Chapter 274 She is not you in the dream

Just as Shimizu was thinking, a hanging black mask came into his sight.

Ichinose Shiki gently raised her hand, her fingertips slid across the soft hair by her ears, and slowly took off the mask that had been covering her face.

Under the mask, there is a breathtakingly delicate face.

The girl in front of him was obviously one year older than Qing Shuijian, but she gave him the feeling of a gentle and lovely girl next door.

On the small face under the mask, the skin is as white and clean as the first snow, the lips are naturally pink without any flaws, the pair of deep black eyes are as deep as the night sky outside the window, and the soft and gorgeous sky-blue long hair hangs from the back of the head to the waist like glass.

With a look like this, the first impression people have of her is that of a quiet little girl who lives next door.

However, Shimizu knew that the girl in front of him was not some girl next door. Although this was the first time he saw her face without the mask, in a sense, it was not the first time Shimizu had seen this face.

The impression of this face in Qing Shuijian's mind was so deep that there was no way he could make a mistake no matter what.

The reason is very simple, because the girl in front of you is one of the five original heroines of the game, Ichinose Shiki.

The moment Shimizu realized this, time seemed to freeze.

And the reason is very simple, that is why Ichinose Shiki appears here?

Although Shimizumi quickly realized that the name 'Mizuki' that Ichinose Shiki had told her before was indeed a pseudonym as he had guessed before, he still couldn't figure out why Ichinose Shiki appeared here.

If Shimizu Mi remembered correctly, he met Ichinose Shiki last episode during the New Year winter vacation a few months later.

Because it was the New Year at that time, when Hoshino Akiko went shopping during a promotion at the mall, she happened to win a travel voucher given away by the mall, so she decided to take Shimizumi to travel to Kyoto.

It was at that time that Shimizu Mi first met Ichinose Shiki.

Although shopping malls in Japan hold raffles like this from time to time, the probability of winning is definitely on the same level as winning the lottery, so in a sense, meeting Ichinose Shiki in Kyoto at that time was a coincidence.

But is the current situation also a coincidence?
As one of the heroines of the game, Shiki Ichinose lives in this world, so it is certainly not surprising that Shimizu would meet her, but the time when the two met was a full few months earlier than last episode.

Because of all these doubts, Shimizu Mi has been staring at Ichinose Shiki since just now. It seems that Sakurai Haruka next to him mistakenly thought that he was staring at her because of her lust and couldn't take his eyes off her, so he was pinched hard on the waist.

However, Ichinose Shiki does have that level of beauty. After all, she is one of the five heroines like Sakurai Haruka.

"Well... I just did too much exercise and this store is a bit stuffy, so I thought I'd take a break, but is it better to wear it?"

Ichinose Shiki seemed to be embarrassed by being stared at by Shimizu for a long time, so she covered her lips with the cup as if to hide her shyness.

However, whether looking from the front or from the side, the girl in front of him is definitely Shiki Ichinose, one of the heroines of the game.

When Shimizu first heard her say her name was Ruixi, he immediately thought that it was a pseudonym she had come up with on the spur of the moment. The reason for this was that Shimizu felt a faint sense of familiarity from her.

It's just that Ichinose Shiki always wore a mask when she was working part-time in the bar, and she seemed to deliberately lower her voice for some reason, so Shimizu Mi didn't think too much about it. But what he still can't figure out is why Ichinose Shiki suddenly came to Tokyo.

“Ichinose…”

Shimizumi spoke subconsciously, wanting to ask Ichinose Shiki, but saw a look of surprise on the other's face.

"Mr. Shimizu... why do you know?"

Because at this time period, Shimizu Mi had not yet met Ichinose Shiki, and Ichinose Shiki had previously told Shimizu Mi a pseudonym, so it was natural that he would be surprised when he heard him say his real name.

Then, Ichinose Shiki looked at Sakurai Haruka, and wanted to say something but hesitated. Finally, he drank a sip of the coffee that had cooled down a little, and whispered:

"Forget it... I didn't ask you to keep it a secret at the time."

Ichinose Shiki seemed to mistakenly think that it was Sakurai Haruka who told Shimizumi her name.

"So, back to the topic just now, has Mr. Shimizu ever been in a car accident before?"

"Car accident..."

