"How strange, why is there another Mahiru beside Sora?"
"Appearance, height, exactly the same. Could it be Mahiru-chan's twin sister?"
"I've completely never heard Mahiru mention her."
"..."
Seeing Angel-sama standing shoulder to shoulder with Izumi Sora, the girls all widened their eyes, full of curiosity.
Only the pre-rewind Mahiru quietly bit her lower lip.
The moment she saw the other version of herself, she understood the other party's identity.
It wasn't a long-lost twin sister.
There is only one truth...
That was simply another version of herself.
"I don't have memories of rewinding time..."
Shiina Mahiru gently bit her pink lip, her feelings complex.
"So... I am the pre-rewind Mahiru. I will disappear after the next time loop..."
Making eye contact with her other self, Angel-sama suddenly remembered the night run at the lakeside park. To save the little kitten in the tree, she activated time rewind, which unexpectedly resulted in the appearance of her other self. Then her other self kissed Sora-kun right in front of her...
At this very moment.
Angel-sama suddenly felt profound empathy.
Since she knew she was going to disappear, she definitely had to be a bit bolder before disappearing, doing things she normally wouldn't dare to do, right?
"Sora, Sora, why are there two Mahirus? And they're wearing the same tracksuit?"
Yamada Elf tilted up her small face, curiously asking about the situation.
Izumi Sora and Mahiru exchanged a glance, quickly deciding to tell the truth.
After all, they still needed Elf's help later, they couldn't keep lying.
"I am also Mahiru..."
The post-rewind Mahiru pursed her beautiful lips, speaking softly.
"Eh?"
"Actually, I activated time rewind..."
"..."
Angel-sama lowered her voice, explaining softly.
Kuroneko: "Encountered the Witch of Time, fought with all my might but could not overcome her. I lost, but the fault was not in the battle..."
Elf: "It's not fair. Time Stop is already super amazing, and Mahiru can actually rewind time now too. Why is my ability only invisibility!"
Anna: "I-I'm not envious at all."
"..."
Having known her for so long, everyone knew Mahiru wasn't one to speak nonsense, so the girls all chose to believe her.
Time rewind was indeed incredible, but Mahiru was the Witch of Time to begin with. Being able to rewind time was also quite normal.
Of course, Mahiru didn't mention the ritual required for the rewind.
"Wait a minute!"
Anna extended her left hand, suddenly discovering a crucial blind spot:
"Sora and Mahiru don't seem surprised at all... This definitely isn't your first time rewinding time, is it?"
Izumi Sora's expression was normal: "I'm a bit special. During time rewinds, I can retain my memories."
"When was the first time rewind?"
Anna got to the bottom of it.
Shiina Mahiru's pretty face flushed slightly, averting her gaze:
"It was at the amusement park..."
"What?" Anna widened her eyes in shock. "The amusement park we went to with Ruri-chan?"
"That's right..."
"That was a long time ago, wasn't it?"
Anna's tone was resentful:
"Exactly how many times have you guys rewound time to be this skilled at it!"
Shiina Mahiru: "..."
The first time they triggered time rewind, they had no experience. To find a way to end the loop, they rewound time seventy or eighty times. They were indeed very skilled.
"We can talk about that later." Izumi Sora quickly ended the topic, getting to the main point. "Now we have to hurry and rewrite the future of the campus murder incident."
"Eh?"
"Murder?"
The girls were all startled.
When Mahiru explained earlier, she only said the time rewind was to save someone. She didn't say a student would be murdered in the future.
"It's a second-year senpai..."
Izumi Sora's expression was grave, recounting the whole story in a low voice.
Anna crossed her arms over her chest, furrowing her delicate eyebrows: "To actually betray her best friend, Kayo-senpai went too far. In that kind of situation, you definitely have to stay and face it together."
Yamada Elf's tone was confused: "Why does school bullying exist?"
Kuroneko gave a light snort. Pressing her right hand against her cheek, her voice was full of chunibyo: "This is the deep-rooted bad nature of mortals. Only by bullying weaker peers can they satisfy their vile souls."
Whether it was the delinquent girls bullying classmates, or Kayo betraying her best friend at a critical moment, everyone hated them all.
"We are bound to this task!"
Yamada Elf put her hands on her hips, lifted her cute chin, her gaze resolute:
"Sora, what's your plan?"
Izumi Sora's voice was calm:
"Naturally, it is to ensure the bullies receive their due punishment and clear Misaki-senpai's name."
Only when the truth is revealed to the world will Misaki-senpai give up the thought of suicide. Otherwise, once he loses his daughter, the devastated father will definitely choose revenge, and the tragedy will happen again.
