Loli Mom

This was the final review before the exam.

The library was much emptier than usual before the exam. Most people had already returned to their dorms for one last sprint.

Several reference books lay spread across the table by the window, with a pencil resting on an open spine.

Sakayanagi Arisu sat by the window, her slender black cane placed beside her.

Her silver-white hair gleamed coldly beneath the lights, and a white ribbon was tied into a neat bow at the ends.

She was wearing the standard girls' uniform today: a dark knitted cardigan over a white sailor-collar blouse, with a small stretch of collarbone visible at the neckline.

Her skin was so pale it was nearly translucent, faint blue veins visible around her collarbones.

Her hands were small, yet the way she held her pen was exceptionally proper. The tip made almost no sound as it moved across the paper.

Kamuro Masumi sat diagonally behind her, an exercise book opened halfway before her, her earphone cord emerging from her collar and hanging around her neck.

Kiryu Yume sat across from Sakayanagi, with his history notes spread out in front of him.

Sakayanagi set down her pencil and tapped the edge of the table twice with her fingertips. "Kitten, what were the three major reforms of the Meiji Restoration?"

"The Return of the Land and People, the abolition of the domains and establishment of prefectures, and the Promulgation of the Education System Order."

"The dates."

"The abolition of the domains and establishment of prefectures in 1871, and the education system in 1872."

Sakayanagi nodded. She neither praised him nor corrected him. Turning to the next page of the reference book, she ran her fingertip down the lines. "The causes of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement."

"Dissatisfaction among the former samurai class, increased burdens on farmers, and the introduction of Western ideas."

"The key figure."

"Itagaki Taisuke."

She turned another page. After answering, Kiryu Yume waited for a few seconds, but she did not ask another question.

He looked up to find that Sakayanagi had put down her pencil. Her hands rested folded on the tabletop, her gaze not on the book but on his face, as quietly as though she already knew the answer.

"Kitten."

"Yeah?"

"You don't actually care whether that video gets exposed, do you?"

Kiryu Yume's fingers paused at the edge of his notes. Sakayanagi did not rush him. She simply watched him, her silver-white lashes casting fine shadows beneath the lights, a curve still lingering at the corner of her mouth.

He thought about it, then let out a laugh. "Yeah. I don't care."

"Then why were you willing to follow me?"

"At first, it was because I didn't understand this school." He set down his pen and leaned back in his chair, not avoiding her gaze.

"When I first arrived, I didn't know anything. The rules between classes, how points worked, the format of special exams—it was all blank to me. Back then, whoever had reached out to pull me along, I probably would have followed."

Sakayanagi did not interrupt. Her fingers remained folded on the table, her posture that of someone listening to an expected answer.

"As for the video, honestly, even if you exposed it, I wouldn't think much of it. I wouldn't get expelled anyway. At most, people would see me as a pervert, but that sounds pretty fun too."

"Fun." Sakayanagi repeated the word without mockery.

"Yeah, fun." Kiryu Yume paused after saying that, then lowered his voice. "But after spending this time together, I've gotten used to having you around. Used to you calling me Kitten. Used to knowing who would be sitting across from me whenever I came to the library. I don't dislike it. I even think it's pretty nice."

After he finished, his Adam's apple bobbed before he added, "Because you're completely my type. A loli mom and all—it's seriously the best."

The library fell silent for about three seconds.

Kamuro Masumi removed one earphone and looked over with the expression one would reserve for trash.

When she put her earphone back in, she did it twice as forcefully as before. The case snapped with a crisp crack.

Sakayanagi did not reply right away. Her lashes lowered for an instant, then rose again, and the curve of her lips deepened slightly. "That's the first time someone's praised me so seriously."

"I'm telling the truth."

"I know." Sakayanagi picked up her pencil again and spun it once between her fingers. "I know every word you said was true. That's why it's interesting."

She was neither angry nor mocking, and she said nothing about the video. She merely pushed the history notes toward him. "There are two chapters left. Finish memorizing them before we leave."

