Self-Awareness and Lies

What is this all about?

Why is Kanzaki Takuya wearing an Illusion-Breaking Ring?

Is he a sorcerer?

Is he suspicious of me?

Ochi Mana stood stunned for a good while before realizing her reaction was off. She quickly said,

“Kanzaki-kun, that ring… who gave it to you?”

She tried to make her tone sound accusatory, playing the part of a girlfriend catching her boyfriend cheating.

As expected, Kanzaki Takuya, whose face was full of suspicion, quickly showed a look of sudden realization, then became somewhat awkward.

“A relative bought it at a flea market. I thought it was interesting, so I wore it for fun. But now, it’s probably time to change its position…”

Saying this, Kanzaki Takuya took the ring off his right index finger and put it on his middle finger. Perhaps feeling guilty, or afraid Yurina wouldn’t understand, he even specifically explained that a ring on the right index finger signified being single, while on the middle finger it meant having a lover.

Theoretically, Mana should have blushed and started playfully teasing him, but not only did she feel nothing for Kanzaki Takuya, even her will to act completely vanished with Kanzaki Takuya’s actions just now.

“I see, I misunderstood you. I’m sorry.”

She forced a stiff smile, her mind in a chaotic mess. She didn’t know how much she had exposed and just wanted to escape back to the classroom, even if a crowd of gossips awaited her there.

Fortunately, her previous explanation seemed to have worked. Kanzaki Takuya only thought she was still angry and suspicious, and felt it inappropriate to bother her, only speaking occasionally with a submissive, pleading tone for her forgiveness.

They remained like this until lunch break ended.

Yurina left the classroom first, outwardly appearing to have recovered about seventy percent of her usual cheerfulness… But in Kanzaki Takuya’s eyes, her usual ten-tenths cheerfulness was somewhat fake, let alone now.

The question was—

“What am I doing?”

Kanzaki Takuya leaned back in his chair, letting out a self-reproachful sigh.

What bothered Kanzaki Takuya wasn’t the issue of Yurina being a sorcerer, but rather his disappointment at Yurina being the genuine article. Yet, the moment Yurina revealed herself to be a sorcerer and panicked, lying about it, Kanzaki Takuya’s heart rejoiced again.

“No, various signs indicate that the possibility of Yurina being a precognitive is extremely low. I merely subconsciously denied this conjecture after collecting much evidence… Hahaha.”

After rationalizing to himself, Kanzaki Takuya couldn’t help but laugh.

Because he was a very self-aware person.

“Actually, I subconsciously desired a different answer, an answer related to my abilities…”

He knew what he wanted, and then he would acknowledge and affirm that part of himself, and finally—

“So, what are you hiding, and what do you intend to do?”

Kanzaki Takuya looked with anticipation in the direction Yurina had left.

Back in class, Mana was once again surrounded by her classmates. This time, however, the fangirl trio and Mizushima Seiki came to help, and the crowd quickly dispersed.

However, Mana couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief yet—

“No wonder Shizuki-san, you didn’t plan to join the fan club. Turns out you had already decided to become Kanzaki-kun’s girlfriend.”

Indeed, after driving others away, Yamamoto Marina herself came over to gossip.

But what surprised Mana was that Yamamoto Marina, the leader of the fan club, wasn’t angry at all; instead, she looked happy.

The other three were the same.

“So I wasn’t wrong from the start, that Kanzaki guy really was interested in Shizuki-san,” Mizushima Seiki said, laughing loudly.

“Shizuki-san, Kanzaki-kun is a wonderful guy. I hope you two find happiness.” Watanabe Akino, who seemed the most elegant and dignified of the trio, said with a gentle expression, but the content was quite problematic; anyone who didn’t know might think Yurina was getting married.

“Ahhh, I also confessed to Kanzaki-kun, why didn’t I succeed… If you two break up, I won’t let you off, you know.” Shimoya Himeko looked angry, but the unconcealed joy at the corner of her mouth completely revealed that she, too, was offering her blessings.

At this moment, Mana realized that Kanzaki Takuya’s earlier assessment wasn’t wrong; they truly were good people, at least the kind who would genuinely wish their friends well.

In the past, she would never have had the chance to meet such people, let alone become friends with them.

All thanks to Kanzaki Takuya, all thanks to her being Yurina now.

Even though their kindness didn’t belong to her, she couldn’t help but nod.

“Thank you, everyone. I’ll get along well with Kanzaki-kun.”

Ah, she was truly despicable and shameless.

With what kind of vile feelings had she fled back?

Was she afraid that Kanzaki Takuya would scold her if he knew the truth, or even develop a bad impression of Yurina?

Afraid that Yurina’s social relationships would be ruined?

No, these were all excuses.

She was actually just reluctant to give up her current life.

All she had ever thought about was making herself feel better.

She was just such a despicable and shameless person.

Soon after, Kanzaki Takuya returned, but Mana had already regained her composure—selfish as she was, she was mentally prepared to continue concealing the truth, so her face showed no sign that anything had happened.

“Actually, I’m a sorcerer.”

Kanzaki Takuya said softly.

Mana’s eyes widened suddenly. She opened her mouth, trying to say something, but no words came out.

