Kagura Hikaru had a dream.

He dreamt of returning to that day when his mind was overwhelmed by thousands of voices, on the brink of collapse.

He arrived at the station platform in a daze.

This time, there was no one to save him, and he jumped onto the tracks, as foretold.

After his death, Kagura Hikaru transformed into a spirit.

He saw Kohinata Suse kneeling on the platform, sobbing.

In a flash, the scene changed to his funeral.

The atmosphere was gray.

At the funeral.

Ai Cheng Hua Lian, Kiryu Hina, Ayakoji Chiyoko, and Kohinata Suse were all there.

As well as Kagura Hikaru's family.

And some friends whom he hadn't seen in a long time.

The girls from the Red Pepper Band, Student Council President Sakata Asahi from Tsukinomori Girls' Academy, Saijo Mari who had confessed to him in the past, Hina's bespectacled companion Hosaka Yui, former Drama Club President Takeuchi Momo, Hina's father Kiryu Masaki, Chiyoko's father Ryoma Ayakoji (Ayanokoji Daisuke), and so on.

Of course, Komori Ai was also there.

She stood beside Kagura Hikaru's parents and stepmother.

Her small face was worried, a mature expression that didn't quite seem like hers.

Kagura Hikaru floated in front of them.

He gazed at each of them one by one.

Ai Cheng was crying uncontrollably, like a little tear-streaked kitten.

Hina, Chiyoko, and Suse had pale faces.

They stared silently at the black and white photo above the coffin.

The others also showed varying degrees of sadness and regret.

Surprisingly, it seemed he was actually quite loved, wasn't he?

No one was pretending to be sad.

That's not often seen at a funeral.

But in the end, it was just a dream.

As this thought passed through Kagura Hikaru's mind,

the dream shattered.

He opened his eyes in a daze.

What he saw was a wooden ceiling.

Sunlight streaming in from outside the window.

And Komori Ai and the shrine maiden Mizuno Yuna from his hometown peering down at him.

""Good morning!""

The two greeted him in unison.

"..."

Kagura Hikaru's mind was briefly confused.

He propped himself up slowly with his hands.

He found himself lying in a room with a traditional Japanese style.

Outside, the weather was sunny and warm.

The breeze drifting in through the window carried a calming scent.

He turned his head to stare at Mizuno Yuna, the earthbound spirit shrine maiden he hadn't seen in a long time.

The situation was quite clear.

He was not in Tokyo but back at his family home in Wakayama.

But what surprised Kagura Hikaru wasn't that fact.

.... Silence.

No heart voices to be heard at all.

Only the sound of the wind and the slight breathing of the two girls.

A month of tranquility.

Kagura Hikaru instinctively held his breath, falling into a trance.

He couldn't believe this was reality; he thought perhaps Komori Ai had brought him to heaven.

Until Komori Ai poked his cheek with her index finger for the third time.

He finally came back to himself, dismissing that thought.

How could heaven resemble his family's home? That was illogical.

And besides, disregarding Mizuno Yuna,

Komori Ai wasn't dead, she was alive.

So does that mean he wasn't dead either?

This thought was harder for Kagura Hikaru to believe than if he were dead.

"How did you do it....."

He looked at Komori Ai and Mizuno Yuna with a complex gaze.

However, as soon as he'd spoken.

Komori Ai suddenly dove into his arms with a thud.

Her small face rubbed incessantly against his chest.

Her pink-highlighted pigtails swinging back and forth.

Like a small floppy-eared puppy.

Mizuno Yuna laughed at Kagura Hikaru's bewildered expression: "Long time no see, Kagura, Ai Chan has been worried about you~"

"What's going on here."

Kagura Hikaru had a complicated expression, "Why am I in Wakayama?"

"Ai Chan brought you here," Mizuno Yuna said.

"Hey! Hey~!"

Komori Ai suddenly raised her head and raised her hand, wiggling in Kagura Hikaru's arms as she exclaimed:

"It's me, Komori Ai! Performed perfectly this time! 100% full marks!!"

Through relentless questioning, Kagura Hikaru gradually understood the situation.

The Komori Ai he saw before he lost consciousness was not an illusion.

She had appeared just in time during his mind's chaotic outburst, hypnotized everyone, and took him away.

The world believed he had taken a leave from school to return home to recover.

Komori Ai had left such a 'lie' behind in Tokyo.

Then she brought Kagura Hikaru to Wakayama overnight.

"Why here?"

Kagura Hikaru asked.

His eyes on Mizuno Yuna.

He knew that Komori Ai bringing him back home had a lot to do with the shrine maiden in front of him.

The facts proved him correct.

"I already heard from Ai Chan that your mind-reading ability was out of control, right?

After learning about your predicament, Ai Chan and I experimented to see if our powers could affect you.

We've finally made a breakthrough."

Mizuno Yuna's eyes shone with a faint golden glow, her smile was joyful:

"Simply put, we've found a way to treat you, Kagura!"

"....?!"

Kagura Hikaru had no doubts.

The absence of mind voices was evidence enough.

This filled him with endless hope.

It seemed like he might not have to die after all?

"Without Ai Chan's help, I wouldn't have known I had this kind of power."

Mizuno Yuna explained:

"My ability... let's call it 'reality modification.'

It allows strange things to happen in a perfectly normal way, without anyone noticing anything unusual.

For example, I could make a pig fly in the sky, and the villagers would think it's just common sense."

It's quite similar to Komori Ai's 'lie.'

Kagura Hikaru thought immediately.

But Komori Ai's lies only work on people.

Whereas Mizuno Yuna....

Kagura Hikaru had once seen her connect her own remains, making them easy to pull out of a well.

At the time, she clearly wasn't aware of her supernatural power.