Early in the morning, during the rush hour for school and work, pedestrians flowed everywhere, some hurried, some leisurely. El-Elf, someone who originally did not belong to this world, looked exceptionally ordinary as he followed behind Chidori, becoming just another person in this busy morning.
Chidori had not noticed that a stalker had appeared behind her at some point. He followed her from her residence to the street, from the street to the subway station, and from the subway station onto the train.
There were many people on the subway, making the environment extremely complicated. Yet this train was not so crowded that everyone was packed tightly together. Looking around, groups of two or three people could be seen everywhere. After boarding, El-Elf, who had tailed her for an unknown distance, openly stood about two body lengths diagonally behind Chidori, who remained completely unaware that someone had been following her all the way. He could reach her with a single outstretched hand, maintaining the best possible protective distance in such a complicated environment.
El-Elf did not keep his eyes on Chidori the entire time. He knew that prolonged staring could make highly perceptive people sense something was wrong. For example, if someone watched him for too long, he could keenly detect the source of that gaze. For that reason, he spent more time scanning the entire carriage, eliminating everyone who posed no threat one by one.
In the end, El-Elf's eyes settled on two young men dressed in black school uniforms. Unlike other students, they wore their uniforms improperly, with their jackets completely unzipped to reveal brightly colored shirts underneath, as well as gold chains as thick as fingers around their necks. Their originally black hair had been dyed blond—or at least a small tuft of it had. One look