Even After Reincarnation, Patane Can't Stop Loving Sharks
Spring. At the entrance ceremony of Eden Private Academy, transfer student Lain Paterson catches everyone's attention. Silver hair, blue eyes, and a trained physique visible even under her uniform. In her previous world, she was a skilled bodyguard who protected her precious comrades. But now she's just a high school freshman. And strangely, her left chest pouch contains three cigarettes. She doesn't smoke. They're for her comrades who are no longer there.
Lain's daily life begins with strange
Even After Reincarnation, Patane Can't Stop Loving Sharks - Reunion by the Lakeside — A Tearful Confession, For Whom the Cigarette Burns
Morning light slipped thinly through the gap in the curtains.
Lain Paterson lay on her dormitory bed, staring at the ceiling.
Her silver hair sprawled messily across the white sheets. Her deep blue eyes caught the light, looking almost wet.
Her body was heavy. Even moving a single finger felt like too much effort.
The left side of her chest. She placed her hand where the pouch sat.
Nothing there.
Three cigarettes. Sacred Leaf. The last lingering scent of Kyle, Sophia, and Glenn.
The all-school assembly. Two thousand four hundred pairs of eyes. Ayame's cold declaration. The Shark Lovers' Club disbandment. One week of house arrest.
Everything spun round and round in her head.
Memories of her previous life pressed down on her like a thin film.
The smell of battlefield dirt. The weight of a sword. The warmth of blood. The death cries of comrades.
The edge of her vision bled red.
Her fingertips burned dully. She clenched her fists. Nails dug into her palms. The pain brought her back, just a little.
She wanted to punch the wall. Wanted to smash the window. Wanted to destroy everything.
But she'd decided—no more solving things with her fists.
She'd decided that herself.
That's when it happened.
Knock, knock, knock.
A light, cheerful knock.
"Patane! I brought food! Rice balls! Plum, salmon, and kelp—three kinds!"
From beyond the door, a voice like the sun echoed through.
Lain closed her eyes.
"Patane, you're in there, right? Say something!"
"…I'm fine. Don't worry."
Her voice was hoarse. She could tell herself.
"You're not fine! I can tell just from hearing your voice, Patane!"
"…I'm really, fine."
"Liar."
Hina's voice trembled, just slightly.
"…Patane, open the door. Let me see your face."
"…Sorry."
"Don't apologize. …Okay. I'll leave it here. Eat it. Promise me."
Footsteps faded away.
Slowly, growing smaller.
Lain got up from the bed.
On unsteady legs, she walked to the door.
When she opened it, a small bundle sat on the floor. Three rice balls wrapped in plastic.
She picked them up. Still faintly warm.
Lain crouched in front of the door, clutching the rice balls.
The cold hallway air.
The warmth of the rice balls escaping from her palms.
Memories of her previous life overlapped.
The temperature of touching a comrade's corpse on the battlefield. Cold, hard, never moving again.
Lain squeezed her eyes shut.
No tears came.
Only, deep in her chest, something grew colder.
After school.
The library was quiet.
Afternoon light poured through the windows, illuminating the spines of the bookshelves. The smell of paper and old wood.
Kaidou Kai sat by the window, a thick file spread open before him.
Black hair with a single white streak. His bangs hung long enough to hide his left eye, and his deep green eyes moved quietly across the documents.
The old leather bracelet on his left wrist made a faint sound each time he turned a page.
Kai's gaze stopped on a single sheet.
Student council equipment management records. The night the cigarettes were stolen.
"Broadcast room key, used without permission under the guise of special cleaning… huh."
Kai murmured quietly.
The broadcast room was adjacent to the student council room.
It overlapped perfectly with the time window of the theft.
And another sheet.
The handwriting of "Sacred Leaf" written on the back of the warning note.
Kai lined it up against the signature column on the student council equipment list.
His green eyes narrowed.
Kai closed the file.
He exhaled deeply.
He remembered her scarred hands.
Old wounds, raised and white. Skin pulled tight.
Kai stood.
File in arm, he left the library.
His destination: the library basement.
