when I opened my eyes it was already morning, I lazily checked my phone to see the time
"9:05.... there's no way I'll make it huh"
I'm not the type to skip school so I usually make sure to put 3 alarms at least, but even that won't work sometime
I looked at the time in my phone moving backwards for a while until it became 6:00
as a perfect student with perfect score my day always start about 6 O'clock, after stretching and taking a shower I spend about 20 minutes watching my Onii-chan's face as he sleeps, even though I see it everyday I can't stop watching him when he's defenseless like this, I touched his face quietly to make sure he won't wake up yet.
"Shiori?"
"your Shiori is here" I said calmly, even if it wasn't my plan to wake him up freaking out would be just suspicious
"it's time for school Onii-chan wake up"
"Ugh, five more minutes"
"I'll go do something about breakfast, but when I finish you have to wake up okay?"
"Thank you I love you~"
he said with closed eyes as he hugged his pillow half asleep, if he go around saying that to everyone it will cause a problem for Naru-chan later
"what should I do with useless brother of mine"
I sighed but honestly I like this about him too, he just need me to exist there's no way I'm giving him to a girl that I didn't verify, she has to be ready to die for him. until now only Naru is good enough to be the bride of my dear brother
I jumped to the kitchen happily to make breakfast for my brother, today mom doesn't have work so she won't wake up until later in the morning so she probably won't need a breakfast
I wore my apron and started making both the breakfast and the bentos, I even made it larger than usual today because I'm feeling good
after I finished everything I went back to Onii-chan's room, as expected he was still sleeping
"if you don't wake up now you'll be late"
"just five more seconds"
1..2...3...4...5
"your time is up"
I pulled his sheet with allmy power which caused my brother to fall on the ground
"Ugh, I'm awake now"
maybe I overdid it, I gave him my hand to help him stand up
"I'm sorry about that but you forced me to..."
"yeah it's my fault too don't worry about it"
I helped him walk to the bathroom so I can brush his teeth as usual
"we really should stop doing this...it feels wrong"
"if I let you do it yourself you won't do it seriously!"
even though he's supposed to be my big brother physically, I'm technically older by a lot when it comes to mental age
while brushing I took the chance to ask Onii-chan about his relationship with Naru-chan
"how things going with Naru lately?"
Normally he would answer instantly and say that nothing happened but this time he rolled his eyes and stayed silent for a while before answering
"we didn't talk much lately"
"Eh? Why?"
did she finally give up on him? no, that's not realistic she won't leave him for anything
then, did they have a fight? that's unlikely too..
"nothing serious, she's just spending most of her time hanging around Aru lately"
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"
that's the Worst case scenario! it's not just that Naru-chan is looking at another person, he had to be Aru from all people, she was blind enough to love my brother but if she saw Aru's good points there's no way she will ever look back at my brother!
I started panicking, the brush I was holding started moving faster and faster
"Ouch, that hurts. Shiori? Shiori?!"
finally I was back to my mind when I heard Onii-chan's shout, I need to calm down now... Naru-chan isn't the type to stop chasing after something she wants even if it's impossible, never giving up is her specialty after all
after I calmed myself I looked at my brother to ask for more details about what happened, he understood it immediately but hesitated to talk at first
"umm...you see.."
he scratched the back of his neck in annoyance then he finally decided to talk with a serious face
"Aru is hack to his middle school self, he's even wearing glasses again instead of the contact lenses he usually wears"
no no no, that's even harder to believe! why would he be...
when he saw my confused face my big brother took the brush from my hand and continued to brush his teeth as he explained
"Chi-senpai did some research on the matter, apparently he started acting like this after he got his ass rejected by a senpai"
rejected huu? maybe that's the reason why Naru-chan is looking for him, she knows his feelings quite a lot so they would be perfect for each other to...
"WAAAAAAAAAAAH"
I ran as fast as I could ignoring Onii-chan's shouts
"you didn't eat your breakfast yet!"
it doesn't matter right now! I have something more important to do! it's the worst case scenario if they got too close and started dating, I wouldn't let that happen
it's embarrassing when everyone is looking at me like this...but since I'm running so desperately it's only natural that people would be interested, I endured the gazes until I finally reached Onii-chan's school, it took me a while to collect my breath as I waited in front of the school gate
now that I cooled down a bit,I feel so embarrassed that I can even feel my face burning more and more
"maybe I should just restart..."
I hate being the center of the attention so much! I don't even know what to do right now
when I was about to end my suffering I saw someone from a long distance, I ran toward him with a smile on my face I really feel like I'm saved
"Aru!"
I called the boy'w name but he didn't respond or react at all, why is he ignoring me? that's annoying! I grabbed his hand and pulled it with all the strength I had in me
"Eh?"
"Ouch that hurts what are you doing?"
even though I used all of strength in pulling I didn't expect that I'd really be able to move him, using my own hands I forced him to turn a 180 degrees..why is he so weak?!
"what happened to you?!"I shouted in desperation, not knowing what to do I could only vent on the man in front of me
"I don't understand what you're talking about, can you leave me?"
he tried to free his arm from my hand but it was useless, how did something like this happen? where's my Aru?
I looked at his face another time, his usually golden eyes turned into dark dead eyes, no matter how much I focused I could not find a sign of life in them
when I realized that my struggles were useless I let his arm go and bowed apologizing
"I'm sorry I mistook you for someone else"
"make sure to confirm the identity before doing this next time"
he didn't even recognize me, I wanted him to at least remember my name..
it's not late yet, I need to help him! he helped me a lot so I have to help him
"do you think he's happier this way?"
when I was about to start my efforts to save Aru I heard someone talking to me from behind
"you are that bitch..."
