She raised the pepper spray.

  And fired.

  He screamed.

  A guttural, enraged howl tore from his throat as his hands shot up to his face.

  His body lurched backward, stumbling against the pavement as he clawed at his burning eyes.

  "FUCK—!!"

  His voice was strained, filled with raw fury and agony.

  Connie didn't wait to watch.

  She grabbed Takeshi's wrist.

  "Run!"

  Takeshi didn't hesitate.

  The two of them bolted.

  Her heart pounded violently.

  She had done it.

  She had actually landed a hit.

  They were about to step into the alley.

  Right as they entered it, Connie glanced back.

  She was taken aback.

  The calm man was standing at the entrance, behind the ability user.

  In that instant, his voice rang out.

  "Pathetic."

  Cold. Calculated. Completely unfazed.

  Connie's stomach twisted.

  He wasn't panicking.

  Not even after seeing his companion—or whatever they are— take a direct hit to the eyes.

  He was dangerous.

  And she didn't know what his ability could do.

  All she knew—was that it had a cost.

  A cost that he refused to waste on them before.

  But now—

  Now, he had no reason to hold back.

  They kept running.

  Now, he was out of their sight.

  Just a little more.

  They had to make it.

  But before they could—

  He appeared behind them.

  No, not appeared. It was as if he ran there, in just those two seconds.

  "You're really making me waste my lifespan on you two?"

  A chill ran down Connie's spine.

  Her gut screamed at her to move faster.

  Then—

  He moved.

  Not instantly.

  Not like teleportation.

  But faster than any normal human should be able to.

  Connie's breath caught as she saw him close the distance between them twice as fast as a normal person would.

  His strides were unnatural.

  Precise. Calculated.

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  Efficient.

  And worst of all—he wasn't even running at full speed.

  He was pacing himself.

  That realization sent a wave of panic crashing through her.

  Because if this was him being conservative, then just how fast could he really go?

  She pulled Takeshi's wrist harder, to run even a slight bit faster.

  But it wasn't enough.

  He had already caught up.

  And in the next instant—

  A hand clamped onto her shoulder.

  She hadn't even seen him reach out.

  The world blinked.

  The café.

  Again.

  The warm sunset glow.

  The familiar murmur of voices.

  And—

  Ayaka.

  "Connie?"

  She barely reacted.

  Her heart was still racing.

  Her lungs burned.

  Even though she had reset, her body still felt like it was running.

  Her hands clenched into fists.

  She had learned something huge.

  The other man's ability.

  It was something like physical reinforcement.

  But to pay his own lifespan for a reinforcement..?

  That didn't feel right.

  Connie eyes widened in realization.

  Could it be.. Time Deceleration?

  He wasn't getting faster.

  He was decelerating time itself. For everyone, except him.

  That was why it had such a huge cost.

  That was why he hadn't used it before.

  Because it was a risk.

  A resource that he couldn't afford to waste.

  But this time—

  He had used it.

  Because she had become a real threat.

  She thought she could escape again without him activating his ability because she had done things similarly to the second loop.

  But apparently he thought of her as a risk this time around.

  Connie let out a slow breath.

  Fine.

  She was getting too tired of repeating the same day over and over again.

  Too tired to despair at her failures.

  She would win.

  No matter how many loops it would take.

  To finally reach 'tomorrow'.

  --------------------------------

  Connie's mind raced, piecing together what had gone wrong.

  She had used the same plan.

  She had gone through the same steps.

  But unlike in the second loop—The calm man had used his ability.

  Why?

  Why had he judged her as a threat this time, but not before?

  Her fingers curled tightly around her pendant as she replayed the sequence of events in her head.

  The differences.

  There had to be differences.

  After seconds that felt like minutes, she understood what was different.

  Her demeanor.

  She had been too confident. Too prepared. She hadn’t hesitated, hadn’t fumbled. From their perspective, she had looked unnaturally composed for a random girl caught in a life-or-death situation.

  The pepper spray.

  In the second loop, she had only partially blinded the gravity user, giving them just enough time to escape. This time, she had gotten him point-blank. The pain was far worse, incapacitating him almost instantly. He screamed so loudly that the other man had heard it and immediately arrived at the scene.

  The pacing.

  In the second loop, she had escaped before they even reached the exit. This time, they were finding them earlier than before.

  The overall situation.

  Last time, she had barely made it out alive. But this time—

  She had been winning.

  That was why he reacted differently.

  That was why he had judged her as a threat.

  She took a slow breath.

  This time—

  She wouldn’t win.

  Not directly.

  She would play the weak girl.

  Act clumsy. Act like she was just lucky.

  She had taken the same route as before.

  Take Takeshi, run out before Ayaka blocks them, set up her phone in the meantime, run away from the bad guys, let the phone fall on the ground, go to the station, but pepper spray, and prepare to ambush the gravity user.

  Only, this time she acted slower than before.

  It was a neglectable amount of time, but she made it look like she avoided them by a hair's breadth.

  Connie was now hidden behind the trash can, heart pounding.

  The station exit loomed just ahead,. Its doors remained shut as none else was going to use this exit.

  Takeshi was walked alone, toward the alley. He was slow, and weakened by the poison, but he managed to keep walking by himself.

  The effects of the poison worsened faster the moment they started running, especially compared to the other loops, but they didn't get any worse from there.

  She didn't know if it was because of the System, or there was an actual scientific explanation to this.

  She wasn't a medic after all.

  She tightened her grip on the pepper spray in her pocket.

  This had to work.

  It was the same plan as before—but weaker.

  She had to hurt him just enough to incapacitate him without making him scream too loudly.

  Because if he screamed—the other man would hear him.

  And she would lose again.

  Footsteps.

  Fast. Careless. Rushing toward the exit.

  Connie’s heart slammed against her ribs.

  She waited.

  Waited until the moment the doors opened—

  Then—

  She moved.

  She lunged out of cover.

  The man barely had time to register her.

  His amber eyes widened.

  She raised the pepper spray—

  And fired.

  A sharp mist burst from the can, hitting him in the face, instead of directly in the eyes.

  "—!!"

  His body jerked back.

  His hands shot up to his face, rubbing his eyes furiously.

  He cursed at her, his breathing sharp and labored, but he wasn’t howling in pain like last time.

  Connie turned immediately.

  She grabbed Takeshi’s wrist and bolted into the alley.

  Her lungs burned, but she didn’t stop running.

  Not until they were several streets away from the station.

  Only then did she risk a glance back.

  No one.

  The calm man hadn’t arrived. Neither did the gravity user.

  Her plan had worked.

  She exhaled sharply, her grip on Takeshi's wrist getting weaker.

  He was getting worse.

  His breathing was shallow, his eyes half-lidded with exhaustion.

  She needed a taxi.

  Now.

  She turned the corner—

  And there it was.

  Not the one from before.

  A different taxi, one that hadn’t even arrived in the other loops because she had taken too long.

  She flung open the door and shoved Takeshi inside.

  "To the hospital," she gasped.

  The driver barely glanced at her before pulling into the street.

  And finally—

  She collapsed against the seat.

  Takeshi muttered something under his breath, but she barely heard him. She was too tired to. The relief had hit her all at once.

  She had done it.

  She had finally changed the outcome.

  For the second time—

  They were heading to the hospital without a reset.