Just as Itsuka-kun was about to say something, class started, so we couldn’t resume the conversation until after first period ended.
Since what we needed to talk about was something the other students shouldn’t hear, we moved somewhere empty.
"So, Itsuka-kun. What on earth happened?"
From my perspective, I was just curious.
What had happened that he still remembered Tobiichi in the altered history, and why had he not remembered anything until yesterday?
It was nothing but questions.
Maybe because I sounded a little like I was interrogating him, Itsuka-kun looked troubled and broke out in a cold sweat.
"Well... you know. You probably wouldn’t believe me even if I told you."
At his words, spoken as if he were truly at a loss, I let out a long sigh and replied.
"Haa... Fine. Then let me ask just one more thing, Itsuka-kun. You know history was altered, right?"
"...!"
His body jolted at my question.
It was obvious he knew.
"How do you..."
"I don’t know. But I have memories from both before and after the alteration. So, tell me. What the hell happened?"
Only after I brought up the history change did Itsuka-kun steady his breathing and explain everything.
To sum up Itsuka-kun’s story, it went like this.
After being shocked by reversed Tobiichi and falling, he got help from the princess, went back five years to save his parents, and the world’s history changed.
If a normal person heard that, they’d dismiss it as nonsense and never believe it.
It was that ridiculous.
But I wasn’t a normal person, and I’d already been through several regressions.
Since I had experience too, I could believe what Itsuka-kun was saying.
Besides, I also knew he wasn’t the type to lie about something like this.
Still, there was one thing that bothered me: why had the princess helped us?
That was the part that stuck in my mind.
She had helped us during the virtual space incident too, but I still had no idea what her intentions were.
Maybe because I was thinking so hard about figuring out the princess’s motives that my brow had furrowed, Itsuka-kun scratched his cheek and said, "You still don’t believe it, huh...?"
"No. I do believe you. Do you remember when the Fire Keeper first came to this world?"
"I remember, yeah?"
I’d told the others my story for the first time back then.
How I had lived, what I had gone through, and how I had ended up drifting into this world.
I hadn’t said that Dark Souls and this Date A Live world were fictional works, but there was one other thing I hadn’t told them either.
"I’m only saying this now because of the situation, but I linked the fire over and over again in the world where the Fire Keeper existed."
When Itsuka-kun heard that, he stared in shock and asked back, "...What? That’s possible?"
"Yes. It is. Sadly, every time I linked the fire, the world’s time went back to the beginning and everything started over. During that process, for some reason, I got stronger, and my equipment stayed the same."
"So that means... Hieta, how many times did you link the fire?"
"Hmm... let’s see."
I couldn’t answer Itsuka-kun’s question easily.
Should I count the number of times the body I possessed had gone through it, or the number of times I’d experienced it myself after possessing it?
Still, since what happened before possession was still something I had done, I decided to include that too.
"Roughly more than a hundred times? Something like that."
"More than a hundred times...?"
"If I’ve gone through regression that many times, then it makes sense that I’d still remember even after a history change, doesn’t it?"
"Yeah, that does make sense..."
Itsuka-kun nodded after hearing me out.
Honestly, if you’d gone through regression that many times, you’d better notice a history change.
Anyway, getting back to the point, we resumed talking about Tobiichi.
"For now, Itsuka-kun. You only have memories from before the history change, right?"
"...Yeah, that’s right. I don’t have any memories after that."
"I thought so... Then I’ll give you a quick summary."
I explained what had happened after the history change.
How, in a story with Tobiichi Origami completely missing, a reversed spirit had appeared six months ago and started hunting other spirits.
And that spirit’s designation was Devil, and its true identity was none other than Tobiichi Origami.
It was information only I could know, because I had memories from both before and after the history change.
"Origami is hunting spirits...? Even though her parents are alive? And she’s reversed too?"
"I don’t know what happened either, but if you think about the fact that she reversed, it seems like there must be some other reason."
Just as Itsuka-kun said, if both of Tobiichi’s parents were alive, there’d be no reason for her to hunt spirits, and no reason for her to reverse in the first place.
