My love game with them that will lead to certain death

"... I saw my sister die, and that was probably what happened not too long after."

After calming himself down, Che explained everything he had seen in concise and clear words.

“And…it’s indeed right here.”

Just by looking at his constantly flickering eyes, Eriri could probably guess that the death scene her brother had foreseen was too cruel.

Perhaps it was just like the nightmare she had had before, where Eriri lost consciousness as she watched the meteorite falling from the sky - humans were like ants, their lives being ruthlessly taken away in the face of natural disasters.

"...The ending of this story can only be tragic. I understand your reluctance and sadness, but no matter how hard you fight, it will be futile."

The witch showed a somewhat compassionate expression, as if she was mourning in advance the misfortune that was about to happen to the brother and sister.

"So, Miss Miko, what do you mean by the method of 'reversal' that you just mentioned?"

The curly-haired boy keenly grasped the issue that he had always been concerned about, perhaps this could be the key to saving his sister.

"'Reversal' cannot change the 'cause and effect' of things. Judging from the situation of you and your sister, normal life can only come when one of the twins dies and the souls are reunited. At that time, the supernatural phenomenon of body swapping will come to an abrupt end, and both luck and career will return to the average of normal people. According to the natural law of survival of the fittest, your sister should have to accept her cruel end."

After saying these profound words, the witch with long black hair tucked her hair behind her ears and looked at the boy in front of her with another intriguing look.

"However, it is not certain that 'one of the twins who will meet the end' will be her."

This is where he can make a "reversal".

"If you have such determination, you can also take my place. In the end, the souls will always be united, and your sister will live the life that originally belonged to you and usher in her smooth life - but this will be very cruel to you."

He took on the tragic ending that should have belonged to his sister and gave her a life that should have been smooth sailing. The fate of someone who deceived the judge called fate would definitely be extremely miserable.

All the things that originally belonged to you were taken away, and you watched them become decorations to embellish other people's lives. It would be difficult for ordinary people to accept this kind of thing calmly, and they would just shake their heads and refuse.

But the boy looked away, as if he was really concentrating on considering the suggestion.

"……don't want!"

Toru was clearly just keeping silent, but Eriri could no longer remain silent and be a bystander. She rushed forward to stop it all - the tacit understanding between the twins made her understand what her brother's hesitation meant.

He was really weighing whether it would be better if he took on the responsibility of his sister's life.

Eriri suddenly rushed forward and hugged the boy's waist. The unexpectedly real touch startled both her and Toru. However, the miko next to her showed no emotion at all, as if she had expected such a scene.

It seems that although they are in different "time and space", they can now use the "light spot" at the bottom of the crater as a medium to achieve a brief reunion.

"Don't do that, Toru!"

But Eriri didn't have time to take it all in. At the moment, she just wanted to persuade her brother to change his mind.

Maybe it's not too late - to change this inevitable future.

"Just like that witch said, just leave me alone!!"

The familiar scent of her brother filled her nose, which made her feel at ease, but at the same time made it difficult for Eriri to suppress the urge to cry.

The person she missed so much was right beside her, but she had to push him away.

"Compared to you, Che, my life is already a mess! No matter what aspect, I can't compare to you who do whatever you want. If we only have one child, your parents will definitely want you to live! Even I... hope..."

I hope that the one who survives is my brother instead of myself.

"Please... at least let me be willful once again..."

Tears welled up in his eyes and stained the boy's shirt on his chest.

"Compared to accepting the ending in my nightmare, I can't accept you abandoning me like this...!"

"Yinglili..."

The boy, who was originally wondering why she appeared here, looked around in a daze. When he found that the place where Eriri came from was an empty land that had long been razed to the ground by a meteorite, his expression became a little complicated - but soon he calmed down again.

It seems that he has made his choice.

In an instant, the light went out and the space distorted again - by the time Eriri realized it, she no longer had the real feeling of hugging someone in her hands.

