"Sorry, Lord Yu, I can't keep you company for now. Shiori..." Yuuka said as she changed her shoes, a flicker of anxiety crossing her face.
Qigong Shiori had just ignored Yuuka and left the apartment. Thankfully, Yuuka could still see her retreating figure as she went downstairs. If she hurried, she could still catch up.
"It's fine. Go bring her back first. We can talk next time," Zhao Yu said, immediately understanding and urging her on.
"Yeah! We'll talk next time!" With that, Yuuka immediately hung up and chased after Qigong Shiori.
What had happened? Why did Shiori look so awful? Yuuka ran as fast as she could, thinking hard all the while.
Since meeting Qigong Shiori again, this was the first time Yuuka had seen such a complicated expression on the girl's face.
That despairing, hollow expression pulled Yuuka back to when she had first met Qigong Shiori.
It had been a rainy afternoon. Yuuka had checked the forecast before going out, but she had not expected that the sky, which had supposedly been due to clear up that afternoon, had not changed at all. The rain even seemed to be getting heavier.
Looking at the dark, oppressive clouds overhead, Yuuka's mood worsened along with the weather.
Those people had mocked her again today. They whispered and pointed behind her back, yet the moment she turned around, they acted as if nothing had happened.
They were disgusting...
Most of the students around her had already left. Those without umbrellas had gone with friends, sharing umbrellas in pairs.
Only Yuuka stood alone beneath the eaves of the school building. Raindrops pattered against the ground, splashing up water. The field was a vast, misty white, and Yuuka felt like Alice stumbling into Wonderland.
She had considered asking a classmate or someone