Chapter 60: Speculation
Once again sitting inside Minamoto Mashiro's car.
Sakurai Saki yawned.
He'd have to stay up late again today. After all, things like homework — there was no way he'd leave it for tomorrow morning to copy. Whatever he could do himself, he tried to handle on his own.
"Saki-kun~ What were you two talking about just now?" the beautiful woman asked as she started the car.
Earlier, she had glanced out the window and seen the two of them talking for quite a while.
"We were talking about my job."
"Rental boyfriend? That girl knows about that?" Minamoto Mashiro gave a small laugh.
"I don't know. Maybe I told her myself." Sakurai Saki didn't lie.
He had noticed something strange.
In fact, ever since that Tuesday, he had felt something was off.
He still remembered very clearly the supernatural power from that time — [Erase Existence].
When he saw that the deck had only 52 cards left, Sakurai Saki immediately guessed the rough side effects of that ability. But as for its full functionality, he wasn't sure, since it was the first time that power had awakened, and he could only understand a portion of it.
This included the basic activation method, the foundational effect of the ability — beyond that, he had to figure it out on his own.
The strangest thing was still the tutoring job.
Being a rental boyfriend was indeed his job, but in Shirogane's message, it said he had gone through a not-so-happy period of tutoring, and so he wasn't planning to go back the next day?
Sakurai Saki had known about Itsuki's misunderstanding of him ever since his first visit to tutor before the start of the semester, but at the time, he hadn't explained carefully.
Because the rental boyfriend job was honestly not very proper.
Like Ai-chan had once said, it was a job of selling smiles, where you had to please the customer, so he usually didn't tell anyone about it.
Only when the misunderstanding became too heavy would Sakurai Saki be forced to prove himself.
After that, as long as the other person was willing to listen and didn't hurl insults that made Sakurai Saki angry right from the start, it usually only took a few minutes to explain everything clearly.
'They knew about my job, yet still wouldn't give me a friendly attitude? Is that what this means?' Sakurai Saki tried to recall, but then discovered his memories of that matter were filled with falsehoods.
Not good! Something had definitely happened without his knowledge!
Nakano Quintuplets.
Nakano Ichika, Miku, Yotsuba, Itsuki…
'But what about the second one?'
Suddenly, Sakurai Saki was startled.
The second one among the Nakano Quintuplets had vanished — why hadn't he noticed that these past few days?
Quintuplets, but skipping over number two? That was way too strange!
But there was also the possibility that he was guessing wrong.
"Saki-kun, what are you thinking about?" Minamoto Mashiro saw his face clouded with worry, so she pulled over and turned to ask gently, "Could you tell me a bit?"
"I'm thinking if I've overlooked something… but I can't detect anything unusual." Sakurai Saki had realized the method to suppress today's supernatural side effect — even though he couldn't lie, he could still dodge the main point, no need to spill everything.
The cleverest lie was a lie made entirely of truths — each part was right on its own, but combined, they were completely wrong.
"Feel like you forgot your schoolbag? Hm? Or forgot your homework? Oh, right — Saki-kun~ tomorrow's the weekend~ do you want to come hang out at my place?" Minamoto Mashiro's words suddenly made Sakurai Saki snap back.
That's right, tomorrow was the weekend — why had he kept thinking there was still school?
It felt like one of his days had been erased completely.
The car slowly rolled onto the road.
"If I'm free, I'll come over." Sakurai Saki looked out the car window.
There, he saw a vending machine.
Looking at it, Sakurai Saki suddenly remembered the girl he had brought home on Tuesday.
That homeless girl — had she already left? Yesterday, she had said she would leave today, so by now, she must have gone back to her own home, right?
Sakurai Saki tried hard to recall her face, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't picture it clearly — only her hairstyle felt familiar.
"!!!!"
The moment this thought crossed his mind, Sakurai Saki felt a violent jolt in his chest.
He lowered his head and looked at his hands.
Information inside his head was being pieced together at an astonishing speed.
He had discovered a horrifying truth — he had used that dangerous supernatural ability on an ordinary girl!
