Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Testing

In a past worldline, Shimizu Sakuya had been an idol, so she wasn’t unable to handle fervent, love-filled gazes.

But a gaze as direct as Fujiwara Yuki’s still made her a little embarrassed.

Perhaps due to her upbringing, when Yuki looked at someone, her eyes focused entirely on the act of eye contact.

Her golden pupils were clear, like the surface of a freshly washed lake, reflecting Sakuya’s outline with vivid clarity.

Sakuya lowered her head and, in an attempt to shift her attention, began peeling her boiled egg. A little hesitantly, she asked:

“Yuki… could you maybe stop staring at me like that?”

“No.”

Sakuya placed the peeled white egg on her plate, picked up her spoon and stirred the still-steaming porridge, avoiding Yuki’s gaze.

“Why not?”

“No reason. Just eat your breakfast, don’t mind me.” Fujiwara Yuki’s eyes glimmered with a strange light, as if anticipating something.

Sakuya couldn’t argue with her, so she simply lowered her head, trying to distract herself with thoughts while she began eating.

Trying not to expose anything through her everyday habits… that was way too difficult.

If Yuki wanted to, she could even have Sakuya strip on the spot to check for birthmarks for confirmation.

One day, she would definitely be exposed.

And she had been ignoring one critical fact—what if one day, Yuki suddenly remembered the heart-shaped birthmark?

With a personality as extreme as hers, if she caught Sakuya lying all this time, could she handle that raging fury burning beyond reason?

She might get ravaged so hard she couldn’t stand straight… maybe even worse.

Thrown back into the basement?

No, anything but that. Just the thought gave Sakuya goosebumps all over.

For now, she had to keep playing dumb.

Sakuya thought as she scooped another spoonful of porridge.

She had a very subtle personal habit—

Whenever she ate with a spoon, she would instinctively blow on the food first, then slightly stick out her tongue to gently touch the surface to test the temperature, and only then gulp it down with a soft aowu.

By the time she realized this, it was already too late—she had repeated this exact process several times.

As Fujiwara Yuki’s “camera locked on a single subject,” of course she immediately picked up on this.

Her right hand still propped against her cheek, index finger tapping her face rhythmically, her slender brows slightly raised with a bit of smugness—like she already had everything in her grasp.

Crap! Sakuya shouted inwardly.

She had already exposed herself before even leaving the house.

But if she tried to suddenly change her habit now, it would only convince Yuki that she was definitely hiding something.

So she had no choice but to continue the same habit.

If Yuki really figured it out, she’d just pretend she hadn’t regained her memories yet.

In any case, she must never let Yuki know she was lying.

The atmosphere was both silent and thick.

Silent, because no one spoke—only the crisp sound of spoon tapping against porcelain could be heard.

Thick, because of Fujiwara Yuki’s gaze.

By the time Sakuya actually felt full, only a third of the porridge had been eaten.

She used a napkin to wipe off the spoon, then placed it on the table and said, “I’m full.”

Fujiwara Yuki clicked her tongue with some dissatisfaction. “That’s all you’re eating?”

“My health isn’t great… My digestion’s weak, so I eat lightly in the morning,” Sakuya explained softly.

“Then tomorrow, eat a bit more than today.”

The sudden concern actually surprised Sakuya a bit.

She really is that domineering.

“…Mm.” Sakuya nodded and followed behind Fujiwara Yuki to head out and take the car to school.

The black luxury sedan, a Toyota Century, was polished so bright that Sakuya could clearly see her own tired face reflected in its surface.

Sakuya opened the car door and, like a mature and elegant gentleman, slightly turned her body, letting Fujiwara Yuki enter first before sitting beside her.

Bang — the door shut with a thud.

Before Sakuya could even sit properly, Yuki’s face leaned in close.

Her soft but firm hand brushed against Sakuya’s chest. Her whole body practically pressed her sideways, long black hair falling like a curtain over her neck—bringing a barely-there tickling sensation.

W-what is she doing?

Sakuya blinked rapidly in shock.

But Fujiwara Yuki was only pulling out the seatbelt from the side, and softly explained:

“Buckle your seatbelt.”

So it wasn’t that she had been caught—Sakuya had gripped the seat cushion so tightly from nervousness that faint creases were left behind.

“…Thanks.”

“It’s no trouble at all.” Yuki said as she also buckled her own seatbelt.

At that moment, the engine started, and the car finally set off.

Fujiwara Yuki turned her head to look at Sakuya and asked with a testing tone:

“Have you ever seen that movie ‘Your Name’?”

Sakuya’s ears perked up. Instantly, she realized—it was a test.

To avoid any mistakes, whether she’d seen it or not, she had to say she hadn’t.

“I haven’t,” she shook her head and pretended to be curious, asking, “Why do you ask all of a sudden?”

“I see… If you could go back to the past—no, wait.” Yuki frowned, as if feeling that phrasing wasn’t quite right, then rephrased.

“If your seventeen-year-old self suddenly remembered memories of the future—and met the person you’d spend your future with—what would you do?”

So this was a different way of testing her.

Sakuya gave the question serious thought, and decided to answer in a way that hinted at her true thoughts.

After a long silence, she organized her words and replied.

“That depends… Do I like her right now? If I like her, then I’d go for it—what’s there to hesitate over? It’s already a fixed fact of the future. But if she hates me… that’s a different story.”

“If she hates you, what would you do?” Fujiwara Yuki’s eyes lit up suddenly, capturing the key point and asking urgently.

Sakuya leaned comfortably against the seat, tilting her head as she looked into Yuki’s eyes and answered.

“That depends on the kind of hate. If she hates my personality, I’d change it and go after her. But if she hates me as a person, then I should give up as early as possible.”

“…”

Fujiwara Yuki fell silent for a moment, her head slightly lowered as if she were lost in deep thought.

“Actually… even if I knew there would be a happy ending, I still might not pursue her.

If what I love is her mature personality in the future, and she hasn’t gone through the pain and growth to become that person yet—if she’s still childish, laughable, and fragile—then I wouldn’t fall for her. That would just be like falling for a shell.”

Fujiwara Yuki was pulled from her thoughts and barely lifted her head, her voice trembling a bit, “So… you only love the mature version of her?”

“Mm… but isn’t that exactly what led me to fall in love in the first place? No cause, no effect—right?”

Sakuya sat upright and looked directly into her eyes, calmly responding.