A fleeting kiss landed upon Hara Kenji's lips.
"What's this?" Hara Kenji stared at Kisaragi Chiyo with burning eyes, a crimson tongue sliding from between his lips to lick the corner of his mouth.
A reward?
Is that all?
Hara," Kisaragi Chiyo's fingers tapped lightly on the Evil Spirit's chest, "you shouldn't be too greedy.
"Fine." The unsatisfied Evil Spirit shook its little puppy ears in displeasure. It grabbed the hand resting on its chest, opened its mouth, gently bit the other's finger.
“Did you hear a sound?” Kisaragi Chiyo ignored his hand being bitten, his gaze suddenly shifting toward the entrance, as the faint sound of the door lock being picked caught his attention.
"I think perhaps you need the police's help." Hara released the boy's fingers and winked at him. He was trying to hint that a sincere, reliable officer, whose entire being radiated a sense of justice, was standing right here.
"I don't think we can do that, Officer." Kisaragi Chiyo stood up from Hara's lap. She watched as the sound of the door being pried open grew louder; it wouldn't be long before the lock was completely forced open.
I suspect this type of Dreamscape curse is a form of scene recreation.
"Reenactment?" Hara Kenji frowned.
Yes." Kisaragi Chiyo nodded. "This kind of Dreamscape must have a dominant subject, which is what is known as the primary perspective.
Are you saying that everything that happens in this Dreamscape belongs to [you]?
No." Kisaragi shook her head, denying that claim. "And not necessarily. It could be me, or it could be Yamae. The identity I am currently assuming doesn't mean that this Dreamscape is dominated by the character I have replaced.
"Then what exactly does this Dreamscape, composed of curses, want to do?" A sudden sense of unease welled up in Hara Kenji's heart.
"I mentioned scene reenactment before." Kisaragi Chiyo found a pair of scissors under the low table in front of the sofa. He glanced at the twisted door lock and, before the front door could be opened, he dashed into the bedroom with Hara.
"Then I must experience exactly what [I] experienced." After Kisaragi Chiyo's gaze swept across the bedroom, she quickly chose the wardrobe as her hiding place.
Based on his observations and deductions, when I sensed a stranger attempting to pry open the door, I would subconsciously choose the most familiar and self-perceived safe place.
My frame is not large, while hiding in the wardrobe, the clothes inside were just enough to cover me.
After hiding in the wardrobe, Kisaragi Chiyo said no more, Hara Kenji squeezed in after her.
Kisaragi Chiyo glanced at Hara Kenji in the darkness before withdrawing her gaze. In the Dreamscape, Hara Kenji was just Hara Kenji; without having acquired a character identity, he was likely only visible to her throughout the entire Dreamscape.
Kisaragi," Hara Kenji's voice whispered in her ear, "are you afraid?
Kisaragi Chiyo would certainly not feel afraid; to her, this was merely a Dreamscape, everything that followed was just a reenactment of scenes from the past.
But in the darkness, Kisaragi Chiyo heard her own heartbeat, amplified hundreds of times by tension, thumping violently within the cramped wardrobe, thump, thump, thump.
The air was thick with the scent of tension and fear. The young girl curled up in the deepest corner of the wardrobe, doing her utmost to make herself as small as possible. She gripped the sharp scissors tightly in her hands, the edge of the handles digging into her palms and leaving deep marks on her skin.
She didn't even dare to breathe too heavily. This was because she could hear footsteps coming from the living room, those heavy footsteps were gradually approaching her.
The bedroom door was locked from the inside.
But this did not stop the intruder's footsteps.
The faint sound of lockpicking rang out again, amidst the despair, she heard the sound of the bedroom door being opened.
Was she about to be discovered?
The scissors in her hands were ready to strike at any moment; she grit her teeth, her heart pounding like a drum.
In the darkness of the wait, she didn't know how much time had passed—it might have been five minutes, or perhaps ten.
Her legs had already begun to go numb, but the fear in her heart only grew more intense, until her footsteps stopped before the wardrobe. With a creak, the door was pulled open.
Blinding light poured in through the gap of the opened wardrobe, the scissors in her hand ultimately went unused. "Mom?" Her mother's puzzled face appeared before her.
