Chapter 23: Individual Route

The Yagami subjugation plan was progressing smoothly.

We had practiced coordinating with each other several times since the day of the mock battle.

There hadn't been any major problems either.

Now that I thought about it, Saisei Kanon was excellent as a commander.

The fact that the Sugar Platoon could function even without their command-role Anchor was probably thanks to her.

Her broad field of vision. Her ability to remain calm at all times. Her individual combat ability. Her gentle manner. Her communication skills.

In every respect, she was so capable that it was hard to believe she was a teenage girl.

It seemed like there was no need to worry too much about this side of things.

With that in mind, I decided to devote my mental resources to my other concern: the plan to win Hibari over.

That idiot was the type to make some weird mistake if I left him alone. He even starts duels without realizing it.

As usual, there were only the two of us behind the school building.

While listening to him, I crushed the cigarette that had become considerably shorter into the ashtray.

"Hmm, hmm. I see..."

I had the Protagonist-kun briefly explain what had happened when he talked with Hibari.

Apparently, he'd had a fairly deep conversation with her after that.

On the empty rooftop, he'd directly heard about Hibari's dark past, and she'd opened up to him about her inner feelings.

Even after seeing the dark expression on her face, he hadn't known what to say to her.

As he told me this, he seemed rather depressed. Maybe he thought Hibari had come to dislike him.

I deliberately laughed exaggeratedly and spoke in a cheerful tone.

"No, things aren't that bad. As far as Hibari is concerned, it looks like she has a much better impression of you than she did at first."

"Huh? No, I really didn't get that impression at all..."

"To begin with, if she didn't trust you, Hibari wouldn't have shown you her real face. She would've just brushed you off with that cheerful expression of hers and called it a day."

She must have wanted, somewhere deep down, for someone to understand her.

That's why she'd opened up to him. That's why she'd shown him her true face.

"...Now that you mention it, maybe you're right. I feel like Hibari only started showing me her real face more often recently."

He gave a small nod.

"So, did that make you want to learn more about Hibari?"

"Yeah. We've spent quite a bit of time together as comrades, after all. She's been acting strange, so if possible, I'd like to properly hear her out. I don't know if there's anything I can do for her, but I want to help."

Ah, now that's what I call a protagonist.

I confirmed that my expectations of him hadn't been misplaced.

"Then next up is that plan."

"That plan?"

I gave a smirk and announced it.

"That's right. The Lovey-Dovey Date Operation."

"That's so lame..."

He dropped his shoulders with a sigh and muttered under his breath.

Those were fighting words.

"W-What do you mean, lame?! It worked pretty well with Matoi too!"

"That's a completely different matter."

"What did you say?!"

Y-You cheeky little brat... Who the hell do you think helped you get on good terms with Matoi...?!

I took a deep drag of my cigarette to calm my irritation.

His exasperated gaze pierced me, but I made a point of ignoring it.

"If you were going somewhere alone with Hibari, where would you take her?"

"Huh? ...Hmm. Hibari seems like she'd have a decent amount of fun wherever she went, so I'm not sure."

"Oh, you've got a pretty good understanding of her. That's right. The location isn't all that important."

That matched my own assessment.

"Then ask Hibari out on a date this weekend. Head into town and walk around a shopping mall or something."

"You make it sound so easy. Do you have any idea how much courage it takes to ask a girl out on a date?"

I puffed on my cigarette and grinned.

"Listen. A date starts from the moment you ask someone out."

"...Huh?"

He looked like he had no idea what I meant. He still had a lot to learn.

I wagged my finger at him.

"Asking someone out on a date is already part of the game. How far you want to get with the other person, how much affection you want to show, what kind of relationship you want to have. All of those things reveal themselves through that one act."

"Well, I guess I can understand that."

That kind of nervous excitement was one of the best parts of youth.

I briefly recalled a fragment of my own school days buried in the corner of my memories.

"Showing that you want to go on a date with someone is itself a form of showing interest. So it's perfectly normal for you to feel nervous about asking her out. Wondering if she'll start disliking you. Wondering if she'll reject you. There's nothing embarrassing about feeling uncertain like that. Well, if you fail, I can at least listen to you complain."

"...Yeah. You're right."

Still, she probably wouldn't reject him.

Deep down, Hibari probably wanted him to take a step closer to her too.

And so, I set things in motion so that he could progress through Kibogaoka Hibari's individual story.

And then Sunday arrived.

I stood by the school gate, secretly watching Protagonist-kun as he waited for Hibari.

"He's acting all fidgety even though this isn't his first time... Get yourself together, will you?"

As I casually criticized his pathetic appearance, a voice came from beside me.

"Observation of Shota successful. Carefully selected clothing. Restless behavior. As expected, the probability that this is a date is high. ...Continuing observation."

"...Mana?"

I spoke to the girl who, just like me, was observing Protagonist-kun.

Mana's shoulders jolted as she turned to look at me.

"W-Why is Raika here?"

"That's my line. Why are you doing something that looks like stalking?"

"S-Stalking...! Unfair. I demand a correction. Besides, if I'm a stalker, then you're a stalker too."

"Wha... That's completely different! Mine is, uh... reluctantly looking after someone who's hopeless."

"Wait, Raika. That's irrelevant. The other party has arrived. Is that... Hibari?"

Apparently, she hadn't been listening to a word I said. Mana pointed toward the other side. As a maiden in love, apparently the identity of Shota's rendezvous partner was the most important thing to her right now.

Over there, Hibari was exchanging greetings with Shota.

Before long, the two of them stood side by side and walked toward the station.

"What does this mean...? There was no indication that Hibari was doing anything like this. Observation and analysis are necessary. I will accompany the two of them."

