After changing out of his gym uniform, Tatsuki made a trip to the student council. Kaguya had messaged him, saying there was something she wanted to tell him.
The moment he entered the student council room, he saw Kaguya was already there. And she had her back to him.
Rarely, she'd let her hair down.
"Kaguya, what is it that you have to say face-to-face?"
Kaguya turned around. Her delicate brows lifted as she nervously twirled a lock of hair. "Th-that… um…"
Her face was red, her eyes darting around, and after hesitating forever, she still couldn't get out a complete sentence.
Tatsuki sharply noticed the ear hidden beneath her hair—she was wearing an earbud.
And with his hearing, he could catch the voice leaking from it.
[Lady Kaguya, please don't hesitate. Directly invite the president.]
He recognized that voice instantly.
Ai Hayasaka.
Tatsuki didn't bother dancing around it. He directly used telepathy and spoke to Hayasaka.
"What are you two doing?"
…
In the restroom.
Hayasaka, who was listening in on every move between Kaguya and Tatsuki, froze.
What did Tatsuki mean by that?
[Don't overthink it. I'm talking to you inside your head, Hayasaka.]
"!!!"
Hayasaka whipped her head around in shock.
No one was there.
[You can do that too?]
[Well? A psychic being able to do this isn't normal? Enough. What the hell are you two doing?]
Hayasaka's mouth twitched. How would I, a normal person, know what you psychics can do…
She took a deep breath. Her eyes cooled as she answered in her heart.
[Lady Kaguya wants to invite you to the movies. Can you please agree? Otherwise, the lady's going to make me work overtime again. I'm exhausted.]
[Tsk, Tsk. No wonder you got targeted by yokai before. Your mental pressure is seriously high.]
Hayasaka's eyelid twitched.
[Don't tell me you can read minds too?]
[Oh? You guessed it. Not only can I read minds, I can also read and edit any memory a person has.]
For the first time, Hayasaka actually panicked.
[So you've already looked through all my memories?]
[Haha. You mean stuff like how you wet the bed when you were six?]
"..."
Hayasaka fell silent. This bastard really did look through everything!
So in front of Tatsuki, she had zero secrets left!
Her eyes went dead. I'm tired. End it all already.
[Don't get worked up. Since you're suffering so much, I'll accept the invitation—on one condition: Kaguya actually has to say it out loud.]
With Kaguya's personality, there was no guarantee she'd be able to.
[Then thank you very much!]
Kaguya was dying inside. Inviting a boy to the movies for the first time—before this, she wouldn't have even dared to imagine it.
Hayasaka waited in the restroom for quite a while but still didn't hear Kaguya make the invite.
She snapped.
She spoke straight into the mic, complaining, "Lady Kaguya, you're way too hopeless. Hurry up and invite him already. Do you have any idea how many sacrifices I've made for you? Don't waste all my hard work!"
Her sacrifices were huge. Her memories from childhood to now had all been seen.
And according to what the books said, that meant she was… impure and wouldn't be able to get married.
Kaguya's pupils widened slightly at the grumbling in her ear.
Ai actually called her hopeless?
J-just… just an Ai, that's all!
Kaguya got successfully provoked. She had to prove her strength to Ai.
This time, she gathered every ounce of courage she had. Kaguya stared straight at Tatsuki, and practically shouted at the top of her lungs.
"President, can you go watch a movie with me on Sunday?!"
So direct! Hayasaka was shocked, yet deeply relieved. She finally got the lady to say it.
Tatsuki was surprised too. Not only did Kaguya not get stuck on some weird mental detour, she even said it loud and clear.
Since it had come this far, turning her down would just be rude.
"Since it's Kaguya's invitation, of course I'll say yes."
In truth, one second before she shouted that line, Kaguya's emotions were a mix of regret and anxiety.
Regret that she'd acted so inelegantly. Would the president think she was too forward? Anxiety that her crude invitation would be rejected. Would the president end up disliking her and distancing himself?
Those feelings dragged her down like she was sinking into a deep, dark ravine.
And yet—Tatsuki accepting her invitation was like a beam of sunlight, piercing through layers of darkness and illuminating the very bottom.
