Before the alarm she had set could start screaming at her, Shino was already awake.
The blue travel bag beside her bed was packed with folded clothes. Last night, after gritting her teeth for a long while, she had even thrown in a few changes of underwear. The sky outside the window had only just begun to pale, and she had already finished breakfast, washed up, and taken care of everything else.
When she checked the time, it was only eight o'clock.
For a school day, that would have been about right. For meeting someone to go out, it was far too early.
Their actual meeting time was ten thirty.
More than two hours left.
Shino tried to think of something else she could prepare, but she had finished it all the night before. Clothes aside, she had checked her wallet, made sure she had enough cash, and confirmed that her ID card was there. Even though she was not used to wearing makeup, she had put real effort into it this time.
Once she had put on her warm coat and socks, her travel bag sat on the tatami mat within arm's reach. Fully armed with nowhere to go, she could only sit blankly in her chair.
If this cramped rental room had a TV, she could at least have watched the morning news to kill time.
Silence filled the room where she lived alone. It was the same place she had always lived, so why did it feel this uncomfortable now?
"I... I might be an idiot."
After a long while, Shino finally could not help saying it out loud.
Ever since accepting that man's invitation, she had been restless. After packing last night, she had stayed up late thinking about what to wear the next day and had even looked up popular natural makeup styles online. After all, he did not seem like the type who would like anything too flashy.
Even she wondered whether she was taking this too seriously.
It was supposed to be simple.
They were just going out, right?
Why was she making it so complicated?
Or was it because of that unnecessary line of his?
"You should bring a change of clothes."
Did he have any idea how many strange possibilities a line like that could imply?
Though, to be fair, he really did not seem like the delicate, thoughtful type.
She checked the time again.
He was probably still sleeping soundly.
As Shino sat waiting at home, the room gradually began to feel stuffy. She patted her cheeks, then finally picked up her travel bag.
Some cold morning air might be nice. If she treated it as a walk and went slowly, maybe she would arrive at just the right time.
She put on her boots, wrapped a scarf around her neck, and said "I'm leaving" to the empty room out of habit.
For once, she was heading out early on a day that was not a school day.
Because it was a day off, the streets looked different from her usual school mornings.
The roadside trees in late autumn still held only thin, bare branches. The sky had not fully brightened, so everything looked a little gray. There were fewer office workers hurrying along with half-awake faces, and the buses passing by looked emptier through their windows.
Maybe it felt oddly spacious. Maybe it felt a little freer. Either way, the streets seemed lonelier because of it. Even the busy shopping district in the distance offered little warmth among all that concrete and steel.
But Shino liked quiet better than noise.
It felt a little closer to the air back in the countryside. Through her plain glasses, the world looked brighter than it once had. She tucked her head into the warmth of her scarf and collar, leaving only half her face exposed, like a timid little groundhog peeking out. Her down jacket was one she had bought a while ago, but it still looked a bit oversized on her now.
At first glance, it made her look somewhat round.
She dressed this plainly almost every winter. Even so, for some reason, thoughts like maybe this is not bad and maybe this kind of girlish look is cute in its own way would not leave her alone.
She exhaled all her complaints and helplessness toward herself into the dry cold air as white mist, then kept walking at an easy pace.
When she reached the meeting place, she stopped.
Someone was leaning beside a car door up ahead, smoking near the trash can. His breath and the cigarette smoke mingled and vanished together. An old black jacket and thin jeans hung on his lean frame. The short jacket made him look tall and long-limbed, but it also made her wonder whether he was cold.
The man was absorbed in his morning nicotine and did not seem to have noticed her.
Shino pulled a hand out of her warm pocket and checked the time on her phone. The cold air stung her palm at once.
For him to dress like that, he really must be good with the cold.
Nine thirty.
A full hour earlier than the agreed time. And he had probably arrived even earlier. Had he come at eight, when she had just gotten up? Or seven?
Shino quickly rubbed her face, fixed her expression, and walked over.
"You're here really early, Suzuki-kun."
Good. That sounded perfectly normal.
The man gave a small shrug, tossed the half-finished cigarette into the ashtray slot of the trash can, turned toward her, and greeted her with a smile.
"So are you, Shino."
He called her by name without the slightest hesitation. When she had asked him about it before, he had said something like, "Sinon and Shino sound pretty similar. I'm used to calling you Sinon in-game, so calling you Shino in real life isn't that different, right?"
