Minori

Ike guides Natsume and Minori to the Café that they had eaten at before, although being aware of Ike's lack of memory, Natsume played it safe and acted as though he had never been.

As Natsume was ordering, Ike and Minori were already at the table, eating their food. It didn't take long before Natsume joined them. He pulls out a chair from another empty table and sits next to Minori. The hustle and bustle of the college temporarily distracting Natsume from his predicament.

As Ike eats, a big blob of sauce drips from his burger onto his shirt, causing Minori to wince in disgust. However, Ike, who is oblivious to her scrunched up face, continues to savour the admittedly delicious looking burger. The mess continues to grow until Minori can't take it any longer.

"How can you eat like that you pig?" Minori scoffs, placing her food back on the plate. She ate as though she was eating with royalty, which if she knew Ike a little more deeply, she might have even considered him royalty. "Have some decency!" She shouts, turning eyes towards the ruckus she had caused.

Natsume puts down his fries for a second, turning to Minori. "That really bothers you, doesn't it?" there's a pause before Minori's eyebrows furrow further and her forehead creases, as though Natsume had only furthered her frustration.

"I'm more surprised that it doesn't affect you more," Minori shakes her head, still cringing from Ike's blatant disregard for cleanliness. She looks back at Natsume who is still munching his fries. "I suppose it shouldn't surprise me though, from what I've seen, not much seems to get past you."

While it appeared like that from the outside, Natsume did have some strong feelings towards his classmates and their actions. Minori seemed stuck-up and snobby, Ike was clumsy and disgusting, and Kanata was so full of himself that Natsume wondered what he saw in himself. Natsume, though, knew that he'd understand them more with time...

... But that was the one thing he didn't have: Time. He had only just accepted the fact that he would be stuck in this 24 hour loop for who knows how long - potentially forever. The best thing Natsume could do was to learn as much about his classmates as he could so he could prove to them without a shadow of a doubt that he was trapped, and that he needed help.

"You couldn't be more wrong..." Natsume's eyes glide to his fries, putting a few in his mouth at a time. "It's not like I'm completely apathetic to everything, I mean it's hard not to be disgusted by Ike." He states after swallowing the food in his mouth. Minori visibly doesn't seem to understand, she probably wouldn't, nobody would unless Natsume addressed it directly to them.

Minori then lets out an audible chuckle. "I guess even Ike affects the strongest willed." she saws at a piece of chicken from her burger with a knife, "but even so, it's nice to have someone to rant to. Someone who isn't Ike..." Ike, still dripping burger sauce from his mouth looks up, arching an eyebrow at Minori's statement.

"mwat mo yu mmean?" Ike asks, spluttering pieces of burger everywhere. Minori gags at this as a chunk just narrowly misses her food. Ike swallows, puts his burger down, and wipes away the sauce with his sleeve leaving a big stain on his blazer. "I can listen to rants and complaints! I think I'm actually really good at it, thank you very much!" Ike says through gritted teeth, picking the burger back up and tearing another chunk out of it like a wild animal tearing it's pray to shreds.

Minori rolls her eyes, finishing off the last of her lunch. "Someone aught to teach you manners first, " She pushes back her chair and methodically places all of her waste in the trash can. "It goes a long way, let me tell you-"

BONK!

and just like last time, Ike gets smacked in the back of the head by an apple. It takes a short moment, but just like how Newton discovered gravity, Ike had also seemed to realise where he was struck from - This time, without Natsume's help. Rubbing the back of his head, Ike stares down Ryuji, Kentaro, and Yusuke as the three of them laugh at him, and Natsume picks the apple off the floor with a sigh.

so we need to go through this whole thing again Natsume thinks to himself, trekking up the stairs with Ike following him and Minori not so far behind, as she tries to stop Natsume trying to do anything rash.

As Natsume reaches the boys, Ryuji raises an eyebrow at him. "You got a problem?" Ryuji shouts over to him. Natsume tosses the apple to Ryuji, turning around, and walking away.

