Chapter 33: The Promise with You
Night.
The room is filled only with the soft light of the desk lamp.
Nayomi quietly sits at the desk, flipping through the simple diary.
Her pitch-black, smooth hair, still slightly damp from a recent shower, gently falls over her fair shoulders.
Her skin glows with a dewy luster under the light, crystal-like like a peeled egg, radiating warmth and tenderness from her bath.
Nayomi is dressed in a cute pink pajama set, the soft fabric hugging her delicate figure, making her look both adorable and alluring.
The faint fragrance of body wash and shampoo lingers in the air.
Her fingertips glide gently over the pages.
The words in the diary stir her memories… which are completely absent.
“Is this really my diary?”
Nayomi’s cheeks blush slightly, like cherry blossoms in early spring, with a pale flush of pink.
She lowers her head, her long eyelashes gently trembling, her fingers unconsciously gripping the corner of the diary, her slightly curled actions showing her confusion.
Because the content in this diary is just too…
The first page of the diary.
Going back from the date on top.
It should be when the diary’s owner was in first grade.
She felt very happy about the gift from her childhood friend named “Kanade.”
So she decided to use this precious gift to record all the little moments shared with him.
This idea, Nayomi thought, is quite normal, cherishing the gifts from friends.
But the content written in the diary on the same day made Nayomi blink rapidly in embarrassment.
The diary’s owner, if this truly is her diary.
Then it would be her from back then.
She wrote down the “promise” she deemed the most important, the one she didn’t want to forget.
This happened in the year she graduated from kindergarten with “Kanade.”
She felt anxious about soon parting ways with him.
And then the two of them, in their usual little playground.
“Kanade” made a promise to comfort her—
“When we grow up, I’ll definitely marry you!”
“Isn’t this just something kids say?” Nayomi couldn’t help but think to herself.
You wrote it down here, and even clearly labeled it: “The Most Important Promise.”
If “Kanade” saw this, he would definitely be very troubled!
Just the thought that this boy might see the words in this diary made Nayomi cover her face with both hands, kicking her legs in embarrassment.
“Kanade must be the boy who came to visit me today…”
“So our childhood friend relationship started from kindergarten?”
Nayomi seems to suddenly understand why he comes to see her every day.
After all, if they really have known each other for so long and have not separated until now.
They must be very good friends.
After calming her emotions a bit, she continued flipping through the diary.
It was full of her past daily life, largely recording happy and joyful moments.
And she could always see the figure of “Kanade,” the young boy.
In just a few short pages, Nayomi could sense from this diary.
“Kanade” seemed to be very important to her at that time.
She felt jubilant from receiving Kanade’s gifts.
Every time she was praised by Kanade, she had to record it.
She felt so happy when she learned he would come to school with her that she couldn’t sleep all night.
…..
“This kid really loves Kanade… no, wait, why am I acting so detached? Isn’t this my diary?”
Nayomi shook her head, criticizing herself.
But the faint pink on her ears betrayed her embarrassment at that moment.
The next thing that surprised Nayomi a bit was—
Her former self actually got hooked on horror movies and planned to play a ghost.
The most astonishing thing was that she seemingly had a talent for acting.
Then she even debuted as a child star prodigy.
“I… am an actress?” Nayomi’s face was filled with astonishment.
But once she recalled the unmatched beauty she saw in the mirror.
It must be that she was also very cute and eye-catching as a child, thus it was normal to enter the entertainment industry.
However…
Would a cute girl really scare people by playing a ghost in a horror movie?
“No, no, no, I keep talking about being cute—how narcissistic am I!?”
The following content was unexpectedly a bit heavy.
The dates in the diary seemed to be missing for several days.
The handwriting was quite messy, with traces of water droplets smudging it.
The lines were filled with self-blame, sorrow, and confusion, like a drowning person desperately trying to grasp something.
At the same time, there was still consistent writing about “Kanade.”
He came to find her every day, which made her happy, but also extremely frightened.
It seemed she was worried that she might unintentionally hurt him or that he would dislike her.
At the end of the chaotic handwriting, she mentioned that she had written a “suicide note” and then ran away from home—
Nayomi’s breath unconsciously quickened, her gaze starting to blur.
