Chapter 6

When Masato tells the person his location, they agree to meet him there, so he decides to wait at the fountain plaza.

Sitting on a bench, about twenty minutes pass.

“Akatsuchi-kun!”

A girl’s voice calls out to him.

She has stunning emerald eyes and long strawberry-blonde hair tied in a ponytail, giving her an almost foreign appearance. Her model-like beauty draws glances from passing men, but she seems oblivious—or uninterested—her gaze fixed solely on Masato.

“Sorry, did I keep you waiting?”

It’s Dora Minamoto—the one he called.

“Nah, I’m the one who called you out suddenly.”

“No big deal. I was just chatting with the club at Nack after practice anyway.”

Even so, prioritizing him over her clubmates makes him genuinely happy as a friend. “Nack” is short for “Nackle Burger,” the global fast-food chain.

She’s in her volleyball club uniform, the school’s cardigan tied around her waist, sleeves of her shirt rolled up—her usual style.

“So, you’ve been sweating buckets, huh?”

Masato jokingly sniffs closer, and—

“Oi, have some tact.”

She pushes his face away.

“Sorry, I’m on strike.”

“Idiot.”

A light chop lands on his head.

“Anyway, I’m sure you’ve taken care of that… So, you didn’t call me just for this banter, right?”

“Nope, I called you for that.”

“I’m leaving.”

“Sorry, kidding.”

He hadn’t mentioned why he called her. Maybe he should’ve made up a reason, but he was so focused on getting her here that he forgot.

“Still, you came without even knowing why. What if I said, ‘I killed someone, help me hide the body’?”

“Hmm… I wouldn’t help, but I’d probably say, ‘If you don’t want me to tell the cops, do what I say forever.’”

“That’s scary…”

“Says the guy who’d kill someone and ask a friend to clean it up. That’s scarier.”

Trading jokes, Masato shifts to the real topic.

“…I wanted to talk about something serious.”

“Serious? …Is it about that confession from before?”

“Kinda related.”

It’s not the main issue, but it involves the same person.

“I told you to ‘reject her yourself,’ didn’t I? Monday wasn’t good enough?”

“There’s an urgent reason I need to sort it out fast.”

“…Let me guess, you rejected her but said something extra that made her cry?”

“…Something like that.”

“Making things worse? So you.”

In Minamoto’s mind, he’s a tactless jerk.

“But why me instead of Ide-kun?”

“Well, you’re a girl, so I thought you’d get it better.”

“Only treating me like a girl when it suits you… So, where do we talk?”

He appreciates how she goes along with him despite her complaints.

(Now, where to talk… Somewhere quiet would be nice.)

He hadn’t thought past the meetup. The only calm, uncrowded place he knows around here is—

“Welcome. Oh, you…”

“Hey…”

He’s back at Pure Coffee Beresheet, where Ootomo brought him earlier. The master, seeing him again—

“Forget something?”

He starts to say, then notices—

“Guess not. No offense, but don’t play around too much.”

He sees the woman behind Masato isn’t Ootomo and rephrases, clearly misunderstanding.

“No, she’s just a friend…”

“Let’s keep it at that.”

It is just that, but it doesn’t seem to land.

“Huh? What? It’s crowded?”

Minamoto pokes his back. Fiddling with her phone, she missed the exchange and thinks he’s talking about the crowd.

“Nah, it’s fine. Let’s go in.”

They take the same wall-side two-person table, facing each other. It’s Masato’s second time here today, but it’s the best spot—quiet, with no other customers nearby.

“You know a retro place like this? Doesn’t feel like you.”

“Surprising, huh?”

He just learned about it, but still.

“Too surprising… But I kinda like it. It’s calm.”

Like before, the master’s wife brings water and towels. Masato orders a hot blend coffee again, while Minamoto gets an iced café latte.

As she leaves, the wife whispers to Masato:

“Sorry about my husband.”

She doesn’t share his misunderstanding.

“Why’d she apologize?”

“The master thought we’re a couple.”

Mid-sip, Minamoto chokes on her water.

“Cough, cough! While I’m drinking…?! Cough! You did that on purpose, like last time?!”

