The evening fell around us softly, fading light casting relaxed shadows on Subaru's modest home. I sat on the worn couch, burdened by the day, yet also something else, a fragile connection forming between us. The loop was not sterile this time; it was a chance to get to know her.
She perched on the very edge of the armchair, staring off into space as she played with a stray thread on her cuff. Aching moment or two went by before she spoke at all.
"You really don't have anywhere else to be, do you?"
I released a wry laugh, ruffling my hand over the back of my neck. "At this point, no. Saving you's pretty much become my job now."
Her lips curled into the suggestion of a smile. "Must be tiring."
"It is. But seriously? I'd rather be tired than… trapped in that loop forever. Having to see you die again and again, it's like waking up from a nightmare and going through it all over again."
She nodded slowly. "I never wanted any of this, you know. There's this individual who knows everything about me, keeps turning up everywhere, and now turns up in my apartment."
I get it. If someone had told me this story, I would have probably run the other way," I admitted. "But I don't have that choice. You're important. To me."
Her eyes softened but had a shadow still. "How do I know you're not another version of the dream? Another well-meaning person who does more harm?
I glared at her straight in the eye. "Because I've botched too many times trying to keep you safe. I'm not perfect. But every time I botch it, I get a do-over to try and get it right. The loop makes me try again."
She swallowed hard, her words barely a whisper. "Doesn't it ever get lonely? Knowing you might be the sole one who remembers?
"Daily. But I'm used to it. That's why I want you to trust me, not to save your life, but so that you can help me find a way out."
She really did look vulnerable for the first time. "I don't know if I can. I don't trust easily. I've always been protective of who I let into my life."
"I'm not asking all of you at one time, tonight," I said to them softly. "Just a little. Just enough to stand with me."
The room again became silent, but it was not the same silence. It was the silence that held possibility, but real.
Morning came too soon. I lingered around while Subaru prepared for school, not wanting to push her but not wanting to release her either. Her movements were casual, but I sensed the quiet urgency beneath them, she was struggling through the issues, attempting to reconcile the stranger she'd let herself in with the impossible reality that I represented.
Walking to school, side by side, the city teeming around us but somehow a distance away. I did not glance at him, but from the corner of my eye, I saw him look at me, measuring whether I was flesh and blood.
At school, I tried to be a normal classmate, nothing more, but every moment a walk on stilts. I observed the ways Subaru guarded herself, eyes flicking to doors, shoulders tensing when someone approached.
Lunch was hardest. She sat in silence, head bent low, and I kept an eye on the cafeteria for any sign of harm. The loop had trained me to see danger where others saw none.
"Hayato," she whispered, breaking the silence. "Why do you care so much? Why come back again and again when it's so easy to just... Give up?"
I grunted, hands cranked tightly around my water bottle. "Because someone needs to. Because if I don't, nobody will. And because… maybe I'm not doing this for you. Maybe I'm doing it for me, too."
Her eyes snapped up to meet mine, surprise fluttering there. "You're not doing this by yourself, you know."
I shook my head. "I am. But that doesn't mean I'll quit."
The day went on with minor victories and near misses. A loose handrail was clutched inches shy of Subaru's foot, an inattentive driver swerved aside just in time, and I salvaged a tipped-over bicycle in the nick of time.
The final bell sounded when fatigue had seeped into my very bones. Subaru turned to me, her mask-like face expressionless.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
The words seemed sincere for a change.
But as I said goodbye, a shiver went through my body. The loop was not yet broken.
There was one last threat that I had not seen.
We stood there together until the end, until Subaru came to the small iron gate of her apartment building. She turned back, hesitating, to look at me with a tentative smile.
"I don't know how to say it," she began slowly, "but… thank you for staying today."
I smiled tiredly, nodded. "I'm not going anywhere."
She smiled faintly back at me, and then she disappeared into the gate.
That's when I sensed it, the cold weight in the air, like a shadow settling just beyond reach.
I glanced out the streets below her building. Nothing. No one out of place. No loose thing about to fall.
The loop, though, cycled again
And I was in my own room, pounding heart, racing mind.
What had I forgotten?
The answer smacked me in the face: inside.
