Careful What You Think, Pervert! (My Dirty Thoughts Became Real)

Chapter 38 - “You’re Not Supposed to Remember Her, So Let’s Immediately Investigate Why.”

Saturday Morning – Memory Recall Chamber

Kazuki lies in a soft chair, wires gently pressed to his temples.

A therapist murmurs instructions from behind glass.

"Now, count back from ten and picture a door."

He tries.

The door forms.Opens.

Behind it—

The same girl.Silver hair. Bare feet in a garden.Looking at him like she knows everything.

Kazuki whispers, "Who are you?"

She smiles.

"You already forgot. That means it worked."

Then she vanishes again.

The therapist frowns.

"There's a blocker. Something's rewriting his thoughts in real-time."

Elsewhere – Aya's Not-So-Authorized Investigation

Aya breaks into the administrative archives.

(Technically she borrowed a staff badge. From a laundry basket. Accidentally.)

She flips through Kazuki's intake report.

And frowns.

"...Why are there two versions of his memory scan?"

She overlays them on the projector.

The first scan: standard for new psychic entrants.The second scan: edited, trimmed, overwritten days before he arrived at camp.

Aya mutters, "Oh, someone messed with his brain."

She slams the projector off.

Then grabs the entire file and walks out.

"If I find out who it was, I'm giving them food poisoning on purpose."

Later – Kazuki's Dorm

He's pacing.

"I keep seeing her. That girl. I don't know her. I shouldn't know her."

Aya enters, holding the file.

"Wanna know something worse?"

She tosses it to him.

"They edited your memory before you got here."

He freezes.

She continues:"And not just once. They removed someone. Like—surgically. Carefully. But not perfectly."

Kazuki stares at the files, jaw tight.

"...Why?"

Aya looks at him.

"Either to protect you."

Pause.

"Or to control you."

Meanwhile – Riku's Secret Meeting Spot

Kazuki finds Riku sitting in an underground rec room built inside an old storage bay.

He's juggling soda cans with his power.

"Don't look at me like that," Riku says.

Kazuki: "You knew. About the memory tampering."

Riku nods.

"And you didn't tell me?"

"Didn't have to. You were gonna remember anyway."

Kazuki clenches a fist.

"I need answers."

Riku shrugs.

"Then you'll need to meet the ones who remember everything."

Kazuki narrows his eyes.

"Who?"

Riku smiles.

"Class Zero's ghosts. The ones who got deleted but never left."

Meanwhile – Aya Meets Aiba (Again)

Aya barges into the admin building, holding up the files.

"You edited Kazuki's memory. Explain. Before I turn this place into a passive-aggressive lawsuit."

Aiba doesn't flinch.

"I didn't edit anything."

Aya narrows her eyes.

"Then who did?"

Pause.

Aiba slowly types into her console.

Pulls up an access log.

She frowns.

"...The clearance code is old. Pre-camp records. Archived. Buried."

Aya leans in.

"What's it say?"

Aiba: "It's labeled... Project ARIEL."

Aya: "What the hell is that?"

Aiba: "...Something that was supposed to be gone."

Final Scene – Kazuki's Dorm, Late Night

He lies awake, eyes open.

The memory loops again.

The silver-haired girl, laughing in the sun.Her voice: "When you remember, run."

He sits up in bed.

Whispers: "Why would I run?"

No answer.

But outside, in the woods past the campus fence, a light flickers.

And someone is watching him from the trees.

Not Yume.Not Riku.Not anyone he's met before.

But she steps back into the shadows as he stares.

And vanishes.