Actually, there was one thing Lin had been thinking about ever since he first met Yama.
Who exactly was she?
She told him she was Abaddon, Yama, but that name was merely something others had forced upon her, and he was only unilaterally receiving the information she provided. He hadn't dismissed the possibility that Yama was someone from the original world he hadn't met yet, but he later overturned this theory through a specific detail.
In the previous cycle—when he and Yama grew up as siblings and attended Chiba Academy together—she had walked toward Lin old classroom without a moment's hesitation.
Even if Yama could reconstruct the entire process of other information, including the Chairman, by investigating records and observing the Lin of parallel worlds, it was impossible for her to know which specific classroom Lin attended at Chiba Academy before it was destroyed during the Third Honkai. In fact, she herself was extremely familiar with Chiba Academy; her attitude of not even checking the room numbers showed she knew the layout of the entire school like the back of her hand.
It was also impossible for Yama to be some student Lin hadn't noticed. There were fewer than five survivors of the Third Honkai in all of Nagazora City. Excluding Kevin and Mei, he had met the remaining three, and they had all coincidentally chosen to return to normal society.
Who then was a survivor of Nagazora City who knew everything about Lin—even which classroom he sat in—yet hadn't been noticed by him?
Furthermore, Lin thought of a distant event. That incident had ended abruptly, and the process was extremely short, but Lin had remembered it nonetheless.
Lin followed Yama off the bus. After a short walk, they arrived at the school gates, and then Lin encountered his second problem.
"Wait a moment. Outsiders are not allowed during school hours."
Following the bus driver, the elderly gatekeeper blocked Lin. He could only watch helplessly as Yama walked into the school and, sensing something, glanced back at him.
"I am a student," Lin explained.
"You aren't wearing a uniform, you didn't bring a bag—which school's student are you?"
"...I forgot them."
"Student ID?"
"..."
Lin stood at the gate awkwardly. He wasn't foolish enough to search his pockets; he had already checked on the bus, and they were among the cleanest things in the world. As students passed by, they looked at him with curiosity; they were indeed amazed that someone with such looks would be here.
"I saw you staring at that little girl and following her all the way here. You think I can't tell? Back in the day, when I was in the army, my codename was Hawkeye, the sniper..." The gatekeeper held a teacup and, for some reason, began rambling at the rooted Lin. "I say, you're such a handsome lad, why act all shady like a stalker? Why not just go up and talk to the girl? No, wait, with your looks, why do you have to go for students? Do men nowadays all like schoolgirls? Though, when I was young, I was actually quite like you..."
Why hadn't Lin noticed before that the gatekeeper at his school was so talkative? More importantly, he wanted to leave and find another place to climb over the wall, but he was held back by the gatekeeper's chatter. Now he could neither advance nor retreat, stuck listening to the old man's stories.
Of course, if Lin wanted to leave, no one could stop him. But it was already class time; even if Lin went in, he would likely only see Yama sitting in a classroom.
"You're a decent kid, listening to me for so long." Finally, the gatekeeper finished his glorious history—from his ominous birth to joining the military, then to his "Dragon Field Enlightenment" and taking the shortcut of becoming a security guard. He told it so vividly it was like an epic. He was tired from talking. "But you're a bit too ignorant of how the world works. Be a bit sharper next time."
"...Sharper?"
The old man smiled and said nothing. Instead, he took a cigarette from his jacket pocket and put it in his mouth. Lin saw various brands of cigarettes in that pocket and immediately understood his meaning.
Had he always been this "ignorant of the ways of the world"?
"Alright, what were you coming in for again?"
"To see my sister."
"You should have said so earlier. Guardians only need to register to enter. What's your sister's name?" The old man shuffled into the booth, pressed a few keys on the computer to bring up a student list, and typed clumsily with two fingers.
Lin hesitated for a moment and said, "Yama."
"Yama..." The old man muttered the strange name and entered it into the search bar.
After a while, the old man didn't speak. Instead, he looked at him with a meaningful gaze that screamed, "Just confess already."
"Young man, you didn't think you could just make up a name and get lucky, did you?"
No name... as expected.
"I remembered the wrong school..." Lin turned to leave just as the school bell rang. The last period had ended.
Thus, his feet felt glued to the ground again. He waited quietly for Yama to come out.
The old man sighed and shook his head, already convinced he had his eye on a girl in the school: "Don't interfere with her studies, alright? And no matter how handsome you are, if a girl doesn't like you, she doesn't like you. Don't force it."
Lin had no desire to argue. If he remembered correctly...
He didn't have to wait long. Rather, he knew Yama would be among the first batch to leave the school.
"I went back and practiced hard yesterday. Today, I'll wipe away my shame..."
"But I crushed you with one hand yesterday without even moving the joystick. Today I'll only use two hands..."
Two people walked out laughing and chatting. They were no different from the other students rushing to go shopping or play games. The only thing slightly different was that their pair consisted of one boy and one girl, but their tone was that of two buddies heading to the arcade.
Their hair colors were similar—both nearly snow-white—though the girl's was more of a transparent silver. The boy's expression and words were very cheerful, while the girl's were slightly plain.
Upon noticing the person standing at the school gate, the girl hesitated and stopped.
"What is it?"
"That person..." As the girl saw him, the man discovered her as well. She frowned and walked into a nearby shadow. "I helped him pay his bus fare at noon. He followed me all the way to school and still hasn't left."
"A stalker?" The boy reacted instantly, looking at the man with ill intent. "Figures. It would be stranger if you didn't have a stalker."
"...Don't talk nonsense."
The girl did not agree with the "stalker" label. She felt the man's gaze was sharp, and his whole being had an unusual aura. Besides, he wasn't acting in a sneaky manner. He was standing at the gate openly, certain she would show up.
"...Let's go."
After thinking it over, the girl led the boy forward. The man watched them approach with composure.
The boy stared at the man warily: "Who are you? What do you want with Lin?"
The boy's name was Kevin. And the girl... was Lin.