"Me?" The man in black pressed his hat down and asked me in a puzzled tone, "Is there something wrong?" ”

"Yes."

Because the other party is wearing sunglasses that cover half of his face, what kind of expression is he now, but judging by my years of experience in reading comics, this situation is usually a fierce face.

Swallowing my saliva unconsciously, I forced me to pretend to be not afraid of heaven and earth and glared at the other party.

"Can I ask you not to appear around Kotomi in the future?"

"Huh?"

"Because Kotomi is scared to see you, if you dare to bully her, my partner and I will not let you go."

“… Hahaha~ So that's the case," stunned, the man in black covered his mouth and laughed, "Hahaha~"

Huh, what's wrong? Did I say something strange?

"Ah, I'm sorry." The man in black saw the confusion on my expression, and took off his sunglasses and explained to me embarrassedly, "If this is the case, it is natural to be suspicious." ”

Unexpectedly, I thought it would be a vicious look behind the sunglasses, but I didn't expect it to be a gentle gaze, a kind temperament that can't be associated with bad guys.

"What the hell are you..."

"I'm a friend of Kotomi's parents, and I've been a member of both of their research groups, and I've known Kotomi for a long time."

"Yes, that's right."

Study group? So, Kotomi's parents and the old gentleman in front of her are both scientists or something? Also, after all, Kotomi is known as the number one genius girl since the founding of the school, and that smart brain should inherit the talent of her parents.

"I don't know why Kotomi is scared of you, but you can go to Kotomi's parents if you have something."

"Huh?! Hearing my words, the old gentleman touched his chin and muttered, "Don't you know? ”

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing." Shaking his head at me, the old gentleman said, "If she doesn't want to say it, then I shouldn't talk too much, because it's about her privacy." ”

"Could it be that Kotomi's parents are very important people?"

Otherwise, how could it be kept secret like this?

“… The observable space-time is not the entire universe. ”

After a moment of silence, the old gentleman began to say something completely unrelated to our previous conversation.

"In the process of the birth of the world into this form, those dimensions that have fallen off have been imperceptibly sealed, that is, there is a "hidden world".

Although I don't know much about science, I guess if I'm talking about the origin of the universe.

"The whereabouts of that world were the first to be found out by the couple, to be precise, it should have been ascertained."

As he spoke, the old gentleman's eyes darkened.

"All in all," he said, as if recalling the scene when they worked together, the old gentleman smiled nostalgically, "It's a lifelong honor to be able to help the Ichinose couple in their work, but..."

"And yet?"

"No, that's all I can say." Shaking his head to stop talking, the old gentleman turned his head to look at me and asked, "Did Kotomi say anything about me?" ”

"It's just... Bad guys or something. ”

"We're still bad people to that kid." Hearing my answer, the old gentleman smiled sadly, "Are you her classmate?" ”

"No, we're partners in a community."

"If you have the chance, I hope you can tell her, "Although we don't expect to be forgiven, we still regret what happened at that time."

"I see."

"Just tell her this," the old gentleman nodded to me as he put his sunglasses back on his face, "then, I'm leaving." ”

"I'm sorry to bother you for so long."

———————————— dividing line————————————

"I'm back."

Pulling open the door to the dormitory, I changed my slippers into the entrance.

"Welcome back," poking her head out from the side, Miss Misae beckoned me to come over, "Izumi, there's your phone." ”

"Looking for me?"

"yes, just listen to it."

Sighing, Misae handed me the phone in her hand, then shook her head and went back to her room.

It looks like a really sad object.

"Hey, hello."

"Oh oh~ It's Koba, where's Misae?"

"..."Sure enough, it's the object of sadness," Miss Misae left. ”

"Huh~ It's really ruthless, obviously we had a good chat."

Don't lie, who has a good time talking to you? Didn't you hear Miss Misae's sigh just now?!

"Why did you call the dormitory, brother, don't you have my mobile phone number?"

"Don't worry, it's not interesting."

"What's interesting?"

"You can talk to your cute brother on the phone, and you can flirt with the angry Misae, isn't that just a good way to kill two birds with one stone?"

Hey, hey! Just now you said "flirting"... It's terrible!

"Brother, what would you do to Miss Misae?" I pinched the microphone and couldn't help but strengthen, "You just said 'flirting'!" ”

"Eh~ Is there such a thing? Haha~ Recently, my memory is not so good! ”

Actually pretending to have amnesia?

"At what age, aren't you only twenty..."

"Kakaka! You know, whether it's a man or a woman, age is always a secret. ”

"Ah~ It's really unconvincing."

Just as I care about height, my brother is actually quite concerned about his age.

is obviously a big person, I really hope that my brother's mental age can grow up with him.

“… Wait, why do I feel like I'm being scolded? ”

"Nothing, so what's the matter this time?"

"Ah~ That's right, Xiaoye, can you come to the hospital tomorrow? I remember that the old man didn't let you have regular medical checkups? ”

"Tomorrow?" I rubbed my chin and hesitated, because tomorrow was the weekend, and maybe Okazaki would come to me for something, "Probably nothing." ”

"It's okay, then it's decided." The brother on the other end of the phone directly ignored the "probably" in my words and directly helped me formulate it, "Come to the hospital at nine o'clock in the morning to find me, and contact you when you arrive." ”

"I see, but brother, you called specifically to talk about this?"

“… Ahh ”

Very suspicious.

"Then I'll hang up the phone first."

“OK,Bye－bye。”

"Well, goodbye."

Alas~, after hanging up the phone, I let out a long sigh just like Miss Misae just now.