Sitting at the edge of the long bench, Koharu Miura’s icy fingertips moved mechanically back and forth across her phone screen.
The evening wind blew through the station platform, tousling the stray hairs by her ears and scattering the composure she had barely managed to maintain.
‘It’s all messed up… completely messed up.’
She repeated this phrase in her mind over and over again.
Mayumi’s terrified sobs, that look of despair after being torn apart by the monster called “daily life,” clung to Koharu’s mind like an inescapable shadow.
Originally, she thought this was just an isolation plan targeting Arisa Kiyono alone, a divine punishment from the System to correct the plot. But now, this malice had begun to spread like a plague.
It was no longer satisfied with destroying just one protagonist; it was beginning to extend its tendrils to all the surrounding variables.
Mayumi was just a microcosm.
What next?
The other idols?
Or her own friends who went to the livehouse together this time?
The always boisterous Yui? The calm yet inherently warm Mio? Or the eccentric Yuzuki?
Just thinking about it sent a fine, chilling sensation up Koharu’s spine, colder than the late autumn night wind.
She tapped open LIME. The top chat was still that cold, unresponsive “ALISA.” In the dialog box below, the account named “SS” still lay quietly.
Sou Kanzaki.
In this world that had been distorted beyond recognition, the only “perfect male lead” who still maintained absolute logic and possessed the ability to break the deadlock.
If it were him, he could definitely make sense of these chaotic clues, right?
If it were him, even when faced with that kind of all-pervasive surveillance and threats, he could protect everyone without changing his expression, right?
Even though Koharu had kept telling herself to stay away from Sou Kanzaki at this stage to avoid being drawn into deeper plot distortions, at this very moment, her heart teetering on the edge of the cliff instinctively leaned toward that sole safe harbor.
She wasn’t trying to ask for help.
Or rather, her pitiful pride wouldn’t allow her to plainly say something like “Please save me.”
She was just too tired.
At a time like this, when everyone was shrouded in malice and even crying for help had become a luxury, she just wanted to find a place where someone could understand what she was saying and give feedback, even if it was just to exchange a few meaningless words.
[Koharu Miura: Mr. Kanzaki, sorry to bother you.]
[Koharu Miura: About the anonymous letter and surveillance you mentioned before… the situation seems even worse than we imagined.]
Her fingertips danced quickly across the screen. Koharu bit her lower lip, her eyes flickering with hesitation.
[Koharu Miura: It’s not just around the school. Today, near Sakuragicho… I saw some unpleasant things. It seems their reach has extended off-campus, even starting to threaten people who originally had no direct connection to the incident.]
After sending these two messages, she stared at the “Sent” icon for a while, her chest heaving violently.
‘That should be fine, right? I didn’t reveal Mayumi’s name or mention a specific location. It’s just sharing information.’
Koharu comforted herself.
However.
Just as she was about to continue editing her next message, an extremely strange, extremely incongruous feeling suddenly seized her senses.
“—!”
Koharu Miura’s breath hitched.
It was a viscous, aggressive gaze.
Like a slimy venomous snake slowly crawling up the back of her neck.
The feeling was so clear that in that instant, Koharu could even sense the nauseating malice contained within that gaze.
“Who’s there?!”
She jumped, her shoulders jerking violently, nearly dropping her phone.
The stress reaction born from her already anxious state made her practically leap as she turned around, her eyes scanning the platform behind her like lightning.
The empty long bench, a middle-aged man reading a newspaper, two middle school students playing games with their heads down, the indicator lights of a train slowly approaching in the distance.
Apart from these perfectly normal passengers, there was nothing.
No one was staring at her, no one was wearing a strange smile, and there were certainly no adults in dark coats holding telephoto lenses.
But Koharu didn’t let her guard down because of this.
‘No… the feeling couldn’t be wrong.’
She gripped her phone tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.
Mayumi’s description from earlier replayed rapidly in her mind: Those people were like omnipresent ghosts, appearing suddenly at the most ordinary corners, at the most reassuring moments, leaving behind a message with a specific name.
Arisa Kiyono’s experience, Mayumi’s breakdown, and the grim expression Sou Kanzaki had in the student council room…
‘If they can monitor what Arisa has for lunch, know when Mayumi goes to buy cold medicine, then discovering that I’m at this station at this time would be no difficulty at all.’
Koharu took a deep breath, forcing herself to sit back down on the bench, but her back remained ramrod straight, like a hare ready to flee at any moment.
Pretending to play with her phone, she actually used the screen as a tiny reflective mirror, frantically surveying her surroundings with her peripheral vision.
That man to the left and behind… his newspaper-flipping movements were too stiff. Was he hiding something?
That student on the right… was there really sound in his headphones? Why were his eyes constantly glancing sideways over here?
…No, when it comes down to it, these NPCs having some bugs is normal too.
Now even the plot and the world are distorted.
A near-pathological paranoia made Koharu feel overwhelmed, but she didn’t dare relax.
The logic of this world had already collapsed. Any insignificant passerby could be a terminal for that malicious program made manifest.
‘Calm down. I have to keep up the act.’
‘Right now, I’m just an ordinary high school girl waiting for a train. Don’t give anything away.’
She silently cheered herself on in her heart.
To distract herself and also to seek her last bit of support, she lowered her head again, directing her gaze to the LIME interface.
On the screen, Sou Kanzaki had already replied.
[SS: I understand. Ms. Miura, where are you right now?]
[SS: If it’s convenient, please ensure your safety above all else. Regarding the spread of threats you mentioned, I also noticed some signs while organizing information.]
[SS: Please stay in crowded places, Ms. Miura. Don’t act alone.]
Looking at those rational, yet restrained words of concern from Sou Kanzaki, Koharu’s tightly wound tear ducts suddenly felt a pang of soreness.
At a time like this, when everyone was fearful for themselves and she couldn’t even tell the truth to her best friends, this brief concern from a “person in the know” held more power than any flowery language.
‘As long as he’s still investigating, as long as he hasn’t been swallowed by that logic, there’s still hope.’
Distractedly, Koharu sent out another message:
[Koharu Miura: Thank you, Mr. Kanzaki. I’m at the station right now, I’ll be leaving right awa—]
Before she could even finish typing, before she could even press the key for the final character of “away”—
A hand.
A hand with a slightly cool temperature, yet radiating an undeniable sense of strength.
Without any warning, suddenly landed on Koharu Miura’s left shoulder.
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