Tokyo: My Girlfriend

"Shinichi..." Kitagawa Rena cried out in a panic, realizing what was happening, "Don't come any closer!"

She waded through the lake water and quickened her pace to continue walking deeper into the lake.

Kitagawa Shinichi gritted his teeth and rushed in. He knew that the deepest part of the huge, dark lake was more than ten meters deep, and once you fell in, unless you were an excellent swimmer, it would be almost impossible to survive.

Moreover, unlike her mother, Rena and she herself are not very good swimmers.

"Rena! What's wrong with you? What are you planning to do?!"

"Leave me alone! I've always known, I know I'm just a burden to Shin-il. As long as I disappear, everything..." The water had completely submerged her waist, causing her heart to race, tears welling up in her eyes, her voice frantic:

"Everything will be over then. I believe I will find happiness, that woman will, and so will I..."

At the last moment, Shinichi Kitagawa suddenly grabbed her hand: "I told you not to go any further!"

"Don't touch me! Don't pull me!"

She struggled in the water, and the ripples that had kept her steady caused her to fall into the lake.

Shinichi Kitagawa choked on water and struggled to pull her back to his side. Both of them were soaking wet, and he tried to get her away from the deep water.

But Kitagawa Rena's struggles were far stronger than expected, and the flowing water amplified her unease: "Shinichi, I told you to leave me alone! I beg you!"

With the water reaching waist-deep and Rena struggling, Shinichi Kitagawa was completely unable to pull her away: "Rena!"

The roar didn't calm Rena down. Seeing her resolute expression, Kitagawa Shinichi's eyes hardened, as if he had made up his mind. He released her body, only holding her hand.

"Okay... I understand what you mean. You want to start all over again? Starting all over again will erase all the mistakes we made, which is perfect... I had the same idea anyway..."

When I saved you from the rooftop, I should have held your hand, unlocked your shackles, and led you to a happier path... But I took the wrong path. Since that's the case, let's start over together.

Regardless of whether he could be reborn after this death, Shinichi Kitagawa felt that he should have been prepared for this when he recklessly stepped into Rena's karma.

I saved Rena with the simple idea that it might be a system task, which was too hasty of me.

Dying in this legendary lake, at least I might be able to be with Rena in my next life.

Instead of trying to lead Kitagawa Rena to the shore, he took her hand and led the way, pulling her towards the deeper water.

Rena Kitagawa, who had been struggling, looked at Shinichi Kitagawa, who was also about to walk into the abyss, with a puzzled expression.

After the water gradually submerged their waists and reached their chests.

Rena Kitagawa herself stopped in her tracks, screaming in terror, "Shinichi! What are you doing? You can't die!"

Shinichi Kitagawa turned and looked at her, smiling gently. "I won't die. I just want to start over with Rena so that the mistakes of the past won't happen again, right? Let's reincarnate together."

He continued to drag her further in, but Kitagawa Rena became increasingly panicked, fearing that if she took another step forward, she would fall into the abyss at the bottom of the lake.

"No, no! Nobuichi!"

Shinichi Kitagawa asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Don't you want to be with me in the next life? We just want to sink into this place together."

"No!" Her eyes were filled with tears, and she couldn't even clearly see Shinichi Kitagawa's face.

"I don't want to see you die. What if you can't be reincarnated after you die? What if we're not together in the next life? There are too many possibilities. I don't want that!"

"What does this mean? Didn't Rena think about this when she first walked in?"

Kitagawa Rena gripped his hand tightly, as if afraid he would go any further inside:

"At least after I die, you and Haruhi Hina can be happy, right? I've been dragging Shinichi down all this time. Because of me, you can't make friends, and even when you're in a relationship, I have to criticize and mock you every day. I've been ruining the happiness Shinichi wants. Someone like me..."

She shook her head: "Whether or not I can be reincarnated doesn't matter. At least in this life, without me, Xin Yi will definitely be happy! But Xin Yi is different. I can't bear the consequences of Xin Yi not being able to exist in this world. If Xin Yi can't exist, then everything is meaningless."

"Who told you that? Who told you I'm happy without Rena?"

