Chapter 153 Fifty-Eight Weeks (1)
Save file loaded successfully.
You have started your 58th playthrough.
I reloaded the save file.
He returned to December 8th, two years ago, the night Hiro had just survived a near-death experience.
Rei Furuya had already made preparations, so it was not surprising that he felt something was wrong with his body the moment he returned from the save file.
However, he still couldn't stabilize his body temporarily because of the extreme goal he had achieved last time. As soon as he regained consciousness, he almost lost control of his body, fell down dizzily, and was caught by a familiar presence.
"Zero?! Zero!!!"
It's Hiro.
But Rei Furuya couldn't hear what he was saying afterward, and couldn't even sense anything around him.
With his mind completely dizzy and blank, Rei Furuya closed his eyes and rested for a while. It took several minutes before he was finally able to barely perceive his body and his surroundings again.
Hiro seemed to be constantly trying to save him.
Although he couldn't hold on as long as last time, he gradually recovered because his mind wasn't as tense, rather than completely breaking down and falling into a coma. So he was still somewhat conscious and was gradually recovering.
"I...I'm fine..." He struggled to say these words, and it took him a while to catch his breath.
He still couldn't see clearly, but he had regained some control over his body.
He could feel Hiro frantically checking his body, and only breathed a slight sigh of relief when he heard him speak.
"It's alright." Furuya Rei had recovered a bit. "We've succeeded. We've cleared the game."
After saying that, he paused for a moment and felt a cold, frightened hand touch his forehead.
"Zero, your face is burning hot." He heard Hiro's worried voice, completely ignoring the matter of clearing the level, still checking his body. "Your body is still trembling, Zero, can you tell me where you feel unwell?"
"Yeah, it's just a fever from overwork, don't worry." Furuya Rei had gradually regained her senses and was barely able to tighten her grip on his other hand. "I'll rest for a bit, it'll be fine. Trust me, I'm back from the future. Let everyone know in the group chat."
Speaking so much in one breath almost exhausted all the energy he had just accumulated, leaving him dizzy, weak, and unable to continue pacing.
He developed a fever earlier than expected. Was it because he resisted too strongly, or was it due to a combination of factors such as death and rollback?
Well, the fever was already within his consideration. Although it wasn't as severe as last time, it still had an impact. It was because his body couldn't handle it, and even if his spirits recovered, it wouldn't help.
"I understand. I'll tell everyone right away. Zero, you can rest for a bit and tell me what happened later," Morofushi Kagemitsu said hurriedly.
Having confirmed that he did not exhibit any symptoms of sudden death and noticing his discomfort, Morofushi Kagemitsu did not ask any further questions. He simply sat on the sofa next to him, holding his hand and waiting quietly.
Morofushi Kagemitsu was finally able to spare the energy to reply to messages in the group chat, and occasionally changed the towel on Furuya's head to cool it down.
[ZERO's Mental State Observation Diary]
[Hiro: Don't worry everyone, we succeeded! We've cleared the game.]
Before Morofushi Kagemitsu could finish typing the next sentence with one hand, Matsuda Jinpei, with his lightning-fast typing speed, sent three messages in quick succession.
Mazda: I knew it would succeed!!!
[Mazda: Where's Zero? They didn't even message us?]
[Mazda: Well, since it's succeeded, let's proceed with the plan, right? This time, we can't let him run away and hide it from us again!]
[Hiro: But Zero collapsed. He had a fever, dizziness, weakness in his limbs, difficulty breathing, and chest tightness, but he's feeling better now. Zero said it was due to overwork and that he just needs to rest. I checked him over and there shouldn't be any danger of sudden death, but just in case, I still need to stay by his side and keep an eye on him.]
The group chat exploded instantly; the joy of just clearing the level vanished in an instant, replaced by worry and tension.
Morofushi Kagemitsu hung up on Date Wataru's call and started typing in the group chat.
[Hiro: Zero is still feeling unwell and is resting quietly. Let's chat in the group chat instead.]
[Hiro: He just came back from the future.]
The group chat went silent instantly.
[Squad Leader: Did my attempt to kill myself fail?]
The others were momentarily speechless, but they knew that Date Hang's words were not a question.
[Hagi-chan: Did Zero say who the "last one" is? If not, let's see if the three of us besides Hiro can get some memories from Zero's dreams by taking a nap during his break.]
The other three agreed, but no one could fall asleep for a while, and they couldn't help but continue the discussion in the group chat.
[Mazda: Does he seem to be in a bad state? Is it because he was too stressed and tired before, or because something bad has happened in the future?]
[Hiro: Maybe both, but probably more of the former. Zero didn't seem to be acting strangely when talking about the future this time; his current discomfort is due to physical reasons.]
[Class Monitor: That's good. It's alright. Let's not scare ourselves too much. Since Zero didn't rush to explain, it means that the future isn't actually that urgent or terrible.]
[Hagi-chan: I originally thought the class president's ordeal would be easier. When I discussed it with Zero, he said that if Hiro could clear this time, then there was a good chance he could clear the class president's ordeal in one go. What exactly happened in the future?]
Morofushi Kagemitsu shifted his gaze to the slightly furrowed and trembling brows of the blond youth beside him, and felt a pang of pain in his heart.
