She swallowed hard.
Then she carefully peeled the kitten off herself — the little thing kept trying to cling to her.
It mewed and fussed at her.
Any other time, she would have scooped it up and been perfectly happy about it, but this wasn't the moment for that.
She slowly scanned her surroundings.
A bag sat in the corner.
The backpack Ryuzaki usually carried around.
Okay, so this is definitely his place.
Right. This is where it matters.
Arisu slowly lowered her gaze and checked herself over.
Not a single wrinkle — everything was neatly in order.
"…Phew."
The worst-case scenario she'd been dreading apparently hadn't come to pass.
Arisu wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
As she did, a small table beside the door caught her eye.
On it sat her hat and mask, her jacket folded with care, and an electrolyte drink with a sticky note attached.
Arisu carefully lifted herself off the bed and walked over to the table.
—Drink it.
That was all the sticky note said. A blunt, no-frills scrawl.
It seemed like Ryuzaki had left it there for her.
For just a fraction of a second, suspicion crept into her mind.
What if he'd slipped something into it—
—Gulp.
She drank it without hesitation.
If Ryuzaki had any ulterior motives, he would have acted on them while she was unconscious. There would have been no need for something as roundabout as drugging a drink.
And more than anything, Arisu was beginning to understand, however vaguely.
Ryuzaki was different from the ordinary thugs and delinquents she'd heard about.
The drink had probably been out of the fridge for a while — it was lukewarm. But to Arisu, whose throat had been parched dry, it might as well have been water from a sacred spring.
Ahh… this is bliss…!
Who knew that simply drinking something could feel this wonderful.
"…Hnngh!"
Having drained about half the bottle, Arisu scrunched her eyes shut and let out a sound of pure satisfaction.
She caught her breath, then brought the bottle back to her lips.
With the immediate fire of her thirst put out, her gaze drifted slowly around the room.
Despite appearances, Ryuzaki's room was surprisingly ordinary.
The differences, if you could call them that, were: an elaborate dragon mural painted across the wall. A photo of Ryuzaki with his arm around a group of shirtless, tattooed men covered in blood… A sashimi knife peeking out from a half-open drawer…… A set of blood-stained knuckle dusters shoved into the corner of the desk………
…Wait.
This is not ordinary at all.
Arisu's eyes wavered as she continued drinking.
'This is exactly what a yakuza's place looks like in the movies.'
A chill ran down her spine.
Okay, she probably shouldn't stay here any longer—
—Creak!
Without any warning, the door swung open.
Ryuzaki stepped in, wearing a sleeveless shirt.
The fierce dragon tattoo across his body filled her vision.
Arisu startled so badly she choked.
And naturally, she sprayed the electrolyte drink she'd been sipping all over the place.
"Pfft—!"
And naturally, Ryuzaki received a sudden shower.
Well — a drink shower, to be precise.
***
I was studying in the living room when I heard movement from inside the room.
'She's up?'
I checked the clock.
It had been about two hours since I'd laid Arisu down.
About time she woke up.
I got up and headed for the room.
In case she was still asleep, I kept my footsteps quiet as I approached.
—Creak!
I opened the door.
"Pfft—!"
Something lukewarm and wet soaked through my clothes.
It didn't take long to piece together what had happened.
"Kgh—!"
Right in front of me, Arisu was trembling and coughing violently.
Her eyes had gone red, and tears were welling at the corners.
Even someone without a shred of sympathy would've felt something.
"You okay?"
"Does this… kgh! Look okay to you… gck!"
I patted her on the back.
Not too hard.
Whether it helped or not, Arisu's coughing subsided before long.
"…You're supposed to knock before you come in, you idiot."
Arisu wiped her tears on her sleeve as she said it.
Hmm.
That one's definitely on me.
"Sorry. Living alone — I'm not used to it."
"Where are you going?"
"To change. I'm soaked."
Her gaze dropped to my drenched sleeveless shirt.
Her face went red.
And stayed there.
What's she staring at… oh.
I looked down. Through the wet fabric, the outline of my abs was clearly visible.
A faint wave of embarrassment hit me. I covered myself and muttered,
"…Pervert. Look away."
"Per— pervert?! Isn't that usually the kind of thing I'm supposed to say?!"
I left Arisu sputtering behind me and pulled the door shut.
I grabbed a towel from the wardrobe, dried off, and pulled the sleeveless shirt over my head.
As I did, I caught my own reflection in the mirror.
Objectively, it's a decent physique.
Not overly bulky — just the right amount of muscle.
But that's all it is.
"Is it really that impressive?"
Being a guy, I couldn't quite relate to Arisu's reaction just now.
I changed into something comfortable and headed back to the room.
"……"
I walked in to find a tomato — bright red and visibly tense — perched stiffly on the edge of the bed.
"What are you doing?"
"N-nothing! Just… sitting here."
"Right."
I wiped up the spilled drink with a towel, tossed the soaked towel onto the desk, and settled into the chair.
I looked at Arisu without saying anything.
Arisu met my gaze—
No, halfway through, her eyes fluttered and she looked away.
"……"
"……"
An uncomfortable silence stretched between us.
Then, with visible effort, Arisu turned and looked me directly in the eye.
"…I'm sorry."
She said it quietly.
"For what."
"For lying to you and following you around in secret. That must have felt awful… so… I'm sorry. I was wrong."
Arisu bowed her head toward me as she apologized.
An apology before any excuse, huh…
I dislike people who lie.
Especially those who lie and then pile on excuses, or act like nothing happened at all.
No matter how hard I try not to expect anything from others, people like that trigger something instinctive in me — a deep-seated aversion.
But people who reflect honestly? I dislike them even more.
"I won't… let something like this happen again."
