I Saved the First Victim of the Horror Game (The Idol in My Class), and She Became the Ultimate Sweet Heroine Who Smiles Only at Me - 37

Chapter 37: The World After the Horror Game (1): Can I Fall in Love in Real Life Too?

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I was swaying on the usual bus ride home. As I stared out the window, I vaguely noticed the reflection in the glass of the girl sitting across from me.

Mio Murase-san, a girl in my class. She wore glasses and had light brown hair. I’d heard through rumors that she was involved in entertainment work. Working in show business… That was amazing. It had already been over three months since we started high school, and unlike me, who still hadn’t even decided what I wanted to do in the future, she was completely different.

But still, Murase-san doesn’t really stand out.

I could only see her profile, but she was incredibly beautiful. With those looks, it wouldn’t have been strange for the guys to fawn all over her, yet she didn’t seem particularly noticeable at school. If we hadn’t taken the same bus, I probably wouldn’t have even recognized her.

Maybe her personality was just a little gloomy? Or maybe she blended into her surroundings too well? It was like she had a strong “background character” aura.

Well, even so, she’s still better than me…

In less than three years, we would be adults. I had nothing. I possessed nothing. I didn’t even know where my talents lay. Lately, I kept wondering whether someone like me could ever become a proper adult. In the end, I couldn’t focus on studying, and I failed my final exams spectacularly. At this rate, I’d be spending a hollow summer stuck in remedial classes.

Can someone like me really become something to someone?

Looking at the reflection of the girl across from me in the glass, I found myself thinking that.

“My life really is the template of following the normal route…”

Right. I had been thinking something like that on that day, too.

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“Satoru, Satoru!”

I woke up to someone calling my name. In front of me was a pure white ceiling…? Huh? It wasn’t the usual darkness. Where had that torii gate gone…?

“Doctor, Satoru just woke up!”

I heard the sound of a button being pressed nearby. A familiar voice was speaking to someone. The area around me suddenly became incredibly hectic.

“Mom…?”

“Satoru, you recognize me? Uu… thank goodness… you finally woke up…”

The middle-aged woman in front of me was shedding tears for some reason. Wait, that was my mom.

“What time is it…?”

“It’s twelve noon! One minute before twelve!”

Not midnight. Relief welled up from the bottom of my heart, then I suddenly realized something.

“W-Wait! What day is it!?”

“It’s already September first! You were asleep for an entire month! Because of the bus accident!”

“A month!?”

When I tried to spring up in shock, my mom hurriedly held me down. I couldn’t put strength into my body. My tongue wouldn’t move properly. A heavy fatigue washed over me. The sensation of the IV tube tugging at my arm felt extremely unpleasant.

“Where is Murase-san!?”

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After that, I underwent various examinations for several days. Tests for my brain, my body, my blood. Hospitals were so boring I could hardly stand it! I wanted to jump out of this hospital room and go somewhere as soon as possible!

“You’re not allowed to sneak out.”

“Yes…”

Worried about Murase-san, I tried to stealth my way out of the hospital in the middle of the night, but a nurse caught me without fail. After that, I saw my mother crying, and I had no choice but to behave completely. For better or worse, I seemed to have lost my fear of moving around at night. Before, I would’ve thought a hospital at midnight was scary, but compared to that abandoned village, it was nothing.

…While I was stuck in my room with nothing to do, I looked up various things on my smartphone.

【High School Students Involved in Bus Rollover Accident】

Apparently, I had been caught in that accident just before summer vacation. Because of it, I had lost consciousness for an entire month. My memory from the time of the accident was blurry, but I was certain other students had been on that bus.

I searched a name online.

【Mio Murase】

The results showed only an unused social media account and her agency profile. Just like she had said, she didn’t seem to be very successful. But among the results, I found a particular article.

【Idol Group ‘FLOWERS’ Member Mio Murase Involved in Bus Rollover Accident】

I never thought Murase-san being an idol would help in a situation like this. She really had been on the same bus as me. She must be in another hospital room or maybe even another hospital! I had to go find her as soon as possible!

…While I was resting, I thought about a lot of things. What exactly had that horror game world been? Was the Mio Murase in that horror game world the same person as the Mio Murase in this reality? No matter how much I thought about it in this hospital room, I couldn’t find the answer.

