Graduation

*Ding Dong, Bing Bong*
A school's bell rung out in the distance. Many students were gathered in an auditorium, talking excitedly to each other with graduation certificates in hand and a single flower decorating their blazers.

Rin was the only one who was different. He got up from his seat, fed up with all the noise, and exited the building. Before getting far though, he stopped to look back at the auditorium he just left. 

*Ding Dong, Bing Bong*
He couldn't bring himself to look away as the school's bell continued to ring in the background.

***

Rin awoke to the sight of the white void again. Wanting to rest for a bit longer, he raised his left arm to his face. He stopped once he brought it close enough though. His gaze lingered on his wrist. It seemed so barren to him now.

He went back to walking through the void again, but this time with much more purpose, his unfinished business driving him forward.

He came to a stop at a park. More specifically, one of its benches as well as the person sitting on it. One turned to greet him, motioned towards the empty space next to him, and when ignored turned back to look over the colorless scenery again.

"It's quite eerie, isn't it?"

No response.

"You can imagine how boring it'd be to live here all alone."

No response.

"Of course, you probably don't care about that at all, do you?"

"Hey."

One turned to look at Rin, surprised.

"Is there anything you regret?", Rin asked.

A brief pause.

"...Why do you want to know?"

"To determine something."

One frowned.

"Well, I've mostly lived vicariously through others, so I can't say..."

He stood up and motioned Rin to follow him. Despite this however, he stopped walking almost immediately.

"...That wristwatch she bought us..."

Turning his head slightly, he looked in Rin's direction again.

"I can't seem to remember what happened to it..."

Rin looked back at him solemnly as the environment shifted around them again, putting them back in the school's auditorium.

All the people previously in it had cleared out. They were the only ones left behind. There was no time for either of them to let that sink in though as time eventually rewound and returned itself to the day of New Year's Eve.

***

Rin's past self was racing through the door to Lena's house. Only a couple of seconds later, he was in the bathroom. Locking the door behind him, he instantly got to work digging through the cabinets.

"What are you doing?"

He flinched but quickly recovered to look the person who spoke to him dead in the eye.

The Rin from the past stuck the first key one of the stasis bomb's locks. He was raving about his victory as he did. The Rin in the present didn't pay attention to this, however. 

He was silently counting down the seconds in his head.

-Ten, nine, eight.

The Rin from the past stuck the second key into its lock.

-Three, two...

"Well, I hope you enjoyed looking down on me, because now... it's over for you!"

-One.

The Rin from the past rose the final key up high.

"Was it worth it?"

The Rin from the past stopped in his tracks immediately. His arm fell to his waist side, completely defeated. It was hard for the current Rin to watch. After all, he'd made the same mistakes not too long ago.

-What place do I have to criticize the person in front of me? 

He had none, plain and simple. Still, there was one thing he could do. Something to make it better for him, whether he knew it or not.

"There's still a way to make up for it, you know?"

There was no response from his past self, but Rin knew he was listening.

"A way to make sure it wasn't in vain..."

Past Rin simply looked at the stasis bomb and the key in his hand. He knew what to do immediately.

*Tick tock, tick tock*
There was that infernal ticking again. Rin wondered whether it was just something in his mind or an element of the world he'd become a part of.

He pushed the thought away.

*Tick tock, tick tock*
Rin's face didn’t change as he saw the final key being plunged into its lock. The next few moments played out in slow motion. Afraid of his next move, Rin closed his eyes before leaping into action.

*Tick tock, tick tock*
When he reached his arms out, he did it as fast as possible and grabbed hold of his target, pulling it back in one swift motion.

The ticking finally came to a stop as the deed had been done.

***

Every other version of himself watched Rin's back with great anticipation, ready to welcome their new friend. 

But to their horror, Rin turned, revealing himself to be carrying the stasis bomb in one hand and its final key in the other.

"Don't move. Any of you."

No one dared defy him. One watched him silently as he lifted the key and held it close to its latch, attempting to keep cool.

"...So, this is your answer."

Rin ignored him and spoke to the only version of himself outside the mirror.

"Sorry for being such a nuisance. Circumstances have made it... difficult to go back and fix all my mistakes, but I can at least make up for this one..."

"W-What are you talking about? What's going on?"

"It has nothing to do with you now."

He turned to look at his past self, an apologetic smile on his face.

"Do you know what you're going to do from here on out?"

No response. Rin let out a small chuckle.

"Then you better get thinking."

The feed from the mirror cut off. His past self was gone and the only people left were the ones in the mirror. Rin's hands were starting to tremble, the weight of his decision becoming more and more real to him. 

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and took a long while to come to terms with everything. His steady breaths were the only things keeping the world from going dead silent. 

-It's time.

His grip tightened, his resolve strengthened, and he was ready to do what he should have long ago.

Rin stuck the final key into its lock.

An intense light emanated from within. Insane pressure surrounded him instantly.

"Somebody, stop him now!", One shouted.

Nobody listened to him. Some stood there, enamored by the radiant light pouring out of it. Others were already running for their lives. 

One took matters into his own hands, trudging against the unseen forces shielding Rin at its center. 

"RIN! Calm down and think! What about Lena!?"

Rin looked back at him sadly.

"I already know you won't let me save her."

"But what would she think seeing you now!? You think this is what she wants!? For you to kill yourself!?"

Rin looked down at the stasis bomb, then closed his eyes to consider his words.

"Of course I don't, but-"

"Then stop this! There's still time to stop this..."

One had gotten pretty close to him now, but instead of reacting with fear, Rin clenched his fist around the bomb and opened his eyes. He was filled with determination.

"But I'm not dying... 

Because we're the same."

This brought One to a complete halt. 

"Whether we're in or out of the mirror, we're the same person. Who've made the same mistakes, gone through the same things...

And who have the same regrets."

One gritted his teeth, pushing forward again as Rin turned his back on him. 

He was within arm's reach now. He extended his arm blindly, swatting wildly as he closed the slight distance still remaining between the two. After a while, he managed to grab Rin's shoulder. 

Rin turned around violently, but he didn't see One once he did. All the noise dissipated, and the void changed from white to pitch black. An open door stood at the center of its darkness. A woman was in its frame. 

She said nothing. She just waved silently.

A young Rin stared back at her as he drifted away. Slowly, the door closed, eventually obscuring the woman from view as the final echoes of a school bell rung out in the distance. 

***

The stasis bomb grew tremendously, quickly engulfing everything it touched, starting with the 5673 Rins at the center of it. Whether they ran or accepted their fates, the explosion consumed them all the same. 

It kept expanding and expanding, moving onto the ones hiding out in the prison and hospital and even consuming the thousands of crosses littering the edges of the world.

It was only once the world had finally been stripped of all its proof of existence, that the explosion shrunk down to a tiny speck in order to return the void to a pure and featureless white.