"But your attitude and your gaze clearly say exactly that." Hara Kenji's voice was full of grievance, his eyes were so watery that Kisaragi Chiyo couldn't help but wonder if those drooping purple eyes would shed large, glistening tears in the next second.
"Then can I apologize for my attitude?" Kisaragi Chiyo looked away, no longer meeting the other's eyes; he only wanted to resolve this matter quickly and find a way to leave this illusion as soon as possible.
Hara Kenji fell silent. He hung his head, his slender, adolescent shoulders trembling slightly.
Behind him, Matsuda, who was blocking the rooftop entrance, let out a few clicking sounds of disapproval.
If he hadn't reminded her, Kisaragi Chiyo would have forgotten that there was someone even more difficult to deal with behind her.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Matsuda, standing at the entrance, slammed the rooftop door shut with a bang.
The rooftop door was an old-fashioned type; once it was closed, it could only be opened from the inside.
Kisaragi Chiyo, whose escape route had been completely cut off: ".."
So, if I jump off a building in the illusion, will I wake up?
Kisaragi Chiyo looked at Matsuda Jinpei, who was approaching him, wore a pained expression.
*
“So, Matsuda, what is it you want to say?” Kisaragi Chiyo let out a light laugh and chose to strike first, turning his head to look at Matsuda, his misty-gray eyes narrowing slightly.
Are you going to join in condemning me as well?
Matsuda said nothing; he simply stared intently at Kisaragi Chiyo with his teal eyes, his gaze so sharp it seemed as if he wanted to cut through his flesh to see exactly what was contained inside.
Kisaragi Chiyo had to admit at this moment that the reason he was so flustered was not only due to the unknown variables brought by Saku outside, but also because the Matsuda and Hara in the illusion were far too realistic in their imitations.
Kisaragi Chiyo even sometimes wondered, was that how those two looked when they were still middle school students?
“You.” Matsuda stared at him for a long while, his eyebrows furrowing deeply before suddenly relaxing again.
"You're not the Kisaragi we know, are you?" the curly-haired boy said from the side in a tone of certainty.
But what surprised Kisaragi Chiyo a little was that Hara Kenji, who was holding his wrist, showed not a hint of surprise upon hearing Matsuda Jinpei's words, as if he had known about this from the very beginning.
"Since when?" Kisaragi Chiyo smiled, he did not deny Matsuda's words.
He was somewhat curious; now that he had admitted it, what would the other person do? Continue maintaining the illusion of peace? Or tear the mask off completely?
"From the beginning." The one who answered him was Hara Kenji.
The youth raised his head, his eyes as soft as violet petals, moist and bright. He flashed a cunning, triumphant smile and gave Kisaragi Chiyo a playful wink, as if the sadness he had displayed earlier had been nothing more than an illusion.
Fooled.
Kisaragi Chiyo suddenly realized the question; he didn't speak, but simply stared at Hara Kenji expressionlessly.
Little Kisaragi Chiyo.. Or Kisaragi-kun?" Hara Kenji's tone carried his characteristic rising inflection. "Can I call you that? After all, you should also be a Kisaragi, just not the one we know?
The half-long-haired youth suddenly pressed closer to him as he spoke, extending a finger to poke his cheek.
Kisaragi Chiyo: "?"
"You.." Kisaragi Chiyo looked at Hara Kenji with an indescribable expression, not understanding what he was trying to do.
I was just poking my good friend's cheek," the young Hara Kenji said, acting quite justified. "It has nothing to do with you, you know.
Since you know I'm not someone you know, you still dare to ask me so directly?" Kisaragi Chiyo gave a cold laugh. "Aren't you afraid I might do something bad?
That's why we have to keep an eye on you," Matsuda Jinpei interjected. "Or you can just tell us exactly what it is you're trying to do?
Kisaragi Chiyo fell silent again. He frowned, carefully processing the behavior of these two, before realizing, "Are you trying to trick me into talking?"
