Chapter 133. Jiangzhi Island.
One of the afternoon classes is for Higashigo Miya.
Tsukino and Chiya didn't really pay attention in class... Of course, this isn't directed at Higashigo Miya; he didn't really pay attention in class for the entire afternoon.
This is actually a normal reaction after encountering the strange behavior of the girl who fell from the building that afternoon, right? After encountering a series of suicide attempts, falls, and paranormal events, it's impossible for anyone to concentrate on listening attentively in the following class, isn't it? This is... normal, isn't it?
"This is not normal at all!" Wang Ma Xiaoji said. "What's going on with Kozuki and Kohinata? Have they finally stopped acting altogether?"
Hajime Hinata: "If we're talking about acting..."
Tsukino and Chiya: "While we were indeed acting, it's just..."
Wang Ma Xiaoji: "Hehe, it's just that from the beginning, everyone's acting wasn't exactly heartfelt... right~?"
It was Wang Ma Xiaoji who first raised the question with an incredulous look, but in the end, he was the one who answered with a grin.
However, the other two did not show any change in expression, clearly having become accustomed to this situation.
It wasn't dark yet. Moreover, it wasn't time for school to end.
When the three of them met near the corpse downstairs, Tsukino and Chiya said, "Let's go to the abandoned shrine tonight." But now, although it's not night yet, the three of them have already embarked on their journey to the abandoned shrine.
Tsukino, Chiya, and Hinata Hajime were pulled out by Ohma Kokichi.
They had just finished the second class—the one taught by Higashigo Miya. Wangma Xiaoji swaggered into their classroom again, dragging someone out.
Wang Ma Xiaoji was a very individualistic person. Even if they weren't in his class, other students had heard of him to some extent and were used to his arrival and actions.
Moreover, Tsukino and Chiya never hid their ongoing romantic relationship with Ohma Kokichi.
This time, however, besides taking Tsukino and Chiya away, Ohma Kokichi also called Hinata Hajime. The brown-haired, heterochromatic-eyed boy understood what Ohma Kokichi wanted to do, and without asking any questions, he got up and left with them.
...Then they left the school and completely achieved the feat of skipping school.
Unless there are special circumstances, don't try to learn this.
At this moment, the three of them were walking on a deserted path, occasionally passing through narrow alleys, making it unsuitable for them to walk side by side.
Hajime Hinata led the way at the front of the group. He was one of the people who had gone to explore the abandoned shrine that day to celebrate a classmate's birthday, so he knew the shrine's address very well, and even knew which shortcuts would get him there faster.
Clearly, long before Tsukino and Chiya had that dream about the shrine, Hyuga Hajime had already investigated things related to the shrine beforehand, otherwise he wouldn't be so familiar with the path now.
Hyuga Hajime, walking at the front, naturally couldn't see the expressions of the two behind him, but that didn't stop him from imagining them—Tsukino Kazuya would definitely still have that expressionless, calm demeanor that seemed to have never changed, while Ohma...
"Hey, I'm telling you. What are you guys saying? You've already given up on the act, haven't you? There's no point in hiding it anymore. I don't think Aurora is the kind of idiot who can't see through things at this point... Hmm, she's not an idiot, is she?"
—You can completely infer from his voice that he seemed to be filled with doubt, eager to write, and ready to cause trouble.
"Now that things have come to this, I still have to say it..."
As soon as Ouma Kokichi finished speaking, Hinata Hajime, who was walking at the front, heard Tsukino and Chiya's voices immediately following.
However, compared to Ouma Kokichi's outspokenness, Tsukino and Chiya seemed more hesitant.
"...Never mind, it's not important. Let's go to the shrine first."
Hyuga Hajime then heard Ohma Shokichi's protest: "Eh?! You only say half of what you mean? I hate these kinds of riddle-solving characters the most when I watch movies and TV shows! Because what they leave out is often the key part of the plot! I even led my men to storm a screenwriter's house because of this once!"
The topic gradually veered off course in Wang Ma Xiaoji's words: "We broke into that screenwriter's house, kidnapped him, and made him tell us a shocking joke, or we'd pluck out all the hair on his already sparse head!"
Tsukino and Chiya commented, "That sounds really vicious."
