Part 16

Starting from the 800th loop, I stopped tracking the exact number of loops, because it didn't matter anymore.

In their place, for the sake of possible future developments, I instead wrote down all the events that'd happened up to now, in meticulous detail, and stored them in the 16th train car.

Besides going through the motions of necessary events, I spent all my time living an ordinary life with Ji Hengsheng.

When I got bored of the dining car's offerings, I'd ask Hengsheng to make me something more homey.

If I got tired of hanging out in one place, I'd just wander to a different train car instead.

It was strange how quickly the loops went by when I stopped being so tense.

Originally I'd been afraid to say extraneous things, for fear of somehow disrupting the peaceful life I'd found, but eventually I started just telling Ji Hengsheng about all the things I'd experienced over previous loops, framing them as dreams or idle fantasies, and she would listen with rapt interest.

Every day passed with little change, but somehow it all felt perfectly comfortable.

But then, somewhere around two thousand loops or so, when I thought that things would just keep going like this forever...

Wu Shi: ...S...!

On the second night of a certain loop, in the midst of the crowded dining car, S appeared without warning.

Nobody paid him any attention, strangely enough. Everyone continued to eat as normal and chat as normal, as though they couldn't see S.

Wu Shi: ...Am I being delusional again??

I rubbed my eyes, but S didn't disappear.

I felt like my mental state was- well, decent- right now. There was no reason for me to be seeing delusions.

W-wait.

Was this... what I'd been hoping for?

No, don't jump to conclusions.

Maybe some other change in the timeline caused someone to disguise themselves as S...?

I couldn't let my guard down-

Ji Hengsheng: Shi-chan, is there something wrong?

Yu Guang: Yeah, what's up with you?

Wu Shi: Then...

Wu Shi: Is it you?

Wu Shi: God of Time- is it you?

??: See you on the top of the train.

And then it turned and ran- no, it flew away.

Wu Shi: Wait don't you- GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!

I got up and chased him immediately, but he moved so quickly it was like he was inhuman!

Wu Shi: Dammit.

Ji Hengsheng: Shi-chan, what's going on?!

Yu Guang: Dude, did you see a ghost or what??

Wu Shi: I saw a proves-my-hypothesis-about-the-time-god-RIGHT is what I saw! FUCK YEAH! My guess was accurate! There really is a Time God!

Ji Hengsheng / Yu Guang: ...........

I raised my hands in celebration.

I'd done it!

After two thousand loops, ten years of waiting-

I'd finally come face to face with the being I'd wanted to meet!

An hour before Wu Shi met the God of Time...

Se Yue: Wu Shi's wrong.

Ji Hengsheng: Eh?

For some reason, the princess had called me to her private rooms, and the first thing she said to me when she saw me was that completely uncontextualized statement.

Se Yue: I said, Wu Shi, he's completely wrong.

Se Yue: There's no such thing as a Time God. Like are you kidding me? A Time God???

Ji Hengsheng: Okay, uh, you've lost me, what are we even talking about.

Se Yue: ...Let's just start over from the beginning.

Qian Yuan, popping up out of nowhere: Sorry, Hengsheng-senpai. I overheard your conversation with Wu Shi-senpai.

Ji Hengsheng: Well... uh... I forgive you?? It's not like we were talking about anything important???

All Wu Shi had been talking about was a fantastical story of a man who'd been forced to relive three days of his life over and over, and ultimately rediscovering what was truly important to him within those loops, after all

Qian Yuan: ...No, that's all real, I'm pretty sure. After all, I've been through the same thing myself.

Se Yue: After I heard Qian Yuan's report, I headed to the back of the train to investigate, and do you know what I found there? Countless tallies, is what.

Se Yue: I'm missing most of the important information, but I'm pretty sure that we are very deep in the loops, right now.

Ji Hengsheng: So... Shi-chan has.... been through all this... thousands of times, just for the slim hope of finding a way out??

Se Yue: Indeed. I have to give him credit. This is an impressive amount of loops to endure. I can't imagine anybody- other than me, of course- being able to endure so long.

I lost my confidence in my own ability to understand Shi-chan, in that moment.

Se Yue: Wu Shi is right about the universe wanting to return to its undistorted shape. And he certainly is making quite a distortion. But the Time God isn't going to show up just because he's made a big enough distortion with his time loop.

Ji Hengsheng: Why won't the Time God appear?

I approached him.

I stopped when I was five or so steps away from him.

.....

