If there was one thing I learned yesterday, it was that my classmates were insane.
Not “forgot their homework” insane.
Not “arguing about fictional characters online” insane.
Genuinely insane.
The Student Council President had been perfectly normal.
Sure, she knew a suspicious amount about me.
And sure, there had been that weird board.
And sure, the student council office felt less like a school club and more like a government intelligence agency.
But none of that justified the way everyone reacted.
I was starting to feel more and more like the only sane person at the asylum.
But I digress…
Lunch should have been peaceful.
For once I actually wanted to enjoy my meal.
Instead, Kiyomi was sitting across from me.
I looked at her like she was dying of plague.
“Why are you here?”
She stabbed her chopsticks toward me.
“My friends are annoying.”
“You’re friends with them.”
“Exactly.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“They formed a united front.”
I frowned.
“A united front against what?”
“Me.”
“Reasonable. Your friends sound smarter than I thought…”
Kiyomi gasped.
“I came here for emotional support.”
“You came to the wrong place.”
“How’s the Student Council President?”
I sighed.
“There it is.”
“There what is?”
“The real reason you’re ACTUALLY here.”
She smiled.
“Maybe.”
“Definitely.”
I sighed.
There was no way of getting around this conversation.
So I might as well rip the band aid off right now.
“She’s normal.”
“Nope.”
“She’s polite.”
“No way.”
“She’s responsible.”
“Not possible.”
“She served me tea. It was pretty good.”
Kiyomi slammed both hands onto the table.
“YOU DRANK THE TEA?”
The entire cafeteria turned to look at us.
“Oh. Kaito. How could you do something so dumb?”
I looked at her like she was insane.
I mean she was but that’s beside the point.
As I was about to give Kiyomi my retort, I looked up.
The Student Council President was standing nearby.
Smiling.
Of course she was.
I’m surprised she hadn’t sneezed first.
She locked eyes on me.
“Good afternoon.”
“Uh… hi.”
Yurika’s eyes briefly moved to Kiyomi.
Kiyomi’s eyes moved to Yurika.
The atmosphere instantly became strange.
Neither girl looked away.
I suddenly felt like I was witnessing two apex predators recognizing each other.
I was truly hoping they didn’t try to rip each other apart here in the middle of the cafeteria.
The last thing I needed was for my life to further resemble a nature documentary.
A familiar purple-haired girl appeared beside her.
Vice President Rin Kanzaki.
She handed Yurika a folder.
“President.”
Yurika nodded.
Then immediately looked back at me.
I didn’t know why that felt concerning.
“I wanted to remind you about today’s festival planning meeting.”
I nodded in affirmation.
For some reason, words felt dangerous at this moment in time.
Kiyomi slowly turned toward me.
I slowly turned toward Kiyomi.
She pointed toward the cafeteria exit as the two girls left.
“That’s the third time.”
“What is?”
“Third.”
“Kiyomi, speak Japanese.”
“The third time she’s appeared near you in two days.”
“That’s not weird.”
“It’s extremely weird.”
“She’s Student Council President.”
“That’s not a magical explanation for everything.”
The first festival planning meeting started immediately after school.
And unfortunately for me, it started with paperwork.
Lots of paperwork.
Mountains of paperwork.
Enough paperwork to make Tadashi cry.
I was beginning to wonder why the hell I was actually here.
Curse my dependability and excellent grades.
They had finally come back to haunt me.
I stared at the stack sitting in front of me.
“What exactly am I looking at?”
“Festival budget requests.”
I looked up.
Yurika was seated beside me.
Not across from me.
Beside me.
Close enough that I could smell her shampoo.
Lavender scent.
It was nice.
I immediately focused on the paperwork.
For my own safety.
And sanity.
“There are this many?” I groaned.
“There are more.”
I stared at her.
She stared back.
“That wasn’t the answer I wanted.”
“I know.”
That somehow made it worse.
Around us, members of the Student Council moved throughout the room.
Some carried folders.
Others discussed event schedules.
