The one who stepped in to stop Sudo was a sunny-looking boy with blue hair.
"Hey~ Are you this guy's classmate?"
"There are a lot of people here. If you don't want to make a scene, senpai, you should head back for now!" Yosuke Hirata replied, calm and firm.
"Tch. You trash will show your true colors in a month anyway. Just you wait—you'll be crying then!" After saying that, the other boy left in a huff. "Take that as advice from your second-year senpai!"
As they passed Amasawa Yuto and Sakayanagi Arisu, the upperclassmen noticed them watching. "What, are you in the same class as him too?"
"Unfortunately, no. We're in Class A."
"C-Class A?! Hmph." They turned and left without another word, but the fear in their eyes had been obvious.
Would simply being assigned to a class based on points make them this afraid?
Or was there some formidable person in Class 2-A who had left them with a fear of Class A?
"Sudo, violence is wrong. I hope you can get along with everyone—" Before Hirata could finish, Sudo shoved him aside.
"Tch. Mind your own business. Get lost, weakling!"
Hirata lost his balance and fell onto the ground.
Sudo had already walked away. On his way out, he kicked over the trash can in the corner, scattering the drink bottles across the floor.
"Are you all right?" Yuto asked, holding out a hand.
"Thanks, I'm fine. By the way, I'm Yosuke Hirata from Class 1-D." He introduced himself.
On their way back to the dorm, Yuto finally asked Sakayanagi the question that had been on his mind.
"Sakayanagi, you said 'long time no see' in the classroom, and you told Risonaka we were childhood friends. When did you meet me?"
Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes curved into lovely crescents, as if she'd been waiting ages for him to ask.
"Yes, though I only watched you from the other side of the glass. Strictly speaking, we hadn't actually met. I was eight the first time I went to that pure-white building."
"Just to confirm, Sakayanagi, you and I are both sixteen, right?"
"You'll lose points for asking a girl her age, but since it's you, Amasawa, I'll make an exception. That's right, we're the same age."
If that was the case, then he'd met Sakayanagi when he was eight. By then, he'd already gone to the new White Room. Kiyotaka had died, and Yuki and Shiro had left the White Room.
That meant Sakayanagi had only seen him.
"What was I doing when you first saw me?" Yuto asked.
She narrowed her eyes as if immersed in a fond memory. "You were playing chess. International chess."
"I remember you telling me you were the world champion at chess."
"Yes. Seeing your skill at chess that day was what made me fall in love with the game." She stopped, lowered her head like a girl in love, and placed a hand on her chest, as though gathering her emotions.
Then she raised her head, stars twinkling in her violet eyes, and held out her small hand to Yuto.
"I've been looking forward to meeting you again for so long. I could hardly bear the wait. My feelings were in such turmoil that even when we met, I couldn't stop worrying. I was always afraid that you before me, and even myself in this moment, were as insubstantial as a mirage—so dreamlike that you might vanish the moment I woke. Like fish-scale clouds on the horizon, like soap bubbles in the sunlight.
"So, would you take my hand? There's nothing wrong with the warmth of human touch. I just want to make sure you're real, that you're right here before me. This is also the message I wanted to give you, eight years late."
The gentle April sunlight gilded her silvery-white hair. Yuto reached out and placed his hand on her fingertips, like a princess accepting an invitation to dance.
"If you don't mind."
Sakayanagi smiled happily and slowly closed her hand around his fingertips.
"People often say that every meeting is the prologue to the sorrow of parting. But right now, I don't care about parting someday. All I can think about is you."
"If you say things like that, people will mistake it for a confession."
"You won't think that, will you?"
"Who knows? I'm an ordinary guy too."
"Somehow, hearing you call yourself ordinary feels even less believable than hearing a billionaire say money doesn't matter."
"Anyway, I know you don't mean me any harm, Sakayanagi. I look forward to working with you."
"So you were on your guard around me this whole time? And calling each other by our surnames seems a little awkward for childhood friends."
"I only met you for the first time today, Classmate Sakayanagi."
"Calling me Classmate Sakayanagi makes us sound even more distant. Please don't use honorific language with me, Yuto."
"You seem to have gotten used to calling me by my first name too."
"Yes, because I told Risonaka we were childhood friends. So I have to call you Yuto. Does that explanation satisfy you?"
"It sounds reasonable enough. I'll accept it."
"Then I look forward to getting along with you, Yuto."
"By the way, Sakayanagi, what's your relationship with Chairman Sakayanagi?"
"I suppose I can't hide it from you. Mr. Narimori Sakayanagi is my father."
"I see. That explains it."
"It seems you've connected some rather extraordinary dots, Yuto. But I'd like to reserve your afternoon, if I may be so honored."
A sly glint shone in Sakayanagi's eyes.
Yuto and Sakayanagi parted ways on the fourth floor of the dorm. Sakayanagi seemed to be having lunch in her room.
Yuto returned to his room, number 404, planning to put down his things before going to eat.
Before he even entered, something felt off.
The angle of the doorknob was slightly different from when he'd left.
If it had been pointing down, he could have blamed gravity. But it had been raised, which meant someone had touched it.
Yuto glanced down the empty hallway, set his things by the door, and swiped his room card.
With a beep, Yuto cautiously pushed the door open. Sure enough, there was a pair of shoes in the entryway, and a shadow moved inside—
"Yuki, how did you get into my room?"
"Yuto, you took so long to get back! Let's go eat in the cafeteria together!"
As expected, it was Tsubaki Yuki. She sat on his bed, holding onto the edge with both hands and kicking her smooth legs idly.
The moment she saw Yuto, she sprang to her feet and hurried over.
"No, answer my question first. How did you get into my room?"
"Is that question really important?" She tilted her head, playing dumb on purpose.
"It is. It determines whether I can sleep peacefully from now on. You can act cute all you want, but I'm not letting you dodge the question."
"All right. I actually asked the dorm manager for a spare room card of yours~" As she spoke, Tsubaki Yuki took a shiny room card from her pocket and showed it to him.
Could room cards be copied just like that? What were the dorm managers doing? If so, what was the point of the second and third rules against overnight guests?
"Wait until I've put my things down, then we'll go eat," Yuto said helplessly.
"Wait a minute, Yuto. You seem to have forgotten something. Who was that girl you went shopping with just now?" Tsubaki Yuki waved her phone in front of him.
Her smile looked a little dangerous, like the calm before a storm.
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