Are You an Orphan Too?

"You can understand it as a kind of psionic talent. Just as ordinary people can't see you, most people, including Psionic Users, can't see Stands. But every Stand possesses a unique and powerful ability, and Kira-kun's Stand ability is explosions."

"He can make anything explode, including time."

"Time?" Sakurajima Mai clearly had trouble understanding.

"To put it simply, he can make time flow backward to an hour ago."

"So that's why you said you'd make everything start over..."

Yukino Yukinoshita's calm tone gave Sakurajima Mai a start, but she immediately connected it to Yukino Yukinoshita's earlier actions.

The reason she had vented without a care was that she knew Kira Yoshikage possessed the ability to reverse time. As long as Kira Yoshikage reset time, nothing she did would matter!

Sakurajima Mai asked doubtfully:

"But Kira-kun doesn't seem to have done that?"

Yukino Yukinoshita's answer was as matter-of-fact as ever:

"That's why I told you all this."

"..."

Sakurajima Mai puffed out her cheeks slightly, feeling somewhat irritated. She could understand the other woman's implication—Kira Yoshikage probably didn't want too many people to know about his ability, and Yukino Yukinoshita had told her all this in hopes that Kira Yoshikage would rewind time because of it.

In other words, she had been used!

Yukino Yukinoshita typed rapidly with both hands, not even looking up as she said:

"By the way, I've already told him what happened here."

Sakurajima Mai asked in return:

"What if Kira-kun still refuses to rewind time?"

Yukino Yukinoshita fell silent. She didn't know what to do either.

"Ding!"

Just then, her phone emitted a notification sound.

Sakurajima Mai instinctively leaned over and glanced at it. It was an address sent by Kira Yoshikage.

Yukino Yukinoshita looked up, meeting Sakurajima Mai's gaze.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

Sakurajima Mai instinctively apologized for accidentally seeing her phone, but in the next second, Yukino Yukinoshita simply handed it over.

"Huh?"

"Stay in contact."

As Yukino Yukinoshita spoke, she shifted into Drive and drove the car out of its parking spot.

Sakurajima Mai hesitated before asking:

"Do you need navigation?"

"No."

Yukino Yukinoshita drove onto the road.

"Ask him who he's going to see this time."

"..."

Sakurajima Mai's expression turned strange. Why did this feel like the official wife catching her husband with his mistress?

The girl hesitated, then asked softly:

"Is it really okay to say that?"

Yukino Yukinoshita remained silent for quite a while.

"No."

"You do know it's not okay, then."

Sakurajima Mai muttered under her breath. She knew Yukino Yukinoshita still wanted to provoke Kira Yoshikage into rewinding time—obviously, she was eager for Kira Yoshikage to "cut out" the dark history she had just created.

And the only way to cut out that dark history was to make Kira Yoshikage rewind time.

That was why she had become increasingly outrageous, even hysterical.

But the problem was, if Kira Yoshikage didn't rewind time, wouldn't she become even more socially dead?

Besides, even if Kira Yoshikage rewound time and everyone else forgot everything that had happened, surely Kira Yoshikage himself wouldn't forget it too, would he?

If Kira Yoshikage still remembered everything, then weren't Yukino Yukinoshita's actions tantamount to deceiving herself?

Even taking it a step further, if he himself forgot what had happened before the rewind, then who would know that time had ever been rewound?

Besides, did Yukinoshita really want time to be rewound?

Although, judging from everything so far, all her actions seemed to be aimed at that goal.

But Sakurajima Mai felt that Yukinoshita didn't seem to want that to happen.

If she didn't want it, why keep testing him?

After thinking for a moment, Sakurajima Mai sent the message anyway:

"Who are you going to see?"

The moment the message was sent, another new message came in:

"Little Yukino, where are you right now?"

"It's your sister."

Sakurajima Mai looked at the name displayed on LINE.

"She's asking where you are. How should I reply?"

Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at it.

"Don't bother."

If Haruno hadn't tricked her, things would never have escalated to this point!

"Little Yukino, why aren't you replying to your sister's messages?"

