Night.
Around ten thirty.
"Ruri, I'm turning off the lights." Natsume Chikage stood beside the switch on the wall and spoke softly.
"Mm..." Wrapped in her blanket, Natsume Ruri gave a drowsy response from the bed. She was clearly half-asleep already.
Click—
The switch was pressed.
The tiny three-tatami room was instantly swallowed by darkness, with only the scattered glow of streetlights filtering in through the window.
Using the faint glow of his phone screen, Natsume Chikage felt his way back to his own bedding.
As usual, he planned to continue his great writing endeavor.
Just as he opened his document—
Several unread LINE messages popped up at the top of the screen, from Saionji Nanase, Fujiwara Aoi, and Kondo Miyuki respectively.
After a brief thought, he opened Saionji Nanase's chat first.
[Saionji Nanase: Natsume-kun, are you there?]
[Natsume Chikage: I am. What is it?]
The message was marked "Read" almost instantly, followed immediately by her reply.
[Saionji Nanase: Um... Why did you suddenly take the day off today? Were you sick?]
[Natsume Chikage: No.]
[Saionji Nanase: You really weren't sick?]
[Natsume Chikage: Really not. Why do you ask?]
[Saionji Nanase: Well... the teacher told me to help take notes for you and stuff, since you were absent. If you were sick and couldn't come tomorrow either, I was thinking I could bring the notes over after school.]
[Natsume Chikage: Thanks for your concern, but there's really no need to go out of your way. I'm really fine.]
[Saionji Nanase: Then... will you be coming back to school tomorrow?]
[Natsume Chikage: I will.]
[Saionji Nanase: (*^▽^*) That's good. See you tomorrow.]
[Natsume Chikage: Yeah, see you tomorrow.]
After ending his conversation with Saionji, he swiped his finger and opened the message Fujiwara Aoi had just sent.
[Fujiwara Aoi: Σ(⊙▽⊙" Natsume-kun,