However, Kanzaki Takuya didn’t say anything more. After giving her a deep look, he returned to his seat.

During class, Mana’s emotions churned for a long time, unable to focus on the teacher’s words. Finally, she couldn’t resist passing a note to Kanzaki Takuya.

[Kanzaki-kun, what did you mean by what you just said?]

[This is the first time you’ve actively passed me a note.]

But this time, it was Kanzaki Takuya playing dumb. Mana turned her head and saw his somewhat frivolous smiling face, as if waiting for his prey to jump into a trap.

This guy… Mana took a deep breath, deciding to temporarily put this matter aside, at least outwardly pretending not to care.

In fact, she knew there was a sorcerer family named Kanzaki in Chiba Prefecture. She had probably worked hard to memorize various pieces of information about the sorcerer world in the past to gain her father’s attention… She just hadn’t expected Kanzaki Takuya to actually be from the Kanzaki family.

As for whether Kanzaki Takuya was the sorcerer who caused the time reversal and her body swap, she hadn’t considered that.

Firstly, Kanzaki Takuya clearly didn’t remember what happened then. If it was an act, he was being too kind to her, a murderer… Of course, Kanzaki Takuya might only have time-reversal abilities, but his apparent lack of concern that Yurina would be harmed again by “Ochi Takuro” seemed highly unreasonable.

Secondly, it was her initial speculation: the Kanzaki family was a mid-tier sorcerer family; they might be alright in Chiba Prefecture, but they couldn’t compare nationally.

It was hard to imagine a sorcerer capable of time reversal emerging from them. Moreover, judging from rumors and his behavior, Kanzaki Takuya’s spells were probably used to enhance his physique and memory.

Of course, bloodline theories weren’t absolute; a sorcerer’s power was mainly related to their soul.

For instance, she herself was a failure from a prestigious family. But considering the first point, the possibility of Kanzaki Takuya being a powerful sorcerer was already very low… As she thought about it, her head suddenly began to ache, and her vision blurred—

“Even if you cannot cast spells, do not give up easily. There must be something in this world that only you can do… Even if it’s just doing small things within your power around you, you will surely become a remarkable person… Of course, you will also definitely bring happiness to those around you… If you ask me, the ability to make others happy is the best ability in this world.”

As some memory fragments surfaced and her headache subsided, Mana began to understand.

This was probably her master’s teaching from childhood, as her master was a titan in the field of ability development in the sorcerer world… It was truly laughable.

She didn’t even have spiritual power, yet she was contemplating divine gifts. Only she would have such a daydream.

But the most tragic part was that she hadn’t even done well in things outside of abilities, and had instead robbed others of their happiness. A person like her truly didn’t even deserve to live in this world.

But now she had other things to do… Well, these were all excuses, all an act. She wouldn’t consciously try to reform herself. From now on, she was going to thoroughly enjoy Yurina’s happy life!

Therefore, as soon as class ended, Mana quickly ran out of the classroom, heading to the meeting place she had agreed upon with Takashiro and her two friends.

“Rie-chan, I did it!”

Unlike the cheerful Mana, the other three had very grim expressions.

“You sound pretty smug.”

Matsuura Yuki said bitterly.

She had been excited for an entire class, sending messages to everyone she knew, all to see Yurina make a fool of herself. After all, when she had secretly gone to confess to Kanzaki Takuya, he hadn’t given her any face at all.

But unexpectedly, Yurina had succeeded. Oh, the anger, the jealousy… even though she was countless times prettier than Yurina, who was just a hanger-on.

“It’s just dumb luck, what’s there to be happy about? I bet he’ll soon look down on you and break up with you!”

Iwajo Kaori said sourly. She had always been jealous of Yurina, who was the prettiest of the four. Fortunately, Yurina was useless apart from her looks, had no boyfriend, and no experience in that area, so she had often been ridiculed by Kaori.

But unexpectedly, Yurina found the absolute top guy right away, to the point where Kaori’s eyes were bloodshot from jealousy.

“You two have been secretly seeing each other for a while, haven’t you?” Takashiro Rie said coldly, “Was he the boyfriend you mentioned before?”

“No, Rie-chan… Actually, Kanzaki-kun just saw through that I was forced to confess, and he only agreed out of consideration for my feelings. We aren’t really dating; my boyfriend is someone else… Ahhh, how should I explain this to him now?”

This was the excuse Kanzaki Takuya had originally suggested Mana adopt. Although it didn’t apply to Yamamoto and the others, for Takashiro and her two friends, it was incredibly good news.

“I knew Kanzaki Takuya wouldn’t possibly be interested in you,” Matsuura Yuki said, overjoyed.

“I see. Don’t be discouraged, there will be opportunities in the future.” Iwajo Kaori chuckled, seemingly comforting but actually mocking, her heart brimming with joy. “If your boyfriend gets jealous over such a small matter, I advise you to break up with him sooner rather than later.”

“Really?” Takashiro Rie said suspiciously.

Was she found out?

“It’s true!” Mana quickly said.

But unfortunately, she was the kind of vile person who could lie through her teeth without batting an eye.

“Then…” Looking at Yurina’s pleading expression for forgiveness, Takashiro Rie bit her lip lightly, then said, “Then you’ll have to make your fake act real.”