My youth story cannot be a knight war

13. The Door of Memory: The Sunshine of Midsummer (6k)

【Hikigaya Hachiman. 】

【A name that Zaimokuza Yoshiki will never forget. 】

[During his school days, especially before high school, Zaimokuza had many relationships that could be called friends, but since graduation, he has lost contact with many people. Just like those people who appear in many people's school life, they are not a big friendship, but just a passing visitor who accompanied you through a journey in your life. ]

When you reach the end of your journey, those people will leave the path you once walked alongside, and you will never see them again. Even the memories of them will fade away with them.

【But among those friends, there is one name that is completely different from those names that have long been lost in the sea of ​​time and memory. Zaimokuza has never forgotten even for a moment the person represented by this name and everything about him.】

[A person can have many friends in his life, and even relationships above that. Whether it is a boyfriend or a girlfriend, it is not a singular existence. 】

[Even for many people, even lovers, who are ultimately synonymous with relatives, only need to have that thought in mind to find a substitute for the other person.]

[Although the number of friends in life can be endless, the ones who can be called close friends are only a handful. ]

【And Hikigaya Hachiman is like this to him. 】

[Hikigaya Hachiman - Zaimokuza Yoshiteru's first and perhaps only best friend in his life. No one can replace him in his heart.]

[Because the so-called replacement is nothing but a self-deception. If the person in your memory is really replaced by someone else one day, it is just that you have forgotten the original person.]

【And Zaimokuza never forgot him. 】

[But it was precisely because he had never forgotten that he could not believe the person he saw before his eyes more than anyone else.]

[“Is it really… you?”]

[“Say something, Hachiman!”]

[Zaimokuza stood at the corner of the corridor, the cold light shone in from the window where snowflakes were dancing, covering his entire body with a layer of slightly cold blue.]

[The other person was standing right on the wall behind the row of windows. The light passed through his body, only illuminating half of his face, but not his body.]

[With the Sobu High School uniform he was wearing that seemed to blend in with the surrounding darkness, his face, half illuminated by the cold light, was filled with an inexplicable sense of paleness, like an overexposed photo, or like the only blank space in an all-black ink painting.]

[As ethereal as a ghost—Zaimokuza could only come up with this description.]

[He was surrounded by a sense of being detached from reality, and there was no trait in him that could be associated with a living person. Therefore, even though he had already confirmed that the other person was the person he was familiar with in his memory, Zaimokuza still did not dare to be completely sure in his heart, and even asked questions with such caution. ]

【“…”】

[Faced with Zaimokuza's question, Hikigaya Hachiman turned a deaf ear and stood silently in front of the sliding door leading to the Service Club without turning his head.]

A junior high school in Chiba Prefecture.

"elder brother?"

It is not only the "Zaimokuza Yoshiki" in the light curtain who has this doubt, but also the Hikigaya Komachi in reality.

Originally, she was very happy that her brother could become a character on the screen and show his face in front of the whole world. She thought that this might attract many good girls in reality to notice her brother and become interested in him.

Even if there really is a girl who is blinded by this (crossed out) - and has good vision and takes a fancy to her brother, then she has earned a future sister-in-law for free, and solved the problem of her brother's popularity with women that she has always been worried about. It is a win-win situation (sure)!

A world with a bright future for everyone has been born!

But now, she has completely gotten rid of this idea.

Looking at "Hikigaya Hachiman" who was in the darkness on the light screen, Hikigaya Komachi's eyes were fixed on the half-familiar profile, her eyes were full of doubts and a bit of strangeness.

That face, that attire, there was no doubt that it was the brother she was familiar with who had grown up with her. There was no way Hikigaya Komachi could make a mistake about that.

But she had never felt such a hollow temperament in her brother.

Although Hikigaya Hachiman has become very gloomy and depressed since he graduated from junior high school, and his once pretty eyes have completely turned into dead fish eyes full of DHA like stinky salted fish, but the change is only in appearance, and his heart is still the person I have been familiar with since childhood.

But at this moment, Hikigaya Komachi was completely unable to tell others with confidence that this was her brother as she had done in the past.

Because no matter how depraved her brother has become compared to before, he still has the aura of a "human".

But this "Hikigaya Hachiman" in the light curtain... Hikigaya Komachi couldn't feel anything familiar about him.

There is no darkness, no light, no evil, no justice, even the dull and stale atmosphere that she had always disliked in the past is gone.

