Chapter: 76. Seeds of Doubt
“This, this is…”
Although Kanade didn’t know much about Qinglong and Yako, he easily recognized their identities through their faces, which seemed particularly childlike compared to now.
From their height and uniforms, they appeared to be around the first grade of elementary school.
The sight of them moving about together in the Japanese-style garden felt especially warm, reminding Kanade of his childhood days with Nagi.
However, this warm scene inexplicably sent a chill down Kanade’s spine.
He was suddenly trapped in a dream, fully aware that he was dreaming.
The images presented in the dream were memories of a past known as the past.
This scene closely resembled when he spent the night at Nagi’s house back in the day.
That time was due to little Nagi being cursed by a malevolent spirit, and in order to keep her company, Kanade had to stay at her house.
That night, while holding hands with little Nagi in the same room, he dreamt of childhood memories for the first time in ages…
But if all this was just part of DD-chan’s abilities…
Could this really be just a coincidence?
Kanade shook his head, trying to dispel the unsettling thought.
At that moment, the young Qinglong walked straight towards him, following Yako closely behind.
It seemed that neither of them could see Kanade.
As if passing through a mist, they moved through his body, heading towards the Japanese mansion behind him.
Their silhouettes overlapped with Kanade’s past self in his eyes.
—Speaking of which, what was his relationship with little Nagi back then?
The Qinglong and Yako before him had drastically changed from the relationship he witnessed at Noah’s Mansion.
Yako, as a retainer, dominated the atmosphere between them.
Though she was supposed to be two years younger than Qinglong, there was an impression that she was Qinglong’s elder sister.
In contrast, the current Qinglong showed none of the confident demeanor he would later possess, looking more like a reticent, unsociable, and unlikable child.
—Children do undergo significant changes as they grow up, don’t they?
—What was the past version of himself like?
For some reason, the dreamscape Kanade found himself in continually stirred up memories of his past.
In the past, after being abandoned by his parents and countless relatives, he eventually arrived in Kawano City, staying with his current uncle.
Back then, he was also a very unlikable child.
No, he should have been a child that would annoy others.
Otherwise, other relatives who had once taken care of him wouldn’t have chosen to kick him out after a period of adoption.
“This child really makes one feel uncomfortable.” “That gaze is like that of some wild animal…” “Just looking at that child makes me inexplicably uneasy.”…
Those who had spent time with him had expressed such sentiments.
Moreover, their views were highly consistent to a certain extent.
“His existence makes them feel uneasy.”
The image of a beast was how he was perceived in their eyes.
Kanade did not understand why he was viewed as a beast.
But it was meaningless; for others, his existence felt like a wolf that had merged with a flock of sheep.
Even if he did nothing at all, he made the sheep feel uneasy.
Until that beast encountered the most important girl of his life.
The beast following the girl was gradually accepted by the flock, and his past experiences felt like a nightmare, as if just being by the girl’s side filled his life with flowers and blue skies—
—Is that really the case?
The inexplicable self-questioning made Kanade’s heart skip a beat.
“So, what did Qinglong-kun fight about today?”
In his peripheral vision, Yako once again asked Qinglong, appearing concerned.
But Qinglong remained cold and indifferent.
Yet Yako seemed to understand him well and continued, “Is it about the gang troubling you again?”
From Yako’s words, Kanade gathered that Qinglong seemed to have faced bullying at school due to his background in a gang family, where others looked at him with unusual eyes and even inflicted physical violence on him.
And Qinglong did not simply endure; instead, he chose to respond with violence each time.
This reminded Kanade of similar experiences from his past in elementary school.
Back then, during a school visit, some classmates discovered that he was a “child without parents,” as the uncle who came to observe his class was from his family.
This small difference, at that young age, led those children, who were naive and unsure how to interact with others, to treat him, the “outsider,” through a social lens that defined such behavior as “bullying.”
But during that period, because Nagi was always by his side, Kanade was never truly bullied.
From kindergarten, Nagi had been the brightest among the crowd, and as she entered elementary school, her charm only seemed to grow, with almost no one disliking her.
Her straightforward and cheerful personality and her gentle treatment of others helped Kanade avoid the fate of being bullied.
So Kanade always felt grateful to Nagi; it was her presence that gave him a happy childhood.
—Is that really the case?
The voice of self-doubt resounded again.
—Why… why do I have these doubts?
—There is no doubt that I was saved by little Nagi…
Yet this conclusion in Kanade’s heart felt immensely out of place under his beast-like sharp intuition.
The intuition he had relied on for so long now plunged him into chaos.
Especially in this dream, the interactions between Qinglong and Yako gradually transformed into those between himself and little Nagi.
“Since that’s the case, did you really give them a good beating back?”
“What? Yako, what are you talking about?”
“I asked if you taught that one who laughed at you a good lesson!” Yako asked, hands on her hips, with an air of superiority.
Her seemingly childish form, now slightly trembling under the moonlight.
She seemed to feel angry about Qinglong’s situation.
In the next moment, she was about to rush out to give those who bullied Qinglong a proper lesson.
From their interaction, Kanade felt this genuine and pure emotion.
—So they also had such a past?
—But she betrayed him.
In Noah’s Mansion, with his back turned to the sky, Qinglong, under Yako’s deception, viewed himself as an enemy.
Even though they had once been such close childhood friends.
Yako still deceived Qinglong.
—So, can your childhood friend not deceive you?