“No, I didn’t mean… You okay?”

He expected her to brush it off, but she’s visibly startled.

“Look…! …Ugh, forget it.”

She starts to protest but suddenly deflates, giving up.

“…So, what exactly happened? Knowing you, you said something awful.”

(What kind of guy am I in your head…?)

Swallowing a retort, Masato takes a sip of water to clear his mind. He hadn’t noticed, but he’s surprisingly nervous.

“Here goes…”

Clearing his throat lightly—

“First, I lied about the confession thing. I called you for something else.”

“Huh? Something else?”

Her expression seems to tighten slightly.

“I’ll be blunt. Give me back Midori and Kurusu.”

“…What? W-Who’re they?”

Her words claim ignorance, but her eyes betray unease, her face stiffening.

(I didn’t want it to be her…)

Her reaction doesn’t feel like that of someone clueless.

“That’s the normal response, right? Everyone in the world would say that now. Even those who knew them. They were born and raised here, right in front of us, but one day they vanished, like they never existed. No traces, nothing. Nobody remembers… no, nobody knows them.”

“Sorry, I don’t follow…”

Minamoto forces a smile, like she’s patching it together.

“Sorry, but I’m going on. There’s someone in this world who can erase people’s existence. Midori and Kurusu were erased by them… I’m trying to catch whoever did it to bring them back.”

Masato locks eyes with her. The girl who seemed lost moments ago falls silent, like a frog stared down by a snake.

“I finally got a lead. Remember when I asked if Kurusu was absent, and you answered?”

“I don’t know that girl.”

“—Like that.”

“D-Did I?”

“Yeah. I forgot—or brushed it off—until recently. But thinking back, it felt off. At that point, to everyone but me, Kurusu never existed. So why did you know she was a girl?”

“That’s…”

“I didn’t say her first name or mention her gender. Just her last name shouldn’t tell you she’s a girl.”

That’s what he noticed with Ootomo. She was completely unaware of Midori, unsure of their gender—that’s the normal reaction in this world now. But when asked about Kurusu before, Minamoto responded as if she knew Kurusu was female.

Unable to meet his gaze, she looks down. Normally, she’d tilt her head at his outlandish, manga-like talk and poke fun, but she doesn’t.

Masato continues.

“This power to erase people has conditions. Wiping out all humanity requires no thought. But erasing a specific person needs at least some knowledge of them. My childhood friend, Midori Ibutsu, has been a shut-in for ages. Since then, she’s met no one but me. So I thought the one with this power was someone who knew her from before.”

He watches her. Her awkward, downcast face lifts.

“…Go on.”

Her eyes, once uneasy, now hold a tense resolve, as if bracing for something big.

Masato presses on.

“Then I realized—‘knowing’ doesn’t mean meeting or seeing them in person. You can know someone without that.”

Knowing someone without being friends or seeing them in town seems contradictory, but it’s possible under certain conditions.

“If you saw them through some medium, that’s enough. Like… a photo on a phone.”

Minamoto has no connection to Midori, past or present. A shut-in Midori doesn’t go out, so random encounters are impossible. They might’ve crossed paths before, but that’s too vague for Masato to suspect her this strongly.

He has clear evidence she knew Midori.

“You saw her face in a phone photo once. I didn’t say her name, but you recognized her as ‘Akatsuchi Masato’s childhood friend.’ You knew Midori.”

It was in class, organizing data to free up storage. Minamoto saw a photo of Midori with an amusement park mascot, flashing a peace sign.

“No need to talk about Kurusu—she’s our classmate. So, factually, you knew both Midori and Kurusu, and somehow remembered Kurusu’s gender when you shouldn’t have.”

Looking straight into her eyes—

“Honestly, it’s flimsy evidence. If I misremembered you calling Kurusu a girl, I’d rather be wrong.”

“…”

“Minamoto, one more time. Is this really ‘something you don’t get’?”

She doesn’t answer immediately, staring at the table in silence.

Then—

“Here’s your hot coffee and iced café latte.”

The master’s wife brings their drinks.

“T-Thanks.”