"Little Yukino, if you don't reply, I'm going to tell Mom~!"

"Little Yukino! Answer me!"

Sakurajima Mai's expression turned somewhat strange.

"Are you sure you don't want to reply?"

Yukino Yukinoshita was silent for a moment.

"Tell her I've gone home."

Sakurajima Mai immediately understood and typed a reply on the phone:

"I'm going home."

Haruno quickly responded:

"You're not Yukino! Who are you?!"

"Ah! She saw through me?"

Sakurajima Mai was startled and hurriedly showed the chat history to Yukino.

"Should I tell her you're driving?"

Yukino Yukinoshita sighed and repeated:

"Don't bother."

Sakurajima Mai was puzzled, but then she glanced at the phone again. Haruno had sent another message:

"You didn't call me 'Sis.' You're not the real Little Yukino!"

Sakurajima Mai felt that her expression was becoming impossible to control. There was seriously something wrong with these sisters.

Chapter 62: Are You an Orphan Too?

Sakurajima Mai asked softly:

"Miss Yukinoshita, when did you meet Kira-kun?"

Yukino Yukinoshita kept her eyes on the road and answered calmly:

"Call me Yukino."

"If you mean the first time we met, it was in elementary school."

"Elementary school?"

Sakurajima Mai looked surprised. That early?

Yukino Yukinoshita stopped the car at a traffic light and continued:

"Kira-kun was an orphan.

"Generally speaking, children like him didn't get the chance to attend a normal school. They could only study at an orphanage. But an orphanage was different from the outside world of schools. Orphanages didn't teach knowledge. They taught children how to survive in society.

"But ten years ago, Kira-kun somehow managed to convince the school's board of directors to give every child in the orphanage the opportunity to enroll for free.

"The school also used that opportunity to make a name for itself, attracting a great deal of public attention. Donations from charitable people alone were enough to cover the cost of these orphans' education."

Sakurajima Mai immediately recognized the story and murmured:

"I saw that news on television."

Ten years ago, a school in Chiba City had made the front pages of all of Japan's major media outlets, attracting a great deal of public attention. The reason was that the school had provided free enrollment to a large number of orphans.

Even now, thanks to donations from kindhearted people in all sectors of society, the school had developed into a unified institution ranging from kindergarten to high school. It was said to be planning to establish university education as well, so the school was still mentioned in the media from time to time.

And Sakurajima Mai remembered that the school's name was...

"Starlight Academy."

As the light turned green, Yukino Yukinoshita floored the accelerator and shot across the crosswalk. Amid Sakurajima Mai's murmur, she began to speak:

"Although Kira-kun successfully convinced the school's board of directors, the initiative initially sparked protests from the students' parents. They worried that these orphans would have a bad influence on their children, and they also questioned whether the school was qualified to educate their children."

Sakurajima Mai could hear the mockery and sarcasm in Yukino Yukinoshita's voice. She asked quietly:

"What happened afterward?"

Yukino Yukinoshita answered as though it were obvious:

"What else could have happened? It was nothing more than bullying."

"The students didn't know that Kira-kun had convinced the school's board of directors, but they treated him as the scapegoat and naturally bullied him as a group."

Sakurajima Mai asked curiously:

"What about you? What were you doing back then?"

Yukino Yukinoshita's tone was cold:

"Just like Kira-kun, I was also a target of bullying."

She knew what Sakurajima Mai wanted to ask—whether she had ever bullied Kira Yoshikage herself. Perhaps the woman was even imagining some melodramatic story about "bullying and redemption."

Sakurajima Mai blurted out:

"Were you an orphan too?"

The moment the words left her mouth, Sakurajima Mai regretted them. How could Yukino Yukinoshita possibly be an orphan?

Sure enough, Yukino Yukinoshita didn't even pay proper attention to the road. She turned her head and stared expressionlessly at Sakurajima Mai.

After a long while, Yukino Yukinoshita withdrew her gaze and spoke calmly:

"I'm different from Kira-kun."

"Then why were you bullied?"

Sakurajima Mai covered her mouth regretfully. What are you doing?!