Chapter 6: The Vanishing Memory

That night, Bai Yuliang sat listlessly in his room, lost in thought.

He had attempted divination several more times, yet the outcome remained unchanged; he could discern nothing.

With a sigh, he opened his phone, only to find a flurry of messages flooding the newly created class group chat, the one notably without Teacher Matsui.

“Everyone, what questions did Inspector Kurasu ask you all today?”

“They were all fairly ordinary questions, like our relationship with Mirai-kun. I answered everything truthfully.”

“It seems we all had similar experiences.”

“Let’s all relax a bit. Now that the police are aware of our situation, I’m sure the truth behind Mirai-kun’s death will come to light. And that Teacher Matsui will definitely be punished!”

“Exactly! All evil will eventually be brought to justice!”

“The Sakura Prefecture police are actually quite reliable. They once found my lost bicycle on the same day!”

“I hope so.”

Bai Yuliang casually left a comment, only for some ill-intentioned classmates to immediately begin taking their frustrations out on him.

“I heard the police in Yuliang-kun’s hometown only file reports and never bother with lost items. Is that true?”

For such brainless classmates, Bai Yuliang couldn’t be bothered to respond.

After casually closing his phone, he shut his eyes, preparing to sleep.

Yet, Qichuan Feng’s tender, pale face reappeared vividly in his mind.

‘Damn it, it’s a good thing that little girl wasn’t the one tasked with Ishihara Naomi’s mission. Otherwise…’

****

The next day, everyone arrived in class early.

The moment Bai Yuliang entered, he noticed his classmates already abuzz with discussion about yesterday’s events.

He made his way to his usual seat by the window in the second-to-last row, observing that the bloodstains at the back of the classroom had been cleaned at some point, leaving not a single trace.

As the bell rang for class, a new teacher entered from outside the classroom.

“Greetings, everyone. I am Teacher Mori from Class A,” Teacher Mori stated with a stern expression. “I will be teaching you all today.”

“Teacher Mori!” a student raised their hand to ask, “Is there any news regarding Asakura-kun?”

“Asakura? Which Asakura?”

“Asakura Mirai from our class! Didn’t he die right here yesterday?!”

“Nonsense. There’s no student named Asakura in your class at all!”

Teacher Mori declared unequivocally.

“I remember very clearly, your class has always had 39 students from beginning to end!”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the classroom erupted in chaos.

“Hey! Are you kidding me?”

“Our class clearly has 40 people!”

“You knew Asakura-kun before, Teacher Mori! You even recommended him to join the baseball club, didn’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

Teacher Mori’s brow furrowed deeply, appearing utterly perplexed.

“When did I ever recommend a student to join the baseball club?”

“Damn it!” one student couldn’t sit still. “I’ll go get the baseball club captain right now to confront you!”

With that, the student stormed out in a huff.

But it wasn’t long before he rushed back, his face ashen, exclaiming in shock, “This is bad! The baseball club captain says he doesn’t know anyone named Asakura Mirai!”

“Impossible! Wait, didn’t he have a girlfriend?”

“Right, find that girl!”

Shortly after.

“Oh no! That girl also says she doesn’t know Mirai-kun!”

“What…?” The students present were all dumbfounded. “How can this be!”

“Wait! There’s still the class photo! We have a class photo!”

One student frantically rushed to the front of the class, pointing at the picture on the wall.

“When we took that photo, Mirai-kun was standing right next to me, I… I… huh?”

The student pointed at the photo on the wall, his face filled with terror. Several others crowded around to look, their faces turning equally pale.

“How could this be… Mirai-kun in the photo… he’s gone?”

In the photograph, the spot where Asakura Mirai had stood was now conspicuously empty. One of his friends, who had been affectionately draping an arm around his shoulders, was now merely embracing thin air.

At this moment, Teacher Mori spoke again.

“Alright, I understand that you all are under immense academic pressure, but this is not an excuse to find various reasons to avoid your studies. This is a critical period for your third year of high school, a crucial moment in your lives. I hope you all will dedicate your limited energy to the boundless pursuit of knowledge.”

“Your predecessors faced no fewer difficulties than you, and bore no less pressure, yet many of them, through sheer perseverance, gained admission to prestigious schools and top-tier programs, even securing spots in the medical and law departments of the University of Tokyo!”

“You all must still strive to ignore outside distractions and focus solely on your studies!”

After listening to Teacher Mori’s words, the students were momentarily speechless.

“Wait, Teacher Mori! Didn’t the police accept Mirai-kun’s case yesterday? We even had a day off from school because of it. Have you forgotten?”

Teacher Mori shook his head. “Yesterday’s school closure wasn’t due to a case, but because it was Police Station Open Day, and the school specially gave you a day off to visit, wasn’t it? There was no case accepted. That’s enough, if you keep making things up, there won won’t be any time for class!”

At this moment, everyone suddenly realized that it seemed only they, the students in this class, still remembered Asakura Mirai.

Everyone else’s memories of Asakura Mirai seemed to have been erased by some mysterious force.

A profound sense of powerlessness permeated everyone’s being, leaving them all standing in a vast, bewildered state.

They didn’t know what to do next, or what they would encounter. Perhaps the next assignment would be completed by any one of them, followed by failure, then death, ultimately leading to them being forgotten, just like Asakura Mirai.

Who wouldn’t wish to live a little longer, for others to forget them a little later?

Such a fate was truly cruel…

Teacher Mori began his lecture, a math class, without further ado. Although he was indeed an excellent teacher, by now, no student was willing to listen attentively.

Everyone sat slumped in their seats; even the students usually most eager to answer questions remained silent.

The moment the dismissal bell rang, Teacher Mori slammed the door shut, declaring, “You are the worst class I have ever seen.”

During the break, everyone erupted, discussing the matter animatedly.

“We can’t just sit here and wait. If Teacher Mori won’t deal with our situation, then we’ll go cause a ruckus at the principal’s office!”

“Don’t be silly. I just used my phone to ask students in other classes, and apart from our class, no one else in the school knows what happened to us!”

“Then what do we do? Should we buy a trending topic to expose it?”

“Do you think others would believe something so outrageous? I say, we should contact the police again. Inspector Kurasu seemed very reliable.”

“Indeed, I refuse to believe even the police wouldn’t remember!”

Suddenly, someone exclaimed loudly, “You’re kidding me!”

“Keita, why are you so jumpy?”

“Look at the class chat!”

Hearing this, everyone quickly opened their phones, then, like Keita-kun, let out a shriek.

The class chat conspicuously displayed a message that should have been impossible to send.

[Asakura Mirai: I died so horribly yesterday! (Crying)]

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