Prove Your Eternal Love. There Shall Be No Heroine Correction. - Chapter 1 Part 3

『I’ll come to visit the Cultural Festival.』

When I returned to my room after taking a bath, I found a message on my smartphone. The sender was Tokiwa Minagi. I couldn’t help but smile to myself. It was not love, of course, but an inexpressible feeling of elation at the thought of the future relationship with my new special friend.

It was the end of July when I met Minagi for the first time in nearly a year. Nagisa arranged a meeting between the two of us.

It was at a cozy restaurant and lasted about two hours. We talked a lot about trivial things. About the girls’ school Minagi attended. About Nagisa at home. Then there were the memories of our dates, the true meaning of our fights, and the backstory of how we made up. Despite the topics we couldn’t talk about when we were dating, Minagi herself didn’t change at all, such as her habit of not eating at all because she was so absorbed in talking. So, I felt that our relationship had changed.

But neither of us talked about our recent love affairs. That was still an area that I felt a little embarrassed to mention. I wasn’t even ready to tell her that I love her sister.

『I would be in room 2A doing a haunted house.』

I didn’t get an immediate response, so I turned off the screen and went to my study desk. As I set it down by my desk, my phone shook fiercely.

『Ah』『I don’t mean that』『How should I put it?』『Is now a good time? I hope you’ll excuse me for this late night.』

A series of crisp, uncharacteristic Minagi-type sentences lined up in the notification box. I opened the message screen, marked it as read, and immediately received a phone call.

“What’s wrong, Minagi?”

I closed the open notebook with one hand and gently place the thick-grip pen back in the pen stand. Minagi had given it to me the other day as an early birthday present.

『Hmmm, a little bit. I just wanted to hear your voice, you know?』

I quickly respond with a small laugh and a goofy answer, to which I quickly replied, “Don’t lie to me.”

“I guessed most of it now. You’d rather not meet with me, but that’s about it.”

Was it a good thing or a bad thing to know what Minagi was thinking just from a trivial sentence? Somehow, I felt it was a bad thing.

『Oh, as expected of Suguru. You’re a quick talker. I don’t want to see you, I mean, well, it’s like, a better move.』

The pauses at some of the breaks in the sentence were not like Minagi. I guess that was also a new side of her that I could see now that we have parted ways. I snorted with laughter.

“I see. So you’re coming with your current boyfriend to check on your sister, right? So when we run into each other, I don’t have to pretend to be someone else, but I should read the air.”

『Eh, amazing. Did you get telepathic powers by any chance?』

Minagi began to giggle to herself. She always had that habit to say that herself. What an unrealistic setting.

『No, actually, there seemed to be someone Nagisa likes.』

“…Eh-heh. I see how it is.”

I was at a loss for a response. She wouldn’t expect that person to be on the other end of the phone.

『As a sister, I still want to make sure she is not falling for the wrong person.』

“I agree. Then, for example, two people are in love with each other, but the man is stuck in a bind of principle?”

『Eh, of course, he is a bad man.』

“…I know, right?”

『But still, that shut in Nagisa is finally in love. I am deeply moved. I can’t wait to see how I could pick on my brother-in-law.』

“Don’t do that.”

It was a tsukkomi from the bottom of my heart. The idea of Minagi becoming my sister-in-law was quite intense. But in order to face such a future, there was one answer I must find.

“Hey, Minagi. Since we’re here, can I ask you something?”

As I spoke, I got up from my seat, turned off the light, and crawled into bed.

『Hmm, if it’s something embarrassing.』

“Minagi…How did you come to like me before?

It was a question I had never asked Minagi before. A period of silence followed for a while.

『You know, Suguru. Did you hear what I said? That’s embarrassing. You’re embarrassed too, so you’re asking me with the room darkened and under covers, aren’t you?』

What was with the clairvoyance? I was somewhat embarrassed to think that she knew me as well as I know Minagi.

“…No, actually, there is a girl I’m kind of interested in right now. I’m just struggling with it. I don’t know why I like her… So, this is for that.”

After a pause, Minagi’s curious voice caressed my eardrums as she said, “Heh.”

『Suguru is kind of interesting.』

“That’s what my ex-girlfriend used to say. Did you always get a rise out of me every time I said that?”

