Chapter 64: What are you doing?
For the past two months, my brother hasn't been home due to work. In the Good Friends World, although we can't see each other every day (our school and residence are in different locations), it's still quite frequent compared to here.
Moreover, his brother had said to pretend they didn't know each other, and as his Good Friends World were growing up and gradually reaching adulthood, it took Morofushi Sora'aki a moment to realize that he was in his own world and the man in front of him was his brother, not a stranger or friend.
But Morofushi Hiromitsu was unaware of this!
In his understanding, it was like he hadn't been home for two months while working, and his younger brother was looking at him with a slightly distant and indifferent gaze, which hurt the older brother a lot! If this were an exaggerated anime scene, Morofushi Hiromitsu would probably have a tear about to fall in the corner of his eye to express his current feelings.
Morofushi Sora'aki huddled in the scarf that still held his body heat. The familiarity between the brothers made him roughly aware of Morofushi Hiromitsu's feelings, so Morofushi Sora'aki reached out and hugged Morofushi Hiromitsu, then rested his face on Morofushi Hiromitsu's shoulder.
When Morofushi Hiromitsu was 22 years old, he was about the same height as Furuya Rei, but he continued to grow taller and is now much taller than Furuya Rei, which makes it very easy for Morofushi Hiromitsu to do this action.
Morofushi Hiromitsu's movements visibly stiffened for a moment. "Sora'aki?"
"Welcome back, brother." Morofushi Sora'aki lowered his head and nuzzled Morofushi Hiromitsu's shoulder.
A slight smile appeared on Morofushi Hiromitsu's face. "Ah... is he being coquettish?"
As he spoke, he reached out and touched his younger brother's hair. At this age, he grows very quickly, and he always felt that his younger brother hadn't reached his shoulder before.
Because of the cold weather, Morofushi Sora'aki's face and nose were a little red. When he felt it was about right, Morofushi Sora'aki took a step back and said, "Brother looks exactly the same as when he was a child."
Morofushi Hiromitsu blinked, not quite understanding how the topic had turned into this "...?"
"My brother has a baby face." Morofushi Sora'aki nodded as if he had confirmed something. "So it's perfectly normal for me to admit I was wrong."
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "...??"
In the Good Friends World, there are no parents, and Taka'aki is almost never seen, so Morofushi Sora'aki wouldn't have trouble distinguishing them. However, in the Good Friends World, Morofushi Hiromitsu is often seen, and he looks almost exactly like his brother—it's normal not to recognize him, right?
It was almost time, and they would be late for school if they didn't go soon. After saying this to Morofushi Sora'aki and Morofushi Hiromitsu, they headed towards the school gate.
Only Morofushi Hiromitsu remained, lost in strange thoughts.
So why didn't my brother recognize me? Is my baby face really that bad? Or is there some detail about hypermnesia that he doesn't know? Morofushi Hiromitsu touched his cheek and hesitated.
Speaking of which, when Matsuda Jinpei graduated from police academy, he jokingly drew a mustache on the photo he sent home. At the time, Morofushi Hiromitsu also thought it would be nice to have a different look. However, his father didn't have the habit of growing a mustache, and since he was living at home at the time, he always felt that if he did it, his mother would tease him, so Morofushi Hiromitsu never did it.
It seems like a change in image is on the agenda now?
So the next day.
At 0 o'clock, Morofushi Hiromitsu didn't shave after getting up, but deliberately let his beard grow. After a few days of this, Mother Morofushi saw her second son's new look and was somewhat surprised, "Hiromitsu?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu stroked his beard, looking a little uncomfortable. "Hmm...want to try a different look?"
Mother Morofushi nodded understandingly. "Hmm...you seem to have matured a lot, that's great!"
Just then, Morofushi Sora'aki also came down the stairs yawning. He glanced sleepily at Morofushi Hiromitsu standing by the dining table, and then naturally focused his attention on the table. Two seconds passed, and the air in the room seemed to freeze—at that moment, Morofushi Sora'aki suddenly turned around.
