The First Day Rewinds
The first day at the Everlight Academy. But pleasant times always come to an end, and once the fun fades, it's time for the headache-inducing cleanup. Just like getting dirty at the playground all day means you have to shower and do laundry afterward. Or cooking a delicious meal means washing the dishes. Solving a supernatural anomaly means dealing with the aftermath.
Honestly, it felt unfair. I hadn't caused this bizarre phenomenon. But what could I do? Once the excitement wore off and I was lying on the floor, I let Elaine help me to my feet.
Elaine screamed and teared up at the sight of my completely twisted arms—unaware of their condition because they were covered in the grotesque entity's skin—loud enough that I worried it might rupture my eardrums.
"Kyaaah!! Teacher! Your arms...! Your arms!!"
"Ah! Don't touch them! Don't touch!"
With her support, I barely managed to stand. Even after resolving the crisis, my mind was busier than before.
"...Anyway, we solved it, but how do we handle this disaster? All the grotesque humans who were impersonating people have melted away. To everyone else, it'll look like hundreds of students and staff vanished in an instant."
"Ah...."
At this rate, forget stopping the outer god's revival—we might not even be able to keep the academy running. It was my fault for being too late. And my arms... they'd twisted a full 720 degrees, right? Forget healing; could I even use them again? And now, another new puzzle added to the pile.
Too much to think about.
"Observation...."
[Observation]
Sharp insight interprets the essence of the target. The depth increases with logical reasoning and understanding of the subject.
Reacting to my mutter, a translucent window floated before my eyes again. A form all too familiar to me.
"...A status window?"
It was unmistakably a status window.
"What's that? Are you okay, Teacher? You are okay, right?"
Unable to see what I saw, Elaine looked at me worriedly, staring into empty space. Probably concerned my mind had cracked under the grotesque entity's corpse draped over me.
But I had no time to reassure her; I was fixated on the status window.
...Why had a status window appeared? At least according to this world's common sense I knew, there were no fantasy elements like status windows or stats. If something like that existed, I wouldn't have charged in so recklessly.
The only logical explanation...
"A reward for defeating the monster?"
Logically, this window appeared because Elaine and I resolved the supernatural phenomenon. Unreal situations demand unreal reasons.
Resolving a ghost story purifies the grotesque, granting resentment.
Absorbing resentment awakens or strengthens a gift.
As if confirming my reasoning, another window appeared. This was a gift? From what I knew, gifts weren't abilities that could awaken postnatally. Only a tiny fraction of humans were born with them innately. I was among the vast majority without one.
Could this be acquired later in life? No, more importantly, a full-on fantasy status window didn't match my knowledge of gifts....
"Teacher! Teacher!!"
My thoughts shattered at Elaine's urgent call. She looked on the verge of tears, watching me mutter to myself.
For now, I had to pause and reassure her.
"I'm fine. Well, not that fine, but at least my mind's intact."
"It's not that—the room, the room is weird!!"
"Wait, weren't you worried about me...."
"Look over there!!"
A bit hurtful....
But as I followed her pointing finger and looked inside the warehouse, I lost my words.
The room was glowing faintly. The light vanished quickly as we stared in a daze, but afterward, the warehouse felt somehow alive with vitality.
"This isn't just in my head, right? It's not over yet, is it?"
Despair and fear bloomed on her face at the obvious anomaly. The dread that even after slaying the presumed cause, the loop might continue.
"No. It should be over."
But I thought differently. The bizarre time loop ended the moment we defeated the grotesque entity. My gift awakening proved it.
So this glow in the warehouse must be...
"Probably the reward—or spoil of war—for defeating this ghost story."
I was right.
This club room holds the resentment of one who wished joyful, happy times would never end.
Once twisted and corrupted by the grotesque.
The owner and this club room endlessly repeated the same day, blocking tomorrow's arrival, twisting academy members into grotesque entities like themselves.
Now purified into a form infused with pure resentment by exorcising the ghost story.
Consume resentment to return to the stored time of joyful, happy memories.