For some reason, I was afraid to approach.

I was definitely the error in this world, and I'd finally pulled down God to meet him face-to-face.

But, now that he was here, he had plenty of ways to resolve the error of me.

For starters, he could just kick me off the train and kill me that way. That'd definitely be one way to solve the problem that I represented.

Maybe that was why the Time God had manifested in the form of S.

Because he knew that S was equivalent to death and terror, in my eyes.

??: Human.

The Time God's voice was mechanical, just like S's.

??: Why dost thou toy with the laws?

Wu Shi: ......

??: Thou fearest not to create the severest of transgressions, all to call mine august personage to this place. What seeketh thou?

Wu Shi: I want to live.

??: ......

Wu Shi: Please allow me to live even after the tour ends.

??: H....

??: Hhhhhhh.... HaaaAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Time God released an uncharacteristic cackle.

My gut twisted. My intuition told me that something was about to go extremely wrong.

Se Yue: If he continues as is, he only has two options:

Se Yue: Prolong the loop in perpetuity,

Se Yue: Or terminate the loop by accepting his own death.

Ji Hengsheng: Isn't... isn't there another option?!

Se Yue: The only method is, perhaps, that he could burn his extraneous memories and jump to the future, and thereby create the predestined effect of his survival.

Se Yue: Let's say he did this in the first loop. In that case, he'd have run into the grandfather paradox, which requires that someone operate the time machine on the first loop.

Se Yue: He overcame this by solving the problem of using the time machine without generating any additional fuel, by becoming both user and original fuel himself. But, ironically, this means that he can't jump to the future, anymore.

Se Yue: Because Wu Shi is the only observer on this timeline, and in his own perception, his death has already been established at the terminal point.

Ji Hengsheng: ...Us?

Se Yue: Yes. We've only got this one shot.

Se Yue: If this doesn't work, we'll forget everything next loop.

Se Yue: And, in the future, if Wu Shi doesn't use the contents of this loop as idle discussion material with you, we'll never have a chance to pick up from where we left off here.

Se Yue: And even if he does, there's no guarantee that Qian Yuan will be around to pick up on it, and no guarantee that Qian Yuan will hear enough to report to me with enough detail that I'll be able to reconstruct this whole affair.

Se Yue: The fact that I can stand in front of you and tell you this, is the miracle that Wu Shi has won through his two thousand loops of sustained determination.

Se Yue: I'll set up a Time God who saves him.

Ji Hengsheng: ?????????

Se Yue: In the first stage, while everyone's eating lunch in the train car, I'll arrange an imitation God of Time to appear.

Se Yue: For verisimilitude, I'll have Qian Yuan instruct everyone in the train car not to react to the appearance of the God of Time, too.

Se Yue: The God of Time will use the phone software hidden in his clothes to emit sound, and because there's no person inside the costume, we can rely on animatronics to create movements that are entirely unlike that of humans.

Ji Hengsheng, who is APPARENTLY JUST GOING ALONG WITH ALL THIS: Okay, and then?

Se Yue: And then is the all-important second step, of course.

Se Yue: We must become the God of Time.

Ji Hengsheng: By that, you mean...

Se Yue got a costume out from the closet.

When I saw it, I...

Didn't remember anything.

But I felt a stabbing pain in my heart.

Se Yue: I mean that we'll wear the garment of the God of Time, and trick Wu Shi into believing that the God of Time truly exists.

Se Yue: He cannot himself burn his memories to travel to the future, but we can use the identity of the God of Time and achieve this for him.

Se Yue: Wu Shi is the only observer on the whole train; his perceptions alone represent the entirety of the universe of the 16th train car.

Se Yue: So long as he firmly believes that his salvation came from a being which transcended the rules on a fundamental level, then we'll be able to succeed with a jump to the future.

Se Yue: If humans can be bound with perception and causation, then surely they can be saved by false understandings as well.

Se Yue: So go and deceive him.

Se Yue: Make him believe a higher being has descended.

Se Yue: Make him believe that his efforts have borne fruit.

Se Yue: Because of the thousands of loops he's tormented himself with, he will be more than ready to believe that the God of Time before him is the real thing.

A...ah...

Se Yue looked like she was sparkling. It was enchanting. Even I couldn't take my eyes off her.

So this is what an 'extraordinary person' looks like.

Se Yue: God is incapable of intervention in the world.

Se Yue: So, let us humans do His job for Him.

Se Yue plased the robes in my hands.

