Bubble, bubble... Gurgle, gurgle...
Cakes of noodles fell into the boiling water and quickly began to cook.
Maki hummed a little tune, gently stirring the noodle cakes with chopsticks before adding the seasoning packets.
Steam filled the kitchen. By the sink, several pairs of clean chopsticks, a fork for Green, and a few ceramic bowls were already set out.
"Seriously, can you not knock like that next time? I thought something was breaking in and was about to reset on the spot."
At the same time, Gao Hai, sitting on the living room sofa, sighed deeply and spoke with great displeasure.
Kaguya, standing beside him, also frowned, rubbing the space between her eyebrows with a look of helplessness.
The one knocking this morning was none other than Sun Dajun himself.
Although he was the weakest here in terms of physical fitness, due to the biological clock and sleep habits of the older generation, the man had actually woken up shortly after six. He stayed in his room until eight o'clock before cautiously stepping out. He then discovered that most of the people in the other rooms hadn't emerged yet. He waited until both Green and Maki came out of their rooms. Then, because there was still no activity from room 204, where Gao Hai and Kaguya were, he asked Green to pick the lock so he could go in and check on the situation.
Green was reluctant at first, but after some thought, Maki decided to act. So, Green had no choice but to pick the lock. Sun Dajun then entered the hallway and came to the living room door.
Through a crack in room 204's door, he could see Gao Hai and Kaguya resting on the floor inside. After pondering how to wake them, Green decided to knock, which instantly startled Gao Hai and Kaguya.
If Maki hadn't arrived in time, reached through the hole in the door to unlock it, and rushed in, Gao Hai and Kaguya would have undoubtedly turned the clock's hands to rewind time.
"I'm sorry. Really, I'm very sorry."
A very embarrassed Sun Dajun lowered his head and apologized repeatedly.
"Alright, I know you didn't mean it, but that was really terrifying, you know? From now on, whatever it is, try not to knock. Ugh... I feel like even if I escape this damn place, I'm going to have PTSD from knocking..."
Gao Hai heaved a long sigh, then saw Maki Shijo walk out of the kitchen.
"Alright, stop blaming the old man. It was my decision. It's your own fault for not getting up earlier. You two should have a little more situational awareness. Especially you, grandauntie. As the esteemed eldest daughter of the Shinomiya family, being unable to get up in the morning because you're not used to sleeping on the floor is just pathetic."
As she spoke, Maki placed a large bowl of cooked instant noodles on the table, then began to portion it out into smaller bowls.
The rich aroma of MSG and artificial flavoring filled the room, an undoubtedly appetizing smell for the group, who hadn't eaten in quite a while.
"Yo, that looks pretty good."
Gao Hai claimed to be an instant noodle purist, but he was the first to come forward, proceeding to wolf down three large bowls of Maki's noodles. Green, being tall and having a large appetite, also ate three bowls. Kaguya and Maki, however, only ate one small bowl each, and from the looks of it, they struggled to even finish that. But the person who ate the most wasn't Gao Hai or Green, but Sun Dajun. The portly middle-aged man ate nearly four full bowls, a staggering amount.
"Sorry, I ate a bit too much..."
Noticing the others' stares, Sun Dajun was quite embarrassed, so he didn't fill his fourth bowl completely. He had high blood pressure and high blood sugar, couldn't exercise much, had a huge appetite, and was in the habit of waking up at night to use the bathroom. If he hadn't fainted from the vision induced by the human-head clock the night before, he likely would have been unable to resist getting up to go to the toilet during the night.
Is this what they call middle-age ailments? This is trouble. I didn't expect Old Sun's health to be this bad. If we run into danger, he'll have no chance of escape.
Gao Hai, who hadn't realized Sun Dajun had these issues, felt a headache coming on. He quickly engaged the man in a more detailed conversation and learned that Sun Dajun had worked in construction when he was young, doing all sorts of strenuous and exhausting work. He'd recklessly squandered his youth, working day and night without a care. As a result, now that he was older, a host of problems—obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, lumbar muscle strain—had all caught up with him. On top of that, he had started a desk job in his later years, leading to a long period of inactivity and a severe decline in his physical condition. It was possible he'd be in a wheelchair in a few more years.