Kisaragi Chiyo gazed at the face of the strange woman before him, feeling his own face was already drenched.
But he knew that those were not his own tears.
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Author's Note: Thank you for your support, my little angels. Mwah! 030
Chapter 118
Under the pale light, a layer of oil shimmered on the surface of the miso soup with seaweed and tofu on the dining table. The tamagoyaki was dry and loose, rolled with what looked like wilted spinach. The saury lay stiff and unblinking, its sunken, white, bead-like eyes staring fixedly at her.
“Eat more vegetables,” her mother said, placing a bowl of sautéed green peppers and boiled broccoli in front of her.
Even though she had repeatedly stated many times that she didn't like green peppers, her mother always had her own way of arguing.
Sitting in the head seat, her father silently ate the natto rice from his bowl, but his gaze drifted absentmindedly to the newspaper lying beside him.
"Another murder case," Father said while chewing his rice.
"Oh dear, how dreadful." Mother frowned, telling Father not to mention such bloody things while eating.
Asagiri Asako," Mother stopped what she was doing and suddenly looked at her, "Are you settling in well at your new school?
“..”
She didn't say anything, but her mother had long since grown accustomed to her silence and continued speaking on her own. As the topic wound down, she didn't forget to remind her to remember to take her medicine on time.
“I'm full.” After finishing the dinner without being able to taste a thing, Kisaragi Chiyo only then felt that she had barely regained control over her body. She nodded to her parents, whose faces appeared strange and blurred above the dining table, stood up to leave.
It wasn't until he returned to his own room that Kisaragi Chiyo felt the tension in his heart gradually fade, replaced by a sense of peaceful relaxation.
“How are you feeling?” Hara Kenji appeared by his side at some unknown moment, his tall and slender figure feeling quite overwhelming in the dim room.
It has no taste at all." Kisaragi Chiyo pursed her lips, one of her hands gently pressed against her stomach. "It's just like eating air; it doesn't feel satiating.
"But then again, I don't feel hungry right now either." This was perhaps an advantage.
“After all, it is a Dreamscape.” Hara Kenji looked at him with a smile, then brought up what had happened not long ago. “What was wrong with you just now?”
"It should be entering what is called a forced plot, right?" Kisaragi Chiyo raised her eyebrows slightly. She walked over to the bedside and sat down, casually pulling a notebook out of a nearby cabinet.
Looking down, he saw that it was homework he had written before; as expected, all the text within had been replaced by Kisaragi Chiyo's handwriting.
It was as if Kisaragi Chiyo was the original person.
"That sounds like some kind of game setting." Hara sat down next to Kisaragi Chiyo, of course, he didn't forget to turn on the lights in the room.
“Perhaps it can be understood that way?” Kisaragi Chiyo closed the notebook and crouched down, attempting to find some useful information from the bookshelf.
We'll temporarily use this Dreamscape as an analogy for a game.. isn't there a common trope where the protagonist unexpectedly obtains some map or item, then embarks on a puzzle-solving journey?
"If you want to compare that annoying Curse Dwarf to an item.. alright then." Hara Kenji shrugged, taking on the task of checking the other corners of the room.
"So, my dear protagonist, what is our mission now?" Hara Kenji naturally stepped into the role of a game assistant.
To be honest, Kisaragi Chiyo actually felt that Hara Kenji's role was more like a portable fairy in a game, the kind that helps characters find treasures and clues.
But Kisaragi Chiyo did not say those words aloud.
"First, we need to clarify my information." Kisaragi Chiyo thought of what her mother had mentioned at the dining table.
Try looking to see if there are any medicines or medical records or something like that in the room.
“Medication?” Hara Kenji's movements as he searched through the things paused for a moment. He turned his head to look at Kisaragi Chiyo, his long eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Won't that have an effect on you?"
After all, Kisaragi Chiyo exists in the Dreamscape by taking over my identity, so the symptoms on my body would naturally manifest on Kisaragi Chiyo.
"There's no other way, I suppose?" Kisaragi Chiyo said in a flat tone, as if she didn't take the matter to heart.
After all, I am [me] right now, so naturally, I need to take medicine for treatment.