The post-rewind Mahiru said softly:
"The method is actually very simple. We just need to make those two bullies voluntarily confess their crimes."
Anna gently furrowed her delicate eyebrows, her tone hesitant:
"People with a guilty conscience usually deny it to the death, right?"
"So we definitely can't just ask them for the truth directly." Izumi Sora looked at Elf. "Now we need to rely on Elf."
"Eh?"
Yamada Elf blinked:
"What do you want me to do?"
"We need to use Elf's invisibility ability." Angel-sama's voice was soft. "I'm going to ask Kayo-senpai to go and try to get the truth out of those two bullies. When the time comes, Elf will go over invisibly and use her phone to record a video to get the evidence."
Kuroneko's expression was skeptical:
"Kayo-senpai already betrayed her best friend once. She might not necessarily help, right?"
"Correct, so we need to prepare a backup plan." Izumi Sora nodded slightly, clearly having considered this. "If she isn't willing to help, we can only do what we did with the demonic doctor and stage a 'return of the dead'."
"..."
The discussion concluded.
The group quickly found Kayo-senpai, who was still hugging her knees and crying.
The post-rewind Mahiru stepped forward, crouched down in front of the black-haired senpai, and began communicating softly.
"Sora-kun..."
A soft call suddenly rang in his ear.
Izumi Sora turned his head and looked at the pre-rewind Mahiru.
The pre-rewind Angel-sama had been silent the whole time, just listening quietly on the side, and only now finally spoke up.
"How long until the loop ends?"
The pre-rewind Mahiru asked softly.
Izumi Sora hesitated for half a second and chose to tell the truth:
"There are ten minutes left."
The pre-rewind Mahiru lowered her beautiful eyes:
"I understand..."
Looking at the dejectedly downcast Angel-sama, Izumi Sora's heartbeat skipped a beat. He couldn't help but reach out his right hand and tightly grasp Angel-sama's soft hand.
"Sora-kun, don't worry." The pre-rewind Mahiru looked up, her hair fluttering gently in the wind, her eyes clear and bright. "I am also Mahiru, I'm not that weak."
"However..."
The pre-rewind Mahiru stood on her tiptoes, her breath warm and sweet, secretly returning Izumi Sora's grip:
"After being held by Sora-kun, I suddenly feel at ease."
"..."
Meanwhile.
Things were going much smoother than imagined.
They originally thought Kayo-senpai would be timid, afraid of being bullied, and refuse to help.
Perhaps out of guilt towards her best friend, the black-haired senpai actually agreed to help outright.
"It's my fault..."
"It's my turn to atone to Misaki!"
"I'll go call those two out right now!"
"..."
After seeing Elf's "invisibility magic" with her own eyes, Kayo-senpai didn't say a word. She quickly wiped away her tears, turned, and ran into the club room.
Before long, Kayo-senpai came out leading two black-haired girls. The three of them headed directly to a deserted, secluded club room.
Elf had already turned invisible beforehand. Holding up her phone, she followed them, ready to start recording at any moment.
Unexpectedly, Anna, who usually loved excitement and gossip the most, didn't follow along but stayed behind instead.
"Sora, come here for a moment, I have something to say to you."
Anna reached out her right hand, grabbed Izumi Sora's wrist, and pulled him away.
The pre-rewind Angel-sama parted her pink lips, falling silent.
Did I just... get intercepted?
The pre-rewind Mahiru bit her lower lip, silently lowering her gaze.
Following them to peek, or fighting with Anna over Sora-kun... I really can't do that kind of thing.
"Sora, after the time rewind, aside from you and Mahiru, the rest of our memories will disappear, right?"
Anna tilted her pretty face up, asking in a low voice.
"...That's right."
Izumi Sora told the truth, not hiding anything.
"No matter what we do, after the time rewind, everything will return to its original state?"
"That is indeed the case."
"There are only five minutes left until the rewind..."
Anna took a deep breath and suddenly looked up. Her pretty face was flushed, but her gaze was exceptionally resolute:
"I like Sora!"
In a few minutes, I'll forget everything. If I still don't dare to confess at a time like this, then I'd be way too uncool.
"I super, super, super like you!"
Anna clasped her hands over her chest, her pretty face thoroughly flushed:
"We slept together when we were little, bathed together, and Sora even said he would marry me and make me his bride!"
Izumi Sora's mouth twitched slightly:
"That was in kindergarten, right?"
"I don't care! Once words are spoken, they take effect!"
"From a legal standpoint, elementary schoolers are considered persons with no capacity for civil conduct, whatever they say doesn't count..."
Thump!
Anna clenched her pink fist and punched Izumi Sora in the stomach.
"Ouch."
Izumi Sora pretended to be in pain, covering his stomach.
