068. Dream (2)
068. Dream (2)
After finishing the entrance ceremony, we headed to Rinne's house, as promised.
......Too many things had happened to be summed up in that one sentence.
For starters, the entrance ceremony itself wasn't held until much later.
Before that, our homeroom teacher came in, gave the class a string of announcements, and even led a provisional class meeting.
And the result of that provisional class meeting.
—The provisional class president has been decided as Han Si-hu. Applause.
Somehow, that's how it went.
For me, it was a serious setback. Getting picked as class president out of nowhere saddled me with all sorts of busywork.
Worse, it cut down my chances to learn more about Rinne. I'd hoped for some free time at lunch, but I didn't even see her because I was hauling chairs around the auditorium.
As soon as the seating was set up, we spent two full hours not on the entrance ceremony itself, but on rehearsing it.
In the end, the entrance ceremony didn't finish until 3 p.m., and only then were Rinne and I finally able to head home.
Not to our respective homes, but to Rinne's house.
......I should clarify at this point: I had no intention of following Rinne all the way to her house.
There was no telling what sort of incident or disaster might unfold if I went inside, and I had no reason to follow in the first place.
My only goal was to get Rinne somewhere private enough that we could argue freely.
In that sense, I figured the walk home after school was sufficiently private, and I intended to settle things before we even reached Rinne's house.
That was definitely my intention.
I failed.
The reason was simple.
—Oh my, you're Si-hu?
—I've heard all about you from Yeonhwa. Hop in.
Rinne's parents came to pick us up and gave us a ride.
Thanks to them, I reached Rinne's house without a single chance to tell her the truth about this world.
During the ride, Rinne chattered up a storm with her parents.
Their conversation was, how should I put it, unfamiliar to me in several ways.
The kind of stories exchanged between a beloved daughter and her parents.
—You know, Mom, besides Si-hu, I made a friend?
—Really? You should've brought her along.
—What do you mean, bringing someone home when you've only known them a day. You do that, and they'll feel pressured and even the friends you have will drop off.
—But it might work out fine. Daddy confessed to your mom the very day he met her.
—Wha? Seriously?
......This wasn't the first time I had seen this kind of family scene.
The day she learned of her past life, Rinne had been reunited with her past life's parents and had briefly exchanged words with them.
But the way Rinne spoke with her parents back then was very different from what I was hearing now.
Back then, Rinne had been, how should I put it...
She hadn't really known how to treat them as her parents.
First off, she didn't use expressions like 'Mom' or 'Dad' at all.
If I remembered correctly, she hadn't called them 'Mother' or 'Father' either. She'd only addressed them with an awkward 'Um...'.
And crucially, unlike now, she had used formal speech.
The reason for that was simple.
Because Rinne had not defined herself, in the full sense, as the same person as Yeonhwa.
Rinne saw herself as someone who had once been Yeonhwa but had since become someone else—someone who was no longer Yeonhwa.
That was why she'd never quite known how to relate to Yeonhwa's parents.
On the other hand, now that she perceived herself solely as Yeonhwa, she was treating the two of them literally as her parents.
What did that gap signify?
Did Rinne wish for a world like this because she wanted to restore her relationship with her parents — in short, because she wanted to live as Yeonhwa?
If so, was I supposed to persuade her by promising to help repair that relationship in reality, or by letting her see them freely?
......I wasn't sure.
She didn't seem particularly eager to stay by her parents' side.
She had also clearly declared to her parents her aspiration to remain by my side as a soldier.
Still unable to make heads or tails of any of it, I arrived at Rinne's house.
That house was none other than the Ghost House.
So, the place where Yeonhwa and I first met, both in this world and in reality.
But the Ghost House here looked nothing like a haunted house.
Rather, it was, how to put it.
It was simply a large, lavish mansion belonging to a wealthy family.
'......Come to think of it, Rinne's parents were the owners of a small distribution company, weren't they?'
Rinne's parents in reality had exhausted their entire fortune to cover the costs of their daughter's corporification surgery.
But in this worldline, there had been no need to spend that kind of money, so the family's finances had apparently remained intact.
Seen that way, if things worked out with Rinne here, was I going to marry into a rich family as a live-in son-in-law?
......Indulging in such pointless thoughts, I stepped into Rinne's house.
I intended to head straight up to the second floor, but.
"Where are you going?"
"Hm?"
"My room is this way."
Rinne yanked open a door leading off the living room.
The interior was, how to put it.
It looked exactly like the stereotypical room of a girl who was normally messy but had cleaned as hard as she could before inviting her boyfriend over.
