Iruma-san wants to win the Akutagawa Prize

Then——

He heard a soft breathing sound coming from Nagasaki Suyo.

It wasn't intentional.

But fell asleep.

Nagasaki Suyo, who was not good at staying up late, was so tired after taking the night bus all night that she fell asleep almost as soon as she got in the taxi. Then, because of the bumpy start of the taxi, she leaned on his shoulder.

The aroma of grass began to fill Iruma Hibiki's nostrils.

There is always something special about the scent of Nagasaki Suyo.

She has the habit of using aromatherapy, and her social media profile pictures often use her favorite aromatherapy packaging.

Today the smell is grassy.

It looks like a grassland after rain, or a pine forest.

Iruma Hibiki's fatigue reached its peak with the smell of this fragrance, but he did not dare to relax for a moment, let alone move his right hand that was supported by Nagasaki Suyo.

Just like that, the taxi, which seemed like torture, drove smoothly through the rain to its destination.

"Sorry Hibiki, I just fell asleep without realizing it."

At the end, Nagasaki Suyo, who had woken up, responded with a blush on her cheeks that Hibiki Iruma couldn't respond to, and—

At this moment, Iruma Hibiki could no longer suppress the distance.

07 Absolutely irreplaceable person

The sleeping time is too long.

When the alarm rang at 1 p.m., Iruma Hibiki still felt a little groggy. When he saw the 12 o'clock displayed on the clock, he even thought it was just an auditory hallucination caused by being too tired.

But saved.

This is what Hibiki Iruma felt when he woke up.

He had too many nightmares.

Illogical and bizarre images, mixed with memories of the streets of Shanghai on the day of the accident, kept surging in his dreams, as if a red-hot iron pierced through his eye sockets, then stirred his brain, crushing it and boiling it.

The intraocular pressure seems to be a little high.

Iruma Hibiki's eyes were throbbing with pain.

After taking a short break, Hibiki Iruma heard the ringing of the phone ringing again, waking her up.

There was something different about that ringtone.

Of course, it is not a call from heaven. A guy like him has not done much good in his life, so he probably can't go to heaven. The guy who will come to pick him up will either be the King of Hell or the devil. I don't know if the two will fight each other because of the overlapping powers.

Thinking about all sorts of things, Iruma Hibiki realized that it was a phone call.

Then the deeper tension made him sober up in an instant and he rushed to his mobile phone.

Fortunately, it wasn’t Mr. Iruma.

But it was [Nagasaki Suyo].

Iruma Hibiki answered the phone, and in just a moment, he heard soft sobs on the other end of the line.

"Hing...I..."

"What's wrong?!"

After understanding the situation clearly, Hibiki Iruma asked anxiously. He quickly got out of bed, put on his pants as quickly as possible, ran to the door of his room in his memory, and then suddenly bumped into the wall.

"Hibiki, can you... come to me now... I know this will be troublesome for you, but..."

On the other end of the phone, Nagasaki Suyo was crying softly.

The voice was low and slightly hoarse, and it was real, not as good as usual. It was a voice that Iruma Hibiki was not familiar with, but it was the extremely real Nagasaki Suyo.

"I'll be there soon."

Iruma Hibiki didn't ask the reason, just looked around, kicked the wall in anger at his own clumsiness, then quickly ran to the correct door and pulled out the room card.

The lights in the room became completely dim at this moment, and Hibiki Iruma was running in the hotel corridor.

Nagasaki Suyo's room is at the end, and his room is on the left side of the middle elevator room.

Soon, he arrived at the door of Nagasaki Suyo.

It was as if I heard his footsteps.

The moment the door rang, it opened, and then—

He only felt the weight, which almost made him fall down.

That's the weight of a young girl.

Or rather, that was the weight of Nagasaki Suyo's uneasiness.

"What's wrong Sushi?"

……

Hibiki Iruma asked.