Besides, the reason she became a spirit at all happened after she fell somewhere during our fight, so it made no sense for her to still be a spirit in the altered history.
"Wait, wait a second, Hieta. Give me a minute to cool my head."
"Yes. Understood."
Itsuka-kun covered his face with one hand and muttered something under his breath.
Seeing that, he really did seem pretty shaken.
Honestly, it would be stranger if he weren’t reacting like that.
He’d thought he had finally saved someone he knew from the cycle of revenge by even using time reversal, only to find out that wasn’t actually the case.
If it were me, I’d already have given up on everything and be laughing hollowly with my mind gone.
After a few minutes of Itsuka-kun asking me to wait, the bell rang to signal the start of class.
"Itsuka-kun, we should head back in now."
"Huh? Oh. Sorry, it’s just... I honestly can’t believe it. For now, let’s talk everything over with everyone again."
"That sounds best."
Itsuka-kun’s face looked a little pained now.
I wondered if I shouldn’t have said anything, but it would still be much better for him to know sooner than later.
Thinking that, I headed back to the classroom.
That evening, Hieta and Shido went into their respective homes and started making dinner.
If there was one problem, it was that both of them were worrying about Tobiichi, so their expressions were a little off.
Of course, Hieta and Tobiichi weren’t exactly on good terms, so it was more accurate to say he was worried about Shido worrying over Tobiichi.
But the people who didn’t know that only looked at the dark-faced Hieta and worried about him instead.
"Shido looked down earlier, and Hai does too."
Sitting on the sofa and watching Hieta cook in the kitchen, Mayuri muttered that to herself.
"Yeah, he does seem kind of down."
"Maybe there’s some kind of problem."
"M-Marina...?"
"It’s true. Hai doesn’t look well."
"Maria too...?"
Yoshino jumped in surprise at the sight of Marina and Maria, who had somehow joined the conversation through Yoshino’s phone, and then another person joined in too.
"It’s a girl problem."
"Wait, what are you talking about?"
When Natsumi cut in and said flatly that it was a girl problem, Mayuri pinched her cheek.
With the pressure hurting a little, Natsumi hurriedly tried to smooth things over.
"N-No, I just meant it could be. It’s only a guess..."
"If you’re going to say it, say it properly."
"W-Well, if it’s a boy’s worry in his prime, it’s usually a girl problem... Like a weird rumor, or being treated coldly. Stuff like that can be a source of worry..."
"Huh!? Really!?"
"Yeah... Also, if you ask someone to do group work with you and they respond with a really sincere "Eeeeh", or if you pick up an eraser they dropped and they tell you, "I don’t need it, you keep it," and stuff like that..."
"Hai has never done that, though..."
Since Mayuri was in the same class as Hieta and knew him well, she dismissed Natsumi’s imagination and let go of her cheek.
"Still, Hai seems kind of down. Is there anything we can do?"
"...I heard that, for some reason, men cheer up if a girl clings to them."
"M-Marina!? Where did you even hear something that ridiculous...?"
"That’s good."
At Marina’s words, Natsumi’s eyes gleamed, and she told Mayuri and Yoshino about a plan.
The two of them grimaced at first when they heard it, but they still decided to endure it if it was for Hieta’s sake, and joined Natsumi’s plan.
"Ah, I cut myself."
While Hieta was chopping ingredients, he cut his finger and, just in case any blood got into the food, was moving the injured finger away when Mayuri, having finished all the preparations behind him, spoke up.
"H-Hai. I’ll help."
"Huh? There’s no need for that..."
Hieta turned around and dropped the kitchen knife in his hand right there.
Because behind him stood Mayuri and Yoshino in outrageous outfits: swimsuits plus aprons.
And since both of them had feminine figures, it wasn’t strange at all that Hieta had lost the ability to speak.
"Hmm. So I’ve been possessed by the lewd demon. Damn it, let’s kill myself."
Seeing that, Hieta decided his brain had gone wrong, picked up the dropped knife, and tried to stab himself in the head with it.
"W-Wait! Hai!!!"
"Hai-san!"
"J-Just a second!!!"
Thanks to that, the kitchen was thrown into chaos.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register