Chapter 74
“…….”
After leaving Mari’s house, I walked Emu and Saika home, then on my way home.
I leaned against a telephone pole while holding my head… This was not because I suddenly became ill, but simply because of a scene that came to my mind after the experience of having myself hypnotised.
“… shit.”
The uncertainty of the scene, not knowing when or where in the world it took place, is enough to make one shudder.
It was me in front of Emu and Saika, who looked despairing in the pitch-black room, and the two of them who were so terrified that they couldn’t even speak with tears streaming down their faces.
I even felt sick myself at the sight of me looking down at the two of them in a filthy way.
“I’m pretty sure I saw that with Mari too… what are you trying to tell me?”
I picked up my phone and looked at the screen.
When I started the hypnosis app, nothing had changed as before… no, if I had to say that it had changed, there was one change on the screen with that name on it.
The pink lines that were connected to my name, Mari, Emu and Saika’s names were engraved on the end of them.
“So this was Mari and the others after all. Then the other four…”
Two of them were almost certainly Aika and Fiana?
And speaking of getting close and having a physical relationship, Konoe-san would also come into the picture… but I’m not sure about the other one.
Then, although I was staring at the screen of my phone, I decided it was time to stop doing this and I started walking away.
“It’s not even five o’clock yet… maybe I’ll go and look at some manga for a bit.”
I headed for the bookshop with the light-hearted feeling that it was okay if I was a little late, since my family would basically never say anything to me if I went home after six o’clock.
When I came to the bookstore and saw the new series of mecha novels, I thought it would be good to invite Fiana to come with me. but then I could see Aika sulking and saying that she didn’t want to be left out of the group.
Recently, Aika has been getting into the two-dimensional swamp as if caught by Fiana, but I’m a little worried that she won’t be too influenced by it.
“…oh.”
As I was looking at the new book while thinking about what was going on, I saw that a new book had been released, which was supposed to have stopped being serialised for a long time.
I almost missed it because I hadn’t seen it in so long, but I firmly picked up the book and headed for the cashier.
“It was a close call if I hadn’t looked carefully. If it wasn’t me, we would have missed it, I’m sure.”
Chuckling at what I was saying to myself, I left the bookshop with my shopping bag in hand.
I was heading straight for home, but as the surroundings grew a little darker, I was also reminded of that mysterious scene.
“—”
I was alone, so I didn’t say anything, but even though I didn’t understand it, it was still a unforgettable image, which made me feel depressed a little bit.
Rescuing me like that… no, it was the bo*bs that pulled me out of the darkness.
“Little brother~!”
“?”
A soft plump feeling from behind my back! And even though I was surprised by the two arms turning from my neck, I was still focused on that softness.
I was surprised to be suddenly hugged, but from the sound of her voice and the feel of her breasts, I immediately understood who it was.
“Matsufusa-san?”
“Fufu❤Hello little brother❤”
It was Matsufusa-san.
It’s true that I’m still in the city, so it’s not strange to meet someone I know elsewhere, but I didn’t expect to meet Matsufusa-san like this today.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nah, I saw your brother’s back. Since I saw you, I thought I’d call out to you.”
“Ah… I see.”
The body is pressed even more strongly against me, and I can directly feel Matsufusa-san’s breasts distorting into a great shape.
Besides, there was a good fragrance, and I was tempted to reach for my phone, but I was relieved there because I would never use hypnosis on Matsufusa-san.
(It’s awesome, even if I wanted to use it impulsively, it wouldn’t be accompanied by action.)
Even if I wanted to reach out, that’s as far as I would go… my hand still wouldn’t move.
However… being hugged by Matsubou-san in this way is something… it makes me wonder what’s going on a bit.
I was able to get to know her even better through my sister, but it shouldn’t have been enough for her to go this far.
“…Hm?”
But there was one thing I realized there.
I realized that, like Mari and the others, I myself had also realized that hypnosis apps gradually became more and more tolerable according to the number of times it were used.
Of course, there is a possibility that this thought is wrong, but I think it’s as close as I can get… in other words.
If my thinking is correct, then Matsufusa-san must have developed a tolerance to the hypnosis app if that b*st@rd has used it a fair number of times, right?
“What’s wrong?”
“…no.”
Then I thought that the power that erased that memory was also due to the hypnosis app, so it wouldn’t work, but Matsufusa-san actually forgot about her brother… am I thinking too much?
When I think about Matsufusa-san in that state, I think that if she remembered, that could break her heart again, so it seems I’m really thinking too much, because looking at her now, she just looks the same as usual.
