“Obviously, certain things could not have been done by Hirata, like leaving Fukui’s dead body in the room,” Feng Bujue said. “But your appearance, Shuichi, has explained everything. For me, when I deduced your existence, the case could not have been plainer.
“You would not have surrendered because that would have lowered the sentence. You merely took Haruko home and tried to scare her into submission so that she wouldn’t dare call the police. It wouldn’t have been hard. Her husband suddenly turned into a different person and murdered a man in cold blood. Furthermore, she was partly responsible for Fukui’s death. Since the gun was emptied of bullet, you hid the gun in Hirata’s room for it to be discovered during the police’s investigation.
“The next day, you went to work like usual. You are stronger than him. He doesn’t know about your presence, but you have free access to all his memories. You purposely went to the company to wait for the police to start their investigation. Once the police asked around, they would have summoned you to the station to aid in their investigation. But since the body was not discovered until the afternoon of the 27th, you waited a whole day for naught.
“On the way back home, probably out of inspiration, you returned the body back to Hirata. Perhaps you wanted to witness how the two would react when he returned to face Haruko. At the time, Hirata’s mind was on the verge of collapsing. He was so out of it that he couldn’t remember the way home, and that was when the third part of his memory started.
“Then, when he got home, he opened the door and saw his wife hanging from the ceiling. That was when his mind shattered. As expected of someone in his mental state, he screamed. The old lady next door overheard him and came over to knock on his door. You then took over the body to deal with her. You purposely allowed her to see certain things before showing her the door. You were waiting for her to call the police. After all… you wouldn’t call the police yourself because that might be construed as an action of surrender.
“In the end, as you wished, the police arrived at the long house and arrested you. They also found Yamada’s gun. That explains why you were able to drink the tea calmly.
“After the arrest, your revenge was deemed a huge success. You returned to the deep recesses of Hirata’s mind, until today.
“And Hirata, well, he went mad. Prison trapped his body, and the three partial memories in his mind turned into a source of horror and madness. They tortured his mind day after day, but he somehow managed to survive for fifteen years. Unfortunately, due to his resilience, he will continue to suffer until the day he dies.”
“Hahaha…” Shuichi widened his eyes and revealed a strange, wicked smile. He leaned closer to the mirror to whisper, “That idiot deserves it.”
“Not really. No one could have judged whether Hirata has made good or bad decisions in real life. If anything, the only conclusion I can draw is that good things never come to good people,” Feng Bujue said. “Without your interference, he wouldn’t have ended up as poor as he is now.”
“Then, what do you plan to do about that, Mr. F?” Shuichi asked with a cold smile. “Do you have the ability to change the past?”
“I don’t, but I can bring you and him a form of release,” Feng Bujue replied.
“Release? Humph… You make me laugh. He’s the one being tortured. I don’t need any…”
Feng Bujue cut him off. “There are three layers of consciousness here. The deepest layer is the one that has brought Hirata the most torment over the years. I don’t know how many layers you have over there, but based on my assessment of your mental state, I believe there is only one. Hmm… fifteen years… no, for the past twenty-one years, you have been experiencing a scary memory similar to the one at the deepest layer of Hirata’s mind, am I right?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Shuichi’s eyes darted to the side. This man was not a good liar.
“My consciousness is not made by this body, so I can move freely through these layers of mental cages. The more I know, the higher the stage of consciousness I can move toward. Now, I can take over Hirata’s body in real life if I want to. Similarly, I can cross over to your side and then toss you to… hmm… well, anywhere,” Feng Bujue said in a dark voice.
“That’s impossible!” Shuichi exclaimed. “You…”
Before he finished, the mirror shattered…
Feng Bujue stood up. The shackles on his wrists and ankles had fallen away. The apparel that he wore reverted to the purple suit. He touched his pocket, and the three keys were all there. Of the three keys, there was one that had not been used. He walked to the cell door and plunged the key into the lock of the door that represented the lock in Hirata’s mind.
Outside the door, white light streamed into the room, and it swallowed Feng Bujue. The next second, the scene changed again, but this time, it was he who initiated the change to enter the unknown… Shuichi’s world.
“Hirata… are you serious?” A pretty and young girl stood beside him. She looked just over twenty, and she was wearing a fleece coat. Feng Bujue, who wore the Joker outfit, looked rather preposterous standing there, but in her eyes, she seemed to see Hirata Shuichi.
The two of them were standing on a pedestrian bridge, the location where, according to urban legends, activities like confessions, break-ups, and suicides were carried out. The city expanded to the horizon under the bridge. Even though it was late, in this city where skyscrapers touched the sky, the city was weaving its neon magic.