With a thud, Eriri fell to the ground. She could no longer see the figures of Toru and the miko who were talking. She was the only one sitting alone on the ground at the bottom of the endless meteorite crater.

Everything that just happened was fleeting like a flash in the pan, but it took Eriri a long time to recover. She stared at the ground in a daze with lifeless eyes.

The tears that flowed from the eyes still did not stop, and they continued to fall crisply on the ground.

This was the first time she cried since her brother disappeared.

Chapter 61 When I Finally Forgot You

Sawamura Eriri couldn't tell whether what she saw at the center of the crater was a scene from another world or a memory from the past - she really couldn't tell.

But what is certain is that it is absolutely real.

Otherwise, I would never be standing here at this moment, and I would not be able to know the whole story through that mysterious "spot of light".

Maybe this light is waiting for her to come back here and uncover the truth that her brother has been hiding.

They experienced separation of life and death here at the shrine, but were able to "reunite" in another sense here.

Compared to this, Eriri, who had mixed feelings in her heart, had another point that she couldn't let go of for a long time.

"Toru...he did it for me..."

He took on the "fate" that originally belonged to Eriri, deceived the death that was about to befall her, and saved his sister from the sickle.

"Why... do such a stupid thing..."

The next day, on the way back in the car, Eriri stared at the dense forest receding outside the window, tears streaming down her face.

Although the housekeeper saw all this, he did not dare to make a sound to disturb the young lady's mood. He could only concentrate on driving and doing his job well.

No one knew why Eriri suddenly burst into tears. After all, in their opinion, nothing worth being sad about happened to her.

Only Eriri can understand the feeling of losing your loved ones and the most important person.

During the days when Toru Sawamura disappeared, although Eriri was the only one who realized this, she had been trying hard not to cry.

In fact, when people are truly heartbroken, they often don’t cry out loud immediately. In most cases, it seems that they don’t even have the strength to cry, and they just stand there in a daze.

It was as if a part of myself was stripped away with his departure, and the passage of time seemed numb and empty.

In order to fight against this feeling of nothingness, Eriri found a way to give herself a thought.

No matter how lonely, aggrieved, or misunderstood she felt, she remained strong and did not cry out, revealing her vulnerable side.

Because she still had hope.

"My brother might still be somewhere, but he just can't come back for the time being" - she still had this glimmer of hope.

As long as you hold on, maybe you can wait for the day when he comes back.

If I cried like this before, it would be too embarrassing, and Toru would definitely tease me with words like "Do you like your brother so much?"

So you must persevere until the day we finally meet again.

But when they met again, this was the ending she encountered.

"...I would rather you suddenly pop up and tease me, saying that this is all just a prank..."

Unfortunately, even this kind of thing has become a luxury.

Ying Lili could no longer suppress the emotions that had been suppressed in her heart for days, and burst into tears on the way home.

Sayuri, who came to greet her home, found her daughter crying so hard, but she did not embarrass the housekeeper who looked embarrassed. She just helped her daughter back to her room and tried to comfort her patiently and gently.

Unexpectedly, this time Eriri didn't say anything like "my twin brother" which made Sayuri very confused. Instead, she suddenly stopped talking about the things she had been obsessed with before, and just curled up in her mother's arms and cried loudly.

Because there is no point in trying your best to explain and seek help.

There is no way they would remember their brother's existence, not even the parents who raised him.

Everyone seemed to be controlled by an invisible force, and their memories of the young man were formatted. Only she could still remember every detail of what happened with him.

He had made such a huge sacrifice to save Eriri from such an unreasonable fate, but in the end, no one remembered him except himself, and he couldn't even have a proper funeral.

He was born as a favored child of heaven, but ended up with such a miserable and lonely ending. He gave up his originally smooth and bright life to someone else. No matter what Eriri said, she couldn't get over it.

"Mom has asked for a long vacation for you these few days, but if you recover, Eriri can consider going back to school."

