Chapter 29: The Past You Thought You'd Left Behind Grows Legs and Chases After You

TL Note:

DAMN IT! I'M TRULY SORRY!!

Only now I realize that the previous chapter, chapter 28, got cut when I pasted the text here.

I already fixed it and added the missing cuts. So please, before you read this chapter, reread chapter 28 again for the context of this chapter.

I'm truly sorry T_T

The Past You Thought You'd Left Behind Grows Legs and Chases After You

Using my needlessly high-spec brain, I ponder the meaning of Miho-san's words.

First of all, there's no need to worry about how she calls me.

How she calls me, my current or past name, either with -chan or -san, and all that kind of stuff are irrelevant.

A name is a reflection of who you are... or so the chairman inside me whispers, but I'm not using a fake name, so it's irrelevant. 

Yup, it's irrelevant. Let's move on.

Now, the problem is that Miho-san's expression changed after seeing my work.

If that were all, she might just be a normal fan of mine, but the problem is that she immediately started talking about nonsense like reincarnation.

As far as I know, no way someone who talks about reincarnation with a completely serious face is a decent person. A decent person would have enough sense to not let it show, even if they were serious about it. Anyone who isn't thinking anything at all would speak in a more joking manner.

...Yes, judging by the circumstantial evidence, it's almost certain that Miho-san knew me before I was reincarnated, as the artist Hikari.

And why would she bother to ask me this? I'm not so clueless that I wouldn't understand, nor am I a brain made of helium.

So, there's only one course of action I need to take from now on.

To do so, I move naturally to my desk. It takes 1.5 seconds from when Miho-san asks me to when I act.

My response time is slow.

"Reincarnation, huh? You mean like the reincarnation they preach in Buddhism? Or is it something more occult?"

As I speak nonchalantly, I open the drawer.

"That's not it!" Miho-san starts babbling about who she was before she became she is now.

This was suspicious.

It wasn't a misunderstanding, or a mere coincidence; Miho-san had probably been reincarnated like me. If she had been reincarnated through faith like me, we might be able to work together, but the problem arises when that isn't the case.

You should always act assuming the worst.

I turn around, hiding what I've taken out in my hand so no one can see. My eyes meet with Miho-san's, who is trying so hard to communicate something, and I can't help but smile at how desperately she seems to be speaking.

Yes, yes, it's a very important thing. It must be so important to you that you don't even know what the person in front of you is thinking, and it doesn't even bother you. That's why it's easy to do this.

"Huh?"

I gently pull on her arm, taking advantage of her lopsided center of gravity to make her fall. I don't want her to get hurt, so we end up on the bed. There's a sound somewhere between a "poof" and a "crunch", and Miho-san falls flat on her back. This is the result of both soft breathing and karate. Though, I have a feeling what I'm doing is aikido-like.

"Sorry to startle you, but you're a good girl, so please stay well. I don't want to do anything bad to you either. All I need is for you to answer a few questions, so please stay well. I love this bed, you know."

I cover Miho-san's slightly open mouth, including her nose, with my left hand.

Maintaining my mount position, I thrust the knife between her eyebrows. I deliberately didn't say anything, so she'd understand my intention of not wanting to soil it. Miho-san's brain isn't so smooth that she can't understand everything unless I say it out loud.

I told her to wink right, left, right if she understood what I was saying, and Miho-san obediently did as I said.

I like girls who can understand things quickly.

By the way, winking in a situation like this, Miho-san is an interesting girl.

"You're doing a great job listening to me. First question: you're definitely a reincarnated person, right?"

When I told her to blink right for yes and left for no, Miho-san's right eye blinked rapidly. "Yes once!" I whispered, and she flinched. "Stop it, it's getting fun when you act so cute~"

But this was no time to play around.

Once I found out she was a reincarnated person, I had to confirm the following: To put it bluntly, whether she was friendly toward me or not.

To be honest, in my past life, I was more likely to be disliked than liked. Collecting and destroying valuable things. I've released more works into the world than I've destroyed, but I don't know if their value will remain when my deeds become known. I've also incurred the wrath of money.

For that reason, there's a significant negative adjustment in expectations for a reincarnated person who knows me and my works. Otherwise, why would I point a knife at someone who knew my past self?

If you do something a decent person wouldn't do, you're not a decent person.

"Good girl, good girl. Okay, next question. Can you tell me your date of birth and your name? Of course, I mean what's inside, not your current body."

Ta-da! Interview with Hikari-chan!