“Er… serious about what?” Feng Bujue tried to ask.
“Hirata, earlier, you said… you’re going back home after graduation to… to marry Sato.” When the girl said that, there were tears shining in her eyes.
Sato… So, this girl must be Miko. Hirata has chosen Haruko and Shuichi, Feng Bujue thought to himself. So, all these years, the memory that tormented Shuichi was the break-up with Miss Miko. That was Hirata’s choice, but he has to suffer the consequences. He has to repeatedly watch the girl he loves cry and leave, but he is unable to change anything. He has to relive the moment his life spiraled out of control day after day. No wonder his personality has distorted to such an extent.
He nudged his fingers and realized that he could move his body. He could even take out the gun or wrench, but that did not seem appropriate considering the situation. This was similar to the black and white world. The deeper the memory, the greater the amount of freedom he enjoyed. While in the layers closer to reality, his body would be increasingly restricted.
“Ha…” Feng Bujue smiled and whipped his hair around. He walked forward with a handsome gait to stop before the girl. Then, he held Miko in his hands, and as a gentleman would, he did not lean in for a kiss.
“I would never leave because I love you.” He uttered those words in a promising tone. He had never said them in real life before. But since he was technically saying them for Shuichi and Hirata, it did not feel as awkward as it should.
Actually, Feng Bujue had been bugged by his ex-girlfriend to say those three words before, but his answer had been “A man will only say ’I love you’ once in his life, and that is at your death bed.”
After that, no normal woman had fallen into a relationship with him again, and the world sighed collectively in relief.
“Current mission completed. All main quests completed.” When the system announced that, Feng Bujue opened the game menu. He noticed that all three of the earlier main quests that he did not complete—stay at home until dawn, explore the manor, and stay at the office until the end of working hours—did not have a tick to show that they had been completed but instead had been crossed out.
A new quest had just surfaced at a spot that was left empty like it was hinting that this quest had been there from the beginning. ’Restore Hirata Shuichi’s mental world.’
The moment that the system audio made the announcement, the mission appeared, and a tick appeared next to it.
Theoretically speaking, Feng Bujue should have heard the announcement for the teleportation already, but weirdly enough, he did not hear it. Rather, he was pulled back to the first-person cinematic mode.
Oh? This scenario comes with a post-credits scene after clearing it? Feng Bujue thought. Huh… This is not bad, better than those fighting scenarios.
“Auto-teleportation will occur after viewing the epilogue,” the system announced.
The scene before his eyes changed. It was the afternoon of a gloomy day, and the street around him looked familiar. The surroundings were now dripping with colors, so this should have been happening in real life.
Feng Bujue easily recognized his surroundings as the street that he had first appeared on at the start of the scenario.
The angle of the camera turned, and a couple walked from afar. The man looked handsome and polite, wearing a sharp suit. The woman had a fairy-like air while wearing a dark pantsuit. Feng Bujue recognized them. They were Hirata Shuichi, who looked around twenty, and Miko, whom he had just seen.
Their conversation soon appeared in his ears.
“Are we there yet, Hirata?”
“Hmm… there’s still a short distance. We should be there soon.”
“The traffic in your hometown sure is inconvenient.”
“You’re right about that. Ha ha… After all, it’s a backward place.” Hirata scratched his head. “You have to take the train to come to such a faraway place and have to walk such a long distance with me. I’m sorry for placing you in such inconvenience, Miko.”
“It’s alright. If it’s with you, Hirata, even walking together like this is wonderful,” she muttered as she lowered her face from shyness.
Feng Bujue grumbled in annoyance, “What the hell is this? The world after I’ve corrected the mistake? I slaved through so much to get the perfect end, and the reward is for you to feed me dog food‽ Go to hell, Shuichi!”
“Oh, by the way, did you know, there’s an old long house down the street? When I was young, I heard the seniors say that the place is actually haunted,” Hirata said.
“Hey, why are you suddenly talking about that? Why are you doing this?” Feng Bujue suddenly felt assaulted by a bad feeling.
“There aren’t any ghosts in this world. They are just people’s imagination.” Miko laughed.
Hirata laughed along with her. “Of course, you’re right…”
At that moment, the camera panned to a different angle. In the gloomy sky, a flash of lightning struck. In that one second when the world was lit up, Feng Bujue clearly saw, on the electric pole not far behind Hirata and Miko, a strange human-like creature squatted wearing a white Kimono…