𝐁𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍.

10 ° Cinderella's Blessing.

❝THIS CRAZY NOISY BIZARRE TOWN!❞

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GENTLE FOOTFALLS FOLLOWED HAYATO AS HE WALKED THE ROAD ALONE. The path home filled him with solitude—not that he minded that lifestyle, of course. Existence wasn't always a sunny street, along with personal gravity splattered across the summer's colorful skies. The days you spend with someone could be fugacious and fleeting. And when the summer ends, the summer that never came, what will you do? Will your fingers intertwine like earphones as the two of you run away from your lives, or will you accept reality for what it is?

Thinking more about it, that was a strange way to begin an internal monologue.

Ah, not that anyone cares that much...

Fate is a predetermined destiny in the grasp of time. Nothing is certain in this universe unless you have future-telling powers—and even if you did, would you purposefully avoid what the future predicts? In the end, it would probably come to fruition anyway. Fate was elusive, and there was no euphemism around it. No matter how much you want to avoid the topic, it comes to bite you in the back one day.

Hayato believed he was someone who accepted tragedy when it happened. He knew there was no going back—yet there was a part of him that despises it. He knew the basic details of the Butterfly Effect, but even so, would going back in time to change events be so harmful?

Shigekiyo Yanguu wasn't an acquaintance of his. In contrast, he knew nothing about Shigechi. When [Name] described the guy to him, he felt indifferent about his personality. A greedy, selfish child didn't sit right with him. Those were undesirable traits, especially of a kid. Even if his interlocutors found him weird and disliked him, Shigechi had a loving family—a loving family that cared about him. Something Hayato wished for all his life.

Yet, despite those factors, Hayato felt uneasy at the news of his death.

Shigechi's death was unwarranted; even he could say that. Hayato wanted a life like Shigechi's—parents who cared, friends who stuck by his side even if they didn't like him that much. He wanted—something, anything! Yet, he was lucky to be alive.

Shigechi didn't get that luck.

No, instead, the kid was dead. His parents will never discover the truth of his death or disappearance, and the girls killed by Yoshikage Kira will never get their peace either.

So, how was [Name] able to do it?

She involved herself with a cold murder case, and yet she's still staying strong? His friend shared an idle talk with him during lunch that day, as if nothing happened the day prior.

What was going on in that head of hers?

She acted like... nothing was wrong.

But everything was wrong!