The walk home from the Comicon is a silent, tense affair. Kenji has fainted again (a new record: four times in one event), and Miki and Hana are practically carrying him between them. Rina, Haruka, and Aiwa walk in a tight, awkward formation around me, like three rival bodyguards who secretly suspect their client is the actual target.
Ichigo's final, cryptic comment – "tell your little star guardian her acting is improving, but her tells are still obvious" – hangs heavy in the air. He knows Aiwa is LUNA. He knows I know. And he chose to reveal this knowledge to me, deliberately, publicly (almost). Why?
The moment we get back to the apartment (after depositing Kenji on the sofa like a sack of potatoes), an emergency meeting of "Team Rui: Threat Assessment Division" is convened. This time, Aiwa is not just a suspect; she is a key witness and potential co-conspirator.
"Okay," Miki begins, pacing the living room, her usual calm replaced by a palpable frustration. "Let's debrief. Subject Ichigo's behavior remains erratic and intentionally ambiguous. His actions seem designed to provoke reactions and gather information, primarily centered around Rui-kun."
"He knows," Aiwa whispers, hugging her knees to her chest on the armchair. She looks pale and shaken. "He knows I am LUNA. But how?"
"Perhaps he is more observant than we anticipated," Haruka muses, tapping a finger against her chin. "Or perhaps," she adds, her gaze flicking towards me, "he had inside information."
"I did not tell him!" I protest immediately. "I barely spoke to him!"
"But he spoke to you," Rina points out, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "He winked at you. He invited you to dinner. He whispered secrets to you backstage. Why are you the common denominator, Onii-chan?"
"I do not know!" I insist, feeling increasingly like a suspect in my own life story. "Maybe he just finds my perpetual state of confusion amusing!"
"Unlikely," Miki states flatly. "Ichigo does not strike me as someone who acts without purpose. His interest in you, Rui-kun, is clearly strategic. The question is, what is his strategy?"
We spend the next hour dissecting every interaction, every word, every ambiguous smile from Ichigo. Was he trying to recruit me? Was he trying to intimidate LUNA? Was he trying to destabilize Rina and Haruka? Was he just messing with us for his own amusement? We develop a dozen different theories, each more convoluted than the last.
"Maybe he is secretly Ectiqa's long-lost twin brother, seeking revenge for a perceived childhood slight involving glitter?" Kenji mumbles from the sofa, having briefly regained consciousness. We ignore him.
"His comment about Aiwa's 'tells'," Haruka says thoughtfully. "It was specific. Deliberate. He wanted Rui-kun to know that he knows. He is sending a message."
"But what message?" Aiwa asks, looking distressed. "Is he going to expose me?"
"I do not think so," Rina says surprisingly, her expression analytical rather than purely hostile for once. "If he wanted to expose you, he would have done it already. Publicly humiliating LUNA would be a major power play. No, this feels… different. More personal." She looks at me again, suspicion flaring. "It all comes back to Rui."
They all stare at me. I feel like a butterfly pinned to a corkboard.
"Okay," I say, trying to take control, trying to inject some sanity into the situation. "Clearly, Ichigo is playing some kind of game. We do not know the rules, and we do not know his objective. Freaking out is not going to help. We just need to… be careful. Observe. And," I add, looking pointedly at Rina and Haruka, "maybe stop actively trying to sabotage each other and Aiwa? Just until we figure out what this new threat is?"
Rina and Haruka exchange a long, reluctant look. Aiwa looks hopefully between them.
"A temporary cessation of internal hostilities to focus on the external variable," Haruka concedes with a sigh. "Logically sound."
"Fine," Rina agrees grudgingly. "Truce. Again. But the moment Ichigo makes a move on my Onii-chan, all bets are off."
Another fragile truce is declared. Team Rui is united, for now, against the enigmatic threat of Ichigo. Our mission: decrypt the Crimson Knight's intentions before he completely destabilizes our already chaotic lives.
As the meeting breaks up, Aiwa lingers behind for a moment. "Rui-kun," she says softly, her eyes full of a worried sincerity. "Be careful around him. Ichigo… he is very skilled at getting what he wants."
"Do not worry," I say, trying to sound more confident than I feel. "I can handle him."
She just gives me a doubtful look, then a small, hesitant smile. "Okay. But… maybe keep your lint-ball panic button handy? Just in case."
I sigh. My life is officially a spy comedy, and I am pretty sure I am the expendable sidekick who accidentally triggers all the traps. Winter Comicon is going to be a disaster.