Childhood Friend Heroine V1 Chapter 7
Chapter 7: The Forest School Trip
Late April. The cherry blossoms had scattered, and fresh green leaves were beginning to sprout on the trees. The first-year students of Seira High School were on a bus, heading toward a remote training facility for their forest school trip.
The bus buzzed with excited chatter.
“Did you see Start Shachou’s video yesterday?”
“It was hilarious, right?”
“My TikTok is totally blowing up right now.”
“For real? That’s crazy. What are the comments… ‘So cute,’ ‘I saw her bra for a second, blessed—’”
“Nooo, this is so bad! Delete it, delete it, delete it!”
“…Ugh. I think I’m going to be sick.”
As his classmates grew more animated on their way to the destination, one boy’s face was twisted in agony.
His name was Minazuki Saito.
Like the idiot high schooler he was, he had stayed up all night, too excited about the trip to sleep. As a result, he was now suffering from a bout of motion sickness—something he rarely experienced—and was fighting waves of nausea.
“I’ve got a bag ready for you anytime. Bring it on. Actually, no, that’s gross, so please don’t.”
“That kind of defeats the purpose of having it ready, Akashi-kun.”
“Ito-cchi, I heard candy helps a little. Want one? This super spicy habanero candy is delicious, you know?”
“…I’ll pass. If I ate that, I’d probably just die in a different way.”
“But if you die from eating it, you’d be free from your suffering.”
“…Nice idea, Kanzaki. Yakumo, give it here.”
“Okay.”
“Hey, that was a joke, don’t take it seriously! Don’t you dare eat it! I’m sorry, okay?”
“Ahaha, I’ve never seen Minaka-chan panic like that. Oh, I heard chocolate works too, not just candy. Want some, Saito?”
“…I’ll take it.”
Thanks to his friends’ questionable methods of care, he was somehow managing to hold on. But when he remembered they still had over an hour to go, his spirits sank.
Am I really going to make it?
Saito gazed anxiously at the large mountains visible through the window.
An hour and a half later.
“Hell yeah! We finally made it!”
As it turned out, there was no problem at all.
About thirty minutes after his bout of nausea, Saito had fallen asleep. The chocolate Lily had given him eased his queasiness just enough for his exhaustion to take over, and before he knew it, he was in dreamland. The rest of the journey passed comfortably.
Still, the first part had been rough, and the moment he stepped off the bus, he let out a triumphant cheer.
Solid ground that doesn’t shake is the best!
Saito savored the wonderful feeling of his feet planted firmly on the earth.
“Hey, there are still people behind you. Don’t just stand there blocking the exit, Saito.” Lily scolded.
“Sorry.”
“Thank you very much,” he said to the driver.
“Looks like we’re gathering over there.”
“Okay. Oh, Haruki, your zipper’s down.”
“Whoa, really? I wonder when that happened. Nobody saw, right?”
“The girls from our class were looking when we stopped at the service area.”
“No way! Why didn’t you tell me, Kai-kun?”
“I wanted to see how long it’d take you to notice.”
After thanking the driver and grabbing their luggage, they headed toward the dormitory where the other students were assembling.
“Everyone from Class 3, over here! You don’t need to be in order, but group leaders, please take attendance and report to me.”
“Alright, attendance time.”
When they arrived, their homeroom teacher, Hayama Chie, instructed the group leaders to take a headcount. Saito, who had been appointed group leader through a fair game of rock-paper-scissors, turned to check on his members.
There were six of them, including him: Saito, Kai, Haruki, Lily, Shuri, and Minaka. Their two groups of childhood friends had teamed up. Since they had all sat near each other on the bus, he was fairly certain everyone was present, but he did a quick recount just to be sure.
“Four, five, six. Yep, everyone’s here. Chie-chan-sensei, Group 5 is all present!” Saito reported loudly.
“Understood. Thank you, Minazuki-kun. But please don’t call your teacher with ‘-chan.’”
“Roger that.”
He was promptly scolded for the suffix, but it was a familiar exchange, and Saito brushed it off lightly.
“Chie-chan-sensei, Group 4 is all present!”
“Chie-chan, Group 3 is all here!”
“Geez, you guys, don’t all join in on the teasing! Alright, now that I’ve confirmed everyone is here, I’ll explain the schedule. Please open your handouts.”
With the other group leaders echoing Saito’s nickname, a half-resigned Chie went over the itinerary and introduced the staff who would be assisting them during their stay.
Afterward, they split up by gender to drop off their luggage in their assigned rooms. As group leader, Saito received two keys from Chie and tossed one to the vice-leader, Shuri.
“We’re meeting in the cafeteria in thirty minutes, so don’t be late.”
“Got it. Lily-cchi, Mina-cchi, let’s go.”
“See you later, Saito.”
“Yeah. Let’s go, guys.”
After reminding them of the meeting time, Saito led his friends toward the boys’ dormitory.
“…Lily’s the same as always,” Saito muttered, holding his head in his hands. “She didn’t even call Kai and Haruki by name. Sheesh, does she get that this is supposed to be an event to deepen friendships?”
“Machigane-san is famous for not liking guys,” Haruki said kindly. “It can’t be helped.”
“Even so, we’re in the same group now. She could at least try to be a little friendlier.” Saito felt bad that her coldness extended even to his friends.
“You don’t need to worry about it, Saito,” Kai said. “I don’t mind, and Haruki here actually enjoys being treated coldly.”
“Huh? Haruki, are you an M?”
“That’s not true at all! I’m totally normal, Saito-kun. Hey, Kai-kun, don’t say things like that. Jokes like that aren’t funny.”
“It’s an undeniable fact.”
“Kuhaha, I’m really glad you guys are my friends.”
“Ehehe.”
“Ahaha, this is just how we are.”
Contrary to Saito’s concerns, his friends cheerfully insisted they didn’t mind. He felt a weight lift off his shoulders, and when he expressed his gratitude, Kai and Haruki both looked away, scratching their cheeks or offering shy smiles.
“That’s the first time anyone’s said that to me,” Kai murmured, scratching his cheek.
“That’s definitely a lie,” Saito countered. “From my observations, you’re funny, small, and have a baby face. I bet you were popular as a mascot character or something.”
After a month of friendship, Saito found it impossible to believe that Kai had never had friends. He figured it was just another one of his jokes.
“Not really. I’m basically expressionless, so people found me creepy because they couldn’t tell what I was thinking.”
“What the hell, those guys have no eye for people. That expressionless thing is what makes it great when you say something funny. Right, Haruki?”
“…You’re right. Kai-kun is really funny. It’s surprising he didn’t have friends.”
He had assumed Kai was joking, but his reaction suggested it was true. Apparently, the people he’d met before had no sense of character. Even though he was mostly expressionless, his emotions were easy to read, his way of speaking was unique and amusing, and he was a great photographer. You rarely found someone so interesting.
