Shiori: I Don't Want Four

By the pond.

"Rinne, where are we?"

Shiori looked around. It clearly appeared to be a normal place, yet it carried an indescribable sense of wrongness.

"..."

Rinne did not answer immediately. She merely stood quietly beside Shiori, as if pondering something in secret.

"What a quiet place," Shiori said again, her voice exceptionally clear on the empty street. "It looks like there isn't anyone here besides us."

"..."

"Rinne...?"

Silence.

A long silence.

Then—

"Hey, Shiori." Rinne finally spoke. Her voice was softer than usual, yet exceptionally clear. She smiled gently. "May I ask you a question?"

"W-what question?" Shiori instinctively grew nervous.

"Have any scenes... ever come to Shiori's mind?"

Shiori froze for a moment.

Scenes?

She thought about it—the images that had often surfaced recently: watching movies with Huanyue, tasting drinks together, going to the snack street, crying together...

Those images were too real, so real that they did not feel imagined.

"Scenes of going on dates with Huanyue have flashed through my mind," she answered honestly. "It feels like déjà vu, like I've experienced the same things before."

"Is that so..." Rinne lowered her eyes, her lashes casting faint shadows beneath them and concealing the emotions in her gaze.

"Does that sound strange?" Shiori smiled awkwardly. "But that's the impression my recent life has given me."

"Hey, Shiori." Rinne's tone grew slightly heavier.

"Hmm?"

"If you discovered that a button had been fastened in the wrong position, what do you think you should do?"

"Rinne, what are you talking about?" Shiori was baffled. Buttons? What did that have to do with their previous topic?

"For example..." Rinne paused. "Undo all the buttons, then fasten them neatly again from the beginning."

Shiori frowned.

Undo them all? Fasten them properly from the start?

What did that metaphor... mean?