"..." The black-haired boy was also a little surprised. "...Brother?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu: ... So why did you pause for even longer?
Morofushi Hiromitsu smiled and replied, "I suddenly wanted to change my look. How does it feel?"
"Ah..." Morofushi Sora'aki nodded. "Mm."
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "..."
Morofushi Hiromitsu: ... Could you please explain in more detail?
Morofushi Sora'aki readily accepted his older brother's new look, then told his mother and left for school with his schoolbag.
Looking at Morofushi Hiromitsu's expression, Mother Morofushi chuckled softly, "It seems that younger brother's reaction was not what older brother expected."
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "...Mom!"
In short, Morofushi Hiromitsu's current image seems to have been temporarily fixed.
Morofushi Sora'aki once guessed that his mission was, in a sense, giving Little Stone some kind of energy, so his trip to the permanent Good Friends World was, in a sense, also paying a corresponding price.
In other words, once the energy payment is nearly complete, Morofushi Sora'aki will need to go to another world to do some kind of mission again.
"…I've been getting confused lately, so let's find a world that's a bit different," Morofushi Sora'aki suggested, and Little Stone agreed.
Sometimes, without doing anything intentionally, his appearance will create a strong butterfly effect, but the world line always follows the original setting in certain aspects.
Through the glass doors of the shopping mall, Morofushi Sora'aki confirmed his current appearance—generally speaking, in the world of "One Strike, One Retreat", the system would create a new appearance for him, and the vast majority of them were ordinary passerby appearances.
However, once the mission requires him to make contact with... Morofushi Sora'aki knew those people in the main world, and they would basically have him appear in his own appearance.
This time, Morofushi Sora'aki appeared using his true form. He touched his healed ear piercing; having pierced ears gave him more gift options. For example, he received three different pairs of earrings for his birthday this time.
The earrings were all small and delicate, not very noticeable on a daily basis, and within the acceptable range of school rules—specifically referring to the Rouman Academy. In the neighboring Good Friends World, he had already lost two disciplinary points because of his earrings, and after that, he avoided the dean of students and the student council.
Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji even mocked him for this.
My own world is currently experiencing winter, but this new world is probably experiencing summer.
Fortunately, the system is fully automatic. He is currently wearing a summer outfit, a white t-shirt with a light jacket.
It's too hot to wear winter clothes and a scarf in the middle of summer.
Morofushi Sora'aki stared at the glass door of the mall for a while, then lowered his eyes and walked towards a small alley around the corner.
Just now, he felt a gaze from the shadows falling on him—he had experience with this from so many worlds, and it was basically a problem with his face. After all, his brother had such a wide social circle that even if someone thought he looked familiar, Morofushi Sora'aki would have to confirm which brother the person thought looked familiar from.
However, when the owner of that gaze came up to chat, Morofushi Sora'aki's expression went completely blank.
Because right in front of him, a person appeared. That person had golden hair tied in a lively single ponytail, wore a baseball cap, and had drooping purple eyes with a faint smile, but it was unfathomable.
Her facial expression made her look like a high school student of the same age as Morofushi Sora'aki—provided that her face did not overlap with the person in Morofushi Sora'aki's mind.
"Hello~" The blonde girl (?) smiled and withdrew her hand from patting Morofushi Sora'aki's shoulder. She said in a light tone, "I'm here to have some fun. Can I ask you for directions?"
She gave an address, a hint of distress on her face, "I met my friend there, but I don't know the way very well."
Morofushi Sora'aki: "..."
Morofushi Sora'aki: "...Navigation."
The blonde girl said in a natural, familiar tone, "I'm not very good at this!"
The overly feminine tone of his voice made Morofushi Sora'aki look away rather uncomfortably.
Morofushi Sora'aki... what are you doing, Rei-nii? Um... or should I say, Rei-nee?
Then, when the other party asked him his name very casually, Morofushi Sora'aki instinctively and very decisively replied, "Nozaki Umetarou."