Sakuragicho — an alleyway shrouded in the shade of trees.
A girl with long, chestnut hair was walking on the inner side of the sidewalk.
As usual, whenever she was out in public, Arisa Kiyono kept the brim of her hat pulled low to hide her face, making it difficult for anyone to see her features.
However, unlike her usual self — who was almost always alone in public — Arisa Kiyono was not by herself this time.
Walking beside her was the same girl she had encountered earlier in the corridor outside the livehouse.
The girl, who wore a bob cut, appeared to be the same age as Arisa.
Though she was dressed in a dainty and delicate style, perhaps it was the way they walked through the shadows of the trees, but there was an indescribable sense of danger lingering in her eyes.
The two walked side by side without much conversation, the only sound being the rhythmic clicking of their shoes against the pavement.
This continued until the mobile phone in Arisa Kiyono’s pocket gave a soft buzz.
It was a LIME notification.
Arisa’s body stiffened slightly.
She slowed her pace, turned slightly to the side, and pulled her phone from her pocket to steal a quick glance.
A flicker of complex emotion flashed through the depths of her eyes.
Then, with an expressionless face, she swiped across the screen and stuffed the phone back into her pocket with a crisp, decisive motion.
“Who was that from?”
The girl walking with her stopped and turned to look at her.
The girl’s tone carried a hint of suspicion. “Looking at your expression, it doesn’t seem like good news.”
Arisa Kiyono remained silent for a moment.
She stared at the girl’s familiar face, yet felt only a sense of strangeness.
“It’s nothing, just a LIME push advertisement.”
Arisa did not tell the truth.
The idol’s voice was low and cold, as if it had been chilled by the autumn wind of Sakuragicho. “There’s more and more of this junk mail these days.”
“It’s everywhere — impossible to guard against.”
Saying something that felt like a veiled jab at her companion, Arisa Kiyono began walking again, avoiding the other girl’s eyes.
The girl with the bob cut opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end, she followed silently.
An awkward atmosphere spread between them like an invisible mist.
On the streets of Sakuragicho, the pedestrians passing by laughed and chatted cheerfully, making the two of them look like glitches that didn’t belong in the scene.
……
Xiao Chun Miura walked alone on the sidewalk.
After leaving school, she had wandered aimlessly through the streets for a while to test her theory and confirm whether someone was truly following her.
It wasn’t until the streetlights began to flicker on one by one, their dim yellow glow swaying slightly in the chilly evening breeze, that Xiao Chun prepared to go home.
Although she didn’t possess any professional anti-surveillance knowledge, she relied on her extraordinary sensitivity to confirm that, at the very least, no one was constantly tailing her in the immediate vicinity.
Everyone was just an ordinary passerby; there were no dangerous individuals watching her every move.
Xiao Chun walked briskly toward her house, the late autumn wind making her hunch her shoulders.
The girl kept her hands in her pockets, her palms gripping the mobile phone she was now incredibly anxious about.
“I’m home!”
Pushing open the genkan door, Xiao Chun tried her best to make her voice sound as light and cheerful as usual.
“Welcome back, Koharu. Did everything go well at school?”
The sound of her mother busy in the kitchen drifted out along with the aroma of food.
“Yes. I asked Classmate Kanzaki for help with some math questions.”
“I’ll come out once dinner is ready.”
“Go ahead.”
Lying to her mother, Xiao Chun kept a straight face as she changed into her slippers and walked straight back to her bedroom.
The moment she closed the door, the tension that had been wound tight all day snapped.
As if she could finally relax, Xiao Chun did what she did every day — she flopped face-down onto her bed and breathed in the scent of her duvet.
The phone in her pocket vibrated twice, signaling a LIME notification.
Xiao Chun sat up as if she’d received an electric shock and quickly pulled out her phone.
The screen flashed with LIME messages from Yui Hori and Mio Sato.
[No problem at all! Everything is okay on my end!]
[I understand, Koharu. I’ll help you.]
Looking at these words full of trust and energy, Xiao Chun squeezed her fist tightly.
Originally, Xiao Chun hadn’t intended to involve her friends in these troublesome matters.
But now that the Plan had been set, Xiao Chun had decided to use every available resource to increase her chances of success.
Yui Hori and the others were a part of that strength.
‘Since Yui and the others have given a positive response, the core of the matter now lies with Arisa Kiyono herself.’
Xiao Chun tapped on the chat box for the ID “ALISA.”
She had originally intended to send the same message she had sent to Yui Hori earlier in the corridor, but her fingertip hovered over the screen for a long time before she eventually deleted the draft.
[Arisa, do you have training tomorrow…?]
[If you don’t mind, I could go over to the livehouse tomorrow to take a look?]
[With my friends.]
After sending the message, Xiao Chun set her phone aside with a pounding heart and sank into a long wait.
The clock in the room ticked away.
Five minutes passed, and the chat box remained silent.
Xiao Chun helplessly picked up her phone and put it back down again.
She had been alternating between pacing the room and lying back on the bed to stare at the screen.
If she couldn’t communicate successfully with Arisa Kiyono, then everything she had settled with Yui Hori, Mio Sato, Itsuki Yasuda, Haruka Kinrei, and Kanzaki Sou would be for nothing.
‘Please, just reply…’ Xiao Chun prayed in her heart.
She had even finished dinner by now. Her parents had looked at her with concern at the table, wondering if she seemed distracted because she had fought with someone at school.
Thinking about the message, Xiao Chun had brushed them off with a few excuses before returning to her room to wait for a reply.
Another five minutes passed after she returned to her room.
Finally, the phone vibrated again.
Xiao Chun unlocked the screen almost instantly.
She opened LIME with excitement, but the line of text on the screen caused her breath to freeze in an instant.
[Better not come.]
It was from Arisa Kiyono.
Just four simple words.
There was no explanation; a pure attitude of rejection was clear on the screen.
Xiao Chun froze.
She stared at those four words for a long time, even rubbing her eyes to make sure she hadn’t misread them.
“Better not come?”
She had thought that, given the current situation, Arisa Kiyono should have developed a fair amount of trust in her.
Moreover, after the confrontation on the school rooftop and the encounter at the restaurant, while they might not be friends, they had at least established a fragile, friendly relationship.
This kind of rejection was completely unexpected.
‘…Why did she suddenly stop me from going?’
Xiao Chun frowned and sat back down at her desk.
The more she thought about it, the more something felt off.
Arisa Kiyono hadn’t had any conflicts with her recently.
If Arisa were rejecting her because of her mood or attitude, the reply would likely have been something like “Don’t bother me” or “I’m busy.”
But those four words, “Better not come”…
A thought flashed through Xiao Chun’s mind.
‘Arisa Kiyono isn’t rejecting me because of her attitude or mood.’
‘Better not come… it feels more like an uneasy warning.’