Tokyo, around 9 p.m.
Nijika lay on her bed, not sleepy, idly scrolling on her phone.
She opened PVC Records' video about the rock-band project for the umpteenth time and stared at it blankly.
Halfway through, her phone buzzed.
A message.
She opened LINE—two from Kita.
[KitaKita: Nijika-senpai, Ryō-senpai seems really close with Aoki-senpai. Do you know any hidden story? I'm super curious! If you can't say, it's fine—thank you!]
Reading it, Nijika's drifting thoughts snapped back.
"Really close"? "Hidden story"?
She read it twice. She didn't quite understand.
No—more like she was puzzled—
Puzzled why Kita would see Ryō and Aoki that way. Puzzled whether there really was some hidden story…
Given the wording, it was hard not to think of romance.
I'm probably overthinking. Ryō and Aoki—romance? Hard to picture…
She reined in her thoughts and hovered a thumb over the keyboard.
[Kita-chan, by "hidden story," do you mean romance?] (delete)
[Kita-chan, how close do you mean?] (delete)
[I'm not sure either. Do you mean in a romantic sense?] (delete)
[Are they dating?!] (delete)
She typed and erased several times, then sent nothing.
The curiosity gnawed at her; the message weighed on her more than it should have…
Meanwhile—
Kita stared at the read receipt that had sat for five minutes with no reply.
She was about to type "Nijika-senpai, are you there?" when LINE chimed with Nijika's reply.
[Nijika-senpai: I'm not sure either. Kita-chan… what do you mean by hidden story?]
Kita deleted her half-typed question, thought, and wrote:
[You don't know either? By hidden story I mean they might be dating—or at least ambiguous—or very, very close friends…]
Dating? Ambiguous? Very close?
Nijika was stunned. She never imagined her best friend would become that close to Aoki without her knowing.
But she recovered quickly—
Kita didn't know Ryō that well and knew Aoki even less. Her "conclusions" might be simple misunderstandings…
So Nijika replied:
[Maybe you're misunderstanding? Ryō and Aoki-senpai… I really can't picture it…]
Send. A few seconds later, Kita shot back:
[Not a misunderstanding. Aoki-senpai treated Ryō-senpai to dinner once. Before we went to the livehouse that day they said weird things to each other. And today, Aoki called Ryō by her given name—and she didn't mind at all.]
"…"
Nijika fell silent, a strange feeling rising in her chest.
Suki-san's Yutube handle was coined by Ryō; she'd gone guitar-shopping with him; now Kita added two more points…
She shook her head hard—banish these thoughts. She pressed down the odd, unaccountable tightness in her chest.
Ryō and Aoki together would be good; Aoki was kind, and he could keep Ryō in line.
Though Aoki might indulge Ryō too much…
Unaware of her own heart, Nijika unconsciously tightened her grip on the phone.
Her mind spun uselessly. She was about to reply when another message arrived first:
[KitaKita: If you don't know either… want to form a Love Detective Club and, next time, analyze the Ryō x Aoki story together…?]
"…"
Her first instinct was to decline.
But the bizarre curiosity—and that stuffiness in her chest—goaded her to try.
She wavered for a few seconds, then decided.
[Okay, Kita-chan.]
She tapped send, wearing a tangled, guilty little look—as if she'd done something wrong.
…
Aoki and Ryō knew nothing of this.
Amid total misunderstanding, Aoki spent a quiet weekend.
Monday—school as usual.
He ate a questionable mapo tofu over rice at lunch. In the afternoon, since class covered things he already knew, he spent the whole time memorizing French.
Until the final bell.
It was Monday; no need to spend 30 minutes freezing in the Service Club. He packed guitar and bag and headed straight for STARRY.
Except—
He'd barely taken two steps into the hall when he ran into Hiratsuka.
"Oh! Aoki—just the person. Give me a hand."
She called out in that "I didn't need you, but since you're here, I'm going to ask anyway" tone.
Ever since he'd bad-mouthed her the other week, he'd felt a little guilty facing dear Shizu-sensei.
He tried to retreat with his guitar on his back. "Hiratsuka-sensei, I have something after this…"
She could read him. "Something after this" was a flimsy pretext. She smiled "kindly," and said,
"Aoki… I still haven't settled accounts with you for last time—but if you help me this time…"
Reverse the genders and that line would belong to a skeevy, pervy teacher.
Luckily, she was a near-thirty knockout.
He wanted to retort, "Even if you're that desperate, preying on a minor is illegal," but remembering the karma he owed, he swallowed it and agreed.
He nodded. She smiled with a strange maternal glow. He followed her to the office.
There he found, standing by her desk—Hikigaya Hachiman.
Ah, a fellow sufferer. Aoki shot him a look.
Why'd she nab you? Thanks to the dead fish eyes, Aoki might have been projecting the translation.
Before they could exchange glances, Hiratsuka said,
"It's not too much trouble, but it's a bit of a bother… Anyway—escorting Hikigaya is your job, Aoki!"
Aoki frowned.
Hikigaya was shocked.
He looked at Aoki; the "fellow prisoner" look vanished.
Aoki could read it:
"So you're a dog of the regime?!"
-------
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