(Already revised.)
After dinner, Uesugi Hara headed straight back to his dorm.
He sat at his desk, occasionally turning the pages of a mystery novel he'd borrowed from the library, but his gaze kept drifting to the Terminal screen. It showed Kushida Kikyo's live location, and each time he looked back, it was as though he were silently confirming something.
A voice recorder and a pinhole camera lay on the desk, their metal casings gleaming coldly beneath the desk lamp. Clearly, Uesugi Hara had already laid his trap and was just waiting for tonight's "prey" to walk into it.
He'd been sitting at his desk for two and a half hours, drumming his fingers without thinking, his patience nearly worn away. Just as his fingers stilled and he was about to put away the Terminal and give up, the dot representing Kushida Kikyo finally moved.
But Uesugi Hara didn't get up right away. He stared at the Terminal screen, watching the dot move at an unhurried pace until its path clearly led toward an increasingly remote area. The instant he confirmed it, the corner of his mouth curled into a cold smile. "Looks like luck's on my side."
He swiftly put away the Terminal and stuffed the voice recorder and pinhole camera into his pocket. His steps were as quiet as a cat's as he slipped out the door without a sound.
The motion-activated lights in the hallway flicked on one after another as he walked, then quickly went dark behind him, as if something were swallowing the light.
His fingers tightened slightly around the Terminal. Its glow reflected in his pupils, overlapping with the distant moving dot. Kushida Kikyo's location had turned onto a little-used path behind the dormitory area.
The recorder's switch pressed against his palm through his pocket, a reminder of its tangible presence.
Uesugi Hara stepped lightly over the dead leaves. Bamboo branches rustled in the night breeze, their faint sounds conveniently masking his movements.
The dot on the Terminal eventually stopped beside the lake ahead. Uesugi Hara crept closer, and a few seconds later, a blurry figure appeared in a gap where the moonlight slipped through.
Uesugi Hara stopped beside a tree. From there, he had a clear view of the figure standing by the lakeside railing. His fingers brushed the pinhole camera and voice recorder in his pocket, and his smile deepened.
He switched on the pinhole camera, connected it to his phone, and stuck it beside the button at his collar. Then he turned on the voice recorder in his pocket.
Everything was ready.
—All right, let's begin!
"Die! Die!! Die!!!"
The voice came from the other side of the railing. The figure beneath the moonlight—Kushida Kikyo—was gripping the rusty iron railing with both hands and kicking at it furiously.
Every kick packed enough force to cut through the air. The railing rattled, and her voice rose above the metallic clanging, sharp as shattering glass.
"Ah... Why won't they all just die..."
She kicked the railing joint again, sending rust flaking down. She seemed not to notice that her heel had worn crooked. Staring blankly at the dent in the railing, she muttered, "That damn bitch... Is she really so great just because she's a little smarter and prettier than me? The blind idiots used to fawn over her like she was some untouchable beauty, and now she still acts so high and mighty?"
Uesugi Hara leaned against the tree without a word.
"That bitch Horikita! Her personality's as rotten as moldy bread, so why does everyone pay attention to her?!" Kushida Kikyo spun around and kicked the railing again. Her toe struck the iron bar, but she acted as if she couldn't feel the pain. "I even lowered myself in front of all those people! And she still dared to treat me like that?! She couldn't even show me a little respect?!"
"That idiot Ken Sudō!" She raised her leg and stomped hard on the base of the railing. "If you don't know how to talk to girls, then shut up! Why should I have to play basketball with him?! That stinky sport isn't fit for someone like me!"
Her emotions blazed like an out-of-control wildfire, burning hotter by the second. She grabbed the railing and shook it violently, showering her shoulders with rust. "That baka Kanji Ike! All day long it's 'Little Kikyo' this and 'Little Kikyo' that! Who said we were so close?! Every time, I have to explain it to my friends. I'm so sick of it!"
"The worst of them all is Yamauchi Haruki!" She suddenly let go, stepped back twice, and kicked the railing hard enough to stagger herself. "That creep! He's always hovering around me, pulling those poses he thinks make him look cool... It's so awkward it makes my toes curl! Why does someone like him even exist?!"
When the time seemed right, the Terminal in Uesugi Hara's pocket vibrated and displayed a message notification. He'd arranged it deliberately.
"Who's there?! Who's over there?!" Kushida Kikyo's voice tightened, alarm laced with warning. Her fingers unconsciously clutched the hem of her uniform skirt.
