"I said, you're my boyfriend now..." repeated the girl as she held Yamato against the wall. "... if that's okay with you." Her voice went from confident to shy in a split second.

  I was at a loss for words. Clearly, he was too. His eyes twitched in confusion, and his face bore an expression of both terror and bewilderment. Slowly, the two fused together and morphed into a sort of embarrassment as his face flushed a pinkish red.

  "Y-you can't be serious..." he managed. "Me? What would draw a girl like you to me? You're athletic, confident, popular... I'm none of those things."

  "You really think I care about how athletic or popular you are?" Her voice changed back to confidence mixed with a hint of irritation. "I've seen how you are. You're selfless, kind.

  "Despite 'not being athletic,' you climbed that massive tree in the courtyard to put a baby bird back in its nest just last week. The day you transferred to our school, I-I felt it when you walked in. Why you? I can't even explain it." Just like that, back to shy.

  There's no clear-cut danger here; no need for me to be here.

  I started to creep away, but I tripped over a stack of boxes on the way. I caught myself before face-planting, but I stood in the middle of the way and caught the attention of both of them.

  "Who are you?" the girl, Onodera, asked as she spun around holding Yamato behind her.

  "Sorry about all this," I tried to play it off. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

  "Y-you heard?" Her face went beet red.

  "Not really," I scratched the back of my head. "I just heard something this way and came to check it out: making sure no one's getting hurt, you know?"

  "I wouldn't hurt him," she said in a quiet voice.

  "Right, right, of course not," I started to back away. "Again, sorry about this."

  "Wait," Yamato called from over her shoulder. "Do I know you?"

  I wish you didn't... I wish it was mistaken identity, but the longer I'm here, the more it seems like each case of deja vu is some sort of time scar. Some part of a person’s mind that remembers what was before.

  "I don't think we've met," I kept trying to back away.

  He wiggled out from behind her and walked up to me.

  "There's something about you," he trailed off as he tilted his head sideways. "I'm Yamato Toyoshima, first year, Mashima High School."

  "Ishigami Kazuma," I replied. "First year, Toriyama High School."

  "Toriyama?" Onodera jumped in. "Do you know Fujimori Denki? The one that won the first year martial arts tournament?"

  "I do," I tried not to give away too much.

  "Tell him that Onodera Mion can't wait to fight him again next year," she said with a smile not unlike his.

  "S-sure," I turned and walked away.

  "Even if nothing happened," Yamato called out. "Thank you for 'not eavesdropping.'"

  I was silent on the way back to the buses. The twisted gut feeling hit me again coupled with the splitting headache. Every small sound beat in my head like a gong.

  He didn't deserve to die... most of them didn't. What if someone comes after him again? Can I do anything to protect people? My head is killing me.

  The ride back to the school, I tried to drown everything out, but to no avail. I tried again on the walk home with the same result. I felt dead. Even Yui's antics weren't enough to get any sort of response. I barricaded myself in my room and tried to sleep. As the pattern had been all day, it didn't go my way.

  *  *  *  *  *

  The next morning felt like an utter haze. It took an incredible effort to focus on a single conversation. My movements were slow. My head continued to split in two. My stomach still churned like the ocean during a storm. There was also a new sensation: a low buzz in my ears.

  Despite all of this, there was nothing physically wrong with me. No bags under my eyes from sleepless nights, no fever, no sign of illness. I did my best to push it all aside and dismiss it as dealings in my head.

  I sat away from everyone on the third day. The main reason was to save others the effort of trying to converse with me and getting frustrated since I could hardly comprehend anything. The secondary reason was that through all the other sensations, one stood on a mountain: an unmistakable feeling of impending doom.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  There was too much that I wasn't sure about, and it all revolved around me. Damien's plans and involvement in everything. The threat he had told me about. The butterfly effect. It was consuming.

  Even away from everyone, I began to feel claustrophobic. I struggled to stand up and forced myself to go for a walk. The crowds seemed to rush beside me. The speakers announcing events, times, and winners seemed to scream in my ears. The buzzing got louder, and my head pounded.

  Finally, I made it outside. The cool morning was contrasted by the warmth of the climbing sun. There was a gentle breeze that almost wrapped around me. All at once, the haze flew away. It was peaceful.

  I stood in that peace until I felt like everything had been washed away. There was no buzzing, no churning, no splitting. I opened my eyes with renewed strength, turned back, and returned to the stadium. At the entrance stood Nina leaning against it with her arms crossed.

  "What?" I asked with a smirk. "I needed some air, and I feel much better now that I've had a breather."

  "I hope for your sake that you're right," she replied with a look that almost mirrored concern.

