“Umm…”
Kabashima Tsuyoshi woke up. He blinked his eyes open, then rolled over with a thud.
“…I feel like I had a sad dream.”
He yawned, all soft and fuzzy, and then, well.
“…No! It wasn’t a feeling! It wasn’t a dream!”
Kabashima immediately shot up, remembering.
That’s right. It wasn’t a dream. He had returned again.
It was sad and confusing… but, he had returned. Therefore, he could start over. The sad things hadn’t happened ‘yet’!
“I’m definitely lending Kaito my Pokémon!”
The Baka stood up energetically, thrust his fist into the air, and declared with vigor.
This time for sure! The Baka wanted to do things right! He didn’t really understand, but! He didn’t really understand… but, for now, the first thing the Baka should do is!
“Collar!”
The Baka once again tried to rip off the collar with gusto…
“Ah! Wait… I can’t lose the collar, right. Uhm…”
There, he somehow remembered Kaito’s instructions!
That’s right! Kaito had said! “Bring it back without losing the collar!”
“Uhm, then… if I take it off, I might lose it… should I tear this part instead?”
So, the Baka grabbed the steel chain connecting the collar to the wall.
“Hmph!”
Crack! He pulled it out of the wall!
“All good!”
The Baka, with the collar still around his neck, the 90cm chain still attached, and the piece of wall still dangling from the end of the chain, nodded with a beaming smile. It looked like some kind of punk fashion, but in reality, it was just the Baka’s shallow thinking.
“Now, next… uhm, it was the safe, right?”
Well then.
Kabashima stood up and looked around.
The floor, walls, and ceiling all appeared to be made of concrete. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling, swaying and casting light into the room.
The room wasn’t very large, maybe about four and a half tatami mats. The only notable things inside were a closet, a desk, and the bed where Kabashima had been sleeping.
Looking further, there was something like a screwdriver and a desk calendar on the desk. There was also a block-like object of an unknown shape.
…That was all, but the Baka already saw the path ahead.
“Uhm, I have to open the closet, right?”
The Baka reached for the closet… and Crack! he ripped the door off.
He tossed the door aside and peered into the closet. …And indeed, there was a small safe inside.
“Okay, let’s open this too… huh?”
The Baka reached for the safe…
“…Huh, this is tough.”
He tried to pry it open, but the safe was quite sturdy.
He pushed and pulled with all his might, but it wouldn’t open.
In the end, he even tried gnawing at it… but it wouldn’t open!
“…Eh, I can’t open this…?”
That’s right! The Baka had finally encountered an object that was ‘impossible for the Baka to destroy with his bare hands’!
What should he do? What should he do?
The Baka was flustered. He had to open this safe and take the instructions inside. That’s what he promised Kaito.
But, unbelievably, he couldn’t open it!
“Why… why won’t it open…”
The Baka, with tears in his eyes, desperately gnawed at the safe, but it only got slightly scratched. It was strange that it could even be scratched, but the Baka was unsatisfied with the result.
“I don’t know how to open it…”
And because the Baka was a Baka, he didn’t understand the meaning of the password dial on the front of the safe, nor the keyhole next to it!
That’s right! This Baka was strong when it came to solving things with power, but when it came to things that couldn’t be solved with power, he was suddenly useless!
…And so, the Baka thought for about 10 seconds. It was like an eternity for the Baka.
And then, the Baka…
“Waaaaaah! Kaito! Kaito!”
Crack! He smashed the door.
Looking at the mangled door, he felt even more like crying, thinking, ‘If only the safe was like this!’
But, the Baka looked around and… immediately noticed a familiar mark on the door next to his… the mark of Neptune!
So!
“Heeeeelp meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
“Gyaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”
Crack! He smashed through Kaito’s door and decided to ask Kaito for help!
“Ah… ah…”
“Heeeelp me! I’m a Baka, so I don’t know how to open this!”
…And so, the Baka asked for help from Kaito, who was trembling in front of him… and then, he realized.
“Ah!? Th-that’s right! Kaito, you’ve forgotten about me…!?”
That’s right! In front of the Baka, Kaito was just trembling!
He was trying to get as far away from the Baka as possible, cowering in the corner of the room, and even then, he was looking up at the Baka, desperately on guard. …The Baka felt a little sad!
“S-sorry, sorry, I’m a Baka, so… I surprised you, huh…”
But, this wasn’t the time to be sad. The Baka had to try his best to reassure Kaito.