He gave people the feeling of being an empty shell, or even like an exquisite wax model made of a real person.

To be frank, judging from the first impression that "Hikigaya Hachiman" on the light curtain gives people now, as long as he closes his eyes, even if he is directly wrapped in a shroud and dragged to a movie set for a funeral scene to play a cameo role as a corpse, no one will think that he is acting. Instead, they will wonder how the director got such a real corpse as a prop.

So, when Hikigaya Komachi looked at the "stranger" who had the face of her brother, for the first time, a question that could be said to be absurd arose in her mind.

Is this person...really his brother?

[“Hey, answer me!”]

[“Are you really…Hikigaya Hachiman?”]

[With the emotions surging in his chest, Zaimokuza couldn't help but take steps towards the corridor ahead. The crisp and heavy footsteps echoed in the corridor where only the two of them existed, and even in the entire campus. ]

【“…”】

【Click.】

[Hikigaya Hachiman said nothing. His closed lips were like a welded iron door, never opening or closing even once.]

[He just very calmly stretched out his hand and opened the sliding door of the service department, and walked in as Zaimokuza's eyes widened.]

【"--etc!?"】

【Seeing him walk into the classroom, Zaimokuza rushed forward without hesitation, but he still didn't arrive before the sliding door closed.】

【Zaimokuza quickly grabbed the door handle and yanked the door open.】

【"What!?"】

[But the scene that came into his eyes made Zaimokuza unable to help but shrink his pupils once again. ]

[What appeared before my eyes was not the familiar service department. There was neither the familiar black-haired girl leaning against the window reading a book, nor the bun-haired girl lying on the table playing with her phone, and of course there was no dead-eyed boy sitting on a chair in the corner. ]

[A long corridor is reflected in the black iris. The snow-white walls on both sides of the corridor are covered with countless wooden doors of the same color. Together with the ceiling and floor above, all the scenes here are filled with pure white tones.]

[And Hikigaya Hachiman, who had entered here just a few seconds earlier than Mokuza, is now standing in front of a corridor that is estimated to be more than a hundred meters away from here, standing in front of another door that has not been opened, just like before.]

[“What the hell is going on…”]

[Even if Zaimokuza is slow, he has already noticed something is wrong. ]

[From the time he woke up until now, everything he encountered was filled with a sense of emptiness that was out of touch with reality, whether it was Chiba, where the snowy season had long passed but it was still snowing, or the wounds that mysteriously healed, or the Sobu High School that was almost exactly the same as in his memory, and...]

[The close friend who shouldn't have appeared but actually appeared before my eyes. 】

[Even if I could barely deceive myself into believing the first few things were true, Zaimokuza could no longer deceive himself about the last thing.]

[Because Zaimokuza knew very well that Hikigaya Hachiman, his former best friend... he would never appear again. ]

[“Am I dreaming? Or is this my last moments before death?”]

[This is the explanation that best fits the current situation, and it is also the only possibility Zaimokuza can think of. ]

[But...his palm is still clasped on the handle of the sliding door, feeling the cold and hard touch of the wooden door frame through his fingers, Zaimokuza really finds it hard to believe that this is just a dream.]

【Click.】

[Just as he was standing there hesitating, Hikigaya Hachiman in the distance opened the door in front of him again and stepped inside.]

[But this time, he did not close the door like before, and let the open wooden door swing outside the corridor.]

[This action seemed to be silently saying to Zaimokuza: Follow me.]

【“——Tsk!”】

[Zaimokuza looked at Hikigaya Hachiman with complicated eyes as he disappeared behind the door. He slowly clenched his palm into a fist and couldn't help but clench his teeth and let out a loud smacking sound.]

[At this moment, a fierce ideological struggle was going on in his heart. The doubts about all these things and the comparison with Hachiman Kigaya's persistence were fighting fiercely in his heart, forcing Zaimokuza to make a dilemma. ]

【But in the end, he still chose to follow. 】

[Because no matter whether all this is true or not, and whether everything that will happen next will be dangerous, Zaimokuza hopes to find an answer. 】

[He wanted to see Hikigaya Hachiman again, wanted to talk to him face to face, wanted to confirm whether the other person... was the person he knew. ]

[This alone is enough for Zaimokuza to go through fire and water for this.]

[“This door…”]

[And when Zaimokuza arrived in front of the opened door, what he saw once again shattered his worldview. ]

[Because there is nothing behind that door, a void in the literal sense.]

