I Really Don't Want a Girlfriend Anymore

Chapter 623 623: The Rooftop is Also a Place Where Miracles Can Happen

Snow-white long hair fluttered behind her. Her fingers brushed the strands in front of her eyes back behind her ears.

Kanade leaned against the railing, staring at the clock tower bathed in the glow of dusk with an empty gaze.

It had been a long time since she'd smelled the aroma of the evening breeze, which felt as sweet and intoxicating as foam on honey-beer.

Although she'd never been to Universal Studios, and of course had never drunk the honey-beer written about in novels—good children don't drink alcoholic beverages before coming of age.

But when alone, she always tried to make her imagination richer, coloring the monotonous gray world with interesting colors.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to get through those very difficult and long times.

"What exactly is the power of miracles..."

Inadvertently, this doubt arose in her mind, diverting her attention from the slowly moving clock hands before her.

So far, she had performed countless miracles that ordinary humans couldn't do, with the help of abilities provided by the system.

Reversing time, changing reality, creating something from nothing, telepathy, granting power...

So, were miracles phenomena that transcended common sense like this?

Kanade felt she had obtained the answer, but she couldn't conclude with certainty.

Thinking of her loved one before dying, which she thought would end there, but instead got the chance to accompany him even after death—

Was that a miracle?

Entrusting the future to her friend, which she thought would disappear, but instead woke up in this trial dream—

Was that a miracle?

Giving a final blessing to her friend, which she thought would remain as a ghost until the next cycle began, but now she could step on the rooftop tiles with both feet, feeling the gentle breeze hitting her face—

Was that a miracle?

So, were miracles the power that changed what was considered impossible into possible?

"If so, wouldn't it be better if it had never happened..."

Unconsciously, such a thought arose in her mind.

Kanade didn't mean to blame anyone, and she believed it was the existence of miracles that gave that loved one the possibility to change fate.

However, she herself didn't want to experience miracles, let alone become a beneficiary of miracles.

Why should a journey that should have ended here continue?

Gazing at the distant dusk sky, she pondered this question. Her body was slender and light as a feather, as if it could be carried away by the evening breeze from the rooftop at any moment.

"What is the meaning behind my awakening?"

Although she asked herself, she still didn't get any answer.

Her fingers unconsciously gripped the railing, then slowly loosened. Her pale fingertips didn't regain their blood color.

In a sound almost inaudible, that antique dark minute hand moved with difficulty toward the fifty-eight position.

Kanade slowly exhaled, her expression as calm as usual. She looked up slightly and closed her eyes.

Her skirt fluttered. There was no shadow under the setting sun, only her silver-white hair becoming increasingly transparent, emitting a thick orange glow.

Only two minutes remained until everything ended.

Once the cycle began, her existence—and consciousness—would completely vanish from this world, never to rise again.

Except for Sora, including Kanade herself, no one would remember that there had once been an idiot who struggled for hundreds of years, but in the end entrusted hope to others, letting her promises and determination vanish.

This was the second time.

Her feelings weren't turbulent at all. She just silently waited for the minute hand to point upward.

At this moment, when she thought she could release her thoughts, she instead unconsciously recalled what happened a year ago.

After waking up in bed at home, Kanade was in a daze for quite a while before gradually understanding the current situation.

For some reason, a bit of the Light Orb's power still remained. She secretly entered the system's background through the back-end program she had once left behind, and learned that she had mysteriously restored her existence in the Trial Dream designed by Sora, and had become his underclassman again.

The memories of this world also quickly flooded her mind. Just like reincarnating in a parallel world, she retained the power of miracles, memories of hundreds of years, and the existence that had once vanished—although she didn't understand the principle, Kanade felt grateful from the bottom of her heart.

"Thank goodness... This way, I can be with him again!"

Although their relationship in this world wasn't very deep, as long as she could be by Yuu's side like an ordinary person, chat with him, and eat lunch together, she asked for nothing more.

But before long, Kanade fell back into deep self-loathing.

"No, I should disappear... Even the me in a parallel world shouldn't carelessly occupy her body..."

At that time, she really wanted to use her remaining power to commit suicide again, let everything return to its proper form, and no longer cause trouble for everyone.

