Beatrice suddenly latched onto my left arm.
Before I could even ask what she thought she was doing, she pointed at Arisu and asked:
"Ryuzaki, who's that cute girl? A friend?"
Beatrice, who always called me *you* or *target*, had just said my name out loud for the first time.
The implication was clear — outside, we'd act like ordinary acquaintances, not people connected through an organization.
That suited me just fine.
The stares around us were already uncomfortable enough. Drawing more attention wasn't going to help anyone.
That said, I needed to get my arm back first.
The look Arisu was giving us — eyes flicking back and forth between me and Beatrice — was getting colder by the second.
If I didn't slip free now, I had a feeling things would get complicated later.
I smiled wryly and tried to pull my arm away—
Wait, how is she this strong?
It took actual effort before I finally managed to wrench it free.
"Tch."
Beatrice clicked her tongue softly.
Terrifying girl.
Then, as if nothing had happened at all, Arisu broke into a bright smile and introduced herself.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Hiragi Arisu. Ryuzaki and I are in the same class."
On the surface, it was just a cheerful smile.
But the barely-there tremor at the corner of her mouth — that, she couldn't quite hide.
"…Cute."
Whether Beatrice had caught that tremor too, I couldn't say — but she let out a quiet, amused breath and murmured something under her breath.
Just low enough that only I could hear.
"Sure, hi. I'm Beatrice. So you're a friend of *our* Ryuzaki?"
"…*Our*?"
"Mm-hm. Problem?"
Arisu was smiling.
Beatrice was smiling too.
But the air between them held not a single trace of warmth.
The reason wasn't hard to figure out.
Beatrice was making a point of flaunting her familiarity with me, and Arisu didn't like it one bit.
Beatrice's reaction made sense.
A target's close friend of the opposite sex could become a variable in any operation. Being on guard was the natural response.
What I couldn't quite understand was Arisu.
*Doesn't she have tons of friends?*
To Arisu, I was just one friend among many.
And someone with a lot of friends knows better than anyone — even close friends can have relationships you know nothing about.
Not that Beatrice and I were anything like friends.
So being mildly put out, I could understand.
"……"
"……"
But glaring at each other like they were ready to tear the other apart? That was excessive by any measure.
Two possibilities.
One: she was in an unusually bad mood today.
Two:
*She thinks of me as more than just a friend.*
Arisu… thought of me that way?
Come to think of it — had I ever seen her hanging around other guys at school?
No.
Wait.
There was one.
Me.
Arisu was the kind of person who drew people in naturally, so guys approached her all the time. But she always smiled just enough to keep them at arm's length and ended the conversation there.
With me, it was different.
She was the one who came to me first. And spending time alone together never seemed to bother her at all.
…Maybe.
Maybe she saw me as something more than just a friend.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, something shifted in my chest — something I couldn't quite name. That same electric feeling from when we'd shared an umbrella brushed through me again, faint but unmistakable.
A strange, unplaceable sensation that left me oddly unsettled.
"…Beatrice?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Which school did you say you go to?"
"Seichi High School. I told you yesterday."
"Then shouldn't we part ways here? We're heading in different directions."
Beatrice glanced up at me for a moment.
Then a slow smile spread across her face.
"Look at you, using your head. Fine — I don't particularly want to be hated, so I'll play along."
She stepped past Arisu and walked on ahead.
The moment Beatrice moved away, Arisu hurried to my side.
Like a wary little hamster, she pressed close behind me and pointed after Beatrice.
"…Who is she?"
I was about to answer Arisu's hushed question when —
"Oh, I almost forgot."
Beatrice turned back with a smile.
"Don't come home too late, all right? I'll worry."
She gave a small wave, and with that, she walked away at a steady, unhurried pace.
Squeeze.
Arisu's hand tightened around my arm.
"…Who is she?"
Her voice had dropped a full register.
It was technically the same question — but the temperature was completely different. Or maybe I was imagining things.
We started walking again.
The only real difference from before was that the person beside me had changed from Beatrice to Arisu.
With Beatrice gone, Arisu's expression had softened somewhat.
Though "somewhat" was doing a lot of work — it was still nowhere near her usual brightness.
In short: she was still annoyed.
