The story we started

Higher Education School, student dormitory.

“…Has it recovered?”

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka took the mobile phone screen from the shelf and placed it under the desk lamp, and the screen had returned to its original black interface, no longer having the magical effect of being able to display various images without any electronic device support.

"This is a truly incredible phenomenon that cannot be explained simply by saying 'it's unscientific'."

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka took the toolbox next to him and used the tools to reassemble the disassembled mobile phone parts on the table bit by bit, thinking constantly as he assembled.

"What was the source of that video? Was it some kind of high-tech that was beyond our current generation? Or was it just a dream? Or was it an illusion covering my retina? In fact, the phone screen didn't play the video. What I saw was the electrical signals sent by my eyes to my brain, which formed an image directly in my brain?"

"or……"

Thinking of a possibility, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka paused while holding the screwdriver that he was using to screw the screw back into the phone.

After a few seconds, his palm continued to twist the screwdriver, putting the last screw back into the phone.

"'God'? Or -"

White fingers clicked the power button, and the lit phone screen reflected Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's eyes, which were no longer decadent and lazy in the past, but were as cold and rational as machines.

"World consciousness? Does it really exist..."

Chiba Prefectural Chiba Benbun High School, health room.

“Have you recovered? Hey, hey, hey, at least let me see if my future self is wearing that armor!”

Looking at the phone screen returning to normal, Kyosuke Kousaka almost wanted to curse. Why did it stop right when he was watching the exciting part?

This was just like the unspeakable things that happened between the hero and heroine in the room in the novel, and the second female lead who was engaged to the hero suddenly rushed in and saw this scene. Her face changed drastically as she looked at the two people who turned around in shock, and then -

To know what happened next, please read the next chapter.

This excerpt is even worse than being a pigeon!

Jingle bell bell—

Just as Kyosuke Kousaka was getting itchy with thoughts about what his future self would be like, the ringing of his cell phone brought him back from his thoughts.

"Dad?"

Looking at the caller's name displayed on the phone screen, Kyosuke Kousaka was shocked.

Why would my old-fashioned father call me at this time? You know, he has always been bad at using new electronic products like smartphones and basically only uses them a few times a month. After I bought him a phone from my part-time job, I can count the number of calls he received from him on my hands, and they were basically on Sundays. It was a rare thing for him to call me on a study day.

But after being stunned, he didn't think much about it and immediately answered the phone.

"Hello? Is this Kyousuke?"

The steady voice of Kousaka Daisuke came from the phone. When Kousaka Kyosuke heard the voice, the image of his father speaking with a stern face immediately appeared in his mind.

"Uh, Dad, it's me, what's wrong?"

At the Takasaka family, when Daisuke Takasaka heard his son's familiar voice on the phone, his stiff shoulders immediately relaxed, and his tense heart slowly settled down.

He nodded to his wife who was looking at him eagerly and asked.

"Are you OK?"

"???"

Hearing his father's tone on the phone, which was different from his usual stern and caring tone, Kyosuke Kousaka was a little dazed for a moment.

Is this really my old father who is always old-fashioned and heartless, who only scolded me when I was a child and fell down and cried loudly? Or was it someone who switched his voice? Or did Kirino come up with some trick to play a prank on me and learn to change her voice? Maybe she is covering her mouth and laughing at me on the other side of the phone, just waiting for me to be touched by the long-lost concern of "father" so that she can laugh at me with her original voice?

"I, I'm fine. What's wrong? Dad."

At this moment, rather than being touched, Kousaka Kyosuke felt more weird and awkward inside, and asked hesitantly.

"…Really? That's good."

"As long as you're okay, that's fine."

This time, Kyosuke Kousaka clearly felt the pure care of a father for his son in these words and was stunned.

The special fear that I had developed since childhood under the strict gaze of my father gradually dissipated after hearing these words, and a warm current spread from my heart to my body.

It turns out that no matter how strict a father is, he actually cares about his son. Even if the serious mask on his face prevents him from expressing his love openly, the love beneath the mask is no less than that of a mother.

