Chapter 45

Repeat, Reset, Reset, SCENE 3 1. CLASSROOM It’s a high school classroom, belonging to first-year Class 6. It’s the 1,533rd cycle of the Rejecting Classroom. School has ended. The sky outside the window is as cloudy as it’s been all 1,533 times. Maria Otonashi is sitting on the teacher’s podium as she speaks with Daiya. Having inferred that Maria is no ordinary transfer student, Daiya is on guard. DAIYA …Don’t look at me. It bothers me. It feels like you can see everything about me. MARIA You aren’t entirely wrong. I have investigated my classmates to find the owner of the Rejecting Classroom, so I have information a transfer student shouldn’t know on her first day. The corners of Daiya’s mouth lift upward, and he adopts a mocking attitude. DAIYA What a bunch of nonsense. Fine, I’ll bite. What have you found? MARIA I know what’s on Kokone Kirino’s back. Daiya’s face stiffens visibly. DAIYA …How do you know about what’s on Kiri’s back? That’s the one thing she would never show to anyone. Even I’ve never seen it before… Don’t tell me you’re one of the people who hurt her? MARIA That’s the twenty-second time. DAIYA What is? MARIA That’s the twenty-second time you asked me that question when I referred to Kokone Kirino’s back. Daiya scowls. Of course, he doesn’t remember saying that. Only Maria, with her ability to retain her memories from the repetitions in the Rejecting Classroom, experienced them. Maria abruptly reflects on all the time she has spent in solitude, then lets out a weary sigh. MARIA I’ll explain how I got my hands on such information. I already…… [Time passes.] Maria tells Daiya she has lived this same March 2 over and over, 1,533 times. He listens in silence for a time without interjection. DAIYA I get it. You mentioned Kiri’s back to persuade me that all this BS is the truth. But that alone isn’t enough to eliminate the possibility that you just hired a private eye or something to look into Kiri. MARIA Well then, how about I mention something known only to you and another person? DAIYA …What? MARIA One of your childhood friends, Miyuki Karino, told you she had feelings for you, and you rejected her. Daiya’s eyes widen, but he promptly hides his bewilderment. DAIYA That’s definitely something only Rino and I would know. I haven’t told a soul about it, and I know she wouldn’t, either. However you got that knowledge, it can’t have been good. MARIA True. I most likely would have never known if I hadn’t heard it from you. DAIYA I wouldn’t tell you that. It doesn’t matter if this Rejecting Classroom of yours is for real. I’d never tell that story to another person. MARIA I’m sure you wouldn’t under normal circumstances. You told me how Kirino suffered as a result, and you did say you had never intended to tell anyone about that incident. Daiya would rather leave the subject untouched, and he fixes Maria with a stern glare. Though the intense gaze shakes her internally, Maria does not let it show on her face. She mastered the art of suppressing her emotions back when the number of times she had experienced March 2 was still in the triple digits. MARIA However, there was a reason for you to speak of it. DAIYA No way. I myself guarantee there could be no reason great enough. Maria recoils slightly at Daiya’s rebuttal, then pulls herself together and continues. MARIA You deliberately told me the part of your past you most wanted to keep hidden because you decided to cooperate with me. This was on the 1,532nd March second. DAIYA Are you an idiot? To cooperate with you? If you’re going to lie, at least come up with something good. MARIA A Box can grant any possible wish. DAIYA …So what? MARIA Something in your eyes changed once I told you of Boxes, and you eventually came around to the idea that they are real. Surely you must understand, since this is you we’re talking about here? You have a wish you want granted more than anything else. DAIYA ……[His brow furrows.] MARIA It would appear that rings a bell. You do want a Box. And that’s why you made a request to me. You work with me, and in return, I’ll teach you how to get ahold of a Box. DAIYA …[He thinks deeply.] …I’m not the trusting type, so I won’t buy your talk of ‘Boxes’ and ‘Rejecting Classrooms’ so easily. I told you that story about Rino—one you would never find out about under normal means—as a way to convince myself. So that I could convince the me in another world—the me in this loop—that your story about Boxes is true. MARIA That’s about the size of it. DAIYA …Damn… I hate to admit it, but a trick that favors practicality over emotion sounds a lot like an idea I would have. Relaxing inside, Maria drops down off the podium. Though she had sat up there to project an air of intimidation, it felt uncomfortable to her. She was raised well and never could do away with her feeling that it was bad manners. DAIYA I know my intentions, but how about yours? What’s in it for you, telling me all this? MARIA It allows me to make you my partner. DAIYA Is that really necessary? MARIA It’s because I’m in a deadlock. I need a change of perspective. DAIYA So you need a partner—but why me? MARIA Surely it can’t be so hard to figure out. You’re the smartest person in class; that’s all. In any case, your intelligence alone gave me cause to suspect you as the owner immediately, without any other proof. You do seem completely oblivious to the idea of being an owner, though, which has removed you as a suspect for now. DAIYA I’m smart, huh? Well, that may be true, but it’s still a poor reason for why it has to be me. You could probably use my inability to keep my memories and have other partners aside from me. You’re a partner whore. MARIA Relax. I can’t say anything about the future, but you’re my first partner. This is the first time I’ve felt like doing this. It’s possible the reason I feel this way is— Maria hesitates for a moment, then continues. MARIA —you and I have something in common.