Because Kaito was his friend. Even if he had been forgotten, Kaito was an important friend to the Baka. He was going to lend him Pokémon. And, he was going to have him write a simple novel for the Baka!
So, the Baka tried to explain!
“Um, I, I rewound time and came here, and you and I are friends, and… ahhh, how do I explain this…”
But! The Baka was a Baka, so he was terrible at explaining! He was flustered in front of the frightened Kaito, panicking, ‘How should I explain this! How should I explain this!’
…And then.
“…Please, open this!”
The Baka lowered his head and held out the safe.
“If you do, you’ll probably understand… you’re smart, unlike me… if you look inside, you’ll probably understand…”
Seeing the Baka crying and the safe he was holding out… Kaito looked like he had given up on thinking!
…And then, five minutes later.
“It’s open.”
“Really!? That’s fast! That’s fast! Then let’s look inside right away!”
“…No, I already looked.”
“Really!? That’s fast! That’s fast! You’re fast at reading too! Amazing! You’re so smart! Amazing!”
The Baka looked at Kaito, then at the open safe, his eyes sparkling with admiration. Kaito sighed.
“Well… after reading that, I kind of understand the situation. In short, you’ve come back from the future, is that it?”
“Yeah! That’s right! Mostly! Waaah! Kaito is so smart after all!”
Once the safe was open, everything went smoothly!
Kaito, who had relaxed a little, handed over the open safe and the paper inside, and the Baka immediately started reading the instructions.
‘To Kabashima Tsuyoshi. Your Unique Ability is ‘World Rewind’. When you strongly wish to redo something, the world rewinds 90 seconds, and you return to when you woke up in your private room. At that time, your memories are retained as far as your memory allows, but this is not the case for others.’
“My memory is bad…”
If possible, he wished he could remember everything! The Baka lamented!
‘Conversely, everything except the user’s memories will be rewound. Therefore, injuries to the body, changes within the facility, and belongings will all return to the starting point. Therefore, taking notes is useless.’
The Baka lamented, ‘At least let the things I wrote down remain! Couldn’t there have been something like that!’
‘That is all for the explanation. Do your best.’
As for the last sentence, the Baka honestly nodded, ‘Yeah! Got it!’
“…Have you finished reading?”
“Yeah! My Unique Ability is rewind, right?”
“It seems so. We don’t have to consider it a forgery, I guess. Since you brought the whole safe…”
Kaito said, sighing. …He still seemed wary, but for now, he understood that the Baka was a Baka, that he and Kaito were friends… but, because the world had been reset, they were back to before they were friends. That much, he thought, had been conveyed.
“So, do you understand? That, I promised you in the ‘previous time’. To investigate Hibana and Venus’s wishes, and to investigate the circumstances of Amagi-san’s death, and also… to investigate if Yo and Tama are doing anything.”
The Baka counted on his fingers, nodding, ‘Okay, I haven’t forgotten!’
He remembered what he had promised Kaito. There were many things the Baka had to do this time… but since Kaito was here, he felt like he could manage somehow!
“And, I also promised to lend Kaito my Pokémon!”
“Pokémon!? Why…!?”
“And then! And then! In exchange for me lending you Pokémon, you promised to write a simple short novel for me! Something that I can understand!”
“A n-novel!? Did we even talk about that!?”
“Yeah!”
Kaito seemed somewhat bewildered, but Baka nodded energetically.
“Umm, Kaito. I’ll listen to whatever you say. I’m a Baka, so I don’t understand things well even if I think about them. But, I’m confident in my power! So, I’ll be in charge of power! And you’ll be in charge of brains! Nice to meet you! …Oh, I’m Kabashima Tsuyoshi! You can call me Baka, or Baka-shima, or Tsuyoshi, whatever you like!”
“Ah… Nice to meet you, um, Kabashima…”
As Baka extended his hand… Kaito, while still hesitant, eventually shook Baka’s hand.
“…So, um, why ‘Kaito’?”
“Huh? That’s… ah, well, it’s a long story…”
When asked by Kaito, Baka realized, “Ah, that’s where we start!” and tried to explain…
“Well, I looked at the mark on the collar… and it was the mark of Neptune… Kaito said something long and complicated, but I couldn’t remember it, so he gave me the nickname ‘Kaito’.”
“…What exactly did I say at that time?”
“Huh? Um… um…”
Baka tried his best to remember, speaking clumsily. But he couldn’t quite recall! Still, he managed to remember somehow. It felt like twisting and squeezing his memories.
