Rui Tachibana was full of regret.
Back in reality, her heart was racked with anxiety; she had even thought of calling the police to seek help.
But—
she had no idea whether the police would believe this fantastical tale of hers, or whether they would treat her as mentally ill, and so in the end she did not choose to dial the police for help.
As for anyone else, aside from her sister, she couldn't think of anyone.
But in the end Rui Tachibana didn't contact her sister either—she was afraid her sister would worry along with her.
'Tap, tap, tap…'
Rui Tachibana paced back and forth restlessly, her slender frame walking up and down this little alley.
But she never once spotted the entrance to that barbecue restaurant.
"If I remember right, it should be right here, but why…"
Before her was nothing but a solid wall.
Rui Tachibana even reached out and touched it—there was no passing through at all; the wall before her was real and solid.
She closed her eyes and recalled. Because she hadn't paid much attention at the time, she didn't remember the dining room's location very clearly. But by now she had wandered around the vicinity and searched several times over, and in the end she felt the dining room's entrance had been right here.
Rui Tachibana guessed that once someone entered, the dining room's entrance would vanish.
That dining room didn't exist in the real world to begin with; it was only that at a certain moment its entrance had intersected with reality, and those with good luck could happen upon it.
And now that she had come out of the dining room, finding that entrance again was extremely difficult.
"Haah!"
A long sigh.
Rui Tachibana sank lower and lower, her mood growing more and more dejected.
Until Lin Ye returned, there was no way she would leave this place.
She took out her phone and looked at her chat screen with Lin Ye. The several messages she'd sent had all gone unanswered, which meant Lin Ye still hadn't returned to reality—he was still in that dangerous dining room.
"You absolutely have to come back safe!"
If Lin Ye failed to come back, she would surely regret it for the rest of her life.
The mere thought of that possibility made Rui Tachibana shudder faintly.
"Yoo-hoo-hoo…"
Suddenly, a sleazy, swaggering voice came from the distance.
Several young men appeared, wearing ripped jeans and gaudy floral shirts.
After a few steps, under the dim light, their faces revealed arrogant, cocky smiles.
Rui Tachibana's heart clenched at once, instinctively sensing something was wrong.
She glanced at where that restaurant's entrance had once been, but it was still that thick, solid wall, so she turned and walked off.
Better to leave this dangerous place first.
The chance that those few men were just passing by was far too small.
She felt the chance that they had come for her was far too high.
'Tap, tap, tap…'
Rui Tachibana glanced back out of the corner of her eye, but she didn't see those hooligans chasing after her, which made her subconsciously assume she'd been overthinking it.
Japan's public order was still decent.
A single woman in a secluded place at night did carry a bit of risk, but surely it wouldn't go so far as…
"Hey there, beautiful,"
Suddenly,
from the very direction she was heading, another teasing, mischievous voice rang out.
Rui Tachibana's expression changed. Lifting her eyes, she saw that two men had also appeared ahead of her, dressed similarly to the ones behind.
The odds that they were all one gang were extremely high.
"Out here so late—you must be waiting for us brothers, right!"
"Come play with us,"
The men kept advancing with leering laughter. Rui Tachibana instinctively backed away, deliberately opening up distance, but soon a voice came from behind her too.
"Don't be scared,"
"We just want to play around a little with you, miss,"
"Guaranteed to send you to heaven, have you spend tonight all nice and happy."
"Money—we'll pay, you know!"
...
They had noticed this adorable blue-haired girl while she was wandering around the area searching for something.
At first they'd had the thought but no real impulse to act on it.
But her appearing over and over again had indeed sparked the interest of a few among them.
And so,
this scene had come about.
"I, I'm going to… call the police,"
Rui Tachibana gripped her phone and issued the warning, her eyes fixed on them, but her face had gone somewhat pale,
which was all too obvious under the dim light.
She'd never encountered anything like this in all her life.
All along, such matters of hooligan harassment had only existed for her in films and television, but now this time it had appeared in reality, faced personally with her own body—the impact was something else entirely.
The shock and shadow brought on by the Strange Restaurant chef and waiters' line of 'pay it back with your body' surfaced in her heart once again.
Rui Tachibana grew even more afraid inside.
At the thought of what she was about to face, she felt it would be better to just die and be done with it all.
She looked at the walls on either side.
To slam into one—
that ought to kill her, right!?
The fear of death was stopping her. She gritted her teeth, torn in ten thousand directions.
"Beautiful, us brothers'll be real gentle, real tender."
a blond-haired man said with a grin.
The girl before them was already a turtle in a jar—absolutely no chance of escape.
"Don't come over."