"I saw it all! In the teaching aids room, Shinichi's expression... I've never seen it before... Shinichi has never been so happy when he's with me."

"That's because you still exist in this world! If you didn't exist, why would I have that expression?!" Kitagawa Shinichi was angry for the first time, his eyes red. "These past years, since I saved you from the rooftop, I've thought about Reina almost every day."

Thinking about making you happy, wanting you to talk to me more, wanting you to be a little happier every day—when I do these things, whether you hate me or call me boring and weird, I feel genuine joy. Aren't these cherished memories all because of you?

Rena Kitagawa bit her lip, sobbing uncontrollably, "It's not like that... I've never hated Shinichi. From the very beginning... from the moment you told me I could rely on you, I've always... always loved you!"

She said in a self-conscious tone, "I just can't say it. I'm afraid that if I tell you I like you, you'll stop talking to me. I can't accept even just being distant from me, just like my parents who used to be so loving after they divorced. So I call you brother, not because I want to be your sister."

It was because I thought that at least under this guise, Shinichi would definitely respond to me. But the more I thought that way, the further the future deviated from my expectations, until Haruhi Hina's appearance completely robbed me of my hope. I can no longer deceive myself into maintaining a sibling relationship with you, because that's not what I intended in the first place!

She choked with sobs, her voice trembling with sadness: "It was me, it was me who kept running away, it was me who pushed you away, it was me who gradually turned Xin Yi's feelings for me into this situation. I know there's no possibility between Xin Yi and me anymore, that's just my stubborn personality, so..."

"So you're running away again? Giving up again?" Shinichi Kitagawa looked at Rena, who was already crying her eyes out. "You felt that nothing could be changed, so you simply gave up on everything."

Rena Kitagawa shouted:

"I just want to do one last good thing for you and Haruhi Hina! At least help Shinichi this once, instead of constantly causing you trouble. If you die with me now, wouldn't that mean I've spent my whole life ruining Shinichi's life?!"

"Without Rena, life would be destroyed anyway."

Kitagawa Rena's pupils trembled.

Shinichi Kitagawa retorted, "You say you can't bear the world after I die, but do you think I can accept a life without Rena after you die? Do you think I'd be happy if you disappeared? Or would Hina be happy?!"

Shinichi Kitagawa gritted his teeth and glared at Rena Kitagawa:

"Can't you just face your life properly for once?! So what if I like Hina? So what if I really treat you like a little sister? Isn't it your choice whether you like me or not?"

I never believed that once you make a mistake in life, everything is beyond redemption, just like I never thought that giving up on Rena would make things easier. If giving up were the best solution, wouldn't dying together now be the happiest thing?

Shinichi Kitagawa frowned, his tone softening slightly as he stared into her eyes and gripped her hand tightly.

"But obviously you don't think that way, right? Everyone is working hard for the goals they hope to see, so why can't you also work hard for your own life?"

Whether we succeed or not, I will definitely be with you to the end. If it were me, just thinking that Rena will always be by my side for the rest of my life would make me happy, and I would always look forward to how wonderful the future with Rena would be, wouldn't I?

Rena Kitagawa stared at him intently.

The girl's cries echoed across the wide expanse of water with the ripples.

Haruhi Hina, who had also rushed over, saw the two embracing each other in the Rebirth Lake. Reina buried her face in Kitagawa Shinichi's arms and burst into tears.

Her heart, which had been hanging in suspense, relaxed. She gripped the tree trunk beside her, tears streaming down her face, and smiled as she looked at them on the lake.

He wanted to walk over, but when he saw Kitagawa Shin's eyes filled with joyful tears and his intense, unusual feelings for Rena, he realized that Kitagawa Shin's eyes were also brimming with tears of joy.

Her smile inexplicably vanished, and she suddenly stopped, her expression shifting.

"Nobuichi..."

There was no one on the shore of Regeneration Lake. Haruhi Hina ultimately chose not to disturb the two and quietly left.

However, this was the first time she had realized so clearly, and seen with her own eyes, that the feelings between Shinichi and Rena were perhaps far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.

Shinichi's feelings for Rena were probably something he himself never imagined.

That look in his eyes was definitely not the look a brother would give his sister.