Chapter 17: Third Playthrough (5)
"Wait! Hey! Zero! What happened to Hagi?!" Matsuda Jinpei was the first to chase after them.
"Zero, what happened?" Morofushi Kagemitsu was the second to catch up.
“That’s right, Furuya, tell us so we can all help.” It was Date Wataru’s turn last. He seemed relatively calm, but he froze when he saw Furuya Rei’s expression.
That expression, that feeling—why did it feel so much like the feeling he got from Furuya Rei in his dream?
In an instant, those surging and terrifying emotions that Ida Kou thought he had long forgotten rushed back to him, causing his heart to clench and his breath to stop.
Could it be...?
Furuya Reiichi didn't know how to explain it to them, and he couldn't afford to waste too much time, so he simply borrowed a motorcycle from a pedestrian and prepared to leave.
Before leaving, he said to the group, "I'm not sure right now, but I have a bad feeling. Let's spread out and search the surrounding areas where Hagi might appear!"
"I'll go check out the shrine first!" Before the words were even finished, the motorcycle had already disappeared like a bolt of lightning, leaving the three people who had originally wanted to ride along stunned.
While Rei Furuya was racking his brains trying to figure out which butterfly could cause what kind of tornado that would put Hagi in danger at this moment, he was also carefully observing his surroundings and looking for the young man with medium-length hair.
The class monitor had mentioned speaking to Hagi on the phone before. At that time, Hagi seemed normal, and the topics they discussed were no different from what he remembered.
Although the act of making a phone call itself is already a butterfly effect.
However, it also indicates that Hagi was at least developing in the same way as before, helping an old man up a very high step and then helping him get a fortune slip at the nearby shrine.
The accident happened during this period, so the focus should be on the very high steps or the area near the shrine, as well as the entire route to their agreed meeting point.
The long and complicated road was left to others to carefully investigate, while Furuya Rei rode his motorcycle at high speed toward the shrine.
But no!
He asked a shrine staff member, who said that not long ago a handsome young man with medium-length black hair had indeed drawn six fortune slips.
Six, not one.
Rei Furuya's heart skipped a beat as a brand new butterfly slowly flew past him once again.
Could the extra five fortune slips be the reason? Did Hagi draw them for them along with the others?
Rei Furuya clenched his fist, turned around, got back on his motorcycle, and sped away.
But I can't find it, I can't find it anywhere.
Furuya Rei even gritted his teeth and thought to himself that he might as well just install tracking devices and listening devices on all those people in the future!
He pushed the motorcycle to its limit, speeding past various places at tricky angles, as if he had returned to the last day of the previous cycle.
On that dark and rainy evening, he frantically rode his motorcycle to reach his friend who was in danger, but he was too late.
He always seems to be late.
Eight minutes have passed.
They haven't received any news from the others either, and everyone is starting to feel nervous and scared.
Just as Rei Furuya was becoming increasingly desperate and his mind was starting to conjure up various images of Kenji Hagiwara's death, and he was already thinking about starting a new loop, he suddenly heard a strange sound.
The motorcycle suddenly made a sharp turn and braked, stalling the engine. Furuya Rei listened attentively and quickly observed the surrounding environment.
This is a place Hagi might pass through; it's a rather secluded path, with a quiet, dark river across the way...
Rei Furuya suddenly ran towards the high river embankment, and as he climbed over the slope, the faint crying became even clearer.
This section of the river was very rapid, and it was very dark around, with only the distant streetlights barely illuminating the surface of the river.
But this was not a problem for Furuya Rei. Reflected in those wide, purplish-gray eyes was the image of Kenji Hagiwara's head being completely submerged in the dark river.
His hand, which had been struggling to hold the child, loosened its grip, and the only child who could still utter a faint cry was gradually swallowed by the icy river water, and the entire river surface instantly fell silent.
Rei Furuya's pupils contracted, and he rushed over and jumped into the river.
"thump--"
So, the river water in June is this cold to the bone?
In the darkness of the underwater world, where it was almost impossible to see anything from a distance, Furuya Rei could only rely on his memories and carefully feel the flow of the river to determine the exact location of the two people.
With all his might, he finally managed to grab Kenji Hagiwara's hand, and with his other hand he hugged the child, pulling them both out of the water.
"Hagi! Hagi!" Furuya Rei shouted loudly in the ear of the unconscious long-haired youth.
But he received no response.
Rei Furuya, sensing his terrible physical condition, gritted his teeth and began to swim the two of them toward the shore.
To be honest, it was really difficult. The river here was already dangerous, and with Kenji Hagiwara completely unconscious, the child woke up coughing and even tried to cry while clinging to him, which made it even more difficult for him to move around.
"Don't be nervous, don't be afraid, relax, listen to me, I will definitely get you to shore." Furuya Rei had already prepared to prevent the drowning person from grabbing back and affecting their movements in fear, so he easily restrained the child's movements while reassuring them with words.
He couldn't afford to waste another second; Hagi's condition was really bad.
When they finally reached the shore, Furuya Rei was exhausted. Before he could even catch his breath, he immediately turned the quiet Hagiwara Kenji over and laid him flat on the ground.
“Hagi?” Rei Furuya reached out and touched him. “Hagi, you…”
He suddenly froze.
Because he discovered that Kenji Hagiwara had stopped breathing.
Rei Furuya was ice-cold, his mind blank, and almost instinctively began frantically trying to save Kenji Hagiwara.
