My daily life in various anime crossovers can't possibly be this sci-fi.

Jiang Jinghua said with a wry smile, "If I said, 'I couldn't sleep because I was having nightmares, so I wanted to go out and clear my head,' would you believe me?"

Surprisingly, Maki Nishikino actually smiled: "Of course I believe you. You seem like the kind of person who often overthinks things, so it's not surprising that you have nightmares."

I don't know why, but it sounds really unpleasant...

"As for me, it's the same as always, it's to take a short break during my study sessions," Maki said.

what

Section 62, Chapter Sixty-Two: What is your dream?

"You're staying up late to study every day. Honestly, is that really okay?" Jiang Jinghua asked. "Sometimes if I stay up a little late, I'm so tired the next day."

“Perhaps it’s because we’ve gotten used to it,” Maki Nishikino said after a moment’s thought. “We’ve done it often since we were little, and of course, the degree has increased as we’ve gotten older.”

“I see. Oh right, so you’re basically just wandering around, right? If that’s the case, could you… please have a little chat with me?” Jiang Jinghua asked. “I’m feeling really down right now, and it’ll be really hard if I don’t talk to someone. Please.”

"You want to chat with me?" Maki seemed a little puzzled by Jiang Jinghua's reaction. "Isn't it unnecessary to come all the way here to ask me for something like this?"

“…That would be wonderful.” Jiang Jinghua nodded.

As expected, this guy is still the same.

Nishikino Maki looked at the boy in front of her with a disappointed expression.

Generally speaking, the term "persecution mania" is used to describe people who always believe they have been treated maliciously by someone. Jiang Jinghua, in a sense, could also be described as having "persecution mania": he always believes he is treating others maliciously, so he is always waiting for an apology or thanks, always feeling that everything others do is a favor to him, while everything he does is an offense to others.

Why does he look so relieved just because I agreed to chat with him?

“There are steps over there on the beach,” Maki pointed to a spot on the beach. “Let’s sit down and talk in detail.”

"Huh? Wouldn't that..."

"Anyway, I'm just out here to rest, and chatting with me won't waste my time." Maki really didn't know what to say. "Also, let me add: if you keep asking unnecessary questions or making unnecessary comments, then I'm leaving. Just do what I tell you to do, no matter what the reason."

"Okay, I understand." Jiang Jinghua nodded.

I wonder if that guy really understood...

Maki and Jiang Jinghua arrived at the edge of the steps and sat down. Since Maki was wearing her practice clothes, they would be easy to clean even if they got dirty.

"So, what do you want to say to me?" Maki turned her head and asked.

"It's about my dream," Jiang Jinghua said. "There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

"Then please speak?"

“Hmm.” Jiang Jinghua looked up at the sky. “We are all spellcasters, so we are all very clear that we live in a crazy and terrifying world. Because there are countless alternate dimensions in this world, no matter how small the probability, there will always be such an alternate dimension: the things in it have the ability and the motivation to destroy the Foundation, the United Nations, and all of human civilization.”

"so what?"

"So... if that kind of thing really happened, what should we, as ordinary people, do, and what can we do?"

Maki Nishikino frowned. The sense of powerlessness emanating from Jiang Jinghua's gaunt body was exactly what she hated most. But for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to hate Jiang Jinghua as well; on the contrary, she felt a pang of regret, thinking, "I wish this guy wasn't like this."

“μ’s is a group that pursues dreams. As a member of μ’s, you must also have your own dreams that you want to achieve, right? It is because of this dream that we are able to spend every day together with enthusiasm and move forward single-mindedly no matter what.”

Maki wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she thought she saw a tear roll down Jiang Jinghua's cheek.

“But dreams are actually very cheap and very fragile…” Jiang Jinghua choked up, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing.

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Jinghua raised his head and looked towards the horizon where the sea met the sky.

……

At this point... what should I say?

Maki Nishikino actually had little experience dating boys, so in this situation, she didn't know what to do. She felt she should go over and offer some comfort... but then again, what kind of thing is it for a girl to comfort a boy...?

That guy is infuriating.

Jiang Jinghua quickly calmed himself down: "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me just now, I started to get sentimental again, I hope you don't mind."

"So, what exactly do you want to tell me?" Nishikino Maki looked at Jiang Jinghua.

"It's nothing, just some..."

We can't let him continue like this.

Nishikino Maki stood up and forcibly pulled Jiang Jinghua up as well.

"Hey, what are you suddenly going to do..."

“Listen to me.” Maki Nishikino stared at Jiang Jinghua with a serious expression. “Listen to me. If you really think what you’re about to say is all nonsense, then I’ll treat it all as nonsense. But you must listen to what I’m about to say, and you absolutely cannot treat it as nonsense.”

"I don't know what kind of past you've been through, nor do I really know you as a person, so I don't intend to give you any advice. I just want to ask you one question: What kind of person do you most want to become?"

Nishikino Maki channeled her magic power as a fourth-tier spellcaster, creating a rather complex combination of third-tier illusions. She was very confident in her illusionary skills; she figured that even someone like Jiang Jinghua, who hadn't even passed the third-tier certificate exam, would likely fall for it, let alone Honoka Kousaka.

"I want to be someone who is useful to others, especially someone who is useful to the people I care about." Jiang Jinghua answered without hesitation under the influence of the illusion, which was quite different from his previous hesitant demeanor.

"So, if you had the ability to become someone like that, what price would you be willing to pay for it?" Nishikino Maki asked, somewhat surprised by the answer.

"Everything I own, including my life," Jiang Jinghua answered without hesitation.

……

huh?

"Are you serious?" Nishikino Maki was a little incredulous. Could it be that she had accidentally connected the wrong position of one of Jiang Jinghua's brain nerves when she was performing the spell?