Se Yue: Let us destroy the rules and bring salvation to all things.

Ji Hengsheng: Uh... why me?

Se Yue: You're the best choice for this.

Ji Hengsheng: But, surely, Yue-chan would be a better choice. I mean, you're so smart, and...

Se Yue: That is insufficient. I have made all these discoveries through sheer deduction alone-

Ji Hengsheng: It's pretty impressive, you know!

Se Yue: But it's insufficient, still. I don't know the details- I don't know exactly what kind of journey he's taken, what his attitudes and feelings are. If I slip up and make a mistake in our conversation, that'll be a disaster.

Ji Hengsheng: But, I don't know, either, any of those things...

Se Yue: That doesn't matter.

Se Yue: Even if you don't know what he's been through specifically, you can understand him anyways, right?

Ji Hengsheng: ......Mmm.

Hugging the garments of the God of Time, I nodded.

Compared to Se Yue, there was nothing outstanding or special about myself.

But, I understood Shi-chan better than anyone else, and was closer to him than anyone else.

That was the sole pride I held.

Se Yue: Go, now.

Se Yue: If even you cannot save him, then there is nobody who can save him.

Se Yue: All these loops have been to bring him before you.

Se Yue: You are his God of Time.

Like Yue-chan said, this was our one shot.

If we blew this one, Wu Shi's credulousness would be expended; we'd never be able to make him believe that the Time God standing in front of him was real, ever again.

Wu Shi: Please allow me to live even after the tour ends.

??: H....

??: Hhhhhhh.... HaaaAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Wu Shi: ....?!

??: Thou dares to bargain with Me?

?? Why should I grant thine request? What benefit hath this for Mine purposes?

Wu Shi: You don't need me to offer you anything else.

Wu Shi: You exist to restore the natural timeline's order.

Wu Shi: Eliminating the bug that I am will cause all the laws to return to their rightful place.

Wu Shi: That's the biggest benefit you'll receive from all this.

Wu Shi: How's that, God of Time?

Okay, now what?

What was I supposed to say here?

Grant his request so that happy ending could arrive?

No...

Staring into Shi-chan's eyes, I realized it couldn't be as simple as that.

His eyes stared into my own, as though he were trying to see through me to the contradictions I concealed.

Even though he'd been through so many things I didn't know about, and become so different as a result,

At heart he was still the Shi-chan I knew so well- the Wu Shi who was sincere to all things.

...Ugh, if he'd seen through me, couldn't he have spoken up about it? Why did he have to test me like this?

I was the only one who could pretend to be the Time God, because only I could possibly successfully understand Shi-chan's thoughts, even when I knew almost nothing about what he'd been through.

At that moment, I realized something, through some kind of deep intuition-

Shi-chan was waiting for someone, and that someone was not the Time God.

...If things were allowed to go on like this, the plan would fail.

...Make him believe a higher being has descended.

...Make him believe that his efforts have borne fruit.

The important thing was- to make him believe, that there existed a higher being, who could save him.

It didn't have to be the Time God.

Ji Hengsheng: You've guessed correctly.

Ji Hengsheng: I am not the true Time God.

Qian Yuan: Mistress! Just what is miss Hengsheng saying?!

The events atop the train car were being simulcasted to my phone through hidden cameras in the bird-faced mask of the costume.

Qian Yuan: She's ruining your plan, mistress, telling the truth about pretending to be the God of Time...!

Se Yue: ...I'm sure she has something in mind. We should continue to watch for now-

Se Yue: ...Why do I hear the sound of an alarm?

Qian Yuan: Mistress, I just received an alert. There's a group of masked Se family maids who're rushing to the tail of the train for an unknown reason!

Se Yue: Pfft. The Family Head's still trying to make trouble, even now?

Or maybe it was the suppressive powers of the universe itself, trying to prevent us from exploiting this loophole?

Qian Yuan: I will stop them, mistress.

Se Yue: I'll come along too.

Qian Yuan: But then there won't be anyone watching the events at the top of the train! If something actually does go wrong-

Se Yue (putting on kamina shades): Believe in Hengsheng, okay?

Qian Yuan: .......

Se Yue: At this point, that's all we can do, anyways.

Qian Yuan: ...Wait, doesn't this count as 'relying on others'?

Se Yue: Yeah? So what? Don't look so surprised that I'm violating the family rules.

Just how long has this trip been going on, anyways?

I must have been subconsciously changed by Wu Shi at some point.

