The process played havoc with your memories, the doctor said. There was always a dreamlike superposition of the new over the old, with the old fading and the new growing.
Since Maki had been, apparently, the prime regret Nico had about the past, it was Maki that needed to interrupt the loop, now that Nico's goals had been achieved. She'd saved her father and cousin - two people Maki hadn't realised had been endangered. She'd made a success of her trio, and been a leading contribution to Mu's winning Love Live, leading to a brilliant career as an "idol" singer.
As a young girl, she'd been such an advocate for nuclear safety that when the Democrats controlled the Diet, she'd been invited to address them and given an award. Later, when the precautions prevented a meltdown at Fukushima (TEPCO angrily denied that was ever a possibility, and the LDP supported them), she became one of the most beloved Japanese public figures.
She and Maki had moved to Hokkaido. The Nishikino family had opened a hospital in Sapporo, where Maki was a hospitalist. Hokkaido issued marriage certificates, and they were planning to get married soon.
None of this would have been possible had they not dug up the time capsule. While it altered each repetition, it was largely untouched because it was the very first action Nico took whenever she returned back in time. She'd gotten making money, being a genius and prodigy, establishing her psychic credentials with the aid of Nozomi and her aunt and uncle (the parents of Aquours idol Yoshiko), and so on and so on all down to a routine. It usually took less than a week to be on a solid footing.
But the outstanding element of the time capsule was a journal written by Maki. She was writing to be read by herself. The events she wrote about first-hand were different from what had actually happened, but not by much. But there were entries copied from the journal before that, containing entries from the journal before that, and even some of those contained information from a scrawled note from the first time Maki had been confronted with what was going on.
If Maki didn't believe, she wouldn't be lying in a lab, naked, waiting to be put under. Into a medically induced coma.
When Nico got to the flagpost, she felt a weariness her conscious memories couldn't account for.
How many times? she wondered. Do I really want to know?
She was following orders from her other self like an automaton. Tips and tricks from several lives, apparently.
While going through the motions semi-robotically, Nico froze. There was a shadow behind her. Someone was watching her vandalize a time capsule. A very nasty little crime, when you thought about all those teens hopefully putting their prized mementoes into it, assured by their teachers that it would remain untouched for twenty-five years.
She couldn't make herself unfreeze.
"I'm here, Nico-chan," she heard the voice of another young girl. That's not possible.
But the gentle touches on her shoulders were all too familiar. They gently raised Nico up and turned her slowly around.
Even at this age, Maki was as pretty as an angel. Her expression was what you'd expect from an angel, too. Or a loving goddess like Kannon. While Nico was still frozen, the girl tilted her head and gently kissed Nico.
She pulled back a bit and gently asked, "How can I help, Nico-chan?"
True enough, another time traveller could be quite useful. There would be two psychic prodigies now. Both the Yazawas and the Nishikinos would balloon in wealth. Who knew what sort of music Nico and Maki could come up with? Would Nico even bother starting her first trio? Well, that was too far in the future. While her thoughts whirled out of control, she was still frozen.
The first motion she sensed was water running down her cheek.
"Is this the last time?" she heard herself ask, as if it were someone else, standing a distance away. She felt faint.
"Probably," came the gentle reply.
Makii was still looking at her with gentle, loving eyes.
"But one way or another, Nico ... we're going to live happily ever after."