Chapter 065: The Future? No, You've Gotta Be Kidding Me!
"Then I won't be able to earn any extra money this time," Kushida said. Hachiman glanced at her. "Are your points not enough?"
"They're enough," Kushida replied, "but who would ever complain about having too many?"
Hachiman didn't respond. He stood up and shouldered his bag. "Let's go."
Kushida stood up as well, patting the non-existent dust from her skirt. "Yeah."
The two walked out of the shopping district side-by-side. Kushida soon quickened her pace toward the dormitory, but after a few steps, she stopped and looked back at Hachiman. Hachiman hadn't followed; he had paused slightly, his silhouette growing and shrinking under the streetlights.
Kushida didn't say or do anything, then withdrew her gaze and continued walking forward.
On the other side.
Hachiman returned to his dorm, placed his bag on the desk, and took a shower.
Hot water poured down from the showerhead, and steam filled the bathroom.
He actually quite liked showering; he could think while feeling the hot water.
What he said to Kushida during their consultation wasn't a lie. Kushida's reply had been, "Sakayanagi-san is indeed very concerned about you."
And even with that conclusion, he likely wouldn't have had any other thoughts.
After all, Sakayanagi was indeed cute, but he and she, much like him and Matsushita-san, were types that didn't really suit each other. Matsushita wanted him to get a job.
And due to Sakayanagi's physical condition, she would only want him to get a job as well.
So, saying that...
Even if he weren't dating Karuizawa, it would still be impossible.
Not to mention, he was currently dating Karuizawa.
Thus, Hachiman quickly cleared his thoughts. He felt that as of now, he seemed to be a qualified boyfriend.
Thinking this, he turned off the water, dried himself, put on pajamas, and lay down on the bed.
The light went out.
The curtains were half-drawn, revealing a small patch of the night sky outside. It was pitch black; no stars could be seen. Hachiman stared at that piece of night sky for a while, then closed his eyes.
Just as his consciousness began to blur, the surrounding scene suddenly shook.
It wasn't an earthquake, not vertigo; it was that feeling—as if someone had gently shaken the entire world and then placed it back. Hachiman opened his eyes abruptly. Because this feeling... was very familiar.
Sure enough.
Soon.
The ceiling was gone. The curtains were gone. The moonlight was gone.
Replacing them was a dormitory he was familiar with. A single bed, a desk, that ponytail palm on the windowsill. The light was on, the fluorescent lamp shining brightly white. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, with nothing in his hands.
It happened again.
Hachiman looked down at his hands, then at his surroundings. It was the exact same scene as before. It wasn't a dream, not a hallucination, but that "online dream" that was real down to every terrifyingly clear detail.
He stood up and walked to the desk. On the desktop sat a green-covered diary. He opened it; the handwriting was his, a bit sloppy, but every stroke was recognizable. He flipped to the latest page.
[August 8th, today is my birthday...]
He had already seen the content that followed. He continued flipping forward; the pages behind were blank. He hadn't written anything yet. Hachiman closed the diary and turned around.
There was someone in the room.
But it wasn't the "Big Horikita," Horikita Suzune, whom he had met several times before.
Instead, it was a girl with long silver hair, sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands supporting her on the bed frame, tilting her head as she looked at him.
Her features were exquisite, her temperament gentle, and a faint smile played at the corners of her lips. Her clear eyes reflected his shadow, quiet and tender, as if she were looking at someone she hadn't seen in a long time.
Hachiman was stunned.
Because he knew her. Shiina Hiyori. But not the Shiina Hiyori he knew.
It was likewise more mature, but her temperament was softer than Horikita's, and she seemed to possess a sense of tolerance.
Her long silver hair was longer than it was now, casually draped over her shoulders. She was wearing light-colored loungewear, and the whole person looked more composed than the current version.
"Hachiman." She spoke, her voice very light, carrying a kind of intimacy he had never heard before.
Hachiman's fingers tightened on the cover of the diary.
Hachiman—she called him Hachiman.
Not "Hikigaya-kun," not "Classmate Hikigaya," but "Hachiman."
This form of address was one he had only let Karuizawa use.
Specifically, Hiyori had never actually called him that.
In reality, she would always be the literature girl who sat quietly in the corner of the library, holding a book, calling him "Hikigaya-kun."
But now, she was not only sitting on his bed but also calling him by his first name directly.
He suddenly thought of a possibility.
That was, in the last online dream, Big Horikita had told him that he was married at that time.