"that's cruel to call me like this, I don't remember doing anything to you"
Arima Chihiro, this girl is someone that I can't understand no matter how many times I talk to her, I can't break her persona and bring her actual self, I refuse to believe she's as perfect as she seems to be
"what do you mean by happier? he's obviously depressed!"
"his path for normal happiness was blocked once he got the power of a hero, if he decided to throw it away and chase the normal happiness of everyone, I want to respect his wish"
the only information that I know about this girl is that she's the one who know Aru the most, she knows small details about him that it would be impossible to know for anyone else, it's not exaggeration to say that she knows more about him than he knows. of someone like her thinks that Aru could be happier like this...
"I will see where's this going for now"
I looked at the back of the man that I admired the most, even the way he walks changed, I don't know how to feel anymore..
I walked away trying to think about everything that happened today, no matter how hard I thought I couldn't come with a decision and so a week went by, then a month, and not before long three months passed without me being able to come up with an answer, until now that is.
I couldn't stop smiling, I saw the answer coming to me! I didn't need to search for it since it was always coming, all I needed was time. and for me time is my pet, waiting for millions of years won't be a problem
as I saw the city around me in fire I started dancing to the cries of the people, a child crying under the remains of his house asking for help, cars are crushed and corpses are everywhere but somehow I was happier than ever, their suffering doesn't matter not for a long time at least
I walked calmly trying to reach the center of the destruction, I died 462 times until now, but that doesn't matter, because my heart is going crazy, it's asking me to take it to that man, he's the only one who can fill this emptiness that I feel
in the middle of the city...maybe calling it a city isn't exactly right now. a single person stood over a mountain of corpses, blood came from everywhere it seems as if everything was painted with a red color, even the sky was about to lose it's color
every step I took closer to him I felt death coming more and more, 749 times retries just to reach this distance
heroes came from every country but none of them stood a chance against the rampage of the strongest hero, the man who stood above any other creature, his strength was unparalleled even when everyone stood against him
that's it, that what I wanted to see.
It's naive to think that there's something powerful enough to delete the power of the strongest hero, in the end only his memories were gone, while his power returned the moment he wanted them.
"how did you come here?"
a deep voice shook my body ,just hearing it forced my knees to touch the ground. this feeling of fear that I've never experienced before...I feel like I'm gonna be addicted to it
"I wanted to ask you a question"
I forced my mouth to move, even though every cell if my body is asking me to run away, I looked directly at his eyes
"are you happy?"
I asked the hero- no, maybe he's a demon lord now, his expression didn't change, but he walked slowly to me and answered me
"once I realized I had those powers I thought that I could do anything I wanted, but in the end nothing satisfied me. I ended up killing many people just for nothing"
he reached a distance that is close to my face before he continues
"I'm not happy at all"
that all I needed to hear
I raised my hand a little bit grabbing a red thread that no one else could see, once I pulled it with enough strength the world around me started destroying itself, the demon king looked around for a bit and asked me
"is it possible to save me?"
"I won't allow such a future once again"
for a last time, Aru smiled as the darkness swallowed everything.
the world started recreating itself instantly and as I opened my eyes again I was in my bed enjoying a little bit of sleep, I opened the window to see the city that was destroyed completely the last time I saw it, but now it was perfectly fine. just as usual time itself returned to the point I wanted, the deaths and suffering of everyone Dissappeared as if it didn't happen, no....it really didn't happen. there's no time lines either so the world that I give up on just stop existing.
I was six when I first used this power, my big brother injured himself and ended up in the hospital, because I was so scared I did it unconsciously. time moved backwards and my brother was fine the next time I saw him.
I was scared from this power at first, but the more I used it the more I realized that it didn't have any side effects, it's the perfect control over time. stopping it or returning it, everything is possible just by a single move of my hand
"the world is mine! everything's existence is for me!"
thinking back about how I was thinking I can't help but feel embarrassed, I was self centered and thought that I'm invincible, that was before I met him, the boy who changed me completely, compared to him everything was worthless, he stood alone at the peak of everything in the universe, even after trying for hundreds of times and doing everything I could think of, I wasn't able to do anything to him.
he is an existence that no human should be, if he wished for it world domination won't be hard, I already saw the results just a little while ago, yet he just go to school normally and hang out with his friends just like any other boy there, when he lost his memories and turned to a normal boy he abused his power as much as he could, all he needed was a little push to start destroying everything. unlike the Aru I know who didn't snap no matter how hard you pushed him.
even though he was definitely someone special he didn't act like one, someone who has powers far superior than mine but decided to not use it, such a fool existed right before my eyes
I think that what saved me, I wasn't special at all, I'm just another person who's a little bit luckier than others، I didn't deserve this power I was just born with it
knowing that I wasn't the chosen one but a single person between billions I felt that I can just be myself. I shouldn't let this power define me
that's why I feel indebted to Aru, even if he doesn't know it, the memories I only remember are still there
I walked outside my house, even if it's a school day I skipped it without a second thought
"maybe stopping the rejection would be better?"
I asked myself quietly but I already decided what to do I can't change it now
I spotted Aru quickly, he's holding a bottle that seems dangerous so I ran toward him faster
"Yo Aru"
"Shiori?"
"yup the cute Shiori is here!"
"did you just call yourself cute? and why are you here?"