By the time he left Murata's office, it was already the witching hour, the sky stained with a dusky yellow hue.
The streetlights had not yet fully come on, but the shadows cast by the buildings had already stretched long.
Amamiya Rin rubbed his slightly throbbing temples; his bloodshot eyes glimmered faintly, radiating an excited light.
Everything was ready; all that was lacking was the final piece.
There was no need to fret over the frequencies of voices—one hundred, no, by now as many as three hundred.
The voice frequencies of more than three hundred people whom the Tomie had come into contact with in daily life would all be reproduced within the Illusory Dream Realm.
Nor was there any need to worry about the techniques of voice control—several of the Tomie had music as a hobby, some even at a professional level, masters at controlling the voice.
Next, once every member of the [Tomie Network] had returned to a safe place, they could enter the Illusory Dream Realm.
(Chotto matte! Tonight I'm going to a party—let's hold off on entering the dream until after ten o'clock.)
Sensing Amamiya Rin's inner voice, one of the Tomie raised an objection.
(A party?)
(It's that Toshiyuki, what was his name—oh, Toshiyuki Eide—he invited me to a party tonight.)
(Toshiyuki? Who's that?)
Amamiya Rin had no recollection of him whatsoever.
He had spent far too long inside the Dream World; many of the trivial details of the real world had grown blurry.
This surname—it probably belonged to no one of importance.
(Mm... I think he's in real estate? Or maybe runs a hotel chain? I don't really know. Anyway, I ran into him over in Ginza the other day; he sidled up to chat, acting all chummy with me. He said tonight's party is being thrown by some club, in a villa in Shinjuku—a high-society party, with all sorts of distinguished, prominent figures invited... It sounded like it had a bit of class, so I agreed.)
Tomie answered offhandedly; she had just as little impression of the man who had invited her—even his name had been tossed off without a second thought.
(I see. Looks like he really isn't anyone important.)
Amamiya Rin nodded.
He considered Tomie's request for an instant.
Entering the dream after ten o'clock, a delay of four hours—that was nothing much.
As it happened, he had earlier played a little trick on the Tomie to get them to do their work; it was about time he offered them some sweetener.
(Fine, go ahead. Be careful, don't stir up any trouble.)
The fleeting thought failed to raise even a ripple in his heart; Amamiya Rin replied crisply and cleanly, his expression unchanged.
(Wait—you're just going to let me go on my own like that?)
(What else? You want to go to a party; I have no objection.)
Amamiya Rin's steps paused as he answered within his mind.
(If you're worried I'll cause trouble, why not come with me?)
A subtle emotion seeped through Tomie's voice as she pressed on, refusing to let it drop.
(Besides, you'd let me go to a party as another man's date, and then dance with another man? Rin-kun, do you have that sort of fetish?)
By the end of her words, Tomie couldn't help letting out a startled exclamation.
(Do you even hear what you're saying?)
Amamiya Rin's eyelid twitched.
(Come oon~ come on~~ Didn't you promise me before? That you'd set aside some free time to keep me company. Don't tell me... you only said that to use us to do your work, and didn't mean a word of it?)
Tomie wielded both soft and hard tactics, relentless.
(Tch.)
Amamiya Rin clicked his tongue softly within, his face still wearing that same blank look.
(Hold on! What gives you the right to go to a party with Rin-kun?)
(I want to go to the party too! A high-society party—I haven't been to one in ages.)
(Since the one invited is Kawakami Tomie, there's no reason I can't go.)
(What right does a counterfeit have to attend a party with Rin? Don't push your luck!)
...
Before Amamiya Rin could agree or refuse, the [Tomie Network] had already erupted into an uproar; the objections of hundreds of Tomie from all over nearly drowned out the thought of that first Tomie, intense thoughts hammering against Amamiya Rin's consciousness, almost throwing his mind into disorder.
The scale of the [Tomie Network] was growing larger and larger.
Amamiya Rin reined in his gaze, sank his mind, and held fast to his composure.
(Hey, hey, I was the one who brought it up first, weren't I? There's got to be some first-come, first-served order!)
Stirred up like this by them, the Tomie who had first made the request grew displeased as well.
(First come, first served? Heh heh heh heh—the moment you formed that thought, the very same thought appeared in our minds too. If you insist on tracing who was first and who was last, it won't be easy to sort out.)
The other Tomie sneered; reasoning was not their strong suit, but tangling things up beyond all untangling—that they excelled at.
How could they let this one reap the benefit!?
Every last Tomie held the same attitude—they couldn't bear to see a counterfeit come out ahead.
Seeing that she was about to provoke the wrath of the crowd, the first Tomie's eyes darted about, and she instantly switched tactics, her voice turning coaxing and persuasive.
(Oh come now, don't be so impatient. Listen to me—letting Rin-kun accompany me this time is precisely a kind of proof.)
(Proof of what?)
(Think about it—Rin's promise last time, that he'd keep you company whenever he had spare time, whether or not it was sincere—we have to put it to the test to find out, don't we?)
Striking while the iron was hot, Tomie softened her voice even further.
(If he won't even grant me such a tiny little request today, doesn't that prove he was purely fobbing us off back then, writing empty checks?)
(Conversely, if he agrees, that proves he's a man of his word. With this precedent set, won't anyone who wants to invite him out alone in the future be able to ask? Since he agreed to me, he'd have no reason to refuse you, right?)
(Him going to the party with me today is the same as paving the way for everyone. By blocking me now, aren't you just working against your own interests?)
Hearing this Tomie's enticement, the [Tomie Network] fell silent for a few seconds, with only faint threads of thought flickering.
Everyone knew this Tomie was twisting logic in order to monopolize Amamiya Rin.
In that kind of light, pleasant setting—no need to think too much, everything for the sake of fun—she would seize upon the atmosphere and use her own charm to capture Amamiya Rin's heart.
Still, knowing was one thing, yet this Tomie's specious argument did indeed have a point.
Nor did they believe that a counterfeit could, over a single night together, grind Amamiya Rin's affection all the way up to 100—after all, everyone had seen Amamiya Rin's willpower firsthand; this fellow practiced Dhyana through the White Skeleton Visualization, so capturing his heart would be no simple matter.
In other words, this counterfeit was, on the contrary, clearing the path for them.
(...That... actually makes a kind of sense?)
(Hmph, fine, you've talked your way through it. Then this time we'll let you go test the waters first.)
(Rin, you'd better keep your word—last time you promised us you'd put your time toward keeping us company. Now is the moment for you to prove to us whether those words of yours were just brushing us off!)
In an instant, the pressure shifted onto Amamiya Rin's side.
He could clearly feel that the thoughts within the [Tomie Network]—which had originally been scattered, each scheming after its own small calculations—had now almost twisted together into a single rope, all of them focused squarely upon him.
____
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