The First Wound

Beep. Bip. Bip.

Monday, October 22nd. Day five.

I opened my eyes not with a panicked jolt, but with a strange calm. The silence of my room no longer felt oppressive; instead, it felt like the headquarters of a strategist before a battle. Despair had evaporated, leaving behind a cold, clear residue of determination.

I was no longer a victim of time. I was its researcher.

Before leaving, I opened the notes app on my phone and created a new entry titled: "Case Aizawa Nanami - Day One of Investigation." Below it, I wrote my main objective for the day: Observe. Record. Do Not Interfere.

At school, the world looked the same, but my lens had changed. I no longer saw students passing by, but witnesses and suspects.

"Morning, Arata," Kenta greeted cheerfully as usual. "Wow, you look... focused?"

"Just trying to pay attention in class," I replied flatly, a neat lie. "By the way," I said, pretending to tidy my books, "that Sasaki Rina, she seems really close to Aizawa, doesn't she?"

Kenta shrugged. "I guess. They've been together since middle school. The queen and her lady-in-waiting, I suppose? Why the sudden interest?"

"No reason. Just curious," I answered, storing that small piece of information. Together since middle school. That meant Rina definitely knew about the beauty pageant incident. She wasn't just a casual gossip; she was an eyewitness.

Lunch break arrived. I no longer hid at my desk. With my lunch box in hand, I headed to the cafeteria. Not to eat there, but to find a position. I found a spot near a pillar, far enough to be inconspicuous, but close enough to observe the table where Nanami's group usually gathered.

And sure enough, they were there. Nanami, Rina, and two other girls. They were laughing, sharing food, looking like the perfect picture of friendship from a teen magazine. I watched in silence, like a predator studying the habits of its prey.

I waited. I knew from the previous loops that the moment would come. It happened when Nanami got up from the table to return her tray.

The moment Nanami turned her back, the dynamic at the table shifted instantly.

"She really never has a bad day, does she? Always perfect," one of the girls said.

"Of course," Rina chimed in with a sweet tone that now sounded like poison to my ears. "She's our goddess. But sometimes I feel sorry for her. She must be under so much pressure to be perfect, especially after that embarrassing incident at the middle school beauty pageant. Just because of a tiny stain on her dress, her confidence was completely shattered on stage."

A few of them chuckled. A laugh disguised as sympathy.

There it was. I had it. The first piece of evidence. A wound intentionally poked open again by the very person who was supposed to protect it. I quickly typed my findings into my phone: Suspect #1: Sasaki Rina. Motive: Envy. Weapon: Backhanded compliments, reminders of past trauma.

Nanami returned to the table, completely unaware that the foundation of her world had just been eroded by her own "friends."

I no longer followed the rest of the day with bated breath. I already knew the ending. I let time run its course. I went home early, locked myself in my room, and stared at the notes on my phone.

The accident at the intersection... it felt so trivial now. It was merely the final dot at the end of a series of small, invisible attacks Nanami had endured all day. The first attack came from her own friend.

When the ambulance sirens wailed in the distance, I felt nothing but the coldness of analysis. I had found the first piece of the puzzle.

But this revelation gave birth to a far more complicated problem. Before, my enemy was "fate," an abstract concept. Now, my enemy had a face and a sweet smile.

I couldn't warn Nanami, because she wouldn't believe me. I couldn't confront Rina, because that would only make me look crazier.

That night, as the darkness began to pull me back, a new question replaced the despair in my mind.

"How do you save someone from the enemy they call their best friend?"

Bip. Bip. Bip.

Day six. The protection operation was about to begin.