Delusion (Paranoia) / Butterfly of the Rainbow

"Are you two fighting?"

Shiko gently wiped the tears from Ichiri's face.

"With... 'her.'"

This time, I refused to believe it. The 1,600-word youth version of Shimamura Blade that I had spent all afternoon frantically writing had to—

Paranoia

"Were you fighting? With... 'her.'"

The scene fell utterly silent.

"'Her'... you mean..." Kita stepped out of her hiding place. Her eyes were still red, but she no longer cared about concealing it.

"Hm? I made myself perfectly clear. I mean—" Shiko sat inside the packed Beach House, where people could not hear unless someone spoke loudly. Yet her voice remained unchanged. "Another me."

"You... knew?" Shiko turned her head. Beside her, Shizuku Minori, a girl with sky-blue hair and a mature figure, looked at her calmly.

Shiko smiled faintly at her. "Senior Minori—no, Shizuku. And..." A blonde, doll-like girl and a brown-haired boy walked out of the kitchen.

"Tsumugi. Hiyori." Shiko called out their names.

"Nice to meet you." Hiyori greeted her politely.

"Mip-q! Hello~" Tsumugi greeted her naturally as well.

They were all characters from Summer Pockets. Shiko had looked it up before. In this world, Summer Pockets was merely a game.

Shiko looked at the three of them and smiled. But the hand clenched behind her back had gone white from the pressure. After a long while, she seemed to have made up her mind.

Her eyelids lowered. "You're... all fake, aren't you?"

As Shiko's voice fell, the world in her eyes froze in an instant. Every other customer in the Beach House stopped moving, and the conversations abruptly fell silent. Apart from Kita, Ichiri, Shizuku, Tsumugi, and Hiyori, the entire world lost its color.

The three of them continued looking at her with the same expressions.

"Why expose it?" Hiyori asked. "You could have continued like this. No one would have blamed you."

Shiko turned her back to them. "I often notice that everyone is talking to me about one thing one second, and then the topic is completely different the next. Also, even though I have no memory of it at all, everyone says I was the one who wrote the music."

"There are lots of things like that. I've also had some strange dreams. In them, I fight disgusting monsters alongside other people. Getting injured is an everyday occurrence."

"I gradually began to wonder whether there was another me living in a world completely different from mine. A world utterly unlike reality, where my existence only caused trouble. All I could do was try my best to make up for those troubles and do whatever I could for everyone. That's why I said, 'Make you smile.'"

Shiko stood up and paced between the five people and the customers, who were as motionless as plaster sculptures. "But a patient is still a patient. Sooner or later, measures have to be taken against a second personality suffering from paranoia."

"We'll find a suitable way." Ichiri had calmed down a little and managed to control her emotions. "We absolutely—won't hurt Shiko."

A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of Shiko's eyes as she looked at her. "I know. Everyone is kind, and none of you truly want to kill me. I was just a little worried myself, so I kept pretending I knew nothing. But when I woke up today, I saw Ichiri crying so desperately."

"Ichiri has never been this heartbroken before. The other me must have done something terrible, right? Maybe the time has come. That's what I thought. Since it would have to be done sooner or later, why not steel myself and resolve everything now? I might even be able to do something useful."

"Do something useful?" Kita asked.

"If you want to mediate, both sides have to be present," Shizuku said.

"Then let's go. Let's bring her back." Hiyori walked to the kitchen door and took out a key.

Shiko's eyes widened when she saw it, and she grinned. "That's Gull's Key. Why do you have it?"

Hiyori tapped his head. "Ask yourself. You ran out of material." He pulled the door open. Only darkness lay beyond it, as though inviting Shiko to step inside. He looked back and waved. "Safe travels."

A duck plushie fell to the floor.

Then came Tsumugi. She was still smiling, but tears glimmered in her eyes. "Are you going back?"

"Yeah." Shiko picked up the duck plushie. She and Shizuku each took one of Tsumugi's hands, saying goodbye to her as they had in the game. "Happy birthday, Tsumugi."

What they were holding was a small teddy bear plushie.

"Am I the last one?" Shizuku placed one hand over her chest, her expression somewhat forlorn.

By then, Shiko's face was covered in tears. But she continued. "Thank you, Shizuku. You've helped me a lot." She glanced at Kita and Ichiri. "When those two were having problems before, you were the one who helped me counsel Ichiri."

