Chapter 30: We’ve met again, can I go home now?

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Translator: Soafp

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“…Me, huh?”

The words Emu had spoken continued echoing in my mind.

I had encountered the hypnosis app by chance, and I hadn't used its power because I wanted the girls to thank me. I'd said that countless times already.

“…It's a complicated feeling. Happy, but complicated.”

At first, I thought it was enough to let my desires guide me.

But now that I knew about the troubles and emotional wounds the girls had been carrying, I wanted to help them, at least a little.

There were things I could never do ordinarily. But because I had this app, I could do something to help them.

“Hey, partner. Why did you come to me?”

I asked the mysterious app that sat boldly on my home screen.

Naturally, it was only an app, so it did not answer.

“Kai? Can I come in?”

“Onee-chan? Sure.”

My sister entered the room.

She was still short, with a small figure that made it hard to believe she was a university student. But her delicate charm more than made up for that.

“Here we go.”

With a little hop, my sister jumped onto the bed.

That naturally put her beside me, where I had been lying down. But since we were siblings, I didn't feel the slightest bit nervous.

(…I don't feel any desire to use the hypnosis on Onee-chan in a sexual way either.)

Some hypnosis manga and anime treated even family members as sexual targets, but I couldn't go that far.

Actually, I had no desire to.

“So? What's up?”

“Hmm… I had a strange dream. Something's been bothering me.”

“A dream?”

She nodded and explained.

“I dreamed there were three girls or so around you.”

“…Eh?”

Could she have been remembering what happened when I was absent with a cold?

My sister hadn't said anything afterward, so I'd assumed she had no memory of it. Apparently, the app had converted it into a dream.

Knowing my sister, she had probably come to laugh at the idea of me being popular with girls.

“There's no way you'd ever be that popular.”

“Is that so?”

See? Just as I thought—

“But you're a really kind boy, so I suppose it isn't impossible.”

“…What?”

My sister giggled, apparently entertained by the blank look on my face.

“Did I say something so strange? You'd be happy if your own sister called you a kind little brother, wouldn't you?”

Well… yes.

I nodded.

She reached out with her small hand and vigorously ruffled my hair with a force that could hardly be called gentle.

“Anyway, when you get a girlfriend, introduce her to me. I want to see what she's like.”

“What are you talking about? Who knows when that'll happen?”

I did want a girlfriend, but I couldn't imagine having one in my current situation.

I had skipped past relationships entirely and started using a hypnosis app. It would be unfair to make someone my girlfriend under these circumstances.

“…I can't stop using the hypnosis app.”

“Did you say something?”

“Nothing.”

My sister asked me several questions, apparently wondering whether I was hiding something.

Eventually, she grew tired of my refusal to explain and gave up, returning to her room.

Onee-chan, forgive me. Despite how much you trust me—and how much you care about me as your little brother—I still ended up using a hypnosis app.

But I had to say it again.

“I can't stop using this app.”

Still, was I unable to stop using the app itself, or was I unable to stop being close to the girls through it?

There was no need to think very hard about the answer.

It was obviously the latter.

“Did you plan this from the beginning? If so, you're incredible.”

Through the hypnosis app, I had become obsessed with the girls' bodies.

In a way, it was almost a demonic power.

After staring at the screen for a while, I opened the app's explanation page again.

“…It still hasn't changed… Hm?”

I thought nothing was different, but then I noticed a small change.

There was an item that definitely had not been there before.

When I opened it, my own name was written there.

“Uh… what is this?”

Besides my own name, there was another name I didn't recognize.

“Shota Mogi…?”

I had no idea who that was.

The page still allowed me to tap forward, so I did.

This time, the name Mogi appeared in the center, surrounded by something resembling a chart.

Several lines were connected to the name, but every one of them looked as though it had been violently torn apart.

“I don't understand… but does this mean I have one too?”

Wondering whether the same thing would happen, I tapped my own name.

The next page opened.

