Chapter 21: End of Day 1 of the Cultural Festival

"I’ll cooperate with you, Senpai… Once again, I look forward to working with you."

"Ah, yeah… same here?"

We exchanged a firm handshake. She glanced around, then quietly leaned closer to me. Lowering her voice, she spoke again.

"So, Senpai… can I ask what your ultimate goal is?"

"Why are you whispering…? W-Well, there are two things. First, I just want everyone to be happy."

"Mm-hmm." Kaimori-chan nodded vigorously.

I feel like she used to laugh when I said things like that, but now she’s listening seriously. That must be the power of the bond we’ve built. As expected of me. And as expected of Kaimori-chan. If Takahiro were here, it wouldn’t go this smoothly.

"And there’s actually one more goal."

"One more…?"

Gulp. She swallowed audibly, urging me to continue.

"To find… the me who disappeared."

"M-Myself!? You’re searching for yourself!? …Pfft… I was bracing myself, but that’s way more chuuni than I expected…"

She lowered her head again, shoulders trembling as she laughed. I watched the back of her head with mixed feelings.

Just as Kaimori-chan finally finished laughing, my mother returned to the classroom.

"I’m back. When I stepped into the hallway earlier, Shione was apparently wanted. Seeing my daughter’s face plastered up so dramatically really filled me with pride as a mother. I even took a picture. But what’s that about? Tag? And weren’t you quick getting back to your seat? When did you sit down?"

"Mom! Shh! Shhh!"

Barely back before firing off a machine-gun barrage of words, she delivered a report I absolutely did not want to hear. I pressed my finger to my lips again.

Wanted posters, seriously… I could more or less imagine what the hallway looked like, but I had zero desire to go check. Also… where’s Takahiro? Well, it wouldn’t change much if he were here anyway. Is he really the protagonist?

Then, suddenly, my mother’s eyes turned nostalgic.

"Come to think of it… you’ve always liked that kind of thing, haven’t you?"

"…? That kind of thing? Being wanted?"

"No, I mean tag. You had no stamina at all, but somehow you were amazing at both running away and catching people. I should know—I had to play with you every day until sunset."

That’s probably because Shione had future sight as a default skill… But still, every day until sunset? She must’ve really loved it. This might make catching her difficult… In that case, Mom’s story could be useful.

"Hey, where did I usually like to hide?"

"What is this, a sudden self-quiz? Let’s see… not so much hiding, but you liked sneaking behind the person who was ‘it’ without them noticing. Kind of a bad habit, honestly. They’d be searching desperately, and then suddenly turn around… and even though no one had been there a moment ago, you’d be right behind them like a shadow. Honestly, it was scary. …But you know what was the scariest part? It wasn’t that you appeared behind them. …Want to know what it was?"

She paused for effect.

"When they turned around, just for a split second… your face was completely blank. No expression at all. Then you’d suddenly smile again, so they wouldn’t notice unless they were really paying attention. But even as your mother… it was a little unsettling. You were always smiling… but I sometimes wondered if that was ever a real smile… Oh—! Speaking of which—right now! In the window behind you two! Look!"

Her voice suddenly tripled in volume.

"—Wah!"

Kaimori-chan and I both jumped out of our chairs at the same time. Watching us, my mother burst out laughing.

…Wait, now that I think about it, that “child” in her story… wasn’t that me? Who would even be behind us?

Clutching my pounding chest, I forced myself to calm down.

Kaimori-chan tried to act unfazed, but subtly adjusted her chair so she wasn’t facing the window anymore. Honestly, suddenly raising your voice in a scary story like that? Totally cheap.

After laughing for a while, my mother clasped her hands together. "Sorry, sorry." Though she also added, "But your faces just now were priceless," so I wasn’t sure what exactly she was apologizing for.

"Still, my best ghost story’s not too shabby, huh?"

"The star of that ‘ghost story’ was me, though."

"That’s fine. It’s important to aim to be the star. Besides, to a parent, their child is always the star. Oh wow, that was a good line."

"I-Is it, though…?"

Compared to my mother, about 95% of humanity would fall into the “overly particular” category. …Me? Obviously I’m in that 95%. Don’t make me say it.

"By the way, how long is this break? Stop chatting and get back to work already."

"It’s not really a break. I’ve been completely excused from working in the classroom today and tomorrow."