Se Yue: Let's go, Qian Yuan.

Se Yue: I am the princess of the Se Family. No- I am the Se Family itself.

Se Yue: Let's show those fools what it means to oppose the will of the Se Family itself.

Ji Hengsheng: You've guessed correctly.

Ji Hengsheng: I am not the true Time God.

Wu Shi: ?!

Ji Hengsheng: The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws.

Ji Hengsheng: Come, now. Such an obvious flaw in the wording here- how could you have not noticed already?

Ji Hengsheng: You've always known that no Time God would appear before you, no matter how long the loops went on.

Wu Shi: ...Yeah.

Wu Shi let out a wry smile.

Wu Shi: At the start of the loop I really hoped that the Time God would show up if I just made a big enough scene.

Wu Shi: But now I know better. No matter how hard I work, the God of Time won't appear.

Ji Hengsheng: You're right. Gods will not interfere with and affect the laws.

Wu Shi: But, people can.

Ji Hengsheng: .......

His perceptive words nearly made me slip up.

Wu Shi: The you that appears before me here is without doubt a human.

Wu Shi: Just who are you?

Who was he waiting for?

Who was it that he had to wait for, even if he had to stop time itself?

There was only one answer to that, wasn't there.

Only one person who was worthy of Wu Shi waiting so long.

Ji Hengsheng: I supposed you've already guessed it by now.

Ji Hengsheng: I am Se Yue.

Wu Shi: ....Se Yue?

Ji Hengsheng: More accurately, I'm a 'Se Yue' from the distant future.

Wu Shi: .....

Ji Hengsheng: I've made you wait a long time for me, haven't I.

The person that Wu Shi was waiting for... was Se Yue.

Ji Hengsheng: I have come here from a distant future. I, like you, am a person from a different time.

Ji Hengsheng: So, leave it to me.

Stand up straight. Say it confidently.

Ji Hengsheng: If I can't save you, then there's nobody who can save you.

I just needed to maintain it for a minute, at most.

I couldn't compare to her, at all. But for the next few seconds,

I could be an existence equal to hers, at least within Wu Shi's own heart.

Ji Hengsheng: You've worked hard, Wu Shi.

Ji Hengsheng: Your efforts up to this point have formed what could be called a miraculous lifeline that pulled me to you here.

Enduring countless tragedies and a long holding period beyond my ability to imagine-

Ji Hengsheng: You've finally met the special person you've been waiting for, for so long.

Qian Yuan: Haaaaaah!

Qian Yuan judo-wrestled another maid to the floor before kicking her away.

It wasn't enough.

No matter how many of them we beat down, the rest of them kept coming like an endless tide.

Se Yue: These irritating- argh!

Se Yue: I cannot believe that the family head put so many spies around me.

Se Yue: If things continue like this, even if the plan really does work, Hengsheng won't be able to use the crest to reduce the length of the train and travel into the future...!

Because they were standing, at that point, on the juncture between the 12th and 13th train cars.

Ji Hengsheng: As I said, I am the future Se Yue.

Wu Shi: And what is the future Se Yue doing all the way back here?

Ji Hengsheng: In the end, you still perished.

Ji Hengsheng: But, the thousands of cycles that you accumulated, and which you wrote down as notes- all of those experiences became valuable experimental data for me.

Ji Hengsheng: With the data that you left behind for me, I was able to create a true time machine.

Ji Hengsheng: That's how I was able to come here.

Wu Shi: ...So that's why you're appearing in such a guise.

Ji Hengsheng: That's right. To prevent a time paradox, I can't allow anybody to perceive my true face or hear my true voice.

Wu Shi: ...Thank goodness...

Ji Hengsheng: ........

Wu Shi: ...My gambit really did pay off, in the end.

Wu Shi: I just knew that, if I built up enough loops, then you'd be able to save me somehow.

Ji Hengsheng: Indeed. I never fail, after all.

I stepped towards Shi-chan and pulled out an injector.

Ji Hengsheng: You must not be allowed to learn of the events after this, to prevent another time paradox. I ask only that you trust me.

Wu Shi: Okay.

Wu Shi obediently did as I indicated and stretched his wrist out to me.

...My plan had worked.

Because I understood him, I was able to deceive him.

As long as he truly believed that the being who was saving him was an extraordinary being, then even if it wasn't a god, his memories could still be burned to send his awareness to the future.

For some reason, my heart felt like it'd been pierced by something, suddenly.

