Chapter 192 The Second Player

"...Yuuki?"

Hanayamain Haruna tilted her head, her expression calm, not showing any surprise at his sudden appearance or current appearance: "What do you want to see me for?"

Saikai Haruto nodded.

He walked towards her, and he didn't know when his green eyes returned to staring at the girl in front of him who was emitting a magical charm in every move. Even though today was her birthday, she was still dressed in the same white dress and tight shrine maiden costume as before, with half of her long pink hair braided into a braid and the other half hanging down softly behind her head. Only the beautiful sapphire bow hair ornament on her hair and the blue diamond earrings on her ears were shining.

"I've been looking for you, Haruna, for a long time, but I didn't expect you to be here."

"The old site of the Pansei Church. I never thought that you, Haruna, would rebuild a brand new church here."

He said softly, "Everyone in this church likes you very much. I saw this flower downstairs. It's very beautiful. Is it also for you, Haruna? I remember that white roses seemed to be Haruna's favorite flower in the past."

——When he came over, he passed by the downstairs. It was very lively. Many members of this new church gathered together to celebrate the birthday of Hanayamain Haruna. He then remembered that today was her birthday. So he took the rose that was placed aside and no one cared about it. In fact, it was still very beautiful. I don’t know how it managed to bloom at this time when it was still winter.

"Not only them, but many people like me and Hanayamain Haruna. This flower... maybe, I don't remember."

Hanayamain Haruna turned around and looked at him, staring at him for two seconds, and gave him a gentle and sweet smile: "So what about you, Yuuki? Do you like me? Or is it the same as before?"

"Is this question important to Haruna?" Saikai Haruto asked without answering. He didn't even need Hanayamain Haruna's answer. He just shook his head and asked and answered himself:

"No, for Haruna-san, the answer to this question is actually not important at all, right? Whether I like Haruna-san or not, you don't care right now."

Hanayamain Haruna frowned in resistance: "I thought you came to me, Yuuki, to ask me something else?"

"Haruna-san, are you talking about Wu and Jie?" Saikai Haruto deliberately misinterpreted her words. He shook his head with a light expression: "That's not necessary."

"As for myself, there's nothing to ask. I don't really care about that."

He stood two steps away from Hanayamain Haruna, not too far, not too close, a safe distance that was just right for being with friends.

"I'm sorry I forgot that today is your birthday, Haruna... I think this is the only gift I can give you. I hope you don't mind, Haruna."

He stretched out his mutated hand, which was covered with dark blue lines and had long black nails. The slender and beautiful white rose looked even more flawless in his hand.

Hanayamain Haruna remained silent, hesitated for two seconds, and still chose not to take it.

She blinked quickly and asked, "So Yuxi, you came to see me now just to wish me a happy birthday today?"

Xi Haiqing Dou shook his head again.

"I just suddenly figured out something. So I thought of coming to you," he said.

"What?"

"Haruna likes to call my name." He said to himself, "But I always feel it's weird... because sometimes, when Haruna calls my name, it doesn't really feel like she's calling me."

"——Haruna-san called me 'Yugi' instead of 'Yuki', right?"

"...What?" Hanayamain Haruna's originally calm expression broke, revealing obvious surprise.

Did she mention the "game" in front of Igarashi Yuuki before? Oh no, I don't remember... But according to her previous personality of not taking anything to heart, even if she really mentioned it in front of him by mistake, she probably wouldn't care much... After all, at that time, in her heart and eyes, "Igarashi Yuuki" was just an NPC.

...But why did he suddenly bring this up now? Did he discover something?

——Of course what he said was false.

Players rarely mention things related to the "game" on their own initiative, let alone in front of him. But memory is subjective. Only when someone definitely mentions something that you two experienced together, even if you can no longer remember it and are not sure whether it really happened, you will subconsciously agree with what the other person said, and even take it as your own memory after a long time.

Did she really not say that? Or did she say it before but she just forgot it by accident?

"Cheating" is something that comes easily to Saikai Haruto, but who would suspect that "Igarashi Yuuki" would also cheat one day?

Looking at Hanayamain Haruna's current expression, Saikai Haruto knew that she had completely believed what he said.

Generally speaking, he is not allowed to actively or passively reveal to players the fact that "this world is real, not a game."

Because players are outsiders from a higher dimension in this world, the world consciousness cannot control things related to players. Everything players do is uncontrollable and unpredictable, and every ordinary behavior of theirs is likely to have an impact on the world. The truth about players' "crossing" is not allowed to be revealed. On the one hand, it is to protect the world, and on the other hand, it is also for the good of the players - no one knows what the mental state of the uncontrollable players will become after they know that they have "crossed". In addition, what if this thing is accidentally included in the "comic" when it is mentioned? That would really become a horror story.

Until now, Saikai Haruto has never revealed the truth about "game" to any player. This time is no exception. He just happened to mention that "game" and "Yuuki" are similar in pronunciation, right?

