Rectification

Mila flinched and took a step back, shocked by the knife the girl was holding right in front of her. She was not sure if Risako could actually hurt her with this ghostly knife, but she tried to increase the distance between them regardless. I should have just ignored her, this girl is definitely insane. Mila attempted to calm down Risako.

“Ho, there is no need for the knife. I mean you no harm”

“I am not going to kill a girl. That is off the table. The guardian told me everything will be alright once I put this apple in the guy's shoebox”

Mila held up the apple.

“The guardian is a LIER!”

“You must kill the witch, the witch can’t stay alive”

Mila still wasn’t convinced.

“Every time Iona bends the world, the world gets destroyed”

“Risako must convince Mila to stop it by killing her!”

Mila suddenly saw a figure appearing in the corner of her eye. She turned her head and saw the glowing purple stare appearing from the guardian's ghostly body.

“Mila my dear, don’t let your mind get corrupted by such a lowly, common ghost”

“What do you think will happen when you try to kill this girl?”

“Just finish your quest sweety, I cannot keep this time loop open forever”

As the guardian was about to disappear again, Risako started giggling uncontrollably.

“You… you… make Risako so angry, you LIER!”

Mila just stood there, not sure what to do yet.

The guardian addressed her again.

“I am sorry I have to spell it out like this. But Mila my sweety isn’t it obvious she is trying to trick you into making you her friend - making you a ghost just like..”

Before the guardian had the chance to finish her sentence, Risako jumped upon her and started stabbing her with her knife.

“Die! Die! Die!”

Risako screamed in her ghostly voice.

The guardian’s body floated to the ground where it lay, motionless. After a couple of seconds, her ghostly body turned to dust.

Risako turned her attention to Mila again, who still stood speechless - shocked by the ghostly murder she just witnessed.

Mila and Risako stared into each other eyes. Is this my fate? Or will I wake up from this nightmare once again? Mila noticed a difference in Risako’s expression. Tears started appearing in her eyes - they started rolling from her cheeks.

“Please… *sob* Mila… Risako needs you to be her friend”

“Mila can be your friend… Mila doesn’t have to be a ghost for that. I can see and talk to you right now”

Mila uncontinously started copying Risako’s way of speech.

“Be Risako’s friend, please! Don’t leave me”

Risako now sat down on her knees before Mila.

“Okay Risako I am your friend. Can you please put away that knife?”

She made the knife disappear.

“I’ll get back to you once I deliver the apple okay? Please let me do this, alone”

Mila did not intend to ever return to the cafeteria again, she’d bring some lunch from home next time.

Risako nodded in agreement and attempted to give Mila a hug, which didn’t work since her ghostly arms went right through Mila’s body.

Mila pretended to hug her back and then slowly walked backwards towards the door she came from - keeping an eye on the ghost girl. She waved Risako a final goodbye and continued her way to the shoebox room.

X

The usually busy shoebox room was still completely empty at this hour. Mila’s footsteps reverberated through the big hallway. As Mila walked towards the rows of lockers, she turned around, making sure Risako wasn’t following her. Luckily, she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Mila slowly inspected all the lockers in the row, searching for the one with the letter. Bingo! She carefully laid down the apple on top of the letter, making sure it couldn’t be missed by Iona’s crush. Mila wept a few drops of sweat from her forehead. That was all I could do, let’s hope for the best.

The first rays of sunlight started to roll through the glass doors connecting the boxroom to the schoolyard. In the reflection, Mila spotted herself still dressed in her blue pajamas. Pff, I guess I have to change. Knowing she would make it home in time before the school day would start, she had to suffice another plan. Mila took on one more trip through the school, visiting the school’s gymnasium locker room. This time, she made sure to avoid visiting the cafeteria. When she arrived at her locker, she quickly changed into her school’s sports clothes. Mila then hid in one of the school’s restrooms, waiting for the first students to arrive.

“Miss Kinoshita, when did you start coming to this school so early?

I did not even notice you getting in.”

The hall monitor looked down at her clothes. He must be a bit suspicious of me. Mila quickly came up with an explanation.

“I skipped PE yesterday, so I have to help the teacher with cleaning up some equipment.”

The hall monitor sighed.

“I guess there is no changing you after all.”

“What’s up Mila? You look horrendous today, did you get any sleep?”

Mila looked up at her friend with a smile.

Finally, a friendly face after this night of horror.

“I guess you could say I had a nightmare”

“That’s terrible… This morning I read something that will certainly cheer you up.”

Hajime looked into Mila’s dead-tired eyes.

“At least it did cheer me up…”

“Don’t leave me in hanging anticipation like that, just tell me already”

Hajime scratched his head.

“Okay miss Sunshine, you know this manga berserker I have been bugging you about?”

“They are doing an anime of that, it’s going to be totally rad! We have to watch it together”

Mila rolled her eyes.

“Alright, sounds fun”

Hajime looked a bit surprised. He then noticed Mila's attention had gone somewhere else.

“Look Hajime, some guy got a love letter”

“Mmm, unusual, why is he holding an apple though?”

Mila shook her shoulders, her hands were trembling for a bit.

“Maybe he is hungry”

The boy looked around the room, he seemed a bit confused. But then he suddenly smiled. Mila looked around and saw who the boy was smiling at. It was Iona, and she was smiling back.

“That must be the girl, it seems to be going well for her”

Hajime looked back at Mila.

“Mila? Mila!”

Hajime grabbed Mila’s hand and shook it.

“Mila!!!”

But Mila couldn’t hear Hajime.

She had passed out.

X

Heh? where am I? Did I fail again?

Mila looked around, her vision was blurry. All she saw was a color - the color white.

A female figure appeared before her.

“Guardian is that you? Did the world end again? Is this heav-”

“Calm down miss, there is nothing to worry about.”

Mila looked up again, the woman she was talking to wasn’t the guardian, but the school nurse.

“How late is it?”

“It is 11:00 AM, don’t worry, I informed your teacher about your absence.”

It felt as if a big weight was lifted off Mila’s body. This means the time loop must have been resolved!

The school nurse stared into Mila’s eyes.

“You look really tired. Can you tell me how many hours you slept this night?”

Mila nervously giggled.

“An hour or two”

The nurse looked a bit shocked.

“A girl your age needs at least 8 hours of sleep. Make sure you go to bed on time and have a proper breakfast. We don’t want to see you collapsing on the floor.”

“Yes ma’am, yes ma’am”

Mila nodded in agreement.

“Please go home for today to rest.”

“But don’t make this a habit okay?”