Let's rewind the timeline slightly — stepping into Morishita Ai's perspective, as a memory.
After jogging away from Shikime Natsu's cabin, a gentle breeze swept across Morishita Ai's face, cooling the lingering warmth on her cheeks. It felt wonderfully refreshing.
Of course, Morishita Ai was not the kind of petty person who kept good things to herself. As a former Observer of remarkably high caliber, she considered herself someone who positively delighted in sharing.
And so, after leaving Shikime Natsu's cabin, she immediately made her way toward Class A's Base Camp.
After all — she had just successfully conquered that man, that towering final boss of a human being. She had accomplished something truly monumental. Naturally, she needed someone to tell.
So, upon returning to the vicinity of Class A's Base Camp, her eyes swept the area immediately, searching for a familiar figure.
Sure enough — at the edge of the campsite, beneath a large tree in a relatively secluded spot far from the noise of the crowd.
She found Yamamura Miki.
With her near-zero presence, if you weren't specifically looking for her, an ordinary person would never have noticed the girl standing quietly in the shadow of the tree's canopy.
At that moment, Yamamura Miki was leaning silently against the thick trunk of the tree.
Her hands were loosely clasped together in front of her, and her entire bearing suggested she had drifted into a kind of blank, absentminded daze — her gaze unfocused, resting on the ground a short distance away.
A breeze passed through, sending a few fallen leaves swirling into the air, yet it did nothing to disturb the girl's wandering thoughts.
Morishita Ai lightened her footsteps and quietly crept around behind Yamamura Miki.
Then she abruptly shot out her hand and gave Yamamura Miki's somewhat slender shoulder a sharp pat.
"Hey!"
That sudden touch and sound hit Yamamura Miki — who had been deep in her daze — like a jolt of electricity, sending her skittering like a startled rabbit.
She let out a tiny, pitiful squeak, her whole body flinching violently, and she spun around in a panic.
When she saw that it was Morishita Ai, the tension in Yamamura Miki's shoulders eased — just a little bit.
She pressed a small hand lightly to her startled chest, and her eyes carried a trace of weary exasperation.
"Morishita-san…"
She murmured quietly, as though gently reproaching her for the sudden prank.
Morishita Ai, however, paid no mind to Yamamura Miki's exasperation.
She stepped right around to face her directly, tilted her chin upward with a self-satisfied air, and planted both hands on her slender waist.
"Yamamura Miki, listen up."
Morishita Ai puffed out her chest and spoke in a tone of solemn gravity — as though she were announcing world peace.
"Just moments ago, the noble Morishita Ai has successfully ascended the staircase into adulthood."
Upon hearing this completely out-of-nowhere declaration.
Those already somewhat timid eyes of Yamamura Miki's filled instantly with utter bewilderment.
Ascended… the staircase into adulthood?
What on earth did that mean?
Was she saying her mindset had matured? Or that she had found some crucial item during her exploration — one that could change the fate of their class in this exam?
Watching Yamamura Miki's adorably blank, uncomprehending expression.
Morishita Ai sighed in the tone of someone deeply disappointed in a student who simply refused to get it.
She leaned in mysteriously, closing the gap between them by a couple of steps, and dropped her voice low.
"Simply put — the me standing before you right now is no longer the same me from a few hours ago." "I have been reborn."
Even after hearing Morishita Ai's proclamation — dripping as it was with the energy of a classic chuunibyou speech —
Yamamura Miki remained utterly lost, unable to parse a single word of it.
Though, to be fair, she was already well used to this.
After all, during the time they had spent together recently, there were countless occasions when she had found herself completely unable to decipher the strange vocabulary that tumbled out of this eccentric beauty's mouth.
Things like "scoring system," "danger sense," "Observer Mode," and the like.
So Yamamura Miki didn't let herself get too tangled up over it.
That said — even if she couldn't understand the words themselves —
With the perceptiveness that came naturally to girls, Yamamura Miki could read it very clearly: Morishita Ai right now was in an extremely, exceptionally good mood.
The joy spilling out from the corners of her eyes was simply impossible to fake.
Yamamura Miki carefully turned it over in her memory.
She recalled that this morning — not long ago — Morishita Ai had sworn up and down to her that she was going to secretly tail a certain extremely important person.
She had also declared with great conviction that this person might be hiding critical intelligence relevant to the outcome of their special exam.
And then Morishita Ai had marched off from the campsite in high spirits, disappearing for quite a long stretch of time before finally reappearing just now.
Looking at Morishita Ai's current, utterly smug expression —
Could it be… that she had actually obtained some incredible piece of important information during her surveillance?
Of course, Yamamura Miki thought quietly to herself.
Given Morishita Ai's perpetually off-the-rails way of thinking, she honestly had no idea what kind of information would count as "critically important" in Morishita Ai's estimation.
