The cycle begins to repeat itself today.

"It's alright, I know my limits."

"If that's really the case." I don't usually talk this much, but today's situation is a little different. The unease that comes from my heart makes me want to seek help from others, but my long-standing habit of handling everything alone keeps me silent.

"Although I don't know exactly what happened to you, it will all pass."

She offered me a word of comfort, and I couldn't help but smile.

The past? Of course it will pass. Everything that has happened is in the past, everything that is happening is also becoming the past, and everything that hasn't happened yet will soon become the past.

I suppressed my own thoughts, not wanting my sister to have any unfounded ideas. If today passes, everything will return to normal... if today passes.

I sat on the bed, gazing at the darkness outside the window. Living conditions had improved thanks to my parents' hard work, a situation inextricably linked to the rapidly developing economy and society. But I don't know when it started, but when I looked up at the sky on summer nights, I could no longer see the countless stars; they had all been covered by the dust and grime brought on by development.

But even in this overwhelming darkness, the scattered lights bring me peace.

"Ah, it's already eleven o'clock. Are you going to sleep?"

My sister asked me. Although I was somewhat concerned about what was going on tomorrow, I couldn't tell her directly, nor could I show it, so I nodded.

"Here's your phone back. Mine should be charged pretty well too. Do you want me to plug it in for you?"

"Let's continue."

She skillfully connected the phone, data cable, and plug, then plugged it into the socket on the table and stood up: "Then I'll go back."

She left my room, closing the bedroom door behind her. Before the door was completely closed, I saw my parents getting up in the living room through the gap; they were also going back to their bedroom to sleep.

After my sister closed the door, I stood up and turned off the light in the room. The window was already open, otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep on such a hot night. I just drew the curtains and lay down on the bed, quietly waiting for midnight to arrive.

I can't quite describe what I'm thinking right now—fear, doubt, excitement… I can't put my finger on it. I put my hands behind my head and stare into this space that's practically pitch black. I'm lucky I don't have claustrophobia, but the deep darkness gives me a little sense of security and also lets me know that I'm slightly different from normal people.

But it's not a big deal. No two people are exactly alike. This is probably just a small trait of mine, nothing important. I just need to know it myself.

Because I usually go to bed around this time, and my sleep schedule is relatively consistent—I start to feel sleepy at a certain time—I've never noticed just how quiet this town is at this time of day...

Sleepiness brought on by my body's natural rhythms made me close my eyes without realizing it. When I realized this and opened my eyes again, the bedroom was no longer as dark as I remembered it a moment ago. I realized that it was probably already the morning of the next day.

I propped myself up and went to the desk. My sister left her phone here to charge yesterday, but... I didn't see my phone, which should have been here.

An uneasy feeling crept over me. I tried to convince myself that I might have misremembered something, then turned on the light, and the room finally became bright. And there I found my phone.

In stark contrast to the brightened bedroom, my heart sank into complete darkness.

Chapter Seven: The Morning of the Third

Although I have a fairly precise biological clock that allows me to wake up every morning, everything has its own uncertainty. Just like people give themselves insurance that they don't know if it will work, in order to ensure that I don't make mistakes, or at least reduce the number of mistakes that do occur, I also take out an insurance policy for myself, and that insurance policy is my mobile phone.

Although I rarely use the alarm clock function, I do place it in an easily accessible place so that I can turn it off easily and avoid disturbing others.

However, I never expected that the insurance I had set up would come in handy under these circumstances.

I stared at my phone on the bedside table, lacking the courage to directly verify if the situation was different from what I imagined. It shouldn't be like this... it shouldn't be like this.

I gritted my teeth, slapped myself hard, and the pain jolted me awake. I slowly walked to my phone, picked it up, and without hesitation, pressed the power button. I stared at the screen at the date: September 12th. Although I was somewhat prepared, I still couldn't accept it; it was utterly absurd to me.

That's impossible. Even if modern physics seems to have touched the edge of time travel, it's still impossible. The conditions simply haven't reached the point where successful time travel is possible. If they had, the whole world would know. There's no way to hide it. Time travel could change far too many things, including history—that's simply not allowed. Even if someone did manage to keep it a secret, how could they possibly send someone like me, who knows nothing, back to the past? And why only September 12th?

Impossible, this doesn't make sense. This doesn't make sense, this doesn't make sense... It's meaningless, why is this happening? Why?

Ultimately, is this a journey back to the past, or something akin to precognition? Why did it happen? Why did it happen to me? There's no reason, no logic, no connection whatsoever. This shouldn't be happening, it shouldn't be like this.

How long will this situation last? Three times? Four times? Or ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times... or even forever?

Everything is the same as before, nothing has changed, and nothing special has been done, so why is this happening?

Even if this was destined to happen, why did it happen to me? And why today? Why couldn't it have been yesterday or tomorrow? What is the point of this situation?

Something must have happened, something I don't know about must have happened.

I bit my thumb, so confused that I ignored the pain and damage from biting. The liquid flowing from my mouth brought me back to my senses. When I came to my senses, my thumb had been bitten and was bleeding.

