"That nasty, spiteful black-haired girl."
On the slope near Toyogasaki Academy, Eriri Sawamura carried her schoolbag as she walked, glaring indignantly at Utaha Kasumigaoka beside her. She had only recently woken up, only to discover that it was almost past six.
"Are you a child? Why hold such a grudge?" Utaha Kasumigaoka sighed helplessly. "Didn't I already apologize to you back in the clubroom?"
"If apologies worked, what would we need the police for?"
Eriri glared furiously at Utaha Kasumigaoka, clearly treating her as public enemy number one.
"As fellow club members, I don't think there's any deep-seated hatred between us."
Carrying her schoolbag, Utaha Kasumigaoka glanced at Eriri, then gave her a teasing smile.
"Don't tell me you're scared?"
"Are you worried I'll use my mind-reading ability to uncover your secrets and expose them?"
Hearing that, Eriri immediately snapped:
"So you finally admit it! I knew you were the one who did it."
"Huh?" Utaha Kasumigaoka froze, confused by what she had just heard.
Eriri stamped her foot in anger, then deliberately lowered her voice. After looking around and confirming that the nearest other person was across the road, she whispered:
"I was wondering how Luo Shu knew I was Kashiwagi Eiri. So he had a gloomy mind-reading girl like you helping him all along."
"Well..." At that moment, Utaha Kasumigaoka felt as though the blame had fallen on her out of nowhere.
How had something Luo Shu exposed become her doing? Wasn't this a frame-up?
"Well? Nothing to say now, have you?"
Eriri looked at Utaha Kasumigaoka scornfully, her expression practically saying, That's the truth.
"Not only did you pry into my secrets, you even scared me into fainting. Damn it, I'll never let you get away with this."
"...So you've already decided I did it?"
Utaha Kasumigaoka could only laugh helplessly.
She truly hadn't expected to take the blame for this.
Yet she couldn't come up with a convincing rebuttal. After all, if she were in Eriri's shoes, she would have assumed that she had done it too.
This was awkward.
Under Eriri's hostile gaze, a helpless Utaha Kasumigaoka followed her into a park near the school.
In the park, they found Luo Shu sitting beside the fountain. He seemed to have used wind manipulation to speed up and slip over from another direction.
"Hey."
Luo Shu raised a hand in greeting, then said with a bright smile:
"The people still at school are buzzing about Toyogasaki's two great beauties leaving together. Any comments from the two ladies in question?"
"Hmph." Eriri turned her head away irritably, apparently unwilling to be mentioned in the same breath as Utaha Kasumigaoka.
Beside her, Utaha Kasumigaoka sighed, then turned her fire on Luo Shu.
"If you weren't trying to avoid trouble, you could have walked out of school with us, you know."
"You just said I was trying to avoid trouble. If I left with you two anyway, wouldn't that defeat the whole point?"
As Luo Shu retorted, he took two finely crafted silver bracelets out of his pocket and tossed them to the girls.
"Catch!"
"Huh?" both exclaimed.
Utaha Kasumigaoka and Eriri hurriedly reached out to catch them, then looked up at Luo Shu as they examined the bracelets in their hands.
"These are passes to enter the base. Normally, you just go to the classroom door and think about entering the base, and you'll go straight in."
"They can also connect to the internal system I set up, letting you contact other members and browse the internal forum. I've just credited your first month's fifty points to your respective accounts."
"Oh, and the bracelets have an emergency evacuation function too, but it costs five points. Given that, I'd suggest always keeping five points in reserve so you can escape when it matters."
"I tested that just now. I can personally confirm it works."
Though running here, teleporting back, and then running here again was a bit rough on my legs... Luo Shu grumbled inwardly.
Both Eriri and Utaha Kasumigaoka looked down at their bracelets in amazement after hearing his explanation.
After studying hers for quite a while and confirming that the internal forum could project directly onto her retina, Eriri promptly put it on and said admiringly:
"I have to admit, gloomy girl, you were right. Our president really does have a talent for leadership."
They had only been apart for such a short time, yet he had already produced these practically miraculous bracelets. Was Luo Shu some kind of all-purpose Doraemon?
"Could you stop calling me gloomy girl at a time like this? At least call me your senior, Kasumigaoka, Sawamura."
After answering Eriri, Utaha Kasumigaoka turned to Luo Shu and asked:
"How many points did these two bracelets cost?"
Luo Shu stood up and brushed the dust off his trousers.
"A thousand points each. Not too expensive."
"Just consider them an extra perk for full-fledged employees."
"Honestly, you..." Utaha Kasumigaoka felt rather like a wife helplessly watching her husband squander money.
They had barely seen any returns yet, and Luo Shu was already
throwing points around like this. Did he really not think of them as money?
Meanwhile, hearing the indulgence in Utaha Kasumigaoka's voice, Eriri suddenly looked at the two of them differently.
Could these two be having a thing?
Although the introductory explanation when she joined the club had made it clear to Eriri that Luo Shu and Utaha Kasumigaoka were merely superior and subordinate, judging by Utaha's tone now, this woman clearly didn't consider herself an outsider in his life.
That one meaningful "Honestly, you..." was enough for her to imagine an entire two-hundred-thousand-word romance.
Utaha Kasumigaoka's tone had stirred something in Luo Shu as well. Suppressing that odd feeling, he said to the two girls:
"All right, you've got your bracelets. It's about time I headed off."
"Where are you going?" Utaha Kasumigaoka asked instinctively, then remembered that Luo Shu actually had a home of his own and didn't need to go back with her.
"To my part-time job." Luo Shu shrugged and said with a sigh, "I left my bookstore shift early yesterday, so naturally I'll have to explain things to the manager when I go back. Oh, and I'll need to bring up quitting while I'm there."
The leader of a mysterious organization works part-time at a bookstore... That's... Eriri thought reality was truly strange.
A well-behaved girl like her secretly drew adult manga, while the head of a mysterious organization like Luo Shu publicly worked part-time at a bookstore.
The world really was a strange place...
Meanwhile, realizing that she had grown a little too attached to Luo Shu, Utaha Kasumigaoka feigned composure.
"I see. You have proper business to attend to. In that case, I won't keep you."
"Take care on your way, senior."
"I will."
Something feels a little off about this conversation... Luo Shu grumbled inwardly, then waved, turned, and left the park for the station.
Watching Luo Shu's retreating figure, Eriri waited until he was far away before asking:
"So, are we splitting up here?"
"Let's do that. You need to go home and sort out your thoughts anyway, don't you?"
Hearing Utaha Kasumigaoka's reply, Eriri pursed her lips, then the two went their separate ways.
The Astronomy Club's three founding members left the park to return to their respective lives.
As the sun sank, their shadows gradually lengthened.
It seemed as though nothing had changed, yet also as though change was just beginning.
Before you continue