We returned from the school trip with a shared silence that could only be described as…
traumatically peaceful.
Like we had all survived a disaster but no one wanted to be the first to mention the towels.
Or the steam.
Or the time Kokoro tried to jump off the narrative itself and sleep on the roof.
I stepped into the apartment.
Aya was already inside.
She looked up from her phone, gave me a once-over, then nodded.
"So. How many mental breakdowns did you pack?"
"Three. Used all of them."
"Good job."She stood, walked over, and gently patted my head.
Like a proud cat owner.
"I heard there was a... 'situation.'"
"You know there was a situation."
"And yet you're still alive."
"Physically."
We sat down for tea.
Normal. Safe.
Until Aya said:
"Did Kokoro really try to reject her own route?"
"Yes. She called herself 'DLC.'"
Aya sipped her tea. "I like her."
"She said she wants to transfer to a slice-of-life manga."
"Honestly? Same."
That night, I tried to sleep.
Tried.
But when I closed my eyes, the memories flooded in:
Natsuki-sensei saying "You're maturing."
Aya humming in the hot spring like she was the boss of the final route.
Kokoro holding up a towel like it was a shield against plot progression.
I opened my eyes again.
"No thoughts," I whispered to myself. "Just dreams. No flags. No events."
The lights flickered.
The next day at school, I got there early.
Kokoro was already at her desk, sketching something.
I leaned closer.
It was a flowchart.
"Kazuki's Possible Romantic Death Routes."
I stared.
She didn't look up.
"I added a new path. 'Death by Nosebleed in a Library Closet.'"
"...Why is that even a location?!"
"Don't ask questions you don't want answers to."
During lunch, Natsuki-sensei sat beside me.
Which was unusual.
Mainly because teachers don't usually sit next to students with a lunchbox labeled "emotional time bomb."
She leaned in and said, "So, Kazuki… I'm planning a summer camp."
I dropped my chopsticks.
"No."
"It'll be educational."
"No."
"There will be tents."
"NO."
She chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes."
I turned to Aya across the room and mouthed:HELP ME.
She waved back and mouthed:YOU DESERVE THIS.
Kokoro pulled me aside after class.
She looked… serious.
Which was unsettling. Like seeing a cat walk upright.
"I need to talk to you about boundaries," she said.
"Oh no."
"Not mine. Yours."
"Oh no."
"I'm starting to think the curse responds to denial. Not desire."
"What does that mean?!"
"It means when you refuse to acknowledge your own feelings, the world fills in the gaps."
"That's not science, Kokoro. That's gaslighting!"
She pointed at me like a lawyer mid-trial.
"Name one person who hasn't flirted with you in the last seven days."
I opened my mouth.
Paused.
"…You."
"I said flirted, not threatened to bite."
Later that night, I found Aya sitting on the balcony, sipping something suspiciously pink.
"Is this poison?" I asked.
She smiled. "Only if you have a weak heart."
"…Great."
She offered me a drink.
I took a sip.
Strawberry milk.
She looked at me for a long moment.
"You're really bad at noticing when people like you."
"I know. That's why everything keeps becoming real!"
She tilted her head, hair swaying slightly in the evening breeze.
"Do you want to date someone, Kazuki?"
"I want a nap."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only safe answer."
We sat in silence again.
The breeze felt calm.
For once, no one was teasing me, confessing, or tripping into my lap.
Just a quiet moment with a girl who knew too much, smiled too often, and never let me lie to myself for long.
She looked up at the stars.
"Eventually, you'll have to choose, you know."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because the moment I do, the curse will go full power."
She nodded slowly.
Then whispered, "And if someone chooses you first?"
My heart did a small, terrified backflip.
But I didn't answer.
Because I didn't have one.
Just a curse.
And a brain that wouldn't stop writing scenes before they happened.