“Huh? Didn’t I pass?”
I checked the class roster, and my name wasn’t there. My spot, Class 1-1, Seat Number 7… had been snatched by that bastard Sanimura.
…Or so I thought, but there it was. Class 1-2, Seat Number 6, Geld.
“Oh, it’s because my entrance exam score changed…”
That’s right. Last time, I barely scraped by with a waitlist spot, but this time, I should have gotten a pretty high score. So, the class assignments must have changed because of that.
Next is Millie… there she is. Still in Class 1-1. It looks like Millie and I are in different classes now.
But this might actually be convenient. The less contact, the better. If we were in the same class, she’d almost certainly talk to me.
Now, after waiting a bit, I just need to follow the same steps as last time… Ah, there she is. Light blue hair. I spotted Millie in the group walking towards the first-year building.
“…………”
Even though I know there’s nothing good that can come from looking, I can’t help but follow her with my eyes, still clinging to the past. Luckily, I’m not standing out since a lot of other guys are looking at Millie too. As expected, being three years younger, she feels a bit more youthful than the Millie I remember. That Millie suddenly looked over here—and then averted her eyes as if nothing happened.
“…………Haaah.”
I couldn’t help but sigh at the reaction, which would have been impossible for the old Millie. I could almost hear the creaking of my heart. Maybe I should have hugged Shino for another ten seconds.
I was genuinely happy that the other Harem Party Members were in different classes. It’s been two and a half years since I last saw them, but I remember them being a pain in the ass. It’s better to keep my distance from them too.
And then, I tuned out the boring lectures I’d already heard three years ago, and finally, it was after school. On the way to the dorm, I spotted Millie again.
Am I unconsciously searching for Millie, or is Millie just too noticeable in the first place?
Probably both, I thought, as I tried to pass by, but then our eyes met again—and she averted her eyes and her whole face with incredible force.
“…………?”
She wasn’t like this in the morning, but wasn’t that unnatural just now? It doesn’t feel like the reaction you’d have to a stranger.
Still, I figured it was just a coincidence, but just to be sure, I glanced back—and Millie, who was looking at me, averted her whole body with incredible force.
“…No way.”
An impossible possibility crossed my mind. But before I confirm that, I need to check my clothes first. …I’m definitely wearing clothes. I’m not exposing my lower half or anything like that. And there’s no graffiti on my face… I don’t know. No, there are people around, but Millie is the only one reacting strangely to me.
If I’m wrong, I’ll just end up making unnecessary contact, but I have to confirm this. My expectations are already soaring, and I might not recover for a week if I’m wrong.
Millie is trying to act calm as she walks towards the Girls’ Dorm. I could call out to her from behind, but I decided to quickly overtake her and suddenly turn around.
“Eep!?”
“…”
Millie let out a strange noise and froze as soon as she saw my face, but how should I ask her? Should I just ask her straight up if Millie also inherited her memories? If I’m wrong, she’ll think I’m a total weirdo… No, I’ll just talk to her normally.
“Hey.”
“H-Hi!”
“Why are you acting so… suspicious?”
“Eh, I-I’m always like this!”
If that’s the case, she’s in serious trouble. She’s acting just like the guys who talk to Millie, her eyes darting around and her face bright red.
But what is this? What’s the intention behind this?
“…Do you remember?”
“Eh, w-what?”
“The Three-Year Loop.”
“…I-I have no idea what you’re talking about…”
I didn’t know anyone could be this bad at playing dumb. What is going on?
“So, I mistook you for someone else. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Bye.”
“Eh, ah, wait! Wait!”
As expected, she stopped me when I gave up so easily and tried to leave. So, she does remember.
But when I turned around, she was just fidgeting and not saying anything.
“Hey, Millie.”
“W-What?”
“I want you to be honest with me because this is really important. You remember everything, right?”
“…………Yeah, I remember.”
“…I see.”
Confirmed.
I don’t know why this happened, but I don’t care about the details right now.
The important thing is that Millie remembered. She remembered me.
