The next day, Hakuto was woken up by a phone call. He frowned as he slowly sat up, looking quite annoyed.
"Damn it, it's five in the morning. Who the hell is calling!?"
Grumbling, he glanced at the time on his phone, then carefully moved Nao's leg off of him before getting up.
With a sigh, he tucked Nao's blanket around her and quietly stepped out of the room, heading to the balcony in the living room.
"Hello…?"
"Tomori! Otosaka has figured out that his ability is actually Plunder…"
"Huh? Tomori?"
Hearing the way the person on the other end addressed the call, Hakuto's frown deepened instantly.
He checked the caller ID and saw the name Nishimori Yusa.
Then he looked at the phone in his hand—only now did he realize that it wasn't his.
The label "ZHIEND" on the back of the phone case made it clear that this was not his device.
"…Unbelievable." Hakuto shook his head. Still half-asleep, he had mistakenly picked up Nao's phone instead of his own.
"Nishimori, it's me, Shiratori."
"Eh? Shiratori!?" Yusa was momentarily stunned. "Did I call the wrong number…?"
"No, you got the right number. The president's phone is just in my hands right now. But that's not important—what's going on with Otosaka Yuu?"
"Oh… Takajo told me that Otosaka realized his ability is Plunder and asked me to call Tomori to get her opinion."
Hearing that, Hakuto suddenly felt a little dumbfounded.
He had planned to tell Otosaka Yuu about Plunder himself, yet somehow, Yuu had figured it out on his own.
But that wasn't the important issue right now. The real question was whether Otosaka Yuu had come back from the future.
After all, he had kept the truth about Plunder hidden for so long—why would Yuu suddenly realize it now?
Unless he had experienced some life-and-death crisis that made him see his entire life flash before his eyes, this was something that could have been concealed forever.
"Alright, I get it. Where are you guys now?"
"Takajo and I are at school, but Yuu was taken away by the collaborators…"
So he went to Otosaka Shunsuke…
Hakuto hung up the phone, then returned to his room and activated his computational ability, checking on Ayumi, who was still lying in bed.
"She's still here…" Hakuto muttered, shaking his head with a troubled expression.
Ayumi's destructive ability still remained—it hadn't been Plundered by Otosaka Yuu.
Logically, if Yuu had really come back from the future, the first thing he should have done was take away Ayumi's ability.
With his obsession over his little sister, he would never let Ayumi be in danger, even if it meant putting himself at risk.
Of course, there was also the possibility that Yuu's memory jump had only brought him back to tonight, meaning he hadn't had the chance to take Ayumi's ability yet.
Whatever the case, everything would be clear once he met with Otosaka Shunsuke and Otosaka Yuu.
With that, Hakuto picked up Nao's phone and found the contact labeled "Shunsuke-nii."
Without hesitation, he dialed the number. After a few rings, the call was answered, and a calm yet youthful voice came through the speaker.
"This is Otosaka Shunsuke."
"This is Shiratori Hakuto," Hakuto responded, mimicking Shunsuke's tone.
There was a long silence on the other end before Shunsuke finally spoke.
"Tomori wouldn't call me at this hour, so I figured it was you."
"Good, then I don't have to explain." Hakuto nodded. "What's going on with Yuu?"
"Hakuto… You seem to know quite a lot. Did you remember, or did you never forget?"
Shunsuke was aware of Hakuto's terrifying computational ability—he never expected to act unnoticed under Hakuto's watch, but he also hadn't expected Hakuto to know this much.
"Let's just say I remembered. But that's not the point. Is Yuu from the future?"
"No, I indirectly told him about his ability."
Hearing that, Hakuto frowned. Even with just that one sentence, he already had a rough idea of what happened.
"You told him… Can you still use Memory Leap?"
"My ability hasn't been Plundered by Yuu." Shunsuke explained, "Memory Leap essentially allows my past self to gain my current memories."
"But I can only leap back to the day my ability awakened. Yuu should be the same. I just don't know what his goal is."
"You know that's not what I'm asking. What I want to know is—are you blind now?"
"If you had asked me two months ago, I would have said no. But now… I really am blind."
"Then why did you use your ability again?"
"Haha… So there are things even you can't predict." Shunsuke seemed amused—it was the first time he had heard genuine surprise in Hakuto's voice.
"I don't need to predict to guess. The reason you used your ability… Someone must have died, right?"
"…Yeah, you guessed right. I had to change what happened, even at the cost of my sight."
"I have a lot of questions, but a phone call isn't the best way to ask. Let's talk when we meet."
"Alright."
With that, Hakuto ended the call. The time was barely past six in the morning.
He went to wake up Nao and Ayumi.
"Mmm… Hakuto-nii, why are you waking me up so early…?"
"We're going to see your brother."
"Huh? Yuu-nii?"
"No, the other brother."
Meanwhile, Otosaka Yuu had followed Kumagami to a secret base deep in the mountains, built by Otosaka Shunsuke.
There, he finally met Shunsuke.
"It's been a while, Yuu."
"Who are you?" Since Yuu hadn't attended the concert in this timeline, he had no idea who Shunsuke was.
Still, something about their blood connection made him feel uneasy.
"My name is Otosaka Shunsuke. I'm your older brother."
Shunsuke held a cane in one hand, his eyes dull and unfocused, walking unsteadily as he struggled to adjust to his blindness.
"No way. Since I can remember, I've only ever had Ayumi as a family."
"That's because we erased your memories."
At that moment, a blond-haired young man standing beside Shunsuke spoke up.
"And who are you?"
"Sigh, you're still as much of a siscon as ever."
"His name is Shichino. This one here is Furuki, and I'm Medoki. The guy next to you—you can call him Kumagami, or just Kuma."
An orange-haired girl named Medoki introduced the group to Yuu.
"I'll explain in more detail…"
Just as Shichino was about to continue, Maedomari interrupted him.
"Shouldn't we wait for Hakuto? He should be here soon."
Maedomari's voice was gentle, as if he had a deep connection with Hakuto—perhaps just not in this timeline.
"Wait, the Hakuto you're talking about—is it Shiratori Hakuto?" Yuu frowned. He didn't sense any hostility from these people, but he hated being kept in the dark.
If not for the sudden change in his ability, he would have left already.
"Don't worry about him. We don't need to wait—he's probably already figured it all out." Shichino waved dismissively before continuing.
"Maedomari here has the ability to erase the memories of anyone he touches, though it takes some time."
"He's the one who erased your memories, making Otosaka Shunsuke disappear completely from your life."
Maedomari added, "I was very thorough, but over the years, you must have sensed that something was off."
Yuu nodded. Not just him—Ayumi had also mentioned before that it felt like they had another brother.
At first, he thought it was just a mistake. But now, it seemed otherwise.
"I mostly believe you… But why did you do this?"
"To protect you. Though explaining that would take a while."
At that moment, Shunsuke raised a hand to silence them.
"I'll explain. Besides, Shiratori should be arriving soon."
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