He’d called her cute. He’d walked her home. They’d traded LINE contacts. Things were definitely getting closer. If this were one of those romance games, she would be locked on his path by now, right? Was it too selfish to hope that this was the case?
The moon hung in the pale sky, where the blues of evening and night mingled, while she walked beneath, indulging her imagination. Soon she was standing before the front gate of her house.
Someone emerged from the bamboo grove behind the house. He looked like a tall male student at first glance.
And then Mio realized something.
A male student.
She never saw kids from her school around here.
The boy approaching through the gloom wore a uniform. A familiar collared-shirt uniform. The one uniform in her class that was different from all the others.
The transfer student. Kaname Shiraishi.
“Ah.” He noticed her. For some reason, his grunt sounded like “Oh, shoot,” to Mio.
She’d spent all that effort avoiding him at school, yet he’d just emerged from behind her house.
Despite a resolution she’d made to scream the next time something happened with Shiraishi, she found herself strangely silent. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth hung half-agape. She wanted—she needed—to say something, but no words formed. She was too shocked.
Shiraishi’s expression never changed.
Say something, Mio thought, but he kept quiet. He didn’t look away awkwardly, or panic, or react in any way. It was like he had no emotions.
“What…are you doing?” Mio’s voice trembled. It was up to her to speak first. “What are you doing here?”
This is my house.
She had to hold back the rest. An instinctual alarm blared, telling her not to reveal any information about herself. Confusion swirled like a storm in her mind.
Why does he know my address? The school doesn’t distribute student home addresses. How did he find out? Did he follow us? When I walked home with Kanbara-senpai yesterday, proud and happy, was he lurking behind us…?
There was an eerie look in Shiraishi’s eyes. It had been his decision to come here, it was his fault, yet he looked annoyed about it. He glared down at Mio lazily.
“I wondered what sort of place you live in.”
That was when the scream emerged. But it was not with her full throat. It was thin and weak, like a high-pitched whistle releasing steam for a brief moment.
She felt the same kind of fear as when he’d asked, “Can I come over to your house?” the day before. The same alienness, the same creepiness.
But this time it was much, much worse.
This is my house. We’re standing right out front.
Shiraishi stared at Mio. The ends of his mouth curved, revealing his jagged teeth.
He’s smiling, she thought, and, at last, she could move.
Mio launched herself into the front yard, racing straight for the house.
“Mom, Mom!”
She scrambled through the door and hastily locked it. Although she called desperately for her mother, there was no response. “Mooooom!” Mio cried, which finally got her brother Shizuku to pop his head out.
“Shut up already.” He was in his first year of middle school. “Mom went out shopping,” he explained.
“Shizuku…”
The scowl on his face turned to an expression of shock when he saw her. A graphic novel was in his hand; he’d been reading comics.
“What…?” she asked in response to his look.
“You look really pale, Sis.”
Mio knew. Big goose bumps stood on her arms. She was scared, terrified. Despair gripped her, and she felt caught in the sights of something incomprehensible.
How could he be so obsessed with her when they’d met only the day before? It wasn’t fair.
“I’m being followed…by this weird guy,” Mio finally managed.
“What?!” Shizuku bolted to the door and rushed out. There was no time to stop him.
“Shizuku, no!”
Mio didn’t want to antagonize Shiraishi or let him know about her brother. She didn’t want him to see her family. However, she couldn’t rush outside after Shizuku. The thought of facing Shiraishi again was too frightening.
Shizuku came back inside very quickly. “Nobody’s out there.”
“Oh,” Mio muttered weakly.
Shizuku eyed his sister with concern. “Are you okay, Sis?”
“…I’m fine.”
I’m not fine. I’m not fine.
But she said she was anyway. Mio was so scared that it brought tears to her eyes, which she carefully wiped away so Shizuku wouldn’t see.
Back in her room, she felt a fresh wave of fear, but it was accompanied by tremendous relief. She’d made it back safely. She’d gotten away.
Mio cautiously approached the window and drew back the curtain to sneak a look below. From what she saw of the road in front of the house, there was no Shiraishi. However, she was still too frightened to turn on the room light.
Had she not added Kanbara-senpai on LINE, she would have gone crying to Shizuku or her parents for help. Instead, she found his name on her contact list, then typed, It’s Mio Harano. Do you have time right now?
She clutched her phone and lowered her head while waiting for his response. Tears threatened to return. She was sick of all this. A sudden urge came over her to cry and bawl like a child having a tantrum.
A pale light bloomed in the dark room. Mio’s phone vibrated. She wasn’t receiving a text but a call. Mio heaved a tremendous sigh.
“What’s wrong, Harano?”
“Senpai…”
She should have tried to figure out where to start. Instead, the moment she heard his voice, she lost her breath. Tears flooded her eyes.
“Senpai, please help me,” she pleaded.
“Sure thing. What’s up?”
He was trying to calm her down. The sobs in her voice didn’t make him panic. He was perfectly strong and reassuring.