The café smelled like fresh coffee and rain.
Ethan pushed the glass door open for Liya.
"After you."
She stepped inside with a small smile.
"Wow."
"Polite and brave enough to talk to strangers."
"Risky personality."
He laughed.
"I like to live dangerously."
They sat near the window.
Outside, the city moved like any ordinary afternoon.
But inside…
Something strange lingered in the air between them.
The waitress came over.
"Two coffees?"
Ethan looked at Liya.
She nodded.
"Yeah."
The waitress left.
Liya rested her chin on her hand.
"You know…"
"Something about this feels weird."
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"Weird good or weird bad?"
"Weird familiar."
He leaned back slightly.
"Okay that's creepy because I was thinking the same thing."
She looked at him carefully.
"Do you ever get flashes of memories that don't make sense?"
"Like dreams?"
"No."
"Like… moments that feel like they already happened."
Ethan thought for a second.
Then slowly nodded.
"…Sometimes."
"What kind?"
He frowned slightly.
"I see this tower collapsing."
Her eyes widened.
"The Riverside Tower?"
"…Yeah."
"But that never happened."
"Exactly."
They both fell quiet.
The waitress placed their coffee on the table.
The cups clinked softly.
But neither of them touched them yet.
Liya spoke first.
"I had a dream last night."
"What kind of dream?"
"You were in it."
Ethan blinked.
"…Already?"
She laughed nervously.
"Not like that."
"What happened?"
"You kept dying."
Ethan froze.
"…That's specific."
"Every time I tried to save you…"
"…the day reset."
His heart skipped.
"…Reset?"
She nodded slowly.
"I don't remember everything."
"But the feeling was strong."
"What feeling?"
She looked straight at him.
"Like we fought for each other."
Silence settled between them.
Ethan suddenly rubbed the back of his neck.
"…Okay now I'm officially uncomfortable."
"Why?"
"Because I had a dream too."
Her eyes widened.
"What happened?"
He hesitated.
Then said quietly,
"You died."
The words hung in the air.
Liya's breath caught.
"…How?"
"In a building collapse."
She whispered,
"…The tower."
He nodded.
Neither of them noticed the café lights flicker briefly.
Just for a split second.
Reality correcting itself.
Outside—
The motorcycle rider watched from across the street.
Her helmet rested beside her on the seat.
She listened quietly through a small receiver.
Her device glowed faintly.
She muttered to herself.
"Residual memory bleed."
The screen showed two biosignatures.
ETHAN — Temporal Echo Detected
LIYA — Temporal Echo Detected
She sighed.
"Six hundred loops…"
"…and the universe still remembers."
Inside the café—
Ethan finally lifted his coffee.
"So…"
Liya looked up.
"Yeah?"
"If we somehow lived another life before this…"
"…do you think we were happy?"
She smiled softly.
"I think we fought really hard to be."
Ethan nodded slowly.
"Sounds about right."
They both sipped their coffee.
And for a brief moment—
A flicker of another memory crossed their minds.
Standing in the rain.
A collapsing tower.
A kiss before the end of the world.
But the memory faded as quickly as it came.
Outside the café—
The chronal officer's device suddenly beeped again.
She looked down.
Her expression changed.
"…That's new."
A message appeared.
TEMPORAL ACTIVITY DETECTED
SOURCE: UNKNOWN
Then a second line appeared.
NEW LOOP POSSIBILITY: 0.03%
She looked up toward the café window.
At Ethan and Liya laughing together.
Her voice dropped slightly.
"…Don't tell me."
Then her device displayed one final alert.
ANOMALY SIGNATURE MATCH
The name appeared on the screen.
And the officer's eyes widened.
"…Ethan?"
Because according to the device…
A brand new timeline anomaly had just begun. ⏳