After much deliberation, the place I decided for a meeting was the playground where the two of them had played together for the first time in the past.
Although it has symbolic meaning in many ways, it is because the park itself with the playground is outdated and has become a sparsely populated place that is no longer visited by people.
Immediately after school, I approached him, who was nodding at the window seat.
“Ryuji.”
“…Yes why?”
“Do you have some time after school?”
Ryuji replied with a yawn, wondering if he was tired.
“Nyaa, what’s left is time. I don’t have any extra activities.”
“Well then. It’s fine. Let’s go somewhere with me.”
“Where are you going?”
“There is someone who wants to meet you.”
Exactly, it’s a ghost.
I glanced at Saya next to her anxiously waiting for an answer, then looked at Ryuji seriously.
Then, perhaps Ryuji realized that what I was saying was true, he happily nodded his head.
“Well, okay. It’s a request from you, but it’s not strange.”
“Thank you so much.”
Saying that, I bowed my head and returned to my original position.
‘With this, all preparations are over.’
Operation starts after school.
Now the rest depended on the conversations of the parties.
“How to. I am so nervous.”
I decided to trust Saya, even though I felt a strange sense of insecurity at Saya, who was so happy that she didn’t know what to do.
The speech of Ryuji Sakamoto, the protagonist of this love-comedy universe.
***
after school.
Today’s way home was a little special.
Normally, Rika and I would have taken the subway alone, but today, in addition to that, Ryuji was there.
If you include the ghosts Saya and Mahesu, there were already five people.
“Then we’ll go for it.”
“Yeah, good night. See you tomorrow at school!”
After waving goodbye to Rika with a lively smile as usual, we got off at Chitose Funabashi Station.
As we were walking to the park together, Ryuji, who was next to me, asked me first.
“So Yoosung, isn’t it time to tell you? Who wants to meet me?”
“Ah, that’s it.”
I scratched my cheek and looked away.
“It’s probably someone you know too. Someone you’ll be very happy to meet.”
“???”
Ryuji becomes more and more unable to understand the English language.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand his feelings.
I don’t understand why a guy I haven’t met in less than half a year suddenly says something like this.
“Well, it would be faster to understand it if you see it directly.”
As I said that, I muffled the conversation and then increased my walking speed a bit.
The place I arrived at was a citizen park near my house.
“Here…”
Ryuji made an expression that immediately recognized whether it was a familiar place.
“Wow, it’s been a long time coming. You’re still here.”
Then he approached the old slide and stroked it as if he was longing for it with a look immersed in old memories.
“This playground, I used to come to often when I was in elementary school, is the person you’re talking about one of your friends playing back then?”
“right.”
I nodded and checked my phone screen.
[Arrives nearby.]
It was a message from Sasha.
When I lifted my head and looked around, I saw Sasha walking in the distance.
And Ryuji, who turned his head to follow where my gaze was headed, gave a strange expression.
“That’s Sasha.”
“right.”
“Sasha knew me when I was little? Did I forget?”
I shook my head.
“It’s not what you think, so don’t worry. Sasha is just here to help.”
“Help?”
From https://noblemtl.com
Meanwhile, Sasha, who arrived at the playground, approached with a small wave of her hand.
“Yeah, Kim Yoo-seong.”
“Sasha, thank you for coming today.”
“It’s a request from a few friends, but I have to listen to it.”
Saying so, she greeted Saya, who was floating next to me, with a wink of eyes.
Anyway, this brought everyone together.
I asked Ryuji, who was still looking at me with a puzzled expression.
“Ryuji, do you believe in ghosts?”
Then, Ryuji tilted her head as if it was a random question and answered.
“I didn’t believe it before, but now I believe it because Mahesh is there.”
“Then I’m glad. The person who wants to meet you today is also a ghost.”
When I said that and looked at Saya, she nodded and entered Sasha’s body in front of her.
drop!
At that moment, I felt that something invisible was disconnected between her and me.
At the same time, Sasha’s originally blue hair began to slowly turn white.
Ryuji can’t keep his mouth shut at the supernatural phenomenon that is happening right before his eyes.
For him as an ordinary person, the hurdles might be a high sight, but this time he had no choice but to do it.
You can’t talk to Saya without possessing it.
yet,
Sasha’s mouth, transformed into a pure white snow girl, opened.
“It’s been a while, Ryuji.”
The voice coming out of her throat wasn’t Sasha’s.
