Rebuilding Sakamichi in a chaotic worldline

Chapter 35 Love, Death, and the Damp Female Ghost

After Nana Min finished speaking, the room fell silent. Occasionally, the rumble of a tram passing by could be heard from afar, causing the walls of the old apartment to tremble slightly, and the exposed light bulb on the ceiling to sway, casting a flickering shadow between the two of them.

"I am not from this world."

As Rihito looked at her, his relaxed body slowly tensed up, and his gentle voice echoed in the small house as he recounted his story.

"I'm from decades later, and I have the ability to summon members of the Sakamichi Group, of which Mai Shiraishi is one." He leaned back in the uncomfortable, hard back of the folding chair, crossed his legs, and met the scrutinizing eyes opposite him with a frank expression. "I guess we should be from the same timeline, after all, you're wearing this outfit."

Nanami Hashimoto didn't speak, but merely adjusted her posture slightly. The wide sleeves of her kimono swayed gently with her movement, the scrolling cloud patterns appearing and disappearing in the dim light, as if they had come alive. Her expression was calm to the point of indifference, but something was clearly churning in her clear, bright eyes.

"Nogizaka46's first generation member, Hashimoto Nanami, it's your turn." Rito's voice lowered, his gaze not leaving her face. "Tit for tat, isn't it?"

Nana Min's eyelashes trembled slightly.

"I guess you're different from me, otherwise you wouldn't still be living in a place like this, right?" Rito leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "How interesting. You have advanced memories, yet you can't improve your life. Hashimoto Nanami, is that why you had Shiraishi leak the information to me?"

There was a few seconds of silence.

Then Hashimoto Nanami laughed.

"Just as Mai said, although she looks gentle, she has an unparalleled pride in her bones, President Kubo."

She gently shook her head and sat a little further in. "You're right. My memories are limited to the Nogizaka46 part before graduation. The people in it either don't exist or their life trajectories have changed drastically. If I hadn't accidentally seen a Nogizaka46 CD in a music store, I would have thought it was all just my hallucination."

Li Ren understood the situation and was overjoyed. As a time traveler, while enjoying the benefits of foresight, he inevitably felt somewhat lonely. Now that he finally had someone to share with, it was certainly a fortunate thing for him.

"If you hadn't met Shiraishi, would you have participated in the second generation auditions?"

After sighing for a while, he seemed to have thought of something interesting and suddenly asked a question with a strange expression.

"Huh?" Nanamin thought for a moment and replied, "Probably."

"You're not a germaphobe anymore?" Rito raised one eyebrow, her tone full of mischievous amusement.

Huh? This guy.

Nanamin's cheeks puffed out almost reflexively, and her gaze towards him became more unfriendly. However, considering he was her savior in her plan, the girl suppressed her urge to retaliate and said with a sneer, "After all, poverty is more terrifying than filth. Are you satisfied with this answer, President Kubo?"

Rito couldn't help but laugh out loud. He didn't mean to ridicule her; he just found her obsessive-compulsive disorder about cleanliness interesting and couldn't resist teasing her.

Looking at his grinning face, Nana Min suddenly realized something—according to Mai-sama's description of him, he wasn't the type to joke about other people's pain unless he was certain that the pain would soon disappear.

"Satisfied?" He stood up, his smile fading, then glanced around the small room. "Is there anything else I should know?"

Nanamin glanced at him sideways and said unhurriedly, "Since we're travelers from the same timeline, we should be considered friends, right?"

"Of course." Rito nodded without hesitation.

"Alright, seeing my friend living such a miserable life, I wonder if the wealthy and powerful President Kubo could lend a helping hand?"

When Hashimoto Nanami said these words, she showed no remorse and seemed not to think that her behavior was in any way presumptuous. Rito calmly looked at her for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing.

"That's wonderful, this is exactly the Nanamin I imagined." He clapped his hands, giving her an admiring look, then straightened up and held out his hand to her. His palm was open in front of her, facing upwards, his knuckles distinct, bathed in the warm orange glow of the streetlights shining obliquely from the window.

