Reborn in Tokyo after picking up Sayu who ran away from home

Chapter 576 Secret Investigation
Hokkaido, Asahikawa City.

In a cafe near the station.

"Win~!"

Sayu let out a little excited cry, and a touch of reassurance appeared on her cute little face.

"Sayu-chan?"

Yuko Masaka, who was sitting opposite, tilted his head and wondered, "What are you looking at?"

"Huh~? It's nothing, you don't need to worry about Yuko."

"But, you seem to be very happy, did something good happen?"

"This is..."

Sayu thought for a while, then smiled slightly and said:
"Well~ how should I put it? I saw something that made me angry, but fortunately it was resolved in the end, so it's a good thing~"

"Something that makes you angry?"

Yuko Masaka blinked twice, and couldn't help being curious, "What exactly is it?"

"Well, Yu Ziyou won't be interested."

"How do you know if I'm interested if you don't tell me?"

"Anyway, I just know, so I won't tell you."

"It's too much! Why is this~~~?"

Ignoring the aggrieved expression of his friend, Sayu happily picked up the sweet matcha on the table, and played with his mobile phone while drinking.

Click on the "TYPE-MOON" account to follow, and then enter the message bar.

Searching among the many private messages of greetings, chats, and confessions, a reply with the time of the meeting came into view immediately.

"If it's five o'clock in the afternoon on December 12th, I think I should be free to meet you."

After repeatedly confirming the chat records, Sayu swiped the screen to return to the main interface, and then put the phone on the table.

He raised his head inadvertently, only to see Masaka Yuko staring at him straightly.

"?"

Sayu couldn't help feeling a little puzzled by this, and asked, "What are you doing Yuko? Is there something on my face?"

"It's about you, Sayu-chan."

Even if someone noticed her gaze, Masaka Yuko was not in a hurry, but asked directly: "Who were you chatting with just now?"

"what……?"

"After all, haven't you been looking at your phone over and over since we've been in this store?"

"what……"

Sayu was stunned for a moment, and then said a little embarrassedly: "Sorry, Yuko. I came out with you, but I kept looking at my phone..."

"About this~~~"

Yuko Masaka rolled her eyes, then leaned forward slightly and put her arms on the table, asking tentatively:

"If you're really embarrassed, or Sayu-chan, tell me who you're in contact with~ Could it be that you have a boyfriend?"

"--How can it be?"

"Wow, answer in seconds!!"

"It's not what you think it is anyway."

Sayu waved her hand in denial, "Anyway, I was just browsing SNS, not a boyfriend."

"I see……"

Masaka Yuko couldn't express her disappointment, but she agreed with confidence, her eyes stayed on her face for a moment, and then she showed a somewhat lonely smile.

"Well, since Sayu-chan said that, I won't ask any more questions. However, I finally saw your smile again today, and it feels like it's been a long time..."

"……what?"

Sayu who heard her words blinked unconsciously, with a confused expression on her face: "Well, what does Yuko mean by that?"

"That's the literal meaning, although you may not have noticed it yourself..."

Masaka Yuko supported her cheek with one hand, and her voice flowed out along with the sigh.

"However, Sayu-chan, you haven't been in the right state lately. I'm actually worried about it. So it's great to see your smile again like today~"

"...?"

Sayu's eyes flickered slightly, and then she pretended to be cheerful and replied: "How can such a thing happen? I feel like I am the same as usual."

"Different."

The other party shook his head slowly but firmly.

"Because I've been by Sayu-chan's side all the time, so it's very clear. Recently Sayu-chan feels like going back to the past... It's not right either."

Yuko Masaka looked her directly in the eyes while trying to choose the right words.

"To be specific, Sayu-chan not only can't laugh at all recently, but also has a feeling of melancholy in her whole body. She often looks out of the window by herself in a daze, and doesn't even respond to calling you."

"Uh……?"

"Even if you show this expression of "Did I do that?", it's useless, right? "

"..."

Facing the criticism from his friend, Sayu lowered his eyes unconsciously, pressed his hand on the books on the table, and was speechless for a while.

As the other party guessed, she was indeed a little different recently, always thinking about something.

However, that is not something that can be told to the other party.

It's not just knots, but even family members can't tell.

In other words, even telling them won't help.