"It's me, Uesugi Hara." He slowly stepped out from the tree's shadow, moonlight tracing a cold silver line along the shoulders of his wine-red uniform.
"Oh, Kushida, out for a stroll at night too?" He deliberately kept his voice light and casual, like he was greeting her as usual.
"Y-you heard that?" The girl snapped her head up, her irises shrinking into tense little circles in the darkness. Her ears burned, but she still forced herself to look calm and took half a step closer.
"What if I told you I didn't hear anything... Would you believe me?" Uesugi Hara lowered his gaze, a hint of dark amusement lurking in the corner of his eyes.
"If you dare tell anyone else, I-I won't let you get away with it!" Kushida's neck stiffened. Her usually sweet voice wavered, though she stubbornly held on to her threatening tone. Her hair fluttered restlessly in the night breeze.
"And what if I do?" He raised an eyebrow, deliberately tossing the question back at her.
"Then I-I'll tell everyone you almost raped me!" The girl stubbornly lifted her chin and took half a step back. Her nails nearly dug into her palms, her lashes fluttering violently, and the corners of her eyes reddened.
"That would be slander."
"It doesn't matter, because it isn't slander." Kushida suddenly tipped her face up, grabbed his wrist, and yanked it toward her, pressing his palm against her uniform. She deliberately pushed his hand farther in. "Your fingerprints are all over it now. I even have proof... I'm serious, you know." Her voice was as soft as a sigh, but her lips curved into an almost obsessive smile, the redness in her eyes mixed with a fierce glint.
Without showing it, Uesugi Hara rubbed his hand slightly against her. The softness and springy give beneath his palm felt even better than he'd expected.
"Pervert!" Kushida hurriedly tried to jerk his hand away, but she'd pressed it down too firmly. As she pulled away, his hand brushed against her softness, making the "big white rabbits" bounce in alarm.
Uesugi Hara raised an eyebrow to himself. Another pleasant memory of the sensation.
Kushida felt the lingering tingles there, and her face instantly turned bright red. Still, she lifted her chin and glared at him. "Listen. If you betray me... I-I'll never forgive you!"
The night breeze blew her bangs against her damp temple. Her threat ended with a tremor of fear, mingled with an embarrassment she had nowhere to hide, but her eyes remained fixed on Uesugi Hara.
"Uesugi, I-I just want to hear you say one thing... Can you swear you won't tell anyone what you heard here?" Kushida lowered her gaze, her hair brushing her flushed cheek. The viciousness from before receded like the tide, leaving only a timid vulnerability, like a cat that had puffed itself up only to expose its soft belly.
A laugh rolled through Uesugi Hara's throat, but he forced it down and nodded without changing his expression. The amusement in the corners of his eyes grew even harder to see.
"I know. I trust you." Kushida's voice suddenly softened, like a honey-soaked marshmallow. The fierce glint in her eyes curved into a crescent moon, sweetness blooming at the corners of her lips. It was as if the sharpness from a moment ago had been swept away by the night breeze.
Her fingers still trembled faintly from clenching them so hard, but she gently hooked one around Uesugi Hara's wrist and gave it a little shake. "Yay~ Now we have a secret we share!"
The wind lifted her hair, and a few strands clung to her flushed cheeks. She gently brushed them aside with the hand that wasn't hooked around his wrist.
Moonlight fell into her smiling eyes, bright as starlight. Anyone watching would have thought that the obsessive girl who had just gripped his hand, the corners of her eyes red, had been nothing but an illusion.
Only after Kushida Kikyo had vanished around the bend, her footsteps swallowed completely by the night breeze, did Uesugi Hara's shoulder finally relax against the bamboo trunk. A full three minutes had passed.
He pressed a hand to his aching cheeks. The impassive expression he'd held in front of her had long since been shattered by the laughter bubbling in his chest.
"Heh..." A quiet chuckle escaped first, then grew into deeper laughter. He bent over, bracing his hands on his knees. His fingers still remembered the sensation, mingled with the scent of her hair in the night breeze, making for an amusing afterthought.
"A two-faced beauty's threat, with a little embarrassment she couldn't quite hide..." He straightened up, switched off the camera, and took the recorder from his pocket to pause it. The waveform on its screen still showed the shifts in her voice, from vicious to sweet. "This hunt was a lot more interesting than any mystery novel."
Uesugi Hara tugged at the corner of his mouth and turned toward the dormitory. The moonlight stretched his shadow long across the ground. The laughter he'd been holding back still lingered on his lips, and the amusement in his eyes had only deepened since he'd set out. Clearly, this "hunt" had only just begun.