In the display room of the Orbit Portal Company, Natsume-san meticulously inspected her own face.
Just as she'd imagined, there wasn't a speck of dirt on it.
She held out the wooden bow again, offering it over, but the gothic-style loli girl across from her showed no reaction, still lost in thought.
She looked just like in the reports—almost unreal, really fitting the definition of a living doll.
Natsume-san couldn't help but wave a hand in front of the other girl's face. After a moment, the girl's pupils finally refocused, and she frowned, staring straight at a certain ponytailed girl.
Back when she'd seen the photos in the reports, Natsume had felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity. Now, seeing her in person, that feeling grew even stronger.
It was like she'd met this person somewhere before, yet she had no memory of it. It sounded contradictory, baffling even.
"Are you here with Arisa? How unexpected."
This time, the girl cooperatively took the wooden bow, but her attention seemed entirely fixed on Natsume-san.
"Yes, is there a problem?"
Natsume-san blinked, then nodded, not quite understanding what the other meant.
"Not really. It's just, according to our background check, Arisa doesn't seem to have many friends."
The gothic club president shook her head slightly, her cape swaying with the small motion.
"Do you know Arisa-senpai well?"
After just a few lines of conversation, Natsume Sonoko seemed to be opening up a little.
She wasn't sure how to address the other girl, though, so she stuck with the simplest pronouns.
"Of course. She's one of the very few singers I truly admire. I'm really looking forward to her performance at the opening ceremony."
Sunlight streamed brightly into the display room, casting scattered patches of light across the floor.
The girl named Ladylee Tangleroad wore a smile that held a delicate beauty, yet there was something indescribably odd about it.
"Natsume-san, Arisa-senpai is finished here. We're heading to the press conference now."
Saten-san had come to find her. She glanced curiously at the gothic girl beside Natsume before speaking up.
"Sorry, I have to go. It was nice meeting you."
Waving toward Saten-san, Natsume Sonoko hurriedly stood up.
That sense of familiarity remained, growing even more distinct.
She wanted to ask if they'd met before, but Natsume-san was one hundred percent certain she didn't know this person. She hesitated, unsure whether to ask.
And this familiarity felt like it came from the soul. Had her soul encountered this person in the past?
When it came to matters of the soul, she was completely out of her depth.
"Likewise. But strictly speaking, this isn't our first meeting."
Just as Natsume-san was about to leave, the gothic girl, Ladylee, shook her head with a faint, amused laugh.
"Not our first meeting? I had a feeling too, like we've met somewhere before."
Natsume Sonoko let out a soft "Eh?" and spoke without thinking.
But the moment she said it, her heart gave a sudden thud.
"Saten-san, there's something I need to take care of. Could you all go on ahead?" After a brief hesitation, Natsume-san spoke to Saten-san.
Natsume-san was deeply concerned—what was the deal with her transmigrator identity? Were there other secrets hidden within her soul?
Even if she had transmigrated, it didn't make sense for her to lack complete memories. What were these inexplicable feelings of familiarity all about?
Though she claimed not to care or tried to brush it off, Natsume-san's curiosity was, in fact, quite strong.
She cared about it all—her soul, the strange individuals causing trouble for her outside Academy City—but with no answers in sight, she could only set it aside for now.
"If you were a boy, I might've taken that as a pick-up line."
Hearing Natsume-san's reply, the gothic girl first froze in place, then spoke as if joking.
"But it seems you haven't forgotten everything after all."
After a moment, the light in the gothic girl's eyes flickered, as if acknowledging Natsume-san's words.
"Haven't forgotten everything? Does that mean I've forgotten most things?"
Natsume-san couldn't help feeling puzzled. She often forgot minor, unimportant things, but she could usually recall them eventually.
If it was related to matters of the soul, though, she was even more baffled. Those memories were supposed to be from her so-called past life.
In that past life, she'd lived on a planet called Earth—the name wasn't any different from now.
But if what the other girl said was true, and she'd forgotten something, it could only be related to her soul.
Natsume-san was certain: from the moment she was born until now, she hadn't lost any memories.
And if her memories had been altered by some entity, they should've been restored when that senior, Kamijou-san, grabbed her hand that time. So, Natsume-san was indeed Natsume-san—no doubt about it.
Could it be that before her soul became who she was now, it had also lived in this Index-verse world?
That many things had happened in the past that she knew nothing about?
If that were the case, then what she thought was her past life was actually a life before that past life.
And the true memories of her immediate past life hadn't been carried over with her soul to her current self. Some unknown event had muddled up the remaining memories.
It was mind-boggling. Natsume-san felt like she'd stumbled into some bizarre, nested doll situation.
Still, she wasn't entirely convinced by her own conclusion. After all, she was a sharp, skeptical young woman at heart.
"By the way, if we know each other—and I mean if—were we on good terms?"
At this point, Natsume-san was starting to believe this person might genuinely know her.
That sense of familiarity stemming from the soul—even a Level 5 esper specializing in mental systems couldn't mimic that. And the other girl had already plainly stated she knew her.
The only dissonant note was that this girl looked much younger than she was.
"Not exactly 'good.' You promised me something once, but you never kept that promise."
Ladylee's words were just as confusing as before, but Natsume-san could still grasp their meaning.
"Once?"
"Roughly fourteen years ago," Ladylee replied.
"I see."
Natsume-san nodded thoughtfully.
So, it was before she was born. Could her guess actually be right?
In that case, this girl's age definitely wasn't what the public reports claimed—just ten years old.
Of course, this was all just one side of the story. Natsume-san wasn't about to take it at face value, but it was certainly something to ponder.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.