Chapter 440: The Rikka Who Never Was
Chapter 440: The Rikka Who Never Was
“Who is Rikka?”
The first to ask this was Yuigahama.
Meeting Yuigahama’s confused gaze, Yukinoshita and Himekoji both shook their heads.
Yukinoshita tried hard. She frowned, thinking deeply, yet no memory connected to that name surfaced.
Finally, she gave up and let out a sigh—
“Whoosh… doesn’t ring a bell.”
Worried this sounded rude, Yukinoshita Yukino shot an apologetic glance toward Hanjo Ayame.
“I see…”
Hanjo Ayame’s expression said “as expected,” her narrow shoulders visibly drooping.
Disappointment, loss, and helplessness clung heavily to her voice.
“It’s okay, it’s fine!”
The kind-hearted Yuigahama rushed forward to comfort her.
“No matter who Rikka is, we’ll definitely help you find her.”
Yuigahama clenched her small fist, full of determination. She couldn’t bear seeing others sad and wanted Hanjo Ayame to cheer up quickly.
“It’s pointless… Maybe she really can’t be found…”
Hanjo Ayame lifted her head, and everyone gasped at the dullness in her eyes.
How much despair must someone feel to look like that?
The atmosphere in the Service Club became heavy.
No one spoke for quite some time.
The one who broke the silence was Hikigaya, who had been watching coldly since Hanjo brought up Rikka’s name.
She chose this moment to speak—
“Rikka? You mean Takanashi Rikka?”
“You know her?!”
At Hikigaya’s words, light flashed in Hanjo Ayame’s eyes. She whipped her head around at a startlingly sharp angle to stare at the speaker.
Her head tilted so far it seemed almost perpendicular.
Her excitement was that intense.
“Yeah, I know of her. According to her profile, she’s 16 years old, height 150cm, weight 47kg, measurements 80-58-80…”
“Huh?! Measurements?! Hikki, you know this way too clearly! Way too well!”
Yuigahama’s eyes bulged. She found Hikigaya casually reciting such data unsettling and instinctively shrank closer to Yukinoshita.
“She actually has an 80…”
Then, she heard Yukinoshita muttering softly to herself.
Only 80? Why “actually”?
Yuigahama couldn’t understand Yukinoshita’s choice of words.
Ignoring Yuigahama’s interruption, Hikigaya continued—
“She always wears an eye patch on her right eye, has a bandage wrapped on her left hand, likes Gothic belts and black thigh-high stockings. She’s petite, with pale skin, a real beauty.”
“Yes! Yes! Exactly! Rikka! It’s Rikka!”
Finally hearing a real piece of information about Rikka, the excited Hanjo Ayame lost control. She lunged forward, grabbing Hikigaya’s hands in a tight, unbreakable grip.
She squeezed so tightly.
Like a thin ray of hope found deep within a dark crevice, one she absolutely refused to let go of.
But Hikigaya’s face remained expressionless.
Noticing this, Himekoji felt a sudden surge of strange anxiety and dread.
An oppressive feeling. He didn’t know where it came from, only that he’d felt restless since hearing the name “Rikka.”
So, he finally spoke up—
“Um… Hikigaya. What do you mean by ‘according to her profile’?”
Profile.
Himekoji latched onto that word.
Seeing Hikigaya’s tightly controlled expression throughout all this made him unable to ignore it.
Hikigaya’s seriousness seemed to clash jarringly with Hanjo Ayame’s hope and excitement.
Hikigaya let out an almost invisible sigh before answering Himekoji—
“Exactly what it means.”
She glanced at Hanjo Ayame, her gaze half pitying, half reluctant.
“Hanjo-san, I’ve heard about your situation recently. I’m truly sorry, but you need to accept reality – Takanashi Rikka never existed. She’s just a character you created. A fictional character.”
“Huh?”
Hikigaya’s words shocked Hanjo, Yuigahama, and Yukinoshita all at once.
“Hikki, what are you talking about?” Yuigahama was the first to speak, frowning in confusion. “A non-existent person? How? You just rattled off her measurements a second ago!”
“Those measurements are part of Hanjo-san’s own setting. I’m just repeating rumors I heard,” Hikigaya explained, giving Yuigahama a puzzled look.
She wondered – shouldn’t Yuigahama, who had wider school social circles, know these rumors better?
“So… you’re saying she’s… that I made Rikka up?”
The hands clutching Hikigaya suddenly lost their strength. They fell limply under gravity’s pull.
The girl plunged back into despair, sinking into darkness as thick as ink.
“Is it… that girl? The one with the delusions?” Yukinoshita seemed to recall something. While she usually ignored gossip, she inevitably overheard things.
“Mmm.” Hikigaya nodded wordlessly.
“Alas.” Yukinoshita sighed. There was little she could do now. She stood up, quietly refilling Hanjo Ayame’s teacup.
Even she knew this wouldn’t ease the other girl’s pain.
Hanjo Ayame slumped to the floor. Yuigahama knelt beside her, holding her shoulders tenderly, murmuring words of comfort.
Himekoji stood silently, watching, but a thick sense of unreality kept wrapping around his heart.
Takanashi Rikka… a fictional character?
Hanjo Ayame… a delusional patient?
No…
No!
Something is definitely wrong!
A frantic inner voice screamed inside him.
But what was wrong?
Damn it!
Himekoji pounded his forehead hard.
“Rikka… Rikka… Rikka…”
He kept chanting the name to himself. Familiar, yet strange.
“Rikka… Rikka… Rikka…”
Hanjo Ayame’s lips formed the same name.
Their voices overlapped.
Hanjo Ayame’s head turned mechanically towards Himekoji.
Grey, lifeless eyes suddenly sparked with light!
“Right! That’s it! Himekoji! If it’s you! If it’s you! You must remember Rikka, right?!”
The girl, still sitting crumpled, grabbed Himekoji’s belt like it was her only lifeline.
She looked up, hope warring with fear in her teary, reddened eyes meeting Himekoji’s from below.
“Me?”
The sense of wrongness, the fear… peaked at this moment.
“Yes! Because—”
“Because Rikka always said… you were her Contractor!”
“The Demon King Hero who would save her, no matter what.”
…
…