The Ghost Story's Overwrite
That monster—the true black curtain who led the communist revolution—yet the description on Muchia Leoporte's status window claiming he was the black curtain behind it... what could that mean? Was the status window wrong? No, that couldn't be. There was no hard proof, but instinct told him with unshakable certainty that while undiscovered truths might lurk in its revelations, nothing false would ever appear there.
So why did the status window's information clash with his own memories? ...A sudden realization hit him. The answer was simple. Reality was being overwritten.
An absurd hypothesis, but when all impossible possibilities were eliminated, only the truth remained. And if something could overlay reality like this, it could only be a ghost story.
The Observation gift was undeniably useful. It flagged things he hadn't yet noticed, and its entries were never lies. But did that mean he should blindly trust the status window and abandon his own thinking? No. Even Observation might miss things he hadn't uncovered, and when a ghost story overwrote reality itself like this, the information from Observation became unreliable too.
But he'd grown too dependent on the gift, slacking on his own reasoning. In the end, he was the one using it, receiving the info, and making judgments. Overreliance on the gift had led him straight into the trap.
"Maybe from the start, criminal organizations like Clora and terrorist groups like Hand never existed in this reality. Or if they did, they were different groups in different forms. But as the ghost story corrupted everything, they became those organizations—or were retroactively made to have always been them. That's the conclusion I've reached."
"Hm. If you're that certain, there must be some reason I don't know about."
"Thanks for trusting me."
He hadn't revealed that the communist revolution was his own fabrication, but Elaine still believed his explanation and went along with it.
"So, what are you going to do?"
"What else? We'll rewind for now. Now that I've recognized this as a ghost story phenomenon, rewinding should reveal something."
"Any guesses on the ghost story's true nature beyond that?"
"Guesses? I haven't got a clue. You know more about ghost stories than I do anyway—how would I know?"
After starting his second life, he'd dismissed ghost stories as kid stuff kids liked and ignored them. He regretted that choice now.
In the meantime, he and Elaine reached the fifth floor and entered the sealed room right away.
—For reference, he'd copied the key to the sealed room long ago and always carried it—
"Drag all the students out!"
"Anyone resisting this time, just kill them! Don't let yesterday's mess happen again!"
The moment the two of them entered the sealed room, shouts echoed from the hallway as terrorists ruthlessly hunted down students and teachers.
The terrorists' voices grew closer at a rapid pace. Not much time left.
Without hesitation, he stood in the center of the room and focused his mind to rewind time.
Bang!Bang!Bang!
"Open the door!"
"We know you're in there!"
The terrorists finally reached the sealed room. But he was just a bit faster.
Flash. A burst of white light erupted, and...
Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep. Click.
He turned off the alarm clock, got out of bed right away, finished preparing, and headed to the academy.
"Phew. It felt like it dragged on forever, but we're back to day two at the academy after all."
For now, returning to day two meant going back before the ghost story escalated, but if the save point stayed fixed on day two no matter how many days passed, that would be a huge problem. He'd have to find a solution to that too, slowly but surely.
But right now, the immediate ghost story took priority. He still had no idea what it was, but that didn't mean no options came to mind.
He met Elaine in their usual spot, away from prying eyes, shared the plan he'd come up with, and they moved to action immediately.
...
"...And with that, we'll wrap up the first lecture for the Basic Understanding of Gifts course."
Having to give the same first lecture from nearly ten days ago again... If he couldn't figure out how to change the sealed room's save point, he might go mad from boredom first.
Unlike his exasperated inner thoughts, the lecture itself went smoothly. As it ended and the students filed out of the classroom...
"Hey, Rone. Got a minute?"
He grabbed Rone, who was shuffling out looking listless. Her puzzled eyes turned to him.
...
"Alright, Rone. This is Elaine Astraea. Elaine, this is Rone Yustria."
"Hello. As Mr. Allen introduced, I'm Elaine Astraea."
"Ah, h-hello. R-Rone Yustria."
