Chapter 38: Vanishing Memories
After finishing his coffee, Hikigaya Hachiman called the waiter over again.
"Hello, one more pot of jasmine tea, please."
"Two cups are enough."
When the waiter placed the jasmine tea on the table, the person he had anticipated had indeed returned.
"Have a seat."
Hikigaya Hachiman wasn't surprised by Misumi Uika's return. She had shown at least six instances of wanting to speak but holding back earlier.
There was definitely something she wanted to tell him, but she was hesitant to speak in front of her friend.
Furthermore, Hikigaya Hachiman had clearly heard a member of Misumi Uika's group questioning their company president earlier:
'Why disband Sumimi?
Why freeze out Uika?'
Hikigaya Hachiman heard it all clearly.
So, he wasn't surprised at all by Misumi Uika's return.
However, the question she posed was not what Hikigaya Hachiman had expected.
After Misumi Uika sat down, her purple eyes fixed on Hikigaya Hachiman.
She cautiously asked,
"Sanguinius-sensei, may I ask your name?"
It was as if Hikigaya Hachiman was the superstar and Misumi Uika was an incredibly cautious fan meeting her idol.
"I mean, your real name."
"My real name?"
Hikigaya Hachiman found that very strange.
"I apologize if my question offended you."
Misumi Uika bit her lip.
"It's because I feel you look very much like a childhood friend of mine.
Although we haven't seen each other for over ten years, he is very important to me.
I really want to see him again."
Those who knew Misumi Uika might think she was very nostalgic, but that wasn't exactly true. It was simply because those memories were extraordinarily beautiful to her.
Even today, more than ten years later, recalling those scenes still brought a heartfelt smile to her face.
It was the source of Misumi Uika's motivation.
Hikigaya Hachiman was the lost friend Misumi Uika couldn't find.
They shared beautiful memories that had sustained Misumi Uika for over a decade.
If she hadn't found Hikigaya Hachiman, she could have probably kept herself going with the photo for several more decades.
Hikigaya Hachiman looked at the short-haired blonde girl, and the image subtly began to overlap with the face of the friend from his distant and hazy memories.
Suddenly, the memories in his mind became scrambled, even causing a sharp pain.
Hikigaya Hachiman used the Reverse Cursed Technique to quickly repair his brain.
Returning to a fresh brain, Hikigaya Hachiman immediately felt much more relaxed.
From his body's reaction, he had vaguely sensed this strange familiarity.
Hikigaya Hachiman rubbed his brow. The reason his memories were so vague was most likely because they belonged to the time before he went to the other world (Warhammer)—
meaning, before the age of eight.
Hikigaya Hachiman couldn't remember anything from that time.
It couldn't be helped. Having experienced the Great Crusade during the Age of Darkness, Hikigaya Hachiman followed the Emperor through too many events.
Over those incredibly long years, Hikigaya Hachiman had long forgotten what he looked like eight years ago or what he had experienced.
"My name is Hikigaya Hachiman."
Upon hearing this, the tense Misumi Uika's clear purple eyes immediately became misty.
"Hachiman, it really is you.
I knew it."
Misumi Uika's voice was even choked up, clearly very emotional.
"Ten years, five months, and twenty-five days. It was almost eleven years."
Misumi Uika remembered very clearly that the day she separated from her childhood friend was on a summer weekend.
"That's great. I found you.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Misumi Uika's tears started flowing immediately. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, but new tears fell again
"I'm just so happy, I can't control myself for a moment."
By the way, Hachiman."
Misumi Uika immediately took out her phone, unlocked the screen, and showed Hikigaya Hachiman her home screen.
"This photo is of us together. I remember Uncle Masaki took it."
When Misumi Uika showed Hikigaya Hachiman the photo, the girl's eyes were sparkling like stars, her tone and expression incredibly gentle.
She seemed to be cherishing the past and recalling the beauty of that time.
Hikigaya Hachiman heard his father's name, and the black-haired boy on the home screen was clearly his eight-year-old self. The blonde girl next to him, with boyishly short hair, must be Misumi Uika.
Well, the evidence was irrefutable now.
Hikigaya Hachiman's father, Masaki Hikigaya, was from Nagasaki Prefecture, and most of his relatives were in the Kujukushima area.
It was called Kujukushima (Ninety-Nine Islands), but it was actually composed of 208 islands. These islands were beautiful, with a pleasant climate, making them an ideal resort destination.
Hikigaya Hachiman speculated that he met her when he and his father went to visit relatives, after all, his father was one of the first men to leave the island and move to Chiba.
Before Hikigaya Hachiman was born, his father had already moved from the islands to Chiba.
Years ago, everyone lived on the islands; there were no "city folk."
But gradually realizing that life on the island was not very convenient, people stopped returning to live there and moved instead to the neighboring big cities to settle.
This meant that if contact information wasn't meticulously kept, childhood friends were mostly impossible to find later.
"And this photo, Komachi is in it too, look."
Misumi Uika treasured the photo albums she brought from home, which contained pictures with Hachiman, and she photographed every single one, saving them on her phone.
This way, she could look at them every day.
The reason Misumi Uika kept the photo of the two of them as her home screen was because on the back it said: Hachiman and Uika will be best friends forever.
"Komachi is so small."
Hikigaya Hachiman looked at the small figure in the photo. She was tiny and timidly clinging to his arm, completely different from her current lively self.
"I wonder if Komachi still remembers me?"
Misumi Uika's tone carried a touch of sadness.
Hikigaya Hachiman suddenly recalled that Komachi had mentioned something like it.
A friend she used to play with a lot when she was younger, but unfortunately, they hadn't kept contact information.
"Komachi is genuinely worried that her brother will never get married.
That blonde, short-haired tomboy who constantly clung to her idiot brother.
Hmph, you'd think she was your sister."
As Misumi Uika, with her magnificent face, smiled at him, Hikigaya Hachiman's heart inexplicably began to calm down.
"Komachi should still remember you, Miss Misumi. She mentioned you last time."
"It's just that I..."
"Just call me Uika, Hachiman."
Seeing her friend grown up and so successful, becoming a famous great author, Misumi Uika was truly relieved.
She was also particularly happy, even happier than when she successfully debuted herself.
She never considered asking Hachiman to intercede with their president.
It was useless. Her idol career was over.
After all, Misumi Uika had offended the Shinomiya Group, which boasted assets exceeding two trillion yen and over a thousand subsidiaries.
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