The cafeteria incident had been a revelation. A single, perfectly timed intervention, and suddenly, the universe's most annoyingly pretty transfer student knew my name. My hero. Airi called me her hero. That's a new high score. It was like discovering the final, hidden boss in a game I thought I'd already mastered. And beating it involved… well, it involved a lot of data.
First, I needed her schedule. The school's intranet, usually a fortress of terrible firewalls and ancient security protocols, crumbled under my fingers. It took me all of seventeen minutes to find the registrar's backup files, cross-reference student IDs, and pull up Airi Kuze's entire academic calendar. English Lit on Tuesday, second period. Art on Thursday, after lunch. Club activities: Photography Club, Mondays and Wednesdays. Snack breaks: 10:15 AM sharp, usually by the vending machines near the library. It was like I had a map to her entire day.
My first attempt at a "casual encounter" came on Tuesday morning. English Lit. I knew her class ended at 9:50 AM. I also knew a particularly creaky floorboard outside Classroom 2-B, guaranteed to announce anyone's presence with a loud groan. My plan: walk past her classroom at precisely 9:50 AM, timing my steps so I hit the creaky board just as she was walking out, thus catching her attention. Foolproof.
Or not.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! The bell rang. Doors swung open. Students poured out. I confidently strode towards 2-B, aiming for the board. My foot landed. SQUEAK! Not a groan, a pathetic squeak. And Airi was already halfway down the hall, chatting with Stella Inoue, her confident-looking friend. She didn't even flinch.
Damn it! Wrong creak! Five minutes gone.
Tap. CONFIRM.
The hallway shimmered. The bell BEEP-BEEP-BEEPED again. Students were still settling into 2-B. It was 9:45 AM. Five minutes back. My chance. This time, I adjusted my path. There! A loose ventilation grate just a few feet from the door. That was it.
When the bell rang at 9:50 AM, I approached the door again. This time, I stepped squarely on the grate. CLANG! A satisfyingly loud, attention-grabbing clang.
Airi, just stepping out, paused. Her head tilted, and her eyes, those beautiful, warm-chocolate eyes, found mine. A tiny smile touched her lips. "Oh! Kaito-kun! What a coincidence, seeing you here."
Coincidence, my ass, my internal monologue crowed triumphantly. More like carefully orchestrated destiny, brought to you by the world's greatest hacker and one very confused quantum AI.
"Hey, Airi," I said, trying to sound casual, like I hadn't just rehearsed that exact moment three times in my head. "Just, uh, heading to… my next class." My next class was on the other side of the school, but hey, minor details.
"Mine too," she said, gesturing vaguely down the hall. "Are you taking English Lit?"
"Something like that," I mumbled, avoiding eye contact. No, I'm taking 'How to Be a Non-Awkward Human Being 101' through sheer repetition.
"Well, maybe I'll see you around," she said, giving me another soft smile before Stella tugged her away.
Success! A casual conversation! She remembered me! This E.R.I.S thing was a gift from the heavens.
The next day, I escalated my game. After-school. I'd figured out she took the Number 7 bus home, from the stop three blocks east of the school. My plan? Time my arrival to the bus stop so we boarded the same bus. This required some serious real-time data. I'd spent an hour the night before coding a quick Python script that scraped real-time bus tracking data from the city's public transport API, predicting bus arrivals down to the second. Nerdy? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely.
I watched the bus tracker on my phone as I strolled towards the stop. Number 7, due in 2 minutes. Airi was just turning the corner, about half a block away. Perfect. I quickened my pace, aiming to arrive just as she did.
But then, a red light. A pedestrian crossing. Damn it! I watched the bus tracker. 1 minute. The light refused to change. Airi was almost at the stop. The bus was practically there. I'd miss it.
Tap. CONFIRM.
The world rippled. The red light was back to solid green. The bus tracker showed 2 minutes. Airi was back around the corner. I grinned. Alright, you glorified traffic signal, you're no match for me.