“…Sister? No, older sister? And, a name that sounded cheerful… um, ‘Old Man of the Sea’?”
Hearing the Baka-speak that finally came out, Kaito pondered for a moment…
“…Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’?”
“Probably that!”
Magnificent! Kaito had successfully translated Baka-speak!
“I see… Indeed, if it were me, I would say that first when hearing ‘sea’… The credibility is high.”
“Credi-what…? Yeah, probably that!”
“Are you even understanding what you’re saying…?”
Baka was so elated that he didn’t even hear Kaito’s words.
After all, it seemed that Kaito was gradually lowering his guard towards Baka!
“Alright, Kaito! Shall we go right away?”
“Huh? No, we haven’t solved the mystery yet… ah.”
The elated Baka, while smiling at Kaito, pointed outside.
That’s right… ‘Outside’!
“Well, the door’s already open…”
Before Kaito could solve the mystery! The door to Kaito’s private room was already open!
Kaito looked up at the ceiling. Then, he let out a deep sigh.
“…Come to think of it, that’s right.”
And Kaito made a face as if he had understood something.
But Baka didn’t care at all, and just kept urging, “Let’s go quickly!” with a smile!
“Well, wait. If you’ve experienced the ‘previous time,’ let’s hear about that ‘previous time’.”
“Okay! Got it!”
…Then, Baka told Kaito about the ‘previous time’ as best as he could.
Since it was based on what Baka remembered, and filtered through Baka’s perspective, the explanation became things like, “There was a room where you could eat delicious hot pot…” and, “I don’t really know, but there was a huge scale!”
Kaito listened to these with a pained expression, seemingly thinking about something. Baka looked at Kaito with respect, thinking, “Kaito is amazing, he actually thinks things through,” admiring Kaito for doing what he couldn’t.
“I see… So, the ‘previous time’ ended with that Yo and Tama killing me, is that right?”
And so, Kaito concluded, nodding, “I see.”
“…Eh? Yo and Tama!?”
So Baka was surprised!
Because Yo and Tama were good people! He trusted them! Even if he was told that, Baka couldn’t immediately process it!
“Is that right?… Well, from what you’ve said, that’s the only conclusion I can come to…?”
“Ehhh… No way! It must be a mistake!”
Baka flailed around, saying, “I don’t want to believe it!” but Kaito was dumbfounded, thinking, “Well, if you think about it normally, that’s what it would be… Are you a Baka…?” Well, that was correct. Baka was a Baka!
“Well… anyway, for this time, it’s probably better to avoid getting too involved with the duo of Yo and Tama, right? There’s a high chance they’re plotting something, and they’re the kind of people who would try to kill me and you.”
“Ehhhh…”
Baka was a little dejected, but then he thought, well, it’s what Kaito said, so…
…Yo and Tama might have had some circumstances. Or maybe it was an accident… In the first place, it was unknown if Yo and Tama were safe at that time. Maybe the devil was trying to eliminate everyone, and nothing was clear.
“It’s better to be cautious… At least, after hearing what you said, I have no intention of trusting that Yo and Tama.”
“Ehhhh…”
It seemed that Baka had stirred up Kaito’s caution. Maybe it was a mistake.
“And then, there was an old man named Amagi, and a woman named Venus, was it?… There are so many people we should be wary of. Well, it’s a devil’s death game, after all…”
Kaito was lost in thought, muttering to himself. Baka thought, “Smart people have so much to think about, it must be tough.”
…But.
“…Huh? I hear some creaking, right?”
“Huh?”
There was some creaking sound.
…Then, Baka looked at the clock…
“…Ah.”
He realized.
It was almost night!
“Kaito! We’re moving! Hold on tight!”
“Huh!? Eh, ah!? Aaaaaaaah!?”
Baka picked up Kaito with a “heave-ho” and started running. He ran 100 meters in about 8 seconds. After all, not only Baka’s life was at stake, but Kaito’s too! Baka ran! He ran with all his might!
“Waaaaaaaah!? Water! Water!”
“Shut your mouth! You’ll bite your tongue!”
Kaito was screaming while looking behind, but Baka just kept running. He ran and ran, before the water could catch up…
…And then.
“Now, the game starts. Participants, do your best.”
Such an announcement was made, and then it cut off abruptly.
And, as the heavy sound of the bell, “Ring-dong, ring-dong,” echoed, seven people with stunned expressions were looking at Baka and Kaito.
“…We made it!”
…So Baka was relieved, and wore a big smile!