[That step back—was that for real?]
[A tiny gesture, an enormous wound.]
[Hahaha, look—Aoko’s face froze solid!]
[That’s all your fault for saying Aoko has a soft spot for shota types.
No wonder Minato’s so on guard.]
[Joking around isn’t the same as making things up—that was the plain truth.
A future truth, granted (smug)]
Are kids these days really this shy of strangers…
Unaware that it was the danmaku that had made the boy so cautious, Aozaki Aoko only felt mildly puzzled, and resolved to keep up the conversation.
It was getting late, after all—she could hardly leave him standing out here, especially now that it had started to rain.
But before she could speak, the boy in front of her got out a line first—one that left her thoroughly bewildered.
“Excuse me—are you Aozaki Aoko?”
The girl blinked, stunned.
She hadn’t expected to hear her own name from his mouth, and for a moment she was at a loss.
“You know me?”
The question slipped out of her before she could think, and Aozaki Aoko began turning over the boy’s origins in her mind.
Don’t tell me he’s family?
Those two back home didn’t secretly cook up a little brother on me, did they?
The faintly absurd thought popped into her head—but one look at the boy’s age, and she found the notion far too ridiculous.
And much as she wanted to know what on earth was going on, the rain had begun to pick up.
Stay out here any longer and they’d both be drowned rats.
Aozaki Aoko had no fondness for getting soaked, so when she saw the boy about to explain, sensing it might take some time, she cut him off in good time.
“All right—tell me later how exactly you know me.
Right now…”
She’d meant to bring the boy inside out of the rain for the moment—but the instant the thought surfaced, the cold gaze of her housemate flashed across her mind.
If I bring someone in without asking, Alice will “kill” me…
Her brows twisted into a knot, lips pressed tight as if reaching some decision.
After a good while she gritted her teeth, half in resignation.
“Forget it.
Come with me for now.”
Before the rain could soak her any further, the girl seized the arm of the baffled boy, shoved open the railing gate, and pulled him toward the mansion.
At the same time, a flicker of guilt crossed her heart.
Sorry, Alice—I’ll apologize properly later.
Just forgive me this once…
Pulled along through the courtyard by the girl, Ryōgi Minato found it odd that her expression had been so troubled a moment ago, but he didn’t rashly ask.
He was the one calling on her with a favor to beg, after all; the rest had little to do with him, and prying might only earn her displeasure.
He followed her under the eaves at the main building’s door, and at that very moment the rain redoubled its force, pouring down with a roar as though the sky itself had split open a sack.
Ryōgi Minato couldn’t help frowning.
This is going to make getting back a real bother.
“Phew, that was close.”
Aoko looked at the unbroken curtain of rain and let out a breath—but the real trouble was only now arriving.
Looking at the boy clutching his long cloth bag, she was still wavering over whether to take it upon herself to bring him into the mansion when, all at once, the lights inside flicked on.
“Huh—so Alice was home after all…”
With a trace of complaint and relief both, Aoko reasoned that if the lady of the house was in, then it didn’t quite count as bringing someone in without permission.
So she stepped right up and rapped on the door.
After a day spent untangling campus affairs and the jolting ups and downs of her own nerves just now, she couldn’t even be bothered to dig out her key.
Her housemate would come open the door in the end anyway.
It was a sly little bit of laziness, born of the girl’s knowledge of the other.
What she failed to notice, though—as she was busy drafting in her head how to explain this strange business to her housemate—was that the boy, looking at the light that had only just come on inside, blinked in confusion.
Someone’s home?
Then why was there no answer earlier…
He tilted his head, puzzled, and in the end Ryōgi Minato could only conclude that his earlier calls hadn’t been loud enough, which had led to the misunderstanding.
But now that he’d found Aozaki Aoko, the rest was no real trouble.
All that remained was to explain why he’d come and discuss whether he might learn “Aozaki Touko’s” contact details—and the purpose of this trip would be more or less achieved.
After a few minutes waiting at the door, a faint set of footsteps finally came muffled from within.