“? Is that how it is?” Hara Kenji blinked slowly, looking at Matsuda Jinpei with an innocent expression.
"Do we really act like that?" Matsuda also appeared quite bewildered.
"Little Kisaragi Chiyo is thinking too badly of us," Hara Kenji accused, sounding very familiar with the accusation.
".. A different form of address." Kisaragi Chiyo curled her lips, feeling helpless at the two of them and their complete lack of sense of danger.
No," Hara Kenji said, acting quite brazenly, shaking his head with a drawn-out voice in refusal, "I wouldn't get used to a different name.
"Then let go of me right now." Kisaragi Chiyo shook her wrist, which was still being held tightly.
"Refused." Hara Kenji's stubborn attitude felt very familiar to Kisaragi Chiyo, for a moment, it gave him a phantom sensation of the same prickliness he had felt when he was first haunted by an Evil Spirit.
"So, how does Hara over there address you?" Matsuda asked curiously.
"Of course it's Chiyo." Before the final syllable could leave her lips, Kisaragi Chiyo stopped talking and silently turned her head to look at Matsuda, who was stretching his neck out and pricking up his ears.
Matsuda Jinpei showed no sign of embarrassment at having his little scheme discovered; he calmly pulled his head back, maintaining a composed and indifferent expression as if nothing had happened.
"As expected, the other Kisaragi Chiyo from another world knows us too." Hara Kenji seemed quite satisfied with this answer, he flashed a bright smile, like a little puppy radiating infinite goodwill toward humans.
Kisaragi Chiyo did not refute him; he simply used his eyes to signal Hara Kenji to let go quickly.
I don't want to," Hara Kenji puffed out his cheeks. "The us from the other world has a pretty good relationship too.
"How did you reach that conclusion?" Kisaragi Chiyo fell silent after asking the question, feeling as though he had asked a redundant question.
As expected, after hearing this question, Hara Kenji's smile became even more radiant.
Because it's obvious," Hara Kenji answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Just like my nickname for Little Jinpei, if you're calling her Chiyo-chan, you must have a very good relationship, right?
Naturally following his own habit, he added the final character. After shouting it out, Hara Kenji stole a glance at Kisaragi Chiyo's expression and smiled even more triumphantly.
Kisaragi Chiyo stared at Hara Kenji's triumphant, beaming face and fell silent for a moment; the relationship between the three of them was, of course, very good—so good that they could even go to bed together.
Of course, topics of this nature are not open to minors.
So, did the Kisaragi Chiyo of the other world come here because of some accident?" Hara Kenji continued to speculate. "Magic? Yokai?
"Maybe it was aliens," Matsuda Jinpei couldn't help but interject with a remark.
That would be so cool!" Hara Kenji's eyes instantly lit up. "So, do aliens travel to Earth in UFOs?
"An alien spaceship??" Matsuda Jinpei wore a pensive expression, his immature face filled with longing and curiosity for alien spaceships.
"No.. it's definitely not aliens." Kisaragi Chiyo's brow twitched; she felt that the boy's imagination was truly wild.
"That's because of an Evil Spirit!" Hara Kenji observed Kisaragi Chiyo's expression and instantly locked onto the answer.
"It's because you ran into trouble with an Evil Spirit, which is why you thought we were fakes, right, Chiyo-chan? Like a hallucination or something?" Hara Kenji continued his speculation.
He wasn't wrong at all; his sharp and accurate insight left Kisaragi Chiyo momentarily speechless.
After letting out a short laugh, he nodded.
But.." Kisaragi Chiyo's expression became somewhat strange, "Why did you suddenly call me Chiyo-chan?
"Because that's how Hagi calls you in the other world, right?" Matsuda was the one who answered.
The curly-haired youth hummed twice, seemingly still feeling dissatisfied with Kisaragi Chiyo's initial attitude toward him.
So, you should at least blame us a little bit.." Matsuda Jinpei turned his face away, his expression looking somewhat awkward. "At the very least, even in another world, we are still friends.