"…Hm? Completely excused?"

My mother stopped laughing, tilting her head in confusion.

"So what, earlier was volunteer work? As expected of my daughter."

"Earlier? What are you talking about? …Wait, Mom, evolution?"

"Evolution…? Shione, your lack of context is terrifying. Are you really my daughter…?"

"Senpai, that was way too out of nowhere."

Even though I wasn’t at fault at all, I somehow got attacked from both sides. Kaimori-chan, didn’t you say you’d be on my side earlier? Was that just a hallucination? Have I been talking to myself this whole time…?

Still, this might be a problem. Thanks to my mother talking so freely, I felt like we were attracting attention from everyone in the classroom. See, even those people in the corner are whispering…

…Alright. Time to leave.

"Come on, Kaimori-chan. The battlefield awaits us."

"Ah, wait—please!"

I stood up and started toward the exit, then turned back.

"Mom, what was that about me doing volunteer work earlier?"

Waving me off with a cheerful "Take care!", she answered with a puzzled look.

"Well, you were just standing at the classroom entrance, weren’t you? Wasn’t that attracting customers? But if you’re going to do that, you need to smile. That blank expression was kind of scary."

…Got it. So Shione’s here too.

And as expected of the original, she’s got guts. Also, it seems Mom’s hint about following from behind still applies. In that case, I lure her into a dead end, and Kaimori-chan comes from behind—perfect pincer attack. Flawless. Ahh… I almost pity my inevitable victory.

As I walked down the hallway, laughing to myself, Kaimori-chan poked me from behind.

"Um… are you okay? You’re even creepier than usual."

"I just came up with a foolproof strategy for tag. …Want to hear it? Of course you do. I can tell from your face."

"Why now…? Oh, is this for Takamiyagi-san? What is it?"

"First, I run into a dead end and lure ‘it’ in."

"I see… I see?"

"Then you come from behind, and we trap ‘it’ between us."

I shot her a smug grin. She frowned, looking at me like I’d just said something incomprehensible.

After hesitating a few times, she suddenly smiled—almost unnaturally gently.

"…Senpai, can I confirm something basic? Do you know how tag works…?"

"That’s a bit rude, don’t you think? Even Buddha-level Senpai would get mad at that."

"I have to ask! Why are you turning it into a game where you capture ‘it’? It’s the other way around, right?"

"Kaimori-chan, do you know how tag works? Like, really really know?"

"I mean… not in detail, but ‘it’ chases people, and when they tag someone, that person becomes ‘it,’ right? …Wait, isn’t that correct?"

"Exactly. The person who gets caught becomes ‘it.’ It’s two sides of the same coin… hmm?"

Suddenly, I felt someone watching me.

I stopped mid-step and scanned the area.

…Already?

Pretending nothing was wrong, I carefully looked around for Shione—and, while I was at it, a dead end for my trap. Unfortunately, I found neither. Huh… now that I think about it, school hallways don’t really have many dead ends…

Still searching for the source of the gaze, I looked around—and then spotted a familiar face in the crowd.

The reason I noticed her was simple: she stood out.

A small frame. Timid-looking green eyes. And most striking of all—her hair. Shoulder-length, slightly flipped outward… and a brilliant silver.

Realizing our eyes had met, she turned sharply and ran.

I dashed after her without thinking.

—Wait! You’re not getting away!

The girl bolted down the stairs at an incredible speed—whoosh!—and vanished from my sight in an instant. Gasping for breath, I doubled over, while beside me, Kaimori-chan stopped as well, looking puzzled.

"Ah, is that it already? You suddenly started skipping, and then just as suddenly stopped."

"...What do you mean, skipping…? That was 100% my full sprint… huff… huff…"

"That was!? I-I mean… um, sorry… So why did you suddenly start sprinting like that…?"

"...Haa… haa… I spotted someone I absolutely had to catch… and talk to…"

It took a full five minutes for my breathing to recover after that. This won’t do—Shione-chan’s body is not cut out for hunting.

"But who were you chasing? …You’re not going to say it was yourself, right?"

"I wish it were. Unfortunately, it wasn’t."

"That’s unfortunate…? Then who was it? That foreign girl from earlier…?"

