The story we started

But after a mental struggle of less than a minute, Kyosuke Kosaka, who was holding the track handle, pulled down the handle before the train arrived, directing the oncoming train to the track with only one child on it. He chose to abandon his own "family" and save more than a hundred children he had never met on another track.

People who sacrifice themselves and even their families to save the vast majority of strangers are generally called:

--"hero".

But the future "Kousaka Kyosuke" is a hero, but the current "Kousaka Kyosuke" is not a "hero".

Just imagining himself holding the handle on the track that could decide the life and death of others and even his family, a terrifying pressure almost suffocated Kyosuke Kousaka. He could only watch stiffly as the train approached, heading towards its originally scheduled track - that group of strangers he had never met before.

Kyosuke Kousaka found it hard to imagine what kind of mood and awareness his future self would have when he turned that hand towards his "family".

Although he had been sighing about this before, it was not until this moment that he truly realized how huge the gap was between himself and the future "Kousaka Kyosuke".

Leaving aside the physical fitness, in terms of spiritual realm, firm belief, and strong consciousness, Kyosuke Kousaka is completely incomparable to the future "Kousaka Kyosuke", and even the comparison is an insult to him.

This also made him doubt seriously.

"Are you...really me?"

Compared to Kyosuke Kousaka's confusion, his sister's reaction was much more intuitive.

Sakura Academy Junior High School, Grade 1, Class 2.

"Idiot! Big idiot! What on earth are you thinking about!? Have you been addicted to fishing for too long and your brain is soaked with water? Idiot Kyousuke!"

Seeing that the "brother" on the screen actually chose to abandon his mother for those strangers, Kousaka Kirino was so angry that her fair face with some baby fat turned red and she stomped her feet in hatred.

"Although other people's lives are lives, they are definitely not as important to us as Mom's! The entire search team is not going to be able to function without you alone, so why are you doing this!?"

"If anything happens to mom in the future, I will never forgive you! Even the current Kyosuke won't forgive you!"

"a……"

Kousaka Yoshino silently looked at her "son" who would give up "herself" and choose the side of the majority in the future, her eyes reddened.

But she was not sad because her future "self" was abandoned, but she was heartbroken for the pain and inner torment that her "son" endured when he made this choice.

Daisuke Kousaka silently held his wife in his arms, watching the two people on the screen walking away from each other in silence.

Kyousuke...you've always done the right thing.

You did nothing wrong.

Chiba Prefecture, Sobu High School, health room.

"Mr. Kosaka..."

Zaimokuza also looked in silence at the thin figure walking up to the river bank in the light curtain. He looked lonely and determined, like a towering monument or a shield that always guarded the people. Just looking at him made people feel at ease.

He could empathize with Kyosuke Kosaka's feelings when he learned that his mother was admitted to the hospital, because he was also shocked, helpless and even panicked when he learned of his parents' death in the future through the previous video.

If he had to sacrifice himself to protect the lives of the people, Zaimokuza now believed that he might feel a little hesitant, but would still choose "yes" in the end.

But when putting the lives of his parents and others on the same scale to make a choice, Zaimokuza knew that he had no way to make a choice at all, let alone choose to give up going to his seriously ill mother like the future "Kousaka Kyosuke" and stay on the battlefield to protect those who are about to be harmed by the Gurongi's clutches.

"Kousaka Kyousuke... is indeed a remarkable man."

"All his words and actions gave me the feeling that there was no falsehood at all. His will was not obscured by any haze, and his heart was shining with a warm light."

"There's no mistake. This feeling - Kousaka Kyousuke is the real deal."

Hikigaya Hachiman, who was also watching the video nearby, spoke in a complicated tone, with a strange light flickering in his black eyes, like a firefly flapping its wings and flying in the dark night.

"Well, it's really amazing."

Zaimokuza subconsciously lowered his head, and his right palm unconsciously pressed on his still "slightly" round belly, as if he could feel the belt inside the body of the future "Zaimokuza Yoshiki" through his palm, and there was a gleam in his eyes.

"Perhaps, the one who got the belt in the first place should not have been the future "me", but Mr. Kousaka."

"If it is Mr. Kosaka who has such a firm and indomitable will, he will surely be able to bring out the power of this belt to its fullest and protect the smiles of more people!"

[A sandy beach somewhere on the riverbank in the lower reaches of the Tone River. 】

【Crash.】

[A head with disheveled black hair emerged from the water, followed by a face painted with various colors of oil paint and with a ferocious and hideous expression.]

[“ku——uga!!!”]

[A voice filled with venom and hatred growled out from his throat. Biran, who had escaped death, looked down and saw his own twitching face and bloodshot eyes reflected on the crimson river surface. He was as ferocious as a demon that had just escaped from hell. On that face that looked exactly like a human, there was nothing in common with the word "human".]

[It stood up from the water, and the red blood mixed with the river water dripped onto the river surface, like a wisp of crimson gauze flowing in the water.]

[I saw that Biran's arms had disappeared from the elbows downwards, with white bone stumps sticking out from the flesh at the mouth of the broken arms. Even now, the flesh at the broken arms was still turning into tiny colorful bubbles and disappearing.]

