“HOW can this be? There are still three years left until the routes split.”
Flabbergasted by the error in his calculations, he took out his irritation by chewing on his nails. They had no taste or feeling. The general concept of nails slid over the illusion of his lips.
He held out his hands again and again to recast the memory erasure spell, but Mashiro Shimao repelled every attempt.
He gave up, yanked his finger from his conceptualized teeth, and summoned the parameter screen into the air in front of him. The friendship events with the original heroine should’ve been shut down a long time ago.
His eyes widened in horror when he saw the numbers that appeared in the air.
Current Heroine’s Trust Level For the Original Heroine⇒MAX
Original Heroine’s Trust Level For the Current Heroine⇒MAX
“…They got me good!”
Mashiro had gone and cleared the conditions required for one of the game’s endings—the Friend End. He couldn’t count on feeding off her energy anymore. He’d no longer be allowed to do anything to Mashiro until the day she turned eighteen.
He glowered at the sky for a while until a dark smile eventually curved his lips.
“Meh, it doesn’t matter.”
He absorbed the endless supply of despair, hopelessness, sorrow, and burning love from Kon Genda until it filled him. The swell of power within him brought relief.
“You truly are magnificent… How very sweet.”
The brave girl frantically gathered together her shattering heart to stand her ground and turn an equally kind smile toward her former love. Even though that very same love of hers was infatuated with another person who looked just like her.
“Guess what, Kon? This is the critical juncture. After all, even Mashiro will become mine if I win my bet with you.”
He hugged his contractor from behind and planted a kiss on a lock of her silky brown hair.
✦ ✦ ✦
HANAKA explained that she’d come with Tomoi to pick out a birthday present for Shinji. My original theory was proven correct when she informed me that they planned on meeting up with Shinji in the evening once he finished running some errands.
“Would you girls like to join us?” Hanaka invited us then looked innocently up at Tomoi. “You don’t mind, right?”
“Yeah, I don’t mind,” he responded.
Everything felt like it happened just yesterday now that I got my memories back. Hana, Tomoi, and I often went out to eat together. In that world, I was much closer in age to them than I was now. Both Hana and Tomoi treated me kindly whenever I took advantage of my position as the little sister and followed them around.
Was the crush I had on Mr. Matsuda during these middle school years a result of lingering feelings from my past life? How could I fall for the exact same person even after being reborn? Sure, it sounded romantic in the storybooks, but it was nothing more than a bad comedy if that love never came to fruition.
My fleeting crush on Tomoi the teacher had cleanly disappeared once my memories came flooding back. Nostalgia was the only feeling I had for him now.
I loved everything about you, Tomoi, from your dead serious personality to your no-nonsense stubbornness—all of it.
“Sorry, Hanaka. Kon has to go home soon. Tell Shinji hi for me,” I turned down her invitation.
“That’s too bad. Hopefully we can do something together next time then!”
I waved goodbye to my disappointed sister and the teacher who stood by her side with a warm expression then turned on my heel and left.
I led the silent Kon, with a smile still plastered on her face, away from there at a brisk pace. I brought her to the elevator and pressed the rooftop button. Her hand was still trembling.
No one was on the rooftop as I suspected.
The lightly falling snow dusted the benches and potted plants in white. The air was biting cold, but it felt just right on my skin warmed from the heaters inside the mall.
It was in the middle of the rooftop that I finally released Kon’s hand and stood directly in front of her. “You’re Hana, aren’t you?”
“……”
“I finally remembered. I’m sorry for making you suffer alone all this time.”
Kon’s eyes opened wide, and then the tears came. She shook her head over and over again as she silently wept. Afraid to make this magic moment end, she refused to speak.
“You know, I’ve always wanted to apologize to you properly for what happened with Tomoi,” I admitted, speaking when she couldn’t. “…You see, I knew—I knew that you two were dating. But then you lied to me that you weren’t. And that drudged up the nasty desire in me to be mean to you. I’ve got the worst personality, don’t I? I only confessed to Tomoi to harass you both. I wanted to put him on the spot for having eyes only for you, Hana.”
“Don’t lie!” Kon shouted in a hoarse voice as she took hold of my hands. “You had real feelings for Tomo, Rika. Don’t try to pull one over me. I know that much about you.”