Seeking Help, Campus Stalker

Haruka Hasebe: "Yuki-kun, could you help me out? I think my friend and I are being followed while we're out shopping."

Yuki Gyakukai stared coldly at the message that popped up. He immediately picked up his phone and replied: "Head toward the Karaoke place. I'll come find you right now." After sending that message, he tapped on Haruka Hasebe's profile picture, and a location interface appeared. The school-issued phones allowed real-time location sharing as long as two people were friends and not in a blocked state. Though it was sometimes inconvenient, the advantage of this design showed itself at moments like this.

"Everyone, I have something urgent. I need to go take care of it now. I'm heading out." He quickly greeted the group, grabbed his jacket, and hurried off. Seeing how genuinely pressed Yuki Gyakukai seemed, no one stopped him. "Then come back soon, alright? After all, if the core of this gathering isn't here, it feels a bit off." "Got it."

In the corner of the sofa, Himeno Yuki, who had already been sitting there for an hour or two, felt completely out of place. To be honest, she'd wanted to leave for a while, but when she saw Yuki Gyakukai moving to head out without hesitation, her eyes lit up. "Wait, Gyakukai-kun, take me with you. I'm feeling a bit unwell too, so it works out to leave together." Glancing at Himeno Yuki following him, he knew she was playing up her good-girl persona and was probably just fed up with the atmosphere. "Fine, hurry up and follow. I'm really in a rush." "Coming." The two pulled open the door and walked out quickly. No one in the room found it strange. After all, Yuki Gyakukai had urgent business—as the class leader, he probably had a lot to handle, so it was understandable. As for Himeno Yuki, she was known in the class for being frail and always acted very quiet. She'd left several gatherings early before due to feeling unwell.

Once outside the Karaoke place, Yuki Gyakukai pulled out his phone, stared at the little red dot representing Haruka Hasebe, and started sprinting. "Hey, why are you running so fast!" As soon as she was outside, Himeno Yuki's expression relaxed. Facing Yuki Gyakukai, who already knew her true nature, she dropped the act. Her voice and movements became much more natural, and she started running hard to keep up. Her smooth running speed was on a completely different level from what she usually showed. The ability she displayed already surpassed most girls in the class, though it still fell short of Minami Kosho, the class's athletic star. But based on the strength she showed now, she was firmly in the middle tier of the class. "Hurry up and keep up. You pretend to be good in front of classmates, but don't bother putting on airs in front of me." Himeno Yuki, already pushing herself to the limit and chasing desperately, couldn't help but feel speechless. "Who do you think has a body like a monster like you? Even if I didn't pretend to be good, my physical fitness still can't match yours, okay? Being able to barely keep up right now is already pretty impressive." Even as she said that, she gritted her teeth and kept chasing. Honestly, what was she even here for? She'd just wanted to escape the gathering and go home, right? Annoying. Whatever. Since she'd been dragged along, she might as well see what was going on. Shoving aside the stray thoughts, Himeno Yuki clenched her jaw, her eyes locked on the figure that had already run quite far ahead, and sprinted with all her might.

Finally, after running for over three minutes, she slowly came to a stop. But when she saw that Yuki Gyakukai had rushed over in such a hurry just for two pretty girls, Himeno Yuki—whose lungs felt like they were about to burst—almost choked on her anger. She was this close to coughing up blood and passing out. She braced her hands on her knees, bent over, and panted heavily. Large beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, slid across her cheeks, and dripped off her chin. Because she'd been playing the good-girl role lately and hadn't exercised much to maintain the image, she was a bit out of shape. Of course, that was only part of the reason. More importantly, what kind of normal person ran like Yuki Gyakukai, already fast and still accelerating? Was this even human? Struggling to hold up her body, which was on the verge of fainting, she stumbled a few steps and leaned against Yuki Gyakukai's back. At the same time, her eyes locked onto the woman across from her, one hand still holding her phone with the communication screen showing "Tomie."

He gave Yuki Gyakukai a brief demonstration, that arrogant look in his eyes repeatedly saying:

If you don't come up with a good explanation, I'll go straight to Tomie with this.

Meanwhile, Haruka Hasebe and Airi Sakura, upon seeing Yuki Gyakukai, didn't even spare a glance for the girl lying behind him.

The delight in their eyes was unmistakable—they hadn't expected him to arrive just minutes after they sent the message.

In an instant, the worry and fear in their hearts melted away, replaced by a surge of joy.

Their footsteps quickened, turning into a run as they dashed over.

Haruka, bold as ever, looped one arm through Yuki Gyakukai's, patting her chest with lingering fear:

"Little Tree, I'm so glad you came. Airi and I were almost scared to death by that stalker."

Airi Sakura, a bit shy, nodded in deep agreement, the fear still clinging to her face.

"Stalker?!" Himeno Yuki, having just caught her breath, stared at the two in shock at the unfamiliar word.

"Why would there be a stalker in this closed school?!

And shouldn't you report a stalker to the teachers or the school security?"

With that, Himeno Yuki looked at them with utter distrust, immediately raising her phone to show them her call log with Tomie:

"I'm warning you, don't try anything shady. And what did you mean by 'Little Tree' just now? Is that Gyakukai's nickname?"

Airi Sakura frantically waved her hands:

"No... it's not like that. Jiajia and I really did run into a stalker. 'Little Tree' is probably just a nickname Jiajia gave Gyakukai-kun."

Himeno Yuki was half-convinced:

"Then where's the stalker?"

Thump!

"Ow—! Gyakukai, why did you suddenly hit my head!"

Yuki Gyakukai didn't answer. Instead, he pressed all five fingers down on Himeno Yuki's little head and pointed in one direction:

"See over there? That guy's probably the stalker Hasebe and the others were talking about."

Hearing this, Airi Sakura took one look and quickly ducked behind Haruka.

Haruka pointed at the figure's back and exclaimed:

"Yeah! That's him! That guy wore a mask and followed us the whole way!"

Himeno Yuki saw him too, but unfortunately, the stalker seemed to realize he'd been spotted.

Or maybe it was because he saw Yuki Gyakukai and Himeno Yuki, and was now turning around to leave quickly.

"We're too far away now to catch up."

"Maybe... we should just report it to the teacher."

Airi Sakura sounded scared.

"Our Class A already checked that area. No cameras, no way to track him down.

That stalker probably knew that too, which is why he felt free to follow you."

In simple terms, telling the teacher would only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.

Haruka was scared too, clinging tightly to Gyakukai's arm:

"Then what do we do? Airi and I don't have any other friends in Class D..."

Himeno Yuki watched Yuki Gyakukai's arm sinking into Haruka's grip.

She understood Haruka's thoughts and actions to some extent, but also didn't fully get it.

Yuki Gyakukai calmed everyone down a bit, then looked in the direction the stalker had fled:

"It's fine. We'll find a way to catch that stalker."

"Um... I think... I know who that stalker is."