『Ahaha, I ask you, on the contrary, what about you? Why do you like me? I didn’t even know you before you confessed your feelings for me.』

Thud. The heartbeat of my special first love reappeared in my chest. I could immediately recall the moment when my heart first shook, a moment that was still very important to me.

“…I happened to see you studying at the library near your place during summer vacation in the second year of middle school. You were studying material that is a year above. I thought it was amazing that you were always at the top of your class, and yet you never stopped working hard.”

Minagi and I were classmates at the same private middle school at that time. I was living an even lonelier school life than I was now, and she on the other hand was a perfect person: literate, good-looking, and a great talker. Of course, I had no idea where she lived, so I was terribly surprised that such an amazing person had suddenly appeared in my sphere of life.

“Since then, I’ve been following you with my eyes at school…and I’ve fallen in love with you. Ah, but come to think of it, my initial admiration was a misunderstanding on my part, and contrary to the truth.”

As I later found out, Minagi was not actually studying at the time. She was just receiving money from a senior member of her club and doing her summer vacation homework on her behalf.

『Ahaha, I see. That’s why you made such a funny face when you heard that. I can still remember how surprised you were.』

“…Please forget about it. Also, Minagi, you’re next.”

『Hmm. I, you know, I quite liked your confession. I like you, but you don’t know me, so you have to be my friend first, that. I thought, ‘he doesn’t seem to push his ideas on others.’ That’s how it all started. Well, it was contrary to the truth.』

“Eh, I don’t think so.”

『How are you so unaware?』

“I think I have heard that lately…”

『See? The reason why I fell in love with you is, surprisingly, something like this. So, you know, I don’t think it’s worth thinking about. What’s more important is—』

“What’s important?”

『—I’ll leave it there. I don’t think it’s right for me to say too much. I think Suguru would say that the answers you come up with on your own are the ones that mean something.』

Their laughs were very similar, and I simply replied, “Yes.” Really, I know exactly what you mean. She was absolutely right. If it were Shirase Suguru, he would definitely say so. But I couldn’t come up with such a simple argument. The old me, the current me, and the me in Minagi. I silently swallowed the slight discrepancy, the slight hitch in the relationship.

『Well, Suguru. I’ll see you at the Cultural Festival.』

“Got it. Well, you can come to our haunted house even when I’m not here. I recommend it, especially for couples.”

『Hmm, okay. I’ll look forward to it. Bye. Good night, Suguru.』

The same gentle tone of voice of good night as in the past made me feel very nostalgic. Alone in my futon, I let my cheeks fall open in defenselessness.

“Yeah. Good night, Minagi.”

After a few seconds of regrettable silence, the call was ended. I pulled my smartphone away from my ear, and the glaring light of the screen illuminated my face.

“—Good evening, Shirase Suguru-san! Are you awake?”

The room, which was supposed to be empty, was filled with a voice making me more nerve racking than usual.

“W-Who’s there!?”

I flung off the futon as hard as I could and sat up. A small figure was in the middle of the pitch-dark room. I hurriedly turned on the light with the remote control by my bedside—And there it was.

“Whaaa, please don’t do that all of a sudden. It’s blinding!”

It was a small child. It had blond hair with a slight quirk and a neutral, well-defined face. White bare skin from top to bottom, and it was naked. It was too young to be an intruder.

“Umm, are you…lost?”

“No way. How could a mere lost child sneak into a locked house and happily call you by your full name?”

“That’s why I wanted you to be lost. If you weren’t lost, then it meant trouble.”

The child smiled at me without paying attention to my quizzical gaze.

“Don’t treat me like it’s bothersome. That’s terrible, Shirase-san. Ah, my name is Ocupido, the angel. It has been a long time — but of course, you don’t remember me, do you?”

“You’re that kid who was peeking from the hallway the other day?”

The self-proclaimed angel in front of me looked exactly like that child I thought I had mistakenly seen on the day of the festival preparations.

“Ahh, that. Oh, so you caught me. That was just a little reconnaissance. I’ve actually met you before—”

“There’s no way.”

I was confident. There was no way I could forget meeting such a bizarre child. So I finally came to a point. This was a dream. I turned my back on the angel and reach for the can under my pillow. I pulled out an orange candy cane and placed it in my mouth—it tasted good. No way.

“Don’t, Shirase-san. If you eat candy before bed, you’ll get cavities.”

Before I knew it, Ocupido was upside down, as if suspended from the ceiling, staring at me. The moment I realized it, I screamed and fell to the floor. Ocupido let go of its foot on the ceiling and landed with a spin.

