At the time when school hours were over.

At the gymnasium, Misaki went to see Kazuto who was warming up to play basketball.

“Onii-chan, I’m going home first, okay. Don’t come home too late.”

“… Yeah.”

Kazuto was a bit confused by her because she came just to say goodbye first. If it was usual, then Misaki would just go home without having to tell him.

“Is there a place you’re going to visit today?”

With a slight pause, Misaki answered with a held breath.

“… No. I’ll go straight home.”

Kazuto began to feel suspicious that there was something she was hiding when his forehead began to frown, so Misaki finally was a little honest to get rid of his suspicion.

“W-Wait a minute, after thinking about it I’m going to try to go buy some cake. Do you remember when I fainted? I want to go there again because I haven’t tasted the cake yet.”

Misaki could use this excuse to go there because she hadn’t bought any cake there yet at that time. With the pretext of trying to recreate the recipe, it was the only best reason Misaki could have.

“Are you going alone, without anyone? Are you sure? That place is a bit far.”

“Don’t worry, Onii-chan. I’ll be back soon after buying the cake. So there won’t be any problem.”

She said trying to convince him.

“… All right. But come back right away after you buy it, understand?”

After a little hesitation, Kazuto finally allowed her with a little arrangement for her to follow. He didn’t want anything to happen to Misaki.

“Hehe, okay. Well then, see you later, Onii-chan. I love you!”

After hugging him once, Misaki left him with small steps while greeting some friends and club members of Kazuto.

“Ohh, Yamazaki-san. Good luck with your practice, okay!”

“Ehh, okay… Aniki’s sister.”

After hearing the confused answer from Kenta, Misaki left the gymnasium. However, Kazuto continued to watch the place she left even after she was gone. Somehow, he felt very worried that something would happen to her. He couldn’t let go of his worries at all, instead, it kept ringing in his head.

“It’s just… My feeling, right?”

---

“Hey! Misaki!”

Exiting through the front gate of the school, Misaki was about to go home first to do something before a loud voice calling her name was heard.

Glancing at the source, she could see Endou running towards her with high spirits. He finally arrived in front of her when he pulled out 2 tickets from his pocket.

“Hey, I got 2 discount tickets to—”

“I refuse, I have to go somewhere by myself.”

His sentence that was cut off and got a clear rejection made Endou accidentally fall slumped in despair.

“At least listen before you refuse. You’re crushing my soul right before I even touch heaven.”

Endou complained as he stood up and dusted off the dust on his uniform.

“Hmph, in the end you’ll fall to the bottom of hell.”

Misaki smiled sweetly at him as she replied.

“Ouch! How cruel, you even smile sweetly at the suffering I’m going to experience!”

“Ohh, so you’ve already registered yourself with a housing agent in hell?”

“Of course not!”

Misaki laughed for a moment at his reaction before making an apologetic face.

“Sorry, but I really have to go somewhere.”

“Hmm, where? Want me to accompany you?”

Endou had a question mark over his head as he was curious.

Misaki then replied by closing her eyes partly and making a silent gesture on her mouth.

“It’s a secret. And I want to go alone.”

“Emm, okay. If you feel confident to going alone. But come back right away if you feel unwell.”

He said with concern.

Smiling sourly at her friend’s worry, she shook her head lightly.

“Don’t worry, I can handle it. Well then, I’m going first, I’m in a hurry!”

“Ahh, yeah. Be careful then.”

Endou replied as he made a thoughtful face about whether he should follow her secretly or not. He knew how Misaki was easily scared and uncomfortable with strangers around her, even though her condition had improved and was not as bad as before, he was still worried.

“And don’t try to secretly follow me or I’ll make your face like meatball!”

Knowing the other’s mind, Misaki who was already far away shouted to warn him. She clearly didn’t want to be followed in any way.

“Kugh, okay I understand.”

He finally canceled his intention after that threat. Misaki certainly wouldn’t do that, but he could feel the clear emotion if he tried to follow her.

“What does she really want to do.”

He sighed and walked away. Without knowing that the decision he took was a small mistake that he might regret for a long time.

---

“I’m back here again.”

Standing at the point where she used to faint, Misaki finally came back here after some time passed.

After leaving the hospital and becoming healthier she never tried to come again because she had successfully surveyed most of the place at that time.

This district is a shopping and residential district and is located in the corner of Tokyo. The population density here is not too big or small, vehicles other than buses and trucks are also rare to pass here.

Passing the corner of the wall and sidewalk, Misaki kept walking around several times while looking around.

“Well, it’s impossible for me to find the victim here.”

Misaki muttered with a tired sigh.