Several appeared to be suffering from stress-induced psychological damage.
Meanwhile Yurika calmly sorted documents with the efficiency of a machine.
No.
Not a machine.
Machines occasionally made mistakes.
Yurika apparently didn’t.
It was like she was specifically designed for a leadership role.
She looked directly at me.
“Drama Club requested an additional twenty thousand yen.”
She placed a paper in front of me.
“Why?” That seemed crazy to me.
Didn’t think a play would cost that much.
“They wish to construct a castle.”
I looked at the proposal.
“They need a castle?”
“They claim the production loses artistic integrity without one.”
“Do they?”
“No.”
She stamped DENIED across the page.
I nearly laughed.
Another document appeared.
“Tea Ceremony Club.”
“Please tell me they don’t need a castle too.”
“They need six hundred tea cups.”
“How many members do they have?”
“Twenty-two.”
I blinked.
“That seems excessive.”
“I agree.”
Yurika stamped DENIED.
The meeting continued.
And gradually something became obvious to me.
Yurika wasn’t just organized.
She knew everything.
Every club.
Every event.
Every budget.
Every schedule.
Every classroom reservation.
Every faculty request.
Whenever a problem appeared, she already had a solution.
Whenever someone asked a question, she already knew the answer.
At one point a second year council member rushed over carrying three folders.
“President!”
“Yes?”
“We have a scheduling conflict between the Cultural Exhibition and the Music Club performance.”
Without looking up, Yurika answered.
“Move the exhibition setup to Gymnasium B.”
The student blinked.
“But Gymnasium B is reserved.”
“It will not be after 4:15.”
“…How do you know that?”
“The Volleyball Club canceled this morning.”
The student stared in disbelief.
“How do you know that?”
Yurika finally looked up.
“I am Student Council President.”
The student immediately nodded and walked away.
I burst out laughing.
“That’s not an answer.”
“It has worked surprisingly often.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
For the next hour I helped organize requests and schedules pertaining to the school’s various athletic clubs while Yurika somehow ran the entire operation.
The strange thing was that nobody questioned her decisions.
Not because they were afraid.
Because she was usually right.
It was actually kind of impressive.
Eventually the stack in front of me became noticeably smaller.
I leaned back in my chair.
“We’re done?”
“Almost.”
Yurika slid one final folder toward me.
“Basketball tournament planning.”
I perked up immediately.
Now this was a language I understood.
I finally felt like I belonged here.
For the next twenty minutes we discussed court reservations, practice schedules, seating arrangements, and tournament brackets.
Even thought the tournament was over a month away, it was best to be prepared early.
And for the first time all afternoon, Yurika seemed genuinely excited.
Not Student Council excited.
Not President excited.
Actually excited.
She listened carefully as I explained what players would need and what problems usually occurred during tournaments.
To my surprise, she even took notes.
Actual notes.
On things I said.
That felt weirdly flattering.
“You’re taking this seriously.”
Yurika looked up from her notebook.
“Of course.”
“It’s just basketball.”
A look of confusion crossed her face.
“No.”
I blinked.
“No?”
“It is important to you.”
For some reason, that answer caught me off guard.
Yurika seemed equally surprised she had said it out loud.
A faint blush appeared on her cheeks.
Then she quickly looked back at her notes.
“I mean…”
She paused.
A cough echoed from the other side of the room.
Rin.
Without looking up from her paperwork, Yurika immediately straightened.
“I mean it is important to the school.”
“Right.”
“Correct.”
The blush somehow became worse.
I decided not to mention it.
Probably safer that way.
I had to admit, she was cute like this.
A few minutes later the meeting finally ended.
The Student Council members slowly packed their things and headed home.
I stood and stretched.
Honestly?
That hadn’t been nearly as bad as I expected.
Actually… it had been kind of fun.
Yurika gathered her documents into a neat stack.
“Thank you for your assistance today, Kaito.”
“No problem.”
“You were helpful.”
I scratched the back of my head.
“Well, I know basketball.”
“More than that.”
I looked at her.
