Chapter 68 "Big Sister" Please Take Responsibility Properly
The tears that had been building up burst forth like a dam breaking, streaming down his cheeks, soaking his bathrobe, and also washing away the high walls she had carefully built.
For the past four months, cognitive fragmentation caused by memory misalignment and language system confusion, self-identity confusion and moral dilemma caused by dual time confusion, loneliness due to information gap, superiority and fear of being reduced in dimensionality... have been constantly tearing at her mind.
She was like a philosophical madwoman, wandering aimlessly in a state of chaos, anxious about existentialism.
She was like a stranger standing outside the fourth wall, or a patient suffering from dissociative identity disorder.
Just like now, it feels as if the soul has been split in two: one half is crying hysterically, while the other half is suspended in mid-air.
The soul hovering above coldly assessed: the crying was too loud, not in line with the beauty of fragility; the breathing rhythm was too chaotic, lacking control; the hair stuck to the side of the neck with tears was not aesthetically pleasing.
If this happened on a film set, the director would definitely yell "cut" and start over.
Yet... she felt so exhilarated.
There's no need to consider lighting angles, no need to worry about whether you'll have swelling tomorrow, and no need to repeatedly ponder "how much sadness this character should show at this moment."
Just as Risa, simply because:
The secret she carefully guarded was gently accepted by the person she cared about most.
Even knowing he was a "created being," his gaze towards her remained as gentle as ever.
He truly understood her pain and said to her, "You've worked hard."
Crying over such trivial things.
Tears blurred my vision, but my heart was clearer than ever before.
He only relaxed his arm around her shoulder slightly when she cried until she was hoarse and no more tears could be shed.
In the light, his purple eyes shone with a gentle brilliance. He brushed away the damp stray hairs from her forehead, his handsome face looming closer until their foreheads touched, their breaths mingling.
"Matsuno-kun, compared to just looking at it through a screen..."
Fireworks at the end of the festival rose into the sky, illuminating their intertwined shadows. The shadows were very long, completely enveloping her.
Would you be willing to personally witness every match I play?
He stroked her reddened eyelids, and his whispers, carried on the sound of fireworks, reached her ear.
Risa froze.
Was he asking her for a promise?
But she...
Yukimura stepped back slightly, creating some distance between them.
Amidst the flickering fireworks, he gazed into her eyes: "Or is it that seeing the 'real' me disappointed you, and you only like the 'story' version of me?"
"No..." she hurriedly grabbed his withdrawing hand, "What moves me has always been..."
"What is it?" He narrowed his eyes and moved closer, the corners of his eyes slanting upwards.
Risa realized she'd been tricked. This god-like figure, a master of psychological warfare on the court, was using his most effective methods to seduce her true feelings.
"You..." Her eyes widened, her ears instantly burning red. "Are you still going to play mind games at a time like this?!"
"So," he said with a faint smile, "you mean to say that what moves you is the real-life version of me?"
"Does this kind of thing have to be the one who wins?!" Risa was so embarrassed that she buried her burning face in his shoulder.
Yukimura's eyebrows curved into a smile as he lowered his head and placed a kiss on the top of her head.
“It seems that this time,” he said, his Adam’s apple bobbing near her ear, “the ‘real’ me has won over the ‘role’.”
"......Fool."
(The one who wins my heart, the one who moves me, has always been you.)
......
The hustle and bustle of the festival gradually faded away.
Risa leaned on Yukimura's shoulder, playing with his hand. His hand was beautiful, with prominent knuckles, and it was wider and longer than hers.
"I still can't figure it out..."
"What?"
"Why me of all people? Why did my memories only return this April?"
“Do you know Schrödinger’s cat?” Yukimura picked up a strand of her hair and twirled it between his fingers. “Before the box is opened, the cat is both alive and dead.”
"It's too complicated, I don't understand." Risa frowned slightly.
To be precise, she was thinking too much tonight, and her "CPU" was overloaded.
“Then… what about the ‘observer effect’?” Yukimura asked softly.
"The quantum physics thing?" She squinted.