It was said that the murder incident occurred around 8 to 9 pm with the victim suffering stab wounds and slash wounds. And the victim himself was not a resident here and just a middle-aged man who happened to pass by after returning from work. After that, several random motiveless murder incidents occurred around this area, creating terror for the community. And that’s where Shirogane’s father stepped in as a police officer to investigate the case, but had to end up with him as a victim, his wife and one of his children were not spared either, leaving only Shirogane himself who created his cold and aloof personality.

And this is the reason Misaki wanted to change the future so that it wouldn’t happen.

“Honestly, I can’t believe I have to do this for a junior club member at my school.”

She added as she increased the number of sighs for today.

Misaki’s plan to stop the future that will happen is very simple, even it can’t be called a plan because of how simple it is.

First, she will wait for everything to happen according to what will happen in the future. But, right at the moment the killer was about to start it action, she would interrupt it by throwing stones or bottles and solid objects that could hurt it. With that, she would give time to the victim to call the police or catch the perpetrator who was supposed to commit a chain murder in the future, saving the people who were supposed to die, and keeping Shirogane’s family alive!

Misaki honestly had no plan other than that. She didn’t have a cell phone in the first place to start with. She was supposed to buy it before today, but she was too restless to remember it and she regretted it a bit now. In this district there were also not many buildings that exceeded 3 floors around here because it was only a shopping and residential area, so trying to watch from a far and safe point was not there. Besides, she might also have to stay here until nightfall because of the uncertain range of events. She couldn’t guess at all, when exactly the first murder incident happened because she wasn’t the one who saw it herself. Even if her memory was strong, she certainly couldn’t remember something that was outside her own scope. And she also had to make dinner for Kazuto faster so he wouldn’t starve before. She even still wore her school uniform and carried her bag unconsciously.

“Okay, don’t be too tense because it will be poison.”

Misaki patted her cheeks to give herself encouragement as she continued to walk.

Passing a certain point, she finally arrived at a narrow alley. Even though there were houses around, an uncomfortable silent atmosphere somehow filled the atmosphere because there were rarely any passers-by, the sunlight also couldn’t get in due to the high fence of a construction project that gave a cold feeling on the back.

Misaki thought that she had entered a horror movie scene after seeing this place.

“From this point it should be the main place where the incident happened.”

Looking at the unattended trash can next to the power pole, she walked over there before finding a hidden corner created from a broken fence. An adult could get into the gap with a little effort.

“Maybe the killer hid here to wait for the victim to pass before devouring him-- no, if it’s a serial killer who even commits murder with unclear specific targets, it shouldn’t do that. Because this alley is narrow and only 2 people can pass side by side, then it should do it at the moment of crossing with it target. Or…”

Even without the help of a police investigator or knowing the exact incident, Misaki had thought of various scenarios that were most likely to happen and simulated them in her head. Every object or place that was suspicious had been entered into her mind as a determinant variable with what could and what couldn’t for the perpetrator to carry out it actions.

“Ugh, without knowing the characteristics and personality of the perpetrator itself makes me have trouble with how it acts. My head is dizzy now.”

Misaki scratched her head with a pouty face when too many scenarios had run in her head due to the lack of knowledge she had.

In the end, possibilities were only possibilities. It could be that things happened outside of her estimates that created a critical situation for herself or others. She wouldn’t be able to act properly if the placement between her and the perpetrator collided or didn’t match her expectations, and her target would change to her before she did something.

“I need to see more broadly, my view is too narrow.”

She then looked at the direction of the abandoned construction site before walking there.

Because there was no one guarding there, Misaki easily sneaked in. She shouldn’t have entered a place like this because of the danger. She could have been hit by a reinforced concrete that might fall from the upper floor or hit by the rubble of a brick wall that was brittle due to erosion. But because someone’s life was at stake and Misaki was serious about saving them, she didn’t care too much.

“Because I’m only going to do this once to change the future, at least I’ll be serious.”

Climbing the stairs to the top, Misaki finally reached the 3rd floor which was the highest floor.

Feeling the gloomy cold air and the dust that piled up, Misaki became uncomfortable but didn’t show it on her face. At least this place wasn’t too dark that made her endure and not run away.

Looking around in each unfinished room that only contained some wooden boards she found something unusual when her attention was drawn to a pile of trash that had accumulated in the corner.

“This… Is there someone who often comes here and messes around? This trash is still new because it doesn’t have any dust.”

Starting from a pile of cans to plastic trash had created a small mountain here. Which means there was someone who had come here repeatedly.

“I wonder who did this.”

Misaki was a little curious, but she didn’t want to find out too much and she didn’t have time for it.

She finally stood up and walked away from that room and headed to a room where the wall construction was still not built.

“From here I can finally see more now.”

Nodding satisfied as she looked down where there was the place she stood before, Misaki began to think seriously when she squinted her eyes.

She had started to do simulations in her head again.

At least, with all the knowledge she had about this problem and reduced by the lack of additional information about the perpetrator himself made her only get 3 most definite possibilities.

