I had thought Inna was a wealthy person. After all, she hadn't brought up money when I said I lost my memories. And ever since then, she had never mentioned the cost of the breakfasts she made me either.
If she had felt even slightly burdened by the cost of cooking for me, she would have dropped a hint. That since she cooked for me, I should pay her some amount.
But since there was no such talk, I figured she at least wasn't in urgent need of money. Even though packing breakfast and lunch boxes every day would cost quite a bit.
Either the type to receive enough support from home to live without worrying about money, or in other words, the type to receive a large allowance.
For someone living alone, this body residing in a two-story house looked fairly well-off, though there was no way to confirm it; still, it couldn't compare to the place where I saw Inna lived.
“Oh...”
“How is it? Do you like it?”
Unlike a house where an exit awaited the moment you stepped out the front door, this house had a small garden attached. Colorful flowers everywhere, and even a red-furred dog barking loudly.
The dog looked like it might resemble a Chinese lion dog, but she probably wasn't wealthy enough to keep a dog that expensive.
Besides, who would leave such a dog in the garden where anyone could steal it? It was probably just a similar-looking mutt.
After passing through the very short garden, Inna typed the front door lock password even though I was clearly watching.
"The password is 13652444860."
Of course, it was far too long to memorize, but Inna had even kindly told me the password, as if telling me to commit it to memory. Did she not think at all that I might steal something from here?
Anyway, the door opened with a beeping sound. Instead of explaining why she told me the password, she smiled and took my hand, leading me inside.
Even though there were rooms on the first floor, we casually kicked off our shoes and went straight up to the second floor, stopping in front of a certain room. Though I had only lived here a day, it was in the same position as the room this body had lived in.
“It's your room.”
...She should start by explaining why she made a room for me when I don't even live in her house. It was absurd, but regardless of my feelings, the door opened at Inna's hand.
It was completely different from the room that had reminded me of a white psychiatric ward. The place with blue wallpaper had a neutral background that looked suitable for either a boy or a girl, and I liked it.
I didn't know the exact type of fragrance it was, but I liked the scent too, which remained pleasant without becoming dizzying even when I kept smelling it.
...If I excluded the few complaints I had.
“And why are there two pillows on the bed? No, before that, why is there a king-size bed in such a small room?”
“That's a good question.”
Yu Inna nodded with her arms crossed and eyes closed, as if savoring the question. I hadn't said it for her to relish the answer, but to ask her to explain to me.
Leaving behind Inna, who looked lost in thought alone, I explored the room. There was an air conditioner that hadn't been in my room, and the computer had a completely different case design.
The computer at my house was so outdated that I thought there might be a significant time difference with the world I was from, but I could tell just by looking at the latest computer case. The time difference wasn't that great.
Perhaps there might be no time difference at all with my world, or rather, this side's timeline might even be much faster.
I had seen a few phones at school that looked far better than the smartphone I used. Though it was possible that superpowers had accelerated technological development, so it wasn't something I could say for certain.
Perhaps because my eyes gazing at what I presumed to be the latest model computer had become like those of a maiden in love, the owner of the house asked with a smile.
“I'll go prepare some snacks, so will you be okay here?”
[Favorability increases by 1 (26/50)]
Yes, to be honest, this was a bit too exciting. I nodded, pretending to forget what someone had once told me about staying by their side when they were doing something for you.
Even if this resulted in an experience that made my tongue burn, perhaps because I hadn't been able to use my phone, I felt as though I would suffer from game withdrawal symptoms.
...I'll just play a few rounds and then hang out with Inna. Thinking that, my hand naturally pressed the power button on the computer case.
*
I wonder if she's doing okay.
The girl who had wrapped her hair in white cloth to keep it from falling out thought about her friend, who would be gaming on the second floor.
She had never imagined such unprecedented situations: the homeroom teacher calling her to her own house under the pretense of counseling, some idol chick clinging to Erica calling herself a friend, or that bitch of a student council president approaching Erica first.
But even if unexpected things happened, as long as what she wanted proceeded as she had expected, it didn't matter.
Erica was a girl like a fairy in many respects. Her appearance was one thing, but her personality was too. When she would take interest in something and when she would regain interest in things she had disliked depended solely on her own whim.
The only thing Erica had liked without fickleness, with genuine sincerity, was a woman whose name she didn't even want to think of. In that sense, Yu Inna's plan had worked well.
