Chapter 11 Chapter 5 Chaos

"So that's true." Chongshi nodded towards Xia Jiang, "In Shinjuku, by the way, you were there at that time, Xia Jiang." "What do you mean? It's so cold to say that. Speaking of which, you haven't called since that time. What have you been doing?" "No, nothing special... have a lot to do" "I guess so, well, you are a hardworking and down-to-earth company employee now." Xia Jiang looked Chong Shi in a suit from top to bottom. For some reason, a very annoying feeling hit Chongshi.Indeed, at that time and place, there was a woman sitting beside her.But why?Why did you invite Xia Jiang?And why didn't I think of it until now?

"What has Xia Jiang been up to lately?" "As usual, I still play sports. But I don't have any interesting jobs recently." She brushed her long brown hair, and her nails were the same color as her clothes. "By the way, are the two of them developing smoothly?" "the two of them?" "It's Miwa and his girlfriend. They looked very sweet at that time, but what happened afterwards?" Chong Shi frowned. "Just now you said that, you made a mistake, what Sanlun brought back at that time was not his girlfriend" "Ah?" Xia Jiang's eyes widened, "What, didn't you say it belonged to a lover?"

"No, they're just friends. After they met in the computer mall, they gradually became very speculative. They brought it that day." "Hey?" She called out again, "How is that possible? You said clearly that he was going to introduce his girlfriend to us that day, and you had better bring a companion before you came to ask me out." "Absolutely..." Impossible, Chongshi didn't say these three words. The memory suddenly became blurred, and there was nothing in the head. I gradually felt that what she said was right. It was a coffee shop surrounded by glass. We were on the second floor overlooking the street, and Xia Jiang was sitting next to me.I was talking to her about Sanlun, my good friend in junior high school, although his feet are not flexible, there is no need to pay too much attention.And he also said to her: Today he will introduce his girlfriend to us——

Chongshi shook his head, forced a smile, and even felt his facial muscles twitching. "You made a mistake, she is not Chihiko's lover, but a good female friend. It's just that you mistakenly thought it was his lover" This time it was Xia Jiang's turn to shake his head, even more violently than Chong Shi. "Tsuruga-kun, what's the matter with you? Didn't they both admit that they were lovers? I can't believe it, why did you say that all of a sudden?" Xia Jiang's voice echoed like orchestral music, and the people passing by all stared at each other. watch them.

Chongshi took a step back, pressed the corners of both eyes with his right hand, and began to have a slight headache.It seemed as if something was rushing up in my stomach, it was very uncomfortable, and my heartbeat began to speed up. He looked at Xia Jiang again and asked her, "Did he really say he was a lover?" "Yeah, what did you just say, what's the matter with you?" Xia Jiang began to worry, and from her expression, Chongshi could be sure that she was not joking. "Where did we go after we left the coffee shop?" "Ok?" "We met Tomohiko at the coffee shop, right? After that, where did we go?"

"Where did you go, um, it should be..." Xia Jiang pressed his temples hard, and replied, "I forgot the name of the restaurant, it's an Italian restaurant." "Italian restaurant." Chongshi slowly closed his eyes, he recalled, in the dim shop, there were candles by the wall, Mayuko was sitting opposite, and Chihiko was next to him. "Indeed." Chongshi opened his eyes and said, "Italian restaurant, I ordered rice with shrimp and meat." "Well. Are you okay? You look very bad, where should we sit?" "No, can you stay with me for a while? I'm about to remember"

"Remember?" "Anyway, wait for me for a while." Chongshi stretched out his right hand, Xia Jiang felt a little unhappy, and became coy. The blurry scene immediately became clear.Chongshi asked Xia Jiang, "Did you drink coffee?" "Huh? What are you talking about?" "In that restaurant, didn't the last four cheer? Holding coffee cups" Xia Jiang showed a surprised expression, but nodded as if he understood immediately. "Yes, yes, here we go, in an espresso cup. Tsuruga-kun also made a speech, saying toast to the future of the two of you."