Kiryu Yume accepted the notes, but he did not lower his head right away.

He stood, walked around the table, and crouched beside her.

Kamuro Masumi's gaze was already drilling into the back of his head. He ignored her completely, crouching beside Sakayanagi's chair and looking up at her, his chin resting on the edge of her desk and both hands on the tabletop. "Mama Sakayanagi, you're so good to me."

Sakayanagi looked down at him. The fingers holding her pencil paused against the tabletop, its tip hovering above the page without touching down. "Here you go again."

"Mama Sakayanagi." He called her again, his voice softer than before, the last syllable lifting slightly.

Sakayanagi's breathing stalled for half a second. She lowered her head and continued turning pages, but after flipping one, she realized she had not absorbed a single word and turned back.

"Mama Sakayanagi." Kiryu Yume leaned against the edge of the table, shifting his chin slightly as he continued gazing up at her. "Mama Sakayanagi, Mama Sakayanagi, Mama Sakayanagi."

The fingers around Sakayanagi's pencil tightened, then loosened. She raised her eyes to him. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Nothing. I just want to call you that." He turned his face and rested it against his arm. "Mama Sakayanagi, your ears are red."

Sakayanagi did not reach up to touch her ears, but the rhythm of her breathing shifted by half a beat.

She set down her pencil and extended her free hand, flicking his forehead with her fingertip. "If you've called me enough, go back and study."

"Mama Sakayanagi, the force of your flick is as tiny as you are."

"Would you like to try the force of my other hand?"

She gripped the handle of her black cane. Kiryu Yume did not dodge. Instead, he leaned his face closer. "Go ahead and hit me. I'll call you that again after."

"...You."

Sakayanagi's fingers froze around the cane's handle. She looked at him, opened her mouth, then closed it again before sighing. "Go back and sit properly."

"Mama Sakayanagi, say you forgive me first."

"I have nothing to forgive you for."

"Then smile."

"I won't."

"You were smiling just now."

"No, I wasn't."

"I saw it. The corner of your mouth curved up."

Sakayanagi's lips moved again, this time clearly trying to suppress it.

Kiryu Yume caught it and immediately pointed at her face. "See? You moved again."

Kamuro Masumi stood up from diagonally behind them, carrying her exercise book to a seat three tables away. As she sat down, a chair leg scraped against the floor, the sound especially clear in the empty reading room.

Kiryu Yume glanced back, then turned around again and lowered his voice. "You scared Mama Kamuro away."

"You scared her away." Sakayanagi tapped the table's edge with her fingertip, though more lightly than usual. "Are you going to study or not?"

"I am." Rather than standing, he dragged his chair over beside her and sat down. The chair made a brief scraping sound across the library floor. "I'll study here. If I don't understand something, I can ask you directly."

Sakayanagi glanced at him, opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it once more. In the end, she only pushed the history notes a little closer to him. "Chapter Six, Section Three. Taishō Democracy."

Kiryu Yume opened to that page and read two lines without looking up. "Mama Sakayanagi."

"What now?"

"You smell really nice."

Sakayanagi's hand drew a short line across the paper. Without changing her expression, she scribbled it out. "If you don't read, I'll use my cane to knock your chair leg."

"You can't bear to."

Sakayanagi did not answer, but she did not knock his chair leg either.

Kiryu Yume lowered his head and continued studying. After a while, he quieted down and did not call her again.

After turning a page, Sakayanagi glanced over from the corner of her eye and saw him reading his notes seriously, occasionally circling key points with his pen.

She withdrew her gaze and turned another page.

The first three words of what he had said earlier were still spinning through her mind.

Lowering her eyes, she pressed those three words beneath the page and continued reading.

Kamuro Masumi sat three tables away. Song after song changed in her earphones as she watched the two of them from afar—one with his head lowered over a book, the other with her head lowered over her notes, an open reference book between them. Neither said a word.

She took off her earphones and rubbed her ears, silently mouthing a single word.

Sick. Both of them were sick.