Minamoto flashes her usual smile, thanking her. But once the wife leaves, it fades. She closes her eyes slowly, not touching the straw or her drink.

With a small “phew,” she opens her eyes, her face a mix of resignation and resolve.

“…I know exactly what you’re talking about.”

It’s her official admission—she’s the ‘Bug Holder.’

Masato was right. Minamoto is the ‘Bug Holder.’

“My reasoning’s full of holes. You could’ve played dumb. Honestly, it’s such a long shot that if you lied more, I couldn’t push further.”

“What? Should I have played dumb?”

“No, I didn’t mean… Just surprised you admitted it so readily.”

“I didn’t want to lie to you anymore.”

“Minamoto…”

“…A while back, after school, lying around in my room, I suddenly awoke to this superpower-like thing. Or more like, it hit me.”

She interprets the bug as a superpower.

“Hit you…?”

“Yeah. The fact that I could ‘erase someone’s existence without causing them pain’ just popped into my head, along with how to use it and what would happen.”

“It just… comes to you?”

He didn’t notice his own bug until Ms. Kamina pointed it out. Maybe bugs work differently.

“You’ve got this power too? You seem to know a lot.”

“Something like that. Mine makes me immune to such powers… does that make sense?”

“Got it… So that’s why you remembered Kurusu-san and your childhood friend. Wait, but if it’s a different power, how’d you know the conditions for erasing someone?”

Masato hesitates. Should he mention Ms. Kamina or the world’s nature? How does he explain how he learned this?

(She didn’t say not to tell anyone…)

But knowing her, she might later claim she forgot to mention it. So, he keeps it vague.

“…My power lets me know that stuff.”

That’s his story.

“Wow… Never thought another superpowered person would be so close.”

“Look, can you bring back the two you erased?”

This is the crux. Before using ‘Fix-it Mika-chan’ to patch her, he needs her to undo the erasures.

“Sure, okay.”

“What, really?”

Not only does she not refuse, she agrees without hesitation, catching him off guard.

“What’s with that surprised face? Thought I’d be stubborn?”

“N-No, it’s just… you agreed so easily…”

“I was planning to bring them back eventually anyway.”

But she adds, “But…”

“…I have one request.”

“A request?”

“It’s no big deal. Even if you say no, I’ll still bring them back. It’s just a request.”

“…Alright, let’s hear it.”

“I want you to ‘reject’ me.”

Masato struggles to parse “reject.” A metaphor? Some trendy slang among high school girls?

As he ponders, Minamoto asks:

“Why do you think I erased them?”

“Huh?”

The sudden question shifts his focus from “reject” to her motives. He can tell they’re connected.

Why she erased them—he’s been dying to know. He couldn’t guess, knowing she’s not a bad person.

It doesn’t seem like a prank.

“Why… did you?”

She starts, quietly.

“To put it simply… I was really jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“You call me a ‘friend,’ and I’m happy, but I wasn’t satisfied with just that. I wanted more.”

“‘More’…?”

If he’s not mistaken—

“You…”

He’s not so dense as to miss her meaning now. He often needs things spelled out, but this is clear.

“That’s right. I… like you, Akatsuchi-kun.”

She puts his “what if” into words.

“Not as a friend, but as a guy. I didn’t plan to say this now, but…”

Her unexpected confession leaves him speechless—not from indecision, but because he can’t process that someone he saw as a friend viewed him romantically.

“Before, I saw you get confessed to by Kurusu-san.”

“What…?”

She saw that rooftop confession.

“From behind the door, just a crack. After practice, I went back to the classroom for something I forgot. I saw you two heading up the stairs… I got curious and followed. Kurusu-san had this super determined look, and I thought, ‘No way.’ Female intuition, I guess.”

“…And it was ‘no way.’”

“You put her on hold, but I was freaking out.”

“Did you already have the power then?”

“Hadn’t used it yet. Didn’t have anyone I wanted to use it on. But then, I did. I was scared you’d be taken, so I panicked. I wanted to erase the confession entirely.”

“Minamoto…”

“Then the next day, at the cafeteria, you brought it up. You didn’t name her, but I thought it was Kurusu-san. I wasn’t supposed to remember, so I panicked.”

