Chapter 5 The Ripple Effect

A ripple, once made, does not simply vanish.

It echoes softly at first, almost invisible- but in time, even the smallest tremor reaches distant shores. And when it does, it changes everything.

Ren Tanaka was no fool.

Something was off.

He had felt it in the way time seemed to stutter that day near the gym, one moment laughing, the next... wrong. As though reality had taken a misstep and tried to recover before anyone noticed.

But he had noticed.

And so had his instincts.

________________________________________

By Tuesday morning, Kaito could feel the walls closing in.

He avoided eye contact in the halls. Flinched when footsteps neared. And during class, he caught Ren glancing at him more than once- never hostile, just... curious. Calculating.

Arisa had warned him to act natural. "Be normal," she'd said, as if he had a catalogue of behaviours marked normal just lying around.

But Kaito didn't do normal. He did weird. Flustered. Cornered like a mouse behind a broom closet.

And now, every time Ren looked at him, Kaito felt like he was wearing a flashing neon sign that read:

I KNOW ABOUT TIME MAGIC. ASK ME HOW.

________________________________________

The worst part? Even Arisa was beginning to crack.

Usually composed and immaculately distant, she now fidgeted more during council meetings. Her eyes darted toward Ren whenever he passed their wing. She rewound a sneeze in front of a teacher during chemistry club- and almost rewound too far, snapping Kaito's pen in half in the reset's recoil.

"We're losing control," she muttered that afternoon, pacing the old locker room.

Kaito sat on a bench nearby, the velvet pouch in his lap. "You think?"

"He remembers something. I can feel it. He's circling."

"We could... talk to him?"

She snapped toward him. "Not."

"I mean, don't tell him. Just... gently gaslight him into forgetting his memories."

She blinked.

"That was sarcasm."

"Good," she said flatly, "because I already do that to most people."

Kaito slumped. "I don't like this."

"No one said you had to."

"I didn't ask for this job!"

"And yet here you are," she said softly, and for a second, just one- her voice held something strange. Not power. Not a command. Fear.

"Arisa," Kaito said, sitting straighter. "What happens if Ren remembers?"

She didn't answer right away.

When she did, her voice was quiet.

"People who remember resets tend to... unravel."

"Unravel how?"

"Mentally. Physically. Spiritually. Their sense of time decouples. They remember moments that didn't happen. Feel guilty for things they never did. Sometimes they go... hollow."

Kaito stared. "That's terrifying."

She nodded. "That's why I can't afford mistakes."

He hesitated. "Have you made one before?"

Silence.

Then, softly: "Yes."

And she left the room without another word.

________________________________________

That evening, Kaito walked home alone through twilight, the sky streaked with bruised lavender and gold. He tried to process what Arisa had said. Unraveling. Was that what happened to someone who remembered rewinds without the tether?

Was he in danger?

Was Ren?

And if so... could Arisa be trusted to stop it?

His thoughts were interrupted when someone stepped into his path near the corner of his street.

"Yo."

Kaito jumped, heart leaping into his throat.

Ren stood there, hands in his jacket pockets, expression unreadable.

Kaito tried to smile. "H-Hey, Ren."

"You walk this way every day?" Ren asked casually.

"Uh... yeah."

"Funny. I thought you lived near the river."

"I moved. Recently. For, um, herbal reasons."

Ren raised an eyebrow. "Right."

They walked in silence for a moment, their steps echoing in the quiet.

Then Ren said, "You're close to Kanzuki now."

Kaito stiffened. "She needed help with student council stuff."

"She's never needed help before."

Kaito glanced sideways. "You're interested in her?"

Ren smirked. "She's... hard to ignore."

"That's one way to put it."

"I think something's going on," Ren said.

Kaito's breath hitched. "Like what?"

"I don't know. But something feels off. Like I'm missing time. Little chunks of my day feel... bent. Like they snapped back into place wrong."

Kaito fumbled for words. "Could be stress?"

"Maybe." Ren stopped walking. "But I think you know."

Kaito's blood ran cold.

"I don't-"

Ren stepped in close, voice low and sharp. "Don't lie to me, Fujimura. Every time something weird happens, you're near her. And I saw your reflection last time-you didn't glitch. I did."

Kaito swallowed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Ren's eyes narrowed. "I think you and Kanzuki are messing with something. Something that's affecting people. Me."

Kaito took a step back. "You're overthinking this."

Ren's voice dropped. "Did you sabotage me?"

"What?!"

During the match on Saturday. I missed a shot I never miss. Then suddenly the clock had reset, and I scored. Everyone remembered that shot, not the miss."

Kaito shook his head. "I wasn't even there!"

"Did you rewind it? Or was it her?"

"I told you don't know anything!"

Ren stared at him a long moment.

Then his voice lowered into something dangerous. "If I find out you two are screwing with people's heads... I'll make sure everyone finds out."

And just like that, he turned and walked off.

Kaito stood frozen in place, heart pounding.

Ren knew.

________________________________________

That night, Kaito told Arisa everything.

She paced the library roof while Kaito sat on the ledge, legs swinging over the edge.

"He confronted you," she muttered. "That changes things."

"I didn't admit anything. But he's suspicious."

"Too suspicious."

"You said unraveling was dangerous. What if he already is?"

Arisa didn't answer.

Instead, she looked up at the stars-cold, distant, and eternal.

"I'll handle it," she said finally.

Kaito stood. "What does that mean?"

"I'll fix it."

"Arisa-"

"I said I'll fix it."

There was steel in her voice now. And something darker beneath.

Kaito stepped back. "Don't erase him."

"I won't."

"You've done it before, haven't you?"

Her silence was answer enough.

Kaito stared. "What are you?"

Arisa looked at him, then really looked. Her eyes weren't cruel. Or angry.

They were tired.

"I'm someone who's been resetting too long to remember where I started."

She turned, slipping the earrings into her pocket.

"We'll talk tomorrow. Stay close."

And she vanished down the stairs, leaving Kaito alone with the stars-and the growing fear that maybe, just maybe...

He was helping something far bigger than either of them understood