Part 1
Kiryuin Fuuka was a talkative person.
She knew that.
There was no point denying it. If anything, Fuuka considered it one of her charms.
Other people might find her habit of talking endlessly annoying, but Fuuka herself had never seen much of a problem with it. Being able to say whatever came to mind, whenever she wanted, was a kind of freedom.
Besides, why should she care about what other people thought?
She had never been particularly good at living according to other people's expectations.
Perhaps that was something she had inherited from the family she was born into.
The Kiryuin family.
Being born into the Kiryuin family was, depending on how one looked at it, either a blessing or a curse.
But if Fuuka had to choose between the two, the answer was obvious.
It was a blessing.
She would never deny that.
The world was unfair from the very beginning. That was simply a fact.
Some people were born into poverty. Others were born into wealthy families. Some had to struggle for years just to obtain an opportunity that others received without even asking.
Fuuka happened to be one of the latter.
She had been born into a family with wealth, influence, and connections. She had grown up surrounded by things that most people could only dream of obtaining.
She possessed real power from the moment she was born.
Meanwhile, there were people who spent their entire lives trying to reach a point that was still somewhere beneath the starting line she had been given.
It would have been ridiculous for her to pretend otherwise.
Fuuka knew she was privileged.
And she had no intention of apologizing for it.
However...
Having power and wanting responsibility were two completely different things.
That was where the problem began.
Fuuka had no particular desire to carry responsibilities simply because she happened to be capable of doing so.
Especially when those responsibilities were inconvenient.
Or troublesome.
Or, as Fuuka would much rather put it—
A massive pain in the ass.
That was why she so often found herself disagreeing with her parents.
To them, her position came with an obvious path.
A path that had already been prepared for her long before she was old enough to understand what it meant.
All she had to do was walk forward.
A prestigious education.
A suitable marriage.
The right connections.
The right responsibilities.
The right future.
Everything had already been arranged.
A beautiful red carpet stretched out in front of her, leading directly toward a future that her family considered ideal.
And everyone around Fuuka seemed obsessed with making sure she stayed on that carpet.
How fortunate.
How enviable.
How wasteful it would be not to take advantage of it.
Fuuka had heard variations of those words countless times.
But whenever she looked at that red carpet, she couldn't help thinking—
Do I really have to walk on it?
There was nothing inherently wrong with the path.
That was precisely the problem.
It was simply not hers.
While everyone around her was busy staring at the magnificent road laid out before her, Fuuka found herself looking somewhere else.
Toward something much simpler.
Something ordinary.
A life far removed from the values of the Kiryuin family.
Perhaps she romanticized it.
Actually, she knew she did.
The life of an ordinary, comfortably well-off person sounded strangely appealing to her.
A comfortable home.
Enough money to live without constantly worrying.
A good education.
The freedom to spend one's time however one wanted.
Nothing excessive.
Nothing extravagant.
Nothing that came with an invisible contract attached to it.
Fuuka didn't want to be poor.
She wasn't stupid enough to romanticize hardship.
What she wanted was something much simpler.
Comfort without excess.
Freedom without expectation.
A life where receiving something did not automatically mean owing something in return.
The kind of life where a person could simply exist without every decision being evaluated according to the interests of their family.
No golden chains.
No golden prison.
Just an ordinary life.
That was what Fuuka wanted.
And perhaps that was why she entered the Advanced Nurturing High School.
ANHS was an elite institution, but for Fuuka, it represented something else.
A little distance.
A little freedom.
A chance to exist somewhere without constantly being reminded that she was a Kiryuin.
She enrolled there at precisely the point when the arguments with her family had reached their peak.
The subject of those arguments was not exactly difficult to guess.
Marriage.
More specifically, her engagement.
And, inevitably, the responsibilities that came with being the daughter of the Kiryuin family.
To her parents, it was simply the natural progression of things.
To Fuuka...
It was another weight being placed on her shoulders.
So she left.
Not because she hated her family.
Not because she hated the life she had been given.
And certainly not because she believed she had been treated unfairly.
She simply wanted to find out what it felt like to live a life that belonged to herself.
Even if, ironically, she had chosen another elite school to do it.
Perhaps that was a little contradictory.
Fuuka didn't particularly care.
Life was full of contradictions, after all.
And if she had to choose between walking down the red carpet someone else had prepared for her...
Or stepping off it and figuring out her own path—
Well.
The choice had never been particularly difficult.
Part 2
"Haah..."
Fuuka Kiryuin sat alone in a café, letting out a long, bored sigh.
Makoto Yuki had already gone home.
He had completely ignored her, walked away while covering his ears, and left her behind while still drenched in coffee.
Fuuka had already ordered her second cup.
The exact same coffee as before.
She leaned against the table, resting her cheek against one hand while the index finger of her other hand lazily traced circles around the rim of the glass.
"And he left..."
She brought the cup toward her lips and took a sip.
A second later, her expression twisted in disgust.
Her tongue immediately poked out.
"Ugh... seriously."
She put the cup back down.
