Chapter: 165. Another “Savior”
Kanade walked side by side with Nagine on the streets of Kawayano City.
This was Kanade’s first return to Kawayano City after going to Ark Academy, so he tried his best to showcase a sense of nostalgia.
However, this nostalgia was not entirely a lie.
Because in the previous world line, they had gone directly to the newly opened amusement park, and Kanade had not had a chance to take in the sights of the city.
The shops along the street, the bustling intersections, the old streetcar tracks unique to Kawayano City—
When Kanade stepped once more onto the familiar streets, everywhere he looked seemed to overlay with the images from his memory.
It was as if time had left no marks on this small town.
Kanade noticed Nagine beside him gently inhaling, a lovely and nostalgic smile appearing on her face.
“It’s been such a long time since… I walked down this street with Subaru-kun like this~”
She tilted her head slightly, her bright eyes reflecting the scenery of Kawayano City, shimmering with a warm and gentle glow in the bright sunlight.
Hearing this, Kanade turned his gaze slightly to observe her expression, and at that moment he became aware—that the road they were on was the same path they used to take after school to play together as children.
This place held countless beautiful memories for them.
He still remembered when they had just entered elementary school and met Manabi, who had not yet become a child star, nor had Nagine started learning to act.
As elementary school students, they had a habit of running down this street after school, crossing the familiar intersections, eventually arriving at the nearby small park closest to each of their homes.
Often, it was during that time that their older brother Renji, two years their senior, would accompany them as their “guardian.”
Everything was so nostalgic.
Yet the reason Kanade chose this route was not to reminisce about the beautiful memories of childhood.
It was simply because this was also the direction to Manabi’s home.
At that moment, Kanade’s thoughts were completely overshadowed by the tragedy that might soon happen in Kawayano City.
No matter how beautiful the past memories had been, none could make him reveal even a trace of a genuine smile.
Unknowingly, they had already reached the small park they often visited in their childhood.
The park had undergone several renovations. Although the overall layout was quite different from before, some unchanged details still remained, exuding that unique atmosphere of childhood.
In the shade of the trees, the long benches they once loved were still there, and the faucet in the corner was still the same old style they used to use, with sunlight scattering through the leaves swaying in the breeze, casting mottled shadows.
Just as Kanade immersed himself in gentle nostalgia, his gaze suddenly paused—
At the other end of the park, two familiar figures were standing there.
……
“He told me Nagine is in great danger right now, and the special organization SEMA plans to eliminate her at all costs.”
“Eliminate… Nagine-chan? Why?”
The conversation from the previous world line proceeded as usual.
Facing Renji’s calm and steady words, Manabi frowned slightly.
Right at the moment Renji was about to respond to Manabi.
An abrupt voice came from beside them, interrupting their conversation.
“—Because they mistakenly see little Nagine as the true end itself.”
It was a voice they were incredibly familiar with, yet it felt somewhat strange to Manabi’s ears.
“Tsuki… Tsukimi-kun…?!”
Kanade’s figure, slowly walking towards them, made Manabi gasp in surprise, her beautiful ruby-like eyes widening slightly in shock.
She had been so focused on Renji’s words that she hadn’t noticed Kanade approaching.
But what shocked her even more was—
“Y-you… Why are you here… and Nagine-chan?!”
Manabi’s gaze quickly shifted from Kanade to the black-haired girl standing beside him.
Though both had obviously undergone a transformation, the latter’s stunning beauty and curvaceous figure, which even sunglasses couldn’t conceal, made her instantly recognize their identities.
Clearly, the two were supposed to be on the run to avoid SEMA’s pursuit.
However, while Manabi tried to sort out her thoughts about why the two, who should be eloping, suddenly returned to Kawayano City, Kanade’s earlier words finally surfaced in her mind.
“N-Nagine-chan is… the end? What does this mean?!”
Kanade’s statement had an overwhelming amount of information, even making the usually composed Manabi waver in response to the sudden shock.
And the other person present who also felt astonished was—Nagine herself.
—SEMA thinks I am the end?
For Nagine, who was in this “possibility,” it was the first time she heard this information.
—————–
Time rewinded a little earlier.
When Nagine woke up beside Kanade in the morning, she had already deduced that he had experienced a “rewriting of the world.”
But unfortunately, Nagine couldn’t gauge from Kanade’s expressed emotions just how many times he had “reverted” the world.
Though his appearance seemed different, he didn’t show much emotional fluctuation, making it impossible for her to infer—this was how many times he had reverted the world.
He concealed it well.
So well that she found it hard to see through.
For Nagine, it was just another ordinary night.
But upon waking up, the person lying next to her seemed like a different person altogether.
—Is this what it feels like to face a “time traveler”?
Nagine sighed softly in her heart.
Even though she had mentally prepared herself, when the day truly came, she realized that this sense of strangeness was stronger than she had imagined.
In the original game of “Star Pull 2,” this kind of discord is one of the foreshadowings for the male protagonist Kanade Tsukimi drifting apart from those around him—his parents, relatives, friends…even the world itself subconsciously rejects him.
They might not understand Kanade’s “abnormality,” but they could sense fear from deep in their souls.
Kanade’s existence was deviating from “the rules of the world.”
However, at this moment, Nagine didn’t feel fear; instead, she felt heartache.
—Because each reversion meant Kanade had gone through an irreversible farewell.
She longed to give the boy in front of her a warm embrace.
But she couldn’t.
She couldn’t expose herself.
Though they were so close, it felt as though a chasm separated them across time lines, reachable yet distant.
……
……
After Nagine and Kanade arrived at Kawayano City, Nagine quickly learned from Garuda—
The entire Kawayano City had been ambushed by special organization SEMA.
But this did not surprise her.
After all, in a sense, this was the result she had led to.
From the moment they stepped into the station, they had already fallen into SEMA’s surveillance.
Even though this time, they did not head to the trap SEMA had specifically set—the amusement park—Nagine could still clearly sense those hidden eyes quietly locking onto every move of her and Kanade.
But she was not concerned about those lurking figures.
Her attention was entirely focused on the small park not far away—
Manabi and Renji.
Her extraordinary senses, combined with Garuda’s power, allowed her to hear their conversation from a distance.
When Nagine heard those few key phrases, her heart suddenly tightened.
—Imitation Light?
—Memory?
—Setting?
These keywords stirred Nagine’s thoughts.
Just those few keywords made Nagine, the true “time traveler,” scent a taste of “breaking the fourth wall.”
In the original story of the “Star Pull” series, even though there were many setups resembling breaking the fourth wall, terminology like “setting” had never actually appeared.
This meant—
—Could it be that this world, apart from herself, has other “travelers”?
Having never encountered Imitation Light, Nagine couldn’t help but come up with a bold idea.
But this speculation was quickly shattered by the conversation between Manabi and Kanade.
The so-called “Imitation Light” was merely an imitation of the element overseer “revived” by the Star Academy through some means.
The information that seemed to be something only other travelers would know was nothing more than the consequence of “Imitation Light” having its own memories—
This fact made Nagine uneasy.
Though she didn’t know how Star Academy had “revived” copies with “their own” memories.
If what was called the “savior” title in her previous life was just a disguise, and the one destined to destroy this world was actually herself, the true “will” of “Light,”
Then which side does the “Imitation Light” with the memories of the “Element Overseer” stand on?
For a moment, Nagine didn’t know whether she should still trust SEMA and the three academies.
—SEMA and the three academies might have already been infiltrated by the “will of Light.”
