“Ha-ha. You frightened her, so she hid. Come on, Miss Eve. You have to state your request clearly,” Ms. Yomogi urged her.

Eve took a step forward, looking frightened.

What in the world would she want to ask me? If she’d heard about my work as a proxy detective, it might be solving some kind of mystery.

“Natsunagi-senpai…please go out with me.”

Silence fell. It was so quiet, you could hear the ticking of the minute hand of the clock on the wall of the nurse’s office.

I glanced at Fuyuko’s and Haruru’s faces. They were staring.

Even Ms. Koyomi and Ms. Yomogi stood frozen with smiles plastered on their faces. Huh? Could someone have stopped time? Maybe a monster with power over time and space?

Fuyuko had tried to kiss me before, and Haruru had kissed me on the neck.

But two girls dating…? W-was that okay?

“…U-um. What? C-can you say that one more time?”

“Sigh… I see you’re a little hard of hearing, like an old-school romantic comedy protagonist. Or do you just want to hear my confession again? You naughty girl.”

“I don’t think asking me out is necessarily naughty?! You’re suddenly so chatty. And even if you want me to go out with you, I—I—I don’t understand what you mean! Besides, I have someone I’m interested in…”

“Oh, I don’t mean dating. Specifically, I want you to accompany me in my endeavors. You naughty girl.”

“Stop calling me naughty! You’re the one who called it a confession in the first place!”

Seeing how flustered I was, Eve giggled with amusement.

Was this girl the mischievous type?

“…Bold of you to suddenly get all assertive when you were so scared before.”

“That was because, you see, I was scared that Natsunagi-senpai and Agarie-senpai would look at me with lust in their eyes. ‘Teachers and your seniors are like gods, owed selfless devotion and absolute obedience.’ It’s even written in the student handbook.”

“Just throw the student handbook away later. I’m not looking at you with lust in my eyes.”

“From my analysis, Shirahama-senpai is the only one who expressed pure feelings for me. She’s the personification of refreshing, untouched by depravity or lewdness. I’d like to make her my wife.”

“It’s obvious you’ve got terrible judgment when it comes to people!” I said. “Out of all of us, Fuyuko’s the one most likely to look at girls with lust in her eyes! Never trust her!”

“Nagisa? You don’t think I’m some kind of criminal, do you?”

I ignored my chronically lustful friend who was shaking me by the shoulders from behind.

“Miss Eve, what do you mean by ‘accompany me in my endeavors’?”

“Sorry, I didn’t explain things well,” said Eve. “I heard that you were skilled at solving mysteries and that you’re famous for solving a few cases during first semester.”

“Well…who knows if I’m famous or not, but I might have a little skill with solving mysteries. At least, my deductions are better than they were back then.”

Just then, I quickly realized something.

“Miss Eve, you’re a student here, too, right? You’re talking about my exploits like you heard them from someone else—not firsthand?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really remember.”

“…Even though it only happened a few months ago?”

“Right. Because I have amnesia.”

The word felt like it didn’t belong in the real world, and everyone gasped except for Ms. Yomogi, who already knew what was going on.

“So, Natsunagi-senpai, I’d like you to find the person I’m searching for.”

Now that my grand summer adventure was over, I’d settled back into my everyday life. A younger girl had approached me just as fall semester was about to start. As I was about to resume my youth as a high school girl, she…

…asked me to help her find someone, which reminded me of my search for the owner of this heart.

“I was searching for someone once. I have that memory in a corner of my mind. But…one day, suddenly, it was like a fog had come over me, and I forgot my purpose.”

Eve told us about how she’d come to have amnesia. “I don’t remember the name of the person I was looking for, what I wanted to do when I found them, or even why I lost my memory. I can barely remember things like where I live or the last subject I studied.”

“…Did you forget your name? Or your childhood?”

“My memories of the past were already hazy, so it’s fine. And I have my name here.”

Eve took her student handbook from her pocket and showed it to me.

“Well, we know your name’s real. In short, you have partial memory loss, right?”

A girl who, for some reason, had lost an important part of what made her who she was—I now understood how painful that must’ve been.

I used to be a proxy detective, and I’d inherited the name of Ace Detective after a certain incident. I hadn’t formally taken up the position yet, but that was beside the point!

During that time, I had recalled part of my past—terribly painful memories I never should have forgotten in the first place.

My breathing was getting ragged, and I placed my hand over my heart and took a deep breath. In, out. I listened to its steady beat and reaffirmed who I was now.

“Amnesia,” I muttered, and I looked at my best friends who helped me as my assistants. They didn’t tell me to say yes or no. But no matter how I responded to Eve’s request, they would be there for me. Even if they didn’t say it, I could sense the strong will in their eyes.

I answered Eve Rivers.

“All right, I’ll take on your request! High school girl and ace detective Nagisa Natsunagi will definitely find the person you’re searching for!”

The shadow clouding Eve’s face lifted, and she let out a sigh of relief and bowed deeply to the three of us.

“I’m counting on you. And if you don’t mind, I have one more request. Will you please hear me out?”

“Sure. We’ve gone this far, so say whatever! I’ll help if I can!”

“How wonderful. Natsunagi-senpai, and the other two…please form a band with me.”

“That’s a totally different request! First off, we can’t play any instruments. Also, don’t refer to my friends as ‘the other two’!”

“Huh?” said Fuyuko. “I can play bass. I don’t mind. See, in middle school, I started playing an instrument to impress girls. But it didn’t matter because I never got a chance to perform. Ha-ha…”

“I can play the drums!” said Haruru. “I’m really good at beating things to a rhythm!”

“You’re coming out with all this stuff I didn’t know! Fuyuko’s lame story aside—Haruru, are you sure you could actually perform?!”

Needless to say, I couldn’t play an instrument myself. I had a friend who was the ultimate idol, though, so maybe I could borrow an instrument from her…

“Then Natsunagi-senpai will be our guitarist-vocalist. We’ll have you use a red guitar and speak formally. I have a feeling that style would suit you, though I don’t know why.”

“I already don’t know how to play guitar, and you’re going to make me sing, too?! And I’m absolutely not rocking that style!”

“Hmm. Then how about singing in a bunny costume? And then we’ll be behind you in our uniforms. You’ll really stand out. The boys will remember it for the rest of their lives.”

“Yeah. No way. That would be soul-destroying. Why a band in the first place, even…?”

“It seems that I liked music before I lost my memory. I had a recording of a single song I wrote on my phone and thought that if we played it together, I might remember something. And then one day, we can play at Budokan.”

“Don’t casually go on about such an over-the-top dream when the goal’s just to perform.”

And I wanted her to apologize to everyone working their butts off to get a show at one of the most famous venues in Japan.

Eve tsked loudly… Wait, really?! Did she really just click her tongue at me?!

“Well, it’s a long-term goal for us. I went to the pop music club to see if I could at least hear the song performed, but they turned me away because it was before the culture festival.”

“The pop music club is busy this time of year, aren’t they?”

But the song she wrote and saved on her phone was an important clue. I’d ask her to play it for me later.

“My first priority is finding your person. Then we’ll do the band performance if there’s time.”

“Oh, can I ask you one last thing? It won’t be a problem for the ace detective, Natsunagi-senpai, to add one more thing to her list, will it? You can do it, right?”

“I think this is my first time being harassed by a client as a detective. You’re being extremely condescending… Add another case or two, whatever you want.”

“Then please call me Eve. I want to be friends with everyone, you see.”

A blush gradually crept over Eve’s expressionless face. The contrast made me find her cute, just a little.

“Okay, sure! We want to be friends with you, too, Eve!”

“It’s always so hot to see the moment a cool girl goes all soft,” said Fuyuko. “Feel free to call me by my name, too, Eve!”

“Hard agree! You can use a nickname instead of my name!” said Haruru. “No need to be formal!”

The three of us surrounded our cute little client and yammered at her from three different directions. Eve kept her red face down the whole time, but she also didn’t seem to mind much, which was cute, too.

I didn’t really know what it was like having a junior girl in my circle—I never went to middle school, and I hadn’t had any opportunities to interact with them in high school. But it seemed kind of fun.

The bell for homeroom rang while we were doting on Eve. We exchanged contact information in a hurry and promised to meet again after school. The chaotic feel of it all was really endearing.

The three of us fought off our sleepiness during class and ate our box lunches and bread during break. The little ritual was nothing special, but I’d been so busy that I’d completely forgotten about it.

“Oh man. Another day’s over already,” I said quietly when classes were over for the day.

I wondered how many more times I’d be able to repeat this day. I’d know for sure if I checked the calendar and counted the dates, but…I didn’t, because I knew it would make me feel lonely.

It was more important to enjoy the event just around the corner!

“I didn’t realize it because I haven’t been to school since halfway through summer vacation, but it’s almost time for the culture festival, isn’t it?”

My classmates had pushed their desks to the side and brought in the materials they’d kept in an empty classroom.

There were signs, menus, and other things we had to make for the culture festival. We didn’t know if we’d able to finish in time…but despite the stress, everyone was immersed in the spirit.

“Our class is doing a simple coffee shop. We’re keeping the decorations to a minimum and narrowing down the menu, so I think it’ll be pretty easy.”

Fuyuko and I were in a corner of the classroom watching everyone work.

“Our school’s third-years are doing snacks, right? Easy but boring.”

“Yeah. The first-years are doing a game event, and the second-years are doing a play. You haven’t done either of those, have you, Nagisa?”

“No. This is my first time with any of this, so I was looking forward to it. But…a coffee shop? It might be harder to pull together, but I wanted to do a play. Have you ever done any acting, Fuyuko?”

“Plays are like the crown jewels of high school culture festivals, huh? I think I did lighting.”

“Wow, I’m surprised. I imagined you playing a prince and giving the princess a real kiss.”

“I was interested in acting, but the girls auditioning for the princess got into a fight. Like an actual fistfight. So I decided not to play the prince.”

I hated how easily I could imagine a bunch of girls vying to play Fuyuko’s partner.

“Besides, I’m your prince, Nagisa. That’s enough for now.”

“Ugh, don’t act like you just said something all smooth. It’s annoying.”

“Hm? I’m serious. But it seems I’ll have to decline that role, too, since it looks like you have a prince in mind for yourself. Unfortunately.”

“Wha…?! I-I-I’m telling you, I’m not with him like that!”

“By the way, whoever wins a duel will officially be your prince.”

“…If you dueled him, you might become my prince, then. Heh-heh.”

Incidentally, Fuyuko’s rival for the prince role was absent today.

He was always paying attention to Sleeping Beauty. Don’t come crying to me if someone snatches this cute girl up, Prince Clueless.

Haruru came back from the bathroom right after we’d finished talking. “Sorry for the wait, you two! The bathroom was crazy crowded, and I almost peed myself. My panties got a little damp, but I basically made it in time.”

“That’s major TMI!! What if the boys hear you talking like that?!”

“You’re so naive, Nagi. I like telling embarrassing stories to guys on purpose. Some high school girls are into that.”

“I’m the type of high school girl who feels shame and despair at friends like you…”

The boys really were glancing in our direction, and I wanted them to stop. It was exciting when a boy I liked looked at me like that, but not so much from classmates I had no interest in…

“Oh, Miss Natsunagi. Are the three Summers busy right now?”

It was our classmate, Kokoa Kogane. We’d met earlier through the Yellow Panties of Happiness case, and sometimes we talked in class.

But since Kokoa was always telling us stories about her boyfriend, being around her was exciting for us single girls in a few ways. More importantly…

“Kokoa, did you just call us ‘Summers’?”

“Huh? Yeah. A lot of people use that nickname for the three of you. Including me.”

“That sucks! ‘Autumnless’ was so chic, and it didn’t become a thing at all!”

“Ha-ha. I was worried since you were absent for a while after summer vacation, but you seem fine. That’s good.”

I wished she wouldn’t smile at me like that—relieved but a little reserved.

I was used to poking fun with Fuyuko and Haruru, but when it happened with other people in my class, we weren’t always on the same wavelength. It was a real problem…

“Thanks for being concerned about me, Kokoa. So did you need something from us?”

“Oh, right. Can you grab the artificial flowers we commissioned from the art club for decorations?”

“Yeah, sure. I’d feel bad if we went home when everyone else was working on stuff.”

“Thank you! I think they’re in front of the art room in a cardboard box with our class written on it, so grab that. It’s light enough for the three of you to carry.”

This kind of back-and-forth with my classmates felt so great! This was what high school was all about!

We left the classroom right away and headed for the art room. In the hallway, there were other cardboard boxes that looked like they’d been commissioned by various classes.

“Ah, found them. There’s only two boxes, so you both can carry them, right?”

“You bet! Wait…don’t gloss over the fact that you’re not taking one! You’re the worst, Nagisa!”

“Fuyu’s right, Nagi. We should do it fairly, based on who’s got the smallest brea—”

“That’s a pretty sketchy move yourself. You’re trying to assert dominance as a girl and slacking off!”

“Think about it this way. I already have two weights on my chest, so it isn’t fair to make me carry a heavy load. Unlike you two, I have a handicap.”

“Grr…damn you! Not only are you asserting dominance, you’re making it sound like your big boobs are a burden! It’s not fair! I want mine to be bigger, too!”

Haruru hefted her breasts from below with a “Too bad!” Show-off. Were these melons ready to be harvested? Or would they cancel each other out if I knocked them together?

“Whatever. The boxes don’t seem that heavy, so I’ll carry both.”

Fuyuko, who’d been watching our ugly fight, stacked the two cardboard boxes and lifted them easily. We had to sigh in admiration at her graceful movements.

“Ooh…Fuyuko’s such a hottie. She’s more manly than the guys, surprisingly.”

“Totally. Unlike us frail maidens, boys are dependable!”

“I’m telling you, I’m not a guy! I don’t have anything down there!”

When we (Fuyuko, to be exact) returned to the classroom with the cardboard boxes, Kokoa happily rushed over to us like she’d been waiting.

“Thank you, Summers!”

“Kokoa. If you call us ‘Summers’ again, this cardboard box’s going straight in the trash.”

“…Thank you, Miss Natsunagi, Miss Agarie, et cetera! You were a huge help!”

“If you’re that thankful, why don’t you call me by my name instead of ‘et cetera’?”

Apparently, the Fuyu oppression trend was still steadily gaining ground at school. But I understood the appeal. Fuyuko’s alarmed smile was really cute.

“I’m kidding. I’ll give Miss Shirahama, who worked the hardest, some candy as a present. This is the real carrot and stick… I-I’m just playing with you, though!”

Seeing our cold stares, Kokoa immediately played innocent, blushing. I was surprised to see this side of her. Was it her secret to being popular? Hm?

“The artificial flowers in the box are supposed to be attached to a board with the glue over there, so you can just open them and turn the box upside down. Just make sure to fix the layout!”

“Oh, that sounds fun, Nagisa. The cardboard on top is light, so you can go nuts with it. I can’t do something that embarrassing now that I’m a third-year high school student.”

“Oof, that line just made it way harder to do. Well…here goes.”

The cardboard box was light enough for me to carry without any trouble, like Fuyuko had said.

“Here we go!”

I opened the seal and flipped over the box all at once.

A girl in her school uniform dumping out a bunch of artificial flowers felt somehow like a movie scene.

Haruru had astutely started to record on her phone, and I got extra dramatic to make a better memory for her.

A riot of colorful artificial flowers fluttered out of the cardboard box—or that’s what was supposed to happen. But what spilled out resembled white ping-pong balls and was something everyone had seen before.

Eyeballs.

A cornucopia of eyeballs flew out of the box and scattered all over the classroom floor. Kokoa squealed.

“Aaaaah!”

The entire class was engulfed in pandemonium as screams and shock echoed through the room, plunging my classmates into chaos. Girls and boys alike wound up fleeing in a panic to the far reaches of the classroom and the hallway.

And me? I could only freeze, holding the cardboard box upside down with a smile on my face. It was too late to be surprised, and all I could do was laugh.

As I stood there, Fuyuko took the cardboard box from my hands and asked, “Nagisa, are you okay? You didn’t faint like Haruru, did you?”

“Y-yeah. Wait, Haruru fainted?!”

“She’s not good with horror or splatter films… I made her lie down on a bench in the hallway because it was dangerous. This level of gore doesn’t bother me.”

“Me neither… I’m surprisingly okay. What do we do about this?”

I was probably okay because I’d had a lot of opportunities to see blood recently.

Besides, if you looked objectively at the “eyeballs” (pun not intended), it was obvious what they were.

“These are really ping-pong balls, aren’t they? The paint job is so elaborate, it’s hard to tell at first.”

I picked one up. They were pretty well-made.

Fuyuko stomped on one that had fallen nearby with her indoor shoes to confirm my theory.

“You’re right. But someone has really bad taste.”

“The first-years were running a haunted house. Maybe these were props for that?”

As we tried to make sense of the situation, the other students began to timidly observe the mass of eyeballs. The chaos had subsided before we knew it.

“I see. These are seriously interesting. I wonder how they taste? Nom.”

One kid popped one into their mouth without any hesitation… Wait, seriously?!

“Of course it doesn’t taste like anything! Spit it ou… H-huh? Eve?”

“Thath me. Thith tath ba’.”

“Can you spit that out before you talk? What are you doing here?”

After surprising me, Eve spat the eyeball into the trash. She probably should have discarded it somewhere else, in case a guy with a particular fetish decided to secretly pick it up later.

“I saw Haruru-senpai sleeping on a bench in the hallway and knew something interesting must have happened, so I came by. Is this the festival venue?”

“I thought you’d come to help us out, not just watch! Oh, right, we were supposed to meet after school. Sorry, I forgot.”

“That’s okay. I know I’m too young to be important. Sniff.”

“Whoa, you’re a pain in the ass for a junior.”

“More importantly, I’d like to say one thing to the Ace Detective, if I may—earlier, you speculated that this might be a prop for a haunted house, yes?”

“Y-yeah. Don’t tell me it’s not?”

“It’s not. There won’t be a haunted house this year. It’s not a prop for a play, either. But I do have one idea.” Eve paused dramatically, like a detective about to solve a mystery, before addressing Fuyuko and me. “Pseudohumans.”

I felt like I’d had the wind knocked out of me.

“There’s a rumor that students at this school are trying to create people.”

Pseudohumans were a real thing. They were a grotesque existence. Their creator designed humans who would ensure the prosperity of their species. It was possible to create a half pseudohuman by transplanting certain things into a human body.

“I can’t believe someone would try that at this school.”

Fuyuko immediately took my hand in hers, perhaps sensing my anxiety. I could feel the warmth from her palm and fingers, and the seething frustration in my chest began to dissipate.

It would be okay. Even if there were actual pseudohumans here, I’d—

“Hm? It’s just a rumor, like an urban legend about a ghost at school. You don’t need to look so serious.” Eve cutely tilted her head, perhaps sensing I’d taken it far more seriously than she had.

“Huh? Wh-what do you mean?”

“There’s a ridiculous rumor about a forbidden clubroom where students are performing human experimentation inside this school. Apparently, it’s a famous story here. I saw it on social media.”

“And you didn’t hear it from a friend or anything like that…?”

“Correct, since I have none. Instead, I monitor all my classmates’ social media accounts, including the ones they think are secret. I’m extremely well-informed. Please praise me.”

“Lay off the ‘I’m a lonely monster yearning for the human world’ vibe. But if it’s only a rumor, I’m relieved.”

Fuyuko and I let go of each other’s hands and laughed together.

“Um, I was just wondering…”

Eve seemed to want to say something after observing us.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Are you two dating or something?”

“E-excuse me?! W-we are not! We’re just, um—”

Taken aback by the unexpected question, I couldn’t immediately deny it.

“That’s right, Eve. Nagisa and I are partners. We gratify each other physically and mentally in the most intimate ways. Later today, I plan to let her spoil me rotten.”

“Fuyukooo! Don’t tell such blatant lies with a happy face!”

“I thought as much. Then I suppose I’ll be paired up with the spare. At least we have an even number.”

“Listen to me! The only time it’s okay for spares to get together is in manga or anime sequels! In reality…y-you have to actually like each other!”

“In romantic comedy manga, it’s common for the defeated heroine to carry a torch for the protagonist even after she’s grown up in the sequel. Wouldn’t it be better if she just got with them all? Everyone would be happy.”

“…Not gonna say anything.”

Somehow, the faces of several acquaintances came to mind.

A harem ending was definitely possible, and I hated it! I wanted to lose fair and square… No, I’d win!

“Sorry, Nagi, Fuyu. I’m back!”

While the three of us had our brain-rotting conversation, another girl with serious brain rot had returned.

“Welcome back, Haruru. Are you feeling okay now?”

“Yep! I was a little sleep-deprived, and I was out before I knew it! Isn’t that strange?!”

“You’re desperately trying to cover up the embarrassing fact that you fainted over the eyeballs, aren’t you?!”

Knowing I saw right through her, Haruru turned bright red and teary. “Ugh…” It was seriously cute. I wondered if Haruru oppression could become a trend.

“A-anyway! Why is Eve here? Did she skip a grade?”

“Why would you suspect someone of skipping a grade in Japan’s high school system? She came because we were late.”

After that, I told Haruru about the forbidden clubroom rumor. Her reply was somewhat unexpected.

“Oh, I might know about that. That ghost story was popular when we started school, right? By the way, the clubroom really does exist.”

“Huh? Wh-what do you mean?”

“Come with me, Nagi! I’ll show you something interesting!” Haruru said, and she ran out of the classroom with Eve and me behind her.

What did it mean that the forbidden clubroom really existed?

After that, the three of us left the classroom and headed for the club building…huh? The three of us?

“Hm? Where’d Fuyuko go?”

“She got sulky and didn’t come when I forgot to call her to come with me before. Hilarious.”

“Fuyuko’s really been hurt by all that Fuyu oppression…”

Fuyuko was surprisingly sensitive. Oh well, I’d pat her on the head later.

“Well, Fuyu already knows about the forbidden clubroom, so maybe she didn’t care? Here, look over there.”

We looked out at the club building from the outdoor corridor on the first floor. Haruru pointed to the third floor of the club building—the floor mainly used by cultural clubs.

“It’s a normal clubroom window. Is there something special about it?” asked Eve. She was right; there was nothing out of the ordinary about it.

But Haruru dramatically raised her index finger and wagged it at us.

“Heh-heh. You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But you’re wrong. There’s no room there!”

“You mean it’s a decorative window? So it’s just part of the design and serves no purpose.”

If I remembered right, those were called Thomassons—stuff like stairs on the exterior of a building that led to nowhere or doors that existed for some reasons but couldn’t be opened from the outside or inside.

“I see. Then let’s break the window with a rock and enter from the roof via the outside wall.”

“Are you a spy instead of a high school girl? That would be one way to confirm if the room actually exists.”

“Wow, great idea, Eve! When I was a first-year, I wanted to break that window, too, and threw a baseball at it as hard as I could.”

“Huh? Am I the weird one? Is destruction the norm here?”

“If I can’t have something, I destroy it.”

“Understandable. I’d rather end my love with my own hands than see it fall into the clutches of another.”

“You guys are banned from dating for life. Seriously.”

Maybe I should have brought Fuyuko along after all…

Looking at the window again, I could tell even from outside that there was some kind of wooden plank nailed to the opposite side of the cloudy glass.

“Almost like it’s sealed up…”

“Maybe something bad happened there in the past. Like there was a dead body.”

“D-don’t say something so terrifying, Eve! Anyway, we’re not getting anywhere thinking about it out here. Let’s go to the clubroom near that window.”

We entered the building from the corridor and climbed the stairs.

The first floor was mainly sports-related clubrooms that seemed to double as locker rooms, probably owing to its proximity to the field. From the second floor onward, there were more clubrooms, like the pop music club and literature club. Oh, the mystery research club looked kind of interesting.

“This is the clubroom next to the window, right?

Most of the rooms on the third floor were unused, and this room was no exception. The door had GENERAL ARTS CLUB printed on it, which was kind of an unusual club. It didn’t seem to be locked.

“Can we…just go in here?”

“What if there’s delinquents smoking inside? Senpai, how much money do you have on you?”

“You’re assuming the worst is going to happen. And don’t try to borrow money from me for a shakedown. If you don’t have any, that would be the end of it.”

“I’m more scared of a naked couple. Or should we join in?”

“Of course we’re not joining in!! But I see the vision. If you brought a guy here, you could have a romantic comedy locked-room situation at school…right, right.”

“Whatever. Time to stop fantasizing about bringing a guy you like into an empty classroom. We’re going in.”

The sound of the door rattling open brought me back to reality. The third floor of the club building was pretty empty. I had to remember that…!

“Yep, this definitely feels unused. Maybe it’s a junk room.”

Haruru was right. As you might expect from a room called the general arts club, the setup inside was similar to an art room, with oil paintings, mysterious sculptures, photos, and weird films scattered about.

“The dust is bad, too. If we stay here too long, my throat and nose are gonna freak out.”

“Then use my handkerchief, Nagisa. Can’t have you getting sick.”

“Thanks, Fuyuko… Fuyuko?! When did you get here? I’m surprised you found us.”

The prince-like girl standing next to me pointed at my indoor shoes with a pleasant smile.

“They’re embedded with a GPS. I sewed a bug into your uniform, too, so I can protect you no matter where you are—even if it costs me my life.”

“When you confess to acting like a stalker with that beautiful face and voice, my skull feels like it’s going to explode.”

I resolved to buy a new uniform set the next day, and the four of us, including Fuyuko, investigated the clubroom. It was obvious when I opened the window that the one we’d seen from outside definitely wasn’t this one.

But there weren’t any other clubrooms. It was at the end of the hall.

We did a search of the room, but we found nothing. “Exploring further seems pointless. Should we turn back?” Eve asked with a little disappointment. Fuyuko and Haruru seemed to agree.

But there was one thing that kept bothering me.

“Are canvases normally that large?”

Something seemed off about the painting hanging in the back left of the clubroom. It was a replica of a painting in a large frame. I’d seen the piece before.

“This is Madonna, right? It’s considered Edvard Munch’s masterpiece, but what’s it doing here?”

“Ah, that’s from the book you were reading during break—the one covered with sticky notes.”

“I’m glad your studying paid off, Nagi! It’s so cool when a detective names art pieces! I’m glad you got to play out the trope!”

“Shut up, idiots. I—I learned that fair and square, so it’s fine!”

Lately, I’d been reading all sorts of books in addition to my studies to gain knowledge. I’d just seen the painting in a book introducing famous works of art from around the world. There were various theories about the seminude woman depicted in the painting—that she was the Virgin Mary, or Munch’s lover, or possibly an ideal woman representing both.

Anyway, the painting alone was in awfully good condition. There wasn’t even any dust.

“…Oh! This could have been any painting.”

Touching the painting, I pressed it lightly.

I knew it. What we’d thought was the frame wasn’t actually a frame at all.

There was always a place attached to the classrooms used for practical lessons, like science and home economics labs.

“This painting was hiding the entrance to a prep room.”

The painting made a creaking sound…and the door swung open, revealing the room behind it.

“I see. So the door frame was the frame for the painting. Well, they did say this was the general arts club.”

While being impressed, Fuyuko entered the prep room first, possibly to protect us if anything happened. She really was manly.

“It’s normal inside. If anything, it’s just very clean.”

The prep room was organized, unlike the main clubroom.

The shelves held art supplies and reference materials—but no bodies, of course.

“Someone’s been here. Look at that.” Haruru pointed to a work desk at the far end of the room. There were various tools arranged atop it, including paintbrushes and chisels.

But that wasn’t all.

“…This is a human arm. It’s about as thick as mine, and the skin feels the same, too.”

“Hey, there’s fingers and eyeballs next to it?! Nagi, this is the same stuff you dumped out before!”

“Everyone, take a look at these. Teeth. They’re disturbingly detailed. Let’s take one back as a souvenir and slip it into the indoor shoes of someone we hate. They’ll be in utter agony. Heh-heh…”

All three looked confused in their own way (except for the one enjoying it) as they picked up the body parts from the desk and examined them.

“C-calm down, you guys. They’re all fake—nothing more than crafts…”

“Oh no. Now that you’ve seen, I can’t let you all leave here alive.”

A girl stood at the entrance to the prep room. She wore an apron smeared with blood and held a knifelike implement in her hand.

“Cut them, lay them out, let them rot… I’ll add you all to my collection, too!”

She looked like something out of a splatter film, and our breath stopped at the sight of her, but it was so unreal that nobody screamed. We were frozen in place, like frogs being watched by a snake.

Seeing our reactions, the girl said, “…Uh, can someone please say something? When you say something like a serial killer from a horror movie, it’s embarrassing to get no response! Ha-ha-ha!”

