In this crossover anime, I've been bound to two systems.

Life in dreams doesn't seem fabricated; it feels more like reality.

The more Eriri Sawamura thought about it, the more confused she became. Frustrated, she scratched her hair and shook her head. The hat she was wearing fluttered to the ground, and her originally piled-up, dazzling blonde hair fell naturally over her shoulders.

"I completely don't understand!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha quietly watched Sawamura Eriri's outburst. On the surface, she appeared more composed and calm, but the turmoil in her heart was no less than that of Sawamura Eriri.

Because the love story she experienced in her dreams did not end well like Eriri Sawamura's.

When she discovered that her relationship with her husband during their student days was entirely based on lies and scheming, she, who had been experiencing poor health since becoming pregnant, easily developed negative thoughts.

She got stuck in a rut, feeling deceived and beginning to doubt everything that had happened between them.

She made a decision that, in hindsight, was extremely wrong: she took her daughter with her and cut off contact with her husband, without even giving him a chance to explain in person.

She left him in such a unilateral, foolish, and selfish way.

After she died of illness in her dream, her perspective shifted repeatedly. She saw her husband's anxiety and panic when he saw the letter she left behind, his despondency when he couldn't find her and drank heavily, his ecstatic joy when he saw his daughter return, and then his immense grief when he learned that she had passed away.

She exists like a ghost, spending countless days and nights by her husband's side, watching him regain his composure and act as a good father in front of their daughter, but in private he needs to take medication every night to fall asleep.

She felt sad, heartbroken, and regretful.

But what's done is done, and there's no going back. She watched from very close by as things unfolded, but she had no power to change anything.

On the day her daughter graduated from university, she witnessed her husband, with a relieved smile, dragging his zombie-like body, swallowing an entire bottle of sleeping pills.

She cried out with all her might, trying to touch him with her non-existent body, to tell him that someone like her is not worth him doing this for. For Qianyu's sake, and for your own life, please live on!

But it was all in vain; the breeze seeping in through the cracks in the window was more noticeable than her hysterical reaction.

She could only watch helplessly as her husband's breathing slowed down until his heart stopped beating.

Without a physical body, she couldn't even shed tears.

"Me too, I completely don't understand..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha's downcast eyes revealed a sense of melancholy and sadness.

At the top of the telephone pole beside them, a small crow blinked its black eyes and remained motionless in the afterglow of the setting sun.

…………

Chapter Fifty-One: Thoughts After a Lifetime of Regret

Kasumigaoka Utaha has never been dissatisfied with her life.

She has a brilliant mind, a beautiful face, and a stunning figure.

Before experiencing that vivid, happy, and sorrowful dream, she was absolutely certain that her life would continue to go smoothly as before.

But now, she hesitated.

Time cannot be turned back, and life offers no second chances. Regrets that have become facts can only be left in the past; there is no opportunity to make amends.

But that feeling of regret lingered, clearly etched on my heart, and it aches faintly every time I think about it.

Some things are only done after you've experienced the heart-wrenching pain, and then you feel remorse, shed tears, and regret your actions.

Kasumigaoka Utaha hated the version of herself in her dream. Even when she was suffering from illness and was pale and emaciated on her deathbed, she couldn't feel the slightest bit of sympathy for her.

Even in her view, the fact that she herself in the dream did not lose consciousness after death, but instead became invisible and was able to observe Suzumiya Senri's life from his side was also a kind of punishment for herself.

She was left helplessly watching the person who loved her most end her life, unable to do anything about it.

Feeling powerless? Blaming yourself? In pain? Regretful?

If you can feel these feelings, that's what the person who loves you is experiencing every day during these times of losing you.

This is the punishment you deserve for your foolish actions and for choosing to run away from him!

You deprived your daughter of her father's love, and you deprived your lover of hope for life. You deserve your punishment!

Kasumigaoka Utaha vaguely received this signal.

The novelist's thoughts began to diverge, and the conjectures that had been welling up in his mind quietly changed at this moment, shifting from the subject of suspense and crime to the realm of fantasy romance.

I no longer believe that I have such dreams because of hypnosis, but rather that they may be things that another version of myself actually experienced in a parallel world or in a previous life.

She died, but was filled with remorse. So she used some kind of mysterious power to cross the dimensional barrier and time and space, and reminded herself in the form of a dream. While pointing out true love to herself, she also hoped that she would not do something as selfish and foolish as she did.

Just over ten minutes ago, Kasumigaoka Utaha saw that person walk out of the campus full of vitality from her side of the glass window.

Her thoughts and feelings were like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins, completely out of the control of reason.

She grasped Sawamura's hand, stopping his radical thoughts, believing she was still remaining calm.

However, she was completely unaware that her initial idea of ​​simply wanting to catch a glimpse from afar had vanished entirely.

What replaces it is only the firm intention to take a step forward, swept up by that dreamlike life that is so real and vivid.

Don't just watch from the shadows; instead, be open and approach him directly.

If the real him is not too different from the one in her dream, and he can still fall in love with her at first sight, then perhaps she really can do something...

