Thursday, January 14th, 1:00 PM, Raizen Park.
"Hah..."
Shido sat on a swing set, his head hanging low, letting out a deep sigh.
Honestly, if Shido changed into a suit right now, he wouldn't look out of place as a salaryman who got fired for angering his boss.
But in reality, Itsuka Shido's current situation was far worse than this analogy.
Everyone forgot about him. After fleeing from ho in the morning, recalling Yutsuki and Kotori's attitudes, Shido realized this possibility.
Although it was possible that Yutsuki tead up with Kotori to put on an act and prank him, thinking carefully, no matter how angry she was at him, given Yutsuki's personality, it was impossible for her to do sothing so in poor taste to deceive him. Therefore, to verify his suspicion, Shido went to school, to his classroom, to find Tohka and Origami.
But in fact, he didn't have to wait for Tohka and Origami to arrive at the classroom; his classmates' bewildered expressions gave him the answer to a certain extent. Whether it was his bad friend Tonomachi, the Ai Mai Mii trio who were always hostile to him, or his horoom teacher Tama-chan, all of them reacted to him as a stranger.
And when Tohka and the others finally arrived at school, what greeted him were Tohka and Origami's troubled expressions.
"Sorry, but who are you?"
"Could it be that you are the illegal intruder Kotori ntioned this morning?"
"—"
Shido himself wasn't entirely clear on what he felt at that mont.
His throat felt uncomfortably choked, the scenery before his eyes lost its color, and the floor beneath his feet felt fake, like he was stepping on air.
Honestly, if he hadn't prepared himself ntally beforehand, Shido might have cried out loud.
But even so, Shido was unwilling to accept such a reality. He ran around to other Spirits to confirm if any of them retained mories of him.
However, reality was so cruel.
Kaguya and Yuzuru from the next class also showed confusion at Shido's appearance.
Going to the high-rise apartnt, Shido was shut out by Nia as a rude fan.
He finally managed to contact Miku, but her androphobia reaction was even more exaggerated than Nia's. Screaming, "A call from a man I don't know!!!!!!", she hung up and couldn't be reached again.
And just a while ago, Shido finally waited until Natsumi and Yoshino ca out, but before he could say a few words, Natsumi unhesitatingly pressed the personal alarm. If Shido hadn't run fast decisively, he'd probably be sitting in a police station eating katsudon right now.
Every eting with everyone felt like a heavy slash to Shido's heart. Small hopes turned into unimaginably terrifying fear.
Yet, this still wasn't the worst-case scenario.
It wasn't just Shido's classmates and family. The neighbors around Shido's house and the shopkeepers in the shopping district he often visited had also forgotten him. Even opening his phone and looking through old photos, Shido couldn't find his own figure.
It wasn't as simple as being forgotten by everyone. The existence of the person nad "Itsuka Shido" had been completely erased from this world.
"Damn it... what the hell is this!"
Shido couldn't help but grab his hair in frustration.
The sa old town, the sa old crowds, everything seed unchanged from yesterday. The scenery he saw was no different from the scenery in Shido's mories.
However, Shido currently felt the helplessness and confusion of being exiled to a parallel world.
"Is there really no one... does no one rember ?"
Suddenly, a pair of sneakers appeared in Shido's line of sight. Shido abruptly looked up and saw a girl with long brown hair looking at him with interest.
"Heh—I wondered what you were doing running off to a place like this. Turns out you look like an abandoned puppy, how unsightly, Itsuka-boy."
"...Yutsuki?"
Shido uttered involuntarily.
"...Looking at this, you really do know ."
Seeing Shido's reaction, Yutsuki seed to confirm sothing. She sat on the swing next to Shido, crossed her legs, and looked at him curiously.
"Excuse , but please tell everything you know."
——————————
Ever since chasing away that illegally intruding boy, for so reason, Ryougi Yutsuki had harbored an indescribable sense of incongruity in her heart.
Why would Kotori's parents feel comfortable letting Kotori, who is only fourteen, live alone in a spacious two-story house?
