Wait. You were planning on riding t

Wait. You were planning on riding this with your first love, weren't you? Don't tell me you've given up looking for him?"

Koutarou flatly refused her proposal.

Kiriha and Koutarou had previously agreed that her first trip on the roller coaster would be with her first love. If, at some later time, she were to abandon her search for him or if he were to reject her confession, then Koutarou would take her in his place. For this reason, Koutarou turned her down without a second thought.

"You misunderstand. No, I think I've found the person I've been yearning for all this while: my Onii-san..."

My... Onii-san...

The second those words were spoken, in Koutarou's mind, a different figure laid itself over Kiriha's silhouette.

『It's decided! Onii-chan, let's do this one next!』

『The one that zooms here and there and -whoosh!- rushes by!』

That young girl of just six whom he had met just half a month before, that young girl with whom he had spent a number of days. That oh-so-familiar figure vanished in the briefest instant, leaving only the scene of Kiriha standing before him, but Koutarou was certain he had indeed seen her.

——Wait, don't tell me... No, there's no way... It's just too much of a coincidence, right?

Koutarou was struck dumb, a thought taking shape within his mind - a thought which he immediately rejected.

Truth be told, this was hardly the first time such a thought had occurred to him. However, he, more than anyone, knew just how absurd this idea was. Even Koutarou, someone for whom his intellect could hardly be described as his strong point, was aware of just how much such a thing mocked the very laws of cause and effect.

And so, not knowing what he should do or say, Koutarou was left in a blank daze.

As Koutarou struggled to find words to speak, Kiriha narrowed her eyes and spoke unhurriedly, "You know, ever since coming to the surface world, I've been looking for that person in completely the wrong way. That's why I've always come up empty-handed."

Her manner of speaking differed from her typical manner. Though she was still as refined as ever, she had abandoned all formality, and spoke as any other girl her age might. That notwithstanding, Koutarou failed to detect the difference; indeed, this way of speaking struck him as natural. This was, after all, the way a normal girl would speak. She was simply too mature at other times.

"Ten years ago, when we met, he was roughly the same age as I am now. Accordingly, I supposed that his mother would have been in her thirties or forties. Working under that assumption, I've been searching for women of that demographic who've been victims of a car accident, but have always failed to turn up anything of substance.