Who would seriously say something like that!

However, she was certain that there was absolutely no problem with the spell she had just cast.

"I am indeed serious, this is truly my thought." Under the influence of the third-order suggestion spell, Jiang Jinghua revealed the truth expressionlessly.

Without saying a word, Nishikino Maki dispelled the spell.

Who exactly is this guy?

what

Section 63, Chapter Sixty-Three: You Might Have Something Wrong with Your Brain

"...What just happened?" Jiang Jinghua was a little confused after recovering from the suggestive state.

“Nothing happened.” Maki Nishikino turned and left. “Sorry, I have to go now. My break time is over.”

"Oh, I see. Goodbye then." Jiang Jinghua waved to Maki from behind, but she didn't turn around.

She kept walking, going straight up the stairs to her room.

She felt she had absolutely no idea what Jiang Jinghua was thinking. That guy was simply... simply hopelessly delusional! Who would say those lines so seriously?!

Nishikino Maki changed out of her practice clothes and into her pajamas, then collapsed onto the bed.

Perhaps, she finally understood what kind of person Jiang Jinghua really was.

He stubbornly believed that his existence was worthless, so he always tried to become a valuable person. Therefore, even if he had no intention of doing anything, he could still work hard at everything he had...

...No, maybe what he wants to do is "get other people to do what they want to do."

However, this view of life was completely wrong from the start. Maki Nishikino could not accept this attitude of treating one's own existence as a means to achieve a certain goal.

Honoka Kousaka became an idol to bring smiles to everyone, but she did so because of her own will. Jiang Jinghua's situation is different: he completely ignored his own thoughts.

Nishikino Maki silently made a decision in her heart: she couldn't let this guy continue like this.

……

The next morning.

Because of a strange dream he had in the middle of the night, Jiang Jinghua was still feeling a bit groggy. Right now, he was brushing his teeth while sorting through his memories from last night until now.

It's strange, really. Logically, his mind should have been perfectly clear last night, but for some reason, as Jiang Jinghua tried to recall what had happened, he felt like he was drunk. It felt like…

Jiang Jinghua brushed his teeth as quickly as possible, then walked solemnly to his desk and opened the laptop he had brought from Earth. The mechanical keyboard clattered continuously as he typed at high speed, and the browser window on the computer screen displayed the Foundation's circular shield logo.

"Search, containment, and production. Welcome back, Jiang Jinghua."

Jiang Jinghua was a fairly attentive student, so he remembered clearly the proverb that the illusion magic teacher had repeatedly emphasized: "Never trust your heart; the only thing you can trust is logic."

Every student who has received education from the Foundation must understand that they should be extremely vigilant about any abnormality that occurs in their thought process, no matter how insignificant it may seem, because there are countless entities in this world that can destroy humanity's most important asset—free will—without anyone noticing, such as illusions or memes.

"Standard mental state testing procedure initiated." After Jiang Jinghua's series of operations, the following text appeared in the window on the screen: "Please connect your brainwave control device to continue the testing process."

Using a brainwave control device shaped like an earphone, Jiang Jinghua began the testing process.

This complex testing procedure includes many aspects, such as reading specific passages, image subconscious detection, meme catalyst implantation detection, etc. It takes a little over half an hour to complete a standard mental state test, and then about three minutes of calculation is needed to draw a conclusion.

"Ding!"

The message from the foundation's server was received by the laptop.

"Your test result is E+. It is recommended that you strengthen your protection against potentially long-lasting memetic catalysts and illusion spells, and schedule a professional mental state analysis within a week."

The so-called E+ is actually short for "Euclid+", which means that Jiang Jinghua is very likely to be affected by a small-scale, long-term illusion and memetic catalyst, resulting in a certain deviation between his mental state and previous test results, but it is not serious.

However, in this alternate dimension where even fireballs cannot be cast, what kind of person or thing could have a mental impact on him?

Jiang Jinghua let out a long sigh of relief, trying to calm himself down.

We can't analyze anything like this right now. He was perfectly normal before going to bed last night, but after that strange dream, he started experiencing mental confusion. In his hazy memory, the last person he saw last night was probably Nishikino Maki.

Okay, I'll go find her and ask her what I did last night.

……

"Huh? You're asking me what happened last night?" Nishikino Maki, who was eating breakfast, looked at Jiang Jinghua in astonishment. The latter's expression was quite calm and serious, as if he were a completely different person compared to yesterday.

“Yes.” Jiang Jinghua nodded. “From the time I woke up in the middle of the night last night until now, my memory has been quite unclear. I just did a test on myself using the Foundation’s standard procedures, and the result was that ‘I may have been affected by a mild long-lasting illusion or memetic catalyst.’ In layman’s terms, I suspect there’s something wrong with my brain, so I hope to ask you to clarify what exactly happened last night so I can come up with a more reasonable hypothesis.”

“I can tell you, but ‘doubting that there’s something wrong with your brain’ sounds really strange.”

I see. In fact, after returning to her room, Maki did find Jiang Jinghua's reaction very abnormal, because it was simply too exaggerated. The kind of guy who could talk to girls about the possibility of a global nuclear war without batting an eye, and even get very excited about it, would never cry out because of some "unknown threat".

“Last night I went out for a walk as usual to clear my head, and then I ran into you near the dormitory building,” Maki Nishikino said. “You said you were in a bad mood because you had a nightmare and wanted to talk to me for a bit. Then you mentioned some unknown disaster from another dimension, and then you rambled on about μ's dreams... In short, you talked about a lot of random, unclear things, and you even seemed like you were about to cry.”

After thinking for a while, Nishikino Maki decided not to reveal that she had used illusion magic.