189 – Collapse – 4

Originally, Gi-jun had no intention of letting his party members know that the past month had repeated itself.

Because of his clumsy acting, Laura and Tilla had immediately realized that something they did not know about had occurred, but if they were to find out that their memories of the past month had completely vanished, they would receive a shock incomparable to that.

Of course, that was not the only reason he had tried to keep the truth from them; there was another reason, which was to deceive Kurenai’s eyes.

If not only Gi-jun but also the party members learned that ‘the month was repeating,’ wouldn’t the probability of them acting differently than before naturally increase?

And if Kurenai realized that, they would no longer have the time to slowly formulate a countermeasure like they did now.

‘So I was planning to gloss it over reasonably…’

Because Laura and Tilla, who noticed that he was trying to hide the truth, brought an extraordinary measure that very night, his resolution did not last even a single day.

If one were to ask what that extraordinary measure was, it was a bedtime raid carried out by breaking through Lucy’s strict guard.

What they did was identical to a month ago, bringing out a dry laugh, but the fact that they had succeeded this time showed that their determination was extraordinary.

So what could he do? He had no choice but to tell them the truth as they wished.

…Though, perhaps the two of them had hoped for something else.

“To think we already spent a month here…”

“Can you tell me what I did here, Jun? Slowly, all of it.”

“I get it, so will both of you get out of my blanket first?”

In exchange for telling the truth, Gi-jun barely succeeded in keeping his loyalty to Biche.

…Would Biche ever appreciate his mental suffering? No, even if he told her, she would get extremely embarrassed and try to hit him.

“Ha, this relaxed attitude Jun is showing… could it be that during the month I forgot, we already established an intimate relationship…?!”

“We didn’t, so get out. Nothing happened inside this blanket!”

“But Jun, you dressed me in this shrine maiden outfit before too, didn’t you?”

“Though you were the one who put it on by yourself both times.”

Even after he honestly confessed everything, no major problem arose.

Since Laura and Tilla were quick-witted and clever, and thanks to the fact that Kurenai did not pay much attention to them in the first place, they did not show any noticeable difference from before.

The problem was Eun-shin.

More precisely, it was Eun-shin and Renka.

“It didn’t go like that originally? Really?”

“Yeah.”

One afternoon, a week after time was rewound.

Watching Eun-shin and Renka forming strange hand signs—seemingly hand gestures to control shikigami—together in the backyard of the lodging, Gi-jun nodded with a lukewarm expression in response to Tilla’s question.

For reference, Tilla was still wearing the shrine maiden outfit.

“Before, Shin-i was definitely chasing after the shrine maidens first.”

“But… as long as there is no special reason, there is no way something would change so drastically. Could it be that this girl, Renka, remembers what happened in the past?”

Tilla said, tilting her head.

Gi-jun slightly turned his head away, avoiding her gaze.

Actually, there was a special reason.

Because Gi-jun had first introduced Renka to Eun-shin, a cool guy who did not eat a woman up even if she got close.

Just because the order had changed slightly, Eun-shin and Renka had gotten close so rapidly, and Gi-jun was now deeply realizing what the butterfly effect was.

—It’s not a butterfly effect or anything. You just set them up on a blind date. So it’s just at the level of achieving the greatest accomplishment of one’s life, where the woman asks for a second date first, and then going to Everytime to anonymously pretend it’s not a brag and uglily gloat.

‘Why do you know that in such detail, Lucy? And that is too trivial for the greatest accomplishment of one’s life. Shin-i wouldn’t do such a thing… such a thing…’

Perhaps he might.

Since his ability was what it was, he would have a desire to be recognized in return.

—Originally, as a spirit becomes more deeply connected with their contractor, they share even past memories. For example, I even know how the contractor was dragged to a department group date, tried his best to blend in, and somehow ended up going to the second and third rounds and having a blast, only to find out that the contractor’s classmates had been wiped out in the first round, making the atmosphere among his friends extremely awkward after that?

‘…Sigh, those friends are probably married, having kids, and living well by now.’

