Karina leaned back into the bench as warm evening sunrays cast long shadows all over the garden as students rushed by in every direction.

Ningning sat beside her fidgeting with her fingers nervously. She kept her eyes cast down and avoided Karina's because looking down seemed to help ease the tension in the air.

"So about the noise earlier," Karina started slowly, releasing her words into carefully formed sentence. Not too serious, no, but she needs to know all this.

"It was during lunch, right?"

Ningning tensed up, bending her head further down as she murmured, "Yes, President."

Karina raised an eyebrow, waiting for more but Ningning kept quiet for a moment, looking flustered. She peeked up at Karina's calm but expectant expression and sighed defeat.

"I wasn't really fighting," she said, her voice small and uncertain.

"We were just arguing... about something."

"Go on," Karina prompted gently, though her curiosity was now piqued. Ningning was rarely involved in any trouble.

Ningning fumbled, awkwardly. Eventually, after a period of strained silence, she parted her lips to whisper:

"It's like. It's about swimming contest. It is for my childhood friend Mai. She was the best, everyone knows. But the school picked some one else. And it felt wrong."

Karina furrowed her eyebrows as she looked down at clenching fists of Ningning in her lap, with anger there, yet yet to surface. She knew just how much this meant to her.

"Ah," Karina said, nodding thoughtfully.

"So you were trying to stand up for your friend."

Ningning nodded, looking up at Karina with concern and a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"I didn't mean for it to go that far. I just. I want what's fair."

Karina smiled, warming the words and sending a comforting warmth to the entire expression. She leaned out, her hand rough but still gentle against Ningning's shoulder.

"Okay. I'll do what I can about that. Let me talk to the teachers and see if we can work something out."

Ningning immediately stood up and bowed, bowing several times in excitement and gratitude. Karina was charmed by the sudden energy from Ningning.

"It's not a problem, it's okay," Karina said, as she also stood up.

"Now go already. Surely, your friends are waiting for you."

Ningning bowed once more, her face shining with a bright smile, before taking off again. Karina stared after her, a small smile tugging at the edges of her mouth.

Maybe it was silly, but it was moments like these, moments where she almost felt normal, that made all of this worth being president. The back of her mind couldn't help but nudge though-wouldn't this moment, too, reset with the loop?

For now, though, she had decided to rejoice at her minuscule triumph.

Karina sat down on the bench, her brain spinning in all directions. And then Mai, from Ningning's class popped into her head. She was one of those who distinguished themselves in that previous contest.

At the level of the national swimming competition, it was big-time; that was the stage for anyone deemed fortunate enough to make the cut.

Karina began to wonder, why the school suddenly changed someone else and not her, who always featured as a star swim athlete in that school. It did not make sense to her.

Who is that someone that took Mai's position?

And why is it that the school had made such a controversial choice?

With nothing concrete to search for, Karina headed out to roam campus. She might run into Mai and talk things over with her. Worth a shot, anyway.

Maybe it would take the edge off the circular repetition, the buildup frustration of day after day of deja vu, and... Winter.

The mention of Winter halted her in her tracks. Now she knows Winter's situation-how broken and tragic it is behind her cold front whenever she showed up. So heart-crackingly sad.

But no matter how much sympathy Karina felt for her, she couldn't help but feel that this desire of Winter to stay in the know was selfish.

Life has to move on, even with pain.

Karina was thinking that with every part of her, yet she still had a small stigma for lashing out at Winter on the rooftop.

After all, she owed the students to be helped, not to fight with them.

And while rambling, Karina's thoughts turned back to Winter's low confession-how she used the loop for escape, like some kind of place where she could stay away from that not really so soft reality.

She is not that cold-hearted girl; she is a person who has kept quiet about all that she suffered too long.

Perhaps Karina had been too rough and absorbed so much into solving the loop that she did not really look into Winter's perspective.

But anyway, that was done. Now she regretted snapping at her. Maybe instead of fighting they could have worked together.

Brushing all that aside for now, Karina continued walking and kept looking out for Mai. Talking with her might give some clues. At least it would give Karina a feel of moving on, even if everything else keeps going round in circles.

—

Karina knew the high of that breaking of the rules, sneaking out of class during study hours. She knew Giselle didn't like it, the way she eyed her each time Karina left class worried.

But it was okay.

Karina needed answers, and she was most assuredly not going to waste another looped day sitting idly in class.

It was already 6 p.m. The school was quiet intensive. Students focused on the respective studies. At this point, the sun was setting, and even long shadows that might make the campus look bizarre in some respects.

Karina took steps out with careful steps across the campus, avoiding stuff-filled hallways before stepping towards far-off the storage room-no one who was supposed to be there and especially at night time.

She stepped in, pushing open the door to the storage room. The air was dark, very dusty, and ominously quiet.

She stood there, a moment, with one hand on the handle, casting a nervous glance around, then took a deep breath and slipped inside, letting the door settle softly shut behind her.