Chapter 248: The Two Who Met by Chance

Advanced Nurturing High School, girls' dormitory, Yamamura Miki's room.

The room was done primarily in off-white and light wood tones. The walls were a soft warm yellow. The bed was placed against the east wall, its pure cotton light pink sheets laid out neatly. Two pots of pothos sat on the balcony.

Among it all, the most eye-catching feature was the dressing mirror by the window. Over a dozen photographs of various kinds were arranged in a staggered pattern across the mirror.

The photos were mainly of Fuyuji Mikage and Morishita Ai, all sorts of goofy ones. Occasionally, Kamuro Masumi appeared, arms crossed, face turned away in a huff, and Shiraishi Asuka, wearing a serene smile, made her way into the frame too.

At the very center was a group photo of the five of them taken on the cruise ship. Fuyuji and Morishita were pulling each other's ears. Kamuro wore a straight face but was secretly flashing a "V." Shiraishi smiled gently. In the middle, Yamamura Miki was holding a box of takoyaki, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster's.

"Huh?"

Wearing her loungewear, Yamamura sat at the head of the bed, her phone pressed to her ear. She tilted her head slightly and asked with a cute look of confusion. "You and Morishita aren't coming back for lunch either?"

"That's right."

Fuyuji's voice sounded a bit exasperated, accompanied by the sound of running. If you listened closely, you could faintly hear Morishita chasing after him from behind.

"Judging by her current energy levels, she won't be done for a while. Asuka seems to have been dragged off by Nishikawa, so she won't be back for lunch either. You can just eat early by yourself, Miki. Don't wait for us."

"Then..."

Yamamura had just been about to ask what to do about Kamuro when she remembered her tsundere personality. She closed her mouth with a smile.

Kamuro would probably bristle and say something like "What's that got to do with me?" and hang up.

"Then I'll eat with Kamuro, okay?"

"That works too." Fuyuji said with an awkward laugh. "I'll tell her later."

"No need. I'll tell Kamuro myself. You two just have fun." Yamamura shook her head with a light laugh, refusing.

"Miki..." Fuyuji's voice on the other end was a little moved. "You're too good..."

"Alright, alright, that's enough. Have fun, you two. Bye."

Hearing what sounded like a snowball hitting a body, Yamamura hung up with a smile. She took the phone from her ear and stared blankly at the wallpaper of Fuyuji on the screen for a moment. Then, unconsciously, she pressed the phone to her chest and sat quietly on the bed.

The wall clock ticked around several times.

Yamamura let out a long breath, as if trying to calm the fluttering in her chest. She patted her burning cheeks and slowly stood up from the bed, glancing at the time.

At this hour, it was still early...

...

Beep!

With a click, Yamamura twisted open the door to Fuyuji's room and stepped in lightly, pulling the door shut behind her.

The morning sunlight passed through the balcony door, casting long, thin patches of light on the wooden floor. Countless tiny dust motes floated in the beams. The room's contents were somewhat scattered. It looked like the two of them had been in a hurry when they left.

"Coo..."

Noticing the movement, the fat pigeon poked its head out of its little nest. Seeing that it was Yamamura, it quickly lay back down.

"Ah." A faint, elegant smile appeared at the corner of Yamamura's mouth. "So you're back?"

She was quite familiar with this unusually intelligent pigeon. She had been the one feeding it back on the cruise ship.

"Coo..." The fat pigeon lazily flapped its wings, responding to her. It probably meant: make yourself at home, don't mind me.

"I understand."

Yamamura braced a hand against the wall and changed out of her shoes at the entryway. Her small feet, wrapped in white calf socks, stretched in the air for a moment before being tucked into cotton slippers.

At this moment, the girl wore a white hoodie, a pure cotton apron tied at her waist, yellow rubber gloves on her hands, and her hair tied up neatly.

She scanned the room's general layout, took a slight breath, and, with an energy she would never have had before, softly spoke to the room.

"Well then... let's begin..."

Before long, the sound of running water came from a balcony on the fourth floor of the Advanced Nurturing dormitory. The already-washed bedsheets hung on the balcony to dry. Under the sunlight gradually rising into the sky, a corner of the fabric slowly lifted in the breeze.

About an hour later.

Ding dong, ding dong.

A crisp, somewhat abrupt doorbell suddenly rang out, breaking the quiet inside the room. Then came several more consecutive rings, clear and steady, carrying a hint of impatience.

Yamamura, who was washing a rag at the sink, paused. The sound of water stopped abruptly. She tilted her head in confusion.

At this hour, who else would come here?

The Class A boys usually went straight to Katsuragi if they needed to discuss something. Important matters were also communicated via text message.

Had Morishita and the others come back?

It didn't sound like it. When Morishita rang the doorbell, she was extremely casual about it, even more casual than in her own room.

"Coming..."

Yamamura quickly wrung out the rag and hung it up. She dried her hands and called out toward the door from a distance, padding over in her cotton slippers.

"Hello, Fuyuji isn't here... huh?"

Yamamura, who had twisted open the door, paused slightly. Instinctively, she pulled the door fully open with a swoosh and poked her head out in confusion.

Under the bright white fluorescent lights, the corridor was empty left and right. The window at the far end of the corridor was visible at a glance. Outside, yesterday's snow had yet to melt. All that could be seen was a vast expanse of white. In the corridor, there was only her own breathing and the faint, distant sounds of dormitory life.

"No one here. Is the doorbell broken?" Yamamura's delicate brows furrowed slightly.

Cameras were installed on both sides of every floor in the Advanced Nurturing dormitory. Add to that the usual restraint of the ethics points, and no student should be bored enough to pull a ding-dong-ditch prank.

She murmured softly, her dark blue half-ponytail falling slightly. Then, warily, she stepped a few paces out of the room and carefully looked around, confirming there was no one else.

With a click, she shut the door completely.

The soft sound of the door closing echoed through the silent corridor. A while later, a light, cheerful humming spilled from the gap under the door and quickly dissipated...

At the end of the empty corridor, at the corner of the stairwell.

A figure, slightly out of breath, leaned helplessly against the cold wall. Both hands held an insulated lunchbox. Golden-pink long hair swayed slightly behind her in a somewhat disheveled state. A few strands clung to her forehead, damp with nervous sweat.

Looking up, a crack had opened in the stairwell window. The cold wind whistled in through the gap, making it feel piercingly cold.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

After catching her breath for a moment, the girl released one hand from the lunchbox's pull ring and pressed it, trembling slightly, against her chest. Her cherry-colored lips pressed together unconsciously.

"Fuyuji...-kun..."

Her small murmur rippled through the stairwell, drifting into the air, spreading, diffusing, until it vanished without a trace...

-----------------------------------------------------------

50 [Power Stones] = Bonus Chapter!