On Wednesday of the second week of summer vacation, the Shopping Center's dessert shop introduced a summer-limited watermelon red bean shaved ice. Karuizawa Kei sent Sakura Airi a screenshot of the announcement, with only one line attached: "Wednesday, 2 p.m. My treat. Don't bring your camera."
When Sakura received the message, she was in the Library helping Shiina organize the archive index for the Uninhabited Island photos. She stared at the words on the screen for several seconds, then lightly swiped her fingertip across the touchpad to send a confirmation: "Okay. I won't bring my camera." It was the first time she had accepted Karuizawa's invitation without adding any hesitation. Last semester, when Karuizawa had invited her to go singing, she had hidden at her desk, typing and deleting, deleting and typing again and again, before finally replying with only an "Mm." That screenshot still lay in their chat history, timestamped the day after the Disciplinary Committee hearing ended. Now, she had sent her confirmation in just two seconds.
At 1:45 on Wednesday afternoon, Karuizawa Kei stood waiting outside the dessert shop. She wore a light-blue sleeveless knit top that day, her long blonde hair loosely tied back with a white ribbon. In her hands were two folding fans she had just picked out at the sundries shop downstairs—watermelon-patterned, with the words "Advanced Nurturing Swimming Class Commemorative" printed on the handles. The swimming class had been last semester, but when she saw the two fans in the shop, she had hesitated for a full three seconds. In the first second, she thought about how they were swimming-class merchandise. In the second, she thought of the first time Sakura had gone without her hat during swimming class. By the third second, she had already bought the fans.
Sakura appeared right on