[A white light curtain that swirls endlessly like a whirlpool appears behind the opened door, completely blocking the view behind the door, and nothing can be seen.]

[“… Never mind! Never mind!”]

【Thinking of Hikigaya Hachiman who had walked into the door before, Zaimokuza finally pursed his lips and walked into the vortex behind the door.】

[Because he believed that the close friend he knew would never harm him.]

[Swish——]

[The moment Zaimokuza stepped into the door, a blazing light burst out from the vortex, and the dazzling light made him squint his eyes subconsciously...]

……

【boom! 】

【"it hurts!"】

[The tall boy in a white school uniform and black shorts fell backwards and bumped into the wall. Then he covered his abdomen with his hands with a look of pain on his face, and slowly slid down the wall and squatted in the corner.]

[“Boss, Woohoo!”]

[The other skinny boy just screamed when a clenched fist hit his face, crushing his screaming facial expression beyond recognition. Then he was also beaten backwards and bumped into the tall boy. The two leaned against each other and wailed.]

[“What’s up! Do you want to fight again? You guys only know how to bully girls and only pick on the weak and fear the strong!”]

[The white-haired boy wearing the same school uniform as the group of naughty kids said this breathlessly. Even though his face was already bruised and swollen from being beaten, he still shouted at them fiercely with an expression of unwillingness to admit defeat.]

[Not only the two boys who curled up together and looked at him with a mixture of fear and resentment, there were also about four or five classmates wearing the same school uniform lying around the white-haired boy. They all covered their bodies with uncomfortable expressions and groaned in pain on the ground. Although not as serious as the white-haired boy, they all had bruises on their faces.]

[The most unlucky one among them was the fat boy at the boy's feet, who was still wailing and covering his crotch with both hands and rolling on the ground. It was obvious that a certain part of his male vitals had suffered an unbearable blow.]

[Obviously, this is a student fight that happens in every school in every country and every region of the world. There is nothing unusual about it.]

[The only surprising thing is that in this fight, which was clearly one-on-many, the white-haired boy, who was clearly outnumbered, was the winner, while the group of boys with more than five people was the loser.]

[Behind the white-haired boy, a little girl wearing a wool sweater and a red plaid skirt sat in the corner, her hands wrapped around her swollen and bruised knees, her head buried between her legs, and she was gently moving her body. Only one of her feet was wearing a shoe, and the other shoe was missing. Even her originally white socks were covered in dust and dirt.]

[“If you know how powerful you are, return the things you stole immediately! And apologize to them obediently!”]

[“I’ll remember you. I will definitely report you to the teacher!”]

[Faced with the threat of the white-haired boy with a fierce face and raised fist, the tall boy who was supported by a group of people felt embarrassed for a while, and finally could only pull something out of his pocket in anger and throw it at the boy's feet. ]

【Click! 】

[A pair of small black round-framed glasses rolled on the ground until they touched the boy's sneakers.]

[“Let’s go!”]

[“Hey! You haven’t apologized to anyone yet? Come back here!”]

[A group of naughty kids, supporting each other, left the corner of the teaching building in a mess. The white-haired boy who picked up his glasses from the ground wanted to chase them, but he stopped at the corner with an indignant look on his face after thinking about something.]

[“It hurts! Hiss? Are you okay?”]

[The boy covered his swollen eyes and gasped, then limped to the girl who was hugging her knees, squatted down, and asked carefully.]

[He tried hard to pull out a smile, but because of the injuries on his face, the muscles were constantly pulled and he felt sore and painful, so the smile he showed, set off by the tears in the corners of his eyes, fully demonstrated what it meant to smile uglier than crying.]

【“…”】

[The girl raised her head slightly from between her legs after hearing the boy's voice. A pair of big red eyes were revealed under her brown hair. She looked at the boy and shook her head gently, and spoke softly.]

【“…I’m fine.”】

[“You’re lying. You don’t even have shoes. How can you be okay?”]

[“Those guys…next time you see them, you must beat them up until they apologize to you!”]

[The boy looked at the girl's bare feet, which even had torn socks and exposed a few toes, and scratched his fluffy white hair, sighed helplessly, and then muttered angrily.]

【“……?”】

[As the girl stared with her eyes slightly wide open, the boy untied the shoelaces and took off one of his shoes, reached out to grab the sole of her foot that had lost its shoe, put it inside, and then tied the shoelaces tightly.]