"Yuki-chan, when will you be back?"
That night, Shirayuki received a phone call from Grass Wonder.
"Probably after the race. The Oka Sho."
"Isn't that still almost a month away…"
"It's special training, after all. If the time is too short, there wouldn't be any point."
"Can Yuki-chan really live over there by herself? Maybe I should come too."
Grass Wonder's worried voice came through the phone. Tonight, she was already the fourth person to say something like that to Shirayuki. Before her, Special Week, Seiun Sky, and Tokai Teio had all asked when she would be coming back.
"So that means I won't be able to see Yuki-chan for a while, right?"
"Pretty much."
The other side of the call went silent. A few seconds later, Grass Wonder spoke.
"In that case, I'll be thinking of Yuki-chan, so Yuki-chan should think of me too."
"Mm."
Occasionally, she would think about her. Of course, only occasionally.
"Yuki-chan left so suddenly that I didn't prepare any gift. This is the only thing I can give you."
As she said that, Fujiwara Shirayuki's phone chimed. Grass Wonder had sent her a message. When she opened it, there was a picture inside.
It was Grass Wonder wearing lace-trimmed sleepwear, gazing at the camera with a rather seductive look.
It was actually a lewd picture of Grass Wonder herself!
Fujiwara Shirayuki swallowed and quickly saved it.
"How is it, Yuki-chan? Do you like it?"
"…Not bad."
"Then I'll be waiting for you to come back. Good night."
After saying that, Grass Wonder hung up.
Fujiwara Shirayuki silently scrolled through her phone.
This was the benefit of having a good relationship. She could casually look at lewd photos of her friends. Other people definitely did not receive this kind of treatment. In order to prevent the contents of her album from being discovered, Shirayuki had even locked it.
Of course, aside from lewd pictures, there were also plenty of proper photos inside. Their source, however, was not exactly proper. They were swimsuit photos she had gotten from Agnes Digital. She had not expected Digital to actually have photos of Rudolf and Air Groove.
These were supreme treasures, obtained by having Shirayuki wear a swimsuit and take photos in exchange. Shirayuki had immediately backed them up to the cloud. Even if they were deleted from this phone, she could download them again using Chiya's phone.
Shirayuki flipped through them one by one.
The lively sounds around her gradually faded into her ears. Suddenly, Shirayuki realized that living alone was actually rather boring. In the trainer dorm, she could play games. In the student dorm, she had Mejiro Dober. Now, sitting here all by herself, aside from scrolling on her phone, there was nothing else to do.
Shirayuki looked out the window. From the apartment built on the mountaintop, she could overlook the city's nightscape.
Just as Shirayuki was spacing out, the light above her head suddenly began flickering.
Click, click…
The filament made a strange noise.
Hm? Is the voltage unstable here?
But nothing unusual was happening on Chiya's side.
Maybe the wiring was old. After all, this place had been built who knew how many years ago, and usually, barely anyone came here.
Pop!
The light bulb above her head made a crisp sound and went out completely.
It burst?
Why did this have to happen at night?
With no other choice, Shirayuki decided to go find the manager named Hinata. After putting her clothes back on, Shirayuki left her room.
But just as she was about to open the door, she suddenly realized the doorknob would not turn.
Huh? It's locked?
But this kind of door could only be locked from the inside.
She tried turning it a few more times, then pulled inward, but the door was like it had been fixed into space. It did not move at all.
What's going on?
"Ah!"
In another room, Matikane Fukukitaru suddenly jumped up from her bed. She sniffed the air, perked up her ears, and sharply turned toward the room next door.
It would not open.
Shirayuki had been locked inside. It was probably someone's prank. The first person she thought of was Gold Ship.
That girl really had too much free time. She never got tired of causing trouble. Gold Ship was probably hiding somewhere right now, secretly laughing while watching her panic.
Just as Shirayuki thought that, she heard a soft plop from the table.
The room was now pitch-black. She could only barely make out its outline through the moonlight outside. For some reason, the water she had left on the table had spilled all over the floor.
…What's going on?
Shirayuki swallowed. She was already starting to feel nervous. The current situation was definitely abnormal. Chiya was hurrying over here, so before he opened the door from the outside, she would just wait for a little while.
That was what Shirayuki had planned, but the abnormalities did not let her off.
The window glass suddenly began making strange noises, as though someone was scratching it with their fingernails. The sound sent chills down Shirayuki's spine.
This was no longer just someone trying to scare her.
There was definitely something unclean inside this room!
"Trainer-san!"
Outside the door, Matikane Fukukitaru looked at Fujiwara Chiya as he rushed over.
"Fukukitaru? Why are you here?"
"Spiritual miasma! It's spiritual miasma!"
"What spiritual miasma?"
"It means a supernatural phenomenon!"
"What the hell?!"
Did I walk onto the wrong set?
Is this still the world of Uma Musume?
Why are demons and spirits suddenly running rampant?
"Don't get too close yet, Trainer-san."
Matikane Fukukitaru pulled several talismans from her pocket and stuck them to the door. She began muttering something under her breath.
Like an earthquake, Shirayuki's room started shaking. But Chiya, who was standing outside, could not feel it.
Ten minutes later, Matikane Fukukitaru let out a breath of relief.
"It's done."
Shirayuki turned the doorknob and walked out. At the same time, the light in the room came back on.
"In deep mountains and old forests like this, spiritual energy becomes very heavy. Ghosts often appear, so please be careful."
As she spoke, Matikane Fukukitaru stuffed several little paper dolls into Fujiwara Chiya's and Fujiwara Shirayuki's hands.
"With these, you won't need to worry about getting hurt."
Fujiwara Chiya silently put his into his pocket.
All of a sudden, he felt that everything that had just happened seemed a little fake. In more than twenty years of life, he had never seen anything this ridiculous. Right now, he wanted to call Grass Wonder and tell her he was going home tomorrow, so she should come pick him up.
Did I run into some kind of curse?
Or is this punishment for secretly looking at lewd pictures?
When they returned to the room, everything had already gone back to normal. However, the water that had spilled across the table had crookedly formed three words.
Come outside.
The two of them swallowed at the same time. Vaguely, Fujiwara Chiya seemed to understand what had just happened.
Even during the day, there were hardly any people at this training ground. At night, there were even fewer.
When they arrived at the track, a black figure was running across it. She did not speak, as though she had not noticed them at all.
The moment Shirayuki saw her back, she knew who it was.
Cafe's "friend."
Your way of calling someone over could scare them to death!
"I'm here!" Shirayuki said.
The other party did not answer. She only continued running quietly, as though she was displaying something.
Shirayuki stood beside the track and watched her seriously.
Her footsteps were like flowing water.
Like falling leaves.
As though she had become one with the surrounding environment itself.
Fujiwara Chiya had seen something similar during the day, and he remembered it clearly. Even as an outsider, he could understand that this person was far, far stronger than Yaeno Muteki.
Imitating her movements, Shirayuki began running on the training ground.
And that figure seemed to freeze in front of her eyes, forever maintaining the same distance. Not fast, not slow.
Just like that, Shirayuki and that "friend" continued running.
Until the final light in the dormitory went out.