Chapter 4

Ngh…?

? What’s wrong, Tomoya-kun? You keep groaning; are you not feeling well?

Ah—! Don’t jump on me from behind! Are you a dog or something?

I’m not a dog—I am Hibiki Wataru!

I don’t particularly have any attachment to the name, but since you were kind enough to tell me, I’ve started to grasp the basics at least!

Like I said, I only know the tip of the Hibiki Iceberg.

Every time you talk about your family or your past, you say something different. I have no idea what's true or what’s a lie, or if you’re just joking around.

Yes, yes! It seems that I was something of a pathological liar!

And now you’re too honest. It gives me the creeps, actually.

I wonder why. I always thought I wanted you to be more upfront with me.

…?

A–anyway. We can’t hide in this stranger’s apartment forever; we’ll run out of food in the fridge—

So I wanna try and escape somehow, while avoiding the monsters wandering around.

I can see those so-called monsters from the window; it doesn’t appear to be going away at all.

The way it moves is slightly different each time, though, so I think there’s more than one monster, and they work in shifts.

What kind of monsters do shift work? Whatever, I don’t want to live with you here for the rest of my life. I mean, I’m sure our friends and family are all worried about us.

So let’s hurry up and get out of here and go back to our normal, not-completely-insane world.

Yes! If that’s what you want, I’ll do my best to help you!

That’s what I’m talking about—You’re so weirdly nice and earnest, it’s seriously freaking me out!

Yes, but even with all your criticism, I still don’t remember what kind of personality I used to have.

I hope you remember soon. Well, I still haven’t actually given up on the theory that you’re just pretending to have amnesia.

But I really don’t remember anything? I’m sorry!

Nah, there’s no need to apologize.

The important thing here’s that there are totally illogical monsters roaming around, and it’d be stupid to jump into that without some sort of plan.

Maybe it’s just to give me some peace of mind, but I kinda wanna find some kind of weapon or at least a plan to deal with the monsters out there.

I don’t even know where we are, so I’d like to see a map of the area if that’s possible. Do you think there’s anything like that on the bookshelf over there?

Hmm~ There are many books and files, but since I have no memories, it’s difficult for me to determine which ones could be useful.

I have never in my life seen you be so useless, Hibiki-senpai.

…Ummm, oh—There’s a handwritten diary here, it looks like.

Oh, do you think the owner of this apartment wrote this?

Honestly, I wonder who lives here, anyway. They haven’t come back at all.

—G–guh?!

?! What’s wrong, Tomoya-kun?

What the hell is this… The first part of the diary is pretty normal and all.

But halfway through, it starts getting really creepy.

Can I see?

Hey hey, don’t look over my shoulder! Your stupid long hair is hanging down all over the pages, I can’t read it!

Sorry. Why have I let my hair grow so long, anyway? If it’s a bother, should I cut it off?

Ngh… But your hair sometimes kinda moves on its own, to the point that I started thinking it was just a wig that can do something like that.

If you shaved your head and wore lots of different wigs, you’d be able to play more roles too.

No, this is just normal hair. Here, see for yourself ♪

What the hell is the point of wrapping your hair around me?! Are you some kinda weird spirit? Oh, but something about me complaining like this makes me feel really nostalgic!¹

Fufufu. I’m not sure why, but it does make me very happy to play around with you this way, Tomoya-kun… ♪

I’ll tease you, and you react in an adorable way. I feel as though precious exchanges such as these made up our everyday lives.

And somehow, it puts me at ease to do something like this.

So what, my peace of mind is sacrificed for the sake of your own?!