A gentle breeze stirred the newly verdant leaves, dappling sunlight in layers, carrying traces of spring.
At the end of a path in Asukayama Park, a girl on a bench stared blankly at the fragmented light on the ground, her eyes filled with a morning mist-like haze. Each flutter of her long eyelashes seemed to stir the honey at the bottom of a glass, as if she were recalling a bizarre and fantastical dream.
But no matter how she tried to piece together the fragments of her memory, Takamatsu Tomori still couldn't make sense of everything that had happened that morning.
Why was she picked up by a fierce-looking man? Why was she suddenly taken to an interrogation room by a Police Officer? Why did her memory break off after that? And why did she appear on a park bench after losing consciousness?
And who is this person sleeping on her? The girl carefully turned her head, gazing at the boy's profile. His hair fell like molten gold around his ears, his dark skin gleamed with a gentle luster in the sunlight, and a hint of fatigue showed on his composed face.
At this moment, the boy was still leaning on the girl's shoulder, sleeping lightly, seeming as if the slightest touch would awaken him.
Although she had no interaction with this person, who seemed slightly older than herself, and it was even their first meeting, Tomori now experienced a strange sense of reassurance—as if being near this person would soothe her heart.
She thought of a documentary she had seen at the aquarium: a group of Emperor penguins huddling together in a slowly rotating circle during a blizzard of forty degrees below zero, the chicks snugly protected in the overlapping downy feathers of their parents' bellies.
'Perhaps reassurance is about having something to rely on.'
'Can someone like me find someone to rely on?'
'If only I could become [human]...'
Tomori had realized long ago that she was somewhat detached from this world.
From childhood, she had been unable to resonate with the hearts of others.
Whenever her peers roared with laughter at the plot of a manga, her pupils would always chase the distorted patches of light outside the glass window; in the clamor of collective excursions, she alone could hear the faint cracking of fibers as cherry blossoms fell.
Many things that everyone took for granted, emotions that seemed obvious, she could never touch, even after reaching out countless times.
Even though she had become friends with everyone, the distance between hearts remained incredibly vast.
It was as if she were a penguin separated from its flock, lost in the human world.
[I want to become human]—this was a wish in the girl's heart that could not be understood by others... Just as the penguin girl was once again lost in her inner world, the mastermind behind the series of events that morning had already begun to plan his next move.
Yes, Togawa Fuuki had actually woken up a long time ago.
The moment he regained consciousness, he activated his Stand ability on the girl who had been supporting him all along, and only after completely controlling the innocent good girl did he feel relieved enough to sort out the situation.
Maehara Naoto basically had no chance of survival. Deprived of [memory] and [Stand], he was just a mass of flesh breathing on instinct, gradually dying.
The reason Fuuki acted so thoroughly was because of the willpower the other party had shown in the illusion, the decisiveness he had displayed when killing the Police Officer, and the action he had taken to try to contact other people.
Maehara Naoto was definitely not a good person, and was likely a member of some [team] or even [organization.]
At the thought of potential enemies appearing, Fuuki was determined to end him here.
The only person Fuuki had implanted with instructions was the young Police Officer who had shot himself under Maehara Naoto's Stand ability. And the one who had been traveling with him was the White Snake after changing its appearance.
It must be said that after implanting the meteorite fragment, White Snake's growth rate was truly astonishing. Even though the activation of its abilities still required consideration of the environment and timing, the series of applications it had developed was enough for Fuuki to face many situations.
'The death of the Police Officer was indeed unexpected. I didn't expect to encounter such a tough customer on my first try.'
'But with this kind of thing happening, the police will inevitably be dispatched urgently, and Maehara Naoto's corpse will also be investigated and cleaned up. In addition, White Snake deliberately created some suspicious traces on those two, so the investigation will surely come to a satisfactory conclusion.'
'White Snake still did something unnecessary, actually putting me and this girl together like this. It would be bad if it caused any misunderstandings.'
'Although, I can handle it.'
However, the state of [leaning on a girl] unexpectedly relaxed him, and since the other party didn't resist much, and even felt reassured in her heart, Fuuki shamelessly pretended to be asleep.
The girl naturally didn't know that her feelings were one of the symptoms of being mentally invaded by White Snake, and even Fuuki himself couldn't explain the principle behind it, simply regarding it as one of the many micro-operations White Snake had mastered.
After marveling, Fuuki began to review the situation in his mind.
This time, his action was too hasty and sudden, as if he was being pushed by an invisible hand. If he were to follow his cautious nature, he would definitely not attack rashly in a state of poor condition, but would instead plan more solidly and build an unsolvable setup.
However, adventure often brings high rewards. This time, Fuuki forced himself to try many new uses for his Stand ability, including but not limited to: stripping senses, transferring feelings, illusion invasion, transforming shapes... and the biggest gain this time—[Stand] and [memory] discs!
The former meant that he could obtain another power. Even if he couldn't adapt and use it himself, he could give it to a trustworthy and talented assistant in the future.
The latter meant that he had obtained clues to contact other Stand Users, and could rely on this real and reliable memory to lay out a plan, firmly grasping the initiative in his own hands.
That's right, only what is in your own hands is truly reassuring.
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A dull sound startled the forest birds, the rhythm of flapping wings and chirping accompanied by a few scattered petals drifting away.
A pure white petal fell in the wind, accurately landing between the girl's slightly parted lips, awakening her shallow dream with a hint of icy fragrance.
Takamatsu Tomori returned to reality in a daze. The reassuring weight on her shoulder was gone, and the boy seemed to have vanished like a dream bubble as she woke up.
Looking at the empty bench beside her, Tomori inexplicably saw a little girl squatting under a ginkgo tree, collecting fallen leaves. She was the first person willing to reach out her small hand to Tomori, playing with her and collecting beautiful things together.
Until Tomori personally handed over a glass jar full of woodlice.
In the end, she failed to grasp that beauty, whether in the past or now.
The girl suddenly felt a chill in her heart, and instinctively curled up, only to find a silver chain hanging from her slender neck, bringing a slight, pleasant coolness.
She carefully reached out her hands and gently held it up.
It was a delicate necklace, with a sacred cross hanging from it, gleaming in her hands.
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