Another window appeared. Was my reasoning spot-on, triggering my Observation? It revealed info about this room now serving as the club room. I was getting the hang of how to use Observation.
More than that—a wish for joyful times to last forever. To think such a simple, pure heart caused all this. Bitter taste in my mouth.
"Teacher Allen? Did you figure something out?"
"More or less. It's not dangerous, at least."
"Phew. That's a relief."
Elaine sighed in relief without a hint of doubt.
"More importantly, I think we just got a way to clean up this mess at the academy."
"A way to resolve this incident? Is that possible? Even with Teacher Ellen's wealth and influence, it seems impossible...."
"Haha. Not that...."
Her innocently naive response drew an unwitting laugh.
"Supernatural problems need supernatural solutions."
I said, extending a hand toward the center of the warehouse—no, the club room.
"Agh! My arm! My arm!!"
"Teacher Allen! That's why you shouldn't suddenly try to lift your hand...!"
....
Gave up on the hand; focused mentally instead. Joyful, happy memories. Excluding the supernatural chaos, it was only my first day at Everlight Academy—I had none.
Yet I wished desperately in my heart. To return to normal life. To the academy before the supernatural swept in.
I felt something intangible being consumed.
"Eh, Teacher! Something's weird! Teacher! Tea—"
Memory
Returning to the stored time.
Flash!
A blinding light erupted from the club room, soon engulfing the world.
And—
....
Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep.
Allen Trading Company's patented alarm clock, leagues ahead of Hifnia's pre-modern tech. I swatted it off unconsciously, signaling the start of work.
A heavy sleeper, I rubbed my groggy eyes and rose from bed. Sitting dazed on the edge, I nodded off—then snapped awake.
I checked both hands immediately. Not twisted; pristine, unscathed.
Opened the wardrobe; suit intact—no tears or scratches from battling the grotesque entity.
I smiled. Headed to work on time; students greeted me warmly.
Among them, familiar faces—the grotesque students who'd threatened me oddly. They greeted normally now.
"Morning, Teacher Allen."
"Morning, Teacher Lydia too."
Our commutes overlapped; Lydia spotted me and greeted shyly.
"Um, it's been two days since you arrived at the academy. If anything's tough, please tell me. I'll do my best to help. And, uh, thank you so much for saying yesterday in the staff room that I'm a good teacher. I forgot to thank you then...."
"Huh? Oh, no need. I just said what I thought."
Our chat confirmed the timeline: the day after my arrival. The day after my first remembered loop.
Though just yesterday, it felt ancient; I blanked on what she'd said in the staff room.
As we chatted and approached the entrance, I spotted Elaine watching from afar.
"Ah, excuse me a sec. I need to stop somewhere before the staff room."
"O-oh, sure. Go ahead!"
Leaving flustered Lydia, I approached pouty-faced Elaine.
"That's not fair! If you had a way like that, you should've told me sooner!"
"Hahaha. Don't be too hard on me. Truth is, I wasn't sure it'd work until I tried. Imagine boldly claiming I could rewind time, only for it to fail—total embarrassment, right?"
"...Why the sudden formal speech?"
"Other students are watching. Gotta manage my image."
"...Ugh."
She glared as if catching on. All in playful jest.
"Heh. Anyway, Miss Elaine. You okay?"
"Ah, yeah. No pain; I'm fine."
"Not that—skipping class. You hopped the fence and ditched yesterday. Skipping on the first day? As Class A's homeroom teacher, I'm worried about having a delinquent."
"Huh? What do you... Ah. Wait. No way...."
The relic rewinded to midnight of my first remembered day—the day I first met her trying to scale the fence.
She'd claimed no class, but really, she was fleeing grotesque humans despite having one.
Recalling that, Elaine paled and clung to me.
"T-Teacher! Just once more—rewind time one more time, please!"
"Hahaha. Should've attended diligently. Come on, Miss Elaine. First period's starting. Let's go."
I teased leisurely as we entered the academy.
Thus, the first day at the academy truly ended.
The second day began.