I had another dream last night. It was similar to the vivid one with Chika and Koharu, but this time it seemed further back. Chika and I were a young couple just starting off. It was peaceful, although hazy. All I could remember by the time I woke up was how it ended the same way, the same way each day during the time loop ended, with her dead. Again, I woke up in the middle of the night with tears flowing from my eyes. As if the time loop was not enough, this new nightmare is somehow worse.

  School was still a place filled with dread, and a certain number of changes had made it much worse. Since Kaori's death happened on school grounds, the city board attempted to blame Principal Kushida for what they called "a gross negligence of duty in the safety of all students." Nothing that they brought against her stuck, however, and she countered with unparalleled wit and poise.

  At the end of the meeting that took place shortly after everything happened, Principal Kushida went on paid administrative leave for an undisclosed amount of time since the board had to give some sort of punishment to appease the public. In her place, Vice-Principal Anthony Gris stepped into the position. His family had immigrated when he was young, and he spent most of his adult life as an educator. No sooner had he placed a temporary name on the small plaque outside of the principal's office than when he called for an assembly of the student body.

  The man himself was a taller man with an intense air about him. On the top of his head waged a war between the black hairs of his youth and the grey and white hairs of his coming old age. He was well dressed, even for someone in a high administrative position like his. As he walked up to the podium, he commanded the room, and all eyes were glued to him. He looked over the student body before pulling out a sharp pair of eyeglasses from the inside pocket of his blue suit jacket.

  "Good morning fellow educators, faculty, and students of the proud Toriyama High School," he began. "As many of you know, Principal Kushida has taken a leave of absence in light of recent events here at our school. The untimely death of Ms Hojo Kaori was a tragedy that I vow will not happen again. Effective immediately, there will be an increased presence of our partners with the authorities of Hoenn City."

  Murmurs began rising from the crowds, both the student body and the faculty.

  "Toriyama High School will become the gold standard of security and well-being. To that end, I am establishing a new Disciplinary Committee to enforce the high standards that we should all be upholding. Members of the committee will be free to join of their own calling or may be asked to join by a faculty member that sees an outstanding dedication to morality and, of course, discipline. We will, as your educators, continue to put your safety and prosperity above all else, and together, we will live up to our motto: Achieving Excellence and Overcoming All Obstacles."

  With that, he removed his glasses, and left the stage. We students were ushered back to our class rooms while most of the faculty remained in the auditorium to be given further instructions for moving forward with Principal Gris's plan. The sea of people shifted from side to side as the thousands of us vacated the building. One upside that I found was that despite the ocean around me, there were no waves crashing into me anymore.

  After the Yamada incident, I thought a lot about what triggered her response. My obvious answer was her forcing herself to remember me and saying my name, but another thought occurred to me. If I could somehow obscure enough of my features, maybe I could "bring myself back into existence." The simplest and least suspicious way to test this theory was a face mask. With autumn upon us, many people were being afflicted by seasonal allergies and the common cold due to the frequent and rapid changes in temperature. With a simple white face mask covering about half of my face, it no longer seemed like people looked through me all the time.

  With that being said, most people still hardly noticed me. To them, I was just a person in the background of their own experience. No one would speak my name, but no one would crash into me at the same time. I definitely preferred my new situation to my old, but I still needed to be fully seen, to be pulled from the background of existence into even a direct supporting role in the lives of my dear friends. The biggest issue was that I had no way of accomplishing that end without the violent end that Yamada met. I sat alone with my thoughts while the other students in my classroom socialized before homeroom began.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Just before it did, the door flew open, and in walked two girl students and one boy student from our class: Nakano Keichi, Kirishima Rika, and Angelica Grey. The three of them stood at the front of the class, and the difference in their deep blue uniforms became clear; they wore a red band just under their right shoulder signifying their affiliation with the new disciplinary committee. I was somewhat surprised to see her joining the group, but it was also almost expected.

  Now that I'm a ghost, I guess I can look into why you're really here... I hope for your sake that it's because you want to be.

  "Today is an amnesty day," Grey said abruptly. "Tomorrow, however, everyone will ensure that they are within the guidelines for uniforms outlined in the student handbook. The three of us will be conducting checks upon entry into the class room. That is all."

  The three of them returned to their seats, and homeroom began with Ms Kimura unenthusiastically droning through the long and short of Principal Gris's new changes.

  "Thankfully," her monotone voice made a rare inflection. "All of your teachers have already been doing these various changes before they were implemented. I, on the other hand, will not be implementing certain changes simply because they have no real bearing on how I teach nor do they seem to have any bearing on how you all learn. In other words, I don't want to."

  As she smirked, she pulled out a large travel mug that filled the room with the sweet and bitter smell of perfectly brewed coffee. I had been living off of continuously weakening brews for the past week in a desperate attempt to keep even a shred of life in my veins. It took every shred of willpower I had to resist the urge to freeze time and steal the entire mug. Throughout the rest of the homeroom, I struggled to focus on anything that Ms Kimura said due to the wafting caffeinated temptation that she held in her slender hands.

  The rest of the morning carried on the same as all before it. Class was simple, but even with how easy it was, I found it difficult to pay attention. My eyes constantly wandered to Chika and Denki. Even Rito caught my gaze often. The three of them seemed like they were slowly recovering from Kaori's death and memorial. I wished that I could be with them, to help them through. Knowing everyone else, Nina was probably acting like nothing bothered her while Natsu tried to play everything off as a joke or a competition with Denki. I doubted that Ino would recover fully for a long time.

  My lunch was the same as it had been for the previous two weeks — whatever bread and soda I could get from the school store. I sat in my normal corner atop a mostly unused stairwell. Across from me, the broken down vending machine flickered every so often, like there was something inside that was still fighting. Since the start of the year, there had been two workers trying to bring it back to life, but their efforts were in vain. The machine worked for about three hours after they left before sputtering out once again. That was six school days ago. Today, a lone sign with "Marked for Turn-in" sat on the front of the machine slightly crooked with the left side being lower than the right. I stared at the half-dead machine and thought about our similarities.

  I still need to find a way to fix all this... but how?

  I miss my friends. I miss the times that we shared. I hate that I never really told them how much it all meant to me...

  I wonder if I'll get "marked for turn-in."

  Heh, comparing myself to a machine... maybe I really am going crazy.

  The remainder of the day went on as I tried to keep up with the lessons. Again, not because they were difficult, but because of the distractions. The end of the school day finally came around, and I quickly packed my bag before slipping out of the classroom. The hallways filled with people in moments, and I was almost swallowed by the wave of people trying to leave the school. I held my ground at my foot locker while the hoard thinned out. Finally, I got the chance to swap my shoes before leaving.

  "Hey, you," a voice spoke up behind me.

  What the hell now?

  I turned back to see Grey standing two meters away with her arms crossed. She sported a raised eyebrow and a side pout as she tapped her foot.

  "Can I help you?"

  "Class 2-B, seat 6-B, right?" she answered in a sort of puggish demeanor.

  "Yeah?" I asked with growing confusion.

  Showing your true colors already, then? Alright, let's fight...

  "It's our day to clean the classroom. You didn't look at the roster, did you?"

  "I guess I must have missed it," I awkwardly laughed. "I'll switch my shoes and be back in a few minutes."

  "It's fine, I'll wait," she leaned against another locker and stared me down.

  I think I preferred it when no one noticed me.