She smiled helplessly and traced her finger along the edge of the knife in her hand.

“This is a craft knife, and the blood on my apron is paint. Don’t you think an ace detective like yourself should’ve noticed it right away, Natsunagi?”

She knew my name…? My guard went right back up for a moment until I realized it was a compliment for solving cases at school as a proxy detective, just like Eve had given me. Then I remembered who she was.

“Huh…? Aren’t you Reizei from the class next to ours?”

“The very same! I’m honored you remember my name, Natsunagi. To think you spent sixteen bytes of your brainpower on a girl like me!”

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget a girl who converts her own names to bytes…”

This was Karin Reizei. I remembered her because she was, for better or worse, a celebrity at school. She was an eccentric who was frequently late and absent, and even though she wasn’t a school nurse or chemistry club member, she always wore a lab coat over her uniform.

Incidentally, that lab coat persona made Ms. Koyomi think she was dangerous. She was very unpopular.

“By the way, why are you here, Natsunagi? Don’t tell me you’re here to stop my experiment?”

“Can you cut the psychopath act? Well, not really…”

We told Reizei about the forbidden clubroom.

“I see. So you were sleuthing around like a detective, thinking there was some big secret in this room? Unfortunately, it’s just my hideout!”

“Hideout?”

“I got the key to this general arts room from the art club, you see. I’ve been doing my art here ever since. Though, I happened to forget to lock the door today, and someone broke in. Now, then…” Reizei finished speaking and urged us to leave the room. “You’ve solved the mystery, right? It’s a shame to leave four beautiful women in such a dusty room. You should be out in the light and enjoying the springtime of your lives in the classroom! Go, go!”

“I haven’t solved the mystery yet.”

It was true that I’d found the answer to the forbidden clubroom. But there was another big mystery right under my nose, and I couldn’t ignore that.

“Why are you making human eyes and teeth in this room? I want to know the answer to that.”

“Ohh?” said Reizei. “Is it the trend these days for ace detectives to just ask for the answer without solving the mystery? Is that how you deduce the trick? I know—it’s a new method!”

Sidestepping the question meant she didn’t want to answer—and that there was a reason she couldn’t answer.

It would be a disgrace for a great detective to walk away without figuring it out.

“If that’s how you want to play it, then I’ll show you the brilliant deductive work and solutions of ace detective Nagisa Natsunagi! Even classic mystery novels will pale in comparison!”

Reizei returned my enthusiasm with an undaunted smile.

“Then why don’t we have a wager? If you can reach the answer, I’ll tell you everything. If you’re wrong, I want you to show me your naked body! Full nudity!”

“Whatever you sa—huh? Huh?! N-naked body?! Wh-why?!”

“As you can see, I’m currently making parts of the human body. I need more references. It’s absurd for me to be making these while looking at my own naked body in the mirror.”

“Y-you mean you want me to model nude for you…? I definitely can’t do something so exciting—I mean, embarrassing!”

“Hm? Did I sense a masochistic streak for a moment? If you can’t do it, then fine. We’re done here. Closing time!”

Pride, shame, and a teeny bit of lust duked it out inside my heart. And the winner was—

“Fine! I’ll take that wager! If you win, I’ll show you all my convex and concave bits, and you can even touch them!”

“…No, I don’t need to touch them.”

“Now I’ve done it… Why do I always take the bait?”

The four of us had left the clubroom and were taking a breather on a bench in the courtyard. I just couldn’t make myself go back and help with the culture festival prep in the classroom.

“Ha-ha. I’m having so much fun now that we’re back to our usual routine with Nagi! Nagi’s doing nude modeling, huh? Gotta get some photos with my SLR.”

“Can we not assume that I’m going to fail to solve the mystery? O-okay, Fuyuko?”

“Nagisa…you’re going to experience lots of setbacks in life. I think it’d be great to experience your first one now. It’s okay to lose. In fact, please lose?”

“You idiots are just looking forward to seeing me naked! You already saw me when you slept over before summer break! We took a bath together!”

The bath had been super embarrassing in its own way. And that was with friends. Being stark naked at school in front of someone I didn’t even know that well was almost like—

“It’s fine, Nagisa-senpai. Nude models getting aroused are a staple in porn. It’ll help you gain life experience.”

“The only thing I’m going to gain is a dark past! And you’re in favor of it, too, Eve…?”

“I want to see your sexy body. Do it for your adorable junior, please. Show me that soft skin of yours. How about that?!”

“Stop looking so smug as if you’ve already convinced me! We’re supposed to be searching for your person, and now you’re taking detours.”

“I don’t mind. My search doesn’t have any leads anyway. Maybe my memory might return if I give this mystery my all. Besides…” Eve faltered for just a moment before continuing, “I have a hunch the person I’m searching for isn’t normal, either. They say, ‘birds of a feather flock together,’ so I may find something out if I spend some time with weirdos.”

“I see. That’s fine. But…”

I took a sip of my canned milk tea, considering.

“Why is Reizei making body parts anyway?”

There weren’t just eyes in that room—there had been arms, fingers, and even teeth. No parts from below the shoulders, though. Maybe she was still making them…or maybe they were unnecessary.

“Considering she’s in the art club, it’s not strange for her to make an art project,” said Fuyuko. “Even if it looks like a set of body parts. But if you ask me, that feels almost cheap.”

“I’m with Fuyu on this one. It doesn’t feel like a work of art. I think she has another purpose. Anyone holed up in a room like that doesn’t want people to see them working.”

“It doesn’t seem like something she’s making to display. Even as a hobby, it makes no sense. There were over a hundred eyeballs scattered around the classroom.”

The more I listened to everyone’s opinions, the further away the answer seemed to slip. I’d only just become the Ace Detective, and my experience and knowledge were practically nil—but somehow, I knew the mystery was still very much veiled, possibly because I didn’t understand or observe Reizei enough.

“All right, let’s start with the basics. Is anyone free until tonight?”

All three of them shook their heads in unison.

“Really? No one? Why? No one wants to be with me, even though I just came back to school? W…was I the only one who thought we were friends? Sniff.”

“Whoa! Nagi’s gonna cry! No, there’s a good reason for this.”

“W-we’re sorry. We have some prep to do.”

“Right. We’re about to cosp—mmph!”

Eve started to say something, but Fuyuko and Haruru clamped their hands over her mouth.

Sure, we were high school girls, and it made sense that they’d have a life outside of our friendship. I hadn’t been able to spend summer vacation with the two of them, either. Still…I’d hoped that at least on my first day back, we could hang out until evening. But if they couldn’t, they couldn’t, right?

“Sure, I get it. I was going to try and stop you guys by throwing a tantrum and rolling around on the ground, but I won’t.”

“You were willing to throw your dignity out the window to keep us here?!”

“Yeah. But what do I do now? I thought at least one of you would be free…”

“If you need assistance, I’ll accompany you, Miss Natsunagi!”

Ms. Koyomi stood in front of us, holding a can of lightly sweetened coffee.

“Are you sure, Ms. Koyomi? Don’t you have wor—”

“It’s fine. I should be able to leave on time today. Besides, if I don’t show up now and then, I won’t be the leader of Autumnless anymore, will I?”

“A sudden new lore drop! You’re our leader, Ms. Koyomi?!”

“Yes. I did give you your name, and since I’m the ‘calendar,’ I’m in charge of the four seasons. Heh-heh.”

It really did sound like she was our boss when she put it that way.

Well, I could make do with her—if Ms. Koyomi agreed to help me, it would save me a lot of trouble.

“Thank you, Ms. Koyomi! Could I ask a favor, then?”

“Of course! Now, how can I help you?”

“Umm, we need a place that’s private, so would you mind coming to my home? Anywhere’s fine as long as we’re alone.”

“…What? Th-that’s really bad! But when a cute student begs me with those puppy dog eyes, it feels a little naughty, you know?”

“N-naughty? It does?”

“Of course it does! Crossing the line with a student and even intruding into their home—the PTA would never allow it! But, but…!”

Ms. Koyomi took a deep breath and looked me in the eye.

“But for a cute student like you, I’ll give you as many after-school lessons as you need!”

“I must have seemed ridiculous, getting all worked up like that!”

A little while earlier, I’d arrived home with Ms. Koyomi and handed her something. When I asked her to change into it, she was confused, but she went along with it. Once she was done, she struck a pose.

“I had no idea you wanted to me to model for a photo shoot… Oh, I’m so embarrassed. I thought for sure you’d developed forbidden feelings for me, Miss Natsunagi.”

“Ms. Koyomi, please sit on this chair next. Cross both arms behind your head and show me your armpits.”

“Will you listen to me?! Listen, Miss Natsunagi, you can’t mislead people this way. If I were Miss Shirahama, things would’ve gotten completely out of hand by now!”

Ms. Koyomi sat and posed while giving me a lecture I didn’t really understand. Her usual white lab coat look was nice, but this was nice in its own way, too. And sexy.

“I knew it… Ms. Koyomi, you have a great body! I knew a swimsuit would look great on you!”

Ms. Koyomi was wearing a black bikini that showed off her gorgeous body.

“It’s nice to be complimented. What do you think? I’m a bit proud of not having many scars, considering I suffered a full-body compound fracture in the past.”

“Yikes, that’s a brutal experience. Did you get hit by a truck or something…?”

I thought about Ms. Koyomi’s past as I took the pictures.

She’d almost certainly lived in a world where I’d be successful not as a high school girl, but as an ace detective in the truest sense. She’d known and experienced much more than me. I was still a child.

“Miss Natsunagi, how have you been spending your days lately?” Ms. Koyomi asked me, and I recalled everything that had happened since the four of them sent me off to meet him.

“…So much happened. So many things. Like—”

I’d met him and begun a new story. I’d only known the twin worlds of my hospital room and school, so everything that happened outside of them was full of surprises. If I’d wasted these years doing nothing, I wouldn’t have known about any of it.

If Fuyuko and Haruru were my best friends, then the girls I’d met and shared destinies with during my time with him weren’t just friends, but comrades, too.

“There were so many terrifying things at first. It was a huge shock to someone like me. I didn’t know anything.”

Threats to the world and protectors of it. Looking back now, it was all so unbelievable I could laugh. And unlike him, who’d always confidently stood at my side (or maybe it just seemed that way), I’d always felt like an outsider.

The heart that resided within me, the former Ace Detective who’d entrusted it to me.

The heart that now kept me alive, left behind by her.

The more I learned, the less I was able to stay outside the margins of the story.

“I had so many things I wanted to protect before I knew it. Everyone protected me, so this time, I want to do what I can. As much as I can.”

“I think that’s wonderful. That’s your goal for the future, isn’t it, Miss Natsunagi?”

“Yes! Of course, I want to enjoy my time in high school, too! So I’m going to treasure both worlds—that’s what I’ve decided.”

I’d protect them both and enjoy myself to the fullest. That was the kind of life I’d hoped for. That was how I’d chosen to live.

“Always treasure your friends.”

Ms. Koyomi rose from the chair and began to change into her underwear. I rushed to avert my eyes from the unexpected fan service scene, but Ms. Koyomi ignored me and continued speaking. “I was fortunate to have met both my friends in high school. Not only am I still in contact with one of them, but we work in the same field. It’s like a miracle when you think about it.”

“Your relationship with your friends…is a little bit like ours in the Autumnless Trio.”

“Heh-heh, so it is. I think that all encounters between people are miracles.”

As if remembering the distant past, Ms. Koyomi continued on.

“It’s a blessing to maintain a relationship into adulthood. To this day, Yomogi and I still go to cheap izakaya and laugh until morning. We’re always annoying each other, too.”

“But that’s what it means to be friends.”

“Yes. We give and take, we agree and clash. That’s the cycle. I hope with all my heart that you and your friends get to experience it, too. By the way…”

Now that she was finished dressing, Ms. Koyomi pointed to the phone in my hand.

“Were you able to find anything out by taking pictures of me? Please don’t leak them, okay? I’ll permit a bit of…p-personal enjoyment, though.”

“Why are you blushing…? I got some great reference material thanks to you, though. Tonight, I’ll look through these and try to make a deduction!”

“Observe them carefully and find the truth that exists there. I know you can do it, Miss Natsunagi.”

“Ugh, I couldn’t figure anything out…”

It was the next morning. In the end, I’d barely gotten any sleep studying the materials—or more accurately, Ms. Koyomi’s body—but I still couldn’t deduce why Reizei was making human body parts.

“Morning, Nagisa. You look like you didn’t sleep well.”

Fuyuko came over to my seat. She didn’t get to go to school with me that morning because I overslept.

“Morniiiiiing…Fuyuko…”

“What did you do with Ms. Koyomi yesterday? I want to know.”

“She wore a swimsuit for me, and we had a photo shoot at my place— Aggh!”

“What?! I’m jealous. I’m so jealous, I’m gonna bleed from my gums.”

“What? That’s scary… So what did the three of you do? Where did you go with Eve?”

“Morning, Nagi! Here’s some crunchy chocolate! Don’t think about it too hard!”

Haruru placed a big can on my desk as soon as she got to her seat.

Yup, it was definitely a staple souvenir from a certain theme park.

“Huh? Don’t tell me the three of you went to…Dreamland?”

“Ha-ha! Women and amusement parks both sparkle after six PM!”

“Wait, I’m gonna cry. Here I am, having just sworn yesterday that I’d treasure my friends, and now they betray me like this?! Everyone said they were busy!”

“This chocolate is expressing how our friendship cracked and shattered, Nagi.”

“Even your choice of souvenir is offensive! Hey…when I look closer, this has a sticker from the specialty souvenir shop near the station. Ugh, you’re bad for my heart.”

I didn’t hesitate to take a piece from the can and nibble it. It was so good.

“Another store had eyeball gummies for sale, and she almost bought those. But you’ve been working so hard that I persuaded her to buy you something actually tasty.”

“Thanks, Fuyuko. That reminds me—I grabbed a few of the eyeballs Reizei made, but I haven’t had the chance to observe them yet.”

I took out four eyeballs from my schoolbag.

The more I looked at them, the more realistic and creepy they seemed. But when I looked even closer, there were individual differences—the size of the pupils and the shade of the whites of the eyes were slightly different. I wondered why she’d been so particular about it.

“I’m not coming up with anything. There’s so many things I don’t actually know.”

With math or puzzle games, if you thought about them long enough, there was usually an answer to be found. But I’d learned something by working as a proxy detective and spending time with my new comrades: The mysteries people created weren’t always made with correct logic. You had to know the person, get close to them, and try and read between the lines.

“I’ve decided. I have to face her head-on.”

I wasn’t going to be a detective who pieced information together on a chair or bed to find the answers—if anything, that was how the previous Ace Detective operated. I needed to find my own method as a detective.

“I’m going on the offensive after school!”

“Natsunagi, is it a detective’s job to invade people’s privacy?”

I’d headed straight to the general arts clubroom once classes were over. I found Reizei about to start work in the prep room, wearing the same clothes as the day before.

“It is. Detectives in fiction are more stylish and cool, but I’m modern. I’ll dig through garbage or get dirty if it means finding the answer.”

“Nice. I love that hardworking approach! Is that the reason you came to my workshop?”

“I’m sorry, Reizei, but my after-school time is— Fine, just for an hour. If I can’t solve the mystery by then, I’ll get naked here tomorrow. That’s how committed I am.”

I’d given her a challenge, but Reizei still seemed unsatisfied.

“…Okay, fine! Do whatever you want, Natsunagi!”

She let me go on, maybe because she sensed I wasn’t going to give up no matter what she said.

“Great! But can we talk, too? There’s so much about you I want to know!”

“I see! You’re quite the flirt, aren’t you? Don’t blame me when you mislead both men and women and cause a bloodbath.”

Would that really happen just by saying what was on my mind? I thought it was probably fine with women, except for Fuyuko. As for the boys…I would rather they misunderstood and went for it instead of pretending to be clueless forever.

He was your typical coward, after all.

“Well, putting that aside, have you always been in the art club, Reizei?”

“Yes. I was the up-and-coming ace of the art club since my first year. My generation was called the ‘golden generation,’ and I had a lot of fun with my promising peers.”

“So you do have friends. Do the other club members know you’re working here?”

“No. There was a girl who used to work with me here, but we’ve drifted apart. The third-year club members retire after exhibiting their works to the fall judging committee.”

Meaning that this had nothing to do with the art club’s creative endeavors.

“Not to mention the nude-modeling thing. Are you interested in the human body, Reizei? I took lots of pictures of Ms. Koyomi in a swimsuit yesterday.”

“Huh. Is the board of education okay with that?”

“Probably? But I didn’t understand anything from it, nor did I feel the urge to create. I thought I could find a way to identify with you if I started from surface level……”

After I said that, Reizei put down the brush in her right hand, and with a small sigh, she stopped working.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t understand. This is pure self-indulgence on my part. Pure creativity is always about satisfying yourself, regardless of the scope—it’s like masturbation, almost.”

I hate reality. I want to change reality. I’m not fulfilled. I want to be fulfilled. I want to make my dreams come true—if I can’t, I want to accomplish something close to them.

“Those feelings are like resignation, but I pour them into my work and use them to finish it. Some manage to sublimate those feelings of complacency and become pros.”

“Reizei, have you ever thought of doing this for a living yourself? For example, you’re good at making those, so what about models?”

“Mais non. I’m still at the bottom of the heap. I might have better taste than most, but these creations are just to satisfy my own heart. No…it might be more repulsive than that.”

I’d never wanted to create something before. But I’d wanted to become someone else many times. Living in reality left me feeling empty, and I felt intense loneliness even when I spent time with my precious friends.

I wondered if creators and artists had feelings similar to mine and expressed them in their creations.

“Reizei, can I have a little look around the room? If I break something, I’ll pay for it.”

“You should just apologize instead. Are you aware that you seem rather nouveau riche?”

She’d immediately played the snarker to my comic relief. For a moment, Reizei reminded me a little of Fuyuko and Haruru, and it felt like we’d become closer, somehow. Maybe I’d bridged the gap between us a little?

“Is everything in this room your personal property?”

“…I brought most of the things here with me.”

There was an electric guitar, carefully placed on a stand—the distinctive design looked like an inversion of an ordinary guitar and could easily be home decor. It was the kind of design an artist would like.

There were cosmetics abandoned on a shelf. Maybe they didn’t go with her skin type?

The folded uniform could have been in case she got dirty while working.

There was a smartphone in a cute pink case near the work desk, but the cracked screen seemed out of place.

“Heh-heh. They do all seem like your style.”

“I wonder. It’s surprisingly difficult to figure someone out just from their personal stuff. Well, I won’t deny that it’s a bit of a window into their personality.”

Reizei smiled wryly and looked at the clock on the wall.

“Sorry, Natsunagi. It’ll be dark soon. From here on out, I want to focus on my creation, not small talk. Do you mind?”

“Sure. Sorry to bother you.”

“It’s fine. We artists are a solitary bunch, but it’s important to spend time with others, too. So did you find out the answer, or are you going to get naked?”

“Hmm…can we do the solution part tomorrow after school? After all, your creative time is starting, right?”

Reizei looked a little surprised but quickly laughed. She didn’t seem like the type to go back on her word.

“In that case, please come at the same time tomorrow. And I’ll have my equipment ready, too!”

“Sorry, Reizei, but I’ve already made up my mind—the only people I’ll show my naked body to on request…are my two best friends and the guy I like!”

“Most people wouldn’t show it to their best friends?!”

After she responded with the perfect quip, I left the general arts clubroom.

I took out my phone and saw there was a message from Fuyuko. I confirmed its contents and began walking, reassessing what Reizei was planning to do.

It was as I’d thought.

“There’s no mistake. Reizei’s trying to make someone in that room.”

I headed to the school music room. I had a bit of a history with it, but that was behind me now.

The reason I’d come here now was…

“Let’s recap one more time. Fuyuko-senpai will play the bass, Haruru-senpai will play the drums, and I’ll be on guitar. Let’s polish our performance between now and the culture festival. Hip, hip, hurray!”

Eve announced the formation of the band, and Fuyuko and Haruru raised their fists in the air with a “yeah!” The two of them had their own instruments, and they looked great, but…

“What about me?! Wasn’t I supposed to play the guitar in a bunny costume and speak formally while holding a red guitar? Didn’t I have jobs like that before?!”

“You did, but you said you didn’t want to do them… I’m considerate, so I won’t force you. I’m practically the embodiment of thoughtfulness. There’s no problem now, right?”

“No, if anything, you’re creating a problem. I—I never said I didn’t want to do it… I was just lonely wearing a costume by myself…”

“Nagisa, you’re so cute!”

“Nagi’s adorbs!”

The idiots hugged me from both sides and stroked my head aggressively. I was embarrassed to admit it, but it made me a little happy. If they were doing it, I wanted to be a part of it, too.

“Join us, Eve,” said Fuyuko. “This is your chance to dive into Nagisa’s modest bosom.”

…I’d be angry later about the flawless diss to my chest.

Eve seemed a little perplexed as she watched us. “No…I can’t. The record company said no to the yuri trade. We just decided to go with a boy-chasing high school girl concept instead.”

“I think you should quit that record company right now and let it go under.”

Not only were their appearances and goals radically different, but they were also different on a two- and three-dimensional level. A mysterious singer would definitely be more marketable. I could even produce. I’d become the producer. I already knew an idol, so I’d use that connection. Wouldn’t that be something?

“Band members can only hug when they’re doing a curtain call onstage. From now on, whispering and physical touching are banned. I’m the leader, so everyone will address me formally.”

“Oh, this is where we break up because of creative differences. A-anyway, Leader? Could I maybe have a role in the band, too?”

“Sure. Can you clap to the beat or something?”

“That’s the audience’s role! I’d look like a hardcore fan who accidentally wound up on stage! Besides, there’s only one part left!”

I grabbed the mic stand that had been placed in the middle of the room and brandished it at Eve. If we were going to sing about youth, I thought it should be the girl who wished for it.

“Nagisa Natsunagi on vocals—I’ll shout out the feelings of a high school girl with all my might!”

Yep, that was settled. It felt really good—we really were a band. But none of them seemed convinced. Huh? Why? I felt like I was going to lose my cool… Could I?

“Nagisa on vocals, huh? We’ve been to karaoke together before, so how should I put it…?”

“For better or worse, she’s polite. She doesn’t shout like she’s about to burst a vein, and she’s too much of an honor student. She just lacks that ultra-iron soul.”

“If she had a criminal record, it would add to her rock credibility. Is there anything, Nagisa-senpai? Even a crime like stealing your friend’s boyfriend would do.”

“How about I commit a crime right here, then?! I’ll give each of you a wallop!”

This conversation was severely biased against rock. We probably could’ve used a scolding by a music lover.

“Well, if we set aside the definition of rock for now, the truth is that while Nagisa was sneaking Ms. Koyomi into her room yesterday, the three of us were seriously discussing the band.”

“I said it would be so great if you could do the vocals, Nagi!”

“I was persuaded by their enthusiasm. After that, we practiced this skit until midnight. Good times.”

“How about we do some actual band practice instead of skits? But…thank you.”

I pulled the microphone from its stand and turned it on.

“Let’s all go hard practicing for our band, today and every day!!”

My voice resounded through the music room as the sun set. I thought we’d start practicing right away, but—

“I’ll give you the demo tracks, so everyone can practice on their own. Nice work today.”

Little Eve—or I guess right now she was Leader Eve—gave us all USB sticks and got ready to leave.

“Isn’t that a little too businesslike?! Let’s at least talk some more!”

“We don’t need to get friendly. We’ll break up someday anyway, and we might become enemies. The world of music is always a battlefield.”

“It’s not like I’d have a career in music if we broke up…”

“Besides, don’t you have other things to do, Nagisa-senpai? Did you solve the art club mystery? I thought you went there alone today.”

“I did. I wanted everyone to hear my—the reasoning I came up with on my own.”

I told them why Reizei had made the eyeballs and what she was looking for in her creative work. They listened silently to my deduction from beginning to end.

“That’s what I think. What I discovered from talking to Reizei. What do you three think?”

Fuyuko and the others exchanged glances and nodded in silence.

“Well, I’m honestly surprised that you were able to find a reasonable answer in such a short time, Nagisa. You’re like a different person than when we were proxy detectives together.”

“Listen! I started thinking that maybe there were two Nagis—the long-haired Nagi and the short-haired one. Like Nagisa A and Nagisa B!”

“I won’t deny it. Thinking back, there were so many hints, but we missed most of them.”

I smiled in spite of myself. No, no, this was just a theory, and I hadn’t actually confirmed the answer to the mystery yet.

“There is one letdown, though… The person Reizei-senpai is making doesn’t seem to be the one I was looking for before I lost my memory.”

Eve’s normally expressionless face betrayed slight disappointment.

“You’re right. At first, I thought this might help with finding your person, too.”

“It’s not like we’ll just find them when it’s convenient for us. There’s nothing you can do about that.”

We hadn’t found any results, so the next part of the chapter might not be necessary. Uncovering Reizei’s secret wouldn’t make anyone happy. For her to find happiness, she’d need to put in the work herself.

“But I refuse to get butt naked, so I need to see Reizei tomorrow. Will you guys come with me?”

They gently nodded back, and that was all I needed to find my resolve. If Reizei wanted to make what lay at the heart of this mystery come true…I’d have to give her a push.

“Time for the solution part, Natsunagi!” Reizei said.

It was the next day. The school was as busy as ever preparing for the culture festival, and the four of us headed to the general arts clubroom together after school.

Reizei was unusually dressed in a normal school uniform instead of her lab coat.

“So, Reizei, do you think we’re about to do your typical, long-winded explanation straight out of a novel?”

“Yes…? Are we not? I thought we were going to.”

“Wrong. You and I are about to talk about love.”

To begin with, the mystery was already too simple for someone like me. I’d already solved a number of cases when I was a proxy detective.

At first, I’d veered off track and wound up taking pictures of Ms. Koyomi in a swimsuit—but just changing my perspective had made everything obvious.

“If I liked someone…I’d want to know everything about them. Like their tastes in food, their private life, their past—as much as possible.”

Reizei let me speak, although she seemed confused.

“Oh, I might want to do matching outfits, too…not because of someone I liked before, but because I want them to look at me. I refuse to let them be distracted by other girls! What about you, Fuyuko?”

“I get it. I’m possessive, too. I’d want them to get a tattoo, even.”

“Yikes, that’s a little scary. Like of your initials or something?”

“No. I’d want them to tattoo my face on their back, so they’ll carry me with them for the rest of their life.”

“That level of possessiveness is scary! Ugh, I don’t think I could ever date Fuyuko…”

“Yeah, yeah! I’m fine with my girlfriend being the free-spirited type! She can date dozens of people as long as she winds up with me in the end!”

“That bold, end-of-the-world conqueror vibe is cool, but sorry, I’m not on board with that…”

“Unlike you senpais, I’d like to be treated roughly. I want them to coldly disparage me while I cling to them for attention. Just thinking about it makes me smile.”

“Huh? Do all my bandmates have warped views on love?”

I could get being wanted to be treated coldly, though. While I didn’t like loveless insults and pain, if there was love behind it…I’d be content with something more extreme or rough.

“I don’t get it at all, either.”

Reizei, who had been listening to our brain rot, finally couldn’t take it anymore.

“I don’t care about your views on love…and I don’t have the slightest idea how any of this relates to my creations.”

“Ha-ha. Reizei, you’re the type to complicate things when you have a crush, right?”

“Wh-wha…?! Wh-what do you know?! We’ve never even talked about love these past few day—”

“But we did. We talked about the things in this room and your creations. They’re both fruits of love. You could even call them the ultimate love. What you were making was—”

Someone she loved.

Reizei turned bright red—just like an elementary school girl whose crush had been discovered by her friends.

“The arms, fingers, and teeth you were making were all parts of a loved one. Specifically, they were parts of someone you loved…almost like you had a fetish for them?”

I pointed to the various items I’d found yesterday.

“Those cosmetics—the lip gloss color is different than yours, and you don’t wear mascara. The winter uniform is out of season. And that guitar…”

The guitar that had an inverted design and looked like it could be home decor. I hadn’t realized what it was.

“Yesterday, Eve told me it was a left-handed guitar. I noted that you were right-handed when I watched you work yesterday, so that’s not an instrument you would use.”

It was the one thing that had been bothering me and an unexpected benefit of our stint as a band. I didn’t have enough knowledge yet. I needed to read more.

“N-no…those are just reference materials. And what about the eyeballs? Are you trying to say I have fetish for those? And what about the two phone—”

“They’re a set. The phone with the broken screen has something essential.”

