Chapter Text
Day 93 - Afternoon - Last Defence Academy: Takumi’s Room
After our battle against Dahl’xia this morning we all went back to our rooms, too exhausted to bother having breakfast. I had spent the rest of the day in bed, trying to get my energy back from the battle we had. Our opponent had been the final Commander and it was good to know that he was out of the way especially with the fight against V’ehxness coming up on Day 99.
Tsubasa was also working endlessly on the life support system for Shion’s real body. We just couldn’t let him die here on Day 100. Even if it was meant to happen we all agreed we couldn’t allow him to die. He was a part of the team now.
One of us.
Our friend.
We couldn’t leave him behind.
It would just feel wrong.
I still had to ask Hiruko what we were doing about the time leaps but for now I needed to sleep.
I closed my eyes and drifted off into a soundless sleep unable to hear the world around me. I was that tired. It could also be attributed to the Leap Damage I had sustained earlier in this loop. But it’s probably more to do with exhaustion than that.
My consciousness drifted off and time seemed to accelerate…
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A sudden crash woke me up and I bolted upright in my bed. That sounded like it came from somewhere within the school. I checked the time and froze. It was night just after midnight of Day 95. That meant I had slept most of the day yesterday and the rest of Day 93 away.
Had I really been that exhausted after the battle with Dahl’xia?
If I had slept this long what about the others?
We had all gotten up yesterday morning to talk about Tsubasa’s progress on the baby jar. It was also when we had found out about the Escape Pod. The bacteria had gotten to it through the vents, so we would be unable to use it on Day 100. Everyone theorised on jumping to another timeline instead but I shut that down. We just had to wait until Tsubasa was done on the baby jar.
I must of been exhausted from the conversation and decided to go back to bed and now it’s barely passed one in the morning.
However I couldn’t think on that now…
I got out of my bed and rushed out of my room, running to the rooftop door and down the stairwell that led to the third floor, bumping into someone as I ran. I took several steps back, holding my head before looking up and saw that I had run into Hiruko.
“Hiruko, what are you doing up?”
“I just got back from checking on the PLM,” she explained to me. Her voice contained shock in it. Something was wrong. I could tell. “It had been used. Whoever used it was able to delete the logs. So I couldn’t find out which timeline they leaped from.”
I froze when I heard that.
That opened a whole lot of possibilities.
There were very few alternates of us out there that knew of the PLM, but there’s still the possibility they could come across it.
What if it was Eito III again?
No, the lock placed on the Hunt timeline was between Day 45 and Day 49 so he wouldn’t be able to come here until later today or Day 99.
So maybe Kako-G?
We lost track of her from the Mystery timeline on Day 84. So it’s possible it’s her.
Or could it be that someone else came across it?
Either way we needed to find them and fast.
”There was a Leap today?” I asked, still unsure if I heard her right.
She nodded her head at me. “Yesterday. It was between 7:00am and 9:00am. Whoever leaped may have gone back already.”
Two hours.
That’s enough time to cause whatever trouble they wanted in this timeline and then leave.
But there’s also a possibility that they didn’t. I did just hear the loud crash after all indicating it possibly just happened.
“Or they’re still here. Let’s go and find them to make sure.” I hurried down the hall, making my way to where the noise had originated from. It had come from the War Room.
I opened the door and the sight before me made me stop. I froze in the doorway as Hiruko came up behind me and glared at the scene in front of us.
“They’re beyond repair…”
I stared down at both of our superior officers. I had a bad feeling about this. Whoever destroyed Nigou and Sirei did it to stop them from being of any help to us. So this person obviously had experience in a timeline where they weren’t around. They had already been deactivated previously thanks to the gun Tsubasa and Eito made but now they were broken. With the time we had left we couldn’t possibly fix them.
That didn’t give me a lot of options.
From the timelines I remember Nigou and Sirei are destroyed probably more so than we’re able to keep them alive.
Then again I only remember four timelines…
Why did this have to happen so close to Day 100?
We were so close.
“Takumi, don’t start feeling down now. We need to keep going. We’ll tell the others about this in the morning. Right now we need to check the school to find the culprit,” Hiruko explained to me, cold determination in her voice.
I swallowed, nodding my head at her. We made our way out of the War Room and continued down the hall. We stayed together, unsure who was responsible for this so we found it best to stick together for safety even after grabbing our infusers.
We finished checking the third floor and made our way downstairs to the second floor. I couldn’t help but think of the timeline where myself and the others were controlled by the G’ie Queens. Kako-G hailed from that timeline and she was still on the loose.
But…
Was she really the culprit?