What a waste, Saito thought, and when he sought agreement from Haruki, he nodded in disbelief.
“My back’s getting all tingly. Let’s just hurry to the room.” Unable to endure the praise, Kai turned and quickened his pace.
“He’s terrible at hiding his embarrassment.”
“When you see it like this, it’s pretty obvious, huh?”
“Shut up. If you tease me any more, I’ll post that photo of Saito about to puke and the one of Haruki staring at a girl’s panties.”
“Mine wouldn’t do much damage, so it’s fine, but Haruki, you staring at panties is seriously bad. That’s straight-up criminal.”
As the remaining two teased the embarrassed Kai, he threatened to expose them. One of those photos would cause a huge problem if it got out, and Saito instinctively distanced himself from Haruki, wondering if he’d really been ogling someone’s underwear.
“That’s not it, it was an accident! I was climbing the stairs when a girl’s skirt flipped up, it’s not my fault! And why do you even have a photo like that, Kai-kun!?”
“I was trying to take a picture of the sunset from the emergency stairwell and happened to capture it.”
“You have your rom-com protagonist moments, don’t you, Haruki?”
The tables had turned. As usual, Haruki became the target of their teasing, and the three of them fell back into their familiar dynamic.
◇
Two hours later, after dropping off their luggage and enjoying a lunch buffet, Saito and his group were walking through the forest.
“That mushroom looks edible, doesn’t it?”
“Wait. That’s a Clitocybe rivulosa, so no good. You can eat it if you don’t mind getting diarrhea.”
“Ugh, seriously? I thought we could use it for dinner.”
Just as Saito was about to pick a mushroom he’d spotted, Lily stopped him. According to her, it was poisonous. He hastily pulled his hand back.
“Amazing, Lily-cchi! You’re so knowledgeable. How do you know so much about mushrooms?”
“I saw them in picture books when I was little,” Lily explained, glancing at Saito with slightly exasperated eyes. “Well, back then I only half-remembered them, but since a certain someone keeps trying to eat berries and mushrooms without thinking, I ended up memorizing them whether I wanted to or not.”
When Shuri praised her for identifying a mushroom none of them knew, Lily made it clear it was a skill born of necessity.
“Don’t cause trouble for Lily-chan, you idiot.”
“Ow. How’d you know it was me? My name wasn’t even mentioned.”
“Because you’re about the only one who’d do something like that.”
“Yeah, Saito’s dumb, so he’d probably eat anything.”
“He does have that ‘I’ll eat whatever’s put in front of me’ vibe.”
“I see how you all see me now. I’ll remember this, seriously.”
He thought the others wouldn’t catch on, but it was apparently obvious to everyone. He’d only acted with the good intention of making their dinner a little more luxurious, but he hadn’t expected to get ganged up on like this. He resolved to get his revenge on them at dinner.
Now, the preamble has gone on long enough. Of course, Saito and the others weren’t in the mountains just to forage for ingredients. They were participating in an orientation activity: a treasure hunt. The teachers had hidden puzzles throughout the mountains, and the students had to collect keywords to solve a final riddle.
The time limit was two hours, and the area was reasonably large. If a group failed to solve the final question, their curry dinner would be made without any ingredients. However, since the main theme was to deepen bonds between group members, the course was designed to be easily cleared. It was essentially a light hike.
“Whoa!”
“Look out!”
But even in a managed forest, the mountains were still mountains. The footing was uneven, and dangers were present. If you let your guard down, accidents could happen.
Lily, her attention scattered as she scanned her surroundings, caught her foot on a root. Just as she was about to fall, Haruki caught her in his arms.
“Are you okay?”
“…Thanks to you. I’m fine now, so could you let go of me?”
“S-Sorry. I’ll let go right away.”
Haruki peered into her face with concern. They were so close their noses might touch with the slightest movement. Lily, however, showed a hint of disgust and asked him to release her. Haruki immediately apologized and let go.
“Just like a manga, isn’t it?” Minaka commented.
That’s right, Saito inwardly agreed.
The whole exchange was like a scene from a romance manga. If this were a fictional world, love would have just begun to blossom.
But as that thought crossed his mind, a dull ache shot through his chest.
“Lily-cchi, are you okay? You have to be careful where you step.”
“Did you twist your ankle or anything?”
What is this? Anyway, I need to go check on Lily.
It was a new kind of pain, but it subsided quickly. Just as he was about to join the others gathering around Lily, his own foot slipped.
“Ah!”
In the tilting world, he caught sight of wet leaves where he had just stepped.
“Guheh!?”
That was the culprit. Unforgivable, he thought, as his face met the ground.
His impression of the kiss? The worst. Sand got in his mouth.
“Saito!?”
“Whoa, what a spectacular fall. Ito-cchi, is your nose okay?”
“Pah, pah! My nose hurts like hell, but I think I’m fine.”
Since he’d gone down face-first, his nose had taken the brunt of the impact and was throbbing, but it didn’t feel broken. There seemed to be no major injuries.
Waving a hand to reassure his worried friends, Saito pushed himself up.
“Ugh, this sucks. My jersey’s totally dirty.”
“Tough luck.”
He looked down at himself. He was covered in mud from the damp ground. He was in a state that would definitely earn him a scolding from his mother, and he let out a heavy sigh.
“Saito, are you really okay?”
He looked up to see his childhood friend standing before him, her hand extended with a worried expression on her face.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Other than my nose hurting, it’s nothing serious. More importantly, are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, her voice reluctant. “…Thanks to Nishizono-kun, I didn’t get hurt at all.”
Since his hands were caked in mud, Saito got to his feet without taking her hand. When he asked about her, she confirmed she was uninjured.
“That’s good then. But seriously, for both of us to fall like this is quite a coincidence. Just because we’re childhood friends doesn’t mean we have to be similar in this way.”
“Hehe, you’re right,” Lily laughed, drawn in by his attempt at humor.
“Alright then,” Saito announced, using his own fall as a lesson. “The footing here is unstable, so everyone, make sure to watch your step, okay?”
“Yep.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“When someone covered in mud says it, it’s pretty persuasive.”
“Right?”
“Why are you acting so proud? That makes no sense.”
“Well, don’t worry about the details. Let’s head out for the next riddle!”
“Yeah!!”
After getting responses from everyone, Saito gave the signal to move on, and some of the group members cheered in response.
From then on, the members of Group 5 solved the riddles while carefully watching their footing, and they successfully cleared the treasure hunt, magnificently avoiding the ingredient-less curry.
Incidentally, Saito had figured out during the riddle-solving phase that the collected keywords spelled “curry rice.” He thought they could have made it a bit more clever, but that was a secret he kept to himself.
“Chie-chan-sensei, if there’s still time, can I go change? This is honestly disgusting.”