I had no idea what was awaiting Subaru beyond that door, who else might be within, what terrors might lie hidden behind doors.
I no longer cared about my exhaustion.
I had to get in.
To protect her not just out there, but in our own home.
But to do that, I needed to break down one last barrier, her absolute trust.
...
The moment Subaru pushed open her front door, a wave of uncertainty rolled over me. This was uncharted territory her sanctuary, one which she'd insulated herself from the world. Every step inside was magnified, imbued with the weight of unstated boundaries.
She turned to me, her eyes firm but exhausted. "Get out of line, and I'm not kidding about throwing you out," she told me in a whisper.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. "Understood."
The flat was spartan but neat, full of the warm, golden light of the late afternoon sun filtering through the drapes. Bookshelves lined one wall, cluttered with books and odds and ends. A miniature kitchen hummed quietly in the background.
We sat in the living room, an uncomfortable quiet between us.
It wasn't long before I spoke up. "What's it like? Living here alone?"
Subaru hesitated, running her fingers along the edge of a pillow. "Quiet. Too quiet sometimes."
I watched her expression, the slight surface that hid inner loneliness. "Does it ever scare you?"
She shrugged, staring off into distance. "More than you know."
I leaned forward more heavily. "You don't have to do this on your own."
Her gaze met mine, vulnerability shining through her guarded exterior. "It's hard to trust. Especially when the world appears intent on being against you."
"I get that," I said gently. "But I'm here. Not to protect you from falling things or accidents to be someone you can count on."
A natural smile crossed her lips for the first time. "That… means more than I expected."
Hours crept by with hesitant, uncertain conversation, stories of childhood dreams, favorite books, secret terrors. The walls that had stood between us began to be breached, scantly.
The quiet in the apartment was broken like glass.
A crashing sound came from the kitchen. Before I could do anything, a shadowy figure burst out, wild eyes glaring under tangled matted hair. A rusty, jagged knife glinted in his trembling hand as he charged at Subaru.
"Subaru!" I screamed, charging forward, my body slamming between her and her attacker.
The blade cut across my forearm in a searing sting. Agony shot through my arm, but I did not let go of him. I gripped his wrist, twisting hard as he shrieked in anger and pain.
His grip was frenzied, frantic, no aim, no serenity, only sheer turmoil.
I pushed him up against the wall, gripping him as he struggled. "Get out of here!" I yelled at Subaru, who watched, eyes wide with horror.
The attacker struggled, his motion wild and erratic. His breathing was in gasping gulps as he strained to get free. I dodged a wild, uncontrolled swing of the knife, my heart pounding in my ears.
My head spun. No warning, no provocation, just a raging storm unleashing itself in this small flat.
I spotted a heavy bookend on the shelf next to me. Flinging it down with all the strength I could muster, I struck the attacker on the temple. He stumbled back, dazed but very much not done.
"Run!" I shouted to Subaru, grabbing her elbow. She shook off the daze and ran for the door, but the attacker lurched after her.
With all my strength, I shoved him aside and ran, tackling him to the floor. The knife clattered along the hardwood as we fought in a wild, desperate knot.
After a moment, I had him pinned, panting, muscles screaming. His eyes were wild but empty , their owner a man broken by whatever horrors compelled him here.
"Who sent you?" I shouted, but he merely shook his head, spouting gibberish.
Nobody told him to. No mastermind. Just a man imprisoned in his own vicious hell, striking out blindly.
Sirens wailed faintly in the distance, and I leapt to my feet, standing with my phone to the ready to call the police, my hand shaking with adrenaline and pain.
Subaru sat on the couch, still pale, clutching her knees. "I don't understand," she panted. "Why would anyone just... Hurt me?
I shook my head slowly, panting. "Sometimes danger springs out of nowhere. It's not always about the past or enemies. Sometimes it's just randomness."
As the police led the attacker away, I looked back at Subaru. The fight wasn't won, not yet, but I knew now what the real challenge was.
Not only to rescue her from fate, but from the whims of a cruel, unjust world.
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Thanks for reading. You can also give me ideas for the future or pinpoint plot holes that I may have forgotten, if you want.
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