“Oh, what’s wrong? …Oh, I see, that’s right. It was hard, wasn’t it?”
Millie looked at me with a loving gaze that showed no trace of her earlier suspicious behavior, and she gently smiled as she stroked my head.
I couldn’t possibly let Millie-Mama continue comforting me in a place where other students were passing by, so I managed to pull myself together after being stroked for two or three minutes.
“So? Why were you pretending not to remember?”
“W-Well… because…”
There were so many things to talk about, but first, we moved behind the school building to avoid being seen, and I immediately began questioning Millie.
After she tried to hide something so important, depending on the circumstances, I might even resort to sexual harassment. It’s a very serious crime.
“Because?”
“Because… I thought it was the end, so I did that… but then I came back too… Uuuu.”
Millie’s Mama-like aura completely disappeared, and she was blushing and stammering again.
So, the end, the end. When she says the end… is she talking about that time when she wrapped her arms around the back of my neck and kissed me while saying she liked me? She did something bold because she thought it was the end, but then she ended up inheriting her memories too, so she was too embarrassed to face me and ran away. Is that it?
The verdict is not guilty. She’s too cute, so not guilty.
But what should I do? Maybe I should pretend not to know this time. Millie is in a state where she wants to crawl into a hole, and more importantly… Millie will have to go on a journey soon anyway, so we can’t become that close. So, it would be best to pretend that it was some kind of memory disorder right before the reset and pretend it never happened… that should be the smoothest way to handle it… probably.
But that feels too cowardly. I wouldn’t feel bad about being cowardly to most people in the world, but I don’t want to do anything cowardly to Millie… or Shino… or anyone. Claire is okay. She’s cowardly too.
“Hmm? Well, if you have your reasons, that’s fine, but what should we do from now on…”
Here, I’ll neither pretend not to know nor mention anything, but simply postpone the problem. That’s my way of getting by.
“Eh, um, from now on… you’re going to kidnap me, right?”
It seems Millie and I are on the same page. The proposal to postpone the problem was passed by a large majority.
“That’s right, first Millie will be… huh?”
Kidnapping Millie… of course, that’s what I was planning to do, but if Millie has inherited her memories, then the story changes. The plan to kidnap Millie and have the protagonist rescue her to earn Affection from Millie is completely ruined. So, there’s no need to kidnap her… no, before that, I need to confirm the most important thing.
“Hey, Millie… I’m thinking of stopping this Loop, this phenomenon of repeating the same three years over and over again… what do you think?”
If Millie says she wants to play around for a few more Loops, then it’s game over. Since Millie needs to go on a journey with the protagonist to save the world, Millie’s will is the most important thing.
“Me? If Geld-kun is going to stop it, I want to help too.”
“I-Is that so?”
That’s a bit dangerous. She’s not acting on her own will, but because I want to stop it, which makes me worry about whether she can maintain her motivation to continue on what will probably be a harsh journey.
“But, how are you going to stop it?”
“I don’t have any solid proof yet, but, you know, that journey to save the world and all that…”
“The one Haruto-kun and the others went on, right?”
“Yeah. At the end of that journey, if we defeat some kind of super boss, it’ll probably stop.”
“That’s vague…”
Well, I can’t help it since I don’t remember. I haven’t heard anything about a Demon Lord or anything like that, so at this point, I can only say it’s some kind of boss.
“The reason that journey failed last time was probably because the people who should have joined the party didn’t join.”
“The people who should have joined?”
…Is it okay to say this? No, Millie should be able to complete any difficult journey.
“So, Millie. This time, I want you to join their party and save the world.”
“Eh!? Me…? Oh. Now that you mention it, you said something like that before.”
“Yeah. Apparently, according to that… Oracle? It seems like Millie is supposed to go with them too.”
“Is that so…? Um, is Geld-kun going with them too?”
“Me? Once I cause that kidnapping incident, I’m off the hook. I’ll be waiting somewhere, relaxing… I think…”
Ah, Millie seems a little dissatisfied.