“Watch out,” Rio said, catching her body and holding her.
“Huh? Um... Wh-Why? Why am I... Is this a dream?”
“You’re not dreaming.”
“I-I’m heavy, aren’t I?! Sorry!”
“No, you’re light... But please calm down first. I’ll explain the situation, but allow me to move you to the side first.”
“O-Okay...”
“Then if you would excuse me.”
Gently supporting Miharu’s body in his arms, Rio turned to the side. Thus, Miharu went from lying on Rio’s chest to lying on the soft bed. The dull creak of the wooden bed echoed through the silent bedroom. Miharu squeezed her eyes shut and trembled like a small animal shrinking in on herself.
“Um...Miharu? Please open your eyes,” Rio said in a troubled voice.
“Okay...”
Miharu opened her eyes nervously. She was unable to look at Rio directly and remained red from embarrassment.
“I was talking to Lina. She suddenly visited my room out of nowhere.”
Not wanting to make Miharu nervous, Rio stood up and distanced himself from the bed.
Miharu reached out with her hand as though to stop him, but timidly lowered it again with a lonely look. “Ah... I see.”
“You’re not surprised,” Rio said with his back to her.
“I was actually speaking to her in my dream.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I had something I wanted to say to her.”
“Something to say?”
“About the ki— I mean, about everything!”
Miharu was about to mention the kiss but hurriedly corrected herself. Not even half a day had passed since Lina had taken control of her body and used it to kiss Rio. That memory and embarrassment was still fresh in her mind, making her turn even redder.
“Yeah, a lot happened. She was using your body as she wished just now too.”
Rio could guess how she was feeling. His back was still turned to Miharu, and his chuckle was rather awkward.
“Y-Yes... What about you, Haruto? Wait, did she do something weird again?! She must have, right?! Why was I like that in your bed?!”
“She wasn’t doing anything that weird. Probably.”
“Probably?!”
“We were exchanging information. Although I was the one mostly on the receiving end.”
It was true that they had been talking and sharing information. Rio decided to seal the part where Lina pushed him down onto the bed and tried to seduce him in his memories.
“I-I see. But why were we on the bed?”
“I wasn’t fully recovered from the battle, so I was told to lie down and rest. But when Lina finished speaking, she suddenly returned your body to you, and you fell towards me... So when I caught you, we ended up in that position...”
Rio explained the situation in a terribly awkward tone.
“Also, Lina told me to tell you this—you’re a sorcerer now, not a spirit art caster.”
“Huh?”
“It seems like she made a spell contract of her own accord...which was why you were able to use all that magic.”
“I-I see. Jeez...”
Miharu puffed up her cheeks in a look that was rare coming from her. That being said, Rio still had his back to her, so he wasn’t able to see that. When Miharu realized that too, she felt even more frustrated about Rio not looking at her.
“Um, Haruto,” she said, gathering her courage to call out to him.
“Yes?”
“Could you please look this way?”
“Sure.”
“I really didn’t do anything weird to you, did I?”
When meeting Rio’s eyes, Miharu hesitated for a brief moment, then stared him down anyway.
“Yes, nothing like this morning...” he said, referring to when Lina possessed Miharu and kissed him.
“I-I’m sorry about this morning! Please forget what happened!”
“Yes, I’ve erased it from my memory. What were we even talking about?” Rio feigned ignorance with a strained smile.
“R-Right... That’s good, then...”
Contrary to her words, Miharu had an awfully conflicted expression.
Erased from his memory... Is he going to pretend it never happened?
Although it had been involuntary, it didn’t change the fact she had kissed the boy she loved. A dull pain ran through her chest at the thought of him pretending that it had never happened.
Is Haruto fine about it? Am I the only one bothered by it...?
Was he that indifferent to kissing her? Or did he actually hate her? Was that why he could erase her from his memory? Despite being the one to ask him to forget, Miharu couldn’t help but obsess over what Rio thought of kissing her.
I don’t want him to forget.
Even if it had been involuntary, she didn’t want him to think it didn’t matter. The complex heart of a teenage girl was tormenting Miharu.
Because that kiss was...
Her first kiss.
“What are you talking about? That wasn’t even your first kiss.”
Lina’s words in the dream flashed through Miharu’s head.
“I know your first kiss was with Amakawa Haruto, when you were seven years old and Amakawa Haruto was about to move away.”
That’s right. The first person Miharu kissed was Amakawa Haruto as a child. Not Rio from this world. Besides, Lina had pointed out that her assumption that Amakawa Haruto and Rio were the same person was mistaken to begin with.
Miharu’s heart pounded unpleasantly. She couldn’t write off her first kiss just because she was a child back then. Her face twisted with guilt.
“Miharu?” Rio approached quietly, noticing her unwell expression.
“Oh, um...” Miharu snapped back to her senses and looked at Rio like she wanted to say something.
Please don’t forget it after all.
Those words were on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t say them out loud.
“Um, I think I’m getting tired...” she said, dodging the question.
“It seems like it. You don’t look very well. Lina said you don’t get any rest while she’s possessing you, so go and have a good rest,” Rio said gently, worrying for her health.
“I’m sorry, Haruto... You should be tired too...” Miharu apologized regretfully. When she called him ‘Haruto,’ she felt a sense of reservation and reluctance she’d never felt before.
Rio tilted his head curiously but gave her a gentle smile. “It’s still early evening, so I’ll get some rest too.”
“I apologize for all the fuss.”
Miharu still looked like she wanted to say something, but she expressed her intention to leave the room. She walked towards the door, but stopped before stepping outside.
“Um...”
“Yes?”
“I was just wondering—should I be calling you Rio instead of Haruto?” she asked out of nowhere.
Rio blinked in surprise. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, no particular reason...”
“Did Lina say something to you?”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that out of the blue. It’s nothing—good night.”
“Miharu?”
This time, Rio was the one who called out to her, but Miharu hurried out of the room.
Rio, huh...
There must be a reason she suddenly wanted to change how she referred to him. And that reason probably had something to do with Lina, considering the conversation they’d had earlier. Rio considered the possibilities.
“Are you second-guessing an answer you’ve already reached because you think that answer was wrong?”
The question Lina asked him earlier came to mind.
I’m Rio. Not Amakawa Haruto.
That was Rio’s answer.
I know I’m not wrong, but...
Was it because he had kissed Miharu? Amakawa Haruto’s memories kept coming up in his mind, making him question if his answer was truly correct.
Rio was aware that Amakawa Haruto’s memories had heavily influenced him. In reality, he had swayed between Rio and Amakawa Haruto multiple times since regaining those memories at the age of seven—especially right after Miharu and the others were summoned.
But even then, he had reached the conclusion that he was unable to become Amakawa Haruto. The greatest impetus had been when he met Lucius in Amande. He didn’t want Amakawa Haruto to bear the karma and sins that Rio carried.
Besides, the various moral decisions Rio had made in the past made him reject Amakawa Haruto. It was even possible that the Amakawa Haruto side within was the one doing the rejecting. Amakawa Haruto’s values contradicted Rio’s, driving him to an identity crisis.
Of course, memories were mere memories. They were extremely vague, subjective things.
So why did an extra set of memories have to cause this much torment?
Having the memories of someone else can be a real pain...
Rio held a hand to his mouth in thought and grimaced.