In Aragaki Ayase's eyes, Aragaki Miyahito was her all-capable older brother.
In the eyes of the Aragaki couple, he was the son they were most proud of.
To Nakamura Maki, he was a brilliantly gifted musician and singer.
To his middle school classmates, he was the most reliable class president, someone they all deeply trusted.
But only he himself knew the truth.
Aragaki Miyahito wasn't the sunshine, endlessly energetic protagonist who seemed unbreakable in the eyes of his family and friends.
Aragaki Miyahito... was just a cowardly, pessimistic child, hopelessly trapped in the past, unable to let go.
But it wasn't entirely incomprehensible.
After all, if someone lost their parents at a young age, survived only to be diagnosed with a terminal illness on their 16th birthday, and spent their final days surrounded only by music, anime, endless pills, and IV drips... it was only by sheer luck that this life's Aragaki Miyahito was blessed with the Aragaki parents and the lovely Ayase.
Without them, the Aragaki Miyahito of today might never have existed.
But they were family. The love and warmth they gave him only allowed him to temporarily bury the pessimism buried deep within.
Temporary forgetting doesn't mean letting go.
Once, when Miyahito released The Reason I Wanted to Die under his "Miyani" alias, Maki and countless fans had wondered: Could such a heavy, profound song really be written by a kid his age?
At the time, when Maki asked him, Miyahito had simply smiled and joked:
"Yeah, maybe my past life was an orphan who got a terminal illness at 16 and died alone in a hospital bed?"
Hearing his explanation, Maki had just laughed and playfully punched his shoulder, treating it like the ramblings of a chuunibyou kid.
She never took it seriously. And why would she? As a modern person, concepts like "past lives" or "fate" were just fiction. Plus, he was at that age where boys love to fantasize. It fit the chuunibyou trope perfectly.
"I was being too narrow-minded," Maki had later apologized seriously after thinking it over. "Talent shouldn't be limited by age or experience. I look forward to more amazing works from Miyani."
Miyahito had just smiled and nodded.
Back then, neither he, nor Maki, nor his parents or sister sitting on the guest sofa realized the fleeting loneliness that crossed his face.
But as he gradually brought song after song from his past life into this world, the dark pessimism buried in his heart slowly faded into the background.
However, there was one thing—or rather, one person—he could never forget.
If every boy carries the silhouette of a girl in his heart who holds all his most beautiful memories, then the girl who accompanied the past-life Miyahito through his final journey in a virtual world was the unreachable regret he could never let go of.
Looking at it objectively, Miyahito was a deeply flawed reincarnator.
With his current identity, becoming a guy surrounded by loving girls wouldn't have been an impossible fantasy.
Yet, for a flower that might have already bloomed for someone else, he willingly abandoned the entire mountain of blossoms right in front of him.
He really... was a sentimental, stubborn fool.
And a coward who could show immense responsibility and courage in everything else, but couldn't utter a single word when faced with his own "white moonlight."
But that was just Aragaki Miyahito.
A pretentious, sentimental, cowardly kid.
.....
Late afternoon. After school.
"Miyahito, wait up."
Noticing Miyahito packing his bag, and having just been chatting with Yoshikawa Yuki about grabbing food before heading home, Ishikawa Tooru turned to him.
"Wanna come?"
Hearing those two words, Miyahito's reaction was almost like a conditioned reflex, rehearsed a thousand times.
He swung his backpack over his shoulder and instantly replied without a second thought.
"Yeah."
Wait, wait, wait.
You're not even gonna ask where?
Eyes wide, looking slightly bewildered at the two boys who had just sealed a plan in four words total, Yoshikawa Yuki gently tugged Hori Kyoko's sleeve and whispered,
"Do boys always do this, desu?"
"Who knows."
Kyoko sighed, shaking her head helplessly.
She'd heard girls with boyfriends in middle school say that "guys can make plans in under two sentences," but honestly, this was her first time actually seeing it happen.
"Kyoko, you coming?"
"I'll pass."
"Eh... alright then."
...
After eating their fill, the "after-school food trio" parted ways to head home.
Since Miyahito's route didn't align with the others, the duty of walking Yoshikawa Yuki home fell to Ishikawa Tooru.
After telling Ishikawa to make sure he got her home safely, Miyahito watched them disappear into the subway station, then turned to walk home himself.
Less than ten minutes later, he was already at his door.
Good thing I picked a place so close to the station.
Changing out of his shoes in the genkan, Miyahito dragged his exhausted body—weighed down by half a day of classes and a mountain of opening-ceremony paperwork—into the living room.
"Ahh... I'm dead..."
Collapsing onto the sofa, staring up at the ceiling lights with his eyes closed, Miyahito let out a weary sigh.
Then, he fell silent.
"A lot really happened today."
A friendly class.
Great new friends.
Good facilities, nice teachers, friendly upperclassmen and seniors.
But most importantly... he finally met the girl who had only existed in his past-life fantasies... the one he loved.
No one could imagine how, in his past life, tormented by illness to the brink of madness... he could only survive treatment after treatment by imagining a beautiful future with her.
Because you were here.
What exactly did that memory bring to Aragaki Miyahito? No one knew.
Even now, Ayase and the Aragaki parents still didn't understand why their son had been so fiercely adamant about coming to Toyogasaki.
It wasn't that Toyogasaki was a bad school, but they just couldn't grasp his absolute resolve.
In reality, the reasons weren't overly complicated. One was what he'd already said: "Toyogasaki is freer."
The other reason... was because she was here.
Before coming, Miyahito had wondered if he might get the chance to enter Kasumigaoka Utaha's world before that guy did.
And now, he had indeed met her earlier... but it wasn't just a little earlier.
Everything had moved forward.
Utaha, who was supposed to debut as a light novel author in her second year of high school, had already written Love's Metronome in middle school.
The guy who was supposed to meet her later than Miyahito had already crossed paths with her not long ago, at a signing event that played out like a scripted scene.
Time and reality had shifted in many ways, yet somehow, nothing had changed at all.
"What kind of reincarnator ends up like me?"
Look at him, sprawled out on the couch.
Doesn't he look like a kicked dog?
Raising an arm to cover his eyes, Miyahito rolled over, his body unconsciously curling up on the sofa.
"I really am a failure."
As his voice faded, the living room fell into the expected silence.
Ten minutes? Twenty?
"Yosh!"
Suddenly shooting up from the sofa, Aragaki Miyahito's face broke into a wildly exuberant grin.
"From today on! I will become the Harem King!"
"If I don't pluck a single flower..."
"I'll bring back the entire damn field!"
".....Ahahahaha..."
Gradually, the laughter in the room died down.
Until silence reclaimed the space once more...
"I still... still..."
...can't help but feel so unwilling to let go.
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