Ji Hengsheng: After the true time machine is used to bring you to the future, you may experience a loss of certain memories. This is a natural effect and is not something to be concerned about.

Wu Shi: ...Okay. I just... want to ask one final question.

Ji Hengsheng: Go ahead.

Wu Shi: ...Why spend so much effort on inventing a time machine to save me?

...My heart hurt again.

I understood entirely why, of course.

Shi-chan was always sincere to his own self.

Even though he couldn't accept the idea of a God of Time appearing before him, in the end- he could accept that Se Yue came to sav ehim.

I suppose that he and Se Yue must have built up an unbreakable relationship over the loops.

Perhaps, the real reason why Shi-chan could survive in this hell-

was because Se Yue was always beside him.

I'd once said to him that, no matter what his final decision was, as part of his family, I'd be happy for him and support him no matter what, right?

So, there was only one answer I could give him.

Ji Hengsheng: Because you are very important to me.

I hugged him to my lap and spoke in Se Yue's stead to him.

Ji Hengsheng: To me, you are a being that I need to save no matter what, even if I must cross time to do so.

No matter what time or space...

I would always do everything I could to make sure that you could smile.

Qian Yuan: Mistress, the detachment mechanisms are activating, but because of the maids' interference, the train cars aren't able to cleanly detach!

Looks like Hengsheng's part of the plan went off as planned. Wu Shi was surely unconscious now.

But, on our end, the maids just showed no signs of stopping.

Qian Yuan: We've got no choice! We have to use the manual detach function to force it!

But it couldn't be done. There were just too many maids loyal to the family head.

There was only one option left.

I pulled the handgun from Qian Yuan...

And fired it into the air.

Se Yue: If you take one more step I'm going to murder you!

Despite my deadly threat, the maids didn't pause at all. They just kept coming.

I understood what was happening.

Se Yue: ...My father really is a piece of work, isn't he.

He'd given them all commands to fight to the death, in hopes that I would be forced to kill them myself. The more the merrier.

Because then, when the plan failed, all the people that I'd killed, plus Wu Shi, would become fuel, and I would be forced to go back in time to find a way to save them, lest I fail.

Or, even, if I could resist the temptation and not use the Tour of Time, the head could just find some other way to swap the users.

Either way, the effects of the Tour of Time would spread to the outside world.

Se Yue: Dammit, the Tour of Time belongs to ME!

Qian Yuan: Mistress, the activation phrase has already been input over at Hengsheng's side! If we don't detach the train within thirty seconds, the mechanisms will deactivate!

Se Family Maid: For the Se Family.

All the maids stepped up as one.

Se Family Maids, in unison: For the Se Family.

...I had no more time.

They all charged me at once.

All I could do was raise the gun towards them, slowly pull down on the trigger, and-

THE INTERRUPTING YU GUANG: hhhHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

Yu Guang: THE MESSIAH HAS DESCENDED!

Yu Guang barreled into the line of maids and scattered three of them like bowling pins with his first charge.

Qian Yuan: Yu Guang?! What are you doing here?!

Yu Guang: Oh, Hengsheng gave me a call. She said you two ran into trouble?

Qian Yuan: B-but- if it's just you, then there's not that much you can do to help with-

Yu Guang: Since when did I say I was alone?!

Yu Guang spread his hands.

Yu Guang: Relax! I've brought as much cavalry as you could ever ask for!

The whole Tour of Time shook like there was an earthquake, before the sound of a charging mob emerged from the frontal train cars!

DA: To dare to hurt our beloved princess Se Yue...!

WannaSinging: ATTACK! In the name of the student council, it's time for us to discharge our debts to the princess for this trip!

Se Family Maids: Subdue these interlopers, in the name of the Head, for the glory of the Se Family!

The student mob and the maids immediately locked into an all-out brawl.

Ji Hengsheng: Shi-chan...

Hugging an unconscious Wu Shi, I took the box that held the diamond ring from my pocket.

Ji Hengsheng: I'd originally wanted to find a good time to give you this, but I guess we're not going to get that opportunity in the end.

Shi-chan, in my lap, was glowing- turning radiant.

Ji Hengsheng: But that's fine. I suppose you don't need me to give you anything like that anymore.

Ji Hengsheng: You and Se Yue make a perfect couple.

Shi-chan was emitting blinding light, now, as though he'd disappear.

And I knew that our salvation plan had succeeded.

Ji Hengsheng: Come back to life.