The trash can was empty and the bedding folded into crisp squares, but the drawers were stuffed to bursting.
Even the pencils on the desk had been pointlessly lined up in a row.
Had she cleaned all this up since at least yesterday, already planning to bring me here?
It would be nice if she put this much care into things in reality too.
In reality, she didn't even use her own living quarters, holing herself up in the basement instead.
......I was lost in such thoughts only briefly.
I tilted my head quizzically and asked.
"Isn't your room on the second floor?"
"That was when I was little. After I was discharged from the hospital, I switched to this one."
Why bother?
No, more than that.
"Then can't we hang out up there, just for today?"
"On the second floor? Why?"
"If we hang out on the first floor, won't your parents hear everything we do? There's something I want to do without them finding out."
Of course, the thing I wanted to do without them finding out was to expose the truth of this world and persuade Rinne.
I had definitely meant it that way.
The Rinne in front of me, however, seemed to have interpreted it completely differently.
Rinne's face turned as red as a carrot, and she asked, stammering.
"S-Something you want to do without Mom and Dad finding out......? Wh-What is it......?"
Hmm.
What was I supposed to do about this?
What could I say that she'd actually believe?
While I was agonizing, Rinne began to sort out the situation on her own.
"Wh-Whatever it is....... The second floor is off-limits."
"Why?"
"I'm using it as a place to store useless junk, so right now, even I'm not allowed in."
Useless junk?
Did she mean she was using it as a storage room?
But was there really a need to go as far as restricting access to a storage room?
Seeing my curiosity, Rinne leaned in and whispered into my ear.
"And...... probably in about an hour, my parents will be going out."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. They're busy with company work. So......."
Already whispering, Rinne lowered her voice even further.
"Just hold on a li'l bit."
......What exactly was I supposed to bear with?
Without knowing what she meant—and without particularly wanting to think about it—I spent the next hour with Rinne.
......I'll make it clear: we spent it wholesomely.
We couldn't do anything unwholesome even if we tried. As I pointed out earlier, her parents were right nearby.
Even if they hadn't been, I wouldn't have done anything.
Right now, Rinne was, how to put it, in what you'd call a state of mental incapacitation.
Getting physically intimate with a girl in that state would be seriously problematic.
In that sense, that one hour was excruciatingly difficult.
She was practically desperate to sneak in little touches whenever she could.
Like slowly wriggling her legs while seated to inch closer.
Or grabbing my hand while pretending to hand me something.
And then, later on.
"......Eung. Eu-heu-eung......."
She buried her face in my shoulder and nuzzled against it.
There was no calculation behind it—no plan for what kind of physical contact she'd try or how far she'd go that day.
She was simply being clingy because she liked me, because she couldn't suppress her affection.
She showered me with the kind of simple, thoughtless affection you'd expect from a high schooler deep in the throes of first love.
The problem was that every time she did, my heart pounded and my mouth went dry.
'......Is it because of this world's setting?'
In this world, I wasn't Commander Han Si-hu, the man who had Laika wrapped around his finger.
I was just Han Si-hu: an ordinary high school student who had never tasted the bitterness of life, had never lived with Sion, and had grown up normally before falling headlong into first love.
To this pathetic version of Han Si-hu, the innocent, lovestruck Rinne in front of me was far too charming and stimulating.
So much so that.
So much so that this thought even slipped into my head:
'......Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to live like this for a few days? In the spirit of sightseeing.'
Having thought that, I shook my head frantically.
Staying here for too long was a bad idea.
It wasn't just my physiological reaction to Rinne's physical affection that was being influenced by the setting of this world.
Far more important things—my sense of identity and even my memories—were gradually being rewritten to fit this world.
And the speed of that alteration seemed faster than expected.
In truth, I had already started getting confused about who I really was.
No, seriously.
Could it be that I was originally a resident of this peaceful world after all?
As Rinne had said, could it be that the memories from that other world were the actual 'stupid dream'?
......No, there was no way that was the case.
For now, I could still clearly recognize reality.
But I had a feeling that if one or two more days passed, I would truly forget reality.
Just like the Rinne before my eyes, I would conform to the role I'd been given.
So I bit down on my lip and endured.
When an hour passed, Rinne's parents really did come and knock.
They said company business was keeping them busy and they needed to head out soon.
Then her father added:
—Don't cause too big of an accident.
......So small accidents are okay?
Is it okay to entrust your daughter to me like that?
Apparently, this setting included something that made her parents trust me.
Well, setting that aside.
Were we really just the two of us now?
I let out a sigh of relief and turned to look at Rinne.
And when I did—
......Huh?
