"Yeah, I only knew about what my costume looked like and a bit of the common suite—not all of it, though, since—he—was always hard to get information from and you and I weren't friendly enough for you to give me a proper 101 the first time around—and the rewinding and nothing more."

"You're avoiding his name?"

He nods. "I don't know if it helps, but... he can hear it when we talk to him aloud, and maybe it's about the intent, but—I don't actually know."

"Are you sure he can't read our minds."

"No. No I'm not. He told you he can't, the first time around, I think, but..."

"I imagine I'd've asked, yeah. He's a weird little alien. I'm gonna tentatively assume I was right to believe him the first time through that he cannot read my mind so I don't go insane!"

"Yeah. ...anyway, the bag of holding you found, then I pretended I was just learning about rewinding, and you suggested that I might have powers like the Harry Potter time-turner, when I was thinking about other time-travel related powers. I tried to decide to appear somewhere if I did have them, you speculated that I might not have been able to trigger the causeless stable loop and I should avoid doing things that might make me meet my selves at least at first, so I jumped out the window to try to make it work. It didn't, but that's when I found out about the time stopping."

Nod nod.

"I'd also figured I might be able to bring other people with me so I took your hand and we found out I could. I demonstrated dropping a pen and it freezing midair and you—bounced in place and grinned and said that it was probably going to be really useful. We tested that I could unfreeze you and freeze you again, and I showed you how I only pay the cost of stopping time at the end when I resume, so you suggested that I get some light measurement device to try to quantify it.

"...I don't really remember anything more specific after that. We talked about... the nonspecific powers, I demonstrated telekinesis and vanishing my buckler, you suggested that I go fight witches with Yamanaka... Then I told you about the time when Tokyo was destroyed which had been subjectively less than twelve hours earlier and I had a panic attack about it—oh and there was a thing you'd said first loop—uh, first loop you got into a fight with some magicals, I don't know which, and you were like, if we all coordinated and exterminated all witches we'd all die but what a way to go, but we won't all coordinate because most of us suck."

...nod nod write write.

"You hugged me about the panic attack, and—there was something you said that made me convinced you were extremely put off and annoyed that I was having all of these feelings in front of you while you wanted to be learning about—magic and stuff. I think I said—I apologised for dumping my feelings on you? Wow I'm so fucking predictable—sorry—and you said something like I don't need to let go until I'm ready which I interpreted as being—kind of fake concern. I don't know if it was. But there had been other things and with my headspace I just decided that you didn't really give a shit about me except for—why am I saying any of this I'm pretty sure you didn't read my mind about any of it and didn't notice."

Haru doesn't exactly object to having more information even if it's not exactly what he requested but he can't reconstruct shit from "something that made Yutaka convinced he was put off and annoyed".

"I mean, I can tell you I don't go around faking concern for people - I guess it's not completely impossible that I would have done something like that if, like, I wasn't sure you were sufficiently invested in me and I really wanted a magical ally, but that doesn't square with what you said happened in the rest of the loop I don't think, so, I think my conclusion is that I meant it."

"Well, we'd just met, from your perspective I don't know if you had enough evidence to conclude I was invested in you. I didn't know why I was so invested in you.

"Anyway uh I left then and we didn't talk for the rest of the night."

Nod.

"Next morning you looked incredibly happy because you'd become a magical boy. I asked if it was malaria and you said it was. I said I wanted to see your magical boy outfit and you said you shouldn't vanish right then but that if I was just curious it matched my description from the previous loop, and I said something like... what was it... I think I said that it was just an excuse for me to spend more time with you? And you said I should have patience and I replied that I hoped you were talking about magic there because I'm really, really gay."

Oh no this boy has a smile and wants Haru SO bad oh no.

"I think I told you then about how someone was about to out you to me at the end of that class but I don't remember exactly how that conversation went. I flirted pretty outrageously with you, I think you said something like how I wouldn't be able to head off the rumours nearly as effectively this time around and I said, well, if nothing else the guy I—I said 'the guy I'm interested in' at the time but really I meant 'the guy I like' only it made no sense—if nothing else the guy I'm interested in isn't about to be gone for a week so I'm going to have a whole extra week to—no idea what I said exactly but I meant 'simp for him'."

"What does that mean."

"—man how do I even explain that. It's—be really into someone, really visibly, kind of embarrassingly, when the feelings aren't reciprocated. Like, you know when fangirls are really thirsty for J-pop artists very loudly and keep talking about them all the time and have pictures of them in their notebooks and stuff, that's simping."

"...did you have a picture of me in your locker?"

"No but I have pictures of you on my phone. ...on the version of my phone that I brought back from the future, that is."

"- oh I want to see -"

"—okay. Uh. Do you also want to see the ones that—only boyfriends share with each other? Or sluts with anyone but in your case, you know. Even though we aren't, now?

"...are you saying I sent you nudes."

"Not... exactly I guess, you didn't send me them, you just posed for a couple for me."