At 1:30 AM, Ichiko, who had just finished the last poster for the school's publicity department, turned off her computer and got into bed when she received a call from Haruko.
At this hour, Yuri was already lying in bed with a small light on, staying up late reading novels.
Her roommate Haruko's snoring hadn't stopped.
Ichiko knew Haruko well; at this late hour, if there wasn't something important, she would never call and disturb her, who might already be asleep.
After connecting the call, she asked.
But she heard a voice tinged with a slight tremble.
"Ichiko...do you really like me?"
There was no preamble, no cause, no reason, and nothing special had even happened all day today.
Why ask this?
Did someone say something to Haruko?
Ichiko felt a faint unease in her heart, and after a moment of silent contemplation, she said as gently as possible, "Haruko, what are you talking about? Of course I like you."
Even if it was fake, she couldn't show it in front of her.
However, the emotions on the other end of the phone seemed extremely fixated, seizing upon that moment of her silence.
"Since you like me...why did you hesitate when you answered?"
Ichiko was startled, "Haruko?"
"Beep beep beep—"
She looked down at her phone screen; the call had been hung up.
Yuri poked her head out and asked, "What happened?"
Ichiko pursed her lips and said, "I don't know, but Haruko's mood seems a bit unstable."
With that, she grabbed a coat and put it on, "I'm going out for a bit."
"Going over this late?!"
Yuri turned her head to look out the window. Through the faint light, she could see ice on the windowpane and heavy snow falling.
"It's not worth it. There's so much snow outside, I doubt you'll even be able to get a car easily. Plus, you have an 8 AM class tomorrow. If you skip Old Man Zhu's class and get two marks, you'll have to retake it."
Ichiko put on her gloves and scarf, exhaled, and said, "I'm worried. I'd better go check."
She reached out and shook her roommate's bed, "Haruko, where did you put your bicycle?"
The snoring stopped abruptly, and a lazy voice came, "Next to the public parking in Zone B, spot 21~"
Ichiko nodded and left without delay.
Yuri looked at the departing back and couldn't help but shake her head pityingly, "Having to constantly look after Haruko's emotions, even when she's so tired, she has to go over at the slightest disturbance. It's hard to say if being liked by someone like that is good or bad."
Haruko's lazy voice came again, "Why care so much about her? Turn off the light and go to sleep!"
Yuri's mouth twitched, "Why don't you get out of bed and turn it off? Were you even asleep or not?"
Haruko didn't speak, and faint snoring sounds started again.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Haruko hung up the phone and sat on the floor like a lost soul, leaning against the bed frame.
Even though the air conditioning was on in the room.
She felt a chilling cold to the bone.
Her mind was filled with the words spoken by the other self.
"Do you really like Ichiko? And does Ichiko really like you?"
And the flood of fabricated memories, scene after scene.
Was that truly a real dream?
Was I crazy back then?
Just because I loved that b*tch so much?
Is my feeling for Ichiko love or possession, or neither?
Am I... not normal?
Haruko clutched her head in pain. She could recognize that it was just a dream, that the content might be fabricated and not real.
But every time she thought of the scenes where her ex-girlfriend deceived her, a heart-wrenching pain would emerge, a pain as if someone was constantly telling her in her ear that those things were real.
The pathology report in the dream clearly stated "Selective Amnesia."
Was it forged, or did she really have amnesia, which is why she didn't have those memories?
Was the memory of being cooped up in the room in a daze for three months real?
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