Aftermath

*ting *bzzz

He lay his hands above the alarm clock and tapped the button to make it shut.

"So... It was all a dream, huh?"

Our protagonist, Toby Kiriyama, just woke up from quite a long dream.

"I guess Hikaru's fine in there," he said to himself. "The guy finally found his peace, so maybe it's my time to find my own purpose now."

He raised from his bed and immediately tidied it up while wearing some black pajamas. "It's still strange how I got here on my own. Just like the last time, probably someone or something putted me into safety, huh."

*yawns

Letting a yawn after waking up is a mundane task yet he's still thankful to being able to do it anyway.

"Crap! Did I 'reset' or something?", he uttered upon remembering his previous death. "Am I gonna that same day again? Please no! After all that have happened, my willpower have finally came to its last stand."

While complaining to himself, he raised both his arms and upon that, "Ugh, Ow! Ow!"

He quickly opened his sleeves and there he saw few yet not small bruises and wounds that apparently came from a fight or something.

"Huh!? Did that encounter with Hikaru and Mr. Kou really happened?", he ask himself. "Wait, let me confirm if I really did repeat."

Grabbing his phone from the desk near to his bed, he checked the current date, and...

"June...3? The day really went on!?" He uttered upon realizing. Yet despite the revelation, he turned a calm nod to affirm his approval on what's happening.

"Now it's a good thing I don't need to handle those. Despite that, I still need to face the aftermath, huh?", talking to himself.

He puts his phone back to the desk and quickly slip in his feet to the slippers and went down the living room.

Upon reaching the dining room, he's rather met with a gloomy mood, lingering the area. His sister were not really that energetic like the last time.

"Uh, yes, yes. I let him know once his awake. It's rather an unwanted event, but we're by your side, Hibikichi. May Hikaru-san finds his rest." His sister was talking to someone in a phone.

"Huh? Did something happened? By judging from what I heard, did they finally found out about Hikaru? I need to ask her," he said to himself upon reading the situation.

"Uhh, good morning, Takina-neesan, did something happened," he asked.

Suddenly, her flustered and bursted into him. "H-how could I say this, Toby," she said with teary eyes.

"Yeah, what is it?", he calmly asked.

"H-hikaru... Was found dead." Yet despite the revelation, his face remained unmoved as if he already set himself for that reaction.

"How did they finally know about Hikaru? Did something happened? Probably Amamiya did something that made their memories go back? Is it because I killed that creature?", all this things roamed around Toby's mind.

"Aren't you sad, Toby?", her sister asked, wondering why he's not really in grief. "Of course I am, Takina-neesan. But, what already happened, there's nothing we can do," he said to comfort his sister.

He ended the discussion quickly to avoid letting his emotions creep in and stain his poker face. "I have no choice for now. I need to know the aftermath of what happened," he said to himself.

Taking his breakfast with just vegetable salad because his sister wasn't in the right mood that morning.

After finishing preparing himself to go to school, he brought out his phone so he wouldn't left it like the last time.

"Hmm? A message from Yamato?", he mumbled upon opening his phone. "What's his problem early this morning?" He opened the inbox and just saw a bad news about Hikaru's passing. Neither this nor his sister's wailing putted him to despair because he already accepted the fact that Hikaru Sato doesn't exist anymore.

He went to school like his mundane task and straight away entered their classroom, class 2-B.

Upon entering, he's met with another gloomy atmosphere.

"Did they also remembered Hikaru, Huh?", he uttered. He sat on his chair and putted his bag to the desk. "Hmm, it's strange. Amamiya's not here despite the class will start right after, huh. Is that what they call a model student?", he said to himself.

"Alright class, please be seated for we will have an important announcement," the teacher said after entering the doorway a few seconds ago. "Huh? Ms. Tachibana? Isn't Mr. Kou supposed to be here today? Did they finally caught him as the suspect?", he said to himself.

"Oi, Toby, Hikaru's dead and yet you're not that in grief at all?", Yamato asked in front of him who were also not in a good mood after what happened.

"So he's really that affected, huh? Well, not gonna blame him, having to spent our childhood with the three of us and then not being able to grief after one of us died might be not a common thing," he said to himself.

