"Junior, you're too heartless, sob sob... you actually abandoned such a beautiful bride like me." Outside the room, Kamiigusa Misaki looked pitifully at Sorata, who had 'ruthlessly' pushed her out.
Ah ha...
Yawning again, Sorata stood at the door and looked listlessly at Kamiigusa Misaki. "School starts tomorrow, junior still needs to feed Hikari and the others, and tidy up the house. There are many things to do. Please spare me today, senior."
After speaking, Sorata took the uniform jacket hanging on the wall, put it on as he walked out of the room, followed by the seven cats walking leisurely behind him.
Especially the white cat Hikari at the front, even glanced at Kamiigusa Misaki with a triumphant look as it passed her, as if saying, 'You stupid human woman, stay out of the way.'
After putting on his jacket, Sorata poured cat food into several cat bowls, smiling as he watched the seven cats, big and small, eating with very elegant postures.
For some unknown reason, Kanda Sorata had been close to animals since childhood, and the seven cats raised in Sakurasou were very dependent on him, especially the white cat Hikari, which was very intelligent, like a human.
However, in Sorata's current thinking, it should be due to his true spirit, which made the soul born in this life innately pure and powerful, causing an invisible life wave to emanate from him.
The true spirit was a mark condensed by countless gods and immortals of countless worlds after reaching the highest realm. It was immortal and indestructible. Unlike the soul, it was a higher-level aggregate.
As long as the true spirit was condensed, even if the divine soul was annihilated and the true body was erased, one would not completely die. The true spirit would one day recover from the long river of fate.
And Sorata was able to condense his true spirit back then also relying on his soul talent and great opportunities.
Of course, the so-called immortality was only relative.
After all, even if you could live for millions or tens of millions of years, you would still be in danger of falling when encountering stronger beings. You must know that even the universe has a day of collapse and end, let alone the creatures born in the universe.
Just as Sorata finished feeding the cats and was about to go back to tidy up his room, he saw that Kamiigusa Misaki had not only not left but had returned to his room, turned on the TV, and inserted a disc.
"Are you still playing games?" Sorata suddenly felt a headache.
Because during this summer vacation, he had been staying up all night playing games with Kamiigusa Misaki every day, turning day and night upside down, often playing until morning before falling asleep, and now he just wanted to lie down quietly.
"Seeing how annoyed you look, I'll let you off today. Help me take a look at the sample," Kamiigusa Misaki said, pressing the play button on the TV.
"New work? Okay, but don't expect any good suggestions from me," Sorata said, sitting on the bed, shrugging his shoulders listlessly.
What followed was a five-second loading screen, and then Misaki's original animation appeared on the TV. It hadn't been dubbed yet, so there was no sound or sound effects.
From Sorata's current perspective, the animation's visuals were very smooth and dynamic, the scenes were grand and full of power, and it even incorporated 3D backgrounds. The character backgrounds were meticulously depicted, plus the storyboarding...
In the current social environment, this animation already had the level of a top-tier work, and it was completely unbelievable that it was completed by a single girl.
"As expected of a top student in the art course at Suiko."
Besides general studies like Sorata's, Suiko also had music and art departments with an educational policy focused on a dozen or so elite students. It gathered talented students from all over Japan, and the admission rate was frighteningly low.
And Misaki was one of them, a third-year student in the art department and a top talent even among those geniuses.
Bang! Bang! Clang! Crackle! Cha~~ Charlalala! "Your fate ends here!..."
Kamiigusa Misaki was energetically dubbing the animation, but the content of her voice-over had nothing to do with the animation itself. In Sorata's opinion, she just found it fun.
Shaking his head, Sorata didn't continue watching. Instead, he leaned back and lay down on the bed, his head resting on the blanket, too lazy to move.
Smelling the faint fragrance on the blanket, the three great questions of the universe floated into Sorata's empty mind: Who am I? Where am I? What am I going to do?
Over the years, his mind had become accustomed to a sense of urgency, always having firm goals and tasks to execute. Now that he had suddenly relaxed, the mental fatigue made Sorata just want to lie on the ground and sleep until the end of time.
However, having been accustomed to a busy and high-pressure life of struggle, Sorata now felt a bit bored and empty in his heart. This feeling was very strange, as if his mind was divided into two parts in two different dimensions.
He didn't know how long he had been spacing out, but Misaki's animation had finished playing. Taking the disc out of the player, she looked somewhat frustrated. "The places that need redoing are beyond my imagination."
"Isn't that a good thing? Always surpassing your past self, constantly fighting and improving," Sorata said casually, looking at the ceiling. "Although from the perspective of an ordinary person like me, what you've made is already good enough."
"Eh, junior, you can actually say such things?" Kamiigusa Misaki stood up with a shocked expression, then came nervously in front of Sorata, struck a Ultraman attack pose, and shouted loudly.
