After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

Around five o'clock in the afternoon, during the time before dusk, the people of the Island Nation call it 'The Bewitching Hour.'

They firmly believe it is a cursed time when malevolent spirits and ghosts appear, and those walking alone on the road can become so beguiled they lose their souls.

It was during this time that a girl, claiming to be Komori Ai, appeared.

The moment she emerged from the woods, Kagura Hikaru and Kiryu Hina felt the hairs on their bodies stand on end.

Too similar.

Whether it was her red dress or her face... she looked exactly like the missing elementary school student from the missing person's notice!

The feeling of horror peaked when she said her name was also Komori Ai.

Could someone who had disappeared on the mountain five years ago really appear here?

Had they inadvertently traveled through time,

or was this person before them not human at all...

Kiryu Hina slowly moved closer to Kagura Hikaru, hiding behind him, while Kagura Hikaru also surreptitiously tightened his grip on the thick branch he was using as a walking stick.

Before the climb, they had encountered a crazed old man who also mentioned a lost girl in red.

According to the old man's daughter, he had disappeared on Tanigawa Peak Mountain for two whole days before the rescue team found him, but by the time he returned, he had gone mad.

Both Kagura Hikaru and Kiryu Hina had the same suspicion in their minds.

Perhaps the old man had gone mad because he had encountered the Komori Ai before them.

But, this was based on the premise that Komori Ai was a supernatural being like a monster or a ghost.

Other than the appearance of the Golden Finger, Kagura Hikaru had never seen any other supernatural phenomena in his life, so it wasn't right to irrationally refuse help to a lost person just because she looked too much like someone who disappeared five years ago—it was inhumane.

But, what if this was real and helping her ended up harming both him and Kiryu Hina?

He didn't know; it was an unsolvable problem.

Regardless, he decided to try mind-reading first.

"Wow, I'm so lucky to have found people, now I can finally go back!"

"Whimper, I'm so hungry..."

"You have gained through peering into the heart: Origami +2"

"Origami lv4 (77/100)"

The vision that came with the mind-reading was the memory of this girl wandering alone through the forest.

The content was surprisingly normal.

Maybe she just looked a lot like the missing little girl?

But, could there really be such a coincidence?

Kagura Hikaru remained on alert.

This cannot go on; he decided to take the initiative to approach.

"Hello, my name is Kagura Hikaru, and I'm here camping nearby."

"Camping?" Komori Ai tilted her head adorably, then, as if she remembered something, clapped her hands, "Oh~ right, there is a campsite nearby."

"We came with our teacher and classmates; it's a spring field trip organized by the school," Kiryu Hina added at just the right moment. "Actually, we are also lost."

"Eh!? Is that so? Then doesn't that mean we're all trapped here..."

Komori Ai seemed very disheartened, hanging her head.

Kagura Hikaru observed her and handed over some wild fruit he had: "Are you hungry? I have some wild berries here that I picked on the way, they are all edible."

"Ah, can I really have some?"

"Please eat, we've all had some already."

"Thank you! Then I'll not hold back!"

Komori Ai seemed really hungry, her saliva almost drooling at the mention of berries, and promptly popped a berry into her mouth.

And then, she seemed to enjoy it greatly.

A sense of apprehension rose in both Kagura Hikaru and Kiryu Hina.

He had intentionally offered her the wild fruit to see Komori Ai's reaction, but she actually ate it for sure; yet, they knew how bitter that fruit was, and Komori Ai showed no reaction, eating them one after another like snacks.

Was she simply having a problem with her taste, or was it that...

Feeling uneasy, Kagura Hikaru read her mind once more.

"Wow, I'm so lucky to have found people, now I can finally go back!"

"Whimper, I'm so hungry..."

"You have gained through peering into the heart: Origami +2"

"Origami lv4 (79/100)"

Hmm?

Why is the mind-reading content exactly the same?

Kagura Hikaru's gaze changed subtly, and he read her mind again.

[Wow, I'm so lucky to run into someone here, finally I can go back!]

[Ugh, I'm so hungry...]

[You have gained through mind-reading: Origami +2]

[Origami lv4 (81/100)]

What's going on here?!

