The Pink-Headed Maiden strikes back!

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???'s POV

I felt the cool wind brush pass my skin, the scent of the sea playing at the tip of my nose bringing memories of days long past, the sound of friendly chatter around me appearing out of nowhere. The feeling of grass being crushed beneath my weight permeating through my shoes.

What?

My eyes snapped open in panic, I was just in laying on my bed a minute ago, the blinding light enveloped my sight upon its touch, unable to adjust to the change in lighting quick enough.

My vision recovered in due time, familiar faces surrounded me, their tone and expressions full of concern. The words entering my ears felt weird and jumbled, akin to when I have simply just woken up. I strained my ears and focused.

"...Ichinose-San? I think you should sit down for a bit..."
"Yeah, yeah. You're really sweating!"
"Honami-chan, please rest!"

My gaze hardened upon further inspection, their facial and body features looked significantly younger like back when we just started our high school life. The accumulated stress from our hard-fought battles gone, the foggy and muddied eyes of the damned nowhere to be seen.

"I-I guess I should..."

I hesitantly answered as I went and sat down near a tree, my back against its hard trunk. I felt my classmates glance at me with worry to which I simply smiled and nodded.

Had I gone insane?

Looking around me I found a lot of stuff which brought a wave of nostalgia, hammocks crookedly tied up between close trees, a water shower near the well---

Hm? I'm certain that that well was the same well we used back in the island exam during the our 1st year. I immediately pinched myself and felt a stinging pain afterwards. Ouch

Okay, not a dream. What happened? Did I go back in time? Am I the only one who returned? What if it's another timeline? What happened to my original timeline?

This was bad, questions began bubbling up, I felt my chest tighten as I started to hyperventilate, my breaths escaping faster than I could take in, it felt like I had to use both my nose and mouth to intake enough air. My heartbeat reaching an all time high.

Calm down, Honami

I whispered to myself as I emptied my mind. Panicking won't lead me to anywhere.

Inhale
...
Exhale

My slowly breathing begun to stabilize.
Think positively, I'll deal with it later.
I should focus on what's in front of me for now.

I should start planning while I have the head start. With that thought, I stood up, and immediately, Kanzaki-kun walked towards me with a stern face, I knew he was observing me from the start.

Good thing he didn't notice me having a panic attack.

"Are you alright now, Ichinose-san?"

"No worries, Kanzaki-kun! It just seemed like my body haven't fully adjusted to the environment yet."

"...You don't think it's because of the water from the well, right?" He anxiously asked, the well was a big game changer for our class during my first run, it provided drinking and bathing water, and if the class thought I felt sick after drinking it, they'll immediately rule it out.

"No, my stomach doesn't hurt so I presume that it's safe for consumption, I just felt a bit light-headed due to the heat." I replied with a smile on my face to assure him.

I'm not going to let those points get whisked away.

"If you say so, but I still think we should atleast heat it up for safety reasons." I was about to suggest the same thing.

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