The first, the perpetrator might have targeted the victim after seeing him several times with his habit of returning home through this road until he/she hid and waited somewhere, for example the hidden gap that she found behind the pole and trash can earlier, and when the victim passed by there he/she would do his/her action. Or the second, when the victim walked through the alley he/she crossed paths with the perpetrator, and when they were close, with the condition of the narrow alley where only 2 people could walk side by side, the perpetrator managed to kill him because of the area that was too narrow to avoid and the shock effect of what he experienced. And the third, the perpetrator had been following the victim from behind when he/she saw him walking alone through a quiet area, until when he entered this alley, he/she finally killed him there.

That was all the most likely thing to happen from her point of view considering that she was completely lacking information, it was good for her to be able to make that rough conclusion.

But, there was one hole that she didn’t notice because she only focused on the range of time the murder happened.

“Hey!”

She never considered that the killer was here long before he did it or not.

“What are you doing in a place like this?”

A voice called her with a loud and suspicious tone that made Misaki startled and quickly looked behind.

From the entrance, a middle-aged man stood there. His body was thin like an old man. He wore a dark blue office shirt suit and carried a bag and plastic bag in his hand. His face was gaunt and slightly wrinkled, his eyes even showed black lines that showed how tired he was working, his hair itself showed signs of baldness with the loss of hair in the middle.

The man’s expression could be said to be ugly as he stared at Misaki. As if someone had trespassed through his house without permission.

Then he slowly approached Misaki, making him look intimidating.

Misaki herself became alert and a bit scared when her face looked pale and broke out in a sweat. She didn’t expect anyone to come here at the right time when she was here, moreover, the person looked strange!

“What are you doing here?”

He asked as he stood in front of Misaki.

Misaki trembled. His eyes, his gaze, looked numb as if he was tired of dealing with life. It was the same feeling when her brother started to hate her and scold her more often. Only, this person had fallen too deep until the aura around him felt uncomfortable.

Depression.

At least, from Misaki’s point of view, she saw him like that.

But rather than feeling sympathetic, Misaki felt a primal fear since she saw him. She wanted to run away from here as soon as possible.

“U-Um… I-I’m just…”

Misaki who felt a crisis finally chose to run away from him when she saw him away from the exit because he approached her.

“Hey, why are you running!”

Misaki, who just ignored his scream as she kept running. She could hear the sound of footsteps chasing her from behind.

I have to get out of here!

That was all that was on her mind right now.

At a time not far different since Misaki got off at her stop.

“Hmm, should I buy Hikari cake again later as a reason I’m walking around here? Nah, her teeth are already rotten, mom also said to temporarily not let her eat sweet things, even though it’s been more than a month. I feel sorry for Hikari.”

Shirogane, who also just arrived after taking the bus, was walking around while looking at the sky.

He often played around in this area after school. In fact, he would also go home when it was past 9 or 10 pm which made his parents often worried. If only he didn’t have a cell phone in his hand and contacted them to give news about his whereabouts, then a missing child search would often appear on the police officers around.

Soon he smiled as he thought of a new idea in his mind.

“Hmm, maybe looking for lost items will be a good reason next. Yeah, let’s use that.”

But, all he did was just a cover.

“I wonder when the killer will show up.”

Playing around and buying cake was just an excuse for him. What he really did was watch, look, see, or if possible, stop the murder that might happen in the future.

Yes, he was similar to Misaki in one way or another. He was a person who reincarnated from the future to the past. And with the excess he had, he hoped to be able to change the future for more better.

“Damn it, if only I could remember the report date of the murder happened or even got the name of the first victim, I wouldn’t be wallowing here for more than 3 months.”

Unfortunately, his memory was not as sharp as Misaki who could remember something clearly. Plus, before reincarnating, he also had too many problems to deal with, too many, until he almost forgot all the cases that happened while he was working in the police. But that doesn’t mean he completely forgot, he could vaguely remember, at least through the face to some extent.

And here he also had been around for months to take care of the first murder case that one day made his father and his family have to leave him. He couldn’t remember the exact date and month, but what he knew was, this was the most painful year in his life. Therefore, he could only wait.

“Well, maybe it will happen soon-”

His steps and words suddenly stopped when he felt something.

“This… Misaki is here? What is she doing?”

He looked in a certain direction as if he was looking at someone.

“Hmm, should I go to say hello to her. She didn’t contact me at all even after the incident at the hospital, or did the cat not tell her?”

A smile curled on his lips as he remembered a vague past.

“I still wonder where the rude words she used to use went, or did she really act like this before going to high school? No, impossible. From what I remember from Senior’s words, Misaki had already acted rude to him long before this, at least when she was still in elementary school, so it shouldn’t be possible. And even if she reincarnated, her natural character wouldn’t change.”

Changing his direction, Shirogane left with the hope that at least he could get an answer from this.