After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

"Xiao Ai, which older sister are you going to sleep with tonight?"

"Mmm, I'm fine with anyone!"

"Aww, how adorable. Come sleep in our tent tonight!"

"How can that be, Xiao Ai, come with your older sister."

"We came first!"

"No, Xiao Ai is ours!"

Ever since Komori Ai agreed to stay overnight, the schoolgirls surrounding her maintained this status quo for over ten minutes.

It seemed that being popular wasn't all good.

Kagura Hikaru ate his meal while sizing up Komori Ai, who sat not far across from him, holding skewers of grilled meat with both hands.

At that moment, she looked like a typical little girl.

Lively, cute, always smiling, with a bit of mischievousness.

She was the type that both adults and peers would adore.

If he hadn't glimpsed a corner of her mysterious core, perhaps Kagura Hikaru wouldn't have taken special notice of her.

Suddenly, the figure of Komori Ai disappeared from his view, leaving only a few girls continuing their quarrel, with someone else holding the skewer of meat she had been eating halfway.

Where did she go?

"Are you looking for me?"

Komori Ai's head suddenly peeked out from over his right shoulder.

Enchanting laughter echoed in his ears.

Her tiny body gently pressed against his back, its touch soft and pliable, as if boneless, and strikingly cold.

Kagura Hikaru suddenly realized that Komori Ai's body temperature seemed abnormally low, the coldness seeping through the clothes as if it could frost him over.

Her lovely, flawless face with a smile drew near, her empty, lifeless eyes staring at him.

She tilted her head, and her smooth, black hair cascaded down, covering her mouth, and draped over Kagura Hikaru's shoulder, lightly brushing past.

A snake.

For some reason, this image sprung up in his mind.

"[I am Komori Ai, everyone's nice, so happy.]"

"[I am Komori Ai, everyone's nice, so happy.]"

"[I am Komori Ai, everyone's nice, so happy.]"

"[You have gained through mind-reading: Origami +3]"

"[Origami lv4 (86/100)]"

The mind-reading content was different, yet similarly repetitive.

Along with different content, he saw the same bizarre imagery as before.

Komori Ai, even smaller than before, dressed in a black mourning dress.

A naked male lying on a long table, split open from chest to stomach, exposing his ribs, heart, and intestines.

A beam of white light.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Several adults dressed in black suits, faces obscured, kneeling in a Japanese-style room towards a certain direction.

What was this, after all, what on earth had he been forced to see....

What exactly was Komori Ai?

Kagura Hikaru clenched the barbecue skewer in his hand tighter, ready to defend himself.

This was the first time he had encountered such a strange, inscrutable character.

He could not sense any humanity from her; when the outer mask was peeled away, all that remained was an unfathomable void.

As if she could sense the surprise and suspicion leaking from his heart, Komori Ai's smile widened, her hollow eyes drew even closer, nearly touching Kagura Hikaru's face.

"As expected, you're different from the others, you can see me, how interesting~"

"What are you talking about, I don't understand,"

Kagura Hikaru feigned ignorance, his internal alarms sounding at their highest level.

What did she mean by "you can see me"?

Wasn't he supposed to see her?

"Hehehehe, so cute, I like you~"

Komori Ai laughed crisply, drawing even closer, her soft cheek gently scraping against Kagura Hikaru's face.

But there was nothing charming about it; instead, it gave Kagura Hikaru a disconcerting feeling of being treated as a pet, as an object.

Logically, someone should have noticed this side, with Komori Ai being so close, almost clinging to him.

However, everyone around them seemed to pretend this place didn't exist, their gazes conspicuously avoiding this spot.

Including Ayakoji Chiyoko, who was sitting next to him, and Kiryu Hina, who was sitting opposite him, and the other Discipline Committee members nearby as well.

They all turned a blind eye.

At Kagura Hikaru's feet lay an island of isolation.

He could feel Komori Ai's hands climbing up his back slowly, like a cold stream gradually engulfing him.

Her hands crept forward, reaching for his neck...

Kagura Hikaru couldn't stand it any longer, abruptly turned around, grabbed Komori Ai by the shoulders, and pushed her away.

Before he could speak, Komori Ai smiled and backed away from him, cheerfully skipping off on her own to tease other girls and scrounge for food and drinks.

Under the glow of the campfire, the red of her dress seemed to darken.

What a whimsical person.

Feeling the lingering chill on his back, Kagura Hikaru's gaze grew stern.

Komori Ai, what exactly was her purpose?

In the end, he didn't find another opportunity to interact with her before the party ended and everyone went to sleep in their tents.

Late at night, the lights of the campsite were extinguished one by one.

Everyone fell asleep successively. Explore more at empire

Kagura Hikaru could hear teachers patrolling outside, their steps rustling on the grass.

He laid down his final card, securing a crushing victory over the Gorilla Vice President and Miyamoto Shi, eliciting a chorus of groans.

The Gorilla Vice President said admiringly, "Kagura, you're too strong at playing cards, you haven't lost a single time!"

Miyamoto Shi covered his head, disgruntled, "Damn it! Let's play again, another round. I can definitely win this time!"

"Miyamoto, you'd best never touch gambling in the future," Kagura Hikaru said dryly as he gathered the cards and tossed them to Miyamoto Shi, "Let's go to sleep as well. I don't want to be reminded by the teachers."

"I agree," yawned the Gorilla Vice President, "Discipline Committee members have to maintain discipline both inside and outside the school."

"That's all well and good... but don't you guys want to play another round?"

"No way," they replied in unison.

"Tch~~"

Kagura Hikaru turned off the tent's light and crawled into his cozy sleeping bag.

Outside the campsite, faint sounds of insects could be heard intermittently.

Gradually, a light rain began to fall, its drops pattering against the tent fabric, producing a thudding noise.

Many people in the world use the sound of rain as a lullaby, even playing it to help themselves fall asleep.

Kagura Hikaru couldn't agree more.

He liked the rain, whether walking under an umbrella on a rainy day or watching the rain from indoors.

Listening to the rain while sleeping in a tent like this was a unique experience.

Lulled by the light rain, he drifted off into a dreamy slumber.

In his dream, he felt a gaze upon him.

He climbed over high mountains in search of the source of the gaze, only to discover on the other side a planet-sized, golden serpentine eye staring intently at him.

After what felt like ages, Kagura Hikaru woke up groggily.

He opened his eyes to find it was still night; the rain seemed to have stopped, and there was no sound of raindrops hitting the tent fabric.

He rubbed his eyes and was about to reach for his phone.

But then he saw something unexpected that made him freeze, his heart nearly stopping.

There was a shadow of a person outside the tent.

Long hair, petite, dressed in a dress that faintly shone a blood-like red.

That thing stood there silently, utterly still.

He had no idea how long it had been watching from there.

Kagura Hikaru took a deep breath and yanked open the tent zipper.

But when he lifted the flap, he found no one outside, just the indistinct moonlight and the smell of the earthy grass, washed clean by the rain.

A chill ran through him.

And until morning, Kagura Hikaru did not fall asleep again.