From beginning to end, Kirishima Ai paid no attention to what those students said. She simply passed by quietly, then made her way step by step to the door of the Materials Room.
Teacher Haihara had forgotten to lock the door again this time.
After opening it, she crouched down inside the Materials Room as she had the previous few times. It was still dim and unlit inside.
She had not seen her younger sister again since the camping trip.
Doctor was helping cover things up with their parents, but more than that, she worried about her sister's safety.
A vessel possessed by the Demon King—there was no way it could come to a good end.
But Kirishima Ai did not know what else she could do.
She was too... weak.
Just like when she was little.
"..."
Kirishima Ai sat crouched there. Outside, rain pattered down, much like on the day she had come down with a fever.
That time, she had been waiting for Miss Lily.
This time, she did not know who she was waiting for... probably that gentle older sister who always reeked of alcohol.
But for some reason, she felt that it would not be bad if Teacher Haihara were the one to push open the door.
The rain grew heavier and heavier.
Of course, perhaps no one would come at all.
After a while, in the silent Materials Room, someone pushed open the door.
Kirishima Ai raised her head and caught a strong scent of alcohol.
A tall, slender woman with gray hair spilling over her shoulders and slightly unfocused dark-purple eyes walked in.
This time, she was holding a bottle of alcohol too, looking thoroughly drunk.
When she saw that someone was still in the Materials Room, the gray-haired woman rubbed her eyes,