Perhaps it was because Saya was in control of the body now.
And when he heard Saya’s voice, Ryuji’s eyes began to tremble as if there had been an earthquake.
He asked after a long silence.
“Are you Chiaki?”
It’s the first name I’ve ever heard
But I could tell that was Saya’s real name.
That’s probably because the moment he heard the name Chiaki, Sasha’s body, which Saya possessed, trembled.
And as if to prove this conjecture, she muttered to herself.
“Yeah, I remember. My name is Shirogane Chiaki…”
Then, as if gaining confidence, he took a step forward.
“It’s been a while. Ryu-chan. It’s been almost 6 years?”
As soon as he heard those words, Ryuji’s eyes went dark.
“…Yes, it’s been a while. Chiaki.”
To be honest, I couldn’t even imagine how he would feel right now.
The person I liked when I was young, the child I promised to marry came to visit me as a ghost one day, how should I react?
Ryuji hesitated and asked.
“How did you do that?”
Then Saya- no, Chiaki answered with a bitter smile on her lips.
“You know Ryu-chan, too. I had an incurable disease that I had since I was little, and I eventually died because of it.”
“…Is it because of me? Did I take you out of the house?”
“Ugh, it’s not like that. What the doctor said anyway. If you keep going like this, you’ll die before you turn 20. Your condition worsened during the recuperation, so you just died a little earlier than expected.”
It’s a story about his own death, but Chiaki was just as calm as someone else’s business.
From https://noblemtl.com
Maybe it’s because he’s already dead.
But perhaps it was pity that Ryuji was still confused by his own death, Chiaki stroked his cheek.
“I’m glad, though. I’m able to meet you again, at least like this.”
“Chiaki…”
“I still remember. The day I left this town, the promise I made with you.”
“…You mean we’ll get married next time we grow up, right?”
“That’s right.”
Chiaki nodded with a faint smile.
“Forget that promise now.”
“……”
Ryuji did not immediately answer her request.
From https://noblemtl.com
Maybe it’s because he knows.
How important was that promise to Chiaki.
The reason why she failed to attain enlightenment and remained on the earth.
One of the biggest regrets left in this world must have been that promise.
Then, Ryuji opened his mouth.
“Chiaki, can I be stubborn about just one thing?”
“…what?”
“I can’t grant you that request.”
Ryuji, who touched Chiaki’s cold hand, said so and smiled vigorously.
“To be honest, I’ve never forgotten the promise I made when I broke up with you. It’ll probably be the same when I grow up.”
Then, after taking a break, he said.
“Even in this or that way, you are my first love.”
The moment he heard those words, Chiaki’s face turned red.
“Hey, what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
However, Ryuji’s confession did not stop.
“Even if you became a ghost and became a promise that could no longer be fulfilled, at least I want to remember you as much as I do.
“So,”
“Will you allow me to remember you forever?”
Chiaki hesitated at Ryuji’s fastball, then lowered his head and said in a crawling voice.
“…I will allow it.”
The conversation between the two ended with that.
A girl who wants to be forgotten and a boy who wants to be remembered.
It is truly a bizarre story.
If she were alive, she would have been treated as the true heroine of the novel Scramble Love by readers.
It was a time when I was feeling strangely regretful at the fact that I was watching the two of them on the playground where the sunset had set.
From https://noblemtl.com
Mahesh, who was quietly next to him, said.
“Then, shouldn’t this girl be with us too?”
“uh?”
I involuntarily turned my head to an idea I had never thought of.
In a situation like this, isn’t it the norm for a ghost heroine who has resolved his grievances to become successful?
However, Ryuji’s eyes widened at Mahesh’s suggestion, which suggested a completely different direction.
“Does it still matter?”
“It is up to the girl’s will. Will I succeed like this, or will I stay by your side?”
Perhaps it was a proposal he had never thought of, and Chiaki, who was possessed by Sasha’s body, had a bewildered expression on his face as well.
“Is that really okay?”
“Anyway, it’s a difference of whether you reincarnate early or late. You didn’t become an evil spirit, but with my authority, I can close my eyes from such misconduct.”
The two men, who got the answer from Mahesh’s confident remarks, looked at each other’s faces.
And then Chiaki spoke first.
“Then… I’ll take good care of you in the future. Ryu-chan.”
“I’ll take good care of you. Chiaki.”
After saying that, the two looked at each other and smiled brightly.