"For two..." "It's those two people, Miwa and his girlfriend, um, by the way, her name is Mayuko" "Yes." Chongshi nodded, for the future of the two of them, he remembered that he said so.At that time, some bitter feelings came to my heart again. Why did I have that kind of emotion?It's because Mayuko is Tomohiko's lover, not her—— "Hey, Tsuruga-kun, what's the matter with you?" Xia Jiang stared at him, "Since just now, you've been saying inexplicable things." "Uh, it's nothing, don't take it to heart"

"Even if you say that, I can't turn a blind eye." "It's really okay, I'm a little tired recently, so sometimes I talk nonsense. It's a nervous breakdown." Hahaha, Chong Shi forced a smile, and even he felt that his acting skills were terrible. "Really...it's fine as long as it's okay." Xia Jiang glanced up, still with a puzzled expression.Although she was worried about Chongshi, she might feel that it was better not to go any further. "Xia Jiang, didn't you say that you will go to other places soon?" Chong Shi started to dismiss her.

Xia Jiang smiled, nodded and said, "Well, yes." "Sorry, I said something strange to you" "It's okay, see you later." She raised her right hand. "En." After Chongshi finished speaking, Xia Jiang turned and left.He watched her back, and suddenly thought of something, "Xia Jiang" stopped her.After she turned around, he asked again, "That day at the restaurant, you and Chihiko talked about the violin, right?" Xia Jiang rolled his eyes upwards, then nodded and replied, "Yes, we talked." "Really? Sure enough."