However, before her consciousness made that decision, her body honestly changed clothes. After completing the hospital checkup on schedule, she went directly to visit him at his house.

"Yo, Student Council President, why the sudden visit?"

Hearing Yuu's voice, and the moment their eyes met, Kanade could barely contain her joy to the point of wanting to cry. She wanted to hug him tightly, sink into that familiar warmth, and pour out all the words accumulated over hundreds of years, which might not finish even in three days and three nights.

But she knew better than anyone that she had no right to do so.

So, she used the Light Orb's power to recreate the personality of Kanade in this world, letting her react in her place, while her true self felt ashamed in a corner of her heart.

Feeling so ashamed that even though she knew her friend was upstairs, she still pretended not to know and didn't dare greet her.

And so, Kanade became his underclassman again, returned to an unfamiliar school life.

Not thinking too much, not caring. She was selfish this one time, forcing herself to forget everything that had happened.

Just being her purest and most ordinary self, enjoying every second she spent with him, and not daring to think about when such times would end.

...However, not thinking about it didn't mean it wouldn't happen.

"Iroha and I have entered a relationship. From now on we're a couple."

Hearing that sentence, Kanade was stunned for a moment, like falling from a light dream back to reality. The hardness of the ground had never felt so clear under her feet.

Standing before the two of them, she suddenly changed from an ordinary high school girl back to the helpless ghost who always failed to save her lover.

...But strangely, Kanade didn't feel sad.

On the contrary, at that moment, feelings of relief and comfort emerged.

Perhaps because she finally no longer had to bear the sin of occupying someone else's body, perhaps because she saw two people she deeply cared about finding happiness in each other, or perhaps because she witnessed the development of a different future with her own eyes...

Ah, thank goodness.

She just sighed and gave them sincere blessings.

Because her departure had meaning.

Because her friend had successfully passed through that dead end.

And also because she had no more regrets.

So once again, Kanade smiled and made a decision.

"The selfishness ends here! Sorry, I must say goodbye again."

It was enough. No more regrets. She couldn't whine anymore.

Although Kanade couldn't see the future of the two of them growing old together, that wasn't something a ghost who should disappear needed to worry about.

She only needed to do one thing, which was to make the one person who was in the way disappear from this world, with feelings full of hope and satisfaction.

Of course, Kanade in this trial world wouldn't be forgotten. After the cycle restarted, no one would remember this cycle, except Sora who also possessed the Light Orb's power. Iroha could also smoothly fall in love with Yuu again.

The only difference was, that helpless and cowardly ghost would no longer hide in corners, cherishing the time spent with him hundreds of times more than before.

Although she didn't know why, even though she had already used the method from last time to eliminate her own existence, she instead directly returned to the follower ghost state from the beginning, continuing to wander alone in this world.

Kanade had no choice either. She could only protect their relationship from behind, before the cycle began.

Although the process was a bit different from what she had imagined...

The Yuu in this world seemed more flirtatious than himself in hundreds of previous world lines. Not long after dating, he had already eaten the forbidden fruit with Iroha, and they did it almost every day. They even tried various positions and scenes Kanade had never experienced before, like wild beasts...

As a follower ghost following them, Kanade would surely witness various scenes unsuitable for minors—but aside from the first time she accidentally watched from beginning to end, after that, as soon as they showed signs of going to war, she would awkwardly close her eyes and avoid them, while using the power of miracles to cut off her hearing, until the two finished, only then would she return to their side.

She was still very unaccustomed to dealing with such things.

If only ghosts could blush, she would have surely exhausted the total amount of blushes from hundreds of years in less than a year...

Well, this also meant the relationship between those two was very good, and that was something to be grateful for.

Overall, during her time as a follower ghost, she felt like she'd returned to the past after so long, watching over the person she cared about with warm eyes, and obtaining vague satisfaction.

When they realized she had disappeared, her feelings were mixed between panic and hope, but fortunately they didn't remember her in the end.

When familiar school friends passed by her without seeing her, that loneliness and emptiness was always hard to get used to.

Although Kanade had already brought the trial to its final stage, and successfully dated Iroha, Yuu still had to welcome the next cycle. It really made her worry whether that man could pass the trial...