Ji Hengsheng: Keep going forward.

Ji Hengsheng: Even if the person you choose isn't me, in the end-

I lowered my head and kissed him on the forehead.

Ji Hengsheng: I'm sure you'll still be able to grasp a happy future with your own hands.

Yu Guang: Oi, don't stress yourself.

Yu Guang: You just recovered from nearly dying, after all. Where're you trying to go in such a hurry.

Wu Shi: I wanna find Hengsheng.

Yu Guang: Can it wait? At least wait for the checkup or something-

Wu Shi: No.

Wu Shi: I can't even wait a moment.

After all, I've already waited for over a decade.

Yu Guang looked at me, and then nodded.

Yu Guang: Alright, then, leave it to me! I'll get you to Hengsheng without a hair of your head coming to harm.

Wu Shi: Yu Guang.

Yu Guang: Yeah?

Wu Shi: Thanks for everything all this time.

Yu Guang: Wow, you must have REALLY bonked your head if you're talking to me like this all sappy-like.

Yu Guang: It's like I've always said, anyways!

Yu Guang: As long as the three of us are together, we're invincible!

Ji Hengsheng was waiting for me at the station.

Something felt... off, about her?

Wu Shi: ...Hengsheng, you okay?

Ji Hengsheng: Mmmhm, yep!

Ji Hengsheng: Doing great! Never been better!

She pumped a fist in the air.

Yep, something was super off here.

For some reason, she started taking deep breaths.

Ji Hengsheng: deeeeep breaaaaath.

Ji Hengsheng: aaaaanother deeeeeep breaaaaath.

Ji Hengsheng: ...Okay!

Ji Hengsheng: So, y-you can, t-tell me now! I know you've got something to tell me!

Wu Shi: Uh, yeah, I did have something I wanted to say, but how'd you know?

Ji Hengsheng: Ijustknewokay?! Hurry and spit it out! Just pull the bandage off fast and be done with it!

Wu Shi: ........

I swear, there was something super off about her today. Did she hit her head as well or what?

Wu Shi: So, in your pocket-

Ji Hengsheng: WHATABOUTMYPOCKET?!

Wu Shi: -Can you not overreact to every phrase I say? Seriously, we can't have a conversation this way.

Ji Hengsheng: Sssssorry! Give me, another, moment!!

Ji Hengsheng took another few deep breaths.

Wu Shi: ...You good?

Ji Hengsheng: I'm reaaaaady~! ...Mostly.

Wu Shi: So, you've got a ring in your pocket that you haven't given out yet, don't you?

Ji Hengsheng: Eh?

Ji Hengsheng: How'd you know?

Wu Shi: And, you were gonna give me that ring, weren't you?

Ji Hengsheng, playing dumb: Ahaha, what're you talking about?? Why would I give you a ring?

Wu Shi: For me to propose to you with.

Ji Hengsheng's mouth hung wide open with astonishment.

Wu Shi: I've come here to find you, so that I could tell you-

Wu Shi: -I can't accept that ring.

Ji Hengsheng: ......................Mmh.

She lowered her head, and her hair covered her face, casting a shadow over her expression.

Wu Shi: After all...

Wu Shi: What kind of boy asks a girl to give him a ring?

Ji Hengsheng: Eh?

The unexpected development petrified her there in place, like a statue.

Wu Shi: I may not have money yet, but I'll make it up to you, in the future.

Wu Shi: I'll be the one who furnishes the ring.

Ji Hengsheng: W-wait, I don't- I don't understand what you're saying.

Wu Shi: It's simple.

Wu Shi: If we can't become lovers, we can still become real family.

Wu Shi: Hengsheng-

I lowered my head.

Wu Shi: Would you like to get married with me?

In those two thousand loops, it was you who saved me.

In that decade-long time, it was you who was by my side.

Thank you, Tour of Time.

Thank you for allowing me to realize, that you were the most preciously common thing that I had.

...She hadn't said anything to me in response to my proposal, though.

Wait, don't tell me she was having second thoughts now! That was NOT fair! You couldn't confess to me two thousand times over the course of a time loop and then get cold feet the one time I escape the loop!

I looked up at her.

Wu Shi: ...Oh, come on.

Wu Shi: Hah, who was it that apologized that neither of us could bring each other passionate blushes or tears before?

Ji Hengsheng was nodding her head furiously, unable to speak through her tears of joy, a furious blush across her whole face.