It might well be nothing more than some bizarre piece of gossip.
Looking at Yamamura Miki's still-confused, still-innocent expression.
Morishita Ai gave a mildly helpless shake of her head.
But her mood today was far too good to feel even the slightest irritation at Yamamura Miki's failure to understand.
Morishita Ai took a breath, met Yamamura Miki's eyes, and tried to keep her voice casual — but couldn't suppress the giddy excitement that slipped into her tone anyway.
"Yamamura Miki, stop guessing."
"I'll just say it straight."
"Shikime Natsu and I are officially dating."
At those words, Yamamura Miki froze completely on the spot — as if she had turned into a wooden statue.
Several full seconds passed.
"…?!"
A short, stunned gasp escaped from Yamamura Miki's slightly parted lips.
Her face was written all over with disbelief, her eyes wide and round, and reflected in those wide pupils was the image of Morishita Ai's utterly self-satisfied smirk.
This… how could this be?!
Yamamura Miki's brain went into overdrive, scrambling to process this bombshell of information.
Just yesterday — the very first day they had arrived on the island, or even before that —
This girl, Morishita Ai, whenever Shikime Natsu came up in conversation, had put on that stubborn, tight-lipped act, completely incapable of honestly expressing what she actually felt.
She had even gone around calling herself "the noble Observer," claiming she would absolutely never get tangled up in something as trivial as romance.
But now —!
How had things changed so dramatically, so completely, the moment they set foot on this deserted island?
And more than anything — it was only the second day of the deserted island special exam right now!
In such a short span of time, for things to change this drastically — skipping every single step in between, and just like that becoming Shikime Natsu's girlfriend?
Yamamura Miki stared at Morishita Ai with eyes full of confusion, as if silently asking: Morishita-san, are you pulling my leg?
After all, Morishita Ai was normally the type whose thoughts leapt around unpredictably, impossible to pin down.
And Yamamura Miki also knew perfectly well — Morishita Ai harbored a certain inexplicable, secret fondness for that dazzling boy, Shikime Natsu.
On top of that, Morishita Ai was the type who absolutely loved teasing people.
So Yamamura Miki figured it was entirely possible that she was using something this explosive just to pull a prank on her.
Noticing Yamamura Miki's expression — openly skeptical as it was —
Morishita Ai couldn't help but plant her hands on her hips once more.
She puffed out her cheeks slightly, putting on an aggrieved expression.
"Hey, hey — Yamamura Miki."
"What kind of look is that? You don't actually think I'd make something like this up as a joke, do you?"
Faced with Morishita Ai's indignant interrogation.
Yamamura Miki was constitutionally incapable of lying.
She gave a small, honest nod.
Seeing that guileless, straightforward reaction.
Morishita Ai immediately clutched her chest in mock agony, performing her most theatrical expression of wounded betrayal.
"That's too much! Yamamura Miki, I feel as though I have suffered a profound and devastating betrayal!"
"I thought of you as my most trusted confidante, and I came running to share this wonderful news with you before anyone else — and this is how you repay me?! You don't believe a word I say?!"
Watching that overwrought performance — and the genuine, impossible-to-hide smile dancing at the corners of Morishita Ai's eyes —
The doubt in Yamamura Miki's heart wavered ever so slightly.
She looked at Morishita Ai again, and asked with lingering disbelief.
"Really… is it true…?"
Seeing that Yamamura Miki was finally starting to come around, Morishita Ai dropped the theatrics at once.
She lifted her chin and stated flatly, with absolute conviction.
"Of course it is! When has Morishita Ai ever lied about something this serious — something that touches on genuine matters of the heart?"
Well, she had, technically, but —
Still, an answer this candid was something Yamamura Miki had genuinely never seen from her before.
She tilted her head slightly, studying Morishita Ai, and asked again.
"But… Morishita-san."
"Weren't you always insisting that you were nothing more than an emotionless, detached Observer who stood apart from it all?"
Upon hearing that breezy little counter-question.
The smugness on Morishita Ai's face froze for just a split second.
Like someone who had just been stepped on the tail, her gaze went sharp in an instant, zeroing in on Yamamura Miki.
"Hiss…"
Morishita Ai drew a sharp breath, regarding her with an expression of someone reassessing everything they thought they knew.
"Yamamura Miki — I just realized something today."
"You look so mild-mannered and unassuming on the outside — but cut you open, and you're pitch black on the inside!"
Morishita Ai grumbled with puffed-out cheeks.
"You remembered a throwaway line I said a million years ago, like it was some kind of sacred scripture?!"
Branded with the title of "secretly devious," Yamamura Miki shook her head with an air of pure innocence.
"I didn't mean anything by it…"
Though she protested with her mouth, her mind had already been rapidly connecting all the pieces.
She now knew that Morishita Ai and Shikime Natsu were genuinely together.
