I, who advocate giving up, feel like a disqualified person

"That's it."

Sheji suddenly remembered that he had seen that girl in Yehui's album.

"You just said it was strange..."

"Oh, what I find strange is... maybe it's just my guess, you don't have to take it seriously."

"Uh-huh."

Ye Hui, who cared about it very much, nodded.

"To her, I may just be a simple playmate."

"...???"

This sentence was extremely ambiguous in Ye Hui's opinion, so it shocked her greatly.

“...From your expression, it seems like you don’t quite understand. Actually, the reason is very simple...” Seeing this, Sheji wanted to explain in more detail.

“No, no, no… no need…”

Ye Hui, who had already thought of many things, naturally refused.

"...?"

"I'm really... sorry for being so close to you all this time."

"what are you saying..."

Even so, Sheji immediately guessed the problem. Perhaps there was some misunderstanding...

I didn’t expect that besides Ye Jin, Ye Hui also had a great imagination in this regard... Sheji suddenly felt tired.

"...The playmate I'm talking about is the kind of simple playmate a child would consider. In other words, in her mind, my gender isn't important; I'm just someone she can have a normal conversation with."

"Hmm...Is that so?"

"Of course, otherwise why would you call her a weird person?" Sheji responded as if it was a matter of course. "As someone still in adolescence, she should be quite sensitive when it comes to topics related to the opposite sex."

"..."

Actually, I don’t see any sensitivity in you in this regard. Ye Hui couldn’t help but refute silently in his heart.

"But after hanging out with her..."

"Hmm? Hanging out together? When did it happen?"

In fact, Ye Hui was already very clear about this. He just wanted to see his reaction.

"...This, this is not important." After feeling awkward, Sheji obviously changed the subject. "A-Anyway... Anyway, I found something strange about her."

"...Could it be that this is why I forgot to look at the comic rankings together? Going on a date with her."

"...yeah...sorry."

There is nothing to hide. Sheji believes that there is nothing wrong with what he did.

“…”

Ye Hui realized the significance of this decisive admission. If he did something strange, he must have his reasons. This was always the case in Sheji.

"I see... In other words, the person you want to help, Sheji, is she?"

"That's right." Sheji nodded. "I'll tell you my discovery now... but it's best not to tell anyone else."

"...If it can't be leaked, it's better not to tell me." Ye Hui wasn't very interested in other people's secrets. Although she would definitely not tell anyone, she didn't want to know anything other than the country.

"This is not okay."

"...Why?"

"Because I'm in a lot of trouble right now... I need someone to help me. And after thinking about it, the only person who can help me now is you, Ye Hui."

"..."

I thought he'd just keep his problems to himself, trying to figure them out. But now he's actually thinking of asking for help...

"Since you said so, Sheji..."

"Oh, thanks." He looked very happy.

"But I can't guarantee that I can solve it..."

"Don't worry about that. Actually, I can't guarantee it."

"....?"

Unexplainable reasons

I managed to find Yao Qiong's home by relying on the route I remembered. What caught my attention even more was that both her adoptive parents were there... Why did they have such flexible work schedules? No one at my house would ever be home during that time. So, at first, I worried it would be a wasted trip. But now, while I don't have to worry about being home, I do have something more important to worry about.

"Are you a classmate of Joan's?"

At least he had entered her home and was talking to her adoptive mother.

"...Well, although we're not in the same class..."

"Ah."

“…”

My adoptive father, sitting next to me, didn't seem to be very happy with me. After hearing my answer, he just snorted coldly and gave me a suspicious look, as if saying, "He's at our house when he should be going to school. He must not be a good person."

"I remember you were supposed to go to school today, right? Why didn't you go?" Her adoptive mother was quite kind by comparison. In other words, Yao Qiong's personality was somewhat influenced by her.

"Ah, actually I was sick...but I'm much better now."

"Humph."

"..."

When meeting Yao Qiong's adoptive father's eyes, he immediately felt a gaze that said, "Now that you've recovered from your illness, you should go to school. What are you doing here?"

"So that's how it is... Then what exactly happened? Could something have happened to our Yao Qiong at school?"

As expected, parents would prioritize their children's safety. Even if they adopted a child, they would still treasure her as much as their own... In other words, the problem didn't originate with this family.

"That's not the case...Apart from sleeping in class, Yao Qiong doesn't have any other problems at school." Let's just bring up the simple topic here first.