She immediately looked away.
The tips of her ears turned pink.
Across the room, Rin quietly closed her notebook.
I could have sworn I heard her mutter something along the lines of…
“Affection increase confirmed.”
“What was that?”
Rin looked up.
“Nothing.”
That definitely wasn’t true.
Before I could inquire further, Yurika stood.
“I should lock the office.”
“Oh. Right.”
We walked toward the door together.
As we stepped into the hallway, I couldn’t help smiling.
Maybe everybody had been wrong about Yurika.
She wasn’t scary.
She was just… really competent.
And maybe a little weird.
But definitely not scary.
Each passing second was just solidifying how crazy everyone else had been trying to warn me about her.
The meeting ended a little after five.
I decided to take the long way home.
The scenic route.
Partly because the weather was nice.
Partly because I wasn’t in a hurry.
And partly because I had successfully survived two straight hours of Student Council work without dying.
Tadashi owed me an apology.
So did the girls.
Especially Kiyomi.
But getting an apology from any of them, with the exception of Akane, would probably result in the end of the world.
As I walked through the nearby shopping district, a familiar storefront caught my attention.
A bookstore.
One of my favorites.
I frequented this place often.
It was small but had a great selection.
Naturally, I walked inside.
I wasn’t looking for anything in particular.
Maybe a new manga.
Maybe a basketball magazine.
Maybe something to help me survive the upcoming math exam.
That last option seemed unlikely.
The store was quiet.
Comfortably quiet.
The kind of place where people communicated through nods and mutual respect for printed paper.
I needed that after the craziness I had been put through recently.
I wandered through the aisles for several minutes before stopping in front of the sports section.
A new issue of a basketball magazine I frequently read had just been released.
Perfect.
I grabbed a copy.
Then reached for another magazine.
At the exact same moment someone else’s hand touched it.
We both froze.
“Oh. Sorry about that…”
I looked up.
Blonde hair in stylized ringlets.
Perfect posture.
Beautiful eyes.
Student Council President Yurika Amakawa.
“Seriously?”
She blinked.
Then smiled.
“Kaito.” I was a bit uncomfortable that she was on a first name basis with me but at same time it seemed so natural.
She had called me that earlier but now that we were alone it felt far more… personal.
I stared.
Words seemed impossible to formulate at the moment.
She stared back.
Her stare far more intense than anything I was typically used to.
The magazine remained trapped between us.
“What are the chances?” I tried to say in a calm yet confident tone.
Her smile somehow grew brighter.
“A remarkable coincidence.”
Something about the way she said that felt strange.
I couldn’t explain why.
“Do you read basketball magazines?”
“I do.”
That genuinely surprised me.
“You do?”
“Of course.”
She smoothly pulled her hand back.
“You seemed surprised.”
“A little.”
She tilted her head.
“Why?”
I hesitated.
Because you seem like the type of person who spends her free time running a small country.
Thankfully, I had enough common sense not to blurt that out.
Instead I said…
“I just didn’t expect it.”
Yurika considered that.
Then nodded.
“That’s perfectly understandable. I don’t really look the type do I?” She gave a small laugh afterwards.
It was adorable.
For some reason she didn’t seem offended.
If anything, she looked amused.
I glanced at the magazine.
“So… you follow basketball?”
“I follow many things.”
That was somehow a concerning answer.
“Do you follow the NBA?”
She nodded.
“I do.” Visit g.com for the full chapter.
“What’s your favorite team?”
“The Lakers.”
I blinked.
“No way.”
“Why?”
“That’s my team.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Yurika blinked.
I blinked.
Then she smiled.
“I mean…”
A pause.
“…you mentioned it during the meeting.”
I thought back.
Had I?
Maybe.
Probably.
I couldn’t remember.
That seemed reasonable enough.
We did talk about the basketball tournament and it probably came up at some point.
A voice suddenly appeared behind her.
“President.”
Vice President Rin Kanzaki stood nearby carrying a small stack of books.
She adjusted her glasses.