“Hiruko, is it possible it’s Kako-G?” I had to voice my thoughts to Hiruko.
“It’s possible. She’s the most likely candidate we have. We lost her in the Mystery timeline. So it’s only reasonable she’d show up in another timeline.”
I was still unsure about that.
I had mentioned to Hiruko previously about my thoughts on the other versions of me that were infected with the G’ie. But Hiruko said the only Takumi infected is in the Serial Killer timeline.
So why do I have this feeling that we’re wrong.
That there’s more versions of me that are controlled by G’ie.
I just have yet to remember them…
We reached the first floor and Hiruko walked right past the hidden door. I glanced at it and looked back at her.
“Umm … shouldn’t we check downstairs?” I asked Hiruko, making sure to keep my voice low.
“And what? Show whoever is responsible for Sirei and Nigou’s destruction what’s down there?” She responded back, glaring down at me.
I flinched at her strong glare as she continued on her stride down the hall. I glanced at where the hidden door was that led to the basement. We had no intention to use the machine down there anymore after finding out the truth. So, I can understand why Hiruko wouldn’t want to give the culprit an extra hiding place.
We continued our journey throughout the school until we reached the Garage. I opened the sliding metal door only for us to be met with a horrible sight.
“Tsu…Tsubasa….”
Her eyes were wide, staring up at the ceiling above us but there was no longer any light in them. She had large gashes across her stomach, thighs and windpipe where her blood had bled out from and pooled out around her. I rushed to her side as Hiruko inspected the scene around us.
I felt her pulse. Nothing.
She was cold to the touch. How long had she been here?
It had just passed into Day 95 an hour or so ago. So she was most likely killed on Day 94.
We had seen her alive this morning just after the morning announcement … so why…?
“H…How did this happen…?” I stumbled over my words.
We were going so well and now suddenly this happens?
I could feel tears prick at the edge of my eyes. “She’s been dead for too long. She’s cold and her blood is starting to dry…”
“We should still take her to the Infirmary. The Revive-o-Matic might tell us what time she died. We can narrow down suspects.”
I sniffed, wiping my eyes, nodding my head at Hiruko’s explanation before helping her lift up Tsubasa’s body and carry it up to the third floor. We got to the Infirmary through some trial and error and placed our fallen friend into the machine. We waited as patiently as we could for the results to be displayed on the machine.
Once they appeared it didn’t ease our minds.
“Tsubasa Kawana - Death on Day 94 between 8:00am and 10:00am via loss of cryptoglobin.”
“There we have it.” Hiruko let out a sigh. “Between sixteen to thirteen hours ago. Most of us went back to our rooms after our meeting yesterday. We were all still tired after the battle with Dahl’xia. Tsubasa must have gone back to the Garage to work on the life support system when she was attacked. Whoever killed her also destroyed Sirei and Nigou that much is obvious.”
I stared at the ground, still trying to process everything. Tsubasa was gone. We had failed this timeline. We needed everyone alive to escape the loop. Tsubasa also hadn’t finished the baby jar which meant we couldn’t save Shion.
“We’ll have to try again…”
Hiruko was silent after I brought that up.
She knew what that meant.
We had been five days away from our goal and instead we were unable to reach it.
Everyone had been alive in this timeline and yet … something went wrong and we lost someone.
It had been a miracle we were able to keep so many alive, but now…
It meant we had to try again from scratch again.
All the way from the beginning again.
“This sucks…” She narrowed her eyes at me and I raised my hands in defence. “I’m upset about Tsubasa, but I’m also upset about how we have to restart all over again.“
Her glare vanished and she lowered her head, turning away from me. I didn’t see but I honestly thought that she might start crying.
All the stress of the loop and trying to prevent it. It was getting to her.
I reached my hand out to try and comfort her in any way, but stopped when I heard a door close. I whirled around and approached the Infirmary door, peeking out into the hall to see if I could see anyone. Hiruko turned back around to face me; confusion on her face. It was then that I saw them. They were wearing a Leap Suit so they had indeed come from another timeline especially if they were trying to hide their identity.
I grit my teeth together as I watched them head towards the staircase. They didn’t have an obvious weapon on them, so I could go after them. I have my infuser on me so … maybe?
“Takumi, whatever you’re thinking don't do it,” Hiruko’s voice had a harsh edge to it.
She obviously didn’t want me rushing out after the culprit.
But I had to.
I had to find out who they were.
I had to stop them from committing anymore murders.
This timeline couldn’t turn out like those other ones.
This was supposed to be the good timeline…
Dammit…
What do I do?