Not a detective

Page 244

To put it bluntly, he also felt that everything Asukai Shi did was for him.

Even though she was using the third person when she was telling the story.

He was conflicted, and he knew that thinking about it this way would not lead to anything, even though he was deeply affected by the past.

He also vividly remembers recalling the past, how he and Xu Qishi were inseparable, childhood sweethearts, making promises to each other about the future, and their bond of life and death.

How could he possibly make such a decisive cut so easily?

With two conflicting emotions swirling within him, making it difficult to distinguish between them, Asakawa Riku changed the subject:

"If that's the case, then your target should only be me. Why did you kill Kirisame Aoi back then... three years ago?"

The only thing he didn't understand was this question.

Three years ago, during the "Nue no Natsu" (Summer of Nue), Uta Asukai impersonated "Nue" to get close to Aoi Kirisame, intending to kill her. All of this was witnessed by Riku Asakawa.

Why did she do that?

“This is also for you,” Asukai Shi explained. “At first, I just wanted to create you and immediately transfer your consciousness to Asahi, so that there wouldn’t be the problem of two separate personalities struggling with each other. But later I discovered that an infant’s consciousness is not compatible with the body of a teenager. Asahi’s consciousness died when she was eighteen, which means that I have to wait until you are at least eighteen years old before I can perform this transfer and ensure a perfect fit. But that doesn’t matter. As long as there is hope, I can wait.”

"So I wrote myself into the book, creating the identity of 'Asukai Shi.' I personally maintained the operation of this world to ensure the smooth progress of this plan. Your crazy training and the leap in power you achieved through your own abilities surprised me greatly. I never expected such a change. Perhaps it's because your consciousness also came from outside. I've seen you doing those dangerous acts of heroism and punishing evil. Although it was dangerous, I secretly protected you, so you're safe and sound..."

"But when you were sixteen, I realized that the real danger might not come from enemies, but from friends."

“In that incident, you inevitably became involved with Kirisame Aoi. I started to worry. If you become entangled with women in this world and develop new feelings, will you still be able to maintain your original appearance and personality? After you turn eighteen, will you still be willing to return to the original world to be with me? I had to prevent all of this from happening, so I pretended to be Nue on one hand and Kirisame Aoi on the other, blocking the two of you from meeting. But later I found that this was still not safe, so I decided to completely eliminate the threat.”

Asu's eyes were calm, without the slightest hint of murderous intent, as if she thought the statement was normal and didn't need to be emphasized.

It's like talking about what you had for breakfast today.

In her eyes, this was simply necessary work to ensure the plan was completed.

Asakawa Riku stared, speechless with astonishment, but he couldn't find the words to refute him.

Asukai Shi's concerns were not unfounded.

Just like him now, if you asked him to go back to his original world and become Lu Chuanqian again, would he really be willing?

Not only Kirisame Aoi, but also Chizuko, Yukie, Suetsuki, Hoshino and the others... He could never let go of any of these relationships.

It's impossible for him to abandon everyone and go back.

So that's what Asukai Shi's motive was—he finally understood why motive was so important, and why Asukai Shi had always refused to mention it.

Because the question "Why didn't it?" is too heavy, so heavy that it's hard for people to accept.

Asakawa Riku gritted his teeth:

"How could you do that... Kirisame Aoi is innocent! That scene... that familiar scene, you killed her, didn't you feel any pain?!"

For the first time, his tone carried anger, and his breathing became heavy.

His anger is easy to understand, not only because Asukai Shi was preparing to kill someone without any sense of guilt, but also because that "scene" was so unusual.

The alleyways next to the school, the young girls, the mutilated future, the murderer... all of this seems to foreshadow that past event.

The summer of Nue is extremely similar to that summer in the past. If Asakawa Riku had not appeared in time to rescue her, Kirisame Aoi would have become another victim, another Rikukawa Asakawa.

He couldn't understand why Asu, knowing how painful and cruel it was, could commit the crime so calmly...

Why should I feel guilty?

However, Uta Asukai's expression remained unusually calm, without the slightest fluctuation. Her demeanor was less like "indifference" and more like "apathy": "To me, whether it's Kirisame Aoi or anyone else, they are all characters I created in this world, and I can decide their fate. Asakawa Riku, if you were a writer, would you sympathize with the characters you create?"

This question left Asakawa Riku stunned.

It wasn't that he wasn't angry anymore, nor that he didn't have anything to say in rebuttal; it's just that he finally realized where the "incongruity" lay.

—We're not from the same world at all.

