The girl with chestnut curls leaned in a bit closer, and the faint, unique scent belonging to Arisa Kiyono wafted into Koharu’s nose.
However, in this setting, it carried a distinct sense of pressure.
Koharu Miura’s breath hitched, and she instinctively wanted to take a step back. ‘I can’t show weakness.’
If she wasn’t firm here, Arisa Kiyono definitely wouldn’t listen to her anymore.
Koharu Miura bit her lip, steeled her heart, and suppressed the urge to move.
She stood straight and met Arisa Kiyono’s gaze.
Arisa Kiyono didn’t seem to mind, simply voicing her thoughts one sentence at a time.
“Is there any reason for you to meddle in my affairs?”
“In this world, there is no kindness without a reason, and certainly no salvation without a cause—don’t tell me you coincidentally learned those ‘insider details’ of yours and then wanted to help me out of the goodness of your heart.”
“From the first moment I saw you, I knew you were someone who was incredibly afraid of trouble, as well as quite introverted and timid.”
“If there weren’t some underlying reason, you would never take the initiative to approach someone—don’t deny it.”
Seeing Koharu Miura about to say something, Arisa Kiyono immediately cut her off.
“Your personality is like a piece of white paper with black ink pasted behind transparent glass; anyone could clearly understand your nature after spending just a short time with you.”
“Yet, despite that, you’ve tried to contact me time and time again?”
“I was already mentally prepared for various possibilities, and I only wanted a definitive answer from you as to why you approached me, just so I could at least have some peace of mind.”
Arisa Kiyono chuckled. “And you tell me… this?”
“Do you think that given the personality you show others, anyone would believe you’re willing to go through all this trouble to seek justice for someone you don’t even know—or at least aren’t familiar with?”
“Don’t think others are so naive.”
“You’re trying so hard, acting so self-sacrificing… what exactly do you want to get from me?”
“…I see… Did that Sou Kanzaki send you?”
“…Huh?”
Koharu Miura, who had remained silent, felt her heart tighten suddenly upon hearing the name “Sou Kanzaki.”
Why mention him now? It had nothing to do with the topic, right?
“That encounter the other day was intentional, wasn’t it? Are you working with him? Just to have a legitimate excuse to introduce him to me?”
‘Good heavens, what kind of misunderstanding is this?’
Koharu Miura waved her hands frantically, her voice growing flustered with urgency.
“No… it wasn’t Kanzaki. He doesn’t know anything!”
“I… I really just wanted to help you!”
“Help me? Fine, help me.”
“Help me… help me, help me!”
Arisa Kiyono softly repeated the words.
As she did, her pace quickened and her expression became increasingly distorted, as if she were listening to a hilarious joke.
“—What reason do I have to believe you?!”
“Someone whose name I don’t even know, who has stealthily gathered so much of my private information? You expect me to trust you?”
“Why shouldn’t I suspect that you, Sou Kanzaki, and the others are part of that group you mentioned—accomplices of the people you say want to harm me?”
Koharu Miura bit her lower lip hard. The escapist instinct born from her cowardice was shaking her resolve.
She desperately wanted to turn and run, to get away from this terrifying, prickly girl.
But in the end, she couldn’t move.
What ultimately quelled the urge to flee was the fear of “being erased” lingering in her mind.
Like a nail, it fixed Koharu Miura firmly to this world; it anchored the source of all her motives right where she stood.
She looked up, a surge of strength appearing in her eyes.
“Because… because I’m your fan!”
Koharu Miura shouted it at the top of her lungs.
“I’m a fan of Sugar Starlight, and I’m your fan, Arisa! I’ve been following you since your debut. I know how much effort you’ve put into the stage, and I know how hard things are for you right now. So, when I saw those malicious comments and realized you were in danger, I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing! As a fan, wanting to protect my idol is only natural. I don’t need any other reason!”
This was the excuse Koharu Miura had prepared long ago.
It was a logically impeccable shield. As long as she used the title of “fan,” all the stalking, investigating, and excessive concern could be explained away as well-meaning, if intrusive, support.
After speaking, Koharu panted, her body feeling slightly weak.
She watched Arisa Kiyono, waiting for her reaction.
She thought that no matter how cold a person was, hearing a “fan confession” like this would at least move them for a moment, right?
However, reality dealt her a heavy blow.
Arisa Kiyono watched her quietly.
There was no emotion. No relief. Not even the awkwardness of having been found out.
Instead, a very, very faint smile appeared on Arisa’s face.
It didn’t reach her eyes; rather, it carried a mockery that made one’s entire body turn cold.
“A fan?”
She whispered the word. Her tone was as light as a feather, but the moment it touched the air, it turned into an icicle.
“Miura, you truly have a talent for performing. If you went to an audition, you might actually win an award.”
Arisa Kiyono paused. Then, her cold eyes locked onto Koharu Miura’s, and she asked a fatal question that Koharu hadn’t even imagined in her wildest dreams.
“If you really are my fan, if you’ve truly been following us as you say… then, last time in the park, when I wanted to give you a Sugar Starlight Anniversary Ticket to show my gratitude—”
Arisa Kiyono’s voice suddenly turned frigid, every word sounding as if it were squeezed through her teeth.
“Why did you have that expression on your face?”
Koharu Miura’s mind went completely blank.
“Wh…?”
…What?
The girl’s brain failed to process it for a moment. She didn’t understand Arisa Kiyono’s question. This was a question she hadn’t anticipated, and she hadn’t prepared an answer for it.
‘In the first place… what kind of expression was it?’
The girl’s question was soon answered.
“You’re a fan, right? How touching.”
“So, when you received that Sugar Starlight Anniversary Ticket from me, you didn’t look surprised, you didn’t look excited, you didn’t even look the slightest bit happy—”
Arisa Kiyono’s voice grew sharp.
“How do you explain that?”
“If you’ve really been following us since our debut, even if you didn’t recognize me as ALISA, it would be understandable. After all, I’m not that great to begin with.”
When Arisa said this, her tone carried a hint of self-doubting frustration. But Koharu Miura was still caught up in Arisa’s previous sentence and didn’t react immediately.
“…But showing absolutely no passion upon seeing an anniversary ticket is hard to explain from the perspective of a normal fan, isn’t it?”
Arisa Kiyono’s logic was sound, leaving Koharu Miura, who was busy trying to construct a response, unable to find an answer that would pass for the time being.
“Would someone claiming to be a die-hard fan look at a ticket given by their idol as if it were just some ordinary object they were seeing for the first time?”
“Your lie… is far too clumsy.”
The wind on the rooftop seemed to freeze at that moment.
Koharu Miura felt herself surrounded by the shame and fear of being completely exposed, unable to utter a single word. All her pretenses, all her efforts—in the face of Arisa’s unnervingly calm observation—had been a joke from the very start.
“Now then, can you tell me the truth?”
Arisa Kiyono tilted her head slightly, the afterglow of the setting sun outlining her graceful yet proud silhouette.
“Since you aren’t a fan at all, why did you go to such lengths to approach me, even creating these full-of-holes lies… what exactly is it for?”
Koharu Miura opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She looked at the girl before her and realized for the first time that she wasn’t facing a simple game character.
She was facing a real, living person with strong defensive instincts and an intelligence so sharp it was despair-inducing.