Chapter 7

It was a memory that wasn’t all that old for Ryuichi.
Back before he recovered his memories, while wandering aimlessly through the nightlife district one night, he had spotted a single, beautiful woman. Ryuichi had approached the woman as she walked alone with sorrowful eyes.

“Hey, what’s a beauty like you doing walking around looking all lonely on a night like this?”
“You are…”

Well, it was nothing more than a simple pickup.
For Ryuichi, what colored the night was an assignation with a beautiful woman, and burning through the hours intertwined with her in bed. So on that day, too, Ryuichi was simply searching for a woman who would play along.

“If you don’t mind, would you let me listen to your troubles? At a place around here.”
“…Fufu, I suppose so. On a lonely night like this, maybe I’ll let a handsome man who spoke to me listen to what I have to say.”

Listening was just a pretext, but the woman had nodded to Ryuichi’s words fully understanding that.
The place Ryuichi brought her to was his favorite bar, run by a manager who let him do as he pleased, even though he was still just a high schooler prone to wild behavior.
It wasn’t just the seating area for regular customers to eat; there were private rooms tucked away in the back specifically prepared for that kind of purpose, and Ryuichi had used them on multiple occasions.

“Yo, Master, get a tasty drink for the beauty here.”
“Still pulling girls, are you? Listen here, miss, you better get out while you can. That guy’s only after one thing: eating you up.”
“Fufu, thank you for your concern. But tonight, I thought I’d like to be healed by his warmth.”
“…Is that so? Then I won’t say another word.”

The manager must have sensed something about the woman and decided to leave the rest up to Ryuichi’s discretion.
Since Ryuichi was still a minor, he couldn’t drink alcohol yet; one would expect him to ignore the rule and drink anyway, but on that front, he had been strictly well-behaved. The woman drank several glasses, and once she was in a pleasantly buzzed mood, Ryuichi led her to the room in the back.

“Ah…♪”

Ryuichi gathered the woman, who exuded an adult allure, into his muscular arms. The woman had looked somewhat surprised, but she immediately pressed her hands against Ryuichi’s arms and let out a bittersweet sigh.

“It was quite a few years ago now. I lost my husband… And so, there are days like today when I feel unbearably lonely. I have a daughter, so when she’s home, I don’t feel lonely. But tonight, she went over to a friend’s house, you see.”
“I see. So you got lonely and decided to wander the night streets.”
“It’s not like I went out hoping someone would keep me company. I only thought about having a quick drink and heading back, but then you found me♪”

The woman turned around and kissed Ryuichi on the lips.
He was used to kissing, but even Ryuichi was startled by a kiss this sudden. Not wanting to just stand there and take it, Ryuichi matched her eagerly, their tongues tangling together.

“You’re good at this.”
“Well, yeah. I’m fairly confident when it comes to handling women. Don’t worry, I’ll never let you have a bad night.”

Getting completely lost in the moment, they repeated their kisses and Ryuichi pushed the woman down onto the bed. Given that she had a daughter, she was probably around her mid-thirties, but her body possessed a charm that didn’t lose out to the college-aged women Ryuichi usually went for.

“Being held in your arms makes me feel so at ease. You’re a bit rough, maybe even a little forceful, but my body is practically begging you to ruin it completely.”
“I’m honored. In that case… oh, right. Mind if we exchange names? A fake name is totally fine, you know.”
“…I suppose you’re right.”
“The manager called me Ryuichi just now. And you?”
“Sakie.”
“Got it. Well then Sakie, let’s love each other to our heart’s content.”
“Yes♪”

“…Ugh?”
“Oh, you finally awake, Ryuichi?”
“…Makoto?”

Letting out a dazed voice, Ryuichi blinked his eyes open.
Looking around his surroundings, he found himself in a school classroom, with plenty of students still lingering inside. Well, that was only natural, since it was still a regular break time between classes.

“Did I fall asleep?”
“Out like a light, man. Even the teacher gave up on trying to wake you up.”
“…Is that so? Guess I caused some trouble.”