"Thanks." Wang Ma Xiaoji readily accepted the compliment. "Anyway, in the end, to protect his poor hair, that guy decided to tell us a joke. But before he started telling the joke, he suddenly seemed to remember something, calmed down and stopped resisting, revealing a melancholy smile, and said, 'A joke, ah, once upon a time, someone asked me to tell a joke, back then…'"
Wang Ma Xiaoji suddenly fell silent. Tsukino and Senshunshi, who were familiar with some of his routines, asked in unison, "At that time?"
Wang Ma Xiaoji remained silent for a while before finally saying quietly, "...Never mind, it's not an important story, so let's not talk about it."
“I understand.” Tsukino and Chiyo understood what Ohma Kokichi meant, so they changed the subject and continued the previous topic that they had skipped. “I originally wanted to talk about some speculations about Aurora, but in the end, those speculations had no basis, so I didn’t say them.”
“Because, in the end,” Hinata Hajime, who had been listening to the conversation between the two behind him, finally spoke up, “we can’t really be sure whether this matter is related to Aurora.”
Since the incident at the old school building, none of them have encountered any supernatural events... until now.
The doll who called herself Aurora vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed in this world. If it weren't for the marks that still appeared on Tsukino, Chiya, and Ohma Kokichi because of that doll, he might have suspected that the doll had been silently sealed away by someone else someday.
Ah... speaking of marks.
Tsukino and Chiya, who were walking at the very back of the three, looked at the back of Ohma Kokichi in front of them.
From this angle, he naturally couldn't see Wangma Xiaoji's collarbone. But he knew that here... in this mysterious space, there was no mark like a wild beast's claw on Wangma Xiaoji's collarbone.
Similarly, the marks on Tsukino and Chiya's backs have been confirmed by Ohma Kokichi and do not currently exist.
They have been living a peaceful life here for a week.
That night, he, Ouma Kokichi, and Higashigo Miya entered the secret passage inside the old school building. Immediately afterwards, Tsukino and Chiya arrived at this place.
Here, he, Ouma Kokichi, and Hinata Hajime were still students. Tsukino and Chiya were classmates with Hinata Hajime, while Ouma Kokichi was in another class. They didn't attend Hope's Peak, but instead lived ordinary lives together at another ordinary school.
This situation is like someone behind the scenes trying to erase their memories and trap them in this world, making them live a muddled life forever.
But...it's obvious.
None of the people present had amnesia.
While it's possible that the mastermind behind pulling them into this world never intended for them to lose their memories... considering the entirely new memories that nearly overwrote their original ones, the probability of that happening is probably low.
At first, the three of them chose to remain silent and spend a peaceful week relying on the new memories they had acquired. This was partly a process of exploring and adapting to this unfamiliar world, and partly a way of waiting to see if anything unusual would happen.
Of course, simply waiting would be too passive. During that week, they secretly did some things to test the waters. And just when they finally decided to take it a step further—
Although the reason is unknown, today a rather obvious anomaly has finally surfaced on the previously calm surface.
"So," Ouma Shokichi asked, "why are you here, Kohinata?"
This was the first time the three of them had spoken so openly since arriving in this world. Previously, in order to better portray the characters in their new memories, they had never discussed matters related to reality so openly.
“Perhaps it’s because I was also involved in strange events before,” Hyuga Hajime said. “But that’s not necessarily true, since Komaeda isn’t here. In the end, as I said before, it’s still uncertain whether the current situation was caused by Aurora. It’s just that we weren’t in the same place before we came here, so it’s possible that it wasn’t caused by you or me going somewhere.”
However, if there's anything that could connect the three of them, it would only be the series of supernatural events that Aurora brought up recently.
“And before I got here,” Hinata Hajime said, deftly vaulting over a fence blocking the way in the alley, “I was in the same place as Komaeda.”
"Me, him, and..."
Wang Ma Xiaoji followed closely behind, climbing and leaping down with equally agile movements. And for Tsukino and Chiya, such a fence was hardly an obstacle.
The black-haired boy leaped down easily, his long hair billowing as he moved, then falling obediently back down as he landed steadily.
It was at this moment that Tsukino and Chiya heard another name coming from Hinata Hajime's mouth.
"——Enoshima Shields."
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