The girl Ririko had called Raana was wearing her school uniform—but she wasn't carrying a bag, nor did she have anything else with her.
After stepping into the café, Raana walked toward the counter. But the moment she got close to Kikukawa Kyo, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.
She shrank her neck slightly, and the clarity in her heterochromatic eyes sharpened in an instant. Her feet, now positioned one slightly ahead of the other, bent at the knees as if she were bracing herself—ready to bolt at a moment's notice.
?
Kyo naturally noticed everything. In fact, the fact that she saw it all so clearly only made her more confused.
Is she wary of me?
Kyo glanced down at herself. She was still wearing the spare clothes she had changed into last night after showering at Soyo's place—just a simple button-up shirt and knee-length shorts.
She had made sure to tidy up before heading out, her collar neatly folded, her outfit put together properly. Nothing about her appearance seemed messy enough to warrant anyone's dislike.
Even though she was still a little far from Raana, Kyo instinctively took a sniff of herself. Did I smell bad or something?
Nope. Nothing.
Kyo had always been pleased with the fact that, no matter how much she sweated, she only ever had a faint odor at worst.
Lifting her head again, she took another look at Raana's posture—her head tucked in, her back slightly arched, on edge, like a cat with its fur bristling.
She had never encountered a reaction like this before.
…Kinda interesting.
A hint of curiosity stirred in Kyo.
"Raana, don't glare at people like that—it's a waste of energy."
Ririko, noticing how Raana was suddenly treating Kyo like a natural enemy, quickly scolded her. But even she wasn't sure why Raana was acting this way.
"Come here and tell me why you're not in school right now!"
Raana, still frozen in place, didn't budge.
Ririko raised her voice slightly, her tone growing stricter.
"Come on."
"…Nngh."
It seemed like the sudden shift in Ririko's tone startled Raana. The legs that had been primed to sprint twitched reflexively, and she literally hopped in place.
"Whoa."
Kyo let out a small exclamation of surprise. That little jump—it only made the cat comparison in her head feel even more vivid.
With a pouty expression, Raana finally started moving again.
But instead of walking straight over, she curved her path, deliberately circling around Kyo as if she were avoiding an obstacle.
She took the seat farthest from Kyo at the counter.
Ririko wanted to scold her for treating people that way, but there was a more pressing issue at hand—figuring out why Raana was here in the first place.
"Raana, you should be in school right now. Did you get permission to leave?"
Faced with the question, the cat-like girl merely blinked, showing absolutely no guilt or sense of wrongdoing.
"It was break time. I was playing with a cat by the wall. The cat ran off."
"…So you ran after it?"
"Yeah."
Ririko let out a helpless laugh.
This was somehow even more ridiculous than realizing that being a store manager meant she had to cover every single role in a live house.
She turned to Kyo with an apologetic look.
"Sorry, Kyo. Can I trouble you to keep an eye on Raana for a bit? I need to call her family—her teachers and parents have probably already noticed she's missing."
Kyo nodded without hesitation.
"Of course. Go ahead."
But just before Ririko walked off, Kyo called out.
"Wait, Ririko-san—can I use the café's equipment? I'll make my cappuccino myself."
"Oh, sure, no problem." Ririko didn't mind at all. She was well aware of Kyo's skills when it came to making drinks. If anything, she often tried to recruit Kyo as a part-time worker at RiNG's café.
"I'll count your cappuccino as on the house, then."
"Sweet. Thanks, Ririko-san."
Ririko disappeared into the workspace behind the counter to make her call, while Kikukawa Kyo slid off her seat, cheerfully making her way around to the other side of the counter.
As she passed behind Raana, it was as if some invisible force field surrounded Kyo—one that pushed Raana further and further forward the closer she got. Even though Raana was already pressed up against the counter, she kept trying to lean even further away.
And the moment Kyo walked past her, Raana immediately relaxed and returned to her seat, demonstrating Newton's Third Law in action: for every push, there was an equal and opposite retreat.
Kyo, sensing something amusing, suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Raana, who had just let out a breath of relief, instantly tensed up again.
Kyo took a step back, and Raana tilted her body away in response.
Kyo moved forward again, and Raana snapped back to her seat.
They repeated this back-and-forth a few times—until it actually seemed like Raana herself was starting to enjoy the game. Even when Kyo finally stopped moving, Raana kept swaying slightly in her seat, as if waiting for the next round.
In fact, even when Kyo was about to leave for the counter, Raana almost reached out, as if reluctant to let her go.
Whose kid is this?
Kyo was thoroughly entertained. At first, she had assumed Raana was a middle schooler, but now she mentally revised that estimate down to an elementary schooler.
Still, even though Kyo had teased her, she had never done anything to actually make Raana uncomfortable. The whole thing had been more of a playful exchange than anything else.
Maybe that was why the wariness in Raana's gaze faded. Now, she was just watching Kyo with plain curiosity.
Kyo, completely at ease, started making her cappuccino.
She knew her way around the café's equipment, so every movement felt smooth and natural. Under Raana's cat-like, wide-eyed stare of disbelief, a cup of coffee seemed to materialize out of thin air, as if by magic.
"Like a woman made of water."
Raana muttered this strange—and frankly, a little rude—description of Kyo.
In her mind, this fluid-like person, standing behind the counter and making drinks, must have been one of them—the people in matching uniforms who worked here.
"Matcha parfait."
"Like a cat-like girl," Kyo responded, mirroring Raana's phrasing with an amused smirk. "You want a matcha parfait?"
"Mm."
"You came here just to get a matcha parfait?"
Raana shook her head. "Also wanted to play guitar."
As she spoke, she pointed toward an open corner of the café.
Since this was a live house café, it wasn't uncommon to have live performances.
That open space was a familiar spot—often welcoming various girl bands who wanted to showcase their music. Anyone with an instrument and the desire to perform could take the stage there, making it another way to gain attention at RiNG outside of full-scale live shows.
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