Unlike his old self, the current Ryuichi was a boy who properly reflected on his actions. Makoto looked utterly startled, as if to say, Are you kidding me? Knowing the meaning behind that expression, Ryuichi let out a disgruntled snort.

“You’ve seriously changed, you know that? You’ve got ridiculous brainpower so the teachers don’t say a damn thing, and even if your class attitude sucks, your test scores are great so it’s a total net zero.”
“Same goes for you.”
“I don’t sleep in class!”
“…Grk.”

It was true that Makoto didn’t sleep during lessons; he mostly spent his time secretly messaging girls, but apparently, he made sure not to get caught, so it wasn’t an issue.

“That was… a nostalgic dream.”

It was the memory of a passionate night with a widowed woman named Sakie whom he had spotted wandering around the night streets long ago. Ryuichi hadn’t seen her since back then, but with a woman that beautiful, she was probably already remarried and building a happy family.

“Ah, right. Sakie kind of looked like Rindo.”

The happy reaction she gave when embraced by Ryuichi, and the gestures she made back then—the two of them shared quite a few striking similarities. Come to think of it, their facial features were also remarkably alike… Could they possibly be mother and daughter? Ryuichi briefly entertained the thought before giving a dry laugh at the sheer absurdity of it.

“You slept soundly, didn’t you, Shishido-kun?”
“Yeah… Yawn… Oh?”
“What is it? Staring at me with your mouth wide open like that.”

It was because Shizuna was standing right next to him as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Unless Ryuichi’s sleep-addled brain was playing tricks on him, she hadn’t been there while he was talking to Makoto just moments ago. In other words, she had slipped over to his side without him noticing… causing Ryuichi to slide his chair away just a fraction to put some distance between them.

“I know I shouldn’t have snuck up on you in silence, but don’t you think you’re overdoing it with the fear?”
“I’m not scared. I just thought it was creepy.”
“That’s even meaner!”

A loud voice ringing through his post-nap head made Ryuichi frown in irritation.

“Seriously, what is going on with you two? When did you get so damn close?”
“You think so? We just had a few things happen.”
“And that is the exact part I’m curious about!”
“Shut up and mind your own business.”

Waving his hand to shoo him away like a pest, Ryuichi watched as Makoto walked off with a chuckle.
Makoto could never resist anything entertaining and seemed endlessly eager to pry into Ryuichi’s changes, which honestly made things a real pain. On top of that, he never knew when Shizuna might accidentally slip up right next to him.

“So? Did you need something?”
“There wasn’t any specific reason… Is it bad that I just wanted to talk to you?”
“Not… bad, exactly.”

It would be easy to reject her just to avoid the hassle, but making her sad didn’t sit right with him either, and he didn’t want the surrounding students whispering about what his deal was. He briefly wondered if recovering his memories had made him go soft, but he figured it was just a natural shift in his mindset.

“Are you worried about what people are saying with those rumors?”
“Wouldn’t you be?”
“Hmm, at least the people around me… right?”

With that, Shizuna turned her gaze toward her group of friends.
The girls who had only briefly spoken to him after coming back from the restroom earlier gave him a cheerful wave the moment his eyes met theirs. It seemed that little interaction from before had worked wonders in a positive direction.

“…?”

Noticing a gaze fixed on them, Ryuichi looked over and saw Shizuna’s childhood friend, Souhei, staring intently at them. The moment their eyes met, Souhei quickly averted his gaze, though it was painfully obvious that he was deeply bothered by Shizuna hanging around with him.

“Ah, Souhei-kun…”
“He looks super invested in you talking to a guy like me.”
“I wonder why. I’m just interacting with Shishido-kun normally, the same as anyone else.”

That meant people still couldn’t accept that “normal” given everything in the past.
Even so, Ryuichi cast a subtle, sideways glance at Shizuna’s face to make sure she didn’t notice. In the manga, whenever she looked at Souhei, her face was always filled with smiles. Yet, the expression Shizuna wore as she looked at Souhei right now seemed to carry a mixture of resignation and disappointment.

“Oh, right, Shishido-kun.”
“What?”
“Would you mind exchanging contact info with me?”

Once more, Shizuna slipped her way deeper into Ryuichi’s inner circle.