Chapter 84: (Future Timeline) Farewell, The Last Clow Card
After hearing this story, Chiba's expression became extremely complicated, as if he were listening to some Arabian Nights fairy tale.
"You're saying... me? I agreed to let a Clow Card go free? And let you be a babysitter for some girl for over ten years?"
"You don't believe me? As for what you were thinking at the time, I'm not sure either."
The Song card seemed to see through his thoughts, the smile at the corner of her mouth growing deeper.
"However, given that this was a decision made by your future self, when you return to that correct point in time and encounter us from back then, you'll naturally understand."
"Also, one more thing—in my heart, you're actually a very gentle person."
The corner of Chiba's mouth twitched.
Getting a nice guy card from a Clow Card?
Now that was a novel experience.
No wonder he'd just searched through his entire brain and couldn't recall this plot. Turns out this event hasn't even happened yet.
This was a decision made by the future Kazama Chiba. And the current him was merely an executor who had arrived at this point in time to collect on this foreshadowing.
"Fine."
Chiba sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out the Sealing Key.
"So the current script is... the time limit's up, and you're going to be captured by me, right?"
"Correct."
The Song card nodded.
"Only when you seal me can you gather the Clow Cards' power and convert it into your own strength."
"However, before that, please... allow me to say goodbye to Kazue."
Chiba nodded, indicating his agreement.
"Thank you."
The Song card bowed once more.
Then The Song card looked toward Komichi Kazue, who had been standing nearby the whole time, her expression shifting from bewilderment to horror.
"Kazue."
"I have to leave."
"Sister... are you really leaving?"
"Yes."
The Song card reached out and gently caressed Kazue's cheek, her movements as tender as if handling the world's most precious treasure.
"Although I'm sorry for hiding this from you all along, I am a Clow Card. As a Clow Card, my fate has long been decided."
"But..."
Kazue's voice choked up.
"But I still haven't... I still have so many things I want to say to you, sister..."
"Silly child."
The Song card smiled. That smile held no sadness, only complete satisfaction.
"Thirteen years. We've said everything that needed to be said. You're no longer that little girl who cried while hiding behind me. You have your own voice, your own stage, your own life."
"The happiness you've given me these years is enough for me to savor for a lifetime."
"Sister!"
Komichi Kazue couldn't hold back anymore. Tears burst from her eyes as she threw herself into The Song card's embrace.
Though she'd vaguely suspected her sister wasn't an ordinary person, she'd never imagined her sister would leave.
Since childhood, her sister had been her everything.
It was her sister who protected her when she was bullied, her sister who stayed with her during singing practice, her sister who stood behind her throughout her journey to fame.
Now she was being told all of this would disappear?
"I don't care... I don't want sister to leave!!"
"Don't cry, Kazue. Listen to me."
The Song card reached out and gently wiped away the tears on her face.
"I've already accompanied you very far. From that little girl who could only cry while hiding under blankets, to the big star now shining brilliantly on stage... I've seen it all."
"Whether I'm by your side or not, you must keep singing. Not for fame and fortune, not for your fans, but for yourself."
The Song card glanced at Chiba.
"And I must return home as well. Return to my true master's side, to complete my unfinished mission."
"But..."
"No buts."
The girl lowered her head and gently kissed the girl's forehead.
"Remember, as long as you're still singing, I'll forever exist within your songs."
"So please don't forget that voice."
"Sister..."
"Promise me."
Kazue closed her eyes. Tears slid down her cheeks, finally transforming into a weak but resolute nod.
"I promise you."
"Good girl."
The Song card showed her final smile.
She released Kazue, turned to face Chiba, and spread her arms wide.
Without saying a word, yet expressing more than a thousand words could convey.
Chiba watched this scene, his expression softening slightly.
Though he disliked this kind of sentimental drama, he didn't hate those who kept their promises.
Since this was a hole dug by his future self, then he would fill it in.
Chiba raised his staff and lightly touched its tip to The Song card's forehead.
"Clow Card, I command you... return to your original form!"
The staff descended.
"Whooom—!!"
A brilliant purple light burst forth from the girl's body.
Her body began to become transparent, transforming into countless dancing musical notes that circled once through the air before finally converging into an exquisite card that slowly drifted into Chiba's hand.
On the card's surface, that purple-dressed girl still maintained her singing posture, as if still singing that unfinished song.
And at the corner of her eye, there still seemed to remain a trace of an undried tear.
Silence returned to the corridor.
Only Komichi Kazue remained, kneeling on the ground, covering her face and releasing suppressed sobs.
Chiba looked at the card in his hand, then glanced at the crying girl before turning to leave.