The considerate mother Sayuri dropped the mountain of work she had on hand, and even though she had no idea why Eriri had become so devastated, she still chose to stay by her extremely emotionally unstable daughter's side and watch over her tenderly.

"Of course, it's okay even if you don't want to go to school. After all, you are your parents' darling. Besides, as for the courses in school, our Eriri can get high scores in minutes even if she doesn't go to class, right?"

The mother's words of comfort only had the opposite effect, becoming an accomplice in further tearing the wound in Eriri's heart.

"That's not the case... I'm not that powerful at all..."

Neither her brilliant mind nor her outstanding physical fitness originally belonged to her, and naturally, those honors and medals were not her property either.

When I think about it this way, my brother is really going too far.

Without even asking for Eriri's opinion in advance, he stuffed all these things into her head, without even considering how she would feel about accepting these good intentions.

What if I gradually accept these gifts with a clear conscience and slowly become like everyone else and forget about his existence?

To be honest, Eriri really wasn't sure that she would be able to remember her brother for the rest of her life.

If you want to say why.

“…What am I looking for?”

Ever since her brother disappeared, Eriri always stayed in the utility room for several hours. One day, she raised her eyebrows in distress, staring at the mess around her, looking a little confused.

"...!"

When this thought flashed through her mind, even Eriri herself was shocked.

Everything about her brother should have been so unforgettable, but she suddenly forgot his existence for a moment without noticing.

This is not a good sign.

She didn't want to become like others and gradually forget the existence of her brother.

Eriri returned to her room and covered it with papers of various sizes with everything about her brother.

Eriri wrote down everything she could think of, including her brother's name, preferences, habits, and the frictions and concerns that had occurred between them over the past decade or so, and posted them in every corner of the room.

But it might be a bit naive to imagine that one could fight against the irresistible force coming from the world line in this way.

“…Why would I post these things in my room?”

One day after that, Eriri also took down the small note stuck on the desk with a depressed look on her face.

“…Tetsu, who is that?”

Chapter 62 You appeared in my dream

Eriri Sawamura felt as if she had forgotten something, and her heart felt empty as if a piece was missing.

But she couldn't explain what this feeling was, and no matter how hard Eriri tried, she couldn't remember what she had left behind.

Her daily life is still going on in an orderly manner. In school, she is the "beautiful girl outside Toyogasaki Academy" who is the center of everyone's attention. She and Kasumigaoka Utaha, who is the "beautiful girl inside Toyogasaki Academy", occasionally make fun of each other and exchange words. When she returns home, she is the apple of her parents' eyes and is doted on.

Although it seemed that she had been mumbling about having a twin brother for a while, now that she has come to her senses, even Eriri herself finds it a little unbelievable - if she were Sayuri, she would probably have thought that her child was suffering from some serious delusion.

"Mom, you're really patient... Humph, but that's only natural. After all, the target is "me"."

It is natural that parents would be very tolerant of their daughter who excels both in academic performance and in interpersonal relationships.

After returning to her normal daily life, Eriri would occasionally run into Tomoya Aki at school.

Although in Eriri's memory she was once very fond of this childhood sweetheart, they are now strangers and even if they see each other, there will be no waves in their hearts.

"…But why is that?"

Sometimes Eriri would suddenly think this way.

In her impression, there didn't seem to be any decisive opportunity that led to their complete separation. Even if childhood sweethearts were drifting apart, it shouldn't have become so awkward.

“Why… I can’t remember…”

It's a terrible feeling to be missing an extremely important piece of the memory puzzle.

Even after returning home, even though Eriri had reminded her many times, Sayuri would still make a dish called tiramisu after dinner. In the end, Eriri would always pinch her nose and eat the greasy sweet stuff - Sayuri always put a lot of cream and sugar in desserts, which made Eriri not very fond of desserts.

But I have the impression that there seems to be someone who is addicted to this kind of thing with excessive sugar.

“Who is it… I can’t remember at all.”

Ying Lili found that she would always suddenly pull herself away at a certain moment in her life and miss something that she had no memory of.