Although there were many questions she wanted to ask Ichinose Shiki, she probably wouldn't remember what happened in the first round, let alone recognize Shimizu Mi, and now was not the right time.

Furthermore, regarding the car accident mentioned earlier, the first thing that came to Shimizu's mind was naturally the accident that happened between him and Sakurai Haruka outside the school a few months ago.

Although several months have passed, Shimizu still feels a vague sense of unreality.

Moreover, Sakurai Haruka's injury had only healed not long ago, and she even had a scar on her side abdomen because of the car accident.

Therefore, when talking about the car accident, both Shimizu Mi and Sakurai Haruka's expressions became noticeably heavy.

After a moment's silence, Shimizu Mi told Ichinose Shiki about the car accident he had with Sakurai Haruka.

"Eh, there is such a thing?"

Ichinose Shiki showed an unexpectedly surprised reaction.

"I'm sorry Ms. Sakurai, I didn't know this happened..."

There was a hint of apology on Ichinose Shiki's face.

"nothing dealing with you."

Although she is not very fond of Ichinose Shiki, Sakurai Haruka is a person who sticks to the facts, and the car accident really has nothing to do with her.

"But since you don't know about the car accident between Jian and me, why do you ask if Jian has ever been in a car accident?"

Ichinose Shiki shook his head and continued:
"No, Mr. Shimizu wasn't asking about the car accident with Ms. Sakurai."

"Not the one with me?"

Sakurai Haruka felt puzzled and glanced sideways at Shimizu Ken.

But let alone her, Shimizu himself couldn't understand it either. Could it be that besides the car accident with Sakurai Haruka, there had been other car accidents?
However, whether or not a car accident had ever happened was a question that he himself knew best. Qing Shuijian could be very clear that from childhood to adulthood, except for the accident some time ago, he had not encountered any incidents related to car accidents.

That's why Shimizu Mi was wondering why Ichinose Shiki suddenly asked such a question.

"In other words, Mr. Shimizu has never had any car accidents except for the one with Ms. Sakurai before?"

Ichinose Shiki confirmed with Shimizumi.

Qing Shuijian nodded: "Is there any problem with this?"

It would be better to say that he is not an accident-prone person who would get into car accidents easily.

"So, it was really just a dream..."

Ichinose Shiki spoke softly as if he was talking to himself, but the voice still reached Shimizumi's ears.

"Dream?"

"Ah... Sorry, did I just say that accidentally..."

"What does the dream you just talked about mean?" Shimizu asked, gazing into Ichinose Shiki's eyes.

"..."

Ichinose Shiki did not respond immediately. She lowered her eyes, seemingly recalling the dream she had at that time, or as if thinking about the right words. After about ten seconds, she continued speaking.

"Actually, I accidentally dreamed about Mr. Shimizu once before."

"..."

Qing Shui was speechless when he saw this.

Did Ichinose Shiki dream about herself before? Or was it an accident?
"What era is this? Such an old-fashioned routine is still being used."

Sakurai Haruka pouted. This kind of chatting up and creating topics had been used to death ten years ago.

However, Ichinose Shiki shook his head slightly:

"What I said is true. I dreamed about Mr. Shimizu three years ago."

Ichinose Shiki's eyes were extremely serious, and Shimizu could sense that she had thought it over again and again before saying this. "You just said three years ago?"

"Well, I don't remember the exact date, but it was some time after Mr. Shimizu came to Sakurayama Junior High School to participate in the kendo competition."

"What's that? Are you trying to say that after watching the game, you became so concerned about him that you even dream about him at night?"

Sakurai Haruka said gloomily.

"what?"

Ichinose Shiki seemed quite surprised, as if she had not expected this.

"No, that's not it... I don't know why I dreamed about Mr. Shimizu."

Ichinose Shiki waved his hands gently in front of him and explained.

"Although I was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Shimizu once when he came to our school to participate in a kendo competition, I only saw him from afar during the competition and didn't even know Mr. Shimizu's name."

"If that's the case, then why did you dream about it?"

"This... Actually, I'm not sure. There were a lot of people participating in that kendo competition, and we were taking final exams on that day, so I didn't pay much attention to Mr. Shimizu at first. It wasn't until the winter vacation that I suddenly had a very strange dream, and then I realized that the person in the dream was Mr. Shimizu who participated in the kendo competition..."