“The probability of this encounter was…”
Yurika stepped on her foot.
Hard.
Rin stopped speaking.
Neither girl’s expression changed.
I stared.
Rin stared back.
“Are you okay?” I asked with a genuine tone.
That looked like it hurt.
“Perfectly.”
“You just got stepped on.”
“Did I?”
“You definitely did.”
“Curious.”
I decided not to investigate further.
I had just managed to escape the crazy in my life and didn’t want to be pulled back into it.
Yurika quickly redirected the conversation.
“You enjoy reading?”
“Of course.”
“Any particular genres?”
That question led to another.
Then another.
And somehow a half hour disappeared.
We talked about books.
Manga.
Sports.
School.
The upcoming festival.
Nothing particularly important.
Yet somehow the conversation never felt awkward.
Which surprised me.
From what I had noticed, most people struggled to keep up with Yurika.
Or maybe they struggled because she was Student Council President.
When she wasn’t managing school affairs, she was surprisingly easy to talk to.
Eventually I checked my phone.
“Whoa…”
The sun had already started setting.
“…I should get going.”
Yurika nodded.
“Of course. Didn’t mean to keep you.”
“Not at all. It was a pleasure talking to you.”
Her face lit up after I said that.
She shyly tried to turn her head towards Rin so I couldn’t see her face.
I picked up my magazine.
She picked up hers.
I had decided to be a gentleman and let her have the one we had both reached for.
We headed toward the register.
At the door, I glanced over.
“Well…”
I laughed.
“…I guess I’ll see you at the next meeting.”
A tiny smile appeared on her face.
One far more genuine than the polished smile she usually wore.
“I look forward to it.”
For some reason, that answer made me smile too.
We said our goodbyes and headed in opposite directions.
I walked down the street.
Completely unaware that half a block away, Rin was standing beside a telephone pole.
Holding a clipboard.
She made a note.
Operation: Constant Exposure
Phase One: Successful.
Affection Probability Increase:
+5.1%
Rin paused.
Then added another note.
Subject Kaito appears highly susceptible to repeated exposure strategy.
She closed the clipboard.
And immediately began planning tomorrow’s “coincidence.”
The next day, basketball practice was brutal.
Which wasn’t unusual.
Coach believed weakness could be beaten out of a person through excessive running.
I wasn’t entirely convinced he was wrong.
But my body still hated him with a passion.
By the time we finished our final scrimmage, I was drenched in sweat and questioning several life decisions.
The whistle finally blew.
“Five minute break!” Coach boomed out.
Half the team immediately collapsed.
The other half looked like they wanted to.
I somehow managed to stay up.
I grabbed my water bottle and headed toward the bench.
Then stopped.
“…Huh.”
Someone was sitting in the bleachers.
Blonde hair.
Perfect posture.
Student Council President.
Again.
What were the odds?
Yurika noticed me looking.
She smiled and gave a small wave.
I waved back.
Then I immediately wondered why the Student Council President was watching our team’s basketball practice.
That felt unusual.
I knew she liked basketball but I don’t think I had ever seen her here before.
Or maybe I just hadn’t noticed her.
Granted, she wasn’t the kind of person that was hard to notice.
Then again, you don’t tend to notice people unless you’re either looking out for them specifically or they’re important to you in some way.
I walked over.
“Good afternoon, President.”
“Good afternoon, Kaito.”
I glanced around the gym.
Then back at her.
“Can I ask what you’re doing here?”
“Certainly.”
She gestured toward a clipboard resting on her lap.
“Facility inspection.”
“You’re inspecting the gym?”
“Correct.”
“During basketball practice?”
“Correct.”
“Why?”
Yurika paused.
Then pointed toward the ceiling.
“The ventilation system.”
I followed her finger.
“The ventilation system?”
“Yes. There’s been some complaints about it recently so I’m here to see if we need to make any funding requests to fix it.”
I looked up.
I looked down.
I looked at her.
That sounded completely made up.
Mainly because I was pretty sure she wasn’t qualified to determine whether or not the ventilation system was working properly.