Kaguya lifted her head, her whole body feeling as if it had been washed in warmth.
"President…"
"Ding-ling-ling!"
It was a short break, and the class bell rang at the perfect time.
Tatsuki told Kaguya, "Kaguya, I'm heading to class. Just message me the schedule details later."
"Mm!" Kaguya's eyes shone as she nodded hard.
This was a historic moment for her. She'd bravely taken the first step.
"That means I'm one step closer to marrying the president, hehe~" Kaguya murmured quietly, blissfully fantasizing.
It was as if she could already see it—a wedding hall surrounded by a sea of flowers, her in a pure white gown, Tatsuki in formal wear, the two of them exchanging vows… then sealing it with a kiss.
Hearing that made Hayasaka's teeth hurt.
She really wanted to complain. You've already kissed. You've already done it. You've even been filled inside.
One is a rich young lady. One is a psychic.
Please, just hurry up and get married already, okay?!
"Sigh…" Hayasaka let out a deep, exhausted sigh.
Thinking about her own future, her expression dimmed. As a traitorous spy, marriage was something she couldn't even afford to dream about.
…
On the way home, it was the usual three of them, but when they reached the area near the apartments—Eriri carefully tugged on Tatsuki's sleeve. "Isn't there someone over there acting really suspicious, taking random pictures?"
Yukino looked over too.
It was someone in a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, crouched by the flowerbed with a camera.
Yukino's brows shifted slightly. She came to the same conclusion as Eriri. "Yeah. That does look suspicious."
Tatsuki only needed one glance to know who it was. He explained to Yukino and Eriri, "That's the person from Room 101. Her name is Yuzuru Nishimiya. When you get the chance, you two should go visit the neighbors too."
"You two head back first. I'll go see what she's doing."
"Mm." Yukino and Eriri obediently entered the apartment building.
Tatsuki walked up behind Yuzuru, silent as a ghost.
She was hunched over taking pictures, and her subject was a mantis—dead, mangled, and pitiful.
"What are you taking photos of a dead mantis for?" Tatsuki asked, blatantly pretending he didn't know.
"!"
Startled by his sudden voice, Yuzuru flinched hard. She looked back and saw it was Tatsuki.
Then she quietly turned forward again and answered simply, "Because I want to."
Tatsuki squatted down next to her on his own, poking the mantis on the ground with a finger as he chatted casually. "By the way, you're a student, right?"
Yuzuru really didn't want to engage with him, but out of basic politeness, she still gave a flat reply. "Mm."
"YY School?"
"Mm."
"What grade? Third-year middle school?"
"Mm."
Their conversation was basically Tatsuki asking one question after another, and Yuzuru giving one-word answers.
"If you're in YY Junior High, then you're skipping class right now, aren't you?"
Yuzuru flicked him a look, cold. "None of your business."
Tatsuki shrugged. "Why would it be? You've got nothing to do with me. I'm just curious. You've got a lot of personality, you know… for a girl."
It was the first time she'd heard something like that.
Most people thought she was a boy or assumed she was just some tomboy.
She styled her hair and dressed like a boy on purpose, and she'd basically labeled herself a tomboy too.
Yuzuru couldn't help looking at him again.
She didn't say more. When you weren't close, someone constantly trying to chat you up was just annoying.
Tatsuki didn't push either—he was just bored and felt like talking a bit.
"Go home early."
After tossing out that reminder, Tatsuki stood up and left.
"..."
Yuzuru glanced back at him again. Her verdict: a weirdo, but probably not a bad person.
She turned back to take another picture of the mantis—only to see the mantis, which had clearly been dead, suddenly crawl up and bolt away.
"Uwah!" The sight made her jerk backward, and she fell flat on her butt.
She'd seen it dead. So how did it suddenly come back to life? Was it playing dead?
"..."
She steadied herself, stood up, and patted the dust off her skirt with her small hand.
The mantis was desperately crawling back into the bushes.
After hesitating, she still lifted the camera and snapped a shot.
Unlike the photos in her camera—full of dead insects and dead animals—this one was different. A resurrected mantis, returning home.
....
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