"You dropped this." Natsume says over his shoulder. "and shut up while you're at it, you're annoying." Ryuji begins stammering with his words, trying to find a response to Natsume but the words fail to make a coherent sentence. It's not long before he manages to squeeze out a legible sentence.

"Hold on a second, you don't get to tell us what to do!" Ryuji shouts, still slightly stuttering his words; half embarrassed, half confused. "And for the record, I don't like apples anyway! So bleh!" Ryuji sticks his tongue out like a child who had just lost an argument. Ryuji looks to either side of him, trying to find support from Kentaro and Yusuke.

"Just leave it dude, this guy isn't worth the fight."

"Yeah, seems like he doesn't even want the trouble either."

Ryuji grumbles at the response from his two friends. The support he craved was denied and the fight he wanted was never going to come to fruition. This time, however, Ryuji seemed less agitated and more confused due to Natsume's more sporadic actions. The swiftness of the moment left Ryuji stunned. It had been clear to both Kentaro and Yusuke that Ryuji wanted to choose the violent option, but he was never given the chance.

Natsume walks past Ike and Minori, gesturing for them to leave Ryuji alone. This time there had been no altercation between Ryuji and him, but even so, Minori seemed a mixture of agitated and nervous, a complete contrary to Ike who was patting Natsume on the back for his courage.

"You idiot!" Minori shouts, grabbing Natsume's shoulder and spinning him around to face her, their faces sat just mere inches away from each other. "You could have gotten seriously hurt there, what were you thinking!" Ike's face turned a pale white, as though expressing Natsume's emotion for him. Minori takes a step back, holding her hands close to her chest, she seemed so genuinely worried for Natsume that it made him feel bad.

"I'm sorry," Natsume says, grabbing her hand. "I didn't mean to make you worry, I was just looking out for Ike." Ike gives Natsume a single pat of appreciation on the back with a huge smile on his face.

"Thanks buddy, I owe you one!" Ike beams as he dances around the other two, the colour quickly returning to his face. Minori shakes her head with disapproval causing Ike to stop his dance of pride.

"Wait, what do you mean you owe him one?" She asked the big question, Natsume had been wondering about it too but wasn't sure if it was worth asking him. "Do you know them or something?" her anxious face became that of a stern and confident one.

Ike shrugs in response, "Used to be good friends in high school... but we grew pretty distant." Ike fixes his tie as he spins around to face Natsume and Minori, who look at each other, Minori with an eyebrow raised. "He's always been like that though, never changed." Ike's smile quickly fades as though a rough memory hit him. Natsume didn't like seeing Ike looking sad, but his actions, or lack thereof, didn't reflect this very well. Minori reluctantly puts her hand on Ike's shoulder - taking great care to avoid the stain on his shirt - and gives him a clearly forced smile.

"Well, you have better friends here," she comforted Ike "at least there are people who are willing to look out for you." Minori glances at Natsume, who gives a slight nod in return. Ike's smile quickly returns back as he throws his arms around the other two causing Minori to gag as the semi-fresh stain on Ike's shirt connects with her clothes.

Ike stops in his tracks as his eyes glance over the clock above their heads. "Oh shoot!" He exclaims, grabbing Natsume and Minori's arms as the three of them bolt for the stairway. "We're going to be late if we don't hurry up!" It was as if a switch had flipped inside Ike's mind, as though he had two different modes: Silly, and Serious. Without letting go of either of their arms, Ike had managed yet again to reach the classroom on time, bursting through the door which caused the trio to topple on top of one another, just like last time. Ike took the full brunt of the force, as both Minori and Natsume had collapsed on him.

Ike got up and dusted himself off as though nothing happened. "Sorry we're late Sir!" Ike sighs, as they all make their way to their. Aoi checks his watch as if to fact check Ike and raises an eyebrow.

"You're actually five minutes early! You must be eager." he laughs an unnerving laugh. Natsume wanted to walk back out of the room and away from Aoi, even if it was just five minutes. On the contrary, Natsume took his seat next to Ike yet again and they continued to chat before the class resumed, along with Minori, who was planted on Ike's desk.

