The café had gone completely silent.
Customers whispered nervously.
The shattered coffee cup still lay on the floor.
But Ethan barely noticed any of it.
His mind was racing.
Six hundred lifetimes of memories flooding through him.
Every mistake.
Every reset.
Every moment he failed to save Liya.
And now—
It might start again.
The chronal officer checked her device.
The numbers were still climbing.
TEMPORAL LOOP PROBABILITY: 42%
She muttered under her breath.
"Way too fast."
Liya looked between them anxiously.
"So the tower is the problem again?"
The officer nodded.
"It's where the first paradox started."
Ethan spoke quietly.
"…Where I reset the timeline."
Liya crossed her arms.
"And now it might happen again because you remember everything?"
"Basically."
"That's the dumbest superpower I've ever heard."
He laughed weakly.
"Trust me, it's worse than it sounds."
The officer suddenly grabbed her device.
The screen flashed a new alert.
Her expression changed immediately.
"…No."
Ethan looked at her.
"What?"
She turned the screen toward them.
A red message blinked across it.
TEMPORAL REPLAY SEQUENCE DETECTED
Liya frowned.
"…Replay?"
Ethan's heart dropped.
"…No."
The officer's voice turned sharp.
"That's exactly how the first loop started."
"Through my phone."
"Yes."
Liya's eyes widened.
"Wait."
"You're saying the same trigger is happening again?"
Ethan slowly pulled out his phone.
The screen was glowing faintly.
Just like before.
He stared at it.
"…It's the same message."
The officer leaned closer.
"What does it say?"
He read it quietly.
TEMPORAL MEMORY CACHE ACTIVE
REPLAY AVAILABLE
The exact words.
The same system error.
The same beginning.
Liya whispered nervously.
"…What happens if you press it?"
Ethan looked at her.
His expression dark.
"I pressed it the first time."
"And?"
"That's when the memories started unlocking."
"And the loop began."
The officer spoke firmly.
"Then don't press it."
Ethan nodded.
"Trust me."
"I'm not planning to."
But the phone vibrated again.
The screen flashed brighter.
New text appeared.
REPLAY INITIATING AUTOMATICALLY
Ethan's heart stopped.
"…Oh that's bad."
The officer grabbed the phone instantly.
"Give it to me."
But before she could react—
The screen turned white.
A burst of light flashed.
And suddenly—
All three of them froze.
The café lights flickered violently.
Reality glitched for half a second.
Then everything snapped back.
The officer looked down at the device.
Her screen had gone dark.
Ethan stared at his phone.
The message had vanished.
"…Did it stop?"
Liya asked.
The officer shook her device.
It rebooted slowly.
Then the screen came back on.
She checked the loop probability again.
Her face slowly went pale.
"…No."
Liya's heart raced.
"What?"
The officer turned the screen toward them.
The number had changed.
Not rising anymore.
It had already finished calculating.
TEMPORAL LOOP PROBABILITY: 100%
Silence.
Ethan stared at the screen.
"…So we failed."
The officer nodded slowly.
"The second loop has already started."
Liya's voice trembled.
"But nothing changed."
"Yes it did."
Ethan suddenly realized something.
He checked the clock on the café wall.
His eyes widened.
"…Wait."
Liya followed his gaze.
"What?"
The clock read:
7:12 AM
But it had been afternoon just seconds ago.
The officer whispered quietly.
"…Reset point."
Ethan slowly looked around the café.
Everything looked the same.
But something was different.
Outside the window—
The sky was darker.
Morning traffic instead of afternoon.
The waitress who had cleaned the floor earlier…
Was now carrying the coffee tray again.
She walked toward their table.
Just like she had hours ago.
"Two coffees?"
Ethan stared at her.
Liya whispered nervously.
"…Ethan."
He rubbed his face slowly.
"…Yeah."
The officer leaned back in her chair.
Looking completely exhausted.
"Well."
Liya asked quietly.
"…What happens now?"
Ethan sighed.
"I guess…"
He looked at both of them.
"…we start the loop again."
And somewhere deep inside the system of time—
The counter reset.
LOOP #1 — ACTIVE ⏳