Returning home before Erica, who had begun to grow sharp again yesterday evening, could get truly annoyed; then going out in the morning and feeding Erica, who was weak in the mornings, something to lift her mood. That was how it started.
By then, Erica wasn't the type to get annoyed, so even school life ended smoothly.
What happened after homeroom was unexpected, but she had finished everything up to bringing her to her own house using the weakness she had realized for the first time today—her fear of people.
It was a weakness limited only to the night, but you could call it an unexpected harvest. Upon hearing that the girl who seemed indifferent to everything was afraid of people walking around at night, the girl stopped making pancakes and broke into a grin.
As expected, Erica had cute sides even in unexpected places. Though she was now in a position where she couldn't even properly call her by name, if she kept showing goodwill like this, she would be able to call her by name again later.
“—Erica.”
While waiting for that day to come, the girl baked pancakes diligently to win Erica's favor. Nothing came out burnt black. Even the flames were swept up by the girl's ability and adjusted themselves automatically.
Is it not said that you grow to resemble the one you love? The girl called Yu Inna resembled the girl she loved.
Though the essence of their superpowers was different, in the aspect of protecting themselves from everything around them, Glamour and Blessing were alike. Or perhaps it was because Yu Inna had grown her superpower that way.
*
After devouring the pancakes Yu Inna brought, I fell into an unprecedented dilemma. I already knew that this world was different from the one I knew.
But to think that all the games I had wanted to see the endings of had disappeared? I nearly cried at the unbelievable news.
If I didn't return to the world I knew, I wouldn't be able to see the endings of any of those games.
The story of a young cat swordsman who traveled through time in a fantasy world, the story of a broken woman who created the peaceful world her teacher—who had sacrificed everything for her—had wanted, and the story of beautiful girls fighting to the end in a world being eroded by monsters from another dimension.
Searching on the computer only made me more certain. —I will return to my original world. The attendance checks and events I must have missed while here were painful... but even so, I would go back and see the endings that the three games I was playing would show.
“I have something I want to ask.”
To do that, I had no choice but to make good use of the girl who would answer me even without a counseling event.
“What is it?”
“Your purpose for approaching me again.”
A fight isn't something caused by just one side being in the wrong. Inna had likely been hurt by this body's response too.
But if so, why did she approach me again? I couldn't understand it thinking of how people acted in reality, nor could I understand it from a dating sim perspective.
“It's not really a purpose. That wicked woman who tore us apart disappeared, so I thought an opportunity had come and approached you again.”
“What opportunity?”
“Hm, do I have to say it?”
I pressed the girl who was trying to play innocent and brush it off. If I was going to live here, I would inevitably have many points of contact with Yu Inna.
If this woman had some ulterior motive, whatever it was, it would inevitably come across as a threat to me. Whether it was an approach out of pure goodwill or an approach to trap me.
Despite calling it my room, the girl who had turned off the lights and was somehow lying in the same bed slowly closed her eyes. When the light emitting from her eyes disappeared, it felt as if the room had been submerged in darkness by her.
“The opportunity to become your friend again. If I hadn't approached you again that day, I felt like I would lose you.”
“Even though you installed a CCTV where I live?”
“Ahaha, I did install it, and I can see it from my side, but I'm not the one who asked for it to be installed there. Were you not curious? Even though you lost your memories, you seemed natural in daily life, as if only your knowledge of people had disappeared, yet how have you been able to live decently on your own?”
I had lived without worrying much about money, but I had wondered because I didn't see parents or anyone like that. If she were living alone, a studio apartment would have been enough.
—With the following words, I understood. Why I had been living in a two-story house.
“Your sister is the one who asked for it to be installed. They say you even attempted suicide, so rather than out of worry—though it had been installed since before that. You roughly already knew the CCTV wasn't installed three days ago, right?”
“...Yeah.”
I had thought I was an only child, but I had family?
And she monitored whether I left my room through CCTV?
From a dating sim perspective, I got a feeling.
That this body's sister was a villain who oppressed and disciplined me.
“I know why you can't trust me. You must unconsciously think I'm not someone worth trusting. But I—you—”
Along with those bitter words, I buried my consciousness completely into the darkness.
Perhaps because quite a lot had happened today, I couldn't hold onto my consciousness until her words came to a complete end.