PROLOGUE: — “A Girl Who Cheats at Love”

I have a confession to make.

And no, it’s not that confession. Not the one I’ve been practicing in front of the mirror for, oh, let’s see… approximately forever. Not the one where I finally tell the boy sitting two desks away from me that he makes my chest tighten and my brain shut down whenever he smiles.

No, my confession is different. My confession is this: I can see the future.

…Kind of.

Okay, let me explain before you roll your eyes and think I’m some wannabe fortune teller. I don’t mean I can just close my eyes and download next week’s lottery numbers or anything. My power is limited, annoying, and honestly kind of useless most of the time. I can peek forward, just a few minutes, sometimes a few hours, and see what’s about to happen. Then, if I don’t like it, I can rewind back and try again.

Sounds cool, right? Like, the kind of cheat code every gamer dreams of having? Well, here’s the catch: I mostly use it for one thing.

Kaito.

Yes, that Kaito. The boy with messy black hair and grey eyes that look like they’ve already solved ten equations before I even figure out where the question starts. The boy who can take apart a holo-screen and rebuild it into a drone during lunch break. The boy who laughs in this soft, almost lazy way that makes me want to laugh too, even when I don’t get the joke.

My crush. My impossible, ridiculous, heart-crushing crush.

I’ve used my power to peek into hundreds of futures where I gather every ounce of courage in my body, turn to him, and say those three words.

“I like you.”

Sometimes I stutter. Sometimes I ramble. Sometimes I forget my own name halfway through because his eyes are just too much and my brain decides to abandon me. And in every single version I’ve seen… it doesn’t work.

He blinks, confused. He tilts his head like I just told him I was a malfunctioning vending machine. Once, he even patted my shoulder like I was a puppy who tried her best. (That one hurt the most, by the way. Don’t pat me, I’m not a dog!)

No matter how many times I peek ahead, no matter how many “practice confessions” I attempt in the safety of the future, the result is always the same. Nothing changes. He never says yes.

And yet…

Here I am. Sitting in the back row of Class 3-B, pretending to take notes while sneaking glances at him for the millionth time. He’s hunched over his desk, mechanical pencil spinning effortlessly between his fingers, eyes narrowed at the page like the equations insulted his mother. His lips move slightly as he mutters through a calculation, and I swear, I could watch him do math all day.

Which is probably the saddest thing I’ve ever admitted.

“Yuzuki, are you even listening?”

My teacher’s voice snaps me back, and I jolt upright so fast my chair squeaks against the floor. My notebook is still blank, my pen tapping meaningless dots into the corner of the page. A few students giggle. I bow my head, cheeks burning.

“Y-yes, sensei!”

I steal a quick glance at Kaito. He doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t even look at me. He’s too busy scribbling down some complicated formula that looks like alien language. I let out a silent sigh. Typical.

See, here’s the thing: Kaito isn’t popular. He’s not the kind of boy who makes every girl swoon or every guy jealous. He doesn’t play sports, doesn’t lead any clubs, doesn’t even try to stand out. He’s just… him. Quiet, serious, a little awkward. And yet somehow, that “him” is enough to make me spiral into endless loops of what-ifs.

What if I sat closer to him? What if I asked him to study together? What if I confessed just one more time, maybe the hundred and first time is the lucky one?

…What if he actually liked me back?

I bite my lip. Don’t get me wrong, I know how this sounds. Pathetic, right? A girl with the power to peek into the future, and this is how I use it? Not to stop disasters. Not to save lives. Not to change the world. Just to spy on my own love life like some creepy time-stalker.

But the truth is, the world doesn’t really need saving. Not yet. Humanity in the year 3000 is doing just fine, shiny cities, endless neon skies, drones delivering our lunches before we even get hungry. It’s perfect.

At least, that’s what everyone believes.

But I’ll get to that later.

For now, all you need to know is this: I, Yuzuki, hopeless romantic, time-cheater extraordinaire, am stuck in an endless cycle of “confess, fail, rewind.” And no matter how many futures I peek at, no matter how many times I try… Kaito never sees me the way I want him to.

The bell rings, and the classroom bursts into chatter. I pack my things slowly, hoping, just maybe,  that this time, he’ll turn to me. That he’ll say something, anything. My heart races as he stands, slinging his bag over one shoulder.

And then… he walks right past me, eyes glued to some blueprint glowing on his holo-device.

No hello. No goodbye. No glance.

Just like always.

I exhale, slumping against my desk. My chest aches, but I can’t even be mad. I already knew this would happen. I’d seen it a dozen times before.

That’s the curse of my power. Even when I know the future, I can’t change the important parts.

Especially the parts about him.

Still… I’m not giving up. Not yet. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. Maybe the thousandth try will finally be the one. Because if I’ve learned anything from watching the future over and over, it’s this:

Even when everything seems certain, fate has a funny way of surprising you.

And deep down, I can feel it. Something is coming. Something bigger than my silly crush. Something that will turn this perfect neon world upside down.

But until then… I’ll keep staring at the back of Kaito’s head and dreaming of the day he might finally turn around.