"Hehe, don't get too caught up admiring me." Tashiro Kurenai waved her hand dismissively. "We're just getting to the important part now."
"Oh?"
"The reason I said you don't need to worry about repeating the same mistakes in this life? It's because the me in this world has already passed the age when my eyes were injured in my previous life. And I haven't encountered that accident. I'm not blind."
Kuroha Akira leaned forward. "You avoided it? The accident somehow didn't happen?"
"No." She shook her head slowly. "It's that a 'divergence' occurred even earlier. 'She'—the me of this world—lived a completely different life from the 'me' of before."
Tashiro Kurenai touched her own eyes gently, gratitude evident in the gesture. She was profoundly glad this version of herself could still see.
"The me in this world chose a different path from the very beginning. She didn't join a cosmetics company. Instead, she chose something much more niche..." She paused, meeting his gaze. "Have you heard of the profession called an undertaker?"
"You mean a mortician?" Kuroha Akira recalled a Japanese drama he'd watched in his previous life—The Mortician. It followed someone who applied makeup to the deceased, using cosmetic techniques to make the departed look as if they were merely sleeping. The goal was to comfort grieving families, to give them one last beautiful memory before saying goodbye.
"Yes." Tashiro Kurenai nodded. "Some people die in terrible ways—accidents, violence, circumstances that leave them unrecognizable. Their families want to hold a proper funeral, to see their loved one's face one last time. So they need someone who can repair and restore..."
This explained her LV4 makeup proficiency.
Miss Toshiro had relevant talent, and she was engaged in this extraordinarily demanding profession. Her proficiency would naturally skyrocket. Applying makeup to the dead was infinitely harder than working on the living—it bordered on special effects artistry.
"The thing is, there are very few people in this line of work. But the demand is surprisingly high." She sighed. "They often need me to go to the hospital late at night, to prepare bodies for viewings. It builds up... a lot of mental stress."
"I can imagine." Kuroha Akira nodded sympathetically. "But Miss Toshiro, you really should try to drink less from now on."
"Don't worry." She smiled warmly. "I won't let myself get that drunk again. Can't count on a kind person like you carrying me home every time, can I? Hehe."
She reached out and affectionately ruffled his hair again, treating him with the easy familiarity of a younger brother.
"Speaking of which, just looking at our upbringing—the fact that we're both living different lives should be obvious, right?" She continued. "In our previous lives, we both lived in countries across the sea. Everything about our current circumstances is different."
Kuroha Akira's mind snagged on something she'd said.
From her phrasing, Toshiro-san clearly considered her post-transmigration self to be herself. If she'd transmigrated into someone else's body, she wouldn't be able to identify with her new identity so naturally.
"Wait a minute." He held up a hand. "Toshiro-san, are you also a case of 'still being yourself after transmigration'?"
"Still being myself?" She tilted her head quizzically.
"I mean—you discovered you didn't become someone else. You're still in your original body, just younger!"
"Yes, exactly!" Her eyes lit up with recognition. "It was definitely a return to youth. Though my name changed slightly—in my previous life, I was Tashiro Kohaku."
"Me too!" Kuroha Akira shot up from his seat, excitement coursing through him. "My previous life name was Bai Yu Ming!"
Finally!
He'd found common ground with someone about their transmigration experience!
So Hijikata-san was probably in the same situation too? Everyone had transmigrated into "themselves from another world" rather than becoming unfamiliar strangers inhabiting borrowed bodies.
"No wonder Granny Kobayashi occasionally calls you Shirako." Tashiro Kurenai's smile turned mischievous. "I was wondering where that nickname came from... Hehe, how about I call you Shirako from now on too?"
"Please don't." He shook his head firmly. "But Toshiro-san—how old were you in your previous life?"
"Asking a lady her age is very rude, you know."
"Ah, sorry." He winced. "But this is actually important. I'm trying to figure out if there's a pattern to transmigration. So please—don't treat me like a child anymore. In my previous life, I was at least thirty."
"Only thirty?" She raised an eyebrow. "That's still very young, isn't it?"
"..."
Was thirty considered young?
So Toshiro-san's previous life age was definitely...
She caught his narrowing eyes and, half-annoyed, half-amused, reached out to pinch his nose.
"Don't look at me like that. Even in my previous life, I was just an eighteen-year-and-two-hundred-fifty-month-old unmarried young lady."
"..."
Translated, that was almost thirty-nine.
And her current age was twenty-four—fifteen years younger, just like his own age change.
The pattern held! These were all major discoveries. If transmigration truly followed consistent rules, maybe someday they'd figure out how and why it happened.
Watching Kuroha Akira's excited expression, Tashiro Kurenai hugged her knees and commented thoughtfully.
"You know, I used to think Akira-kun would be a really cold person."
"Huh?" He blinked, confused. "Why would you think that? I'm not associated with the word 'cold' at all, am I?"
He hadn't deliberately cultivated an aloof image. Sure, he hadn't spoken a single word during his first high school semester, leading classmates to assume he was an unapproachable weirdo. But at Kobayashi, he'd been perfectly normal.
"Because you don't really communicate with us, do you?" She pointed out. "Today is basically the first time we've talked this much."
"Uh..."
For his two transmigrator housemates, he couldn't use the "language barrier" excuse. They understood Chinese perfectly. His previous interactions with them had been superficial.
How to explain... He'd initially viewed them as something like "colleagues." Acquainted, but not close. Fellow travelers on the same strange journey, but not friends.
"I think you probably haven't fully adjusted to your new identity yet." Her voice was gentle, understanding. "And in your previous life, you were probably the type who didn't want to rely on others. The kind who kept people at arm's length."
"..."
She wasn't wrong. She'd hit the mark exactly.
"That's because I'm the same way—reclusive, independent. I can recognize my own kind." She smiled softly. "Especially after my eyes were injured, I became even more withdrawn." She studied him with knowing eyes. "But I bet Akira-kun is really popular with girls at school."
"Not at all."
"Really?" She looked genuinely skeptical. "Don't lie to your big sister."
"Really. Why would someone like me be popular?"
"Because sensitive young girls can sense your uniqueness immediately." She spoke with the confidence of someone who'd lived through those years. "They're attracted to that mature, slightly mysterious vibe you give off. Girls that age eat up the 'mysterious, melancholic guy' archetype."
"Oh..."
Was that why the class president and Shinomiya's initial favorability had been so high?
Maybe he did have some charm as a mature man after all. Who knew?
"Hmm..." Toshiro-san's expression suddenly shifted. "Oh no... Akira-kun..."
"Huh?"
"I suddenly feel... really unwell... Like I can't hold it in anymore... gulp!"
Her face had gone distinctly green. The post-hangover nausea was hitting her full force—that inevitable morning-after reckoning with alcohol's consequences.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Kuroha Akira scrambled to his feet. "Hold on! I'll help you to the bathroom right now!"
He barely managed to guide her to the toilet before she lost the battle, and then stood outside the door, listening to the sounds of violent vomiting while contemplating life choices.
At least he'd gained valuable information from this conversation.
Especially the realization about "still being himself" after transmigration. It meant he hadn't "taken over Kuroha Akira's life" or displaced anyone. The self in this world was also him—just another version who'd lived a completely different path.
That knowledge brought more comfort than he'd expected.