[“Ugh—Ahh!!!!!!”]

[The intense pain of blood and flesh disappearing into thin air tortured Biran's nerves. He looked up at the sky with fierce eyes and roared, and the terrifying roar resounded throughout the beach where the river was located.]

【Buzz.】

[As it roared, its dark pupils turned blue, and a dark blue energy emerged from the broken ends of its arms, which eliminated the colorful bubbles that kept floating out. Then, the bloody wounds and broken bones began to slowly grow back.]

[When the severe pain faded away, Biran walked towards the shore with a gloomy face. The wounds on his arms left clear blood along the way, staining the lake and sand red.]

[“Just wait for me… I will definitely avenge you for this broken arm!”]

……

【Tokyo City, a tributary of Tokyo Bay. 】

【11:29 a.m】

"Hmm? I don't remember this girl..."

Seeing the new character appearing on the screen, Hayato Hayama looked a little surprised.

"Yes~ It is indeed that girl, the girl who appeared in the incident of No. 6. I remember that the video at that time gave her many close-ups, but since she never appeared again, I forgot about her. I didn't expect to see her again."

Hiratsuka Shizuka continued what he was about to say, raised her eyebrows, and was obviously surprised.

"She's appeared twice in a row. It seems like this girl is not just an ordinary person."

[“Oh~!”]

[The seagull cried loudly, dived down from the sky toward the river surface, rushed into the water as fast as lightning, and then broke through the water, with a small fish in its mouth.]

[Its white silhouette flew towards the clear blue sky in the distance, leaving only a few white bird feathers slowly falling from the sky.]

[The feather fluttered and fell, and finally stopped falling in an open white hand.]

【“——”】

[The hand is withdrawn from the open window, and the feather is reflected in the black pupils.]

[Akiyama Mio looked at the bird feather in her palm, her bright eyes were somewhat scattered and it seemed that she was thinking about something else.]

【Snapped! 】

【"ah!"】

[A hand suddenly slapped her shoulder, causing her to scream in panic and quickly turn around to look back.]

[A bright smiling face appeared in front of him, looking at Akiyama Mio and laughing. ]

["What are you thinking about? Mio-chan~Oh!"]

[The other party put his hand over his mouth and deliberately showed an expression of shock. ]

【“M-Mio, do you already have a crush on a boy? No way! Mio-chan going on a date hand in hand with a strange man, this kind of thing! This kind of thing should at least wait until ten years after I die!!!!!!——Puwa o(≧口≦)o!”】

[An iron fist hit the other person's head, turning her into an emoticon and ruthlessly suppressing the bunch of dirty words she wanted to say next. ]

[“Nothing! I was just daydreaming! Xiaolu, don’t say such strange things in a place like this that can easily be misunderstood (〃＞目＜)!”]

【Feeling the surprise and strangeness of the people sitting around because of what her friend had just said, and even the various looks that implied excitement and deep meaning, Akiyama Mio's fair face flushed red with shame and anger, and she stretched out her hands to pinch Tianzhong Ritsu's neck and shook her hard, shaking her head so hard that a shadow was left in the air.】

[“I’m going to die—”]

[“Mio-chan! Ritsu-chan rolled her eyes because of your shaking! Eh!? She seems to be foaming at the mouth!”]

[“Oh, how scary!”]

[“Oh! Is this some new game? Let me join in~”]

【When Kotobuki and a girl with black hair tied in pigtails, who were sitting opposite the two, saw this scene, one hurriedly reached out to dissuade them, while the other shivered and curled up in a small ball on the seat. Hirasawa Yui, who was sitting next to Akiyama Mio and Tianzhong Ritsu, clenched her hands into small fists with great interest, her eyes flashing with asteroids, and looked like she really wanted to join in the violence.】

[The scene was in chaos for a while as a group of girls were fighting. It was not until the crew on the ship came over to check the situation that they put a stop to it.]

[“Mio… you really want to kill me, right o(╥﹏╥)?”]

[Taizhong Ritsu slumped in her seat with lifeless eyes, her clothes disheveled, looking like she had just been raped by bandits, and she said half-deadly, while Hirasawa Yui said "Hey hey hey hey" with a silly look on her face, reaching out to knead her limp face, looking like she wanted to knead her back to her original smirk.]

【"snort?!"】

[Akiyama Mio had no sympathy for her friend's "pitiful" appearance, and turned away angrily with her arms folded across her chest. ]

[“Mo~ Stop playing too much, you two. You’re scaring Xiaozi.”]

[Kotobuki hugged Nakano Azusa, who threw herself into his arms with tears in her eyes, and gently stroked the back of her hair. With a smile full of inexplicable maternal love on her gentle and graceful face, he spoke.]

[“Well… although it’s painful, I hope Mio can cheer up. That way my sacrifice will be worth it!”]

[Taizhong Ritsu, who had just looked like "this world is not worth living", sat up from his seat and stretched lazily. His yellow short-sleeved shirt stretched out and clung to his skin, showing off his slender waist and abdomen.]

