"So… Miss Kurenai has two personalities?"
After safely making it back home, Kuroha Akira applied medicine to Tashiro Kurenai's scraped knees while explaining the whole dual personality situation to Shinomiya.
Fortunately, Tashiro Kurenai had been wearing stockings. Although her knees got scraped and bled a little when she fell, the wounds weren't deep. With proper care, they probably wouldn't leave any scars.
The whole "hanging herself" part got skipped, obviously. That touched on the Kobayashi household's biggest secret—the whole transmigrator thing—which definitely wasn't something he could reveal to Shinomiya at this stage.
So instead, the story became: Tashiro Kurenai's two personalities had a disagreement. The other personality (the shy one) couldn't accept the manager job. But everything was resolved now. No big deal. Move along.
Shion-chan stared at Tashiro Kurenai's face with intense curiosity. Personality splits seemed like something that only happened in light novels and manga—super rare in real life. Her eyes were practically sparkling.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't exactly a traditional "split personality." It was more like a new personality getting inserted into an existing one. Closer to "two souls in one body" than anything else.
But Kuroha Akira couldn't explain that to Shion-chan. So on the way back, he and Kohaku-nee had cooked up a cover story together. They only mentioned the childhood kidnapping incident, then claimed the mature "Big Sister" personality was born back then as a self-protection mechanism.
Kohaku-nee, lounging on the sofa with an elegant air, smiled and said,
"Yep. To make it easier to tell us apart, Shion-chan, you can call me Kohaku-nee from now on."
"Okay, Kohaku-nee! Hehe… it kind of feels like I suddenly have an older sister."
In Japanese, that would be written with the character for "red" followed by "older sister" — literally "Red Big Sister." It's a term usually reserved for close older women, or one's own older sister or cousin. Not something strangers or younger kids normally use. That's why Shion-chan said it felt like getting an actual sister.
*No need to understand, go with the flow.
There's also another term — ane-go — which also means "big sister" but carries a completely different vibe. Ane-go is used for gang leaders' wives or female bosses. Basically "Big Boss Lady."
Kohaku-nee had plenty of mature charm, but she didn't have that tough, bossy energy. If Granny Kobayashi — the pachinko addict — were forty years younger, she could probably pull off "ane-go." But at this point? She was just a grumpy old delinquent with bad luck at mahjong.
"So… is the other Miss Kurenai listening right now too?"
Kohaku-nee shook her head.
"Nope. She's asleep."
On the way home earlier, Kohaku-nee had tried calling out to her other self, but got no response. She was probably genuinely conked out.
Shion-chan found this absolutely fascinating. This was the most interesting thing she'd heard in a while. Her excitement was through the roof.
"This is that thing, right?! When one personality falls asleep, the other one wakes up and takes over the body! I've seen movies where dual personalities always work like that!"
Like, at night, the other personality wakes up, does a complete 180 in behavior, and pulls off all kinds of crazy stuff behind the scenes. Then when the main personality wakes up, they're totally confused — "Wait, what happened?!" And weird things keep happening because the main personality has no clue the other self even exists.
For a movie, that setup creates way more suspense and dramatic irony.
But Tashiro Kurenai's situation wasn't like that.
"My case might be a little different from what you're imagining, Shion-chan. She and I are usually awake at the same time. And when I'm inside, I can still perceive the outside world. The sensations of this body are shared between us. We can even talk to each other mentally."
"How interesting!"
Shion-chan's voice came out louder than she intended. She blushed slightly and covered her mouth with her hand.
"Ah… sorry, was I too loud? Will I wake the other Miss Kurenai?"
"It's fine. As long as I don't do anything too stimulating here, she won't wake up."
Kohaku-nee yawned and continued.
"Haah… actually, I'm feeling a bit sleepy too. But my… hmm, should I call it willpower? Stamina? Anyway, I can stay awake longer than she can."
That was probably because Tashiro Kohaku's soul age was older. Her mental threshold and patience were naturally higher.
"Like that time I got drunk before — both she and I were completely passed out. But I sobered up faster and could keep more of my sanity."
Hearing this, Kuroha Akira's expression shifted to one of realization. No wonder she was the shy, anxious Kurenai when she got drunk, but turned into Kohaku-nee after waking up. It all made sense now.
Actually, the first hint he'd gotten was when she said, "I didn't expect even I would be affected." That sounded exactly like something someone with two personalities would say.
"So… Kohaku-nee, when you're inside, you can't control the body and just have to watch? But you can still feel everything the other Miss Kurenai does?"
"Yep. It's kind of like playing a full-dive VR game — except the character controls aren't in my hands."
Plus, as Kohaku-nee had mentioned before, she couldn't forcibly take over the body. She could only step in when the original Kurenai voluntarily gave up control or lost consciousness.
"Full-dive VR games… Current VR technology can't do that yet. Even then, if it ever becomes real, it'll probably take more than ten years… Humans entering a game world. Sounds super sci-fi."
Honestly? More than ten years. Maybe decades.
Even in the world Kuroha Akira came from in his past life, full-dive technology was still a distant dream. Let alone this timeline — where people were still using flip phones like it was the early 2000s.
Initially, Kohaku-nee had wanted to know whether Kuroha Akira and Hijikata were also dual personalities like her. But after secretly observing them for a while, she realized neither of them showed any signs of mental dissociation.
That was just a guess back then, though. It was only recently — after formally asking Hijikata — that the original Kurenai confirmed she was a special case. And that was what sparked the whole "personality fusion" idea.
"But don't worry. My other self has already agreed to be Shion-chan's manager. You two will have plenty of chances to hang out in the future."
After all, Kuroha Akira had already set up a game-style treatment plan for the original Kurenai's social anxiety. Building a good relationship with Shinomiya was literally her beginner quest.
Right on cue, Kohaku-nee started creating opportunities for her other self.
"Speaking of which, my other self is really good at makeup! If Shion-chan is willing to let her do your makeup, and then I help you pick out clothes, you'll definitely transform into a super beauty who can charm thousands!"
"Makeup… Akira-kun, what do you think? Should I wear makeup?"
Shinomiya glanced over at Kuroha Akira, looking a little tempted.
She'd never worn makeup before. Her knowledge in this area was about the same as a guy who'd never touched cosmetics in his life. Back in the day, she hadn't just avoided trying to look prettier — she'd even thought about disfiguring herself on purpose. Of course, now she was incredibly grateful that past-her hadn't acted on those impulses. She would've regretted it for life.
If it was for Kuroha Akira to see — if it would make him compliment her more — she was more than willing to make herself prettier.
But then Kuroha Akira dropped something completely unromantic.
"I was planning to ask Miss Kurenai to help with your makeup, actually. But not to make you prettier."
Kuroha Akira snapped his fingers, pointed at Shinomiya, and flashed his signature smug grin — the one that said everything was going exactly according to plan.
"Shion. You're going to have to become ugly later."
The cultivation plan was about to enter its next phase.