A journey into an infinite dimension

Jiaye, who was currently being restrained by two people in an unconvincing posture, said this.

"....What does it mean to pay with a trace of existence?"

Although Jiaye's appearance at the moment was not convincing, Caihuo understood the truth in his words.

But precisely because she understood, she had to believe that Jia Ye was not joking.

"After the contract is completed, no one in this world will remember me, including you."

Gently pushing the two people away from him, Jia Ye sat up and said.

"As a correction, my existence in your memories will be replaced by someone else to fill my absence, so you won't be sad about it——"

“Stop kidding!!!”

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Shiori. Listening to the low roar in his ears, to be honest, even Jiaye had never seen Shiori like this.

Shiori's personality has some elements of a good person in it. Although he is not immune to anger, this is the first time he has been so angry.

"I don't want you to be replaced by anyone else! I only want you!! I only want you, Jiaye!!!"

In the empty and quiet living room, only Shizhi's voice, like that of a wounded beast, echoed for a long time.

"...I'm sorry, but it's okay. Once the contract is completed, you won't have such thoughts anymore."

However, facing Shiori in this state, Jiaye simply reached out and gently stroked her head, and spoke true and cold words in a gentle voice.

Memory is the basis of all emotions. Without memory, the emotions that should arise will not appear, whether it is sadness, joy, or pain.

No matter how sad or painful she is now, once her memory is modified, she will not remember how she feels at this moment. Even if she remembers, she will only briefly wonder why she had such feelings at that time, and then it will soon be covered up by other things, becoming a small impression accumulated deep in her memory, which she may never have the chance to recall in her lifetime.

However, the reason why Jia Ye said this at this moment was not because of the fabricated contract, but because after he completed the task and left, he would no longer have the chance to say it to them.

But this is actually not a big deal. If you insist on saying it, it is just something he uses to alleviate his guilt, or what is called self-satisfaction.

“I don’t want to—”

"Shut up, what's the use of saying no all the time?!"

He rudely interrupted Shizhi's words and unconsciously increased the strength with which he held down Jiaye's arm. Caihuo stared at Jiaye intently, and there was no trace of warmth in his voice when he spoke again.

"This is what happens after the contract is completed, right? So as long as you are not allowed to complete the contract, this situation will not happen."

She couldn't deny that the existence that could give Jiaye such power was not something she could fight against. Although she didn't know why she had never heard of such an existence, now was not the time to care about such things.

"Jiaye, tell me, what is the content of the contract?"

Upon hearing this, Shiori, who also realized the matter, was like a drowning man grasping at a straw, clinging to this glimmer of hope no matter what.

"I can't tell you yet."

Shaking his head, Jia Ye looked at the two people standing close to him and suddenly smiled.

"You guys, forget about this for a while."

As soon as the words fell, before Shizhi and Caihuo, whose expressions suddenly changed, could react, a colorful light suddenly bloomed in their eyes. Then the two of them lost their perception of everything and fell into Jiaye's arms, one on the left and one on the right.

"Contractor, weren't you going to play the sympathy card? Why did you seal their memories?"

Ye La's voice sounded quietly in his ears, full of puzzlement and confusion.

"It's just foreshadowing. No one would reveal the foreshadowing at the beginning, right?"

Looking gently at the two girls in his arms, Jia Ye then stood up and gently placed them on the sofa and said.

"For now, our daily lives, which have been quiet for a while, are about to become noisy again."

Walking to the window and looking at the scenery outside, someone's voice and smile inevitably flashed through his mind. A trace of longing quietly emerged in his eyes. Jia Ye whispered softly, words that no one could hear.

"...The road ahead is full of obstacles."

......

......

"Well......"

Slowly opening his hazy eyes, Shizhi stared blankly at the crimson ceiling in front of him, his brain unable to function for a moment.

"I feel like I've seen this ceiling somewhere before..."

Sitting up slowly, Shizhi turned her head and looked around at the surrounding scenery. Then, the memories before she fell asleep came flooding back as her brain restarted, making her reveal a dazed expression.

"Come to think of it, I almost got into a fight with that guy again, and then I suddenly fell asleep for some reason."

It’s probably because of Jiaye.

Thinking of this, Shizhi subconsciously glanced at the scenery outside the window, and then suddenly realized something.

Wait, looking at the surrounding furnishings, this seems to be a room, but it’s not my room.

So, is this Jiaye's room?

After reacting, Shizhi's gaze immediately shifted from the setting sun outside the window to the bed where he was lying... underneath.

I heard that boys would hide some things that cannot be seen by others under their beds. Does Jiaye have such things too?

Thinking of this, a bold idea suddenly emerged in Shizhi's mind.

"It's just that, let's look for it, it shouldn't be a big deal, right? Anyway, Jiaye isn't that kind of person, so this is just to maintain his image in my mind... Well, that's it, I didn't plan to take this opportunity to see what type of girls Jiaye likes."

Looking around with a guilty conscience, Shizhi tried to convince himself while he crouched down on the bed quietly and slowly poked his head out from under the bed.

