"How long ago did she check out?"

I asked, hoping to have a timetable that was still salvageable. The hospital employee looked back to the computer screen.

"Let me see, according to their record it was just under an hour ago. Anything more than that I'm afraid I can't say."

Kyoko and I walked away from the counter.

"So what are you going to do now?"

I looked over to her, surprised that she was willingly talking to me.

"Well if she's not here anymore, I guess I'll just wait for her to reach out to me. I don't want to bug her right when she's getting home from the hospital."

Kyoko gave a tight smile at that.

"At least you're considerate of her. But don't think you're still off the hook just yet though."

She pointed her index and middle fingers towards her eyes.

"I got it, I got it."

At least there was some progress, though it might not even matter if I didn't end the loop I was stuck in.

I watched Kyoko head out of the hospital, and then I headed towards Sakuta.

"Well that was fast. Mission accomplished?"

He asked, looking over as I drew closer to him. I shook my head.

"She has already checked out an hour ago. Sorry for making you wait and waste your time."

Sakuta waved his hand as he stood up.

"I knew it was a possibility that we might not get her before she checked out, at least we know the time frame for sure. So if there has to be a repeat, you can be on time."

He stretched out, and we headed towards the exit.

"So where to now?" Sakuta looked over to me as he asked.

"Right now she's probably still home, but I don't know for how much longer she'll be there. And the walk to there from here would take too long."

I had only been there once before, but I tried to plot the route in my head thinking of any shortcuts but still unable to think of any short route that could get us there on time.

"I only brought enough money to go grab some lunch, so a taxi is out of the question. Are there any stations near her that we could go to?"

I pulled up my mental map again, but that one time I had gone over we never passed by any stations.

"Sorry but I don't think so. We'd have to head to a station and check, and that might take up too much time."

Sakuta nodded.

"Our best bet is to meet up with Futaba then, according to you we don't have much time left anyways. I'm sorry."

He placed his hand on my shoulder.

"I wish we could have gotten this on the first try, for both of you."

He gripped once and then removed his hand, turning and heading towards the station. I followed behind him, hoping that there would be some good news today. Sakuta pulled out his phone, before dialing Rio’s number.

"Hey Futaba, no luck here. Do you have anything?"

"..."

"Alright, you lost me already. Did you eat lunch yet?"

"..."

"Okay, we'll meet at that place next to the lab. Should be there in 4 pm, I want to check up on Kaede and make sure she hasn't glued herself to that documentary. She has to cover her shift in the restaurant today."

"..."

"Okay just save us a table then. See you in a bit."

Sakuta hung up the phone and looked to me.

"I hope you're not too hungry, it should only take a minute or two with Kaede."

I shook my head,

"No I'm okay for now. Thanks for coming with me today, even if it ended up being a bust."

We went back to Fujisawa and walked towards his apartment.

"Don't worry about it, are you sure you're okay? I was really rooting for you today."

Even now, I still found myself getting caught off guard by everyone's warmth. I had spent so long without getting close to anyone that it still surprised me how kind and accepting other people could be. Not everyone was like that, thinking back to the time Sakura had defended that old woman on the street. But the more I began to let others in, the less I wanted to go back to how things used to be.

"Yes I'm fine, a little disappointed but I knew this was a possibility. I just have to try even harder next time."

I promised myself that I wouldn't give up. I owed it to Sakura to keep trying no matter what. As we waited at a crosswalk, I realized we were close to the apartment.

"I'll wait downstairs for you"

I said to Sakuta, as we made it to the apartment building. He flashed me a thumbs up.

"This shouldn't take too long."

Before too long, I was alone. I sat on the bench that was close to the building and waited.

I watched as he leaves. The cool breeze keeping me from getting too hot as the sun blazed above. The few clouds scattered about the sky didn't seem to be heading this way, and yet I stayed on the bench.

"She did say she wanted to take a trip to the North next time, I might as well enjoy the heat while I still can."

Suddenly, I felt like someone was watching me. I looked around but no one was there. Maybe its just my mind.

Before long, I saw Sakuta step out from the elevator. Getting up from the bench, I started walking until I managed to get alongside him.

"Thanks for being patient. The place we're meeting Rio isn't too far from here, so we'll be there in a few minutes."

Sakuta paused for a moment.

"You don't have any food allergies, do you?"

I shook my head.

"I guess I might need to add that to the list of things when I repeat again",

I thought to myself. Speaking out loud this time.

"So what did you guys talk about on the phone? Did she say that she had some good news for us?"

Sakuta nodded.

"She tried to make it simple, but she was talking so fast that even simplifying it was still confusing. But knowing her, that's a good sign."

He shrugged.

"It may not make sense at first, but she's always been reliable. If it wasn't for her, I'm not sure if I could have fixed things in the past by myself."

He stopped, and I stopped beside him. Ahead of us was Rio, carrying a notebook. She was wearing a white lab coat, with the logo of the lab on the left chest pocket.

"Things at the lab took a little longer, but we'll still be able to get a table. They aren't that busy at this time, most of the people in the lab usually forget to eat anyway or bring food with them so they can keep working."

We followed her inside the restaurant, grabbing a table near the back away from most of the other customers. Scanning the menu, I ordered the daily special.

"You can never go wrong with ramen"

I thought to myself. Once the waiter was gone, Rio opened up her notebook.

"So after we spoke on the phone, I did some more thinking. It may not sound good, but I just want you to hear me out."

Rio looked nervous, as though she didn't want to say it.

"I thought it was good news?"

I spoke up after a moment. She took her glasses off and hung them on her lab coat.

"I think it is, even if it may not seem like it. Just hear me out, and then you might understand what I’m trying to say here."

My mind raced, trying to think of what could have her so nervous. She coughed, prepping herself to spill the news.

