In Class 2-A.
Hayasaka Ai looked at Sakurai Saki, who was walking from the doorway to her side with a heavy expression. She didn't quite understand what was going on with him.
"Yahallo~ Sakurai-chan~ good morning! That expression on your face right now is seriously super interesting!"
ヾ(＾ ∇ ＾).
Ai-chan greeted.
Hearing that, Sakurai Saki glanced at the ghost girl floating back and forth beside him and showed a helpless look.
He really shouldn't have brought her along just now.
"My pet ran out of the house, so I'm really worried right now."
"Do you keep a cat? Or a dog?" Hayasaka Ai asked curiously.
"Shiro isn't a cat at all!" The white-haired, gray-eyed ghost girl placed her hands on her hips and loudly objected.
(˶˃⤙˂˶)
Unfortunately, Hayasaka Ai couldn't see her.
She was a ghost only Sakurai Saki could see, a ghost girl that belonged solely to him.
"Way cuter than a cat, and she even clings to me and acts spoiled." Sakurai Saki replied.
Yakumo Shiro was indeed very cute.
"Ehehe~ I'm not that cute…"
ฅ(,,๑>⩊﹏<,,)
Then why drink it? Go drink your sweet kiddie stuff and leave me alone.
Sakurai Saki continued to torment "Shirogane Miyuki" a few more times before finally choosing to let it go.
"Shirogane, don't you have your part-time job today?"
"Almost forgot! Aiya, it's getting late."
"Shirogane Miyuki" looked up at the wall clock in the student council room, then stood up.
"I'll be going ahead, everyone."
After saying that, it quickly ran away.
"Shirogane": 三三ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
It acted the part perfectly. If Sakurai Saki weren't here, no one would probably suspect a thing.
But that was a false premise.
Because if Sakurai Saki weren't here, then no one in the student council would have gotten involved in this — normal people simply don't run into monstrous.
(≖_≖ )
Sakurai Saki stared at its back as it left, his gaze calm.
He was thinking about whether he needed to deal with the opponent.
People with supernatural powers weren't exactly easy to handle for the bizarre. Though they could be restrained or subdued, they couldn't be completely eliminated.
Sakurai Saki wasn't an expert in this field, but luckily — he was just a bit stronger than your average Esper.
Not by much, just… a few hundred million times stronger.
He couldn't do any intricate handling, but grinding something into powder? No problem.
'Forget it.'
Even the monstrous feared death — there was no reason for it to come back and mess with him again.
...
"Chika, wanna walk home together?"
Sakurai Saki asked.
At that moment, only two people remained in the student council room.
"Eh? Go home together?"
Σ(°ロ°)
Fujiwara Chika had never thought she'd hear those words come out of Sakurai Saki's mouth.
Sakurai Saki was a log — that was the shared conclusion of both Fujiwara Chika and Hayasaka Ai.
The number of times he actively tried to get close to someone… could be counted on one hand!
"Can't I? I even specially put my tutoring job on hold to be free."
Sakurai felt like his power were a bit of a nuisance today, so he wasn't planning to go anywhere else.
There was still plenty of time during Golden Week to make up tutoring sessions, no rush.
"Let's go! I wanna walk home with you!"
◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜
Fujiwara Chika instantly agreed.
Turning down an invitation from the guy you like — what kind of dumb girl would even do that!?
Up in the air, Yakumo Shiro pretended to act like a heartbroken maiden, covering her face with her hand: "Boo hoo~ You two are walking home together now. So what about me? Sakurai-kun, don't you need me anymore? I wanna go home with you too~"
You drama queen! It's not like I can stop you from tagging along with me anyway!?
...
Outside the school gate.
"Chika, do you usually take the train home?"
Today, Sakurai Saki didn't bring his bike.
He had already planned to walk home with Secretary Fujiwara after school, so he left it at home.
"Umu."
Chika usually stopped by the shopping district near school for a bit before heading home.
As long as she got back before curfew, it was fine.
Her family was pretty strict, so compared to being at home, she liked being at school more.
Normally, Chika stayed at school until around 5:30 p.m. — whether in the student council room or the club rooms, those were her usual hangouts.
Last year, she spent more time in the table game club. This year, though, she preferred the student council room.
As for the reason~ it seemed to be just one person.
The two of them walked for several minutes in silence.
Sakurai Saki didn't know what to say.
Chika was thinking about how to invite him to the shopping district. She wanted to have dinner with him today.
There was a ramen shop in the district that she really liked.
"Chika, this way."
Sakurai Saki suddenly grabbed Chika's hand and started running.
"Huh? What's going on?"
Chika curiously turned her head, but she didn't see anything.
In a world she couldn't perceive, a woman wearing a mask and holding a pair of scissors was standing by the roadside.
After they had run far enough, Sakurai Saki finally let go of Chika's hand.
"Saki-kun, I wanna eat ramen~!"
"Umu."
Sakurai Saki nodded in agreement.
They had almost run straight into a kuchisake-onna — that was close!