Then again maybe she was.
She was Student Council President after all.
“I see.”
Across the gym, a familiar purple-haired girl was sitting near the entrance.
Rin quietly gave Yurika a thumbs-up.
Yurika subtly returned one.
“How’s practice?” Yurika asked.
“Pretty good. Though I’m exhausted.”
I sat down beside her.
I swear she subtly moved closer to me as I sat down.
But I couldn’t prove it.
My mind is playing tricks on me.
“We’ve been getting ready for the tournament.”
“I heard.”
That didn’t surprise me anymore.
Of course she heard.
She probably knew our entire practice schedule.
Actually… she definitely knew our entire practice schedule.
The scary thing was that I was beginning to accept that as normal.
“Think you’ll win?” she asked.
I smiled.
“Yeah. I know we will.”
Yurika smiled.
“You sound confident.”
“We’re pretty good. So it’s easy to be confident.”
“Confidence is important.”
“Being able to shoot helps too.”
That earned a small laugh.
A real laugh.
Not her polished public one.
For a moment she looked more like a normal high school girl than Student Council President.
Then the moment passed.
Yurika glanced toward the court.
“Number eleven is your strongest shooter.”
I blinked.
I hated to admit that Tadashi was probably our best shooter.
“You know our roster?”
“He averages sixteen points per game.”
“What?” She even knows our stats?
Damn.
Maybe she really does know basketball.
“He excels defensively as well.”
“That he does. He never shuts up about it.” Definitely hated to admit that Tadashi was superb on defense.
A complete two way player.
She laughed.
“He also favors his left side when driving.”
“What?! How do you know that?” Okay, her ball knowledge is elite.
Yurika tilted her head.
“Is that unusual?”
“Extremely.” At least I thought it was unusual for a girl that looked like her.
I needed to stop stereotyping her.
Two of the girls I know have pretty high basketball IQ and are excellent ballers.
She thought about that.
Then nodded.
“I see.”
I didn’t think she did.
Because that wasn’t normal.
At all.
There’s that prejudice talking again.
I needed to temp it down.
“Do you actually watch basketball?” I know she had mentioned that she did yesterday at the bookstore but my brain couldn’t stop calling bullshit for some reason.
Even with the knowledge she’d displayed thus far.
“I watch many sports.”
“Why?”
“Understanding student interests is important.”
That sounded like a Student Council answer.
It was probably true.
Mostly.
Maybe.
I wasn’t entirely sure anymore.
My brain felt like it was melting.
“Right. Yesterday you mentioned you were a Laker fan. Is that true?”
She nodded.
“Don’t tell me you’re a bandwagon fan,” I said in a slightly teasing tone.
“I am not a bandwagon fan.”
“You absolutely are. You seem like the type that only supports a team when they’re good.”
“I am not.”
“When did you become a Lakers fan then?”
Yurika stared at me.
Then calmly crossed her arms.
“When did you become one?”
“Been one since I was a kid.”
“Interesting.”
“Why?”
“You became a fan during the Kobe era…”
I froze.
She continued.
“By your own definition, that makes you a bandwagon fan as well.”
“That is completely different.”
“Is it?”
“It is!”
Yurika tilted her head.
“Please explain.”
I opened my mouth.
Then closed it.
Then opened it again.
Nothing came out.
I was at a loss.
Yurika pressed the attack.
“You support a team with seventeen championships.”
“That’s not the point,” I weakly tried to retort.
“The most recognizable brand in basketball.”
“That’s also not the point.”
“A franchise that signed LeBron James.”
“Stop being correct.”
Yurika looked surprisingly pleased with herself.
I pointed accusingly.
“You researched this.”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“I’m Student Council President.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is. It has worked before.”
I hated that she had a point.
Yurika folded her hands neatly in her lap.
“If it helps, I don’t believe you’re a bandwagon fan.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Really?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“You can explain why Kobe’s footwork was exceptional.”
“…”
“You know the triangle offense.”