I sucked the blood into my mouth, swallowed it along with my saliva, walked out of the room, and went to the first-aid kit next to the living room. I found cotton swabs, alcohol, and bandages and treated my wound.

Cause and effect are the origin and result of the world's development. Every cause has an effect, and every effect has a cause. I have always believed in this theory of cause and effect because it can indeed be used to explain anything I have encountered before.

The current situation is that, on September 12th, for some reason, the cycle started. This is the effect, but where is the cause? Why did it turn out this way?

My family is very ordinary. Both my parents are civil servants; their income is neither high nor low, and they are quite busy, but we manage to get by. We don't have any relatives or friends who have connections to cutting-edge technology—at least, I know absolutely nothing about it. But my own understanding of this is extremely limited—I've almost never researched this kind of information.

I could either ask my parents or my sister. Asking my parents would definitely be the best approach; setting aside my personal relationship with my sister, the children's social networks are almost entirely derived from the relationships of their parents. But asking now is clearly inappropriate—if I'm not mistaken, I'm probably the only one in our family who remembers what happened in the previous two "days" and what's about to happen in the next "day."

Asking now might get me an answer, but it certainly wouldn't be complete. The best time would be after school in the evening… I don't know if my parents are still willing to talk to me. Even if that doesn't work, I could ask my younger sister; she might be willing to tell me. Although the information I get will likely be limited, it's better than nothing.

And... what if today is the last day of the cycle?

Regardless, I still have to go to school. Besides, there's another person there who seems different from before.

I thought of my deskmate. This was the first time outside of school that I had thought of someone who was almost completely unrelated to me.

I didn't even remember her name.

Regardless of whether it's related to me or not, in this situation where I have absolutely no viable leads, I need to find her and find out something. Even if she has nothing to do with this, at least it will eliminate the possibility that she influenced me. If she is related... then I'll find out what's disrupting my life and make it pay the price.

I quickly washed up, packed my things, and headed out to school. Although it was still quite early for dawn, it was already some time past the earliest light of day, and the sky was only just beginning to lighten.

I didn't leave home particularly early, and I still saw quite a few people on the same road in the same direction. I paid a little attention to them, but almost everyone was just like me, completely uninterested in other people, simply looking down at their phones as they hurried along.

I realized I was being a bit paranoid, gave myself a disgruntled laugh, and continued walking towards school. My arrival time at school usually doesn't change much. Although I dawdled at home a bit today, I sped up my pace a little while walking, so I arrived at the classroom around the same time as usual.

I sat down in my seat, and didn't sit idle. After taking my Chinese textbook out of my bag and placing it on the desk, I found a book that my deskmate had left on her desk. I quietly flipped through it and found her name.

Ye Yuqing, that's her name.

Chapter 8: The First Negotiation

I sat in my seat, waiting for Ye Yuqing to arrive. As I had seen before, she walked into the classroom just before the bell rang, and was reprimanded by the Chinese teacher. I watched her practice answering, and just like any normal student facing pressure in front of a teacher, that was the feeling she gave me.

After being nagged for a while, the Chinese teacher let her off the hook, because there were many more students lined up waiting for her reprimand. I could see clearly now that there were at least five people crowded outside the door, and there were places where I couldn't see them, so the number might be even greater.

Ye Yuqing, who arrived at the classroom just in time, had committed a lesser offense, so she breathed a sigh of relief as she returned to her seat. Why couldn't they have gotten up a few minutes earlier or quickened their pace? That would have avoided a lot of trouble, and in my opinion, it would have been a worthwhile trade.

I pretended to be reading a book, but I was observing Ye Yuqing with my eyes slightly to the side. After she put her schoolbag in the drawer, the first thing she did was not to take out her Chinese textbook, but to gently press it into her pocket. She seemed to have a puzzled expression on her face, which was then tinged with a bit of annoyance.

"Um, that..."

Is it about to begin again?

I abandoned my previous method of secretly observing her and instead looked at her openly and honestly.

"What's the date today? I forgot my phone."

September 12th.

Without hesitation, I told her the date and took the opportunity to observe her. This was probably the first time I had seriously observed this person. Her hair wasn't very long, but she had tied it up neatly in a ponytail according to school rules, and there wasn't a single messy spot. It looked like she had taken great care of it.

Her face was very clean, and not just in a clean sense. Most people experience various physical changes during puberty, many of which are pleasant. However, acne is something that girls find extremely annoying. It's unsightly to have it on your face, and squeezing it intentionally or unintentionally leaves marks, making it a real headache. But her face had none of these marks. I don't know if it's because she's wearing makeup, concealing any such marks. I don't have the relevant expertise to tell.

At this moment, her expression brightened as I gave her the answer, and it was clear that today was indeed a day of great significance to her.

I thought for a moment and decided to continue the conversation.

"What's wrong?"

She showed the surprised expression I had imagined. After all, my long-standing aloof attitude towards people had probably become ingrained in their minds, so I wasn't particularly surprised by her reaction. Besides, there wasn't much time for me to waste on such trivial matters now.