They're the ones who acknowledge their mistakes. Who still know what shame feels like.
Watching someone genuinely reflect on themselves makes me start to hope — despite myself.
Hope that they'll become better.
Hope that they won't hurt me again.
"And… thank you. Today — if it hadn't been for you, Ryuzaki, things could have gone really badly."
And once that hope takes root, it slowly pulls the people I'd been deliberately keeping at arm's length into my world.
And once they've become part of my world, they'll end up hurting me again. Inevitably.
That's why I hate it.
But…
"You know now. Don't do it again."
"Yeah. Sorry…"
Even knowing that, I can never quite push them away.
That's the more troublesome part.
How many more times do I have to get hurt before I learn?
I really am a hopeless fool.
"……"
"……"
Arisu had apologized, and I'd accepted it.
But what had passed between us was only a surface-level reconciliation — the heavy, deflated atmosphere didn't lift so easily.
I absolutely hated this kind of suffocating silence.
—Flick!
I stepped up to her and snapped my finger against her forehead.
"That makes us even. Deal?"
"Oww… that hurt."
"It was supposed to."
Arisu clutched her forehead and made an exaggerated show of it.
She clearly didn't want to keep sitting in this awkward tension either.
Good. We're on the same page.
"So why were you following me, anyway? I thought you were some delinquent from another school and nearly had a heart attack."
"That's… that's your fault for lying to me first."
"Me?"
What on earth is she talking about?
I make a point of avoiding lies whenever I can.
"When did I lie to you?"
"You did. Yesterday. You said you study mainly from textbooks? Come on… if you're going to lie, at least put some effort into it."
"Oh — that thing I said before we parted ways yesterday?"
"Yes. So you do remember. You were being stingy and wouldn't tell me anything, so I followed you in secret. I thought maybe I could figure out your secret."
She'd chased me to the point of dehydration and heat exhaustion — all because of one offhand comment?
How obsessed with grades can one person be?
"Then why were you dressed in all those heavy layers?"
"I needed a disguise."
"Are you an idiot?"
"Wha — i-idiot?!"
The word landed and Arisu's pretty face crumpled instantly.
From the look of it, she'd never been called an idiot in her life.
Hmm.
That reaction is more entertaining than I expected.
Should I tease her a little more?
Honestly, she put me through a lot today.
This much is fair.
"You are, though. Can't even look after your own condition."
"…Ha! That's rich. If I'm an idiot, what does that make you? Your grades aren't even better than mine."
"A self-sufficient idiot. You're just a plain one."
"Ugh—!"
Right. That's what a first-year in high school sounds like.
I laughed to myself, like teasing a younger sibling, and enjoyed the moment.
When I sensed she was about to actually get upset, I reined in my laughter and said,
"Studying mainly from textbooks — that part was true."
"If that actually worked, why would anyone go to cram school or get tutors? That makes no sense."
It's true, though.
In my past life, anything beyond the bare minimum for food and shelter was a luxury I couldn't afford.
Cram school was out of the question. I used to pick up workbooks that classmates had thrown away.
So saying I studied mainly from textbooks wasn't a lie.
Can't be helped.
I'll just have to show her.
I picked up the math textbook sitting on the desk and flipped to a page packed with unsolved problems.
"Solve them."
I handed it to her.
Arisu glanced between me and the textbook for a moment, then fixed her eyes on the page.
A short time passed.
"…27. Done. All of them."
"About four minutes."
Arisu announced the last answer.
She had solved twenty problems in just four minutes.
An average of twelve seconds per problem.
All mental arithmetic.
And of course, every answer was correct.
A calculation speed worthy of the title Five Genius Freshmen of Academy City.
My turn, then.
"Open it anywhere and hand it over. Pick a page with a lot of problems."
"You think you can beat my speed?"
"Didn't you just lose to me in math?"
"…You're kind of insufferable."
Grumbling, Arisu flipped to a suitable page and handed the textbook back to me.
Alright. Let's see what I can do.
No need for the Time-Stop Ability.
Problems at this level — the answers come to me the moment I read them.
"2."
"Negative 1."
"8 over 5."
"W-wait a second."
"Root 7."
"60 degrees."
"3."
"Hey, are you cheating—"
"x equals 4, y equals 1."
"25."
"Root 3 over 2."
…………
……
…
The answers surfaced and I spoke them aloud as they came.
Twenty answers, in roughly forty seconds.
"Y-you were just making up random numbers, weren't you?"
"Check them yourself."
"…They're all correct?"
Arisu's brow twitched visibly.
She would know better than anyone.
No matter how good a cram school or private tutor you had, reaching this kind of speed was simply impossible.
There you have it.
This is what a Korean high schooler's mental arithmetic looks like.
"…So you're just naturally gifted?"
"More or less."
"Ah…"
The reality seemed to hit her hard. Arisu stared blankly into the air.
She looked one shaved head away from entering a monastery.
"…You insufferable, talentless-wasting genius!"
Then, as if something had finally snapped, she started kicking at my leg with a huff.
It didn't hurt at all, of course.
If she had enough energy to mess around like this, she'd recovered plenty.
Time to humor her a little longer and then send her home.
It was nearly night already.
I wasn't about to let her eat up any more of my time.
My hands were itching from not studying.
'Maybe I'll go to the bookstore tomorrow.'
I'd finished all the problems in my textbooks.
With my allowance on hand, stopping by a bookstore and loading up on workbooks sounded like a fine plan.
Ah, just imagining it made me happy—
—Beep beep beep beep.
The door lock beeped.
"……"
"……"
There were only two people who knew the code to this apartment.
Me.
And my father — Ryuzaki Genma.
If I was in the room and the door lock was sounding from outside, that meant…
"Oh."
Of all the times.