And then her thoughts flashed back to that cryptic line Morishita Ai had opened with — something about "ascending the staircase into adulthood."
Dating.
Staircase into adulthood.
These two phrases collided inside Yamamura Miki's pure and innocent mind and set off a violent chemical reaction.
A shocking shade of red flooded instantly across Yamamura Miki's cheeks.
She slapped both hands over her mouth, eyes going wide, and stared at Morishita Ai in utter, speechless incredulity.
"Could it be… that you two already… did… that kind of thing?!"
Faced with Yamamura Miki's scandalized reaction.
Under ordinary circumstances, Morishita Ai might have felt at least a twinge of embarrassment.
But now that everything was already out in the open, she figured she might as well go all in and see this little vanity trip through to its glorious conclusion.
A delicate flush of pink rose across Morishita Ai's face — but she did not deny it.
She gave a decisive, confident nod and, with the bearing of a victor, declared proudly.
"Obviously."
Hearing that blunt, unabashed confirmation.
Yamamura Miki felt the world spin around her.
In her worldview, this kind of thing was supposed to happen only after a long relationship — or even when you were practically at the point of discussing marriage, wasn't it?
So Yamamura Miki couldn't help but put forward what she felt was a perfectly reasonable theory.
"Could it be… Morishita-san, were you actually secretly dating Shikime Natsu for a long time already, behind the scenes?"
If that were the case, then everything would make sense.
"If that's actually true…"
Yamamura Miki lowered her gaze with a slightly crestfallen expression.
"Then as your friend, you really did keep me in the dark for quite a long time."
But Morishita Ai, upon hearing this, shook her head with zero hesitation.
"That's not the case at all."
She met Yamamura Miki's eyes and dropped an even more staggering bombshell, in a perfectly calm tone of voice.
"I haven't been hiding anything from you."
"Shikime Natsu and I — it was this morning. To be precise, just a few hours ago, that we made it official and started going out."
After hearing that.
Yamamura Miki was completely, utterly stunned.
She stared blankly at Morishita Ai.
"T-this morning?"
Yamamura Miki felt as though her ears might be malfunctioning. She couldn't help repeating it, trying to confirm what she'd heard.
"You mean… you started dating this morning, and then… already…?"
"Well, obviously."
Morishita Ai looked at Yamamura Miki's thoroughly astonished face and felt a profound and deeply satisfying sense of fulfillment bloom in her chest.
As she spoke, she even cheekily raised two fingers beside her cheek and flashed a little peace sign.
And at this moment, for Yamamura Miki, listening to Morishita Ai deliver that declaration with such magnificent shamelessness —
Her composure was starting to crack around the edges.
She seriously suspected that she might have fallen asleep under the tree from sheer exhaustion and was currently dreaming a wildly absurd dream.
The first day of dating — no, to be precise, less than half a day of dating.
And they had already ascended the staircase into adulthood?
In order to confirm she wasn't dreaming — and to make absolutely sure she hadn't misunderstood — Yamamura Miki swallowed hard, worked up her courage, and asked with painful bluntness.
"You two… you really did that kind of thing?"
Faced with this final, last-resort confirmation, Morishita Ai maintained her proud bearing and answered without the slightest hesitation.
"Naturally."
Alright then — so it really was true. But still… Yamamura Miki couldn't bring herself to accept it, and tried to reorganize her thoughts.
"So… was it Morishita-san who confessed first?"
The way Yamamura Miki saw it, given how bold and proactive Morishita Ai was acting, it must have been because she couldn't hold back her feelings any longer and took the initiative to confess to Shikime Natsu.
However, faced with that question.
Morishita Ai denied it without a second's hesitation.
"As if!"
"Obviously Shikime Natsu was the one who made the first move!"
Morishita Ai tilted her chin up and, with a face as calm and unbothered as ever, began weaving a beautiful lie — one befitting her identity as the "noble Observer."
"When that Shikime Natsu got a look at me and how utterly beautiful and irresistibly charming I am, he completely lost control of himself, and ended up practically begging me to accept his feelings."
"I simply took pity on him for being so pitiful and so earnest, and magnanimously agreed."
Of course, that was absolutely not what happened. It had been Morishita Ai who kissed Shikime Natsu first, and it had been her who made the first bold move on his person.
But… a thing so damaging to her dignity? Morishita Ai would sooner bite off her own tongue than say it out loud.
As long as she flatly refused to admit it, nobody in this world would ever know the truth of what had happened.
Besides, there was no way Shikime Natsu would be so bored as to come out and expose her.
Because no matter how you looked at it, she was now his fully legitimate, officially recognized girlfriend.
So then —
As her boyfriend, when his girlfriend told a few harmless little fibs just to preserve what small scrap of dignity she had left —
Shikime Natsu would just have to play along and cover for her, wouldn't he?
