Me and Sakuta headed down towards the street, turning around to see Sakura standing near the door frame, waving me off before I was completely out of her view.

We started to head towards Fujisawa, and without realizing it, we reached the apartment after I told him everything that happened.

"So how did she take it when you talked to her? Did she freak out at all?"

I shook my head.

"I'm sure she might have been deep down, but she was mostly happy. Happy that I was there, happy for what I had done for her."

My words drifted away as I found myself thinking about earlier. Sakuta didn't say anything else, merely giving me a pat on the back.

Despite being the same day repeating for the past few days, I felt as though the world was much brighter than it had been today. I listened to the sounds of birds chirping, their song filling the air as we walked along. I may have had more hurdles to clear, but I could feel the biggest weight on my shoulders lifted away.

Before long, I could see the park that Kyoko and I had talked in up ahead. After passing that we reached the apartment building, I saw Rio sitting at the table and joined her.

Sakuta passed over a canned coffee from the fridge. Thanking him, I opened it and took a drink.

"Well seeing as how you seem to be in a good mood, it looks like things went well?"

Rio spoke up first. The image of Sakura's hand on mine flashed into my head, and I felt myself turning red once again.

"Yes, though it looks like one of your theories was wrong. I was able to reach her."

She raised an eyebrow, but smiled.

"I did say there was a chance I could be wrong, but I don't think my theory ended up being wrong after all. I think you simply found the willpower to make it happen regardless of what I said from the things we stole yesterday night."

She took a drink from her own coffee.

"Well anyway, you've cleared the first hurdle but that doesn't mean you're just done yet."

She was right, unless I managed to get out of this loop, today's efforts would end up being pointless. I pulled the paper I had highlighted the night before out from my wallet, and passed it over to her.

"You gave me this last night, and said this was the best chance to get me back to normal."

She took a look at it, before folding it back up and placing it in her lab coat pocket.

"I'll need to go grab some supplies, but we should be able to do this later tonight."

Not looking forward to being stuck with needles, but eager to get things back to normal, I nodded.

"Is there anything I need to do?"

Rio shook her head.

"You've already done plenty, now you can just relax for now."

Beside me, Sakuta raised his hand.

"Suppose this idea works, and you get back to normal. We'll need a way to contact you, so we can give you back the stuff you have at the apartment. Plus, I know Mai-san is pretty much eager to meet the person that you went through all of this for."

I smiled, grateful that I had been blessed to meet such good people.

"I'll give you guys my phone number, well the one that actually works. And thank you, for everything you guys have done for me."

Sakuta held out his hand, and I shook it.

"It's been really interesting, I'm just glad things are working out for you and Sakura."

Across the table, Rio smiled.

"It was worth getting to hassle Azusagawa some more, but I'm glad I was able to be of some help to you."

She stood up, getting ready to go buy the supplies needed.

"Meet me at the lab later, no one will be around and we have some machines I can use to monitor your vitals to make sure everything is going well."

Sakuta and I nodded, as she stood up and left.

"I don't know about you, but I'm pretty hungry. Having to lean on the wall all day and telling stories to Kyoko have made me build up an appetite."

I had been so focused on this morning and Sakura, I had ignored the hunger I had been feeling. We then headed outside towards a nearby restaurant, it was quite similar to the one I had gone to with Sakura before.

Today, however, we went with a typical order, there would be no stomach or hearty meat on my plate. I savoured the taste of the meat, though I found myself constantly thinking back to the time I had eaten with Sakura.

"So what's the first thing you're planning to do tomorrow?"

I looked over to Sakuta, who had just finished with his meal.

"I haven't really thought it over that much, honestly. I've been so worried about getting through this that I never really found myself thinking about afterwards."

He mused that over, and nodded.

"That's understandable, though I think you can start thinking about now. You got the biggest hurdle out of the way, the rest is on Futaba now."

He seemed confidant in her, and it was contagious.

"I suppose I'd call Sakura first, to make sure it's not just a dream. After that, go back to sleep and enjoy being back in my bed again."

He laughed at that.

"There really is nothing like getting back into your own bed after being away from it for a while."

We went up to the counter to pay, but before Sakuta could pull out his wallet, I was already handing the money for the bill over.

"You guys have done so much for me already, this is the least I can do."

He nodded, not wanting to take this away from me.

By now, it was evening. The streets had filled up a bit with the usual dinner rush, but we weren't in any hurry to head back to the apartment. We found ourselves talking to pass the time, as our leisurely walk continued. Soon, we ended up back at the apartment building.

Once inside, I began to tidy up the room where I had been using during my stay. I handed over the bag to Sakuta, and gathered up everything into my bag.

I double checked, making sure nothing was left around. Placing the deck of cards and the copy of The Little Prince at the top, I zipped the bag up and placed it by the front door. All that was left was to simply wait for Rio to let us know that she was ready.