But I wanted to see her. I wanted to see her right now. Because I had undoubtedly fallen in love with a girl named Mio Murase. I learned it in that horror game world, too. There were some things you could only understand by taking action yourself.

“You’re not thinking about running away again, are you?”

“I’m not.”

Guh…! Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t make my parents cry again. It was too painful to be healthy yet unable to move freely.

When someone disappears, it’s a terribly sad thing…

Suddenly, Sato-kun’s words from back then crossed my mind. He had played the role of the mastermind, but he must have cherished his family deeply. Just like me, he had loved someone.

…I would never forget that world. Sometimes, just a small misunderstanding between people could lead to something terrible. I had to remember that.

“Sorry for making you worry so much.”

“H-Huh? What’s with the sudden change?”

“I just felt like saying it.”

My mother stared at me blankly, then said with a very happy expression:

“Did you finally grow up a little?”

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The date was September fifth. And once again, I was bored. If everything went smoothly, I would be discharged in about three days, but it was unbearably frustrating. With nothing else to do, I wrote down everything about that horror game in my phone’s notes.

“Yamamoto liked Hoshino-san, right?”

To cheer up Hoshino-san, Yamamoto planned the courage test. Sato-kun sent out letters to search for survivors of the village. By confirming who passed through the torii after reading the letter, he intended to identify his target for revenge.

And to prevent Hoshino-san from passing through the torii, Yamamoto (?) spread fabricated rumors and proposed the punishment game. As a result, Murase-san ended up passing through the torii.

But then, why did Yamamoto choose Sakuragafuchi as the courage test location in the first place? If he didn’t want Hoshino-san to be in danger, that was far too bad of a choice. Besides, gathering everyone together was far too convenient for Sato-kun. Without being certain that one of those seven people was a village survivor, the torii plan wouldn’t have worked. Was there some other trigger that gave them a clue? Did someone cooperate with him?

“Though, there’s no way I can figure it out now.”

I ended up gripping my phone tightly. Even as I tried to analyze it, I kept thinking about Murase-san. Where was she now? What was she doing? The article I saw didn’t mention any fatalities, so I wanted to believe she wasn’t dead…

“No…”

There was no way she had died. I was alive, and I had been in the same accident. There was no way Murase-san alone would die.

“Ha…”

The air in the room felt stagnant. The more I thought about it, the harder it became to breathe.

“…It hurts.”

Outside the window, autumn had already begun to seep into the air. While I had been unconscious for a month, the world had moved forward on its own. If she wasn’t here… I didn’t feel alive. Murase-san really had become like my air.

Knock knock.

Just as I was about to fall into another loop of thoughts, there was a gentle knock on the hospital room door. Was it my mother? Or time for a temperature check?

“Yes.”

When I answered briefly, I heard the door slide open slowly. The person who entered wasn’t a nurse in a white coat or my mother in an apron. It was a girl wearing casual clothes with a thin cardigan draped over them. There was still a somewhat painful-looking patch of gauze on her head, but the eyes peeking out beneath it held the same clear light I had wished to save so many times.

“Ah…”

No sound came out. My smartphone slipped from my hand and fell softly onto the sheets.

“…You’re Satoru-kun, right?”

She, Mio Murase-san, looked at me with a shy yet almost tearful expression. That way of addressing me… If we were just classmates who passed each other in the hallway, she would never have used my first name like that.

“Murase-san… Why are you here..?”

“I was discharged earlier than you. I insisted to the bus company and asked to see the list of people who were on the same bus. Then… I heard that Satoru-kun, who should have been sitting closest to me, still hadn’t woken up…”

She took one step, then another, toward my bed. The sensation of holding her hand in the darkness of that abandoned village a month ago came rushing back. That wasn’t a dream. We had truly been together in that horror game.

“I remember what you said.”

Murase-san stood beside my bed and touched my fingertips with trembling hands.

Warm.

The heat of a living person with blood flowing through her veins. The same hand I had held over and over in that world.

“…They call me ‘Air,’ but…”

She smiled gently. That smile was so bright it felt like the white hospital walls lit up instantly.

“I want to be your air. Like air, I want to stay by your side forever. Is it okay if I fall in love here in the real world too…?”

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