Shizuku shook her head. "That was you. But if you believe it was thanks to me, then let me help you one last time." As if by magic, she produced a notebook and handed it to Shiko.

"You know what's inside, don't you?"

"Yeah." Shiko accepted it with a smile. "Records of the people Shizuku helped."

She was speaking to the cow plushie in front of her.

"Shiko..." Ichiri came closer.

Shiko quickly wiped away her tears with her sleeve. She placed the three plushies on the counter, hugged the notebook to her chest, and walked to the kitchen door. At the last moment, she turned around and struck a cool pose. "Ichiri, Kita, I'll be right back."

Then she leaped into the abyss.

The voices behind her soon faded away. Shiko felt as if she had lived through ten thousand years, and as if it had all lasted only an instant.

Darkness.

After that infinitely long yet infinitely brief moment passed, she grew accustomed to the darkness and successfully began moving through it. She could not tell up from down or left from right, but she knew she was moving and knew where she had to go. Naturally, she began to float upward—

Toward the only direction in the distance that held any color.

Shiko was floating in the darkness with her eyes tightly closed. Shiko drifted over beside her and poked her cheek.

"From a third-person perspective, I really am cute." She muttered to herself, then tried several more times, gradually increasing the force in her hand. "Wake up. Wake up, Shiko."

Shiko's tightly shut eyelids trembled faintly. At last, she opened her eyes.

"Where... is this?" She saw Shiko. "Who are you?"

"I'm you." Shiko shook her head helplessly.

Shiko suddenly understood. "So it's me!"

"So it's me." Shiko nodded, casually picking up the other's line. "You made Ichiri cry. She's never been this heartbroken before. What happened?"

Shiko smiled bitterly. "I said something I shouldn't have." She explained what had happened. Shiko gradually understood. "I see. So that's what you think."

Shiko asked, "Then what do you think about Kessoku Band?"

Shiko rubbed her chin and organized her thoughts. "I used to be just like you. I thought Kessoku Band had to consist of four people—no more and no fewer. Gradually, that idea began to change. Then, sometime around the beginning of summer vacation, it disappeared completely. I only wanted to form the closest possible bond with the girls I loved most and stay together forever. Nothing else mattered."

"What happened at the beginning of summer vacation?" she asked Shiko.

Shiko was silent for a long while before answering. "Miss Marina died."

Paranoia

"Huh?" Shiko's pupils trembled. "No wonder. Without something like that, I probably wouldn't have been born either."

Shiko lowered her eyelids. "And from that point on, unlike you, my original belief became even more stubborn. It was also... because of what happened to Miss Marina."

"Anyway, what did you come here for?" she asked, changing the subject and lifting her face toward Shiko.

"Didn't I already say? Ichiri is heartbroken." Shiko picked up the notebook and tapped it against Shiko's head. The notebook turned into stardust and flew into Shiko's head. "Go comfort her."

"You came to see me just to get me out sooner?" Shiko found it absurd. "Aren't you afraid I'll kill you here? Then I'll become a normal person immediately." A long sword appeared in Shiko's hand at some point.

Looking at the sword, Shiko burst out laughing. "Could you really do it? I know my own affairs best—you're the least likely person in the world to kill me." She raised the sword herself and brought it beside her neck.

"Go on."

Shiko did not move.

Shiko wore a mocking expression and continued. "But I know I can't keep appearing so often. Miss Marina is dead, after all. The world on your side must be dangerous, right?"

Shiko sighed, and the long sword in her hand dissolved into particles. "I've been thinking of a solution that benefits us both. For example, creating a body for you and finding a way to move you into it."

"Can you do that?" Shiko's eyes lit up. She grabbed Shiko's shoulders, trying to find hope in her eyes.

"...Not yet. A body that can move normally and be controlled by a soul is too complicated. I can't create one casually. There is one thing, though—" Shiko broke free of her grip, and a jade slip appeared in her hand. "I've made some progress analyzing this thing. I can transfer you into it."

"Then can we mold it into a human shape?" Shiko rubbed her chin.

Shiko began considering it seriously. "I'll do my best." Shiko made the solemn promise to Shiko.

Shiko finally relaxed and waved a hand. "Then hurry back. We can discuss this later. Ichiri is waiting."