With just barely a second to spare, Ryuji and his friends enter the room and take their seats. Natsume and Ryuji locked eyes for a moment, it was clear to him that Ryuji wasn't as frightened of him as he had been last time, which he saw as a plus. What wasn't a plus, however, was the aggression coming from the glances. Natsume could feel Ryuji's eyes burning the back of his head, it almost made him feel as though he should have done what he did last time.

To pass the time, Natsume pulled out his sketchbook and began flicking through the pages. Many drawings of landscapes flashed past his view, as he continued to look for a blank page, except Natsume stops on an empty page, and begins doodling his landscape yet again. It wasn't quite as he had remembered it, but he drew the image as he remembered drawing it last time.

And then the other thought popped back into Natsume's mind. It seemed like a stronger urge this time, like trying to resist eating all of the sweets out of a box, Natsume's eyes met his palm yet again. But this time, his hand had already got the mark he had drawn last time: the two arrows that formed a loop.

Natsume's heart skipped a beat, he hadn't done that at any point throughout the day. If it was there at the start too, surely it would rubbed off if he hadn't seen it before. Natsume licks his thumb and begins to rub off the symbol marked on his hand.

After Natsume was satisfied that the symbol was totally gone, he turns to Ike who catches him, and the two boys look at each other for a few moments. Ike's attention is immediately caught by the paper in Natsume's book. Natsume slides the booklet over for Ike to get a better look.

"It's nice. I like it." Ike's smile shines, turning the book back to Natsume. Despite hearing the same thing the previous day, it still made Natsume feel special.

"What's that?" Minori asks, peering over Natsume's shoulder as she looks at his drawing in the booklet. Natsume lifts the book for her to get a closer look, and she takes it straight from his hands, analysing it like a scientist doing their research. "This is really good, how long have you been working on it?"

"Just a few minutes, just drew the first thing that came to mind," Natsume shrugs "It's not that good, I just was bored." Natsume nods, trying to not seem full of himself in front of Minori. She smiles and returns his book.

"Well you're very talented. You're going to go far, I can feel it." Minori's words had a strong feeling of prophecy to them, as though if he were to escape his problem, exactly what she said would come to pass, it warmed his heart. Natsume had a tenseness in his cheeks that threatened to make him smile, although this never came to be.

"Thank you," Natsume nodded, "but it's just a little sketch." he closes the book and shoots a glance at Aoi, who appeared to be typing away like a occupied business man. Aoi's normal grin fell into a stone-cold neutral expression which almost unnerved Natsume more than when Aoi was constantly grinning.

Natsume anticipated the explosion-loud ringtone about to erupt from Aoi's phone. He knew it was an inevitability, so he sat and waited as everyone worked hard around him, and after no time at all, the ear-busting sound came from the phone on Aoi's desk, making him jump as much as the rest of the class. Aoi quickly picks up the phone as to supress the music.

"Hello." Aoi begins. Natsume laser points his focus on Aoi's conversation on the phone, all Natsume can hear is the deep muffled voice from the person on the other end of the line. Unlike last time, Natsume was kind of happy that Aoi was taking the call in the classroom.

Through Aoi's nods, Natsume caught very few words: Circle, done, and come. And it was all Natsume needed to hear to know something was going on - and something fishy at that - Aoi gets up from his desk and glides his way to the door after hanging up the call.

"Alright everybody! I need to step out for a few moments, but I will be back soon! If you want to doodle there's paper at the front of the room." Aoi repeats exactly as he had done the previous day, almost as if reading from a script. "Oh, and let the others know I will be a little bit late, they're free to take paper too." Aoi winks before spinning out the door.

As it closes, Natsume bursts up out of his seat and bolts to the entrance of the classroom. Making a slight creaking sound, Natsume slyly peers his head out of the door and catches Aoi dashing down the stairs.

Ike gets up and walks over to Natsume with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not sure you should be spying on the teacher, that seems a little odd if you ask me."