Why would the school cancel classes due to a teorite impact?
Why did Tohka and the others leave an extra, empty seat when arranging the chairs?
Sothing was wrong. The contents of her mories couldn't provide logical answers. Dangers beyond common sense were accepted as a matter of course. Residual physical habits unconsciously perford aningless actions.
And... Ryougi Yutsuki herself, who had turned a blind eye to these contradictions until today.
"Yutsuki? Where are you going?"
"I forgot sothing, I'm going back to get it. You guys go to school first."
After telling everyone, Yutsuki turned back to the Itsuka house.
"Sorry, Kotori-chan..."
Taking out the spare key she kept in her pocket, Yutsuki felt a bit guilty sneaking into Kotori's house. Kotori had given her the spare key out of trust, yet now she was doing sothing akin to illegal intrusion behind her back. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt.
(But, did Kotori-chan really give this spare key?)
This question suddenly arose in her mind. Yutsuki stared at the key in her hand, trying to recall the scenario when she received it. However, the mory was vague and unclear, as if covered by a layer of white fog.
"Damn it..."
Yutsuki couldn't help but grit her teeth in frustration, quickening her pace up to the second floor of the Itsuka house.
On the second floor of the Itsuka house, besides Kotori's room, there was another room. It wasn't a hidden door or a secret room, just a spare guest room used to receive visitors. But for so reason, despite having visited Kotori's house so many tis, Yutsuki had no impression of ever using this room.
"Excuse ."
Not even knowing why she offered this greeting, Yutsuki pushed open the door before her.
It wasn't covered in dust as she imagined. What greeted Yutsuki's eyes was a very neat and clean bedroom.
"Unexpectedly looks lived in."
Yutsuki surveyed the room's layout. On the left side of the room was a single bed covered with a blue quilt. On the bedside table sat a square alarm clock and a few dictionaries. Beside the bed was a wooden desk and a swivel chair. A desk lamp and a computer sat on the desk. On the far right side of the room was a bookshelf filled with books, and next to the door was a dium-sized wardrobe.
Walking into the room, Yutsuki felt the bedsheets. The quilt still held so residual warmth; soone had clearly been lying there not long ago.
"Has that man been hiding in this room all along?"
Yutsuki showed a confused expression. This was separated from Kotori's room by only a wall. If the other party really harbored ill intentions toward Kotori, sothing would have definitely happened to her long ago.
"Could it be..."
A possibility surfaced in Yutsuki's mind. The guy from this morning didn't sneak into the house while Kotori wasn't paying attention, but had been living here from the very beginning.
Thinking of this, Yutsuki decided to investigate the room further to see if she could find any items related to that guy's identity.
Yutsuki opened the wardrobe.
"Uh, he even has won's clothes?"
Looking at a Raizen High School girls' uniform mixed in with a pile of n's casual clothes, and a makeup box placed at the bottom of the wardrobe, the corner of Yutsuki's mouth twitched slightly.
"...Well, crossdressing is pretty popular nowadays. That guy's face is quite androgynous, maybe he looks unexpectedly good in won's clothes."
Although a bit curious, this wouldn't serve as a aningful clue. Yutsuki closed the wardrobe and continued investigating the bedsheets and desk.
"Ah... found so dirty magazines."
In the deepest part of the desk drawer, and in the packaging box of an encyclopedia under the bed, Yutsuki dug out items most commonly found in a teenage boy's room.
"If this is here... then there should be so here too..."
Yutsuki turned on the computer in the room. Soon, she found various warm-up exercise videos featuring lovely ladies in a folder nad "Path to Philosophy".
"Not even adding hidden attributes, and using such an obvious na. Kids these days have terrible security awareness."
Clicking on a random video, flipping open a dirty magazine, and looking at the contents, Yutsuki couldn't help but reveal a smile of pity.
"Hmph, clearly a beginner."
Ahem, off-topic. Abruptly realizing she had forgotten her original purpose, Yutsuki began searching the final bookshelf.
"...None?"
