"First, let's organize the information. Both times the time reset happened at the same place and the same time point, so for now, we can confirm it's similar to a loop."
Rikuo summarized the first piece of information, then reviewed his memories, feeling like he hadn't missed anything.
"Since I need to prove whether I lose memories, I must use the 2 of Hearts to fully recall them."
Rikuo took out the the 2 of Hearts and used it, finding that there were indeed missing memories, but what was lost wasn't just memories related to this world.
"It seems it affects overall memory? Does that mean the loop will gradually devour memories? Then I can infer that once memories are completely erased, life will also perish. Fortunately, I have the 2 of Hearts. Let me organize my memories again. Each time the boy falls, he unconsciously looks at the second window on the third floor of the teaching building with resentment before closing his eyes and falling."
Remembering this clue, Rikuo put away the the 2 of Hearts and pushed open the main door, walking towards the teaching building.
"This time, what's needed is exploration. Let's see what clues are in the teaching building. Also, the function of the watch—perhaps it's not just resetting when going to the rooftop; it might also reset automatically when a certain time point is reached."
Rikuo explored the classrooms one by one, constantly checking the time on his watch to guard against a possible time reset.
"Looking around, almost all classrooms are locked. Is this the only one left? Class 3-B. Is this where the boy looked when he fell?"
Rikuo first ruled out all classrooms on other floors before choosing to enter this one, to prevent repetitive exploration later.
The classroom was very crowded, with desks densely packed. In contrast, the only desk in the corner stood apart from the others; it was overturned next to a trash can, and the desk was covered with carvings of "go to death."
Rikuo righted the desk and saw a schoolbag fall out of its drawer. The books were entirely black, but the ink dripping from them indicated that this was not their original color.
"How much ink would it take to completely dye a schoolbag black? So this isn't a completely realistic representation, but an exaggerated materialization born of resentment. But in this way, it makes it even clearer how the shadow cast by bullies on the bullied deepens over time?"
At this moment, a click of a lock was heard from outside a toilet stall door.
Rikuo walked out of the classroom and looked at the nearby toilet.
"How classic, toilet bullying? Speaking of 1999? Then indeed, if you corner a bully in the toilet, there's no way to collect evidence at all."
Hearing the screams from inside, Rikuo used the 5 of Spades and kicked down the toilet door, but there was nothing inside, and the sound immediately stopped.
"Does this mean there were no 'witnesses'? Or is it simply that the scene disappears if it's disturbed?"
At this moment, the door to the teacher's office opened, and after a "Please come in," it closed again.
"This time it's the teacher's turn."
Rikuo walked around the office, leaning against the wall and listening to the sounds inside.
"Being bullied? If you don't provoke others, why would they provoke you…"
Rikuo's fists clenched. Looking into the office through the window, there was no one inside, only a newspaper floating in mid-air.
Rikuo kicked open the office door again; this time, the newspaper did not disappear.
"So, it's the first hypothesis: there were no 'witnesses' in the toilet. Therefore, it couldn't be directly observed. As for the teacher, it's highly likely that when the protagonist confided, the other person only looked at the newspaper and didn't care about a poor student being bullied. So the materialization in the boy's consciousness is a newspaper floating in mid-air, because there's no such thing as a 'teacher' who truly educates here."
Walking out of the office, Rikuo didn't feel any further changes nearby.
"The current significance of these clues indicates that the boy was bullied and ignored, but that's all. In this situation, for me, an outsider to the event, simply telling the bullied person, 'It's okay,' would actually be disrespectful to the suffering he endured. In that case, it's no different from that newspaper; both deny the harm the other person suffered."
Rikuo finished organizing the information and returned to the classroom. He sat on the boy's desk, picked up his schoolbag, opened it, and didn't care about the ink that stained his hands. There were no books inside, or rather, it was all books.
"All torn into pieces? They really don't mind the trouble; they're truly diligent when it comes to harming others."
Rikuo poured out all the paper scraps, but these were just plain white papers, with no writing on them, and certainly not books.
"Since it's a manifestation of consciousness, there are two possible answers reflected in the books. One is that he can't remember the content of the books, but in that case, it would more likely be complex gibberish; the second is that he feels the knowledge in the books is meaningless. From the perspective of the bullied, it means that even if he studies well, he won't be taken seriously and can't change the fact of being bullied."
Rikuo sighed deeply, neatly put the paper scraps back into the schoolbag, and then placed it in the desk.
"Currently, it's unsolvable? To tell a dead person, 'It's okay, you don't have to worry about those things, things will get better ahead.' Then guess why he's a dead person."
Rikuo stood up, stretched, and walked towards the rooftop with a relaxed and relieved expression.
In front of the rooftop door, Rikuo didn't go in but chatted with the boy at the entrance.
"You know what? I was bullied too."
The boy looked at Rikuo, but Rikuo just continued talking to himself.
"At that time, I thought about telling the teacher. All the bad teachers in the world are indeed the same, 'If you don't provoke others, why would they provoke you?'"
"So, I thought, as long as I become strong enough, I won't be bullied. I started training desperately, and sure enough, they really didn't dare to bully me anymore. But it wasn't because I was stronger than them; an ordinary person's strength is limited. They didn't provoke me simply because they found someone weaker."
"I wondered then, should I also become one of those who harm others? But I couldn't defeat them either, so I chose to influence them from within. But with that thought, I was just a clown. Some people's nature is simply pure ugliness."
Rikuo fell silent, but the boy seemed to hear what he wanted to hear.
"Aren't you out of it now? Then you must have successfully influenced or eliminated them in the end, right?"
Rikuo listened to the other person's words and just chuckled.
"But I haven't gotten out of it yet!"
The time on the watch reached 7:30 pm, and the boy's figure fell from the rooftop. This loop still didn't succeed.
However, Rikuo had already succeeded.
Watching the boy standing behind the rusty school gate, his pupils, devoid of whites, showed a look of confusion. The previous loop, which ended due to time, seemed not to have interrupted Rikuo's path to resolution, but rather to have terminated the other party's desire for knowledge.
"Do you want to know? I'll tell you for free. Why must one get out?"
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