“You should definitely change… But please come back as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Since they had returned earlier than scheduled, Saito asked for permission to change his jersey. After a quick look at his pitiful, mud-caked state, Chie readily agreed, and Saito headed back to the dormitory alone.
“I’m gonna go change real quick.”
“See you later, Saito.”
“See ya.”
After telling his group members, he hurried back to their room and changed out of his dirty jersey. After stuffing it into a plastic bag, he checked the time.
It was 2:30.
With plenty of time to spare, he decided to wash the jersey.
“Hanger, hanger… Hm? What’s this photo?”
While rummaging through the room for a hanger, he discovered a photo that had fallen from someone’s bag. Curious, he picked it up.
“This is the photo of Lily I took when I went to the trial club session. I did a pretty good job with this one… So why is it here? I don’t remember printing this out.”
It was, without a doubt, a photo Saito had taken. It had turned out so well that he’d asked a senior to send the data to his phone, but he hadn’t printed it.
No, wait. On the day I took the photo, they said they’d critique it, so I made just one print at the end. So maybe Kai brought it? Huh? Could it be that he likes Lily? Whoa, this is bad. This is definitely something he wouldn’t want me to find out. What should I do?
Saito’s brain worked at full capacity, and the conclusion he reached was that his friend, Kai, liked his childhood friend, Lily. There was no other explanation for why he would have a photo of her.
To think his friend was in love with his childhood friend. He hadn’t noticed at all; there had been no signs of it in Kai’s usual behavior. The fact that Kai hadn’t confided in him meant that this discovery was definitely not supposed to happen.
…I should just pretend I didn’t see it.
After careful consideration, Saito decided the best course of action was to pretend he hadn’t seen anything and forget the whole incident. Judging that to be the safest approach, he put the photo back in Kai’s bag, grabbed a hanger from a drawer, and went to the washroom to clean his jersey as planned.
He mindlessly scrubbed the jersey with soap.
“…Wait! Like hell I can do that! I can’t just pretend I didn’t see such big news!”
But his resolve didn’t last long. With a thud, he slammed his hand, still holding the jersey, against the sink. No matter how hard he tried to clear his mind, the image of the photo was stuck in his head. He would definitely act awkward if he went back like this. The thought alone gave him a headache.
“No, wait. Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding. There’s still a chance it’s something else, right?”
When he thought about it calmly, all he had discovered was that Kai had a photo of Lily. He hadn’t heard from Kai himself that he had feelings for her. It was just a guess. There could be other possibilities.
“Yeah, that’s right. It hasn’t been that long since school started. It’s impossible he’s already fallen for someone, right?”
Convincing himself of this, Saito hung the washed jersey on the balcony and returned to where Lily and the others were waiting.
Three hours later.
Kai’s totally taking a ton of photos of Lily! This is definitely confirmed!
Saito’s hopes were easily shattered.
As a member of the photography club, Kai was obligated to take photos of his classmates. So, whenever he had free time, he would wander around taking pictures. But he was clearly photographing Lily more than anyone else. Even now, he was capturing shots of her from a distance as she cut vegetables for the curry with Shuri.
At this point, it would be unreasonable to say he had no feelings for her.
“Ugh, seriously?”
Having confirmed his hunch was right, Saito worried about what to do next.
“I don’t care if you mope on your own, but get the fire started before Nishizono-kun finishes preparing the mess kit.”
“I know, I know. Just a sec. I’ll get it ready right away.”
But the world, it seemed, wouldn’t give him time to think. When he returned with firewood, Minaka was nagging him to start the fire. Saito reluctantly stood up and gathered some cedar leaves and small branches.
He stacked the firewood two by two, crisscrossing them to build four layers. He stuffed the leaves and branches in the middle and lit them with the lighter provided to each group. The oil-rich cedar leaves caught fire first, igniting several small branches. He carefully added more leaves to keep the flame alive until the firewood caught, and in less than two minutes, a proper fire was going.
“You’re pretty experienced,” Minaka commented from beside him, her expression still displeased.
“I’ve been camping since I was little, so this much is easy. Though I’d struggle if you told me to start a fire with a bow drill.”
“Did your opinion of me go up?”
“Not really. If anything, you went from ‘annoying idiot’ to ‘insufferable idiot.’”
When he asked if she’d reconsidered her opinion of him, Minaka shot him a cold look, telling him not to get carried away.
“I see. I’ll watch the fire, so go help Lily and the others.”
“Well then, I’ll take you up on that offer. I’m going to go frolic with the cute girls.”
Saito shrugged off her attitude and instructed her to help with other tasks. With a smug expression, Minaka went to join Lily and the other girls.
Weird girl. But more importantly, this is about Kai. So he really does like Lily, huh? Given their current distance, it seems difficult. What’s he planning to do?
Once Minaka was gone, he seriously contemplated the possibility of Kai and Lily getting together. In his assessment, the chances were almost zero at this stage. Lily still wasn’t even properly talking to Kai.
Having heard plenty of stories about his childhood friend’s romantic life, Saito knew that winning her over required following proper steps. First, you had to build a relationship where she’d actually talk to you. Just taking photos from a distance wasn’t going to close that gap.
Kai, do you even have any motivation? Do your best!
Saito sent encouragement to his friend, but his mental cheers couldn’t possibly reach him. Kai remained absorbed in his photography.
◇
“Thanks for the meal!”
“Thanks for the meal!”
Following Saito’s lead, Lily and the other group members chorused together. In front of each of them was a plate of curry rice, the aroma of spices filling the air.
Tonight’s dinner was a mild curry they had made themselves. Shuri and Haruki had hoped for a spicy version, but the rest of them weren’t good with spicy food. Saito, with his particularly sensitive tongue, had protested the most, so they had settled on mild.
Lily scooped up a spoonful with half rice and half roux.
Mm, delicious. Mild curry really is easy to eat.
It was, as expected, delicious. Since they were using a commercial roux, it was bound to be, but the mild curry, with just the right amount of heat and none of the stinging spiciness, suited her palate perfectly.
“I’ve only been eating spicy curry lately, so I didn’t realize mild curry was this good! Right, Lily-cchi?”
“Hehe, that’s right. I like how it has a slight charcoal aroma that makes it feel like we cooked it outdoors.”
Shuri, who had been in the spicy curry camp, was also pleasantly surprised and was happily eating her meal. Seeing her friend so happy made Lily smile.
“I get it! It has a different flavor from usual, and I think it’s super delicious too. Though if I’m being greedy, I would’ve preferred the rice a bit harder. But when everyone’s eating together, this is about right, don’t you think?”
“I actually prefer it harder too.”
“Ugh, sorry. I cooked the rice in the mess kit without thinking, just like I always do.”
