After the incident with the stalker clerk was resolved, the world seemed to grow brighter for Sakura Airi.
The day after the anonymous report email was sent, the School Authority dealt with the matter with swift and decisive force.
The clerk was immediately fired for "maliciously harassing a student" and forcibly removed from This School.
At last, the enormous weight on her heart had been lifted completely.
Of course, her life hadn't returned entirely to the way it was before.
Someone named Kazehara Tetsu had become part of her daily life in a way she couldn't quite explain.
She still instinctively avoided crowds, and she still became so nervous when talking to people that she could barely speak.
But when she was with Kazehara Tetsu, a small crack quietly opened in the shell she used to protect herself.
She had worked up the courage to tell him the secret about the idol Shizuku.
Kazehara Tetsu's reaction had been as calm as ever, as though it were nothing more than an insignificant piece of information.
That calm, free of prying curiosity or surprise, made Sakura Airi feel safer than she ever had before.
That afternoon, after the dull classes were over, Kazehara Tetsu met Sakura Airi in the Library.
Sakura Airi handed him a small USB Drive.
"Um... Kazehara, this is what I promised you last time, as thanks for repairing my camera..." Her voice was still very quiet, and she kept her head down, not daring to look at him.
The USB Drive contained digital files of some photos that had never been released when she was the idol Shizuku.
These were the most valuable "payment" she could think of.
Kazehara Tetsu took the USB Drive and put it in his pocket.
He didn't refuse, because he understood that accepting