A lot of days passed...
Room A-0174 had changed.
Not physically.
The same three beds were there. The same desk. The same window that never seemed to close properly. The same pile of clothes Saito kept insisting he would fold someday.
Nothing had changed.
And yet—
It no longer felt like a dorm.
It felt like a headquarters.
Haruka sat on the floor with several sheets of paper scattered around him.
Names.
Class numbers.
Abilities.
Friendships.
Rivalries.
Teachers.
Habits.
Everything he had managed to notice over the last few days.
Saito looked over his shoulder.
"You know, normal people use paper for homework."
Haruka didn't look up.
"That's unfortunate."
Yume sat on the edge of her bed.
"How many?"
"Thirty-two."
Saito blinked.
"Thirty-two what?"
"People."
"People?"
Haruka finally looked up.
"Thirty-two people I've been watching."
Yume's expression changed slightly.
"You've been watching thirty-two people?"
"Observing."
"That's the same thing."
"No. Watching sounds creepy."
Saito stared at him.
"You're literally sitting in the dark with a list of people's weaknesses."
Haruka looked back down.
"Okay, maybe a little creepy."
Yume sighed.
"What did you find?"
Haruka tapped the papers.
"Most of them aren't useful."
Saito raised an eyebrow.
"That's brutal."
"It's true."
He separated the pages into three piles.
"Strong but stupid."
He pushed one pile aside.
"Weak but obedient."
Another.
"And people who are actually capable of thinking for themselves."
He placed the last pile in front of Yume.
"These."
Yume looked through them.
"You're recruiting them?"
"Not all of them."
"Then why collect all this?"
Haruka shrugged.
"Information."
Saito leaned against the bed.
"And what exactly are you planning to do with it?"
Haruka paused.
Then smiled.
"Everything."
Saito stared at him.
"That's not an answer."
"It is if you think about it."
Yume chuckled quietly.
"You've gotten annoying."
"I've always been annoying."
"Not like this."
Haruka's smile faded slightly.
"I know."
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Haruka gathered the papers.
"We can't build Alastor by just collecting strong people."
Yume nodded.
"We need people who can actually keep secrets."
"And people who can gather information without realizing they're gathering it for us."
Saito's eyes narrowed.
"You're planning to use them."
Haruka didn't deny it.
"Yes."
Yume looked at him.
"And us?"
Haruka immediately answered.
"No."
The answer came too quickly.
Saito noticed.
"So we're different?"
Haruka looked at both of them.
For once, there was no calculation behind his expression.
"You're my friends."
Silence.
Saito smiled faintly.
"That was almost wholesome."
"Don't ruin it."
Yume laughed under her breath.
Haruka looked away.
"Besides, you're both terrible pawns."
Saito threw a pillow at him.
"FUCK YOU."
Haruka caught it.
"See?"
Yume laughed harder.
For a few seconds—
They were just three idiots in a dorm room again.
Not revolutionaries.
Not criminals.
Not people trying to uncover a government conspiracy.
Just friends.
Haruka preferred that version of them.
Unfortunately—
The world rarely cared what people preferred.
(pack it up next scene coming up gather your popcorn readers[from ur dear AUTHOR])
The next morning, Haruka changed his approach.
He didn't recruit anyone directly.
That would be too obvious.
Instead, he started conversations.
Small ones.
Meaningless ones.
"Do you know why the eastern training field is always closed after six?"
"Which teacher handles transfer evaluations?"
"Have you noticed how many students disappear from the advanced classes?"
"Who decides which students get assigned to field missions?"
Questions that sounded like curiosity.
Nothing more.
People answered easily when they believed they were helping someone.
Haruka listened.
He remembered.
Then he moved on.
One student told him about the academy's ranking system.
Another mentioned that several teachers had access to restricted records.
Someone else casually revealed which dorms were searched most often.
A girl from B-class mentioned that students who failed certain evaluations weren't expelled.
They were transferred.
Where?
She didn't know.
A second student did.
Probably.
A third one claimed they were sent to government training facilities.
A fourth insisted that was bullshit.
Haruka didn't care which one was right.
Contradictions were useful too.
They told him where the holes were.
By lunch, he had learned more than he could have gotten from a week of searching alone.
Saito watched him from across the cafeteria.
"You realize you're terrifying when you do that, right?"
Haruka took another bite.
"Do what?"
"Talk to people like you're just casually chatting, while you're actually dissecting their entire life."
Haruka swallowed.
"That's a little dramatic."
"You asked that guy about his older brother, his class schedule, his teacher, and why he stopped attending the western training sessions."
"I was curious."
"You didn't even like the guy."
"I don't have to like someone to be curious."
