"What is it?" Sakura Airi asked instinctively.
"Yesterday, you stood here for a long time, hesitating to go in. Was it because of the shopkeeper? You seemed... really afraid of him."
Sakura Airi's body gave a sudden shudder, an instinctive reaction to having a secret exposed.
Her head dropped at once, her long bangs hiding her eyes as she shrank back into the timid little-animal state she'd been in before.
"N-no... That's not it..."
Kazehara Tetsu didn't press her. He simply stood there quietly, giving her all the silence and space she needed.
He knew that with girls like Sakura Airi, any kind of pressure would only make them shut themselves away even tighter.
People streamed along Pedestrian Street, laughing and chatting, making their little corner seem all the quieter.
Sakura Airi could feel her heart pounding.
Her mind was in turmoil.
Should she tell him?
Should she tell this classmate she'd only just met about her secret identity, "Shizuku," and the shopkeeper who was stalking and harassing her?
It was too risky.
But... if she didn't tell him, what could she do?
Over the past few days, the shopkeeper's harassment had continued to escalate.
At first, he'd simply sent her letters every day, expressing his admiration.
Gradually, the contents of the envelopes began to grow strange.
His words had gone from simple affection to disturbing fantasies.
Then, before long, the envelopes started to contain secretly taken photos.
They were only ordinary pictures of her walking around Campus in her school uniform, but what they implied sent a chill down Sakura Airi's spine.
She was being watched.
That man had gone from being a simple fan to a stalker who terrified her.
She didn't know what more extreme thing he might do next.
She lived in constant terror, and even