I loaded the dream game

Just as Xia Zhi was waiting for the girl's answer...

"elder brother?"

Qin Li's urging voice came from outside: "Are you not done soaking yet?"

Ah, these 19...

As expected, he was found. I was delayed for a little too long.

But we're only halfway through the conversation, so it doesn't seem right to interrupt it like this

"Yeah... wait a moment." Xia Zhi responded casually.

"Really? Be careful not to get dizzy if you soak in the water for too long." The girl complained but reminded with concern.

"understood……"

The sound of the summer solstice stopped abruptly.

In front of him, the girl with short silver hair took half a step back.

Then, he grabbed his hand and placed it on her chest.

"...Brother?" Qin Li's voice was tinged with doubt at the sudden interruption of the boy's words.

Uh……

I'm busy now, can we talk later? Xia Zhi complained in his heart.

He said a few perfunctory words, and although he was not satisfied with the boy's response, Kotori still left after saying "Come out quickly, we're waiting for you outside."

Come to think of it, Kotori is just an ordinary girl in her daily life after all. It's unlikely that she would just break into the men's bathroom like someone else did.

"Can you feel it?" Origami looked up and asked him.

this……

"You are still young and have a lot of room for development," Xia Zhi said tactfully.

Origami shook her head slightly, pressed his hand tighter, and whispered, "My heartbeat is speeding up."

So this is what she made herself feel, Xia Zhi thought.

Just as the girl said, even if you don't feel it carefully, you can clearly feel the soft and smooth touch on your hands and the "thumping" heartbeat from her chest through the thin clothes.

Using my own heartbeat as a reference, it does feel a little faster.

"Not only that, just being touched by you like this will make my body temperature rise involuntarily, and the same is true over there..."

She looked into Xia Zhi's eyes and asked with a slightly red face:

"Would you like to confirm?"

Let’s just forget about this.

Xia Zhi curled the corners of his mouth.

"Just being close to you makes my body react like this involuntarily, and all kinds of thoughts pop up in my mind..."

Origami said softly, tilting her head slightly and asked

"Xia Zhi thinks, is it possible that this emotion is simply out of 'dependence' or 'gratitude'?"

Xia Zhi certainly knew about this.

He was not an inexperienced love novice, and especially when the girl was not hiding her feelings at all, he could naturally feel the affection and love she showed for him in her various actions. He just wanted her personal confirmation.

Although he had gained the girl's recognition, this was where the problem lay.

If it was just dependence and gratitude, then her "free" behavior could be explained, but it should be unlikely that she has such a great affection for me.

It has been said before that Origami's situation is extremely special even among the elves that have come to this world.

Even though she herself has admitted that she had a completely different encounter with herself than she did in the other timeline.

But the understanding of herself that she demonstrated in their subsequent interactions was far from being explained by having seen herself once in that time and space.

Xia Zhi had once been curious about the girl's origins and all the peculiarities and contradictions in her.

He had also speculated that if it was Origami who came to this world, then all this might be explained, but the Origami in front of him was very different from the girl he was familiar with in both character and appearance, which made him deny this speculation.

But what if this is really the case?

Origami in this world is Origami Tobiichi from another timeline, this is certain.

On the other hand, different timelines do not mean that they are two completely unrelated people. In some special cases, the special relationship between them will still make them be judged as the same "existence".

For example...

Xia Zhi recalled the words of Muyun and Tokisaki Kurumi in his mind, about the special existence of the origami elf girl named Tobiichi...

"…You are also a 'hero', right?"

He asked, looking into the girl's azure eyes.

.......

Chapter 1318: "Origami Tobiichi" is a Brave Man

Xia Zhi still remembers that Cong Yun once told him that the elf girl named Tobiichi Origami is a very special existence.

"She" who came to this world was already a hero before she became an elf.

It was also because of this that little Origami was able to accidentally break into the special world inside the sacred tree.

As a verification, when Xia Zhi tried to gather some divine power, this power from himself was integrated into the girl's body almost without any hindrance.

This is no wonder, after all, she already possessed extremely strong compatibility with divine power when she was a "child", and there is no reason why she cannot do the same now that she has grown up.

Originally, there was nothing special about this. The power called "divine power" was just an extraordinary power in the setting of this world. There was no essential difference between its positioning in their respective worlds and that of powers such as elves and magic. The so-called "hero" was just a name given to girls who could use divine power in this world.

But after the dream game used Cong Yun's power to connect all time and space of the past and present to add a new setting to this world, everything changed.

Possessing the same power connected to the sacred tree, the brave men and the priestesses who carry out the missions given by the sacred tree also possess this power that transcends time and space to a certain extent, allowing them to synchronize their memories and states with their "selves" on other different time planes.