I covered my right eye with my hand and stared at Reizei through the space between my fingers. It wasn’t as if I had powers like a certain cute new friend, though.

The eye was the key.

“Irises. Like fingerprints or facial recognition, it’s a unique key that only one person can use. Reizei, you made those eyes to break the lock on the phone, right?”

The eyeballs I’d dumped in the classroom were all finished slightly differently. I’d considered the possibilities of errors in the painting process or that they were practice pieces—but I knew as soon as I saw that phone, since there weren’t many models equipped with iris recognition.

“I’ve heard you can easily bypass it using photos and some tools, but either you didn’t know about that…or it wasn’t in your artistic nature to do it.”

It didn’t matter which was the truth.

“Reizei, you said, ‘There was a girl who used to work with me here, but we’ve drifted apart.’ Come to think of it, the painting at the entrance was a hint. In short, the person you love is—”

“Enough. I give up.”

Reizei, her face still red, held me back in a faltering voice. My deduction had been dead-on—maybe overly so.

“You’re right, Natsunagi. I had someone I loved, and we shared tender moments here. We immersed ourselves in a world we created together…in this place where no one could see us.”

Reizei’s words came out in a torrent, like she was recalling memories from long ago. Just listening to her, I could tell things were different now.

“I was so happy when I got the key to this clubroom. I even disguised the entrance with a painting we loved so that no one could disturb us. Beyond that…lay my paradise with her.”

Someone had clearly painted the Madonna. Reizei had told me painting wasn’t her specialty, meaning the person who’d painted it was…

“Um, so what happened with the person you loved?”

“Nothing much. We broke up over a minor misunderstanding. The belongings in this room are hers. I’ve been alone here, immersing myself in memories…unable to let go.”

The slender, lovely fingers that had caressed her hair and cheeks. The arms that held her close. The white teeth that showed when she smiled.

Reizei had been alone in this room the whole time, making counterfeits of the person she loved in the hopes of seeing her again and understanding her.

“We’re done talking about love, Natsunagi. Oh well. I thought that if you showed me your naked body, I might be able to get over her a little. A pity.”

“Huh? Does that mean you were trying to satisfy your desires with my body?”

“Ha-ha. If I said yes, would you comfort me gently? You remind me a little of the person I loved. When I see your strong-willed face and hear your voice…I remember her. Now, then…”

Reizei began to cram her memories into a nearby cardboard box. The guitar. The cosmetics. The school uniform. The phones. And even the body parts she’d made herself.

“Thank you, Natsunagi. Thanks to you, I’ve made up my mind. I’ll throw everything in the trash and put an end to this stale heartbreak—”

“That’s absolutely not okay!!” I shouted.

Reizei was startled, and one of the eyeballs slipped from her hand. I picked it up as it rolled across the floor and slipped it back into her hand.

“You’re giving up over a single heartbreak? After all this time in love? So you broke up over a minor misunderstanding… Does that mean you’re going to stay strangers for the rest of your lives?”

It might be a common form of love—to forget the person and cover your precious time and memories in bitter feelings—but I hated it.

“It’ll be fine even if she says no. Things can’t get any worse, so it won’t hurt if she rejects you. Tell her how you feel again! I…want to support your youth, Reizei!”

I knew I was being pretty nosy.

After going through those…those long, tumultuous days, I wanted to enjoy this time in my life. I didn’t want my time to be dark or bitter. I wanted to make everyone who was part of my youth happy!

“…Ugh, whatever. I never meant for it to become such a big deal.” Reizei sighed deeply, then smiled at me. “Will you help me continue my love story? How do I rekindle the flame after my heart has been broken? With all your experience, I’m sure you can help me find the answer to this mystery, right?”

Fuyuko, Haruru, Eve, and I exchanged glances and nodded.

“It won’t take long to find the answer with this many beautiful girls around. We’ll give our all to help you get back together, Reizei!”

It was early morning on a weekend.

Eve and I were watching someone from a hidden place on the rooftop of the club building.

The girl confessing this morning when the school was deserted…was Reizei.

“You’re so nervous, Reizei-senpai. Look, you’re trembling all over. It’s kind of funny to watch,” said Eve.

“Eve, did you forget how to talk to people along with everything else?” I quipped.

“I’m kidding. You seem nervous, too, Nagisa-senpai, so I’m burning the ice.”

“You mean breaking the ice?” said Reizei. “I feel like I might fall through it and bomb now, but thank you. You calmed my nerves somewhat.”

“Don’t worry. We’ve spent days setting the stage for you, before and after school. If she rejects you, Reizei-senpai, we’ll launch an all-out offensive.”

“Fuyuko and Haruru are definitely a bad influence on you, huh?”

I looked up at the rooftop sky again. No worries. It was going to work out.

“She’s coming, Nagisa-senpai,” said Eve.

I focused my attention on the rooftop entrance, and three high school girls came out of the school building. Two were my best friends, Fuyuko and Haruru.

And the third, blindfolded with an eye mask and being guided by them was—

“There’s the girl Reizei loved.”

She gave off a very timid vibe, even though the blindfold kept me from seeing her whole face. Fuyuko and Haruru whispered something to her before coming back over to Eve and me.

Of course, there was a reason we’d done all this.

But I was going to watch over their future first.

“I’m sorry to call you suddenly like this. You must be surprised that I had you wear a blindfold, too. I don’t want you to take it off yet. Please…listen to what I have to say.”

Her former girlfriend silently nodded, and Reizei continued. “I’ve thought about a lot of things since we broke up. I overthought things and lost my way, but I always ended up thinking about you again.”

I tried to find meaning in the things you left behind. I was clinging to the lingering scent of those memories, but in the end, I still wanted to know more about you.

“It’s been half a year since we broke up, and I’ve realized something. That’s why I want to tell you how I feel today and offer you the view you once talked about seeing with me…as a gift!”

Reizei gently placed her hands on the girl’s face and removed the blindfold. She squinted slowly under the intense sunlight and opened her beautiful eyes. Then those eyes went wide with delight as she took in the view in front of her.

“I’d say that surprise was a complete success,” I muttered and looked up at the sky again.

The sky was filled with umbrellas.

It was an artistic, surreal space where countless semitranslucent umbrellas of all colors appeared to float in the sky, like a fictional weather phenomenon.

It had been tough to find and secure dozens of them with thin wires and metal fittings, but if we could recreate the landscape the two of them once wished for at our school…and it became a memory just for them—

That was enough to make me incredibly happy.

So, please, complete this performance for the one you love, and may the feelings of one girl—Reizei—reach her one more time.

“I…love you. Even more than when we were together. I want to share so many more sights with you. If it’s not too much trouble, would you—”

Go out with me again?

Her confession echoed in the sky, and umbrellas enveloped them in a world just for the two of them, where no one could intrude. It was a little bit magical.

And then the girl said:

“I love you, too, Reizei. I love you.”

With that brief reply, she threw her arms around Reizei. The two of them shared each other’s warmth.

The four of us hugged each other without saying a word when we saw them.

To think that someone’s love and memories could be so beautiful…

I’m glad I’m a high school girl—

I never knew youth could look like this, too!

Chapter 2

Buying and Selling Youth

“Nagisa-senpai, are you interested in a cat-eared maid costume?”

“No! No, no way!”

It was the first after-school period following the three-day weekend when we’d helped Reizei get back together with her ex.

That morning, Eve, who was only a second-year, had invited herself to our class as if she belonged there and suggested this with no indication that it was a joke.

“Especially no cat-eared maid outfits. I tried one on once because the drama club asked me, and I was completely mortified. You couldn’t pay me to do that.”

“Oooh…that’s some strong conviction. What happened, Senpais?”

Fuyuko and Haruru exchanged glances and snickered softly. Don’t laugh at someone dressed as a cat-eared maid!

“A little while ago, she was asked to help with a costume fitting, and the guy she’s interested in apparently saw her.”

“She came crying to us, bright red, so I’m guessing she didn’t like how he reacted. I wonder what kind of reaction she wanted?”

Obviously, I wanted him to call me super-ultra-cute and pet my head like a cat. But no! That jerk…that jerk!

“Aw, geez. I’m getting mad all over again just thinking about it. I’ll never wear that costume again, even if he asks me to!”

“No, I bet you’d say yes if he asked you to wear a dog costume next time, Nagisa.”

“I can see it. She’d totally do it, wagging her tail happily. She’d become a loyal dog with a secret desire to be noticed by him by doing cosplay other girls wouldn’t.”

“Dog tricks are kinda hot when people do them, right? Shake, sit, show me your dic—”

“Stoppppp! No more! This isn’t a conversation four high school girls should be having in the morning! Anyway, why did you even ask me that, Eve?”

Eve replied with a listless “oh” when I forced the topic back on track. “Apparently, there’s a vacancy in the drama club, and they’re urgently looking for someone to play the lead in the culture festival. I overheard a classmate from the drama club talking to her friend about it and eavesdropped while I pretended to be asleep.

“That’s a really sketchy method of information gathering… Don’t tell me you came all the way here just to tell me that?”

“Huh? Did you think I was that foolish? I’m offended.”

“Handling a junior like you is like walking on eggshells. I want an instruction manual…”

“Item is sold as is. Some memory and instructions are missing. Confirmed to work.”

“Did you get that from an online auction?”

“That aside, why they have a vacancy is curious. The girl playing the lead hasn’t come to school since before summer vacation, and no one’s been able to get in touch with her.”

Before summer vacation. Not coming to school. Those phrases reminded me of something.

“Eve, that was around the same time you lost your memory, right?”

“Yes. So I thought that girl might be the person I’m searching for.”

That was possible, now that she mentioned it. The forbidden clubroom hadn’t brought back any memories for Eve—which made sense, since it had nothing to do with her.

“Huh… I am kinda curious. Hey, Fuyuko, Haruru, do either of you have friends in the drama club?”

“Nope, not me. The drama club’s a small but elite group. They have a lot of experienced members, and rumor says it’s hard to get in if you didn’t join before high school.”

“In that case, leave it to me!”

Haruru hadn’t seemed too enthusiastic, but Fuyuko looked surprisingly happy.

“Oh. Is there a girl you like in the drama club or something?”

“Harsh, Nagisa. I can’t help liking who I like—but that’s not how I meant it. One of the few friends I have left from middle school is in the club.”

“Huh, that’s surprising. I didn’t think you were the type to have old friends.”

“Ha-ha, true. A woman like me isn’t bound by the past. I’ve actually drifted apart from that girl a little, though. She’s on the advanced track.”

The advanced track. As the name suggested, it was a course offered by our school for students aiming to get into elite universities, and there was only one class per grade. The number, quality, and even the location of the classes were different from those of us in the general curriculum. The advanced-track classrooms were in a separate building, so it was difficult to even get to know anyone there.

“We were so happy for each other when we got accepted. We were the only two from our middle school to make it here, so we promised to stay close despite being on different tracks.”

“Hmm. You swore that, but now you’ve drifted apart? You might be surprisingly cold, Fuyuko.”

“A-am not! I was almost never at school my first year, and during my second, I spent a lot of time with Haruru, so…that’s how it ended up.”

Fuyuko couldn’t completely deny it and seemed to be struggling with what to say.

“But things should be easy if you know her from middle school. Just send her a text saying you want to talk to her at lunch or after school…hm? What’s wrong, Fuyuko?”

“…have it.”

“Huh? You’re speaking too softly. Try using your diaphragm.”

“Why are you being so hard on me?! L-like I said, I don’t have her contact info! My phone broke during first year, and all the data got lost…,” Fuyuko confessed, her face red. She seemed both embarrassed and apologetic.

We looked at Fuyuko and sighed deeply.

“And you left it that way for two years? When we graduate, she’ll stop talking to us, too, and before we know it, we’ll drift apart. We’ll just be the exes she talks about.”

“Oh, I get it. Fuyuko will probably be fine without us. She’ll find a new girl in a new place and make herself a beach harem. That’s a Shirahama for you.”

“She’ll probably discard me first, since our history together is so short. I’m a lightweight presence that can be cut loose at any time.”

Fuyuko hunched over, her shoulders shaking, as the three of us teased her relentlessly.

This wasn’t Fuyu oppression, but completely her fault, so we had to do it. It was fine to make her pretty face contort in pain. This kind of role really suited her. She was adorable.

“That’s not true… I can’t live without you guys. S-so please don’t abandon me… I’ll do anything, so stay with me… Uhn, ugh, ahk.”

Watching Fuyuko pleading and struggling not to cry made me really horn— Er, made me feel a bit sorry for her, so I decided it was time to pat her head.

“It’s all right, Fuyuko. No matter where I go in the world as an adult, I’ll always come back to where you guys are. So don’t worry.”

“N-Nagisa…! You really are best girl!”

“There, there. Enough drama. If you don’t have her contact info, go to the drama club yourself and make an appointment, okay? If you have time to be crying, get moving.”

“Why are the good cop and the bad cop so different?! It feels like someone’s shoving super-spicy candy in my mouth!”

“By the way, what’s your friend’s name?”

“Heh-heh. Even her name is super cute: It’s Kanna Tsubakimori. She’s refined and demure, but when she’s on stage, she unleashes her emotions like a storm. The contrast is so—”

“Oh, her.”

Eve put a dead stop to Fuyuko’s passionate speech.

“That’s the name of the girl who stopped going to school. Tsubakimori-senpai. She’s the ace of the drama club, and she was asked to play the lead in this year’s culture festival.”

Fuyuko had been expressing a cornucopia of emotions by herself all morning—crying, laughing, grinning with joy. But when she heard Eve’s words, her face displayed shock that was impossible to hide.

Haruru and I headed for the drama club after school.

Fuyuko was helping out with the culture festival prep, which she’d been shirking before now, and Eve couldn’t come with us because she had other things to do.

“Fuyu should be joining us since it’s her friend!” Haruru grumbled as we walked through the club building.

“Nothing we can do. Some parts of the culture festival take more time to prepare than others. Fuyuko’s in costume production, right?”

“Yep. She suggested putting all the girls in sexy miniskirted maid outfits, and they really chewed her out. She ended up making the costumes while crying.”

“The girls may love Fuyuko, but not even she could get away with that one, huh?”

I was relieved to see there were still students with common sense. Since we were third-years with exams on the horizon, not many students were giving the culture festival their all.

“In another six months, all the events will be over, and we’ll graduate…right? Maybe it hasn’t really sunk in yet, but don’t the three years of high school feel like they just flew by?”

“I get it! Every day’s been so fun since I met you and Fuyu. Maybe this time feels long when you look back—but it feels crazy fast when you’re living it.”

“Our teen years will be almost over when we graduate, and things will go by even faster from there. So let’s make the most of our youth. I don’t want to regret anything when I’m older.”

“By the way, romance and high schoolers go hand in hand, so what about you, Nagi? Are you getting anywhere with that guy? Did you see him naked? Was he hot?”

“W-we’re not dating, so I don’t have the opportunity to see him naked! B-but…um. If there’s a chance, I might try a little harder…I guess.”

“Well, well! Nagi, you’ve gotten so girly since summer ended! If Fuyu hears about this, she might join the dark side and try to take over the world.”

“…The trouble is, Fuyuko might actually be able to do it.”

Incidentally, I wanted to spend more time with him at school, too. We were in different classes, so we might only see each other on the way to and from school. But that might actually be a good thing. Our eyes meeting at the shoe cubbies, both of us getting shy and looking away, or not being able to resist looking for him when I pass his classroom during lunch—that kind of sweet stuff could happen!

“But he almost never comes to school!”

You’d think he’d care about me as my assistant, if nothing else. Since we didn’t have many days left at school, I wanted to share them with him. If he couldn’t pick up on how a girl felt, he’d be single for the rest of his life. The idiot.

“Nagi, sorry to interrupt your monologue, but we’re at the drama club.”

“How was that a monologue?! I thought we were just having girl talk!”

“Girl talk is fine when it’s mutual, but since I don’t have a guy I like, it’s just annoying bragging. Talk to the wall next time!”

“But you’re the one who brought it up, Haruru!”

Haruru might look like a gyaru, but she had very little experience with relationships. I think the last time she fell for a boy in real life was her fourth year of elementary school, and that was just a crush.

Needless to say, Fuyuko wasn’t interested in guys, and I had no idea about Eve.

Huh? Was I actually…the most experienced one? The bar was ridiculously low.

“Okay, enough brain rot. Let’s go inside.”

When I opened the door and stepped inside the drama club, I was greeted by—

“Welcome, Natsunagi, Agarie. Are you thinking about joining us here at the drama club?”

The owner of the distinctive voice and gentle vibe was Yumeno, vice president of the drama club. She was the only third-year, and a few of the younger kids were watching us.

“Hi, Yumeno. We’re not joining the drama club, but I wanted to speak to you.”

“Oh my, is this about the cat-eared maid costume? It turned out wonderfully, thanks to you. Do you want to try it on today? I reduced the amount of fabric in the bust area. Heh-heh.”

“No! That’s not why I’m here. I’m looking for someone—a girl named Tsubakimori. She’s head of the drama club, right? Has she been coming to club lately?”

“Tsubakimori… Right. She stopped coming before the summer. At first, I thought it was because she was busy studying for the advanced-track courses, but then I got a slightly strange message from her.”

Yumeno took out her phone and showed us the drama club group chat. The latest message was from mid-July, followed by a notification that Tsubakimori had left the group.

Haruru and I both stared at the message.

“Umm, it says…‘I can’t go to the drama club anymore. Thanks for everything, Yumeno. It was super fun being together for three years. I hope the younger members are doing well, too. Bye-bye.’”

“Isn’t this too casual for a resignation letter? It sounds like she still wants to go. Why would she phrase it as can’t go instead of won’t be going?”

Haruru was right. It seemed more like someone was preventing her rather than her making the decision. Maybe her grades dropped, and club was out of the question? But that didn’t explain why she stopped going to school.

“Tsubakimori was supposed to play the lead role at this year’s culture festival. She was really enthusiastic, and she seemed to be looking forward to it. This was so sudden. It didn’t make sense to me.”

Yumeno looked concerned and shared a glance with some of the younger members, who seemed equally puzzled.

“Yumeno, are there any students from the advanced track in the drama club?”

“No. It’s rare for students from the advanced track to participate in clubs in the first place. Tsubakimori managed to attend drama club despite her packed schedule.”

After school, the advanced-track students often had self-study sessions and exam prep until evening. To them, youth meant academics. It was a different kind of youth than ours, but just as meaningful.

You could say Tsubakimori failed to juggle both versions of youth—but that would be going too far, I think.

“You can’t get in touch with her, and she’s stopped coming to school. Even her close friend Yumeno can’t do anything. What about Tsubakimori’s house?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know where she lives. She was always busy, even on her days off. We all wanted to meet and chat with her more, since she was the drama club’s ace.”

A student who vanished around summer vacation—I see, it’s becoming more likely that she’s the person Eve’s searching for. Oh, right—

“Hey, Yumeno, could I have a recent picture of Tsubakimori? She might be the person my junior’s searching for.”

“Oh, really? Of course! You might be surprised at how adorable she is. She has a great personality, she’s thoughtful, and the younger students were all smitten with her!”

I transferred the data to my phone and finally got to see Tsubakimori’s face.

“Whoa! She’s gorgeous!” I gasped.

With her distinctive sharp eyes, she looked like a cool type of girl, but when she smiled, showing her white teeth, the contrast was devastating. She didn’t look like she was my age at all. I could easily believe she was a college student who’d been chosen as a beauty queen.

“Hmm. Fuyu would definitely be crazy about her. Hey, Nagi, what would you do if Fuyu and Tsubakimori had dated before?”

The thought of them walking side by side and holding hands was so blindingly beautiful that I thought I might actually lose my sight. They wouldn’t just be a handsome couple, but two beautiful women. They suited each other so perfectly that I couldn’t even feel envious.

But…

“…I think I’d hate it a little. I know it’s selfish, but I’d get jealous.”

Fuyu spending time with other girls meant less time for us to hang out together. Just thinking about it sent a chill through my heart.

“Nagi, you really are the possessive type, huh? You’ll never become a good woman like that.”

“Sh-shut up! Fuyuko’s always saying how much she loves me, so of course I’d feel betrayed if she got a girlfriend now!”

I’d rather congratulate her, but I guess I’m just the jealous type.

Putting that aside, I turned my thoughts to the mystery in front of me.

“…For now, I’ll talk to Ms. Koyomi. If anything comes of that, I’ll let Yumeno know.”

“Yes, please do. If Tsubakimori doesn’t want the starring role anymore, you’ll do it, right, Natsunagi? I’ll even fit you for a costume again. Heh-heh.”

“Over my dead body!”

“I went over various things with the homeroom teacher of the advanced-track class.”

Haruru and I had finished our mission, and we headed to the nurse’s office with Fuyuko. We told Ms. Koyomi about the situation and asked her to gather information from the homeroom teacher of the advanced-track class. Teachers would have an easier time exchanging potentially sensitive information.

“Miss Tsubakimori had no problems in class and seemed to be a model student.”

As she listened to Ms. Koyomi’s report, Fuyuko nodded over and over, her arms folded.

“Kanna’s been a responsible class rep since middle school, and everyone loved her! Of course she was just as reliable in high school!”

“Whoa, you’re using her first name. Were you and Tsubakimori dating, Fuyuko?”

“…So how were her grades? She was at the top of our academic year in middle school.”

“Huh? Why did you dodge the question? Is there something you can’t tell us? Huh?”

Haruru and I both peered into Fuyuko’s face, but she was desperately trying to avoid eye contact and sweating like a waterfall. Hmmm?

“Now, now, no lovers’ quarrels. Every girl has at least one or two loves by the time she’s eighteen. Although, I haven’t, so I’m thinking of trying a dating app soon.”

“Please don’t be so quick to volunteer information we never asked about, Ms. Koyomi.”

A beautiful woman in her mid-twenties would be in high demand, so she didn’t need to rush.

“Incidentally…Miss Tsubakimori’s grades seem to have dipped slightly compared to spring. That said, she was still in the top half of her class.”

If she was in the top half of the advanced track, she shouldn’t have had anything to worry about. Those were the kinds of grades that made it possible to aim for top private universities or prestigious public ones.

“According to the teacher in charge, they’ve been able to get ahold of her parents…and it seems like there were extenuating circumstances. They insisted there wasn’t any problem, so it doesn’t seem to be anything too major.”

At worse, I’d been considering the possibility of her entire family skipping town, but I figured we could cross that off the list.

Interpersonal relationships, grades, family circumstances—they all seemed to have been going smoothly for Tsubakimori, so what happened?

“Okay, let’s try pumping the advanced-track students for information tomorrow. We need to begin with a thorough investigation!”

It was the next day. I found Eve during lunch break, and we all headed to the advanced-track class. They’d be busy with studying after school, but since the entire student body shared the same lunch break period, it would be the only time to get information out of them. While Fuyuko and Haruru walked a little ahead of us, I showed Eve the picture on my phone.

“Eve, this is apparently Tsubakimori. Do you feel anything when you look at her?”

“Let’s see. She’s a beautiful upperclassman, so I might feel a tingle if she were to bully me gently. I’m the type who likes being scolded by my elders. I might even want her to step on my back.”

“Right, that was probably my fault, so I’ll try asking again—does this picture bring back any memories?”

Eve shook her head slightly and continued on about Tsubakimori. “None. It might be different if I actually saw her in person.”

“Exactly. If your memories came back that easily, we wouldn’t be struggling right now.”

Recovering lost memories was difficult, even if they were suddenly triggered.

“I get it…because the same thing happened to me.”

“Really?”

Eve went silent, as if she was surprised. Of course she was. There was someone who’d experienced amnesia other than herself, and they happened to be the person she’d asked for help.

“Yeah. In my case, there were too many things I couldn’t forget. Not long ago, I thought of myself as just a sickly girl full of insecurities about her youth.”

But I’d been wrong. I had friends. I wasn’t sickly, and I wasn’t just a cute high schooler. Thanks to the help of my many comrades, I was given life twice by them.

And now that I had everything back, a new mission had arrived—

“…I’ve learned so much now, but I just wanted to be a normal high school girl. That was the future my loved ones wished for and the life I wanted for myself.”

That was why I wanted to be there for someone else struggling with lost memories.

“Once everything’s sorted out, you’ve got to make the most of your life as a high schooler! Oh, unless the person you’re searching for is a guy. That would be wonderful, like a romance manga.”

“…Maybe I could still be happy if my memory doesn’t return. After all, I have such dependable senpais, and they’re even in a band with me. Heh-heh.”

The smile that flickered across her face didn’t seem like a joke. I was mesmerized by it. Why was it that even though the ways they spoke and thought were worlds apart, she looked so much like the one who gave me my first heart?

“Nagisa, Eve—these are the advanced-track classrooms. It doesn’t make sense for the four of us to stay together, so why don’t we handle asking the younger kids?”

Fuyuko’s words brought me back to reality. I was overthinking it. She only looked a bit like my friend.

“S-sure. Can you do that?”

The two of them agreed with a “leave it to us!” and headed down the stairs to the second-year classrooms.

“Well, should we start questioning the third-years?”

Eve and I started gathering information from the advanced-track students, whom we typically didn’t interact with.

First up: the male class president with outstanding grades.

“Tsubakimori? Yeah, I used to compete with her over finals and mock test results. She looks like your normal cool girl everyone wants to go out with, but she’s smart, too, so she was a challenge. She’s got too much going for her. Someone like that probably sails through life without any setbacks.”

Second up: a girl who said she was Tsubakimori’s friend.

“I was close with her right up until she stopped coming to school. She didn’t seem to have any problems, and I heard she was dating a guy from another school. I think her life was perfect. She was cute, too—almost like an invincible girl with no flaws?”

Third up: the only delinquent in the class, who hardly interacted with Tsubakimori.

“Dunno much about her. She was kinda boring when she started at school, but then she suddenly changed her image after summer vacation. Her grades went up, too. It sucked ’cause I thought she was a failure like me. I liked her better when she was boring.”

Fourth up: a cheerful blond boy who was a self-proclaimed fan of Tsubakimori.

“My research shows that Miss Tsubakimori has a happy family life. I’m sure she’s rich and lives in a mansion! I’m so into her mature vibe. I’ve confessed my love to her eight times, and she always said no! She said she didn’t want to date anyone before graduation. —She’s dating a guy from another school? That’s fake. Please let it be fake.”

In the end, we heard about Tsubakimori from over half the class. Most of the classmates who knew her said she was “cheerful, with lots of friends,” “academically gifted,” and “a rich girl,” which was mostly in line with the initial four opinions we heard.

“Tsubakimori stopped going to school, and everyone’s worried about her, but no one can get in touch with her, and no one knows where she lives…huh?”

I summarized everything in my notebook and started putting the pieces together in a corner of the hallway.

There was no obvious trouble or conflict going on with her class or family. In short, there was zero reason for her to refuse to come to school.

If I wanted to go down a more supernatural route, I’d say Kanna Tsubakimori didn’t exist in the first place. She could be a collective folie à deux dreamed up by the advanced-track students or an inside joke that those of us in the general curriculum didn’t get.

“…No, Fuyuko’s known her since middle school, so that can’t be it.”

A reason she’d stop coming to school…?

Maybe, like me, she had a physical ailment she hadn’t shared with anyone.

“Physical ailment?” I repeated the words that popped into my head.

That was it. People had mentioned she was dating a guy from another school.

A man and woman. A romantic relationship. Summer vacation. A physical ailment—or at least a change.

Could it be that—

“Is your investigation going well, Miss Natsunagi?”

As my conclusion started to form, someone called me from behind, and I turned around.

“M-Ms. Yomogi? Why are you here?”

“Hm? I teach advanced-track classes, too. Eve told me you were investigating Miss Tsubakimori’s disappearance from school.”

“Y-yes. Do you know anything about her, Ms. Yomogi?”

“Well…my impression is that she had noticeable health issues around spring, before she stopped coming to school. I remember she often left school early, complaining of nausea and dizziness.”

I knew it. The timing made sense, too.

Based on my current deduction, the most likely answer to the mystery was…

“Tsubakimori…got pregnant with her boyfriend.”

After school in the nurse’s office, I summarized the information the three of them had gathered, but it wasn’t much different from what I’d heard, and nothing stood out.

“This is just my theory, but—”

I gathered the fragments of information that made up the mystery.

Deduction was, in the end, just a confirmation process. It was about stepping back to see the big picture, considering the opinions of others, and finally reaching the answer.

I told them why Kanna Tsubakimori stopped coming to school.

My theory was very grounded in reality, and the three of them fell silent for a bit.