I didn’t answer. Instead, I silently stared at the staircase where she had disappeared. Even if I told Kaimori-chan, she wouldn’t understand. After all, that girl isn’t supposed to transfer here until next spring.

…But why?

…Why now, Lynette… why are you here—the main heroine?

I hooked my fingers onto the green fence on the rooftop and looked down below. It seemed the reason no one was chasing us was because Takahiro-senpai was drawing all the attention, running around in highly visible areas.

Even now, I could see her clinging to the school building’s drainpipe like she was rock climbing. And surprisingly, it looked like Yuno-chan had rebooted—she was perched on Senpai’s back, giving her all sorts of instructions. Takahiro-senpai darted along the wall like a gecko, while a group of pursuers moved along the ground beneath her.

…Honestly, the game of tag seems way more intense over there than with us.

I mean, there’s a lot to unpack here. First of all, Yuno-chan’s adaptability is insane… She’s basically at third-floor height right now. Also, Kitatsuji-san was nowhere to be seen. Looks like even she couldn’t keep up.

"Ah, social media’s blowing up. All kinds of wild rumors are spreading. There are too many sources—this might be beyond even Yuno to control… But thanks to that, what happened in the classroom earlier is getting buried."

"Kitatsuji-san has a lot of underclassmen acquaintances… so she’s going for indirect tactics, huh… In that case, maybe we shouldn’t move. It doesn’t feel like we’re participating much, though."

"Well, let’s think about what happens after we win. Tag’s almost over anyway. So, where do we go tomorrow? Yuno’s been working hard—maybe we should treat her to some cotton candy."

"Oh? Kaimori-chan, you think you can be a little nicer to Yuno-chan?"

"It’s not that I’ll be nice, exactly…"

She hesitated, then slowly put her thoughts into words.

"I don’t really know her yet. I figured I’ll decide whether I dislike her after I do."

"Ooh, very mature."

I stretched up and gently patted her head. She made a slightly ticklish face, mumbling something like, "It’s not like that…"

"But what made you change your mind?"

"...If I had to sum it up in one sentence… it’s thanks to you, Senpai. I realized she has her own circumstances. And compared to someone even more mysterious… Yuno feels easier to understand."

Uh… is that praise? Or an insult? Well, whatever. If things improve between Kaimori-chan and Yuno-chan thanks to me, that’s good enough.

At the same time, things clicked for me.

I still don’t know why Lynette is here at the cultural festival. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t supposed to happen.

But it doesn’t matter. As long as there’s a chance to talk to her during the festival, that’s enough.

After all, she’s in charge of the “mystery” side of this game.*1

In that sense, her showing up now might actually be convenient.

Yeah… anyway, with this, all the players are finally assembled.

We stayed on the rooftop, leisurely watching the chase below. Eventually, the sun began to set, painting the sky in shades of red, and an announcement signaled the end of the event. The MVP would probably be Takahiro-senpai and Yuno-chan, with Kitatsuji-san as support.

And in my hand, the black stone had safely made its way to me.

Good, good. It’s not guaranteed it’ll be stolen, but this gives me peace of mind. …Ah, right. I should go see the student council president’s face. I didn’t really do anything, though.

When we reached the tent and had our fill of the president—who looked calm but faintly frustrated—Takahiro came trudging over.

"By the way, where did you go, Takahiro-kun? You disappeared after going off somewhere with Mom. Also, why do you look so beat up?"

"...Well, that ‘Mom’ suddenly brought up something about four-timing…"

"I-I see…"

A cold sweat trickled down my back. This is bad. I didn’t have time to explain things properly this morning… Could this somehow be my fault…?

"But I explained and cleared up the misunderstanding."

"...Oh?"

"She apologized. But on the way back to the classroom, she suddenly smiled and asked, ‘But you don’t mind being surrounded by cute girls, do you?’"

"Uh-huh…"

"And I instinctively replied, ‘Well… yeah…’"

"…Oh no."

"Then her expression went completely blank. She said, ‘So you finally showed your true colors.’"

"Yikes."

Terrifying… She lured him into a false sense of security first. I would not want to be there for that. So that means Takahiro got completely wrecked by Mom after she exposed his “true nature”…

"And while I was running away… I got trampled by the crowd chasing Takahiro-senpai. That’s how I ended up like this."

"...Mom! Totally unrelated!"