The Gods Are Fighting Over Me - Chapter 10

Tears streamed down her face, blurring the world into floating spots of light.

The tears were like waves from a fish’s tail, crashing one after another against Kenji Hagiwara, instantly washing away all his overwhelming desires.

“Jianyue-chan!” He fumbled for his pocket. As he pulled a tissue from his inner suit pocket, other things fell out. He didn’t have time to worry about the pack of cigarettes on the ground; he just grabbed a tissue and quickly tried to reach her face.

Smack.

Lin Jianyue slapped his hand away. The force wasn’t strong, but it hit him right in the heart.

Lin Jianyue backed up several steps, her voice trembling slightly. “Don’t come any closer!”

As if that would let her escape this fake world that had Shinichi Kudo in it.

“Lin Jianyue…”

Kenji Hagiwara instinctively took a step forward, but he froze when he saw the avoidance in her eyes. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down nervously. He slowly curled his fingers, pulling his hand back and then clenching it tightly.

Her warmth lingered on his fingertips, and the tissue in his palm was heavy with her tears. She was only two steps away, but he felt as if a galaxy separated them, an invisible pane of glass dividing the two of them.

“Kenji Hagiwara”

Lin Jianyue hunched her shoulders, sobbing as she looked up.

Kenji stared at her, already able to anticipate what she was going to say next.

Time seemed to stretch out. Lin Jianyue’s pale lips opened and closed, reflected in Kenji Hagiwara’s eyes.

His eardrums rang with the beat of his heart.

He stared at her face, suddenly terrified. Emotions swirled. This was a completely different kind of fear from facing death, but it still sent a shiver down Kenji Hagiwara’s spine.

“Please, don’t come any closer.” After the words left her mouth, Lin Jianyue turned her back and fled, escaping into the night.

Lin Jianyue’s pleading look was like a dull knife, slowly cutting open his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. Her falling tears turned into nails, firmly nailing Kenji Hagiwara’s feet to the ground, leaving him unable to move.

The “man” whose job was supposed to be over gave Kenji Hagiwara a meaningful look, then turned and chased after Lin Jianyue, disappearing into the crowd of people under the night sky.

The sky was gloomy, and it started to rain again.

Large drops of rain came down without warning, pelting his face. The neatly ironed black suit was instantly soaked, heavy, and clinging to his body. Passersby covered their heads and ran into stores, but he stood in the rain, his face expressionless.

After a long time, he twisted his lips into a sad smile.

“Heh.”

And then he also turned and left.

Lin Jianyue was driven home by the companion.

She bowed, her eyes red and swollen, apologizing and then sending a large financial compensation to end the farce.

Outside the window, the rain was slowing, and the drops were being blown against the French doors by the wind, making a pattering sound. Lin Jianyue was curled up barefoot on the sofa. The lights in the room were off, and only her phone screen was on, illuminating the undried tears on her face.

Ding.

Jianyue, are you home yet?

Ding.

Don’t cry, baby. My baby is the best.

Her friend’s messages popped up one after another.

Lin Jianyue sniffled and started to reply. A few undried tears splashed onto the phone screen, making her keyboard type a string of wrong characters, which she then deleted.

The real world and the manga world have merged.

Lin Jianyue used this sentence to start her explanation, meticulously writing down everything that had happened on the street today and sending it. She waited for a long time, and finally, the other side replied, but it was just a string of incoherent comforting words, showing a nervousness of wanting to care but being afraid of saying the wrong thing.

Lin Jianyue understood her friend didn’t believe her and didn’t fully understand what she was saying. They were just trying to comfort her.

But their sincerity was genuinely conveyed to Lin Jianyue.

Jianyue, why don’t you quietly come back home and hide out at my place for a few days?

Lin Jianyue lowered her eyes. The light from her phone reflected in her teary, light-brown eyes, making them shine like the moon in a well.

I’m okay. I’m sorry for making you worry. I’m very tired right now and want to sleep for a bit. I’ll explain everything in detail tomorrow.

『It’s okay if you don’t. I just want you to feel better. Good night.

After the chat ended, Lin Jianyue was suddenly still. She wiped away her tears, went to the bathroom, and splashed cold water on her face. The person in the mirror had red eyes, but her gaze was unusually clear.

She called her brother.

Ring, ring, ring.

After a short wait, her brother’s voice came through the phone, sounding annoyed and sleepy. “You little brat. Your brother was taking a nap. You”

“Brother.”

Her intentionally flat voice had a bit of a nasal sound to it. Those two words cut off his rambling.

Her brother paused, his voice suddenly tense. “Who’s been messing with you?”

Lin Jianyue took a deep breath. She didn’t say anything about what happened today. “No one messed with me. I just suddenly got a little scared.”

“Scared?”

Lin Jianyue buried her head in her arms, her bare toes curling up tightly. It was a while before she spoke. “Brother, I met Kenji Hagiwara today. He wasn’t role-playing. It was him. I… I was startled.”

The other end of the phone was silent for a moment. Then her brother’s voice returned, full of reassurance and a hint of guilt. “That’s incredible. You met him. I thought big stars like that rarely went out. Did his crazy fans scare you?”

Lin Jianyue looked up. Her red eyes held a calmness that was contrary to the emotions of having just cried. “Brother, Kenji Hagiwara isn’t a celebrity, and he’s not a public figure.”

Her brother suddenly went quiet.

“Brother, do you not remember who he is?”