"This is just a theory, but I think you might not be able to meet her either."

I was glad that I wasn't holding my drink when Rio said that, otherwise I surely would have dropped it.

"What do you mean, I can't meet her? Is all of this just pointless then?"

If I couldn't meet her, how would I save her? Would that vision of her crying over my dying body really be how things has to end?

Rio lightly coughed, sensing that I was upset over her words.

"This is just a theory, and it may turn out I'm wrong. But if I'm right, that doesn't mean things are pointless. It just means it will be more work for you, but I still believe that even if I'm right, you can still save her."

I kept my hands underneath the table, so neither her nor Sakuta could see how tight my fists were clenched at that moment. I nodded for her to continue, trying not to betray the emotions bubbling up underneath my hopefully calm exterior.

"It may not always be what you want to hear, but she's always had a way of figuring things out in the past."

Beside me, Sakuta spoke up, perhaps able to sense some of my frustration. From one of the pockets on her lab coat, Rio pulled out a magnet. No, upon closer inspection, it was two magnets side by side.

"You know the basics of magnets and how they work, right? Pretend that these two magnets are you and Sakura normally. You have no problem being in contact with one another because of the magnetic attraction."

She pulled the two magnets apart before flipping one of them around.

"So what happens when you try to put the magnets together when they are oriented the opposite way?"

As she spoke, she attempted to put the two magnets back together. No matter how much she tried, the magnets would fight against her.

Slowly, I began to understand. Placing the magnets back into her pocket, Rio looked towards me.

"My theory is that because of your syndrome, you've essentially become that flipped magnet. You tried to get to her in time the first try, but were unable to save her. Today, you went to the hospital but she was already gone from there."

"So how am I supposed to save her if I can't get close to her?"

I thought this was going to be good news, but everything I had heard just made the whole situation harder than it already was. At the end of the day, I was the only one who remembered each day. How was I supposed to save her when I was constantly having to start from scratch?

Rio had opened up her notebook and was scanning through the many pages filled with her handwriting.

"Is the news good? No, it probably doesn't seem that way. But every small part of the puzzle builds together. NASA didn't send people to the moon after a day. It took a lot of people doing a lot of research, trial and error, and even then it was unsure if the mission would be a success or not."

I could tell she had more to say, but catching her glance I looked over and saw that our food was on the way to our table. Closing the notebook, Rio placed it on the open seat at the table.

"The same is true here. The more we know, and the more we can figure out regarding your syndrome, the more likely it is that we can find a solution."

I thought back to the dream I had, where Sakura was out of my reach. Maybe Rio was right about this theory. I quickly told her about the dream as we ate.

"You know why we sleep and dream right?"

She took a break from her meal, clearly thinking more of the mystery at hand than the bowl of ramen in front of her.

"Because our bodies receive so much stimulation each day, our brain needs that time while we are asleep to really process everything. Dreams, however, can involve things that had nothing to do with what you experienced that day. Sometimes, you might have dreams involving things that you fear, even if you had no stimuli that would invoke that fear."

"In your case, I believe it's due to the syndrome affecting your subconscious mind that you've had in these dreams. Seeing the different attempts to save Sakura even when you hadn't actually attempted them yet, being unable to reach out to her in your latest dream. The mind is a mystery, even after decades of research, and more so the syndrome. Most people consider it a type of folklore if you ask them about it."

"Again, it's just a theory. But based on everything I've heard so far, I think it might be true. I don't know if there would be any pushback like when you tried to speak with the other you, but I'm not sure trying to force the two magnets together would end up going well."

Rio drank the rest of her water, finally giving her vocal cords some rest.

I noticed I had merely picked at my food after she had started speaking, my mind no longer focused on the meal.

"Supposing that you are right, where does that leave me then? Everything sounds bad, but yet you seem hopeful like you may have found a solution."

I wasn't an expert at communication, my years of going solo held me back somewhat. But I could tell from how she never looked away from me, the fact she never once sounded apologetic or disappointed in her theory made me think that despite everything she had said, there was still some good to come out of it.

"One idea is to have one of us intervene for you, though how effective having a stranger come up to you like a certain superhero claiming to be there to save you is up for debate. Not to mention, I think that you'd be the best one to do so."

I thought back to the hospital and Kyoko.

What if it wasn't a stranger, but someone she knew? I immediately shut down that idea.

How would I begin to explain things to her, when we were barely on speaking terms?

She might just call me crazy and try to protect Sakura from me even more, however pointless that would be while I was still stuck in this loop.

"I couldn't ask you guys to go that far, even if you did say yes. But you're right, I don't think that would work. If I'm the one that has to keep repeating until I succeed, I have to try and be the one to end things."

I had already received so much help from them, I couldn't keep using them as a crutch.

Beside me, Sakuta pushed his plate to the side, finished with his meal.

"I know you Futaba, I'm sure you've still got some ideas floating around."

She pulled the notebook back out, no longer focused on the meal.

"You're correct, I was running late for a reason after all."

"We've established some baselines in this theory. You can't get in contact with yourself, and when you try to get to Sakura, you get that magnetic resistance. But, what if you manage to get the other you to save her?"

I was confused, I had already tried that and it almost lead to a disaster.

Seeing the question forming on my face, she continued.

"Just because you can't get close to her or your other self, that doesn't mean other people can't. Are there any people that both of you know that you can think of that might be of some assistance?"

"Well..."

I thought for a moment. Kyoko would have more questions than I could safely answer, and I had no way to get in contact with her anyway. Without her phone number or knowing where she lived, I was stuck with hopefully trying to run into her which didn't seem like the best option considering the time limit that I had. Even if I ran into her at the hospital again, and managed to get her contact info, I'd have no way to explain how I knew her number the next time I looped.

"There might be one person."