I Really Don't Want a Girlfriend Anymore

Chapter 626: Choice and Hope

Kanade slowly raised her face. In her clear gaze shone confusion.

"Compensation? There's no need to do this..."

"Right, there's no need."

Yuu extended his hand toward her.

Whether due to lost memories or controlled by instinct.

Seeing that slightly upturned, somewhat confused cute face, even though he knew physical contact between men and women was improper, he still couldn't help but...

Flick his finger at her smooth forehead, brain flick.

*THWACK!*

The sound was very crisp and loud.

"...?"

Time seemed to stop at that moment.

Maintaining the position of her head thrown back from the flick, Kanade's eyes widened. She stared at him extremely confused, not reacting at all for a moment.

After several stunned moments, her pale palm slowly rose, touching the flicked spot.

Perhaps because her skin was too delicate, the area touched by his fingertip quickly began to redden. Pain accompanied by slight warmth spread.

It really hurt.

Although Yuu didn't use his full strength, it clearly wasn't the kind of forehead flick like intimate teasing between men and women. Kanade's entire head felt violently shaken, as if a shockwave passed through it...

(Did this person do this so hard because I don't care about him?)

(Even though I didn't do anything wrong...)

Her gaze gradually changed. Kanade bit her lip a bit sadly. Her palm pressed against her forehead, like a kitten drenched by rain. She didn't complain about anything. She just sat there with drooping ears, staring at him with teary eyes, looking as if she would cry at any moment.

Almost no one, as long as their conscience was made of flesh, could withstand such a pitiful gaze for more than three seconds—the past Yuu couldn't even last one second. As soon as Kanade's lips began to be bitten, he would immediately raise his hands in surrender.

Unfortunately, the him before Kanade was very different from before. Not only did he not feel a bit of pain in his conscience, he actually chuckled wickedly, waving his finger as if very satisfied.

Facing her gaze full of complaints, Yuu eliminated his expression and shrugged as if innocent, "Don't blame me. Honestly, we both have wanted to do this to you for a long time."

"...Both of you?" Unconsciously ignoring the pain on her forehead, Kanade blinked in surprise, "If so, Sora also..."

"Right, she also ordered me if Kanade dares to keep talking despairingly, give her a hard hit, I'm just doing it."

Yuu was slightly moved, "Although I'm reluctant to hurt a girl, but what can I do, my little sister's request is more important... So, just blame Sora. She's the mastermind behind all this."

(But you just said both of us...)

Kanade pursed her lips with a strange expression. She wasn't good at complaining, so she decided not to say anything.

Time could change many things. The cause and effect from hundreds of world lines entangling her seemed to also leave hard-to-erase traces on him in this world, following the long flow of time...

The proof was his face so thick words couldn't express it.

At least, all the Yuus Kanade had seen maintained the most basic sense of shame, not like now...

"Are you thinking something very rude?"

Yuu gazed at her while smiling, his tone very friendly.

"N-no..."

Kanade shook her head stiffly. Her hand dropped from her forehead that no longer hurt, twirling the silver hair at her cheek in confusion. She didn't dare look at him.

Although a sea of darkness surrounded them, and everything was silent and still, there was a relaxed atmosphere like drinking tea between them. The tension and regret of parting forever seemed to have never existed.

Yuu suddenly sighed.

"Good grief, don't act as if I'm bothering you..."

(That is the reality though...)

Kanade didn't dare speak, afraid of being flicked again.

"I just want to tell you, for Sora and me, you have value worth doing this for."

"Value worth getting a forehead flick?" After holding back for quite a while, Kanade still asked.

Yuu ruffled his hair while laughing, "No, but value worth acknowledging the efforts you once made, and always remembering that there was someone who worked hard for our future."

Under his hand, the girl raised her gaze in surprise.

"If not for you, all this wouldn't have happened."

"There wouldn't be someone who evolved from an ordinary ghost into a lonely wanderer reversing time, for a high school student who should have already died."

"There wouldn't be someone who gathered experience from hundreds of failures, just to change fate, welcoming a happy ending for someone."

"There wouldn't be someone willing to annihilate herself, just so a future with no visible hope could gain new possibilities."

Yuu stared straight into her eyes. His voice softened, gentler than the breeze passing by her temples.

"Thank you for giving me the chance to save my older brother. From a certain perspective, you are the savior of us both—these words, Sora really asked me to convey to you."

