Vol 1 Chapter 1: Déjà Vu (Prologue: Encounters Arrive with a Sense of Déjà Vu)

“Then let’s die together… I’ll bring you back to life… Come on, Himeno!”

As if in response to Miyazu’s voice, I thought I heard the sound of a horn blaring from below. But that didn’t matter now.

The curtain rail, having long exceeded its durability limit, finally gave way completely, and we began to fall again.

This time, my life was truly over.

However, just as my consciousness was about to fade, Miyazu’s resolute voice cut through it, and my memories did not flash before my eyes as they had earlier.

“Grit your teeth!”

Instinctively, I shut my eyes, clenched my teeth, and braced for impact.

Then—my body slammed into something, sinking into it.

…But the impact was far too soft for asphalt. It felt more like landing on a high jump mat.

No, it wasn’t a metaphor.

When I opened my eyes, I realized that instead of crashing onto hard asphalt, we had landed on a urethane mat that had somehow been placed on the bed of a light truck.

Pole vault mats are typically designed to absorb falls from about five to six meters—roughly the height of a second-floor window. They’re built to prevent injuries even from such heights.

Jumping from the rooftop would obviously be fatal, but from the third floor? If the mat were folded in half and doubled up, it might just cushion the fall.

Not to mention, the mat was on the truck bed, which was slightly elevated from the ground. The vehicle and its tires helped absorb some of the impact as well.

The momentum from the fall caused both our bodies to bounce violently, sending us tumbling off the truck bed and onto the ground.

I landed ungracefully, slamming my nose straight into the pavement.

“Tch… Ow… Damn it… Hey! You okay?”

“S-Somehow…”

“Good… it went just as planned. Thank God… wait a damn second! You bastard! I’LL KILL YOU!”

Relief turned to fury in an instant. The wild swings in her emotions were hard to keep up with, but as I looked down at what I was holding, I immediately understood why.

When I turned to look at Miyazu, I saw that not only had her blouse come undone from the fall, exposing part of her chest, but her lower half was completely revealed—her skirt had been yanked off, leaving her in nothing but black underwear.

Apparently, when I grabbed her belt before we fell, it had come undone mid-air, and I had accidentally pulled her skirt down with it.

“I-I mean… uh… this was totally an accident…”

Just when I thought I had miraculously survived a near-death experience, a new, immediate danger loomed.

“DON’T YOU DARE LOOK, YOU IDIOT! JUST DIE ALREADY!”

Miyazu, still in her underwear, swiftly stood up.

The next thing I saw was the sole of her school shoe rushing straight toward my face.

And then, my consciousness was swallowed by darkness—

◇

(Hey… hey! Are you alive?)

“Ngh…”

Enticed by a voice, I slightly opened my eyes to find a beautiful blonde girl with twin tails and a healthy, sun-kissed bronze complexion gazing at my face with a wistful expression.

Huh… could it be… Miyayuri?

My forehead was pounding, yet the back of my head was cradled by something soft that felt surprisingly pleasant.

I’d experienced a similar situation before, and the dream I just had was a flashback from the past, wasn’t it?

Still drifting between dream and reality, I took another look at the beautiful girl peering into my face.

Could she just be a look-alike?

…She does resemble Miyayuri, but Miyayuri doesn’t have twin tails, and this girl appears just a bit younger.

Even so, they really look alike…

Could she be her little sister?

No, that can’t be.

I’ve been to Miyayuri’s house many times, but I’ve never met anyone who could be her little sister, nor has she ever mentioned having one.

Anyway, what is this situation?

“Ah… huh? What am I…?”

“Oh crap! …Could it be… I’ve lost my memory?”

I recalled having a similar exchange before, but I quickly realized that the situation was entirely different.

“Who… are you?”

The pleasant sensation at the back of my head was from receiving a lap pillow—a favor Miyayuri once did when she tried to stop my suicide, tearing my clothes and knocking me out with a kick.

