Ryuzaki glanced at his smartphone.
Then he walked into a shopping complex.
Arisu carefully followed him inside the building.
The first stop was the pet supply section.
"W-we don't have any money here! Seriously! Business has been terrible, we don't have a single yen!"
"Do you carry cat litter in a medium size?"
"…Oh. You're a customer."
Ryuzaki, naturally mistaken for a robber.
"Pfft."
Arisu turned away and stifled a laugh.
Well, she could understand the clerk's reaction.
Academy City was a place where enormous sums of money changed hands.
Naturally, all manner of violent crimes occurred there with alarming frequency.
And the majority of those who committed such crimes tended to have tattoos.
Even a small tattoo on an arm was enough to make people tremble — and right now, both of his arms were covered in large dragon tattoos, so it was no wonder…
'…Come to think of it. If I get caught, isn't this really bad?'
Now that she'd realized it, she suddenly felt that her own actions had been rather bold.
Was she digging her own grave here?
She felt a creeping unease for no particular reason.
If he caught her… she might actually get buried.
Ryuzaki's shopping continued after that.
And alongside it, Arisu found herself tilting her head more and more.
'…What's going on?'
A great question bloomed in Arisu's mind.
Why…
Why… why was he so completely ordinary?
"One small takoyaki, please."
"Um… you'll pay upfront, right? Sorry, we don't do credit here…"
"I'm not going to eat and run."
Don't stand at the food sample station with your eyes wide open going 'this is delicious.'
Don't casually study a textbook while waiting in line for street food.
Don't look so refreshed drinking a vending machine drink.
And why aren't you going into that cram school where your study secrets are supposedly hidden?
'Ugh… it's hot.'
Here she was, tailing him through this sweltering heat, and Ryuzaki was acting like a perfectly ordinary civilian.
No — was this even an act?
If it was, he should've become an actor instead of studying.
'Doesn't seem like he's noticed me.'
He did glance around occasionally, but—
"…Eep!"
For a split second, Ryuzaki's gaze swung in her direction.
Arisu startled like a spooked sparrow and yanked her hat down over her face.
…D-did he see me?
"…Yikes! I'm so sorry!"
"Hm? No, I'm sorry."
A female student who had accidentally made eye contact with Ryuzaki while he was scanning the area trembled and quickly bowed her head.
Fortunately, it seemed she hadn't been caught.
Arisu exhaled in relief and turned her gaze back to Ryuzaki.
He politely apologized to the frightened girl and went on his way.
Watching his completely unfazed demeanor, a thought suddenly crossed her mind.
What if Ryuzaki was actually innocent?
What if he'd genuinely raised his grades through nothing but textbooks — no underhanded methods, no special tricks?
If this had all been a misunderstanding on her part, then everything she'd observed about his perfectly normal behavior would make complete sense.
"…Get it together."
The heat was making her mind wander.
Focus. Focus.
Getting first place with just textbooks — that made no sense by any rational standard.
She herself wasn't even sure she could pull that off.
Arisu shook her head firmly and steeled herself.
The sweat beading on her cheek trickled down in a long streak.
'…I'm a little thirsty.'
She felt a considerable thirst, but if she took her eyes off him for even a moment, she'd lose Ryuzaki with his long strides.
Just a little longer.
And so Arisu kept following him.
She probably should have exercised more regularly.
She was just walking, and yet her breath was coming in ragged gasps.
How much time had passed since then?
Around the time a faint, inexplicable nausea and dizziness began to creep in —
her eyes suddenly snapped open.
Ryuzaki was glancing around, then heading toward a back alley with little foot traffic.
Oh, finally — maybe she'd actually find something.
Arisu managed a weak, lopsided grin, gave him a bit of distance, and followed him in.
And as she rounded the corner of the alley —
— Pak!
"……!"
In the blink of an eye, she lost the use of both arms.
She was subdued in an instant and shoved against the wall.
Her heart plummeted at the sensation — something she'd never experienced in her life.
"…Hey. Who the hell are you?"
Ryuzaki asked in a low, flat voice.
He looked down at her with cold eyes she had never seen on him before.
Oh.
She was so dead.
***
I'd lured the tail into the alley and subdued them in an instant.
Having a good body definitely helped — everything moved exactly as I intended.
"…Hey. Who the hell are you?"
All that was left was to see their face.
With my free hand, I pulled off the mask covering their face and asked in a cool voice.
The mask came off, revealing a bare face.