Yes, what exactly happened in the future? There was a long gap of almost two years between his death and the class monitor's death. What happened that caused Zero's efforts to be destroyed and have to start from scratch again? What did they experience together during those years?
He had no idea.
"Hiro..." Seemingly noticing his gaze, the blond youth, without opening his eyes, tilted his head slightly in his direction, sighed softly, and said, "Actually, I'm very angry right now."
Morofushi Kagemitsu was taken aback: "Huh?"
Rei Furuya opened his eyes, his gaze still somewhat unfocused, but his emotions were clearly visible in those purple eyes.
“I’m very angry with Hiro,” he said.
Morofushi Kagemitsu was completely stunned. After a couple of seconds, he nervously bent down and leaned closer, asking in a low voice, "...What...what did I do?"
“You committed suicide again in front of me, Hiro,” Furuya Rei said.
Morofushi Kagemitsu's pupils constricted and his heart stopped. He only caught his breath slightly after realizing that Furuya Rei wasn't actually angry.
"I..." His voice was hoarse, and he coughed slightly before regaining his composure. "Zero, can you tell me what happened in the future?"
More than ten minutes had passed since the save file was reloaded, and Furuya Rei had recovered a lot. Although he was still weak in his limbs and had a headache, he could still have normal conversations.
He sighed and closed his eyes again: "Although I'm very angry, I still can't do anything about Hiro. After all, Hiro has always been like this, and I... can actually understand."
Zhu Fujingguang vaguely guessed what was going on.
"To prevent the class president from having terrible memories, and to ensure he doesn't forget the important memories we've shared over the past few years, Hiro committed suicide before I could reload my save file." As Furuya Rei spoke, he couldn't help but raise his hand and cover his eyes and forehead with the slightly cool back of his hand.
Morofushi Kagemitsu temporarily lost his ability to speak. He could fully imagine and understand, but when this actually happened and he saw his childhood friend's sad expression, his heart still ached so much that he curled his fingers.
"sorry……"
"Don't apologize to me." Rei Furuya sighed again and said with a wry smile, "I have a slight psychological aversion to that phrase, Hiro, and it's not your fault."
He lowered his hand, and his eyes, now fully clear, met his childhood friend's uneasy and guilty gaze with a reassuring smile.
"I've rested enough. Let me call them and we can talk slowly together."
Rei Furuya couldn't help but turn to look at the window, at the dark night sky and the silvery moon outside.
He vaguely recalled the frank conversation and heart-to-heart talk under the warm, golden sunrise on the rooftop.
"Don't worry, I will tell you everything, including all about the save-loading and reincarnation process."
The blond youth, with his back to the moon outside the window, turned and smiled at Morofushi Kagemitsu, who sensed something was amiss.
"This is what we agreed on. I have sworn that even if we are reincarnated again and everyone forgets everything, I will not hide it from you again."
Well, I promised everyone that I wouldn't hide my safety and health issues anymore and wouldn't do anything reckless, but that didn't include things like the daily three hugs plan.
Rei Furuya won't give them the chance to come up with this plan during his three-day fever and coma. Hopefully, he can perform well this time so everyone won't worry too much.
*
Morobuchi Kagemitsu knew perfectly well that he was dreaming.
He's quite familiar with this feeling now, not to mention that he falls asleep with a strong desire to enter a dream and gain memories.
That was an opportunity I fought hard for in the previous cycle.
The dream was initially very real, so real that it was indistinguishable from a personal experience.
No, this was all he had personally experienced; he had simply regained his memories.
Rei Furuya wasn't lying. In fact, they had a pretty good time in this cycle, creating many interesting and wonderful memories together. Of course, there were also some thrilling, sad, and sorrowful things, all of which ended with the flood on February 7th, two years later.
Sadly, they were not chosen by God to ride on Noah's Ark, and all they faced was despair and death.
But even death cannot take away their emotions; love and hope always remain.
But when Morofushi Kagemitsu woke up, those clear and vivid memories began to disappear rapidly like the receding tide, leaving him with trembling hands and lips as he held his phone and kept writing down all the important things from his dream.
I don't want to forget.
Especially the conversation he had with Zero at the beginning of this cycle under the sunrise on the rooftop, the last phone call, and the plan to hug three times a day... all of this was so important, and it was something that could not be replicated even if he were to reincarnate again.
I don't want to forget, ...—
But those incredibly important and precious memories, like sand, slipped through his fingers little by little with the unstoppable passage of time, eventually disappearing completely, leaving only a vague impression like a dream, as well as unforgettable emotions and death.
Morofushi Kagemitsu sat blankly on the bed, his face still wet with cold tears, but he had forgotten why he had been crying. The joys and sorrows that had almost made his body burst were like those of a lost child who had lost his way and could not find any corresponding specific reason in the empty darkness.
blank.
No, it wasn't a complete blank, but rather the pain of knowing there were many important things but being unable to recall them at all, the discomfort of vaguely seeing shadows but being unable to grasp them, and the feeling of a large, hollow, and suffocating void being forcibly ripped out of his heart.
Almost nothing remained in Morofushi Kagemitsu's mind; he had forgotten everything once again.
Only the notes on my phone remain, cold words transformed from those fragmented memories.
It's like writing someone else's story.
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