Summer Fall High – Lunch Break, Canteen, 12:45 p.m.
Ezakiel sat at the same table he had claimed for the past few days, joined by Rin and Yuta. Yuta, however, wore a face clouded with depression and despair, barely touching his food.
His eyes were deprived of sleep, his hair a mess.
He's starting to look more like a girl whose body had been utterly violated by men… an actual rape victim, even more so than yesterday.
Ezakiel kept his breathing steady, crimson eyes fixed on him, weighing the situation.
He's drowning in despair. Just one more event and he'll turn into a monster, just like in the series plot… There isn't much for me to do. Maybe gaslighting him would be best—make him believe his sister was nothing more than a false image born of mental cracks. That way, he'll finally stop ranting about her disappearance. God, he's beginning to annoy me now…
He took a deep breath, ready to speak, but before he could, Rin gently placed her hand on Yuta's shoulder, trying to offer him comfort.
"Everything will be fine, Yuta. I'm sure you'll get your sister back soon," Rin said, her voice full of sympathy. She had a sister of her own—an elder sister—and the thought of losing her felt unbearable. "We have Ezakiel, after all. Right, Ezakiel?"
Rin looked over at him.
Ezakiel gave a faint nod, hiding the sigh that threatened to escape."Ah yes… I am always here for you two."As long as it benefits me.
Yuta, however, muttered in a voice low and heavy, "I don't know how everything will be fine. No matter who I ask, they all say my sister never existed… that I don't even have a sister… that I must be suffering from some mental illness. Which is total nonsense?!"
He slammed his hand down on the table, the sharp sound drawing every eye in the canteen toward them.
"Don't look here. Mind your own business," Ezakiel said in a threatening tone, his crimson eyes sweeping over the canteen. He didn't want any unnecessary attention on this matter—and thankfully, Tsumi wasn't here. That was a bonus.
At his glare, the onlookers quickly averted their eyes. They all knew better than to incur his wrath.
"That's… strange," Rin said, her eyes widening. How can an entire neighborhood deny his sister's existence? That doesn't make any sense. She leaned forward, then asked, "Did you go to the police?"
"I did," Yuta said bitterly. "But they closed my case the moment they asked around. When my neighbors claimed she never existed, the police told me I was wasting their time. They said I should check my brain for problems—and warned me that if I tried again, they'd throw me in a psych ward or even press charges against me."
"Was there no proof of your sister?" Rin pressed.
"No… I don't know why or how it happened, but everything belonging to her is gone. Even the pictures on my phone—deleted, erased, like she never existed…" Yuta's voice faltered, trembling with both rage and despair.
He then turned to Ezakiel, desperation flickering in his eyes. "However, I did tell Ezakiel to find my sister—even before I went to the police…"
"Did you find anything regarding his sister?" Rin asked, her gaze steady on Ezakiel.
Ezakiel slowly removed his hand from Yuta's shoulder. He reached for his glass of water, taking a measured sip before setting it back down with deliberate calm. "Unfortunately, no. I put my entire network on it, and they found nothing. Not a single trace of her. It's as if she never existed."
It was a lie, not that he was going to tell him.
"My sister is real…" Yuta said to Ezakiel, voice trembling.
"But the evidence says otherwise, and my men won't lie to me—for the money I feed them," Ezakiel said, his tone firm and unyielding.
"But… but…" Yuta stammered.
"In light of all this, I must ask—Yuta, are you sure you aren't suffering from mental health issues?"
"Huh?" Yuta's eyes widened in shock. "I never thought you'd be the one to not believe me."
The words cracked with a raw sense of betrayal.
"I want to… I want to believe your words," Ezakiel began, lowering his eyes, letting a practiced sadness color his expression to make the performance cut deeper. "I know the pain you feel is real—the loss of a sister—but I find it difficult to believe that this sister exists. I know it sounds harsh, cruel even, and perhaps I shouldn't, but I must. There are countless cases where people delude themselves into believing someone existed when they didn't. Perceptions twist, minds fill gaps, memories warp… the brain invents what it cannot reconcile. And so, I must question you."
