This is not the date I wanted.

29 future

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The blazing white sun hangs in the sky.

The towering buildings are like a huge mirror, reflecting the appearance of the city.

It was an extremely delicate and realistic city building block. Among the stacked buildings, cars shuttled back and forth in the gaps between the roads, and citizens of all kinds of occupations formed a sea of ​​people.

Looking around, there are office workers who are on the phone, students who are having fun in school, parents who are taking their children out for a walk, beggars who like to squat in dark corners and beg passers-by for money, and ruffian-like biker gangs.

There is laughter and sadness; there is light and darkness.

There is no doubt that this is a city, a city where human beings live.

(It’s so ordinary…)

Observing the scenery in the city as if taking a walk, Kurumi commented silently in her heart.

Yes - ordinary. After observing it, Kuang San did not feel any difference in the architectural style, nor did she feel any change brought about by technological evolution. Although it was a strange city, overall, the city, whether it was the buildings, streets, or the people living in it, was no different from what Kuang San knew.

(Is this really the world seven years later...)

With this question in mind, Kuang San walked into a convenience store and picked up a newspaper.

The time recorded in the newspaper told Kuang San in a very objective way that she was indeed in the future.

As if she understood something, a complicated taste formed around Kuang San's mouth.

The present where she is is not the future where humans would develop naturally under normal circumstances, but the future that they would reach after experiencing the reversal of the elves.

Having experienced countless reincarnations, she was clearer than anyone else. Any reversed elf could easily destroy a city of this size in a few breaths. And seven years ago, there were as many as nine reversed elves wreaking havoc in the world. How desperate was this for mankind? Just thinking about it made her shudder.

Seven years have passed under such circumstances. To be honest, even if all human beings in the world were destroyed, it would not be an exaggeration. But in fact, the future is not hopeless. Although it leaves cruel and hideous scars, it is still within people's tolerance.

The survivors rebuilt the city and overcame their grief. It took more than seven years for them to restore their former lives.

After thinking this through, Kuang San realized that this seemingly ordinary and dull daily life is actually an extremely precious miracle.

"..."

She couldn't help but wrinkle the newspaper in her hand, and Kuang San couldn't calm down for a long time.

"Excuse me...I want to buy a newspaper."

"Okay, thank you for your business."

[Next news, popular idol Yui Miku donated 100 million yen to the disaster area in her personal name, and plans to hold a free tour in the post-disaster area...]

While paying at the cashier, Kuang San suddenly heard a worrying name.

[Ha...ha...damn it...this is the worst possible development.]

[Kuku - Don't think you can escape. I will find you no matter where you are, Fatima.]

I turned my head out of curiosity, but the news on the computer had been switched to animation by a kid in the store.

"Hey! Didn't I tell you? Don't watch anime on the store's computers!"

"Oh~ But mom, this week is the final battle of Silver Bullet, we can't miss it."

"Stop talking nonsense to me. Have you finished your homework?!"

"Cut~"

"Oh, sorry to make you laugh."

The clerk said somewhat embarrassedly after scolding his son.

"fine."

Kurumi shook her head slightly to show that she didn't care.

(Maybe I heard it wrong just now...)

Ignore the news I just heard as an illusion. To be more precise, even if it is not an illusion, I plan to ignore it. After all, this information has no meaning to Kurumi at the moment.

What she had to do now was to find an inn to survive these three days and then return to Naia's underground city.

"Excuse me...I want to stay here for three days."

"I'm very sorry. Due to the recent earthquake, there is a problem with our power supply. For safety reasons, we are temporarily closing the store for repairs."

As soon as they walked into an inn, the owner hurriedly bowed and apologized to Kuang San.

Of course, Kurumi didn't care, after all, it was just a matter of changing hotels.

however……

"Sorry, our hotel is full."

"This place has been reserved by someone, so it will be closed today."

"Sorry, our hotel owner ran away with the money, and now our store has stopped operating."

"There is one room available. Please wait a moment... I will arrange it for you right away..."

--boom!

"Robbery! Call out the valuables."

……

It felt like this, every time Kurumi found a hotel or inn, she couldn't check in for various strange reasons.

"what happened?"

Looking at the setting sun, Kuang San couldn't help but mutter in frustration.

In desperation, Kuang San had to give up her plan to find a hotel and sleep in an abandoned building in the city.

However, something bizarre happened.

The moment Kuang San walked in front of the building, a cracking sound was heard from the building. Then, as if a domino chain had been overturned, cracks continued to spread in the building, and finally it collapsed in front of Kuang San's surprised eyes.

Soon, the commotion of the building collapse attracted police cars and ambulances.

“What caused the building to collapse?”

"According to preliminary inspection, no signs of man-made explosions were found. It should be a natural collapse caused by aging."

"Well, the houses here are indeed very old. Was today's earthquake the trigger? How is the search going?"

"Report, it has been confirmed that there are no casualties."

