"Sorry to bother you."
"Come in."
After that, Shimizu Ken and Amamiya Iori went straight home. At the entryway, while Ken was changing into his indoor shoes, Iori spoke to him from behind.
"Shimizu-kun is so kind to that girl," she said, her voice calm now, almost eerily so after her earlier emotional outburst.
"Was I? I think anyone would try to help in that situation."
"Is that so?"
As Ken stood up with his indoor shoes on, he suddenly heard a click from the door behind him.
"Iori?" he said. Only Ken and Iori were there, so she had to be the one who locked it.
Iori put her hands behind her back and smiled.
"Got you, my dear~~"
The sweet, soft sound of her voice made Ken freeze. It felt like even his heart stopped for a moment, as if time itself had paused. He could feel Iori approaching him step by step.
"My dear, you said you loved only me. So why were you so kind to that girl?"
She suddenly hugged him tightly from behind, her body pressed close. But Ken couldn't enjoy the soft warmth at all. Cold sweat was already sliding down his back, though he didn't notice it at first.
He replayed her words in his mind, like a detective thinking through an important line.
"My dear, why won't you answer me?" she asked.
The air in the room suddenly grew dark. Ken felt something unpleasant rise in his throat. He held it back and forced out the last bit of sound from his dry throat.
"D-Did I ever say that to you?"
"What?! Are you serious?" Her flat, lifeless tone made Ken wonder who was even standing behind him.
He turned around. A twisted sight met his eyes. Iori's grin was strange, her eyes bright with a near-mad joy.
"'I like you, be my girlfriend.'
'I love you, be my wife.'
You held me in your arms and whispered those words in my ear, right, my dear?"
"H-How... do you know that?"
"See? You remember it well. Back then, I thought no one would ever love me. So when you said that to me, I was so happy, so full of joy..."
Her hands shook as she lifted them to her face, half holding and half clawing at her cheeks. Her expression was unsettling.
Ken certainly remembered those words. He had said them to Iori in the first run. But how could she know?
He had used all his points to reset the story. The system indicated only the 'player' retained memories in the second run, while others reverted to their initial states. This meant Iori shouldn't recall anything from the first run.
Unable to understand, Ken felt his mind drift.
When he came back to himself, Iori was already right in front of him. She touched his face, her nail sliding lightly up his cheek.
"Iori, don't tell me..." he began.
"That's right. I remember everything about you, my dear. But why do you still go near other girls? Why go to them when you already have me?"
She stared into his eyes, her gaze glistening with a thin film of tears, her pale face flushed a sickly red. Her voice rose, filled with pain.
"That Ayase-kaichou, that Sakurai-senpai, and even that girl from before... Why do you look at them with such a soft gaze? You only need to look at me!"
Her voice grew sharper, her body shaking as if she was trying to hold herself together. She usually seemed harmless, but now there was something wild in her that made Ken want to run.
"I know you'd jump in to help without thinking. Call me selfish, cold, or cruel—I don't care! I don't want it! What if you got hurt? What if you died? I never want to see that happen!"
"But Iori, you don't need to care so much about me. Someone like me isn't worth—"
Ken stopped. Not because she spoke over him, but because he suddenly saw a ten-centimeter fruit knife in front of him.
Iori suddenly pulled it from behind her. The cold light on the blade felt like a winter storm, freezing both his body and mind.
"What do you mean 'don't need to care'...!? Why would you say that!?" she cried. Her twisted face was full of pain, like she was about to break into tears.
Since Ken saved the little girl, she had stayed by his side constantly. This meant she had been carrying the knife the entire time.
He stepped back without thinking. That small move made her eyes shrink in shock, as if he had hurt her deeply.
He knew he had touched a nerve.
"My dear, it seems you've forgotten many things from before."
"Before?" he repeated.
"Yes. It was not like tonight, but back then you spoke to me first when you saw me crying."
Before the knife reached him, Iori began to speak, recounting their first meeting—an event never depicted in the game, unknown to anyone else.
Amamiya Iori began to tell Shimizu Ken about their first meeting with a nostalgic voice.
Notes:
• Amamiya Iori - JK heroine; targeted; her mother is the hostage. Long-haired and busty.