“Just as an opponent’s gaze can alter the trajectory of a serve,” he said, looking down at her. “Perhaps your intense gaze upon ‘me’ disturbed the timeline, ultimately bringing you into this reality where I am.”
"That's even more impossible."
Her swift denial surprised Yukimura, but that was precisely his little scheme.
"I only got into this anime because of my younger brother, and that's how I came to know the members of Rikkai University's tennis club, especially you."
She paused, her voice tinged with a hint of teasing.
"Although in my previous world, quite a few people did call you 'husband' or something like that, I wasn't that crazy. At the very least, I wouldn't develop any passionate feelings for a two-dimensional character, especially one who's supposed to be a 15-year-old teenager."
The fingertips that were entwined around her hair paused, and the knuckles tightened slightly.
Yukimura lowered his eyes, his voice low and hoarse: "I see... Matsuno-kun is an elder."
“Yes, I’m much older than you.” She leaned close to his ear mischievously. “By soul age, you should call me ‘Auntie’.”
The air suddenly froze.
The danger radar went off, and the hairs on the back of Risa's neck suddenly stood on end. Instinctively, she wanted to back away.
The next second, the boy's warm palm covered the back of her hand, closing the distance between them.
“Then…” He raised his eyelids, and the boy who always had a gentle smile now had deep eyes, “Shouldn’t the older sister take responsibility for disturbing the minds of minors without permission?”
Risa's breathing became erratic.
I vaguely recall a film festival where she spoke eloquently in front of the flashing lights: "The highest level of acting is to let fiction devour reality."
Now, fiction is walking towards her.
......
The lanterns of the festival painted the sky a warm red.
Do you know what your expression was when I first met you?
Yukimura's voice was like silk, gently wrapping around her ear.
"That time at Clock Tower Square?" Risa buried her face in the crook of his neck, her voice muffled.
"Um."
"She must have been so shocked she lost her composure," she said with a self-deprecating smile. "Like she'd seen a ghost in broad daylight."
Yukimura chuckled softly, the vibrations of his chest transmitted through their pressed skin.
—The memory of that day remains vivid.
After the evening training session, everyone walked through the clock tower square in twos and threes. Yukimura was walking at the back of the group when he suddenly noticed a gaze.
The square was teeming with people, but that gaze seemed tangible, piercing through the noisy crowd and landing wetly on him.
He turned around instinctively.
A girl stood in the shadows of the shopping mall. Her long, seaweed-like hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her dark eyes, like water-soaked black pearls, gleamed faintly in the twilight.
Her gaze was peculiar, unlike the excitement of an ordinary fan or the curiosity of a stranger, but rather... as if she were looking at someone she hadn't seen in a long time, with an indescribable sadness and longing.
For a moment, Yukimura had the illusion that he had been seen through.
But he was certain that he didn't know her.
Just as he hesitated, a blinding flash of light suddenly appeared high up in the shopping mall.
--Danger!
The body moves faster than the mind.
By the time he came to his senses, he had already pulled the girl firmly into his arms. The glass shattered at their feet, and shards flew everywhere.
However, the expected thank you did not come.
The girl stared at him blankly.
Then—
She suddenly reached out and pinched his face hard.
Yukimura: "...?"
What an rude fellow.
......
"So you hold a grudge against me because of this? You deliberately let those girls cause me trouble?"
Risa tilted her head back, her moist black eyes like black pearls, the corners still tinged with lingering red. Warm light fell on her face, making her stubbornness appear even more pitiful.
Yukimura tilted his head to look at her, his eyes smiling gently: "Matsuno-kun, in your heart, am I really such a despicable person?"
Risa: "......"
This person is turning the tables on us.
Yukimura gently lifted her chin, his gaze falling on her slightly parted lips. He placed his thumb over them, slowly caressing them, the soft touch making his eyes narrow.
“If I really wanted revenge…” He pressed harder, leaving an ambiguous indentation on his lower lip: “Matsuno-kun would probably cry a lot.”
Risa trembled all over.
A sense of danger crept up my spine, and those unspeakable images from my dream surfaced in my mind, causing my cheeks to burn.