In Shinobu Asu's eyes, this world is inherently false, not a real world, and the characters are not real people, just like two-dimensional paper figures.

Therefore, she would not develop genuine feelings for these people, and would not hesitate to eliminate them if they affected her plans.

In the eyes of a true "god," all things are ants.

At that moment, Asu-i Shi made up her mind that she was willing to be the worst person, no matter how evil, in order to save Lu Chuanqian and bring him back to life.

Winter of Man: Chapter Sixteen - The Truth

"But I can understand your anger. You attacked me frantically to protect that girl, perhaps because you were reminded of past regrets."

Asukai Shi continued:

“I had to retreat at the time. I didn’t expect that the seal on your past memories could actually loosen. It would be troublesome if you could recall them ahead of time. I realized that I could no longer appear in front of you in my real identity, otherwise your memories might be restored. I had to isolate you. So I stopped showing up on my own and instead monitored and manipulated things from behind the scenes.”

"After you entered high school, the world began to subtly slip out of control. Perhaps it had been evolving for more than ten years and started to show abnormalities, like the superpowers and monsters you mentioned. All sorts of unimaginable elements began to flood in. In just one year, you experienced several unusual events and met quite a few women... I started to feel a sense of crisis again."

"So the following summer, I created the script for 'Summer of the Red Ray,' using the power of a book to trap you on that island and using countless time loops to constrain your actions. As long as you stayed put, there would be no changes, and you could calmly wait until you turned eighteen to carry out the plan. But unfortunately, you successfully broke free, and the book could only become a scrap."

"In the winter of the second year, the Winter of God, when you finally came of age, I planned ahead and created the Church of the Supreme God. Because your power was already terrifying enough, you were no match for a god. I was afraid I couldn't suppress you. I could only create a god in the hope of controlling your soul. But I didn't expect that you would still defeat me. It was indeed no use."

"So in the third year, I had no choice but to take the stage myself."

Her words terrified Asakawa Riku, leaving him momentarily speechless.

I never imagined that she was involved in all of the events I had experienced.

Asukai Shi is like a behind-the-scenes manipulator, constantly monitoring the progress of these events, and many of them were even planned by her.

"The Summer of the Crimson Rays and the Winter of the Gods...were those two incidents...were you the mastermind behind them?"

Asakawa Riku could only think of the Summer of the Red Stingray because of the book, but he didn't expect that the cult was also associated with Asukai Shi.

They thought that everything would be fine after defeating Shinonome Kosuke, but it turns out that Asukai Shi was the real mastermind, and no one had noticed her all along.

"of course."

Asukai Shi didn't hide anything and immediately said, "Otherwise, do you think Hoshimi Kouyu is just a half-demon, at most having the power to transform into an island? How could Akashi Ray reverse time and reincarnate? There was even a time when she was reincarnated without being influenced by faith. You should be able to notice this flaw. It's the same with the church. If it weren't for my help, how could a cult have expanded to 700,000 followers so quickly? How could an ordinary rich man have become a god? All of this requires the authority of the [Author] to achieve."

Now, all the remaining doubts and confusions have been resolved.

Including the missing copy of "Summer of the Red Ray"... and the truth behind the Tokyo riots...

At this moment, however, Riku Asakawa did not feel the satisfaction of the truth being revealed; instead, he felt a deep sorrow.

Asukai Shi nearly killed Kirisame Aoi just to complete that plan, and even trapped an entire grade of teachers and students on a deserted island, completely disregarding their lives.

They even turned Halloween in Tokyo into a night of chaos, causing countless casualties and disorder, and nearly destroying the city.

Logically speaking, such evil deeds should have abhorred Asakawa Riku; she was a sinner and should be punished.

However, for Shimi Asukai, there was nothing wrong with it.

She is both destroyer and creator. As a deity, she created this world and also has the power to arbitrarily take it away.

She doesn't treat these "characters," "NPCs," or "non-player characters" as real people; they're just characters in a story.

The dimensions are different, the levels are different, unlike Asakawa Riku, who truly regarded this world as the real world, and the people around him as living, breathing people.

In Shii Asukai's eyes, the value of life can never be truly equal.

She was willing to sacrifice everything as long as she could complete her plan.

Therefore, Asakawa Riku has no right to judge her, because he is even a "beneficiary" of this plan. Once the plan is completed, he can be resurrected as Riku Asakawa...

It's so ironic. After all these years of being a punisher and a hero who upholds justice, he ended up being a powerless party involved.

“I understand now, the whole story, the cause and effect… Asukai Shi, take my soul with you.”