But what was distinctly different now was both the way I ended up with a lap pillow and the fact that the girl giving it to me was not Miyayuri.

“Sorry… I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I? I’m Rurei. Yoropiku♪”

Even though her face resembled Miyayuri’s, unlike the delinquent Miyayuri, this girl had a very gal-like way of speaking, and her personality seemed completely different.

Seriously, though, what era does “yoropiku” even come from?

Anyway, with that face and name, is this beautiful girl who resembles Miyayuri unbuttoned all the way down to the third button?

Even when looked up from below, her tight-looking dress shirt strained to contain her ample upper bust and black bra.

Hmm.

My internal “bust scouter” reckoned that in terms of size, they were even larger than Miyayuri’s.

……

When your thoughts are completely captured by the abundant, ripened fruits right in front of you, any man who’s ever been born can understand why his mind comes to a halt.

“Hey? Could it be that you’re checking out my boobs?”

The girl calling herself Rurei asked with a mischievous expression.

“N-No… I would never do such a thing!”

“Hmm… but since I accidentally did something painful to you, maybe I can let you touch them a little?”

“Yes! I’d be honored!”

I was just about to say that when—

“Oi! Rurei! How about you over there? …Hey, kid! What are you doing?!”

Contrary to Rurei, a pale, black-haired girl with half-twin hair and a handsome, short-haired boy wearing a baseball cap—who looked about 7 or 8 centimeters taller than me—rushed over.

“Rurei! You didn’t get forced into doing something lewd just because you got hit, did you?”

Before Rurei could reply, the half-twin girl grabbed my collar and started swinging me around.

“Ugh… this is suffocating… let go… please!”

My neck was being squeezed, making it hard to breathe, so I desperately tapped the half-twin girl’s arm.

“Hey, hey, you should stop… it’d be pitiful to bully such a small middle schooler, wouldn’t it?”

The handsome boy in the baseball cap, though smaller than average himself, still called me a middle schooler.

“No, this kid was ogling Rurei with a lewd, all-over gaze… I’m sure he’s planning to use her as his tonight’s side dish!”

Could it be that this guy is as vicious as Katsuko?

Because the half-twin wouldn’t ease her grip at all, I was once again on the brink of passing out.

“Hey, wait a minute! Stop it, Kamiko! Since it’s our fault, if it’s just boobs, that should be fine, right?”

“Not in the slightest!”

Before I knew it, the violent girl Kamiko—who still wouldn’t let go of me—had the handsome boy standing behind her. Then, for reasons unknown, he softly began to rub her breasts, which couldn’t compare to Rurei’s.

“Kyaa!”

Startled, Kamiko released me, covering her chest with both hands as she turned to the handsome boy.

“Wha… what are you doing, Hozumi!”

“Calm down. This whole mess is our fault, so if you don’t acknowledge it, you’ll end up just like them.”

The handsome boy known as Hozumi said that in a husky, resolute voice.

Hmm… this voice, this face—I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere before…

“…Ouch!”

Every time I tried to recall, a headache hit me.

I had completely lost my memory of how I ended up in this mess, so I still couldn’t piece together the situation, with the bliss of Rurei’s lap pillow and the pain of Kamiko choking me taking precedence.

“Um… I don’t remember anything, but did you guys do something to me?”

“Uh, well… that is, um…”

Just as Rurei was finally about to start explaining,

“Oi! The cops are here already!”

With the handsome boy’s warning, the siren of a police car—slicing through the air—began to sound, its noise gradually growing closer.

“Crap! Let’s break up for now! Contact me later on LIME!”

“‘Got it!’”

At Rurei’s word, the three of them scattered in different directions to escape.

“Huh…?”

Left alone, I realized as the sound of the police car grew ever closer.

Even my dull brain could guess that those three had gotten themselves into some kind of mischief, but it wasn’t my problem, right?

Well, those boobs are a shame to leave behind, though…