Humanity has a fondness for various fictional worlds in literature; the beauty absent from reality unfolds in realms they cannot touch. They pursue, long for, and explore, investing their emotions in people and worlds that do not truly exist.
Are they unaware that it is fake? No, they know better than anyone. But pain is not something you can ignore simply by being conscious of it; it penetrates the marrow, following you like a shadow.
...
The disappearance of Yama was a major event, yet Lin did not panic much. For one, every time the bell rang, Lin would fall into a groggy state, while Yama fared much better—she might have gone ahead to investigate the surroundings. Secondly, Yama was a Herrscher; even if her authorities hadn't fully returned, it was unlikely she would encounter any real danger.
For now, he needed to pay attention to what exactly was happening here.
Lin found himself in a shopping mall. He had some memory of it—this was the largest mall in Nagazora City, a landmark of the most prosperous district.
So, he had returned to Nagazora... Yama wish, the location of its fulfillment, was the very city where Lin used to live.
He walked to the entrance of the mall. The sensor doors slid open automatically, and intense sunlight struck his eyes, causing him to squint slightly. In a daze, he felt as if he had returned to the normal world: vibrant colors, bustling streets filled with people, and...
His tongue throbbed with a faint ache. Every slight movement brought a subtle taste of blood; clearly, it hadn't healed yet.
Ding—
The sensor doors continued to open and close. A person who seemed to have a layer of separation from the world stood at the entrance, quietly remaining still under the flickering lights of the automatic door.
The wound on his tongue was not healed.
Logically, as time passed after the bell rang, his body should have been reset, and all previous injuries should have been completely healed.
Ice crystals formed in his dark eyes, which were tinged with a faint fluorescent green. He turned his head to look at the calendar hanging on the mall wall. The bright red calendar was hung prominently next to the clock for people to check the date and time. Those sharp Roman numerals informed Lin of the current time.
Has it come back again... or rather...
A bus approached from the end of the road. Lin glanced at the time again. If he remembered correctly, there were thirty minutes left before the lunch break at Chiba Academy ended, and this bus route happened to include Chiba Academy.
Ding—
The automatic doors opened. Lin walked toward the stationary bus and boarded with practiced ease. But just as he was about to find a seat, the driver called out to him.
"Young man, you haven't paid yet." The weathered middle-aged man looked like he had decades of driving experience.
"..."
Lin froze for a moment, then searched his entire person. He even turned his inner pockets inside out; they looked cleaner than his face.
"Can I pay later?"
"Can you get off?" the driver asked expressionlessly.
There was no way around it. Lin hadn't lived in the normal outside world for a long time. Members of Fire Moth never had to consider what vehicle to take or how much to spend. Except for Vil-V—it was said that before she took over the Divine Key project, she used to blow up the Helix Workshop three times a month just to scam repair fees; the budget allocated to the Engineering Department was never enough for her alone.
He seemed to have become disconnected from the normal world.
Just as Lin intended to get off and simply walk there, a student bus card swiped twice on the reader: "I'll pay for him."
"Hm? Fine." The middle-aged driver didn't care to say more; as long as the fare was paid.
"Thank you," Lin said to the person.
The other party replied coldly, "It's nothing."
Hearing the voice, Lin found it somewhat familiar. He turned his head slightly and saw a familiar, magnificent face. She still wore no expression, like a sculpture carved from an iceberg. Her long silver-white hair draped casually behind her, and she wore the Chiba Academy student uniform just as before.
No, there was a slight difference. Lin saw something in the space between her brows that he hadn't seen before.
Seeing that Lin didn't move, she shifted her gaze slightly toward the space behind him. Seeing there were empty seats, she took a step forward without a word and said coldly, "Move."
Lin stepped aside instinctively. He watched her pass in front of him, walk to the last row, sit by the window, and put on her earphones.
Lin didn't find that the other party had any intention of communicating with him. Moreover—he wasn't sure if it was an illusion—Lin felt that when she looked him over just now, her eyes held only unfamiliarity. It wasn't the usual loathing or anger; it was a very pure sense of being a stranger.
This made Lin feel that perhaps things were more complicated than he had imagined.
However, Lin did not rashly disturb her. Instead, he found a nearby seat and sat down, pretending not to know Yama. He quietly used the reflections from the glass and the rearview mirror to observe her.
Yama leaned her head against the transparent window, her beautiful bangs covering one of her eyes. She listened to music while staring blankly out the window. She wasn't looking at any specific point, nor was she looking at the scenery; she was simply performing the act of "looking."
She sat two spaces away from the others in the back row, projecting a heavy sense of distance. A somewhat lethargic high school girl—she looked difficult to approach.
When the bus braked suddenly, she hurriedly braced herself against the seat in front of her, and her head bumped against the glass. She rubbed her forehead, then continued listening to music as if nothing had happened, though this time she sat slightly further away from the glass.
She looked as normal as could be. Even her bag and phone had small ornaments and decorations that were hard to notice. She was just a cold girl one could find anywhere.
And it didn't look like an act at all.
When Yama took out a lollipop and was about to unwrap it, she felt something and looked up to scan the surroundings. Lin turned his head back and stared straight ahead.
Something had gone wrong with Yama wish.
Back when the first wish was made, the two of them had noticed: Lin hadn't actually wished on the Monkey's Paw for his parents to return, yet that desire existed within his heart, and the Paw fulfilled it. And when Yama wanted to wish for the two of them to disappear, she didn't truly want to kill them in her heart, so the Paw didn't grant it.
In other words, the Monkey's Paw did not fulfill what they said with their mouths, but the true cravings within their hearts.
Now that humanity had returned, it meant Yama truly hoped the outcome for humanity could be changed. But at the same time, some of her thoughts regarding herself seemed to have deviated, causing her to lose her memory and revert to the student at Chiba Academy from the "second cycle."
Then... what about him? What role was Lin playing?
"Chiba Academy, next stop..."
The announcement for the stop pulled Lin out of his thoughts. He watched Yama get off the bus and stood up himself.
Perhaps, he was no one at all. She hated Lin, so in her world, Lin did not exist.
"Your very existence is a mistake, and I am correcting that mistake."
The words Yama had spoken echoed in Lin ears.