"Good morning, Matsuda." The raven-haired youth slowly emerged from the bathroom with a dry towel draped over his head. After greeting Matsuda Jinpei, who had just entered the room, he walked over to the dining table, pulled out a chair, sat down, beginning to eat the egg and bacon sandwich that Hara had just reheated in the microwave, accompanied by a glass of milk.
"Kisaragi," the tone was equally probing, causing Kisaragi Chiyo to turn her head and shift her gaze from her delicious breakfast to Matsuda Jinpei.
Perhaps because he had been running all the way here, a thin layer of sweat covered the forehead and both sides of the curly-haired youth's face. A simple white crew-neck short-sleeved shirt paired with black trousers further accentuated his face, which, though still youthful, already showed features that promised he would grow into a strikingly handsome man.
Kisaragi Chiyo's gaze gradually moved upward, shifting from Matsuda's face to his curly, fluffy hair.
Kisaragi Chiyo wondered just how much moisture was actually mixed into Matsuda Jinpei's curly hair the last time she had measured his height. "Little Kisaragi, you're going to make me jealous if you keep this up." Hara Kenji sat opposite her, resting his chin on one hand, having noticed that Kisaragi Chiyo had been staring at Matsuda Jinpei for a full three minutes.
However," Hara Sho said, drawing out his words as he shifted the topic, "if it's Little Jinpei, then it's understandable.
Mhm, mhm," Kisaragi Chiyo nodded perfunctorily. He had long since grown tired of hearing whatever Hara Kenji was going to say next. So, he smoothly continued the other man's sentence: "A national treasure level, million-pound face, right?
Exactly!" Hara gave Kisaragi a thumbs up. "Little Kisaragi is already a mature member of the Little Jinpei Handsome Face Protection Association.
When did I join this association? How come I didn't know?
Kisaragi Chiyo's chewing of her sandwich paused. The question she was about to ask died on her lips when her peripheral vision caught Matsuda Jinpei's face flushing red at the teasing from his two friends; her tone shifted completely.
Alright then," Kisaragi Chiyo said calmly, stuffing the last bite of the sandwich into her mouth. "Make sure to save the Vice President position for me.
"No problem!" Hara Kenji slapped his chest and gave repeated assurances.
"You two.." Matsuda Jinpei was both annoyed and agitated, but in the next second, Kisaragi Chiyo stuffed a washed large strawberry from the tabletop into his mouth.
Matsuda Jinpei: "Chew, chew, chew.. So sweet. I'll forgive you both this time."
"Thank you for your magnanimity, Lord Matsuda." Hara Kenji clasped his hands together devoutly and also handed Matsuda Jinpei a bacon and egg sandwich. He had told his mother yesterday that he would be inviting a friend over to watch a movie today, so the breakfast he prepared was naturally enough for all three of them.
"That's more like it." Matsuda Jinpei was satisfied. He walked over to Kisaragi Chiyo's side, pulled out a chair, sat down.
Alright, now can you tell me what you saw?" Kisaragi Chiyo finished her milk in one gulp and licked the milk residue from the corner of her mouth. "What exactly happened to me?
Hmm.." Hara Kenji frowned, revealing a rare expression of hesitation as he organized his thoughts and asked a question, "Little Kisaragi, do you believe in the existence of parallel worlds?
"So the reason I lost consciousness yesterday was because I was replaced by my parallel world self?" Kisaragi Chiyo pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Matsuda, gesturing for him to wipe the toast crumbs from the corner of his mouth.
"You.." The many words Hara Kenji had prepared were choked in his throat; Kisaragi Chiyo's rapid ability to accept things left him feeling somewhat astonished.
“Won't Little Kisaragi doubt me no longer? What if I'm actually lying to you? What if you lost consciousness just because you fell ill from being caught in the rain earlier?” As Hara spoke, he shifted his body uncomfortably.
"Is it April Fools' Day today?" Kisaragi Chiyo asked softly.
No.
Then, would you intentionally say things to deceive me?
"That's hard to say." Hara gave a couple of huffs.
"Hara, even though we aren't very close, I believe you wouldn't lie to me about something like this." Kisaragi Chiyo looked up and gave Hara a faint smile.
Even if sometimes a few little white lies slip from your lips.
Kisaragi Chiyo.." The purple-eyed youth sniffled after hearing that, "I was originally supposed to be moved by your words.
"Originally?" Kisaragi Chiyo tilted her head.