“…”
“You have argued with Tadashi for forty-three minutes over whether Kobe or Tatum was the superior scorer.”
I nearly dropped my water bottle.
“FORTY-THREE MINUTES?!”
Yurika paused.
A dangerous pause.
From across the gym, Rin immediately coughed.
Yurika blinked.
“Approximately.”
“That’s weirdly specific.”
“Pure coincidence.”
“No it isn’t.”
“It might be.”
“It definitely isn’t.”
Yurika laughed.
It caught me completely off guard.
For a moment she looked less like the Student Council President and more like a normal girl enjoying a conversation.
I liked seeing this side of her.
Then she straightened.
“Besides…” She leaned in.
“Besides what?”
“If I were a bandwagon fan, I would have chosen a team that wins more often,” she whispered into my ear.
I stared at her.
Then immediately started laughing.
“Hey! We have seventeen championships. We win often enough.”
“True. But we haven’t won since the Bubble.”
I smiled.
She really did know her stuff.
I needed to stop trying to call her out.
Yurika smiled back.
The following week was…
strange.
Not a bad strange.
Just strange.
The first incident happened at the vending machines.
I had just finished helping clean up after class when I decided to grab a drink before heading to basketball practice.
I inserted my money.
Pressed a button.
The machine made a horrible grinding noise.
Then refused to give me my drink.
Of course.
Nothing can come easily to me.
Why should I expect something to just work?
Especially something I had paid for.
I stared at the machine.
The machine stared back.
We were now enemies.
I pictured us having a duel in an Akira Kurosawa film.
“Having trouble?”
I looked over.
Yurika Amakawa was standing beside me.
Holding a bottle of tea.
“Oh,” I managed to stammer out.
“Oh.”
For some reason that was becoming a recurring greeting for me.
“The machine stole my money.”
“That is unfortunate.”
“It stole my sports drink.”
“That is very unfortunate.”
She considered the situation for a moment.
Then pulled out a small notebook.
I stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Documenting the incident.”
“Why?”
“I am Student Council President.”
Of course.
Why would I expect a different answer?
Five minutes later she somehow had a maintenance request submitted.
I still didn’t know how.
This girl works fast.
Two days later I stopped by the library.
A new volume of a manga I followed had finally been released.
I found the shelf.
Reached for the book.
And discovered someone else already holding it.
Blonde hair.
Student Council President.
Again.
“Oh.”
“Oh.”
We stared at each other.
Then at the book.
Yurika quietly handed it to me.
“You can have it.”
“You sure?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks.”
A faint smile appeared on her face.
“It is my pleasure.”
For some reason she seemed unusually happy about that.
The next day I stopped by a convenience store on the way home.
I grabbed a sports drink.
A sandwich.
And a bag of chips.
Then I heard a familiar voice.
“Kaito.”
I froze.
Slowly turned around.
Yurika stood beside the refrigerated drinks section.
Holding tea.
Again.
There was always tea.
I was beginning to suspect she simply materialized wherever tea existed.
She must be British.
“What are the odds?” I said.
“A remarkable coincidence.”
That answer sounded suspiciously practiced.
I definitely hadn’t heard it before.
If you can’t tell, that was sarcasm.
Friday.
The rooftop.
I occasionally came up here when I wanted some peace and quiet.
Nobody ever used it.
Unless the girls wanted to annoy me.
Which typically made it the perfect spot.
Or at least it had been perfect.
Until now.
The door opened.
I looked up.
Yurika walked onto the roof.
Carrying a folder.
She stopped.
I stopped.
We stared at each other.
“Seriously?” I managed to stammer out.
“Indeed.”
Even she looked surprised this time.
At least I think she did.
We sat in silence for a few moments.
Then both burst out laughing.
I finally managed to speak.
“I think fate is messing with us.”
A dangerous look flashed through Yurika’s eyes.
Gone so quickly I wasn’t sure it had happened.
“Perhaps. But I don’t mind.”
For some reason that answer felt important.
I couldn’t figure out why.