With a click of the lock, the mansion’s great door was pushed open, and the warm light inside lit up the entryway, casting the girl’s silhouette across the floor.
At the threshold, the girl—like a witch stepped straight out of a fairy tale—frowned, meaning to scold her housemate for such slovenly behavior.
But upon seeing the scene at the door, she fell suddenly silent.
For a moment, there was only the noisy patter of rain all around.
Ryōgi Minato glanced, faintly puzzled, at the somewhat awkward-faced Aoko, then at the girl in the nun-like black uniform, thinking she must be the Kuonji Alice the danmaku had spoken of.
He was just about to offer a polite greeting—
—when Aoko, in her local high school uniform, could no longer bear the atmosphere and spoke up first.
“So, um—Alice…”
“Aoko.”
The cold voice came as if it held no emotion at all.
Aoko instinctively looked away as she answered.
“Mm?”
“You do know abduction is a crime, don’t you?”
“Huh?”
Unable to tell whether the other was joking or serious, Aoko, after a stunned beat, knit her brows in real annoyance.
“Come on, Alice, how could I possibly do something like that?
What exactly do you take your own housemate for?”
“A fool with no awareness of her own airheaded nature.”
The appraisal came out without mercy, Alice’s tone flat and unrippled, as if she were simply stating fact.
“Even the most airheaded person wouldn’t just casually cross the line into crime, would they?
And besides, this kid was already standing outside the courtyard when I got here—I didn’t abduct… er, bring him at all, all right?”
Aoko shot the girl across from her a sour glare, beginning to harbor some doubts about the impression she’d left in the other’s mind.
Just then a string of chirps sounded from inside, and the blue robin alighted lightly on Alice’s shoulder, its beak working.
Alice gave an imperceptible nod.
“I know the reason now.
So—what is it you mean to do, Aoko?”
The moment talk turned to the matter at hand, the momentum Aoko had built up suddenly wilted, her voice growing a touch awkward.
“Look, it’s raining now, isn’t it, Alice?
And it’s so late, and this kid’s family isn’t anywhere nearby…”
“You’re planning to just bring him inside, Aoko?”
There was no change in her tone, yet Aoko knew perfectly well her housemate was already somewhat annoyed.
“Of course not, Alice.
See, aren’t I asking your opinion right now?”
Afraid the other might get angry and turn her out along with the boy, Aoko had no choice but to “yield” here, softening her voice.
But Alice had no intention whatsoever of believing such a clumsy excuse.
Her cold eyes flicked once over this housemate of hers—whose temperament ran a little too free at times—and then turned to the boy who had stood, not a word spoken, at Aoko’s side this whole while.
From her familiar “Robin,” she’d learned that he was the elementary schooler she had taken, that afternoon, for one of those who came to “explore.” Only, she had never imagined a present-day grade-schooler’s resolve could run so strong—that he’d waited until nightfall and still not left.
It made her brow furrow as at a nuisance.
Truth be told, Alice didn’t want anyone entering her mansion.
Aoko was an exception owing to certain circumstances; everyone else she turned away with perfect impartiality.
But the present situation did stir a thread of irritation in her.
If she didn’t agree to let him in, her housemate was liable to keep talking without end.
The rain, after all, was indeed growing heavier, with no sign of letting up anytime soon.
The young witch fell into hesitation, sinking again into silence, the worry plain enough to read even on her near-expressionless face.
And Ryōgi Minato, who by now had more or less pieced together what was going on, took a step forward and spoke up of his own accord.
“Actually, I only came to find someone.
There’s no need for me to come in.
Once the rain stops, I’ll head back on my own.”
Find someone?
Alice’s brows lifted slightly in surprise, and then her gaze settled on Aoko, as if in question.
“Oh, right—forgot to mention, Alice.
This kid seems to have heard my name from somewhere or other, and that’s why he was deliberately waiting at the courtyard gate.”
Aoko’s own expression turned peculiar; explaining the reason in such terms made it sound as if she were some sort of celebrity, which felt deeply odd.
And what kind of reason is that supposed to be?