  "Like I said, all I needed was some fresh air. It feels great out today."

  I passed by her, and her expression remained unchanged. However, as my foot crossed the threshold of the stadium, everything came back in full force. Worse actually, it was exponentially worse. Everything went hazy and then black.

  *  *  *  *  *

  First came a small speck of white, then it grew and surrounded me and drowned the darkness. I both stood in a white room and floated in a sea of snow. As I examined myself, I found everything as it was before I stepped back into the stadium.

  I looked around for anything besides the ivory canvases. Finally I turned and saw a small boy kneeled over a sandbox. He was playing with a toy truck, moving sand from one side of the box to the other and dumping it. He wore a slight smile with every motion of the truck.

  As I tried to get closer, he looked at me, and our emerald green eyes met. After a moment, I could tell where the canvas ended and his hair began. The only blemish on his otherwise perfect pale skin was a bandage covering his cheek. His smile grew, and my eyes filled with tears. I reached out to him, but someone else ran through me to meet him as I faded like a vapor.

  There was a girl; black hair flowed behind her like river as she ran. The two embraced and spoke, but I never heard a word. She bore numerous scrapes on her arms and legs, but whatever pain they caused didn't stop her from playing with him. As I stared, the two began to fade along with the box. Again I reached out, again I touched nothing.

  Laughing came from behind me, giddy childish laughter. I turned around to see the boy playing with another girl, this one seemingly his age. Her brown hair almost seemed blonde, and her eyes sparkled like green-tinted stars. The two of them played on a playground as he had done before.

  All of a sudden, everything got bright. I covered my eyes, but before I did, I saw the boy push the girl into a covered area and use his body to block the entrance. Things began to make sense as my mind pieced them together.

  This was... that day...

  As my eyes adjusted to the light, I was passed through again by the same black-haired girl. Ignoring the light, she ran full speed at the two children. Before she reached them, however, the light was gone. She hugged the two of them nonetheless, and the image faded away again.

  Sis was there… Why didn’t I remember that?

  One final image seemed to wrap itself around me. A city built itself with me in the center. An army of faceless soldiers appeared from the void, and two women in skin-tight jumpsuits covered with body armor stood like towers in front of them. I felt the cold, dead hands begin to grab every part of my body, completely immobilizing me. The rain beat down as one woman spoke to the other who pointed a gun at my head. The voices of hundreds of souls screamed as she cracked a twisted smile.

  Before it all returned to black, she was stopped by another hand. It grabbed the top of the pistol and pushed it down and to the side. I could only move my eyes, but I saw him all the same. The twisted smile on his porcelain mask incited the deepest primal emotions and instincts — fear and flight from danger. He said only two words, a single bone-chilling phrase.

  Not yet.

  *  *  *  *  *

  I didn't jolt awake. It was like a computer booting up. First I felt my body relaxed and flat, then came a feeling like my head was elevated, next the sensation of something soft below my head hit me, finally, I felt something moving through my hair.

  After my sense of touch came fully online, my sight and hearing came next. My eyes slowly opened and blinked several times. Above me was a slender face somewhat obstructed by features specific to a girl. Her facial features weren't strong, but they weren't weak either.

  The sunlight radiated from behind her head, and her hair shone like gold. She continued to stroke my hair as she looked down. Her golden hair proved to be a very light brown as it cascaded down the side of her face like a majestic waterfall. The shadow of her head gave her eyes a deep green shade. As our eyes met, her expressionless face turned to a pure smile.

  "Good morning, Kazu," she said softly.

  Oh... oh no.

  I said nothing, but I'm sure I reacted in some way because her smile turned giddy in a way that she only gets when she gets a reaction from teasing me. I tried to sit up, but she pressed down on my shoulders keeping me in place.

  "Nope, you don't get to pass out like that then get back up as soon as you wake up," she said in a kind yet firm voice.

  "Chika, I—"

  "No but's," she said as she went back to stroking my hair. "You had us all worried, Kazu."

  I don't deserve any of your concern, especially not yours. I'm supposed to be the one worried for you. How can I protect you if I'm like this?

  "You're wrong, you know," Chika said abruptly.

  "Huh?"

  "You make a face when you're beating yourself up. You're wrong: we worry about you because you're our friend, because we care about you."

  "But—"

  She pinched my cheek.

  "No but's, Kazu," she smirked.

  My face felt warm as I looked into her eyes. They were still childish, but they had a duality of maturity to them. Her smile was mischievous and comforting at the same time. The longer I looked at her, the greater I felt like I needed to cherish her forever and protect her at any cost.

  I... I think I'm in love with her.