CH 65

And Yet, It Was Like An Ephemeral Dream

Translated by HamletJr

Edited by HamletJr

“……?”

Obon had passed, and a few more days passed since Ryuichi and Shizuna enjoyed their summer at the beach. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that his part-time job had recently become a bit busier, but Ryuichi began to find that waking up in the morning was more difficult than ever.

“I’ve been feeling really out of it lately.”

He didn’t know if it was fatigue or some other reason, but he felt his body had become a little heavier as the summer vacation was coming to an end. When he got up and reflected his face in the mirror, he was greeted by a strong, rugged face, the same as usual. There were no dark circles under his eyes, just the same glare in his eyes and his usual bad boy look.

“…I ain’t got a clue.”

Since it was not an illness or anything like the cold he had gone down with before, he did not want to bother Shizuna and the others, although he hadn’t given it much thought. Since he had no part-time job and no plans to meet anyone today, he decided to take it easy for the rest of the day. While enjoying a sandwich he had bought at a convenience store, Ryuichi noticed something that he found a little nostalgic.

“Oh yeah, I only wrote some small bits in here.”

What lay on his desk was a notebook in disarray, a notebook that should have had all its pages used, but was only used for its first two pages. It was a notebook in which Ryuichi had written about the original path of this world. Written in sloppy characters was a chronological order of what kind of events would happen at what times, showing a glimpse of the writer’s lack of motivation.

“…Don’t need this anymore.”

He placed it on top of a stack of notebooks. He’d long since known that this world was already far removed from the one he’d known, and that under normal circumstances, Shizuna would’ve been corrupted by him during this summer vacation, and that she would simultaneously knock Sohei into despair as soon as the vacation ended, but there was no need to worry about that any longer.

“…Could it be?”

Ryuichi came up with a possible answer as to why he felt this dullness in his body and felt strangely uncomfortable. It was fear that something might happen that would send the world back to its original path. It should’ve been impossible for Ryuichi to be reborn in another world like this in the first place, so it wouldn’t be surprising if something else that was even more impossible to happen, happened.

“Heh, have I ever been this much of a coward?”

Ryuichi was afraid of the possibility that something might happen, something that could ruin the relationship he had built with everyone here in an instant. Normally, he would have laughed it off, but imagining those what-ifs made him very anxious… It made him wonder if it was a downside to the body he had now.

“They say that sickness and health starts with the mind… Well, I ain’t sick, though.”

Afterward, he finished dressing and laid down on the tatami mats. Even though it was early in the morning, the cicadas were already singing loudly, and even now he could keenly sense the summer heat. He held out for a while without turning on the air conditioner, but eventually he couldn’t stand it any longer and picked up the remote control and turned the AC on.

“…Ahh~.”

He spent his leisurely time alone in a daze. As he motionlessly lied there, there was a pounding at his apartment door. The door was unlocked because he had gone to throw away the garbage bag in the morning, and the door could be heard opening as the visitor entered with a nonchalant look on their face.

“Yoohoo~, Ryuichi. Good morning.”

“…I knew it was you.”

It was impossible for anyone else but Chisa to show up like this without any notice. Shizuna and Satsuki always made it a habit to notify him and plan visits in advance, so she was the only one who would do something like this.

“I thought you might’ve been bored, so I came over to see you.”

She did not seem to be thinking at all about what would happen if he weren’t home, but for now, Chisa’s visit lightened Ryuichi’s mood a little.

“Yeah. I was pretty bored.”

“Thought so,” she laughed and sat down right next to him. As he continued to spend his time with Chisa like this, Ryuichi muttered to himself that, come to think of it, this had been how he’d always spent his time in the past.

“I used to be together with you like this all the time.”

“True. I’ve been looking after you all these years, and now you’ve got yourself a precious girlfriend.”

“…Sometimes it all feels so surreal to me.”

“Same.”

It seemed both Ryuichi and Chisa were thinking the same thing.

“…Are you not feeling well today?”

“Hmm? Oh, not really… Well, I’m just feeling a little out of it, that’s all.”

Chisa also noticed Ryuichi’s condition. She thought about something for a bit, and then she, too, lay down right next to him and hugged him tightly.

“Hey.”

“Now, now, just enjoy it.”

Chisa stroked Ryuichi’s head as if she was soothing a child. Sakie, too, did this to him occasionally, but as expected, having an older woman pamper him like this calmed him down and made him drowsy.

“…Yawn.”

“Are you sleepy? If so, you should be a good boy and get some sleep.”

“The heck is that… But, well, I’ll take you up on that offer for a bit.”

“Sure.”

Grateful to hear those words, Ryuichi slowly closed his eyes. Feeling himself sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness, he drifted off to sleep in Chisa’s soft embrace. Sensing his breathing soften in sleep, Chisa smiled and continued to stroke his head as if cherishing the bad boy who was sometimes cute and sometimes annoying.

Sometimes, people’s fears were right on target. Thus, although Ryuichi often had mysterious dreams as he slept, this time it was very ill-natured…that is, he dreamt of his very essence.

“…This is…”

It was a familiar room. It was not a room in the familiar apartment he had been staying in, but a room in a proper house, full of life.

“………”

With a puzzled head, Ryuichi…no, he looked around. There, he glanced upon a book that stood out, a book that would definitely make him die of embarrassment if his parents saw it.

“…Ugh.”

The moment he saw the book, he immediately clutched his head in his hands and crouched down on the spot. A sharp pain ran through his head, so painful that he clenched his teeth from the pain that couldn’t have been from a normal headache. But fortunately, the pain soon went away, and he twisted his head to see what the hell that was about.

“…The heck? It feels like I’m forgetting something important.”

There was a pang in his chest, as if he had forgotten something important to him.

But he could not remember it.

He turned his attention to the book again, thinking that he couldn’t remember…no, that there was nothing up to begin with and that this was normal.

“After summer vacation, my precious you was dyed.”

While there were many people who disliked this genre, there were also a certain number of people who liked it.

He was not a fan of NTR himself, but he was curious about the content of the manga because he liked the illustrations, so he bought it.

“…Hrm.”

As he flipped through the pages to see its contents, he saw a series of stories drawn with great artistic ability.

The story detailed the heroine, Rindo Shizuna, being dyed to the liking of the cuckolder, Ryuichi Shishido, and her pure and innocent appearance being transformed into a gyaru, the opposite of what she had been.

“Why the heck did I buy this… This scene is actually so, so bad!”

The manga mainly depicted Shizuna and Ryuichi, as well as the deprived protagonist, Sohei, and they were all drawn really beautifully.

The other characters who appeared from time to time were also attractively drawn, and if the content was not taken into consideration, it was a masterpiece of a manga.

“…I know NTR is supposed to be heartbreaking, but why does it ache my heart this much?”

Watching the scene where Shizuna was dyed by Ryuichi somehow made his heart ache even more than when he first read the book.

He felt a sadness as if someone he cared about was being taken away from him…as if the precious existence he had by his side was going somewhere.

“…Shizuna.”

Why did it pain him so much to speak this name…? He didn’t understand.

“Don’t worry, I’ll always be by your side.”

“Wha?!”

He thought he heard someone muttering beside him, but there was no one else in the room besides him.

Tilting his head and wondering if it was his imagination, he put the manga back on the bookshelf and left the room to go on with his life as before, heading for his family, despite his unexplained feelings.