Nagasaki Suyo just hugged him tightly without responding much.

When Iruma Hibiki wanted to leave and keep a distance, Nagasaki Suyo came up to her faster and faster.

It was like a troublesome octopus, pulling the diver's thigh hard.

Hibiki Iruma felt something was wrong.

Such an embrace, in the final analysis—

"Xiang, I saw you... in Shanghai, you were hit by a truck while trying to save me. You died, and I..."

……

…………

………………

"Su Shi, what are you talking about?"

After a terrifying silence, Iruma Hibiki confirmed with Nagasaki Suyo.

"That was a dream, right, Hibiki?"

Then he saw Nagasaki Suyo's crying face, which was filled with the most genuine pain.

[Is this a dream?]

Iruma Hibiki asked himself.

"Su Shi, I'm not dead. I'm still in front of you."

Iruma Hibiki replied.

"Well, Hibiki is alive and hasn't left me."

Nagasaki Suyo's crying continued.

The rain had stopped, and the dazzling sunlight penetrated the gaps in the fabric, faintly illuminating Nagasaki Suyo's room.

She also slept with the lights on, so the light coming in from the window was not bright at all, and there were still corners in the room that could not be illuminated no matter how hard she tried.

Iruma Hibiki took two steps forward and closed the door. He didn't think that Nagasaki Suyo's current miserable state would be seen by others.

and--

"Su Shi, can you tell me in detail what you dreamed about?"

He asked.

Because there are some content that you are overly concerned about.

"You haven't been to Shanghai, have you?"

Iruma Hibiki confirmed with Nagasaki Suyo.

At this moment, he could no longer distinguish his own feelings, and he no longer knew what kind of answer he hoped to get from Nagasaki Suyo.

"ring?"

Having calmed down a little, Nagasaki Motoyo raised her head.

There were wet traces of tears on her face.

"Do you regret coming to Kyoto?"

Hibiki Iruma was the first to change the subject.

Because perhaps he also realized his own weirdness in asking these questions at the moment, so he began to pretend to be an ordinary person.

Nagasaki Suyo just shook her head.

The loose chestnut-colored hair was now messy, like an oversized stuffed toy, warm and soft to the touch, just like Hibiki Iruma's favorite childhood friend - a teddy bear that had been at his bedside and had been said goodbye to at some unknown time.

It came from a dart stand on a street corner in Shanghai, and probably disappeared after he stopped playing these games that only kids could play.

"If it hadn't sounded, I would definitely be the same as before."

"Before?"

"Well, this kind of nightmare happened more than once..."

"I did it once before I saw Xiang, and I always do it after I see Xiang..."

……

Hibiki Iruma remained silent.

After calming down, Nagasaki Suyo took the initiative to keep some distance from him.

This distance is still a bit intimate, but it cannot be considered as friendship.

Iruma Hibiki's hand was still on Nagasaki Soyo's shoulder.

However, for Hibiki Iruma at this moment, he had no time to care about anything else.

"It's always the same. I've never been to a place like that, but the scenes in my dreams are exactly the same as in reality. Sorry, does this bother you?"

"Sometimes I also feel that maybe it wasn't a dream at all..."

The fragile Nagasaki Suyo spoke to herself.

Confess.

No hiding.

As for Hibiki Iruma—

"Sushi, do you have any memories of living there?"

Hibiki Iruma asked.

"Eh?"

"In the place of your dreams."

"A place in my dream..."

Nagasaki Suyo thought for a moment.

"Well, sometimes."

She responded.

Then, in front of her, Iruma Hibiki's expression became particularly wonderful, from the initial worry to the subsequent pretended ease, all disappeared in an instant.

Nagasaki Suyo saw a hint of loneliness and solitude from Iruma Hibiki.

This made her heart clench tightly for a moment.

She felt some emotions that she herself couldn't understand.

"Su Shi, have you read my novel? Is it the same as what's described there?"

"Um……"