"Dad..."

"Since you are okay, you should have called earlier to confirm your safety. You actually asked me, your father, to call you first. How shameless!"

Just when Kyosuke Kousaka was about to speak back, feeling a little touched, the voice on the other end of the phone, which was originally full of fatherly love, suddenly changed 180 degrees, and became iron-faced and hard again.

"After this is over, go home and receive special training. Since you are going to inherit my mantle and become a police officer in the future, don't act like a coward like in the video!"

"But a few unidentified life forms have landed you in the hospital so many times? One time you were even sent there because of a novel? How much do you neglect your exercise in the future? It's really embarrassing for our Kousaka family."

"Anyway, I don't think you can attend the class right now, so why not go home and get trained to be a police officer? Start from the basics and memorize the police code a hundred times!"

"Since you are still alive, then have a good talk with your mother. I will settle the rest with you when I get home!"

After he finished speaking, Kousaka Daisuke's voice disappeared from the other end of the phone, and his mother's concerned inquiries were heard instead.

Kousaka Kyosuke: "..."

Sure enough, in contrast to the tone of voice that treated his daughter like a flower pistil, this tone of voice that treated his son like a club was exactly the tone of the father he was familiar with. The deep father-son love he had felt before was definitely an illusion caused by seeing his future self being persecuted by Zaimokuza for too long.

"I'm fine, Mom..."

He rolled his eyes speechlessly, then comforted Kousaka Yoshino who was waiting on the other side of the phone.

Chiba Prefecture, Sobu High School, health room.

"Please, please don't be in any trouble!!!"

After the video disappeared, Zaimokuza used Hiratsuka Shizuka's phone to call his parents with trembling fingers, and he dialed the wrong number several times because of nervousness.

He put the phone to his ear, waiting nervously for the call to be connected.

beep - beep - beep -

In just a few seconds, it felt like several years had passed to Zaimokuza.

"Hello? Who is this?"

When the phone was connected and he heard the familiar female voice coming from the other end, Zaimokuza's tense body completely relaxed. He almost fell to the ground with unsteady steps and was almost crying with joy.

"Mom, mom! It's me!"

"Yoshiki!? How are you now? Are you still in Sobu High School? Listen to mom and don't go to that ruins in Nagano Prefecture. Dad and I don't want you to be that Kuuga. It's too dangerous! You——"

"Ah, speak slowly, speak slowly, I am listening..."

At this moment, Hikigaya Hachiman, who was standing beside the bed, opened the interface as soon as the video disappeared. Without even using the address book, his fingers used muscle memory to dial his sister's number within one second and waited for the call to be answered.

His expression was calm as he waited for the call, but his five fingers were holding the phone so tightly that they were almost white.

Click.

"Hey! Brother? Is that you, brother!?"

When he heard his sister's voice coming from the other end of the phone, Hikigaya Hachiman's originally upright body shook a few times, and then stood straight again the next second, as if the previous shaking was just an illusion.

“…It’s me, Komachi.”

"That's great! It's really my brother! He's still alive!"

Hikigaya Komachi, who was sitting next to the unconscious Arita-san on the hospital bed, said happily with a few tiny tears hanging from the corners of her eyes.

After learning from the video of Yukinoshita Yukino that her brother really died in the future, she almost felt her heart stopped beating, and she didn't care much about the news of her own death.

The girl was extremely happy to hear her brother's voice again.

"It's the same for you, isn't it... You're also a living Komachi."

A relieved smile slowly appeared on Hikigaya Hachiman's face, just like the sky clearing up after the rain and spring coming to the earth. All the previous coldness disappeared in an instant.

The inexplicable "inhuman" feeling that had been lingering on his body faded away at an extremely fast speed the moment he heard his sister's voice, and the previous Hikigaya Hachiman returned again.

The "human" temperament gradually filled his body, filling the empty feeling like filling an empty bottle with water.