"What do you mean we aren't very close!" Hara Kenji looked so angry that he seemed ready to reach across the table and grab him by the collar.
But we were clearly sleeping in the same bed yesterday..
You're being too ambiguous, Hara-kun," Kisaragi Chiyo revealed her cold and ruthless side, "You should know your place.
If you are smart enough, we can still maintain a friendly friendship.
"But I don't just want to be friends with you.." Hara Kenji said, clutching his chest with a look of sorrow.
Having finished breakfast, Matsuda Jinpei stood up silently from the side, cleared the empty plates in front of himself and Kisaragi Chiyo, walked into the kitchen; soon, the sound of washing dishes drifted from the kitchen.
"Sigh," the two people still at the dining table sighed simultaneously.
Little Jinpei isn't that easy to fool anymore," Hara Kenji said, his expression turning melancholy. "He used to bite the bait the moment it was thrown.
If you ask me, the dialogue is just too cliché," Kisaragi Chiyo curled her lips. "It's exactly like some conversation between a domineering CEO and a stubborn little white flower.
A stubborn little flower, huh.." Hara Kenji unconsciously touched his face. "With words like that, wouldn't it be a waste to use this face of mine as a little flower?
Kisaragi Chiyo: ".."
"Alright, alright, let's get back to the topic of parallel worlds!" Feeling Kisaragi Chiyo's speechless gaze, Hara Kenji cleared his throat, feeling as though he had successfully pulled the topic back onto the right track.
..
That's just how it happened." Hara Kenji cupped his face, seemingly reminiscing about that strange friend from a parallel world, "Chiyo-chan just left like that. It turns out our world has monsters too.
Chiyo-chan?" Kisaragi Chiyo focused on a key point, lifting her eyelids to glance at Hara with a strange laugh. "Such an intimate way to call me?
“Oh my, are you jealous, Little Kisaragi?” Hara Kenji leaned in close, his arm resting naturally around Kisaragi Chiyo's shoulders. “If you like, I can call you that too~”
"Stop trying to intimidate me." Kisaragi Chiyo ignored the fuzzy Hara, who was leaning in close, because Matsuda Jinpei was walking over with melon-flavored ice cream he had just taken out of the refrigerator.
"Little Jinpei also has potato chips in their usual spot," Hara Kenji directed cheerfully, instructing Matsuda to gather all the snacks for the movie they were about to watch.
And there's chocolate-flavored popcorn and those blueberry jelly straws you like.
The snacks were bought collectively by the three of them, since the party was being held at the Hara family residence, they were all left in the care of Hara Kenji.
“Horror? Romance? Or sci-fi?” Hara Kenji asked the two of them with a smile, holding up three DVDs after drawing the bedroom curtains shut.
"Not a romance movie." Matsuda Jinpei was the first to eliminate the one he least wanted to watch; he would absolutely fall asleep through the whole thing, leaving only Kisaragi Chiyo and Hara Kenji able to stay awake to criticize the plot.
"This sci-fi movie was shown in our class before, wasn't it?" Kisaragi Chiyo grabbed a pillow from the bed and hugged it to her chest, while Matsuda Jinpei handed her an ice cream.
Our class watched it too," Matsuda replied, biting his spoon. "We watched it three whole times.
He could already recite the entire plot by heart.
"Then it's just a horror movie." Hara Kenji inserted the disc into the player, the movie soon began.
I say," Matsuda Jinpei said in a low voice, watching the female ghost on the screen lunging toward the camera, "don't you feel like it's getting colder and colder around here?
Um.." Hara Kenji poked his head out from the side and waved the air conditioner remote in his hand. "It was me who turned the temperature down.
Matsuda Jinpei: ".."
"Don't you think this is quite atmospheric?" Hara said, squeezing closer toward the middle.
I don't know about the atmosphere," Kisaragi Chiyo, squeezed in the middle like a biscuit filling, spoke up. "But if you keep pushing, Hara, the chips in my hand are going to spill.
"Oh." Hara replied with a aggrieved tone and stopped his movements.
More than ten minutes passed, on the other side, Matsuda Jinpei also couldn't resist squeezing toward Kisaragi Chiyo's side.
"Kisaragi, share some of your blanket with me." Without waiting for Kisaragi Chiyo's agreement, Matsuda Jinpei lifted the blanket and crawled inside first. After bundling himself up, he didn't forget to complain that Hara Sho had set the air conditioning temperature too low.