We sat in comfortable silence for another moment.
Eventually I stood up.
I got up to find another spot so I could contemplate by myself.
I had a feeling that’s why she was up here and decided to let her have the rooftop all to herself.
“Guess we’ll probably run into each other again at this rate,” I joked.
Yurika froze.
Then a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.
“Yes…”
She looked away.
“…I would like that.”
By the end of the week I had stopped questioning it.
Somehow Yurika Amakawa simply appeared everywhere.
The weird part was that I didn’t mind.
She was easy to talk to.
Smart.
Funny, when she relaxed.
And unlike most people, she actually listened when someone spoke.
It was surprisingly refreshing.
Which is why I made the mistake of mentioning it to Tadashi.
We were changing after basketball practice.
“Tadashi…”
“What?”
“…I keep running into President Amakawa.”
Tadashi looked up.
Immediately concerned.
“How many times?”
I thought about it.
“Not sure. Maybe… seven times.”
Silence.
Complete silence.
The kind of silence you could hear a Who in.
Tadashi slowly put down his towel.
“Seven?”
“Yeah.”
“In how long?”
“This week.”
The color drained from his face.
“That’s not a coincidence, Kaito.”
“It absolutely is.”
“It absolutely isn’t.”
“It absolutely is.”
“Kaito.”
“What?”
“You’re either the luckiest man alive…” He pointed dramatically.
“…or the protagonist of a horror movie.”
I stared at him.
He stared at me.
Then I burst out laughing.
“Tadashi, you’re insane.”
“No…”
He pointed toward the heavens.
“…The warnings were clear.”
“What warnings?”
“The signs.”
“There are no signs.”
“There are seven signs!”
“That’s not how signs work!”
“It absolutely is!”
I grabbed my bag and headed for the locker room exit.
Tadashi followed behind me.
Still looking horrified.
“Kaito…”
“What?”
“…If you disappear, I’m telling the police to search the Student Council office first.”
“I hate you.”
The week had been exhausting.
Basketball practice.
Festival planning.
Homework.
More festival planning.
And somehow, despite all logic, repeatedly running into the Student Council President.
At this point I had stopped questioning it.
Life was easier that way.
I arrived home slightly exhausted.
Practice had gone well.
The festival preparations were moving smoothly.
And despite everyone’s warnings, my interactions with President Amakawa had been surprisingly pleasant.
Overall?
Pretty good week.
Yeah, I was tired.
But it was a good tired.
The productive kind.
I opened the front door.
Took off my shoes.
Set down my bag.
And immediately knew something was wrong.
The house was quiet.
Too quiet.
Kiyomi should have appeared by now.
Usually she emerged within seconds.
Like a demon responding to a summoning ritual.
I narrowed my eyes.
“Kiyomi?”
No response.
That wasn’t good.
I cautiously walked toward the living room.
Nothing.
Kitchen.
Nothing.
Dining room…
“There you are, dear brother.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Kiyomi was sitting on top of the kitchen counter.
I had absolutely no idea how I missed her.
This girl’s stealth skills put your average ninja to shame.
“What the hell?!”
“Welcome home.”
“How long have you been sitting there?”
“Long enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Kiyomi jumped down from the counter.
She landed dramatically.
For absolutely no reason.
Then she produced a notebook.
A notebook that filled me with dread.
“No, Kiyomi.”
“I haven’t even shown you anything yet.”
“The notebook is enough.”
“Fair.”
She opened it anyway.
My dread increased.
There were pages.
Lots of pages.
And color coding.
Nobody should trust a color-coded notebook.
Ever.
Especially one held by your younger sister.
“Kiyomi…”
“What?”
“…Why do you have a conspiracy journal?”
“It’s not a conspiracy journal.”
I pointed.
There was literally a page labeled CONSPIRACY.
“…”
“…”
“Okay, it’s partially a conspiracy journal.”
I sighed.
“What are you investigating now?”
She flipped several pages.
Then dramatically spun the notebook around.
The title read:
OPERATION: SUSPICIOUS BLONDE
I immediately started laughing.