Outside the door, the pink-haired girl who had been pressing her ear against the door suddenly lost her support and tumbled forward with a yelp, landing at Chiba's feet.
"..."
Their eyes met.
The air suddenly became very awkward.
"Um... Dad..."
Bocchi lay on the ground, looking at those shoes so close at hand, and forced out two dry laughs.
"I-I was just passing by..."
This excuse was so lame that even a single-celled paramecium wouldn't believe it, yet coming from her mouth, it somehow carried a few traces of self-hypnotizing sincerity.
Chiba didn't speak.
But that wordless oppressive feeling was more lethal than any mockery.
Bocchi's cold sweat instantly began flowing.
It's over.
This time it's really over.
That fall just now was definitely recorded in the little notebook! Add it to the previous attempted patricide... with multiple crimes combined, this is definitely an immediate execution situation!
Just as Bocchi was already composing her last words in her mind and considering whether to reincarnate as a sea cucumber or a rock in her next life, Chiba finally spoke.
"Since you've delivered yourself to me, it saves me the trouble of searching. Kerberos said you have a Return card that can send people back to their own timeline, right?"
"Eh?"
Bocchi froze for a moment, then reflexively nodded, the motion as rapid as pounding garlic.
"Yes! And I've been carrying it with me the whole time!"
She fumbled frantically through the side pocket of her guitar case covered in various bizarre stickers and pulled out a card printed with a clock pattern.
Chiba looked at that card, satisfaction flashing in his eyes.
As long as he had this thing, he could leave this inexplicable future and return to the world that belonged to him.
As for what this world would become afterward, that was none of his business.
"Let's make a deal. Use this card to send me back, and I'll pretend that incident in the crater never happened. How about it?"
"R-Really?!"
Bocchi's eyes instantly lit up.
"Just by sending Dad back... I don't have to commit seppuku? I won't be expelled from the family? I won't be hung on a lamppost for public display?"
"No."
Chiba nodded and even kindly added another line.
"And I won't report you to that old bastard in this world... I mean, to my future self. This incident never happened."
Hearing this, Bocchi finally fully realized that the father before her was the young version from a parallel timeline.
However, regardless of which world the father came from, as long as she could be absolved of the crime of patricide, Bocchi was naturally a hundred percent willing.
Bocchi immediately began her incantation.
"The Return!"
With the infusion of magical power, the card transformed into a massive ring of light suspended in midair.
At the ring's center was a deep spacetime vortex, within which countless flowing lines could vaguely be seen—those were pathways leading to the past.
Powerful suction emanated from the vortex, making Chiba's clothes flutter dramatically.
Just as he was about to step into that passage, Ichiri suddenly remembered something and, as if possessed by a ghost, asked a question.
"Um... Dad?"
Probably because the crisis had been resolved, this girl's thought process began diverging in strange directions again.
Since he was the father from the past...
Did that mean he could solve some problems that the current father couldn't?
For example... that terrifying Shuraba?
"Since you're already here... won't you really come sit at home?"
Bocchi asked weakly, her eyes carrying a hint of probing.
"The mothers... if they knew you came, they'd definitely be very happy..."
"The mothers... plural?"
Chiba's footsteps halted.
He turned his head and looked at Bocchi, digesting that vocabulary.
If he hadn't misheard, this girl had just used the plural form, right?
That's quite a lot of information.
So not only did his future self open a harem, but he married them all and brought them home?
And from the tone, these women were all living together?
That mental image was too beautiful. Just imagining it made Kazama Chiba's scalp tingle.
"No."
Without any hesitation, without even a second of consideration.
Chiba decisively refused.
He had absolutely zero interest in this kind of development that sounded like a harem anime.
Whatever romantic debts the parallel world version of himself had racked up was that old Chiba's business. What did it have to do with him, a pure and innocent seventeen-year-old high school student?
Besides.
Right now, he was just a single aristocrat who wanted to gather power and pursue absolute freedom.
That kind of domestic drama filled with mundane concerns and scheming—he'd leave it for his future self who had already become a middle-aged wage slave to slowly enjoy.
With that said, he ignored Bocchi's expression that instantly fell, turned around, and walked toward that brilliantly glowing spacetime vortex.
In the final moment before his body was completely swallowed by the light.
He turned back and took a deep look at Komichi Kazue, still crying in the corner over her sister's departure.
The karmic cycle was complete.
That little girl from the past had grown up.
The current him was merely a passerby in this long span of time.
The road ahead would ultimately have to be walked by them on their own.
Carrying this karmic resolution that transcended spacetime, Chiba's figure completely disappeared into the light, leaving this 2038 that belonged to the future.