Ji Hengsheng leapt up to me, crying in joy.

Ji Hengsheng: Thank you for fulfilling my dream, Shi-chan!

Today was christmas, and the holiday spirit was in the air.

The atmosphere had attracted the major tourist destination that was the Tour of Time's Origin Station too; the place was full of tourists here to enjoy the scenery.

The three of us had received Se Yue's invitation and returned to this place again.

Yu Guang looked at a couple of lovebirds with a 'tch'.

Yu Guang: All disgustingly lovestruck lovebirds who don't know to keep their PDA private should all just explode.

Wu Shi: Yu Guang, that's not right of you to say.

Wu Shi: You can't curse others for your own misfortune, that's too selfish of you.

Yu Guang: YOU ARE THE LAST PERSON WHO GETS TO SAY THAT, MR. I'M ENGAGED TO HENGSHENG.

Seeing Ji Hengsheng walking next to me while holding my arm, Yu Guang's eyes looked like they could burn down a building.

Yu Guang: You two are the first on my explosions shortlist, you know that?!

Wu Shi: What're you talking about, it's not like I've started sleeping with her yet.

Ji Hengsheng: Yeah, it's not really that kind of relationship, y'know?

Ji Hengsheng: Rather than being lovers, we're more-

Hengsheng / Wu Shi: Family.

Ji Hengsheng: Also, as a highschool couple, we still need to get our parents' approval for our marriage.

Wu Shi: And, it's not normal for highschool lovers to immediately get a marriage license right after graduating, right?

Yu Guang: ...I guess you two are sort of taking it, way faster than highschool romances usually go.

Wu Shi: Apologize! For your misconceptions that we're mere starstruck lovers and not something far more!

He was giggling while crying.

Was he okay? Wasn't laughing and crying at the same time, like, a sign of madness?

Poor Yu Guang, driven mad by our love at such a young age.

Ji Hengsheng: Aw, Yu Guang, it's okay, don't cry.

Ji Hengsheng: How about this? I've got a wedding ring, originally slated to be given away at a certain bonfire party, never used. I'll sell it to you for its original price, how's that?

Yu Guang: STOP PITYING ME and also WHAT DO YOU MEAN ORIGINAL PRICE don't I at least get a discount for it being secondhand?!

Ji Hengsheng: Well, sometimes, a thing gets more valuable once you use it! Like, just imagine, when you're proposing marriage, you can proudly say to your partner, that you bought this ring for an extravagantly high price-

Ji Hengsheng: -and that it was once worn by a different high-schooler girl!

Yu Guang: I'm pretty sure that'd just get me rejected!

Wu Shi: It doesn't matter! You're destined to get rejected by Qian Yuan either way!!

Yu Guang: Don't understimate me! We've recently developed our relationship to the point where we're able to go on solo dates!

Wu Shi: Ohhhh. You're cheap labor.

Ji Hengsheng: Ohhhh. You're a walking anthropomorphic wallet.

Yu Guang: Damn you two...

Qian Yuan still had deep scars from her old experiences.

But, recently, she'd seemed to be getting better, enough to allow herself to respond to Yu Guang's feelings.

She'd occasionally take walks with Yu Guang, and the two of them were often seen together even at school.

Wu Shi: In fact, it should be US telling YOU to explode for PDA at school, Yu Guang!

Yu Guang: Oh that is IT come the fuck out here you little shit, we're going to talk this out with our fists.

Wu Shi: BRING IT!

Qian Yuan: ...And so that's why you two look like you came right out of a warzone, then?

Wu Shi: It was his fault!

Yu Guang: No, if we're being honest, Wu Shi is easily 90% at fault here!

Wu Shi: Nonono, based on my charitable interpretation, Yu Guang is approximately 100% at fault here.

Yu Guang: Nonono, my most charitable understanding is that Wu Shi is responsible for 150% of this incident.

Wu Shi: 200%!

Yu Guang: 250%!

Qian Yuan: ...You two sound like elementary-grade schoolers, you know that, right.

Ji Hengsheng: I am so sorry about the two of them, Qian Yuan. I swear, I don't know either of them, and I don't know how they ended up here.

Qian Yuan: No, it's fine. Honestly, this is the way you three ought to act, really.

Ji Hengsheng: Wait, why am I being included in the three of them?

Qian Yuan: Well, eh, you know.

Ji Hengsheng: >.>

Se Yue: Well, I'm glad to see that everyone's the same as ever, at least.

