A light veil of rain hung in the air, like a dreamlike curtain drawn over the world. The drizzle blurred the moon above, and Kazami Haru stood beneath it, soaked, gripping his phone so tightly his fingers turned white.
This cursed simulator... was it really not going to affect his real life?
Why did the mont he imrsed himself in this simulation, he feel a panic rising in his chest?
Was it because Ikuyo Kita had vanished in this kind of weather?
Drip... drop...
The rain cast the whole street in a dull gray. The air was heavy, thick with moisture and dust. It clung to his lungs, as if even breathing had beco difficult.
"Haru? Haru?"
"What's going on over there?"
Ryo's cool voice ca through the phone. But her words were hurried, he could tell she was flustered.
Snapped back by her voice, Haru forced himself to calm down.
"I'm going to find Ikuyo. Ryo, go call Nijika and the others. Tell them to check STARRY and the Shimokitazawa area."
Without waiting for a response, he hung up.
There was no more ti to waste.
He wasn't going to stumble around like a headless chicken.
After entering this virtual reality simulation in person, Kazami Haru was struck by a strange certainty. Sohow, he could sense where Ikuyo might have gone, as if sothing beyond him was guiding his steps.
It was just a hunch. But not impossible.
The rain was falling harder now, blurring his vision. On the wide street, apart from passing cars, there were only a few pedestrians carrying umbrellas. The dark, muted colors of their umbrellas rged with the translucent rain, casting a subdued, almost oppressive atmosphere.
Fat drops of rain mixed with city dust landed in his hair. The black ribbon tying his ponytail had co undone in the relentless downpour. Wet strands clung to his cheeks.
Other than the rain, there was only silence.
Cold. Exhaustion. Fatigue.
What the "VR" gave him was a 100% hyperrealistic experience.
"If I don't find her soon..."
He tried putting himself in her shoes.
Ikuyo had fled her ho in a storm of guilt and sorrow. Where would soone like her go first?
It might've been self-centered to think so, but Haru believed soone who cared as deeply as Ikuyo did would instinctively go to a place filled with mories of him.
"The place where I confessed for the first ti."
Kazami Haru quickened his pace again.
Clouds gathered, swallowing the last remnants of light. The world faded into shadow.
Guided by his mory, Haru arrived at the KTV where his bond with Ikuyo had first begun. The place where, during his first simulation, he confessed to her, just near that pedestrian overpass.
(TL Note: KTV, or Karaoke Television)
Panting heavily, Haru fixed his eyes on the street beneath the bridge.
"There she is."
He finally spotted her.
A lone figure in a white dress with fiery red hair walked slowly along the blurred edge of the road. Her pace was calm, like soone strolling without purpose, but the heaviness of her movents betrayed her despair.
That beautiful, solitary silhouette, it was heartbreakingly fragile.
"Ikuyo!"
His voice cut through the rain, and the girl stopped mid-step.
She turned her head slowly, as if her body could hardly respond. That fla-red hair clung to her cheeks, and her white dress was completely drenched.
Her eyes widened, shocked that Haru had found her.
Seeing that familiar curve at the corner of his lips, her nose tingled. It was the kind of smile she'd never forgotten.
Even after everything she had done...
Not only had she lashed out at Ryo-senpai like a madwoman, she had taken Haru's presence for granted, treating his love as sothing owed to her. And after pushing him away, she'd wanted to snatch him back, how shaful.
Yet he stood there, without the slightest trace of bla. His eyes, black as pearls, still shone with that gentle light.
The mont she saw them, Ikuyo Kita's heart skipped uncontrollably. All the pain and regret she'd been holding in surged out. Her nails dug into the hem of her soaked dress.
Tears—warm and endless—spilled from her eyes and mingled with the cold rain.
"I—I'm sorry..."
"I should've answered your feelings long ago. Everything turned out like this because I was so full of myself. I always loved you too, but I never once asked how you felt!"
"Ryo-senpai was right... I really was just thinking about myself—"
She took a step toward Kazami Haru, her face now a ssy patchwork of tears and rain.
Her words stumbled through choked sobs, but she still tried so hard to explain everything to him.
She wanted to apologize. To run into his arms and pour out all her feelings.
No matter if he yelled at her or turned her away. No matter what happened next—she had to tell him how she felt.
She had caused him so much pain. She was sorry.
This ti—she would be the one to confess.
"Haru—"
Before she could finish, the smile on Kazami Haru's face suddenly vanished.
From the distance ca a blinding flash of light, followed by the shriek of a horn, sharp and piercing.
Ikuyo Kita turned toward the sound.
That stark white beam cut through the darkened rain like a blade. She didn't even have ti to react. A sudden weightlessness swept over her—
Kazami Haru didn't have ti to think. Instinct took over.
Screeeeech!!!
The ergency brake didn't stop the inevitable. In this thick, blurred curtain of rain, there was no ti to respond.
"Ah—!"
Ikuyo Kita hit the ground hard, her knee scraping against the asphalt. Crimson blood blood across the hem of her white dress, but she stared ahead, numb to the pain.
It wasn't until monts later that her golden-green pupils constricted violently. Her irises trembled.
She let out a helpless whimper and scrambled forward with all her strength.
"No—no..."
Ikuyo Kita reached out and cradled his head in her arms. Her once pale hands were now stained red. Regaining her composure with effort, she tried to dial ergency services, but her trembling fingers couldn't hold the phone, it slipped and tumbled to the ground.
In the distance, help was already on its way.
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