But this shout didn't frighten them in the slightest.
"I-my boyfriend will be here any moment now,"
she warned again.
"Hahaha, boyfriend?"
"Don't tell me you've got no boyfriend—even if your boyfriend were a cop, we wouldn't be scared,"
"This buddy of mine actually prefers men; toward women his interest is rather faint,"
...
Hearing this, Rui Tachibana felt a wave of revulsion.
She shifted her steps, every muscle in her body taut, her eyes scanning for a chance to flee.
But the way the men were positioned blocked off every possible escape route.
Unless Rui Tachibana could overturn the heavens and fly, there was absolutely no chance of escaping this place.
"Come on!"
"Help! Somebody help me!"
In that moment,
Rui Tachibana screamed for help at the top of her lungs, her throat tearing.
"Quick, stop her."
One of the hooligans instinctively rushed over at a quick pace.
There was no one nearby, but at Rui Tachibana's volume it was entirely possible to draw the attention of a passing stranger.
If this really drew a passerby and led to the police being called, summoning even more officers, they would be in great danger too.
They didn't take the police seriously, but that didn't mean they truly disregarded the deterrent force of police arriving.
Fun was fun, but they had not the slightest wish to be caught and thrown into prison.
"Help—"
"You can scream your throat raw and nobody will come save you—give it up! Hahaha…"
'Thud…' came a sound.
The man who'd spoken was sent crashing into the wall on the right with a clatter, letting out a dull thump.
"Ugh, aaaaah…"
A pained cry abruptly rang out.
In an instant,
it drew the attention of every one of the hooligans and punks.
A man with short black hair had appeared, his face hidden in shadow, but that tall, upright build and the cold, biting aura he gave off brought considerable pressure to bear on the punks.
Had this woman's cry for help drawn a passerby?
A passerby willing to play hero and save the damsel?
This luck…
"Oi, kid, don't go sticking your nose into other people's business."
The tallest of the punks stepped forward, pointing his finger at the man.
The man's hand shot out at once, gripping the punk's hand and wrenching it around.
Violent pain shot through him in an instant.
"Aaaaah!"
A heart-rending scream echoed.
The man shouted and struggled, trying to break free, but failed.
"You bastard, let him go."
Another punk roared as he swung his fist.
'Whoosh…'
"Aaaaah!"
The force striking his abdomen instantly drained the color from the punk's face as he clutched his belly and crouched to the ground.
'Thud…'
Another kick,
and he toppled to the ground from the blow, his 'aaaah' howls crying out without pause.
Seeing this,
the remaining few punks grew tense.
Having dealt with three of their companions so cleanly and decisively, this man's strength was not to be underestimated.
"All together,"
At the lead punk's shout, the other two immediately worked up their courage and charged in, baring fangs and brandishing claws, fists swinging.
"Thud, thud, thud…"
"Crack…"
The dull sounds of collision, the sound of bones snapping.
The two punks fell to the ground, howling endlessly.
At this moment, the man paid no mind to the few punks wailing on the ground. One punk tried to grab hold of him, and the man raised his leg and stomped down hard.
'Crack…' the crisp sound of a bone splitting.
The punk wailed.
Only one punk was left standing. Facing the cold man's approach, his face went pale and his body trembled.
"You…"
"Don't you come over here,"
"You come any closer, and I'll, I'll… make things rough for her!"
As he spoke,
he pulled out a folding Dagger. 'Shing'—the sharp blade reflected a faint metallic sheen under the dim light.
Rui Tachibana's heart trembled. Frightened stiff, she froze in place, motionless.
The shadow of a death threat was spreading.
The punk had just lifted a smile, because he noticed the man had halted his steps and stopped where he stood.
This clearly meant he'd registered the threat and didn't dare act recklessly.
But the next second he felt only a wave of chaos in his brain, and the hand holding the Dagger slowly turned, plunging it hard into his own thigh.
"Aaaaah!"
The violent, stabbing pain made him cry out in an instant.
Red blood spurted out,
the stench of blood filling the air.
Rui Tachibana was stunned.
The other punks, moaning low, were all stunned too.
They never imagined their own big brother would stab himself—that such a thing could even happen.
Unimaginable.
The man walked over.
Rui Tachibana saw clearly the face of the one who'd come.
In that brief moment earlier, under the dim light, she'd felt the newcomer was Lin Ye, and now, she was finally certain.
"Wuwa!"
With a sob, the blue-haired girl rushed step by step into Lin Ye's arms, throwing her hands wide and holding Lin Ye tightly.
The firm sensation, the warm heat, greatly eased her panicked heart and her tense, frightened emotions, and her whole body relaxed a great deal.
