Chapter 447: The Invisible Boundary Line
Chapter 447: The Invisible Boundary Line
“Huh? You… you know me?”
Know?
More than that!
We even bathed together!
Although that was using Rikka’s body…
Of course, Himekoji Tadashi knew he absolutely couldn’t say these things.
So, when faced with Touka’s question, he also froze for a second.
This single moment of hesitation instantly made Touka suspicious—
“Speak! How do you know my name?”
Touka’s scrutinizing gaze stabbed towards Himekoji, sharp and aggressive.
“I’m Rikka’s frien… classmate! Ri-, right! Rikka? I’m here to find Rikka!”
“R-, Rikka?”
When Himekoji mentioned Rikka, the icy expression Touka had maintained until now trembled.
“You know Rikka?”
With a “splash!”, the black-haired, red-eyed beautiful big sister surged through the water right up to Himekoji, grabbing his shoulders firmly and shaking him hard.
She even forgot they weren’t wearing anything right now.
The more mature curves compared to Rikka rocked visibly, those white, rounded things requiring mosaic bouncing above the water before vanishing below again, the surface blooming with strange ripples.
Luckily, the hot spring was filled with steam. Unintentionally, Himekoji only saw vague outlines.
He hurriedly looked away, his cheeks red and burning hot. He pressed both hands downward hard.
If he didn’t press down, a certain part of him might also have jumped out of the water and required mosaic…
Because it was too long…
…
“Of course I know! We came specifically to find her!”
He couldn’t tell that Touka’s slim and slender body contained so much strength. Shaken hard by Touka, Himekoji soon felt dizzy and disoriented. He struggled free and answered quickly.
“We?”
“Mmm…”
Himekoji finally broke free from Touka’s grasp, gasping for breath as dizziness washed over him.
Touka also gradually calmed down.
“Are you from outside?”
As if remembering something, her expression became complicated again. Touka studied Himekoji carefully for a moment, then suddenly took two steps back. Her whole body sank wearily under the water, leaving only a face stunningly similar to Rikka’s above the surface.
“Outside?”
Himekoji repeated the word, then instinctively looked up towards the direction he had jumped down from earlier.
“Huh?”
He couldn’t help letting out a shocked gasp.
Those tall, straight, sky-blocking giant trees… where were they? They were gone!
“You’d best hurry back!”
Touka said gravely, each word clear.
“I haven’t seen Rikka yet.”
“There is no Rikka!”
Her voice, usually clear and pleasant, now sounded sharp and strained even.
Touka stared at Himekoji with utmost seriousness.
“I…”
Himekoji was about to continue, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he was abruptly cut off by an alarm sound.
The alarm was set early on Touka’s phone.
“Time already?”
Touka, clutching her phone tightly, muttered distractedly.
Then, not caring that Himekoji was still nearby, she swiftly rose from the hot spring.
“Leave this place! Before dark!”
Throwing those words over her shoulder without looking back, Touka’s bare body dripped wetly as she scurried towards the changing room, seemingly oblivious.
…
Leave this place?
How could he?
Even if he left, it would be after he found Rikka!
Himekoji quickly got out of the hot spring after her. Having no clothes to wear, he wrapped himself in a random bathrobe and marched briskly after Touka.
After the Clothing Explosion, his phone, his only communication tool, had remained clutched in his hand.
He took a moment to glance at it now and found it actually had a signal again.
He wanted to inform Yukinoshita and the others about his situation, but the call couldn’t get through.
“Whatever, I’ll tell them later.”
Himekoji sighed, putting his phone away.
Right now, catching up to Touka was clearly more important.
Himekoji didn’t understand why Touka would say something so baffling like “There is no Rikka.”
He couldn’t make sense of it.
Could her memories as an older sister also have been affected, making her forget Rikka’s existence?
But looking at her reaction at the time, that didn’t seem to be it.
She clearly cared deeply about that name.
Anyway, first catch up!
Himekoji clutched Touka’s underwear tightly in his hand, sniffing seriously to distinguish the scent.
He took two careful sniffs with his nose.
“Should be that way! The scent is stronger over there!”
Damn it!
If only he had Rikka’s underwear right now!
Would he need to go through this much trouble?
Seriously! Why hadn’t he thought of collecting a spare beforehand?
Luckily, he managed to take Touka’s underwear earlier when he went to the changing room to help fetch her phone. Call it professionalism?
Anyway, it was a huge help at this critical moment.
…
One dashed forward with huge strides, three strides combined into two, running wildly once he knew the direction.
The other, wearing a short skirt and missing her underwear, couldn’t move very fast at all.
So, within moments—
“Touka-nee!”
Finally spotted her!
Himekoji sped up again, practically sprinting, and finally caught up.
“Why did you follow me? Didn’t I tell you to leave?”
Touka, hearing Himekoji’s voice, turned around and looked flustered upon seeing him.
“No, no… you dropped your underwear. I came to return it…”
Running flat out was too much even for Himekoji. Panting heavily, he nevertheless held out the cute white piece of fabric in both hands, offering it to her.
Judging by her outward appearance, she seemed like the cold, distant big-sister type. Who would have guessed her underwear took such an unexpectedly cute and pure route?
“You!”
Touka was clearly taken aback by Himekoji’s audacity. She froze for a second, then seemed to remember something, snatching the underwear from his hands.
“Fine! I got it! Now hurry and leave! Immediately! At once!”
She stressed this heavily, yet her eyes kept darting uncontrollably towards a street corner.
“Understood, understood.”
Himekoji smiled carelessly on the surface, but inside he was far from carefree.
A bad feeling had been creeping over him for a while now, a nervous twitch in his eyebrow.
He had definitely noticed the direction Touka kept glancing.
What could possibly be there?
Himekoji took a step towards the street corner.
Touka instantly moved to block him, alert.
“The way back is over there!”
“Oh? Right.”
He tried to sound casual, but couldn’t manage a relaxed smile.
Because, just then, he heard Rikka’s voice—
“Reality, shatter!”
“Spirit, crush!”
“Displace this world!”
No mistake, it was Rikka!
Instantly, nothing else mattered. In his urgency, Himekoji roughly shoved past Touka’s barrier.
Then…
saw the scene that made him freeze in place.
…