Loop (2)

"Ah!! Brother!!!"

Chloe's piercing scream rang in my ears, snapping me back to reality.

Am I going to die again...? I thought, my vision blurring. I could feel my life's blood pooling beneath me, the room growing cold, and my vision splitting into two. One eye remained locked on the heartwarming scene of Chloe's father hugging her tightly, while my other eye swung back and forth like a pendulum, as if someone were pushing it on a swing.

"Are you okay? Did that person do anything strange to you?" Chloe's father asked her, his concern evident.

This jerk... I'm not some sick guy with a sister complex! I tried to speak, but my jaw only twitched slightly. It must have been a gruesome sight for Chloe, and I felt a pang of guilt for putting her through this.

"You killed him!!"

Those were the last words I heard before my consciousness began to fade.

...

..

.

Water...?

I awoke to the sensation of being submerged. I was back in the eerie underwater abyss, unable to move an inch. Something seemed to be pulling me further into the depths.

As I sank deeper, my thoughts grew hazy, and I struggled to think of anything else. The overwhelming pressure of this state began to consume me again, and I closed my eyes out of sheer exhaustion.

"I understand now...."

Those were the final words I managed to mutter before the darkness overwhelmed my consciousness.

***

"Ah!"

My eyes fluttered open as I abruptly returned to consciousness. I found myself in my own bed, the familiar room surrounding me. With a groan, I sat up, feeling a strange mix of relief and disorientation wash over me.

Sitting up on my bed, I pushed myself back and slumped against the wall. The memories of my ordeal came rushing back like a relentless tide.

"Did... Ack!?"

A sharp jolt of pain surged through my head, making me flinch and clutch my temples. It was as if my brain was rebelling against the traumatic memories.

I was about to take a look around the room, but the headache was relentless. The pounding in my head echoed the chaos of the last few moments. I steadied myself, my attention fixated on the one constant in my life: the familiar bookshelf.

"A dream...?" I muttered under my breath, though I knew deep down that what had transpired was far from a mere dream. The vividness of the experience, the pain, and the emotions were too real to be dismissed so easily.

...No, it's not a dream.

"Am I imagining things again?"

The thought nagged at me, tugging at the fringes of my sanity. It wasn't the first time that the boundaries between reality and my own mind had blurred, like experiencing a deja vu, but this was different. There was no way I could simply attribute this to a vivid daydream or hallucination.

I couldn't afford to be delusional anymore.

There's no way I imagined all of that.vuThe room was quiet, and I finally managed to release my grip on my head. My breathing slowly returned to a more steady rhythm, but my heart continued to race.

As my eyes landed on the calendar hanging on the wall, I let out a sigh of exasperation.

'First Day of School!'

The date on the calendar confirmed the inevitability I had feared. It was the first day of school, a day that should have brought excitement and anticipation. Yet, for me, it was a stark reminder of my predicament.

I'm stuck in a loop.

*****

After enduring a quick but intense mental breakdown inside the bathroom, I decided to take a bath, partly to clear my head and partly because it was a routine that helped me regain some semblance of normalcy.

As the warm water cascaded over me, I found my thoughts drifting back to the strange loop I was trapped in. The events that had unfolded, the numerous times I had relived my life, played over and over in my mind.

"Huu...."

I let out a heavy sigh, the sound lost in the bathroom's confined space. The steam and soothing warmth did little to ease the anxiety gnawing at me.

After finishing my shower, I wrapped a towel around my waist and moved to the mirror. The reflection that stared back at me appeared both familiar and foreign. A sense of displacement settled in the pit of my stomach.

As I dressed in my uniform, I couldn't help but think back on what I remembered from my previous attempts to navigate this unsettling time loop.

In my first try, I managed to survive for three months, only to meet a sudden demise beneath the wheels of a speeding truck.

The second round was equally brutal, as an unknown man from a mysterious portal cut my life short.

In the third attempt, it was Chloe's father who sealed my fate.

Now, as I prepared for the fourth go-around, I wished, almost desperately, not to meet my end right away.

"I'm not going to die so easily this time," I whispered to myself, determination resonating in my voice, even if it was just for my own ears.

Glancing out the window, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was on the precipice of something big, something that held the key to unraveling the mysteries surrounding this time loop.

...It must be because of him.

"Brother, are you in there? Wake up!" Chloe's voice called from beyond the door.

Ah... I guess it's already time for her to arrive. I needed to put on my act and maintain appearances.

"I'm coming in!" she warned, opening the door without hesitation. As her eyes landed on me, I was in the middle of dressing, half-naked, a scene that should have been embarrassing under normal circumstances.

"I'm about to finish putting on my clothes," I muttered, my focus more on the stacking questions inside my head than my present state of undress.

"You... You can see?" Chloe asked in disbelief, her gaze fixated on my eyes.

"Ah... Well, yeah," I replied nonchalantly, looking straight back at her. She seemed to doubt her own eyes, not fully convinced by my ability to see.

As I turned to face her, Chloe decided to push me up against the wall, catching me off guard. Her strong grip pressed into my throat, causing my face to pale as my airway constricted.

"You... Imposter! Where's my brother?" She demanded, anger and desperation lacing her voice. As she tightened her grip, the mana fluctuations in the room grew intense, and the temperature plummeted.

"I'm him, damn it!" I choked out, struggling to free myself from her iron grip. My own weakness was a stark reminder of the physical gap between the brother she had lost and the person before her. The more I fought, the colder the room became, and I could see her mana surging with an unsettling intensity.

Clack-!

"This glasses... You..." Chloe's eyes widened as realization set in, and she abruptly released me.

While she was still processing, I rubbed my sore neck and calmly picked up my glasses that had fallen during the brief confrontation. Placing them back on, I decided to answer her question.

"Yes, I've regained my vision a couple of years ago."

"Why...?" Chloe's voice wavered, filled with a mix of confusion and emotions.

"Why? I have no obligation to let any of you know about this," I said, crossing my arms over my chest, my expression tinged with annoyance.

"You... But I'm your sister! Aren't we family?"

Her words stung, and the very notion of 'family' hung in the air like an unspoken accusation. The tension in the room was palpable, an unspoken understanding that something had irrevocably changed.

I rolled my eyes, the turmoil within me simmering just below the surface. My frustration and confusion, always lurking in the background, were now front and center.

"Sister or not, say that after you almost choked me to death!" I shot back, my patience worn thin. "Anyways, get the hell out of my room! I'm still changing, you damn pervert!"

"Eek!"

After I threw her out of my room, I glanced at my mask for a brief second before turning to take the cane that was on the side of the bed with me.

"I'm going to be late."

I opened the window and jumped down.