Second question. Hmm, you were born the same year as me, and have the same last name. What a coincidence!

"...I wonder if your maiden name is Amamiya?"

Miho-san nods.

That birthdate and name sound familiar, and then I realize her maiden name is familiar too.

...Yes, this girl is my childhood friend from my past life.

Well, there's no need to be cautious, so I throw my craft knife on the desk. It's pretty rude, but this won't scratch the desk. I threw it in a way that wouldn't do anything.

Hikari, if you're an artist, take care of your tools, okay? 

Shut up, my ex-wife is more important to me than some replaceable tool. I wonder who was threatening such an important person with a knife?

Oh, that's me?

"If it was you, you should have said that from the beginning. I'm sorry for scaring you. It'll be okay now."

The fear of being suddenly threatened with a knife by someone you care about is something you'd never experience in a normal life.

Filled with guilt, I gently embraced Miho-san's soft body. I also rubbed her back, feeling like a parent comforting a child. I've never had children, though.

"I tried to explain things to you properly. But you didn't listen to me and did all that... Making me feel scared and then comforting me is just a match-fixing scheme."

"You're right. But even a match-fixing scheme wouldn't make you feel safe, right?"

I asked, and Miho-san nodded with a slightly regretful look on her face. So cute!

To reassure her, I hugged her, but she put her arms around my back and hugged me back.

Two girls (with animal ears) embracing each other on the bed was a very yuri-yuri scene.

But I finally met someone important that I thought I'd never see again. It's not surprising that the atmosphere became a little strange.

After a while, Mama, who had brought the tea, called out to me from the other side of the door, asking me to open it. Apparently, her hands were full and she couldn't open it, so I quickly moved away, as if I was in trouble if someone saw us now.

Of course, it would be embarrassing to be seen fondling the girl I'd brought home for the first time.

Miho-san and I made eye contact, trying to act as if nothing had happened, and we returned to the way we were before the threat.

I straightened my slightly disheveled clothes and headed toward the door. Well, I was the owner of the room, after all. It was my job to accept the tea and sweets.

I opened the door and received the tea and buns from Mama.

I wondered what kind of combination that would make. It was very strange, but good. And dangerous. It was fine because it was the best scenario out of all the reincarnations Miho-san could have thought of, but in the worst case scenario, Mama might have seen the threat scene.

After that, "I'll let the two young people enjoy themselves, fufu~" Mama left. The atmosphere between us became a little awkward.

"But still, why did Hikari do something like that out of nowhere? There's possibility that I was just a fan."

When Miho-san asked me the reason for my brutal act, I explained it to her.

First of all, the fact that she knew Hikari's name was a little suspicious, and then there was the story about reincarnation right after. That's something that wouldn't come up unless she knew my past as an artist.

And if she could tell that much just by looking at my work, it was likely that she was an avid fan, which meant she likely held a grudge against me, so I had to be assertive. 

If she was friendly, she'd probably forgive me a little since she was my fan to begin with. I thought I could just apologize properly and make something to thank her and keep her quiet.

I certainly wasn't expecting this pattern.

"You don't consider the fact that I might harbor a grudge? Maybe I hate you enough to want to kill you."

"If that's the case, I wouldn't resist if it was you. I'm the one who ruined your life, forced unnecessary burdens upon you, and caused you pain. If you're going to kill me, then there's nothing I can do about it."

There are things you can do and things you can't do.

Unilaterally ruining someone's life is an obvious exception, and if you have to take responsibility for it and your life is taken, then there's nothing you can do about it.

...Is that the kind of thing someone who's currently messing with boys could say?

Am I mistaken? 

I said I couldn't help but take responsibility, but that was only if I was forced to. If I could not to, then I wouldn't.

"...You're so stupid. There's no way I hate you. I was the one who made you go crazy, and I decided to stay with you to take responsibility for that. So there's no way I'd leave you just because of something like that."

Miho-san turned away with a snort and said something lovey-dovey, as if to hide her embarrassment.

It was a level of loveliness I'd never seen her in, even in her past life. I was worried, wondering if she'd hit her head or something? If she'd gone crazy, but she was talking about something far more concerning than that.

"Excuse me, but what do you mean by 'something like that'?"

"Something like that" is something I can't think of.

It's not like the media flocking to my house every day, or the nearly 100 death threats I'd received. Well, both are important in their own way, but they're not something my former childhood friend would call "something like that."

She was laughing in astonishment at the time.

So, what on earth did I do in the past?