"Speak! What kind of monster are you, daring to impersonate my junior?"
"Wuwu... junior, I will definitely avenge you. Go in peace..."
"Hehehehe... you actually discovered it. In that case, I have no choice but to kill you too," Sorata continued to stare blankly at the ceiling, playing along with his mouth.
"I said, you two are still playing around? Aren't you childish?" Just then, a well-dressed, sexy beauty appeared at the door, looking at the two of them with annoyance.
The beautiful woman was the supervisor of Sakurasou and also a fine arts teacher at Suiko High School, Sengoku Chihiro.
"Uh... that's a lot of makeup. Sensei, are you planning to go out and scare people?" Sorata, who didn't want to move from the bed, turned his head to look at Sengoku Chihiro and habitually blurted out a sarcastic remark.
"What do you kids know? How can you understand the charm of an adult?" Sengoku Chihiro ignored Sorata's teasing and even winked at him, almost shaking off her false eyelashes.
"Heh..." The corner of Sorata's mouth twitched, and he gave a stiff smile. At this moment, he acted no differently from the former Kanda Sorata, perfectly blending into his identity.
He was a little surprised that the perceptive Misaki had noticed something was wrong earlier.
Of course, it wasn't that he was afraid of anything; he was just planning to slowly change his habits and the impression others had of him, which could save him some trouble.
He wasn't some arrogant protagonist who thought he was second to none. Whether before or after entering the Nightmare Space, Sorata's personality was actually quite easygoing.
It was just that fate had forced him to pick up the butcher knife and immerse himself in darkness to survive. Now, adopting Kanda Sorata's personality made little difference.
"Alright, next is the work of remaking it." Seeming to see that Sengoku Chihiro had something to ask Sorata, Kamiigusa Misaki lost her playful mood, took the disc, and hurried upstairs.
Sengoku Chihiro walked a few steps to the bed and took a photo out of her bag, handing it to Sorata.
"What's this?" Sorata sat up and took the photo.
In the photo was a fair-skinned little girl, about five or six years old, wearing a large straw hat, with long light yellow hair, dressed in a pure white dress, sitting on a chair.
The little girl had no expression on her face and didn't smile at the camera. She carried a broken, illusory, and empty aura, and her transparent eyes seemed to meet Sorata's through the lens.
Is this Mashiro's childhood photo? Is she asking me to pick her up next? But in the anime, wasn't I asked to pick someone up only on the day school started?
A hint of surprise flashed in Sorata's eyes, but he quickly understood after a moment's thought. After all, the real world wasn't an anime, and even a slight change could alter the future.
Sengoku Chihiro looked at Sorata. "She's my cousin, and she'll be living here starting today."
"Oh," Sorata nodded, indicating he understood.
"Her name is Shiina Mashiro. I arranged to meet her at the station at six o'clock, so you should hurry up and go pick her up now."
Sorata thought to himself that it was indeed this matter, but he showed a bewildered expression and asked, "Uh... wait, what does this have to do with me? Why don't you go, Sensei?"
"Because I have a matchmaking party to go to later."
Sengoku Chihiro's eyes lit up. "My friend said that person is a doctor! A doctor! Such prospects are hard to come by."
Then she looked at Sorata with a matter-of-fact expression. "Look, how can I leave such an important matter? For my lifelong happiness, don't you think you should help me with this favor?"
"Besides, no matter how you look at it, you seem very free, right? How can you just lie in bed doing nothing? If this goes on for a long time, your mentality will become that of a loser, Sensei is helping you, you know?"
According to Sorata's past personality, he should have started a verbal battle with Sengoku Chihiro at this time, making various excuses not to go out.
However, Sorata at this moment just happened to feel bored with nothing to do, and the feeling of participating in the script in person seemed good, so while Sengoku Chihiro was preparing to persuade him, he nodded and said, "Okay."
"Ha..." Sorata's straightforward agreement stunned Sengoku Chihiro, giving her the feeling of punching air.
"For your happiness, Sensei, your student will handle this matter for you." Sorata shrugged. "But to be honest, Sensei, your outfit... tsk tsk."
Sorata's shaking head and disgusted look made Sengoku Chihiro dissatisfied. "Is there something wrong with my outfit? It's very beautiful and fashionable; it's just that you kids don't understand."
"I'm not talking about your clothes, Sensei, but your makeup. Are you sure you really want to go to a matchmaking party?" Sorata spread his hands, pointing at Sengoku Chihiro's heavy makeup, which completely obscured her beautiful charm.
Sengoku Chihiro's eyes froze, then she came back to her senses. "Tch, what do you know? Alright, I'll leave this matter to you." After speaking, Sengoku Chihiro grabbed her bag and walked out quickly.
Watching Sengoku Chihiro's retreating figure, who seemed to have her thoughts seen through and was fleeing in embarrassment, Sorata stretched lazily and then prepared to set off as well.