“Kazumi, I’m sorry, Shinomiyai she’s also…”
Seeing the young girl walking over from the tourist passage, Sato Shinichi hurried closer and whispered to Kazumi, as if sensing the change in her mood.
“It’s okay, let’s just play together.”
Leaning back slightly, she dodged the intense aura rushing towards her, and pulled out her mobile phone from her pocket. Kazumi’s expression remained cold, and she replied indifferently.
“Ah, okay…”
Looking at the girl’s reaction with some surprise, Sato Shinichi was a bit at a loss. On one hand was his date with his girlfriend, and on the other hand was a classmate with whom he had a good relationship and whose family had connections with his master. The young man, who always treated everyone around him with friendliness, didn’t know how to choose.
After all, Mai Shinomiyai’s situation did seem a bit miserable. As a friend, she made such a request, which made him really unsure how to refuse.
Moreover, if he asked Kazumi and got her consent…
It should be okay, right?
Kazumi naturally didn’t notice Sato Shinichi’s cautious thoughts. In fact, the girl felt that the appearance of Shinomiyai as a third wheel was not bad.
With the presence of a third person besides “Doggy,” she could suppress the rosy feelings that were bubbling up from the bottom of her heart. After all, the killing intent towards Shinomiyai was much easier to suppress than the strange feelings she had when interacting with Sato Shinichi.
Silently walking beside the two, Kazumi, who should have been the protagonist, was lost in thought about other things. Thanks to the rapid thinking speed brought about by the presence of the third wheel, the girl keenly discovered a point she hadn’t considered before.
Regarding the true purpose of “Doggy” wanting to take her to the amusement park, although he said it was to hang out together, from the memories, the girl could still deduce that the person’s real concern was whether she had recovered from the impact of the previous attack.
Having successfully joined [Shadow] after the initial test, Kazumi now understood that everything at that time was just to recruit the “good seeds” they had chosen into the organization. They would make people fall into darkness by betraying those they cherished most, and then use special potions that stimulated people’s deepest desires to foster their hidden dark abilities.
Although the girl felt that among all those operations, only the fake “Doggy” was truly impressive, she didn’t feel much about the others.
The idea of being heartbroken by the betrayal of someone important, feeling that the whole world had turned dark, and wanting to violently destroy the world was a chuunibyo thought impossible for Kazumi, an adult with considerable experience. Reality was inherently dark and chaotic; what was there to destroy?
As for other despair from being abandoned, the original darkness of the world, the desire to destroy everything? It seemed like just that?
Because after the fake Sato Shinichi made that move, Kazumi had already identified his true identity. The subsequent reactions were probably caused by his ability to influence emotions left within her body. However, after her abilities recovered, the death aura re-entered her body and quickly washed away the gray mist.
However, it was worth mentioning that among the people who were attacked at that time, except for Kazumi, none of them had been discharged from the hospital so far. They were unable to continue their normal lives due to the physical trauma and the strange mist in their minds.
Even Kazumi was only approved to be discharged and return to school after multiple confirmations from Dr. Shinmoku. And after experiencing the previous events, it wasn’t hard to understand why Sato Shinichi would be worried about her.
“Let’s take a photo together, Sato-kun, and Kiyomizu-san!”
A pleasant and melodious voice came from her ear. Kazumi looked up to see the same gentle, almost sickeningly so, long-haired woman.
“Mmm… it’s our first time here, so it would be nice to commemorate it. What do you think, Kazumi?”
Seeing the girl take out her phone with such enthusiasm, Sato Shinichi nodded in agreement. After all, it was a newly opened amusement park, and they needed to leave some memories.
“I refuse.”
Three cold words were ruthlessly thrown between them, like a basin of cold water poured on a blazing fire, instantly freezing the somewhat heated atmosphere. Even Mai Shinomiyai’s originally cheerful eyes lost their luster for a moment, and she looked at the incomparably cold and strange girl in front of her with a complex expression.
“Ah, Shinomiyai, Kazumi means she’d prefer to take pictures with me. How about you take a few photos for us first, and I’ll take some for you separately later?”
Sato Shinichi immediately noticed something was wrong with his girlfriend. The young man knew that Kazumi didn’t like Mai Shinomiyai much, but he hadn’t expected her dislike to be so strong that she would directly fall out with her.
But as a boyfriend, he naturally wouldn’t think of outsiders. And he couldn’t refuse Mai Shinomiyai, who was also a friend, for such a reason. He could only pull the girl, who seemed to be angry for some reason, and then smile at Mai Shinomiyai.
“That’s fine too. How about we take it behind this mascot? The angle and the light here are great!”
Mai Shinomiyai looked at Kazumi on the side, then turned to look at Sato Shinichi. She still had that elegant and gentle smile on her face, as if she wasn’t displeased by Kazumi’s rudeness. She just nodded faintly and spoke towards the dinosaur-shaped mascot on the other side.