Utterly unable to make sense of the nonsensical line, Alice pursed her lips, glanced at the well-mannered boy, then looked once more at the rain still roaring down outside.
Without a word she turned and went back into the house.
Seeing this, Aoko sighed in disappointment, and was just wondering how to get the other to agree—when the young witch suddenly stopped.
“Come in.
And don’t go touching things at random.”
The corners of Aoko’s mouth, which had drooped, curved upward once more.
She smiled, then pulled the still-obediently-waiting Ryōgi Minato along over the threshold.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on the kid—I absolutely won’t let him run around the house.”
Whether the witch ahead of her even heard the promise, there was no telling; her figure had already vanished from sight, gone back to the living room.
…
It was a living room done up with exquisite care.
Walls patterned with an aesthetic flourish, two imposing dark-green sofas, a high-grade Persian carpet… it all gave one the feeling of standing inside a castle.
The one jarring note was the thirty-inch television set sitting amid it all, utterly out of step with its surroundings, lending the place an abrupt streak of the modern.
Seated on one of the sofas, Ryōgi Minato accepted the black tea the girl offered in hospitality and nodded politely.
“Thank you.”
Alice, as the host, said nothing more; after the token gesture of hospitality she sat back down across from the boy and took up that grimoire again.
Yet, not having turned a page in a long while, she didn’t seem to be reading its contents so much as waiting for a certain someone to return.
While he waited for Aozaki Aoko to come back from changing her clothes, Ryōgi Minato didn’t look curiously about—he only lowered his head and stared at the black tea in his cup.
The blade he’d kept hugged close all this time now rested across his thighs.
So once the tea had cooled to about the right temperature, the boy reached out, cupped the cup, and took a careful sip—only to flinch back as if scalded, his tongue-tip darting out, before he silently set the tea down again.
Clearly, he had rather overestimated his own cat’s tongue.
The air turned a little quiet just then.
The two in the living room waited, not a word between them, for the girl at the center of it all to come back—and even the danmaku, a whole world away, felt a wave of awkwardness.
[So this is that whole “as long as I’m not embarrassed, the embarrassed one is… us?” thing, huh?]
[The mood’s gone stiff, hasn’t it?
Why’s nobody saying anything?]
[One’s completely expressionless, the other’s an airhead—what do you expect them to chat about?
And honestly, that Alice would let a stranger into the mansion at all already amazes me.]
[Didn’t expect Minato to have a cat’s tongue, though.
That sip just now must’ve stung something fierce—nearly brought tears to his eyes.]
[Hahaha, I’m screenshotting this to keep—might just make for prime blackmail on Minato-chan someday.]
[But it really is way too quiet…]
[Yeah, the streets are so quiet… not a soul around…]
[Orga, Orga, don’t stop now!]
[Kachitoritai!]
[When a woman sings, a man dies (smug)]
[Kibou no Hana~!]
After a silence of about ten minutes, Aoko—finally changed into fresh clothes—came down from the second floor at last, and the vitality she seemed to carry with her instantly scattered the living room’s stiff atmosphere.
Dressed in a sky-blue sweater and casual wear, Aoko walked over to the sofa where Alice sat and settled in beside her.
First she poured herself a cup of black tea, her pale fingers brushing the cup’s wall to chase off the slight chill the sudden downpour had brought, and only then did she look up at the boy across from her.
“All right—can you explain now how you know me?
Er, this is…”
Not knowing what to call the boy, Aoko’s words trailed off.
“Ryōgi Minato.
Just Minato is fine, Aozaki-san.”
A childish voice, yet the words it spoke carried an unexpected politeness and maturity.
The contrast left Aoko feeling rather peculiar.
“Is that so…”
She scratched her cheek, thought it over, and decided she still couldn’t get used to the strange sense of it.
“Just call me Aoko.
Calling me ‘Aozaki’ always reminds me of someone I’d rather not think about.
So—where did you hear my name, Minato?”
Ryōgi Minato nodded, looked at the two girls across from him, and blurted out the response the danmaku had supplied him in advance.
“The truth is, I have Future Sight…”