“Getting pregnant during high school. Well, it’s a familiar story,” Ms. Koyomi spoke first, while the girls were speechless. “At least one student a year drops out for that sort of reason. It’s a common occurrence, and teachers don’t go out of their way to make a big deal of it.”

“…Did you ever look after Tsubakimori in the nurse’s office, Ms. Koyomi?”

“No. She rarely came to the nurse’s office. If she didn’t want anyone to find out about her pregnancy, it made sense that she was leaving school early.”

Eve joined in, adding more credibility to my deduction. “She was an honor student from an affluent and respectable family. Her parents were probably quite concerned with what people would think. If she stopped coming to school after an argument, it would follow logically.”

“It’s hard to talk about it with other girls. Even between close friends like us, I think it’d take courage to say it. I know it’s not something to be embarrassed about, but…hmm.”

Haruru tilted her head in confusion, in contrast to the calm Eve.

Youth was fun. And it could be painful, too.

Whether we liked it or not, we couldn’t ignore consequences. We weren’t children.

“…I see. So you’re going with that as your answer, huh?” Fuyuko was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed. She didn’t look very convinced. “If this were a mystery novel, that might be very close to the truth. But we’re living this youth for real. Kanna isn’t fiction.”

Yes, she was a real, living girl.

Fuyuko gazed at me. “I’m not saying it’s wrong to focus on words and data, but you haven’t even spoken to her. Just like with the art club, understanding the other person is crucial, isn’t it?”

“Are you trying to say I shouldn’t make any conclusions based on guesswork? But it’s not like I can meet her.”

“That’s why, Nagisa—”

Fuyuko took a step closer, facing me with a serious expression.

“Let’s go on a date the next day we’re off. Just the two of us, connecting with each other.”

It wasn’t her usual joking vibe or the insincere tone she used to hit on girls.

Fuyuko Shirahama was sincerely asking me out on a date.

“Ugh…I got caught up in the moment and said okay.”

It was a holiday. I’d dressed up the best I could and arrived at a certain station in Tokyo.

I’d coordinated a polished look, pulling the whole thing together with a high-waisted white skirt. The low heels I wore felt like a nice change, too. Lately, I’d been picking loafers or other shoes that were easy to move in.

Would Fuyuko be impressed by my slightly more adult look? Hee-hee.

“…Hey! No, this is all wrong! It’s not like I’m wearing this to make Fuyuko happy or anything…b-but this really feels like a pre-date mood…”

Fuyuko had lit up after I accepted her invitation, but when we were about to go home, she’d had a somewhat lonely look in her eyes. I’d only picked this outfit because I wanted to brighten her spirits a little!

“Thanks for waiting, Nagisa.”

While I was busy fretting to myself, Fuyuko showed up.

“Y-you look so cool…!”

Fuyuko was dressed in a boyish style, which was what I’d expected. Her black jacket and pants went perfectly with her leather boots. When most girls dressed like that, they tended to give off a tomboy vibe, but Fuyuko just looked like a hot guy, which was unfair.

“Hee-hee, thanks. I like your outfit, too, Nagisa. I want to bury my head inside your long skirt and live there, away from all the unpleasantness in the world. I want to be your undies.”

“You slipped in an obscene desire at the end! Oh. I’m glad you complimented my clothes, but keeping a girl waiting costs you points.”

“Oh? Are you acknowledging me as a boy? Then I’ll have to lead my adorable princess around everywhere today.”

“Ooh…! I—I didn’t mean it like that!”

Oh no. My mind was instinctively placing Fuyuko in the boyfriend role.

I mean, that outfit was exactly the sort of thing I liked! She was definitely trying to look like him on purpose!

“Oh, fine! You can be my boyfriend or whatever today! So where are we going?”

“I’m not sure you’ll like them, but there’re some places I want to check out together. Is that okay with you?”

“Of course it is.”

“Oh, but first, I’m just exhausted from all the prep this morning. I know a nice place; want to take a break there? Don’t worry. We’ll just sleep in the bed—nothing more!”

“My boyfriend is inviting me to the worst place right after we met up. What a total scumbag.”

Fuyuko seemed to be joking about the break after all (though I could swear her eyes looked a little sad), and we headed to a certain Tokyo landmark that was within walking distance from the station.

The observation deck of the world’s tallest tower.

“This is a pretty cliché choice for our first stop. I’m surprised at you, Fuyuko.”

“Really? I’ve been here once, but I thought you might enjoy it since it’s your first time, Nagisa. It’s a must-see spot for high schoolers.”

“Oh, now that you mention it, you might be right. Well, I’d have a good time anywhere with you, Fuyuko. I wish we’d invited Haruru and Eve.”

“They were both sulking like crazy. In the end, they settled on spending the whole day at Haruru’s place to see who could clear the most levels in a game.”

“Ha-ha. A home date to compete with ours. That’s very Haruru.”

We chatted while we rode the high-speed elevator up to the observation deck. It was decently crowded but not so packed that it was uncomfortable.

“Wow! You can see the view before you even get off the elevator!”

It had been some time since the tower opened, but it was still crowded because it was a must-see spot…and because some new scenery had been added recently.

“That’s the Yggdrasil that suddenly popped up last month,” Fuyuko muttered as she stared at the huge tree reaching up to the heavens from a famous shopping center in western Tokyo.

It was a new Tokyo landmark that could be clearly seen with the naked eye, no telescope necessary.

“Lots of high school girls used to go there, but now the government’s made it off-limits. It’s kind of a bummer. We wanted to go there once, the three of us.”

Research there led to the discovery of unknown atoms, along with other events that had a devastating effect on human history. But only a handful of people worldwide knew about it. The general public had only been told that the area was sealed off due to the risk of collapse. Since howthe giant tree appeared hadn’t been explained, it was on the news every day.

“…I’m glad I get to be a high school girl.” I placed my hand over my heart while gazing at the Yggdrasil.

The seeds scattered long ago were gone, and so was the precious person who’d protected me. Even so, the fact that I could be me was thanks to various miracles.

“I’ve been through a lot,” said Fuyuko, “but I’m glad I became a high school girl, too. If I had more purpose and courage, by now, I’d be—”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Er, nothing. Oh! Look, Nagisa! No one’s using the telescope! You have money, right? Can you spot me? I’ll pay you back soon.”

“A boyfriend who asks his girlfriend for money—even small change—gets minus fifty thousand points.”

We visited a number of date spots after that: the leading domestic art museum; a large, stylish bookstore; and a charming café that was inside an old-fashioned house and served tea and wagashi.

But I couldn’t help thinking there was something off about each one. They weren’t the kinds of places Fuyuko would typically go, and she didn’t seem familiar with them, either. Fuyuko loved movies, fashion, and cafés where she could enjoy delicious coffee. She also had a girly side as a fan of mascot characters and shoujo manga.

“Fuyuko, did you go out of your way for me today?” I asked as we walked through Rinkai Park, which was our last stop.

The evening sky was desolately beautiful. Red and gold, with a touch of blue. It was a twilight sky—the fleeting moment when day became night.

“You think? Then you’ve really been paying attention to me today.”

“Of course I have; we’re friends. But I was hoping you’d be more interested in the art museum and bookstore. You looked a little bored, and it showed on your face.”

“They aren’t places I’m into. Not that they were your favorites, either. Today’s date was a kind of memory lane for me.”

“…Memory lane? You mean you’ve been to these places before?”

“Yeah. They’re all places I went to with Kanna in middle school.”

What Fuyuko said threw me for a loop. Her face held a trace of sadness, and I could tell the memories weren’t purely happy ones.

“I was pretty wild back then. Kanna was the kind class rep who couldn’t mind her own business when it came to me. Over time, we started talking more at school, and we were friends before I knew it.”

Fuyuko was telling me about her life before I’d met her.

“Kanna was always kind to me, even though I had some attendance issues at school. To be honest, it was a little annoying because back then, I thought the whole world was my enemy.”

“So she pulled the thorns out of your heart by being with you?”

“Ha-ha. Maybe. We talked a lot from the summer of our third year of middle school until graduation. But we never hung out after school. I was too busy, among other things.”

After a short pause, Fuyuko continued delving into the past.

“Kanna seemed to want to make memories with me, so she kept inviting me out. I finally accepted, thinking I should go at least once, and we went to all the same spots you and I did today right before graduation.”

“Was it fun? Or was it a little boring then, too?”

“The places we went to were really boring. But I liked talking to Kanna, so it was still fun. Then…at the end of the day, here at Rinkai Park, Kanna confessed her feelings to me.”

“What?! Y-you mean, she loved…?”

“Yes. But to me, she was just a friend, and I didn’t want to have someone special in my life. So I said no, but she didn’t give up. She said…”

“…I want you to go on a date with me in three years’ time. By then, I’ll be such an attractive girl that I’ll make you fall for me.”

“…I’m surprised. You’re into girls, but you didn’t go out with her?”

“Right. Back then, I was mentally exhausted. I didn’t have room in my life for…”

Fuyuko was choosing her words carefully, being considerate of Tsubakimori even though she wasn’t here. It was like she didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

“I wanted her to date someone better than me, and I didn’t want either of us to lose our one and only friend. That was the reason, Nagisa.”

“…I see. That sounds like something you would do, I guess. And I’m glad you have precious friends besides us.”

“Well, I might consider dating her now, but unfortunately, I have two best friends named Nagisa and Haruru. If I dated someone else, wouldn’t they be lonely?”

Somehow, I couldn’t help but imagine Fuyuko turning down an invitation to hang out after school in favor of her girlfriend. Of course I’d be happy for her—because I had to be—but I suspected I’d be jealous, too.

“You’re so cute when you’re frantically thinking to yourself, Nagisa. That means yes, right?”

“Sh-shut up! I’m not the needy type!”

“No, I actually think you’re pretty needy…”

“Huh? No way? Am I? It’s true that my love is a bit intense. And I’m possessive. And jealous. And I want you to only look at me and not think about your ex!”

Fuyuko snickered quietly, and I couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

Suddenly, a gentle warmth spread across my hand.

“Maybe love is supposed to be needy. It has a big impact on both people, so it’s okay if it’s needy, messy, or even ugly. As long as you’re sincere toward your partner…that’s what matters.”

Fuyuko gripped my hand tightly and looked down.

“…I want Kanna to stay just as sincere as she was back then, too.”

Seeing that rare, vulnerable expression on her face, I had to give her a pat on the head.

“I think Tsubakimori will keep her promise. I think she’s loved you ever since you went on that date, Fuyuko. After seeing the places we went to today, I understood that.”

The image everyone had of Tsubakimori wasn’t the real her at all. She was a traditional, intellectual girl who was kind and considerate of others. The places she loved seemed to be filled with her likes. To keep liking something was extremely difficult, whether that was a person or a thing.

“My deduction that Tsubakimori got pregnant and stopped coming to school…was sloppy. If I knew even a little bit about her, I would never have assumed that. I still have a long way to go.”

I misjudged her, even though I was a detective. You couldn’t understand someone’s personality or preferences through a game of telephone. I needed to meet her face-to-face to understand her. If I couldn’t do that, I should have learned about her from someone who was close to her, like I was able to do for the art club case.

“Thank you, Fuyuko, for telling me about Tsubakimori. I want to get to know her properly this time. And then I want to find the answer. I want you to help me.”

“…Yeah! I want you to get to know Kanna, too. She’s a fascinating girl, so I’m sure you two would get along!”

“I really enjoyed our date route today. Maybe I’d have more fun going around with Tsubakimori than you, Fuyuko? Heh-heh.”

“The girl who loved me is being NTR’d by the girl I love?! N-no…should I be celebrating this? What do you think?! Let me join in, too!”

“So basically, you want to be between us… Well, I doubt anyone would turn down a girl as attractive as Tsubakimori.”

I used my phone to look at the picture Yumeno had given me. It was of Tsubakimori wearing her school uniform and smiling in the drama clubroom. Every time I saw this picture, I was reminded of how beautiful she was.

“Fuyuko, you and Tsubakimori walking side by side would make a nice picture.”

“No.”

When I looked up from my phone and saw Fuyuko standing in front of me, I could see slight disgust and intense disbelief written across her face. Her smile had vanished, like she’d been confronted with some strange creature.

Her gaze was fixed on the picture of Kanna Tsubakimori on my phone.

“Nagisa, that girl…that’s not Kanna. I don’t know who that is. Who’ve you been talking about and looking for this whole time?”

The Kanna Tsubakimori we knew was an impostor.

According to Fuyuko, their body shapes and hair colors were different, and they only slightly resembled each other in face and build. Fuyuko and I contacted Haruru and Eve immediately after our date, and we gathered at a family restaurant near the school to discuss things.

“…I see. So it wasn’t the pregnancy—it was that everything was wrong from the start.”

Haruru, her expression grim, drank some water and summed up what had occurred between me and Fuyuko.

“We could have figured it out if we’d showed the picture to Fuyu, but we didn’t because she knew Tsubakimori to begin with. That’s where we went wrong. Well, we couldn’t have predicted this twist…”

“No, I had a feeling something was off during the investigation stage,” Eve said, holding a cup of tea next to me. “Tsubakimori’s classmates predominantly referred to her as a cheerful, popular type, but a number of them also said—”

She was plain when she started at school.

“After summer vacation, her appearance changed, and her grades improved. In other words, before that, Kanna Tsubakimori was a forgettable student who made no lasting impression on anyone…”

Debuting an image change in high school or after summer break was normal for us high school girls. If your debut was a striking success, it would overwrite people’s previous impressions of you, especially if you didn’t have many friends to begin with and hadn’t drawn much attention before.

“So when this girl took Tsubakimori’s place…”

“I guess it happened after summer vacation. She must have been going to school before. Then for some reason, Tsubakimori-senpai was…stolen away by that girl.”

Her position was. Or perhaps, even her identity itself.

I felt a chill run down my spine as different possibilities raced through my head.

“We…should tell Ms. Koyomi about this. If there’s the chance it’s a crime, it’s already beyond our—”

“Don’t!”

Fuyuko shouted so loudly, her voice echoed across the floor of the restaurant. The people at the other tables stared at us for a moment, but the din quickly resumed.

“Calm down, Fuyu,” Haru scolded. “I know how you feel, but we have no way to lure this impostor woman out.”

Fuyuko just slurped her coffee with a sour expression.

“If we had her social media,” Eve suggested, “we could call her out through posts or messages. What do you think?”

“That would be tough, since it looks like all her social media accounts are locked…,” I replied.

I took another look at my phone. From what Yumeno told me, all Tsubakimori’s socials had been inactive since before summer vacation, and everyone she knew was blocked on the messaging app.

“Is there anything we can do? Some way to communicate with her…Oh!”

Right. We didn’t necessarily have to go through proper channels. If she’d done something to feel guilty about, then there were no issues with us playing dirty, too.

“Hey, guys. Wanna try…blackmailing this so-called Tsubakimori?”

Then the start of the school week came.

We still had around two hours before the other students would get here. Even the sports clubs hadn’t started morning training yet. In that time, the four of us were waiting in an empty classroom for someone. There were no words shared between us, only the slight anxiety over whether she would actually show up.

“…You’re the ones who called me here?”

It was the impostor who’d been pretending to be Kanna Tsubakimori. But since we didn’t know her real name, I was forced to call her Tsubakimori.

“That’s right, Tsubakimori. Thank you for coming so early in the morning.”

“‘Thank you’? Wow, you’re terrible. You’d have no choice but to show up if something like this was done to you. I should have deleted all the socials and not been so lazy.”

Tsubakimori laughed in a self-deprecating way.

What I did to her was some very simple blackmail. I created a social media account and sent a friend request to Tsubakimori’s locked account. That was all I did, but she couldn’t exactly ignore me.

“I mean, anyone would do a double-take at a friend request from an account called ‘I’ll Expose Your Secret.’ So fine. You freaked me out.”

Even if she wasn’t checking social media, she’d get a push notification on her phone with the account still there. We couldn’t send messages directly, so we leveraged the social media system itself to threaten her.

It seemed extremely effective. A great success.

“Well, since you figured out a lot, I might as well reintroduce myself. My name is Irori Shiragiku. I’m a twenty-year-old college dropout and a NEET.”

“Twenty…? So you’re not even in high school?”

“That’s right. I got into a top-tier university, but my motivation fizzled out, and I got your typical overachiever burnout. I’d already stopped going by the end of the first semester.”

I couldn’t see any connection. How did Shiragiku get involved with Tsubakimori?

“Where did you meet Kanna?” Fuyuko asked Shiragiku sharply, stepping in front of me and looking impatient—but she responded with the composure of an adult.

“I knew Kanna Tsubakimori’s father. He was a university professor, and I learned a lot from his lectures.”

There were rumors that Tsubakimori’s family was wealthy and influential. That tracked with her father being a professor.

“So we happened to meet at the university and wound up talking when I was voluntarily withdrawing. That was when he told me about his daughter—that her grades were poor and she was on the verge of being expelled for missing school.”

I had a bad feeling about this. A parent ashamed of his daughter’s failure and a pupil close in age to his daughter showing up…

“Don’t tell me Tsubakimori’s father asked you to take her place?” I said, and Shiragiku nodded.

“They offered me money and housing. Since I would be a NEET otherwise, I had no reason to refuse.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…,” Fuyuko muttered weakly in disbelief. I felt the same way.

No parent should have been allowed to forcefully and illegally rewrite their daughter’s life. Tsubakimori should have had her own irreplaceable youth.

“Fortunately, my build and face were similar to hers, so I just waited for the right time to take over. Given her tendency to miss school, I figured I could take advantage of the long summer vacation.”

Shiragiku took out a thick stack of paper from her tote bag and handed it to me. Inside was a comprehensive profile of Kanna Tsubakimori, with details about everything from her hobbies to her interpersonal relationships and past, down to her favorite subjects and shoe size.

“I was good at studying, so I organized and memorized everything she told me. As a result, I started high school for the second time right after summer vacation ended.”

Tsubakimori hadn’t made much of an impression to begin with, so replacing her had been easy, and she hadn’t struggled with academics because of her previous experience at a famous school.

There was a small smile on Shiragiku’s lips as she talked about these things.

“It was really fun. Even more so because I basically spent my own high school years studying. I avoided romance because I didn’t want to have my cover blown, but it was still a good time.”

“…Why did you decide to end that good time?”

“I mean, there was no need to continue. Graduating as Kanna Tsubakimori wouldn’t have any value to her parents. My contract had ended.”

I pondered the true meaning behind her words.

Did Shiragiku put an end to her substitute life for Tsubakimori’s sake? No, that wasn’t it. It was too late for Tsubakimori to return, and Shiragiku seemed to be enjoying her second youth to the fullest. In other words—

“Kanna Tsubakimori went abroad two weeks ago for surgery. She won’t be coming back.”

The words Shiragiku uttered were unexpected. I had already suspected there were reasons Tsubakimori couldn’t be seen in public when we discovered her replacement, but the reason was far more painful than I’d expected.

Haruru, Eve, and I were able to come to terms with it, but the one person who couldn’t was Tsubakimori’s friend.

“No way.”

Out of all of us present, Fuyuko was hit the hardest by shock. She tried to speak, opening her mouth repeatedly, but no words came out.

Whether she was aware of how upset Fuyuko was or not, Shiragiku continued speaking. “Apparently, she’d missed so much school because she was ill. Her grades were actually good until halfway through the year, but by the end of the rainy season, she could hardly go to school at all.”

“You mean she had a chronic illness?”

“Yes. It had been steadily getting worse since she started school. During the two years I was taking her place, her condition worsened even more… Things were looking quite serious by the start of summer vacation.”

Shiragiku stopped coming to school right before summer vacation, meaning that her parents likely decided to take their daughter abroad at that point and told Shiragiku the contract was over.

“And it seemed like there were extenuating circumstances.”

When Ms. Koyomi had asked her fellow teachers about the situation, Tsubakimori’s homeroom teacher had been evasive, likely because her parents had told them about Shiragiku taking her place. If the surgery and recovery were protracted, it would be impossible for Shiragiku to continue playing the role of a teenager, especially with all the legal formalities involved.

Hospitalized because of illness. The loss of the youth she’d envisioned…and then the loss of her life.

I knew how painful that was. I was only able to live as a high school girl now thanks to all the people who helped me and quite a few strokes of luck.

“That’s everything about me—the true identity of Irori Shiragiku, the NEET who played the role of Kanna Tsubakimori. Now, I suppose we’re at the end of the story? I don’t think there’s anything else you want to know.”

The four of us knew the mystery was at an end—all our incorrect deductions and hopeful wishes had come to nothing.

Shiragiku seemed to read our expressions, and as if something had come to her, she pointed to the bottom of the papers she’d handed over.

“That one page is in her handwriting, so you can read it if you like. Well then, bye-bye, you adorable real high school girls.”

Shiragiku left the classroom. This was probably the last day she’d wear that uniform.

The mystery might have naturally come to an end without us exposing it.

It might have been better for people to forget her without ever knowing the truth and let it fade into memory—

How much easier would that have been on Fuyuko? She would have been spared the wound in her heart.

“…I’m the worst.”

Her faint murmur echoed in the silent classroom, and immediately after, Fuyuko dashed off like she was trying to achieve escape velocity from reality.

“Fuyuko!”

“Fuyu!”

Fuyuko didn’t turn back at all when we called after her.

Was it okay for us to intrude when we knew nothing about their relationship? Would our hollow words of comfort make Fuyuko’s pain even worse?

Haruru and I were frozen in place by those thoughts, but—

“Go after her, Senpais!”

Eve gave us the push we needed, her voice unusually forceful.

“The only ones who can help Fuyuko right now are her friends. Instead of overthinking things…just go after her and give her a hug!”

I never thought I’d hear such passionate words from her.

It was because we were so close that we wound up overthinking it. From Eve’s slightly more detached perspective, our concerns probably looked ridiculous.

“Let’s go, Haruru, before Fuyuko does something stupid!”

“Okay! It’s up to us idiots to go get our cute idiot! Hang on juuuust a little bit, Eve. We’re going to love Fuyuko with all our might! Heh-heh!”

“All right, then I’ll be waiting in the music room. We haven’t done morning band practice yet. I’ll be counting on you.”

We rushed out into the hallway with Eve seeing us off.

Places where Fuyuko was likely to go… There was only one that came to mind. Haruru must’ve had the same thought, and our feet kept moving in the same direction.

Behind the school, there was a prefab bike parking area with a roof, but not many students used it because our school was close to a train station and bus stop. It didn’t get much sunlight, and students rarely went there except when they were going to and from school.

It had become a hangout spot for delinquents who skipped class.

“Before we met, she used to come and read in secret here,” she’d said.

“You told me about this place, Fuyuko.”

Fuyuko stood motionless at the very back of the bike parking lot, in front of the fence that marked the boundary for school property.

She looked like a child who’d reached a dead end in a maze.

“…I thought we’d at least run into each other, even if I didn’t go see her. We went to the same school. We had a date to meet in three years. I was so arrogant about it…and I neglected her.”

She put her hand on the fence but didn’t turn around.

Fuyuko kept talking to herself, extracting the words that had been bottled up in her heart, one by one. “The advanced class was busy, so of course our schedules didn’t match up. I thought that was normal. My phone broke, and I couldn’t contact her, but I convinced myself things were still fine. I didn’t see her in my second or third year. I should have noticed something was wrong then. I kept making excuses to put off seeing her. I had my own youth, and she had hers… I put that boundary between us. I took her kindness for granted, belittled it, and did nothing for her.”

Why, why, why?

Filled with mounting regret, Fuyuko removed her hand from the fence. Her small hands shook from gripping it so tightly.

“Why couldn’t I give her comforting words or a cheerful smile while she was sick? I’m sure she would’ve wanted that.”

“I’m the worst.”

Fuyuko repeated the words she’d muttered in the classroom and hung her head. She seemed ready to be crushed by the weight of her guilt.

All Haruru and I could do was hug her gently.

Maybe there was no need to console her or shed tears of sympathy. I was sure Fuyuko would continue to regret things and find her own answers starting tomorrow.

But for now…she leaned into us, seeking our warmth, and I said to her—

“It’s going to be okay, Fuyuko.”

With those words, we stayed by her side. Maybe that would be enough.

Several days later, Haruru, Eve, and I went to the gym after school.

Its large stage was set to be the main stage for the culture festival—on the day itself, various performances would be showcased there. One of them was the club performance being rehearsed in front of us now.

“Fuyuko always looks so cool no matter what she does… It’s totally unfair.”

Fuyuko had temporarily joined the drama club to be the stand-in for Tsubakimori…or more accurately, Shiragiku’s role.

The play was about an impostor of a woman who fabricated her youth. The subject matter might have seemed oddly timely, but the script for the play the drama club was putting on had been written by none other than—

“The real Tsubakimori had been developing the script since middle school. Of course the starring role has to be Fuyuko.”

Sure enough, like Haruru had said, Tsubakimori had left behind a clumsy, single page’s worth of a coming-of-age story for her beloved friend. It was more synopsis than script and more love letter than story.

After Fuyuko finished reading it, she managed to complete the script in one night.

“I’m glad Yumeno gave it the green light. I had my doubts she would at first.”

We’d told Yumeno, who’d been the closest to Tsubakimori, the details of the substitution. She was surprised when she heard it, but she also seemed a little sad.

“…To Yumeno-senpai, Shiragiku was Tsubakimori, an important friend. Most people would have been shocked to hear she was an impostor.”

Eve was right. She might have even rejected it.

Nevertheless, Yumeno chose to accept both versions of Kanna Tsubakimori—the impostor she’d shared her youth with and the real one she never knew.

After reading the script, Yumeno apparently said to Fuyuko, “I think both Tsubakimoris were wonderful girls. I’d like to know more about both of them.”

They’d talked about their precious friends—for Fuyuko, that was Tsubakimori, and for Yumeno, that was Shiragiku—and revised the script accordingly.

Now the two faced each other on stage.

Fuyuko played the role of Kanna Tsubakimori, while Yumeno played a role based on Irori Shiragiku.

“Good luck, Fuyuko.”

While thinking deeply about the friend who loved her, and whom she loved in return, and searching for her shadow on the stage…

Fuyuko delivered her lines powerfully…

…as if she was trying to reach her irreplaceable old friend, with whom she once shared time…

On stage, she raised her voice, pouring the feelings from her heart into every word.

Chapter 3

Trajectory to the Future

“We’re in the ninth round of the ‘Which Girls’ Band Costume is the Sexiest?’ Championship!”

“Yay! Clap, clap, clap!”

“Huh? We’re doing this contest again? Is there some invisible force at work here?”

It was after school, with the culture festival opening finally approaching.

We’d somehow managed to keep the band going, and our performance was starting to take shape. Thanks to Fuyuko’s groveling to the student council execs, we’d secured our spot on the stage.

That was when my one question about what we were going to do for costumes caused the topic to veer in a very spicy direction.

“Nagisa-senpai, is this a typical daily conversation for you all?” Eve, our band leader, asked with a very confused expression.

I was confused myself. This was in no way representative of our typical daily conversations. Well, similar topics did come up, so maybe it was!

“I’m sorry, Eve. Those two are a little messed up.”

“It bothers me, the way you make it sound like you’re the voice of reason… Well, whatever.”

“Anyway, Eve, what do you want to do for costumes? I’d love it if you could give me an idea while we ignore those idiots.”

“Let’s see. I suggest we go with full-body latex catsuits.”

“That’s the worst! Even our junior is going along with your idiot vibes and suggesting freaky costumes!”

“I love how obscene the ones that cover your face are. It’s like some cold, otherworldly entity appeared in everyday life. It’s exciting in multiple senses of the word…isn’t it? It is!”

“I hate that this is the most excited I’ve seen you since we met… Absolutely not!”

After Eve made her suggestion, the prince-type idiot murmured, “I get it…,” and nodded her head in approval, while the gyaru-type idiot muttered, “I totally agree.” They could all go to hell together.

“I like the traditional swimsuit! You know, because we’re called Summers. If we thread the bass and guitar straps through our cleavage, the boys’ eyes will be glued to us for sure!”

“Yeah, we’ll have the eyes of the culture festival committee and the student guidance office glued to us, too.”

“I’m a little torn, but maybe yukata? No underwear. It’s like exposing yourself but still legal… So lewd…”

“Are fireworks going off in your head? Why don’t you just explode with them?”

The idiots (Eve included, this time) pouted as I kept shooting down their ideas. Those faces are pissing me off, so stop!

“Then you come up with the outfit, Nagi! And you’re the most repressed one in the band!”

“That’s right. Unlike Nagisa, we’re thinking of something tame. You’re just going to bombard us with your weird fantasies like last time, right?”

“I’d like to know more, Nagisa-senpai. Teach me just how perverted your mind is.”

