139 Bliss (1/2)

Shika Kagura discovered some strange items in her temporary room at Natsuya’s residence.

A laptop, that was normal… some manga and poker cards, those were normal as well.

But she also discovered the Monopoly board game, stuffed plushies, and drawing pencils used by young children… what was with these items?

The strangest item of them all was a sketchbook.

Inside was a drawing that was rather amateurish in skill.

There was a reddish-orange sun, a large house, and seven roughly drawn characters were standing together in a row.

Shika felt strange emotions well up within her when she saw this drawing.

As she inspected the seven figures, the sense of strangeness within her only kept growing.

Finally, her line of sight fell upon the tall boy and petite girl in the center of the rough sketch.

They were smiling while holding onto each other’s hand.

Even though it was only an amateurish sketch, it felt… so blissful.

Bliss?

‘Why… am I able to feel bliss?’

Shika slowly held her hand over her chest.

Her current feelings were indescribable for her.

She kept staring at these two characters.

‘Who drew this? Who are the people in these drawing?’

She was suddenly possessed by a strong desire to find out.

At this moment, someone knocked on the door.

Shika turned around to see who it was.

”I’m here to deliver your lunch; may I enter?” a gentle female voice asked on the other side of the door.

”…Please enter.”

‘I’m being imprisoned under house arrest, right? Why is she being so polite with me?’ Shika wondered.

A girl with a light smile and a gentle look in her eyes entered the room carrying a tray in her hands. She was wearing black-and-white maid attire.

Shika didn’t know who she was, but this girl felt vaguely familiar.

‘That’s right—the drawing!’

She hurriedly turned around to look at the sketch again. Shika noticed a smiling girl wearing black-and-white clothing in the drawing; the girl resembled the maid who was currently in front of her.

Was this… her?

She picked up the sketchbook and turned around again to compare the two.

Mai Houjou had just placed the tray on the table when she noticed that Shika had picked up the sketchbook and was looking in her direction.

That sketchbook was…

The maid blinked as her smile deepened.

She had already received an order from her master, Natsuya, to keep tight-lipped about the events which had happened over the past two days.

Since Mai was a highly intelligent person, she quickly realized the reasons behind this order.

Personally, Mai didn’t particularly agree with this course of action.

That cute junior of hers was likely making a silly mistake with this.

But the degree to which she obeyed was up to her.

”My apologies, I should have cleaned up these items,” Mai said as she walked over to Shika. ”These items may be bothering you, so I’ll clean them up right now.”

She reached out to the sketchbook as she spoke.

Shika suddenly retracted her hand, preventing Mai from taking the sketchbook.

‘Why did I just do that?’ she wondered immediately after.

An indescribable light flashed in Mai’s eyes as she witnessed Shika’s reaction.

”You… would you like to keep this?”

The black-haired girl nodded slowly.

”Why is that? I heard that you’ve already forgotten the past two days’ events,” Mai said calmly.

Hearing this, Shika felt as if a light bulb had suddenly turned on in her mind.

”This is… something I used… from when I had amnesia?”

That’s right—she should have thought of this long ago.

‘Why didn’t I think of it? The answer was so obvious.’

Shika looked back towards the sketchbook.

This was something that she used. This was something that she sketched.

‘Why did I sketch this? Why did I use drawing pencils typically used by young children and draw at the level of a young child?‘

‘Those plushies… did I play with those? Monopoly, poker cards… those aren’t typically one-player games; was someone playing together with me?’

Various doubts surfaced in Shika’s mind.

Finally, she remembered Seigo Harano… no, Seiji Haruta’s smile.

‘He was the one taking care of you while you had amnesia.’ Shika recalled Natsuya’s words as her mind worked at full speed.

Shika suddenly felt something erupting inside her brain, causing her to tremble.

Those were… hazy, unfocused scenes.

She was saying something to a tall figure who exuded a warm, comfortable aura.

That person was smiling at her while patting her gently on the head with a large hand.

It was so warm.

It felt so reliable.

It felt so comfortable.

It was so… reassuring.

Her vision turned hazy in real life as well.

Something wet poured down her eyes.

Shika regained her senses and abruptly noticed that her face was tear-streaked and wet.

‘What’s… going on? Why… am I…’

There was a tight and painful feeling in her chest.