Kisaragi Chiyo actually really wanted to say that their relationship wasn't just friendship, but something else entirely, just to scare those audacious little kids.
But on second thought, she decided to let it go. If this truly was a parallel world, she shouldn't go causing trouble for her younger self.
It is exactly as you thought." Kisaragi Chiyo admitted Hara Kenji's guess very readily. "I encountered some trouble over there, now I am thinking of a way to return.
"Then, the Kisaragi over here.." Hara Kenji was actually still quite concerned about this issue.
I'll wake up naturally once I get back," Kisaragi Rou comforted in a soft voice. "Don't worry, nothing will happen. I think the reason I ended up here is just a problem caused by the overlapping of singularities.
"What do you mean by singularity?" Both of them revealed bewildered expressions at the same time.
"You can think of it as a deviation in an otherwise normally functioning orbit." Kisaragi Chiyo thought for a moment and quickly figured out the key point of waking up in this world.
He still felt like he was dreaming—and he didn't mean that the world itself was fake. Rather, he meant that in his original world, his body was in a state of slumber, while a part of his soul had been swept into the rift opened by Nozomi.
If he wants to go back, the key issue lies not with Nozomi, who acts as the Black Mirror, but with the other side of the Twin Mirror, Saku.
If that were the case, then everything would become much simpler.
Please help me take a sick leave this afternoon," Kisaragi Chiyo said to Hara Kenji. "I need to leave school for a while.
A brief journey through a parallel world; it was time for it to end.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Thank you for the support, my little angels. Mwah! 030
Chapter 151
Snowflakes as soft as goose down fell in large clumps from the sky, the wind howled all around, making the tall pines and firs rustle loudly.
The sky above appeared in a hazy, pale gray hue, as if the entire world had been shrouded in a thin mist, making everything become blurry and illusory.
Kisaragi Chiyo had not yet opened her eyes, but the first thing she felt was the coldness in her limbs. Her eyelashes trembled as she used her hands to prop herself up and sit up from the snow.
He patted away the snow that had almost covered his entire body while he was unconscious, at the same time feeling grateful that he had woken up in time; otherwise, before seeing [Saku], he would have been buried by the snow and died of hypothermia.
But the situation wasn't exactly great right now either.
Kisaragi Chiyo exhaled a breath of white mist. He narrowed his eyes to observe his surroundings, barely able to judge that he was still in the middle of a dense forest.
It was truly too cold.
Kisaragi Chiyo tightened the scarf around his neck; he stood in place, the freezing wind mixed with snowflakes blowing against him so fiercely he could hardly keep his eyes open.
But the young man was in no hurry to leave. He first pulled a compass out of his coat pocket to determine his direction, only after confirming the route was correct did Kisaragi Chiyo bend down to retrieve his trekking pole from the snow, beginning his difficult trek.
But luck was finally on his side.
After advancing about a hundred meters, Kisaragi Chiyo found a corner where he could temporarily take shelter from the blizzard.
It was a fallen tree, surrounded by several large, protruding rocks. The semi-sunken triangular area formed between the two was more than enough to accommodate one person.
Kisaragi Chiyo checked the height and carefully jumped down. He took off his backpack, just as he was about to take out the map to take another look, his hand reaching into the backpack suddenly brushed against something furry and warm.
The young man's hand stiffened. He muttered a curse under his breath, a sudden sense of foreboding washing over him, quickly reached into the backpack to pull out that furry mass.
enough, the next thing he pulled out was two clumps of furry creatures, whose shapes and color schemes were so familiar they were a headache.
Kisaragi Chiyo stared at these two clumps of fur squeezed together and began to worry.
He wondered why, when the three of them parted ways this morning, Hara Kenji hadn't shown even a hint of reluctance, instead had acted so well-behaved, nodding repeatedly to show that he had remembered everything Kisaragi Chiyo had said.
Heh.