“Ah, sorry, sorry. I’m not blaming you, Haru-cchi. I just thought it would’ve been nice that way.”
The topic shifted from the curry to the rice. When the two girls mentioned their preference, Haruki apologized. Since they hadn’t meant to blame him, Shuri quickly tried to comfort the dejected Haruki.
Lily looked away from them and toward her childhood friend sitting directly across from her.
“Kai, are you really sure you don’t want to sit over here?”
“? Seats don’t matter to me.”
“I-I see.”
Saito was talking to his friend Kai about seating. He seemed to want to switch seats for some reason, but Kai, oblivious, turned him down, leaving Saito to hang his head.
What is he trying to do?
Even with their long friendship, Lily couldn’t understand the meaning behind his actions and tilted her head in confusion.
After that, Saito’s behavior remained a bit strange. He suddenly complained of a stomach ache and disappeared to the bathroom with Haruki. Then, despite normally never saying something like “washing dishes would rough up my skin,” he offered to take over dishwashing duty.
Lily appreciated Saito’s help with the dishes, but she couldn’t understand why he had been clutching his head in his hands right after.
Today’s Saito is really confusing.
She had never seen him act so strangely, and her thoughts remained preoccupied with him, even as she soaked in her beloved bath.
“Lily-cchi!” a cheerful voice called out.
“Kyaah! Wait, Shuri-chan!?”
Lost in thought, Lily hadn’t noticed her friend sneaking up on her. A sudden, squishy grope of her large chest sent a startled scream out of her.
“Ooh, just as I expected──absolutely irresistible,” Shuri cooed, her voice mimicking a perverted old man. “This soft, mochi-like skin feels so good against my hands.”
“Hyah! Not there, stop! No, mnn!?”
Lily writhed, trying to escape Shuri’s relentless groping, but her body refused to cooperate as she was touched in all the wrong places.
“Where exactly is ‘not there,’ hmm~?” Shuri teased. “Tell your big sister~?”
“Wait! Shuri-chan, what are you doing!?”
“Nn, ah, Minaka-chan, help me!”
As Lily struggled desperately, another friend, Minaka, appeared. The serious, dependable girl would surely come to her rescue. To Lily, she was a goddess of salvation.
“Oh, Mina-cchi, I’m savoring Li-ly-cchi’s watermelon boobs here,” Shuri announced proudly. “Look, look, aren’t they amazing!? This size is unheard of for a high school girl. And they don’t sag at all──so bouncy! A hundred points! No, a hundred and twenty!”
A quiet “Gulp” was her only response.
“Don’t ‘gulp’! Minaka-chan!? Help me!?”
“I’m sorry, Lily-chan,” Minaka began, her voice laced with feigned seriousness. “This isn’t about wanting to touch big breasts. It’s purely intellectual curiosity. I must understand the secret to maintaining such firmness at this size, nothing more. I have absolutely no ulterior motives. It’s definitely not some impure desire to touch my favorite person’s boobs, you understand?”
Tempted by the wicked demon Shuri’s sweet words, the goddess fell from grace. Minaka advanced, muttering excuses while rubbing her hands together menacingly.
“Wai- wha- what are you saying, Minaka-chan!?” Lily cried out.“Don’t come closer! Your eyes are s-scary!? Please don’t come over here~~!?”
Though Lily shook her head in desperate refusal, her resistance was futile. The girl’s anguished cries echoed throughout the entire bathhouse.
“Sob, sob… I can never get married now.”
Finally released, Lily huddled in a corner of their room, tears welling in her eyes.
“Ahh~, Li-ly-cchi’s boobs were the best,” Shuri sighed, a thoroughly satisfied and glossy expression on her face. “They’re completely different from mine, so I never got bored.” She showed no signs of remorse.
“I’m sorry,” Minaka said, her voice heavy with regret. “I really lost my mind back there. To do such a thing to you, Lily-chan… I’ll have to cut open my belly to apologize properly.”
“You don’t need to go that far!”
Having regained her senses, Minaka was visibly depressed. She had pulled a box cutter from her pencil case and was gripping it, the clicking sound echoing until Lily finally stopped her, genuinely afraid she might follow through.
“Will you really forgive me?” Minaka asked, her downcast eyes wavering with anxiety.
“Well, I didn’t like having my chest touched, but… I guess it’s within the range of skinship between girls, right?” Lily replied, trying to sound reassuring. “The thing about not being able to get married was just a joke. I’m not seriously thinking that!”
“Lily-chan… I love you!”
“Whoa, don’t suddenly hug me like that!?”
The skinship had been intense, and Lily had disliked being touched all over, but she had experienced similar things several times in her first life. There was no point in getting genuinely upset now.
Keeping her time-leaping secret, she conveyed that she wasn’t angry, and an overwhelmed Minaka pulled her into a tight hug. Lilyn, flustered by the cool Minaka’s sudden display of affection, felt her evaluation of her friend shift considerably as Minaka nuzzled against her cheek.
Afterward, the girls chatted about the day’s events at the forest school and drifted into girly romance talk. Since they had only recently started high school, there was little gossip about who liked whom. Lily, thanks to her time leap, knew which girls in their class were interested in certain boys, but sharing that now would be far too unnatural, so she kept quiet. The conversation turned to their middle school romances, but with the man-hating Lily and the reserved Minaka having no decent stories to tell, it became Shuri’s one-woman show. When asked about her relationship with Saito, she recounted unfortunate childhood episodes that made it clear she didn’t see him as a romantic prospect.
“It’s getting late,” Lily said, glancing at the clock. It was already past ten, their planned bedtime. “Should we get some sleep for tomorrow?” Time flew when you were absorbed in conversation. The day’s outdoor activities had left her more tired than expected, and her eyelids felt heavy.
“Let’s do that,” Minaka agreed with a yawn. “I don’t usually exercise, so I’m exhausted.”
“Ehh~ but I still wanna talk more… zzz.”
Apparently, Lily wasn’t the only one. While Shuri seemed eager to continue, she must have been more exhausted than she realized, as she fell asleep mid-sentence.
“She fell asleep at an incredible speed,” Minaka remarked. “Like Nobi○a-kun.”
“Hehe, let’s put a blanket on her so she doesn’t catch a cold,” Lily suggested with a soft laugh. “Then we should sleep too.” The comparison to the protagonist of the famous cat-robot anime was so apt that she couldn’t help but giggle.
“Yes, good night, Lily-chan.”
“Good night, Minaka-chan.”
After covering their peacefully breathing friend with a blanket, they turned off the lights and lay down. When they closed their eyes, both girls drifted off to dreamland, though not quite as quickly as Shuri.
◇
Click.
In the depths of darkness, the mechanical sound of a shutter echoed. It was a sound Lily knew all too well from her photographer mother—a sound she had come to hate.