"..."

Kanade fell silent. She opened her mouth slightly as if wanting to say something, but because her thoughts were too chaotic and couldn't form words, she was silent.

After several moments, she bit her lip and gently shook her head, as if wanting to deny that heavy gratitude.

"I'm not..."

Yuu slowly raised his hand to Kanade's forehead, with his thumb pressing against his middle finger.

Kanade fell silent again. She just gazed at him with teary pale golden eyes, calm and sad.

Yuu didn't soften in the slightest. His gaze remained calm, as if there was a rational monster hidden behind his smiling eyes.

"Sorry, your words don't count."

"Because anyway, Sora doesn't want you to disappear at will, and I also have things I must be grateful to you for."

"But even so, to me you're just a stranger I just met."

"So..."

Sighing softly, Yuu straightened his back, gazing at her with a frank expression.

"If disappearing is the best choice according to you, I won't talk much."

"Thank you for accompanying me until now for my future—all I can do is say goodbye to you with this sentence."

"If there were enough time, you deserve to receive thanks like this three hundred times, Kanade."

Kanade froze in place. The light in her eyes trembled slightly, reflecting his shadow.

But soon, she threw her gaze to the side as if avoiding. The shadow behind her long hair hid her expression.

Yuu pursued relentlessly. He continued gazing at the dim eyes behind her long lashes, his expression more serious than before.

"Lastly, let's make a promise."

He suddenly said.

Kanade didn't look at him like before, only her pink fingertips placed on her lap moved slightly, giving a small reaction.

Yuu didn't miss this detail. Considering it agreement, he continued:

"Our journey hasn't ended. This trial has just begun... Sora also said, she doesn't know if my future has already changed. Even if the system problem is resolved, it's still unknown whether I can live past high school graduation in the real world."

Her ears suddenly moved. Kanade looked up somewhat anxiously, with an expression more firm than anyone's on her small face.

"Impossible! This time it will definitely—"

"If it can, why don't you stay to witness it?"

"Eh?"

Yuu's gaze was gentle. His fingers gently arranged the somewhat messy hair on her forehead, just as he had done countless times in the past.

"Stay to watch me complete this trial, and witness how I obtain happiness."

And he smiled, whispering, "Don't you think this is a better choice, Kanade?"

"Yuu..."

Although Kanade knew this gentleness didn't come from love, and might also be his acting. She still unconsciously grasped his hand. Familiar warmth surged to her throat, but accompanied by a strange bitterness that made her unable to speak for a moment.

"I..."

As she hesitated to speak, Yuu slowly pulled his hand from that soft palm, making her suddenly come to her senses, not sinking into the illusion he provided.

He continued, "Although the me you once met isn't the same as the me now, Tenkuji Yuu isn't the type of person who doesn't know gratitude."

"So, your wish, I will fulfill it."

"My wish?"

In the midst of Kanade's confused gaze, Yuu laughed narcissistically.

"Right, namely hoping I can live to a hundred years, and live a life happier than anyone else, right?"

Kanade was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but purse her lips while chuckling. Her eyes and eyebrows curved into crescents.

"Mm, that's right... Turns out you know such things."

Yuu shrugged innocently, "Who told Sora to give me so much information, until now I haven't finished digesting it."

Kanade nodded understandingly, "She showed you the records I left behind? No wonder you know many things..."

While they chatted, that mysterious power seemingly couldn't hold on anymore, letting the black wave truly surround the school building below.

The familiar academy had disappeared. Only that rooftop remained like a small island in the ocean, which would soon be swallowed by the pitch-black seawater.

Even so, the two people who gazed at each other again completely didn't care about the surging darkness around them. In their eyes there was only the faint smile on each other's lips.

Yuu asked, "So, will you promise with me?"

Kanade tilted her head slightly, "Not choosing to disappear, but choosing to stay, witnessing your happy future?"

"Right, a tempting offer, isn't it?"

Kanade thought for a moment, her expression gradually relaxing.

As if releasing a burden, the confusion and sadness that had shrouded her small face had somehow changed into a helpless smile curve, hanging gently at the corners of her lips.

She looked up with a delicate and perfect cute face. Her silver hair fell naturally on her shoulders. Her pale golden eyes were clear, like sparkling gold sand at the lake bottom, where his shadow was clearly visible within them.