"Why did I order this stupid coffee again?"
Fuuka stared at it for a moment as though the drink had personally offended her.
"Bleegh..."
She leaned back in her chair.
Her eyes wandered around the café until they settled on a group of boys and girls sitting at a table not far from her.
They were laughing.
Talking.
Teasing one another.
Just ordinary teenagers spending their Sunday together.
"They sure look like they're having fun."
For a moment, Fuuka simply watched them.
Then her thoughts drifted back to eight minutes ago.
The image of Makoto Yuki covering his ears while she continued talking flashed through her mind.
Fuuka's lips curled upward.
"Damn, that was hilarious."
A small laugh escaped her.
Makoto Yuki.
It was a name she happened to know.
At first, there had been nothing particularly special about it.
Just another junior at ANHS.
But somehow, that name had caught her attention.
And, unexpectedly, her impression of him had turned out to be rather positive.
He's definitely weird...
Fuuka rested her chin on her palm.
But not in a bad way.
That alone was unusual.
Having a junior she could casually bother had become a surprisingly enjoyable routine.
Perhaps even one she had needed more than she realized.
ANHS was filled with people who took things far too seriously.
People competing.
People scheming.
People trying to climb.
People constantly measuring themselves against one another.
Fuuka had never been particularly interested in that sort of thing.
She already considered herself a person of considerable quality and competence.
That didn't mean she believed life was without problems or hardships.
Of course not.
Life wasn't a piece of cake.
At least, that was what normal people liked to say.
But if Fuuka were being honest, her own life had never been particularly difficult.
It was more like having one slice of cake...
And then another slice of cake waiting right behind it.
There were inconveniences, certainly.
Annoyances.
Responsibilities she would rather not deal with.
But nothing serious enough to make her lose sleep over.
Perhaps that was why Fuuka had developed a particular habit.
Competent people tended to attract other competent people.
Or at least, that was how she saw it.
She had always been naturally interested in people who seemed capable.
Not necessarily because she wanted to compete with them.
Sometimes she simply wanted to take a peek.
To see what kind of person they were.
ANHS had given her plenty of opportunities to do exactly that.
There was Horikita Manabu.
Competent.
Disciplined.
Serious to an almost ridiculous degree.
Then there was Miyabi Nagumo.
Competent.
Charismatic.
And so self-centered that Fuuka sometimes wonder if this clown thinks the world exists only to revolve around him.
People like that usually came with enormous egos.
Perhaps that was inevitable.
When someone knew they were good at something, it was only natural for their confidence to grow alongside their ability.
Fuuka herself was hardly exempt from that rule.
Which was why Makoto Yuki was so strange.
He was different.
On the surface, Makoto didn't seem particularly expressive.
His reactions were subdued.
His face rarely changed.
His voice remained almost unnervingly calm regardless of what was being said.
But once you actually started talking to him...
He was surprisingly sociable.
He responded.
He listened.
He even played along.
All while maintaining that same expressionless face.
Fuuka found it amusing.
No.
She tilted her head slightly.
A mischievous smile appeared on her lips.
Wait.
Isn't he actually too reactive?
She almost laughed again.
That was the funny part.
Makoto looked like someone who wouldn't react to anything.
Yet somehow, he reacted to nearly everything she threw at him.
He simply did it with the same deadpan expression.
Fuuka knew she could be annoying.
She was perfectly aware of it.
Finding someone who could actually impress her wasn't particularly easy.
But Makoto Yuki...
He didn't budge.
No matter what nonsense she threw at him, he simply went along with it.
Sometimes he answered.
Sometimes he ignored her.
Sometimes he gave her an expression so painfully deadpan that it made her want to tease him even more.
And yet, he never seemed genuinely bothered.
Or perhaps...
He simply didn't care.
Fuuka's smile widened.
That was rare.
People who were highly competent usually had strong personalities to match.
They wanted to prove themselves.
They wanted recognition.
They wanted to stand above everyone else.
Makoto didn't seem to have any of those urges.
At least, not outwardly.
Still...
It wasn't as though there was nothing about him that bothered her.
Fuuka's smile slowly disappeared.
Her eyes narrowed.
What the hell is up with those eyes?
That boy was definitely not normal.
What kind of edgy life did you live to end up with eyes like that?
She almost laughed at the thought.
But something about those eyes had genuinely caught her attention.
They were familiar.
Yet somehow unfamiliar at the same time.
It was difficult to explain.
Fuuka had seen plenty of confident people.
People who believed in themselves.
People who were proud of their abilities.
People who looked at others with superiority.
Makoto's eyes weren't exactly like that.
There was something else there.
Something Fuuka couldn't quite put into words.
A feeling of unfamiliarity.
A distance.
It was as though those eyes belonged to someone who simply didn't need anyone else.
Someone who didn't need assistance from other people because he was either too strong to rely on them...
Or perhaps because he had simply grown accustomed to standing on his own.
Fuuka wasn't sure.
But there was something almost unnerving about it.
It made her feel as though Makoto Yuki was looking at the world from above.
And, whether he realized it or not...
