Tokyo: My Girlfriend

A very bad feeling welled up in Shinichi Kitagawa's heart.

She hung up the phone, found Kitagawa Rena's cell phone, and called back, but no one answered.

He ran down from the rooftop and went to the classroom to check, but as expected, he didn't find Kitagawa Rena.

Rena isn't the type to put things off until the next day. If she saw Rena and Hina together in the teaching aids room, why didn't she come over and interrupt? That's not like Rena's style.

Has something happened again...?

"Shinichi? What's wrong? You look so pale. Are you feeling unwell?" Aoki Akemi noticed the cold sweat on Kitagawa Shinichi's forehead and didn't understand what had happened.

Shinichi Kitagawa spotted Kana Sato in the classroom and asked her if anything unusual had happened while she was with Rena that day.

Since Rena didn't go to the rooftop for lunch, she should have gone to the student social gathering with Kana.

Kana Sato replied, "At noon, she went with me to help resolve a girl's relationship problems, but Rena seemed a bit off today."

"Relationship problems?"

"It's about a girl's childhood sweetheart falling in love with someone else."

"And then what?"

Seeing the other girl's reaction, Sato Kana sensed something was wrong and anxiously said, "Then she said she wanted to go home and take a nap, and then she came to school in the afternoon..."

"Did she go home at noon?"

"Hmm... What's wrong, Shinichi? What happened?"

Kitagawa Shinichi's ominous premonition grew stronger, and he ran quickly down the school building, where he saw Haruhi Hina also hurriedly pushing her bicycle towards him.

"Xin Yi! How's it going? Did you find her at school? I've looked everywhere and can't find her. Do you think she might have left school?"

Shinichi Kitagawa pondered, "I don't know where she'll go. Can I borrow your bicycle, Hina?"

As Haruhi watched Kitagawa Shinichi ride his bicycle away from the school gate, she shouted, "Shinichi!"

Shinichi Kitagawa shouted from afar, "I believe Rena will be alright!"

Haruhi Hina was moved and quickly went to borrow a colleague's car, hoping to help search for Kitagawa Rena.

Shinichi Kitagawa gritted his teeth and pedaled with all his might back to his house, running towards Rena's bedroom.

The bedroom was in a mess. A black rabbit plush toy lay diagonally on the floor, as if it had been thrown into a corner. The blankets on the bed were crooked, and slippers were also thrown next to the bed.

She even went out barefoot?

Just as Shinichi Kitagawa was about to turn around, he caught a glimpse of a hair clip lying in the trash can—a hair clip with a cat's head on it.

The style is very old-fashioned, and it's exactly the same as the rabbit hair clip in the Finnish warehouse.

Shinichi Kitagawa's pupils trembled as he continued riding his bicycle to search for possible locations.

This includes the shops they frequented, the riverbank, the meadows, and the places where she and Kana Sato had picnics.

There was no one anywhere.

As he rode to a riverbank, he suddenly slammed on the foot brake and turned to look at the mountain behind him.

I had told her more than once that there was a lake on the back mountain of Kabasaki Town that could allow people to be reincarnated, and that my parents had even been there together.

When he first came to Kabasaki Town, he took Rena to see it, and everything seemed to be destined to be similar.

Shinichi Kitagawa sped towards the back of the mountain. Seeing that there was only one stone staircase leading up the mountain, he abandoned his bicycle and continued up the mountain in two strides.

"Reina!"

----------------

At noon, a gentle breeze stirred the white curtains in the bedroom. A girl with long silver hair lay on the bed, her brows furrowed and her face pale. Kitagawa Rena's forehead was covered in a fine layer of cold sweat, and nightmares were haunting her thoughts.

The dream started with the childhood friends' story at noon, followed by a sudden scene of Shinichi Kitagawa and Hina Kasuga embracing and kissing each other on their date, and being intimate in bed.

In those scenes, she was like someone chained to the wall, forced to watch helplessly as Shinichi Kitagawa and Hina Kasuga became intimate.

In her dream, she accused Haruhi Hina of being shameless and denounced this despicable woman.

Why did she dare to appear in her and Shin-il's world without permission? She has already taken away countless things from her, and now she wants to take away the most important person in her life as well.

If she dares to untie the chains, I'm sure I can make Xin change his mind!

Then the chains in the dream opened by themselves, and Haruhi Hina on the bed kissed Kitagawa Shinichi's neck, gently saying to her, "Now that the chains are gone, come and take Shinichi away."

Just as Kitagawa Rena was about to take a step, she discovered that the chain had broken, yet she still couldn't move.

It felt as if ten thousand pounds of lead were weighing down beneath my feet.

Haruhi Hina asked curiously, "Why don't you dare come over? Didn't you say I took Shinichi away? That I stole your happiness? Well, your happiness is right here, why don't you come and take it?"

"Why..." Kitagawa Rena wondered why she still couldn't move forward.

Haruhi Hina's face suddenly transformed into another version of herself, another Kitagawa Rena, coldly mocking herself:

"Just as I expected, you useless guy. Whether it's Shinichi or your family, weren't you the one who pushed them away? It's laughable. You don't really think you lost to Haruhi Hina simply because Shinichi favored Haruhi Hina, do you?"