"Nanamin, please let me take care of you from now on."

Nana Min sat on the edge of the bed, looking up at him. Her expression changed several times in that instant. First, she was slightly stunned, then her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she said nothing, only placing her cold hand into his palm.

"You know, if you had come sooner, my dad might not have died."

She spoke softly, almost as if she were talking to herself. The air in the room seemed to freeze for a moment. Rito held her hand, feeling her fingertips tremble slightly in his palm, even though it was summer.

"When did this happen?" Rito lowered his head, his face turning grim. He did have some recollection of Nanamin's father passing away a long time ago, but firstly, he didn't know exactly when it happened, and secondly, even if he did know, he wouldn't have imagined that Nanamin would appear without being summoned. He certainly wouldn't bear any responsibility for this, and Nanamin certainly didn't mean it that way; she just wanted to say something, and he would definitely listen.

"It was probably a few months ago, this spring." Nanamin wiped away her tears with her remaining hand. She hated herself for only having memories of the group, but not a single trace of her family. Her father had a sudden illness, and if she had known, she would have known how to save him. Unfortunately, the window God opened for her did not lead in the direction she wanted.

"I'm sorry." Rito looked up, unsure of what to say, and could only manage a weak apology. Nanamin shook her head and leaned against him like a sloth. She had kept these words in her heart for too long, with no one to confide in. Only with Rito, who was also adrift in another world, could she finally find an outlet. She believed that in this world, they were the only ones who could understand each other.

Rito didn't say anything more. He simply placed one hand on her back and the other on the back of her head. Her face was buried in his chest, and he could feel the collar of her white stage outfit quickly soaked through with her tears. The warm dampness seeped through the fabric onto her skin, and something slowly melted in his heart.

The night wind outside the window suddenly stopped. The walls of the old apartment building no longer groaned softly, and the bare light on the ceiling no longer flickered, remaining silently and stubbornly lit. The distant tram sounds seemed to have been disconnected, and the world was so quiet that only her suppressed breathing remained.

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The two figures reappeared on the street. It was already midnight. After crying her heart out, Nana Min's emotions had stabilized a little. Rito was also worried about letting her live in such a dilapidated building any longer, so after asking for her opinion, he packed up her few belongings and prepared to move overnight.

The car was parked downstairs at the apartment building. As the engine started, a light drizzle was falling in Tokyo late at night. The wipers swung back and forth across the windshield, pushing aside layer after layer of water.

"Shall we go to the hotel first?" Rito asked.

"I can come to your house too," Nana Min replied immediately. Rito was so startled that he almost stepped on the gas, setting off a Tokyo car chase scene.

Nana Min glanced in his direction without blushing or skipping a beat, perfectly demonstrating the strong mental fortitude of a graduation idol.

"What, have people given up on sex in 50 years?"

"Human evolution hasn't progressed that fast yet." Rito smiled wryly. Although gender equality has been talked about for many years, this was the first time he had ever had a woman bring up this topic.

Nana raised an eyebrow and chuckled, gazing out the window. After a few seconds, she slowly spoke again, her words carrying a unique blend of bewilderment and determination characteristic of Hashimoto Nanami.

"Kubo-kun, sometimes we have to believe in the existence of gods, don't we?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a torrential downpour began, as if the sky itself was providing a commentary on her story. Rito's expression hardened. Despite having experienced so many strange things, he still couldn't bring himself to vote in favor of the existence of God—at least, he simply couldn't believe in beings with human faces, who spoke Japanese, and possessed human emotions.

Seemingly sensing his dissatisfaction, Nana smiled gently, said nothing more, lowered the seat, and directed him to start the vehicle.

After struggling to drive out of the crooked, working-class neighborhood, the two arrived at a hotel. It was the hotel he frequented; Yumiko had stayed here last time. The lobby manager clearly recognized him, greeting him from afar. His gaze lingered on Nanamin for less than a second before professionally averting it. After checking in, Rito helped her push her suitcase into the room. The suite was exactly the same as last time, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing Tokyo Bay, the lights of the Rainbow Bridge casting hazy halos in the rain and mist.

