Rebuilding Sakamichi in a chaotic worldline

Chapter 51 Like a Dream, Like an Illusion

In a private room of a high-end kaiseki restaurant in Ginza, the light and shadow filtered through bamboo blinds created a subtle, abstract picture on the tatami mats. Rito held a sake glass, sitting opposite a veteran producer—his father's old friend from Dentsu who had switched careers to television due to excessive pressure. The two chatted about the currently popular Nogizaka46 group, with the producer marveling at Rito's remarkable talent. Several major agencies, seeing how lucrative idol groups could be, were reportedly starting to emulate him, with some already holding auditions.

"That's fine. The idol market is actually very big. It's impossible for me to monopolize it. Many hands make light work."

Rito downed a small glass of sake in one gulp, smiling as he spoke. Nana sat obediently beside him. She had changed her clothes after leaving the parking lot, and her hair was styled up, revealing the back of her fair neck. She looked much more mature than usual. She didn't interrupt much, but whenever Rito's glass was empty, she would promptly refill it.

"Rito, is this Nishino-san your next target? I happen to have a drama project on hand, how about letting her come over and make an appearance?" the producer said with a smile. Anyone Rito brought here must be one of his own, so he wasn't stingy.

"Her," Rito put down her wine glass, thinking that if this were a genuine pigeon from her past life, she would have agreed. Unfortunately, this was a modified version of the system, and she had used all her points on singing and dancing, without investing any in acting.

"Forget about her. You can't earn much money acting. Let's leave some opportunities for those who really need them," he said.

"That's true. With you here, we have the best future. I misunderstood. Here, I'll make up for it with three drinks." The producer gave the young couple a mischievous look and downed his drink in one gulp.

Nana Sai, who was not yet used to this treatment, blushed slightly, picked up her teacup, took a sip, and pretended not to have heard anything.

Just then, Rito's phone on the table vibrated. He glanced at the screen, his expression suddenly changed, and he looked at Nanase with a complicated expression.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a low voice, turning to the side.

"Sayuri locked herself on the rooftop," Rito whispered in her ear.

He then placed the wine glass back on the table and bowed slightly to the producer: "Sorry, something urgent came up at the company, so let's call it a day. I'll treat you to a meal another day to make amends."

The producer, a veteran in the industry, naturally understood the situation and didn't linger. After a few pleasantries, he got up to leave. After settling the bill, Rito pulled Nana Sai along quickly towards the parking lot.

"What happened to Xiaobaihe?" Nana asked, jogging to catch up with him, her face full of worry.

"I don't know." Rito started the engine, the tires screeching against the ground, kicking up the black smoke that energetic young men love. "Meimei only said that she locked herself on the rooftop."

Nanase frowned: "It shouldn't have anything to do with me. I just asked Manatsu to convey a signal that I wanted to make up."

"Stop guessing, we'll find out when we get there." Rito gripped the steering wheel with one hand, accelerated with his foot, and the car sped into the main road, heading towards Chiyoda.

Several people had already gathered in front of the rooftop entrance of the Nogizaka46 company building. Captain Sakurai Reika stood at the front, banging on the iron gate and calling Sayuri's name. Takayama and Qiuqiu stood behind her, their expressions somewhat suppressed. Meimei and second-generation member Terada Ranze stood far away at the bottom of the three steps, occasionally exchanging glances but not daring to make a sound.

"President, over here!" Seeing Rito rush out of the elevator, Meimei finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Sayuri has been inside for almost half an hour, and Reika-nee called her but she didn't answer. Mai-sama has already gone to find the spare key—"

"Where's the key?"

"President, I'm here!"

The doors of another elevator slowly opened, and a panting white-haired woman ran out, handing him the key she had finally found.

"I'll go talk to her, none of you come in." Rito nodded to her, then gestured for everyone to step back. He inserted the key into the lock, and the iron gate slowly opened. The evening breeze blew in through the cracks, causing everyone to squint involuntarily.

On the rooftop, the setting sun was sinking below the horizon, painting the Tokyo sky a fiery orange-red. The wind was strong, making the old banners hanging on the railings flutter loudly.

Xiaobaihe stood in front of the railing at the edge of the rooftop, her back to the entrance. She was still wearing her training uniform, her black twin ponytails flying wildly in the wind. She leaned forward slightly, her hands resting on the railing, which had only recently been repainted; one step forward meant a drop of dozens of meters.

