Morning light warmed the dorm room.
Luca opened his eyes slowly.
No rewind.
No sudden déjà vu.
No weird feeling in the air.
Just… a normal morning.
"We didn't loop," Luca muttered.
Marc looked up from tying his shoes. "Yup. Which means we're doing better."
Luca nodded. "First clean morning since we got here."
Marc stood and offered a fist bump.
Luca hit it.
Then Marc added a quick dap.
"Balance," he said.
Luca grinned. "Say that every time, bro."
The hallway was full of students moving normally.
Yesterday had been the festival;
today was a regular school day.
Nothing repeated.
Nothing felt scripted.
Because this wasn't a loop.
This was normal progression.
Marc whispered, "Just to be clear, no one else remembers ANY of yesterday's stuff except us."
"Right," Luca said. "To Hana, today is just… today."
"And to Aiden," Marc added, "yesterday was just a normal festival."
"No sabotage attempt remembered," Luca said. "No rivalry built yet."
"Good. We can build it on OUR terms."
They exchanged a quick dap.
Aria walked beside Marc as if she'd simply spawned into the hallway next to them.
"You two look rested," she said quietly.
Marc exhaled. "You again… Do you ever say hello like a normal person?"
Aria blinked once. "I did. Twice."
Marc whispered, "Bro she didn't."
Luca whispered back, "Yes she did. We just didn't hear her."
Aria studied them both calmly.
"You handled the festival well. The timeline accepted the outcome."
"Timeline?" Luca asked.
Aria nodded.
"Since you didn't hit a failure point, you were allowed to continue."
Marc crossed his arms. "So no reset unless we screw up."
"Correct," Aria said. "But continuing the route means the world will start guiding you… subtly."
"Guiding us how?" Luca asked.
Aria handed Marc a small folded piece of paper.
"A hint," she said.
Marc opened it.
Four words:
"Stay close to her."
Marc tensed. "…Hana?"
Aria shook her head.
"No. My route."
Marc froze.
Luca whispered, "Bro…"
But Aria had already stepped into her classroom.
Class 2-B was lively.
Hana turned the second Luca walked in.
"Luca! Sit by me!"
Her tone was bright, natural — NOT influenced by any past loop.
To her, she never fell.
She never got dropped.
She never saw Aiden or Luca clash.
This was her first real day bonding.
Luca sat beside her.
Hana leaned in and whispered, "You seemed really athletic at the festival. Want to practice after school sometime?"
Luca tried not to choke. "Uh—yeah. Sure."
Hana smiled wide and genuine.
A real smile.
Marc whispered loudly from across the room, "BRO IS COOKING."
"Shut up," Luca hissed.
Marc felt eyes on him.
Ryo.
But this time, Ryo wasn't suspicious because of a loop.
He was suspicious because Marc was different from everyone else.
His posture.
His focus.
His interactions with Aria.
His awareness.
Ryo had the instincts of a rival's right-hand man.
And Marc wasn't fitting into the world's "normal student template."
Ryo pushed up his glasses.
Marc whispered, "Bro why is Einstein studying me?"
Luca whispered, "He's the smart rival. It's his job."
Hana grabbed Luca's sleeve.
"Come to the courtyard with me?"
Luca blinked. "Me? Again?"
"Again?" Hana repeated, confused.
Luca froze.
"Oh—no I meant—yeah sure. My bad."
Hana giggled. "You say weird things sometimes."
They sat on the bench under the sakura tree.
Hana swung her legs. "So what do you think of this school?"
"It's nice," Luca said. "Lively."
"I'm glad you transferred," Hana said softly.
Luca felt the warmth again.
No loop pressure.
Just… connection.
"You're cute when you get flustered," she added casually.
Luca short-circuited.
Marc, who was across the courtyard with Aria, saw the whole thing and whispered to himself:
"Bro is DONE."
Marc sat with Aria on the grass.
Aria didn't look up from her book.
"You read the note?"
"Yes," Marc said. "Why 'stay close to her'?"
"Because if you win her trust too slowly," Aria said calmly, "the system will isolate her from you. And if that happens… you'll hit a failure trigger."
Marc's jaw tightened. "And we loop?"
Aria nodded once. "Alone."
Marc stiffened. "…Alone?"
Aria turned a page.
"I told you," she said softly.
"I don't reset. But you do."
Marc stared at her, heart pounding.
Aria continued, "If you loop without me, you'll lose progress. And you'll lose me."
That hit harder than he expected.
The final bell rang.
Students stood, stretched, grabbed bags.
Normal.
Casual.
Natural.
Luca and Marc met at the doors.
"No loop," Luca said.
Marc nodded. "Not today."
They dapped up — light and quick.
Then added a fist bump before walking out of the building.
Today was stable.
Today was progress.
Today they actually felt like they were PLAYING the VN instead of surviving it.
But as they stepped outside, Aria's last words echoed in Marc's mind:
"If you loop without me… you'll lose me."
And he wasn't sure which part terrified him more.
The loop—
or losing Aria.