Chapter 96 - First Sharing Of Secret (Part 1) | Re:Library

After I recovered from my brain blanking out, I tried thinking about how Kaori realized it. Maybe it’s because I never tried to act like Kotone to begin with. There’s so many reasons that come to my mind, I don’t know which it could be.

“Koto-chan, what’s wrong?”
“A friend realized my inside situation.”
“That’s quite the problem.”

And yet Ran doesn’t sound particularly alarmed at all. Well, I’m no different, I knew that a friend or acquaintance would question me someday. Just as I said before, I didn’t really try to hide it. Rather, I’m surprised no one questioned it up until now.

“I knew this would happen sooner or later.”
“So, what will you do? Hide?”
“No need to do that. Can I call her to this room?”

If it was a complete stranger, I would just play dumb. However, this time it’s Kaori. I understand best that she’s a trustworthy individual. If this causes her to hate me, then it can’t be helped. It’s an issue I should resolve.

“What’s the name of this room?”
“The Kogiku Room. If she can’t find it, tell her to ask the staff people.”

Not every lodging assign their rooms by numbers. All the rooms here are based on flower names, so it’s hard to navigate. That’s why it’s best to just ask employees. I’ll also have to find a guide when I go back.

{I’ll answer your question, come to the Kogiku Room. If you can’t find it, you can ask the staff people, I hear.}

And replied. Maybe she won’t even come here. But even if she just sent it out of fleeting curiosity, this reply should get her full interest. All that’s left is how I’ll explain it to her. Up until now, I didn’t really need to do any explaining, after all.

“You need our support?”
“Ran, watch over Ayaka. Any careless words could just make things complicated.”
“Understood.”
“Okay, then it’s time to drink!”

In the end, even though it’s a serious situation, the room’s mood hasn’t changed at all. Thanks to my various experiences in high school, I’ve cultivated the composure to be unfazed by most things. The teachers who couldn’t do so suffered constant stomach aches.

“Koto-chan, offering you to drink would be bad, right?”
“I’m a minor. It may be a field trip, but there’s things that you shouldn’t do.”

Comply with the law. Even in the past, we did it. One thing we made sure to do is absolutely not get the police involved. It’s thanks to this that even though we’re problem children, we didn’t gain too much infamy. Other than that, keeping our grades high.

“In that case, let me give you something to make you feel like you’re drinking.”

It looks like beer at first glance. After the bubbling stopped, it’s just plain juice but when put among alcohol, sometimes it just blends in. You can identify it from the taste, though. Since it’s sweet. They have some finger foods, so I guess they planned to drink from the start.

“Like this, we just look like office ladies gathered for drinks.”
“Appearance wise, that is. I’ve gotten used to not being seen as a minor at this point. I blended in with no issues when I went to the pub, after all.”
“You drank alcohol?”

Ran’s eyes scare me. She’s the strictest about these kinds of stuff. That’s why people call her Class Prez, but she admitted that she didn’t realize it that time. She’s among the rare few with a good conscience, everyone cherished her.

“Like I would. I came along under the request of a certain person. Naturally, I feasted for dinner as a compensation.”
“I trust you on that. You’ve always been levelheaded in those kinds of situations, after all. Oh, it seems like your friend’s arrived.”

The knock was so light I wouldn’t have noticed if we were fooling around. So she’s being reserved, I suppose. To begin with, she shouldn’t know why I’m here right now. Unless she asked Harumi or something.

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“Feel free to come in.”
“Why did you change?”

With how she found my clothes weird, I guess she saw me somewhere earlier. I just replied with a strained smile. Since I can’t be bothered to explain the reason. This room’s residents just wanted to show me off.

“Well, sit down. You can ignore those two over there. They’re going to approach later anyways.”
“You sound pretty chummy with them.”

Just as I thought, it seems like Kaori’s feeling suspicious of me. To begin with, she doesn’t know that Ayaka, Ran, and I share something in common. In other words, she knows that I’ve never met them as Kotone. Naturally, her parents would have told her if a celebrity came to their shop, after all.

“So about that message earlier…”
“The one I sent by mistake, yeah. I know it’s weird to say when I wrote it myself, but there’s just no way, right?”

True, my appearance and family officially prove that I’m real, so there’s no chance that it’s not the case. Thinking about it realistically, that is. But I’m living through an unrealistic experience. That’s why explaining it will be useless. Because even I want to know the reason.

“I’m not really keeping it a secret, so I’ll answer honestly. I’m none other than Kisaragi Kotone.”
“I know, right? I’m just being weird.”
“On the outside, that is.”

She’s got question marks all over her face. A normal thinker wouldn’t easily come up with the idea that a person’s inside got swapped out. The two who are drinking while observing us from a distance are just strange. Ran is still on the decent side, though.

“It’s different on the inside. Inside is a 23 year old man named Okita Souji. By some twist of fate, I’m inside Kisaragi Kotone for some unknown reason.”
“What are you on? Are you just messing with me?”

I’m completely serious. The age is the one I had when I died. And three years, and you get the ones for the other two in this room. They’ll likely take revenge if I expose their ages, so I’ll keep my mouth shut.

I see. She probably felt the same thing when I was with Isami and the others. A student casually rebutting an active musician is already weird enough. It’s just the norm for me, but naturally it’s different for Kotone. It’s just three years, it’s easy to hide.

“I’m serious with my answer to your question. And now let me ask, what was it that felt off to you?”

I stayed true to myself ever since the beginning. People only feel something is amiss when things are different from the usual. Other than the unexpected meeting with Ayaka and Ran, there shouldn’t be anything unusual about me.

“I saw you together with those two people. Only from behind. For some reason it felt to me like you just fit too perfectly with them. And that caused me to send that weird message. I really intended to erase it, but I pressed send by mistake.”
“They’re old classmates I used to mess around with. Moreover, they’re weirdos who understand who I am on the inside at first look.”
“It’s different for me.”