"Sayuri," Rito called her name softly, then casually closed the door slightly.

"President, you're here." She turned to look at him, her eyes not filled with intense emotions, but rather with an indescribable bewilderment.

"Shall we... talk?" Looking at her, who was completely different from what she had expected, a strange emotion flashed through Rihime's mind. She tried to soften her tone and carefully comfort her.

The rooftop was quiet for a while, with only the wind whistling in her ears. Then, Little Lily slowly turned around, and the light of the setting sun fell on her exquisite face, which had no flaws, giving her an eerie beauty.

"The sun moves. As the angle of the sun changes, what we see also changes."

She untied the hair ties from her pigtails, letting her long hair fall over her shoulders, and began to softly recite a passage. Li Ren was completely confused and was about to ask her what was wrong.

Just then, Xiaobaihe's eyes suddenly sharpened, and she asked, "Where's my husband?"

The man's pupils contracted sharply.

The wind on the rooftop suddenly stopped. The light of the setting sun became incredibly dazzling at that moment, casting long, thin shadows of the two of them. Sayuri stared into his eyes, his face reflected in her amber pupils, carrying an almost pleading vulnerability. How she wished he would be furious at this moment, berating her for talking nonsense, but Kubo Rito didn't. He only smiled bitterly, proving that the memory that had suddenly appeared in her mind was not a byproduct of a hysterical episode.

"Listen to me..." Rito took a deep breath, just about to speak—

【warning】

The system's voice sounded on its own for the first time without being summoned.

[Memory leak from the original world line detected. Emergency intervention protocol activated.]

"What the hell?" Rito's brain raced, and Sayuri was completely baffled by the way his pupils dilated wildly.

[This member has obtained information beyond the limits allowed by the current worldline. The system will perform a forced correction.]

[Judgment Result: Inoue Sayuri's memory erasure failed; intervention procedure initiated.]

[Please evacuate the intervention area within ten seconds. Ten, nine, eight...]

"Hey, what's an intervention program?" Rito, temporarily ignoring Sayuri's concerned voice, shouted at the system in his mind, "Speak up! I'm your host!"

Ignoring Li Ren's shouts, the system finished its ten-second countdown on its own. Just as the sound disappeared, the railing beneath Xiaobaihe emitted a sharp metallic groan.

At the edge of Rito's vision, he caught a glimpse of the scene—the concrete ground beneath Sayuri's feet was cracking, and rusted steel bars were exposed from the concrete like broken bones. Her body began to lean backward, and her amber eyes widened suddenly in the instant of weightlessness, reflecting the burning sky and his rushing figure.

Without any hesitation, the person's body reacted before their mind could process it.

His right hand shot out with lightning speed, his five fingers gripping Xiaobaihe's wrist tightly. At the same time, he flew almost sideways, grabbing an exposed steel bar with his other hand.

A sharp pain shot through his palm. The sharp edge of the steel bar had cut through his skin, and blood was streaming down his arm, dripping onto Xiaobaihe's upturned face.

"Grab me!" he roared through gritted teeth.

Xiaobaihe was completely terrified and instinctively grabbed his arm with her other hand. She kicked at the edge of the building a few times, knocking off several loose pieces of cement that fell into the twilight, their distant echoes only returning long afterward.

Hearing Rito's loud shout, the crowd outside rushed in. They were all startled by the exciting scene that resembled a Hollywood blockbuster. It was Shirama and Takayama who reacted first. They quickly tried to hold Rito back while sending the younger Meimei and Lanshi downstairs to call for help.

With the help of the staff who arrived in a panic, Rito struggled against the concrete debris and climbed back from the edge of the building. As for Sayuri, the blood on Rito's palms made it increasingly difficult to grip, but fortunately, before his right hand completely lost feeling, Sayuri's feet finally found a solid foothold and inch her way up. When she was almost at the ground level, everyone rushed over and pulled her up as well.

After being rescued, the first thing Sayuri did was not to check if she was injured, nor to rejoice that she had survived a terrible ordeal and that good fortune was sure to follow. Instead, she staggered toward Kubo Rito, who was disinfecting his wounds, and buried her face in his neck, trembling violently as if grasping at the last straw, and burst into tears.

"It's alright, I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you."

Rito gently ruffled her long hair, his eyes resolute.

Just then, the rooftop door was suddenly pushed open, and hurried footsteps shattered the tranquility of the twilight. Yoshio Konno practically tumbled over, his face as white as a sheet when he saw the disheveled Rito Kubo.