It looks like he turned cold with the current situation, he finally detached himself after all the sufferings he've been through. With Hikaru's assurance, he's confident that Hikaru would be glad if all of them will push through that situation.

"Three days have been spent finding answers on how I can handle the situation regarding Hikaru's death. Perhaps pushing myself to that extent, carrying all those regrets at my back alone. Now that it's revealed, I felt like refreshed rather than remorsing," he uttered.

"Did you say something?", Yamato asked because he's not really paying attention to what Toby was saying because of his personal matters and spacing out.

"No. Nothing, I just letted out a sigh."

Yamato turned back to his seat upon hearing Toby's response, where at the same time the teacher announced something.

"It's a great loss for us to have Sato-kun passing away. Apparently, he's found dead at the Kiesu Street early this morning," the teacher said to the whole class. "Kiesu Street? Did the incident moved yesterday? That means all that happened didn't occured until yesterday? It seems like reality have shifted to that conclusion, huh?", he's having internal monologue regarding what he just heard.

"It's a very sad news to lose one of our friends but we're all in this together." The other students look down on their seats, griefing Hikaru's death. Apparently, Hikaru's quite popular in their class unlike Toby so the students were grievous in his passing.

"There's many of them, huh?", Toby uttered.

Other students were afraid because of the murder case and fearing their own lives.

"Hmm? Aren't we gloomy today?", said by someone who were late in the act. A girl with silvery-white hair, wearing a winter uniform and has eyes of amethyst entered the classroom.

"Amamiya-san, sadly one of our classmate have died yesterday. You might not have known him because you have just transferred for a while but he's a crucial student in our class so we're grieving his death," said by the student seating near the entrance to explain Hikaru's death.

"My very much condolences with you all and his family," she said with a not fake compassion. The classmate accepted the sympathy and thanked Hina. Hina then went to her seat next to Toby's.

"Hey, Amamiya, did you do something that made them remembered?", Toby asked.

"Ara, perhaps Killi-ya-ma-kun have discovered something, huh?", she replied.

"What do you mean?"

Hina didn't answer Toby's question and she raised her index finger placing it in front of her lips, making a shushing gesture. "It's our secret, Toby-kun."

"What the-" Toby got interrupted in his words after the teacher immediately started to lecture.

"Sh*t! I'll get her next period," he said to himself.

The first period ends, "Now, I'll confront her this time," talking to himself. Suddenly, before he make a move, other classmates approached her regarding various topic that made him not able to do anything. "Next period for sure."

It's now third period, "Hey, Amamiya," he said. But, to his surprise, Hina acts as if he's not there, making him ignored.

"Sh*t! Is she playing with me?" He went to the bathroom for a small break and making his plan, forgoing Hikaru's situation.

He came back from the call of nature and went to his seat. Still, he cannot approach Hina because the third period will start.

As he seated, a paper fall off from the compartment below his desk, making him confused.

"What is this? A letter? Did something happened while I'm gone?", he's having internal monologue while looking on his surroundings on who might putted that paper in his desk. "I won't know if I don't open it now."

He opened the envelope and read what's written on it.

"Meet me behind the Annex building 2 after lunch. I'm sure you're interested hearing my words - Hina Amamiya" is what written on the letter.

"Why did she even include heart sign at the end? What the hell is with her."

He quickly glanced to Hina and noticed her quite a creepy yet cute grin. "What the hell is she getting through," he said, unmoved with her kawaii smile.

...

*ding

And thus the fourth period ends and marks the start of the lunch break. "Huh? Where's Amamiya?", Toby uttered after noticing Hina was out of the classroom.

"You're quite asleep in the last period, 10 minutes have passed since the class has ended so other students went to the cafeteria," Yamato uttered in quite a depressed voice. "Thank you, Yamato. You can have your lunch before me."

"Uhh, yeah."

Upon Yamato's approval, he went outside the classroom and went straight to the Annex building 2 to get answers from Hina.

...

"Hmmm..." She's humming while sitting on the bench behind the building. Small quantities of students pass through there so having to revelations in there is a good choice.

"Amamiya! There you are."

He saw Amamiya, "She's here. Wait, is she reading something? Isn't that Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment," he said upon meeting Hina who were reading a popular novel.

"Ara-ara, you're here, Toby-kun."