Chapter 12: Frozen Rhythm【P3】

Masaki

Leaning back, she smacks her palm flat against a poster on the directory board beside us. “Proposals.” She slaps the paper on the exact same spot. “Code!” She slides her outstretched hand—

“Just reiterating the same on a larger—”

I dart between the flyer and the poster on the board, quickening with each pass. “Wait, you are handing out flyers right in front of a poster that displays the exact same information!?”

“W-well, w-what about it?”

“This is exactly why you should not be on flyer-handout duty for a club you haven’t even joined yet!” I wave my hands toward the poster.

“Um...” She pouts, her lower lip trembling.

“Pfff, we’ve already walked past three clubs today that tried to force a stack onto us. Professional tip, if they have a lot of posters near their entrance, you’re definitely up for manual labor.”

“But they’re the greatest tennis club in the school! I-I just have to—”

Wrapping my hands over hers, I intertwine our fingers on the paper stack as I look at her with a gentle smile. “Leisa…”

“Y-yes…” She looks up from our hands to meet my eyes.

Our eye contact intensifies. The gravity of the moment pulls our faces closer and closer together as our breaths nearly mingle—

I violently hurl the entire stack of papers straight up into the air, creating a mini-blizzard of raining flyers.

“Be free!” I scream from the top of my lungs.

Her eyes widen toward the paper-filled sky. “W-what?”

She thrashes around, trying to catch the falling sheets like fluttering banknotes.

“No!” I yell, catching her wrists in mid-air. “Believe…”

“I-I…”

She slumps, lowering her gaze to the scattered flyers littering the pavement. “Maybe I should have just gone to the astronomy club after all…”

“Ah!” I nod, releasing her wrists. “Now that sounds more like it. Follow your passion!”

“B-but…”

“Yes? Yes?”

“I was thinking about... you!” she admits in a desperate plea.

“W-what?” I take a step back from her.

“The astronomy club has this very chaotic schedule, depending on the cloud clearance you can be called up any moment. That would mean I’d have to go out anywhere in the middle of the night and—w-what?”

She blinks, catching sight of me on the ground as I frantically scramble for the flyers.

Ah, there is another one there!

“W-what are you doing!?” She stumbles back, nearly tripping over me as I crouch on all fours around her sneakers.

I snap my neck up toward her, my hand blindly sweeping up another folder from the pavement. “Don’t believe!”

Quickly, I scramble upward and shove the salvaged stack into her hands. “Live so fast that you don’t have time to regret it!”

“W-hy—“

Turning on my heel, I bolt down the path before she can even process the betrayal. “Good luck with your club application, catch you later! I’ll probably be late today, so don’t wait for me!”

“At least take one with you then!” she screams behind me.

Shin

Day one since last contact.

Weather is nominal.

No anomalies to report, for now.

Surely they will come back for me.

Right?

The streets betray me with their uniformity and fast moving crowds that demand my attention each turn.

I scan left and right, trying to match the physical street signs to the digital map on my phone.

‘Straightend Cul-de-Sac Road’, ‘Endless Dead End Street’, ‘Infinite Intersec—‘

A curtain of golden-brown hair whips through the air, blotting out the sign.

“Give it up for my man, Ricardo!” an announcer bellows from the platform beneath it, gripping the microphone like a prize-fight ringmaster.

The surrounding crowd erupts, pumping their fists to a rhythmic chant. “Ri-car-do! Hey! Ri-car-do! Hey!”

With every beat of his name, a man taking center stage strikes a dramatic pose while casually fanning a booklet without looking—every page blank.

A deep chuckle rumbles from his chest as he presses his palms toward the ground, lowering the crowd’s volume.

“Thank you, thank you all so much for coming today!”

Extending his arms to the crowd, he slowly opens the booklet. “Students new and old, welcome to the fresh semester!”

He slams the book shut with a wink. “My name is Advisor Ricardo. But you may also know me as the calligraphy teacher, or—”

With a sharp head-whip, his mane sails upward in a gravity-defying arc. “—the man with the silken locks that outshine the island sun.”

Coos of amazement ripple through the students around me as the strands fall back into place.

“But enough about my achievements.”

He hovers his hand over the crowd like a wizard casting a spell.

“I am here for you! Ask your most atrocious questions about the upcoming orientation classes. I can take them!” He hammers his fists against his chest like a gorilla.

A sea of arms thrusts upward around me as students fiercely battle for attention.

Ricardo swirls his palms to us like a dowser scanning for water.

“Yes! The boy with the magnificent hair over there!” Like a general ordering a cannon volley, his arm drops dead ahead at—

Me.

The crowd falls silent as every eye locks onto mine in unison.

What?

The phantom warmth of a breath on the back of my neck vanishes. I look up just in time to see a stray hand retracting.

I whirl around to see who it belongs to, but the crowd parts around me, leaving me stranded in a clear circle.

“Come now, young man, don’t be shy!” Ricardo commands through the silence. “Spill your burning query to the world!”

“I, uuuuh…” I stammer, looking for a gap in the wall of people.

The stares burn hotter with each passing second.

“Have you, maybe seen…” I try to mimic playing a trombone with my hands. “A student running by with a yellow pool noodle?”

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Discover what happens next in: Chapter 13: Priceless Cost【P1】

Written by Limited_Infinity. Extras, official publishing platforms and updates are publicly available only on the Patreon page “_Limited_Infinity_”

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