Because no one will believe her, and no one can help her.

So she can only hide in her heart silently and bear it alone.

As if aware of her embarrassment, Masaka Yuko didn't pursue this question, and changed the subject on her own initiative.

"Okay, okay, I'm just talking casually, Sayu-chan, you don't have to answer me... Anyway, let's talk about something else?"

Her eyes wandered around, and finally landed on the book in the girl's hand, her eyes shone slightly.

"Ah~! Come to think of it, Sayu-chan, you seem to be carrying the novel "Numa Man" with you a lot lately, right?"

"...Eh, that's right, what's the problem?" Sayu raised her gaze and asked.

"It's nothing, nothing~ Have you finished reading this book?"

"Read it."

"That's it~ Can you tell me the story behind?" Yuko Masaka asked in a cheerful tone.

Sayu tilted her head slightly, looked alternately at the book in hand and the other person's face, thought for a while and said, "Yes, but if you are interested, I can actually lend you the book."

"Well, that's good, but it's not right now, after all, the big exam is going to be next month, I dare not be distracted at this time. So~"

Yuko Masaka put her hands together in front of her face, and asked, "Just to satisfy my curiosity, Sayu-chan, can you tell me first?"

"I'm not bad...then what do you want to know?"

"Let me think about it. Just look, didn't we talk about it when we were in Disneyland last time? For example, the shadow will replace the original body and live on."

"Well, that's right."

"Then what happened in the end? What happened to the protagonist in the book, Higa?"

"It's not Higa but Hitsuru, the protagonist's name is Sagimori Hitsuru?"

Sayu smiled helplessly, then said after a pause, "As for what happened to her... she probably died."

"died??"

Yuko Masaka opened her eyes in astonishment.

"Yes."

Sayu stretched out a hand, gently stirred her sweet matcha with a straw, stared at the vortex that appeared in the cup, and said slowly: "The ending is that the protagonist finally sank into the furnace."

"Wow... What kind of inexplicable plot is this, where is the shadow of Rihe sauce?"

"It's also dead, and was killed by the protagonist himself from the very beginning."

"What is this all about..."

Masaka Yuko's interest dropped sharply, "What the hell was the author thinking about writing such an anticlimactic development?"

Seeing the other party's reaction, Sayu couldn't help laughing.

"Although I can't answer you about the plot, but what the author of this book is thinking, the publisher's evaluation is like this."

As she spoke, she took out her mobile phone, searched for the details of the novel on Amazon, and handed it to the other party.

"...what is 'I'?Question the independence of the self.Nagumo Ryunosuke's current masterpiece? "

Yuko Masaka read the slogan above, and couldn't help but feel confused, "It's so annoying, what does this mean?"

"In a nutshell, the novel is about exploring who you really are, questioning your own identity, and that sort of thing."

"Identity...?"

Say Yun nodded in affirmation.

"For example, isn't there an original "I" and a shadow "I" in it?I think the author is probably exploring the identity of the concept of "I"? "

Yuko Masaka frowned when she heard this, and after thinking hard for a while, she tentatively asked: "...Does this mean, which one is the real "I" between the original body and the shadow? "

Before Sayu could speak, she asserted by asking herself: "Is there any need to ask? Of course I am me! How can a counterfeit like Shadow be me!"

"However, for the shadow, does it feel that it is a substitute? Or does it firmly believe that it is itself, that is, the original "I"? "

Sayu lowered her eyes involuntarily, and whispered softly: "If one day, you find that what you have always believed in is false, will you want to find out the truth?"

"The things I have always believed in are false...?" Masaka Yuko repeated her words, with many question marks floating in his head.

Sayu pondered for a while, then continued.

"For example, Yuzi, have you ever had any strange dreams? There are some things that you have never experienced before, but you will feel familiar, as if they really happened."

"Is this..."

Masaka Yuko raised her head unconsciously, put an index finger on her chin, and said with some uncertainty: "It seems to be there and it seems to be not... I don't know it very well."

"That's it..."

Sayu narrowed his eyes slightly, and asked again: "There is a saying called the "Mandela Effect", have you ever heard of it? "

"The Mandela Effect? ​​What's that?"

"It means that people's collective memory of history does not match the reality, and there is a deviation."