When she opened her eyes, she was standing in front of her usual train station. The sky was blanketed with black clouds, threatening rain.
I need to go home.
With that single, vague thought, she turned her back to the station and started walking.
Click.
After she crossed an intersection, the sound came again. She glanced toward it, but no one was there.
Telling herself it was just her imagination, she passed a park.
Click-click.
This time, two shutter sounds came from the park’s direction. She immediately looked, but again, saw no one.
An indescribable creepiness settled over her. As she crossed a bridge...
Click-click-click.
Three sounds from the opposite lane. Third time’s the charm, she thought, turning her head, but a truck rumbled past, blocking her view. When it was gone, there was, as expected, no one there.
Click-click-click-click.
The sounds came from behind her. She spun around. Nothing.
Click-click-click-click-click.
Five sounds from the left. No one.
Click-click-click-click-click-click.
Six sounds from the right. No one.
Click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click.
No one, no one, no one, no one, no one, no one, no one, no one, no one, no one, no one, no one, no one, no one.
After this repeated dozens of times, her fear finally reached its limit, and Lily broke into a run.
Click-click-click-click-click-click-click.
The sounds pursued her, but she didn’t care. She just ran and ran and ran.
Home!
Her breathing grew labored, her legs ached, but then she saw it—her house. An indescribable sense of relief washed over her. Ignoring the incessant shutter sounds, she threw open the door and flew inside, hurriedly slamming it shut and locking it.
The sounds stopped. Collapsing on the spot, Lily let out a relieved sigh. Now I’m safe. But just as the thought crossed her mind, the world in front of her distorted, shifting into a different place entirely.
Before her stood the door of an unfamiliar apartment. With a soft click, the lock turned. The door opened, and a curly-haired boy with murky, black pupils appeared, holding a camera. The air filled with an earsplitting cacophony of shutter sounds.
“More,” he whispered, his voice a chilling caress. “Let me take more and more of your sparkle.”
A flurry of photographs showing her own image wrapped around her legs, trying to drag her inside.
“…No, stop, don’t. No————————Ahh~~! Huff, huff!”
Just as a scream was about to tear from her throat, Lily bolted upright, waking from the dream with a cry. Her breathing was as labored as an asthma attack, and a disgusting, cold sweat drenched her body. She focused on regulating her breathing, and after about three minutes, her heart rate began to stabilize.
The worst... Oh, did I wake anyone up?
“Snore, snore.”
“Zzz. Ah… there… that’s good, Li-ly-cchi… zzz.”
Having calmed down enough to assess her surroundings, Lily saw that it was still dark. Her friends were still asleep. Peering at them, she saw both were sleeping peacefully.
“…Thank goodness.”
She breathed a sigh of relief, grateful she hadn’t disturbed them. Feeling terrible at the thought of waking them with her nightmare, she quietly slipped out of the room and left the dormitory.
Outside, the crisp spring air was still chilly, piercing her skin. Lily sat on a bench next to a vending machine, the cold a stark contrast to the lingering horror of her dream.
“What should I do?” she murmured to herself.
She was thinking about the nightmare—or rather, the stalker incident from her first life. Though the dream had exaggerated it, the essence of it was real. It had all started about a month after she entered high school, with a single click on her way home from school. At first, she dismissed it, thinking someone was just taking pictures with their smartphone. But the shutter sounds became a daily occurrence, and after a week, she started hearing them even after getting off the train.
That was when Lily finally accepted that someone was photographing her. Yet, whenever she turned toward the sound, she could never find anyone. The fear of being secretly photographed by an unknown entity was immense, but without decisive evidence, the police couldn’t act. She tried desperately to identify the stalker herself, but for two weeks, she couldn’t catch a glimpse of him. The shutter sounds escalated, eventually becoming rapid-fire bursts.
Honestly, she was terrified. She ran every day, trying to outpace her pursuer, until one day, a hand grabbed hers.
That person’s name was Akashi Kai. He was a student in her class, a quiet boy who always sat alone in the corner, his thoughts a mystery.
“Don’t run away. Let me take more of your sparkle.”
His murky, black pupils were like an abyss, threatening to suck her in. Instinctive fear gripped her, and she tried to pull away, but his strength was unthinkable for such a small boy. When she tried to scream for help, he covered her mouth with a handkerchief. Just as he was about to drag her into his house, her ex-boyfriend appeared, restrained Kai, and called the police, bringing the incident to a close. Her ex later explained that he had followed her because she had been acting strangely, and he happened to witness the abduction attempt. It was terrifying to think what might have happened if he hadn’t been there.
It was one of Lily’s deepest traumas.
But all of that was just the prologue. The real problem, the one that was troubling Lily now, was that the man who had stalked and photographed her had become her childhood friend’s friend.
Many would wonder why she would enroll in a high school with such a dangerous person. There was a reason. Simply put, it was to overcome her trauma. Immediately after time-leaping, her only thought had been to prevent and avoid her past traumas. But her encounter with Saito had taught her that she could never be truly happy if she kept running away without facing things head-on.
So, she had enrolled in Seira High School, the place where several of her traumas were rooted. She had planned to capture Kai, her stalker, with her own power as a first step. But by a cruel twist of fate, the vicious criminal Kai had become good friends with Saito, of all people.
This was a thorn in Lily’s side. His presence next to Saito not only reduced her opportunities to talk with her childhood friend but also forced her to be constantly on guard, wondering when she might be secretly photographed. One might think she should just capture Kai and turn him over to the police, but doing so would surely sadden her childhood friend. He cared deeply about his friends and would regret not being able to do something himself.
She hated the thought of causing him pain. But if she didn’t capture Kai, his stalking would continue. Her feelings were a tangled mess, torn between not wanting to hurt her friend and wanting the boy who had traumatized her to face justice.
Fortunately, the stalking hadn’t started yet in this timeline, but Lily had been constantly worrying about what to do. She had been thinking about it even before the nightmare, but no good ideas came to mind. Having reached an impasse, she looked up at the sky. The stars shone with an annoying brightness, and she glared at them reflexively.
click.
She whipped her head in that direction, but there was only deep darkness. Nothing was visible.
But she had definitely heard it.
Which meant Kai’s stalking had begun.
I guess I have no choice but to catch him now.
With that resolve, Lily stood up and began walking toward the sound. After a short distance, she heard the thud of someone falling. She turned on her smartphone’s light, and there—
“You idiot! Don’t do stuff like that behind your crush’s back!” Saito’s voice roared through the night. “If you wanna take pictures, tell her straight up, you moron! What you’re doing is a crime, you know!?”
—was Saito, grabbing Kai by the collar and yelling at him.
◇
Born to a salaryman father and a housewife mother, the eldest son of this ordinary household was a strange child. He was quiet, often staring blankly at things no one else could see, only to suddenly burst into happy laughter. When he learned to speak, it became clear that the boy could see “sparkles” invisible to ordinary people. When he captured these sparkles in photographs, the results were professional-level, and his parents praised him as a genius.