"Is it my fault again?" The air conditioning temperature could clearly be turned up, so Hara Kenji felt like the two of them were isolating him.
So he also lifted a corner of the blanket and squeezed himself in.
Kisaragi Chiyo, squeezed in the middle and feeling hot rather than cold, showed a look of despair.
"How about I give my blanket to you guys, alright? The potato chips are really going to spill, I swear!
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Author's Note: Thank you for the support, my little angels, mwah 030
Chapter 159
Hara Kenji felt like he might have seen a ghost.
But when he spoke of this matter to his close friend, the other person stopped peeling an apple and looked over with a skeptical gaze that seemed to ask, "Is there something wrong with your brain?"
Hara Kenji raised his bandaged right hand and made a solemn vow, "Little Jinpei, everything I say is true."
I really did see a ghost!
Mhm, mhm," Matsuda Jinpei nodded perfunctorily, using a small knife to carve the peeled apple into the shape of a rabbit. "You have a point.
Matsuda," Hara Kenji said, seeing that his friend still looked unconvinced, his voice rising in urgency as he called him by his name, "If you want to believe me, if I hadn't encountered a special incident that day, it would have been impossible for me to survive that explosion.
When speaking of the events of that day, Matsuda Jinpei's expression suddenly turned cold. He casually flicked the knife in his hand, stabbing through the apple sitting in the fruit basket on the bedside table.
Seeing this, Hara Kenji felt cold sweat instantly break out on his forehead. Hahaha.. it must have been his own illusion, right? Why did he feel that, compared to the apple, Matsuda Jinpei wanted to use the knife to stab him instead?
Of course, if looks could kill, Hara Kenji would have been stabbed to death by Matsuda Jinpei's gaze, over and over again, several times already.
"State your evidence." Matsuda Jinpei slowly pulled out a tissue and wiped the apple juice from his hands.
"Little Jinpei, do you still remember the residue analysis report for the explosives from that bomb scene?" As Hara Kenji spoke, he reached for the plate of sliced apple rabbits on the bedside table with his remaining functional left hand.
"Of course I remember." Matsuda Jinpei nodded slightly. When the report first rolled out hot from the printer, it fell directly into his hands. Even with a glance that could read ten lines at once, this report was incredibly simple for Matsuda Jinpei, the squad leader of the Bomb Disposal Unit.
The only thing that felt off was that the gunpowder concentration indicated in the report clearly did not match the actual blast radius at the scene.
Based on the gunpowder concentration in the report, the blast radius of that bomb should have covered almost an entire floor, the Hara squad, who was right next to the bomb at the time, should have been completely wiped out.
But a miracle happened.
Matsuda Jinpei thought fortunately that Hara Kenji must have used up all his luck for a lifetime of gacha pulls right here, as everyone in the entire squad had survived.
The person most severely injured among them was Hara Kenji. It was unclear how he had managed it, but he had somehow managed to accidentally fracture his own hand. Fortunately, after an examination, it was confirmed that the injury to his right hand would not affect his dexterity once it had healed.
If Hara Kenji were to leave the Bomb Disposal Unit in such a regrettable manner due to an injury like this, Matsuda Jinpei would absolutely mock him for the rest of his life.
"Besides that, I also found that the snacks I left by my bedside have decreased significantly." Hara Kenji's expression was serious, a glimmer of wisdom flashed in his eyes.
"Are you sure you didn't eat them yourself and then try to find an excuse to frame the Ghost Vigilante?" Matsuda Jinpei looked at his friend's face with suspicion.
How could I ever do such a thing?" Hara Kenji defended himself like a dog having its tail stepped on. "No matter how you put it, that Ghost Vigilante should be my savior. How could I possibly frame them for something like this?
Hara Kenji spoke with great conviction.
Is that so?" Matsuda Jinpei felt his friend's reaction was quite suspicious. "But I feel like your face looks a bit rounder than before.
Hara Kenji: ".."
Hara Kenji was struck with shock, his eyes widening as he sent a look of accusation toward Matsuda Jinpei.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible." Hara Sho shook his head like a rattle.
"If you say it's impossible, then it's impossible, I suppose." Matsuda Jinpei had no desire to argue with his friend on this matter. He picked up the apple that he had pierced with a small knife, pulled the knife out, began to peel it for himself to eat.
Speaking of which, Hara..