Shichen ran to the vicinity of the station, looking around, constantly turning, but he just couldn't see the familiar figure he had glimpsed at the family restaurant.
With his eyesight, it was impossible for him to be mistaken; he would never mistake that figure.
That red and gray uniform, resembling a high school girl's, and that platinum-blonde short hair, finally made him remember why there were two Tokyo Towers in this world.
He hadn't expected them to exist in this world!
So, where was she?
Was she on a mission?
Did he just miss her?
Shichen couldn't help but feel a sense of emptiness in his heart, not knowing when he would meet her again.
But just then, a mechanical voice sounded in his mind.
[Target for divinity fragment detected!]
[Identical divinity fragment detected!]
[Target person—Chisato Nishikigi!]
[Divinity fragment can be obtained from the target at any time (currently unavailable)]
The prompts from that thing in his mind seemed to contain a lot of astonishing information, but Shichen couldn't concern himself with them now; he turned around and looked behind him.
At some point, a beautiful girl was standing gracefully behind him.
She had a pair of bright red eyes, white-blond short hair, a small tuft of hair on the left side of her head tied with a red ribbon, revealing her delicate left ear, and bangs that reached just above her eyes.
Her attire was what Shichen had just glimpsed: a red and gray dress resembling a JK uniform, with the hem falling to her knees, a blue ribbon bow tied at the collar, black mid-calf socks on her calves, and brown round-toed leather shoes on her feet.
She was smiling, a sweet and brilliant smile, full of sunshine, but what puzzled Shichen was that she was staring at him, with unconcealed surprise in her eyes and her small mouth slightly agape.
It was as if...she knew him.
Shouldn't it be the other way around?
This was something Shichen didn't know how to react to; his expression was completely taken over by the other party.
"Um..."
"Is it my benefactor?"
As soon as Shichen spoke, he was interrupted by the girl in front of him, who murmured the question.
"Benefactor?" Shichen frowned, confused.
"It must be my benefactor! I wouldn't mistake you!" The girl excitedly moved closer to Shichen, looking him up and down, as if to imprint him in her heart.
Looking directly at the girl's face, Shichen found her even cuter, but this was not the time to dwell on that.
"Are you mistaken?"
"You're Brother Shichen, right?" The girl asked directly.
"...How do you know my name?" Shichen was even more bewildered.
"It really is Brother Shichen!" The girl unhesitatingly opened her arms and hugged Shichen, pressing her small face against his chest, and excitedly said, "I'm Chisato! Did Brother Shichen forget? You were the one who saved me back then!"
Shichen naturally knew who she was: Chisato Nishikigi, from the Lycoris Recoil world.
The first glance at her reminded Shichen of her, and also of the background with the two Tokyo Towers in this world.
After all, the old Tokyo Tower was caused by the girl in front of him.
However, Chisato Nishikigi's understanding was definitely different from his; in her words, it seemed they had met before?
But he had only recently arrived in this world, barely half a month, so how could he have met her?
Let alone be her benefactor.
Unless, he had traveled through time.
Based on what Chisato Nishikigi said, it wasn't hard for him to guess what he might do in the future.
But how did he do it?
Did he gain the ability to travel through time?
However, now was not the time to think about this.
"Wait a moment." Shichen grabbed Chisato Nishikigi's shoulders and pushed her away.
"Shichen... Brother?" Chisato Nishikigi looked at him in confusion.
Shichen looked into Chisato Nishikigi's red eyes and explained earnestly, "First, I might be a little different from the me you know."
"?" Chisato Nishikigi tilted her head in confusion.
"...How should I put it, you might not believe it if I say it, but the current me is not your savior yet."
"Isn't Brother Shichen just Brother Shichen? You haven't changed at all," Chisato Nishikigi said.
"You're not wrong, but I haven't saved you yet; that's the future me," Shichen patiently explained.
He had already confirmed that his future self had indeed traveled through time, but from Chisato Nishikigi's reaction, she probably didn't know that his future self had traveled through time to save her.
Shichen didn't want to enjoy Chisato Nishikigi's favor by leveraging his future self's actions.
After all, he himself hadn't experienced it yet.
At the very least, he needed to experience it himself; he was even jealous of his own future self.
"I don't understand," Chisato Nishikigi shook her head.