"Well, lucky for me I didn't." Natsume retorts coldly, "Something isn't right with Aoi and I need to know what it is." Natsume slips out the door and runs down the stairs after him. Ike turns back to the now intrigued Minori who follows Ike to the front. Ike glances at her with a strained expression, his discomfort immediately transferring over to Minori.

Ike throws open the door with a herculean pull, slamming it into the wall. He and Minori wordlessly decide to chase after Natsume who appeared to have lost his mind. They sprint down the stairwell while skipping every second step with Ike almost falling down a flight. Reaching the final stretch of stairs they both slide down the railing as they reach the main foyer - just barely catching up to Natsume. Breathless, Ike gasps for as much air as his lungs can take.

"Natsume... What's gotten in to you?" Ike wheezes, still struggling to breathe. Natsume, eyes glued to the front of the building, watches as Aoi's car pulls out from the parking lot and down the road.

"He's gone..." Natsume murmurs, "Somethings up with him. Why would he just leave without telling us anything?" He turns to Ike and Minori, who are fidgeting with whatever they can get their hands on.

"W-well I don't think he's going to be back any time soon," Ike stammers trying to quickly form his sentences. "We should just head back to the room and pack our stuff, he probably won't be back for a while." He places a hand on Natsume's shoulder and guides him back to the stairwell like a nurse guiding a psychosis patient.

Stunned to silence, Natsume follows and the three make their way back to the classroom. The trek back felt longer than the journey down to the entrance and Natsume's legs began to ache and walking up ten flights of stairs felt like torture to him now.

Ike and Minori must have felt the same. Their faces were scrunched into pained expressions, and Ike's legs wobbled as though he was scared after nearly missing a step on his way down. Natsume felt a wave of guilt wash over him, turning his eyes down to the steps he was walking up.

Upon entering the classroom again, they find... Aoi? He's sat at his desk with his feet up on it with his signature eerie smile. Natsume, feeling Aoi's eyes burning the back of his head, sat back down at his desk, and lay his head in his hands.

How did he get back so quickly... Did he even leave? Natsume stares back at Aoi with intent. There's no possible way I missed him turning a corner. I didn't take my eyes off him for a second.

Aoi swivels back and fourth on his chair, his eyes darting between Natsume, Minori, and Ike. "I had wondered where you three ran off too." He states, the swivelling gradually getting more and more intense. "I did say I would only be a few moments, if you needed to leave then you could have asked me once I had gotten back." Aoi sounded sincere as his smile softened slightly, which only made Natsume more uncomfortable.

"Regardless, I must say, I was gone long enough for us to run out of class time." Aoi takes his legs off of the desk he is sitting at, and stands at the front of the classroom. "You are all free to go now." Aoi dismisses the class, and the students all file out of the room.

Natsume tosses his backpack up onto the desk and puts his notebook inside. Ike taps Natsume's shoulder, a quizzical expression plastered on his face. His mouth moves as if he wants to say something but he can't find the right words.

"You saw what I saw, right?" Ike asks, clearly referring to Aoi driving off not more than five minutes ago. "There's no way he could make it back in time to dismiss us. I just don't understand!"

Natsume rubs his chin, deep in thought. "I might have an idea, but we should talk elsewhere." His eyes dart over to Aoi, who seemingly is innocently tapping on his phone, however, Natsume spots Aoi's ears perk up as though he knows exactly what Natsume is about to reference.

"Well, there's a few places I want to visit before I head home," Minori states, packing her backpack and tossing it over her shoulder. "You two can tag along too if you want, It would be quite nice to have the company."

Ike, being his usual excitable self, immediately rushed over to the door, bouncing up and down like a child ready to get set loose in a candy store. Sighing, Minori follows.

"You almost make me regret asking." Minori makes clear to Ike before turning back to Natsume, who swings his backpack over his shoulders. "You're coming too, right Natsume?"

With a nod, Natsume, Ike, and Minori all leave the classroom, down the hall, and into the openness of the city before them. The air crisp as though winter was quickly approaching, but Natsume didn't have time to notice the chill in the air last time, as the boys watch their bus leave they realise that their day just got more interesting.