Chapter Fifty-Seven: Rin’s Utopia

Unable to grasp any clue, Su Mo slowly climbed out of bed under the watchful eyes of everyone and changed his clothes.

When he descended the stairs, he saw the familiar Shiori still busy in the kitchen.

“Ah, Su Mo, are you feeling better?” Shiori greeted him with delight and concern upon seeing him.

“Thank you for your care, I’m already fine.” Su Mo smiled.

Naturally, he walked over to the dining table. As usual, Shiori would thoughtfully bring breakfast to him.

But at that moment, the doorbell rang outside the Itsuka household.

“Hm?”

Curious, Su Mo turned his gaze toward the entrance. Who could be visiting so early in the morning?

As the most lively girl in the Itsuka family, Tohka quickly jumped up and rushed to the foyer, opening the door swiftly.

With the door slowly swinging open, a girl with short pink hair stepped inside. Her eyes were a gentle shade of brown, and she wore the uniform of Raizen High School. From her appearance, she seemed rather delicate.

Although he had never seen her before, there was an inexplicable familiarity about her.

Instinctively, Su Mo called out her name.

“Rin Nii Sonogami!”

…………………………

Wait, why did I suddenly call out that name?

Su Mo stared in shock at the fragile girl with pink hair before him. He was certain they had never met, he didn’t know her at all, yet under this unfamiliarity lay a peculiar sense of discord.

It felt as though she was the strangest familiar person.

As if they had known each other for a long time, although in his memory that was impossible.

A deeply contradictory feeling.

While Su Mo was stunned, Kotori, Tohka, and the others greeted the girl with perfect ease. Shiori was especially warm, saying, “So it’s Rin Nii. You’ve come to see Su Mo again?”

“Sorry to bother you, Shiori, Kotori, Tohka, Yoshino!” Rin Nii Sonogami bowed hurriedly to everyone, calling out their names nervously. Then she turned her gaze toward Su Mo at the dining table, her face shining with excitement. “Su Mo, are you feeling better?”

Seeing how familiar everyone seemed with this girl, the sense of disharmony in Su Mo’s heart only grew stronger.

Why did everyone know her?

No—

Su Mo suddenly clutched his head. Whenever he tried to think deeply, a sharp pain would stab through his mind, and strange memories would barge into his brain like thieves.

His memories were being directly altered.

Now, in his mind, Rin Nii Sonogami was his childhood friend. Her family had lived next door to the Itsuka house since they were young, and even their parents had known each other for years.

This meant Su Mo, Kotori, Shiori, and the others had grown up together with Rin Nii Sonogami, forming close bonds. They even attended the same school and class, which was why she wore the Raizen High School uniform.

Every morning, Rin Nii Sonogami would come to the Itsuka house to wake him up.

Sometimes she’d help with chores, make breakfast for them, and over time, not only did she become close with Su Mo and the others, she was also friends with the spirit girls Tohka and Yoshino who lived with them.

Wait, hadn’t Tohka and Yoshino moved next door long ago?

Long before, given the sensitivity of their spirit identities, Ratatoskr had built a new spirit containment facility next to the Itsuka house. So why had Tohka and Yoshino moved back, and more importantly, wasn’t the neighboring house supposed to be Tohka’s residence? Now it had become Rin Nii Sonogami’s home?

Everything felt wrong.

But whenever Su Mo tried to think about it, the pain in his head would force him to change his train of thought.

Gripping his head, Su Mo was in visible agony.

This sudden situation drew everyone's attention. They all looked over with concern, even Kotori in her commander mode uncharacteristically refrained from her usual sharp remarks. Instead, she was the first to step forward, asking urgently, “Brother, are you really okay?”

“Su Mo, are you all right?” The girl who had abruptly entered his life—someone he had never met, but who his mind insisted was his childhood friend, Rin Nii Sonogami—also showed worry, her voice filled with concern.

Seeing how much everyone cared for him, warmth surged in Su Mo’s heart.

“I’m fine!”

Su Mo shook his head. As long as he ignored the oddities around him, he’d be alright.

With that thought, he looked up. For some reason, when his gaze landed on Rin Nii Sonogami this time, a strange feeling of familiarity and affection arose within him.

He could barely recall how he spent the rest of the day.

All he remembered was drifting in and out of thought, his mind muddled like paste, his memories growing increasingly confused.

Fragments of memories featuring himself and Rin Nii Sonogami kept intruding upon his thoughts.

He knew those memories were false, but every time he tried to reject them, an invisible force seemed to warp his perception, convincing him that Rin Nii Sonogami really was his childhood friend, neighbor, and classmate.

Into his life, a stranger had suddenly inserted herself.

Yet everyone acted as if nothing was amiss; even Kotori and Tohka spoke to Rin Nii Sonogami with perfect ease, as though they really were old friends.

It was impossible to investigate further—terrifyingly so.

Not only that, over the next few days, Su Mo noticed drastic changes in the city of Tenguu where he lived.

First, at the very center of Tenguu City, a towering, peculiar pagoda had appeared. According to Kotori and the others, this was the new Tenguu Tower.

Apparently it had just been completed, but Su Mo had no recollection of it, while everyone else seemed perfectly accustomed to its presence.

Even more unsettling, the entire city seemed to be wrapped in some invisible barrier.

All means of communication with the outside world had been cut off; everyone was trapped within Tenguu City, unable to leave, and outsiders could not enter. The city was isolated, yet inside everything was normal, peaceful.

Su Mo had experimented with this himself. For instance, he tried calling his parents who were abroad on business, but the calls never went through. Yet calls within Tenguu City were always successful. Whenever he attempted to leave the city, he’d find himself back where he started, endlessly looping in circles. If he pressed on, his head would begin to ache, and that mysterious force would once again alter his perception.

Clearly, something was very wrong with Tenguu City.

But no one else seemed to notice.