Xi Hai Qing Dou narrowed her beautiful peridot green eyes.

"I wonder what Haruna-san thinks of us and the world right now?" He continued, slowly and calmly, his voice as gentle and indifferent as the December wind: "Haruna-san, can you still distinguish... between reality and illusion?"

——He knows?

Hanayamain Haruna widened her eyes and shook her head in disbelief, her heart suddenly shaking violently and filled with an unspeakable fear.

Even though she was unwilling to admit it, deep down inside, she always looked down on everyone in this world.

Before, it was the condescension from the "players" towards the "NPCs", but now it is the condescension from the demonic charm that even she herself cannot explain, which makes it easy for anyone to be captured by her.

——Even the "game protagonists" Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru couldn't escape, even Zenin Jiner, who almost killed her once, nodded in acknowledgement, and there were even many ordinary people who followed her fanatically, and even established a ridiculous church...

While Hanayamain Haruna found it ridiculous, she naturally looked down on everyone, so she would not tell anyone about her affairs.

This also made her feel that no one could help her, no one could "discover" her "true identity" - this also caused her to feel great fear in an instant when Xi Haiqingdou "exposed" this matter.

This means that her "overlooking" is completely exposed and broken.

"…What do you know?"

Hanayama Haruna's voice was extremely dry and her face was extremely ugly. She took a half step back, stared at him and shook her head, her eyes flashing: "No. You know nothing."

In complete contrast to her, Xi Haiqing Dou still had an expressionless face, and his green eyes were crystal clear, like a mirror, reflecting her appearance completely.

"It's completely impossible to tell the difference now." As Hanayamain Haruna retreated, he moved forward, his movements were neither fast nor slow, his voice was neither high nor low. Hanayamain Haruna only felt that his voice was like the low hum of a siren, uncontrollably drilling into her ears clearly word by word: "Haruna classmate, Hanayamain Haruna - are you really yourself now, or are you Hanayamain Haruna?"

"'Sen Luo Wan Xiang' is clearly a powerful spell that can be compared with 'Unlimited', 'Ten Shadows' and 'Red Blood Manipulation'. Why hasn't a powerful spellcaster appeared in the past thousand years? Why did the Hanayamain family disappear in the world of spellcasting?"

...He guessed wrong.

Hanayamain Haruna heaved a sigh of relief in her heart, and her eyes relaxed unconsciously.

It seems that he thought it was because of her spell "Senluo Wanxiang" that caused him to be unable to distinguish between reality and "illusion", and not because of anything else... Fortunately, he guessed wrong, it was just an accident.

Hanayamain Haruna's guard was instantly dissipated by more than half.

A faint smile unconsciously appeared at the corner of her lips.

"It must be hard, Haruna-san."

At this moment, she suddenly heard Xi Haiqing Dou's voice ringing in her ears.

Along with the sound, an extremely fast and bright silver-white knife light appeared in her eyes.

As swift as thunder, fleeting in an instant.

What…?

Hanashanyin Haruna raised her head in shock.

The last scene she saw was Xi Haiqing Dou looking at her with his eyes slightly lowered.

The olivine green pupils were warm and clear, with an inexplicable sense of sadness. Dark blue lines covered his entire face, but it seemed that one could still see the expression on his face through those strange lines, which must be extremely gentle.

But when he looked at it again the next moment, he seemed to see only ruthlessness and indifference as cold as ice.

The slender, pure white rose fell from his hands.

"Haruna... Yuki——?!"

“——What are you doing?!!”

The door was ruthlessly pushed open from the outside to the inside. One side even broke away from the door frame and slammed into the wall, making a dull and loud "clang" sound.

However, no one has time to notice this now.

Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru looked at the scene in front of them, their faces as pale as death, their brains making loud buzzing sounds, and their bodies so stiff that they couldn't even react.

——You came here to look for the girl you like, and wanted to go together to look for a friend who suddenly "missing", but in the blink of an eye you saw the "wanted" friend who disappeared appear in front of you, and then you raised your hand with your back to them and cut off the body of the girl you like with a knife. What kind of feeling and mood is that?

The knife flash appeared too quickly and too fast. Even though Gojo Satoru and Geto Kagome raised their hands subconsciously to stop his actions before their brains had time to react, they were unable to stop Saikai Haruto's arm from holding the knife and dropping it downwards. And even though he had heard their voices and felt their movements, Saikai Haruto's movements did not pause at all, and his hand that swung the knife downwards did not hesitate at all.

The two could only watch helplessly as Hanayamain Haruna showed an expression of surprise without any defense, as "Amakiboko" pierced through her body in an instant, and then large flowers of blood spurted out of her body. The girl named "Hanayamain Haruna", who was loved by everyone, fell to the ground in a pool of blood like a butterfly with broken wings the next moment.

White flowers fell from the sky onto her body, and were instantly dyed bright red by the hot blood.