Ruka stood up after class. She was gonna ask if Shijunana wanted to eat lunch together, but the girl was already gone. Then she noticed Chinami Hayami getting up and waved at her, but the class rep just looked embarrassed as she shrank back and sat down again.
Guess I’ll eat with the usual crew. Ruka put her lunch bag on Meiri’s desk.
That made Meiri look up. “Not hitting up the school store today?”
“It’s always so crowded. Hina and I are taking a break from there for a while.”
“Gotcha... Wait, that’s your lunch?”
Ruka took a convenience store rice ball and a carton of milk tea out of her bag. “Yeah, what about it?”
Meiri’s expression turned grim. “Y’know, ever since middle school, I’ve been wondering how you can drink something that sweet with a rice ball.”
“Two times tasty equals double the tasty, right?”
“That’s some idiot math.”
“Hey, multiplication’s my specialty.” With a smug grin on her face, Ruka jammed a straw into her milk tea.
“’Scuze me!” Hinaru came over with a pink bento box. She sat down and opened the lid.
Ruka saw a little hamburger steak and mini croquettes inside. Hinaru’s lunches were nothing like Meiri’s salads, but she did need a ton of calories as a member of the dance club. As Hinaru pulled out her chopsticks, Ruka plopped a bag of ramune candy in front of her.
“What’s this for, Ruka-chin?”
“I snatched your candy yesterday, so this is me paying you back.”
“Ah, gotcha. I’ll take ’em, then.”
“Yup, go for it. The whole bag’s for you.”
“So what’ve you been hiding all morning, Ruka-chin?”
Hinaru’s question came out of nowhere and made Ruka freeze.
Hina and Mei are staring... Not good...
“And what’s with the Chaznel bag? Where’s your school bag, hmm?” Hinaru asked.
“Um, I just, sorta wanted a change of pace...”
Meiri joined in. “Is that new nail polish? Where’d you buy it?”
“Um... Online! Yup, I ordered it online yesterday... No, wait, I mean the day before!”
Ruka’s awkward answer made Hinaru roll her eyes. “How obvious can you get?”
“I mean,” Meiri added, “Ruka sucks at lying. Nobody’s surprised.”
They know something’s up. Crap! They’re gonna find out, and then I’ll have to eat a thousand needles! Ruka stared at the ceiling and started silently pleading for help from above.
That was when Meiri got down to business. “It has to do with Shijunana-san, right? You started talking to her all of a sudden this morning.”
“N-N-N-No way!” Ruka blurted. “There’s absolutely nothing going on! Nope! Yup!”
“This is for sure a thing.”
“Fess up. It’ll be easier if you do.”
The two of them got closer, but Ruka didn’t really feel like they were trying to corner her. They’re probably just messing with me, right? So I can probably...
“Ah! Mmm!” Ruka shoved the rice ball into her mouth and chased it with milk tea. She gulped with all her might, yelled, “Gotta pee!” and shook off Hinaru’s arm before running out of the classroom.
Escape was her only option. She ignored the “at least say ‘use the bathroom’!” and the teachers telling her not to run as she sprinted down the hall.
Then she spotted a certain silver-haired beauty.
Perfect timing!
“Shijunana-saaaaan!”
“Moriki...?”
“Emergency! SOS! Help, help!”
As soon as Ruka got close, Shijunana pulled Ruka’s head toward her chest.
“Mph!” Ruka was getting smothered by what was honestly a huge rack. She tried to resist, but Shijunana pushed her down.
Ow, my neck...
Shijunana swiftly glanced around. A light layer of exoforce glowed as it covered her body. “Where is it?!”
“Wh-Where’s what?”
“The enemy. They’re after you, correct?”
Shijunana looked like one of those savage guard dogs right now, which made Ruka so embarrassed. She’d gone way too hard asking for help, which made Shijunana think there was a vampire around.
“Um, Shijunana-san, about that...” Ruka muttered, trying to find the right words to clear this mess up.
Shijunana slowly let go of Ruka. She started to look uncomfortable. “You...were not attacked by a vampire?”
“Nope. Actually...” Ruka thought about what she’d learned yesterday. “They can’t come out during the day anyway, right?”
“That...” Shijunana looked embarrassed now. “That is true. So what happened?”
Ruka was relieved they were on the same page, but then she remembered her emergency. “Bad news! Mei and Hina are trying to figure out what happened yesterday!”
“Please speak more quietly.”
“Mei and Hina—Meiri and Hinaru were asking about yesterday, and they pointed out stuff like how my bag and nail polish were different... And I never really noticed this till now, but I guess I’m super bad at lying?”
“Did you not say, just yesterday, that you were good at keeping your mouth shut?”
“Yup, but I was wrong. My bad!”