That perspective seemed to include her.
Fuuka stared at the empty space in front of her.
What exactly are you, Makoto Yuki?
The question surfaced naturally.
But she didn't pursue it.
There was no point.
People were complicated.
Sometimes, there was no need to understand everything about them.
Besides...
She had already decided what she was going to do.
Fuuka glanced at her wristwatch.
It was already approaching noon.
She looked back toward the café entrance.
Then she stood up.
"Well..."
A familiar grin returned to her face.
"I guess I'll bother him again."
With that, Kiryuin Fuuka left the café.
The strange junior she'd found at ANHS was probably going to be annoyed.
Which, naturally, made the idea even more entertaining.
Part 3
Fuuka Kiryuin stood in front of Makoto Yuki's dorm room without the slightest hesitation.
She raised her hand and knocked.
No answer.
Fuuka waited for a few seconds.
Nothing.
She smiled.
"Don't tell me he's sleeping again?"
She knocked once more.
This time, she increased the intensity.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Still nothing.
Fuuka's smile widened.
Then, finally, she heard something from the other side of the door.
Just the sound of movement.
Even without seeing him, Fuuka could already tell exactly what kind of state the person on the other side was in.
Low energy.
Unmotivated.
And probably wondering why the universe had decided to inconvenience him this sunday.
The door finally opened.
Their eyes met.
"Yo~"
Fuuka smiled brightly.
Makoto stared at her.
Then, almost reflexively—
He closed the door.
Fuuka's foot was already in the gap.
The door stopped.
Makoto looked down at her foot.
Then back at Fuuka.
"...Tch. What is this, some kind of déjà vu scene?"
Fuuka blinked.
"Um... yeah. This does feel like déjà vu."
"Senpai, what now?"
"What do you mean, 'what now'?"
Fuuka leaned slightly against the door.
"Don't we still have a date to finish?"
"Didn't we already finish that?"
Makoto attempted to push her foot aside with his own.
Fuuka pushed back.
For several seconds, the two of them simply stood there, engaged in an increasingly ridiculous battle of feet between the door.
Neither was willing to give an inch.
Fuuka grinned.
"How pathetic, Makoto Yuki."
She pushed a little harder.
"And you call yourself a man? A beautiful woman is waiting to be entertained for the second round, and this is how you treat her?"
Makoto's expression remained completely flat.
"What kind of date has a second round?"
He paused.
"Are you sure you didn't confuse 'date' with 'death'? If so, your sense of humor is terrible."
Fuuka froze for a moment.
Then she nearly laughed.
Look at him.
That deadpan comedy of his...
He always finds some ridiculous way to talk back.
She pushed against the door again.
"If you refuse to give in, then I'll guarantee that your door disappears."
Makoto didn't even blink.
"How pathetic that you think the same threat will work twice."
Fuuka's smile widened.
"Makoto Yuki."
Her voice became almost dangerously cheerful.
"Since when did you think I was joking?"
Makoto stopped.
His eyes remained fixed on her.
For a moment, his mouth opened.
Then closed.
Whatever response had been forming in his head apparently wasn't worth saying.
Fuuka could see it clearly in his eyes.
Crazy woman.
She smiled.
Makoto sighed.
"...Fine."
Fuuka immediately stepped back.
"Good."
Makoto opened the door fully.
Fuuka walked inside as though she had been invited all along.
Makoto watched her pass.
He looked toward the ceiling for a moment.
Then sighed again.
It seemed he had already accepted that his Sunday was no longer his own.
And somehow—
That was how the two of them ended up spending the rest of Sunday together.
They played games.
They watched movies.
They talked about whatever happened to come to mind.
Nothing particularly important.
Nothing particularly productive.
Just two students wasting an afternoon together.
For Fuuka, however, that was probably the point.
For once, she wasn't the daughter of the Kiryuin family.
She wasn't expected to plan her future.
She wasn't expected to carry anyone's expectations.
She was simply Fuuka.
And Makoto Yuki—
Well.
He was still Makoto Yuki.
Yet, somewhere along the way, Fuuka began to notice something strange within herself.
A peculiar sensation.
Something subtle that seemed to linger in her chest whenever she was around him.
She didn't quite understand it.
And, honestly, she wasn't naive enough to immediately call it romantic.
Nor was she willing to reduce it to something as simple as liking a boy.
There was something about Makoto Yuki that she couldn't quite put into words.
Perhaps it was the way he listened without making a big deal out of it.
Perhaps it was how effortlessly he tolerated her nonsense.
Perhaps it was simply the strange sense of comfort that came from being around someone who never seemed to expect anything from her.
Whatever it was, Fuuka wasn't interested in forcing an answer.
She still had plenty of time left at this school.
There was no reason to rush.
If this strange feeling was going to lead somewhere, then she was perfectly willing to find out where.
She would spend the remaining years of her time at ANHS exploring it.
Not because she had already decided what it meant.
But because she wanted to see where it would take her.
And perhaps, someday in the future—
She would finally understand what it was.
End of chapter 17