"It's like this again... This child has this problem. I've told her several times, but she always stays up late studying and won't listen. The homeroom teacher has also talked to me, but it's had no effect... It's not that I'm worried about her academic performance, but I'm just worried that her health won't be able to keep up."

"...Yeah, that's true." I nodded repeatedly. This was exactly what I was worried about.

"Ahem—!"

The adoptive father, who had been silent all the time, finally spoke again.

This time, I saw a look in his eyes that said, "What does my Yao Qiong's health condition have to do with you?"

That's why it is quite troublesome to visit someone rashly.

"So, what is the purpose of this student coming here?"

"Ah...actually it's about classmate Yao Qiong."

Chapter 23: The Reason That Cannot Be Explained

I don't really want to breathe in this cold air... I feel like my mouth and airways are going to get icy. But since we have to talk, it's inevitable... Ah, this is so troublesome.

"Well, let me first propose a hypothesis."

Now that Ye Hui has agreed to help me, I might as well describe the problem in my style.

"Hmm...what assumption?"

"If you meet someone and talk to them about the latest game and they just look confused... do you think that's normal?"

"...For someone who's not familiar with the game, this should be a normal situation."

"Ah, speaking of which. Yehui, are your parents strict?"

"Well, I wouldn't say it's very strict."

"You must have come across games at some point, right? From childhood to adulthood, no matter what kind of games they are."

"...Well, there should be someone familiar."

"Of course, there's no need to talk about animation and music... I've probably watched a few anime that's aired on TV, and I've probably heard at least a few pop songs, and I can even hum a line or two, right?"

Most people are like this.

"That's true...but what does this have to do with Yao Qiong?" Ye Hui looked more and more confused.

"Absolutely not."

"....?"

"I mean, that girl named Yao Qiong, whose upbringing wasn't very strict, had never played any games. She had no nostalgia for those retro games. She wasn't familiar with any songs... To her, there wasn't much difference between songs from the last century and this century."

"...Um...how did you know that?"

"Didn't I go out with her? Whether it was the arcade or karaoke, it was her first time... but she didn't feel like a normal person. And when she used electronic products, it was like my parents playing with smartphones a few years ago..."

"...Hmm...but I still don't think there's anything strange about this." Ye Hui frowned. "Student Yao Qiong has always been a good student. Maybe her family doesn't allow her to be exposed to these things."

"So, growing up, everyone in the class always talks about something, right? Especially the girls. Whether it's about idols or TV series, even if you don't want to hear it, you'll still be fed useless information."

“…This…indeed.”

"But she has no such memory." This is very important. "According to her, her memory before junior high school is quite vague."

"..."

“It’s like I jumped through a time machine and arrived here.”

"What kind of metaphor is this? It's too childish, isn't it?" Ye Hui seemed very interested in this sentence.

"It's funny, but that's how I feel." I paused. "Can you clearly remember everything from your childhood to the present? You definitely can't, right?"

".....Um."

"That's right. He was clearly a very good friend from childhood, but because we hadn't seen each other for a long time, it was only when we met again after more than ten years that we suddenly remembered this person's existence."

"Why does this sentence sound a bit like your own experience?"

"How could that be? I've only lived for a dozen years. That's your illusion." I coughed softly a few times. "But there's more to her than that. I'm sure you've noticed... she has a resistance to sleep."

"Eh? How can someone who's clearly dozing off during class be resisting sleep..."

"If she sleeps enough at night, she won't be able to fall asleep again during the day no matter what... unless she's genuinely bored. Anyway, I've confirmed this... She herself stated that she's completely unable to fall asleep at night."

"Eh? ...Why?"

"If I knew why, I would have solved this problem long ago."

"Ah, that's right." Ye Hui smiled a little embarrassedly.

"...Do you still think she's just an ordinary high school girl?"

"..." She shook her head. "But, besides you, Sheji, no one else has noticed that she's different from everyone else, right?"

"...I don't want to admit it, but this is the truth."

People who only use common sense to explain abnormalities are completely unable to perceive the problems that exist in her. Even her adoptive parents who love her are the same.

"..."

“…No…”

I seem to still remember the three sentences she said that left me with endless doubts.

"Huh? What are you talking about? What's wrong? Is there something strange?"

“…Why is this happening…”

Now I'm trying to recall what I said. I thought it would be hard to recall, but I find it's so natural that I can just say it.

“This shouldn’t be…”

Only then did I suddenly understand the meaning of these words. They weren't a puzzle, but rather... a questioning of oneself and the world by someone desperate about something.

That's it.