With that settled in her mind, Morishita Ai found herself lying with even greater confidence and righteous indignation than before.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the conversation — having just listened to what could only be described as a thoroughly surreal account of a love story —
Yamamura Miki felt her brain beginning to smoke, her mental CPU running at critical overload.
Watching Yamamura Miki's completely overwhelmed, spiraling expression.
Morishita Ai folded her arms across her chest, her violet eyes settling seriously on Yamamura Miki.
Then she spoke to her in a grave, measured tone.
"Alright, I've finished saying what I had to say."
"So then… what about you?"
With those words hanging in the air.
Morishita Ai reached up casually and lightly tucked a lock of violet hair away from her cheek.
Combined with all that talk of "ascending the staircase into adulthood" she'd just been going on about —
In this moment, in Yamamura Miki's eyes, Morishita Ai looked remarkably like a worldly older sister who had lived through every storm romance had to offer and knew all there was to know about it.
Upon hearing this sudden shift in topic.
Yamamura Miki's body gave a faint, involuntary shudder.
She of course understood perfectly well what Morishita Ai meant by "what about you."
She was asking about her feelings for Shikime Natsu.
And yet —
Yamamura Miki's gaze grew dim.
She was still hesitating. Still afraid.
Because for her, Shikime Natsu — that boy with his ever-gentle smile, who seemed capable of anything —
Was truly as dazzling and unreachable as the sun in the sky.
He was not only exceptional academically and outstanding in every ability, but he was always surrounded by so many beautiful, accomplished girls.
And herself?
Yamamura Miki looked down at the tips of her own shoes.
If Shikime Natsu had never appeared in her life, the person she was now would probably still be the same invisible wallflower as before, wouldn't she?
Nobody would have noticed her existence. Nobody would have cared about what she felt.
Things had only gotten a little better recently, because she had been able to stay close to Shikime Natsu.
Gradually, people had at least become aware that she existed.
But — wanting to stand at Shikime Natsu's side as an equal? That was an extraordinarily tall order for Yamamura Miki.
He was too radiant, too difficult to approach. And when she was around Shikime Natsu, Yamamura Miki always found herself overcome by an involuntary sense of inadequacy.
Watching Yamamura Miki sink back into that familiar, self-defeating spiral — that ostrich-with-its-head-in-the-sand routine —
Morishita Ai's brow furrowed.
"Yamamura Miki, listen carefully."
Morishita Ai fixed her with a steady gaze and spoke to her slowly, word by deliberate word, each one landing like a stone.
"He who hesitates is lost."
She had only just proven that truth on herself, mere moments ago.
"Shikime Natsu is a genuinely exceptional person."
Morishita Ai laid out the reality without a shred of mercy.
"There are countless pairs of eyes in this school watching him from the shadows."
"If you don't move soon — if you keep hiding away like a turtle pulling its head into its shell — his time will very quickly be divided up entirely among other girls."
"Kamuro Masumi, Sakura Airi, Shiina Hiyori… and now there's me, too."
"By the time that happens, Yamamura Miki — you won't be getting even a single minute of his time."
Hearing those words, the color drained from Yamamura Miki's face.
Morishita Ai did not stop there.
She pressed on.
"Is there any other boy — besides him — that you think you could ever fall for?"
Yamamura Miki shook her head instinctively.
"Then that settles it!"
Morishita Ai sighed.
"Don't think your little feelings are fooling anybody — I can see it perfectly clearly. Yamamura Miki, you like Shikime Natsu."
Morishita Ai's words came out blunt and direct, without a single detour.
"So drop that pointless inferiority complex of yours."
"When it comes to a creature on a whole other level like Shikime Natsu — you have absolutely no reason to feel inferior."
Morishita Ai patted her on the shoulder, speaking in the tone of someone who had seen through everything.
"After all, compared to Shikime Natsu, every single one of us — no matter how pretty, no matter how smart — is just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill human being."
"And if we're all just ordinary people, what is there for you to be afraid of?"
Morishita Ai didn't give Yamamura Miki any time to keep agonizing over it.
"Alright, stop standing there in a daze. Come with me."
Morishita Ai turned on her heel, tossed those words over her shoulder at Yamamura Miki, and immediately broke into a jog toward some direction in the forest.
"…? W-where are we going?"
Yamamura Miki had absolutely no idea what Morishita Ai was dragging her into.
But her body reacted on instinct anyway, and she hurried to catch up.
The two of them moved one after the other, weaving through the forest for a stretch.
And finally.
Morishita Ai led Yamamura Miki to the area around Shikime Natsu's cabin — then reached out and parted the branches and leaves in front of them.
Yamamura Miki followed Morishita Ai's line of sight.
And then.
Just like Morishita Ai, she saw the scene that lay before them.
____
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