The school remained tight-lipped about the students who had 'disappeared' in the fire.
It was unknown what those parents had discussed with the school—perhaps not just the school; after the start of the term, so-called urban legends began to circulate among the student body.
"It was a monster in the fire that ate them."
Girls gathered in groups to whisper, discussing nothing but those missing classmates. In the class, besides Nakajima Saki and Hayami Mari, several other seats were also empty.
Eriri propped up her chin in boredom, the unpleasant discussions reaching her ears in snatches.
"By the way, the seat behind Sen Getsusa is empty. Can I apply to move there?"
The whispering gradually drifted onto another track.
"In your dreams."
"Speaking of which, have you noticed..."
"Of course... who wouldn't notice that."
"Does she drink a lot of milk..."
Eriri looked back; the target of the distorted topic—Miss Sen Getsusa—was staring blankly at her phone with her mouth open out of boredom.
"Ahhhhh~"
Like what children do to electric fans when they are young, Sen Getsusa was holding her phone playing music, pointing the speaker at herself, her small mouth wide open.
"Ahhhhh~"
"Aba aba, aba aba..."
Eriri: Is it that boring... "Cough."
Eriri turned to look at Sen Getsusa; without realizing it, she had been paying more and more attention to her.
Was it because of... friendship?
"Tsukisa?"
Sen Getsusa looked up. Her clear pupils were framed by a charming eye shape, giving this naive mountain spirit a touch of desire and temptation.
"Hmm?"
Eriri shook her head: "Nothing."
She stared at Sen Getsusa's fingers, knuckles, back of the hand, wrist—then to her slender neck, chin, and upturned lips... Her gaze was like an invisible hand, crossing space to secretly caress the girl's face.
"Tsukisa."
"Hmm?"
Eriri just wanted to call her name.
Sen Getsusa.
The name born from the touching of lips became more and more familiar. She would think of it when eating cake, when drinking milk, and when changing clothes.
Eriri touched her slightly hot cheeks and pursed her lips.
"Are you free... this weekend?"
"Weekend?"
Sen Getsusa lay on the table without any decorum, babbling 'aba aba' for a long while, only able to find solace in the increasingly boring air. Her school uniform on her upper body was a bit wrinkled; as a girl who wasn't tall, she had ordered the most fitting uniform—
It was only fitting in terms of height proportions.
In other places, it was like a hundred-pound person wearing a Child's clothes.
Sigh, truly a hardworking My Lord Uniform.
And while wearing it like that, if one still tried to lie face down.
Some sisters from the plains would become sad.
"As for the weekend..."
"Sit up straight and talk to me, Sen Getsusa." Eriri said with a bitter face, her eyes drifting toward the tabletop every now and then.
That fountain pen looked like it was suffering quite a bit.
"Eh?"
Sen Getsusa blinked and propped herself up on the table: "I should be free this weekend."
Recently, the frequency of Chaos appearing in the surrounding area seemed to be getting lower and lower.
The fairies were happy with the peace; after all, although they knew how powerful their Queen was, they didn't want Sen Getsusa taking Yuno Gasai on adventures every night.
Yuno Gasai believed the area was getting cleaner because of their Chaos extermination operations over the past few days, so this 'tag-team cleanup of little bastards' activity was temporarily suspended.
Sen Getsusa was indifferent to this.
After all, after contacting the authorities, the girl had become increasingly aware that this World was gradually drifting toward a black hole of disorder—the authorities didn't have enough power to stop it all, and a few hot-blooded righteous knights couldn't solve the problem fundamentally.
In the future, only by being strong oneself could one protect the people around them in this increasingly treacherous World.
Coincidentally, Sen Getsusa was strength itself.
"What's wrong?" The girl looked at the other.
Eriri had been very strange lately.
The other person would always stare at her with a solemn expression when she was spacing out—Sen Getsusa was sure it was indeed a'solemn' expression. Then, when she noticed and turned her head, this young lady would immediately return to an indifferent look... and start listening to the lecture or recording in her notebook.
Even though she didn't understand anything.
"N-Nothing!" Sure enough, clutching her golden twin-tails tightly, Eriri started again: "I was just, just asking casually..."
The young lady lowered her head, mumbling indistinctly, and after occasionally making eye contact with Sen Getsusa, she would quickly look away, staring at the empty playground outside the window... "Eriri?"
"It's nothing!"
Eriri waved her hand and was about to say something when a familiar voice appeared beside them.
Aki Tomoya held a piece of bread that had been bitten into a mess: "She definitely wants to go to your place to draw doujinshi—"
"Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up!"
Indeed, fireworks only bloom when they meet fire.
"No, Tsukisa, your description is too elegant..." Aki Tomoya had dead-fish eyes and tiredly pushed up his glasses: "I think it's probably because of the natto and beer..."
"You're the sticky, smelly natto!"
Eriri bared her teeth fiercely, and after glancing at Sen Getsusa inconspicuously, she coughed a few times and quickly regained her lady-like posture.
"You're the..." After thinking about it, the girl decisively shut up.
"Skip this topic, I don't want to talk to you, Mr. Glasses Maid." Eriri pursed her lips, opened her phone, and showed it to Sen Getsusa.
"Tsukisa, I found a painter as great as you!"
Eriri had always been a hundred percent certain of Sen Getsusa's painting level. In her biased heart, there were very few people she was willing to compare with Sen Getsusa.
Sen Getsusa curiously took the phone.
Eh... the level is much higher than mine.
Falling roses and ultramarine were splashed with watercolors, the tone shifting naturally from warm to cold. The affectionate red of the roses and the richness of the ultramarine were expertly stained onto the paper.
In the distance, the twilight was dimming, and the scenery slowly dissipated at the edge of the sky.
"This kind of technique is not easy with watercolors..." Sen Getsusa zoomed in on the image, commenting in detail.
"This is a painter much more powerful than me."
"No, I should say this is someone who can truly be called a painter. Compared to this person, I'm just a beginner."
Amidst Eriri's disapproving gaze, Sen Getsusa clicked on the person's profile picture—
"Hmm? The name is interesting."
Miss Sen, the master of naming, complained about the artist's name:
"Mashiro... Is this name a real name?"
The personal homepage opened, and it was filled with a dazzling array of oil paintings.
"Wow..."
Eriri leaned on Sen Getsusa's shoulder and introduced in a small voice by her ear: "It should be a real name. She's a very famous up-and-coming painter recently. It's said that abroad, she's called a 'Young National Treasure'."
Hmm.
Mashiro?
Such great oil paintings, a genius way of expression.
Sen Getsusa focused intently on the screen, not noticing Eriri getting closer and closer to her face.
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