A face I recognized.
"…Arisu?"
What is she doing here?
She said she was going to a tutoring session.
A flood of questions was rising in my mind when —
"Ah……"
Arisu, who had been staring at me with spinning eyes, let out a low moan —
then tears streamed down her face as she mumbled.
"……Save… me…"
"Why would I kill you."
I quickly let go of her wrists.
"…Are you not mad?"
"Mad — I'm just confused."
If I had any idea what was going on, I might have been angry or not. Right now I was just baffled.
I'd genuinely subdued her thinking she was a delinquent or a member of a rival organization.
And then —
Wait.
That's my classmate. The top student in school?
What is this.
Is this some kind of hidden camera prank.
"Ah… thank goodness."
Arisu crumpled straight down to the ground.
I thought it might be from the tension releasing, but her condition seemed a little off for that.
'No focus in her eyes, skin paler than usual. Drenched in sweat, breathing rapid.'
This… could it be.
"Ryuzaki… do you have… water?"
The slurred speech and the way she kept asking for water made it clear.
She's got dehydration and heat exhaustion at the same time.
The main cause…
Obviously spending the entire day following me around in a leather jacket that looked stifling just to look at.
I wanted to ask why she'd been following me all day, but now wasn't the time for questions.
I learned it in health class in my past life.
Heat exhaustion and heatstroke are separated by a razor-thin line.
If I left her like this, it would almost certainly progress to heatstroke before long.
"Arisu. I'm calling an ambulance. Just hold on a little—"
"…No."
Half-dead as she was, Arisu weakly grabbed the hand I was reaching for my phone with and murmured.
"An ambulance… an ambulance… absolutely not."
"You don't want me to call one?"
"Don't call one…"
I had no choice but to put my phone back in my pocket.
With her fighting it that desperately, forcing the issue felt wrong.
"This is insane. Wait here a second."
I carefully pried her limp hand away and headed to a nearby convenience store.
For heat exhaustion, you need to get them into the shade and replenish fluids and electrolytes.
The electrolytes lost through sweat need to be replaced as quickly as possible.
At least, that's what I was taught.
"Can you drink?"
Arisu reached for the drink.
But she didn't have the strength to grip it properly — it slipped right out of her hand.
"…Ugh, cold."
The cold drink soaked her already-damp shirt all over again.
I had no choice but to tilt the bottle myself and let her drink in small sips.
Her throat bobbed faintly.
I got her to drink as much as I could manage, then checked her condition.
But she showed no sign of improving.
She really had pushed herself completely past her limit.
'What were you doing to end up like this.'
A sigh escaped me involuntarily.
If I left her here, her condition would only get worse.
But I couldn't call an ambulance either, so there was nothing I could do…
…Actually, there was.
Come to think of it, there was one option.
Without hesitation, I lifted Arisu onto my back.
A damp, feverish warmth seeped through my clothes.
Lighter than I expected.
***
My head… was spinning.
My stomach… was churning.
Everything in front of me swirled and swirled, slowly losing focus.
What… was I doing again?
Arisu couldn't even struggle against the pain — unlike anything she'd ever felt before.
When her body had no strength left, struggling was out of the question.
A faint thought drifted up: at this rate, she might actually die.
That was when it happened.
She felt a sensation as if her body was gently rising.
Then a warm presence wrapped around her.
Under any other circumstances — not soaked in sweat and burning up like this — it would have felt pleasant.
— …ghter than… expected.
She thought she heard someone murmur something, but she had no room to pay attention to it.
If she let her guard down even slightly, she felt like she'd be sick on the spot.
As she desperately held on, a cool breeze began to drift in from somewhere.
Just as she thought she might survive after all —
a soft, cushioned sensation enveloped her entire body.
Her mind, already pushed to its limit, surrendered completely, and her consciousness slowly sank into darkness.
And then — how much time had passed?
At some point, she felt a warm, ticklish sensation on her chest.
"Mmm…?"
Arisu slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was an ornate ceiling.
…Hm.
Something seemed off.
She lowered her trembling gaze, and there was a cat on her chest, kneading away and purring contentedly.
It was definitely the cat someone had taken home yesterday.
…Who had taken it again?
"Oh."
In that instant, all her memories came rushing back.
Hiragi Arisu — one of the Five Genius Freshmen of Academy City, and the most popular girl at school.
For the first time in her life, she had woken up in a boy her own age's bed.
"…Huh?"
