Hakuto felt a little helpless. Sometimes, he could be quite stubborn, but it seemed that Nao really couldn't tell whether he was being sincere or not!
"Ugh... whatever, whatever. I'm in a good mood today, so I won't argue with you."
"Huh?"
For the sake of the earrings, Hakuto chose not to argue with Nao.
But after a while, he regretted it...
"This is unbearable... No one told me that getting my ears pierced in the summer would be this painful!"
"Huh? So the ones you were wearing earlier were clip-on earrings?"
"What else?" Hakuto said irritably. "We've been around each other for so many days. Have you ever seen a hole in my earlobes? Do you even know how painful it is when a fresh piercing gets infected?"
In his previous life, Hakuto had gotten his ears pierced, and even in colder weather, it had still gotten infected, oozing pus—completely unbearable!
Besides, clip-on earrings worked just fine, so this time around, he hadn't bothered with a piercing.
"Then why did you get them pierced now?"
"Because, Madam President, you gave me earrings. I can't just let your gift go to waste, can I?"
"Tch, that's weird..."
"Too bad, Madam President. It'll be a few months before you see me wearing the earrings you gave me."
Nao, holding up her camera, glanced at Hakuto beside her. She hadn't expected him to go and pierce his ears just because of a gift.
And judging by his reaction, he clearly disliked the idea of getting his ears pierced, yet he broke that rule just because of the earrings she gave him.
"I just grabbed them for you on a whim. You really didn't have to go this far."
"Huh? Shouldn't you be moved to tears right now?"
"Huh? Are you being a little too self-indulgent?"
Ever since she started hanging out with Hakuto, Nao felt like her days were filled with endless retorts. Even the number of times she hit him had increased.
But she didn't mind. In fact, she quite liked being around him.
"If there's only one person in the world willing to be your friend, then that person is definitely me!"
"Huh? What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"
"Isn't it true, though? You're a violent girl."
"You damn chibicon, you're getting way too cocky!"
Nao took back what she said—spending time with Hakuto was just asking to be annoyed!
...
Inside the concert venue, Hakuto and Nao followed their ticket numbers to their seats.
"This place is so small..." The venue for ZHIEND's concert wasn't very large. The seating was just ordinary folding chairs, making it look quite plain.
"Yeah! ZHIEND is super popular overseas, but here in Japan, they barely have any recognition."
Nao complained, seemingly frustrated by how few people had good taste in music.
"But we're in the front row! Madam President, you're amazing!"
"No... I just managed to grab one right away because barely anyone was competing for them..."
"And you even got an extra ticket for me. How thoughtful!"
"No... It wasn't for you, just a spare in case I needed it."
Nao: …
Hakuto: …
If Iori were here, the two of them would definitely hear her cursing them in her mind—loudly.
But actually, Hakuto's computational abilities allowed him to approximate mind reading by analyzing a person's facial expressions, body movements, and even blood flow to guess what they were thinking.
Not that he'd ever use such abilities for trivial things.
"It's about to start... By the way, is Shane really blind?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because she's bouncing around on stage like that—it doesn't seem like it at all."
"She has clarity in her heart..." Nao waved her hand dismissively. "Shh, it's starting! Don't talk!"
Just as Nao finished speaking, the stage lights flickered, setting the mood for rock music.
"Ohhhhhh!" Nao looked thrilled—no, she was supposed to be thrilled.
As the lights dimmed and flashed, ZHIEND's members took the stage, and Hakuto spotted Sala Shane in a different outfit.
She exuded confidence on stage, just like the night Hakuto had met her.
"It's coming..." As he listened to Shane's voice, Hakuto couldn't help but sigh. The thought of recalling memories from his past life made him anxious.
He glanced at Nao beside him. She had memories of her past life too—specifically, the timeline where Otosaka Shunsuke existed.
Out of curiosity, Hakuto asked,
"Madam President, do you see anything?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Never mind..."
The surrounding rock music drowned out his voice, but he wasn't planning to dwell on the question anyway.
Just as Hakuto was about to relax and enjoy the music while waiting for the hallucination to come, that strange sensation from a few days ago once again took over his mind!
"Haah..."
Hakuto took a deep breath, didn't resist, and slowly closed his eyes.
Meanwhile, Nao was completely immersed in ZHIEND's music.
...
Hakuto slowly opened his eyes.
The concert was gone. Instead, he found himself in a small, windowless white room, no bigger than three tatami mats.
Once again, he was reliving his past life through dreams...
"It hurts..." Hakuto clutched his head, sitting on the bed and looking around. "Where am I...?"
He patted his forehead, took a deep breath, and examined his surroundings.
A surveillance camera. A metal door. A tiny bed.
He wasn't wearing his usual clothes either—it looked more like a hospital gown.
There were small puncture marks on his wrist, as if he had just been injected with something.
"I remember now... I was kidnapped by human traffickers..."
"But where is this? Northern Myanmar?"
As Hakuto pondered, the iron door to his room slowly opened.
Two armed men stepped inside.
"Come with us."
They didn't say much. They just led the way, motioning for Hakuto to follow.
Hakuto was a smart person. He originally wanted to ask what was going on, but after noticing the rifles they were carrying, he decided against it.
"Where are you taking me?"
He quietly followed behind them, trying to extract some clues from their words.
"Don't ask questions you shouldn't. Just follow us."
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