Five centimeters... three centimeters... one centimeter...

He swallowed nervously, and when the scene under the bed completely came into Shizhi's sight——

"It's so dark, but it looks like there's nothing there."

Blinking, Shizhi looked at the empty, dimly lit area under the bed, and his mood suddenly became complicated.

There is both the disappointment of unfulfilled expectations and the relief of not being in the situation as expected.

"Or will it be in the closet?"

With a hint of reluctance, Shizhi sat up again and looked around the room, then she was stunned.

Wait, why is this room so big, but the furniture is just a bed, a nightstand and a bookshelf?

Although these three types of furniture do meet the general definition of a "room", given that the room is as big as two living rooms, doesn't it feel a bit too empty with only these three types of furniture?

"That guy Jiaye, how did he manage to live in a room like this?"

Shizhi was puzzled and had this doubt again.

I couldn't see it before, but is Jiaye the type of person who doesn't care about his own living standards at all?

But no matter what, having only three pieces of furniture in a large room is too much!

Standing up and walking towards the door, at this moment, Shiori had completely forgotten his original purpose, and his mind was only filled with the idea of ​​giving Jiaye a good lecture.

"Hey, the freeloader is awake."

However, as soon as Shizhi opened the door, the first thing that caught his eye was a disgusting face.

"Why are you still here?"

His eyes flashed with hostility in an instant, and he looked at Caihuo and asked unhappily.

"Also, who do you say eats free rice?"

"I'm the mistress of this house, why can't I be here?"

Putting down the novel in her hand, Caihuo, who was wearing home clothes, glanced at Shizhi with contempt.

"As for who you're talking about, don't you know it very clearly in your heart?"

"Wait, what's going on with the mistress?"

He subconsciously wanted to retort, but before that, Shiori suddenly caught a word in Caihui's words.

"Of course, because this is my home."

Caihuo gave Shiori a smile that made her feel very uncomfortable and said as a matter of course.

"...Isn't this Jiaye's home?"

Although Shiori didn't want to believe what Caihui said, her outfit made it impossible for her to refute it.

"Yes, but Jiaye's home is also my home. The two points are not contradictory."

Looking at Shiori like this, Caihuo didn't know what he was thinking about, and the smile on the corner of his mouth gradually became more and more playful.

"After all, I am Jiaye's lover."

The joking words were like a thunderbolt that struck Shizhi's heart, making her feel like a mixture of emotions had been overturned, painful, uncomfortable, and complicated.

Jia Ye, chose her?

why?

It was clearly me who came here first. Whether it was being with Jiaye or having a bond with Jiaye, it was clearly me who came here first. Why?!

"Although it's true that I let you live here, but doesn't that mean I took you in when you were homeless? Does it have anything to do with being lovers?"

Walking out of the kitchen, Jia Ye, wearing an apron, complained helplessly.

"Shizhi just woke up, don't bully her."

"Tsk, you're so nice to her, but I'm not as angry as I expected."

Pursing his lips, Cai Huo stomped his feet unhappily and looked at Jia Ye angrily.

"You say that as if I'm not nice to you."

Walking over and rubbing Caihuo's little head, Jiaye said helplessly.

...Huh?

Seeing this development, Shizhi, who was almost heartbroken, was stunned.

"So....your lover is?"

"The relationship between Jiaye and I is not comparable to that of ordinary lovers. Calling us lovers is just an insult to this relationship."

Leaning her body against Jiaye's, Caihuo gave Shizhi a provocative look.

"If you put it that way, who wouldn't be?"

Finally realizing that what his lover said was just Cai Huo's one-sided nonsense, and that her so-called mistress had simply become the second owner of this house, Shizhi couldn't help but twitch his lips slightly and almost couldn't help laughing out loud.

"Besides, your so-called mistress is essentially just like a taken-in animal."

No, Shiori had already laughed out loud, and he was not trying to hide it at all.

"Speaking of critters, how's Chiyu doing?"

Quickly interrupting the conversation before the two started arguing again, Kaye asked Shiori.

"I get enough sleep and eat enough every day, and I'm even heavier than before you left."

Ignoring Cai Huo, Shizhi chuckled.

"Just lying on the windowsill all day looking out, probably waiting for you to come back."

"Really? If you don't mind, leave it with me for a few days."

A hint of warmth flashed in his eyes as Jia Ye said.

"It's not a good thing for a fox to be too fat. It needs to lose weight."

"Then Qianyu probably won't miss you anymore."

Covering his mouth and smiling slightly, Shizhi could already imagine Qianyu crying and shouting under Jiaye's devilish training.

"Who is Qianyu?"

Cai Huo, who felt particularly unhappy about being left out, gently hugged Jia Ye from behind, rested his head on his shoulder, and asked in confusion.

"Haven't you ever met one? A little white fox in a bamboo forest that only Shiori and I could see."

"No, when did it happen?"

"It was about a month after Tohka was sealed, on a rainy day."

"Well, come to think of it, there was a heavy rain one day."

Cai Huo dug out memories of the relevant time period from his long memory and nodded in realization.