I'm in a Messed Up Situation that I Couldn't Care More. - Chapter 52: Trigger of Erasure Activated

Chapter 52: Trigger of Erasure Activated

The fake Aoi escaped from the dojo.

The subordinates of the fake Aoi, who had brought Yuuka, had also disappeared somewhere unnoticed.

In the dojo late at night, only Aoi, Yuuka, and I remained.

Aoi, still in my arms, was trembling slightly.

She must be scared.

“You said that if you make eye contact with yourself in another world line… you’ll disappear, won’t you?”

I trembled at the thought of losing Aoi.

“It’s not exactly eye contact… But if the two doppelgangers simultaneously recognize each other as identical to themselves and as their own doppelgangers, it triggers the erasure.”

Yuuka said with a pale face.

“Erasure…? Trigger?”

“Within 24 hours, one of the two will disappear. 

Even if you escape to another world line, it’s said that there is no way to avoid this phenomenon.”

“I don’t want that! It’ll be fine, Aoi. I’m here with you.”

“……”

Aoi remained silent.

“Aoi……”

Yuuka slowly approached us.

“Koichi, let go of me. What do you think you are doing in front of Yamaguchi-senpai?”

Aoi suddenly came to her senses and said those words.

She quickly moved away from me.

“Stop, Aoi. Please. Don’t lie to yourself at this point.”

Yuuka shook her head quietly.

“You like Koichi, don’t you? Of course, you do. 

You’re even willing to sacrifice yourself for him.”

“No, I don’t! I’m prioritizing Yamaguchi-senpai and…!”

Aoi pleaded desperately to Yuuka.

Yuuka let out a small laugh.

“If you were prioritizing me, wouldn’t it have been better if Koichi and the fake Aoi had fallen into the portal? 

Then everything would have been settled. Yet……”

“No, it’s not like that! I’m just… Ah!”

Suddenly, 

Yuuka rushed to Aoi’s side and hugged her tightly.

“Aoi…… Aoi, please. Don’t disappear.”

Tears flowed down Yuuka’s cheeks.

“I found Aoi annoying.

You’ve always interfered with my love life.

You’ve always said you would protect me and followed me around.

You’re in the way. I, I wish you would disappear….. That’s what I thought……

But it’s me who should disappear, not you.”

“Yamaguchi-senpai. It’s okay. I knew… I knew that.”

Aoi, in Yuuka’s embrace, started crying again.

The two of them, still hugging each other, began to cry loudly.

I also started to shed tears.

“Aoi, you have someone more important to you than me now, don’t you?

Originally, it’s not that I’m important, but that you’re loyal to your mission.”

Yuuka said, tears streaming down her face,  letting out a small laugh.

“That’s not true. Yamaguchi-senpai. I enjoyed being with you.

I have an older sister and brother, but they don’t talk to me.

I always wished that Yamaguchi-senpai was my real older sister.

That’s what I thought when I was little.”

“Aoi…… Aoi…… I’m sorry……”

Yuuka began to hiccup and sob.

“I’m sorry too, Koichi. I… lied to you.

I didn’t sleep with you or anything. You didn’t assault me.

That was my lie. Nothing happened between us…”

“Eh?! Ahh!! So, so that’s it?!”

I exclaimed in a strange voice.

“Y-Yeah, I’m glad!… But it’s true that I got drunk and took you to my room.”

“It was me who made Koichi drink alcohol. It’s my fault!”

“Yamaguchi-senpai is not at fault!”

Aoi defended her.

“Yamaguchi-senpai just wanted to fall in love with someone……”

“Yes. I wanted to fall in love.

But I saw Koichi risking his life for you, Aoi.

And I saw you risking your life for Koichi…

There’s no room for me anymore in that.

The two of you are in love, after all.”

“Ah…… I’m not in love with him or anything……”

Aoi turned bright red and started to panic.

At that moment.

“Ojousama, is everything taken care of?”

It was Matsui-san.

He was standing at the entrance of the dojo.

Matsui-san and Aoi’s gazes intersected.

“Matsui…… I activated the erasure trigger.”

Matsui-san widened his eyes and froze for a moment.

“What?! How could that be……”

He took a sharp breath.

Then he fell silent for a while.

Silence fell upon the dojo.

Why did it come to this?

I shouldn’t have opened the portal. 

This is what happened because I tried to jump into the portal.

Bitter regret welled up in my chest.

My tears were sucked into the black hole of the portal.

I grabbed the edge of the portal that had opened on the floor and pulled it up.

The portal immediately turned back into a small bracelet.

I quietly put the portal into my backpack.

“Matsui-san, will you take me home?”

Suddenly, Yuuka spoke up.

“……Yes, of course. What about Aoi-ojousama and Kashitani-san……”

“It’s fine. Let’s leave them alone, shall we?”

Yuka suggested to Matsui-san.

Matsui-san stared intently at AoI for a while.

But eventually, he quietly bowed and left the dojo with Yuuka.

The dojo fell into a deep silence, with only Aoi and me left inside.