"Were you just talking to me? That's quite rare. I've hardly ever seen you speak."

She seemed genuinely just surprised; my actions didn't bother her much, and she's exactly the opposite of me. She doesn't need to be very familiar with you; as long as you talk to her, she can happily chat for a long time by herself. I'm the kind of person I dislike.

"But it's nothing much, I just have a very important date today."

Although dating also means an appointment or a meeting, in this era, for people like us, dating has become a rather specific and somewhat biased term. I don't believe that a relatively normal girl would easily use the word "dating" to replace "meeting," which is prone to misunderstanding.

As she said, she was probably too happy today to bring her phone. It's not hard to imagine what teenage boys and girls are thinking. Although this is a foolish act of jeopardizing her future, I, someone without ambition, can't say anything, and have no right to say anything. Besides, if handled properly, having a partner to work with might make things much easier for most people.

The rest is no longer my concern, and I've made the following judgment. In my opinion, someone who starts dating in high school is unlikely to contribute much to research on time travel. The person she wants to date has absolutely nothing to do with me, and I haven't had much contact with her personally; the connection between us is extremely weak.

I looked away, ending the conversation, but she wasn't about to let me off the hook. Perhaps because it was rare for her to speak to me, and because she was excited about the upcoming date, she couldn't suppress a boastful urge to share her happiness, and she kept talking.

"Aside from class, I hardly ever see you speak throughout the semester. I never expected you to talk to me today. Do you like me? It seems unlikely."

"But even if you like me, it's no use. I only like one person."

She kept rambling on and on about things like that, offering nothing of substance, just trying to show off. That's why I don't really enjoy interacting with people. But there's nothing to regret; it's the price I paid for asking her, nothing unacceptable. If this is the price I paid to obtain evidence that this person is unrelated to me and the incident, then it's not a bad deal.

She was being too noisy and attracted the teacher's attention. I gently reminded her, "The teacher sees you." She then realized what was happening and shut her mouth. At the same time, she turned her head to look in the direction of the Chinese teacher. Seeing that the teacher was indeed looking in her direction, she took out her textbook and began her morning reading.

If you know the methods, you will make fewer mistakes, or even eliminate them altogether.

My gaze returned to the textbook, but my mind was still racing. Thinking about it carefully, many things that happened today weren't exactly normal; perhaps I was trying to ignore them, which is why I didn't understand anything. If I were to investigate, I would need to point out all the illogical aspects until I found the right target.

Today, I don't know how many more times this will repeat itself; there's as much time as I want. If it could end in the next moment, that would certainly be better for me. I still hold onto that hope.

Chapter Nine: A Futile Morning

Perhaps because I started talking to Ye Yuqing, she began trying to engage in conversation with me again. However, I wasn't interested in her at the moment, and only occasionally replied to her words. After returning to our usual indifferent state, she also lost interest in me.

Today was supposed to be a date, yet she seemed indifferent to her words and actions, and even tried to talk to me. It's likely that Ye Yuqing's personality isn't exactly exemplary. To describe her as fickle or promiscuous would be an exaggeration.

People of this age usually don't worry too much about these kinds of issues, but they're more prone to darker emotions like jealousy. Whether it's to avoid trouble for herself or for the sake of that date she values, which has an uncertain future, I hope she can stay away from people like herself.

However, maybe everything will be reset after I go back to sleep today, so there's nothing to worry about. I'm slightly surprised that I've started to accept this fact, yet I can't suppress my pessimistic thoughts.

There's still a lot to do, but I haven't really thought about what exactly to do. I'm just observing my surroundings, trying to find things that seem a bit "incongruous" from my perspective, but without sufficient training, this is very difficult for me. But there's no other way now; I have no other choice.

In Chinese class, the teacher was still just explaining the joint entrance exam paper, and the same was true for math class; nothing had changed. From my vague recollection, those who actively stood up to answer questions didn't suddenly become clueless or caught off guard, and those who never stood up didn't do anything particularly noticeable—some slept, some looked at their phones, and some played with their hands.

The most abnormal person in the whole classroom was probably myself, who kept looking around. Both the Chinese teacher and the math teacher had noticed my actions many times, but they didn't say anything. However, they had put a lot of pressure on me by looking at them.

Continuing like this would probably only lead to nothing, and I felt a little frustrated, wondering if I should give up on this pointless approach. Even by lunchtime, when it was time to go to the cafeteria, I still hadn't found anything that I considered "incompatible."

I've never been a particularly observant person, whether it's people or things. Without some interaction, I can probably only see the most superficial things. The skill of reading between the lines was almost an unnecessary skill for me in the past. I could solve most problems simply by remaining silent.

After school let out early, Ye Yuqing quickly stood up and followed the flow of people out of the classroom. She was probably going to eat now, and I'm not some robot that doesn't need to eat, so naturally I also need to go to the cafeteria.

Perhaps I could go with Ye Yuqing to take a look; that thought crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed it. I don't need to find any high-sounding excuses for myself; I simply hate doing such things.