Asakawa Riku lowered his head, and after a moment of silence, he could only sigh, "I'm ready. Let me go back to my original world, and I'll take over Riku Asakawa's consciousness."

Knowing the truth of all this can be considered the end of one last regret.

Since he was created for this purpose, let him fulfill his final mission.

Are you really willing?

Asu pursed her lips: "You have to understand, if you go back, it means giving up everything in this world, including all the girls you know. You will also have to give up this healthy, strong, and youthful body and become a middle-aged person lying in a hospital bed, unable to move your hands and feet, and paralyzed. You will lose all your power and become an ordinary person again."

She knew that Asakawa Riku would not agree, so she thought of using force to extract Asakawa Riku's soul.

"Of course I don't want to." Asakawa Riku smiled wryly, giving the expected answer.

As he just said, he couldn't abandon them and go back alone, even knowing that this world was fake, a fabricated book, he still wanted to live a new life here.

Even if he still harbors lingering feelings for the past, sympathizes with Xu Qishi's experiences, and wants to save Lu Chuanqian, it is still his own past life.

But he still didn't want to go back. Just like the moment the two personalities separated, once he realized this, he was no longer Lu Chuanqian.

"But do I have a choice?"

Asakawa Riku looked at Asukai Shi.

He had no choice.

He couldn't fight against Shimi Asukai, even at his strongest, he couldn't beat her, because he was just a character in a book.

With just one word from Shizuka Asu, his body would be torn to pieces; as long as she takes action herself, this script cannot be broken.

Now that things have come to this, we can only face our fate and accept it with equanimity.

"However, I have one last request."

“I’m willing to go back and become your sacrifice. But in exchange, Shii Asukai, I hope you can continue writing this story.”

"Let the world of this book continue... Let time keep flowing, it cannot stop at this moment."

"You can't cause trouble for Chizuko, Yukie, Hoshino, Suetsuki, and Kirisame Aoi. You have to make them forget me, just like sealing away my memories, and let them live their lives well."

"If you agree to this condition, I will go back with you."

Winter of Man: Chapter Seventeen The Dead

"Asakawa Riku... do you know, the biggest difference between you and Asaka is that you're a sentimental guy."

In that instant, Asakawa Riku really thought that he was about to be torn to pieces again.

Unexpectedly, after two seconds, Asukai Shi couldn't help but laugh: "Seriously, how do you know so many girls, and even rattle them off like a menu..."

"I didn't expect this either, I just let nature take its course."

Asakawa Riku said helplessly that he hadn't expected that even at this moment, he would still find the girl sitting opposite him to be beautiful when she smiled.

This is the first time I've seen her smile since we came in.

"Enough with the small talk, let's begin."

He stood up, ready to accept his fate. He was willing to be the one to sacrifice himself if it could solve everything.

In this way, Lu Chuanqian can be resurrected, Xu Qishi's wish can be fulfilled, and Asukai Shi's plan can be completed.

Even the other girls in this world no longer need to stay by his bedside crying; they can be liberated and forget about him and live their lives well... That's not bad either.

However, Uta Asukai remained seated, without making any move.

"I'm glad to hear you say that, but unfortunately... it's all meaningless now."

"What do you mean? Isn't it true that as long as I bring my soul back, Lu Chuanqian can be resurrected?"

"If it were before, then yes, it would be possible."

A hint of sadness flashed in Asu's eyes: "But it's not possible now."

Looking at her expression, Asakawa Riku vaguely sensed that something was amiss.

No… if she could, why didn’t Asukai Uta just kill him decisively and complete her plan? Instead, she’s here saying all this and explaining so much—is she trying to reform him?

What went wrong with the plan? What problems arose?

“As I mentioned before, I am not Xu Qishi herself. Like you, I am merely a character she created. However, I possess the privileges of an ‘author,’ allowing me to freely travel between these two worlds. To monitor your situation and ensure the smooth execution of the plan, I haven't returned for a long time, until recently—”

Asukai Shi silently explained:

“After you exposed the truth about the past this summer, I knew I couldn’t delay any longer, so I prepared to carry out the final plan, but before that, I had to go back and take a look.”

"But after returning to my original world, I saw something unexpected... That's when I realized that [that thing] had happened while I was away."

Her palm swept across their eyes, and suddenly an image appeared, projected before their eyes.

As if he were there, Asakawa Riku saw the scene from [reality].

In that dark ward, which seemed to be the VIP ward where he was lying, there were white sheets and various sophisticated life support instruments and tubes.