But children his age were different. They found him creepy, calling him a monster for his incomprehensible talk of seeing sparkles. He was bullied and, naturally, had no friends. It was a painful, agonizing existence.
But the boy never complained. As long as he could capture sparkles in his photographs, all the unpleasantness of the day would vanish.
Photography was enough.
By elementary school, he had reached an extreme state of detachment, neglecting all human relationships. He offered no reaction when spoken to, when things were thrown at him, when he was kicked, or when his textbooks were torn. His face, already not very expressive, froze completely.
Around that time, the bullying stopped. The reason was simple: it became boring. Before, there had been a glare or a grimace of anguish, but when even that disappeared, it felt like hitting a doll—hollow and unsatisfying.
But it was too late. By then, he was already fundamentally broken as a human being. Photographs were everything. That was Akashi Kai.
It was only a matter of time before such a person committed a crime. The only reason Kai hadn’t turned to crime before high school was that the sparkles he saw had never appeared in a human. They had been in objects and animals, but one day, he encountered one.
A human who sparkled with dazzling brilliance.
That was Machigane Lily.
She was popular enough to be considered one of the most beautiful girls in her class, an evaluation her otherworldly beauty deserved. However, her face was often as frozen as Kai’s, and at first glance, he saw no sparkles. But one day, on the way home from school, she smiled brightly, and he saw it.
Beautiful.
Sparkles more brilliant than anything he had ever seen.
From that day on, Kai started taking pictures of Lily. As if possessed, he chased after her every single day, constantly taking photos. Strangely, he was never satisfied. The sparkles she emitted knew no limits, revealing new facets of light each time he photographed her. Gradually, his desire grew into an obsession to photograph her all day long, leading him to try and confine her in his house.
The result was failure. Someone interfered, and he was caught by the police. He regretted being just one step too slow, but once he was in jail, it was all over.
Want to take, want to take, want to take, want to take, want to take, want to take, want to take, want to take, want to take, want to take, want to take… Ah.
Some time after being jailed, the stress of being unable to take photographs became immense. From that excessive stress, a blood vessel in his brain burst, and he died.
This was Akashi Kai’s first life. Though Lily knew nothing of it, his life was as hopelessly without salvation as hers had been.
This should not have changed, even in a second life.
But on the day of the entrance ceremony, with the cherry blossoms in beautiful bloom, something did change.
“Ah, sorry for startling ya. I want to check which class I’m in, but I forgot where to look. Don’t you remember where to check?”
It changed when a certain boy spoke to him.
Yes, Saito.
Normally, Kai would have ignored anyone who spoke to him, but for some reason, he responded that time. He even told him where the bulletin board was and, on top of that, introduced himself. This was a remarkable deviation from his usual behavior. He couldn’t understand why he had acted that way, and even after Saito left, he pondered it without finding an answer. He assumed they probably wouldn’t interact again.
But the morning after the entrance ceremony, Saito found him in the corner of the classroom and spoke to him again.
“Yo, we meet again.”
“Thanks for yesterday. That really helped me out.”
“As thanks, I’ll bestow upon you my CalorieMate. This is special, y’know? …Eh? You don’t want it? Shut up and eat it.”
“Pfft, don’t say stuff like that with such a blank face. You’re interesting, man.”
He was a strange boy. Everyone else found the unresponsive, blank-faced Kai boring and avoided him, but this boy found him interesting. Kai felt a part of his empty chest being filled, and at that moment, he felt happy.
From then on, Kai began hanging around with Saito. His conversations were full of humor and childishness, and he enthusiastically engaged with Kai’s own meandering topics. It felt comfortable. He understood that this was what friendship was.
Saito was an amazing person. He not only accommodated Kai but also broadened his narrow world. Right after enrollment, Kai’s messaging app friend list had been zero. Before he knew it, it had grown to three people: Shuri, Saito, and Haruki. They, too, found the expressionless, doll-like Kai interesting, and he felt the void in his chest gradually filling.
This is fun.
Around this time, Kai began to enjoy going to school. Talking nonsense with friends and occasionally playing at game centers after school—such an ordinary student life was enjoyable. Carried away by this newfound happiness, he wanted to share his passion with Saito and invited him to try out the photography club, not knowing that this choice would later drive him to the worst possible situation.
As Kai had hoped, Saito agreed to visit the club and, just like his parents, praised Kai’s photographs. He wanted Saito to understand the wonder of photography, and throughout the trial session, that was all he thought about.
However, near the end of the session, when he saw the photograph Saito had taken, everything was blown away.
The girl in the photograph sparkled more than anything he had ever seen. The sparkle Lily emitted instantly captivated Kai, making him want to photograph her too.
From then on, Kai began taking pictures of Lily whenever he had free time, though he kept it within reasonable bounds. The humanity he had regained through his interactions with Saito and the others was having an effect. He only took pictures with the teacher’s permission or when Saito asked him to take pictures with Lily. He didn’t take them at any other time.
But it wasn’t enough. With these restrictions, he couldn’t capture the kind of sparkle he had seen in Saito’s photograph that day.
Then I have no choice but to take them at other times too.
Having reached this conclusion, Kai tried to get permission from Lily herself, but the man-hating girl wouldn’t even speak to him. In that case, he had no choice but to take them without permission.
On the night of the forest school trip, while looking at the pictures of Lily he had taken, Kai came to this conclusion. He happened to wake up and discovered Lily leaving the dormitory. He grabbed his camera, moved to a spot where she would look most beautiful, and raised it to his eye.
If he pressed the shutter now, he would fall to a point of no return.
But Kai, absorbed in the act of taking a photograph, didn’t realize this. He was about to press the shutter the moment she sparkled brilliantly when—
“What’re you doing? You.”
A bone-chilling voice spoke, and a hand suddenly shot out from the side. Pain, like being seared with iron, shot through his arm, and the lens blurred. With a soft click, the camera fell to the ground.
When he turned his gaze, he saw Saito, his face contorted with an anger he had never seen before.
“………”
“………”
Silence flowed between them.
“Why did you do something like this?” Saito’s voice was the coldest Kai had ever heard.
“…I wanted to take pictures of Machigane-san,” Kai confessed, unable to withstand the pressure.
The next moment, Saito grabbed him by the collar and yanked him forward forcefully. Their heads collided, and Kai’s vision shook from the impact.
“You idiot! Don’t do stuff like that behind your crush’s back!” Saito shouted, not caring that their heads had just collided. “If you wanna take pictures, tell her straight up, you moron! What you’re trying to do is a proper crime, you know!?”
In his distorted vision, Kai could faintly see tears welling in Saito’s eyes—
Ah, I made a mistake.