Just as he was about to say goodbye and tell her to get some rest, Nana Min called him from the doorway.

"Kubo-kun."

"Um?"

"Will I still be an idol?" She stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, with the night view of Tokyo Bay behind her. Her expression was calm, but her gaze was unusually serious.

Rito turned around and leaned against the doorframe: "It's up to you. Do you want to try again?"

"What if I say I don't want to?"

"Then I won't take the job. There are so many people in the regiment, we won't miss you."

Aren't you disappointed that you didn't manage to collect everything?

Nana Min also had some knowledge of games. Looking at him, she smiled like a smug fox, appearing unusually lively.

"You're overthinking it." Rito rolled her eyes. "I'm not as heartless as you think, okay? Would I hire someone like Yamato Rina to cause trouble for myself? At most, I'm just a little disappointed that I won't be able to hear you sing 'The Meaning of Goodbye'."

"Then let's make it a graduation song for Asuka." Nanamin's eyes lit up, and she quickly found a new home for her graduation song.

"There's no need for that. You two aren't the same style." After a moment's thought, Li Ren refused her. Rather than wasting a good song by giving it to the wrong person, he preferred to keep it on a shelf and wait for the right person to come along.

Hearing him say that, Nana Min raised her eyebrows, did not argue, glanced at the time, and then looked at him again.

"Well... goodnight? I'll come see you again tomorrow morning?"

He understood her meaning in an instant, took a step back, raised his hand, and asked tentatively.

"Okay. Goodnight. It's okay if you come a little later tomorrow." Nana Min also waved goodbye to him.

"Okay, Ms. Hashimoto, who loves to sleep in."

"Same to you, Mr. Kubo, who disturbs everyone's peace and quiet."

After saying goodbye to Nanamin, Rito returned to the parking lot, started the car, and prepared to go home.

The sudden downpour showed no signs of abating. The headlights shone only a short distance before being scattered by the rain. There were hardly any pedestrians on the street. Occasionally, a car would drive by, its tires kicking up a splash of water before disappearing into the depths of the rain.

When he was two intersections away from home, he suddenly stepped on the brakes.

The car wasn't going fast, but the tires still slid a considerable distance due to the low friction with the ground, stopping less than twenty centimeters from the edge of the sidewalk. Rito's upper body lurched forward due to inertia, and the seatbelt tightened sharply, making his collarbone ache. However, he didn't have time to care about that at the moment; all his attention was focused on the scenery on the sidewalk.

There was a person standing there.

To be precise, it was a girl wearing a bright red shirt. She stood under a streetlamp that flickered on and off, fine rain filtering through the light, creating a hazy mist around her. She wasn't using an umbrella; the rain soaked her bangs, making them cling to her pale forehead. The hem of her red shirt hung loosely over her black leather shorts, and she wore ripped fishnet stockings and heavy Doc Martens boots. Her conspicuous attire immediately reminded him of someone, and he jumped out of his car and rushed towards her through the pouring rain.

"Nono Mio!"

He yelled, trying to catch up with her. She didn't seem to be walking fast, but she always kept a distance of about ten meters from him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch up. He panicked and took out his new iPhone 4s and threw it at her like a hidden weapon.

"Ouch!"

Thankfully, the worst didn't happen. The phone didn't pass through her body and cause a midnight horror. The girl who was hit turned around angrily, her eyes full of resentment.

"Hey sir, who are you? Chasing after a girl in the middle of the night, are you crazy?"

The girl stopped, and Rito finally saw her face clearly. It wasn't the Nomi Aoi he had thought she was. He blinked, clearly not expecting this situation. Just as he was about to apologize, his eyes were suddenly drawn to the earring on the girl's ear.

A thin silver chain, with a small skull hanging from it, its eye sockets inlaid with dark red diamond fragments, exactly the same as the one he saw in his dream and the one he found at home.

"Who exactly are you?"

Li Ren was startled and took a half step back, his whole body tensing up.