In the quiet library, Ryuuto stared at the space Shiori had just occupied. Her words hung in the air, vibrating with a meaning he was almost too afraid to touch.
"What... are you trying to say?" he whispered, his heart skipping a beat.
Shiori sighed, a playful yet lingering smirk on her face. "You duffer, you really don't get it." Before he could spiral into more questions, she grabbed his hand and hauled him up. "Come on! Class started three minutes ago!"
She dragged him out of the library, their footsteps echoing down the hall. Behind them, the romance novel remained open on the mahogany table. On the page, a single line seemed to glow under the library lights
"She never told him, but in the silence between her words, in the way her gaze lingered a little too long her love was there, waiting to be seen."
Meanwhile, Reikou was a ghost in the city. He walked with his hands buried deep in his pockets, his head down, tracing the cracks in the sidewalk. Above him, the sky was a bruised purple, heavy with clouds that looked like forgotten promises.
"Hmph," he whispered to the wind. "I really am chasing her. They were right. I’m just a fool."
That night, Reikou sat by his window. The moon was a silver sliver in the vast, dark sky. He watched it for hours, the cool night air biting at his skin. A soft smile touched his lips.
"Meiyu... she was the quiet night. I was just the foolish moon, chasing her across the dark."
The next morning, the air was crisp and smelled of rain-washed earth. Reikou spent his first day of suspension doing the only thing he could surviving. He hit the local market, his stomach growling a rhythmic RUMBLE that echoed through the aisles.
‘I wonder what the YOYO TEAM is doing right now,’ he thought, a pang of loneliness hitting him. ‘I’ve really gotten attached to those idiots.’
He climbed the stairs to his apartment, grocery bag in hand, thinking only of instant ramen and sleep. But as he reached his landing, he froze.
Standing by his door was a figure that didn't belong in this world of concrete and rust. Meiyu Sazanami.
In that moment, Meiyu was gravity. She was the sun breaking through the autumn clouds. Reikou stood paralyzed, his eyes wide, frantically memorizing the way the light caught her hair, terrified she might vanish if he so much as breathed.
"What are you staring at?" she whispered, breaking the spell.
"H-Huh? Nothing! Nothing at all!" Reikou stammered, his face heating up. "What are you doing here? I thought you’d be in class."
Meiyu’s gaze was steady, her expression the usual unreadable ice. "Why? Do you have a problem with me being here?"
"No! Not at all!" Reikou blurted out, his voice cracking like a middle-schooler's.
A heavy, delicate silence stretched between them. Meiyu sighed softly. "Okay. I'll go then."
She turned to leave, but Reikou’s body moved before his brain could give the order. He reached out and caught her wrist. The contact felt like an electric shock. Meiyu froze, her eyes dropping to where his fingers met her skin.
"N-No! That's not what I meant!" Reikou gasped, pulling his hand back as if he’d been burned. "Sorry!"
Meiyu didn't scold him. Instead, she reached into her bag and pulled out a thick, cream-colored envelope.
"What’s this?" Reikou mumbled, taking it.
"The cancellation of your suspension," she said calmly. "Come to school tomorrow. It’s been handled."
Reikou stared at the paper. ‘She did this? She went against her parents and the principal for me?’
"How did you do it?"
Meiyu’s eyes narrowed slightly, returning to her sharp self. "You have no manners. You keep asking questions while I’ve been standing in this hallway for hours."
"Ahh—Sorry! Come in, please!"
As he stepped aside to let her in, his stomach let out a traitorous, thunderous RUMBLE. Reikou turned bright red, wanting the floor to swallow him whole. Meiyu, ever the elegant princess, simply looked at the wall, acting as if the sound had never happened.
[End of Chapter 25]
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