"However, I haven't felt like there's anything wrong with my body just yet." Aside from the headache caused by resisting the Dreamscape's modification of her consciousness, Kisaragi Chiyo had not discovered any other physical or mental discomfort.
You know," Hara Kenji said, turning his back to him. After a moment of silence, his voice sounded low and muffled, "I don't like your attitude.
"I'm sorry." Kisaragi Chiyo also fell silent for a moment, quickly realizing his mistake.
He pulled a thin file folder from a gap in the corner of the bookshelf, walked over to Hara, slowly crouched down, his fingers lightly touching Hara's arm.
“Perhaps I should pay more attention to myself?” Kisaragi Chiyo laughed softly, his fingers sliding down the other's arm, before hooking Hara Kenji's pinky finger in an intimate and natural gesture.
Whether it was because of curiosity, leading her to leave the Curse Dwarf behind despite Hara and Matsuda's opposition; or because it was a Dreamscape, making her completely indifferent to her own situation within it.. in truth, Kisaragi Chiyo hadn't always been quite so reckless in her actions before.
This current way of acting, without any concern for the consequences, could be described as entirely the result of the indulgence of Matsuda Jinpei and Hara Kenji.
Because she had people she could rely on and trust to have her back, she simply let herself go and acted according to her whims.
Kisaragi Chiyo was actually quite good at taking advantage of a situation.
"You shouldn't be using interrogative sentences at a time like this." Hara Kenji grabbed Kisaragi Chiyo somewhat petulantly and took a bite of his mouth.
Alright, alright.." Kisaragi Chiyo stroked the angry puppy's head and waved the items in her hand in front of him. "We should take a look at this first.
"What is this?" Hara Kenji lowered his head, watching Kisaragi Chiyo pull things out of the file folder; inside were various scattered items, mostly hospital diagnostic records.
"Mental disorder.." Kisaragi Chiyo frowned as she finished reading the records in her hands. Generally speaking, my condition wasn't that severe; I only experienced some hallucinations and auditory hallucinations, but they weren't frequent.
Even so, it still affected my life and mental state to varying degrees.
"Speaking of hallucinations, I've actually found some clues on my end." The clues Hara Kenji mentioned were several crumpled pieces of paper he had found in the trash can and the crevices of corners.
[In the end, I simply couldn't stand staying at my old school anymore; as long as I stayed there, I would uncontrollably think about what happened that day.. At my pleading, my parents finally went through with the transfer process for me.. I hope everything will get better]
[A week after I arrived at the school, a fatal accident occurred nearby.. I'm so scared.. Recently, the hallucinations have returned, even taking medicine doesn't help.. But were they really hallucinations? Even when I talk to my parents, they just say I'm being too paranoid and tell me to take my medicine properly, but I really feel like someone is staring at me.. There definitely is, it's not a hallucination.]
[Is it that guy? Is it him? I found news of his release from prison online; did he come to find me? Is he looking for revenge against me?]
..
Although there were only three notes, the amount of information they provided was enough for Hara and Kisaragi to understand the current situation [I] was in.
"Let's start from the beginning and sort this out." Hara Kenji spread the notes out flat on the ground.
“I experienced something bad at my previous school, so I transferred, because of that incident, I began experiencing hallucinations and auditory hallucinations.”
And this matter is related to him, the person mentioned on this note," Kisaragi Chiyo said, tapping the shortest note with her finger. "Release from prison, revenge—combine those two words with the second note, it mentions that a murder occurred one week after the transfer.
I suspect this murder is related to him, even because of certain characteristics present in this murder, I suspect that he is the killer.
Then his imprisonment was most likely due to him committing a murder." Hara Kenji's expression gradually darkened. "In that case, there are probably only three possibilities for my identity.
"Three kinds?" Kisaragi Chiyo blinked and looked up at Hara.
The first kind is a witness to the case," Hara Kenji said, holding up one finger. "I provided clues to the police, which is how the killer was caught and sent to prison.
The second kind are those who have a connection to the deceased." Hara followed up by raising a second finger. "Because I have a special relationship with the deceased, or a rather close one, the killer's hatred for the deceased spread to me.