Chapter 3 - "Failed to Save"
---
The explosion wasn't like the movies.
There was no dramatic slow-motion, no heroic background music, no time to process what was happening. One second, Dr. Fujikawa was mid-sentence. The next, the entire left side of the chamber erupted in a ball of fire and twisted metal.
The shockwave hit me like a physical punch, throwing me backward. My ears rang with a high-pitched whine that drowned out everything else. Smoke filled the air, thick and black and choking.
"RUN!" someone screamed.
And everyone did.
Pure, primal panic took over. Students from both schools scrambled toward the exits, shoving each other, tripping over cables and debris. I saw Takeshi—mr. perfect, mr. athletic, mr. "you're my sunshine"—practically trampling a girl from the other school as he bolted for the door.
So much for chivalry.
"Everyone evacuate!" Dr. Fujikawa's voice cracked over the alarm. "Get out now!"
The fire spread fast. Way too fast. Flames crawled up the walls like living things, consuming equipment and cables. Sparks rained down from damaged electrical systems. The air shimmered with heat.
My survival instincts finally kicked in.
*Move, idiot. Move!*
I turned toward the exit, my legs already pumping, my heart hammering in my chest. The smoke burned my throat. My eyes watered. All I could think was *get out get out get out—*
Then I saw her.
The silver-haired girl.
She was on the opposite side of the chamber, separated from her group by a wall of flames that had erupted between them. While everyone else ran for the main exit, she was frozen, her back pressed against the wall, her dark eyes wide with terror.
She was looking the wrong way. Toward a secondary exit that was already engulfed in fire.
*Not my problem,* the rational part of my brain screamed. *Keep running. Save yourself. You don't even know her.*
I kept running.
Three steps.
Four.
Five.
*She's going to die.*
"Dammit!" I skidded to a stop, my sneakers squeaking on the polished floor.
What was I doing? I wasn't a hero. I wasn't brave. I was Kaito Aoyama, professional nobody, whose greatest achievement in life was beating a video game on hard mode. I had no business running toward a fire.
But my legs were already moving.
"Hey!" I shouted, reversing direction and sprinting toward her. "HEY!"
She didn't hear me over the alarm and the roar of the flames.
The heat intensified as I got closer. Sweat poured down my face. The smoke made it almost impossible to see. My lungs burned with every breath.
*This is so stupid. This is so incredibly stupid.*
"Move!" I yelled again, waving my arms like an idiot. "Wrong way! WRONG WAY!"
She finally saw me. Her head snapped in my direction, confusion flashing across her face.
I closed the distance between us, vaulting over a fallen beam. The time machine loomed behind her, its metallic rings still humming ominously despite the chaos. Electricity arced across its surface, crackling and spitting.
"What are you—" she started.
"No time!" I grabbed her wrist and pulled.
That's when several things happened at once.
First, I registered how soft her hand was. Stupid thing to notice in a life-or-death situation, but there it was—her skin was smooth and cool despite the inferno around us, and my brain decided *this* was the perfect moment to have a mini crisis about never having held a girl's hand before.
Second, her eyes met mine.
They were darker than I'd thought. Not black, but a deep, deep brown that reminded me of—
*Focus, you idiot!*
Third, she didn't move.
"Come on!" I yanked harder, pulling her away from the wall.
"Wait—" Her voice was barely audible over the chaos.
We stumbled forward together, and for one brief, stupid moment, I thought we might actually make it.
Then the fire reached the time machine.
I don't know if it was the fuel cells or some kind of temporal energy or just spectacularly bad luck, but the machine didn't just explode. It *screamed.* A sound like reality itself tearing apart. The metallic rings began spinning impossibly fast, generating a wind that pulled at my clothes and hair.
"What the—"
The air around the machine distorted, rippling like water. The humming became a roar. Electricity danced across every metal surface, reaching out like hungry fingers.
One of those fingers touched me.
Pain. Blinding, searing pain that shot through my entire body. My muscles locked. I couldn't let go of her hand even if I wanted to.
She screamed. Or maybe I screamed. I couldn't tell anymore.
The chamber tilted. Or maybe I was falling. Everything was spinning, burning, *breaking—*
The last thing I saw before the world went white was her face, inches from mine, her dark eyes wide with terror and something else. Something that looked like recognition.
Then—
*Nothing.*
Just darkness.
Complete.
Total.
Nothing.
---
Somewhere in that void, a thought drifted through my fading consciousness:
*Well... this is definitely not how I expected my day to end.*
*I didn't even get to know her name*
And then even that thought disappeared.
---
To be continued...