—and he realized he had hurt his friend.
◇
Time rewinds slightly, to just after dinner.
“Damn, no good. It’s not working.”
Having finished cleaning up, Saito was holding his head in his hands in a Western-style toilet stall. The reason, needless to say, was Kai and Lily. Ever since realizing Kai had feelings for Lily, he had been trying to bring the two closer together, but with no results. Even when he created situations for them to be alone, Kai and Lily wouldn’t even attempt a conversation. He had understood to some extent that Lily’s man-hating was deeply ingrained, and she barely spoke when one-on-one.
But if Saito tried to mediate, Lily would probably catch on. That childhood friend of his was practically a psychic; she would read his thoughts if he acted carelessly. What he had done today was the absolute best support he could provide. There was nothing more he could do.
“I can’t do any more,” he muttered to the empty toilet. “You’ll have to manage somehow on your own from here, Kai.”
His thoughts turned to his friend, who was likely organizing photos in their bedroom. He prayed for the distance between them to shrink, but today’s schedule had no events where they would be with the girls. Nothing particular happened—they took baths, returned to their room, and lazily killed time. For Saito, the boring, peaceful time was a welcome relief from having to be overly considerate.
“It’s about time, so should we sleep?”
“Roger.”
“Yawn~ Well then, I’ll turn off the lights. I’m at my limit.”
By bedtime, with nothing left to do, the three went to bed without complaint. Exhausted, all of them began breathing peacefully in their sleep almost simultaneously.
A few hours later, Saito woke up, sensing someone rustling through a bag. Peering into the darkness, he saw Kai leaving the room.
Where’s he going?
Saito assumed it was just a trip to the toilet, but something about his friend’s behavior bothered him, so he followed.
Contrary to his expectation, Kai wasn’t in the toilet. He checked the washroom next, but there was no sign of him there either.
Maybe he went to take pictures of the stars?
As he wandered, wondering where his friend had gone, the starry sky, a sight rarely seen in the city, caught his eye. For the photography-loving Kai, it wouldn’t be strange for him to be out photographing this beautiful night sky.
No, that has to be it
With a strange conviction Saito left the dormitory.
“Friggin’ cold.”
The air outside was unexpectedly cold, and he hunched his shoulders against it as he searched for Kai.
“Oh, there he is. What’re you trying to photograph, Ka— Wha!?”
Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he found his friend immediately. As anticipated, Kai was holding up his camera, about to take a picture. But he wasn’t aiming at the stars. Saito followed the direction of the lens and saw Lily, standing there with a fragile expression illuminated by the starlight, seemingly unaware of Kai’s presence.
The moment he realized what was happening, something inside Saito snapped. He moved before he could think, grabbing his friend’s hand just as he was about to take the picture.
“What’re you doing? You.”
He questioned Kai in the lowest voice he had ever produced, surprising even himself. What are you trying to do? he asked again. Gripping with all his strength, he saw Kai grimace in pain. With a soft click, the camera fell to the ground. Their eyes met. In the darkness, he could just make out the uncomfortable look on Kai’s face.
“………”
“………”
Silence stretched between them. Kai’s expression remained unchanged, and in that stillness, Saito’s head began to cool. As he belatedly understood the situation, an uncontrollable anger began to dominate him. Forcibly suppressing the emotions that were bubbling up, about to explode, Saito questioned Kai once more.
“Why did you do something like this?”
“…I wanted to take pictures of Machigane-san.”
The answer was what Saito had expected, yet it was also what a part of him had desperately hoped was wrong.
I thought you of all people… Why are you doing something like this, Kai!!
The moment he understood what his friend had been trying to do, the dam of his suppressed emotions burst. He grabbed Kai’s collar with both hands and yanked him hard.
Saito offered no resistance as their heads bumped together without him minding in the slightest.
“You idiot! Don’t do stuff like that behind your crush’s back!” Saito shouted, not caring that their heads had just collided. “If you wanna take pictures, tell her straight up, you moron! What you’re trying to do is a proper crime, you know!?”
He shouted, his voice laced with anger as he tried to make Kai understand the gravity of his actions.
But Kai remained silent.
“Hey, answer me! Do you get it!? You were trying to take secret photos! Taking advantage of Lily not noticing! You were going to use this camera!”
Frustrated, Saito leaned in close, forcing eye contact as he pressed him again.
“……I’m sorry.”
After a brief pause, Kai’s trembling lips finally formed an apology.
But even that wasn’t enough to quell Saito’s anger. It wasn’t nearly enough. So, one by one, Saito hurled everything he had been thinking at his friend.
“I thought I could trust you with Lily because you were her friend.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I worked so hard to figure out how you two could get along, making sure Lily wouldn’t catch on. I thought about all sorts of things.”
“I’m sorry.”
“But you two barely even talk. Seriously, stop screwing around.”
“I’m sorry.”
“If you like her, then be more aggressive about it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“If you want to take photos, just ask her directly. She can be cold, but she’s kind, too. She would’ve found a way to forgive you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why, why, why, why, why, why!? ……Why would you do something like this, Kai?”
After venting everything he felt, Saito collapsed on the spot, looking up at his friend’s face through a blur of tears.
“I’m sorry, Saito.”
It was only then that he noticed his friend was crying, too. Kai, who was always so expressionless, whose face rarely showed any change, was now contorting his features and shedding large, childlike tears as he apologized. Just from that, Saito could tell how deeply he regretted betraying his friend’s expectations.
But it was too late now. What Kai did was an attempted crime, something that should never be forgiven. He should be taken to the proper authorities and receive judgment in the proper place. That was the normal, obvious thing to do.
But if that happened, what would become of Kai? He probably wouldn’t be able to stay at this school. Even though it was just an attempt, he had tried to commit a crime. He’d surely be treated like a pariah. It would become unbearable, and Kai would probably transfer to some other high school.
No way. He didn’t want that to happen.
Kai had definitely made a mistake. He had done something inexcusable. He had tried to harm his precious childhood friend. He was the worst kind of guy.
But even so, to Saito, Kai was still a precious friend.
At first, he was blunt and hard to read, seeming difficult to get along with. But as they spent more time together, Kai’s good qualities gradually became visible. He had a unique and funny way of talking. He was surprisingly easygoing. He was smart. He was surprisingly absent-minded—the kind of idiot who’d mistake fresh amazake for amazake that had been left out for days, drink it, and then pass out. He was bad at coin games but good at rhythm games. He was good at taking photos, able to see things others couldn’t. He had surprising stamina. He cared about his friends.
Saito liked Kai, who had so many attractive qualities. He wanted to keep being idiots together, to keep getting scolded by the teachers together. He still wanted to continue that kind of high school life.
So, with tears streaming down his face, Saito begged his childhood friend standing right beside him for forgiveness.