The Shark's Nest.
The stairs leading to the library basement were chilly.
Kai opened the heavy door.
Shark posters plastered across every wall. Stuffed animals. Ecology encyclopedias. Movie posters.
At the central round table, Hina sat alone.
Her orange short bob was slumped against the table, wilted.
"…Kai-kun."
Hina raised her face.
Her large amber eyes were red and swollen.
"Patane wouldn't open the door again today. She probably didn't eat the rice balls."
"…I see."
Kai sat across from Hina.
"…I've got a lead on who stole the cigarettes."
Hina's face shot up.
"Really!? Who!?"
"I haven't identified them by name yet. But it's someone inside the student council. The broadcast room key was used without authorization on the night of the theft."
"The student council… that's where Ayame-san is!"
"Ayame didn't steal them."
"Huh? How do you know?"
"She accused Lain. But someone else did the stealing. Ayame herself said as much, didn't she?"
"…Yeah. But can we trust her?"
"I don't know. But right now, building the evidence comes before chasing Ayame."
Kai opened the file.
"…So, Hina. Can you call Mio? I want the three of us to search the lakeside."
"The lakeside? Why?"
"The cigarettes haven't been burned yet. The culprit is hiding them to threaten Lain. If you're going to hide something, you pick a place no one goes. The cherry blossom path by the lake—nobody passes through there at night."
"…Got it! I'll go get Mio-chan!"
Hina stood up with force.
"Kai-kun, thanks. I'll do anything for Patane."
"…Yeah."
Hina flew out of the room.
Kai remained alone, looking up at the ceiling.
Evening.
The cherry blossom path along the lakeside was dyed orange.
The surface of Mirror Lake reflected the sunset, glittering gold.
Minase Mio searched beneath the fallen leaves, her light blue long hair flowing in the wind.
Her deep indigo eyes scanned the ground earnestly. Her white skin, lit by the setting sun, looked almost translucent.
"…Mio-chan, how's it going over there?"
"…Still haven't found anything."
Mio's voice was small, faint.
"Mio-chan, don't push yourself. Your hands are cold."
"…I'm okay."
Mio carefully turned over each fallen leaf, one by one.
She remembered Lain's profile.
That day, at the shark observation point—Lain's profile as she gazed at the lake.
Something tightened deep in her chest.
It felt like she'd been saved once, long ago.
But she couldn't remember.
"…When I look at Lain-san's profile, for some reason, tears come."
Mio murmured softly.
"Like I was saved once, long ago… but I can't remember."
"Mio-chan…"
Hina took Mio's hand.
"It must be an important memory. Even if you can't remember it, Mio-chan's heart does."
Mio squeezed Hina's hand back tightly.
"…Thank you."
That's when.
Mio's fingertips touched something cold beneath the fallen leaves.
"…Ah."
A small plastic bag.
Inside, three thin cylinders.
Sacred Leaf.
"…I found them."
Mio picked up the bag with both hands.
"These are… Lain-san's."
"Yes! Mio-chan, amazing!"
Hina jumped up.
Kai quietly approached.
"…Let me see."
Kai took the bag and observed the contents carefully.
"…One of them has a scorched tip."
"Huh?"
"Traces of being pressed against an ashtray, trying to light it. …The culprit used this to threaten her with burning them."
"…That's horrible."
Mio's voice trembled.
"I have to give these back to Lain-san."
Mio clutched the bag to her chest.
In that instant.
A vision flashed through Mio's mind.
Water. Cold water. Herself, sinking. Unable to breathe.
And then, a hand reaching out.
Silver hair. Blue eyes.
Mio stood frozen in place.
"Mio-chan? What's wrong?"
"…Just now, I saw something."
Mio stared at her own hands.
"Me, sinking in the water… and a person with silver hair. They were reaching out their hand."
"That's… Patane?"
"…I don't know. But they looked so much like Lain-san."
A single tear spilled from Mio's indigo eyes.
"…So that's why, when I look at Lain-san's profile, I cry."
Hina embraced Mio.
"It's okay. Mio-chan, it's okay."
Kai quietly gazed at the lake.
