~June 18th, 1982~

~Cycle 494~

Patrice sat in his car and looked at the stone resting in his palm. The green glow that emanated from it was gone. Now it seemed to be an ordinary stone with a few markings etched onto it. He took a deep breath, slipped the stone into his pocket, and headed to campus.

Rather than head to the chem lab, he headed for the basement of the dormitories Henri and the others were hiding out to avoid the gang wars.

As he headed down there, he was met by a young woman with black hair and glasses, rushing through the halls to meet him. Henri's girlfriend Elise.

"What happened yesterday?" Elise asked him promptly.

"Uh, quite a bit actually."

"When Henri didn't come back for a while, I went to the chem lab to check. I found him dead with his head smashed in. What happened!" Elise demanded her answer.

Patrice felt at the stone in his pocket for a moment before answering, "Someone came after us. I managed to avoid him though... Where is Henri now?"

"I hoped you'd know!" Elise said, "He usually would reach campus by now, but he's not here."

Patrice grimaced. What could've stopped him from reaching the campus? He considered that he might've got caught up in the gang wars on the way. But he had a feeling it was something else.

"...I'll find him." Patrice replied.

He stepped out of the building and began heading towards the bridge that he knew Henri awoke by at the beginning of each cycle. He figured he'd start there. But when Patrice heard gunfire outside of campus, his heart sank.

For so long, he knew that if he died, he'd simply be back on the next cycle. It made his safety much less of a concern. But now he had the stone. As far as he knew that little stone was the only thing that kept resetting things each day. If he died now, there'd be no coming back. He couldn't afford to be hasty and get himself killed.

So... Patrice waited. Once the fighting in the city had quieted, he ventured out. As he walked, he kept gripping the stone in his pocket. He had no clue why its glow had disappeared. Was it no longer usable?

Patrice carefully maneuvered the city, peering around the corners of streets before passing by. He didn't want to risk one of the gangs getting the drop on him. But he finally reached the bridge that Henri always started out under... and found Henri's slumped against a column beneath the bridge.

Patrice hurried over and found his friend, lifeless with a few bloody stab wounds in the chest. And on his chest was a note pinned there. He read it.

Tonight, the stone will glow again. Reset everything or your friend will be gone.

Jeremiah. He found Henri and killed him. His friend would've never seen it coming. He wouldn't have stood a chance.

Patrice needed a word with him.

Patrice headed to the hospital. But before heading in, he removed the stone from his pocket, and hid it by the oak tree outside. He went in, took the elevator to the top floor, and walked the halls to a particular hospital room. There he found a grey-haired man in a jacket sitting next to a hospital bed. He was reading a story to a sickly little brown-haired girl.

"Dad, someone's here." The girl, Chloe, said once she saw him.

Jeremiah looked over his shoulder. He was surprisingly calm. He simply said, "How's it going, boss?"

"We need to talk." Patrice urged.

Jeremiah, still calm, stood and looked at his daughter, "Hey honey, I just need to talk to this man for a moment. But I'll be right back."

"Okay dad." Chloe weakly replied.

Jeremiah walked out of the hospital room with his hands in his jacket pockets, and an aloof expression on his face. "Well?"

Patrice eyed his pockets... he could've had a weapon in there. Maybe the same one he used to kill Henri that morning. He quickly said, "Don't think about taking the stone back. I don't have it on me. If you kill me, you'll never find it."

Jeremiah shrugged, "Why would I do that? I know you'll reset things to save your friend. You did get my note right?"

Patrice narrowed his eyes. "I did... but that only gets you one day. I don't have to reset the day next cycle."

"... True... unless I kill your friend again... and I will. At the beginning of every cycle, I will," Jeremiah said with surprising calmness. He began to return to the hospital room, as if there was nothing else to talk about.

Patrice considered for a moment if he managed to somehow kill Jeremiah then and there... but that wouldn't help him. He'd still have to reset the day to save Henri. And Jeremiah would still go after him in the morning. It wouldn't do any good.

"...What's your plan here?! Why're you doing this? Have you been the cause of all this since the beginning!?" Patrice probed.

Jeremiah stopped at the doorway of the hospital room. He breathed in and said, "...I'm just spending what time I can with my daughter. That's all."

With that, Jeremiah headed back in and resumed telling his daughter stories.

Patrice's mind was racing as to what to do. Trying to harm Jeremiah now would do nothing. He considered exposing him. Making sure that everyone in the city knew that Jeremiah was the cause of the repeating day. Having them all turn against him. But that wouldn't do any good.

If people knew about the stone... they wouldn't let Patrice reset the day to save his friend. No. No one else could know. Not if he wanted to save Henri.

So, Patrice headed back to campus and waited in the chem labs. Sometime after 11pm, the stone began to glow green once again. Roughly around the time he had used it on the previous cycle. Patrice took a deep breath and held his thumb over the sigil. It began to glow ever brighter until it was blinding. When he released it, he had reset the day once again.