"Then why...?"
"Because it's very interesting."
He tilted his head to look at her, his purple eyes narrowed into crescent moons, his face full of innocent kindness.
"Watching a little wildcat that thought it was hiding well, reveal its claws when danger strikes."
and--
He was indeed a little angry at the time.
I still vividly remember the pain from those two pinches on my cheeks.
Thinking of this, her purple eyes darkened.
Just as Risa was about to say something, he suddenly leaned down. In the instant the shadow fell, she instinctively leaned back, moonlight shining on her trembling eyelashes.
"What...what do you want to do?"
"Didn't you say you'd agree to whatever I did tonight?"
A night breeze ruffled a few stray hairs from his forehead. In the flickering light, his handsome face was half bathed in warm light and half hidden in shadow, possessing a captivating allure.
"I...I did say that..." she stammered, her fingers unconsciously clenching the cuffs of her yukata, "but it didn't include..."
"Not including what?" He leaned even closer, his nose almost touching hers.
Her lower eyelids drooped slightly, her pupils a strange, deep purple, and their intertwined breaths carried the sweet scent of melon soda, throwing her reason into disarray.
In her panic, Risa raised her hand to press against his chest, and when she felt his rapid heartbeat, she was speechless and stunned.
"No, this does not include violations of the juvenile protection regulations!"
Her eyelashes trembled, and her ears turned red.
This sight made Yukimura's eyes darken, and his Adam's apple bobbed silently.
But haste makes waste.
He closed his eyes, suppressing the surging impulse, and stepped back slightly. His fingertips still lingered on her wrist, before finally sliding down and gently hooking her little finger.
"Then... how about this?"
The night breeze brushed against their intertwined fingertips, carrying with it lingering ambiguity.
"This, this is for elementary school students..." Risa muttered softly, her fingertips unconsciously curling back, "...So, no problem."
"Hmm." Yukimura chuckled softly, his gaze falling on her flushed earlobes, his voice gentle and patient. "Then let's start over from the first year."
Holding hands, hugging, kissing...
The online guides he found told him that dating should be done gradually and not rushed.
What the guide didn't tell him was that when she looked at him with those eyes, all the so-called "steps" became torture.
-
As midnight approached, the festival lanterns were gradually extinguished, and the crowds began to disperse.
Yukimura stood up and extended his hand to her: "It's time to go back."
Under the bright moonlight, the two shadows nestled together as they crossed the coastal highway.
They reluctantly separated their intertwined fingers just before reaching the hotel elevator.
Standing in front of room 2207, Risa looked down at her phone. The number 23:58 was ticking.
"Two minutes left," she said suddenly.
"Um?"
Before Yukimura could react, he was jolted back half a step by a hug that smelled of gardenias. The girl's slender arms wrapped tightly around his waist, her warmth surprising him.
"Thank you..." her voice muffled against his chest, "for giving me such a wonderful night."
Yukimura lowered his eyes, his fingertips tracing her loose hair: "You make it sound like we won't see each other tomorrow."
Risa tilted her head back, the dim light of the corridor lamp casting a tender glow in her eyes. She stood on tiptoe, her warm breath brushing against his ear:
"Don't forget our promise..."
Before she could finish speaking, the room key beeped softly. Like a startled fish, she slipped away from his embrace.
The moment the door closed, the digital clock in the hallway jumped to 00:00.
Yukimura stood there, the scent of gardenia shampoo still lingering on his fingertips. He gently touched his earlobe, which had just been warmed by her breath, and a slight smile played on his lips.
"They escaped so quickly..."
-----------------------
Author's Note: Oh no, I've realized I can't write romance novels. I've revised these four chapters so many times, I'm going crazy! [laughing and crying emoji]
The next two chapters are transitional (and quite important), mainly from the perspectives of the village brother and the seaweed boy, focusing on friendship and family, and are quite interesting. You can purchase them at your discretion.
The romance starts in chapter 71 and will highlight the village brother's cunning and domineering nature (or perhaps his sinister side?). I hope it doesn't go out of character.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
