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Inside the old school building in the afternoon, early summer sunlight slanted through the window into the living room. It was the last few minutes before the end of the final class of the afternoon. Rias, who had cut the entire day's worth of classes, was currently sitting on the sofa in the living room, legs crossed, one hand curled into a loose fist propping up her cheek, silently staring at the floor in front of her.
Anyone could tell she was spacing out.
"President... President? Rias?" A soft voice came from beside her ear, but the red-haired girl seemed to have activated a full mute. She kept staring blankly at the floor beneath her feet, completely unresponsive. Akeno Himejima had no choice but to raise her voice slightly. "Rias!"
"Ugh... Hm!?" Startled by the sudden loud voice at such close range, Rias snapped back to attention. She blinked, instinctively raising her head toward the sound. What met her eyes was her friend's slightly worried gaze.
"What is it, Akeno? Why are you looking at me with that expression?" The red-haired girl instinctively tried to pull her lips into a smile, one like she usually wore, but in the end, her face only twitched slightly. Akeno Himejima reached out to touch her forehead with the back of her hand. "Rias, are you alright? I already excused you from school today, but seriously, do you have something wrong? If you're feeling unwell, you need to tell me immediately..." "Mhm~ Don't worry, Akeno, I'm fine." Dodging her friend's touch with a shake of her head, Rias struggled and finally managed to squeeze out a smile meant to reassure. "I, I'm just... a little, never mind, don't worry... I'm fine..."
Her logic was chaotic, and she couldn't even put together a complete sentence. No matter how many times she said not to worry, how could anyone not worry? Akeno Himejima straightened up, her brows slightly furrowed as she looked at her friend on the sofa, whose expression was once again drifting back into contemplation. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. This hadn't been going on for just a day. Since last Friday—or, more accurately, since Saturday morning—she had been sitting alone on the living room sofa for the entire day, two days in a row. When asked what was wrong, she refused to talk about it, as if her lips were sealed shut. That was the most frustrating part.
With no other choice, Akeno Himejima decided to back down for the moment. She took out her phone and held it up towards the red-haired girl on the sofa, who looked on the verge of sinking back into her own world. "Rias, should I text Reiji and tell him you're not feeling well today, and since there's nothing else going on, he shouldn't bother coming over today?" This was less a question and more a deliberate provocation. Just as expected, as the words fell, Rias, who had been slow to react a moment ago, quickly lifted her head, her delicate mouth slightly ajar, mumbling a few words. Finally, she slowly breathed out one sentence. "Oh, then go ahead and tell him."
?? Something was wrong. Absolutely something was wrong! Akeno Himejima knew this clearly in her heart, but since Rias herself had said it, she could only comply.
Meanwhile, inside a classroom in the second-year building of Kuoh Academy, Hanakain Reiji was still packing up his bag after the final class had ended. The voice of the nun, also packing up her desk next to him, came through. "School's finally over, hehe~ Now it's time to go over to President Rias, right?" "Mhm, once we're done packing up, we'll head straight over..." Hanakain Reiji was about to nod in agreement, but before he could finish, his phone in his pocket vibrated slightly.
Hmm?
He took out his phone and saw it was a message from Akeno. [The President is feeling unwell today, so club activities are temporarily canceled.]
Temporarily canceled club activities, as if the Occult Research Club were an ordinary interest club or something... Hanakain Reiji couldn't help but mutter internally the moment he saw the message. But considering he had just carried away a meddling Fallen Angel two days ago, a couple of quiet days to settle down seemed normal. But as for feeling unwell...
Hanakain Reiji turned his head to look at Asia, who had already finished packing her bag next to him. "Asia, has Rias said anything about feeling unwell these past two days?" "Eh? President Rias?" The blonde girl paused, quickly shaking her head. "I haven't heard anything about that, no. But the President does seem preoccupied these past couple of days. We asked her what was wrong, but she wouldn't say..."
Preoccupied? Hanakain Reiji scratched his temple, thinking to himself that this was a little difficult to deal with. To put it simply, everyone has worries, just like everyone gets sick. It's just that some worries are like a cold or a fever—common and not embarrassing—so they can easily be confided in a friend, with a request for advice. But some worries are like specific illnesses, harder to speak about. In those situations, no matter how proactively someone asks, an answer is destined to be impossible. The confiding party will only willingly share when the right timing, the right location, and the right person are all present. In other words, he could only rely on fate.
After a moment of thought, the young man's thumb moved quickly across the phone screen. [Are you okay? Should I bring some medicine?] Send. Only five or six seconds later, Akeno's reply came back from the other end. [No, no, Rias says she'll be fine after two days of rest. No big deal.]
It was a formulaic answer, just as he expected. Since that was the case, Hanakain Reiji didn't insist further. After simply replying "Okay," he put away his phone, then looked up and shrugged at Asia, who was tilting her head in confusion beside him. "Akeno just messaged me to say Rias isn't feeling well today, so club activities are canceled. I won't go over then. I'll head home a little early today. See you tomorrow morning." "Ah... Is that so?" Hearing that the young man was heading back, Asia, whose eyes had been filled with expectation just a moment before, was inevitably a little disappointed. But she immediately cheered up again, nodding vigorously with her usual comforting smile. "Mhm, see you tomorrow, Reiji." "See you tomorrow, Asia."
On the other side, in the old school building. "Rias, I've talked to Reiji, Oho. I told him not to come over today. He should be heading straight home now." Akeno Himejima put down her phone and said this to her friend on the sofa. She had thought this might provoke a reaction, but Rias merely nodded slightly after hearing it, then rose from the sofa and stretched. "Thank you, Akeno. I'll go for a short walk outside. You, Koneko, and Asia can go ahead and eat dinner first. I'll eat myself once I feel a little better." "...I understand." "Thank you." After thanking her again, Rias smiled faintly, left the living room, and walked out of the old school building.
And then... after confirming that no one was around, she quickened her pace, heading straight for the school's main gate.
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