“…?”
Koyuki could tell that Kaguya felt hesitant. That was just her personality. But she could hardly refuse such a request.
“Have you seen him yet…?”
Kaguya shook her head vaguely. Just as Koyuki had expected, Kaguya apparently already understood who Koyuki meant by him.
“Then you should go now. I’ll be waiting here.”
“Umm…,” Kaguya said, stopping Koyuki before she could leave. “Were you—? What were we to each other really…?”
“I’ll tell you all of that later,” Koyuki whispered, placing a finger to her lips. “For now, it’s a secret. But there is one thing I’ll let you know.”
Koyuki knew this wasn’t necessary, but she just couldn’t help herself.
“He can be really lousy when it comes to being honest about the way he feels. So you’re going to have to be honest enough for both of you. Trust me. I’ve been watching you two from the edge of my seat for a while now.”
Something about the oblivious expression on Kaguya’s face felt nostalgic to Koyuki.
“I will,” said Kaguya, nodding emphatically. Koyuki watched her turn and walk away.
“They really do have some strange tastes over there…,” Koyuki muttered to herself.
Those people from Technical.
The barracks were already cleared out and put into order. Apparently, the facility was going to be torn down once Charon was gone.
Azuma would be lying if he claimed that didn’t make him sad. He had spent so many years here. But he believed it was better this way. There were too many reminders of his time with Kaguya. It had actually been a little painful in the end, staying here.
As he waited for Koyuki, Azuma let his mind wander to thoughts of what he was going to do next.
The system considered Azuma to be a minor, orphaned by disaster. He assumed he would be shuttled off to a different facility once the Bureau was gone. After that, he wasn’t sure yet.
“What’s taking her so long…?”
He took a step forward, planning to go look for Koyuki. If she wanted to take her time, that was fine, but this seemed like a bit much, even for her. Just as Azuma turned—
He caught a flash of scarlet out of the corner of his eyes. Vivid, sparkling red.
He turned slowly. It couldn’t be.
“H-how…?” he stammered.
There she was—the girl who had supposedly forgotten all about him. She looked away in embarrassment.
“I felt like I knew something after all…something about you,” she said to him.
“You must be mistaken.” That was the only answer Azuma knew to give. “News about Charon is shared with the Bureau on a regular basis. You probably just saw something on one of the screens and convinced yourself it meant something more. I’ve never met someone like you before in my entire life. This is all a mistake.”
Even without proof, however, Kaguya was not so easily dissuaded.
“That’s what I thought at first as well… But it seemed so vivid, especially that silver earring of yours.”
Azuma touched the earring in his left ear.
“I feel like I recognize it. Like I’ve seen it once—no, many, many times before…”
“As I said, you must be mistaken.” Azuma sighed and glared at her like he did the last time they had met. “If you’ve seen it many times before, then it must have just been on the Bureau’s video feed. And then you just got things all mixed up in your head when we met… Honestly, I don’t have time for this.”
Azuma had already convinced himself that he needed to push her away. It was almost all over at this point—there was no real danger to her anymore—but even the briefest contact could get her wrapped up in things all over again. And what if that caused her to remember things?
To remember all the pain and hardship she had been forced to go through?
“If that’s settled, would you please just leave me alone? For your sake, too, it would be better if you—”
“I’m sorry, but there’s something I need to ask. And I need to ask it of you.”
He was about to turn around when Kaguya’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
“An elevated pulse. Whenever I’m in the same space as you, I feel something funny inside.”
“What…?” Azuma was caught off guard by her words. “Are you saying—? Do you mean…?”
An elevated pulse—that was what she had said. Just like he, himself, experienced. Azuma wasn’t stupid. He understood what that meant.
“I heard from Major Mirai that Charon is being disbanded today. Because the Extermination Bureau is being dismantled.”
“Yes… What about it?”
“There was…something that I wanted to ask you before that happens.”
Kaguya pulled out a single piece of paper.
Azuma’s eyes went wide. It was from one of the physicals he had delivered to Kaguya. He thought he had gotten rid of that thing, but apparently, one page remained.
“Wh-what does this word here mean? Here, on the back?”
Kaguya thrust the back of the page toward him. A single word was written on the page’s white surface. Azuma’s interest was piqued as he realized that the word was in Koyuki’s handwriting.
“Love?”
“Yes. You and I. I was thinking that maybe, once upon a time, I was—”
Kaguya suddenly froze mid-sentence. What was she saying?
“Oh, oh!! I’m sorry. Of course not. What was I thinking?! Really, I’m sorry. Forget it. Why would I say something like that…?”
“Are you…?”
The young man made an expression she had never seen from him before. But wait, wasn’t this nearly their first time meeting? She was still trying to make it make sense in her head when Azuma spoke softly, muttering in a daze.
“Are you saying you’re in love? You? With me?”
“…Oh!”
Kaguya suddenly clamped a hand over her mouth, shocked at what had just come out of it. But that was exactly what she was saying, wasn’t it? And she didn’t even have the decency to use a euphemism.
What was wrong with her? No one wanted to be told something like that by someone they were meeting for practically the very first time. It was creepy.
Kaguya was trying to think of something to say that would get her out of this situation, but before she could speak, the young man shook his head.
“No, you’re not in love with me. How could you be? This is only our second time meeting.”
“Ha-ha, y-yes, of course! I was just being silly.” Kaguya sighed in relief. “I’m sorry. I’m just a little bit tired and confused. Something happened to me a little while ago, and I lost my memories, so…”
And so she was making excuses now—she didn’t mean anything by it. Her memories and her thoughts had all just gotten jumbled together in her head. That was all.
“I must have just seen you somewhere before. That’s all.”
“Yes, that makes sense. Meaning you don’t know me. This was clearly all a mistake. We can just forget about it.”
“O-of course. Thank you so much. Um, by the way,” she said, changing topics. She still wanted to speak to this person more. He might know her, after all. “I actually have a request—”
“It’s different for me, though.”