"Mm, if you had said it earlier... perhaps, I would have been tempted to accept it."

Yuu furrowed his brows slightly, "Too late already?"

Kanade nodded. Her expression was slightly relieved, but her tone full of apology.

"Sorry, I should have told you from the beginning... After last year's fireworks festival, my own existence no longer exists in this world. Once the cycle begins, this remaining part will disappear completely."

"And I don't have the ability to reverse this process. Just as the dead can't revive themselves again, this has already become my last time."

Meaning, all of Yuu's previous promises and persuasion were in vain.

Because anyway, Kanade's disappearing future could no longer be changed. This was the fate she chose herself.

It's just that, at the very last end, she was still reluctant to end the time chatting with him, reluctant to tell him the fact that she couldn't stay, and reluctant to say goodbye so quickly to Yuu who worked hard to persuade her.

This selfishness buried for hundreds of years, it was time to end it.

Standing up from the floor, after habitually patting the dust off her skirt, Kanade bowed to him and said very sincerely.

"Yuu-senpai, I'm truly sorry for troubling you!"

Without waiting for Yuu's answer, Kanade took a soft breath. As she stood upright, she whispered with slight embarrassment, like an ordinary little girl:

"Although I can't stay, may I ask you... to see me off?"

At least this was a choice she spoke herself, and was her sincere wish not for others.

Was she too shameless? She worried. After all, if not for her selfishness, he wouldn't have wasted so much time persuading her, only to return empty-handed in the end.

"...Really."

But for Yuu, the answer was of course only one.

"You don't need to ask, I already intended to do so."

He didn't think about other things, just scratched his head tiredly while sighing.

Kanade smiled in relief while holding her chest.

"Mm, thank you."

She gazed at him, her expression slightly strange, as if still wanting to say something.

However, the cycle that had already begun, unlike before, didn't intend to wait for them to finish talking.

The black wave invasion entered the final stage. The school building was nearly submerged. Yuu had just uttered one word when the rooftop floor beneath his feet suddenly had a giant hole appear. It made him fall without being prepared, sliding directly into the bottomless black hole below.

*CRASH—*

Only a long scream remained echoing in the endless darkness.

Using her remaining scarce power, her entire body enveloped in dim white light. Kanade floated like a ghost, silently watching the rooftop below her completely swallowed by darkness. Her shocked expression also quickly disappeared beneath the black wave.

The girl pursed her lips. She really didn't know whether to laugh or not.

"This way, I should be the one seeing you off..."

Forget it, it doesn't matter.

She slowly closed her eyes, concentrating—she could feel the movement of time beginning to reverse.

Usually, at this moment, she would swim against the current of time, returning to the earliest day, working hard to think of ways to change fate.

However, she no longer had the power to do that.

Since that last long sleep, her mission had already ended. Her friend would open a new future for him. The useless ghost should retire from the stage—

No, not useless.

"I really have already worked very hard."

And they acknowledged that effort.

So, the time she had spent in the past was not at all in vain.

Denying this fact was the same as denying those two most important people.

Kanade silently corrected her thoughts. At the same time, she opened her eyes, and in the midst of this cold and silent darkness, she gazed far into the distance with a gentle look.

"Yuu, Sora..."

"Being able to help you both, being able to become your helper... I truly feel very happy from the bottom of my heart!"

Although she couldn't see them, although her voice couldn't be conveyed, it didn't matter.

With precious memories remaining at the end, she could already let go of all this without regret.

"This journey was exhausting and long... but also more precious than anything."

She received forgiveness from her friend, and also received a new choice from him, seeing his changes.

Although she herself still couldn't change anything, she had unconsciously been changed much by them.

Being able to reach an ending like this was already happy enough for her.

Her consciousness began to blur.

Kanade just smiled faintly. Her feelings were the same as the last time, she knew she would disappear.

But this time, without the determination from before, and without anxiety and prayers for the future, her mood suddenly became calm and frank.

As if this wasn't a death that would erase all her past, present, and future, but just a brief rest.

Releasing the responsibility and obsession from her long journey of changing fate, just resting for a moment.

"Although, there are words I haven't had time to say to him... and also..."

As she thought hazily like that.

A small light orb slowly floated from the depths of darkness.

And silently slipped into her transparent palm, transforming into a stack of golden glowing sheet music.

In the emptiness sounded a helpless sigh.

"At most, I can only do this much for you... Idiot."