Shijunana looked astonished at first, but then she crossed her arms to think about the situation. “Perhaps we should have come up with a shared cover story...”
“Cover story...?”
“A fabricated tale for hiding what truly happened. When a mission took me to a new town, for example, I would say that I had just moved or that I was on vacation. Neither would apply here, though...”
So she’s trying to come up with some sort of lie to hide all that stuff from yesterday? I can probably help with that.
“What about, like, a hobby we both have?”
“I cannot imagine us having anything in common on that front...”
“Really?”
“We do not know each other very well. A sloppy cover story will have gaps in it, which can cause more problems than it solves.”
“Gotcha. Guess we gotta find out more about each other. What do we do till then?”
We need something to explain how we know each other outside of school. Except we don’t, so the story’s gotta be about, like, a random coincidence or something. But where?
Ruka was about to ask when she saw Shijunana staring at her like some sort of mysterious creature.
“Wh-What’s up?”
“Ah, never mind. What should we do...?”
Okay, I’m a little curious about why she brushed me off, but let’s focus on the cover story for now.
So they kept talking until they eventually came up with this: Ruka was heading home from her part-time job last night when her school bag ripped. Shijunana happened to pass by and let Ruka borrow a bag, and there was a sample of nail polish from overseas inside. After asking Shijunana if it would be okay to use it, Ruka did and showed off her nails this morning.
Sounds kinda forced, but I think it’ll work!
After school, Ruka hurried over to Bianco. She wasn’t supposed to have a shift today, but the owner contacted her because her coworker got sick. They even offered to pay extra, so she took the hours.
Once Ruka got there, she said hi to the owner and put on her uniform. Not having Tokiwa around felt a little lonely, but work was work. So she started her shift in the dining area at just the right pace—not too intense but not too relaxed.
She heard the bell over the front door ring and called out, “Hiya. Sooo, how many?”
A middle-aged guy standing just inside the door stared at her.
Crap, did that piss him off? Ruka’s bosses had told her to be herself, so she always talked to customers like that. But the customers wouldn’t know, so some of them did think she was rude.
Should I say sorry? Hmm, how should I...
“U-Um... I-I...” The middle-aged guy’s face turned red.
Wow, even his ears are red. He doesn’t look mad, though... Wait, is he embarrassed?
Nobody was saying a thing, so Ruka took a better look at him. His hair was messy, he had a unibrow, and there was stubble all over his face. He was on the bigger side, and his T-shirt was tight around his belly and stretched out at the collar while his denim jeans were old and faded.
“Hey, you’re that guy from yesterday!”
He was the stalker from last night. Ruka had forgotten about him, but it looked like he’d gotten out of that situation safe and sound.
“Good thing we both made it out okay, yeah?”
Ruka thought she’d sounded pretty casual, but the guy’s face wrinkled up for some reason.
Huh? What now? She was starting to get scared.
But then, with tears from his beady eyes streaming down his face, he stammered, “Sh-Showwy... I-I...lebt you and ran abway...”
Kinda scary seeing a grown man cry like this...
“Don’t worry about it, my guy. Anybody would’ve been scared.”
I mean, a vampire hunter told me that vampires and retainers are literally monsters. Shijunana-san fights them for a living, but they’re not something us normal folks can deal with. You were seriously lucky you got out.
“I can’t really give you any details, but listen. I’m alive and kicking, and you don’t seem like a bad guy, so no worries.”
Oh, wait, I guess there’s still the stalking. Should I bring that up, though?
“I-I... I’m going to get a proper job! Then I’ll come back...and I’ll apologize again, so... F-Farewell for now!” The guy was still sobbing as he ran out of the store.
“U-Um, good luck with that?” Ruka called out. The bell rang as the door swung shut.
It felt awkward inside the café now. The owner was giving her a look like, Why’d you let a customer slip away?
Ruka did her best to say, Hey, that wasn’t my bad, y’know! with her eyes before going back to work, but then the bell rang again.
“Hiya... Um, Shijunana-san?”
Ginka Shijunana walked in with her silver hair fluttering behind her. She looked at Ruka with her usual composed expression. “Your friends informed me of your part-time job and location. It appears to be a nice place with a relaxed atmosphere.”
“Thanks!” Ruka glanced out of the corner of her eye at the owner to see if he appreciated the compliment.
Sure enough, he smiled and nodded. Ruka also noticed he didn’t seem all that surprised by Shijunana, and she was pretty sure that had something to do with having a lot of life experience.
Shijunana slowly closed the door behind her. “Moriki, at what time does your shift end today?”
“Nine. Why, what’s up?”
“Well... For now, might I have a seat?”
“Oh, yup. Table for one!” The sudden visit caught Ruka off guard, but she went ahead and brought Shijunana to an empty table.