This time, I sprinted across the street as soon as the light changed, then slowed to a casual amble, timing it perfectly. Just as I reached the bus stop, Airi arrived, a faint blush on her cheeks from her own hurried walk.
"Oh! Kaito-kun! You ride the Number 7 too?" she asked, her eyes wide with what she thought was genuine surprise.
She is so cute when she's surprised. Like a startled deer, but, like, a really pretty deer.
"Yeah, sometimes," I replied, shrugging, trying to look nonchalant. "Small world, huh?"
"It really is!" she giggled, a tiny, effervescent sound that made my chest feel like it was full of tiny bubbles. She bounced slightly on the balls of her feet, an eager energy about her. "It's nice to see a friendly face on the bus. My old school was tiny, so this bus always feels so… big and busy!"
I found us two seats together, near the back, overlooking the street. As the bus rumbled to life, she turned to me, her head tilting slightly. "So, Kaito-kun, you mentioned yesterday you do 'digital problem-solving'? That sounds super interesting! What exactly is it?" Her eyes sparkled with genuine curiosity, and her soft features seemed to glow in the afternoon sun filtering through the window.
Okay, she's really cute up close. Like, really cute. Focus, Shou. Don't sound like a complete nerd. Unless she likes nerds. Do cute girls like nerds? Probably. Just be yourself. But the cool version.
"Uh, yeah," I started, trying to keep my voice even. "It's basically… finding ways around things. Like, if a system isn't working how it should, or if there's information that's hard to get, I figure out how to, you know, 'fix' it. Or get to it." I made vague air quotes around 'fix.'
Airi's eyes widened. "Oh wow! So like… you could help if someone forgot their password for something really important?" She clasped her hands together, a faint blush returning. "Not that I've ever done that! Just curious!"
I almost chuckled. "Something like that. Or, uh, if you needed to know the fastest route to get somewhere, even if the maps app was wrong."
"Oh, that's clever!" she exclaimed, her smile broadening. "You must be really good with computers then, Kaito-kun. I can barely get my phone to stop autocorrecting 'hello' to 'jello'!" She giggled again, covering her mouth with her hand, a small, endearing gesture.
Her laugh is like, actual music. My heart is doing triple backflips. Stay cool, Shou. Stay cool.
"It's just practice," I said, trying to sound humble. "What about you, Airi? Any interesting hobbies? You mentioned the Photography Club?"
"Oh, yes!" Her face lit up. "I love taking pictures! Mostly nature, or just little everyday things that catch my eye. Like, sometimes, the way the light hits a certain leaf, or a tiny little flower trying to peek out from a crack in the pavement. There's so much beauty if you just… look carefully." She gestured with her hands, describing invisible scenes, her voice soft and earnest. "It's like trying to capture a tiny piece of magic."
We talked for the rest of the ride. She spoke about her favorite authors, the stray cats she sometimes fed on her street, and how she loved the smell of rain. I found myself actually listening, truly listening, not just waiting for my turn to speak or strategizing my next move. Her innocence, her simple joys, were strangely captivating. It was a genuine conversation, flowing naturally. For her, anyway. For me, it was the culmination of three failed attempts, two bus schedule hacks, and an entire evening spent perfecting my "casual" leaning posture.
As she got off at her stop, she turned, a warm smile on her face. "Well, this was really nice, Kaito-kun. See you tomorrow!"
"Yeah, see ya," I said, watching her go.
The bus pulled away, and I finally let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding. My heart thumped. She was amazing. Kind, cheerful, and unbelievably sweet. And with E.R.I.S, I could ensure every single interaction was perfect. Every joke landed, every awkward silence filled, every conversation flowed. I could avoid all the missteps, all the painful rejections.
It was so easy. Too easy, perhaps. A small, nagging thought flickered in the back of my mind – a faint, almost imperceptible hum that wasn't the bus engine, but something deeper. A question. Was it her I was getting closer to, or just a perfected version of an interaction? But I pushed it away. What could possibly be wrong with giving myself infinite chances to make the perfect impression? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.