But Shiko lowered her head. "I can't yet."

"Huh?"

"How am I supposed to answer Ichiri? At first, I was determined to leave the band. I only began wavering recently—around the time I started interacting with you." Shiko was troubled. "I'm still wavering even now."

"Even Ichiri throwing herself at you and reenacting Shimamura Blade couldn't change your mind?" Shiko looked at her disdainfully. "Scumbag."

"That's exactly the problem." Shiko sighed. "I'm happy that she likes me... But when I think about Ichiri falling for someone who normally shouldn't exist, I start to feel awful. I must have something wrong with my brain. How can the former emotion not suppress the latter? At this rate, I might develop yet another personality."

"You were already sick..." Shiko answered reflexively, but then she rubbed her chin again, looking thoughtful. "Your love for them can't compare to your devotion to the original work... while I love them completely and don't care as much about the original work..." She seemed to have thought of a possibility.

Shiko covered her forehead. "Ugh, what a hassle."

"I understand. Then let's share my feelings with you."

Shiko froze. "That's possible?"

"They were feelings taken from you in the first place. I'm merely returning them. You have to return your feelings to me, too." Shiko was not entirely certain. "Our feelings for them are incomplete right now. You lack love for them as individuals, while I lack love for the original work. The two should have been one from the beginning. That's why I took the initiative to greet Ichiri and arranged for Kita to join the band."

Shiko recalled what had happened in the past.

"Maybe they weren't completely severed," she said. "I still joined the band's practice sessions because of Nijika."

"Then what's the problem?" Shiko held out her hand to Shiko. "Since we naturally influence each other, why not hurry up?"

After a moment of hesitation, Shiko took her hand. Shiko pressed her forehead against Shiko's. Blue butterflies glowing faintly emerged from the bodies of both Shikos. These were the Seven Shadow Butterflies—the memories of Shiko. More and more appeared, gathering and fluttering through the darkness until they gradually surrounded the two of them.

"You know what to do, right?" Shiko asked with her eyes closed.

"Of course."

A thread of faint light shaped like a butterfly flew from their fingertips, only to be caught by the other.

The faint light shone in the endless darkness, remaining bright for a long, long time.

When the butterflies dispersed, the two stood facing each other, their eyes filled with emotion.

"So the band really is that important to me."

"So you've been living in a world like this all along."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

"See you later, Shiko." Shiko's figure gradually faded away.

"See you later, Shiko." Shiko's figure gradually faded away.

White light rose before Shiko's eyes. The darkness began to recede. Gravity returned, and she found herself standing in a study.

"This is..." She looked around. Memories that had gradually faded began returning.

This was her home from her previous life. The bookshelves, desks, chairs, test papers, and reference books were all still in place. She pulled out a chair and sat down, casually picking up a pen and opening a test paper.

She could not even solve the first question anymore.

She chuckled softly, dropped the pen, stood up, and looked out the window.

The familiar scenery lay beyond the window. Cars sped along the road. There was a high school opposite, another residential complex beside it, and office buildings nearby. In the distance, two streets away, was the riverbank. She passed through the glass, spread her arms, and flew toward the riverbank.

A high tide was coming in. It was not high, reaching only the level of waves. She saw several people taking pictures by the bank, so she slowly descended toward the shore. When she landed, the scene before her became the gates of a high school. Shiko wore a schoolbag and looked up. The banner at the entrance announced that today was the day of the national university entrance examination.

"The entrance exam? I couldn't answer a single question now." Shiko timidly walked into the school.

She stepped through the examination hall's entrance. In an instant, she was standing in a university classroom, with no one else around. Folding her arms across her chest, she walked to the window and glanced at the university campus. Then she turned around without a trace of reluctance and walked outside.

She stood in midair at the end of a metal platform. Thin clouds lay beneath her feet, and below them stretched the endless traffic of the city. She saw Tokyo Tower. The fierce winds of the stratosphere whipped her long hair and clothes, yet she somehow remained steady.

At the edge of the city, the world was collapsing. Reinforced concrete silently shattered and fell into the void. Beyond it lay endless darkness, the same as the place where Shiko had been before.

"The delusion has been shattered." A voice came from behind her.

Shiko turned around. Her hair blew across her eyes, and she brushed it aside.

"I understand."

A giraffe stood behind her.