This power was originally meant to allow heroes and priestesses to transcend the barriers of time and space singularities and "recall" the past. What would happen if it appeared in the possession of a hero who was already in the "past"?

"Hmm~"

Just as Xia Zhi was thinking about it, he suddenly heard the suppressed moan of a girl in his arms.

He lowered his head and saw the girl in his arms biting her lips lightly, her cheeks flushed with shyness, as if she was trying hard to endure something.

"...Can you please stop making weird noises?"

"But, it's very comfortable... Xia Zhi made me so happy." Origami replied with a red face.

So, can you please not use such ambiguous terms? Xia Zhi complained in his heart.

Of course, he also knew that the influx of divine power would cause some strange feelings, but this also depends on the individual's physique. After all, everyone's sensitivity to divine power is different.

At that time, "you" didn't show any strange reaction.

"How do you know that the 'me' at that time didn't feel anything?" Origami asked, tilting her head slightly.

Ah this...

Xia Zhi thought about Xiao Origami's reaction at that time... Could it be that she was actually enduring it secretly at that time?

...No, no.

He shook his head vigorously, pulling his thoughts back to the fact that Origami was a hero, and noticed another problem.

Unlike others, due to her own interference, the girl named Tobiichi Origami can actually be said to be a special existence who is in two different timelines at the same time.

As an existence separated from the original timeline, there is no logical temporal connection between Origami and Origami in front of her like there is between Natsuori and Young Origami, but they are two different independent existences.

If the mere fact that she "has the physique of a brave man" is enough to allow her to synchronize with Origami, then conversely, why didn't Origami in the future synchronize her memories?

Xia Zhi recalled the time when Nanashi saved her from death with his divine power, and she followed him and brought the memory of the "future" back to the past.

Could it be that... the opportunity was actually myself?

At that time, I rescued the silver-haired girl who I had saved from the burning house, and also used my divine power to heal her body.

Was it because of this reason that she became her own hero at that time, and thus formed a connection with Origami, who was also her own hero?

"For me at that time, it was like another experience suddenly appeared..."

The girl raised her head slightly, looked into his eyes and said

At that moment, the boundary between memory and dream seemed to overlap, and reality had never been so blurred.

However, after waking up from the "dream", the girl knew very well that the memories in the dream were not her own.

The girl in the memory is both myself and not myself.

Those happy, blessed, and redeemed experiences... all do not belong to me...

"I am very aware that it is not 'my' experience, but at the same time... I also see 'her' dependence on you."

Origami continued to speak softly.

And the redemption that “she” obtained.

"I envy the Origami that you saved."

"If you can save 'her', then you can also save me who is trapped in the abyss... That's what I thought at the time."

So, when the boy ".‖" appeared in front of her again, all she wanted was to... grab her own salvation as much as possible. Origami thought so in her heart and hugged the boy tighter.

"..."

Looking at the girl who had fallen silent in his arms, Xia Zhi breathed a sigh of relief.

Her words confirmed her own guess.

Just as he had thought before, two people who existed independently on different timelines, under certain special circumstances, the special relationship between them still made them be judged as the same "existence".

...Although they are two independent entities, can they achieve an effect similar to that of one mind and one body through this method?

Xia Zhi sighed in his heart, his thoughts returned to the sea of ​​fire at the beginning, and the change in the girl's attitude after seeing him.

So that's why she asked me at that time whether I was here to save her?

...Unknowingly, I had promised such an important thing.

but

Xia Zhi realized something else: "This still doesn't explain your feelings towards me, right?"

Even if she possessed the memory of another Origami, it could only explain her familiarity and dependence on herself.

unless……

"It's just what you think."

The girl's words rang in his ears, and the next moment, the familiar soft touch came from his lips again, interrupting Xia Zhi's thoughts.

"I like you wearing it."

The girl gently lowered her tiptoes, with a slight blush on her face, raised her head, stared into his eyes and continued

"I like you more than anyone else."

Not only compared with others, but also with the other self in the "future"

"I made that decision back then, not entirely out of an exchange of wishes..."

.......

Chapter 1319: To some extent, this can also be considered a Shura field, right?

Brother, isn’t it soaked yet?

While chatting with the girls, Kotori glanced in the direction of the men's bath, a hint of doubt in her eyes.

As for the duration of bathing, even in the bathhouse, this time it was a bit too long... I don't remember him liking bathing so much "before"?

... Fortunately, that guy has gone back.

Otherwise, if I wait here for such a long time, I probably won't be able to continue chatting with her.

Just as Kotori was thinking this, she suddenly saw the curtain of the bath being lifted, and the girl with short silver-white hair that she had just been talking about appeared in front of her.