—I also like the contractor who changes the subject so obviously!

Unlike Gi-jun’s college classmates, who had been truly tactless and unpopular, Eun-shin charmed Renka very smoothly.

No, just as Lucy had said, it was at the level where Renka had fallen for Eun-shin first and was actively making moves.

Just what kind of meaning did she attribute to being introduced first to make her change so actively…!

…More than that, if it became like this, wasn’t there no point in having insisted on hiding the truth from the party members in the first place?

—The contractor seems to think thoroughly, yet makes silly mistakes… Of course, I like that side of you because it is cute too!

‘Adding that I’m cute doesn’t comfort me, Lucy. Though it is true it was my mistake.’

In the first place, at the moment he had asked Renka about Sakura, he should have guessed that something would go awry.

While trying to gloss it over to cover it up, he had ended up linking Renka and Eun-shin, so it was like pulling a stone from the bottom to support the top.

But fortunately, others besides them, that is, people who had virtually no contact with the Lumen party, did not behave in the exact same way as a month ago.

Since Kurenai herself had approached Gi-jun in a different way in the first place, even if they showed a slightly different appearance from a month ago, there was no reason to be heavily suspected.

As long as they did not suspect Kurenai first or attack her, that was.

“Still, isn’t that too fast?”

“What does it matter? It looks nice.”

Under the pretext of teaching shikigami arts to Eun-shin, Renka would touch his hand for no reason and then shrink back in surprise at herself, and Eun-shin, though bewildered by her approach, did not seem to dislike it either, while Tilla wore a pleased smile at their sight.

It was a classic scene of youth, to the point of making Gi-jun, who was watching, feel uncomfortable.

Now, all that was left was for Renka to find out that Eun-shin had a crush on Ji-hye, causing conflict between them, but then Eun-shin would rescue Renka when she got into danger after doing something foolish with that incomprehensible sensibility unique to adolescence, and in the process, he would realize his true feelings and cross the finish line to make it perfect.

—No, contractor. There is no way it would go like that.

‘Actually, I think so too. If a couple could be formed that easily, Shin-i wouldn’t have had a crush for this long…’

Gi-jun seemed to look down on Eun-shin, but seeing that he himself cut a pathetic figure against Tilla and Laura, it was not that different—a fact he was not properly realizing himself.

“Did you tell Shin? That the month repeated.”

Tilla, one of the protagonists, spoke to Gi-jun again.

For reference, having gained useless confidence and aggressiveness from what happened this time, she was still trying to break into Gi-jun’s bedroom once every two days, but due to reasons such as team-killing with Laura, who had the same goal, or being stopped by Lucy, she was failing to achieve her goal.

“No, I thought it would be better for Shin to just stay the way he is.”

“I agree. That is better than him consciously doing something weird.”

“Yeah, that guy must have a headache just dealing with Renka right now anyway…”

Gi-jun sighed and stood up from his seat.

It was a disaster he had brought upon himself, but since there was nothing that could be done about it now, in the end, the only answer was for him to handle it well so as not to be suspected by Kurenai.

‘It is about time I give Kurenai an answer.’

—Yeah, how about subtly revealing that you have a holy relic while showing a more impatient side? Probably that woman will try to reinforce the power of that pomegranate or whatever it is with the contractor’s holy relic. Probably at that time, she will activate the holy relic in some way, right? Then, aiming for that moment, the contractor… hm?

Lucy, who was reviewing the plan, suddenly tilted her head.

—She seems to have peeked at the contractor just now.

‘Who, Renka?’

—Yeah… Gasp!

Lucy cried out with her eyes wide open, like a person witnessing the moment Dr. Jekyll transformed into Hyde.

—Could it be that she got close while pretending to be interested in that gloomy kid, but in fact, her intention was to find out about the contractor in detail and approach you…! I knew it, I thought it was strange for her to cling to a kid with no charm, but he was just bait!

‘Lucy, you should really apologize to Shin-i seriously later.’

—Even if it is the contractor’s request, I cannot do that. Because I am fundamentally strict with the former party members who made the contractor suffer in the past!