"I am not suffering from any mental illness! You two remember my sister, don't you?" Yuta said desperately. "That should be enough proof."
Before Ezakiel could speak, Rin cut in, her voice low and uncertain. "Yeah… but you only told us about her yesterday. And… I have to agree with what Ezakiel said." Her eyes were heavy as she forced the words out, guilt pressing down on her.
"Then why do I have years of memories of her? There's no mental disease that can explain that!" Yuta's voice cracked, on the edge of breaking.
"As I said, it's passive," Ezakiel replied smoothly. "A combination of conditions, blending together, can create memories and events that never existed." His crimson eyes glinted as he leaned forward, the words sharpened to cut. "That's the only answer, the only thing that explains your situation."
"But then… why not before?" Yuta asked, his voice desperate, clinging to the hope that his memories of his sister were true—that everyone else was wrong.
"Sometimes," Ezakiel said, his tone calm yet merciless, "a traumatic incident shatters such delusions. Which happened to you yesterday…"
The words slipped like poison, more than enough to break Yuta, shattering whatever fragile hope he had left.
"I am with Ezakiel," Rin said, as what Ezakiel had explained made sense to her.
Yuta broke down, tears streaming down his face.
"Let the tears out, it will be fine soon," Ezakiel said flatly. "Nevertheless, I still have to deal with those three bastards. It'll take more time since there's a problem in the planning."
With that, he rose from his seat, leaving Yuta behind to give him space. Rin followed after him, believing it was better to leave Yuta alone for a while.
....
Where is she?
Tatsuya ran down the hallway, his steps echoing as he searched for Tsumi, but she was nowhere to be found.
[Why not check the gymnasium of the first years? She might be there.]
Following the system's advice, he made his way to the first-year gymnasium. Each year had its own facilities—gyms, labs, clubs, even separate canteens—so it was the most logical place to start.
He pushed the doors open and stepped inside. The gym buzzed with activity. Some students had wolfed down their lunch just to spend the break playing basketball or volleyball, while others had skipped the canteen entirely, choosing sweat over food.
Which girl here is Tsumi? he asked the system, scanning the crowd. He had never met her before—he didn't even know what she looked like.
[No. None of the girls here are Tsumi.]
Tatsuya exhaled sharply through his nose, a mental sigh. Then I'll check the second- and third-year canteens and gyms. She has to be somewhere.
As Tatsuya hurried out of the gym, he collided head-on with someone coming from the opposite direction. The impact sent him sprawling to the ground.
"Seriously? Again?" Ezakiel muttered, glaring down with an annoyed expression as Tatsuya pushed himself up and brushed the dust off his uniform.
What the hell is he doing here? Shouldn't he be in the canteen, making friends with Tsumi? That's how the plot was supposed to go. Wait… Tsumi wasn't in the canteen. Come to think of it, I've never seen her there at all…
Before he could think any further, Rin tugged lightly at his sleeve, pulling his attention back.
"You okay, Ezakiel?" she asked, standing close to him.
"Yeah, it's fine," he said casually, though his gaze lingered on Tatsuya.
"Sorry, I'm in a bit of a hurry," Tatsuya muttered before darting away.
"That was kind of rude of him," Rin frowned. "He didn't even properly apologize."
"It's fine. Let's just go." Ezakiel's tone softened as they walked together. "Oh—and I forgot to tell you. Starting tomorrow, you'll be in the same class as me."
"Huh?" Rin blinked in surprise.
"Yeah." His crimson eyes glinted faintly as he smirked. "I'd rather keep you where I can see you… even if you don't love me."
He had to make sure Rin didn't fall for any other man—or worse, let another man make a move on her. She was his. A tool against the magical girls. If she slipped away, all his time and investment would turn to nothing.
Speaking of love… I should meet Enma again. She called me back to her restaurant. But seriously, how do you make a woman in her early sixties fall for someone stuck in a teenager's body? I still haven't cracked that one.