Kagerou Days
Ch. 3 Almost
Hiyori's POV
I saw him coming just a few seconds after I arrived, in the exact same clothes and sighed.
"Hey, Hibiya," I greeted. He didn't reply. I looked at the direction where I always saw the black cat coming from but it wasn't there.
When I looked back at Hibiya, he was whistling and motioning for a black cat, in the opposite direction of where I looked a moment ago, to come nearer.
My eyes widened. I stared at the cat, figuring out if it was the same one or not.
And it was. I have seen that cat billions of times. I memorized its face, its shape, almost everything about it.
But I was confused because it seemed more scared and hesitant to approach us. Sometimes, I would just stare at it and it would come to me anyway.
I tried to help Hibiya make it come nearer but it ran away.
After half a minute of silence, I saw it come out from behind a nearby tree and approach Hibiya who still hung his head. It meowed which made me even more confused.
It never meowed. Never. I swear. If it did, I might have remembered the number of the loop that was.
It climbed unto Hibiya's lap instead of mine. Even though this is confusing me, I should just go with it.
After a few minutes, the cat ran from him. This is where I come in!
I got up and started to run for the cat but Hibiya grabbed my hand. I looked back and for the first time today, I saw his face.
He was straight-faced and didn't get up from his swing.
"It's just a cat," He said.
"O-Oh, uhm, okay..." I replied, uneasy.
~o~
After talking a bit, we went home and I waited until we reached the place where the steel poles would come falling down. When we got there, I heard some people screaming and pointing at the sky.
This is it...
I went in front of Hibiya and... to my surprise, he pushed me away. I grabbed his hand but he shook me off and... a steel pole pierced right through him.
My eyes widened in shock. He... pushed me away... Was he TRYING to save me?
I started crying really hard. I saw Summer... and blacked out.
~o~
I jolted up from bed.
"This... isn't happening..." I said, half-traumatized. I grabbed some clothes, put them on and went out to the park.
I didn't sit down on the swing and just waited for Hibiya since he just came after a few seconds.
When I saw him, I grabbed his hand and pulled him someplace. I didn't know where I was going or what I was even doing but I pulled him to the place where he pulled me up to an apartment building and accidentally let go of me, getting me killed.
But I won't make the same mistake. I saw Summer and she turned to me. I didn't make the same mistake. I didn't. But I felt Hibiya grab my hand and push it away.
My eyes widened and turned to see him falling off the top of the stairs. I turned to Summer and she just stared at me. I cried hard and blacked out again.
~o~
I woke up and cried hard. Why is this happening?
"I... I really have to end this...!"
I washed up this time and put on some clothes. I waited for Hibiya in the park.
When he came, we sat down on the swings. I saw him trying to get the black cat to come nearer again. I put my hand on his shoulder and he turned to me with a lifeless poker face.
"U-Uhm..." I started.
"Hm?"
I don't know what to say next...!
"H-Hibiya...?"
"Hm?"
"I... I need to tell you something..."
He turned away. "I know it already."
My eyes widened. "U-Uhm, y-you do? Wait, are we on the same topic?"
"Yes," He replied, staring at the ground.
"Uhm, are you... sure...?"
"Yes," He replied again and turned to me. I saw tears start to form in his eyes but he kept that lifeless expression. "And," he turned away again. "I'm not... exactly Hibiya..."
My eyes widened and I stood up from my swing. "W-What do you mean? W-Who are you?"
"No, wait. I AM Hibiya but I'm... not exactly the same..."
"What do you mean?"
He sighed. "Three loops ago I think, I saved you from being killed by that truck. Before I died, I saw Heat- Oh wait, you haven't-"
"Heat? You mean like Summer?"
"Who's...? Wait, does this Summer happen to, well, look like you and-"
"You have one of those too? Oh, wait, wait, wait, time out..."
"What?"
"So, we're really talking about this loop?"
"I... guess so...?"
"I didn't know you knew about it. When I said I had something to tell you, I was only planning to slowly and indirectly explain it to you so..."
"You... were trying to save me from being killed?"
"Wait, that two loops ago thing, YOU were trying to save me from being killed?"
We both stared at each other. I looked beyond him and saw the black cat. He looked at it too. It stared at us for a moment and then it licked its paw and used it to clean behind his ears.
Hibiya turned back to me. "Why are we...?"
"I don't know.
"... Well, now we both know that we both know about the loop and-"
"Wait, what was that about you not exactly being yourself again?"
"O-Oh, right. Three loops ago, before I died, I saw Heat disappear and a blue girl came out from behind you, like she was created when I died, trying to solve the problem."
"She wasn't just created that time. She came back when you tried to help me."
"So you've seen her before?"
"Of course."
"After that, when I woke up the next day, I didn't feel exactly like myself. I felt... well, physically colder."
"Hm?" I touched his hand. It was warm. "But your normal!"
"Yes, but I feel cold."
"Why?"
"That's it! I don't know!"
"Oh..."
"And sometimes, my body does things but I'm not making it do that. Like when I made you let go of me yesterday to die. I didn't know what I was doing."
"... How...?"
"Huh?"
"How do we end this...?" I felt tears start to form in my eyes despite my angry expression. "We have to end this!"
"Geez, this is like in Haruhi Suzumiya!"
I turned to him. "Huh?"
"In the show, they were stuck in a time loop too but in the entire world, only the brigade members except her knew."
"That's like our situation! But there're only two of us! What do we do?"
"To end the loop, Kyon-" He was cut off by my awkward stare. "What?"
"N-Nothing, please continue."
"Okay... to end the loop, he realized what they haven't done yet. Because they think the reason why they're stuck is because Haruhi-" Awkward stare again. "WHAT?"
"N-Nothing! Sorry!"
"Anyway, they were stuck because she, the brigade leader, in charge of all their activities, wasn't satisfied with everything they've done during their school break. He realized what they haven't done yet was their homework because SHE already did hers! But the others-"
"N-No more. I don't want to start talking about anime, we might get off topic. So, I understand what you're saying. All we've done this entire time was die and die, trying to save each other. What HAVEN'T we done yet?"
"Live, apparently..." He said, making my face light up with an idea.
"Hey~!"
"Wha-? Wait a minute...!"
"That's it! We keep dying and dying trying to protect each other, not even thinking or considering why we can't just both live and try to not die at all! Hibiya, you're a genius!"
"Oh stop it, you~!" He got out his phone, looked at it, then put it back in his pocket. "It's already 12:46 pm. The incident in the street where the steel poles start falling must've been done by now."
"Right, but let's take a different route just in case. Your house or mine?"
"Uhm, maybe yours."
"Okay!" I said and took off with him. I felt so happy and refreshed and confident somehow! Now that we know what to do...
So we passed a different route .No one was hit by a truck and no one was pierced by steel poles.
"So far, so good," He said.
"Yup."
Now my house is only a fewer blocks away! We're going to make-
My eyes widened as I watched the scene. A black cat was being shooed out of a person's bakery. It went out, hissed at the owner standing by the door and bumped into Hibiya. He tripped over the cat and landed on the street. A car went by.
