Rebuilding Sakamichi in a chaotic worldline

"What? You're saying you're going to summon Rika and the others right now? That's not what we agreed on!"

When Mikoto, who had been urgently summoned home, looked at Kubo Rito, whose right hand was bandaged, she frowned and raised a question.

"I know, but the situation has changed now."

"I don't understand. Don't I also have memories from the past? How come I'm fine?"

"Because you weren't drawn out by me, you came here on your own, understand?"

With a few words, he shut up the curious Meiqing. Rito glanced at his watch and realized that there wasn't much time left before the half-hour deadline. Without caring whether she understood or not, he grabbed her shoulders and quickly explained what he needed to do next:

"Listen to me, Mio, the third-generation members are coming soon. The system said it won't assign them identities, and I don't know what will happen, so you have to help me keep them calm. If they run away, things will get complicated, understand?"

Meiqing nodded as if she understood, though she was a little disappointed that the third generation members couldn't reunite as a complete group. But at least they were more than half together. It was just that what this bastard said was a bit scary. What did he mean by "you don't know what will happen"? Everything had been going smoothly before.

"Shall we begin?" Rito breathed a sigh of relief, released her shoulders, and asked, "Who do you think is the easiest to persuade among these people?"

After thinking for a moment, Meiqing replied, "Junye or Meiyu, I feel like I might believe even the most outrageous things they say."

"Okay, let's start with Miu." Rito nodded, took out Miu Murayama's card from his pocket, and casually crushed it.

Starlight spilled from between fingers, tiny particles of light swirling and coalescing in the air, gradually outlining a person's silhouette. The particles of light began to weave upwards from the feet—canvas shoes, jeans, a simple white T-shirt, and black hair falling over the shoulders. Finally, the eyes lit up, round and slightly sleepy, exactly like the one on the card.

"Huh?"

Murayama Miu blinked, looked down at her hands, then looked up at the two strangers in front of her. Her expression changed from blank to confused, from confused to wary, and finally she took a step back, almost stepping on the Lego that Mio had carelessly thrown on the ground.

"Who are you? Where is this?"

Meiqing raised her hands to indicate that she meant no harm. She took a small step forward and said in as gentle a voice as possible, "Meiyu, don't be nervous—"

"How do you know my name?" Miyu's wariness rose again.

Meiqing and Rito exchanged a glance. Rito sighed, shook her bandaged right hand, sat down on the folding chair in the corner of the living room, and nodded to Meiqing, meaning "It's up to you."

Making up stories wasn't Li Ren's forte, nor was it Mei Qing's. Besides, a bunch of people were coming later, and ordinary lies wouldn't hold water. Mei Qing could only try to explain everything to Mei Yu as truthfully as possible. But Mei Yu was a clever person; she actually listened, said "Oh," and then just stared at her blankly without asking any more questions, which made Mei Qing feel a little insecure.

"Miyu, don't you have anything to ask?" Meiqing asked tentatively, a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

"Didn't you say that more people would be summoned next? Let me see first. If it's true, I'll believe you." Miyu was quite frank, leaning against the wall and tapping her temple with her finger. "Anyway, I don't remember anything right now, so I can't verify anything you say."

Meiqing was silent for a moment, wanting to explain a few more words, but Rito stood up from his seat, grabbed her, and reminded her, "It's too late, she's already said so, let's move on to the next one."

Junha Mukai, Riko Endo, Nagisa Kojima, Reina Odakura, and Aiki Taniguchi—one by one, the third-generation members materialized in the starlight. Mio talked until her throat was dry, and Rito felt tired just watching. But thankfully, it was all about to end.

Taking out the last card from Rika Ishimori, Rito accidentally poked his wound, and a little crimson blood seeped from the white gauze, seemingly foreshadowing that things wouldn't go so smoothly.

really.

Rika Ishimori emerged from the starlight with a different air than anyone else. She showed no bewilderment, no confusion, and didn't even pause in her steps. Her eyes swept across the somewhat crowded living room before finally settling on Rito.

"who I am?"

When the girls in front are summoned, they usually ask "Who are you?" or "Where am I?" or "What happened?" But Rika, as the youngest of the third generation, is so experienced that you can feel her maturity as soon as she speaks. Compared to asking questions that don't have a correct answer, probing others' understanding of you is undoubtedly the fastest way to obtain useful information.

"Rika Ishimori, welcome." Rito smiled, stepped forward, and extended her hand.

Over the next few days, Rito finally understood what it meant to be in a complete mess, and gained a deeper understanding of the system's punishments.

He bought a three-story Western-style house near Akasaka that had just been listed for sale for 30 million yen, paying in full upfront. The previous owners were an elderly professor and his wife who were moving abroad for an extended period and were in a hurry to sell, not even having had time to move the furniture, which saved him a lot of trouble. On the day he moved in, he stood in the middle of the living room, looking at the seven girls wearing the same T-shirts he had hastily bought from Uniqlo, each occupying a corner, and suddenly felt like a philanthropist running a shelter.

But at least philanthropists receive gratitude, while he couldn't even earn the most basic trust.

The third young lady, who was used to a life of luxury, was the first to give up resistance. After all, she couldn't remember anything yet, and going out to work was obviously not something she could accept. Therefore, she chose to accept reality early on and settled down in the small building, where she could also help him appease others.

Then there's Murayama Miu and Taniguchi Aiki. The former is naturally oblivious to things, while the latter, perhaps because she can't bear to leave Miu and can't take her with her when she runs away, can only protect her like this. The adorable Riko, though not completely trusting him yet, has witnessed the birth of others and has chosen to stick together for warmth. In comparison, Kojima Nagisa and Mukai Junha are less settled, always looking around curiously, clearly still harboring suspicions.

Only Rika Ishimori was the only one who remained antagonistic from beginning to end.

On her first day at the villa, she locked the door from the inside. On the second day, she tried to escape but was dragged back from the station by Rito. On the third day, she asked everyone at the dinner table, "How long are you going to keep us locked up?" Rito was too exhausted to argue with her and simply told her that they had no identification and could only do illegal work if they went out, and they wouldn't even be able to earn enough to pay rent.

"I don't believe you unless you tell me to go to the police."

Rika was the last one to be summoned, unlike the others who at least saw the cutscene once. Therefore, she was the most suspicious, even thinking that the other third-generation members were planted by Rito to make her lower her guard. Rito suspected that she was inspired by watching too much "The Truman Show" and could only tell Mio to keep an eye on her and not let her go out and cause trouble for capitalist civil servants.