Chapter 64: The Stalker in the Shadows

The victory at the Nexus Games launch is a paradigm shift. At school, Rina and I are no longer just "the Hinamata siblings." A new, invisible aura surrounds us. Whispers follow us in the hallways, a mixture of the normal high school gossip and the more specific, fervent speculation of the otaku community who saw me on stage. I am now "Ectiqa's mysterious handler," a title that is both ridiculous and deeply mortifying.

Rina, for her part, leans into it with gusto. My new, minor celebrity status is a tool in her ongoing romantic campaign. She is more clingy than ever, but now it is a public performance. She links her arm with mine as we walk between classes, a clear, possessive gesture for all to see. If she sees me talking to another girl, she will find a reason to interrupt, her smile sweet but her eyes sending a clear message: 'He is mine.'

But a new, strange variable enters our chaotic ecosystem. Haruka Ito.

The vanquished ice queen is acting… weird. After her dramatic exit from the launch event, I expect her to either double down on her rivalry or ignore us completely. She does neither. Instead, she becomes a ghost, a silent, awkward specter haunting the periphery of my school life.

It starts subtly. I am walking to class with Kenji, and I get the distinct, prickly feeling of being watched. I glance over my shoulder and see a flash of Haruka's signature hairstyle disappearing around a corner.

"That is weird," I say. "I think Haruka Ito is following us."

"Of course she is," Kenji says with a dramatic sigh, completely misinterpreting the situation. "She is in love with me, and my rejection has shattered her proud heart. Now she can only gaze upon me from afar, a tragic, lonely figure in a Shakespearian drama of her own making."

"She was not looking at you, you idiot," I grumble.

It keeps happening. I am at my locker, and I see her reflection in the polished metal, standing at the other end of the hall, pretending to read a book. I am in the library, and I see her peeking at me from behind a bookshelf. She is a terrible spy. For a master of social manipulation, her attempts at stealth are laughably clumsy.

Rina notices it too, but her reaction is not the jealous fury I expect. It is a deep, profound confusion.

"What is she doing?" Rina mutters one afternoon as we see Haruka trip over her own feet trying to "casually" walk past my classroom for the fifth time in an hour. "This is not her style. Her attacks are usually more… direct. And evil."

"Maybe she is plotting a new, highly elaborate form of psychological torture," I suggest.

"No," Rina says, her eyes narrowed in concentration. "This is not a predator's behavior. This is… weird. She looks like a nervous first-year, not a queen bee."

Haruka's new pattern is baffling. She seems to want to approach me, but every time she gets close, she loses her nerve. One day, she is actually walking towards me with a look of grim determination on her face. I brace myself for another confrontation. She gets within ten feet, our eyes meet, and she squeaks, turns a brilliant shade of red, and practically runs in the opposite direction.

Rina and I just stare after her, completely bewildered.

"Okay," Rina says, a slow, dawning realization on her face. "This is not a plot to destroy me." She looks at me, her expression a mixture of horror and a strange, grudging respect. "This is a plot to get a boyfriend. And the target is you."

The truth of it settles over me. She does not want to fight me. She does not want to use me. She has a genuine, honest-to-god, painfully awkward crush on me. The fearsome Hime-Hime, the ice queen of the cosplay world, has been reduced to a blushing, clumsy stalker. And somehow, that is infinitely more terrifying than her open hostility.