“L-Lily, please. This guy’s scum who tried to take secret photos of you. But even so, he’s my precious friend. Could you please forgive him?”
And so.
“……Geez. If you make that face and ask me like that, I have no choice but to forgive him.”
His childhood friend, illuminated by the moonlight and smiling helplessly, looked like a goddess.
(…Unfair, really.)
Seeing her childhood friend collapse in tears after getting his friend forgiven, Lily thought exactly that. If he begged her with such a heart-wrenching, tear-stained face, there was no way she could refuse. Because if she didn’t forgive him, she would be resented by Saito. Did he understand just how painful that would be for her?
(Being unconscious of it just makes it worse.)
No, knowing her stupid childhood friend, he was definitely doing it without realizing. Completely selfish from start to finish. No calculation, no planning whatsoever. Just pure selfishness that always painted over Lily’s world with colors she’d never even imagined.
That’s exactly why Lily was so hopelessly drawn to Saito.
(So Akashi-kun can make a face like that. I didn’t know.)
As he cried together with Saito, Lily got her first proper look at Kai’s face.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he repeated over and over like a broken machine when their eyes met. He apparently felt a considerable amount of guilt.
In her first life, Lily hadn’t known that the stalker who attacked her could have such an innocent face and cry like a child. She hadn’t realized back then, in the darkness and murkiness, that his eyes were surprisingly clear and beautiful. She had thought he was a creepy weirdo with no friends, but he was actually a kindhearted boy who could shed tears for his friend.
Lily hadn’t known. No, she hadn’t tried to know. She had decided from the start that it was impossible and refused all dialogue. If she had just talked to him, maybe she could have drawn a better ending.
“Akashi-kun. I hate you. I really, really hate you. Secret photography is unthinkable. I think it’s something only the lowest kind of person would do. But since Saito is begging me, I’ll make a special exception and forgive you this time. If you ever do the same thing again, I’ll hand you over to the police without a second thought. Be prepared.”
So this was a punishment for herself—a warning for being so trapped by trauma that she didn’t even try to find a better path. Besides, she had a feeling that the current Kai would surely never betray his friend again. She had no basis for it, but Lily vaguely thought so.
Forgiving Kai, he showed a crumpled smile and said, “I see. ……Someone like me never could have captured her anyway.”
That smile looked refreshingly clear, as if something that had been possessing him had finally been exorcised.
The incident seemed to be resolved, with everything settled, but Lily’s ordeal wasn’t over yet.
“What are you three doing! Making such a racket in the middle of the night is completely inconsiderate!”
“Ah.”
“Oh, crap.”
“……I-I’m not involved in this.”
“There’s no way that’s true. All three of you, sit in seiza.”
Saito’s shouting and Kai’s apologies had apparently reached the dormitory, and their homeroom teacher, Chie, appeared before them, fuming. Once it had come to this, there was no talking their way out of it. Forced into a formal sitting position, the three explained that Kai and Saito had gotten into a fight, glossing over the secret photography. This only made their teacher more furious, asking what high schoolers thought they were doing. Even Lily, who had done nothing wrong except step outside the dormitory, got a thorough scolding.
“Hah… hah… Don’t ever do this again. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll keep it in mind.”
“I’ll never do it again.”
“I won’t go outside on my own anymore.”
The three were finally released when the sky began to turn white, just one hour before the students’ wake-up time. A mutual understanding was born among them: their homeroom teacher, Chie, was dangerous when angry, and they resolved to never defy her again.
“Ah, wait, Machigane-san.”
“What is it, Akashi-kun?”
Just before returning to the dormitory, Lily was suddenly called out by Kai and stopped, turning around.
Honestly, she still disliked him and didn’t want to talk to him. But he was far better now than when she first entered school, and she thought it might be okay to exchange a few words.
(What does he want?)
As she tilted her head, Kai approached with an apologetic expression and said in a voice only she could hear, “……Can I take photos when you and Saito are together at school? When you’re with the person you like, Machigane-san, you sparkle and look so attractive. If it’s allowed, I’d like to photograph that.”
“What!?”
Despite everything that had just happened, Kai’s request was selfish, just as you’d expect from Saito’s friend. More than being amazed at his thick-skinned audacity, she was flustered that he had figured her out.
“Wh-……what!? What are you saying, Akashi-kun? I don’t like Saito or anything. I mean, I like him as a childhood friend, but… Anyway, that’s not it!?”
“……You don’t need to deny it so hard. When you’re with Saito, you sparkle so much it’s obvious, you know?”
Lily desperately tried to pass it off as a misunderstanding, but in Kai’s mind, it had already reached an undeniable truth. There was nothing she could do.
“……Ugh~. ……Am I really that obvious?” she asked, honestly giving up.
“I probably only noticed by chance, so it’s fine. My eyes are a bit special, so I was able to see it. Normal people probably can’t.”
“I see.”
Hearing that she’d only been found out because Kai was special and that normal people would never notice, she felt a wave of relief. If her supposed secret hadn’t been a secret at all, that would have been far too embarrassing.
(Photos of Saito and me, huh?)
Having calmed down a bit, Lily considered the pros and cons. The cons were simple: she didn’t like the idea of Kai taking her picture, she didn’t like the possibility that Saito and others might figure out her feelings from the photos, and she didn’t like the thought of someone constantly watching her interactions with Saito.
There was only one pro: she could get lots of photos of her memories with Saito. That was it.
Looking at the pros and cons, there was clearly no benefit to accepting his proposal. But the foolish maiden in love found herself thinking:
(……I want lots of different photos of Saito.)
She wanted to see every side of the person she loved, even the sides she didn’t know. Once that childish wish was born, it was already too late. The scales in Lily’s heart had tipped.
“……You can take them, but only while we’re at school.”
“Really!? Thank you,” Kai said, his face lighting up with joy.
Just a little while ago, she had been frantically trying to stop him from photographing her, but now, she was giving him permission. Today’s Lily was clearly acting strange. Stupid. So incredibly stupid. Normally, she would never allow something like this; she understood that in her head. But the reason she didn’t feel bad about it was probably because she was hopelessly poisoned by her stupid childhood friend.
“Saito, you idiot!”
Not wanting to acknowledge this fact, Lily hurled an insult at him.
“Whoa, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden!? Eh, did I do something?”
“I just felt like saying it!”
Flashing a mischievous smile at her confused childhood friend, Lily ran back to the girls’ dormitory. On the way, she heard the sound of a camera shutter, but she no longer found it unpleasant.
On this day, the fate where the heroine, Machigane Lily, would be attacked by the villain, Akashi Kai, was partially painted over in white by the irregular, Minazuki Saito.
But if something gets painted over, you can simply write something new. To fill the blank space that was created, the world wrote someone else’s name there, but as of yet, no one knows.
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