“F-fine, if you want me to…! Just what kind of girl do you guys think I am?! I told you before, I’m just a normal teenage girl!”

“No, you’re not,” they all said in unison. Grrr…! Fine, I’ll prove it—no!

“You’re trying to provoke me into saying something unhinged again, aren’t you? I’ll never make that mistake in front of my cute junior!”

I’d caught onto Fuyuko and Haruru’s plan, and they grimaced in frustration. I knew it! Of course, the two of them teased me relentlessly in other ways and made lewd comments, but I was an adult now. I wasn’t going to fall for their trap again!

“Honestly, you’re all rushing into these basic sexy costumes. Think about it. In reality, the kind of accidental fan-service moments you see at the culture festival, or school in general, are much less extreme. Like, if you’re not paying attention when you take your shoes out of the shoe cubby and you accidentally flash your underwear from under your skirt. For guys, those small moments of happiness stick with them more. Personally, I’d be upset and depressed all day if my underwear was accidentally seen by a guy I like, but when I got home and went to bed, I’d think about it: Was I wearing underwear I was okay with him seeing today? Or…if he was going to see it anyway, I wish I’d worn something cuter. Maybe I should have worn some sexy underwear to make him horny?”

I got out of bed, took off my pajamas, and checked myself out in my underwear to be sure, but then I suddenly got embarrassed and thought I should just ask him what kind of underwear he liked, but since it was only a crush, that would be kind of a pervert move, so I just went to bed, frustrated.

“At least in my dreams, he’d pursue me more aggressively. That loser is still sticking me in the friend zone. I wonder if it’ll stay that way until graduation… I just want to spend more of my sweet youth alone with him. But he’s not coming to school at all, even with the culture festival coming up! I was going to take him around to all the booths! And when I do go see him, all he talks about is other girls! Ahh, geez! Is this really how things should be for me?! What do you guys think?!”

“I dunno…”

“I don’t know…”

“I do not know…”

When I snapped out of it, the three of them were in the corner of the music room, looking at me with terror in their eyes for some reason. Why? Sure, I went on for a bit, but…

“You don’t get it. Should I keep explaining, then?”

“No, I’m good! No more! Please calm down, Nagi!”

“L-let’s drop the costume talk! I’m thirsty, so let’s go to the vending machine!”

“It sounded like you were complaining about something real at the end there… Uh, no. Never mind. Let’s just go with uniforms for the costumes. Ha-ha, ha-ha-ha.”

“Oh, sorry. We were talking about costumes, right? Wedding dresses might be good. I haven’t worn one yet, and if he saw me as a bride—mmph!”

I was trying to stay on topic, but Fuyuko and Haruru clamped their hands over my mouth and glared for some reason. I guess I’d been talking too much?

After that, we finished band practice and decided to head home. When I opened the shoe cubbies to take out my loafers…

“Huh? What’s this?”

Inside, there was something wrapped up, though the wrapping was much too simple to be a present. I ripped it open, and something like a book fell out.

“What’s that, Nagi? A diary?”

Fuyuko and Haruru noticed my reaction and peered in from the side together. Now that Haruru mentioned it, it did resemble a diary more than a book or notebook.

“I don’t know. I wonder if there’s something written inside?”

I opened it, and the pages were all blank, with photos slipped between them instead.

“These are pictures of…me? And they’re analog photos. I wonder when these were taken?”

“Your hair’s long, so they must be from a while ago.”

It was me from the side, sitting in class. The date at the bottom right of the photo had been erased.

“What the heck? I don’t get it; it’s a little creepy. It seems like something a stalker would do. I wonder if I should tell our homeroom teacher about this?”

I thought about turning the diary in to the teachers and having them step up patrols at school. I didn’t think I was scared of a stalker at this point, but having one was still gross.

“Hey, Fuyuko, Haruru, can I go to the staff room? It’s about this diary—”

“No, this is the work of Otherworlders, Nagisa-senpai.”

Before I knew it, Eve had returned from changing her shoes at the second-year students’ shoe cubbies.

“O-Otherworlders? What do you mean?”

“According to the information I gathered by stalking my classmates on social media, there’s rumors going around the occult club that an Otherworlder left traces of their existence in our world.”

I wasn’t going to say anything about her method of gathering information, but it was as sad as ever.

“That sounds like your typical urban legend. Like a time traveler from another world shows up on an online message board and leaves behind a prophetic message or something.”

“Well, it might be something along those lines. Apparently, that diary belonged to a being from the future.”

Eve pointed to the diary I was holding.

“It supposedly records the daily life of Otherworlder Nagisa-senpai, and it’s said to influence the Nagisa-senpai in this world. You could call it an exchange diary between two worlds.”

“…Huh? That’s so ridiculous.”

But there were so many practically unbelievable things in this world. If you stepped just a little bit beyond the visible world, everything you thought you knew would be overturned again and again.

If this really were linked to supernatural phenomena… But, well.

“Fine. Let’s test it out and see whether this is the work of a stalker or an urban legend! Though I think it’s the latter! So what should we do with this diary?”

“Why don’t you take it home, Nagisa? Or you could leave it with me and Haruru?”

“Hmm…sure, but if this diary’s really going to be updated on its own, wouldn’t it be fair to put it out of everyone’s sight? For example, in a classroom locker.”

Boys probably didn’t know this, but girls kept all sorts of things in their lockers (like maidens’ secrets or after-gym skincare products), so many locked theirs.

Not only would they be off-limits to guys, but no one could open them.

“That sounds good! We’ll keep an eye on it, too, so let’s go put it in together!”

“This is so exciting. I wonder what’s in Nagisa-senpai’s locker?”

“Well, even between girls, I don’t want to show you what’s inside.”

“What? Do you have a recorder you stole from a boy in there? Hmm?”

“You think like an elementary school boy.”

We went back to the classroom, placed the diary in the locker, and locked it. We used a cylinder lock, so it shouldn’t have been openable unless it was destroyed.

“Well, let’s see what this Otherworlder—or stalker—is made of!”

The following day, I opened the locker with the three of them.

“Okay. There’s no sign of anyone messing with it.”

The diary and the locker were both undisturbed. So what did it look like inside now?

“…This page was blank before yesterday, but…”

On the first page of the diary, along with yesterday’s date, was written:

“Today, I’m going on an overnight date with my boyfriend. I’m going to wear my special underwear because I want him to compliment me on how cute I look. I’d do anything for him! Heh-heh!”

And on the next page, there was a selfie of me in my school uniform, hiding my eyes with my hand. It was the kind of picture you’d find in the media tab of a slightly NSFW social media account. The three of them looked at the picture and shot me a knowing look. No, wait.

“N-no! I don’t take those kinds of photos, and I don’t have a boyfriend! I’m not sexually frustrated! Believe me! This is edited!”

“It’s definitely you, Nagi. It’s from when your hair was long, just like the picture from yesterday, and the ribbon looks similar, too. Plus, it’s an analog photo, so you can’t easily edit it.”

“Ugh… Haruru won that round…! F-Fuyuko!”

“If you’d only come to me, I would’ve helped you…! I would’ve paid you as much as you wanted! Why are you selling yourself short?! Come stay at my place tonight!”

“Can you not lecture me while weeping and casually baring your desires?! Eve, help!”

“We’re teens, so I won’t say anything. Just be careful of revenge porn.”

“I’m telling you, these aren’t sexy photos or anything! You idiots have zero intention of defending me!”

Grrr… None of them believed me! In that case, there was only one thing I could do.

“I’ve made up my mind. As of now, solving this mystery will be my number one priority in life.”

Now the dignity and high school life of Nagisa Natsunagi was being threatened—this would go down as the worst case in history.

“…I don’t think a mere stalker could take a picture like this, so that’s ruled out.”

If this mystery really were created by an Otherworlder version of me…

“I’ll drag her into this world and lecture her! Then…I-I’ll make her tell me who she’s dating, and maybe that’ll make me even angrier! Will you guys help me?!”

The three of them made slightly sour faces (why?), but they eventually nodded in agreement.

I was definitely going to find out the truth behind this gross diary before the culture festival!! I was going to make this the most fun youth ever—one I decided on!

“To begin with, if the experiences of the Otherworlder me—Nagisa B—are being recorded, shouldn’t we take some countermeasures?”

It was lunchtime. We were eating lunch in the cafeteria and coming up with strategies for the diary.

“‘Nagisa B’ is hard to understand. Let’s call her something else.”

“Going by what we saw yesterday, she’s sexier than our Nagi, so I think it should be Sexy Nagi! This Nagisa can be Pure Nagi. Or Cherry Nagisa!”

“I think that picture was taken by Sexy Nagi-senpai before her boyfriend arrived at her house. She’s wearing her special underwear before he arrives. I suspect she’s determined to graduate in a different way before her actual graduation ceremony.”

Fuyuko, Haruru, and Eve kept saying whatever they pleased. Did this count as bullying?

“Shut up! None of you are experienced, so stop talking like you are! I mean…wh-what about the three of you, for real? Summer vacation’s over. Do you have anything to show for it?”

I made sure the group of male students sitting near us had left before lowering my voice to ask that. The Autumnless Trio often joked around with spicy talk, but we rarely touched on anything serious. We had girl talk based on our fantasies, but none of us had actual boyfriends…

“I’m incredibly experienced. You senpais might faint if you heard how much.”

“Huh?! No way…I thought you weren’t that into guys, Eve.”

“Oh, I’m very into them, actually. I wish I could tell you about it, but I have amnesia. I probably hooked up with every guy who caught my eye before, not that I remember.”

“Let’s stop using amnesia as comic relief,” I said. “What about you, Fuyuko, Haruru?”

They exchanged glances and leaned in close to whisper.

“Don’t tell me the twist is that you guys are actually dating?”

“Ha-ha. Sorry, but we’re not. But I did go to the beach with Haruru during summer vacation.”

“I wasn’t invited! You didn’t invite me!”

“But, Nagi, you said you were getting a ride on a luxury cruise ship through your friends’ connections.”

“Ahh!”

“Not to mention, it was super mean of you to invite us swimsuit shopping, then ditch us for your own trip.”

“Ahhhh…”

I did feel awful about that! I would have loved for them to come along! But there was no way I could have asked to bring my school friends along with me, given the conditions of the invite.

“Since you kept sending us pictures of the ship’s pool and delicious-looking dinners, Nagi, we thought we’d hit the beach, too. And then… Hee-hee.”

“Oh, that. That was definitely a memorable experience. Ha-ha.”

The two of them blushed, sharing the private memory. What the heck? That wasn’t fair!

“What on earth happened, Senpais?”

The one breathing heavily and getting into it was Eve. She was so adamant about being really into guys that she might’ve been the biggest covert pervert in the group.

“We were resting on the beach when a pair of college guys started talking to us. They took advantage of us being flustered to sit down next to us, sandwiching us in between.”

“They got way too friendly, putting their arms around us and pawing at our collarbones. They were obviously eyeing up our boobs and hips and deliberately leaning in close to talk…”

“Yeah. They definitely wanted to have their wicked way with us. But we were in over our heads, so we wound up coming along to hang out in the tent they’d pitched on the beach, and there, our swimsuits—”

“N-no!! Wh-wh-why did you trust them so easily?! You absolutely can’t do that!”

Before I knew it, I’d stood up and was shouting at the two of them. I mean—

“If you do that with someone you really like, it’s fine… But you can’t let people touch you so casually…! Toying with high school girls like that…!”

Just imagining my friends being taken advantage of by those cowards made me horribly sad. If I’d been with them, I never would have let that happen…!

“I’m sorry, Nagi. We just…couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Yeah. We…couldn’t take the strong rays of the summer sun, so we borrowed sunblock from some college babes who started talking to us. We went on the spur of the moment, so we were totally unprepared! Ha-ha!”

“Double-kill!”

I brought my hands down on the tops of their heads with all my might. It was literally a double kill.

”Idiots! Idiots, idiots, idiots! Stop making me worry for no reason! I know… I’m sorry I couldn’t hang out with you guys…but I want you to always stay safe and healthy.”

I’d spent a lot of time away from them during the summer.

When there were make-up lessons at school, we spent time as our usual trio, but on other days, things were way too hectic and surreal. That was why the two of them were important parts of my everyday life. No matter when I came back, they were always as fun as ever, and I could always feel how much they loved me. Being with them was irreplaceable.

“Sorry, Nagi. That was a little mean of us.”

“We were sad, too, because it felt like you ditched us.”

We had always been together, from when I became a proxy detective to when I succeeded the Ace Detective, and now I realized the two of them had missed me.

“…Well, it’s fine. We have a cute junior now, too, so let’s hang out more from now on. I’ll make sure you guys are a priority!”

“Nagiiii! I love you! Let’s keep being codependent!”

“Uh, I don’t really like how you put that…”

“Don’t worry—you’re not going to lose us now. Oh, but the oil rub from that college babe was amazing, so we exchanged contact info.”

“Cool. If you secretly meet up with her, I’m friend dumping you.”

“That’s kinda controlling, isn’t it?! Th-then, you rub oil on my back, Nagisa……”

“Ha-ha. Hell no.”

“Somehow, you senpais have a wonderful relationship.”

While the Autumnless Trio was goofing around like usual, Eve looked a little lonely.

“A trio who thrives on shit talking each other, dragging each other down, and sexually harassing each other. If one of you gets a boyfriend, the others will take him out. It’s brutal. I love it.”

“That can’t possibly be a compliment?!”

“I truly envy you, because I can tell you’re close friends who trust each other. I hope the person I’m searching for…is someone like that.”

We still hadn’t made any progress on finding the person Eve was searching for. Neither the forbidden clubroom nor the incident with Tsubakimori had anything to do with it.

Our performance as a band had been improving, but Eve still couldn’t remember the reason she wrote that song.

There was definitely a mystery around the diary, but there was no need to pursue it.

“…I think we should stop investigating this diary. I think it’s an elaborate prank, so we can ignore it. It’s more important to help Eve get her memory bac—”

I reached out for the diary, which I’d left on a corner of the table.

“You can’t.” Eve strongly disagreed and continued, “I may not look it, but I’m quite lonely. I want to be with you all. I want to spend my youth with you. I think it’s okay to take…a more roundabout way of getting my memory back.”

So that was it. Even if the mysteries we were solving had nothing to do with her memories, Eve was enjoying spending time with us. If the Autumnless Trio was keeping her afloat while she was anxious from having lost her memory—

“Fine, I won’t hesitate to confront this mystery. However!”

I stood behind Eve, who was sitting in a chair, and hugged her protectively.

“Don’t hesitate to lean on us, too, Eve! We’re third-years…and most importantly, we care about you!”

I looked at Fuyuko and Haruru, and they joined in, hugging Eve from both sides.

The weather was still too warm for four girls to glom on to each other like that, but Eve said, “…Hee-hee. Are you all idiots, Senpais? But thank you.”

Her happy laughter made the oppressive heat feel comfortable.

“I think putting it in the locker in the first place was a mistake. Lockers with keys can be easily picked open if someone puts their mind to it.”

“I see. So as long as one of us keeps it close, the diary won’t update by itself. It’s also good protection against stalkers.”

“So the best way to keep it secure is to leave it with someone who will take good care of it!”

“Here should work. It’s a place students can’t access.”

We’d been about to put the aforementioned diary in a bag, but…

“Excuse me, excuse me? Hold it right there. What do you think you’re doing, you three?”

The owner of the bag, Ms. Koyomi, stopped us, her expression perplexed. We were in the nurse’s office after school was over for the day. This time, we’d come up with several ideas to find a place where no one could tamper with the book, but…

“Please take this diary and don’t ask why, Ms. Koyomi.”

“No, let’s explain it. It’s fine if you hold onto the diary…”

“Whoa… Koyo, there’s an empty can of booze in your bag! And some bits of sausage! The coins scattered inside are too real. I hate it…”

Ms. Koyomi screamed as Haruru rummaged through her bag without any hesitation.

“Eeek!! P-please stop! I just happened to be drinking in front of the convenience store on my way home the other day and forgot to throw away the trash!”

I never dreamed that my favorite teacher would drink alone in front of a convenience store. The picture of sorrow…

“Forget about my bag! What in the world is going on?!”

We told Ms. Koyomi about the diary, while she blushed and looked embarrassed. After she heard the whole thing, Ms. Koyomi took the diary in her hands, intrigued.

“A mysterious diary that records the experiences of your Otherworlder self. How interesting.”

“Do you believe it, Ms. Koyomi?”

“Hee-hee. Does that surprise you, Miss Natsunagi? I’m quite the romantic, so I don’t think it’s strange. There are many unusual things in the world.”

The more people learned about the world, the less their interest in ghostly and supernatural phenomena tended to be—but it was kind of nice to see there were things that still excited an adult like Ms. Koyomi.

“Hey, Koyo! What do you think your Otherworlder self is doing?” Haruru asked, and Ms. Koyomi hmmed, thinking it over.

“…She might be the world’s strongest woman.”

We couldn’t help but be puzzled at her words, and Ms. Koyomi hastily explained. “Oh, it’s nothing! Just a little joke. Just a fantasy I had when I was young. You all must have set your sights on being the best in clubs or studies at some point, right?”

It’s the same thing. With those words, Ms. Koyomi shut down the conversation. But I had a feeling that the words weren’t as similar in nature as she’d made them sound. It would be rude to pry further, so I decided to leave it at that.

“That’s the story—so would you hold onto this diary for me?”

“I’m fine with that, but wouldn’t it be more secure if you all carried it?”

“I thought about that, too, but if someone is secretly messing with it, I think it’s better if we don’t hold onto it.”

If we assumed the person tampering with the diary was the culprit, and they knew it was in one of our schoolbags or lockers, they’d likely find a way to steal and return it with the contents updated.

“I don’t think anyone will be able to access it if it’s in your home or bag, Ms. Koyomi. Would you please keep it for us?”

“All right, then. I’ll hold onto it for a night.”

There was another reason for our plan, but I didn’t need to think about it just yet. I’d confirm it once the outline of the mystery became clearer.

“Well, I’m heading home now. There’s no culture festival prep today, so I’ll listen to the band’s audio.”

“Do you have any plans, Nagisa-senpai?”

“Yep. I’m going to visit someone who’s not well. They took really good care of me.”

Rather, they were someone important to me. A comrade. A friend.

It was tricky to put my relationship with her into precise words, but I’d talk to her when she woke up, and we’d figure it out when we were on good terms again.

“Understood. There’s hardly any time before the culture festival, so please do your best on the lyrics.”

“Ugh…I’ll try. Anyway, I’m heading home. See you tomorrow!”

I’d been put in charge of writing the lyrics because I was the vocalist, but to be honest, I hadn’t come up with anything yet. Eve had included some English lyrics in the demo track, but they were just words and phrases that she threw together and didn’t seem to have any real meaning.

It was the long-awaited culture festival. Our first and last stage performance.

“I’ve got to try my best to make it a good one!”

I left the nurse’s office and headed to the hospital. I was sure he’d be by Sleeping Beauty’s side again today, but I wasn’t jealous. I knew he’d stayed by my side while I was sleeping, too.

“But I’m definitely not going to tell him about the band!”

I’d tell him after graduation and make him regret not being part of the youth I lived to the fullest. It’d be his punishment for not walking around the culture festival with me. Heh.

It was the next morning. The four of us went to the infirmary to take the diary back from Ms. Koyomi.

“I went straight home yesterday and kept it safe there. Of course, I haven’t opened it since you gave it to me, Miss Natsunagi.”

Ms. Koyomi took the diary from her bag and handed it to me.

“Now then, how did Nagisa…I mean, Sexy Nagi spend her day today?”

“I’m banking on a postcoital photo! I want to see Nagi after she spent the night with her boyfriend!”

“I can’t wait to see how mid Nagisa-senpai’s body is when she takes off her clothes. Heh-heh.”

It wasn’t mid, though? Despite appearances, I was bigger than average. I just seemed less impressive because I was surrounded by peak voluptuous and slender specimens. Eve didn’t look too bad herself. She might have had a body similar to mine if she took off her clothes. Anyway!

“There’s no way you’ll have a convenient photo like that, idiots. I’m sure it’ll be a cute picture of me petting a cat or something.”

“Got it! So you’ll be like ‘aren’t I cute petting a cat’?”

“Haruru, can you please not rearrange my sentence to make me sound worse?”

“I mean, you were the one calling it cute.”

“Can you please stop shredding your best friend’s arguments? I’m gonna cry.”

It’s fine! I’m a teenager, after all! A little vanity is fine!

“Let’s drop this and open the diary already.”

I forced the conversation back on track and opened the diary I was holding. There was a photo of two girls tucked inside.

“…Fuyuko. What’s the meaning of this?”

The photo showed me in a swimsuit (for some reason) and hiding my face in embarrassment on the bed, while Fuyuko, who was covering her apparently naked body with the sheet, sat next to me with her arms around me.

For some reason, our faces were strangely sweaty.

“This is clearly postcoital. Thank you so much.”

“Don’t just be fine with it! I don’t remember sleeping with you!”

“‘I don’t remember.’ Do you think that’ll make everything okay? Are you trying to turn the night you made passionate love to me into a fleeting indiscretion? You’re the worst.”

“You were really quick to make me the top! Did you use a technique that warps space or something?”

But being scolded by Fuyuko was kind of nice… Er, no, it wasn’t!

“There’s no way I’d do anything to you! Here, look at this sentence!”

“I got embarrassed and showed him my special swimsuit instead of my special underwear, and he got horny and had his way with me…but I wanted this to happen, so it’s fine. We’ll always be together, Fuyuko. I love you. Smooch!”

“Ew! Ugh! Don’t use ‘smooch’ in a sentence! I searched my mental dictionary, and the word definitely doesn’t work that way!”

“‘Smooch!’ is the ultimate expression of affection that Nagisa Natsunagi uses toward Fuyuko Shirahama. For example, ‘You’re so cute today, Haruru! Smooch!’”

“Don’t quote from your mental encyclopedia! Plus, you’re making me a cheater in one sentence!”

It was Fuyuko’s dictionary, so maybe Fuyupedia? Either way, I hoped it would get shut down!

“But, Nagi, you recognize this swimsuit, right?”

Haruru pointed to the photo from the side, and I took another careful look. It was a bright red bikini—the new swimsuit I’d picked out with the two of them.

“Yeah…this is my swimsuit. There’s no mistaking it.”

“Right? Meaning this postcoital girl is definitely you, Nagi. I’d never fit into such a constricting swimsuit! Ha-ha!”

“Why don’t I stuff that ‘constricting’ swimsuit into your big mouth and shut you up? You were the one who bought that really obscene one…”

The swimsuits and lingerie Haruru picked were appallingly sexy. It was impressive in its own way how she flaunted her appeal and puffed out her chest (in more ways than one).

“Meaning the girl next to Fuyuko-senpai is undeniably Nagisa-senpai. The swimsuit makes it more likely that this is a photo from the Otherworld.”

I thought about arguing with Eve, but I couldn’t completely deny what she’d said. Sweating in bed with Fuyuko was something the me of this world had never experienced. There was no way that happened!

Now, what was my next countermeasure? I did have one in mind…

“Ms. Koyomi, could you help me out with something?”

“Again? I don’t mind. It’s a teacher’s job to get roped into the pointless antics of high school girls for no extra pay.”

“Could you not direct phrases full of tragedy and sarcasm at your students?!” I said.

Ms. Koyomi smiled. “Just kidding,” she said, although if the school board had heard her, she probably wouldn’t have gotten away with calling it a joke—but enough of that.

“Could everyone come with me? I’m thinking of killing someone later,” I said.

Everyone, including Ms. Koyomi, muttered, “Huh?” Maybe they hadn’t heard me?

“I’m going to kill her. Nagisa B—I mean, Sexy Nagi. I’m going to kill her now, so help me out?”

Ms. Koyomi led us to the school garbage dump. It was directly connected to the building that housed our classrooms, and I’d seen waste collectors there several times.

“This is technically not allowed, but it’s probably fine here. And there’s a teacher present.”

Ms. Koyomi readied two iron buckets she’d found from a pile of supplies at the dump. She filled one with water and one with…

“So this is the end of my strange relationship with the Otherworlder me.”

I produced the diary from my schoolbag and hurled it into the bucket, then took out the lighter fluid and matches I bought at the hundred-yen store. The idea had crossed my mind during the hospital visit yesterday. If the diary gets updated tomorrow, maybe I should just burn it.

“I’m gonna light this thing on fire. That okay with everyone?” I thought I’d get the consent of all three of them, so I asked just in case.

“I’m violently opposed. Why burn the sexy pictures of Nagisa that show up every day, especially the steamy ones with me in them? They belong in the National Diet Library!”

“I’m opposed, too! Sexy Nagisa might break up with Fuyu and start dating me! Give me some sweet moments, too! Let Nagi do sexy things!”

“I object also. I’m very interested in Nagisa-senpai’s body, you see. I want our relationship to progress until I’ve seen her naked. I’d even like her to be naked right now. What should I do?”

“Okay, I hear everyone’s opinions loud and clear. Time to add the oil!”

When I poured the oil onto the diary, the idiots all started screaming.

Yep, I was the idiot for listening to them, so I’d reject it with my privilege as the leader, here.

“Bye-bye, other me.”

As I quietly dropped the lit match, the diary began to burn slowly. After we made sure it was ash, Ms. Koyomi doused it with water to put it out.

“Now these strange days are behind us. After today, we’ll prep for the culture festival like normal.”

True to my word, I immersed myself in our class’s culture festival prep and band practice. Before I knew it, there was less than a week until the festival. It would be the first one for me, and it should have been an important day.

I didn’t have any more time to waste on this nonsensical mystery, so I wanted to fix the bizarre situation we were in, even if I had to resort to extreme measures.

“…I see it’s back, Nagisa.”

The next day arrived. When I opened my shoe cubby, I found the diary had returned, good as new. Turning the pages, I checked inside—the slightly NSFW photos of me and the postcoital photos of Fuyuko and I were still present.

“Whaaaat?! Y-you burned it front of everyone yesterday, so why is it back here again?! I’m starting to get kind of creeped out…”

Fuyuko and Haruru voiced a mixture of concern and surprise on either side of me. I hadn’t met Eve on my way to school this morning, but I thought she’d have a similar reaction.

As for me, on the other hand…

“Well, I guess we don’t need to look at the most recent page. Fuyuko, will you hold onto this for me?”

My mind was exceedingly clear, and I wasn’t afraid—because I’d already solved this mystery.

The diary of the Otherworlder Nagisa Natsunagi. When I entrusted it to Ms. Koyomi, the contents still updated, and even when I burned it, it returned to me as if it were cursed.

Yeah. I finally knew the identity of Nagisa B.

“If I’m a detective, I have to settle things like one. Let’s call everyone involved with the diary.”

We headed straight to the nurse’s office, where Ms. Koyomi was. I’d contacted Eve, too, and now everyone was assembled.

“Nagisa-senpai, you said it was time for the solution. Did you solve the mystery?” Eve asked me with eyes full of expectation.

“Of course. I’ll say it up front: This diary didn’t come from another world.”

“What do you mean? Those photos of Sexy Nagi-senpai are undeniable proof.”

“Those photos were fabricated. They went out of their way to use analog images to rule out editing and create a sense of realism. The actual trick is much simpler. Fuyuko, can you hand me all three photos from the diary?”

Fuyuko took out the photos from the diary I’d given her at the shoe locker.

The problem was with two photos. First, the selfie of Sexy Nagi.

“If you look at this photo, it might seem like a clever deception. But the important thing is that this photo and the postcoital photo both hide her face.”

“Hmm? Could it be someone else in disguise…? To me, both of them look exactly like Nagi. They even have the same build.”

“That’s correct, Haruru. That’s why we were fooled. Among the three of us…the Autumnless Trio, none of us has the same build. However, make it a quartet, and things are different.”

When I looked at the postcoital photo yesterday, I took another look at everyone’s builds afterward. At the time, I thought, Eve wasn’t bad looking herself. She might have had a body similar to mine if she took off her clothes.

“So this photo is of Eve in a wig? Am I right?”

“…With all due respect, Nagisa-senpai, how can you be so sure when you haven’t seen my body?”

“That’s okay. I’m going to see it now.”

I pushed Eve down onto the nurse’s office bed and closed the curtain. Apologizing to Eve, who was blushing (why?), I lifted up her sailor-style uniform and checked out the part of her chest that was off-limits to guys.

“…Eve, do you always wear such cute underwear?”

“Yes. I’m prepared for anything, so I always wear sexy underwear in case of situations like this. It’s a front-hook bra, so you can remove it if you want. I want two children.”

