Chapter 21 Chapter 10 Return

"After that, Chihiko was transported here right away?" Chongshi looked at Chihiko on the bed and asked Sudou. He nodded, "Yes, because this is the second incident like this and we were able to respond quickly" Tomohiko fell into a deep sleep, Takashi quickly notified Sudou.When he arrived, his face changed suddenly, and he ordered Chongshi and Mayuko not to mention this matter to anyone. Soon after, they transported Zhiyan to the car, which was the van that Takashi had witnessed before Shinozaki disappeared.This convinced him of one thing: Shinozaki must be in the same state as Tomohiko.

"Since then, no one has been able to tell me the details of the whole incident. I have never heard of where Chihiko was transported, and whether there is a possibility of waking up." "You don't need to know, besides, we also want you to forget everything, the matter of memory tampering, and the matter of sleeping in three rounds" "Because it's Vitec's top secret?" After listening to Takashi's words, Sudou shook his head slowly. "This is no longer Vitec's problem. Many research institutions in the world have launched various operations in order to seek information on memory tampering. Knowing too much is not good for you."

"Then you used Mayuko, right?" "She assisted us, but also to save you" "Sounds so good" "But" Sudou stared at Takashi intently, "Don't you also agree, memory modification cannot be successful without my own consent" Chongshi clenched his teeth, he couldn't deny it. It was Mayuko who proposed to change his memory. Forget everything and start over— Chongshi finally accepted the plan, although it was painful, but he couldn't bear to refuse it. "Mayuko's memory hasn't changed, has it?" "I wanted to change it, but for some reason it didn't"

"what happened?" "To explain the reason, we have to go back not long ago." Sudou stood beside the bed where Shinozaki was lying, "You should also have a certain degree of awareness. Last autumn, we experienced the first test, which was Shinozaki's lethargy. It turned out that everything was going well, but he did not expect that his memory was confused in a certain period, and then he lost consciousness. We tried to restore the thinking circuit from the memory paradox, and we must first find out the cause of the sleep state. We think As long as you know the reason, the problem can be solved easily. But after all, this is not a general way to deal with it, and more than one condition is caused. Rather than saying that it is a coincidence, it is better to say that if it is not for the bad luck in many aspects, it is impossible to appear in a comatose state. It's ironic. In this sense, Shinozaki's luck is really at its peak."

"But didn't Zhiyan fall into that state?" Chongshi asked, pointing to the sleeping Zhiyan. "Yes, that is to say, he found this condition, and then tried his own way" "For suicide too, isn't it?" "I don't know about it. Since you said so, it is also possible. In short, the most important thing for us is to reproduce the comatose state. What is puzzling is that when we searched for the research records of the three rounds afterwards, we found that The sleeping part is gone. We searched his room thoroughly, but we couldn't find it."

"That's why Chihiko's room is in such a mess..." Chongshi thought of that messy room, where floppy disks, tapes, MDs, and all media with memories were all swept away. "Impossible, must be somewhere. At least for the final experiment, he needed that. So I think, he gave it to someone before the last experiment" someone?So there is only one answer. "me?" "That's the only possibility. Unfortunately, it's too late" "At that time, I have finished modifying the memory, right?" Sudou nodded. "Just after your memory has been changed, there are still many unfinished parts of the technology to restore the tampered memory. If it is not done properly, there may be a third victim. In the end, there is only one way left, and that is by ourselves Let’s find out the conditions for reaching the sleep state discovered by Sanwa, so as to save the two people who are sleeping. Although it has not been announced, this is the biggest research topic of Vitec this year.”

"So the funds for other projects have been cut?" Chongshi recalled Kiriyama Keiko's words. "Anyway, it was a desperate attempt. Countless experiments and data analysis were secretly carried out. Day and night, you also participated in one of the assignments." "Me?" Chongshi suddenly realized, what did he think of, "Could it be that experiment with Wupi the chimpanzee..." "That's also a part of memory tampering technology. There are two purposes for you to participate in the research: one is that we need your talent in the subject of Reality, and the other is to monitor you whose memory has been modified."

"I see……" In this way, everything makes sense.The reason why they cannot understand the purpose of the research is that they have not told themselves the real reason. "Is Mayuko living with me also to spy on me?" "Fortunately, hers hasn't been modified yet. But I hope you don't get me wrong, it's her voluntary choice to stay by your side" "But it's true that she observed my every move." "Don't say that, she should have suffered a lot too." A few fragments of living with Mayuko flashed through Chongshi's mind, but he doesn't want to think about it now.

"...Then, did I gradually recover my memory?" "I was taken aback when Tsuno-kun told me, because I didn't expect that the memory can be restored by itself. Maybe the technology of memory modification is immature at all levels. However, this is a way to save the two sleepers Great opportunity. Your behavior has been monitored since that day. The most important thing to us is when do you recall the data you got from Chihiko" "I don't understand," Chongshi said, shaking his head, "Do you have to take this anxious approach? Just tell me the truth, maybe I'll be inspired and restore my memory right away."