I had a feeling that if I didn't answer properly, things were going to get tedious.
"Ryuzaki."
"Yeah."
"Didn't you say… I was your first friend?"
"Oh, that? Don't get the wrong idea. She's not my friend."
"…Not your friend?"
"Absolutely not."
Arisu tilted her head like she was trying to process that.
Then she stopped walking.
"……"
"What's wrong?"
She blinked a few times at my question, then hesitantly opened her mouth.
"Th-then. Is she your *girlfriend*?!"
"As if. Move — people are trying to get through."
What a thing to say.
I let out a short laugh and pulled Arisu toward me.
A large man passed right through the spot where she'd been standing.
For a moment, her shoulder pressed against my chest.
Arisu's body gave a small shiver.
She shook her head slightly, then looked up at me with a prim expression.
"…Really?"
"Would I lie? Beatrice is… an acquaintance. Someone I just happen to know."
"She called herself your friend just now."
"She's a bit pushy like that. I think she was messing with you. Don't worry about it."
"You're sure? I'm trusting you."
At those words, Arisu's expression visibly relaxed.
Crisis averted — or so I thought.
"…So. What did she mean by 'don't come home too late'?"
Ah. My mistake.
What was I supposed to do with this?
I didn't want to lie, so I'd just be honest.
"Actually — I got kicked out of the house yesterday. So I'm staying at Beatrice's place for a while."
"……"
Hm.
Why wasn't there any react—
"WHAT?!"
Ow, my ear.
***
Time passed, and Saturday morning arrived.
On any other day I'd have shut myself in and spent the time on self-improvement, but today I stepped outside.
*I need to decompress.*
— Senpai, there are some urgent documents for the exchange event…
Student council work tied to the exchange event.
— Don't even think about coming back until your mind changes.
Family problems that gave me a headache just thinking about them.
— You're home early today. Did you miss me?
And once I got back, I'd have to endure Beatrice's teasing provocations.
On top of all that, I still had to think through the plot of my novel.
*It's a bit much.*
Too many things had been happening lately.
Compared to my past life, none of it was particularly serious — but I couldn't keep measuring everything against those days forever.
I assessed the situation objectively.
What I needed right now was rest.
So I'd gone out for a walk, if only to catch my breath for a little while.
Wandering aimlessly through the neighborhood would have been fine, but I found myself wanting to go somewhere I'd never been before.
My destination: a small shrine tucked into a hillside not far away.
I'd read about it online — a place where traditional architecture blended quietly into the surrounding nature, beautiful in its stillness.
What appealed to me most was how uncrowded it was.
Apparently, a much larger and more famous shrine sat a little further up the hill, so most visitors headed there instead.
For someone who didn't particularly enjoy crowds, this place was ideal.
No matter how lovely the scenery, being jostled by people didn't feel like rest.
"…Ugh, it's hot."
…Hm.
Maybe I shouldn't have come out.
It was hotter than I'd imagined.
I shielded myself from the morning sun with my workbook and walked at a slow, steady pace.
Once the path started sloping upward, sweat began to bead on my forehead.
Still, the harder the climb, the more my anticipation grew.
Solving problems from a workbook while gazing out at a quiet, unhurried shrine.
How restorative was that going to be?
Carrying that thought with me, I walked on — and before long, I arrived.
It was smaller than the photos had suggested.
But the lush greenery and the quiet elegance of traditional Japanese architecture came together in a way that made the whole scene feel like a painting.
Within that scene, a shrine maiden was sweeping fallen leaves and twigs with a broom.
Maybe it was the traditional clothing, so rarely seen in everyday life — there was something about her that made the moment feel almost unreal, like the world had thinned at the edges.
And honestly, how was she not melting in that outfit? I felt a strange, involuntary respect for her.
Just then, the shrine maiden seemed to sense someone approaching and turned her head toward me.
She smiled brightly and began to greet me.
"Welcome—!"
Or rather, she tried to.
The moment she saw my face, her expression froze completely.
As if she'd just laid eyes on someone she was never supposed to see.
I was no different.
The moment I recognized her, my feet stopped moving on their own.
A familiar face.
Of course it was.
"…Senpai?"
It was the person I'd run into just yesterday after school.
