After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

Whether Komori Ai was human or ghost might no longer matter.

In his fourth mind-reading session, what he saw was reason enough for Kagura Hikaru to stay away from her.

He needed to find a way to reasonably distract Komori Ai and escape with Kiryu Hina.

It was difficult to explain this to the latter, and he couldn't just say he became suspicious of her through mind-reading; he had to make it seem natural.

"It's getting late; we need to gather some longer branches and leaves to set up a temporary camp here," Kagura Hikaru said to Komori Ai, moderating his tone as if considering her age. "Can you also collect some leaves for a layer of thatch? Could I count on you for that?"

Komori Ai tilted her head in puzzlement. "Aren't we going directly down the mountain?"

"Of course, we would like to, but we can't find the way," Kagura shook his head. "Besides, it's going to get dark soon. If we haven't found the way by then and the camp isn't set up, we'll be in trouble. It gets very cold in the mountains at night."

His words sounded logical, but in truth, Kagura Hikaru just wanted an excuse to leave Komori Ai behind.

But whether she saw through his plan, or she was just too engrossed in playing her role, Komori Ai hesitated for a few seconds before suddenly grabbing Kiryu Hina's hand, "Older sister, can... can I go with you? I'm scared to be alone."

Kiryu Hina was taken aback for a moment, exchanging glances with Kagura Hikaru.

Should they confront her here...

In the end, Kagura Hikaru didn't do that and simply nodded expressionlessly. "That might be better, to avoid getting separated again."

Thus, the three of them left together, leaving marks on tree barks along the way with stones so as not to get lost again.

They adopted a 'single-file' formation of front, middle, and rear, with Kagura Hikaru leading the way, using a thick branch to clear the leaves off the path to check for hidden snakes.

Komori Ai walked in the middle, and Kiryu Hina followed at the rear, keeping an eye on her.

Kagura Hikaru and Kiryu Hina had known each other for many years, often understanding each other's intentions through a single glance without direct communication.

When they decided to stick together, Kagura Hikaru had already hinted at the problem with Komori Ai, warning her not to fully expose her back to her.

Who knew when, while they were not paying attention, a knife could suddenly strike from behind.

Kagura Hikaru was in a state of high tension.

With the sun about to set, a mysterious person with unknown motives and unclear identity had appeared beside him and Kiryu Hina. It was even uncertain whether she was human.

Come nightfall, could he really sleep peacefully next to such a person?

His worries persisted until they found a mountain trail.

"Eh?"

Kiryu Hina and Kagura Hikaru both exclaimed in shock.

Komori Ai, on the other hand, cheered without hesitation, "Wuhu~ It's the trail; we've found the way!"

She climbed up a small slope onto the trail, jumping and waving excitedly, her laughter beckoning to them. "Brother, sister, come up quickly; let's hurry down the mountain while it's still light!"

Kagura Hikaru and Kiryu Hina were stunned, their hands, which had been collecting branches, dropping them all over the place.

How could this be? They had searched for the way for over four hours, and yet, within less than fifteen minutes of meeting Komori Ai, the path was clear.

More notably, they had been so guarded against her, bracing for her to suddenly unleash a night of hunting.

And now, you are telling me we don't need to wander anymore? That we can descend the mountain??

Kagura Hikaru climbed up the slope, looking up and down doubtfully.

It was indeed the trail they'd taken up the mountain, positioned about a third of the way up the height of the mountain.

He reached down to pull Kiryu Hina up beside him.

The two of them watched, somewhat dazed, as Komori Ai ran down the mountain happily, as if this 'ghost' was merrier than either of them.

It was truly bizarre.

Could it be one of those routines where they're given hope only to be plunged into despair later?

"I'm telling you, I've seen 'Saw,' okay? I know the drill!"

After about fifteen minutes, the two had returned to the camp, receiving their teachers' and classmates' comfort.

"How did you get lost? Didn't we tell you to stay put?"

Kagura Hikaru: "We ran into a poisonous snake."

Kiryu Hina: "Yeah."

"Ah? Are you alright?"

"It appears we weren't bitten."

"People should be able to run faster than snakes, right?"

"No wonder we didn't find you there; we've been searching the mountain for hours without a peep from you guys. The teacher even called the rescue team."

The classmates were all talking at once.

Not far away, Teacher Yamazaki could be seen apologizing profusely to the rescue personnel dressed in orange uniforms.

"Speaking of which, who is this child?" someone noticed Komori Ai, who had followed Kagura Hikaru and Kiryu Hina and was curiously looking around. They asked, "Did she lead you out?"

"Sort of..." Kiryu Hina smiled, but her feelings were complicated.

Kagura Hikaru shared the same sentiment.

Only now had they realized that they really had been rescued.

But why, though?

Finding the path suddenly might have been a coincidence, which they didn't mention.

But what they couldn't understand was why everyone had no reaction to Komori Ai.

Everyone clearly had met that middle-aged woman distributing missing child posters at the station and seen the flyers. Komori Ai looked so much like the missing elementary school student on the flyers, why did no one bring it up?

When the students learned that the rescue of the two was related to Komori Ai, they immediately crowded around and soon started chatting with her.

"What's your little sister's name?" a female student asked.

"Komori Ai!" Komori Ai answered.

"So cute, how old are you, what grade are you in?"

"Fifteen, in the third year of junior high! I'm going to study in Tokyo next year, aiming for Haneoka Private High School!"

"You're aiming for Haneoka? What a coincidence, we're from Yuqiu High School!"

Komori Ai demonstrated an extraordinary ability to socialize, quickly befriending the older students and even becoming slightly more popular than Kiryu Hina. Everyone was revolving around her, which made Kagura Hikaru and the others feel uneasy.

The little girl was quite cute and sweet-talking, but that alone shouldn't have made everyone like her.

Even some students who were usually introverted seemed unnaturally excited chatting with her.

Beginning to feel afraid, they quietly slipped away from the crowd and returned to Kagura Hikaru's tent, where they took out the missing child poster from the backpack to compare.

To their shock, they realized that the similarity they had originally thought existed between the girl in the photo and Komori Ai was not real.
Continue your saga on empire

Upon closer inspection, the eyes didn't match, the nose didn't match, there were even differences in body shape... other than the name, they were clearly two different people!

Kagura Hikaru and Kiryu Hina felt a chill from head to toe, the hair on their necks standing on end.

They were confident in their memory and did not think they would mistake a face they had just seen a few hours ago, and moreover, it was unlikely that both would have the same misapprehension simultaneously!

"What's going on, who exactly is she..." Kagura Hikaru clutched the missing child poster, crumpling it with tense fingers.

The initial worry was right, there was definitely something wrong with Komori Ai.

What's more concerning is that they had unwittingly brought her to the campsite!