Extra Chapter – The Fairy of Our Class

My name is Haruno Yamazaki.

I’m a first-year student at Hirayama High School and a member of the photography club.

My nickname is Matsuri. Please don’t ask why. It’s a long story.

I prefer rice over bread, and there’s not even a voiced consonant in my last name, so I don’t get it either...

Summer vacation had ended, and it was getting to be the time when we really needed to decide on the theme for the photo exhibit at the culture festival. But I still hadn’t found anything I wanted to shoot.

That’s when I met her.

It was the first day of the second semester. I thought it was just going to be another ordinary morning, back to the same routine after weeks away.

As I passed through the school gate, lost in that thought, a white gust of wind swept past me.

“A girl...?”

She was even smaller than me—which was saying something—and her silver hair flowed in the wind, captivating my eyes and refusing to let go.

She ran past me through the gate—and then promptly tripped and fell flat on her face.

The girl stayed there on all fours, having fallen forward. Her skirt had flipped up completely, leaving everything that should’ve been hidden fully exposed.

What she was wearing were pure white panties with frills. Compared to the childish impression I’d gotten at a glance, they looked surprisingly mature, the contrast so unbalanced it had a strange, forbidden allure—

“Kyaaaaaaaaah!!”

My dazed thoughts were snapped back by her shrill scream.

She leapt to her feet, clutched her skirt, and took off running, her silver hair fluttering behind her.

“…A pure white... fairy?”

The words slipped out of my mouth before I knew it—and somehow, someone must’ve overheard, because before long that nickname had spread all over school.

…Kisaragi-san, I’m so sorry.

Her name was Alice Kisaragi—and as it turned out, she was a transfer student in my class.

She’d come to Japan from overseas after losing both of her parents, but she greeted everyone in flawless Japanese, without even the slightest hint of discomfort.

Though she had a mysterious air when silent, the moment she started speaking, her expressions were lively and ever-changing, making it genuinely enjoyable just to watch her talk.

Before I knew it, my eyes were naturally drawn to her. And soon, the urge to take her photo grew too strong to ignore.

But if I just took pictures of her without asking, that would be considered spying. After much agonizing, I finally decided to ask her directly.

“Kisaragi-san, would you let me take your picture?”

I approached her after school, as she was getting ready to head home in the classroom. She looked a bit puzzled, probably because we weren’t really close and I’d suddenly come up to her with a request.

“What do you want with our Alice, Yamazaki-kun?”

The girl sitting beside her—Alice Kisaragi’s older sister—cut in between us and questioned me directly. Any boy who tried to approach Alice was always intercepted by her. They called her the Iron-Wall Kisaragi behind her back.

“W-Well... I’m in the photography club, and I was hoping to take photos of your sister for the exhibit at the culture festival... if that’s okay.”

“What kind of photos are you trying to take?”

Alice herself seemed interested in photography and asked that with curiosity.

“I want to capture the natural expressions you show in everyday life. So as long as you’re okay with me pointing a camera at you, that’s all I need…”

“You’re not just trying to get some panty shots of Alice, are you?”

Her older sister glared suspiciously as she asked me that.

“No! Not at all! I’ll make sure you can review every photo I take and only keep the ones you’re okay with. I swear I don’t have any ulterior motives—I swear to God!”

I denied it with all my might. I’d never even think of aiming a camera at her with those kinds of intentions.

“…What do you think, Alice?”

“Don’t do it. What if he takes weird pictures of you? Besides, you can be kind of careless about that stuff…”

I clutched the camera hanging from my neck tightly.

Most girls don’t have the best image of the photography club, to be honest.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything...

As the other girls started chiming in, I began to feel like giving up.

But then—Alice gave an answer that none of us expected, not even me.

“First, the photos have to be taken on school grounds only—no shooting outside. Second, you can’t give them to anyone else or post them online. And third, I want a copy of every photo you take. Those are my three conditions. Can you agree to that?”

“I have no problem with that… but are you really okay with it?”

“I don’t have a single photo of myself. If you’re going to capture my everyday life, I think I’d actually be grateful for that.”

She once told me she didn’t like talking about her hometown, since it reminded her of her late parents. She probably didn’t bring any photos with her when she came to Japan, either.

“…Alice! Let’s take tons of pictures together, okay? Let’s make lots of memories!”

Overcome with emotion, one of the girls wrapped her arms around Kisaragi-san. Seeing that, another girl joined from the other side, and Kisaragi-san went stiff, blushing furiously.

“Hey, Yamazaki-kun, would you mind taking a photo of this moment right now?”

One of the girls called out to me. Kisaragi-san looked embarrassed, but it didn’t seem like she was against the idea.

“Got it!”

I lifted the camera from around my neck and snapped a few shots.

…Yeah, even her flustered expressions are beautiful.

