The Stalker and the Camera

"I'm really sorry to trouble you today, making you set aside time to help me."

"I truly owe you one." An Xiao let out a long sigh of relief as he looked at the merchant information he had finished processing in his hands.

"It's no trouble at all." Honami Ichinose shook her head, smiling as she said to An Xiao, "Besides, rather than calling it a trouble, I'd say I'm quite happy to do it."

"I'm just happy that there's something I can do to help you, Xiao An."

Because he had been smiling a bit too much over the past few days, An Xiao was starting to reach his limit.

Right now, even just lifting the corners of his mouth made him feel a slight sense of nausea.

Furthermore, he was still a bit concerned about the shop assistant he had seen yesterday, so he had asked Honami Ichinose to help him inquire with the remaining merchants to free up more of his time.

To express his gratitude, An Xiao led Honami Ichinose to the same coffee shop from yesterday, wanting to treat her to something.

"Welcome—ugh, why is it you kid again?"

Uncle Watanabe, who was standing at the front counter wiping a glass, paused for a moment upon seeing An Xiao. Then, after noticing Honami Ichinose beside him, his expression turned serious as he leaned in close to An Xiao and whispered.

"Hey, kid. I know you're at that age where your hormones are raging and it's inevitable to have some flutterings in your heart, but there are some things you just shouldn't do."

"Don't blame me for being blunt, but playing the field like this..."

"Stop, stop, what on earth are you talking about?"

An Xiao felt his head fill with black lines.

Is he already suffering from senile dementia?

"What playing the field? You better explain yourself. I haven't even dated anyone yet. Are you going to provide me with the girlfriend I'm missing?"

"Be careful, or I'll sue you for slander!"

"But the one you brought yesterday was..."

"Just a friend I happened to run into. The person next to me today helped me out a lot, so I'm treating her to a snack."

An Xiao said, rubbing his forehead.

"I'm telling you, Uncle, you should listen to less of the gossip those neighborhood aunties talk about. Out of all the male staff around here, you're the one who listens the most intently."

"Uh... sorry, sorry, my bad, my mistake." Watanabe felt a bit embarrassed after being called out by An Xiao.

"As an apology, I'll treat you two to some drinks."

Before An Xiao could refuse, Watanabe scurried away as if he were flying.

"He really is..." An Xiao said helplessly, turning to look at Honami Ichinose beside him. "Sorry about that, but don't let his attitude fool you; he's actually a good guy."

"It's fine." Honami Ichinose's face was slightly flushed, likely due to what the shopkeeper had just said. She pretended not to care and asked, "Xiao An, did you run into other girls from our class yesterday?"

"Ah? No, not from our class." An Xiao led Honami Ichinose to a spot and they sat down.

"It was Sakura from Class D."

"Come to think of it, this actually relates to some things I did today."

Following that, An Xiao recounted the events that occurred after meeting Sakura yesterday, as well as the subsequent situation regarding the shop assistant at the electronics store, to Honami Ichinose.

"Ichinose, do you think I'm being too sensitive?" An Xiao covered his face with the documents he had collected, his tone listless.

"I feel like I might be judging a book by its cover."

Honami Ichinose didn't speak; she simply took the documents off An Xiao's face and began to look through them carefully.

"Huh? Isn't this that guy?"

Watanabe, who had returned to deliver the drinks, happened to see the document in Honami Ichinose's hand and spoke instinctively.

"Hm? Uncle Watanabe, you know him?" An Xiao sat up abruptly, looking at him.

"I wouldn't say I know him, exactly." Watanabe said, pulling his phone from his pocket. After swiping a few times, he pulled up a photo and handed it to An Xiao.

"We merchants have a group chat, and someone mentioned him before."

"Because of this photo, I have a fairly deep impression of him."

An Xiao took the phone and saw that it was a post from someone on a forum dedicated to a gravure idol named Shizuku.

"Do you believe in fate? I do. It must be fate that brought us together."

"Do you know? I fell in love with you the very first time I saw you in a magazine."

"I love you so much."

"I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you!"

"What are you doing right now? I want to see you so much, I want to see you, I really want to see you!"

"I love you so much... I simply cannot stop these feelings of longing for you."

Each hair-raising sentence crawled up An Xiao's neck like a venomous snake, triggering a strong sense of physical discomfort.

"Pretty absurd, right?"

Seeing An Xiao's reaction, Watanabe smiled knowingly.

"That's how I felt when I first saw it, too."

"Can't anyone do something about this?" Ichinose stared at the sentences on her phone screen, feeling physically unwell.

"Do something? How?" Uncle Watanabe said helplessly. "He's just talking online; at best, he can only be considered a fanatical fan."

"Just seeing these messages of his, that little girl is going to suffer."

An Xiao didn't speak, simply taking out his own phone and searching based on Watanabe's screen.

"Huh? This looks like... Sakura?"

Because the photos of the gravure idol named Shizuku weren't saved in Uncle Watanabe's phone, this was the first time An Xiao had actually seen her.

"Is that the Sakura classmate you mentioned before?"

Ichinose asked, looking somewhat worried.

An Xiao pursed his lips, scrolling rapidly through the forum, his eyes darting between the two phones as he searched for a specific ID.

"Found it..."

An Xiao's finger stopped in front of a name, but he felt no joy; on the contrary, his expression turned grim.

It was a message posted yesterday.

"As expected, we are a match made in heaven. It was fate that brought us together here. Wait for me, I'm coming right now."

"This time, nothing can keep us apart!"

"Xiao An, we should contact Sakura immediately."

"Yeah. This has become a serious matter." An Xiao nodded, then dialed Sakura's number.

Beep~ Beep~ Beep~

The ringtone played many times, but the owner of the phone never picked up.

An Xiao's heart sank.

Things seemed to be heading toward the worst possible outcome.

"Uncle, I have something to take care of, so I'm leaving first. Let's talk again when there's time."

He operated his phone while running.

As long as location services were enabled, one could track a friend's whereabouts.

This was something that guy named Ike from Class D had bragged about back when they were having a study session at the library, explaining how to manufacture "chance encounters."

But after running only a few steps, An Xiao felt someone following him. He looked back and saw it was Ichinose.

"I'll go with you. Don't look at me like that; I was in the track and field club back in middle school."

"...Then keep up."

PS: The author has been rushing to catch a train since this morning and even went to the wrong station, so the update might be a little late, but it definitely won't be skipped!