"So that's the case~"

Yuko Masaka nodded repeatedly as if understanding, then tilted her head puzzledly: "So, what happened to the Mandela effect?"

After a brief silence.

Sayu raised his gaze again, and considered his words: "...If I say that Iwanami-san did exist, what would you think?"

Yuko Masaka froze in place.

No one spoke between the two, and both of them fell into silence.

After a while.

"Sayu-chan..."

Masaka Yuko murmured and stretched out a hand, with a worried look on her face: "Are you okay? Is there something wrong with you? Or are you too tired recently?"

A look of sadness disappeared from Sayu's eyes in an instant.

"I'm fine." She said so, and gently pushed away the other's hand that was stretched towards her forehead.

"But……"

Yuko Masaka looked worried.

"You've said that more than once...

Iwanami-san does not exist in Asuka, not even anyone with the same surname.Haven't we discussed this issue many times already?
It's fine for you to talk about it before, but why did you suddenly talk about it so seriously today... It's really not right! "

'Look, I know it's useless...'

Sayu groaned inwardly, then put on the same expression as usual, and responded.

"Okay, I was just joking just now, you don't need to care about it."

"joke?"

Masaka Yuko blinked blankly, puffed up her cheeks and said, "...Really! Don't make such jokes, it's so scary."

Sayu smiled and apologized, and stopped trying to find anything from her friend, and started chatting casually with him.

In the summer of the second year of high school, a boy named Iwanami broke into her life and changed her life.

The other party not only saved Yuzi, but also saved her mother.Pulling her out of the days when she couldn't see the light gave her a life no less than a new life.

— but not remembered by anyone.

Even she herself kept searching carefully from the fragments of the dream, and put the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle, only then could she barely piece together the non-existent past.

But except for her, everyone else is still the same.

'I don't know who is the counterfeit and who is the shadow...'

Sayu was thinking in silence, her eyes flickered for a moment.

"Ah, you're showing that expression again."

The familiar voice interrupted her thoughts and dragged her back to reality from the state of wandering in the sky.

Look up.

Yuko Masaka's expression was half helpless and half worried, and she rolled her eyes pretending to be angry, and made a joke.

"Should I say that you really deserve to be Sayu-chan? Even though you have such an ugly expression on your face, you can't help but want to take care of you even more. It's so pissing off!"

"Uh……"

"However."

Yuko Masaka sighed softly and continued:

"Although I don't know why Sayu-chan is bothered...

However, as long as you feel that you need my help, no matter what, I will do my best to help Sayu-chan.

Only this will never change~"

Sayu was stunned for a moment, and her expression gradually softened.

"...Well, I see. Thank you, Yuko."

She spoke softly, and couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of her previous guess.

In the final analysis, Yuzi is just worried about herself, and she is still a kind person in essence.

Thinking of this, Sayu didn't think too much, and put some things aside for the time being.

After that, the two chatted for a while in the coffee shop.

Because the date of the big exam was approaching, Yuko Masaka did not dare to stay outside for a long time, and soon said that she would go back to study and bid farewell.

Sayu remained in the shop.

◇

Before I knew it, the time came to 45:[-] in the afternoon.

A man wearing glasses and a down jacket entered the store.

The man looked around, then came to the booth in the corner, and stopped.

A pair of beautiful amber eyes looked over immediately.

"Sorry, I'm waiting for my friend, there are already people here."

Probably took him as someone to strike up a conversation with, said the girl sitting alone by the window.

The man stared at each other for a moment, then smiled and sat down on the opposite seat.

This behavior aroused the girl's dissatisfaction, a pair of slender eyebrows like willow leaves could not help but slightly frowned, and slightly opened her cherry pink lips, ready to say something.

"You are Ms. Ogihara Sayu, right?" the man said first, and took out a business card and handed it over.

"Let me introduce myself, I, Aizawa Youichi, is a reporter for Hokichi Sports. He is on a business trip here in Hokkaido recently."

"what?"

Facing Sayu's slightly stunned expression, Aizawa explained with a right smile.

"So, you said you wanted to know about Kato-kun, right? Although I don't know much, I can still tell you.

In addition, in fact, I have also heard about your deeds, Ogiwara-san.So in exchange, can I do a quick interview with you? "

……

(End of this chapter)