“You’re too young to be thinking about what happens after the bra comes off. Plus, I’m not a boy, so we can’t build a happy family together. What a shame.”

“Have you noticed? I’ve never once said I was a girl since we met. I can happily make a family.”

“You’re pulling an advanced plot twist like that now?!”

Well, if a girl that cute turned out to be a boy, that would be…never mind.

“There’s no way someone with this nice a pair could be a boy, Eve!”

I straightened Eve’s sailor-style uniform and helped her get up from the bed.

I would’ve liked to have seen the tags on her underwear, but I could tell the size just by looking.

“Eve, you could wear my swimsuit for sure. That’s why the second photo makes sense. The real question is, how did you get ahold of it? But…those idiots.”

I shot Fuyuko and Haruru a quick glance. They looked panicked.

“You guys made duplicate keys to my place without asking, didn’t you? That’s why you were able to steal my swimsuit from my closet while I was out. Right?”

I never imagined the duplicate keys they made on the first day of school would come back to haunt me here.

“Putting aside the accusation that we’re the culprits, we’d never use a duplicate key just to steal a swimsuit. Right, Haruru?”

“Right. We didn’t even need to steal the swimsuit. Since we already knew where to buy it and what size you wear, we could have just bought it. I had notes about your size.”

“Oh, okay. That’s true. Give me those notes later, okay? I’m going to burn them. Unlike Nagisa B’s measurements, I’m not letting Nagisa A’s leak out into the world.”

Well, my deductions were a little off there.

“Either way, this is a cheap mystery you can crack just by seeing through the masquerade.”

“Whatever do you mean, Nagisa?”

“It would be easy for multiple people to pull this off together, like how the contents of the diary updated even though I’d left it with Ms. Koyomi or how the book made a comeback after I burned it.”

“Huh? Nagi, you’re suspecting your best friends?”

“That’s right. Accusing a cute junior like me is just plain abuse of power. I’m reporting you to the student council at warp speed. Fwoosh.”

“If this was a real mystery, and your best friends and junior start using forbidden tactics like threats and emotional appeals, I’d say it’s already checkmate. But oh well, here’s the evidence.”

I took something out of my schoolbag. It was another diary, the one we had all supposedly burned yesterday.

“This is…definitely the real diary, isn’t it?” Ms. Koyomi muttered after taking it from me and looking over the contents.

“It is. After buying lighter fluid and matches, I went around to several bookstores and stationary stores nearby. And I found a diary that was an exact match for this one.”

I’d bought it and slipped it into my schoolbag. It was just a trick to fool the culprits, so it didn’t matter if the inside was blank.

“The diary I took out of my schoolbag and burned at the garbage dump yesterday was the brand-new one. The real one someone carefully put together was hidden.”

I was sure I was able to find this answer because of all the mysteries I encountered as an Ace Detective in my other story, and the experience I had built by getting to know the people who created those mysteries.

I’d called this a cheap mystery, but I might not have been able to solve it back when I was only a proxy detective.

“I know the date that was erased off the picture, too. I think it was when you three ditched me suspiciously on my first day back at school. This is the answer I deduced all by myself. What do you think?”

The four of them didn’t answer at first, but the silence only lasted a brief moment.

Finally, Fuyuko laughed. Then Haruru, Eve, and Ms. Koyomi began to join in.

“Congratulations!”

Everyone suddenly congratulated me en masse. Huh? Wh-what was going on?

“I knew you’d changed a lot over summer vacation, Nagisa.”

“Well, I didn’t expect you to be able to solve that so perfectly. I did do my best acting, though.”

“I was just tagging along, but cosplaying Nagisa-senpai was fun.”

Did this mean I was right…? Ms. Koyomi saw my confused reaction and nudged Fuyuko.

“Come on, Miss Shirahama. You need to let her read it.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, Nagisa. The four of us wanted to sincerely celebrate you. This is our surprise. We might’ve messed it up a little, though,” Fuyuko said and took out the diary I’d left in my shoe cubby before.

She showed me today’s diary entry, after the postcoital picture.

“…Geez, you guys could have just told me.”

I couldn’t help but laugh through my exasperation.

“Today, I’m having a party with my precious friends, cute junior, and the teacher who’s always there for me! Apparently, they’re celebrating my return to school, and I’m so happy! Going forward, I want to treasure the time I spend with everyone.”

Accompanying the words was a photo of the four of them—not including me—smiling.

They must have taken the selfie on their phones when I wasn’t around. Haruru was in the front, and the other three were in the background, a little out of focus, holding crackers.

“Haruru and I were making this mystery for you over the summer, Nagisa, but it wasn’t very interesting with just the two of us… We hadn’t even finished it your first day back.”

“When we met Eve, I thought, ‘Maybe this will work with her!’ and we rushed to finish the mystery that day. So, uh…sorry we didn’t get to celebrate you.”

“I was just a dress-up doll for the two of them. But it was fun, so I’ll let it slide. Heh-heh.”

So that’s how it was. They couldn’t celebrate on my first day back because they were finishing the mystery together.

Their words were so kind that I quickly turned my face away before I started to cry. They’d still thought about me after I’d left them for so long.

I really did love them all.

“Miss Natsunagi, how would you like to have a belated celebration for your return to school with us?”

“Yes!” I immediately replied to Ms. Koyomi’s offer.

“We can use my place if there’s nowhere else, and if there’s no money, I’ll pay for it. We can even…cut loose a little more than usual! I definitely want to do it!”

“Then we’ll take you up on your offer and have a free, hardcore party at Nagisa-senpai’s place.”

“That’s a relief! We were struggling with the venue. Fuyu and I can’t really use our places, Eve’s our junior, and Ms. Koyomi’s place is probably a pit.”

“No, I do keep it fairly clean?! Don’t worry, Miss Natsunagi. Your teacher will pay for everything. I’m ready to live on tap water until payday.”

“Ms. Koyomi, even if it’s just us, please don’t tell us how you actually live. Nagisa, when do you want to have the party? How about the next holiday?”

“No. Today is good. I’m so happy and blessed…I want to share these feelings with everyone right now!”

The four of them gave me smiles filled with equal measures of joy. When the bell for homeroom rang, no one wanted to leave the nurse’s office. We wanted to stay together a little longer, to exist in the same space as everyone else.

“Then let’s have it after school. There’s no classes tomorrow because of the culture festival prep, so it’s fine if we stay out a little later. What do you think?”

Ms. Koyomi took charge, and we all responded with a loud “yes!”

Then we rushed out of the nurse’s office, heading for our classroom. As we ran, laughing, a thought suddenly crossed my mind: I’d come home to my loved ones who welcomed me…and to this precious everyday life I’d protect with all my heart.

My heart fluttered all throughout my classes, recess, lunch break, and even culture festival prep after school, and I couldn’t stop being excited until it was time to go home.

I rushed home to clean my place for everyone. I set out five glasses and plates each, turned on the air-conditioning, and then sat on my sofa in the middle of my freshly cleaned living room, waiting for everyone to arrive.

Aw, geez. When are they gonna get here? I can’t wait.

The intercom eventually rang, and I sprang up like a cat and headed for the entryway. Taking a small, deep breath to calm my nerves, I opened the door.

“Hey, you guys!”

I welcomed the four of them in, all of them carrying a lot.

“Hey, Fuyuko, what would five girls normally do at a party?”

“Let’s see… Girl talk and stuff? If we were a really girly group, we’d probably make food or sweets and eat them while chatting.”

“Yeah! That sounds great! What do you think, Haruru?”

“Sometimes when it’s just us girls, we play games that get kinda sweaty. Like the King Game, Strip Rock-Paper-Scissors, or Twister. The retro vibe actually feels fresh and sexy!”

“Got it! So, like, really cutting loose? You can really go wild with no guys around. I get it, but you know—”

“Hm? What is it, Nagi?”

“This isn’t what you meant… This can’t be what you meant, right?!”

The sound of water echoed in my living room, reminding me of summer. The table and sofa had been carefully moved, and in their place sat a large object. That object was—

“A kiddie pool! Inside?! Not even on the balcony?! This is only your second visit, and you idiots brought the worst possible thing!!”

It was large enough to sit three.

Ms. Koyomi had inflated it by herself, but now she was lying in the hallway in front of the entrance, out of breath. Why did we give the most out-of-shape adult that job?

“Wow, Fuyuko’s carrying so much stuff… Could they be presents? I was a fool for even hoping! I’m gonna cry!”

“But you’re actually wearing your red bikini, Nagisa-senpai. And Fuyuko-senpai and Haruru-senpai are wearing swimsuits, too…and so am I!”

Eve was wearing a red-and-white-striped bikini. Fuyuko, surprisingly, wore a frilly blue one-piece, and Haruru had a skimpy white monokini.

“I mean, when you suddenly told me to change into a swimsuit…I thought we were going to have a fashion show or something.”

“That’s an optimistic thought, but we’re about to transform your living room into a midsummer beach, complete with reggae music.”

“Please don’t?! Oh, but…fine. I did say you could cut loose, so I’ll allow just a bit of water play!”

Before the three of them could get excited at my announcement, I quickly added, “However, if you get the furniture or floor in the living room wet, you have to go to the convenience store dressed like that. This is a midsummer beach, so there’s no reason to be embarrassed, right? Hm?”

They booed and pouted at my harsh punishment clearly. I couldn’t deny I was having fun, too. Somehow, it felt not so bad and a little bit like I was making up for what I’d missed over summer vacation…playing around with everyone in our swimsuits and making memories.

“…Um, ladies, if you just wanted to wear swimsuits, couldn’t you have had fun in the bathroom instead of a kiddie pool?” Ms. Koyomi pointed out, still breathing a little heavily. The four of us could only stay silent in the face of her overwhelming logic.

“…S-since you went to the trouble of inflating it, why don’t we get in?”

The four of us squeezed ourselves into the pool and sat gripping our knees, drinking juice.

This was supposed to be a midsummer beach? It was wrong. All wrong.

The scene was so surreal that we all started to laugh spontaneously.

“Pff…pff! Ha-ha-ha! What the heck is this, seriously?!”

“Ha-ha! We’re really dumb!”

“Hard agree! All we ever do is dumb things!”

“But this feels really youthful in its own way. Like, it might not be so bad.”

The four of us, hugging our knees in our swimsuits, faced each other and burst into laughter.

If anyone else had seen us, they would have judged us pretty hard; like Ms. Koyomi said, we should have been having fun somewhere else. But none of us bothered to get up, and we started talking about dumb things.

If I were to compare my youth to a book full of memories—a weird page like this wouldn’t be bad at all.

After that, we got out of the pool and spent a fun evening lazily eating the pizza Ms. Koyomi had ordered for delivery, along with the fast food everyone brought. We played a movie on the TV and critiqued it, all commenting and reacting aloud. We toyed around with editing photos in an app to see who could become the most beautiful girl.

Ms. Koyomi started drinking and making a racket, but we managed to keep her in check. (If the school had found out, it would’ve been a big problem!) It was a meaningful night, in a different way from the time we had a sleepover as the Autumnless Trio.

“Ahh…that was fun. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to turn off my brain like that.”

It wasn’t just about using my brain—recently, there’d been too many events that had left me at my wits’ end. My mind and body were drained from knowing too many pains and joys. That was why fun times like these meant even more.

These were precious moments that reminded me I was still a high school girl.

“Heh-heh. Hey, Nagi, can we cuddle?” Haruru asked with a broad smile as she sat next to me on the sofa, where I was resting.

Ms. Koyomi was completely plastered and sleeping it off on the floor, and Fuyuko and Eve had gone somewhere together.

“Hm, sure. You’re being unusually clingy.”

“Eh? I want a clingy relationship with you, if you’re okay with it. You’re always all lovey-dovey with Fuyuko, so let me have some affection, too!”

“I’m not lovey-dovey with Fuyuko, though?”

But there had been attempts. And Fuyuko was currently at a laundromat near the apartment with Eve. She’d gotten carried away and pretended to drop a certain candy into soda like in the viral videos—but her hand had slipped, and she actually did it.

It exploded everywhere, and Fuyuko and Eve were soaked. The rest of us had barely managed to escape, but the two of them didn’t have a change of clothes, so they had to go to the laundromat.

“I have a washing machine but no dryer…and clothes take a long time to dry in the bathroom. I feel bad for them.”

“I feel bad for Eve, but Fuyuko definitely got what was coming to her, so don’t let it bother you. If anything, Fuyuko was thrilled to have an excuse to wear your clothes.”

“Ha-ha… I couldn’t just make them go to the laundromat in their swimsuits.”

“But now I’m gonna keep you all to myself, Nagi.”

Haruru sat behind me and cuddled me. I didn’t like being treated like a human plushie, but Haruru’s soft body and warmth were impossible to resist.

“Whoa! H-hold on a sec. You’re getting way too into this, Haruru. Also, those double melons of yours are really pressing into my back.”

“I grew these fruits for you, Nagi, so savor them as much as you want.”

“Don’t whisper weird things in my ear! What are you going to do if we start getting excited?!”

I tried to struggle and squirm free, but Haruru held on to me tightly.

“Hey, Nagi, are you really okay? You’ve been looking worn out since you came back to school.”

Haruru was strangely sharp. She could figure things out even without using her special palate.

It hadn’t been that long since I’d had my second surgery. I wasn’t sick, but my energy was definitely down, so after my most recent return to school, I’d often been falling asleep from sheer fatigue.

“Well, I might just be a little tired. But I’m fine.”

“No way! If you’re tired, just hunker down in my huuuuge thighs and bosom! Come on, let’s roll around while we cuddle!”

“Whoa! G-geez, Haruru…”

We lay down like that on the sofa, and I felt like I might fall asleep for real. I was about to give in to the drowsiness when it happened…

“…Really, with a body as fragile as this, you’re pushing yourself way too hard.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. Did Haruru know about it? About the world I’d seen outside of school and the experiences I’d gained there?

But we didn’t discuss it any further. Respecting each other’s boundaries and not crossing any lines, we kept talking.

“You’re off in places we can’t see, worlds we don’t know, fighting alongside people we don’t know. It’s awesome that you’re making more friends…but I’m a little jealous.”

“…The two of you are surprisingly possessive. But right now, I’m a normal girl, going to high school just like you all.”

It was true. Right now, I wasn’t any kind of detective. Of course, the people I’d recently connected with were important, too. There was no need to compare things like how deep our friendship was or how long we’d known each other. All of it mattered to me, and I wanted to protect all of it.

“Don’t worry. The Autumnless Trio is indestructible! Let’s add in Ms. Koyomi and Eve, and the five of us will be friends forever.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be just a friend.”

After those words, a sweet sensation spread through my ear. Haruru had playfully nipped me from behind. The tiny bit of pleasure nearly made me let out a noise, but I fought it back.

“H-Haruru? That’s going a little far for a joke!”

“…I knew your ears would be sweet, Nagi. You look like you can’t help but be happy right now.”

I turned around to see Haruru’s face at almost point-blank range. Her expression was a mixture of joy and sadness. It was one I’d never seen on her face before, and I didn’t know what to say.

“I can tell with my special palate. You taste like someone in love. It’s different from when we were together… Similar, but different. Are you in love with him, Nagi?”

“E-excuse me?!”

“Oh, you don’t have to answer. If you told me you were, I’d die of jealousy. Right now, there’s no him, there’s no Fuyu, there’s no Eve. This is when I get to have my way with you.”

Haruru seized both my wrists—and before I knew it, I was pinned.

“I like you. I like you, Nagi—more than I can express with words like friend or love interest. So for now, why don’t you let me do what I like for a bit?”

Haruru’s face slowly drew near mine. Both of us were blushing from embarrassment, but I couldn’t resist… Why was that?

Was it because I didn’t want things to get awkward if I rejected her?

No. That wasn’t it. She understood my true nature—that the girl named Nagisa Natsunagi, at her core, had a strong interest in such acts—and a naïveté that made her accept when another girl made advances toward her.

“Haruru, I…I’ve never done this before, so, um—”

Steeling myself, I closed my eyes. Strangely, I wasn’t scared at all.

Maybe my heart had completely surrendered to the situation, like in the shoujo manga I loved.

Was I about to step into another new world?

Her lips slightly grazed my cheek. Ah, a kiss with Haruru…my best friend.

She’d probably go for my lips and elsewhere next—

“…Pff…pff…it’s okay. I-I’ve never…d-done this, either, heh-heh-heh.”

“Huh?”

I opened my eyes and saw my best friend holding in her laughter. Her laughter. Her laughter. Her laughter!!

“…Don’t tell me you—”

“Pffft! I can’t! Ha-ha-ha-ha! Wh-when I saw that virgin face of yours, I lolololed so hard, I thought I was going to die! Ha-ha-ha!”

Haruru laughed so hard, she fell off the sofa, but she continued to laugh on the floor, holding her stomach.

Now she’d done it. Now she’d really done it. This otaku-gyaru…!!

“N-Nagi, your face when you’re bracing for a kiss is too cute… Heh-heh-heh! I’ll never forget it! Not that I ever want to! I’ll save it forever on my mental hard drive!”

“Haruru, can you hold out your arm for a sec?”

“…Huh?! Er, um, Nagi? What’s that thick syringe for?”

I’d brought a syringe filled with liquid from my room.

“Don’t worry. This is a handy drug that’ll erase your most recent memories. It only hurts for an instant. I got it from a certain detective, so I know it’ll work. Heh-heh.”

“What?! That’s scary! Y-you’re joking, right? You wouldn’t stick that in your friend, would you?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You toyed around with me as a joke, right? So now I’ll face you for real with this syringe!”

“Aieeee! Help me, Koyo! I’m gonna be violated by my best friend! Noooooo!”

The sweet moment we’d shared before dissipated in an instant, and Haruru and I began playing indoor tag—a serious game, where our memories and dignity were at stake.

Later, just as I was about to catch Haruru, Fuyuko and Eve came back, and we cleaned up together. The party ended right before midnight.

I’d really wanted to have a sleepover, but it was a little cramped with the five of us, and Ms. Koyomi couldn’t take much more of all this, so the four high school girls made arrangements to send her home.

“Okay, then, I’ll take Ms. Koyomi home.”

At the entrance to the apartment, Haruru supported Ms. Koyomi as they got into the taxi. They actually lived close to each other, and Ms. Koyomi would be able to get home safely if Haruru was with her.

“Thank you, Haruru. Be careful of perverts and stuff after you get out of the car, okay?”

“Leave it to me! If push comes to shove, I’ll escape alone.”

“No mutual trust there, huh? Well, whatever. Take care of Ms. Koyomi.”

Fuyuko and I watched the taxi leave. Incidentally, Eve lived in an apartment a few minutes’ walk from mine. It seemed like she didn’t mind getting home late and was staying behind in my room to correct the lyrics I’d written for her.

With the culture festival fast approaching, Eve was focused on the band. I planned to have a short meeting with her after I’d sent the others home.

“Well, then, Nagisa, I’ll take the last bus home. You don’t need to wait for me.”

“Are you sure? It’s late; won’t that be dangerous?”

“The bus stop is on a major road, so I’ll be fine. But can I say one more thing? I have something to tell you in private.”

“Huh? Sure, but what could you have to tell me in pri…wh-whoa?!”

As I got close, Fuyuko gently hugged my defenseless body. It wasn’t a friendly hug, but the kind lovers gave each other.

“Huh? Huh? Huuuuh…?! Wh-what’s wrong?”

I was so flustered, I couldn’t put any strength into my voice, and even I heard how dumb I sounded. Fuyuko noticed and gave me an impish smile under the streetlight.

“Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself. But I want you to forgive me. I was…waiting for you to come back this whole time. I’ve wanted to be alone with you like this since you left.”

My mind was hazy with embarrassment, but I didn’t mind at all, because there was none of the usual joking, conniving tone in Fuyuko’s voice. The warmth from her concern and care toward me was truly soothing.

“The three of us already hugged my first day back at school. You’re getting spoiled, Fuyuko.”

“That’s because I love you, Nagisa. You can lean on me, too, you know? After everything that happened, I was a little worried if you were…really okay.”

Fuyuko didn’t know Haruru had said the same kind of thing—the two of them really were crafty.

They’d always been there to save me, ever since I went back to school in the fall of my second year.

I wondered if a day would come when I was able to save the two of them when they were faced with their own hardships?

I didn’t know. But…

“Fuyuko, I’m happy right now. I’m so happy…being together with everyone.”

I wanted to at least confess how I sincerely felt.

When Fuyuko heard my words, her smile grew even brighter.

“I’m happy, too! Let’s keep making the most of our happiness and high school years together!”

With that, Fuyuko left me and ran off toward the bus stop.

Like Fuyuko said, I had to make the most of my high school years…and what I could do was—

“First, I’ll finish the lyrics with Eve! We’re gonna make something awesome!”

I hurried back to my room. When I came into the living room from the entryway, I found Eve standing by the wall, gazing at something.

“What’s wrong, Eve…? Oh, did that catch your eye?”

It was a standing frame I’d put on a display shelf. The people smiling in the picture were the allies I’d bonded with over the summer. In the center of the photo was a silver-haired girl whose face looked a great deal like Eve’s—around her, we’d each struck a pose.

“We took it as a keepsake. It’s very special to me.”

After the photo was taken, she’d fallen asleep. She was just taking a long nap so that she could laugh together with us one day. She was the reason I was visiting the hospital—to see her.

“If I get the chance, I want to introduce you, Fuyuko, and Haruru to her. I want to boast, ‘Look at the friends I made!’”

Eve said nothing as I went on and on. She just silently stared at the photo. I wondered what had her attention so much? Could she be interested in the only guy in the photo? Yeah, that was a bad idea.

“Oh, right. We have that tea and apple pie Fuyuko brought, so why don’t we have some while we work on the lyrics? Hang on. I’ll go get them.”

I stood in the kitchen, trying to open the can of tea, at which point I noticed the diary was still where we’d left it. Did Fuyuko forget it? I didn’t need it anymore… Oh, right. I thought I might as well write about today on the most recent page.

I flicked through the pages and—

“…What’s this?”

The diary that no longer needed updating.

There was no photo, but a short sentence written crudely.

It said, “Nagisa Natsunagi, deceased.”

“I remembered everything, Nagisa-senpai.”

Suddenly, there was a voice right behind me. Without my noticing it, Eve had moved from in front of the photo to behind me. I hadn’t noticed her presence at all…!

“E-Eve… Uh, ugh!”

A sharp pain shot through the back of my neck. It felt like something sharp was pressed into it. The can of tea I’d been holding rolled into the sink with a loud clatter.

At the same time, my field of vision began to blur rapidly.

“…Th-this is just like b-back then…”

Back when I was a proxy detective, I’d fought a woman named Hachisu. To be precise, Fuyuko beat the snot out of her for me, but I was apparently poisoned by her and lost consciousness for a time.

Right. This felt exactly like that.

“The name Eve Rivers is an alias—in fact, in the organization I belong to, I imagine no one cares much for their birth name.”

Watching me collapse to the floor, Eve continued to speak. “This poison was enhanced by the organization. It’s quite effective. In small doses, it can put the target to sleep for long periods of time without taking their life. I believe you’ve already experienced it, Nagisa-senpai.”

“Eve…I knew you were—”

“Yes. I’m a member of Humanity Serum. My code name is Leech. I was given a new name and face for the mission, and I’m a teenage girl.”

“F-face…?”

My thoughts were still sharp despite my slurred speech and hazy consciousness.

Right. When I’d met Eve, something had seemed off about her face. It seemed too much of a coincidence, the way she resembled the smiling, silver-haired girl in the photo. Almost by design. If a girl with the same face suddenly showed up at our school…there was clearly malicious intent behind it.

“This face is the result of plastic surgery. My entire body was remodeled, causing temporary amnesia. But now I’ve remembered the mission I was given. That was—

“—to kidnap and kill the one you call Boy K. That is why I approached you.”

I felt relief as my consciousness began to fade. It was good he hardly came to school and spent most of his time in that hospital room. If he’d gone to school every day, he might’ve run into Eve at some point.

There was no way he could have ignored a girl with the same face as her.

And then Eve’s memory would have returned, and he would’ve been killed in no time.

We’d gone through so many things that the wounds in our hearts hadn’t healed yet. I didn’t want to worry him more than I already had, so I was truly glad that I hadn’t dragged him into this.

“At last, I’ve found the person I’ve been searching for. You have my thanks, Ace Detective.”

The last thing I saw was Eve holding a rope in both hands.

I couldn’t make a sound. What was going to happen to me now?

Fuyuko. Haruru. Ms. Koyomi. Please…please.

Someone, take care of Eve, since I can’t—

Chapter 4

What I Want to Protect

Fuyuko Shirahama’s Determination

It was the next day, after a night that had felt like a dream. I walked to school, rubbing my tired eyes.

Ms. Koyomi had sobered up on her way home. I’d been able to talk to her about various things, and it had been a meaningful day.

“Could Nagisa actually have feelings for me?”

A-as if. I felt embarrassed all of a sudden. At the same time, I could feel my excitement fading as the face of a certain someone popped into my head.

The guy Nagisa was searching for before summer vacation.

“…I just can’t seem to like him, though.”

“Morning, Fuyu! Why are you all gloomy and mumbling to yourself? Talking to your imaginary friend ’cause you have none? I’ll go on ahead so I don’t interrupt. Bye-bye!”

“Don’t just talk to me and walk away! Haruru!” I shouted, and Haruru cackled shrilly, grinning.

She was my precious best friend, as important to me as Nagisa, so I tried bringing up the subject of him.

“Hey, Haruru. What do you think of that guy Nagisa’s into?”

“Hm? You mean Boy K?”

I nodded at the designation. Haruru and I tended to call him that to avoid using his actual name for some reason.

“I can’t bring myself to hate him. He saved my life, you know?”

That was true. A little while ago, Haruru was almost kidnapped by some sketchy adults, but she was saved by Boy K, who happened to be there at the time.

“When I saw him during summer make-up classes, he was such a downer, and it put me off a little. It was funny how he kept making eye contact with Nagi, like he wanted to say something.”

“He really was like an abandoned puppy. Maybe that’s what made Nagisa want to protect him?”

“Ha-ha! It would be too funny if that’s why she was after him. Something must’ve happened, though. Nagi’s been way too busy since she met him.”

Before summer vacation, during summer vacation, and even after it, the time we spent with Nagisa was definitely diminishing, but I kept telling myself it was something she needed. After all, she’d never really experienced the outside world before.

“Well, you know what they say, ‘If you don’t meet someone for three days, you’ll be frustrated,’ right?”

“That’s ‘If you don’t see a man for three days, look at him with a keen eye,’ right? I guess it’s true that guys can recharge their libidos in three days.”

Well, I got what Haruru was trying to say. In just two months, Nagisa had become a very attractive woman. Especially in the face. The childish vibe she’d had was completely gone, and she’d matured entirely.

It felt like out of the three of us, she was the only one who’d had experiences that she couldn’t describe to us.

“…To be honest, it’s probably that. We’re pretty needy, aren’t we? It’s like, even if something good happens to Nagi, we can’t accept it.”

“Yeah…I get it. If she gets a boyfriend, I’ll go kick his ass.”

“I’ll grab him from behind like usual and leave the violence to you, okay?”

“I’ll end him in one shot. Leave it to me, partner.”

With no one to complain to about our plan, we both burst out laughing. What a stupid conversation.

“Aw, man. I wanna stay with Nagi until the day I die.”

“Yup. If that’s not possible, I at least want her to rely on us until she graduates.”

“I want her to be incapable of living without us! We’ll spoil Nagi and train her body so that no other girl or guy can satisfy her… Mwa-ha-ha.”

I couldn’t help but laugh again at my partner’s alarming remark.

At least while we were in high school, we’d always be together. When we grew up…we’d each have our own duties and lives and maybe new things we’d want to protect.

Well, even so…

“Even if she goes off gallivanting somewhere, it’d be nice if we could be a place for Nagisa to feel at home—a place where she could always return as a high school girl, even if she gets a boyfriend or has a child.”

“I get it! We’re only going to keep getting older, so we can at least stay young at heart. Even when I’m an old lady, I’ll come see you both wearing gyaru makeup!”

“Ha-ha. Then I’ll pretend to be a girl when I see you two.”

“Oh? Do you have one of those, and I just didn’t know? Let me check it out when we have time.”

“You’re so bold! Gotta say, I can’t match your curiosity about the opposite sex.”

Well, I guess I’d show it to the two of them—not that I actually had one.

We got caught up in our brain rot talk, and before long, we were at the shoe cubbies.

I opened Nagisa’s cubby without permission, and apparently, she hadn’t come to school yet. We typically left for school around the same time and met up on the way there with no planning… This was unusual.