But she hadn't given him any information about his future partner. He wanted to know if it was Karuizawa, or perhaps someone else he knew.
But now, it seemed like... he had found the answer.
After all.
There weren't many people who could call him by his first name.
So.
"Are you..." Hachiman's voice was somewhat hoarse, "...Shiina?"
Hiyori nodded. "Yes."
"When are you from?" Hachiman recalled the conversation he heard at the end of the previous online dream.
It seemed to involve something like, "You can't do it, let's swap people."
And now, he really didn't see Big Horikita, and he was... really swapped.
"Five years from now," Hiyori said.
Hachiman was silent for a few seconds. Five years from now. Another five years from now. Horikita Suzune had come from three years later, and now Shiina Hiyori had come from five
years later. What on earth did he do in five years, and why were these people appearing in his dreams one by one?
"You came to find me," Hachiman's voice lowered, "for what purpose?"
Hiyori looked at him, silent for two seconds. "There are indeed some things. However, it seems you are quite surprised to see me."
How could he not be surprised?
Hachiman thought to himself.
Hachiman looked at the Big Hiyori sitting on the bed, his shadow reflected in those clear eyes. She called him "Hachiman," her tone as natural as if she had been doing it for years. He suddenly felt it was somewhat unreal.
"Before," Hachiman started, "I dreamed of someone else."
Big Hiyori's eyelashes trembled slightly. "It was Horikita-san, wasn't it."
Hachiman nodded. "She said some things. About the future, about me, about herself. But she didn't finish."
Big Hiyori was silent for a second. "She failed."
"Failed?"
"She didn't manage to make you believe," Big Hiyori's voice was very soft, "or rather, she said things she shouldn't have. Which led to you knowing certain things in advance, and then..." She didn't finish the sentence, but Hachiman understood.
Hachiman leaned against the headboard, arms crossed over his chest. "So you have a purpose?"
Big Hiyori looked at him, no evasion in her eyes. "Yes. A purpose."
Hachiman waited for her to continue.
"You are a transmigrator; there's no problem with that," Big Hiyori's tone was very calm, as if stating a fact, "however, for a period of time, you actually disappeared. Although you returned later."
Hachiman's fingers tapped gently on his knee. "Disappeared?"
"Yes. You didn't go back; you disappeared. We couldn't find you, couldn't contact you, didn't know where you were, and didn't know if you would ever return."
Hachiman was silent for a few seconds. "And then?"
"Later, you came back," Hiyori said, "but you didn't come back on your own. Someone pulled you back. Moreover, later on, because of capital injections from Sakayanagi-san and the Koenji conglomerate, the White Room project was restarted. However, it wasn't to train
children, but to use the children trained inside for research, and then overlay the superpowers that appeared on you. Finally, the two worlds were studied, and the overlap of the worlds was completed. So it wasn't just you, Horikita-san, or your sister Komachi, who were able to live in this world."
Hachiman was silent for a long time.
Or rather, this fact was something he hadn't expected.
In other words, the development of the future turning out like that was actually due to the efforts of everyone here.
He leaned against the headboard, staring at the fluorescent light on the ceiling; the filament emitted a faint humming sound. He was digesting this information. The White Room—that institution that trained Ayanokouji, that place he once thought was terrifying, was eventually converted into a research base. It was used to study his superpowers, used to overlap the two worlds. Not for war, not for politics, but just to keep him here.
"So," Hachiman's voice was a bit hoarse, "is this the final ending of the White Room? Being converted into a research base."
Big Hiyori nodded. "Yes."
Hachiman closed his eyes, then opened them. "Knowing the grand finale in advance is actually quite pleasing."
The corners of Big Hiyori's mouth curled slightly.
Hachiman straightened up from the headboard and looked at her. "So, the current online dream is an experiment to forcibly overlap the two worlds, right?"
Big Hiyori looked at him, then nodded.
"Yes," Big Hiyori said. "Your superpower is critical. You must be wholehearted about staying in this world. So, it is necessary to increase the bonds between you and the people in this world. But when Horikita-san came last time, it didn't seem to work."
Hachiman didn't deny it.
When Horikita Suzune said, "You are married in this world," his first reaction wasn't "With whom," but "Is she lying to me?"
It wasn't that he didn't trust her; it was that he didn't dare believe he would have such a future.
"Then who is the person responsible for arranging the online dream?" Hachiman asked.
"Amasawa-kouhai," Big Hiyori said.
Hachiman's brows moved slightly. "Amasawa Ichika?"
"Yes."