"I didn't even use any force." Anna glared affectionately with her bright eyes. She suddenly raised her arms, wrapped them around Izumi Sora's neck, and then stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.
Their eyes met.
Besides shyness, the girl's gaze was full of excitement and anticipation.
"Anna..."
"I-It's not like we haven't kissed before!"
Anyway, I'm going to forget everything soon. If I don't kiss him now, it'll be too late, right?
I must kiss him back fiercely!
"..."
Pop~
With a soft sound, Anna suddenly backed away, her pretty face flushed, panting heavily.
"What's wrong?"
Izumi Sora opened his eyes in confusion.
It's only been a minute or two, your lung capacity can't be that terrible, can it?
"I-I suddenly remembered I have something to do..."
Anna raised her hand to wipe away the silver thread at the corner of her mouth. Her pretty face burning hot, she turned and ran:
"I'm leaving first!"
Izumi Sora: "..."
Wait, running away halfway through a kiss, you don't happen to have a stomachache, do you!
Anna didn't have a stomachache; she just suddenly remembered something.
After time rewinds, everything will be reset, but... what about the Losing Heroine Diary?
A magical diary that suddenly appeared on her pillow when she woke up was definitely no ordinary item.
If she wrote the memories concerning the rewind in the diary, could they be preserved?
If they could be preserved, she wouldn't have to worry about forgetting everything.
During the next time rewind, she might even be able to do bolder things...
The more Anna thought about it, the more excited she became. She sprinted into a classroom, ignoring the surprised stares of others. She quickly opened her backpack, took out the Losing Heroine Diary she carried with her, and began writing furiously.
"One minute left... Hurry! Faster!"
"To make my future self believe it, I must provide evidence..."
"I got it, I'll write down the future that's about to happen!"
"..."
"Anna, what are you writing?"
"Why did you suddenly run back here?"
"Do you want to go shopping with us later?"
The curious voices of her friends sounded in her ears.
Anna turned a deaf ear, writing rapidly. It was like there were only ten minutes left in an exam, but she still had an 800-word essay to write; the tip of her pen was practically sparking.
It wasn't until the final second before the time rewind that Anna stopped writing.
"Finally finished, so tired..."
"I hope it doesn't get rewound, otherwise it's a huge loss..."
The next second.
The world's pause button was pressed once again.
Countless streaks of light began flying backward.
Time instantly returned to the starting point.
The deafening cheers reached his ears. Izumi Sora opened his eyes and, without any surprise, had returned to the sports field once again.
"We should be able to end the loop this time."
Izumi Sora exhaled softly, pondering how to conclude everything.
"Sora, Mahiru~ Hurry up and go change clothes."
Anna's shout came from not far away.
Izumi Sora regrouped with the girls, and they headed to the general building together.
With the intelligence gathered from the previous two rewinds, this rewind was much easier.
On the way to the general building, Izumi Sora casually grabbed a male classmate from his class and asked him to go to the restroom at the end of the third floor, successfully obtaining the quest item [Misaki's Diary].
This way, they could avoid the appearance of another Mahiru.
Then Angel-sama took out her phone, sent a message to Elf, calling her out alone, and explained the situation.
In the previous loop, Elf had already successfully recorded the 'confession video' of the two bullies, proving the method was indeed feasible.
As for Anna and Kuroneko... it was better not to inform them.
There's no need to say much about what remained.
After calling Kayo-senpai out and presenting the item [Misaki's Diary], they successfully broke her defenses, making her agree to act as a tainted witness and trick the two bullies into revealing the truth.
Time quietly slipped by.
Twenty minutes passed in a flash.
"Sora, I'm back."
Yamada Elf ran over happily, waving her phone:
"The video is all recorded. Those two girls did a lot of bad things, and they actually bragged about all of them."
"Elf is back?"
Seeing Izumi Sora talking to thin air, Angel-sama tilted her head slightly.
"That's right, we already have the evidence..."
As they spoke, Izumi Sora quickly made a copy of the video, dialed Tiara's number, and called her out.
Tiara was not only the Vice President of the Student Council but also had a very righteous personality. Upon seeing the video, she was indeed filled with righteous indignation and immediately wanted to go find a teacher.
"Things went smoother than imagined..."
Shiina Mahiru breathed a sigh of relief, finally setting her mind at ease.
Izumi Sora turned to look at Mahiru:
"So, should we end the rewind here?"
"..."
Angel-sama's pretty face flushed slightly. She didn't speak, but simply stepped towards the hallway where the loop began.
Meanwhile.
In the club room.
Anna had already changed her clothes and was flipping through the Losing Heroine Diary:
"When you see this sentence, time has already rewound... Meow meow meow?"