Yume sat beside them.
"How much did you get?"
Haruka smiled.
"Enough."
Saito sighed.
"That word is starting to scare me."
Chrono Split
That night, Haruka couldn't sleep.
The others were already quiet.
He stood beside the window.
The academy was almost completely dark.
Almost.
There were always lights somewhere.
Security lights.
Government buildings.
Dormitories.
Watching.
He closed his left eye.
Then opened his right.
Blue.
The familiar glow appeared.
Chrono Split.
He hadn't used it properly in a long time.
Not like this.
Not on people.
Not after everything that happened.
Haruka breathed slowly.
"I just need information."
The world changed.
For a moment—
He saw tomorrow.
Then next week.
Then a month.
The academy changed.
People moved.
Events happened.
Students fought.
Some joined Alastor.
Some didn't.
Some betrayed them.
Some never met them.
Haruka pushed further.
One year.
Two.
Five.
The future became unstable.
Too many branches.
Too many possibilities.
Every decision created another.
Every person changed another person's decision.
The moment Haruka tried to look further—
The vision fractured.
He saw himself standing somewhere unfamiliar.
Then dead.
Then alive.
Then surrounded by people.
Then alone.
Then—
Another version of himself.
Another world.
Another choice.
Another death.
Haruka immediately pulled himself out.
His vision returned.
The room was still there.
His breathing was uneven.
He touched beneath his eye.
A small trace of blood.
"…Tch."
Chrono Split wasn't showing him the future anymore.
It was showing him possibilities.
And there were too many.
Far too many.
Haruka stared at the floor.
"So that's the problem."
The future wasn't fixed.
It was reacting to him.
Every time he changed something—
The future changed with it.
Which meant the more he tried to predict—
The less predictable everything became.
He laughed quietly.
"That's annoying."
He wiped his face.
Then looked toward the sleeping Saito and Yume.
At least one thing hadn't changed.
They were still here.
That was enough.
For tonight.
(pause pause next scene beep boop dattebayo💢💢)
The next afternoon, Haruka found himself standing in front of a communication terminal.
He stared at the name for several seconds.
Sakura Miyamaru.
His finger hovered over the call button.
He knew this person.
Not here.
Not in this world.
In his original universe—
She had died.
Haruka remembered that.
Maybe that was why he hesitated.
Eventually, he pressed it.
The call connected.
"Hello?"
Haruka froze.
That voice.
For one stupid second—
He forgot where he was.
"…Sakura?"
"Yeah?"
He didn't answer.
"Haruka?"
"Yeah."
His voice sounded different.
Softer.
Sakura noticed.
"Are you okay?"
Haruka looked down.
"Yeah."
A pause.
"Just wanted to talk."
Sakura laughed lightly.
"That's rare."
"Is it?"
"You usually call when you need something."
Haruka smiled.
"Maybe I don't need anything."
"Then why did you call?"
He didn't know.
Or maybe he did.
He just didn't want to say it.
Because if he said—
I called because you're alive here.
It would sound insane.
So instead—
"I forgot what your voice sounded like."
There was silence.
Then Sakura laughed.
"What kind of reason is that?"
"A bad one."
"Very bad."
Haruka smiled.
For once, he wasn't calculating her response.
He wasn't studying her expression.
He wasn't predicting the next sentence.
He just listened.
They talked.
About stupid things.
The academy.
Classes.
Food.
People they disliked.
Saito.
Yume.
Haruka also told her how he enrolled on the academy. How he got his powers and etc.
Sakura complained about someone who had annoyed her earlier. (clearly not her husband annoying her by stealing her snacks or something)
Haruka laughed.
A genuine laugh.
Not the carefully constructed one he used around strangers.
Sakura went quiet.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"You sound different."
Haruka looked through the window.
"Maybe I'm tired."
"Then sleep."
"I can't."
"Why?"
Haruka didn't answer immediately.
Because the real answer was—
I'm scared.
Not of death.
Not of the government.
Not of Alastor.
He was scared of losing people again.
He had already lived through a world where Sakura disappeared from his life permanently.
And now she was here.
Alive.
Talking to him like nothing had ever happened.
He swallowed.
"…Sakura."
"Hm?"
"If something happens to me—"
"Don't."
Haruka stopped.
Her voice was suddenly serious.
"Don't say things like that."
He smiled faintly.
"Okay."
"Promise?"
A pause.
"…Promise."
She went quiet.
Then—
"Good."
Haruka closed his eyes.
For a moment, the entire world felt strangely peaceful.
No Council.
No government.
No Alastor.
No timelines.
Just a voice on the other side of a call.
And for the first time in a long time—
Haruka didn't feel like he had to calculate what came next.