Kaguya Shinomiya was displeased upon learning this. Her family's twisted upbringing made her instinctively question the value of keeping Sun Dajun in the group. This time, however, Gao Hai and Maki Shijo were resolute in their decision to stand by Sun Dajun. Maki first took him aside to comfort him as best she could, while Gao Hai seriously considered how to ensure his safety and best utilize his skills.
"Mr. Sun, since you've worked as an electrician, do you think you could try to fix the lights in the rooms on the second floor? And centralize the switches? Ideally, so we could control each light remotely from a single room?"
Stepping out of the room, Gao Hai looked at the messy wiring running along the hallway ceiling, connecting the rooms. An idea struck him, and he went back inside to ask Sun Dajun.
"Well, circuitry isn't that simple, but... maybe I can give it a try. I found some tools from Green and the little girl with braids. It's just enough to manage, but I can't be sure if it'll work."
Gao Hai's somewhat fantastical idea clearly put Sun Dajun in a difficult position, but he still nodded and agreed to try.
The old man understood very well that for this makeshift team of survivors, he—who ate a lot but couldn't scout or help analyze clues—was a burden. He had to do whatever he could, and do it well.
Green remained silent, simply following orders to protect Sun Dajun.
As for Miwa Maeda, after being locked in 205 for a night, when the group checked on her the next day, they found she had become somewhat delirious. She was huddled in a corner, trembling nonstop, and would scream loudly if anyone approached, making even basic communication impossible.
"There's nothing we can do... Let's leave her in 205. At least she's safe in there. When we find a real way out, we can see if we can take her with us."
Maki sighed and shook her head helplessly at this. Although she sympathized with the woman, in the current situation, even she didn't know how to care for her while also managing the exploration, investigation, and defense of the apartment. Thus, they could only choose to leave her be.
Next was the exploration of the three remaining rooms on the second floor.
Rooms 203, 202, and 201 were unoccupied by survivors. Based on the rooms they had already explored, these three should also contain supply boxes with valuable food reserves and various small items.
Green first picked the locks to rooms 203 and 202. The exploration of these two rooms went smoothly. The corpse in 203 was hanging in the living room; when they found it, the body had already broken apart at the abdomen, its lower half lying on the floor. The corpse in 202 was lying on the bed with no visible injuries or obvious marks, but they found two empty bottles of sleeping pills on the nightstand.
The corpses in these two rooms were mostly motionless from start to finish, only twitching or blinking slightly during the exploration. After Gao Hai's group left, they became active and showed signs of following, but ultimately, neither corpse left its room. They just moved around a bit, took a few steps in the hallway, and then returned to their original positions to wait. This completely foiled Gao Hai's original plan to lure these corpses to room 210 to see if they could kill the corpse inside.
Is it because there's no 'room master,' so their actions are restricted?
With this thought in mind, Gao Hai entered the door to 201, only to be nearly attacked by an old man's corpse in the hallway, almost getting himself killed on the spot.
That moment was incredibly perilous. After the door to 201 opened, the hallway was pitch black, making it impossible to see if anything was inside. The moment Gao Hai stepped into the hallway, a shriveled thing shot out. Or perhaps... floated out? In any case, it appeared with astonishing speed and complete silence, lunging straight for him on the tips of its toes. Its purplish-black fingers swiped, leaving five gashes on Gao Hai's arm.
If Maki, who was keeping watch nearby, hadn't been quick enough to grab Gao Hai and pull him out, he probably would have died right there. Moreover, after they retreated, the old man's corpse didn't return to the room but stood motionless in the doorway, preventing anyone from daring to close the door. Then, the sound of footsteps from the stairwell was attracted by the commotion, forcing everyone to hide in the living room. It was hours before they dared to come out, only to find the door to 201 still open and the thing still standing in the doorway.
"It seems the corpses from different rooms really do have different personalities. This one's just way too aggressive."
Gao Hai clicked his tongue, looking at the five long, bloody gashes on his arm with a helpless sigh. If he hadn't reacted quickly enough, it probably wouldn't have been five gashes, but his whole body torn into five pieces.
"Yeah, and the corpses in these rooms are all former residents. It's really not a pleasant experience to see these dead people moving again."
