The sound of his footsteps once again echoed against the stone brick walls.

The gray children’s self-proclaimed savior was making his way to meet up with his closest friend and his only ally in that world.

He was sure of it now, he had not been wrong, there truly was something more than just the lands getting reset every day.

His new theory led him to believe that there was a much more dark and sinister truth hidden in this world-

“-!”

As he slammed the door open, a figure inside the room jumped up meanwhile another continued reading his book.

“what the hell? who are you- oh wait, you’re him I see…” Said the surprised figure who seemed to have recognized Han, the one who had slammed open the door to the library, an act he had committed without being gentle in the slightest.

“Phil, what do you know?!” He exclaimed, shouting those words the other boy’s way.

Phil, biting his lip looked at Han strangely before answering.

“what are you talking about? I know not more than anything it seems we previously disgust…”

“Then how!?” Han yelled, falling to his knees on the carpet in front of the two others.

“How can’t she remember me?!”

Phil looked down at Han as he continued to cry hopelessly, grabbing the gray carpet with both of his hands and clutching to it as his tears fell.

Phil, having no idea of what Han spoke of, stretched out his hand to try and calm down the crying elder child in front of him, an act that only made Han sadder.

It was not that he did not appreciate the act of kindness, he really did, but, he feared the gentle kindness these children showed toward him, for it did not matter how many times he had showed his face there, almost every single time, they all forgot.

The first time, it had come as a shock when they did not remember him.

The second time had been even more painful as he had been at his lowest after getting his body smashed to bits.

The third time had been different since Sayora had remembered him, but Ava had not.

And now, the fourth time, none of them seemed to have a clue of just who he was, even after he had proclaimed himself their savior. Their knight in shining armor had officially fallen off his horse and now he had no way of galloping into the fight.

The only thing that had kept Han stable up to now was the thought that maybe there was a way for Sayora at least, to remember.

But he realized now, that after seeing her look of fear and confusion, he had not meant enough to these children for them to remember him, and if there was no way of them getting their memories back, then all the good times they had had would all be lost, and all the ways of possibly saving them would fall too.

These depressing thoughts had quickly infiltrated his mind and worsened his already weak mental state, making him lash out at everything he saw.

Only now, when Phil unsurely but kindly petted his back, trying to somehow understand the mindset of the wreck before him, he realized how cruel this world truly was.

He had to find his resolve again, to bring these children out of this loop of hell where they would never remember the day before.

Though they would remember each other as well as their preferences, what they liked, and who they liked, there was no way for them to remember Han even so, something that made him slam his fist into the floor, forcing himself up in the process.

“I- I can’t… leave you all here! I- I have to… free you… For whatever reason you want to leave… I have to help you…”

He slowly got up, looking forward and meeting the gaze of the other boy in that library, who had only noticed him now, Finn.

It hurt his heart to see, that even though they had no recollection of knowing each other up to today, the two boys had seemed to once again, reunite without being told so. It was a friendship that Han envied, but also a friendship that he cherished.

“tell me, Han. what is the reason for your sadness?” Phil asked, also getting up from the floor.

“...”

Han dried his tears and collected himself, looking past whatever the pain tried to tell him, and told Phil all about the day before, his interactions with Sayora and Ava, and his own theory about another reason the children all forgot. Still, though, it pained him, since this was the second time he told Phil this.

“yeah, I see… there seems to be something that we too, have discovered.”

“What? What is it?!”

Han looked at Phil and Finn excitedly as they smiled at him, a smile that gave him new hope.

But what they showed him only confused him further.

“A piece of paper?”

Han looked at the little item that Finn was holding in his stretched-out hand.

It was only a piece of paper, nothing more, except…

“‘The waonderers come every third night, you know something about that?’” Han read loudly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

But Han soon found out as Finn showed him the signature name under the text. It read ‘Han’.

Han looked at it, confused about the meaning behind all of this.

Why had his name been written on this paper?

But when he thought back, he realized.

“This is-! This is the note that I wrote to you yesterday!” He exclaimed excitedly, taking the note from Finn and inspecting it.

“that was what I was guessing. it seems we have found an error in this resetting world.” Phil smiled, grinning wildly at the discovery that they had made, something that had also changed Han’s mood entirely.

Han continued.

“But I was able to find you, so why is it here?”

“in my book, I wrote about yesterday, I believe. my past, forgotten self told the new me that we were reading together in the library yesterday.” Phil started explaining but Han interrupted him, too excited to let Phil finish.

“I must’ve dropped it into a book!”

