Chapter 542

Though she was incredibly confused about whether this could truly be happening, reason and instinct were steadily guiding Miyuki back to reality.

Smack!

Strolling slowly down a street that looked exactly as it had yesterday, Miyuki slapped her own cheek hard.

The conclusion was already drawn. She had returned to the past.

She didn't think it was a dream. If it were, the surrounding scenery couldn't possibly be this realistic.

She didn't know how she had returned, or for what reason.

Perhaps her future self had invented a time machine right before dying, and some incident had occurred that sent her past self—rather than her self from that era—further into the past?

Harboring such absurd thoughts, Miyuki quickened her pace and checked her Cell Phone again.

The date she had returned to was July 11th.

It was an unforgettable day—the day Matsuda had saved her from a molester.

Why had she returned to this specific time?

Miyuki decided not to overanalyze it.

It was enough to just consider it fate. The kind of fate where she and Matsuda could be brought together once more, and even more perfectly this time.

She would just think of it as a gift from God, one meant to soothe the lingering regrets she had felt right before falling asleep in Matsuda's arms.

Any other reasons weren't worth agonizing over.

Agonizing wouldn't give her the answers anyway.

'I need to hurry up and meet him.'

She was running late because she had been dawdling. She would have to jog a little.

Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to catch the same train as Matsuda.

Matsuda around this time was a massive delinquent.

Back then, he had beaten the molester's face into a bloody pulp; it had been so violent that a sudden spike of fear had welled up inside her.

If things went according to the natural course of events today, Matsuda would notice the molester trying to grope her, approach with a terrifying expression, and start swinging his fists.

Of course, she had been truly grateful to Matsuda for saving her, but she still hated it when he resorted to such extreme violence.

Furthermore, Matsuda had suffered a major injury during the incident, tearing up his knuckles, so she had to change her approach.

What should she do?

Pondering that, Miyuki sprinted to the nearest stop and boarded a bus just as it arrived.

'Made it...!'

At this rate, she wouldn't be late.

It was a lucky day. She already had a good feeling about this.

...

She spent her time rocking back and forth on her tiptoes right behind the sign below the platform. It wasn't long before the train arrived with a loud rumble.

The doors opened. After waiting for the disembarking passengers, Miyuki got on the train and checked the car number.

Number 2218. She had boarded the exact right one.

She had known it would be thanks to the sign, but confirming it again put her mind at ease.

The seats on the train were completely full.

Since she hadn't had the slightest intention of sitting down in the first place, Miyuki felt no disappointment and took her spot by a pole.

What if Matsuda didn't show up?

She had been worrying about that, but seeing the perfectly empty pole, it turned out to be a needless fear.

She was certain he would board this car.

The same went for the molester, but she wasn't going to let such a terrible person touch her body.

On this day, Miyuki knew exactly what she had been doing on the train.

Because of that, she pulled a math book out of her bag.

As the train passed two stops...

Miyuki's eyes gleamed as she kept her head down, quickly scanning her surroundings while pretending to read the book.

'He's here...!'

She had spotted Matsuda boarding.

His slightly tanned skin, his raw, unkempt hair that gave off a fierce vibe...

Seeing the old Matsuda she used to know brought back a flood of fresh emotion.

With a little exaggeration, his height—tall enough that his shoulder almost brushed the train's hand straps—was exactly the same. Seeing the people around him throwing wary glances his way made her feel another surge of petty jealousy.

Miyuki, who was watching Matsuda's every move with a prominent pout, suddenly reacted.

"Hup...!"

She sharply swallowed her breath and unconsciously pulled back the neck she had been craning forward.

It was because she felt like their eyes had met.

The distance was quite far, but it seemed he had spotted her right away.

Did he feel her gaze because she had been staring too obviously?

From now on, she really needed to pretend she didn't know him.

Playing hard to get... Right, she was going to play hard to get starting now.

With that resolve in mind, Miyuki forced her rising head back down and stared at the book she wasn't even really reading.

And then—slip.

She furrowed her brow, noticing an unpleasant presence subtly approaching her side.

A truly bad person was coming.

Miyuki was fundamentally brimming with tolerance, but she had absolutely no desire to extend that tolerance to the person approaching right now.

Even before molesting her, he was a criminal who had groped countless people and built up a criminal record after being caught several times.

Letting someone like this loose in society was unacceptable.