“Hm? What’s this?”

I opened my shoe cubby and found a book—or rather, a diary.

Was this Nagisa getting back at me? Maybe it was revenge.

“…Haruru, can you come with me to the courtyard for a sec?”

“Hm? The bell’s going to ring soon… No, it’s fine. Sure.”

Haruru seemed to guess what was going on when she saw my face, and she followed me. In a corner of the courtyard, I hid in the shade to show her the diary so that the teachers couldn’t see us from the hallway.

“No way… What even is this?”

The result of our prank had this written on the most recent page:

“We have Nagisa Natsunagi. Bring the possessor of the return-blood, Haruru Agarie, and the man you call ‘Boy K’ to the spot we designate. If you report this to Koyomi Utsugi or Yomogi Komi, I will immediately kill the hostage and students. We are monitoring all your movements. Think carefully before you act.”

It was a threatening letter. I quietly searched the area, but I couldn’t find signs of anyone watching us. However, there was a possibility they were monitoring us some other way. I thought about contacting Ms. Koyomi on my phone, but if she’d already fallen into the clutches of evil…

“H-hey, Fuyuko… What should we do?”

“…What do you want to do, Haruru?”

“Huh? Wh-what do you mean?”

“The culprit’s after your life, too, so I want you to go to the nurse’s office right away and get out of here with Ms. Koyomi.”

“No, that’s definitely not happening,” she responded with strong denial.

“I don’t want anyone to be sacrificed—not Nagi, not Fuyu, not Ms. Koyomi, not Eve, not the student body…and of course not Boy K, either.”

“But if we ignore the threat and go to the designated spot, we might die. Worst-case scenario, I can go alone to buy time, and Ms. Koyomi might be able to do something.”

“You don’t have to. After all, I’ve…nearly died twice in the past. The fact that I’m still alive is a miracle, and it’s because I was saved by someone’s good intentions.”

The first time was when she was little. The second time was when she was kidnapped by people who wanted her blood.

“So I’m not scared. I’d die to save Nagi. I’d rather fight to save someone else than run away to save my own life, just like you two did for me.”

Seriously. Why were my friends so soft on others? I was the same, though. I wanted the two of them to live, and I didn’t mind dying for that.

The woman who’d tortured me physically and mentally back in middle school had told me:

“Fuyuko, if your idea of justice means saving lives without killing anyone, then stick to that.

“Justice has no definition. There’s no real or fake, front or back, or even white or black.

“So don’t waver in your belief, failed student of mine. Etch a different justice than mine into your soul.”

She was a realist, cold and harsh, who smelled of cigarettes. But when she spoke to me about justice, and only then, she had the eyes of a girl who was dreaming, just a little. I wanted to forget those hellish days, but I couldn’t forget her words.

“Fine, let’s go together. I’ll definitely protect you and Nagisa, even if there’s powerful enemies or monsters lurking there.”

I wouldn’t let anyone die. I’d save everyone—my precious best friends, the boy I kind of detested, and even the innocent students. It was Fuyuko Shirahama’s duty to scoop them all up and return them to a happy, everyday existence.

“But if it looks like I’m going to lose, you’ll run away with Nagisa. Promise me that?”

“Okay! If you’re going to lose, I can abandon you and run away! Got it!”

“…That’s basically it, but I don’t like hearing you say it out loud.”

No, I wasn’t going to lose. I couldn’t lose.

If I couldn’t save Nagisa here, he’d probably save her this time. I’d rather he do that somewhere else, and he probably already was. It pissed me off.

“Well, time for the two skilled assistants to save the detective, Haruru.”

“We need to make it back in time for lunch. Today’s set meal is Nagisa’s favorite giant hamburger!”

We left through the school gate and started running, the school building behind us—to protect the everyday life that Nagisa loved together.

We arrived at an old school in a neighboring town. The area was full of vacant lots under development. The school, located in a corner of the lots, had been forcibly merged with a distant high school about eight years ago and shut down.

There were no signs of life in the area despite it being daytime, probably because there were barely any houses, and no one questioned us as we climbed the fence and broke into the school.

“The designated spot looks like it’s a theater rehearsal hall on the first floor of the gym.”

“A two-story gym is strange, but having a theater rehearsal hall there feels weird, too.”

“I heard this school produced a famous actress, so they treated the drama and film research clubs extra well in the hopes of creating a second star.”

That brought back memories. I’d heard all of it from Kanna in middle school. She was an amazing friend who knew so many things I didn’t. But I didn’t have time to be nostalgic over the past right now.

“Haruru, stay close to me.”

We headed for the gym and looked for a way to get inside. The tall weeds growing everywhere and the unused club equipment scattered around just added to the decaying, creepy vibe.

“Fuyu, look there.”

Amid everything, she’d found that the back door of the gym had been forcibly flung open. On the floor, a broken padlock lay close to the door. Were they really keeping monsters here?

I thought I might be able to handle someone on the same level as that woman from last time, but…

“…So that’s the entrance to the rehearsal hall.”

It was such a large room that you could see it from the hallway. There was a plate affixed to the door with THEATER REHEARSAL HALL written on it in faded black ink. We opened the massive soundproof door and went in.

The hall was dim inside even though it was morning, probably owing to the blackout curtains. The room was enormous, with a high ceiling. The club’s props and costumes were scattered around, as though trespassers or delinquents had broken into it before.

Our best friend was seated on a folding chair that had been placed in the middle of the room.

“Nagisa!”

As we moved away from the door and hurriedly tried to rush toward her, the door was sealed shut from the outside with tremendous force, like it had been planned that way.

Damn, I didn’t notice! So there was more than one of them here…?!

“Please don’t move, Senpais.”

A voice rang out in the dim light. No, we knew the owner of that voice.

A girl wearing the same uniform as us walked out from the back of the rehearsal hall. It was Eve Rivers—the cute younger girl we were laughing with just yesterday.

“Eve! Are you here to save Nagi—?”

“No, Haruru. She’s not…the Eve we know.”

I stopped Haruru from getting any closer and glared at Eve. What was with that look she was giving me? She wasn’t usually very expressive, but that was what made it so cute when she was.

She looked like a different person now, her face stained with despair and hostility. Even the woman who’d kidnapped Haruru hadn’t worn such a cold expression.

“That’s right. I’m no longer the Eve Rivers you knew. I’m the low-down criminal who sent that threatening letter—I’m your enemy.”

Eve moved to stand next to Nagisa, then kicked the chair she was sitting on. The impact sent Nagisa to the floor, where she let out a short scream but didn’t move. Could she have been put to sleep with drugs or something?

“You’ve got some guts, Eve. You’re really prepared to hurt Nagisa in front of me?”

“Oh, you seem angry, Fuyuko-senpai. If I wasn’t prepared, do you really think I would have kidnapped Nagisa-senpai or threatened to kill Haruru-senpai or Boy K?”

Yeah, she was right. What had I misunderstood?

Our cute junior was being threatened by someone. It wasn’t her own will. I was sure of it.

I’d been so caught up in naive fantasies that I’d forgotten.

“I see. I guess I’m the one who wasn’t prepared.”

Even if I’d had the slightest glimmer of hope, Eve Rivers had declared herself an enemy. In order to uphold my personal justice, I had no choice but to defeat this girl—Eve.

“I like that expression, Fuyuko-senpai. It’s full of anger and hostility. Well then, I’ll gamble with my life, too.”

Eve produced a small capsule from her pocket.

It resembled a bright red seed, and the moment I saw it, a chill ran through my body.

“This is a seed. It was spread by a being that once tried to rule over this world and other lifeforms. Its effects should have faded, and now it’s just a remnant.”

“…What is it supposed to be, then?”

“A secret strategy to defeat you, despite my inferior physique and combat skills,” Eve said, and then she swallowed the seed. After ingesting the clearly foreign substance, she grimaced in pain and kept speaking.

“Uh…ugh… This is something my organization synthesized, combining a seed with return-blood before its power was lost. It boosts human strength and lets them move in extraordinary ways. It’s a little miracle.”

Eve kept convulsing, like she was about to vomit.

Neither Haruru nor I could comprehend the strange scene unfolding before us. I should have been starting an ordinary day with Nagisa by now—what the hell was this?

“Ahh, ughh…guh, ahh! Aaaaaah!”

Eve hugged her body tightly with both hands, tears rising in her eyes as she groaned and screamed. Her body was probably rejecting it. If it were a drug, a normal person would have fainted or thrown up. However, Eve managed to fight through the pain of it.

Her grimace disappeared, as did the sweat on her forehead and the raggedness of her breath.

“…Now, shall we begin our fight to the death?”

When she raised her face, Eve’s right eye had turned gold. The moment I saw her face, the distance between us narrowed to nil. It was a sudden attack. It was the moment my relationship with my once-innocent junior changed as we crossed the line of life and death.

“Guh, uugh…!”

I’d avoid Eve’s right hand, which had reached out to crush my life, by shifting my upper body. Neither of us had a weapon, so it seemed like things would be settled by a simple difference in physical ability. I retreated with a backstop to plan my next move.

“Fuyu!”

“I’m okay, Haruru! Get Nagisa while I distract her!”

I watched Haruru get going and immediately shifted my gaze to Eve. She was standing still, a smile on her lips. It was eerie.

“Our physical abilities are about equal. Or are hers a little better…?”

That’s why she was so calm. Like a fox hunting a rabbit, she was arrogant because she understood her superiority. If that was the case, I still had a chance of winning. The problem was the seed. If something had happened to Eve after she ingested it, some kind of twist was coming.

“Are you scared, Senpai? Is this your first time seeing a creature superior to yourself?”

“Don’t look down on me. In the past, I was forced to fight mock battles with the world’s most evil, insanely strong woman until I was sick of it!”

“Mock battles? I see… Then—”

“This is your first real fight to the death,” Eve muttered, then closed the distance between us again. Damn, what was that move? By the time I closed my eyes and opened them again, she was already standing in front of me with such speed that I would have believed she teleported. Damn monster.

“I can see the panic creeping into your face. Can your eyes still follow me? Hee-hee.”

An instant later, wild blows came flying at me. I somehow managed to observe Eve’s outstretched arms and contorted my body to evade them. They were movements that led to death. I could see where they began and ended, but the strange thing was their form.

Eve’s hands weren’t throwing punches or knife-hand strikes, but repeatedly trying to grab my face, like she was trying to catch a child running in a game of tag.

“Are you messing with me? I guess you won’t understand unless I hurt you!”

I watched the trajectory of Eve’s thrusting hand. Aiming for the brachioradialis muscle in her extended forearm, I swung my leg.

If I broke one of her arms, the situation would be flipped on its head. Once she was writhing in pain, then she’d be vulnerable. Then Eve would definitely hear me out—

“I see. That was a good kick.”

A sharp sound echoed with a crack, like a dry branch snapping. It broke. It was definitely broken, so her arm shouldn’t have been moving anymore.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me… I shattered the bones, so how can you move it?!”

Her arm was bent in an unnatural direction, but she grabbed hold of my foot. She was like a creature with no bones. No, it was worse than that. Steam-like smoke rose from her shattered arm, and the smell of burning flesh reached my nose.

She’d regenerated already?!

“This is one of the blessings brought about by the seed. And I’ll show you one more of its characteristics, Fuyuko-senpai.”

“Nnghhhh?!”

The moment I tried to shake off her hand, a strange tingling spread throughout my whole body. But that wasn’t all. I knew this brain-meltingly sweet feeling. No, any adolescent boy or girl would know it.

“Does it feel good, Fuyuko-senpai? This is another one of my abilities. The seed I ingested was originally called Leech by the organization. The power it harbored was this secretion.”

“You mean…you’re producing an aphrodisiac?”

The tingling was unmistakably of that variety—something completely inappropriate for a life-and-death battle. Dopamine, endorphins, oxytocin. A chain of neurotransmitters.

“Correct. This substance induces extreme pleasure in anyone it touches. Of course, that’s not all it does. Are you familiar with the biological characteristics of a leech?”

“…What do you mean?”

“When leeches suck blood, much like mosquitoes, they inject saliva that numbs pain and prevents blood from clotting. The liquid I’m secreting has a similar effect. Except leeches’ saliva doesn’t have a pleasure-inducing effect.” Eve laughed wickedly. “But they do have an anticoagulant. There are drugs that people with blood vessel ailments take to prevent blood clots. And those who take it have an increased risk of hemorrhaging as a side effect. From the look on your face, you seem to have an idea of what this liquid does. The more you lose yourself in pleasure, the closer you get to death. Isn’t that appealing to someone as perverse as you?”

“I see. People can die from internal hemorrhaging. That makes sense. If I were to take a blow after being soaked repeatedly in those secretions, that would be the end of me.”

“Exactly. In other words, Fuyuko-senpai, you have no chance of winning. If you bring me Boy K and offer up Haruru-senpai, it’s not too late for me to spare your li—”

“Then I’ll die here.”

Grabbing Eve by the collar, I violently jerked my head back before slamming it forward into hers. Eve took the blow without a second thought and was stunned.

“U-uhn…?! D-don’t mess with meeeee!!”

There was an instant when Eve nearly fell, but she grabbed my shoulder to keep her balance.

“Uhnn…uhn…!”

Her secretions clung to my left shoulder, and pleasure seared my brain. Ugh, this was the worst. How could I act so shamelessly in front of Nagisa and Haruru…?

But on the other hand, this was the worst of it. I just needed to endure it a little longer! As Eve stumbled, I stretched my leg as far as it could go and snapped it like a whip at her, from right to left, then left to right. Eve tried to hold out against the rhythmic dance of my kicks.

“…What’s the matter, Eve? You were so confident before, but now you’re just defending yourself!”

As Eve evaded and defended against my kicks, her eyes showed clear traces of panic. Or maybe it was fear. Maybe she was confused by a human reckless enough to not fear death.

“Fuyuko-senpai…you’re strange. Truly, there’s something wrong with you.”

Eve grabbed my slowing foot, but she didn’t try to release any secretions immediately. Maybe there was a cooldown period, or something else? But from her perspective, I probably seemed crazy. That much was true.

“Normal humans would value their lives. There are ways to keep fighting, but continuing close combat is the same as suicide.”

The enemy was lecturing me? But my master probably would’ve said the same thing. If I showed a reckless disregard for my life in battle, I could be beaten half to death.

But my life wasn’t for me. I’d use it for the people who were precious to me.

“…I had nothing in my life. My days passed meaninglessly, not worth living. But then I found people who loved me, as empty as I was.”

There were only two of them in the world. We’d built a relationship that wasn’t calculating or constraining.

Nagisa and Haruru. My best friends.

To see them smile, I would—

“I would give my life without hesitation. That’s the whole point of the life I’ve lived until now!”

The moment I declared that, a third wave of pleasure enveloped my whole body.

“Nn…ah, ahhhh…! I won’t…lose!”

My knees felt weak. My mind was shutting down. A strange noise almost escaped me, but I held it in.

I shook off Eve’s hands and put some distance between us to continue the fight.

Throw your fists. Swing your legs. Even if your bones break, don’t let your heart waver.

Take down the enemy standing in front of you and protect the people behind you—the people you love.

“Y-you’re like a beast…”

Eve avoided my repeated hits, her face contorted with rage. I couldn’t tell how much the anticoagulant effect from the secretions was affecting me.

What if I got hit with a counterattack in my assault? What if I stumbled and fell right here?

If I was going to die from internal bleeding anyway, she didn’t go out of her way to make me bleed on the outside. Even so…

“A ‘beast,’ huh? That’s fine with me! I’m not good at logical battles anyway!”

Let go of your thoughts. Yield to your senses. Cast away the fear seeping into your thoughts.

Don’t waver.

Don’t waver.

Don’t waver!

If you hesitate, you’ll die, Fuyuko Shirahama! Just take down the enemy before you!

“I think that’s enough.”

I couldn’t feel any feedback from my fists or kicks at all. Before I knew it, death had coiled around my neck.

Eve’s icy right hand wielded a tremendous force.

“Ah, uhn…! D-dammit…!!”

I understood. A body shattered by pleasure couldn’t handle intense combat.

Joining the suffocating nausea was a disturbing sense of pleasure. It was a sensation that should have never existed in a fight to the death. Even the most disciplined fighter would be no match for this without prior knowledge.

“…H-Haruru. Run, please. We’ve lost…” I desperately exhaled and tried to shout, but I could only manage a strained voice. My vision had begun to blur.

“I’m begging you, please… Stop, Eve! Don’t kill my precious friend… Don’t kill Fuyu!”

Haruru grabbed hold of Eve’s arm, trying to help me, but—

“You’re in the way. You don’t have the right to stand before us.”

Eve used her free left hand to throw Haruru off, sending her flying with great force.

“Aieeee!”

Haruru vanished from sight with a scream. I wanted to help her, but I couldn’t do anything.

“This is the end, Fuyuko-senpai. I’ll let up a bit, so feel free to tell me if you have any last words.”

Whether I’d be strangled to death or smashed against the wall, death was inevitable.

“‘Last words’…you said? Don’t make me laugh. I understand now, Eve.”

“Huh? Understand what?”

“You’re the same as me. You’ve never killed anyone before, right?”

Her emotionless eyes revealed obvious unease. I knew it.

“That’s why you don’t know how to kill. You can’t get rid of the fear it brings, so you avoid burdening yourself with guilt. You’re just like me—a naive beginner pretending she’s a professional. Right?”

Eve didn’t answer, and I continued on. I wasn’t trying to persuade her or beg for my life. I just wanted to make her hesitate…before she got her hands dirty.

“You’re just a puppet, following orders—but you have your own will. There must be at least one…wish of your own carved into your soul.”

For example, mine would have been justice.

As people went through life, there were things they couldn’t bring themselves to give up on—dreams, love, or a peaceful everyday life. It didn’t matter precisely what.

“So don’t throw those away and sacrifice yourself for someone else. Killing someone means throwing away everything you are!”

“…It’s too late for that, Fuyuko-senpai,” she said softly.

My body felt like it was floating, and through my blurred vision, I could see Eve’s face. She looked like a child who’d been separated from her parents and was about to cry from loneliness and sorrow.

Ahh… I couldn’t save her.

I was powerless. I couldn’t save Nagisa, Haruru, Eve, or anyone.

My body had been hurled into the air and was about to crash into a hard wall. An internal hemorrhage or two was unavoidable. Meaning I was going to die.

Is this how it ends for me? I’m sorry, Nagisa.

“Well done, Fuyuko Shirahama.”

Just before my consciousness faded, I heard an unfamiliar voice.

No, I knew who it was. It was the silver-haired girl who had spoken to me in my dreams when I stayed over at Nagisa’s house. She was standing a distance away, watching me intently.

I hadn’t told Nagisa because I didn’t want to freak her out, but I understood. It was clear to me now.

You cared about Nagisa, too, didn’t you?

It feels cowardly to leave everything to you, but I want you to save my beloved three.

And then everything faded to black as the impact to my back took me—

Haruru Agarie’s Dialogue

“Fuyu…? Hey, Fuyu, wake up. Fuyu! Hey, Fuyuko!”

My friend, who’d been hurled into the wall of the rehearsal hall, didn’t respond to my calls.

I couldn’t even tell if she was breathing from where I was. She couldn’t be— No, I hate that. I really hate that!

“It’s your turn next, Senpai.”

Eve approached us as I sat with Nagi sleeping in my arms. Her hands were oozing blue liquid as she stared at us emotionlessly.

“Haruru-senpai, bear with it a little longer, and it will be over soo—”

“Hey, what did you mean by ‘It’s too late for that’?” I asked, cutting Eve off.

She seemed a little taken aback but still answered me. “…Once I ate the blood seed, I ceased to be human. My body is no longer like yours, and I could never lead a normal life again. And—”

Eve ran her hand over her own face in aggravation.

“I don’t have a true face or name, and I’m a lost child in this world. I might as well just follow someone’s orders. Eve Rivers has no need for an identity.”

“Does that really matter?”

“…What?”

“My body has return-blood in its veins…blood that’s not the normal kind. When I found that out, I was shocked and sad. I wanted to disappear from the world…but the two of them saved me.”

My beloved friends, Nagi and Fuyu, told me this:

“That doesn’t matter. We love you because you’re Haruru. That’s why we feel that way.”

Even if you lose everything—your face, your name, your memories, the soul that dwells within you will always be yours alone.

“You’re still you, Eve. I…love you, and I want to be with you. Besides, there’s so much we haven’t done yet!”

Like walking through the city after school, buying snacks, and secretly telling each other how much weight we’d gained, or the four of us girls going to karaoke on a holiday and laughing the next day with hoarse voices.

We…had a girls’ night, didn’t we? But we have to do as many girls’ nights and sleepovers as we can, because we’re high school girls, right?

In a life that lasted decades, we only had three years together.

“And we haven’t even done the culture festival or band performance yet! So let’s live our youth together. I want…to spend my youth with everyone!”

Before I knew it, tears were streaming down my face. I wasn’t crying because I was afraid of dying. I just hated the thought of losing something important…again.

The time I spent with Eve, our memories, our bonds, all of it—I didn’t want to lose it, ever. I wanted to stay together with everyone forever!

“…I don’t hate you senpais, either. This feels so empty. If my memory hadn’t come back…nothing would have changed. We could have loved each other without anything changing.”

Eve picked up the prop sword lying by her feet and raised it over her head.

I really wasn’t afraid to die. The words I said to Fuyu earlier hadn’t been a lie. But I’d wanted to save Nagi’s life.

She’d worried so much, fought so much, and carried so many wounds in that small body of hers—and still came back to share her youth with us.

I didn’t want to let my precious friend’s future be cut short.

“As strong as I am right now, I could easily sever a head with this toy. I’d rather end your life myself than see you be handed over to the organization and violated.”

Good-bye, Haruru-senpai.

I closed my eyes, held my breath, and focused only on my heartbeat.

When I was a child, I faced death for the first time in my life in a car accident. This was the same.

My life flashed before my eyes. As my consciousness faded, I felt the same despair I’d felt in the wrecked car.

I thought about all the people who loved Haruru Agarie and their love for me—

“I’m sorry, Nagi.”

I thought I’d go out with dignity, but of course I couldn’t. I loved Nagi… I loved Nagisa Natsunagi so much that all I had was regret.

I love you, Nagi. You have to live. And…please don’t forget me.

“Good grief. Why are all my master’s friends apologizing?”

Huh?

I heard an unfamiliar voice and slowly opened my eyes. I’d expected it to be Eve bringing down the prop sword on my head, but it wasn’t.

Before I knew it, my arms were empty, and the girl who’d been sleeping there had vanished.

“Wh-wh-who…are you?” I asked the person standing in front of Eve.

She was identical to my best friend, the princess who’d been sleeping just moments before—but the person standing in front of me was not her. Her look, demeanor, and voice belonged to a completely different person.

I wanted to know her name right away. I wanted to hear her voice.

Sensing my thoughts, the girl in front of me turned around.

“Me? I guess you could call me…a ghost. I don’t exist in this world anymore. I’m from the past. But it seems like I’ve managed to come back thanks to you.”

Eve shuddered and took a step back from the strange being before her.

“Wh-what are you…? What are you?!”

“Shut up. Stay quiet over there, Eve Rivers.”

Nagi—or the girl who looked like her—glared at Eve with her crimson eyes. Then, as if by magic, Eve seemed unable to move.

“It appears the faint remnants of my personality were strengthened by your unique blood, meaning I can be of use to my master again. Stranger things have happened.”

“Wh-what do you mean? It’s not like I let you drink my blood.”

“Don’t you know? Human tears have almost the same composition as blood. Your tears touched my master’s lips…and became the catalyst that allowed me to return to this world.”

Come to think of it, Eve was going on about blood and seeds and other things that didn’t make any sense. Did that mean the same thing happened to Nagi’s body?

Was there something unusual in Nagi’s body, too, like mine…?

“I don’t really get it, but y-you’re helping us out?!”

“I’m not here to help you. I’m only going to help my master.”

“Th-that’s fine! I don’t care what happens to me! Just save Nagi, please!”

The girl smiled faintly and picked up a hat and wooden sword that had fallen nearby. They looked like they had become the drama club.

“Hmm, a school cap. It’s not my favorite shape, but it’ll do. I can’t get in the mood if the outfit’s not right. This is fine for a weapon… No cape, then?”

“H-hey…what should I call you? Nagisa B?”

“I don’t really care. Just call me Nagi like usual. I don’t have much strength left, so I won’t be here for long. I’ll lend you a hand, and then—

“—I’ll go home to the land of the dead.”

The girl—Nagi—turned to face Eve.

“Now then, I could kill you in a single strike, but I think it would be better if you lost to me properly. I can’t crush your resolve unless I break your spirit, so…move.”

Eve gripped her prop sword tighter when Nagi glared at her again. Neither of them moved in the tense atmosphere.

Eve finally spoke, breaking the standstill.

“I had no idea that you also carried a seed in your body, Nagisa-senpai. I’m surprised.”

“No, there isn’t a trace of a seed in my body. I’m just a remnant. The small part of my remaining personality resonated with your seed and manifested through Haruru Agarie’s return-blood.”

“I see. The form is different, but the roots are the same… You also bear monstrous power. I’m convinced.”

Their brief conversation finished, Nagi used that as a signal to take up her wooden sword.

“Shall we, then?”

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

Their swords clashed almost immediately. I thought the wooden sword would snap in an instant, but it didn’t.

“Like they say, ‘A fool and scissors come in handy.’”

If anything, it seemed like Nagi was dominating the battle!

Despite having every advantage in strength and weapons, Eve was consistently being pushed back.

“Guh…! That weapon—how are you…?”

“I’m the better swordswoman. You only deal with strong weapons in your training—crude instruments like guns and knives that make killing easy.”

Nagi maneuvered her wooden sword with one hand, easily repelling Eve’s prop. Over and over again, Eve raised her prop sword to strike, but that was all. Nagi didn’t give her the space to move further.

“Angles are the basis of swordsmanship. With minimal force, the angle at which the blades collide can allow a wooden sword to hold its own against a steel one. Though personally, I prefer sabers.”

She even had the composure to chat. This was no contest of strength. It felt like a dad and his kids playing with swords made from rolled-up newspapers on his day off.

“…Damn this thing!”

Eve tossed the prop sword away and made a fist with her right hand. She was planning to use that liquid on her!

“Nagi, watch out!”

“You don’t need to tell me. This is just a child’s trick!”

Nagi took off her school cap and swung it full force. Like a folding fan, it produced a gust of wind that blew back the spray from Eve’s hand.

Wow. She could even do that…!

“Ugh, guh, ahhhh…!”

The droplets hit Eve in her right eye, and she writhed in pain. She didn’t stop glaring at Nagi even as tears welled in her golden eye.

“By now, you must realize you’re outmatched. I’m better with a sword and in a fight. Why don’t you stop this pointless struggle and surrender already? You’re just some organization’s puppet.”

“Shut up… I don’t want to hear a monster like you…deny my existence!”

Eve finally attacked Nagi with her bare fists. She might have been trying to directly cover Nagi with the secretions to sap her will to fight, but even to an amateur like me, that was an overly simplistic style of attack.

Nagi tossed her wooden sword away and prepared for a confrontation.

“Huuuh?! Na-Nagi, if you do that—”

“It’s all right, Haruru Agarie. There’s no reason…to be concerned!”

The gap between Eve and Nagi closed. Before long, Eve’s hand reached out to grip Nagi’s neck, just like she had done with Fuyu—but her hand stopped short.

“Gah…hah?!”

Eve exhaled shortly and collapsed to the ground.

Nagi had slipped into her reach and delivered a palm strike to her solar plexus as a counter…! Immediately afterward, Eve expelled a small seed from her mouth.

The battle was over. Nagi had obviously crushed that victory.

“Apparently, I overpowered her enough to cause the seed to separate from her internal organs. Now the body of Eve Rivers won’t be eaten away. Hey, Haruru Agarie?”

“Y-yes?!”

I stiffened when she said my name in her quiet voice. She looked just like Nagi, but she really was a different person…! In fact, I thought I could fall for her.

“I’m going to disappear soon, so there’s something I want to entrust to you, my master’s best friend—and to Fuyuko Shirahama, the fool on the ground over there.”

“…Entrust? To us?”

“Yes. As you know, my master faces much danger. She’s been willing to throw her life away for others many times, and not just here. And so…” Nagi placed the bloodstained seed in my hand. “I happened to be able to save her this time, but there will be moments when I can’t. There may be times at school when no one can protect my master. In those times—”

You, her best friends…will protect Nagisa Natsunagi.

