Shohei leaned on the rooftop railing in thought.

Just like the priest said, he was a soul, not the second personality of his brother. Although he did enter Sei's body, it was more like a place to stay. He could go around the world in his soul form by himself.

Ever since Sei found out about the otome game's relation with his 'curse', he has been searching around for the cause of it. After all, there were more things he could see as a soul.

Does the game follow reality or does the reality follow the game?

This was one of Sei's list of questions. Personally, he believed it was neither.

It means the game wasn't absolute and could possibly only be a freak coincidence. He tried playing it last night and nothing changed from the last time Sei played it before Fuyukawa transferred into his school.

If it was the former, the game should've changed to follow the current event. If it was the latter, it should be impossible for the 3 main male characters to fall for his brother.

He suspected it wasn't the game at fault.

But the presence of that intangible force was undoubtable. The problem was, until now, Shohei hasn't found out what that exactly was. The priest thought it was him at play, but it wasn't.

He would never try to hurt his own dear brother.

"Kurosaki-senpai?"

Shohei turned around to see the first-year student who was currently close with Sei, "Sugiura-kun."

"I've tried contacting you, but I couldn't. I thought you were busy." Sugiura leaned next to Shohei.

"I broke my phone and haven't bought a new one. How busy could a student be?" Shohei looked at Sugiura helplessly, just like how Sei often did.

Sugiura gave him some cash, "Here's what I owe you for the merchandise."

"It's fine. Take it as souvenirs from me." Sei would also want that.

"You already gave me that ugly monkey doll as a souvenir. I promised to pay you back, so I will," Sugiura directly shoved the money into Shohei's pocket, "Oh, You change your glasses?"

"Broke the previous one."

"Damn, what happened in Fukuoka? Did you have a brawl or something? Did you win?" Sugiura raised an eyebrow.

Shohei quirked a corner of his lips in amusement, "No, but I did win though."

"What, did you push them down the stairs?" Sugiura joked but then immediately realized what he just said, "Sh*t. Sorry, didn't mean that…"

"It's fine."

"I accidentally heard it earlier. Not that I believe it though. It just slipped out, really."

Shohei studied Sugiura's face, "Why don't you?"

"Huh? Obviously, because it's impossible for you to do something like that. As for pushing the girl into the fountain, it was probably an accident." Sugiura thought for a second, "Right…it's also impossible that you're the one who spread that girl's photo since your phone is broken."

Shohei couldn't help but let out a small laughter.

"What? Are you laughing at me? Am I wrong? I know I'm not that smart, but that much is obvious, okay?" Sugiura became doubtful.

"No…I'm just glad."

Glad that Sei met you.

"Senior, if anyone messed with you, I'll beat them up for you. Even if it's Kitamura-senpai and the other 2 seniors," Sugiura casually said, "Oh, but I'm not hitting girls, okay? Except if they're the one asking it."

Shohei chuckled "How brutal," he then noticed something, "How did you know about the photo? Did it spread to the first years?"

"Oh, I have a brother in the second year. He showed me. I was going to him to borrow some money the second time I met you," Sugiura took out his phone, "Look, this is my brother. Do you know him?"

Shohei shifted closer to look. On the screen was a selfie of Sugiura and his brother in a restaurant. To be honest, it was surprising how small and cute his older brother was. His hair was fluffy and Shohei could practically see flowers bloom around him when he smiles.

"Yeah, it's hard to believe he's my older brother, right?"

"Maybe if you smile you'll look more alike." Shohei joked.

"Hmm…you think so?" Sugiura stretched out his lips and grinned menacingly, "Like this?"

"Pft!!" Shohei almost choked and laughed, "AHAHAHA!! What was that?? Oh god, that was terrible!"

"Do we look alike?" Sugiura chose another photo and tried again, only to look even vicious, "How about this?"

Shohei burst out more until tears got squeezed out. The impact was too much since Sugiura's face was right in front of him. Not to mention, Sugiura was holding the picture of his brother next to him to compare. It was like the little red riding hood and the wolf.

"You look like a demon. Seriously, stop!"

Sugiura put back his phone, "Demons are usually handsome in manga, so I'll take that as a compliment."

"It's not and you should be aware or else you'll never get yourself a girlfriend."

Sugiura shrugged, "Not planning to find one soon, so that's fine."

"Why?"

"Gotta make sure I get a decent job first before committing myself to someone," Sugiura honestly answered, "What about you, Senior?"

"You're surprisingly very serious about it," Shohei commented, "Hard to say. Got enough problems in my life as it is. Not going to add one more."

Sugiura hummed. They both fell silent before Sugiura opened his mouth again, "You're not Kurosaki-senpai, are you?"

Shohei raised his eyebrows, "What makes you say that?"

"Although Kurosaki-senpai is pretty active in text, he isn't this talkative in real life. He would never laugh that loudly, much less saying his friend looks like a demon for a joke even if they are close. There are many other suspicious points from our conversation earlier, but what gave it out is probably your eyes."

"My eyes?"

"My brother once said that the eyes are the window to a person's soul. Kurosaki-senpai's eyes are…" Sugiura took a few moments to find the correct words, "Calm and soothing with a hidden despair inside as if tomorrow is the end of the world."

"Interesting," Shohei chuckled, "And me?"

"Carefree and mischievous, to say the least. Compared to Kurosaki-senpai, it's as if you have passed the end of the world."

Shohei joined his two hands and made a big circle, "100 points. No prize for you though."

"Who are you? Are you his twin brother?"

"I am. Well, let's just say Sei-chan is currently feeling unwell and is currently resting. I'm taking his place until he's healthy again."

"Huh. You don't have your own class to attend?"

"Nah, I'm a free soul."

"You're not the one who spread those pictures, right? Do you have any plan to stop the rumors? When Kurosaki-senpai returns and this still circulates…" Sugiura frowned just thinking about it.

Shohei looked up at the sky in contemplation, "I was thinking about that when you came. I'm already dealing with the one about crippling someone in middle school and pushing down Fuyukawa to the fountain. As for spreading Fuyukawa's fat, ugly, and shameful pictures, it's easy enough to prove since I don't even have any phone currently. The problem is how to make them believe me."

"Can't you ask Kitamura-senpai and those other 2 for help? I don't know about the clumsy one, but Kitamura-senpai and Mitsushima-senpai are quite popular. Kurosaki-senpai is close to them if you don't already know." Sugiura suggested.

"I can't use them exactly because Sei-chan is close to them. I need someone unrelated to Sei-chan to clear his name for it to be believable and take effect faster. Hm?" Shohei got an idea and looked at Sugiura, "We have just the right person."

"?"

The next day, many people were heatedly discussing a topic online. Last night, a famous television program was covering a story about a case 3 years ago that resurfaced because of a recent incident.

Apparently, there was a kidnapping case in Fukuoka that happened 2 weeks ago. It was said that the 4 kidnappers committed the crime because the person they wanted to harm has crippled the only girl in the group of 4 when they were in middle school. In fact, it has been revealed who actually injured her in the past. It wasn't the person they kidnapped, and the case has been closed a long time ago with the perpetrator being legally punished according to the law.

The host even got some videos showing the victim was being stalked by one of the kidnappers in a mall from different angles. The victim was arguing with someone, attracting much attention. The visitors captured how the kidnapper followed the victim after he accidentally knocked a girl into the fountain.

What made the story viral was the fact that the 4 kidnappers were actually still high school students and that they were on drugs. They found several bags of cocaine in the building where the victim was held captive. Because of that, the Fukuoka police departments were currently hunting down drug transactions among students, especially in the schools themselves.