"Wuwu wu…"
The girl, who usually kept a blank, dazed face with a touch of coolness, sobbed softly in this moment.
Every word Lin Ye had was stuck in his throat. His hand, left hanging in the air, after a good while stroked the girl's back, easing the immense emotional pressure in her heart.
At this moment,
the remaining punks cautiously got to their feet, deathly afraid of drawing Lin Ye's attention.
That scene just now had already made them keenly aware of the vast gap between the two sides.
If they were still thinking of a sneak attack now, the result would only be more miserable.
"Kill him, kill him!"
The punk boss, his thigh wounded and howling endlessly, shouted, both hands pressing on his thigh, trying to stop the bleeding.
Lin Ye shot him a glance,
and that frosty gaze instantly chilled his heart and shut his mouth.
He'd been about to give his left leg a stab too.
The violent, stabbing pain of a sharp blade plunging into the thigh—he now understood it deeply.
Once it had always been him bullying others this way; now he had experienced it himself.
He had finally tasted pain.
"Get lost…"
A single word from Lin Ye immediately had the cautiously-risen, fallen punks scrambling to their feet and bolting.
"Hey, hey, take me with you!"
The punk boss shouted for those fleeing underlings to come back and take him along.
The few of them looked toward Lin Ye as if to curry favor.
Seeing that Lin Ye didn't object, they hurriedly turned back, propped up the punk boss, and took off running.
The group quickly vanished into the alley.
Everything returned to silence, as though they had never appeared at all. The lingering bloodstains and the stench of blood drifting in the air were the best proof that an act of violence had taken place.
Lin Ye let Rui Tachibana hold him. His right hand, which had been stroking the girl's lovely hair, had already stopped.
What he could feel was the faint sensation of the girl's breathing, and the pleasant fragrance wafting from her hair.
Minute by minute, the time passed.
Seeing that the girl still showed no sign of speaking or letting go, Lin Ye took the initiative to break the calm.
"All right, it's over now, the punks have already run off."
"No…"
"Hm?"
Lin Ye was puzzled. The punks hadn't run? That couldn't be!
Lin Ye looked around, and even used perspective, but still didn't see any sign of the punks.
"You came back—that's just… wonderful."
A sweet female voice, tinged with joy and mixed with a touch of bashfulness.
In this moment Lin Ye was certain the girl was happy because he'd come back.
"I'll be fine,"
Rui Tachibana's gripping hands tightened even more forcefully.
That soft sensation grew even more pronounced.
It felt rather nice.
But if the stimulation went on any further, he was afraid his imagination would start running wild.
After his breakthrough past zero, his body was reacting more and more, as though craving it all the more.
Lin Ye took a soft, deep breath, calming the restless feelings within.
Cultivate body and mind.
Mustn't think too much.
Lin Ye gave himself the mental suggestion.
A few seconds later, Lin Ye patted the girl's back and spoke, "All right, Student Tachibana, that's enough—if you keep hugging me any longer, I'm going to start suspecting you're deliberately taking advantage of me."
This made the girl quiver, her hands instinctively loosening, though not to the point of letting go.
"Do you dislike it?"
Her calm voice came as she asked this question.
"I don't lose out, but you, as a girl, lose out,"
"I'm willing,"
"By that, you make it sound like I can take all the advantage of you I want—like… touching you."
Lin Ye shrugged as he spoke.
This way, the girl ought to retreat in embarrassment!
The slightly dazed, adorable girl lifted her eyes, those eyes beneath the blue hair meeting Lin Ye's gaze.
The next second, her red lips moved faintly, "You can."
She'd agreed.
She had actually agreed.
Lin Ye was momentarily astonished, then accepted it with composure.
Reality is reality, fiction is fiction, but in the end there's still a certain connection between the two.
The situation of the real girl bore a fairly high degree of similarity to the girl in the work.
In the original work, Rui Tachibana, because of one line from her sister—'You're still young, you're not yet an adult'—went and found the male lead to do the things adults do.
The girl in reality likely had a similar streak of awareness and thinking as well.
"If you're agreeing to this unreasonable request of mine to repay me for saving your life, there's absolutely no need for that."
As the words fell, Rui Tachibana revealed a look of astonishment.
The way she saw it, now that she'd already agreed, shouldn't Lin Ye, as a man, be making his move?
From stroking her hair earlier to stroking her skin, from touching over the clothes to touching skin directly, and finally perhaps even touching sensitive areas.
She had already prepared herself mentally.
And one of the reasons—the biggest factor at that—was the life-saving grace Lin Ye spoke of.
She could repay Lin Ye's kindness this way; she wasn't averse to it, and even somewhat welcomed it.