"It's a very simple principle: when did I save you?"
"Ten years ago!" Chisato Nishikigi replied with a bright smile.
"Ten years ago, huh... Do you think I'm any different now?"
"Brother Shichen hasn't changed at all!"
"Exactly, isn't that strange? Ten years have passed, so why haven't I changed at all?" Shichen retorted.
"Eh? Now that Brother Shichen mentions it..." Chisato Nishikigi finally realized.
"Is it because Brother Shichen is too handsome? I heard that very good-looking people generally don't change much."
"...Thank you for the compliment, but it's clearly not because of that."
"Is that so? But it doesn't matter, Brother Shichen is Brother Shichen after all, I finally found you!" Chisato Nishikigi didn't care and was about to throw herself into his arms.
Shichen firmly held her shoulders: "Listen to me first."
"Oh." Chisato Nishikigi smiled.
Shichen honestly confessed, "You might not believe me, but perhaps my future self traveled through time to save you."
"Time travel?" Chisato Nishikigi blinked.
"You probably don't believe me..."
"No, I do believe you~"
"...Don't believe me so blindly."
"I truly believe Brother Shichen, because Brother Shichen isn't an ordinary person at all."
"?"
This time it was Shichen's turn to be confused: "How so?"
"Hehe~ When Brother Shichen saved me ten years ago, you were riding a dark blue giant beast; that's clearly not ordinary, right?" Chisato Nishikigi asked with a smile.
"A dark blue giant beast?" Shichen frowned, for a moment, he really didn't know what Chisato Nishikigi was talking about.
"Yes, standing on four legs, majestic and imposing."
"What other characteristics did it have?" Shichen asked.
"Hmm... I forgot, I only remembered Brother Shichen at the time."
"..."
Shichen found that Chisato Nishikigi seemed to be a bit of a flirt.
"Anyway, it's really great to see Brother Shichen! I've been looking for you for ten whole years!"
Chisato Nishikigi was about to throw herself into Shichen's arms again; this time he didn't stop her.
"Ten years?" He gently patted her back.
"Yes, I even went to China to look for you, but I couldn't find you at all."
"Silly girl, that place is so big, how could you find me?"
"Who told Brother Shichen to just leave without taking me with you!"
"Since you believe I traveled through time, then you should understand that I definitely couldn't take you, right?"
"I don't care! It's all Brother Shichen's fault!" Chisato Nishikigi rubbed against Shichen's chest, shaking her head discontentedly, "Now that I've finally found you, you're not allowed to abandon me again!"
"Do you want to come with me?" Shichen asked, his heart stirred.
"Of course, I've been looking for you for ten years!"
"Just because I saved you?"
"Isn't that enough? Brother Shichen saved me from my heart disease; Brother Shichen is like my parent who gave me a second life."
"Is your heart disease no longer an issue?" Shichen noticed the key point and asked excitedly.
Under normal circumstances, Chisato Nishikigi at this time should have an artificial heart installed, and due to technical issues, it couldn't be used long-term.
If her heart disease was truly cured, then there would be no need to worry about her health issues anymore.
As expected of my future self!
"Mhm! It's all thanks to Brother Shichen." Chisato Nishikigi smiled and nodded.
"That's great!" Shichen laughed happily.
"Hehe~ Brother Shichen is indeed gentle; I want to be with Brother Shichen!" Chisato Nishikigi smiled even more brightly.
"What about your situation at DA, then?"
DA stands for Direct Attack, the independent public safety organization in this world, which has immense privileges, including permission to kill, but its members are a group of young boys and girls.
"I left DA a long time ago," Chisato Nishikigi said proudly, looking up.
"You left?"
"Didn't Brother Shichen tell me to live the life I wanted? I didn't want to stay at DA anymore."
"So you've been looking for me all this time?"
"It was so hard to find you," Chisato Nishikigi puffed out her cheeks.
"I see..." Shichen looked at her with emotion, "It must have been very difficult, right? A lot of inconveniences?"
"It wasn't hard; finding Brother Shichen is enough, and DA helped me a lot, though they occasionally ask for my help," Chisato Nishikigi pouted annoyingly.
Shichen reached out and ruffled her hair: "In that case, from now on, come with me."
"Mhm!"