Hachiman leaned against the headboard, his gaze falling on the ceiling.
Amasawa Ichika. The little devil kouhai from the original work, from the White Room, but not highly valued by the White Room because the White Room wanted to train geniuses, but she was the control group; she was a genius herself.
According to the development of the original story, the next year, she was sent by the White Room to approach Ayanokouji. After the mission failed, she was ordered to drop out, and at the same time, was put on the dark web by her bankrupt father, ready to be sold at a high price to exchange for funds.
Unexpectedly, she ended up working in research.
"Her fate in the original story wasn't very good," Hachiman said.
Big Hiyori nodded. "Yes, she went through a very difficult period of earning points."
And on this point, Hachiman could guess.
It was probably by using the Advanced Nurturing High School to earn points, and converting those points into cash, thereby buying herself from her biological father, President Amasawa. Buying her own freedom.
"But she is the most suitable candidate. She understands White Room technology, understands the principles of superpowers, and also understands you," Hiyori added.
Hachiman was silent for a few seconds. He suddenly remembered the voice he heard when the previous online dream ended—"Still no, the time for intervention is too short." He had heard that voice; it was Amasawa Ichika's voice from the original story. So it was her. The one who had been operating all this from behind the scenes was her.
Hachiman understood the course of events. But he suddenly felt a bit shy, hesitating to speak.
His fingers tapped on his knee, then stopped. His mouth opened, then closed.
Big Hiyori looked at his appearance, her brows furrowing slightly. "What do you want to say?"
Hachiman was silent for a second, then spoke. His voice was a bit hoarse, as if asking a very important question, and also as if confirming something he had already known.
"Are we," he paused, "...married?"
Big Hiyori was stunned.
She sat there, motionless, as if frozen by something. Her mouth opened slightly, then closed, then opened again. For the first time, a crack appeared on that calm face—not panic, not shyness, but a kind of bewilderment like "How could you ask this?" Her earlobes slowly turned red, blushing from the lobes to the tips, especially conspicuous under the light. "You..." Big Hiyori's voice was a bit tight, "...why did you suddenly ask that?"
"It's very simple; the form of address. I don't think you would address me by my first name under normal circumstances," Hachiman's voice was very calm, but his fingers gripped his knees, "and, when you say these things, the way you look at me is not the look of an ordinary friend."
Big Hiyori was silent for a long time.
"Yes," she finally spoke, her voice very light, so light it was almost inaudible, "we are married."
At this moment.
The room was quiet.
That kind of quiet wasn't silence; it was a quiet that needed time to digest.
Hachiman leaned against the headboard, staring at the ceiling. The fluorescent light was glaringly white, but he didn't shift his gaze.
"Oh, I see" he said.
Big Hiyori looked at him, not understanding.
Hachiman shook his head. "It's nothing."
He lay down, pulled the quilt up to his chin, and looked at the ceiling. Big Hiyori sat on the edge of the bed, watching him. Neither of them spoke.
After a long while, Hachiman spoke. "You should go now, right?"
Big Hiyori was silent for a second. "Yes. Time is almost up."
Her figure began to become blurry; it didn't blur slowly, it faded bit by bit, like ink spreading in water.
"Hachiman." Big Hiyori's voice came from afar.
"Yeah."
"Since you mentioned this, then, thank you for the flowers. During high school, when I received your flowers, I was actually quite happy."
White light poured in from outside the window, swallowing her figure bit by bit. Hachiman reached out, wanting to grab something, but his fingers passed through the white light, hitting nothing.
The white light swallowed everything completely.
Hachiman opened his eyes abruptly. The ceiling. The curtains. The moonlight in the gap of the curtains. He was lying on his own bed, his heartbeat fast, so fast he could hear the sound of blood flowing in his ears.
He stared at the ceiling for several seconds, then sat up and leaned against the headboard.
"Married three months after high school graduation. The bride is Shiina Hiyori."
Hachiman recited these words in his heart. He thought of Karuizawa, thought of her serious look when she tied her ponytail, thought of the tone when she sent a message saying "Can't eat together tonight."
He thought of his statement after he conducted the emotional consultation about Sakayanagi-san with Kushida.
And now, he didn't know how to face it.
Hachiman closed his eyes, then opened them again. He lay down, pulled the quilt up to his chin, and stared at the ray of moonlight coming through the gap in the curtains. The moonlight was very pale, casting a thin white line on the ceiling.
He looked at that white line for a while, then closed his eyes.
This time, he didn't dream again.
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