It was as if a thin mist quietly covered her eyes.
The current Nayomi felt like a pure white sheet of paper, subconsciously accepting everything.
But the outcome of this incident in the diary was good; “Kanade” seemed to have found her after she ran away from home.
And made her a promise—
“Hmph…” Upon reading this, Nayomi couldn’t help but exhale through her nose and chuckle lightly.
It felt like a warm wave rose from her heart, causing her ears to blush slightly.
Next, the content of the diary clearly indicated that her former self fell in love with this childhood friend named “Kanade.”
“So I went out with Kanade?” Nayomi recalled the most recent entry she flipped to.
It mentioned she had a boyfriend and was looking forward to their date tomorrow.
……
As the diary’s dates arrived at junior high.
One day’s entry caught Nayomi’s attention.
“A star bracelet…” Nayomi touched her left wrist, feeling as if something was missing.
What she had always felt was missing must be this gift.
Did she lose it at the accident scene?
Nayomi felt her heart tighten.
…..
School festival.
Stage play.
As Nayomi flipped through page after page of her diary.
These stories named “memories” burrowed into her mind.
At last, the diary reached the most recent date.
“It seems Kanade is someone who enjoys seeing his wife being held by other men.”
The words written made Nayomi gawk in disbelief.
“What, what? Wh-what’s going on?” Nayomi rubbed her eyes, thinking she must have misread.
It seemed like an accident that she discovered Kanade reading such books.
And the diary’s author appeared to be very conflicted about it.
She could give everything for “Kanade,” but did not want anyone other than “Kanade” to touch her.
This contradiction left her feeling a bit hypocritical, worried that “Kanade” would dislike her and feeling sad about it.
“No, no, no, huh!? Kan-Kanade!?? Mmm-mmm???”
The subsequent entries showed her worry that “Kanade” might be taken away or dislike him.
So she hatched a mischievous plan to pretend to be his girlfriend.
Even if it was fake, she wanted to experience what it felt like to be “Kanade’s” girlfriend—
At the end of the diary.
Was the night before she received a date invitation from Kanade.
She was so happy to date Kanade, hoping to become a real couple with him, but also afraid he would reject her…..
……
The night outside deepens.
Nayomi gently closes the diary, her fingers still caressing the cover.
It seems she is quietly contemplating something, and after a moment of silence, suddenly she hugs her head and lets out a strange cry—
“Is this really my diary?!”
Nayomi’s gaze wanders, seemingly not daring to look at the diary again.
Yet she can’t help but glance back at it.
“No, no, no, maybe it belongs to someone else…”
Nayomi maintains her pragmatic approach.
She picks up a pen and a blank sheet from the desk, muttering softly as she writes her name on it.
“Hinata…”
Then she compares the handwriting—
“It’s me!!!”
Nayomi shyly covers her face with her hands.
The blush on her cheeks becomes more apparent.
A complex feeling arises within her—both embarrassment and a hint of sweet flutter.
Nayomi struggles for quite a while, but she still could not accept the self in the diary.
However, in the end, she still reopened the diary.
The quiet of the night enveloped the room, soft moonlight streaming through the cracks in the curtains onto the desk.
Nayomi quietly sits at the table, gently writing in the diary.
On the latest page, she writes down everything that has happened to her in recent days.
And also her feelings at this moment.
The tip of the pen glides across the paper with a rustling sound, harmonizing with the silence from the outside world.
What was originally a mere “fake item” diary, at this moment, blended reality with illusion.
…..
…..
Meanwhile.
In a luxurious mansion, the lights are dim and dreary, the candle flames flickering in the breeze, casting ghostly shadows.
Footsteps echo from the depths of the corridor, resonating in the empty space, creating a heavy atmosphere.
The clock on the wall tolls softly, as if hinting at the passage of time, with each chime increasing the unease in the air.
A pitch-black figure quietly appears at the front door, seemingly merging with the night.
The door slowly creaks open, the sound piercing the silence.
“Master, the vessel is ready.”
That low voice rings out from within the shadows, carrying a hint of coldness.
“Just need to offer the sacrificial gift, and the ceremony can begin.”
His words swept through like a cold wind, adding an indescribable pressure to the entire room.