"Well--"

At this time, Hayato Hayama, who was lying unconscious on the bed next to him, frowned, then slowly opened his eyes with a confused look.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Hikigaya Hachiman standing opposite him and smiling.

Hikigaya had a gentle smile on his face that he had never seen in front of others. When he looked up at the sky and the sunlight shone on his face, the feeling was even somewhat similar to that of "Zaimokuza Yoshiki" in the previous video, both were like light breaking through the darkness from the end of dawn.

This scene was so different from the pair of eyes devoid of any human emotion that Hayato Hayama saw before he fell into a coma that he even doubted for a moment whether he had not woken up yet.

"Hayato! Are you awake!?"

"Ah... I'm sorry for making you worry."

Holding the trembling body of Miura Yumiko who threw herself into his arms, Hayato Hayama's expression was still a little dazed.

His gaze was still focused on Hikigaya Hachiman, through the friends who had gathered around him, but his clear eyes were filled with more and more doubts.

What on earth was that... thing I saw before?

……

While everyone in the health room was experiencing different joys and sorrows, a small change was quietly happening.

Among the glass fragments that had not yet been cleared at Hikigaya Hachiman's feet, an eye suddenly appeared in one of the small pieces of mirror.

This eye has normal human eyelashes and eyeballs, as well as a black pupil and a white sclera, and is obviously a human eye.

The eye looked up at Hikigaya Hachiman who was talking on the phone with his back to him, and then shifted its gaze to the direction of the bed where Hayama Hayato was lying.

"..."

His eyelids drooped slightly, and an indescribable coldness lingered in the depths of his dark eyes.

Finally, the eye turned its gaze to Zaimokuza, who was standing with his back to the other side.

"Don't worry! I really won't go to the Kuroyama ruins in Nagano Prefecture. Even if I have to go, I will definitely - huh?"

While dealing with his parents' worries, Zaimokuza suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of being watched from behind and subconsciously turned around to look.

The scene of Hachiman Hikigaya standing by the window and making a phone call and Hayato Hayama waking up in bed and comforting their friends with smiles on their faces appeared in front of him, but the sunlight reflected from the glass on the ground was a little dazzling.

Other than that, there was nothing unusual.

"???"

Zaimokuza tilted his head in confusion, but when he realized nothing, he turned around and continued talking to his parents.

2. A fresh start -in-

Chiba Prefecture, Sobu High School, Service Club. 185txt.com

"Don't worry! Mom, Dad, I really won't run to the Kuroyama ruins in Nagano Prefecture because of my chuunibyou like before! I can't release those murderous Gurongi from their seal just because I want to try wearing that belt. You must believe me on this!"

"Just stay in the company and don't leave or run around."

"Don't come to school just to find me! I still don't know how you will die in the future - bah! How something happened, so don't act rashly!"

Zaimokuza said this while sweating profusely while holding the phone. He finally managed to calm his overly worried parents down, and he let out a long sigh after hanging up the phone.

"Don't worry, brother, I'm fine. Just stay in the health room. I'll pick you up later. Don't run around."

"...Brother is fine, you don't have to worry about me, as long as you are fine."

The voice behind him made him turn his head, just in time to see Hikigaya Hachiman, who had also hung up the phone, exhaling lightly, and when he raised his head, their eyes met.

““Ahem!”

Two pairs of eyes with the same color looked at each other in silence for a moment, and then Hikigaya and Zaimokuza each recalled the series of stress reactions they had when they learned that something had happened to their family members, and they both tacitly covered their mouths with their fists and coughed loudly to hide the embarrassment on their faces.

"Hachi, Hachiman, is your sister okay?"

Zaimokuza asked with a forced smile after coughing, and Hikigaya Hachiman nodded in response with a fake smile on his face.

"Well... she's fine, don't worry. Where are your parents?"

"Uh, it's okay. I told them not to stay where they are and not to run around. Hehehe..."

"Really? Me too, ahahaha..."

"..."

"..."