Why was she making that face?
No, I mean.
She was wearing an expression composed of 15% tearfulness, 37% fluttering excitement, 41% anticipation, 5% heartache, and 2% fear.......
More specifically, the corners of her eyes glistened with moisture.
Her cheeks weren't simply red; they were softly flushed.
Her nose twitched with each inhalation as she unconsciously breathed hard.
And for some reason, her lips were slightly puckered.
I had seen this face of Rinne's before, once.
That is to say, probably, that night.
At the amusement park.
When we were preparing to kiss.
"......Si-hu."
Her voice had the same melting, lovestruck quality it had just before that kiss.
So, this girl who had been acting as if she didn't know the ways of the world.
The moment her parents left, she was angling for a kiss with her boyfriend.
...Within the logic of this world, there was nothing wrong with it.
In this day and age, what's the big deal about high schoolers who are dating sharing a kiss?
This didn't even register as a 'small accident,' to borrow the words of Rinne's father earlier.
That aside.
'No.'
I couldn't kiss her like this.
I didn't simply mean it was wrong because she was in a state of mental incapacitation.
More than that, it was, how to put it.
I had the feeling that if I kissed her here, I wouldn't be able to go back.
It felt like I would end up settling down here, having forgotten my previous life — that is, reality.
After all, right now I was just a high school student named Han Si-hu. I had no chance of resisting the addictive thrill of kissing the girl who was my first love.
So.
There was only one way.
1. Lift Rinne up just as she was.
"......Huh?"
2. After laying her face down over my knee.
"Wh-What are you......!"
3. Smack her on the bottom.
"Eek......?!"
Rinne resisted, but unfortunately for her, this version of Rinne was an ordinary human girl. She couldn't overpower me.
I smacked Rinne's uniform-clad backside again and again.
Ah, of course, I didn't forget to shout at Rinne.
"Let's go back! Rinne!"
Smack!
"We have to save Violetta, Luce, and Cookie!"
Smack!
"What you wanted was the salvation of your readers! Not lazing around with me here!"
Smack!
"Whatever it takes, snap out of it! This isn't reality! It's an illusion created by Eve!"
Who knew how long I kept spanking her.
By the time Rinne's backside, peeking slightly beneath her school-uniform skirt, had reddened and begun to swell, she shouted.
"I-I know too......! That this place isn't reality......!"
......Huh?
"What do you mean? You knew?"
"Yeah! I said I know......!"
"Since when?"
Rinne shouted back indignantly.
That she had known from the beginning.
The fact that this world was nothing more than an illusion created by Eve.
I was dumbfounded.
"Then why?"
Why was she doing this here?
That was what I asked.
But the answer that came back was even more incomprehensible.
"Because this place is nice."
"This is?"
"Yeah. I like this life more than life at Krädel."
Only then did Rinne climb off my knee, straighten her posture, and speak.
She said this world—living as a human high school student with her parents and enjoying a sweet romance with her classmate Han Si-hu—was the life she wanted most.
By contrast, she'd hated life at Krädel: rolling through the mud to save people and staying up night after night to write light novels.
"It was barely bearable because Si-hu was there."
Rinne spoke as if she felt unburdened.
But I understood even less.
"Your dream was to save the readers and become able to write light novels again."
The Salvation Narrative.
Light novels.
Wasn't this the same Rinne who loved those things so much, and felt such responsibility toward her readers, that she'd thrown away a promising career as a writing biodroid and volunteered to become a soldier?
I couldn't believe this was what that Rinne truly wanted.
Rinne agreed.
"Right. Rinne's dream is that."
She affirmed it, but.
"But it's not my dream. Because I'm not Rinne."
What was that supposed to mean?
"Then who are you."
"......Who do you think?"
The girl wearing Rinne's face asked, sounding hurt.
Unfortunately for her, I still had no idea what she meant.
Rinne puffed out her cheeks, blew the air out with a huff, then snapped:
"Follow me."
"What?"
Rinne didn't reply and walked out of her room.
She headed for the second floor, the place she'd claimed was being used to store 'useless junk.'
But when we actually arrived, the second floor — that is, Yeonhwa's old room — was exactly as I remembered it.
The antique-style furniture. The lighting that was somehow forlorn yet beautiful.
The bed so large it was unnecessary for a young girl to use alone.
......Had 'useless junk' simply been a made-up excuse to avoid letting me in here?
If so, why had she suddenly brought me here now?
I had barely started looking around, wondering what she meant to show me, when—
Yeonhwa swiftly yanked back the blanket on the large bed.
And beneath the blanket she pulled back...
There was another Rinne.