They were connected. The memories of the previous life were drawing these three toward Lain.
In front of the dormitory.
Hina knocked hard on Lain's door.
"Patane! Open up! Please!"
No answer.
"Patane, let's get some fresh air! Come on!"
Beyond the door, silence.
Kai stepped forward.
"…Lain. We found the cigarettes."
Silence.
And then, a faint sound.
The door slowly opened.
Lain stood there.
Her silver hair was disheveled, her blue eyes sunken.
"…What did you just say."
Mio held out both hands.
"…These are yours, Lain-san… aren't they."
A small plastic bag.
Three Sacred Leaf cigarettes.
Lain's blue eyes widened.
"…How."
"The three of us searched the lakeside."
"Kai-kun found clues about the culprit. And Mio-chan found these!"
Lain accepted the bag with both hands.
In that instant.
She crumpled to her knees.
"…You found them for me."
Her voice shook.
"…I thought I'd never see them again."
Lain's shoulders trembled in small spasms.
"…Thank you. …Thank you."
Hina threw her arms around Lain.
"Patane! Thank goodness! Really, thank goodness!"
Tears spilled from Hina's eyes.
"…Yeah."
Lain gently wrapped her arm around Hina's back.
The shark observation point.
The evening lake surface shone like a mirror.
The four of them sat side by side, gazing at the lake.
Lain tucked the cigarette bag into the pouch on her left chest.
"…Will you listen to me."
The three nodded quietly.
"…In my previous world, I was a bodyguard."
Lain's voice was quiet.
"…An Oath Guardian. A combat specialist sworn to protect the life and dignity of their charge."
The lake surface rippled in the wind.
"…Kyle. Sophia. Glenn. I had three comrades. We promised to fight together to the end."
Lain clenched her fist tight.
"…But I couldn't protect them. All three died right before my eyes."
"…Patane."
"…I was the only one who survived. I broke our promise. I let my comrades die."
Lain's voice began to tremble.
"…These cigarettes belonged to the three of them. To me, they were the only connection I had left. …When I lost them, I thought—I can't protect anything, again."
Tears traced down Lain's cheeks.
"…Previous Life Interference. The memories and personality of my past life, all of it comes flooding out. Back then, too, it almost triggered. …I almost destroyed everything."
Lain continued without even wiping her tears.
"…I was scared. Of losing someone again. Of failing to protect them again."
"Patane isn't to blame!"
Hina flung herself at Lain.
"Patane, you fought so hard! You tried to protect them! You're not wrong!"
"…Hina."
"You didn't mistake what was worth protecting."
Kai's quiet voice.
"What you tried to protect was certainly within your hands. Even now, it's right here."
"…Kai."
"I also… feel like I was saved by you, Lain-san."
Mio gently took Lain's hand.
"When I was sinking in the water, a person with silver hair reached out their hand. …It must have been you, Lain-san."
"…Mio."
"I can't remember it, but my heart does. You saved me, Lain-san. …So this time, I want to save you."
Lain's tears wouldn't stop.
"…Thank you. …Everyone, thank you."
Lain looked at each of the three, one by one.
"…The Shark Lovers' Club—I want to protect it again. No… this time, with my own hands."
"I want more people to know about sharks. Because that's how I'll fulfill the promise I couldn't keep in my previous world—in the form it takes now."
"Let's do it, Patane! I'll work even harder on the posters!"
Hina clung to Lain's arm.
"Five days until the presentation. Mio and I will split the preparations."
"I might be able to help with the poster drawings."
Mio smiled modestly.
"…Everyone."
Lain wiped her tears and stood.
"…Let's go. Strategy meeting at the Shark's Nest."
"Yay!"
The four began walking along the lakeside at dusk.
The lake surface caught the last light, sparkling brilliantly.
That night.
Lain sat in her dormitory room, smartphone in hand.
A message had arrived on the screen.
The sender: Ayame Ayame.
'The person who stole the cigarettes intends to sabotage the presentation preparations. Come to the student council room tomorrow afternoon. I have things to tell you.'
Lain stared at the
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