The World Is Mine For The Taking

But wait...

I really needed to stop making such a big deal out of this before I started getting carried away with my own thoughts.

If Krista ever found out how much I had been thinking about Leon, she would probably tease me about it for the next several months without giving me even a moment of peace.

She was already bad enough whenever she noticed me thinking about him.

Krista had always enjoyed teasing me whenever Leon came up in conversation, especially whenever she caught me staring off into space. She would immediately start asking whether I was in love with him, and then she would keep pushing the subject until I became so embarrassed that I wanted to disappear.

Honestly, I could already imagine the look on her face if she found out that I had made something specifically for him.

She would probably give me that annoying little smile of hers before asking me a hundred questions that I absolutely did not want to answer.

Am I in love with him?

Well...

If I had to give an honest answer, I suppose I would have to say yes and no at the same time.

My feelings were far more complicated than that simple question made them sound, and I wasn't even sure whether what I felt could properly be described as love in the first place.

There was definitely affection involved.

I knew that much without needing to think about it very deeply.

However, it didn't feel like the kind of affection that existed between a man and a woman who were romantically interested in one another.

At the same time, calling it simple friendship didn't feel right either.

There was something different about the way I felt whenever I thought about Leon, something that seemed deeper than ordinary friendship but also different from the romantic feelings I had heard other people describe.

That was probably why I couldn't put a proper name to it.

I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to call these feelings, but I knew for certain that whatever they were, they were much more complicated than anything I had experienced before.

Maybe I was simply overthinking things.

That was certainly possible.

I had always had a habit of thinking about things more than necessary, and this was probably another example of me taking something simple and turning it into an unnecessarily complicated problem inside my own head.

Still, I couldn't completely dismiss what I was feeling.

I hadn't imagined how happy I had been when I saw Leon again.

I hadn't imagined how quickly my heart had started beating when I realized that I was actually standing in front of him.

I hadn't imagined how much I had wanted to stay there and talk with him for a little longer.

Those feelings were real, even if I didn't understand what they meant yet.

So, until I figured things out for myself, I suppose there wasn't much point in forcing myself to come up with an answer.

While I was thinking about all of that, I suddenly remembered the moment when I had given Leon the pendant.

The memory came back so clearly that I couldn't help smiling to myself.

I remembered his expression when he received it, and somehow, simply thinking about that little moment made my mood improve even more.

"Fufufu, he's kind of like Tsubasa..." I murmured aloud without even realizing that I had spoken the name.

I stopped walking for a moment.

"H-Huh?"

My expression slowly changed as I realized what had just come out of my mouth.

"Why did I just say a name like that?"

I stared ahead with a completely confused expression.

Tsubasa.

The name felt strange.

I didn't know that name.

At least, I was certain that I didn't remember knowing anyone called Tsubasa.

Then again, was it even a name?

I thought about it for a moment before realizing that it definitely was a name.

Somehow, I was completely certain about that.

The strange part was that I couldn't explain why I was so certain.

How did I know that?

Where had I heard it?

Who was Tsubasa?

Why did the name feel so familiar despite me having absolutely no memory of the person attached to it?

I couldn't answer any of those questions.

"Ah...!"

Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded inside my head.

It happened so abruptly that I couldn't even prepare myself for it, and the sensation was so intense that it felt as though someone had taken a hammer and started pounding directly against my skull.

My entire body tensed.

The pain became worse with every passing second, forcing me to reach out and place one hand against the nearest wall just to keep myself standing.

My other hand immediately went to my head as I desperately tried to endure the throbbing pain.

"Ahh... W-What is happening to me...?"

My voice came out weak and shaky.

My vision suddenly began to blur.

The world around me seemed to distort, almost as though I were looking through a layer of water.

The buildings around me became difficult to recognize, the sounds seemed strangely distant, and for some reason, I suddenly felt as though I wasn't myself anymore.

It was almost as if I had been pushed into someone else's memories without understanding how I had gotten there.

I could see something.

I could feel emotions that didn't seem like mine.

"I'm sorry, Tsubasa... I've..."

The words escaped my mouth before I could even understand what I was saying.

My hands were holding a rope.

The rope had been tied into a noose.

I stared at it in confusion, yet somewhere deep inside me, I seemed to understand exactly what I was looking at.

My hands slowly raised the noose over my head.

My body moved as though it already knew what it was supposed to do, even though my mind was desperately trying to understand what I was seeing.

"I've... reached my limit... I'm so sorry..."

My voice sounded broken.

The sadness in those words felt painfully real, and tears began forming in my eyes even though I didn't understand why I was crying.

I didn't know who Tsubasa was.

I didn't know where I was.

I didn't know why I was holding a rope.

Yet somehow, the emotions connected to that moment felt as though they belonged to me.

Then, without warning, I felt something beneath my feet suddenly slip away.

"Ahhhh!"

I screamed as the sensation overwhelmed me.

The vision vanished almost immediately afterward.

I was back where I had been standing, leaning against the wall while desperately trying to catch my breath.

My heart was pounding.

My hands were trembling.

Tears were already running down my cheeks.

It had been a vision.

I knew that much.

But a vision of what?

I had absolutely no idea.

I couldn't understand what I had just seen, who Tsubasa was, or why hearing that name had caused such a violent reaction inside my head.

The strangest part was that I wanted to see more.

I wanted to understand what I had just witnessed.

I wanted to know who Tsubasa was.

I wanted to know why his name felt so familiar when I couldn't remember ever meeting him.

Most importantly, I wanted to know why my heart hurt so much whenever I thought about him.

"Ugh... Tsubasa..." I whispered through the tears that continued falling down my cheeks. "I want to see Tsubasa again..."

I didn't understand why I was crying so desperately over someone whose face I couldn't even remember.

I didn't understand why the name alone made my chest ache.

I didn't understand why some part of me felt like I had lost something incredibly important.

Yet despite all the confusion, one thing felt certain.

Somewhere deep inside my heart, I knew that I missed him terribly.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!