“yeah, or you used it like a bookmark, like an idiot.” Phil grinned. “but that idiocy of yours seems to have brought about a new day.”

“That’s- that’s valid, honestly!” Han said, ignoring Phil’s half-joking manor.

Phil smiled, he seemed to be truly happy about the achievement as he said.

“yeah, and only on the third day of your first arrival too! you are actually a really good companion, Han.”

“Thank you Phi-” Han stopped.

Phil looked strangely at him.

“what’s wrong, Han?”

“The third day huh..?”

There was something wrong, he felt that to the core of his heart.

The first day, he had been tortured by that waonderer, but that was not something Phil knew of, so from Phil’s perspective, the first day was when Han truly entered the gray lands, and also the day Morris killed him. He doubted that Phil knew any of it at first, but looking back, Phil had recognized him only on the third day, the starting point for Phil’s memories of Han.

Then was the fourth day, when they had become allies, the second day for Phil. Lastly was the day before, when Han had spent most of his time engaging in conversation with Sayora, the more he thought about it, the stranger it became.

He had met Phil and Finn in the library that day, and told them, or at least told Phil all about his theory and about what had happened to Sayora, but now he didn’t remember that day. It seemed a little too suspicious for Han to just ignore it.

He knew that Phil would not simply make the mistake of never writing down absolutely everything about the days they had spent together, after all, that had been the building block for Phil’s remembering.

But if Phil could not remember yesterday, then that meant…

“Phil, let me see your book.”

“what?! why?”

“I have to, just for a second, I promise.”

“well, alright, I don’t care that much…”

Phil left the library to go find his hidden book and the two left were Han and Finn, who was still reading his book.

Han looked over at the pile of books beside Finn and sighed.

It seemed like even though Finn had no memory of his past, his knowledge and love for reading had not changed a single bit.

Han smiled and sat down beside the young boy he admired.

The door to the library opened once more and in came the boy who had been searching for his diary-like book, Phil.

The other two boys, sitting across from each other, looked over at him.

Han, one of the boys, put down his hands which he had tried to sign his name with using Finn’s help and knowledge of sign language.

Phil gave them both a small smile before sitting down beside them and handing Han his book.

“why do you want to look in it so much? there is nothing we have talked about that is not yet written in there.”

“That’s the problem, Phil,” Han said, opening the book and looking through the many pages with text written over text to try and find the day before. “There is a day missing.”

Han pointed towards a page.

At the top stood, ‘Day 495’, and under was the contents of what should have been ’Day 496’.

They clearly described the day Han and Phil became allies, a day that Phil saw as yesterday but also as the second day of Han’s arrival, which meant the next day would include the contents of the day Phil and Finn had immediately rushed to the library, the day Han had discovered Sayora’s memory had not been lost.

But when turning the page, there was no ‘Day 496’. It had been erased, no, it had simply never been there.

Han’s eyes widened.

“Where is ‘Day 496’?”

“what do you mean? this is ‘day 496’.”

Han turned his head, staring at Phil in horror.

Phil did not remember, so what had happened?

It would not be a big shock if not for the information Han already knew.

He knew that Sayora had remembered him yesterday, something she did not do today.

Phil had also remembered him, but only because of his notes.

And now, neither of them remembered yesterday, it was like that day had never existed, a day they had lived fully, created memories in, had been fully erased, erased from their minds like it was worthless.

That phenomenon scared Han more than anything else.

He could not imagine living the same day over and over because you have no recollection of the day before.

He now felt more determined than ever to save the children, as well as find out just what the hell was going on in this damned world.

“Phil. I have a plan.”

“sigh, a plan you say? I want in.”

Han turned toward him with a smile.

“Phil, we are going to find out why. Why you all forget me, as well as bring all of you out of this hellish loop before it is too late.”

“hmm?”

Phil regarded him, staring into his gray eyes for a moment.

“I’m in, of course. if this means you are sure about this plan, then I trust that you know what you are doing.”

Han did not answer, instead, he gazed forward, looking past the bookshelves with various books. These were books Phil had probably already looked through in search for answers on how to escape that world. It was work he put all his energy into, so Han would not fail him.

He had figured it out.

The fact that Phil had not remembered yesterday while Sayora had was no coincidence.

There was someone who was playing with his mind, someone who stood really close to the children.

It was an individual that Han’s thoughts had not touched upon so much up to this point.

But it was someone Cloud and Meno had warned him about, only that he had not connected it yet.

It was someone who had another name in this gray world, someone Hank had referred to as…

“The Housemaster.”

He was the true enemy in this gray world.

An obstacle Han and Phil had to overcome, together.