"What's wrong?" "It's nothing." Chongshi shook his head. To prove that I remembered correctly, he swallowed the sentence.He smiled at Xia Jiang, "It's nothing, thank you." "Don't overwork yourself" "I will be careful" Goodbye, Xia Jiang waved his hands lightly, and left with lighter steps than before, probably because he was afraid of being called again. Chongshi walked for a while, went to the street and hailed a taxi, "go to Isetan in Shinjuku" and said to the driver. He sat in the car, closed his eyes and meditated.He tried to rearrange the images in his mind. After talking with Xia Jiang, the memory of the past became much clearer, especially the scene where Tomohiko introduced himself to Mayuko.Yes, Chihiko did say at that time that he would bring his lover here.Now Chongshi can clearly recall the scene at that time, including the content of the conversation and Mayuko's every move. However, he also had a new doubt.And this question was surprisingly complicated for him, and his heart was overwhelmed by it.The reason why he wanted to stop the taxi was not only because he wanted to rush to Shinjuku immediately, but also because he could not continue to stand up physically. The first question is, why do I have memories that do not match reality?Tomohiko just introduced Mayuko to me as an ordinary friend, and there was no girl named Xia Jiang around at that time—why did I take it for granted? It's just that Chongshi found that he didn't seem to be too shocked by this memory deviation, which is because of the sense of incongruity that has frequently appeared recently.Mayuko was not her lover before, but Tomohiko's lover - this thought often reverberated in her mind.Although he couldn't explain it, he comforted himself with the fact that it was his own dream.However, that is not a dream, it is a fact. The second question, for Chongshi, this question is the most important, that is: Why is Chihiko's lover, Mayuko, now his girlfriend?And Mayuko didn't mention that her former lover was Chihiko, no, not only did she not mention it, when Chongshi questioned her relationship with Chihiko last time, she was furious and asked Chongshi, could it be that she doubted her relationship with Chihiko? The relationship between the three rounds fails. So, Mayuko is lying, but why? Started to have a splitting headache again, Chongshi leaned his head against the glass of the window. When he arrived at Isetan, he took a few steps forward and stopped in front of a building.In a row of dazzling restaurant billboards, there is a store called 'Coconut Fruit'.When I passed by here not long ago and saw this billboard, I had a lot of thoughts.He remembered coming here with Chihiko and Mayuko, but he was a little confused about who Mayuko's lover was at that time.That time Chongshi comforted himself without any basis—— Now, this scene became clear, and Chongshi also had the illusion that it was his own dream, but it was a pity that it was not a dream but reality. He took the elevator to the fifth floor, and when he got down, he was at the entrance of a restaurant, which seemed to be full, and a group of young men and women who looked like company employees stood outside.The clerk saw Chongshi and asked him, "Sir, who are you?" Chongshi raised a finger, and the clerk walked into the store after saying "Please wait a moment". Several couples of men and women waiting outside were brought in first, and Chongshi observed the interior of the restaurant at the entrance, in order to confirm which part of his memory was correct. On the wall next to the cashier are snapshots of what appear to be customers who have visited the store. He suddenly recalled a certain scene and carefully examined the photos. The photo he was looking for was at the lower part. Although the surroundings were dim, the people in the photo could still be clearly identified.The moment he saw it clearly, Chongshi felt that his blood was slowly turning cold. Sure enough, this is not a dream. Chongshi staggered out of the restaurant, just at that moment the clerk came out and told him that the seat was ready.But he turned a blind eye to this and pressed the button for the elevator. The people who appear in that photo are Takashi, Mayuko and Tomohiko.Chongshi even remembered that the man who took the photo for them was a man in a Hawaiian shirt. In the photo, Zhiyan was wearing a flower garland, which was nothing like his usual self. Moreover, he put his arm around Mayuko's shoulder. Chongshi was a little far away from the two of them, smiling unnaturally at the camera. The lights in the room were still dim, indicating that Mayuko hadn't come home yet.Chongshi took out a bottle of whiskey and a wine glass, and drank it in the restaurant without changing his clothes. At this time, his mind was still in chaos, and he hoped that drunkenness would make him feel better mentally.Yet he also knew he couldn't be completely drunk. Think about it calmly - he said to himself after drinking half a glass of whiskey in one breath.No matter how unbelievable the phenomenon is, there must be a logic behind it to explain it, and blindly confused minds will accomplish nothing. He first thought about why his memory was completely opposite to the reality, was it just a purely wrong memory?Holding the wine glass in his hand, he shook his head, no, this is definitely not just an illusion.It can only be that the memory has been modified in some way, is it accidental, or has someone done it on purpose? This couldn't be by chance, otherwise the difference between memory and reality should be even more