He did everything he could think of to save the young man, numbly performing artificial respiration on him again and again, when the young man had stopped breathing and his heart had stopped beating and his body was cold and wet. He gritted his teeth and pressed hard on the young man's chest to perform CPR.
"Hagi! Hagi! Hagi! Wake up!! Damn it!!!"
Rei Furuya gradually lost hope.
"Cough cough cough—" Kenji Hagiwara suddenly woke up coughing.
His mind was in chaos, his head was throbbing, and he seemed to hear Rei Furuya's voice. His whole body was heavy and aching, but the most painful parts were his throat and lungs. His heart was also beating erratically as if it had gone mad.
But he is still alive.
"Hagi!!!"
"Cough cough cough, it's Furuya, haha, I just... I think I saw heaven..." Kenji Hagiwara struggled to control his body, each word spoken with great difficulty.
He coughed for a long time, his breathing gradually became smoother, his heartbeat began to stabilize, his eyes could see things again, and his heavy brain slowly began to turn.
Before that, he first encountered an elderly man with difficulty moving up the steps, helped him up which took some time, and then went to a nearby shrine to draw a fortune for the elderly man.
Hagi-chan is usually very lucky, and she drew a very auspicious number this time as well.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered Furuya Rei and Morofushi Kagemitsu.
Those two are truly childhood friends; one of them is secretly doing something dangerous behind everyone's back, which is quite worrying.
And the class monitor, it seems like the class monitor is still a little bothered by that nightmare about the future, right?
Okay, let's just get a fortune slip for everyone!
Kenji Hagiwara quickly made a decision: since he was already late, it wouldn't matter if he was a little later.
The young man with medium-length black hair drew five lots for each of the five people.
Kenji Hagiwara, best of luck.
Matsuda Jinpei, great fortune.
All hidden auspicious signs indicate great fortune.
Date, good luck.
If the valley drops to zero, it will be very bad.
"Oh dear—" When Kenji Hagiwara saw the last bad luck fortune slip, his expression suddenly turned to one of pain. He smiled helplessly and said, "I can't show it to them now. I'll give my lucky one to Furuya instead."
The previous five auspicious days went so smoothly, but then suddenly a terrible misfortune struck at the end, which was truly terrifying.
"Sure enough, when things are going smoothly, something bad always happens in the end. I should have hit the brakes sooner."
Kenji Hagiwara muttered to himself, hung the ominous Rei Furuya on a tree to bring good luck, and put the other four auspicious items into his pocket before leaving the shrine.
This made him even later, so he took a detour and rushed there, but ended up being even later because he heard a child crying for help and went to rescue him.
"Hahaha, that was close! That kid was struggling so hard, I accidentally pulled myself in too. Luckily, Furuya came to save me, otherwise Hagi-chan would have heroically sacrificed herself today." Kenji Hagiwara laughed a few times, trying to ease the tension. "Actually, I was confident enough to go and save him, I'm a very good swimmer! This was just an accident! So don't be angry, Furuya~"
Oh my god, Furuya's expression looks so scary! The little kid over there is so frightened he doesn't even dare to cry anymore.
"Hagi! I know you're a great swimmer! But! You know that strong swimmers are often the most prone to drowning?!"
Rei Furuya suddenly grabbed his shoulder and raised his voice sternly, "When you see someone drowning and need to rescue them, you must be careful not to lose your life as well. Even the best swimmer can drown if you're not careful! Let alone in such dangerous waters! Why didn't you call us first? You should have notified others before attempting it, and you should have approached the drowning person from behind to prevent them from instinctively grabbing at you in fear, which would hinder your actions. You should have calmed their fear and agitation before approaching—"
Kenji Hagiwara stared blankly at him, then suddenly sensed something was wrong.
He had never seen Rei Furuya with such an expression.
Even if what happened this time was indeed too dangerous and he almost died, wasn't Furuya Rei's reaction a bit excessive? It felt like... it wasn't just his emotions from this dangerous situation, but rather something that had been building up for a long time and suddenly erupted?
Come to think of it, how were you able to detect something was wrong and find him so quickly?
He had just called the class monitor not long ago to say he would be a little late. Would most people be so worried about him being late that they would rush out and find him quickly and accurately?
Kenji Hagiwara chuckled and patted the blond youth's hand, trying to calm him down. He then made a funny joke to ease the tension: "You're so nervous about Hagi-chan, Furuya-chan, you wouldn't happen to like me, would you? Hahaha, oh right, we even did CPR! Hagi-chan's first kiss was with you, you have to take responsibility for it, Furuya-chan~"
However, Rei Furuya couldn't laugh at all.
He gradually calmed down, and suddenly lost all his strength. He withdrew his hand and slowly sat down on the ground, wearily lowering his head.
Yes, it's so good that Hagi is alright. He successfully rescued the person, which brought him back to life.
However, he couldn't relax at all, and even felt ice-cold all over his body, and his fingers couldn't help but curl up and clench into fists.
Calm down, Rei Furuya, calm down. If Hagi was successfully saved this time, he can be saved next time too.
The blond youth, with an extremely serious expression, quickly considered how things would develop.
Because the number of butterflies has increased.
This is the largest butterfly ever discovered.
The butterfly's outstretched scarlet wings were enormous, blotting out the sky and suffocating the senses.
So, how big of a tornado can it cause by flapping its wings?
Hagi is fine this time, but what about next time? What about the others?
Will he be able to spot something amiss in time and successfully save the person each time?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com