Development, debugging, and implementation—with their rigid schedule in place, the time passed exceedingly quickly.
Between Eru and Aina’s drama and the management-end preparations, it almost slipped Kai’s mind that the Summit Drawing Ceremony was only a day away. Summit was a development contest at its core, but their opponents had yet to be decided. The initial drawing ceremony was an opportunity for the participating students to confirm their opponents and mingle with other talented developers.
One way or another, the five of them managed to complete their pre-preparations. After confirming their meeting time for the following morning, they went their separate ways at the train station. Once he was alone, Kai remembered that he didn’t have any food at home and stopped by the supermarket.
As he walked out with his groceries, he was confronted with the lengthy shadow of Eru, who was waiting for him. This wasn’t the first such occurrence, and Kai mused that he was lucky not to have been assaulted by a package of sasa dango this time.
“...Um...” Kai was the first one to break the silence.
“Was it your order?” Eru began interrogating him.
“What?” Though Kai meant to exhibit his confusion, Eru only became surer of her position as she intensified her glare.
“You’re making my dear Nanaka investigate that tramp,” she accused him.
“Investigate... That’s—”
“Absolutely it,” said Eru, interrupting him mid-sentence.
“Not it at all,” Kai corrected.
“The fact is, Nanaka keeps asking me about her.”
“...Look,” he said, feeling frustrated. Why can’t she understand something so simple? “That’s because Nanaka-san is worried about you, Kuroba-san.”
“...I didn’t ask for her to worry.”
“Then what do you want her to do?” Kai could feel that he was getting confrontational, and didn’t like it. Despite being able to recognize that with his brain, he couldn’t stop himself. He found himself saying, “If you keep acting like this without any explanation... not even Nanaka-san will understand you.”
Eru’s glare sharpened into the point of a razor’s edge.
However, Kai didn’t feel like he’d said anything wrong. He desperately fought his instinct to avert his eyes and stood his ground against Eru, face to face.
“I don’t want that harlot around,” Eru told him flatly. “I thought I made that clear?”
“What Nanaka-san—no, what all of us are wondering is...” Why do you feel that way? But before Kai could say they wanted to know what happened, Eru ruthlessly cut him off with a dry smirk.
“Do you truly think that I would tell you if you asked? Don’t screw with me, dear,” she spat out.
“It doesn’t have to be me. Just tell Nana—”
“Even I!” Eru paused to swallow back her growing voice before repeating, “...Even I have things I can’t tell Nanaka... That I can’t tell Nanaka because it’s her.”
“Then—” Who can you tell? he wondered. Do you have someone you can tell? Kai began to make these statements, but quickly stopped himself. When nothing else came to mind, he stood at a loss for words. In his own case, Kai would never come to the same conclusion Eru had reached under normal circumstances. His sister was so careless that he’d like to swear never to rely on her again, but he still talked his problems out with her. In fact, she’d helped him out a ton recently.
Kai wondered if Eru had anyone like that outside of Nanaka.
“Don’t get the wrong idea just because of the episode with Tsukigase, dear,” Eru suggested. “So long as I can continue drawing alongside Nanaka... that’s all I need. I don’t need ‘everyone.’”
“Kuroba-san!”
Eru turned on her heel and refused to stop when he called out to her. As she walked away, her raven hair rocked with every gust of wind; each time, her long shadow swayed strikingly.