"Don't worry, Uta-chan. I've already read your Manuscript Volume Two. Believe me, as long as we step up the promotion this time, sales will definitely pick up. The new content..."
"Now isn't the time to talk about that." Utaha Kasumigaoka lightly tapped the table, interrupting Machida Sonoko.
The girl's wine-red eyes stared fixedly at Machida Sonoko.
"Something is seriously wrong with you. You haven't slept all night?"
"How could I sleep after suddenly receiving that kind of notice?" Machida Sonoko tipped back the last of her black coffee, licked her lips with the tip of her tongue, and barely managed to perk herself up.
Utaha Kasumigaoka sighed, stopped shaking her leg, rose from her seat, walked around the round table, and took hold of Machida Sonoko's arm.
"Let's go. I can't rest easy seeing you like this. I'll take you home so you can get some proper rest."
"Boo-hoo, Uta-chan really is such a good person~"
Though Machida Sonoko was a working adult, she clung to Utaha Kasumigaoka's shoulder like a child, relying on her support to stand.
The two left the café, and Machida Sonoko opened the umbrella she had brought when she noticed the strange weather before leaving.
There was still some distance to the station, and Machida Sonoko lived far from here. After only a few steps, she said to Shiyu Kasumigaoka, "Uta-chan, how about I take you home first? I'll be fine going back alone."
After all, she was a working adult.
Utaha Kasumigaoka merely stared silently at her editor, her resolute gaze saying everything.
"Then... let's take a taxi."
Machida Sonoko sighed.
"If we take the train, Uta-chan, you'll get home far too late."
Japan's outrageously expensive taxi fares naturally meant nothing to a well-known editor like Machida Sonoko.
Before long, the two women arrived by taxi beneath the high-rise apartment building Machida Sonoko rented.
The rain showed no sign of easing. There were few pedestrians on the streets, all hurrying along. Quite a few office workers heading home from work held their briefcases over their heads as they ran past.
Rumble—!
Another muffled peal of thunder rolled across the sky.
Utaha Kasumigaoka looked up, only to discover in surprise that several stars could strangely be seen through the rain-filled sky.
Those stars formed a strange pattern overhead, flickering with an eerie silver radiance.
She was not particularly interested in astronomy. Otherwise, she would have immediately recognized them as the Pleiades Star Cluster in Taurus.
The Pleiades Star Cluster, which should have consisted of seven sisters, now had only four or five visible stars. It seemed as though some dark veil was trying to conceal and distort the cluster's glow.
"Uta-chan?"
"It's nothing. Let's go."
Drawing back her gaze, Utaha Kasumigaoka followed Machida Sonoko into the lobby on the first floor of the apartment building.
The elevator began its soft upward hum. As Utaha Kasumigaoka straightened her slightly disheveled school uniform jacket, she pondered what exactly had happened at Fushikawa Library.
Before long, she noticed something was wrong.
Her eyes lifted instinctively. When she caught sight of the large "19" on the elevator display, she froze.
After staring at it for a while in disbelief, the girl asked strangely, "Is the elevator broken?"
"Huh?"
Machida Sonoko looked over.
"The elevator is clearly going up, right? So why does the display keep showing the nineteenth floor?"
Hearing that, Machida Sonoko also stared at the floor display for a while and found that the number on the screen truly had not changed.
Yet the elevator was undeniably continuing to rise.
"Maybe the display is broken. I'll notify the building management later," Machida Sonoko said indifferently.
The moment she finished speaking, the elevator chimed, and its doors opened.
The instant she followed Machida Sonoko out of the elevator, Utaha Kasumigaoka was inexplicably compelled to glance once more at the number on the display.
19...