"These bastards! What a shoddy construction project! It almost killed Kubo-san! Someone come quick, I'm going to sue the builder of this building to the death!"

The old thief's voice became shrill and distorted as he stomped his feet and jumped around, sounding like a stray dog ​​whose tail had been stepped on.

"Pfft." Perhaps the old thief's way of showing loyalty was too clumsy, or perhaps it simply tickled Grandma's funny bone, but she burst out laughing. With her taking the lead, many people who were able to hold back couldn't help but laugh as well, and the atmosphere on the scene suddenly became cheerful.

"Hehe, Konno-san, I have my own lawyer, so I won't trouble you."

Rito shook his head and chuckled, got up from the ground, handed Little Lily to the snake team beside him, then stretched his limbs and said to the old thief:

"Is there anything else? If not, go back. It's just a scrape, no need to make a fuss."

The old thief was shameless enough to remain unfazed by the laughter of the crowd. He turned around and said somewhat solemnly, "There is indeed something I need to discuss with you, Mr. Kubo, but given what happened to you, perhaps we should hold off for now?"

"It's alright, let's go, let's talk in the office." Rihime glanced at him, a sense of foreboding rising in her heart, but she didn't say anything more.

"Alright." The old thief nodded, instructing his men to secure the scene and wait for the appraisal department to arrive for testing so they could claim compensation from the builder. He then led the way, escorting the president, who had miraculously survived, downstairs.

Back in the office, after seeing off a group of members who belatedly came to visit, Rito heard a familiar yet unfamiliar name from Konno.

"You mean, Weekly Bunshun sent a preview that they'll be publishing a Nogizaka46 news article next week?"

Rito touched his palm, which still felt slightly sore, and felt speechless.

"Yes, I heard that the boss of Bunshun when he first took office had experienced trauma from his idol career, so he's been collecting dirt on us. It seems he's actually found something." The old thief looked at him with concern, his words full of worry.

That's because I just saved Little Lily, otherwise he would have had to keep collecting them.

Rito rolled his eyes, watching the old thief seriously analyze why Bunshun was launching an attack at this time, whether it was due to some rival or some deeper reason. He suddenly wanted to laugh. It was really hard for him to talk so much about something that didn't even exist a day ago.

"Is this your punishment for me, System? Interesting. I accept. Too much smooth sailing diminishes the fun of the game."

He shook his head, stopping the old thief who was still rambling on, and ordered in a deep voice: "Alright, they've already made their move, what's the use of analyzing this? Let's test the waters first and see if we can solve it with money. If not, have the public relations department be on standby and conduct an internal investigation to see where the problem lies."

"Yes, I understand." Yoshio Konno nodded in agreement upon receiving the instruction and immediately left his office to carry it out.

"Seriously, I thought you and that fat guy Akimoto Yasushi had already confessed your sins, but I didn't expect you to still be haunting me like this, Weekly Bunshun."

Completely exhausted, he slumped into his office chair like a corpse. Rito smiled helplessly, raised his hand, clenched his fist tightly, and with a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, uttered a sentence into the air:

"Sometimes, we have to defy the will of the gods, Nanamin."

[Punishment details have been generated. Weekly Bunshun will continue to publish negative reports targeting its group Nogizaka46. The content of these reports is unpredictable, uninterrupted, and unstoppable. Simultaneously, the system mechanism will be adjusted; character settings will no longer be provided for selected characters. Characters must be used within half an hour of being selected, including those already drawn. Would you like to select characters such as Rika Ishinomori or Reina Odakura here?]

Perhaps in retaliation for his disrespectful words, the system suddenly came back online and announced his punishment. Rito didn't think much of it when he heard the first half, but when he heard the last sentence, he was so frightened that he jumped up from his chair.

"No, no, no!"

After hastily rejecting the system's pop-up, Rito, after a brief moment of thought, disregarded the slight soreness in her right arm and strode towards the elevator. As she walked, she took out her phone and dialed the number of a YouTuber who had recently gained some popularity.

"Mio, are you home right now? I have something very important to tell you."

He brushed past the sheep walking towards him, leaving those words floating in the air. The sheep turned around, watched him walk away quickly, frowned, and took out a notebook.

"matono mio, another name I've never heard of before."

She bit the pen cap and wrote down the name she had just heard, stroke by stroke. When she looked up again, a shadow suddenly appeared in her eyes.