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CHAPTER 97 – IN THE RIFT OF DREAM AND REALITY (PART 1)
It was a white space with no end in sight, only a shadowy figure. Probably a person. Normally, there shouldn’t be any people in a place as weird as this. Considering how my memory was just cut short, it’s probably time to have some questions answered.
「Long time no see, mister.」
「From the way things were going, I expected this. More importantly, why do I still look like this?」
Right before me is a Kotone of about middle school age. I have memories of wearing the uniform she has during middle school. However, Kotone wasn’t this age when I met her. I now recall meeting her much farther in the past.
「You don’t have your old body anymore mister, so isn’t that just natural?」
Yeah, probably been cremated to ash. Still, even with Kotone’s other memories resurfaced, the current Kotone is still too different from her high school counterpart. And for whatever reason, she’s also different from how I remember her. Now that I think about it, there’s some vague parts in my memory.
「I understand that you might have a lot of questions, but let’s have a seat first.」
A table and two chairs suddenly appeared in the empty space. I’m guessing that this is a dream word, so anything’s possible here. It’s a bit surprising, but I’m more confused about my current situation, so I don’t think anything will surprise me more than I already am.
「So, why did you come out now of all times?」
「It’s because you opened the door to the memories I closed off. I even did it out of worry that it might overload your brain too.」
「Overload?」
「When memories of the same event exist simultaneously, the differences in the feelings and experiences attached with it are disorienting. That’s why you suddenly lost consciousness, mister.」
So unable to bear the brain overload, it caused me to lose consciousness. Right, our meeting is a memory shared between us. However, maybe because it was our only encounter ever, I had forgotten about it.
「Mister, you just casually run into your friends too much. Because of that, you created an opportunity for you to remember.」
「That, I’m really sorry about, but the actual run-ins aren’t my fault. It’s not like I went out of the way to see them, okay.」
「Well I understand that. Maybe you have some attractive force?」
Please don’t add any more mysterious elements. I’m still calm for now, but if something even more unusual happens, I won’t be able to take it. In the first place, I have no idea why the middle school Kotone exists.
「I came to give answers to your questions.」
「Then let me ask, you’re the little lady I met back then, right?」
「That’s right. It was when both of us ran from our homes. I suppose you’d believe me more if I look the way I did then.」
With a poof, Kotone came even smaller. However, her appearance matches the one in my memory. A young elementary schooler. I was in high school when I met Kotone. My impression of her was that she’s a meek but wise girl. That’s why she seemed so different in her high school age and doesn’t give off even a hint of that intensity.
「Mister, you feel something strange about my difference, don’t you?」
「Yeah. You’re so inconsistent between my memories of you.」
In her memories, that distinct intensity of hers has already shown up even at an early age. And yet I don’t feel that same aggressiveness from the Kotone before me. I only inherited her memories, so I can’t say for sure. But I guess it’s unavoidable that there’s a difference in my memory of her.
「The reason I’ve changed is you, mister. Because of your death, Kotone changed and I was pushed down into the depths of her consciousness.」
「Like a split personality or something?」
「I believe so. Perhaps we should call it the Kisaragi’s karma? I didn’t expect that it could even alter memories. Maybe it’s to maintain internal consistency.」
The Kisaragi’s peculiarity is how their personality completely changes into a decent one. Something like a split personality influences it. And I guess to justify their changed self, they alter their memories to solidify their personality. Yeah, I don’t get it.
「Then why am I the reason?」
「Our meeting
 that became a very special day for me. Even though I didn’t tell you my name, you knew that I wasn’t a normal person, right?」
「Kind of. Your clothes looked pretty expensive, after all. And some clearly not-normal-people were watching over us.」
They obviously positioned themselves in a way that I’d see them, after all. That’s why I noticed that Kotone was some rich girl, but back then I didn’t care and just interacted with her like normal. I didn’t feel like Kotone wanted special treatment back then either.
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「It was so refreshing
 how you interacted with me. Because only a few people would talk to me so casually and it was my first time seeing someone so active.」
「You mean how we tested the maximum height of the swing?」
「That seriously scared me, I really wanted none of it.」
We met at a public park. I was there first and Kotone talked to me. At first we were only exchanging complaints and grumblings with each other, but after running out of things to do, we started playing. Not having much experience with playing, I took her around and we did a lot together.
「Actually thinking about it, someone definitely pulled some strings in the background. Otherwise, I would have absolutely been arrested.」
「Leading a little girl around the streets at night is definitely a situation easy to mischaracterize. Moreover, we didn’t even know each others’ names.」
Just as she does at present, she called me mister then. And I called her little lady. Kotone just ran from her house, so she was in casual wear and I was in my uniform. The two of us ran from our homes at night with only the clothes on our person, so we would’ve been absolutely questioned by the local police officers were we seen.
「At that time, there was no one who treated me without reservations. I was in a fight with the only friend I had back then.」
「In the memories I have, you two ended up breaking up, but is that true?」
「I properly did as you advised, so we made up and apologized to each other. I currently have no contact with her, though.」
Yeah, there really are discrepancies in the memories. I don’t know what to believe now, but it hasn’t really caused much inconvenience. I guess. I never acted in accordance with Kotone’s memories, after all. Who the heck would follow a highway to destruction?
「Man, this takes me back. I wonder how things would have gone if I didn’t bring any money back then.」
「I didn’t bring money along with me, either. I wasn’t expecting the game center to be such a noisy place.」
Strolling around, browsing at the local bookstore, resting at a family restaurant, those were things I usually do. However, those were probably new experiences for Kotone. I can remember the cheerful smile on her face. Just from this, it feels weird that I even forgot about it.
「Do as you like, have no regrets. I was awfully envious of that mentality. Back then, I was so scared of failure, you know.」
「Were you scared of being disliked by your father?」
「That’s right. So I tried to stay the obedient good girl. Up until you died, that is.」