'When did I use it? Was she really the target? Was it one of the Nakano girls?'
Sakurai Saki closed his eyes.
Supernatural power [Self-Restraint], first rule: Never harm others without cause — that is, do not use supernatural powers to slaughter innocent people indiscriminately.
What he did today — using his power to deal with that scumbag who both provoked and threatened his life — Sakurai Saki didn't feel he was in the wrong. After all, today he had the ability to discern truth from lies, and everything the other party said had been true — including the threats!!
'What was the reason for using the power? Was it because I hadn't fully grasped the activation method and lost control? Or did I deliberately use it to take revenge?'
Sakurai Saki wasn't the type to regret his own actions, but if he truly had done wrong, he would think of a way to make up for it.
'She was just a bit introverted — there was no reason for her to anger me.' This point was what intrigued Sakurai Saki the most right now.
That timid demeanor really didn't seem like someone who would insult or attack him.
Or… had she been frightened because of the effects of the power?
When it came to matters involving supernatural abilities, Sakurai Saki's mind worked extremely fast.
'She couldn't be seen, so she stood outside the convenience store late at night. She couldn't be seen, so when she met me, she became so dependent. She couldn't be seen, so she kept saying her world only had me. Yesterday — was it because she realized who am I, and she was afraid I'd truly recognize her?'
In the end, the "Stockholm syndrome" hypothesis he had once considered — turned out not to be wrong!?
Moreover, it seemed that he himself was immune to part of the effects of this ability?
Sakurai Saki opened his eyes after thinking it through, his face filled with confusion.
Since he couldn't yet confirm exactly what had happened between them, Sakurai Saki was momentarily unsure whether he should go look for her.
If there was no animosity between them, and it was just his power running out of control, then she was completely innocent.
But if there had once been resentment, and he went so far as to do that to her — how should he handle that? What a headache…
…
Upon arriving home, after saying goodbye to Minamoto Mashiro—
Sakurai Saki returned to the entryway.
While changing his shoes, he glanced toward the living room. Even after finishing, he didn't see that familiar figure anywhere.
If it weren't for some faint, lingering memories, Sakurai Saki might have completely forgotten that he had once brought someone home.
He put away his belongings, then looked toward the dining area.
On the table, some of the dishes had been partially eaten. The lunchbox he had prepared that morning — that girl had eaten it at lunchtime, and the box had been neatly cleaned up.
Sakurai Saki went back to his room, opened the drawer by his bed, and took out an envelope.
It was the love letter from Yakumo Shiro, and also the catalyst for summoning her.
As he held the letter, a faint bluish light flickered in Sakurai Saki's eyes.
He turned his head.
As expected, Yakumo Shiro was still following him. No wonder when he was eating lunch earlier, some bites had tasted oddly bland.
"Sakurai-kun!! Long time no see!!" Yakumo Shiro cheerfully flew a few circles around Sakurai Saki, then threw herself onto his back in a hug.
( ˶˘ ³˘(⋆❛ ہ ❛⋆)!♡
As she rubbed her cheek against him, Sakurai Saki directly asked the key question for why he had summoned her: "Did you observe anything unusual about that girl this morning?"
The next second—
Yakumo Shiro gave exactly the answer Sakurai Saki had predicted: "Her connection to the world is gradually strengthening. I think in just a few more days, she'll be able to live normally again!"
Sakurai Saki fell into deep thought.
So, he just needed to wait a few more days for the ability's effect to wear off?
In the middle of his thoughts, the white-haired ghostly JK shook his shoulders.
"Sakurai-kun!! I'm hungry!! Can you make me something to eat, pleaaase!?" Yakumo Shiro whined, "I want to eat hamburger steak~"
(/｡>‿‿<｡)
"I'm a little sleepy now, I need to go to bed. Let's talk about it tomorrow."
Sakurai Saki let go of the letter.
At this point, he was so drowsy he just wanted to collapse onto the bed and fall asleep immediately — there was no time left to cook.
That earlier "earthquake" had also burned out his destructive cravings, so tonight he was definitely going to sleep well!