“Mhm, let’s go over there.”
The young man’s deep voice sounded in Kazumi’s ear. His large hand grasped her cold little hand, and he led her to the giant dinosaur doll. He enthusiastically struck a pose with the victory sign, which was common in other worlds.
“Click, click—”
“Sato, your pose is too lame! And Kiyomizu-san, can you try to get a little closer!”
Mai Shinomiyai’s voice came from a distance. Her gentle tone was full of teasing about their poses, but she was still holding her phone, trying to find good angles for them.
[Am I that unphotogenic?]
Looking at the image from “Doggy” on her phone, the man and woman in the photo were standing in an extremely awkward posture. The blond young man was making a silly victory sign, his sapphire blue eyes sparkling like jewels. Just looking at him gave a feeling of immense power.
But the presence of the short-haired girl on the other side seemed to break this original feel. Cold, apathetic, uninteresting. If it weren’t for the forced smile on her lips, which only she could see, and the slightly closer standing position that proved their relationship, one would believe it was a photo of a kidnapper with his victim.
[A photo at the amusement park…]
Looking at the youthful photo on the screen, the girl’s thoughts drifted back. Once upon a time, she, too, had gone out to play with the girl she liked.
Of course, the same could be said for the girl in the photo not liking her.
But even so, she carefully treasured the photo. Looking back now, she found herself quite amusing for having dedicated her entire youth to that girl.
But perhaps this was one of the few benefits of being a girl? To go from being the one who actively sacrificed to being the one who was doted on?
[At least, I still compensate him out of guilt, right?]
For some reason, this strange thought popped into her mind. The girl chuckled self-deprecatingly. Such a strange thought was probably just to live up to the indescribable inner emotions of her previous self.
Slowly raising her head, she looked at Sato Shinichi and Mai Shinomiyai in the distance.
The afternoon sunlight was gentle, lightly falling on the earth. The early summer breeze was just the right amount of comfortable, neither damp like spring nor stuffy like mid-summer. It gently brushed against her, making her feel lazily comfortable.
The long-haired girl’s green dress swayed gently in the breeze. Her slender figure was even more perfect against the faint makeup. Coupled with her tall and fair legs, and the special aura of a psychic, even Kazumi, who was also a woman, couldn’t help but praise her as a beauty.
The blond young man was somewhat clumsily kneeling in place, following the photographic techniques taught by Mai Shinomiyai to capture better angles. His serious and focused expression, though consistent with his usual personality, gave Kazumi a strange feeling.
“Sato, can you even take pictures? This part is blurry!!” “Ha, I accidentally pressed the shutter too fast. There are more photos after this, take a look.” “These next few photos are no different from the previous ones!!”
The girl, having finished posing, walked to the boy’s side. Rather familiarly, she took the expensive bag hanging around the boy’s neck. While looking at the terrible pictures on her phone, she complained about Sato Shinichi beside her. The young man retorted without backing down.
The clouds slowly moved, and a ray of sunlight passed through the gap in the top floor building, directly hitting where the two were standing.
As if surrounded by a halo, their two pairs of jewel-like brilliant eyes seemed exceptionally sacred under the sunlight. And their sudden synchronized movement, in the eyes of the girl in the distance, seemed like an ineffable painting, so beautiful that it was almost sacrilegious.
She lowered her head again to look at herself hiding in the shadowy corner. The puddle beside her reflected her distorted figure. Her ordinary, unremarkably plain appearance, her cheap clothes that probably totaled less than tens of thousands of Yen, and her cold expression, which couldn’t be hidden by the rough makeup on her face.
The world in the reflection seemed so distorted, but it seemed like her true self was indeed that distorted.
She didn’t know why the half-finished milk tea in her hand had lost its original taste. She squeezed the cup body into a deformed shape in a fit of frustration before throwing it into the trash can, not caring that the splashing liquid dripped onto the back of her pale hand.
Looking at the two people waiting for her in the dazzling sunlight in the distance, the girl narrowed her eyes slightly. She couldn’t look straight ahead because of the blinding sunlight, so she habitually lowered her head, her eyes dimming as she walked forward.
Perhaps the destination of losers, wherever they are, will always be failure…
(ps: The character popularity contest has started. I hope everyone will support Kazumi! You can enter the character popularity contest directly from the mobile homepage and search for her name to vote for the cute little Kazumi. The one without an avatar is her, hahahaha. You get 10 free hearts every day, and you can get another 10 in the tasks after reading for 60 minutes. For those who are not wealthy, this is how you can support me,嘤嘤嘤, of course, donations are the best QAQ)
(ps2: Let’s set a small goal. If we make it to the preliminary round, I’ll write five chapters. If we make it to the next round, I’ll write ten chapters, hohoho.)