If Lin Ye did nothing and sought no repayment at all, she would instead feel uncomfortable.
"All right,"
Lin Ye patted the girl's shoulder, placed both hands on her shoulders, and gently but firmly pushed her away.
The two stood a meter apart.
Rui Tachibana's eyes gazed at the man before her, a lingering feeling in her heart.
She somehow felt that this distance now was a little uncomfortable, a little reluctant.
"It's getting late, I'll see you home,"
The time inside the dining room was in sync with reality,
but the meal at the dining room earlier had taken a lot of time, and afterward his entanglement with the dining room's chef and waiters had cost no small amount of time either.
Lin Ye walked to the girl's side.
Rui Tachibana instinctively followed, stepping along on Lin Ye's right.
Her gaze kept lingering on that dim cheek under the glow of the streetlamp.
"Student Lin, that dining room afterward…"
"Nothing happened at all,"
"Hm?"
Rui Tachibana was startled.
"You can't say?"
"It's best you don't know."
Looking at the girl's slightly unhappy reaction, Lin Ye had in fact considered whether to use Hypnosis to make the girl forget that stretch of memory about the dining room.
On one hand, in Lin Ye's view this wasn't something Rui Tachibana absolutely needed to forget—unlike Isshiki; what Isshiki had witnessed needed to be forgotten.
On the other hand, if Rui Tachibana forgot about the dining room, she would very likely keep pestering him afterward.
Considering keeping his future life free from the girl's disturbance, letting the girl off and leaving that portion of her memory intact was the best choice.
The downside was that, having come into contact with the Strange and holding memories related to the Strange, Rui Tachibana's odds of encountering the Strange in the future would increase somewhat.
But how to put it!
Whether this probability was related to the girl having contacted the Strange, or simply related to holding memories that gave awareness of the Strange, even Lin Ye couldn't be sure.
The news from that Otaku in Tokyo let him know the Otaku still hadn't encountered the Strange again to this day, so the chance that a contactee who retained Strange-related memories could go on living a normal, peaceful life was still quite high.
All things considered,
Lin Ye decided not to use the Hypnosis superpower to interfere with Rui Tachibana's memory.
"Why?"
"For your own good."
This very line instantly stirred up Rui Tachibana's memories.
On many matters, her sister also used this same phrasing to make her give up digging deeper.
"Is it because I'm too young? You mean once I… grow up and become an adult woman, then it'll be fine?"
Her words carried just the faintest trace of desolation.
"It has nothing to do with age. With this matter, if at all possible it's best to never know it your whole life. Student Tachibana, trust me—at the very least, I won't do you harm."
The blue short-haired girl's eyes reflected Lin Ye's familiar face.
She blinked, and gave a faint nod.
"I trust you,"
She trusted Lin Ye.
In a moment of crisis, Lin Ye had given priority to her safety, protected her, let her be the first to escape danger, and was even willing to use the far-from-cheap Strange Coins.
Toward such a man, how could she not trust him!
In all the world,
aside from her parents and sister, the person she trusted most was Lin Ye.
"Mn, just trust me and that's enough. Don't ask too much, and don't think too much—just let what happened earlier become the forever-past,"
Lin Ye felt considerably reassured.
Every girl had a different temperament and way of reacting. A girl of Rui Tachibana's sort, having now agreed, wouldn't go back on it, but would properly keep to it.
Rui Tachibana nodded.
The two strolled shoulder to shoulder. Under the orange-yellow streetlamp light, their shadows stretched out very long.
Ahead, the tram station soon came into view.
At this point Lin Ye asked once more, "What was it you wanted to talk to me about one-on-one this time? Student Tachibana still hasn't told me."
The blue short-haired girl halted her steps.
She noticed the scattered passersby walking around them.
"Here… isn't suitable."
Because there were people, she still had reservations; she didn't want others to overhear.
"There's no park around here either."
Lin Ye took out his phone and checked the electronic map. The nearest park was two kilometers away, and even then, a park wouldn't necessarily be free of people.
"Let's go there!"
Rui Tachibana raised her hand and pointed.
Lin Ye looked in the direction the girl was pointing, and was instantly stunned.
It was a hotel.
Holy crap.
This couldn't help but make him connect the girl's intentions with a certain matter.
This… was way too thrilling!
"This… isn't suitable."
"Hm?"
"That place isn't suitable. A lone man and woman going there—if Hina-sensei found out, I'd definitely be hauled off and beaten."
Lin Ye pictured the scene of Tachibana-sensei getting angry, and then urging him to date her little sister Rui.