We were powerless. Even Fuyu, who had combat experience, couldn’t do anything when she was faced with a powerful enemy. As for me, it was obvious that I was just a high school girl with some slightly unusual blood in her veins.

I was frustrated. I was sad. I was hurt. I wanted to cry.

That was why I didn’t want to experience this ever again.

“…Sure, I promise. Next time, we’ll protect our friend, even if you’re not here. So don’t worry and please believe in us!”

It wasn’t like we had to fight and win every time there was a crisis. The three of us could just run away or rely on Ms. Koyomi. I wouldn’t let Nagi go through something like this again. I would protect our precious daily life.

“Understood. But if you two lie to me, I’ll double-kill you. Just kidding.”

After those final words, she left us…I think. After the silence, I noticed her body lose a little bit of strength, and there was our close, beloved friend, Nagisa Natsunagi.

When I came to, I didn’t know where I was.

The room was oddly spacious, and the scattered props and costumes suggested it might have been a clubroom. I searched my memory—right, I’d been attacked by Eve and blacked out.

“Where is Eve anyway…?”

“Nagiiiiii!”

As I tried to look around, Haruru suddenly flew into my line of sight and wrapped her arms and legs around me. Was this a new species of insect?

“H-Haruru?! What’s wrong with you…?”

“I’m so glad! We’re aliiiive! Nagi, we’re aliiiive! Neigh!”

“Whoa, can you not press your face against me with all the tears and snot?! Also, you’re getting heavy, so let go. Haruru, did you gain weight?”

“It’s fine to be heavy! It’s more to love! I’ll keep holding you lovingly like this for the rest of our lives!”

“Maybe I should have said dense… Oh, right.”

I reached to scratch my head and noticed the cap there. It was a retro school cap—not really my style. Oh. This was a hat she would probably like.

“I guess I was saved again while I was asleep.”

The other personality residing within me—an important girl. She’d helped me not long ago, and we’d only just said our good-byes.

But you’re still here with me, aren’t you? Thank you for saving my friends.

“Good grief… Looks like everyone’s okay.”

As I stood there, I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

“Fuyuko! You look pale, and your legs are shaking. Are you okay?!”

“Mostly. She made me feel really good, and then I almost died. It’s hard to explain.”

“No, I really don’t get it. What do you mean?”

“If I had to say, the poison was weaker than I thought, and it hit the spot.”

Nope, asking again wouldn’t help me understand. I didn’t know where we were, but the Autumnless Trio was together. That was enough to give me a sense of relief.

But there was one more person there. I rushed over to the girl collapsed in front of me.

“…Eve, are you okay?”

Going by what had happened to me and the looks on Fuyuko’s and Haruru’s faces, it was clear that the three of us…didn’t want Eve here now. Even so, I couldn’t just leave her.

“Kill me, please.”

Eve didn’t make eye contact and continued to speak as she lay on her back.

“I tried to kill the three of you because that was my mission. Now that I’ve failed, I can no longer live a normal life. I can’t return to the organization, either. So, please, take my life.”

I didn’t want to hear any more. I refused to.

A crack echoed as I slapped her cheek with all my strength.

“Who cares about that?!”

It was understandable that Eve would be ashamed of what she did and seek to be punished.

It was understandable that she’d worry about and despair over her future.

But I could never forgive her for trying to throw her life away.

“You’re alive, so keep living until you die! Forget your past and your mission if you want…but your life and your lived experiences—”

Are yours alone to continue!!

“At least…don’t make your death happen now. We can make a choice—and we can choose to live. So you should live your life as much as you can. You can die after you’ve lived it.”

Eve was still seventeen years old and still in her second year of high school.

We’d had different upbringings, but both of us were trapped in narrow birdcages. We’d longed for freedom, yearned for spring, and yearned for days when we could drift, carefree, beneath the blue sky. That was why I understood her pain and why I could share it with her.

Eve, you need to choose to break out of your cage and face the world head-on.

She’d seen a tiny fraction of the darker side of things, but there was so much more she didn’t know about—like the joy of making friends and the preciousness of spending your youth with them or the pain of falling in love when it didn’t work out.

The experiences a girl her age would normally have and the joy of being a normal high school girl.

“…Oh, that’s right. There was one thing I wanted to try.”

Eve began to speak at length.

“I’ve always wanted to be a normal high school girl, with normal friends and a normal school life. I wrote a song to express that longing. A song filled with the yearning for youth. I wanted someone to hear it. I wanted to share that fleeting time of youth with someone. That was my wish—to live the life I’d imagined as a normal high school girl.”

Our cute junior talked about her dreams while crying.

The three of us exchanged glances after hearing it.

“Well, let’s make that wish a reality!”

If Eve’s dream had been to get a hot boyfriend or become a multimillionaire, there was nothing we could have done to help her. But we could definitely help with something like this.

If youth was what she wanted, we could share our experiences with her and create more together as her senpais in life and at school. We could make her dream a reality!

“H-hey! Nagisa-senpai, what are you…?!”

I hauled Eve onto my back and stood up. To be honest, she was heavy! She was heavy, but there was no discomfort or pain carrying her! The warmth spreading across my back made me happy, and being able to support someone’s wish felt good.

“Let’s go to school! We’ll sleep in the music room tonight and have band practice until morning!”

“Nice! I’m on board with Nagi. Let’s throw a girls-only party!”

“Don’t forget to help your class, too! The culture festival is next Sunday! Hee-hee!”

Eve didn’t answer us right away, but then our junior, her face and voice a mess from crying…

“…Okay! I want to pull an all-nighter with you senpais, too!”

…laughed, her voice ringing out brighter than I’d ever heard it.

After countless battles, I wanted to protect my everyday life—but even that everyday life was bound to have some troubles.

Still, I knew we’d be able to overcome them.

We would live our youth to the fullest and always live with passion—

And we could solve any mystery and defeat any enemy. High school girls were stronger than anyone!

Interlude

After School with the Adults

Koyomi Utsugi’s Solution Chapter

It was the day before the culture festival. Autumn had come, and the sun was setting much sooner in the twilight hours after school.

Ms. Komi and I… Yomogi and I watched the students rush around in a hurry from behind the fence on the rooftop.

“It’s hard to describe, but this atmosphere is so particular to high school. Isn’t it great?”

Standing next to me, Yomogi smoked her heated cigarette and took sips from her carton of caffe latte at intervals. The school was a nonsmoking zone. Being on the rooftop didn’t make it okay.

“I see your delinquent ways haven’t changed since you were in high school.”

“No, no, I didn’t smoke back then. Skipping class was normal, though. Didn’t you, Koyomi-senpai?”

“I won’t deny it. Now that I’m looking back as an adult, youth seems so beautiful and precious, but at the time, it was just tedious.”

“Yomiko-senpai was the only one with perfect attendance in our group. How nostalgic.”

From where we stood, we could hear the girls’ band performance in the gym. The faint, naive lyrics of the song were a little embarrassing to listen to.

“We didn’t enjoy the culture festival much, did we? None of us had boyfriends come, and our youth seemed so dull.”

“I enjoyed it. It was one of the few periods of freedom in my blood-soaked life. Now, then.”

I jammed my hand into the pocket of my white lab coat and retrieved a certain red seed.

“Yomogi, do you know anything about this?”

“Umm, if I remember correctly, it’s a bioweapon manufactured from a seed obtained by…Humanity Serum. I think it was called the blood seed?”

“Yes. Ingesting it grants a human temporary special powers, but it costs part of their lifespan. If they fully assimilate it, they won’t even last minutes.”

However, that wasn’t necessarily the case if it could be removed from the body.

Yomogi placed her heated cigarette in her coat pocket. “And? Does that matter?”

“Yes. This isn’t the blood seed. It’s a plant seed I picked up in the schoolyard the other day.”

I tossed the seed I was holding aside and pulled out a small pouch from my pocket. Inside was the real blood seed I’d received from Miss Agarie the other day. Just about everything was different, from its shape to its color.

“This is the real one. Why didn’t you doubt me when I said the first one was?”

“Ha-ha. I’ve never seen the real thing, so I spoke based on my imagination.”

“Wrong. You were prepared for me to bring up the subject of the seed. That was why you assumed, without even looking at the fake one I was holding.”

“No, no! I have no idea what you’re getting at here!”

“Now that I think about it, there were so many puzzling things.”

The fact that Yomogi had connections to Eve, even though Eve wasn’t in her class—if that was all, you could see them as friends who didn’t care about each other’s position or age, like Miss Natsunagi and myself.

“But even though you began working at the school a year before me, you only approached Miss Natsunagi and her friends now.”

“I thought monitoring and protecting those three was your job. That’s how it goes. I was just fulfilling my role as a combatant from the organization.”

“Then why didn’t you do anything when Mosquito attacked before summer break?”

I’d requested the organization’s help when Humanity Serum attacked back then. They’d carried out the school lockdown, placed a gag order on the faculty, and contacted the detective.

But they’d refrained from giving any orders to Yomogi Komi, who worked at the same school and was a member of the Mediation Association.

“Our boss is pretty cautious. For example…someone suspected of being a spy would never be entrusted with an urgent mission.”

“…I see. So it’s all been leaked, huh?”

Those were words of affirmation. When suspicion fell on Yomogi within the organization, I desperately tried to clear her name, but the more time I spent with her, the more things I couldn’t ignore started to accumulate.

“You were the one who tried to make Eve Rivers eliminate Boy K, weren’t you?”

“I sure was. As a member of Humanity Serum, my function was to brainwash, educate, and alter Eve before having her kill that boy. She was a warrior I created from scratch.”

“As a result, Eve underwent surgery to be compatible with the blood seed, and the side effects led to amnesia,” Yomogi said. Her tone was truly cold and indifferent.

“Don’t you think you should have killed Boy K when you identified him?”

“You must be joking. That boy is a crucial figure to the world order. If you killed him, you’d have to flee to another dimension or spend the rest of your life being hunted.”

That made sense. He was loved by and useful to many people. That’s why his existence had value.

“…So basically, you brainwashed Eve to avoid getting your own hands dirty?”

“That’s right. I planned to remain a neutral party, pin the blame on the organization called Humanity Serum, and escape. That girl was just a pawn, a weapon.”

“You’re such a vile woman… There’s no saving you. I never imagined you’d be so corrupt.”

“Is that right? I only helped Humanity Serum because our goals aligned. It happens often in our industry—enemies becoming allies and vice versa.”

“Yes. That’s why you can’t afford to trust anyone. Whether it’s an old friend, a lover you care for deeply, or an enemy you had a deathmatch with, relationships can be destroyed in an instant. And then they’re reborn as a hollow shell of what they once were.”

“That’s too true. I didn’t want to do something like this, either, if I could help it.”

Before she finished speaking, a bullet was fired toward me from the side. I’d expected as much, so even at point-blank range, I had no trouble dodging it.

The smell of gunpowder was much too disturbing to be wafting around a school rooftop.

Yomogi took out a gun from the pocket she’d put her heated cigarette into.

“That’s an interesting weapon you’re using. A silenced pistol developed by a certain country decades ago.”

“This is the improved version. It had some issues with its killing efficiency at first, but those were solved by modifying the internal structures. It’s an extraordinary product.”

“It’s a crude weapon—perfect for someone as vile and cowardly as you.”

She fired bullets in reply—two, then three. The muzzle swayed in an irregular rhythm as I stepped back.

I threw off her shots, dodged the fatal ones, and sought out the gaps between pride and carelessness. That was my combat style.

“Your footwork is as eerie as ever…”

The fourth shot was aimed at where I was headed. If I stopped, I wouldn’t get hit. Then the fifth. The bullet grazed my side, leaving a small wound with minimal bleeding.

“You have only two shots left in the chamber, Yomogi.”

“You think you can dodge, then get closer while I reload? How long can you keep that up at midrange?”

“Then…shall we put an end to this?”

She’d granted me a reprieve from death. Five bullets were too many for a professional. Still, she hadn’t been able to finish me off. To complete the kill, all it would take was one blow—a kick, a knife, or even a gunshot would suffice. That was the greatest respect and mercy you could show your opponent.

In a flash, I shed my lab coat and threw it into Yomogi’s line of sight to obscure her vision.

“Blinding someone is a crude trick! With your mobility, your only escape would be—”

Behind her.

Yomogi pivoted without finishing her sentence, an instinctive reflex that came from her many kills. To have someone get behind you was a death sentence. That was why she’d feared her blind spot, but unfortunately…

…that wasn’t where I was standing.

“This is why you’ll always be second-rate.”

I grabbed Yomogi by the back of her head and slammed her down onto the asphalt.

“Ah, guh!”

Yomogi gave a short scream from the sudden impact and pain, and she went limp. Crushing her skull seemed like too much, so I settled for cracking her forehead. I quickly snatched the gun from her hands, flung it to a corner of the rooftop, and locked both of her hands with handcuffs.

They were custom-made, a gift from the detective. Apparently, even industrial-strength tools couldn’t destroy them.

“Wh-why…? I thought you’d distract me with your lab coat and then get behind me…”

“That’s the kind of assumption that leads to defeat. Ambushes are the most basic of tactics, which is why pros scoff at them. With all their experience, they fall for rudimentary predictions.”

“…So that’s why you’re always wearing that ill-fitting, oversize lab coat…”

“No, I wear it because I’m a school nurse. That’s a completely different thing.”

But I used everything at my disposal to trick and kill my enemies. Because I had been a professional since childhood, killing techniques came naturally to me. The more someone thought like a human, the duller they became. A split second could lead to death. If you didn’t become a beast that moved on instinct, you would die even if you had extra lives.

“I understand why the boss gave you a dangerous code name like Crimson Step. When you were on active duty, you must have trampled countless lives underfoot.”

“Please stop calling me that. The code names the boss gives are always like that. It’s embarrassing.”

To be honest, I’d thought it was kinda cool as a teenager, but I was a grown woman now.

“Ha-ha. Aw, man… I’ve been losing to you ever since we wore matching uniforms, Koyomi-senpai.”

“Why did you betray the Mediation Association?”

I needed to know that much before laying a hand on my cute junior.

To justify my reasons for killing. To gain a noble cause. And most importantly, to protect the justice I believe in.

“…I wanted to turn the world on its head. That was my motive,” said Yomogi.

I frowned.

“The world is unreasonable. Those with power don’t care about others’ lives or respect them, and they force others to clean up the blood they spilled. Behind their masks, they’re all the same, good and evil…”

“Did you think that of our boss, too?”

“Yes. That was why I wanted to cause a revolution—not from the side of justice, but the side of evil. But once I actually joined Humanity Serum, I realized that there was no such thing as righteousness in the world.”

I couldn’t say anything in response. In the end, all we did in the world was struggle for survival. The only difference was the color of the pawns controlled by the powerful. And those colors were either black or white. That was all there was to it.

“So you selfishly exploited an innocent girl who’d been picked up by the organization and raised in an unreasonable world—just to make yourself a new position without getting your own hands dirty…?”

“That’s a scary face you’re making, Koyomi-senpai. Is it really that big of a deal? Far more brutal and unjust things happen in this world. I think we’re lucky to be alive at all.”

The word remorse probably no longer had any meaning to her. By judging the whole world in black and white, Yomogi had lost her own color and became grey…and now she didn’t even register what she’d done to someone else’s life.

“Did you imagine Eve could have assassinated Boy K and become a legend? I was just giving a lonely, worthless, meaningless, and wretched puppet life a bright red medal—”

“Shut up.”

I grabbed the back of her head with more force than before and slammed it into the ground, causing fresh blood to spatter. But she didn’t seem fazed by the pain; she only laughed as though something had snapped inside of her.

“…Ha-ha. Ah-ha-ha, ah-ha-ha!! A dog of the Mediation Association developing maternal instincts for her charges? It’s not like you to get angry on someone else’s behalf!”

“How foolish. Killing that boy won’t change the world. The cruelty of it is that it doesn’t change. The world always follows someone else’s design and script. Even so…”

I was sure that one day, someone who would change this horrible world from the ground up would appear. I had faith that someone would emerge and become the Singularity of this story.

“We, the Mediation Association—no, I, Koyomi Utsugi—will believe in my own ideals and fight.”

When I was younger, I had been a puppet, just like Eve. But then I learned about the world. I tasted pain. And before I knew it, the puppet had become human.

“…Hey, Koyomi-senpai.” Lowering her head, Yomogi muttered, “I’ll make sure to witness your justice together with Yomiko-senpai.”

A moment later, I heard the sound of something being crushed. I realized what it was and started choking Yomogi—she gave a short groan and resisted a little but soon stopped moving. I wrenched open Yomogi’s mouth and extracted the remains of the hard capsule from inside. Thank goodness. I’d managed to make her lose consciousness before she swallowed it.

“Please, no poison. You’re not allowed to settle your life’s debts that way.”

Even if the Mediation Association and Humanity Serum gave her death as punishment for her crimes, she would have to bear the burden and reflect on her own actions until that time came.

That was the only way to atone for what she did to Eve.

“…I’m still a romantic at heart.”

Yomogi and I had once wiped out a number of organizations that were conducting experiments with seeds. At times, we saved lives without meaning to, and for Yomogi, that became justice. But no matter how many organizations we destroyed, there was no end to them. Yomogi had probably gotten tired of the endless cycle of violence and lost lives.

“I want to turn the world on its head for its salvation.”

Above all, even if Yomogi had no intention of harming Boy K herself, she could have eliminated the clearly meddlesome presence of Miss Natsunagi and the others and successfully abducted Miss Agarie this time. She must have known the real identity of Boy K, but she didn’t tell Eve, even though it would have helped recover her memories.

In fact, she hadn’t helped to recover them at all.

Why, Yomogi? Could it be that you’re still—

“No…that’s just a hopeful fantasy of mine.”

Even so, the incontrovertible truth was that she’d destroyed a girl’s life and body, trying to use her with love as a pretext. And she tried to take the lives of people who were very important to me.

That was why, to me, Yomogi was the perfect example of evil—an existence I had to reject.

Ah…the high school days when we three fooled around were so full of memories and pain.

I had already been active in the Mediation Association back then as second-in-command, but unlike me, Yomogi decided to follow in my footsteps and join the organization after a certain incident. I hadn’t wanted her to. I didn’t want her to see my back as I killed people.

I’d wanted the two of them to bring me solace whenever I came home.

“…Yomiko, if you’d lived, would our lives have been different?” I asked my late friend, but then I realized how hollow those words were.

“It was hopeless. I’d already killed too many people for a high school girl.”

But when I saw Miss Natsunagi and the others, I sometimes wondered if there could have been another future for us. A time when my beloved friends would have welcomed me with a smile, no matter what happened.

“If nothing else, I want those girls to live the kind of life I couldn’t.”

I’d made up my mind. As long as I was the school nurse—I wouldn’t let the youth of Miss Natsunagi and her friends be marred with blood.

“…Now, should I have the organization come collect her?”

It was the boss who would decide Yomogi’s punishment. This was the only kindness I could offer her.

“I need to check on the prep for the culture festival after this, so let’s keep it brief.”

“I was lured here by the scent of unusual blood. What a letdown.”

The hairs all over my body stood on end, and my nerves sounded the alarm.

I could feel someone’s unnatural bloodlust. In just a few seconds, the peaceful atmosphere on the school rooftop changed, and it became difficult to breathe. Just the arrival of the presence was enough to—

—change the roof into an arena for deathmatches, one I’d experienced many times before.

“You’re… It can’t be.”

A suit in the color of blood. Golden eyes.

The man standing behind me made me go on high alert.

I could tell by instinct. He was the same as my favorite red-haired detective. A one-of-a-kind existence with a crucial role to play in the world.

“Ha, what’s the lowly human confused about? I have no business with the likes of you. What I am interested in…is that.”

He gestured to my pocket.

“Hand it over, if you don’t want to get hurt.”

Was it pure luck that he hadn’t quietly taken it?

No, it was proof that he wasn’t so vastly stronger than me.

Still, it was clear that in a real deathmatch, I’d have no chance against him. That really rubbed me the wrong way. In my youth, it was rare to find anyone stronger than me, no matter where in the world.

“Well, well. A sensible human. If only all of humanity were like you.”

I took the blood seed from my pocket and hurled it at him. He caught it, gazing at it with disinterest.

“I came purely to ascertain the nature of this blood. Oh, I see… It’s only human blood, albeit with different properties.”

“…That seed contains return-blood, you know. It’s not normal.”

“It might be impressive to you humans, but not me. I came all this way for nothing.”

The man tossed the seed aside, then jumped atop the water tank.

“Let me ask you, human. What do you think you are?”

“Huh…?”

“Don’t you understand? Let’s say this world is the stage for a large story. You’re part of the cast. What do you think the role you’ve been given is?”

I thought about the answer the man in front of me wanted to hear.

If I answered incorrectly, it could cost me my life. But he didn’t seem inclined to kill me right now, so I answered the meaningless exchange instinctively.

“A side character, I suppose. A nameless NPC who never gets involved in the plot.”

“Wrong. You just want to be a side character. Like it or not, I can tell from the road you’ve traveled, your face, and your bloodlust.”

The man gave a short laugh and continued:

“Dancing atop piles of corpses, your legs dyed red. Like a cruel, beautiful rose grown by feeding on blood instead of water. With stylish steps, you kill your enemies indifferently, their flesh and blood clinging to your shoes. Someone like that calling themselves a side character is laughable.”

“…In this world, only people like that can survive.”

“I see. Then what about your eyes? On the surface, they’re brimming with optimism and hope, but below the surface, there’s a hatred for the world, like sludge. I can’t imagine the experiences that would lead a human to that point.”

“Then what role do I play in this world? I’m not a hero or a side character. Could I actually be the villain?”

“How should I know about that? But you’ve gotten too involved. You’ve had far too many encounters with people like me, who are at the core of the story we call the world.”

“Do you know who I am?”

“No. But your scent tells me all I need to know.”

That was minus five trillion points for discussing how a lady smells. I would never go on a date with him. However, if this man was an Otherworlder, he might be able to figure out my associations from the faintest whiff of scent.

Or perhaps he’d smelled someone he knew.

“When two points are too close together, they become a line. That line weaves words and paints the truth. And when they see the big picture, people can’t help knowing their own role.”

“The connected lines foster ties, you mean. Then let me ask you—what role has been given to an unusual character like you? A harbinger of justice?”

“Insolent creature. That’s not for a lowly human to ask me. I told you before—you won’t understand unless you see the big picture. I’m drawing lines in this world for my own purposes alone. What people think of that is irrelevant. Justice is, in the end, a way for humans to justify violence.”

“Oh my. I agree with you there. For the first time, we’re seeing eye to eye.”

The man looked at me with an expression of incredible distaste. “What did you say?”

It was offensive that he would react that way after getting approval from a beauty such as myself, but…

“The path I’ve walked hasn’t been a praiseworthy one. And the path I’m about to walk is ultimately for no one’s sake but my own. When my life ends…I’ll look back then.”

If I could look back and say my life was a good one—then it would mean I’d taken the correct path and upheld my sense of justice.

I didn’t know what he wanted to know, or what he desired, but it didn’t matter who I was. As long as I could become the version of myself I wanted to be, that would be enough.

I’d long discarded the version of myself that only played roles given to me.

“I see. Not bad. For a human, you can hold your own in a conversation.”

The man seemed content, a small smile hovering on his lips.

“Now, then… I’ll be going. But before I do, one final warning.”

The vampire unfurled his large wings from his back and spoke against the backdrop of the nearly extinguished sun.

“You humans are trying to play god and alter the bodies, blood, and even souls of various creatures…but those sins and curses will come back to haunt you one day.”

I’d thought we’d come to a mutual understanding…

“Remember that until the moment the world meets its end.”

…but when I felt the hatred emanating from him, I realized I’d been completely mistaken.

Finally, he leaped off the water tank and vanished in the blink of an eye, as though it had all been some horrible nightmare.

“…I have no idea what you’re talking about. I wish you’d save large-scale sermons like that for heroes in epic stories, not me.”

I picked up the blood seed he’d discarded and muttered to myself:

“This is a school, and I’m just a teacher. It’s where youths spend their precious spring…a place to create new stories, just for them.”

I crushed the seed between my fingers and leaned back against the fence. I could hear the youth band going through yet another rehearsal.

It was a time I could never experience again, one they should be spending with their friends.

But I could still watch over them from a distance.

“I want to be an adult who protects their youth.”

That was my one wish.

Epilogue

The Live Concert of Our Youth, Resounding Tonight

“We wound up staying up all night again. How many nights have we slept at school?”

It was the day of the culture festival. We were waiting for our turn in the wings of the gymnasium.

“I don’t remember. It looks like we’re the only ones who submitted multiple requests to stay overnight. The other students did it once at most. We really love this school, ha-ha!”

We stayed over the night before, too, rehearsing over and over until morning. We rewrote the lyrics, took breaks now and then, ate snacks, and laughed together. After repeating the cycle a few times, the big day was here before we knew it.

“Good grief. You guys are full of energy. I just finished being on stage before, so I’m a little sleepy.”

Since Fuyuko was in the drama club’s last morning performance, she was appearing back-to-back. The play was a big hit, and the gym was buzzing with excitement.

“Fuyuko was so awesome back then. The script really was made for her!”

“That’s not right, Haruru. That script was a collaboration between me and the club president. Although I won’t deny that I stole the audience’s attention with my overwhelming beauty!”

“You sure did. A ton of people came to the band performance just to see you again.”

I secretly looked out at the audience from the wings of the stage. From first-years to third-years, countless students were waiting for our performance. And that wasn’t all—even people who weren’t students and had no idea who was going to perform were watching the stage with eager eyes.

“Oh my. Are you scared, Senpais?”

The person pushing our buttons was…

“Shut up. Your legs are literally shaking, Eve.”

“It’s not anxiety. I’m just trying not to pee. All right, bladder, please endure until the band performance is over! Let the pee-holding endurance test commence!”

“Stopppp?! There’s a bathroom right near the entrance, so go now!”

…Eve. Our cute junior.

Thanks to Ms. Koyomi’s efforts, Eve was able to continue her school life with us until the culture festival ended. After that, what came next was up to her. Anyone could bury their past and restart their life from scratch. As long as she held on to that hope, her life wouldn’t be over.

“Thank you for waiting. The afternoon portion of the culture festival special stage will now begin.”

After the announcement was made, the crowd erupted into cheers.

We could think about what came next after everything was over. There was only one thing in front of us now—something we really wanted to do!

“It’s almost time. This marks our first-ever performance.”

“I never imagined that five years from now, we’d be doing a dome tour…”

“Don’t just throw in a fake monologue like that, Haruru-senpai. But you know, we might actually be able to pull it off.”

“No, this is the first and last time. But that’s why we gotta give it the best we’ve got!”

We finally started walking from the wings to the stage, all wearing glamorous dresses that weren’t your typical student band stage costumes.

I’m grateful to Yumeno from the drama club for lending us these. Though it’s a bit of a shame they aren’t wedding dresses… Just kidding.

We took our positions, but the curtain hadn’t risen yet.

“The first event of the afternoon is a band performance. The name of the band is—”

Evening.

We’d debated about the name until the last moment, but since Eve had formed the band, Eve-ning was the only option. And since I wanted our youth to continue even after this performance was over, I gave it the world’s most powerful band name.

“Wow, this name sucks.”

“Yup. It sucks so much, it’s laughable.”

“Yes. It’s not often you see such terrible instincts.”

The idiots shot me down from all sides. But it was fine. Despite what they said, all three of them were smiling…and so was I.

The curtain slowly rose. There was a loud roar of applause. The stage lights glittered brightly like the sun.

It was a surreal moment in our everyday lives. We never would have gotten here if we were just going through the motions. Now it was time for our show to start.

“Let’s tear it up, guys!!”

As I shouted, Eve strummed her guitar furiously. Our introduction rang out. There was no turning back now.

But we had no intention of turning back. The four of us kept advancing.

The envious stares, the raised voices, the fists thrust into the air all added to the performance, bringing color to the stage and our youth.

Ah, this is fun. It’s so fun, I wish we’d started earlier. It’ll be over soon—the performance, the culture festival, this precious time.

But there was still so much to look forward to. We had several months of high school life ahead of us—there was the school trip, Halloween, Christmas, college exam prep, and the graduation trip.

It wasn’t over yet. I didn’t want it to be over.

Shout until your throat breaks! Shout until the whole audience raises their fists in the air—

Shout with the force of all your passion, feelings, and youth—

Put emotion into your sweat and voice! Scatter your heart and shine in this moment!

Our four sounds blended and crashed together for the final phrase of our song.

The feelings we put into the lyrics, the thoughts we want to convey—

May they reach every high schooler desperately living their youth!!

“We still want to be high school girls!”