Kagura Hikaru was somewhat creeped out for a moment.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

He had never seen someone with such a high repetition rate in mind-reading content.

Twice could be a coincidence, but three times definitely was not.

This little girl was definitely suspicious.

Kagura Hikaru kept a poker face while urgently pondering his next move and covertly signaled Kiryu Hina with his eyes.

She understood tacitly, asking Komori Ai to sit with them on a rock, carefully sandwiching her between them, one on each side.

They decided to hold off on taking action, waiting to see what would happen next.

After all, if Komori Ai was truly a ghost, they would not be able to escape anyway, but if she was alive, even with malicious intent, Kagura Hikaru was unlikely to miss at close range.

Keeping their cool in such a creepy situation, lost deep in the woods, was quite rare for both of them.

Especially Kiryu Hina, who was clearly afraid of such things, but had managed to suppress her fear, actively cooperating with Kagura Hikaru.

Using her gender as an advantage, she found out through conversation that Komori Ai was a junior high school student at a local school, lived nearby, often played in the mountains, and ended up getting lost after a mishap.

A middle school student? So she was not a primary school student.

This was different from the missing little girl in the search notice.

But then Kagura and the others thought about it.

A primary school student from five years ago was indeed a middle school student now...

They continued to chat and probe.

In the conversation, when she heard that the two were high school students from Tokyo, the girl happily swung her legs and said, "I plan to apply to a high school in Tokyo too!"

"Is that so, I wish you success," Kiryu Hina replied, putting on her perfect mask for strangers, her smile dignified and her composure graceful and beautiful.

Komori Ai, like the other students from Haneoka Private High School, was charmed and kept sweetly calling her 'older sister,' even boasting about applying to their school, Haneoka Private High School, next year.

Kiryu Hina could only secretly sweat and respond, "Ugao High's admission exams for this year are over, but there are many other great high schools in Tokyo you can apply to. If you don't mind, I can give you some suggestions."

Although she said that, Komori Ai seemed to have her mind set, smiling without saying a word, her lightless eyes fixedly gazing at her.

Kiryu Hina almost couldn't maintain her smile.

The moment this girl appeared, she was shrouded in an eerie and mysterious aura that kept them on edge and cautious.

Kagura Hikaru keenly sensed that she was the same type as Hina when she's behind her mask—seemingly friendly on the surface, but with unknowable thoughts hidden beneath, a person completely covered in lies.

Their faces were smiling, but their eyes betrayed no mirth.

Kagura Hikaru launched the fourth mind-reading attempt on Komori Ai.

[Wow, I'm so lucky to run into someone here, finally I can go back!]

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[Ugh, I'm so hungry...]

[You have gained through mind-reading: Origami +2]

[Origami lv4 (83/100)]

The same content again, even the gained skill oddly overlapped.

What could be the reason for this?

Surely his ability hadn't malfunctioned.

Just as Kagura Hikaru was thinking this, the memory image obtained through the mind-reading this time showed some unusual content.

A flash of abyss-like darkness passed.

A blood-soaked sailor outfit, a devilish smiling face, a fruit knife stabbing downward, a corpse bloated and covered with maggots after death, intestines drenched in fresh blood—these grotesque images flickered one after another.

His pupils slowly constricted, struck by an incredible sense of disbelief.

The upgraded mind-reading ability allowed Kagura Hikaru to see the current thoughts of the person being read and the images synced with these thoughts, which could be the person's memories or imagination.

But they could not possibly be entirely unrelated to the content of the mind-reading!

If all this was truly flowing in Komori Ai's innermost thoughts and memories, then even if she was alive, she was far from normal.

Kagura Hikaru suddenly realized that those repetitive contents he had been seeing might be a defensive tactic against mind-reading.

If one preconceived the thoughts and kept repeating them, even mind-reading would only reveal the same content again and again.

This was determined by the mechanism of the mind-reading ability; even Kagura Hikaru couldn't bypass it.

However, this required Komori Ai to know that someone present had the mind-reading ability.

Was she coming for him?!

That smiling face speaking to Kiryu Hina was cute and pretty, but now Kagura Hikaru couldn't feel the slightest bit of ease—only bewilderment and horror.

The Bewitching Hour, aptly named.