“Are you leaving already, little brother? Would you like to have a little chat with me?”
“That’s totally fine. It’s difficult to stay up too late though.”
So I spend some more time with Matsufusa-san.
I don’t think I have anything to say to her, but I realize that I was way too naive and right on the money earlier.
We were sitting on an empty bench, drinking a glass of ice-cold juice that she bought me, when Matsufusa-san threw an oversized bomb at me.
“Actually, you know what? I thought I’d use the pretext of meeting with Miyako this weekend to talk to you.”
“With me?”
“Yeah. Once again, Kai, thank you for saving me.”
“—”
…What?
I seem to have been dumbfounded so much that I almost dropped the juice in my hand.
What is Matsufusa-san saying? What are you trying to tell me? What do you remember, I clearly felt my heart beating faster.
It’s a surprise when it’s so sudden. Matsufusa-san said, smiling and putting her hands on both my cheeks.
“I remembered… the other day… that I have a brother, what he did to me, all of it, I remembered.”
“?!!!”
My heart beat even harder.
It was so painful that my heart was beating so strongly that I was afraid that even Matsufusa-san might hear it.
Hey buddy, didn’t Matsufusa-san completely lose her memory?
I feel like asking him that, but I know it doesn’t make sense, and if anything, I was imagining that maybe, this is what I was imagining.
“—”
I can’t find the words to say back in response to Matsufusa-san.
Not only that I’m panicking, but also that I remembered that tragedy, which means she must know that I have the same hypnosis app as that b*st@rd… I wait for Matsufusa-san’s words, a little afraid.
“I’m sorry it’s so sudden, okay? That thing is a past I want to forget, a memory I don’t want to remember again if I can help it… but I’m strangely calm about it, and it’s not that I don’t think about it, but I feel like it’s not worth worrying about.”
“… really?”
Matsubou-san nodded.
I thought that it was the strength of her heart that allowed her to overcome such an event by saying that it couldn’t be helped, but as for me, I can still see the expression on her face as if her tears had withered away in my mind.
Even if it was over and resolved, there was no way she could stay normal after being subjected to something like that.
Did she find something that made it seem like she couldn’t care less about it?
(… No way.)
I gasped there, but Matsufusa-san continued her words.
“I see it in my dreams and even when I’m awake, I remember that fear unexpectedly. But I still hear a voice that overcomes that fear. Someone always appears in my mind who holds me and reassures me that it’s okay – guess who it is?”
“—”
Smiling, Matsubou-san kissed my cheek.
“It’s you, little brother.”
“… me.”
Matsufusa-san must surely understand that I’m not thinking straight.
She stroked my head with a good-natured smile, told me not to be sorry again, and gently hugged me to her large bosom.
I feel something like the receptive power of an older person, different from Konoe-san, and my noisy heart suddenly calms down.
“I always feel calm when I hear your voice and feel like I’m being hugged by you. The more I think about you, the more I feel like I don’t have to worry about my brother and the events connected to him.”
“…it’s…”
Isn’t that called dependence…?
It seems that Matsufusa-san could hear my feelings like that, and she laughed aloud with a giggle… but she really seemed to be enjoying it.
“I know I’m dependent in a way, and I know I’m in a dangerous state in a way. I don’t go as far as being crazy, but I understand myself that it’s not normal. But I’m okay with that. That’s how large you’ve grown inside me.”
“Matsufusa-san…”
“I know that you have the same power as him, but I know that you are different… you saved me. The kindness I felt when you hugged me that time was not a lie, and your character is engraved in my heart… on that basis I trust you and I have fallen in love with you.”
Saying this, Matsufusa smiled.
In the end, we parted ways there because it was late that day… but I felt like I had one more problem to worry about.
But… at the same time, when Matsufusa-san thanked me for helping her and told me that I was different, those words brought about a change.
“…don’t you have that sick feeling?”
The discomfort I had felt before meeting Matsufusa-san, as if I had seen myself in a different world, had disappeared.
The reason for that was probably because… she thanked me for saving her.
Only because I had the feeling that I had never made her unhappy, but that I could save her.
“That’s right. I’m me… there is no way in hell I would make those girls cry like that”
It’s no use worrying about the man who made Mari, Emu and Saika cry like that.
If I wanted to worry about such things, I would rather think about the future, about the happy days I will spend with these girls.
As I said before, meeting Matsufusa-San this time has given me more worries, but I thought that one day I would have to thank her for making me realize what is important.