Maki, who was disinfecting and bandaging Gao Hai's arm, also shook her head and sighed, then took out some povidone-iodine to wipe his wounds.
"Hiss... Could you be a little gentler?"
The sting from the iodine made Gao Hai wince.
"Hmph, you can't even handle this? You talked so tough before, about how everyone died and you were the only one left to rewind time. I thought you were some kind of super tough guy."
Seeing Gao Hai's reaction, a smile touched the corners of Maki's lips, and she laughed with a hint of triumph.
"Ahaha, I wish I were a tough guy. Though I've always felt I'm pretty brave."
Gao Hai laughed along with her, then fell silent, watching as Maki carefully wrapped his arm in gauze.
Outside, Sun Dajun had already connected the circuits for 202 and 203, and had tried to modify the switches, running the wires to 204 so that those inside could turn the lights in those two rooms on and off at any time. However, since the light bulbs they could find in the Shirakawa Apartments were nearly burnt out, at best they could only make the lights flicker a couple of times.
At Kaguya's request, Green was in another room organizing the supply boxes they had found so far. The food was to be strictly rationed, prioritizing those responsible for exploration that day, and everyone's portions had to be strictly controlled to avoid the kind of pointless consumption that happened today.
And so, at this moment, only Gao Hai and Maki were in room 208, with Maki tending to his wounds.
The atmosphere feels a little strange.
After the room fell quiet, Gao Hai couldn't help but have this thought.
"By the way... about that previous loop, the one you mentioned where we were all wiped out... can you tell me what happened?"
Maki Shijo's voice reached Gao Hai's ears.
"What happened then? Are you sure you want to know?"
Gao Hai, not expecting Maki to ask such a question, was taken aback for a moment.
"I guess I'm just curious... After all, thinking about how I once fought alongside you for a time, but the current me has no memory of it... it's quite frustrating when you think about it. Um, we got along pretty well before, right? In your eyes, what was the 'me' from back then like?"
Maki gave a gentle smile and sat down beside Gao Hai.
The Shirakawa Apartments had been abandoned for a long time, and the sofas were covered in dust, something both Kaguya and Maki found distasteful. But at this moment, the girl sat down with easy grace, just a palm's width away from Gao Hai, and turned to look at him with a smile.
Gao Hai fell silent for a moment. He felt he should be flustered like a perv, but what came to his mind instead was the time when he and Maki were trapped in a room on the third floor, when she sat beside him, tracing words on the back of his hand and gently patting his palm.
There was no way the present Maki could know about that moment. It was a deleted future, something that had never happened.
A non-existent beautiful memory that only the Gao Hai who had reset could remember.
"I'd rather not talk about it, actually."
So Gao Hai shook his head, choosing to refuse the girl's request.
It's better if I'm the only one who knows about those things. There's no need to let anyone else know.
"But I really want to hear it. You... seemed to trust me from the very beginning, didn't you? I actually noticed it before. When everyone else suspected you, I was the first person you tried to win over."
Maki lowered her head, her voice softening slightly.
She seemed to hesitate, shuffling her feet gently on the floor, but finally mustered her courage and looked up at Gao Hai again.
"After hearing you talk about the time reversal, and experiencing one myself, I couldn't help but wonder... in that loop you mentioned where we failed, how did that 'me' get along with you, and what did she do to earn your trust?"
"And... after everything was rewound, does this 'me,' who no longer remembers any of it... make you feel frustrated? Because, I no longer remember the time we spent together. You're the only one who remembers what happened."
"I imagine it must be very painful. Friendships you built are reset to zero, people you knew become strangers. If something like that makes you sad, I hope you'll share those memories that only you have. I'm a master of emotions, you know. You can tell me anything, like I'm a sounding board. After all, we're comrades now. I can't just leave a comrade to suffer alone."
The smiling girl, her voice confident and gracious, reached out and gently placed her hand over Gao Hai's, which was resting on the sofa.
Just like last time, she gently patted the back of his hand.
The same familiar, soft, and warm touch he had felt before.
It was like a replay of that scene in the dark room, but this time, he could see the smile on her face.
"You really are... a good girl."
Gao Hai, feeling a strange sense of defeat at this moment, couldn't help but shake his head and sigh with emotion.
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