However, truly sadly for Gi-jun, whose precious younger brother was insulted, Lucy’s guess was, in a sense, correct.

On the night when it was agreed that he would ‘lend’ the holy relic, at the end of Gi-jun and Kurenai’s not-so-meticulous acting.

“Um… could we talk by any chance?”

Renka secretly came to find Gi-jun.

—See, I told you so! I told you the target would be the contractor from the beginning!

‘What are you talking about, Lucy? If that were the case, there is no way she would have brought Shin-i.’

Renka was with Eun-shin.

Looking at the girl who was holding onto one of Eun-shin’s hands tightly and peering around as if she were committing a dangerous transgression, Gi-jun wondered if it might be what he thought.

“…Do you have something you want to consult with me about in secret from others?”

“Ah?! As expected of the deity…!”

“No, that is enough calling me a deity.”

Gi-jun created a barrier by borrowing Lucy’s power.

Realizing that they could not be heard by anyone else no matter how loudly they shouted, Renka let out a sigh of relief.

Eun-shin, who was standing awkwardly with one hand caught by her, scratched the back of his head with his free hand and said,

“Hyung, I don’t know much about it, but she has been worrying and keeping an eye on you for days. She is really serious, so please listen and think it through before giving her an answer. I ask this of you.”

“First of all, I can see that you, Shin-i, are making a ridiculous misunderstanding.”

There was also one person here who had the same misunderstanding as Lucy.

Renka also realized what Eun-shin was saying, glared at him, and squeezed the hand holding him hard.

“Ack?! I’m cheering you on, so why…!”

“You idiot…!”

Although he had said it was like a scene of youth, there was really no need to reproduce even the dense protagonist of a youth manga.

As he was vaguely having such thoughts while watching Eun-shin, who truly knew nothing, and Renka, who was grumbling at him, Lucy sharply pointed out.

—By the way, that is not something the contractor is in a position to say.

‘That is why I didn’t say it out loud.’

Gi-jun blocked Lucy’s tackle at the source and let out a light sigh.

Only when it became a situation where Renka sought him out did things finally come to his mind.

The shrine maiden who had approached the group first.

The shrine maiden who stayed near the group the most.

The shrine maiden who had casually delivered information about this civilization composed of shrine maidens.

…And the shrine maiden who told them about the divinity of Kore that dominated this barrier.

No matter how innocent and kind the shrine maidens inside this barrier were, thinking about it coolly, wasn’t this excessive kindness that crossed the line?

So, he asked point-blank.

“Renka, you have memories from before time was rewound remaining, don’t you?”

“…!”

Renka’s breath hitched.

Gi-jun did not miss the feeling of ‘as expected’ that flashed across her face for an instant.

“Eh? What does that mean, Hyung?”

“Sorry, I’ll explain later.”

If he had known it would be like this, he would have told Shin-i too.

He felt sorry for having left him alone, thinking he was just playing house with Renka.

But right now, dealing with that shrine maiden came first.

“What is the reason you approached me so directly at this point?”

“Th-that’s.”

Renka, who was hesitating, squeezed her eyes shut and spoke.

“Even though time rewound this time, all of you survived…! So I wanted to confirm it somehow. And if possible… I wanted to ask you to break this barrier.”

Good.

Finally, the answer he wanted came out.

“Break the barrier? Is that what you want? In the first place, why is Kurenai maintaining this kind of barrier? If she just wanted to protect the civilization, there were other ways too, weren’t there?”

“There is no civilization.”

Renka replied, biting her lip.

“I told one lie to the deity. It was something that couldn’t be helped, even to deceive the other shrine maidens.”

“What is it?”

“Lady Kurenai is not the civilization representative.”

This time, it was Gi-jun’s turn for his breath to hitch.

“Our civilization… is actually already over. …If the barrier disappears, we will immediately become slaves.”

Gi-jun shut his eyes tight and opened them.

The moment all riddles were solved.

…He did not feel refreshed in the slightest.