to watch as our friends died every day for seemingly forever until I chose one to die, how everyone came together to make the Cafe from Hell the best class project in the entire school, how Kaori commanded the entire gymnasium at the pageant, how much everyone missed him. As the story went on, I saw a sense of relief wash over him, but at the end, it was replaced by a sense of remorse. He looked over at me once I had finished and smiled once again.

  "I'm sorry you went through all that, buddy. I wish I could have helped, even just been someone to talk to."

  "It's not your fault, Hiro."

  "I guess since you told me all that, I should have my own confessional."

  "You don't have to if you don't want to."

  "No, I need to get this off my chest... I'm a liar, Kazuma. I lied when we first met, that day when I almost crushed those two bullies. Do you remember?"

  "Like it was last week," I chuckled. "You activated your ability as a last ditch effort to get them to leave us alone, right?"

  "Yeah, and I told you I didn't know how long I had my ability... I knew about it for months before that day. I'm sure you knew I was lying and chose to go along with it, and for that, I'm grateful. I just needed you to know the truth. On New Year's Day that year, I had gone to a shrine to pray for good luck throughout the year. I had no idea what triggered it the first time, but when I clapped my hands during the ritual, everything started to shake. It wasn't nearly as bad as it was when I was with you, but there was a rumble. I was scared and pulled away from the shrine thinking I had angered the gods somehow.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  "A few days later, my parents were fighting again, and I hid in my room as I had always done. I held my old stuffed bear tightly as we both took shelter in my closet wishing they would just get along or walk away from each other. The more I wanted them to stop, the more I felt something swell inside of me. When it reached its peak, the rumblings began again, and they stopped. The three of us evacuated our apartment complex along with the other residents, but no further quakes happened. It was that night that I knew I could do something, but I had next to no idea how.

  "When you and Denki saved me from those three bullies that day after school, I was about to try to use whatever this ability was just before he came flying in, literally. I stopped that day almost thankful that you two had stepped in. When the other two came after me again, I was reluctant, but I knew I had to stand up for myself. Then you appeared again, and, well, you know the rest. I was terrified when I activated it fully for the first time, but you refused to leave me. You helped me through it and even brought me in as one of your friends despite knowing next to nothing about me.

  "During the Kawasaki incident, I was so scared that I thought I was going to make a mess of myself, but you gave me hope. Together, we beat him. When his underlings came after us at Crescent Stadium, I knew that my time of being a scared background dweller was over. Nina sped up after you had gotten us out, and I went with her without hesitation. After everything that you all had done for me, I knew it was my time to return the favor.

  "What I didn't know... what I know now is that whenever I used my ability, I did so at the cost of the integrity of my organs. When I brought Sato the geo to his knees and kept him there until he brought down the stadium, I nearly crushed one of my lungs completely and severely damaged my liver and kidneys. It was only by a fraction of a chance that I didn't crush my heart or brain and die on site. After it was over, I thought the pain was from exhaustion from overworking myself. It wasn't until I came in three days ago that I found out what really happened. I'm sorry it took so long to contact you... they say they're going to keep me here and keep me comfortable which is probably better than being at home. I'm just glad I could hang out with you again, buddy."

  He looked over with tears falling down his face. My own was stained by the salted waterfall from my eyes. I gently gave him a hug which only served to break his already cracking facade of toughness. Between the sobs and coughing, we spent the next half hour in each other's arms.

  "You know," he started after a long silence following our sob session. "Another thing I never got to do was go on a date with a girl..."

  "I'm not dressing in drag just so you can go on a date, buddy," I replied before he could finish his thought. To that, we both laughed until he broke into a coughing fit again.

  "Do me a favor, then," he smiled. "Take care of Chika when you two finally decide to stop acting like you aren't made for each other."

  "I-I'll do my best," I blushed knowing he was probably right. "Does everyone – "

  "Yes, Kazuma. Everyone thinks so because everyone has eyes. We've seen how the two of you interact. We guys know when one of our own is head over heels for a girl, and I'm sure the girls are the same way. It's as painfully obvious to us as it was to you before Rito and Ino started dating."

  I feel like he's exaggerating, but I'll let him have this one.

  "Fine, fine. You win, I'll... take care of Chika."

  "Thanks, buddy. You know, being accepted into your friend group was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. If I hadn't stood up to those bullies, I don't think I would have kept going to school... I don't think I would have kept on living with everything else that was happening. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough, Kazuma." He held his fist out with a smile.

  "It was our pleasure to have you, Hiro," I touched our fists and smiled back at him.

  "Sir," a nurse entered the room. "Visiting hours are closed for the day. You are more than welcome to come see him tomorrow starting at 9am."

  "Of course, thank you, ma'am," I turned to thank her and grabbed my corny vampire jacket. "I'll be back with everyone tomorrow. Don't think they won't have a few choice words to say."

  "I look forward to it," he chuckled. "See you tomorrow, partner."

  "Partners in crime now? I like it. See you tomorrow, partner." With that, I waved behind my head and walked out of the door.

  *  *  *  *  *

  Maybe it was the feeling of relief after being trapped in a vicious two day cycle for so long, maybe it was hopeless idealism that pushed the bounds of delusion. Whatever it was that possessed me to not run back to the school and immediately grab everyone, I came to regret it the next morning. I had called everyone and told them to be at the hospital at 10am, but I arrived early in case Hiro needed anything. I arrived to an empty room and the news of the night before.

  My hands trembled at my side as I slowly walked to a sunroom that was filled with the morning light. My heart was close to pounding out of my chest as I buried my face in my still shaking hands. Tears filled my eyes, and my breaths became jagged. After everything that I had been through, the loss of someone I held dear still shook me to my core. I lost control, and when I finally looked up after sobbing uncontrollably, I saw that no one could have seen my episode: everyone was again frozen in place.

  "I'm still so weak," I said to myself. "I should have been able to save him. I could have done something, anything!"

  "It's not too late, you know," a sinister voice came from behind me.

  I spun around to see him leaning against the wall in his token grey hoodie and white mask. His arms were crossed, and I somehow knew that he wore a similar smile on his face as his mask bore.

  "Why the hell would I believe anything you say after what you put me through, Damien?"

  "Because we have the same ability, you can jump back and do 'something, anything' to help him, to save him from this fate."

  "...I'm not strong enough..."

  "True, then you could jump back a day and bring everyone here to say their unknown goodbyes."

  "And, what? Let you trap me in another time loop? Piss off."

  He pushed off the wall and started walking away. Just before he rounded the corner, he turned back.

  "I guess you did learn your lesson after all; you can't save everyone, Kazuma. Sometimes, you can't even save yourself. Almost ironic, isn't it? The first one you killed in your last life, you saved. The first one you protected in this life, you lost."

  I snapped back to yell at him, but he was already gone. Again, I sat alone in the sunroom. I stared at the sky outside the recently-cleaned glass windows. I knew how horrible this morning was going to be once I broke the news to everyone. I did all I could to prepare for it before bringing myself to resume the flow of time.

  As everyone started to move around me, I slowly got up and returned to the lobby at the main entrance where I sat and waited for everyone in our group to arrive. One by one, they saw the heartbreak on my face and knew that it was already too late. Something inside burned with disgust at the thought that they would resent me for being the last one to speak with him. The walk out of the hospital was silent, and I looked over my shoulder as "E" wing came back into view with tears still in my eyes.

  So long, partner.