As for the beating, he really didn't believe Hina-sensei would use violence on him.
"Sister wouldn't."
You're awfully confident.
Lin Ye looked at the girl.
"If Sister scolds you, I'll persuade her and explain,"
"It's still not suitable,"
"Why? Is karaoke not okay? It's not like we're going to a hotel—Sister really wouldn't mind."
The moment these words fell, Lin Ye realized he'd misunderstood.
What the girl had pointed at wasn't the hotel but the karaoke place next to the hotel.
It was just that the hotel's sign was too big and had instantly drawn his attention.
"Fine then!"
Seeing Lin Ye agree, Rui Tachibana walked on for a good while and spotted the hotel's signboard, only then realizing why Lin Ye had declined earlier.
He'd thought she wanted to take him to a hotel!
How could it be that fast!
Her face flushed red.
After reaching the karaoke place, she booked half an hour, and then she and Lin Ye went into the karaoke room.
The whole process felt a bit unfamiliar.
Lin Ye judged that the girl didn't often come to places like karaoke—in fact this might even be her first time.
The karaoke room.
Bright white light poured down, the whole room aglow.
The shadow lingering in Rui Tachibana's heart faded considerably as well.
People always gravitate toward the light.
Lin Ye took out a cup for the girl and poured her some water.
"Thank you."
She lifted the cup and took a sip, moistening her parched throat.
After leaving the dining room she'd been waiting there anxiously the whole time, then run into the hooligans, and her cries for help had made her already-dry throat even more uncomfortable.
This water finally eased the discomfort in her throat.
Lin Ye sat down beside the girl, half a seat apart, keeping a certain distance.
After a while,
Lin Ye spoke up and asked, "Student Tachibana, you can say it now, right!"
"I'd like to ask you a favor."
"Hm? What favor,"
The blue-haired girl didn't say it right away, but instead recalled, first briefly explaining the reason, "Because of the matter between you and my sister, I kept asking my sister but got no response."
"Cough cough cough, Student Tachibana, please take note—there is no abnormal relationship whatsoever between me and Hina-sensei,"
"Then why can't it be said?"
Lin Ye shook his head. Even though the girl had already experienced the Strange, Lin Ye still didn't intend to tell her.
Stirring up more curiosity and thirst for knowledge about the Strange would likely carry an even greater chance of drawing the Strange.
What's more, the girl had already agreed not to keep prying—if he explained now, wouldn't that waste this promise of hers?
"Go on,"
"And Sister used a reason she habitually uses to fob me off."
"What reason?"
"That I'm still young,"
Rui Tachibana's tone was calm, but her expression carried just the faintest trace of forlornness, "That I'm not mature enough."
This seemed to be the same as the original work too.
"Hina-sensei regards you as her little sister. Even if you marry and have children someday, Hina-sensei will treat you with this same attitude."
"It's not the same,"
Rui Tachibana shook her head, "Sister simply treats me as a child, but I think as long as I grow up a little, become a little more mature, experience a little more, Sister will stop treating me as a child, and won't keep saying I'm 'still young.'"
"So what you mean is…"
Faintly, Lin Ye had a guess.
"Help me grow up, help me become mature, help me become a woman."
Lin Ye: "..."
Pulling out this development from the original work again?
Just throwing herself at him and offering up the goods?
"Sister told me about you, Student Lin, wanting to find a girlfriend. I can help you make that happen, and you help me achieve my goal—we help each other, satisfy each other,"
Just what had Hina-sensei said to give Rui Tachibana this misunderstanding?
His urge to find a girlfriend really wasn't that strong; if it had been strong, he wouldn't have failed to take that step proactively in the face of so many girls.
His current girlfriend had also come about because of a sudden incident.
"Student Tachibana, I'm sorry, I can't help you."
"Why?"
"I already have a girlfriend."
Rui Tachibana: ???
She quickly thought of the reason, "If you're trying to turn me down, you don't need to use this excuse either."
She didn't believe it.
Lin Ye having a girlfriend—this was far too sudden.
It seemed entirely like an excuse pulled together on the spot.
"It's true,"
"Who is it?"
Mai? Yukino?
But Lin Ye felt that naming anyone wouldn't be appropriate.
"This relationship—we're keeping it secret from the outside for now."
This made Rui Tachibana believe it even less.
"I…"
She thought it over, her cheeks faintly flushing red, "If you date me and help me grow more womanly, I'll allow you to… do the… things… a boyfriend can do."
By the end,
the words she spoke were all trembling.
That bashfulness suffused every single word.
This girl.
She was serious.
This seemed pretty much the same as the first scene of the original work too.
Lin Ye thought helplessly.
...
...
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