[“You know, Mio, when you came to Tokyo before, you were so scared that you curled up in bed with a blanket and shook all night. I thought you fainted when you got there. It seems that the psychiatrist’s advice is indeed effective. You finally recovered, yeah!”]

[“Xiao Lu, you…”]

[Hearing what her friend said, Akiyama Mio was stunned, and turned to look at her smiling face. ]

[Are you playing tricks on me just to make sure I've recovered? ]

[“Hehehe~”]

[But just when the girl's eyes were filled with emotion, Tian Zhong Rishuai changed back to his original form in just three seconds. His originally serious expression became obscene and vulgar, and he looked at Akiyama Mio with ill intentions, just like a greasy middle-aged fat otaku.]

[“Of course, it would be nice if we could know if Mio really has a crush on a boy. You’re the dream girl of countless boys in school. I’ve made a lot of pocket money just by selling your home photos and swimsuit photos. If we could know about your gossip, then those boys in school would probably be—uuugugugu (⊙x⊙;)!?”]

[“Xiaolu, what on earth did you do secretly without telling me? Photos!? When did you sell my photos to others? You even sold my swimsuit photos to boys!? You’re going too far. Who did they sell to? Tell me now o(≧口≦)o!!!”]

[“Mio-chan, Ritsu’s neck is bent at a weird angle!!!?”]

[The feeling of being touched was instantly shattered into pieces. Akiyama Mio, who wanted to cry but had no tears, grabbed Tianzhong Ritsu's neck with both hands and lifted her up from her seat and shook her wildly. The three people standing by looked at Tianzhong Ritsu, whose head and neck were bent at a 90-degree angle and whose eyes rolled back, and then they hurriedly reached out to stop this real murder scene.]

[The girls' screams and laughter echoed throughout the cabin, and the air was filled with a happy atmosphere.]

【This sightseeing boat was full of laughter and joy, sailing slowly on the tributary of Tokyo Bay, leaving a long white streak on the river surface after passing by.】

……

[Several months have passed since the Light Music Club and others were attacked by the unidentified life form No. 6 in Tokyo. ]

[This period of time has not been easy for Akiyama Mio, because the last experience in Tokyo has left a deep psychological shadow on the timid girl. ]

[The experience of falling from a building dozens of stories high and walking between life and death was too impressive for an ordinary girl who had always lived a stable and comfortable life. She was greatly stimulated by it.]

[In the month after returning from Tokyo, Akiyama Mio was often in a trance, always missed the club's regular music practice, and her academic performance declined. She even had nightmares about the attacks of unidentified life forms in Tokyo, and often woke up screaming in the middle of the night.]

[After a while, Akiyama Mio, who was originally skinny, became even thinner. Her eyes and eyebrows showed fatigue and fatigue. The originally lively and quiet girl now looked a bit sickly, which unexpectedly increased her popularity among the boys in school.]

[But her friends were all very worried about this, and finally her good friend Kotobuki used her family connections to invite the country's top psychologist to come and see Akiyama Mio.]

[After the doctor's evaluation, he concluded that this was a typical case of PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, and the treatment method varies from person to person.]

[The doctor's plan is to help Akiyama Mio overcome her inner fear, such as revisiting the old place to awaken the pain at that time, and then using language to induce and enlighten her, and then using medication to assist, by often recalling the happy things in her life in her mind to offset the pain, using both physical and mental methods to treat her, and finally using time to let her slowly come out of her fear. ]

[But this best treatment method was killed at the very beginning. ]

[Because when the doctor gave this method, Tokyo, the "hometown" of Akiyama Mio's PTSD, had already become a well-known place in the country. Even the most remote villages in Japan knew that a group of terrifying monsters used Tokyo as a hunting ground to hunt humans wantonly. The death toll from related incidents was rising steadily, and it quickly broke through four digits in a short period of time.]

[Going back to Tokyo under such circumstances is too dangerous. Even if the girls in the light music club are willing to take the risk for their friends, their parents and Mio Akiyama herself will not agree.]

[So they could only resort to medication and talk therapy to ease the pain. After a few months of treatment, Akiyama Mio's spirit and energy finally began to recover. Although she still felt a little uncomfortable and dazed occasionally, she was no longer as dead as she was at the beginning.]

[At the same time, it has been almost a month since the last unconfirmed life form, No. 22, appeared. During this period of time, no new unconfirmed life forms have appeared, making many people think that these monsters have probably been driven away. ]

【Under such circumstances, Ritsu Tainaka, who was Mio Akiyama's childhood sweetheart, made a bold decision. 】

[“Let’s take Mio to Tokyo again! Take this opportunity to help her overcome her own trauma.”]

[I have to say this decision was really bold, and it shocked the three girls across the tea table who had stuffed their mouths with snacks until they were as swollen as hamsters.]

[“Gudong~ But, but, aren’t there those unidentified life forms in Tokyo now? And the seniors also encountered danger the last time they went there? If we go there now, will we…”]

[Nakano Azusa swallowed the bread stuck in his throat with difficulty, his neck straightened into a graceful arc, and then asked weakly.]

[At this moment, an extremely ominous premonition was rising from her heart, almost making the little girl run away.]