outrageous, but the current situation is that Chongshi's wrong memory did not produce obvious contradictions, such as the fact that Mayuko is his own lover. By the way, I have to ask Mayuko—Chongshi looked at his watch, it was already past eight o'clock, and she hadn't been back so late recently, could it be because the experiment was delayed? He took another sip of his wine, then thought. If it is not accidental, then this wonderful phenomenon is caused by human beings. Why would this person do this? Before that, Chongshi tried to think about this issue. Is it possible that someone did it on purpose?In other words, can human memory be tampered with? This is indeed memory tampering, he can be sure, and this content is the ultimate goal of their research on the 'sub-realistic space'. How is it possible, he shook his head, this technology hasn't been developed yet, if it is developed, all the hard work he and his colleagues have put in now will be in vain. but-- Chongshi's eyes focused on a certain point in the air, isn't he carrying the tampered memory now?With the current level of technology, it becomes possible to think of some ways.No, he began to doubt whether the status quo he knew was true, maybe this unbelievable technology had already been produced in places he didn't know. Thinking of this, the manipulator behind it was already obvious. Takashi took out an envelope from his coat pocket, which was the letter forged in the name of Miwa Tomohiko.He put it on the table, looked at it, and poured it for himself. It must be Vitec that made this situation.Forging such a letter is as easy as pie for them.Since they have carried out this kind of disguise work, it means that Zhiyan is not in the United States now.At least not assigned a special project like this letter said. Chongshi is convinced that the tampering of his memory is not unrelated to Zhiyan's disappearance.But why does Vitec do this? Both of us are just a small researcher, and we are newbies who were studying at MAC a few months ago. He put the glass back on the table that was supposed to be in his mouth. Could it be that there were any secrets during the MAC period? What happened?Just as he was thinking about it, Chongshi stopped recalling, and he realized that his current memories may not be the real past. So what is the real past?What are the incorrect, fabricated memories?He felt that these things had to be clarified first. It started with Mayuko, she was Chihiko's lover, this is a real memory; and it is a false memory that she and Chihiko are just friends. After introducing her to myself, I was taken aback, because that was the person I fell in love with at first sight, which is also true, so—— Thinking of this, Chongshi's thoughts began to become complicated. Putting aside the fact that she was a best friend and lover, did his feelings for her rekindle? Chongshi stood up, walked around the table, went into the bathroom, and turned on the tap to wash his face.Then he raised his head and looked in the mirror, where a pale face appeared.The bloodshot eyes were probably not just caused by the alcohol, the wet bangs stuck to his forehead. He looked at himself in the mirror and began to think back, yes, I fell in love with Chihiko's lover.Although he knows that a friend's wife can't be bullied, he still can't cut off his feelings for Mayuko.She is always on my mind every day, and after she entered MAC, this feeling became even more serious.As long as her figure comes into view, it will be very painful, and on the other hand, I can't help but want to see her, the more I want to give up in my heart, the clearer her existence becomes. Suddenly a scene appeared in front of my eyes, the sunshine in early summer, the tennis court, and Mayuko running back and forth on the opposite field.That was when he was playing tennis with her, Chongshi recalled.That's not a manufactured memory, it's something that actually happened.But why me and her?How did the situation develop into this?Chongshi immediately reacted, because in that scene, there was still Chihiko's gaze looking down at him, and Mayuko was still his lover at that time. After that, he has been living like a year, hiding his sincerity, and staying by Chihiko and Mayuko's side. What happened next?What he remembered was that he was already with Mayuko, and the memory before that became blurred.When did Mayuko and him become lovers, and how Chihiko reacted to this, he didn't know at all. Suddenly another irrelevant idea popped up in my mind, it was about Zhiyan's research.At that time, Chongshi had been brooding over the content of his research. He suspected that Zhiyan had made a very important discovery, but kept it a secret from himself. The phrase "a major discovery that subverts the common sense of the Reality discipline" came to mind again. By the way, this was said by Shinozaki Goro. The faucet kept running, so Chongshi turned it off and faced the mirror again. Could it be... he thought. The research Zhiyan is engaged in is memory processing, which is to manipulate other people's memories. If he completes it, it will not be difficult to explain what happened to him now.Could it be that they regarded themselves as experimental subjects? Chongshi recalled that Zhiyan's room was a mess, and all the data was searched.The link between their research and the incident is now firmly established. Anyway, I had to ask Mayuko first, Chongshi glanced at the clock again, it was past nine o'clock.It's so strange, it's too late anyway, and she would definitely call beforehand at such a late hour. Chongshi walked