She had to catch him, no matter what.

Confirming that the molester had approached within arm's reach and that the stopped train had started moving again, Miyuki quickly lifted her Cell Phone and sent a message to the National Railways.

She wrote that she was currently being molested by a pervert, including the specific train number and car she was riding in.

Even with just this much, the National Railways would quickly coordinate with the police and dispatch officers.

A station employee from the National Railways would show up immediately at the next stop.

She had to finish things before then.

She didn't want the molester to touch her thigh, so she would have to ask Matsuda for help before that happened.

'Good...'

She could see the molester's hand slowly approaching.

She had to do it right now, at this exact timing.

After taking a few deep breaths, Miyuki abruptly raised one hand the moment the molester—who seemed to reek of a musty odor—tried to touch her thigh.

And then, looking squarely at Matsuda, she raised her voice.

"Matsuda-kun!! Help me!!"

At Miyuki's voice ringing loudly through the dead silent car, everyone's eyes snapped toward her.

Matsuda's gaze was the same. With a look of sheer bewilderment, his eyes widened as he stared at Miyuki.

"A molester!! It's a molester!! This man!"

As she slightly bent the wrist of her raised hand to point at the molester next to her, the man panicked immensely.

"U-uh...?"

Unable to confirm or deny it, his awkwardly frozen hand was hovering just a hair away from touching Miyuki's thigh.

Seeing that, the eyes of the people near Miyuki completely changed.

"What the... I think she's right."

"Grab him! Everyone grab that man! Call the police!"

A sense of justice came crawling out of the seemingly apathetic crowd.

Soon—wham!

"Urgh!"

Someone charged fiercely at the molester and tackled him. As the man's body tumbled backward, the inside of the car turned into a chaotic mess.

"Tie his hands and feet! Don't let him move!"

"Ah, fuck! I didn't even do anything!"

"Anyone could tell you were about to grope her, so don't play dumb!"

"Are you fucking crazy... I mean it! You guys are making a huge mistake right now!"

The car became boisterous in an instant.

Looking down at the molester screaming at the top of his lungs while being pinned by the crowd, Miyuki's face twisted bizarrely.

'T-this isn't right...'

It wasn't because she felt sympathy for the molester who hadn't even touched her yet; it was because she was disappointed that the person who saved her wasn't Matsuda.

Expressing her gratitude to the people around her, she checked on Matsuda and found him awkwardly scratching his cheek.

Since the other passengers had already pinned down the molester, there was nothing left for him to do.

She should have devised a deeper plan before putting it into action. She had made a mistake.

The excitement of returning to the past, her sense of urgency, and the pounding of her heart at seeing the old Matsuda had overtaken her, making her act far too impulsively.

Sighing inwardly over and over as she lamented her own foolishness, Miyuki lightly bit her lower lip when she saw the smartly uniformed station employee and the police officers rush in as soon as the train stopped and the doors opened.

"We received a report of a molester and came immediately. The perpetrator is..."

Seeing the molester tightly bound by three burly men, the police officer held up his handcuffs.

It was over. Her first event had gone down the drain.

It was such a shame. What an idiot she was...

She needed to act a little more carefully from now on.

But would that even be possible? Just looking at Matsuda made her body heat up and filled her with the urge to pounce on him right then and there.

"Are you okay?"

Suppressing the urge to beat her own head, Miyuki flinched and snapped to her senses at the question from Matsuda, who had approached right in front of her before she realized it.

"Huh...? Ah, yeah... I'm okay. Thank you. Thank you all for helping me."

After greeting the people around her and bowing deeply to express her thanks to the station employee and the police, Miyuki looked up at Matsuda, who had an awkward look on his face.

And then, she softly grumbled.

"Why were you so late...?"

"...Me?"

Seeing the dumbfounded look in Matsuda's eyes as he pointed at himself, Miyuki squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again.

"Ah..."

This was bad. Forgetting that the current Matsuda wasn't close with her, she had complained just like she always did.

She felt like she had completely ruined it. She had severely botched her first step.

Could she return to the future again?

Or rewinding time by just ten minutes would be fine too, but would that be too shameless toward whoever had sent her to the past?

"S-sorry... I was just so startled... I'm really sorry."

In the end, putting on a tearful face, Miyuki had no choice but to offer an apology to Matsuda, who had just been subjected to her sudden accusation.