"So you really are a stalker."

As I said that, I began following them just like Mana, intending to observe the two of them on their date.

We ended up at the same shopping mall I'd once gone shopping at myself.

Hibari and Shota walked side by side into the mall, occasionally talking about something along the way.

From a distance, they looked just like a couple who had only recently started dating.

Mana and I quietly followed behind them.

"What are they talking about...? Raika, can't you figure out what they're saying? Do you know how to read lips?"

"No way. I can't see anything, and I can't hear anything either."

Just how curious is she?

Mana was watching them with intense interest, making completely unreasonable demands of me.

The first place the two of them went after walking side by side was a clothing store.

It was a casual shop that carried both men's and women's clothing.

"Look at this, Shota-kun! Does it suit me?"

"Ah, yeah. I think it looks good."

Hibari asked for his opinion on the clothes she'd tried on. It was a frilly miniskirt that suited her energetic personality quite well.

He turned his face slightly away before answering.

"Oh? Are you embarrassed?"

"I-I'm not embarrassed."

"Oh, really? Then how come I can't get you to meet my eyes when you always look me in the eye when we talk, Shota-kun?"

Hibari leaned in to peer at him with a mischievous smile. She looked like she was having fun.

"Oh, they're actually getting along pretty well."

I'd been a little worried, but Hibari seemed to be having more fun than I'd expected. I'd been concerned about her mental state after she'd talked about the Yagami, but apparently this was proving to be a good distraction for her.

"Why does Raika look so happy?"

"Well, if someone you care about is having fun, of course you're happy for them."

I wanted Hibari to be happy.

Considering the life she'd lived, one that could hardly be called a fortunate one, it was only natural for me to wish that for her.

But at my answer, Mana lowered her gaze slightly.

"I feel a little unsettled. It feels like Shota has gone somewhere far away from me. ...Maybe I'm uglier on the inside than I thought."

"No, that's not true. It's perfectly normal to feel jealous when someone you like is spending time with someone else."

Kazunomiya Mana hated irrationality. She preferred acting based on reason and loved mathematics, a discipline governed by logic.

Perhaps that was precisely why she felt disgust toward the irrational emotion that had arisen within her—jealousy.

That sense of purity reminded me somewhat of Matoi.

"But you don't seem to have these kinds of feelings, Raika. What's the difference between you and me?"

"That's because I don't like him romantically."

What I felt toward Hibari was affection as a friend.

When I explained that to her, Mana's eyes widened.

"Confirmation. Does Raika like Shota?"

"...Huh? No, I don't."

When I answered honestly, Mana tilted her head with a questioning look.

"Raika. Another one of your usual lies?"

"It's not a lie!"

Why did these girls always insist on deciding that I was in love...?!

Ignoring my indignation, Mana continued staring intently at the two of them.

"Ah, they've moved. Continuing observation."

Mana followed after them at a brisk pace, keeping herself hidden so they wouldn't notice her.

I let out a small sigh, but decided to follow her anyway.

After that, the two of them continued to enjoy their date, clearly having a good time. They went into general stores, browsed accessories, and sat next to each other in a café while chatting.

If they had been ordinary high school students, perhaps this was how they would have spent their time after school every day.

The youth they should have been able to enjoy. The ordinary everyday life they should have had.

That was what had once been taken from them by the "Fictional Invaders."

Time passed, and the sun began to sink.

Orange light spread across the world.

Amid the sunset that carried a certain melancholy, the two of them had made their way to the rooftop of the shopping mall.

"Phew... We haven't had this much fun in a while, and the time just flew by! What about you, Shota-kun?"

"Yeah. I had a lot of fun too."

The atmosphere between them was pretty nice. It felt like Hibari had opened up quite a bit as well.

Maybe now, she might even be willing to tell him how she really felt on her own.

"Hey, can you listen to something for a moment?"

Hibari's voice changed. It was different from her usual cheerful tone, carrying a certain emptiness instead.

In response, Protagonist-kun straightened up and gave her his full attention.

"Shota-kun, you already know what kind of person I really am, don't you?"

"I can't say that I know everything. There might still be a side of Hibari that I don't know."

"There isn't. I'm just an empty shell."

Her tone left no room for argument, and he fell silent.

An empty shell. That was how she described herself.

She said that the cheerful way she acted to live up to everyone's expectations was all an act. Inside, she was an empty person who had fallen into despair and given up on everything.

That was why she could find no hope within herself.

"I want to ask something of you, since you know the real me. ...I want you to avenge everyone in my hometown in my place. I want you to defeat the Yagami. You're someone who can accomplish something that great. I'm sure of it."

"—That's not true."

But he denied her words with complete conviction.

"I can't accomplish much on my own. I couldn't hear what Matoi was really feeling. I couldn't understand Mana. I couldn't defeat the Formless God. I couldn't save Raika. —I'm sure it's the same for everyone. You can't do things alone. You accomplish something by supporting each other, sometimes making mistakes along the way. Hibari, I'm sure you're the same."

"I... am too...?"

Her serious gaze pierced through him.

"So, Hibari, instead of putting yourself down, I want you to talk to me and everyone else. ...I want you to tell us what you're really feeling, even if it's only a little. Otherwise, even if I want to help you, I won't be able to."

With that, he gave her an awkward smile.

It wasn't a perfect smile. It was the kind of smile you'd expect from someone his age.

But perhaps that was precisely why Hibari gave a small smile of her own and slowly nodded.

"—Thank you, Shota-kun. If that's what you say, then I'll try to be more honest about how I feel."

The sun, about to disappear beyond the horizon, illuminated the two of them.

Bathed in the evening sunlight, their faces seemed to have turned red.