This time I will never be foolish again, and I will never give up and leave on my own. I will make up for the regrets in my dreams in reality!

"Me too, I'm completely confused... but even so, we need to calm down a bit."

Kasumigaoka Utaha bent down and picked up the hat that Sawamura Eriri had dropped on the ground.

She gently brushed the dust off the light green baseball cap and steadily put it on her head.

"What do you mean?"

Eriri Sawamura didn't notice that in just over ten seconds, Kasumigaoka Utaha's expression changed several times.

Her entire focus was now on the restaurant that Suzumiya Chisato had entered. She strained to see in that direction, and at that moment she even regretted not having bought a pair of binoculars on the way there.

Although the situation in a dream cannot be generalized to reality, Sawamura Eriri couldn't help but feel angry because it was so realistic.

After all, with such vivid and clear memories, she naturally puts herself in the role of Suzumiya Chisato's wife.

So now the situation has become this: the wife caught her husband on a seemingly intimate date with another girl who appeared out of nowhere, a truly appalling situation that's impossible to calm down.

Her remaining rationality kept telling her that this was reality, that she had no connection with Suzumiya Chisato in reality, that the two of them didn't even know each other, so she couldn't act impulsively.

Even though I understand, even though I understand... I'm still angry!

So at least get a little closer, at least sneak up around their seats and listen to what they're saying, to find out about their relationship.

"We'll go in after they've ordered and the food is on the table and they've started eating. At that point, their attention will mostly be on the food, which will reduce the chances of us being discovered."

Kasumigaoka Utaha also peeked out from the street corner.

"...I thought you were going to stop me from going in."

“It’s not that I’m stopping you, it’s just that I think we need to choose the right time. At least for now, it’s best if he doesn’t notice us, because now is not the best time to confront him.”

"……kindness."

For the first time, Eriri Sawamura felt that Utaha Kasumigaoka, this usually incredibly sarcastic and mean woman, wasn't so bad after all.

Standing on the same side as her, though I was very reluctant, I had to admit that she thought about far more things than I did, which gave me a great sense of security.

Whether it was the hat and mask, or the chosen location for covert observation, these were all suggestions she made.

The feeling of forming an alliance with a former rival isn't so bad.

The restaurant wasn't far apart, and you could clearly see that Suzumiya Chisato and the girl had just ordered from the front desk and were now walking one after the other to a window seat.

Eriri Sawamura breathed a slight sigh of relief because she saw that her husband, Chisato Suzumiya, and that girl were not sitting side by side.

However, Kasumigaoka Utaha's expression gradually darkened after she noticed and carefully considered certain phenomena.

She noticed that the girl's walking posture was slightly abnormal, as if she had some discomfort in some part of her lower body, and she would occasionally show a painful expression on her face while walking.

Her thighs, encased in black stockings, slowly pressed together.

Kasumigaoka Utaha herself was a young girl, and she knew perfectly well that if it were just her period, the other person would never have reacted like this.

That's probably the only explanation...

She clearly experienced it in her dream... The first time and for a day or two afterward, there was indeed a lingering pain.

"Let's go, the food they ordered has already been served."

After greeting her, Eriri Sawamura hurried forward.

Kasumigaoka Utaha, preoccupied with her own thoughts, followed without a word.

After the two left, the little crow landed on the ground, and a moment later flapped its wings and flew into the azure sky.

…………

Chapter 52 Crisis Awareness

"I noticed it the moment you stepped out of the school gate. What are you looking at?"

In the family restaurant, Touma Kazusa, who had finally managed to find a comfortable position to sit in while waiting for her food to be served, asked Suzumiya Chisato a question out of boredom.

Since it was right at the time when school and get off work were over, and people were coming and going outside the window, if Suzumiya Chisato's gaze was following those sexy girls with very short skirts or older women in black stockings and office lady outfits, she would be too lazy to ask such a question again.

The problem is that several times when Chisato Suzumiya turned her head, she wasn't looking straight ahead, but rather tilting her head slightly upwards to look at the sky.

Touma Kazusa also secretly looked up at the sky, but there was nothing that caught her attention.

"Nothing, I just think the weather is nice today, and even the sky looks beautiful."

Suzumiya Senri withdrew her gaze and told a lie without changing her expression.

He wasn't some melancholic, sentimental literary girl; he wasn't interested in the scenery of the sky. He'd rather spend that time focusing on watching Touma Kazusa's dashing profile out of the corner of his eye.

In today's society, there are many beautiful girls, but girls like her who are both handsome and beautiful are rare.

As for the real reason he looked up at the sky several times, it was because he was checking the whereabouts of the Black Wings.

During a previous PE class, he had intended to put it in the wardrobe, but it disagreed. So, after repeatedly instructing it not to stray too far from him and to stay within his sight, he allowed the Black Wings to move freely within a certain range around him.

It probably felt more comfortable flying freely in the sky than hiding in a pocket, so after school it didn't think about coming back, but just stayed a distance away from Suzumiya Senri.

Before leaving the school gate, you could still see it, taking off and landing on the trees planted by the roadside.

But after leaving the school, he never saw it again.