As before, my name was placed in the center, with several lines connected to it.

“…?”

The lines did not seem to lead to anything in particular. They simply extended off into the distance.

Unlike the shredded lines I had seen under Mogi's name, however, these were thick and pink—a slightly ominous color.

Three especially thick pink lines stood out, as though they represented strong connections.

It vaguely resembled one of those relationship charts from anime and manga, but I could not see what lay at the other ends of the lines. I had no idea what it meant.

“…A mysterious function inside a mysterious app. Everything about this thing is a mystery.”

I put my phone down.

Just to be safe, I searched for the name Shota Mogi, but, as expected, I found nothing of interest.

“Whatever. I'm tired. I'll go to sleep.”

The next day was a holiday, so I had planned to stay up late. Apparently, I was too tired for that.

I pushed all my unanswered questions out of my mind and fell asleep.

The following day, even though I had seen something strange, I was not especially concerned. I went out into town as usual.

“I'll buy that manga… Maybe I'll go sing karaoke by myself too.”

I had planned to drag my two friends along, but both of them unexpectedly had other things to do.

So I went out alone.

After buying the manga, I thought I might go to a solo karaoke booth. I was still deciding what else to do when I spotted someone.

“…Oh, is that…?”

The woman walking in front of me was the same woman who had dropped her cosmetics before.

I did not know her name. As far as I knew, she was simply an attractive woman.

But because of our previous encounter, I suddenly felt like teaching her a lesson.

“Kukuku. Talk about a moth flying into the flame.”

I had no particular interest in her, but I was about to use the app and do whatever I wanted to her.

Yet, for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to take out my phone.

I had already imagined all sorts of things I could do to her, but I simply wasn't in the mood.

“…Tch.”

I stood still and silently watched the woman disappear into the crowd.

Once she was out of sight, I clicked my tongue and headed toward the bookstore.

At the same time, my sister's words came back to me.

“You're a kind boy.”

For some reason, those words returned to me with perfect clarity.

What I had wanted to do to that woman and what I had done to Mari and the others were not fundamentally different.

So why couldn't I bring myself to do it?

Perhaps thinking about that while walking was a mistake.

“Ah!”

“Hmm?”

I bumped into someone.

A woman gave a small cry and fell backward in front of me. She looked up at me in surprise, blue eyes visible through strands of silver hair.

“…”

I was stunned by the unexpected encounter.

The woman I had bumped into was Someya—the other half of the yuri couple whose situation had once made me give up on using the app on them.

“…Sorry. Let me help you—”

Regardless of who she was, I had been distracted, so the fault was mine.

I reached out to help her up. But then I remembered the emotional wounds she carried and started to withdraw my hand.

Someya caught it instead.

“Thank you.”

“No, I'm sorry. I was distracted.”

“It's okay. I was thinking about something too.”

Her hand felt smooth against mine.

I vaguely remembered Sasaki saying that ordinary conversation and contact were fine, so I felt a little relieved.

“…”

“…What is it?”

Her beautiful blue eyes looked like jewels. When she stared at me, I almost felt as if I were being drawn into them.

I had noticed her before for a reason. She had an extremely attractive figure, and merely seeing her made me want to hypnotize her and take her somewhere private.

She really was a dangerously alluring woman.

“You helped us before… didn't you?”

“Hmm?”

“When Aika and I were being harassed by those men… I remember it.”

Her direct gaze held absolute certainty.

I was just about to brush the matter aside and leave when, as if on cue, Someya's partner appeared.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Fiana… Oh, you're…”

It was Sasaki.

She looked surprised to see Someya holding my hand. For a moment, I wondered whether I had stumbled into some kind of dramatic confrontation where Sasaki suspected her partner of cheating.

But Sasaki's expression held surprise, not anger.

So apparently, that wasn't what was happening.

(…Why does being stared at by two girls feel this suffocating?)

Their gazes were completely different from Mari's and the others'.

I had no idea what to do as I stood there between them.