Title: Reset
Fandom: Little Busters!
Rating: G
Length: 929 words
Content notes: n/a
Author notes: HUGE SPOILERS! Massive spoilers. Like, the big spoiler of the series. Based more on the game mechanics than the way things played out in the anime.
Summary: Kyousuke contemplates his task.



Each failure bought him that bit more time; Kyousuke knew this.

It isn't always failure. The spirits of those girls burnt so strong, and so bright. Somewhere there was a wish granted, and Kyousuke acknowledged that. Riki was able to do that, innocent and unknowing. If they couldn't have anything else, they could at least have that happiness.

Riki was free to be able to do that. Kyousuke almost appreciated it; there was too much here to balance, too much to keep track of. Too many lights fading and too little time, but Riki was able to help, even without being aware. Living through those months, over and over, finding some sense of conclusion and never wondering why he always woke up to find it May once more, with a baseball game to win and a group of friends to gather.

Rin, too, was spirited. A light that wavered but never went out, with a spirit that was strong and could only grow stronger. If she was able to escape this, then--. If she and Riki were able to escape, then that--... that was better than otherwise. If Riki could protect her, then that was acceptable. If she could protect herself, then that was as much as Kyousuke could hope for. Best case scenario.

To engineer that scenario took time, which Kyousuke knew he absolutely did not have. He had no time, but each day went by almost as if lived - Riki and Rin, at least, seemed to notice no difference. School continued. They studied, in the evenings. Thought towards the future, to the summer, to beyond. There seemed to be a group consensus that they should not be discouraged of that notion.

Riki helped the girls, and Rin grew stronger. Kyousuke could feel it, each time. Each repetition, some small increase that was almost palpable. The way she spoke, the way she interacted with the others - that she could even interact with others to begin with! (And Kyousuke hated that this path towards positive self-growth was all that he could give her in the face of the awful truth he hid from her, but that was the situation, and that was all that he could do.)

Sometimes, Riki failed. That time had passed, and nothing had changed. Time had passed almost as if they were simply living out the days of their youth, with nothing more to worry about than that essay, or that exam, or that bad test score that needed improvement. Riki was ignorant to the secret of the world, and Rin had no more to worry about than her indecision on what to do when Komari smiled at her and pulled her in the direction of the school's roof. She would have to face the truth soon - they both would, but not yet. Not yet.

Kyousuke always chose an unremarkable day at the end of May on which to end the world. They'd participated in the baseball game, but it hadn't been enough. They'd come together as a group, but it just hadn't worked somehow. Riki would go back to his room as if nothing further was expected of him, and think it nothing more sinister than a symptom of his condition that the world faded out from around him. As far as he knew, he was in his room. He was in his room and Masato was there with him, so even if something should happen - as it would - then everything would be taken care of. And it would be, albeit not in a way that he could ever have thought to imagine.

As Riki's senses faded, so too would that world. It would be acknowledged, and they would agree; they would form the world once more. For now, they were still strong enough to hold it firm enough that Riki and Rin accepted it without question. They would play out Kyousuke's return and the formation of the Little Busters as if they hadn't done so many times before, and had the potential to carry on doing so until--

There lay the potential for absolute failure, but Kyousuke wouldn't allow himself to dwell on it for any length of time. Riki and Rin needed to succeed, there was no question of that. To succeed they needed a world as their stage, and so, once more, he would create it. Hold it in place until he had faith in their strength to leave that construct. He would return, over and over, as many times as Riki and Rin needed to be guided into position and to flourish. Each world had the potential to be that world, and each time Kyousuke would step back and watch as events played out. Each failure for him was a victory for one of those girls, and he didn't begrudge them that. They, too, deserved their happy endings.

Each time, Kyousuke would offer Riki that question. That question laid out as clues, as a harmless school mystery for two students to think that they could solve. There is a secret in this world. Do you know the secret of the world? Eventually, soon, they would be able to answer that question. Kyousuke watched as Riki spoke with Mio, following his urge to visit the courtyard whenever possible. Her spirit, too, was strong. There would be an answer to that question, but not this time. That world was hers, now.

Once more, the world would form. That secret, lying in plain view, just waiting for Riki's attention.

Let me tell you this world's secret.