"What did you say?"

Everything around her disappeared, turning into blankness. Another version of herself got out of bed and slowly walked towards her, staring intently at her.

"Wasn't I clear enough? After what happened at noon, you started projecting your own feelings onto others again, as if the whole world was against you. You resent your parents, you resent Haruhi Hina, and now you're even blaming Shinichi for being biased." She said, word by word, "What about your own problems?"

The other person continued to mock: "How can someone live such a failed life? So petty, so easily jealous, always running away from difficulties, even doubting Shinichi—just admit it!"

You're no match for Haruhi Hina. Someone like you was bound to be abandoned sooner or later. If I were Shinichi Kitagawa, I would have gotten rid of you, this burden, long ago, just like your father abandoned you back then. You might as well let them be together.

"Nonsense! I would never believe that..."

"Come on, do you remember that time at the coffee shop? You said you hated Haruhi's meddlesome personality. Why? Because compared to your dark side, Haruhi is not only kind and gentle, but she also has the energy to save others. Compared to your selfish personality..."

Reina Kitagawa, standing opposite, spoke her words as bluntly as knives:

"How dare you compare yourself to others? Before she transferred to the school, you mistakenly thought that your kiss with Shinichi at the hotel that night was the beginning of your love, and you even pretended to be shy and went to Kana to find some answers."

"You act like an innocent young girl, but you actually know everything. You know you like Shinichi Kitagawa, yet you still pretend to be innocent, just to impress Shinichi."

She imitated Kitagawa Rena's appearance that day:

"It's like telling Shinichi, look, I've become a gentle and innocent girl, no longer the selfish and insecure Kitagawa Rena. But all of that is immediately exposed again after Haruhi Hina comes back... and I even pretended to enjoy it."

"Go to hell!" Kitagawa Rena screamed hoarsely, as if something had struck a nerve.

The other person laughed when they saw how anxious she was:

"Then just die. You know perfectly well how to make Shinichi happy. If you just disappear, she and Hina can have a happy ending."

You, who always call Hina selfish, are the most selfish person ever. You wanted to steal Shinichi's happiness, all for your own. Don't you understand why you can never express your feelings to Shinichi? Because you don't deserve it.

In the afternoon, Kitagawa Rena suddenly sat up in bed, her whole body soaked in sticky sweat.

The rabbit doll on the bed reminded her of the hair clips she used to wear as a child, and she angrily threw it to the ground.

Kitagawa Rena hugged her legs, buried her face in her knees, and breathed heavily, trying to calm herself down.

The phone alarm suddenly rang, and Kitagawa Rena looked coldly at the phone beside her.

She found the hair clip she had brought from Japan, threw it in the trash can, and dragged her tired body to school.

"Rena, can I talk to you, teacher? It's very important."

In the hallway after English class, Kitagawa Rena listened to Haruhi Hina's caring words, even though she knew their relationship had deteriorated to this extent.

But they are still concerned about their grades.

"Stop calling me Rena Rena! Do I even know you?"

But after she finished speaking, seeing Haruhi Hina's still tolerant gaze in the face of her anger, her brows relaxed, and she clenched her fists tightly. Haruhi Hina, how could she do such a thing...?

Why did her magnanimity almost overflow from her eyes, making her own heart appear so despicable?

The entrance to the teaching aids room.

When Rena Kitagawa went to find Shinichi Kitagawa as instructed, she overheard the two talking alone and saw them holding hands and leaning against each other.

Unlike her usual anger, this time she saw in her pupils the happy expression on Shinichi Kitagawa's face when he was with Hina Kasuga.

Rena Kitagawa had never seen that expression before. In fact, it was the first time she had ever seen the two of them alone together. So this is what Shinichi looks like when he is happy?

A smile graced her face, her eyes brimming with excitement and contentment.

They really seem like a match made in heaven...

The immense shock stirred up her already uneasy feelings, and for the first time in her life, she felt that perhaps she really was superfluous.

She's been trying to steal Shinichi's happiness, wanting him to abandon his lover and favor her. But how can she compare to Haruhi Hina...?

For some reason, the nightmare's words resurfaced in my mind.

Perhaps... I, who have always been a failure and selfish person, should do something good for the two people in this world who deserve the most happiness.

With tears in her eyes, she left quietly.

They did not disturb their tender moment.

They traveled to the place that Shinichi Kitagawa had mentioned, a place where one could be reincarnated.

But what kind of person do you want to be in your next life? Shinichi's wife?

Do I, someone like myself, really deserve to be Shinichi's wife?

If I were to be reborn as Shin-il's younger sister in my next life, at least I could act cute more legitimately and be able to stay with him from a young age.

........

Lake Regeneration in the back mountains of Kabasaki Town.

A silver-haired girl in a white dress walked barefoot step by step toward the bottom of the lake.

"Rena!" The familiar call from afar stirred Kitagawa Rena's heart, who had already identified her target, and she turned to look.

As Shinichi Kitagawa gradually came into view of the figures on the lake, his heart stopped, and he quickened his pace: "Rena, don't go any further!"