"That's good. Considering that other dangerous buildings may also collapse, we will arrange to set up isolation belts as soon as possible, and at the same time arrange for personnel to confirm whether there are people living in other dangerous buildings. If so, we will arrange for evacuation."

"learn."

(It seems that this is not possible.)

Kuang San couldn't help but sigh.

Looking at the large police force patrolling near the dangerous building, Kuang San realized that her plan to spend the night in the abandoned building had failed.

"I always feel like something is wrong..."

Kuang San lowered her head in thought.

If it happens once or twice, it can be said to be a coincidence, but if it happens seven, eight, or even ten times, one cannot help but feel that someone is secretly behind it.

(Could it be Naya?)

First of all, Kuang San first suspected Naya who sent herself to the city. But it was hard to imagine that a puppet without any feelings could perform such a complicated trick.

(Or is it... Meng Yue?)

Thinking of this, Kuang San subconsciously held her breath.

(But if it was really Mengyue who did it, then what was her purpose? If she wanted to convey some message, this kind of roundabout way is not Mengyue's style.)

"Well--"

At this time, while thinking about the problem, Kuang San forgot to look at the road and accidentally bumped into someone in a dark alley.

"……terribly sorry."

After quietly apologizing, Kuang San decided to take a detour.

However, the other party reached out to stop her.

"Hey, hey! Can bumping into someone be solved with just an apology?"

Hearing the hostility in the other party's tone, Kurumi had to put her thoughts aside.

"What's matter?"

Kuang San raised her head. The other party was two men, one fat and one thin, with earrings and tattoos on their bodies. Judging from their clothes, they should be the kind of unemployed hooligans.

Both of them are over 1.8 meters tall, and at this time they have the physical advantage. They block Kuang San in the alley from the front and the back.

"Hey, hey! What are you talking about? You just accidentally stained my jacket worth half a million dollars. How are you going to compensate me?"

The man pointed at a stain on his clothes and made a sour face at Kuang San, clearly trying to blackmail her.

"… Oh, I'm really sorry. But I don't have that much money right now."

Kurumi replied with a troubled look on her face.

Of course, this was a lie. The compensation that Naya gave to Kuang San for living expenses was more than enough, but Kuang San obviously didn't intend to spend the money on such things.

"No money, huh~ that's not good. In this case, I can only ask your parents for money."

"Eh? Parents?"

"Well...if you look closely, the girl is pretty. If you don't want your parents to know, we can tell you other ways to compensate you."

"I'll take you to play some fun games by the way."

As they spoke, the two of them looked at Kuang San's curvy figure and beautiful appearance, and swallowed their saliva at the same time.

As he quietly moved closer to Kuang San during the conversation, a lewd and evil smile appeared on the man's face, and his fingers twisted disgustingly, unable to suppress their desire.

"…Today is such an unlucky day."

Suddenly, Kuang San let out an inexplicable sigh.

"I was originally staying at home with my luggage, but I had to go out because of the earthquake. I wanted to find a hotel, but the water and electricity were cut off, or the owner ran away or I encountered robbers. I wanted to find a ruin to spend the night, but the police closed it before I could move in. Now I can't even sleep on the street. I just wanted to find a place to rest, but I'm so unlucky! I'm so depressed that I want to cry!"

"I see. That's really unfortunate."

"Don't worry, as long as you follow us, we can provide you with a place to stay."

Seeing Kuang San suddenly complaining, the two of them obviously had no idea that they were in great danger.

"Ah, ah, you two are really kind. But, you seem to have misunderstood something?"

Kuang San looked at the two of them, a charming smile on her lips.

"I said the unlucky ones are you two."

"Wha-uh!"

Before the man could finish his words, Kuang San's slender hands grabbed their necks and lifted the two hooligans, who were much heavier than her, into the air.

"Alala, what's wrong with you two? Didn't you say you were going to play a fun game with me?"

Kurumi asked with a smile on her face.

Yes. The unlucky ones are the two hooligans, not Tokisaki Kurumi.

During these six years, although Kuang San, who had been staying underground all the time, did not realize it herself, she had actually accumulated a lot of pressure. It was just that because Kuang San's mental state was quite negative and haggard at the time, she did not do anything overly exciting.

But today, this series of unplanned changes transformed the pressure in Kuang San's heart into aggressive irritability.

The appearance of these two people was like walking into a gun barrel, creating an outlet for Kurumi to release pressure.

Just like that, the slender and white fingers pinched into the neck flesh little by little, and the huge pressure even made the blood vessels in the skin clearly visible.

"Hey, what's wrong with you two? You don't look well, are you feeling unwell?"

Looking at the two people whose faces turned blue due to lack of oxygen, joy emerged in Kuang San's bloodshot eyes.

"Help, help..."

"We were wrong... Please forgive me..."

"Forgive? You two really said something strange. If I didn't happen to have the power to defend myself, I'm afraid the current position would be reversed. If that were the case, would you forgive me just because I apologized and begged for mercy?"