Ji Hengsheng: Yue-channnnnn~

Ji Hengsheng leapt and hugged her immediately!

Ji Hengsheng: Oh it's been such a long time I've missed you how are you doing-!

Hengsheng hugged her tightly and rubbed Se Yue's cheeks with her own cheeks.

Se Yue seemed like she wasn't used to this amount of physical affection, but I noticed that the corners of her mouth were angled slightly upwards.

Qian Yuan: Ghhhh....

Qian Yuan: Not even I have dared to try such a thing with my mistress...

Wu Shi: ....

Wu Shi: So, uh, how're you doing?

It looked like there were dark pockets under Se Yue's eyes. If someone who was so dedicated to decorum as her was showing signs like that, she must really be losing a lot of sleep recently.

Wu Shi: Something bothering you recently?

Se Yue looked at me and Hengsheng with a bit of a dark expression.

I didn't get it.

Se Yue: ...Just some internal politics in the Se Family.

Se Yue: Trying to figure out what the family head's been up to is something that's been eating a lot of my attention.

Wu Shi: Ah, I can understand not getting a lot of sleep, then, if that's the problem.

For some reason, when I said, that, I thought I saw her give me another look of disapproval. Was I just imagining that, or something? It felt like she was wordlessly berating me for something or other.

Se Yue: ...Ahem.

Se Yue: I've invited everyone here for the sake of fulfilling the earlier agreement we made before.

Wu Shi: Agreement?

Se Yue: What, don't you remember? We said that, after the end of the end-of-year school trip, we were all going to meet up again on christmas to enjoy a cake.

She gestured at Qian Yuan, who immediately carted out an immaculately produced christmas cake from somewhere.

Wu Shi: ...Have we made such an agreement?

Se Yue: Y'know, I don't think we have?

Se Yue: But even if we haven't, for some reason, I feel like this is something we should be doing anyways.

Wu Shi: ...Since when did you start speaking so illogically?

Yu Guang: WU SHI SHUT UP DO YOU WANT THE DELICIOUS CAKE OR NOT YOU IDIOT.

Yu Guang: WHEN THE SE FAMILY HEIRESS INVITES YOU TO DINNER, YOU SAY YES YOU'D BE HAPPY TO EVEN IF THERE WAS NO AGREEMENT AT ALL, YOU GOT IT?!

Yep. Yu Guang was the type of person who'd surely grow up to become a petty, self-interested brown-noser who agreed with everything his supervisor said just because.

Se Yue: Unfortunately, as part of the original agreement, this cake is merely a commonplace cake purchased from a local supermarket, and not a high-end delicacy as would befit the Se family.

Wu Shi: No, commonplace is fine.

I had... emotional issues around high-end delicacies, these days. Byproduct of all the time I spent cooped up in the train.

Wu Shi: My favorite things are all commonplace, cheap, low-quality, homesy things that really aren't worth very much- just like Ji Hengsheng herself.

Yu Guang: Hengsheng, it's not too late, you can still break off the arrangement with him- no, actually, get married to him and THEN divorce him so you can keep half of his future income as a alimony, and ruin the rest of his life that way-

Ji Hengsheng: You hear that?! Shi-chan, alimony, now!

Wu Shi: Hey, hold your horses, you can't get an alimony until after we've gotten our marriage certificate-

Ji Hengsheng: Then let's hurry up and get legally married!

Wu Shi: I AM NOT GOING TO FUCKING PAY YOU AN ALIMONY BECAUSE I'M NOT GOING TO DIVORCE YOU, YOU MADWOMAN.

Ji Hengsheng: I suppose that an alimony is just a portion of your income, but if I stay with you then I can manipulate you out of all your earnings instead of just part. I guess I might have to spend my life with you after all.

Se Yue and Yu Guang: ...Kill me now.

Qian Yuan, as if to distract everyone, pulled a phone out.

Qian Yuan: Everyone!

Qian Yuan: This is a rare opportunity. Let's do a group photo!

Ji Hengsheng: Qian Yuan, you should be in the shot too!

Qian Yuan: It's fine! The moment I hit the photo button, I will use my ninja abilities to immediately transpose myself into the frame of the shot, before the phone even falls to the ground!

Wu Shi: YOU'RE THE REAL GOD OF TIME, AREN'T YOU?!

Qian Yuan: Anyways, here I go!

Qian Yuan: Three, two, one-

Everyone: To the Tour of Time, for bringing us all together: CHEERS!