Chapter 4
I was starting to panic a little.
Why? How come? Questions kept flooding my mind.
“Let’s go.”
Shinji carried me out, still holding me in a headlock. The bank’s security alarm blared, and inside the chaotic building, I could see civilians lying on the floor and an injured security guard crouched down, watching my fate with anxiety—yet also a hint of amusement.
It’s the same.
I realized clearly: the exact same thing was happening again.
“Get in!”
I was shoved into a parked car.
What should I do?
What should I do?
I sat in the car, clasping my fingers together and desperately thinking about what to do. If I continued like this, I would go out into the city. If I got out of the car, Shinji would die.
Don’t go to the police station.
Don’t go to the Western-style restaurant.
If I just avoided those places, would things work out somehow? How on earth could I move forward?
“…What’s wrong? Why are you so quiet? Scared?”
Whenever I open my mouth, I’m told to “shut up,” but when I stay silent, he calls out to me. It’s strange. But Shinji must also be extremely nervous. After all, he just robbed a bank.
“Oh, yeah, just thinking.”
I ended up speaking casually, like before. Shinji looked surprised.
“I thought you were scared, but you don’t seem to be. You’re just a regular person, huh! You’re not… an off-duty cop, are you?”
Ah, he’s going there again?
“There’s no way that’s true ~”
I snapped back, half-desperate, half-exasperated. Thinking I’d mocked him, Shinji glared at me.
“Ah, sorry… I’m just a bit confused right now.”
“……”
Shinji didn’t speak to me again. He probably accepted that it was natural for a hostage to be confused.
But that wasn’t it.
That wasn’t it at all.
I had to figure out what to do next, what I had to do to escape this bizarre loop.
The car slowed down.
I guess he will abandon the car here.
But… what if he didn’t abandon the car here?
“Don’t stop!”
I said that out loud. And Shinji’s shoulders jerked.
“Wh, what the hell, all of a sudden?”
“I… I saw a police officer walking by… so I blurted it out.”
I made up a convenient lie.
“Tch. Cops, huh?”
Shinji seemed to believe me without question. He kept driving without stopping.
This time was different from the previous two. But what now?
“Where are we going?”
When I asked, Shinji frowned, and after a short silence,
“Don’t know.”
He just muttered.
Silence lingered for a while, but I steeled myself and asked Shinji.
“Um, do you remember me?”
“Huh? Have we met somewhere?”
He glanced at my face, then quickly looked away.
“I don’t think so?”
It seemed I was the only one repeating this. So, every time, he and I were meeting for the first time? This was complicated and troublesome.
“What? Some new pickup line?”
“This isn’t a pickup line.”
I cut him off, my words overlapping his.
“My name is Natsumi Hirose. It’s written ‘summer sea‘. Your name is—”
“Huh? Why are you introducing yourself? Do you even realize what situation we’re in right now?”
“Of course I do! You robbed a bank, and I’m being dragged around as a hostage. But something way more important is happening right now!”
I became a little hysterical, so Shinji looked at me with an expression that was both troubled and angry.
“…Hey, do you know what a time loop is?”
I said this to Shinji. For a moment, he looked puzzled and tilted his head.
“Are you crazy?”
Ah, thank you so much for your honest impressions. I didn’t want to believe this either, and I certainly didn’t want to say it!
“This is actually the third time, Shinji-kun.”
Hearing his name, Shinji finally looked genuinely startled.
“…… Huh? Hey, what? Have we met somewhere before?”
As the car stopped at a red light, Shinji peered intently into my face.
“No, today’s our first meeting. But I’ve met you three times. If you have even a shred of willingness to believe, I’d like to talk a bit. Shinji. As in the kanji for ‘believe’ and the number two.”
I looked Shinji straight in the eye and said.
◇
“No matter what, that’s ridiculous! There’s no way something like that could be true.”
Shinji got out of the car and quickly walked away. Not only did he not believe what I had said, he also seemed to think I was a suspicious person.
“I can’t believe it either. But it’s the truth, so what can I do?”
“So, what? If I turn myself in to the cops, I get stabbed to death. If I get arrested on the street, I die of a heart attack. Is that it?”
“I said I don’t know! It might just be a matter of timing. For example, if it had been a different police station or a police box, it might have been okay.”
“Huh! Ridiculous! Ah~ Ah, everything just feels so damn ridiculous right now. I thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime big job, but I screwed it up, and the hostage is a weirdo spouting nonsense! What the hell is my life even about?”
He crouched down, clutching his head.
“Shinji-kun, calm down.”
I placed a hand on Shinji’s shoulder as he sat there.
“Daaaah! Cut it out with that ‘old friend’ act!”
“Oh, sorry, I guess I got too familiar.”
I apologized sincerely.
“…This is throwing me off. Forget it, forget it. Let’s just go straight to the police!”
“Huh?”
I looked around.
The first police station is far away from here. If we go to the nearest police box, maybe…….
“Okay. Then let’s skip the police station and go to the police box. I’ll give a proper statement.”
“What about?”
“That nothing terrible happened to me.”
Seeing me say this seriously, Shinji lowered his eyes and muttered in a small voice, “Well, thanks for that.”
We found a police box about a ten-minute walk away and headed there. The car was still parked on the street.
Walking slightly behind Shinji, I hoped this would end safely.
“Ah, there it is. I’ll go check if anyone’s inside.”
Saying that, Shinji dashed ahead. I could see him opening the door in front of the station. It being open meant someone was probably there.
My relief was short-lived……
SKKKKREEEEEECH
A deafening screech of brakes pierced my ears, and I saw a white minivan speeding toward us. Then the van plowed straight into the police box.
There was a deafening crash—neither quite a shatter nor a boom—and the impact.
Pieces of debris flew toward where I stood.
It all happened in an instant.
“…… Oh, ah.”
I stood frozen, trembling all over. The next moment, a deafening explosion and blast engulfed me. Fuel must have leaked from the van and ignited, I vaguely thought in the back of my mind.
Again. I couldn’t save him again.
Don’t just disappear so easily!
An indescribable feeling spread within me.
Then, my consciousness faded away.
No way!
Stop it already!
Oh, come on,
“Why!”
In the blink of an eye, I found myself screaming while a man dressed in all black held me in a headlock.
“Shut up!”
Shinji, the man who held me in a headlock at the bank, said that to me.
Sads Translates 