into the bedroom and turned on the light, and while changing clothes, he glanced around the room nonchalantly, and finally his eyes stopped on the desk.There was a small mirror on it, and Mayuko had been using it to make up, but the cosmetics in front of her were gone. He opened the closet, and there were many hangers hanging horizontally inside. Most of those hangers used to hang Mayuko's clothes, but now, only a few of Chongshi's clothes were hanging in the corner, and the rest of the hangers all empty. Chongshi hurriedly checked the other wardrobes, and Mayuko's big suitcase was gone, not only that, but all the things she was carrying were swept away. He picked up the handset and dialed the phone number impatiently. He first called Mayuko MAC's laboratory. After about ten rings, he hung up and started pressing the buttons again, this time at Kouenji's apartment, which was still Mayuko's place. However, the voice came from the telephone company's service message "The number you dialed is no longer valid." Mayuko never told him that she had deactivated the phone. He came to the kitchen and drank a lot of water, his heart began to beat faster, and a wave of uneasiness came to his heart. He picked up the key on the table and ran out. Although I was looking for it, I had no idea where to look for it.He has never heard Mayuko say who he is usually close to, so Chongshi has no choice but to drive to Kouenji. Mayuko moved out of Chongshi's residence, it must be unmistakable, but he didn't know why.Perhaps this, too, could be attributed to a link in this strange chain of events, and there is no reason to deny the possibility. When he arrived at Kouenji, he went straight to Mayuko's apartment, and now was no longer the time to walk slowly.He felt that Mayuko was drifting away as time passed, and he even regretted why he didn't go into the bedroom as soon as he got home. Mayuko's residence was on the third floor of an old apartment building. Chong Shi glanced up, his eyes widened, and the light in the room was on.He didn't care about waiting for the elevator and rushed up the stairs. Room 302 where she lived was right next to the stairs.Chongshi rang the doorbell desperately, only to find someone walking out. The door lock was unlocked with a bang, but the door chain was still hanging, Mayuko, Chong Shi, who wanted to call out like this, swallowed his voice.Through the crack of the door, a woman she had never met poked her head out in surprise. "Who are you?" She looked young, but her face was dirty and her long curly hair looked damaged. "Well, may I ask?" Chongshi glanced at the house number, there was no name written on it, but the room number was indeed Room 302, "Isn't this Tsuno's house?" "You found the wrong house" "Do you live here?" "Yes" The woman's expression didn't look very happy, and she almost closed the door. "When did you move here?" "last month" "last month……" In other words, Mayuko moved out of here before that, but she never mentioned it to Chongshi. "Do you have anything else to do?" the woman asked impatiently. "One last thing, have you heard about the woman who used to live here?" "I haven't heard of it, that's enough." She slammed the door shut, and the sound of locking was extremely displeased. Chongshi looked at the three numbers '302' on the closed door, then turned around, pressed the doorbell of Room 304 opposite, and a student-like man came out to open the door. "What's the matter?" the man asked, and there was a smell of curry in the room. Chongshi pointed to Room 302 and asked him if he knew when the woman who lived opposite moved out, the young man sneered meaningfully. "Ah, you mean that beautiful woman, her name is Tsuno." Chongshi nodded, and he continued to say with a smile, "It was probably at the end of March. After I went back to my hometown during the spring break, she was gone when I came back." "Do you know where he went?" "I don't know, we don't say hello when we meet." The man looked Chong Shi from top to bottom, as if he wanted to ask, what is your relationship with that beauty, Chong Shi thanked him, turned around left. Just in case, he went to ask other residents, but there was no result. After all, he did not have any hope that Mayuko would communicate with the neighbors in the apartment. Takashi left the apartment and walked slowly on the road leading to Koenji Station.He planned to call MAC again tomorrow, but he always felt that it would be futile, and his intuition told him that the problem was not so simple. Mayuko also disappeared, and Chongshi firmly believed that this was also the most reasonable explanation.Judging from the current situation, this is not a kidnapping or something, so it must be out of his own will.This incident also shows that Mayuko also has a certain degree of understanding of this incident. How could this be, he was the only one who didn't realize that his memory had been distorted—— There was a phone booth in front of Kouenji station, he dialed the number of his residence, originally he had a glimmer of hope that Mayuko might go home, but unfortunately this wish came to nothing immediately, no one answered the phone, he pulled out the phone card . At this time, a small shop came into view, it was a cake shop, next to it was a coffee shop. By the way, at that time—— It was raining non-stop, and in front of the store, he gave her a birthday present, which contained an emerald brooch, something she had dreamed of. "I'm calm" I said to Mayuko, how did she reply?Chongshi thought about it for a while and shook his head, but he couldn't remember.