And. There were many other things.

More and more thoughts emerged like mushrooms after rain, filling her mind, then disappearing one by one, leaving one sentence at the end—

"Actually, I don't want to disappear."

After regaining it, she didn't want to lose it again.

Kanade slowly opened her eyes. The corners of her lips lifted slightly, showing a somewhat regretful smile.

Even so, she didn't reach out to stop the rotation of the clock hands.

Her pale golden pupils reflected the world filled with twilight. Her soft lips slightly parted, as if wanting to say something for the last time, or as if wanting to bid farewell to this short life with a song.

But the girl still chose to give up, just letting her hands hang at her sides, and quietly waiting for time to pass.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps were heard from below.

Then the iron door opened forcefully. That reckless young man burst into the rooftop where time seemed to have stopped, his slightly breathless gasps disturbing the silence of the air. His eyes quickly fixed on the clock tower across from him.

"Yuu...?"

Kanade was startled, involuntarily turning around. She looked a bit unprepared, but quickly became calm, gazing at him gently.

"What's wrong? Why such a hurry."

She knew Yuu couldn't hear her voice, couldn't see her form, and couldn't remember her existence.

But she still couldn't help speaking to him like this, as if returning to before last year's fireworks festival, and like returning to the very beginning.

Although she didn't realize it, whether her gaze, expression, or voice had a gentle tone.

Not expecting any answer, just as Kanade prepared to step toward him, Yuu suddenly shifted his gaze from the clock tower and looked in her direction.

Their eyes met in the air.

Not an illusion, but truly, their eyes looked at each other.

"..."

Like a creature stared at by Medusa, Kanade reflexively froze in place. Her breath caught as if petrified, and her pale golden eyes slowly filled with shock.

But, this was impossible.

Just earlier when those two were intimate in the student council president's room, she who stood at the door wasn't seen at all...

Why, when the cycle was about to begin, could Yuu suddenly see her? This made no sense!

Her small hands clenched unconsciously from nervousness. To confirm the doubt in her heart, Kanade stepped to the side to test, while holding down her skirt that was slightly lifted by the wind, so she wouldn't be exposed before him.

To her relief, the young man who suddenly appeared across from her didn't rotate his eyes following her movement. He still stared straight at where she had stood before, as if just discovering a new continent there.

Was it coincidence? Or was there something on the rooftop attracting his attention...

Patting her chest, Kanade felt relieved, but also curiously glanced at the focal point of his gaze.

There was nothing there...

"That's not right to say there's nothing. A cute beautiful girl alone on the rooftop, it would make people worry if she intended to commit suicide. Please consider the impact on innocent students."

Yuu's tone was too natural, so that Kanade unconsciously answered, "But the students have already left school, and I also don't intend to jump..."

As soon as those words came out, she realized something was wrong. Her eyes widened again two to three times in disbelief. She stared at Yuu without moving, her mouth slightly open as if wanting to say something but hesitating.

And Yuu slowly turned his face, as if ending the mischief, stood upright and stretched. He smiled brightly at her:

"Yo! Should I greet you with 'long time no see,' or 'pleased to meet you'?"

"Good grief, our school doesn't provide the rooftop for student use, and only delinquent students would enjoy the breeze here... You made me search hard for you, almost didn't make it in time."

So...

Ignoring her reaction, after Yuu finished speaking, he muttered for a moment in a low voice, then cleared his throat, and said to her in a surprised tone:

"Former Student Council President, why are you here?"

"..."

After that sentence was uttered.

That quiet rooftop was like an aquarium filled with orange juice, with the clouds in the distance being clownfish swimming leisurely.

The dazzling orange light slowly disappeared from the horizon. The sky darkened. The boundary between dusk and night gradually swallowed the entire city. The increasingly strong evening breeze hit the edges of their clothes.

Snow-white long hair, shimmering like silkworm silk, reflected soft enchanting light.

After several moments, her gaze gradually changed from shocked to helpless. Kanade sighed in the silence.

And in the tone Yuu already knew, Kanade whispered:

"Yuu-senpai, please don't call me that in private."