“Why not undo it then? You knew the power didn’t work fully, right?”

“I thought… maybe it just hadn’t kicked in yet. I erased Kurusu-san right away, but it takes time for memories to fade from others. So I held off on bringing her back.”

“But I told you I was gonna reject her. Wasn’t that enough to stop using the power?”

“Even if you said that, you might change your mind. I couldn’t relax.”

Her cheeks flush as she speaks. The shift from her usual friend vibe makes Masato see her as a woman, not just a friend.

“At least, I wanted to confess and get your answer before bringing her back.”

“…When were you gonna confess?”

“…”

She hadn’t decided. Probably lacked the courage and kept delaying. This messy situation forced her to speak up.

“That power doesn’t hurt the person or make others sad since they forget they existed. But if you do nothing, they stay gone.”

“…Yeah.”

“It’s selfish and unfair.”

“Yeah…”

Minamoto nods, looking down painfully at his fair but harsh words. She knows it’s true and doesn’t argue.

“…I erased them to escape my jealousy and weakness.”

“That’s why I don’t get it. Kurusu, I understand, but why Midori too?”

“You really don’t see it…”

“See what?”

With a small sigh tinged with exasperation, Minamoto continues.

“As I said, I was jealous. I hated that your heart was with other girls.”

“But Midori’s my childhood friend. I told you she’s not my girlfriend.”

“…The most oblivious one is you.”

“Oblivious…?”

Confused, Masato tilts his head. She gives a self-deprecating smile.

“…Is this my punishment?”

“The way you looked at that girl in the photo—it was the look of someone in love.”

“…Huh? Me? With Midori?”

“You’re so dense about your own feelings…”

Why do Minamoto, Ms. Kamina, and Ootomo all say this?

“I knew from that look—I had no chance. But if she never existed, I’d still have a shot. Like with Kurusu-san, I thought I’d make her gone temporarily, at least until I confessed and got your answer.”

“W-Wait. Midori’s my childhood friend, like I said…”

“Just that? You really don’t feel anything more for her?”

“Tch… that’s…”

He can’t immediately say “no.” The words are there, but something stops him from saying them, like he doesn’t believe it himself.

He thought he brushed off Ms. Kamina, Ootomo, and Minamoto’s comments, but he hadn’t.

“As a girl, as a romantic interest—never saw her that way? Why are you so desperate to catch me? More for Midori than Kurusu, right?”

“I…”

“You love her, don’t you? That childhood friend.”

“No, but… she’s…”

His childhood friend. That’s how he’s always seen her. Someone to protect, like a sister, especially after failing to notice her bullying.

“What if she’s all lovey-dovey with another guy?”

“Huh?”

“She’s a shut-in now, sure… but that might not last. Something could pull her back to society, and she might meet a guy you don’t know and fall in love.”

“That’s…”

He’s never imagined Midori with someone else. Could it happen? He can’t deny it’s possible. And as just a childhood friend, he has no right to stop it.

A nauseating unease stirs deep inside.

(Her… with another guy?)

Can he allow that? Or rather, doesn’t he not want to?

“Imagine it. She gives her heart and body to some guy you don’t know, not thinking of you at all. You’re just a ‘childhood friend’ from her past.”

That’s right. Their childhood friend bond is just that—time spent together, nothing more.

A bond that flimsy could be overwritten by something deeper.

Can he let that happen?

Let Midori be with someone else?

“She’s head over heels for this guy, wanting to be his entirely.”

No—he doesn’t want her to belong to someone like that.

He feels it strongly.

“Her past with you? It’s nothing compared to her love for him. She’ll be completely his.”

He can’t forgive that.

“And she’ll show that guy a side of her you’ve never seen—”

“…Stop it.”

Before he realizes, he cuts her off sharply.

“…Finally get it?”

Snapping back to calm, Masato covers his eyes. He was fiercely jealous of an imaginary rival for Midori.

“Yeah…”

He finally sees it.

“…That’s probably the first time I’ve felt jealousy this strong.”

The truth—that he’s in love with Midori.

The desire to keep her as his alone has been swirling deep in his heart.