...
"Whooom—"
After a brief ringing in his ears.
Before that unique dizziness of spacetime travel had completely faded, the clamor of human voices had already surged over like a tidal wave.
Chiba opened his eyes.
What met his gaze were bustling crowds, cosplayers in various bizarre costumes, and that massive Kurokawa Manga Exhibition hall.
He glanced down at the clock on the venue wall.
October 29th, 10:00 AM sharp.
Looks like The Return card had sent him back to the place where he'd originally left this world.
"Phew..."
Chiba let out a long breath. That feeling of standing on solid ground finally allowed his tense nerves to relax.
However, now wasn't the time for sentimentality.
Since he already knew the future script, he needed to go fill in that hole that hadn't been filled yet.
He didn't linger long at the manga exhibition. Moving against the flow of people, he quickly walked out of the venue.
A few minutes later.
That familiar street, that somewhat run-down alley entrance.
A little girl who looked somewhat down on her luck was crouching on the flower bed by the roadside, tightly clutching the few bills that big brother had given her earlier in her hands.
She was still in a daze, wondering why that person had shown such a complicated expression.
Suddenly a pair of familiar shoes appeared in her line of sight.
"Big brother? Why did you come back?"
Little Kazue looked up in surprise, those clear large eyes filled with confusion.
"Did you forget something?"
Chiba didn't respond to her question.
He just stood a few meters away from the girl. His gaze didn't fall on her, but rather looked toward the empty air behind her.
"Come out, Song card."
The air was eerily quiet.
Only the vague sound of traffic from the distant street could be heard.
"I know you're here."
Chiba's Sealing Staff had somehow already appeared in his palm.
"This is the only chance for negotiation. If you don't show yourself now..."
He paused, his tone suddenly turning cold.
"Next time we meet, it'll be forced sealing. At that point, whether you want to protect someone or go somewhere, it won't be up to you. And don't blame me for being ruthless."
This naked threat indeed proved effective.
Just as Kazue stood there bewildered, not knowing who big brother was talking to.
The air behind her suddenly distorted.
Countless purple musical notes appeared out of thin air like fireflies, then rapidly converged into the figure of a girl wearing a white dress.
It was The Song card.
At this time, she didn't yet have the composure and tranquility of her future self. Her face was filled with nervousness and unease.
The Song card looked at Chiba with some fear, then as if making some kind of resolution, slowly descended and positioned herself in front of the bewildered little girl.
"Truly worthy of... Lord Clow's successor."
Just as her future self had described.
The Song card didn't try to resist, nor did she run away.
She merely used a posture humble to the dust to lower her head before this young man she'd met less than a minute ago.
"I mean no harm. I'm staying here only because this child... is too young. She just lost her parents, has no relatives. If I leave too, she really won't be able to survive."
"So please... let me stay. Even if only as a card, even without a physical form... as long as I can watch her grow up, as long as I can care for her until adulthood... even if you don't come afterward, I'll go find you myself and willingly let you capture me."
"I agree."
Chiba suddenly spoke, interrupting her spellcasting.
"Eh?"
The Song card froze.
She'd prepared a whole belly full of words, prepared countless reasons, even mentally prepared herself to beg on her knees.
And yet he... gave her the answer before she finished?
"But I have one condition."
Chiba put away the Sealing Staff in his hand.
"Eighteen years from now—that is, June 7th, 2038—you must go to the Live House in Shimokitazawa. At that time, regardless of whether you're willing or not, regardless of whether that brat amounts to anything, you must appear there and accept my sealing."
"Until then, you can act freely. But remember, once the contract is made, there's no room for regret. Can you do it?"
The Song card stared at him blankly.
She hadn't expected happiness to come so easily.
Originally she'd already prepared herself for a desperate fight or bitter pleading, yet this seemingly cold young man had so decisively let her go?
As for the date and location...
Though she didn't know why this lord would set such a precise date, for her current self, this was practically a divine blessing.
Eighteen years.
That was enough.
Enough for her to watch this child grow up, enough for her to teach her all the songs.
"I can!!"
The Song card said gratefully with tears in her eyes.
"Thank you! Thank you!!"
"I swear in the name of the Clow Cards! I will absolutely uphold this contract! Even if shattered to pieces, I will protect this child until that day arrives!"
"Enough."
Chiba waved his hand, not wanting to receive this grand gesture.
"Remember your oath."
After the karmic loop closed, Chiba said nothing more and turned to leave.
Just then, little Kazue's tender voice came from behind him.
"Big brother! Thank you! Um, what's your name?"
His footsteps paused for a moment, then he said.
"Kazama Chiba."
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