---

“Yo, Matsuri. Stalking your beloved fairy again today?”

It was after school one day when I was addressed in that lazy tone. The voice belonged to my longtime friend Juuzou Otonari from the class next door. We had nothing in common—hobbies, personalities, even height—but we’d somehow always gotten along since middle school. He was my bad influence of a best friend.

“Ah, yeah. She’s going to club today, so I’m planning to tag along.”

I ignored the “beloved” and “stalking” comments—responding every time would be endless—and kept the conversation going.

“But man, you really picked a tough one… I heard the fairy’s got a crush on one of her upperclassmen in club, right?”

“I told you, it’s not like that. I just think she’s beautiful and want to take pictures of her. That’s it. It’s not some romantic thing.”

“Well, whatever. Me, I’m more into the curvy types. Y’know, someone with a bit more ‘boom, bam, boom’. Check out these melons. Doesn’t this hit you right here? Maybe you should start taking pics like this too.”

Juuzou dangled a magazine in front of me. It had photos of busty women in lingerie, and I turned red the moment I saw it.

“Hm~ You’ve got some interesting taste, I see.”

“Kisaragi-san!?”

Before I knew it, she was peering in from the side, calmly inspecting the gravure shots.

“Yamazaki-kun, and your friend. If you’re going to read porn mags in class, you might want to be more careful not to get caught by a girl. Lucky it was me, huh?”

No, not lucky. It’s seriously bad. I don’t want her thinking I’m someone who reads this stuff regularly.

“W-Wait! It’s not mine! I swear!”

“Aw, Matsuri, no fair. Trying to pin it all on me now?”

“I’m not pinning anything! I was dragged into this, remember!?”

“You gonna forget all the porn mags I’ve lent you up till now, huh!?”

“Don’t say that in front of Kisaragi-san!!”

We were in the middle of a fruitless argument.

What if Kisaragi-san ended up despising me?!

“Pfft… ahaha!”

Kisaragi-san burst into laughter. There wasn’t a trace of contempt or disgust on her face—in fact, her voice sounded genuinely cheerful, even happy.

“It’s fine, really. I don’t mind at all. You’re a guy, it happens.”

She spoke with unmistakable amusement.

Even Juuzou looked puzzled by her reaction, scratching his cheek with a finger.

“Well then, I’m off to club activities. If you want to take pictures again, feel free to drop by anytime.”

With that parting comment, Kisaragi-san walked away.

“So that’s the fairy everyone talks about… She really is something else.”

I could only nod in agreement with Juuzou’s words.

---

As I kept taking photos of Kisaragi-san during breaks and after school, the classmates who were initially suspicious of me gradually started accepting it as normal.

Lately, I’d even begun getting requests to photograph her alongside other female students.

Incidentally, if the request came from a male student, Kisaragi’s older sister would firmly and categorically shut it down.

Then one day, something shocking happened during class.

It seemed Kisaragi-san had gotten her first period, and the area around her seat was stained with blood.

Her bewildered expression as she stood at the threshold between girlhood and womanhood, and that single red trail running down her thigh—it burned itself into my memory.

Of course, I didn’t even think of taking a photo of her like that… But part of me wonders: if I had captured that expression, would it have won a grand prize in a photo contest?

Since then, an occasional trace of mature allure had begun to surface in her expressions and gestures. And every time I saw it, a vague unease would begin to stir inside me.

As a high school guy, I knew how to deal with it. But each time I did, the guilt piled up—as if I were somehow defiling the purity of Kisaragi-san.

Lately, more and more guys from other classes had started asking if I would sell them photos of her. I refused every time, of course—we had an agreement, after all.

Then came one particular afternoon. I was showing Kisaragi-san the latest batch of photos, as usual.

Right after I handed her the camera, I realized something terrible.

It was a photo I’d taken during lunch break—Kisaragi-san standing quietly under the shade of a tree in the courtyard. Bathed in the dappled sunlight, she looked ethereal. If it weren’t for one specific issue, I would’ve picked it as our cultural festival’s centerpiece.

That issue being: her skirt had slightly lifted, revealing her pale pink panties.

I noticed it when reviewing the photo. Normally, I should’ve deleted it immediately.

But the shot was so good I couldn’t bring myself to erase it, so I hesitated… and then completely forgot about it.

As expected, Kisaragi-san noticed. Her hand froze mid-swipe, her eyes fixed on the screen.

“…This has my panties in it, doesn’t it.”

She looked up at me with sharp, accusatory eyes.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t do it on purpose! I noticed it after taking the shot, but it came out so well I hesitated to delete it… I’m really sorry. You can delete it if you want.”

I didn’t make excuses—just apologized profusely.

Kisaragi-san stared intently at the photo, seemingly deep in thought.

…Did I make her mad?