Elaine, putting on an elegant air unlike her usual self around him. And Rone, shrinking back and mumbling her introduction in response.
Elaine really did play up the mysterious character in public. It didn't suit her at all.
The moment their greetings ended, he cut straight to the point.
"The reason I called you, Rone, is simple. I need to borrow your power for something."
"My help?"
"Specifically, the Justice Execution gift you possess."
"You know about my gift?"
"Academy teachers know more than you think. Especially when the course I teach is about gifts—how could I not?"
"Ahh, I see."
Rone nodded in understanding. In truth, it was just info from the previous loop before the rewind.
"So, what do you need my gift for?"
"There's someone I want watched, and subdued if necessary. And since it requires Justice Execution, they're definitely not a good person."
With that, he revealed the target's info to Rone. None other than Muchia Leoporte.
After successfully rewinding, his first plan was one thing: neutralize Muchia.
To be clear upfront, Muchia himself wasn't the ghost story's core—he was just swept up in it. But that didn't make him unimportant. He was tied to every assault incident at the academy.
Delinquent circle Sca, criminal organization Clora, global terrorist group Hand. He was always the leader.
Even swept up in a ghost story, it wasn't hard to infer he had deep ties to it. So to prevent future academy assaults—or to dig into the ghost story's root—he needed to neutralize Muchia and secure him.
And to neutralize Muchia, Rone—who had overwhelmed him multiple times before the rewind—was the perfect choice.
Given the ghost story's trait of growing more dangerous the more people knew, they needed the minimal team to take him down.
He and Elaine explained Muchia's suspicious nature to Rone, avoiding ghost story details as much as possible.
"...So that's why Muchia seems so suspicious."
"But there's no concrete evidence, right? He could just be a delinquent."
"Yes, unfortunately no hard proof. But I'm convinced he's no ordinary student. That's why I need your help, Rone. We can't detain an academy student on suspicion alone. So with your assistance, we'll monitor him briefly. The moment we find evidence or catch him causing trouble, we subdue him."
"Hmm... If it's that, sure. I'll help however I can."
A bit exaggerated, but it matched what happened in the previous loop, so not entirely wrong.
Rone nodded eagerly, accepting the proposal. As expected, she wouldn't refuse—she'd rolled up her sleeves with righteous fury every time the academy was attacked before.
With that, recruitment for neutralizing Muchia was complete. He drilled Muchia's danger into her repeatedly to keep her vigilant, then set off to find him.
...
Finding Muchia was easy. He'd already encountered him once before the rewind.
"Kyaaah!!"
Just like before the rewind, Muchia was leading a pack of his delinquent followers in bullying a weak student.
"Stop that!"
And just like before, Rone couldn't stand by and rushed forward upon seeing it.
"Huh? What's this? Some tiny brat."
"Ganging up on one person. Aren't you ashamed?"
"Who asked you to butt in? Think we'll go easy 'cause you're a girl?"
Progressing exactly like the previous loop. Back then, he'd intervened here to stop it, but this time, to ensure Muchia's neutralization, he deliberately stayed out and watched blankly.
Without his interference, the fight between Rone and Muchia naturally began, and Rone easily took down Muchia and his delinquents with Justice Execution.
"Alright, Muchia's down now. Better tie him up before he bolts?"
"Yeah. Snag him quick before he turns into some big-shot Sca or Clora boss. Rope's ready!"
The moment he and Elaine approached like hyenas circling carrion...
Something changed.
"Kuhuhu. I don't know how you sniffed me out, but not bad, girlie."
Muchia, who'd just been getting one-sidedly pummeled like a third-rate thug, suddenly shifted atmosphere. Lowering his voice menacingly, he stood with newfound weight.
Wait, why so soon...!
He urgently observed the transformed Muchia.
Crackle. Static.
The status window crackled with static right before his eyes, overlaying Muchia's status in real time.
Clora...!? But we haven't even taken down Sca yet—why?
He'd skipped past delinquent circle Sca and jumped straight to criminal organization Clora.
Something was going terribly wrong.