Chapter 54: A Conversation Without Answers

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: A Conversation Without Answers

Oota monologue, POV

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?"You’re sure?" I asked further, still confused by his statement just now. Wasn’t it his account that was used to send me the message? So how?

?"Yes." He looked at me. "You want to check yourself?"

?I hesitated at his offer. I didn’t want to look desperate, but I did need to confirm it for myself.

?That wasn’t what I’d expected.

?"Sure."

?He slid the phone across the table to lend it over to me. I took it.

?The account information was exactly what he said. His phone and laptop, nothing else.

?It was strange—no strange device, unfamiliar location, or obvious sign of someone logging into his account. What does this mean, exactly?

?I handed it back. "That’s weird."

?"Yeah," he replied, looking at his phone again. "Maybe someone logged in and logged out."

?"Possible," I muttered, but it was unlikely because of the security. You can’t just clear log history; one had to do so using the main device the account was ordinarily in.

?"Wouldn’t there be some kind of notification?" I asked, trying to confirm a theory I had.

?"Usually," he replied, leaning back slightly.

?"Did you get one?" I added, questioning further.

?"No." He seemed sure he didn’t.

?"Wait, nothing?"

?"..." He didn’t say anything, though his expression claimed he didn’t know.

?I nodded slowly, then changed direction. This was another dead-end.

?"Does anyone know your password?" I said, trying to sound casual. I was already at my wit’s end here.

?"No." He looked at me.

?"Not even your best friend?" I added. This time, it wouldn’t even look like a conversation, but an interrogation, even if we were being casual about it.

?"What if you’ve typed it in front of someone?"

?"That’s a different question." He didn’t seem to react well to the query.

?"Have you?" My eyes lingered on his expression closely. I tried not to show it.

?"Probably not. Look, I don’t give my password to strangers, not even those closest to me. So will you quit with the questions?"

?"You’ve become very bad at pretending this is casual." He smiled. I was being too straightforward, so of course he would know.

?I laughed. "Was I ever good at it?"

?"At first."

?"Then why didn’t you call me out?" I guess he wasn’t interested in my affairs as long as he was in the clear.

?"Because it was entertaining."

?That answer made me think.

?Eh? ℴ𝒗ⅇ𝑙.

?"You’re enjoying this?" I asked, as if I had misunderstood what he had just said.

?"A little." He picked up his phone. His eyes shifted to the window, then back to me. "But seriously, if you think someone got into my account, tell me."

?"I don’t know if someone actually did."

?"Then why are you looking?" he suddenly asked.

?I stared at him for a moment longer. He seemed to be waiting for something—not suspiciously, exactly.

?I could have told him. Instead, I smiled.

?"Because I’m curious." It wasn’t something I necessarily had to tell him about. Besides, I barely knew him, not to mention I had this sense of mind not to trust anyone from school.

?He shook his head. "That’s going to get you in trouble one day."

?"Probably."

?"Maybe already has," he added. I didn’t know what he was trying to point out.

?I didn’t respond at all. He returned to looking down at his phone, then he said,

?"Want to see the actual chat?"

?"What?" I looked at him.

?"The conversation," he added to be more specific. This recent conversation we were having was ready to be over; we should just prepare to leave.

?"You don’t have to."

?"I know." He opened Discord, completely ignoring my answer. "Since you’re clearly curious."

?For the second time today, he handed me the phone again. Well, I had no choice but to take it.

?The chat history was ordinary. Messages, memes, random jokes—and nothing about the hospital, the donation, or Shion’s notes.

?Nothing.

?I scrolled slowly this time. Maybe I had missed something.

?I made sure to stop occasionally, as though I were actually reading the conversation rather than searching for something specific.

?"How far back does this go?" I asked. This chat seemed really long; there was no way I’d be able to get a glimpse of the content.

?"Months," he replied. Bruh, there is no way I’m going that far.

?"Can I scroll?"

?"You’re already scrolling." Busted.

?"Fair," I said casually, already expecting that answer.

?I continued.

?Nothing. The message I remembered wasn’t there, not even a deleted-message indicator. I was expecting to at least find a gap, a strange timestamp, or an obvious alteration. But there were none.

?I reached the approximate date and stopped.

?There were several messages around the time, though none from Yyxx.

?I looked at the timestamp, then at him.

?"Wait," I muttered.

?"What?"

?"Where’s this?" I asked, sounding a bit confused by what I had just seen. I showed him the date.

?He looked. "What?"

?"This day."

?He leaned closer. "I don’t know."

?"There’s nothing," I added, explaining what I noticed was odd.

?"Yeah."

?"You don’t remember talking to me?" I asked. There were no messages on that specific day, which in itself was so illogical. How did I initiate a conversation from a contact I didn’t have up until then without actually getting their contact?

?I remembered and noted that it was from a foreign group on Discord that the message was sent on, but now there were no messages on that Discord group like that on his phone.

?"I don’t remember."

?"But I have the message," I said. This was what was strange to me.

?"Apparently." I handed the phone back.

?He looked through it himself, then frowned.

?"That’s strange."

?"Very," I added.

?He scrolled further—nothing. "Could you have deleted it?"

?"No."

?"Accidentally?" he asked. Bro, why would I delete what I’m actually looking for?

?"No."

?"Someone else?" Now that could be a possibility, but that was what I tried confirming earlier, and there seemed to be none.

?"I don’t know," I muttered in reply.

?He looked at me. "You’re enjoying this too much."

?"I’m not." Why would I? That doesn’t make sense.

?"You are."

?"..." I just went silent. Was there anything there to reply to? He was teasing me at this point.

?He chuckled, then locked his phone. For a moment, neither of us spoke. I looked out the window. The sun was at its highest; it seemed very hot outside.

?The inside was cool because of the air conditioning running in the café. It was very different from that day.

?For a moment, I immediately recalled that alleyway incident. I forced myself not to seem strange or scared, but deep down, I was frightened and trembling. I never wanted to get close to any alley again.

?For now, I had what I needed. Or rather, I had what I didn’t want. There was no trace, hidden conversation, second device, or obvious person with access, and Kazuki had willingly shown me everything.

?That should have made me feel better.

?It didn’t.

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"A world chess champion, while on a special tour of the Louvre [or museum], observed the ’Checkmate’ painting after the rest of his group moved on. He noted that while the devil appeared to be laughing and the man in desperation, he discovered that the king on the chessboard still had one more move. The champion stated that either the painting or its name would need to be changed due to this finding."

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