Ichinose Shiki put her thoughts into words, but Sakurai Haruka still remained skeptical about what she said.

Qing Shuijian thought for a moment and asked, "Can I ask what kind of dream it was?"

"This one……"

Ichinose Shiki showed a look of obvious hesitation.

"what happened?"

"No, nothing...just..."

Seeing Ichinose Shiki's hesitant attitude and connecting it to the car accident she had mentioned earlier, Shimizu Mi could sense that the dream she was talking about might not be a very good one.

But even so, Shimizu Miyabi still told her to just say it.

Ichinose Shiki seemed to think carefully before deciding to speak:

"In fact, Mr. Shimizu had a serious car accident in his dream."

Sure enough, it was a nightmare.

"Seeing a car accident? What kind of dream is that?"

Upon hearing this, Sakurai Haruka naturally expressed dissatisfaction.

"This...I don't know either."

Ichinose Shiki shook her head. She herself didn't know why she had such a dream.

As the person involved, Shimizu Miki naturally cares very much about it.

"Can you tell me more details?"

Ichinose Shiki nodded: "Because I was frightened awake at that time, I only dreamed of the scene for a few seconds. I remember that Mr. Shimizu was hit by a large truck coming from the side on the road... After that, Mr. Shimizu fell to the ground and looked like..."

Ichinose Shiki didn't say anything else, but the consequences of being hit by a large truck coming on the road can be imagined. If nothing unexpected happens, the car should be able to be reopened.

But in the final analysis, these are just a dream of Ichinose Shiki and have nothing to do with reality. Shimizu Mi does not feel sad or upset because of this.

Then, Ichinose Shiki seemed to have thought of something.

"Oh, by the way, I remember there was a girl kneeling next to Mr. Shimizu at that time, and she seemed to be crying..."

"Girls?"

Shimizu glanced sideways at Sakurai Haruka beside him.

Although Ichinose Shiki's narration sounds a little different from the accident that happened with Sakurai Haruka a few months ago, one can still feel a sense of déjà vu.

I guess Sakurai Haruka felt the same thing, so she stared straight at Ichinose Shiki.

Being stared at by Sakurai Haruka like this, Ichinose Shiki showed a somewhat embarrassed expression on her face.

"…I'm sorry, but I don't think that girl is Miss Sakurai."

"..."

"Although I only saw her from behind, the feeling I got from that girl was different from Miss Sakurai, so..."

"Ah, but the person I dreamed of at that time was Mr. Shimizu in junior high school, so Miss Sakurai should still be in junior high school. Maybe Miss Sakurai at that time was different from now."

"I'm really sorry, I've been like this since junior high school."

Sakurai Haruka expressionlessly repeated the action of using a fork to put the muffin on the plate into her mouth.

"Yes, really..."

Ichinose Shiki smiled awkwardly, as if he felt he had said too much.

"But to be frank, these are just dreams of mine. You don't have to take them seriously."

"Who takes it seriously?"

Although Sakurai Haruka said this, the expression on her face was not convincing at all.

Even though I knew it was just a dream, and it was even very likely just something Ichinose Shiki made up, I still couldn't help but feel concerned about it.

After listening to what Ichinose Shiki said, Shimizu sorted out his thoughts.

"In that case, why did you ask me out today?"

"To confirm it in person, of course."

"confirm?"

Ichinose Shiki nodded slightly and said:

"Well, although I am nothing special compared to others..."

After hearing the first half of the sentence, Shimizu Mi already wanted to complain, because compared to others, Ichinose Shiki was already very beautiful just in terms of appearance.

Then, Ichinose Shiki continued, "But he is particularly good at remembering a person's face."

"Face?"

"Yes, no matter who it is, as long as I have met him once, I will be able to recognize him no matter how many years have passed."

"So even after all these years, even though I didn't know Mr. Shimizu's name, when I met you at the bar that day, I knew it was you, Mr. Shimizu."

"That is to say..."

"Well, I just want to confirm that Mr. Shimizu is indeed the person who came to Sakurayama Middle School to participate in the kendo competition."

"That's it?"

"Yes, because this is enough."

Ichinose Shiki smiled and contentedly took a sip of coffee from the mug.

Although Shimizu might have been overthinking it, the term "that person" that Ichinose Shiki had just used made him more or less concerned.

(End of this chapter)