"We don't want to go through so much trouble, but as I said just now, it would be very dangerous if the experimenter who believes in memory realizes that there is a deviation in his memory, and Shinozaki-kun will become That's the reason" Takashi recalled the scene of chaos at the party in Shinozaki, which was indeed an ominous sign.And Chongshi's long lethargy after recalling the last time he saw Zhiyan at his parents' house may also be a sign. "Your memory must be restored naturally. You have to rely on your own ability to discover the contradictions in your memory and recall the real past, not through the informing of outsiders. You know? Everyone can't tell you anything"

"So Mayuko disappeared too, along with your and Tomohiko's parents, right?" "That's right, but in fact something very close has happened. That is, you met that woman named Masami Naoi. This was completely beyond our expectations, and I really broke out in a cold sweat." "You have to tell her about it too." "We will do it, you don't need to worry." Sudou approached Takashi, and then put his hands on his shoulders, "These are the facts, there is no need to explain the others, right? You should have remembered everything. Alright, Tell me quickly, Miwa-kun did give you the data, right?" Takashi shook Sudou's hand off his shoulder. "Well, indeed" "Where is it?" "I'll take you to get it" "You tell me, let's get it" "I told you, I'll take you to get it." Takashi glared at Sudou. Sudou shrugged helplessly. "Okay, then you lead the way" Sudou drove Chongshi back to his apartment, and there were two strange men sitting in the back seat.But Chongshi had an impression of the face of one of them.That person was the one who watched him from the opposite building when he went to Zhiyan's residence. After approaching the room, Chongshi went straight to the bedroom, and then picked up something from the desk. That was the photo of Mayuko, which Chihiko had given him. Chongshi opened the back cover of the photo frame, and there was a small folded note and a card inside.The card is the storage device.If he had followed Chihiko's instructions and transferred it to another photo frame earlier, he would have discovered these things earlier. "This seems to be what you want." Takashi handed the card to Sudou. "He's hiding in this kind of place?" Sudou twisted his mouth, "Where's this piece of paper?" "It seems to be a letter to me. You don't want to confiscate this too, do you?" Sudou shook his neck, and winked at the two people walking together, and they walked out of the room. "You've worked hard, I'll contact you again," Sudou disappeared at the door. After being alone, Chongshi sat down on the bed and read Zhiyan's letter.In the process of reading, his eye sockets gradually became hot, and he shed hot tears for a long time, dripping on the letter paper.He read the letter several times. "Since last autumn, I have been troubled by two things: one is Shinozaki-kun, and the other is Mayuko. I felt very sorry for Shinozaki-kun. I was only thinking about research, and I didn't think about safety at all, and I ended up depriving him of his precious future.It is my duty to save him, even at the expense of myself. As for Mayuko, I just think it's better to give up as soon as possible, because I noticed a long time ago that her heart is biased towards Chongshi.But no matter what, I just can't give up completely. I should never meet a woman like him again in this life, right?Even if you meet, you must not be able to love yourself like her. I've struggled with both of these issues for the last few months, and finally I've come up with a great way to solve both.That is—to reproduce the accident of Shinozaki-kun by using himself as the experimental subject.Sudou and the others will be able to develop a method to save Shinozaki with the results they borrowed, right?And during the not short period of time when I fell asleep, Chongshi could combine with Mayuko.According to my calculations, my memory should be tampered with, and when I wake up, I will be able to wish them sincerely. And what makes me feel uneasy all the time is what Chongshi thinks about you.Either way, I want to confirm your feelings for Mayuko.That's why I deliberately said something that upset you, and I apologize for that.But when I found out that you really love her, I felt a lot more at ease. I hope you can bring her happiness instead of me. As long as the memory modification system operates normally, there will be no problems. Although this is my expectation, can you two revise the memory of this year?In this way, you can communicate as if nothing happened. Because even if we modify the past of this year, it will not have any impact on our friendship. See you when I wake up!Let's say goodbye for a while" Touched and remorse rushed to Chongshi's heart all of a sudden, making him breathless.Zhiyan must have planned to let this letter be discovered immediately after he fell asleep, and he wanted to keep the friendship with Chongshi until he was in the final limit state.For this reason, he even asked himself to modify his memory. How am I doing compared to him?Chongshi cursed himself, and chose to accept memory modification in order to get rid of sadness and pain—— The surrounding noises made Takashi raise his head, and Mayuko was standing at the door of the bedroom. The two looked at each other for a while, although Chongshi's mind was full of things he wanted to say and ask, but he couldn't say a word.He just held up the letter he was holding towards her. After a while, she took the letter and began to read it.As he read and read, his eyes gradually turned red, and Chongshi noticed it. "I'm such a coward." Chongshi finally choked out a sentence. Mayuko stood in front of him and took his hand. "That's what you said back then." Her tears flowed down her cheeks and fell into Chongshi's palm. The last scene in memory played in his mind.