As I began to worry, she suddenly lifted her gaze and looked straight into my eyes.

“…Can you promise not to show this to anyone?”

“Huh? …Ah, of course!”

“Then fine. I’ll let it slide this time… I think it’s a good photo too.”

“R-Really!?”

“But this is special, okay? Just because I’m letting this one go doesn’t mean you can go taking more panty shots or show this one to anyone else! If you do, we’re through!”

"I understand. I promise."

"Send me the data later, as always. See you."

With that, Kisaragi-san walked off.

Left in my hands was a camera containing a panty shot of her.

…If she ever found out what I did with that photo, how deeply would she despise me?

Lately, it feels like even my guilt has become a kind of spice to the pleasure, and I can't help but feel like a wretched person.

---

On the day of the cultural festival, I was assigned as the class photographer for our maid café.
Kisaragi-san wore an ultra-mini maid outfit that was so short, a slight crouch would reveal what was underneath.

"This is just safety shorts, so it’s totally fine!"

She even lifted her skirt to show me herself. I couldn’t help but freeze up at the sight.
The cute, frilly pearl-colored garment looked, no matter how you looked at it, exactly like a pair of panties.

Later on, she must have realized how she was being seen—she started acting all shy during the event, which only made her more charming, honestly.

For the record, any photos where her safety shorts were visible were all deleted by Kisaragi-san herself.
So apparently, it wasn’t totally fine after all.

However, the bloomers she wore the next day seemed to be within her personal boundaries.
Even photos where they peeked out from under her skirt weren’t deleted.

Later, when I was taking orders for class photos, the ones where a bit of her bloomers could be seen were the most requested.
Kisaragi-san gave a wry smile when she saw the list of names of people who had ordered that particular photo.

The boys who had written their names got cold stares from the girls.
In a way, I thought they were kind of brave.
Some of them didn’t want to put their names down and asked me directly to print extra copies—but I turned them down, just like always.

My contribution to the photography club exhibit was a photo of Kisaragi-san quietly reading in the library.
The moment she turned a page had a mystical air to it—on par with the photo I’d taken of her in the dappled sunlight under the tree.
The other photography club members praised it highly.

Kisaragi-san came by to see it too, together with her younger sister, Kamishiro-senpai.
When she saw my enlarged submission on display, she looked both surprised and shy.

---

A few days after the cultural festival, I asked Kisaragi-san to meet me behind the school building after class.

Her older sister, who usually kept a close watch on her, must’ve sensed something was different this time—she didn’t stop us, and I got the chance to speak to Kisaragi-san alone.

"Thanks to you, I was able to take some great photos for the festival. I really appreciate it."

I made sure to thank her first.

"Thank you too. I was really happy you took so many pictures."

"And… because of you, I got to grow closer to everyone in class."

After I started taking pictures of her, I’d had way more chances to talk with my classmates.

"I didn’t do anything. I think that’s just your personality, Yamazaki-san… But if I helped even a little, then I’m glad."

She said that with a gentle smile.

And in that smile, I realized I had been completely drawn to her.

No, maybe I’d been drawn to her from the very beginning.
I told Juuzou it wasn’t like that, but now I think… maybe it really was love at first sight.

So, once more, I gathered my courage and decided to say it.

"Kisaragi-san, I like you. Will you go out with me?"

At my confession, Kisaragi-san looked down, her eyes wandering, clearly troubled.

…Ah. I knew it.

"…Sorry. There’s someone I like."

I already knew.
Because I’d been the one photographing her, I noticed.
The way she looked when she was with her older Sister, Kamishiro-senpai—her expression was clearly different from when she was with anyone else.

"…It’s Kamishiro-senpai, isn’t it?"

At my words, Kisaragi-san averted her gaze, hesitating slightly before replying.

“…Y-Yeah. I guess… that’s right?”

“Thank you… Do you think we can still be friends?”

“I’d really like that, honestly… But are you okay with it, Yamazaki-san?”

“I am.”

“Then… let’s keep getting along. I’m sorry, and… thank you.”

With those words, Kisaragi-san gave a small bow and ran off.

I was left standing there, unable to move.

This outcome… I’d known it from the very beginning.

But I just couldn’t keep the feelings overflowing inside me bottled up anymore.

No matter what, I had to tell her—I had to say that I liked her.

“…Yo, Matsuri.”

…How long had it been?

Before I knew it, Juuzou was standing in front of me.

I hadn’t noticed—my head had been down the whole time.

Without a word, Juuzou casually threw an arm around my shoulder.

“…Wanna hit karaoke or something?”

“…Yeah. Let’s go.”

I was exactly in the mood to scream my heart out.

Juuzou and I have always had that kind of messed-up bond—somehow, we just click.

And I had a feeling… that wouldn’t be changing anytime soon.