So yes.
He was absolutely not the delicate, thoughtful type.
"Have you eaten breakfa..."
She had meant to exchange a polite line or two, but the words caught in her throat.
Her eyes widened.
"You..."
"What?"
Satoru looked puzzled by her reaction.
"Who are you...?" she said after a long pause, still dazed.
"...?"
Shino pointed awkwardly at him.
"Where did all the stubble on your chin go?"
"I shaved."
Satoru rubbed his smooth chin and the corners of his mouth as if checking for himself.
"Now that I think about it, it had been a long time since I shaved. Doing it after so long feels pretty refreshing. As for my hair, I figured a barber would be a little expensive, so I just combed it myself. The parts that were too long got pulled back and tied behind my head with a rubber band. After this is over, I'll probably just cut it properly."
Shino looked at him in silence.
Until now, Satoru had always had stubble, a set of long bangs that did not look particularly washed, and a tired air around him. If one wanted to be generous, it was a deeply worn-down look. More realistically, it was what someone looked like after three or four straight nights of gaming.
Add in the sight of him smoking in the cold wind with his body hunched in on itself, and it was no wonder some well-meaning classmates had warned her afterward not to let her guard down around rough-looking men from outside school.
Because at the time, he really had looked like one.
But now...
Who was this person in front of her?
With the messy stubble gone, the proportions of his face suddenly looked much cleaner. He was still thin, but that only made the lines of his face sharper. The overlong bangs that had hidden his forehead and the corners of his eyes had been brushed back. Whether intentionally or by accident, a few strands had slipped loose and fallen near his brows.
Without that mass of hair covering his forehead, his eyes were fully visible. He seemed to have rested properly too. There was no dull exhaustion in him now. His eyes looked alive, bright enough that even from a step away, Shino felt as if she could see her own reflection in them.
For the first time, she fully believed he was twenty-one.
"It still looks a little weird, doesn't it?"
Satoru smiled at her silence.
"I did it myself, so as long as it looks passable, that's good enough. Being your age is nice. If you just stay yourself, you're cute already."
She would rather die than say out loud that he looked handsome.
Shino's face warmed slightly, and she gave a small huff.
"Flattery is useless. If you think I'm some little girl you can spin around with a few nice words, you should throw that idea away right now. And just so we're clear, I only agreed to come because I wanted a change of pace."
"Yeah, I know. Actually, I was surprised. I was already prepared for you to refuse."
Satoru nodded.
"We're not especially close, after all. If an unemployed adult like me asks you to go away for a few days, it's completely normal for you to be cautious. Thanks. In return, I'll help you properly."
"So you are aware of that..."
"Of course."
Satoru took her bag and put it in the back seat.
"We said ten thirty, but we both came early without saying anything. If we leave now, the drive to Kyoto will still take a while, but we should make decent time."
"I did not come early on purpose. I just happened to wake up earlier than usual."
Shino made sure to add that, then asked,
"When did you get here?"
"A little after eight, I guess. I had nothing else to do anyway."
"Oh..."
She glanced at the car.
"This isn't the same one as last time, is it?"
She knew nothing about cars, but even after sitting down, she could tell from the shape and the interior that this one was different. The one from before had clearly been much more impressive.
"This one is actually mine. Just secondhand. My friend took the other one back."
Satoru explained it as he got in.
"But this one fits me better. Don't worry, the ride won't be rough. I'm more confident behind the wheel than I am inside FullDive games."
For once, his voice was firm, as if he wanted to prove something.
At the same time, he could not help remembering how Saki Kurosaki had asked whether he had time to drive her somewhere.
It happened to be the day he had to pick up Shino and take her to meet that bespectacled civil servant, so he had honestly told Saki over the phone that he needed to pick up a high school girl first.
Then...
Maybe the signal had been bad, because the call cut off.
And then, for some reason...
A barrage of texts came pouring in.
Most of them were along the lines of:
"Go die!!!"
"You heartless bastard!!!"
"Jump into a river!! For humanitarian reasons, I will personally look after your corpse and send it back to your hometown!!"
The Dodge Charger SRT8 had been forcefully taken back too, even though she had only asked him to help break it in for two or three days.
Argo really was still the same Rat who got strangely stubborn out of nowhere.
Satoru turned the key, started the engine, and pulled away.