If life were a game, Mondays would be the tutorial level.
Pointless. Repetitive. And impossible to skip.
Unfortunately for me… this particular Monday refused to end.
—or maybe it refused to move forward at all.
---
The alarm rang at 6:30 a.m.
I slapped it without opening my eyes.
“Five more minutes…”
The universe, of course, ignored my request.
A second later, my mother knocked on the door.
“Matsuda, you’re going to be late again!”
“…Yeah, yeah. I’m alive.”
Another peaceful morning in the Takahashi household.
I dragged myself out of bed, put on my uniform, and stared at the mirror.
Messy black hair. Half?dead eyes. Tie slightly crooked.
The face of a man who had already lost to Monday.
“Thrilling,” I muttered.
Outside, the air still carried that early spring chill. Cherry blossoms fluttered lazily along the street like they had nowhere better to be. Lucky them.
The walk to school was the same as always.
Same vending machine.
Same old lady watering plants.
Same stray cat judging me from the wall.
If someone replaced my life with a looping GIF, I probably wouldn’t notice.
“Yo, Matsuda!”
I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.
Suzuki Yuto jogged up beside me, flashing that stupidly bright smile of his.
Childhood friend. Classmate. Popular guy. Walking sunshine.
My natural enemy.
“You look like you died,” he said.
“I did. Monday killed me.”
“That’s dramatic even for you.”
“That’s because reality is dramatic.”
He laughed, like everything in life was funny.
Honestly, sometimes I wondered how we were even friends.
Stolen story; please report.
We were complete opposites.
Yuto was the type who helped old ladies cross the street.
I was the type who pretended not to see them so I wouldn’t get dragged into conversation.
Yet somehow we’d been stuck together since kindergarten.
Life is weird like that.
We reached the school gates as the warning bell rang.
“Race you,” Yuto said.
“Grow up.”
He ran anyway.
Idiot.
---
Our classroom buzzed with the usual morning noise.
Chairs scraping. People chatting. Someone cramming homework they definitely forgot about.
I dropped into my seat near the window and let my brain go into sleep mode.
That’s when I noticed her.
Tsumugi Aiko.
Second row from the back. Same as always.
Long brown hair. Soft eyes. The kind of quiet presence that made you forget she was even there until you looked directly at her.
Cute, in a calm way.
Like a small animal you shouldn’t scare.
She was staring at her desk, gripping a folded piece of paper with both hands.
Her lips moved slightly, like she was rehearsing something.
“…I… I like you… no, that’s too direct…”
She shook her head, flustered, then tried again.
“…Suzuki?kun, there’s something I—”
She froze mid?sentence, face bright red.
Ah.
So that’s how it is.
I followed her gaze.
Yuto, of course.
Chatting with some guys near the door like the social creature he was.
Figures.
I looked away.
Not my business.
High school crushes were basically seasonal allergies. Painful, annoying, and gone in a few months.
Still…
She looked like she was preparing for war.
Good luck, Tsumugi.
You’re going to need it.
---
The day passed normally.
Classes. Notes. Lunch. Yuto stealing my bread like the criminal he was.
Nothing special.
After school, the sky glowed orange as everyone packed up.
I stretched and yawned.
“Finally over…”
Then I noticed movement near the shoe lockers.
Tsumugi stood there.
Frozen.
Paper still in her hands.
Yuto was right in front of her.
Oh.
So today’s the day.
I shouldn’t stare.
But curiosity is a powerful drug.
“…S?Suzuki?kun,” she said, voice trembling.
Yuto tilted his head. “Hm?”
“I—I wanted to tell you something—”
CRASH.
A soccer ball slammed into the lockers beside them.
“Sorry!” some idiot yelled from the field.
The sudden noise made her jump.
The paper slipped from her hands.
By the time she picked it up again, Yuto’s friends had already dragged him away.
“Yuto, come on! Club meeting!”
“Ah— wait—”
He waved apologetically at her.
And just like that…
Opportunity gone.
She stood there alone.
Looking smaller than before.
“…Tomorrow,” she whispered to herself.
I don’t know why, but my chest felt weirdly heavy.
Probably indigestion.
Yeah. Must be that.
---
I went home. Ate dinner. Played games. Slept.
Normal day.
Completely ordinary.
Nothing special.
---
The alarm rang at 6:30 a.m.
I slapped it without opening my eyes.
“Five more minutes…”
…
Wait.
My eyes snapped open.
Something felt… off.
The light through the curtains.
The exact same angle.
The exact same sound of the garbage truck outside.
Even my blanket was twisted the same way.
Déjà vu?
I checked my phone.
Monday.
Same date.
Same time.
“…Didn’t I already live this day?”
I laughed at myself.
Yeah, right.
Maybe I was just tired.
I got ready and left the house.
Same vending machine.
Same old lady watering plants.
Same stray cat.
“…Huh.”
Then—
“Yo, Matsuda!”
I froze.
Yuto ran up beside me.
Same smile.
Same words.
“You look like you died.”
“…You’re kidding.”
“What?”
“…Nothing.”
Okay.
Now this was getting creepy.
We reached class.
I sat down slowly.
Heart pounding for no reason.
Don’t be stupid. It’s just coincidence.
People repeat the same stuff all the time.
Then—
Second row from the back.
Tsumugi.
Holding a folded piece of paper.
Muttering to herself.
“…Suzuki?kun, there’s something I—”
Exactly.
The. Same.
Words.
Even the way she tripped over her sentence.
My skin prickled.
No way.
No way no way no way.
Lunch came.
Yuto stole my bread.
Same joke.
Same laugh.
Word for word.
I stopped laughing.
After school—
My feet moved on their own toward the lockers.
And there she was.
Tsumugi.
Paper in hand.
Face red.
“…S?Suzuki?kun…”
“Wait,” I muttered.
Not again.
CRASH.
Soccer ball.
Same sound.
Same interruption.
Same result.
She stood alone again.
“…Tomorrow,” she whispered.
The exact same whisper.
Like someone replaying a recording.
My stomach dropped.
This wasn’t déjà vu.
This wasn’t coincidence.
This was—
The world stuttering.
Like a broken video.
And somehow…
I was the only one who noticed.
---
The next morning—
The alarm rang at 6:30 a.m.
I didn’t even need to check the date.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Monday.
Again.
And this time—
I wasn’t laughing.isper.
Like someone replaying a recording.
My stomach dropped.
This wasn’t déjà vu.
This wasn’t coincidence.
This was—
The world stuttering.
Like a broken video.
And somehow…
I was the only one who noticed.
---
The next morning—
The alarm rang at 6:30 a.m.
I didn’t even need to check the date.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Monday.
Again.
And this time—
I wasn’t laughing.