We managed to find a program on the TV to pass the time, something to do with local sites that were interesting to visit.

"I took Mai-san to Enoshima once, and there’s a really nice view at this spot."

Ah, so he is trying to give me ideas for the future.

I took some mental notes of some of the sites, trying to think whether Sakura would enjoy going there or not. The program had ended, and a new one about shrines had come on. It had just started to discuss one that was located atop an abandoned building in Tokyo when the phone began to ring.

Sakuta got up and headed over to answer his phone.

"Azusagawa Sakuta speaking"

"..."

"Ah you're all set for us?"

"..."

"Okay got it, we'll be over there in a little bit then."

He hung up the phone, and came back to the couch.

"Well it looks like Futaba is just about to be ready, so if you're good to go we can start heading over."

I quickly looked around, making sure I wasn't missing anything. I stood up, turning off the TV with the remote lying next to me.

"Lead the way."

If I said I wasn't nervous on the walk over to the lab, I'd be lying. I was still elated over the events earlier, but now as I drew closer to the lab I started to remember what was coming next.

"You do trust her to do this, right?"

A silly question, but I still felt the need to ask, hoping it might calm my nerves to hear him say it.

"As long as I've known her, she's always been very precise. So, I don't think she'll make a mistake if that's what you're worried about."

I thought back to her words, when she told me I might not be able to reach Sakura. By all the evidence, she should have been right. But maybe she was right after all, and I really had simply overcome the hurdle.

She was waiting out front for us, and once we were close enough, she unlocked the front door.

"We are technically closed for the day, so it'll be just the three of us inside.”

We headed inside, and she locked the door behind us. She led us to what looked like an operating room, with machines to monitor the vitals scattered around a stainless steel table in the centre of the room.

"You can set your bag down there, you have the items from last night still correct?"

I nodded, taking them out of the bag before hanging the bag off to Sakuta. Rio now looked slightly embarrassed.

"You'll need to remove your shirt and pants, but please keep your underwear on."

I followed her instructions, more nervous about the needles than having to slightly undress.

I sat on the edge of the table after, and waited for Rio to begin hooking me up the assorted machines. As she did, Sakuta took a look at the supplies Rio had gathered.

"Are you sure you won't get in trouble for burning incense in here?"

She nodded.

"There’re vents in this room that lead to the outside of the building, the most that will remain is a faint aroma. Besides, we rarely use this room so the chances of anyone finding out is slim to none."

Then, Sakuta took a seat in one of the chairs along the wall.

Rio instructed me to lay down, finally finished hooking me up to the medical equipment. I could hear the steady beeping that indicated my heart was beating on one of the nearby monitors. I turned my head to see her taking an incense bowl from her supplies before walking behind me and setting it down somewhere.

I heard the click of a lighter, and soon could smell the incense burning. It was a calming aroma, and I felt a little more relaxed.

"It smells like lavender, but there's more to it than just that."

I remarked, hoping I didn't sound too nervous.

"It's a mixture of different scents, the research wasn't complete but I did some digging and did the best I could to fill in the gaps."

Next, she came over and began applying an ointment to the spots that had been highlighted on the paper.

"This is supposed to help channel the healing energy, at least that's what they believed back in those days. It's more of a numbing cream so you won't feel anything, but it has the added benefit of drawing out more chemicals in your brain which should help reverse your syndrome and get you back to normal."

She finished applying the ointment, washing off any remaining residue from her hands. Putting on a pair of gloves, she stood close by where I could see her from where I was laying.

"Are you ready?"

I tried to nod, only succeeding in hitting the back of my head on the table.

"Yes, I am."

 She gave a small laugh, before getting serious once again.

"Azusagawa, do you mind flipping that switch by you?"

“I hope we don’t forget about him the next day… cause if this works, I’m going straight back to my home on bed.”

He yawned and got up, and soon relaxing meditative music began to play.

"Thanks. And no, as per my theory if he overcomes his loop then we will still remember him."

She placed the deck of cards and book on my chest, and instructed me to place my hands on top of them.

"The important thing is to remain as absolutely still as possible. If you feel yourself falling asleep, don't fight it. If you try to fight against it, you can cause some serious damage to yourself."

I almost wanted to stop right there, but we didn't have the time to find a different way at this point. I simply closed my eyes, trying to focus on the music that softly played in the background.

It was so effective, that when Rio spoke up again I didn't realize how long it had been since she last spoke.

"You're doing great, we're over halfway done."

I'd have to ask her where she had gotten the ointment, because it was absolutely doing it's job.

Soon, I could feel myself slowly slipping into unconsciousness, and it was becoming harder to hear her.

"This is the last one, after that it's up to you."

She sounded as though she was standing right near my head, but her voice sounded far away. I never heard her say anything else, as I soon faded into the blissful black of sleep.