“Okay, I get it. I fully understand that you are real. But what on earth does an angel want with me? Is it to welcome me? Am I going to die here? No, am I already dead?”

“No, you seemed to be in some kind of trouble, so I just came here to help you.”

Its blue eyes, which seemed to see everything, met mine and didn’t look away. I gulped, gasping for air.

“Basically, Shirase Suguru-san. Don’t you want to get back the process that has disappeared?”

Those words were easily engraved into my mind.

The overflow of emotions that cannot be explained logically by any means. A process that was missing no matter how I looked at it. Why was I attracted to Nagisa? Mysterious phenomena were naturally caused by mysterious beings. The answer was right in front of me now. Then, naturally, I cannot help but ask.

“What exactly happened between me and Nagisa?”

“You two took part in a certain game. I hosted the 『Confession Quartet』— and according to the results of this game about love, your memories were rewritten, and your entire world was rewritten.”

“A game…rewritten the world? What the heck kind of game is that?”

“I’m afraid I can’t give you the full details.”

“A game that rewrites the world and you can’t tell me what it’s about? Can’t expect me to believe that, can you?”

It was so wildly absurd. Under normal circumstances, it would be hard to believe. However, weird feelings about Minagi disappeared, the realization that my memory of Aogashima-san was a fake, and me and Nagisa, who were attracted to each other despite the fact that there was no process. If the world and the process itself had been rewritten, at least it would explain all the discomfort I felt.

“In fact, the fact that your love for each other has remained was an unexpected and unusual situation for us…After much consideration, we have come up with a proposal for you. If you agree to it, I would give you back the memories of the world before it was rewritten.”

Ocupido bowed reverently. It was a fascinating story. I don’t know what the proposal was, but if the statement that we remained in love was true, then we were, in fact, in love, backed by a solid process. If I could get that back, there would be no need for me to worry about it now—

Hence, the hesitation was slight.

I took a step closer to Ocupido and gave a clear answer.

“—I refuse.”

For a moment, Ocupido’s eyes widened. Then, immediately, it grinned.

“Heh~, so that’s your choice, Shirase-san. Are you sure? Weren’t you quite troubled?”

“Yeah. Surely, my problems would be solved if I take you up on your offer. But if you’re right and the world has been rewritten as a result of the games I participated in — I’m sure I’ve created a process that would ensure that I could continue even if I forget it. The lack of process itself must have meaning. There was a process of no process. So I don’t think I would ever want to redo that choice I had made.”

The angel, named Ocupido, stared at me all over my face and then suddenly laughed, clapping its hands, with a clear “Aahahaha.” It was a look of genuine enjoyment, not the fake look it put on before.

“That’s good, that’s good, Shirase-san. You all──Truly, are gems that meet, no, exceeds expectations!”

“…You all? Wait. What do you mean by that?”

“You are not the only one I have approached to negotiate with. I have visited all four participants in the 『Confession Quartet』. And to my surprise, you all rejected my proposal. I was hoping at least one would want to, but this has turned out to be quite an interesting situation.”

Ocupido winked cutely and cowered amusedly. I don’t get it, what was so amusing about this development when it had not gone the way this angel wanted?

“What is your purpose for all of this?”

“My purpose? It’s hard to put it into one word, but yes, the most important thing at the moment is—Shirase-san. For you find out if you really can prove your eternal love!”

“Eternal, love…is it?”

There was no such thing as eternal love. If there was, it was only the result of love lasting forever.

That was my theory when I parted ways with Minagi.

Love, feelings, and the heart. It was impossible for them to remain unchanged. The human heart, relationship, and environment. Everything was transitory. Nothing was immutable. That was why it was important to strive to make love eternal.

“Eternal love does not exist anywhere in the world. So there is no way to prove…”

“Yeah, yeah. I know what you are thinking, and I know it well enough. But that’s not what we’re focusing on…No, I think I spoke a little too much.”

Ocupido, who had been speaking in a good mood, suddenly looked mystified and kept its mouth shut. Then it jumped on the spot twice and floated in the air, flapping its wings on its back.

“Well then, I hope we meet again somewhere, Shirase-san!”

“No, thank you. I don’t want to see you again.”

Somehow, I don’t harbor any good feelings toward this angel. I kept staring at Ocupido until it fully disappeared from my room.