Debuffed Farmer

The school seemed weirdly modern, despite existing in the medieval-style city. The architecture did seem aged, being made from bricks and stone, but inside the building, everything was clean-cut and manufactured.

I felt a sense of deja vu as I walked through the white halls.

It was something straight out of a harem, school life anime. The classrooms were all labelled 1-A, 1-B, 1-C… with brown tags above each of the doors. All that it was missing were some cute girls and non-existent discipline.

…

We silently walked into Clara’s classroom.

“Don’t you take your textbook home after each day?”

“I feel like you’ve got the wrong idea.”

Huh?

She made her way over to her desk and grabbed a thin book from underneath her table. There was a small little storage compartment which held all of her belongings. As expected, all of her stationery looked plain, made for practicality—lacking any aesthetic appeal.

As she pulled her book out, I was able to get a glimpse of it.

That’s not a textbook…

If anything, it looked more like a journal. However, it wasn’t her journal. The name on the cover was Sky Fourier—like the park we went to.

I didn’t say a word.

She turned back around and walked back to the door. I followed behind her.

However, instead of walking through, she slid it closed. Clang.

This did not feel good.

“Rin Takamiya.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“There was a reason why I decided to bring you here.”

I felt a little bit of disappointment flash through my body. I guess she wasn’t just inviting me because she liked my company or she wanted to disguise it as a date. Also, she didn’t react to me calling her ma’am, which added to the disappointment.

“And why is that?”

“Does this place feel familiar to you?”

This place?

It was a completely random school in a fantasy world I’d never been to. But the deja vu, I couldn’t really explain it. I definitely have no recollection of going to a school at all, let alone this specific school. If anything, the deja vu could’ve been coming from all the anime that I’d watched which featured schools which looked suspiciously similar.

I looked around again.

“It seems pretty generic.”

She sighed.

“Is that all?”

“Yeah.”

She then placed the journal down on the table.

“How about the name Sky Fourier?”

Doesn’t ring a bell.

“Nope. Nothing aside from the park we went to on our first date.”

“Please don’t call that our first date. We’ve never been on a date.”

“I’m pretty sure that was a date, even Yuki said so.”

“That’s not how it works. I was just going to test you.”

“You literally called it a date as well.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is true. I have eidetic memory.” (She said ‘Anyways, what did you have planned for this date?’ specifically. I wouldn’t forget something like that—in fact, I shouldn’t forget anything, that’s why it was so weird that I managed to get deja vu in the first place. Also, these parentheses are getting quite fat.)

This looked like it was going to take a while. I hopped up onto one of the tables and had a seat—on the table.

“Anyways, we’re getting off track. Rin, are you sure you don’t recognise any of this?”

“Yeah, I definitely don’t have any memories of this place.”

“That’s very weird.”

“Why is it weird?”

…

“Because you were in Sky Fourier’s memories.”

…

What? I was in her memories?

How was that possible. Something here definitely didn’t add up.

I know that Clara has the ability to look into someone’s past, but I wouldn’t forget meeting someone. One of our perspectives has to be wrong. The question was—whose was wrong? Neither should be, right?

“That can’t be possible. I have no recollection of her. Are you sure she actually met me? As opposed to just her seeing me somewhere?” I asked.

“I’m positive. She didn’t only have memories of you—her memories were full of you.”

Something definitely wasn’t adding up.

I didn’t know anyone by the name of Sky Fourier.

…

Clara had a sorrowful expression for the first time I’d ever seen.

“Why does none of this make any sense…” she muttered.

I looked around for a moment.

“Where is this Sky Fourier girl anyway?”

Clara looked up at me.

“She’s dead.”

“Rip, what happened?”

“No one knows. Her dad’s been trying to find out the truth for a long time. He’s probably interrogated the entire village by now.”

“Is her dad like the mayor?”

“He’s the ruler of this entire area. He’s been losing his mind trying to find out what happened.”

“What’s your relationship to her then?”

“She’s like my tutor. Everything I know now was taught by her.”

“Everything, like using your party members as bait when fighting strong monsters?”

She stared at me silently.

I guess she didn’t find that very funny.

Still, the situation didn’t make any sense, just as Clara said. There were too many inconsistencies and contradicting facts.

“Alright Rin, one last question.”

“It’s not like you to signpost your questions.”

“This is a serious matter.”

“Alright then. What is it?”

“Tell me, why can’t I see your whole past? What were you before becoming a NEET in your shitty home.”

“You don’t have to say it like that.”

“Just answer the question.”

To be completely honest, it felt like there were gaps in my memory as well. It was something that was hard to pinpoint, but the notion that something was missing lay vividly in my mind. There seemed to be some semblance of memories that filled my life from birth, but it felt patchy at best.

Whether that was just a part of nature or some external effect, I wouldn’t know.

I didn’t fully comprehend how my eidetic memory worked either—so it’s really hard to tell.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t really know either.”

“What do you mean.”

“It’s like part of my memory is missing.”

There was a moment of silence.