“Snik snik… I can never get married now.”
It was a while after Lily was released from their grasp.
Returning to the room, Lily had tears in the corners of her eyes as she sat in the corner, cross-legged.
“Oh, it was amazing, Li-lichi’s breasts. Totally different from mine, so I never got tired of it.”
In stark contrast, the face of one of the culprits, Shuri, gleamed with satisfaction.
She showed no remorse whatsoever.
“I’m sorry. I really went too far. To do such a thing to you, Lily-chan. If it comes to it, I’ll apologize by cutting my belly.”
“Heavy, heavy! You don’t have to go that far.”
On the other hand, the other culprit, Minaka, who had regained her sanity, seemed visibly down.
Without realizing it, a cutter knife from her pencil case was gripped in her hand, making a clicking sound.
Lily intervened when she heard the sound, fearing Minaka might actually cut her belly.
“Do you really forgive me?”
Her downcast eyes showed anxiety, afraid that Lily might dislike her.
“Well, I didn’t like having my chest touched, but that’s within the range of girls’ friendly physical contact. The talk about not being able to get married is just a joke. I don’t really think that seriously!”
“Lily-chan… I like you!”
“Whoa, don’t suddenly hug me!?”
Certainly, their physical contact was intense, touching various parts of Lily’s body, and she didn’t like it.
However, she had experienced similar things a few times in her first life, so she wasn’t about to get upset now.
Keeping the time loop a secret, she conveyed that she wasn’t angry. Overwhelmed by her feelings, Minaka hugged Lily.
The cool Minaka, unexpectedly, did something like that, leaving Lily flustered.
Seeing Minaka rubbing her cheek, Lily’s opinion of Minaka changed considerably.
Afterward, Lily and her friends discussed the events of the day at the outdoor school and engaged in some girlish talk about romance.
However, since they had recently entered high school, there was no information about who liked whom.
Although Lily knew who the girls in her class had crushes on due to the time loop, revealing that information would be too unnatural, so she kept it to herself.
The conversation then shifted to discussions about their middle school love lives, and most of the spotlight was taken by Shuri.
When asked about her relationship with Saito, Lily shared a somewhat embarrassing childhood episode, making it clear that she didn’t see him as a romantic interest.
“Well, it’s about time to sleep and prepare for tomorrow.”
When engrossed in something, time passes quickly. Glancing at the clock, Lily noticed it was past 10, the usual bedtime.
Although it was still early for her, today’s outdoor activities had accumulated more fatigue than she expected, making her eyelids heavy.
As the conversation naturally concluded, she suggested it was time to sleep.
“Let’s do that. Ahh, I’m so tired today. My eyelids are heavy because I don’t usually exercise.”
“Ehh, we still have a lot to talk about… Szzz”
Seemingly, the drowsiness wasn’t limited to Lily alone.
Minaka readily agreed to Lily’s proposal, and Shuri, who seemed to have more to say, gradually fell asleep in the middle of her sentences.
“You fell asleep at an incredible speed. Just like that kid from that certain robot cat anime.”
“Hehe, be careful not to catch a cold. Let’s go to sleep too?”
In awe of Shuri’s incredible speed of falling asleep, Minaka likened her to a character from an anime.
Finding the expression surprisingly accurate, Lily couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“Yes, good night, Lily-chan.”
“Good night, Minaka-chan.”
Covering her friends with blankets, Lily turned off the room’s lights and lay down.
Closing her eyes, not as fast as Shuri but certainly not as slow as Minaka, both of them easily drifted into the world of dreams.
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Click.
In the sinking darkness, a mechanical shutter sound echoed.
Due to my mother being a photographer, this sound was familiar yet disliked by me.
Opening my eyes, I found myself standing in front of the train station Lily often used.
However, the sky was covered with dark clouds, and it seemed like rain was about to fall.
(I need to go back.)
Nevertheless, with that vague thought, I turned away from the station and started walking towards my home.
Click.
As I passed the intersection, I heard the shutter sound.
Turning my gaze towards the direction of the sound, but there was no one there.
Thinking it might be my imagination, I convinced myself and walked past the park. Then, I heard the shutter sound again, two times this time, from the direction of the park.
Reacting to the sound, I immediately looked to the side, but again, no one was visible.
Feeling an indescribable sense of discomfort, I continued walking past the park. This time, I heard the shutter sound three times from the opposite lane as I crossed the bridge.
The third time’s a charm, and this time, I turned my gaze to the side, but a truck passed right in front of me, blocking my view.
Once the truck was gone, unsurprisingly, there was no one there.
Click click click click.
After hearing it from behind, I turned around.
Still, no one.
Click click click click click.
From the left, I heard it five times, but there was no one there.
Click click click click click click.
Six times from the right, yet no one.
Click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Repeated dozens of times, with the fear reaching its limit, I ran away from the spot.
Click click click click click click.
I didn’t care about the sound anymore.
I just wanted to run. Run. Run. Run. Run.
(Home!)
When it became difficult to breathe, and my run turned into wheezing, I finally saw my home.
In an instant, an indescribable sense of relief enveloped me.
Ignoring the incessant shutter sound, I rushed into the house and hastily locked the door.
The sound stopped, and relieved, I collapsed on the spot.
Now, everything was fine.
That’s what I thought, but at that moment, my vision distorted, and I found myself in a different place.
In front of me was the door of a certain apartment.
With a click, the sound of the unlocked door reached my ears, and as the door opened, a boy with naturally curly hair and darkened pupils, holding a camera, appeared.
“[More, let me take more of your sparkle?]”
As he muttered those words, the bundle of photos showing my reflection entwined around my legs, trying to pull me into the door.
[…No, stop. No─────Ahh~! Huuu, huuu!]
Just as Lily, overwhelmed by fear, was about to scream, she woke up from the dream, panting heavily.
Breathing heavily like during an asthma attack, it was suffocating.
The sweat from her entire body, the unpleasant kind, flowed out, making her feel nauseous.
For now, to focus on stabilizing her breathing, she concentrated on regulating her breath, taking about three minutes to stabilize.
(Worst. Oh, is anyone awake?)
“Soo, soo.”
“Spee. Ah… there… good, Lilycchi… Spee.”
Having calmed down, Lily was able to check her surroundings calmly. The room was still dark, indicating it was nighttime.
Which meant everyone was still asleep.
She checked the faces of her friends sleeping on either side of her to see if she had woken anyone up with her scream earlier, but they were both sleeping peacefully.
“…… Thank God.”
Realizing this, Lily sighed in relief, exhaling a breath she had been holding.
If she had unintentionally woken up her friends with her scream due to the nightmare, it would have been incredibly embarrassing.
For now, to avoid causing any more disturbances, Lily quietly left the room and exited the dormitory.
The outside is chilly, despite it being spring, and the clear air pierces the skin.
Enduring that, Lily sits on a bench beside a vending machine.
“What should I do, really?”
She’s contemplating the nightmare she just had, or rather, the stalking incident she experienced once, which was the trigger for it all.
It was a dream, so it was exaggerated a little, but it actually happened.
The nightmare began about a month into her high school life, on her way home, when she started hearing the sound of a shutter click, “pasha.”
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