“Kiyomi…”
“What?”
“…You’re insane.”
“Not the issue.”
“It is absolutely the issue.”
She ignored me.
Naturally.
“Question, Onni-chan…”
“No.”
“You haven’t heard the question.”
“I know you well enough that I’m going to hate the question.”
“How many times have you encountered Yurika Amakawa this week?”
I thought about it.
“Seven?”
Kiyomi froze.
“Oh no.”
“What?”
“You said the number.”
“What number?”
“The number.”
“Kiyomi.”
“The number!”
I regretted asking.
She grabbed a pen.
Crossed something out.
Wrote something else.
Then circled it aggressively.
“Eight.”
“What?”
“Eight encounters.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Kiyomi, you don’t get to invent encounters.”
“I counted basketball practice.”
“That counts as one encounter.”
“I know.”
“Then where did eight come from?”
She pointed dramatically.
“The rooftop.”
“The rooftop counts.”
“The convenience store.”
“That counts.”
“The bookstore.”
“That counts.”
“The vending machine.”
“That counts.”
“The festival meeting.”
“That was literally student council business.”
“It still counts.”
“That’s not how counting works.”
“It is how it works in science.”
“That sentence physically hurt me.”
“Oh don’t be such a baby, big brother.”
Kiyomi flipped the notebook around.
There was a chart.
An actual chart.
I hated that there was a chart.
“Observe, my dear Onni-chan.”
“I refuse.”
“Observe.”
I observed.
Against my better judgment.
A line went up.
Another line went up.
Then another.
Everything was labeled.
Very cleanly I might add.
“What am I looking at?”
“Evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
Kiyomi pointed at me.
Then pointed at the chart.
Then pointed at the ceiling.
For dramatic effect.
“The probability of these encounters occurring naturally is suspicious.”
I stared.
She stared.
I stared harder.
“It’s not suspicious. People run into each other.”
“Not this much.”
“Yes, they do.”
“No, they don’t.”
“Yes, they do.”
“No, they don’t.”
We continued arguing for nearly a minute.
Neither side gained ground.
Eventually Kiyomi rubbed her temples.
“You are unbelievably dense.”
“Thank you.” I said sarcastically and clapped a bit.
Also sarcastically.
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“I’m well aware of that.”
She sighed.
Then narrowed her eyes.
Those dangerous eyes.
The eyes that usually preceded property damage.
Or damage to my internal organs, mainly my brain.
“I need more information.”
“Not happening, Kiyomi.”
“I wasn’t asking.”
“Absolutely not.”
“The investigation begins.”
“There is no investigation.”
“There is now.”
“Kiyomi…”
“What?”
“…Please get a hobby.”
“This is my hobby.”
“That’s worse.”
She smiled.
The smile of someone about to make everybody else’s life difficult.
Which meant she was probably happy.
And I was about to be said person whose life was going to be made difficult.
“I’ll uncover the truth,” she said as she did a dramatic pose.
“There is no truth.”
“There is always a truth.”
“You’re starting to sound like a supervillain.”
She pointed at herself.
“Thank you.”
“THAT WASN’T A COMPLIMENT.”
“Still counts if I take it as one.”
With that, Kiyomi grabbed her notebook and marched upstairs.
Probably to add more charts.
Or diagrams.
Or whatever conspiracy theorists did in their free time.
I stared after her for several seconds.
Then sighed.
Honestly, I thought she was overreacting.
Sure, I’d run into President Amakawa more than usual.
But that was all it was.
Coincidence.
A few chance meetings.
Nothing more.
The Student Council President was competent.
Friendly.
Easy to talk to.
And despite everyone’s warnings, she seemed perfectly normal.
Maybe everyone had simply misunderstood her?
Meanwhile, my sister was building a criminal investigation because I’d spoken to a girl more than twice in one week.
Clearly one of us had lost touch with reality.
And it definitely wasn’t me.
Announcement on Older Chapters Will also split older chapters in future.
TY to all my readers!