Lin Jianyue tore open the painful truth with a voice as calm as if she were asking if he wanted some afternoon tea.

The other end of the phone was dead silent for a few seconds before her brother’s voice came back, sounding guilty and unsure. “I… am I supposed to know him?”

Lin Jianyue didn’t answer. She stood up and walked to the bookshelf. Her fingers glided over the spines of the complete set of Detective Conan manga, then stopped at the first volume. “Brother, do you remember Detective Conan?”

“…What’s that?”

Lin Jianyue lowered her eyes, a guess already forming in her mind. She pulled out the first volume of the manga. “A few months ago, you even helped me buy some of its merchandise.”

Her brother’s low, insecure voice came through the phone. “I’m sorry, I really don’t remember.”

“It’s okay.” Lin Jianyue opened the manga with one hand. As the pages rustled, her eyes darkened.

She had bought the manga and put it on the shelf. She had only flipped through a few volumes the day she unboxed them. But now, the first volume she was holding ended abruptly on the panel where Shinichi Kudo fell unconscious after being hit on the head.

Rain, night, and an unconscious detective.

After that, there were large blank spaces, as if the rest of the story had been deliberately torn out.

“Jianyue, are you okay?” her brother asked cautiously, with a mix of kindness and worry.

“Did someone in Tokyo bully you? I have performances for the next two weeks and can’t get away. I’ll buy you a ticket. Can you come here?”

As he spoke, the story in the manga suddenly started to continue. The blank pages filled with ink, slowly unfolding like a watercolor painting, silently continuing the plot, she was familiar with the shrunken detective slowly opening his eyes to the surprised shouts of the police.

Lin Jianyue’s lips were a straight line, with a hint of focused seriousness.

A bold idea began to form in her mind.

“I’m fine, brother.” Lin Jianyue put down the book and pulled back a corner of the curtain. Outside, the rain had just stopped. The bright moon hung high in the sky, and the air was thick with the scent of rain.

“I just suddenly missed you,” she said, looking down at the manga book where new panels were continuously appearing. “I’ve been under a lot of pressure lately, and my period is coming. I just couldn’t help it.”

Her brother didn’t believe a word she said. He was silent for a moment, then asked carefully, “Who is Kenji Hagiwara?”

His cautious tone was like he was handling a fragile treasure. “Jianyue, tell me the truth. Did this bastard named Kenji Hagiwara mess with you? Don’t be afraid. I can find some connections in Japan. I’ll find someone to take care of him for you!”

“Brother, Kenji Hagiwara is a police officer. He’s in the Mobile Unit and holds a small position at the police department,” Lin Jianyue interrupted him, her voice flat.

The other end of the phone was silent for a few seconds, then exploded. “You like him? Did he play with your feelings? Listen to me, Jianyue. A scumbag like that.”

“Brother!”

Lin Jianyue suddenly raised her voice, cutting off her brother’s self-righteous bravado. “Don’t talk about Kenji like that. He’s a really good person, not the kind of jerk who would play with a woman’s feelings.”

Her brother was silent again.

A police officer, a good person, who wouldn’t cheat. But his sister had clearly been crying, and her voice was still nasal.

He knew his sister. Unless she was pushed to her limit, she would never cry so hard and then call him.

A few seconds later, her brother’s voice came through again, cautiously, as if he were walking on thin ice. “Could it be… that he… died in the line of duty?”

“I’m not talking to you anymore!”

Lin Jianyue was like an angry cat, hanging up the phone before her brother could finish.

The fear and anxiety of the unknown of a world fusion turned into a puffed-up pufferfish of anger. A strange fire was building in her chest.

After hanging up on her brother twice and seeing his chat filled with apology essays, Lin Jianyue finally calmed down. She first apologized to her brother, then started typing a long explanation, but she stopped with her finger hovering over the screen.

If the world had truly merged, and everyone else’s memories of the manga were erased, how could she explain the strange things happening to someone who didn’t remember?

She had a nervous condition. During the worst of her all-nighters, she was even sensitive to light and sound. If she were to seriously tell her brother about the theory of a manga world merging, he would probably show up at her door the next morning and drag her to a psychiatrist.

Lin Jianyue thought for a moment and decided to tell a white lie. Yeah, I’m in a relationship, but we had a big fight today.

Whatever. I’ll just fool my brother for now.

Besides that, she couldn’t think of any other good excuse to explain her emotions and her protective behavior just now.

The man who had received her message was eerily quiet, as if he had suddenly fallen asleep.

Lin Jianyue ignored her brother, who was on the other side of the ocean and had suddenly gone quiet. She instead went back to the manga book.

In the story, the shrunken detective was running in the heavy rain to the Kudo mansion and was arguing with Professor Agasa, who had been blown out of his own yard by a dangerous experiment.

Lin Jianyue stuffed a small folding knife and a mini flashlight into her bag, put on her jacket, and stood at the door. She put her hand on the doorknob, took a few deep breaths, and then, with a determined look, pushed the door open and walked outside.

There was no point in running away.

If she didn’t get her degree from Musashino, she wouldn’t go anywhere.

She was going to find Shinichi Kudo and confirm her theory herself.

The warm, yellow light from the hallway filled her body, and a comforting color spread around her. Her brother, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly came back online. Line messages popped up like an explosion.

NO!!

Not a single Japanese man is any good!!

My precious little sister is NOT going to date a Japanese man!!

Lin Jianyue looked at her phone, then let out a low laugh and walked straight into the night.