Yutsuki frowned in confusion. She originally thought that if that boy lived here, there would be sothing in the room that could prove his identity, like textbooks with his na on them or photos.
However, Yutsuki couldn't find those things. No, to be precise, she found textbooks and photo albums, but not a single book had that boy's na written on it, and the photo album only had pictures of Kotori and everyone else.
(What exactly is going on?)
Just as Yutsuki was getting a headache over this bizarre situation, her phone in her pocket suddenly rang. Yutsuki looked and saw it was a call from Miku.
"Hello, Miku. What's wrong?"
[Wuu-wuu—Honey!]
As soon as the call connected, Miku's panicked voice rang in Yutsuki's ear.
"Calm down, Miku. What happened?"
[Just now, an unknown boy suddenly called , it startled . Then I checked the contact interface, and it actually labeled him as 'Darling'. I have absolutely no mory of saving it, it scared half to death—Honey, I'm so scared.]
"Ah, ah—Don't worry, it's fine, don't be afraid."
After comforting Miku on the other end of the line, Yutsuki pondered in her heart. The person who contacted Miku was probably the boy she and Kotori saw this morning.
Moreover, since Miku called her "Honey" and labeled the boy as "Darling," then Yutsuki herself should also know that boy.
(Setting aside his reason for contacting Miku, he actually has her contact info, which ans—)
Thinking of this, Yutsuki opened her phone. For so reason, after unlocking it, the screen stayed on the photo gallery function, which was filled with photos of scenery without any people in them.
(Since when did I have an interest in taking landscape photos?)
Feeling inexplicably angry, Yutsuki took a deep breath. After calming down, she opened her contacts. The phone number Miku ntioned for that boy—sure enough, she also had this number saved. However, unlike Miku's "Darling" label, hers was a string of incomprehensible text.
If her judgnt was correct, this text originally spelled that boy's na.
—Beep! Just then, the sound of a portable personal alarm suddenly ca from outside the window.
Yutsuki opened the window to look. That boy was currently beside Yoshino and Natsumi. After Natsumi pressed the personal alarm, he fled in a panic.
"...Marina. Are you there?"
Hearing Yutsuki's call, the golden-eyed girl wearing a black nun's outfit appeared on the phone screen.
[Hm? What's up calling so suddenly? Not going to school today?]
"I want to know where that boy went. Help lock onto his phone's GPS."
[What's up with that guy? Never seen him before.] Looking at him through the cara, Marina showed a wicked smile and teased, [What's wrong? Is that your type?]
Yutsuki's face instantly turned into one of disgust.
"Save your gossip. I have sothing to confirm. Using Spirit power would be noticed by Kotori, so I'm counting on you."
[Tch~ Fine.]
After ending the call, Yutsuki silently watched the boy's retreating back.
Sothing is wrong. Ever since waking up this morning, a voice had been echoing in Yutsuki's mind.
Then, paying a little attention, Yutsuki discovered that this seemingly normal everyday life was actually full of flaws that could not be ignored.
What had she overlooked? What had she forgotten? Things that felt incredibly important but she couldn't rember no matter how hard she tried.
Soon, with Marina's help, Yutsuki found the boy on a swing in a park. Right now, he looked as miserable as an abandoned stray dog.
If the truth was really as Yutsuki suspected, then this boy's current feelings were not hard to understand. If she were in his position, she would definitely be in imnse pain too.
(Co to think of it, what should I call this guy?)
Just as she was about to strike up a conversation with him, Yutsuki suddenly thought of this question.
(Mhm... since he lives at Kotori's house, maybe he's a relative taking care of her. In that case, he most likely has the sa last na as Kotori, which ans...)
"Heh—I wondered what you were doing running off to a place like this. Turns out you look like an abandoned puppy, how unsightly, Itsuka-boy."
"...Yutsuki?"
Seeing his reaction, a smile curled on the corner of Yutsuki's lips.
If everything before was just her one-sided speculation, now Yutsuki was certain that she could find the answers she needed from this boy.
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