Now that the school had unlocked the search function, students could spend a small number of points to check another student's current position whenever they wanted.
Ichika had noticed that Kaoru had missed two designated areas in a row and had barely moved from the same location all morning.
Her curiosity only grew.
As far as she knew, Kaoru was currently trying to climb the rankings.
He had no reason to stop somewhere like this.
Had he encountered someone?
Ichika thought back over the past few days.
Although Kaoru always appeared to be traveling with them, he frequently used nearby tasks as an excuse to leave the group and act alone.
No.
Perhaps it went deeper than that.
She remembered one morning when she had seen Kaoru alone with Tsubasa.
There had been faint damp marks near the cuffs of his pants, the sort one might pick up after moving through wet undergrowth for some time.
Ichika's instincts told her Kaoru was secretly planning something.
She simply did not have enough information to know what.
Not that she particularly cared.
In her eyes, Kaoru's enemies were merely Miyabi and the others, weren't they?
Whether it was the school's unusual systems or the students fighting within them, Ichika often felt like she was watching children squabble.
Compared with the White Room, none of it seemed especially challenging.
If Tsukishiro had not told her that the White Room's greatest masterpiece was here, Ichika probably would never have taken Advanced Nurturing High School seriously at all.
Of course, Kiyotaka was the senior she admired most.
Ichika had no intention of attacking him casually.
Still, lately she had felt slightly disappointed.
Ayanokōji Kiyotaka had chosen to rely on Kaoru.
Ichika had always imagined that Kiyotaka would use some brilliant, impossible strategy to shatter the White Room's control on his own.
Instead, he had asked someone else for help.
It was almost like watching an idol fail to live up to the legend.
She knew perfectly well that the White Room was overwhelmingly powerful.
Young people like them, who had not even finished growing, could never realistically confront it head-on.
But still...
'You're supposed to be the greatest masterpiece. Couldn't you try a little harder before asking someone else to save you?'
Ichika still remembered the first time she had heard that someone might actually escape the White Room's grasp.
Her heart had skipped.
Even now, she did not entirely understand what she had felt then.
And then Tsukishiro had delivered the order from her father.
Approach Mitoma Kaoru.
What kind of April Fool's joke was that supposed to be?
The first message Ichika had ever received from her biological family amounted to an order like that.
Even if she had been created through artificial reproduction and raised as an experiment, surely she still possessed basic human rights?
The thought filled her with a strange, simmering anger.
Yet Ichika had also caught something in Tsukishiro's expression.
There was something odd about the entire order.
Tsukishiro unquestionably knew Kiyotaka had aligned himself with Kaoru.
Yet rather than reacting with anger or concern, he had behaved ambiguously.
When Ichika tried to extract information from him, Tsukishiro merely smiled mysteriously and said one thing.
"You should thank your father. He made the correct decision. He did it for your sake."
Every time Ichika remembered those words, disgust rose inside her.
How ridiculous.
Her life and fate were supposedly being decided by a man she had never even met.
"But I'm getting more and more curious about you, Senpai."
Kaoru had somehow convinced Kiyotaka to cooperate with him.
He had made Tsukishiro react that way.
He had even caused her biological father to contact the White Room for the first time.
Just who exactly was this senpai?
Ichika switched off her tablet.
Sunlight fell across her hair as a dangerous smile spread across her face.
"What should I do?"
She giggled quietly.
"I really want to catch one of your secrets, Senpai."
...
"Someone's coming."
Kaoru turned toward the dense forest nearby.
He did not know who it was.
He only knew that a silhouette had appeared on the Marauder's Map.
"Who? One of your girlfriends? Or an enemy?"
Hearing him, Fūka looked curiously toward the forest behind them.
She was sitting on a large rock beside the river with a fishing rod in her hands, enjoying the quiet morning.
"I don't know. Let's hide first and see."
Kaoru began packing away their things.
They had only managed to catch two small fish anyway.
"Then they're an enemy."
Fūka reluctantly reeled in her line.
Kaoru had seemingly produced the fishing rod out of nowhere.
It looked completely ordinary, yet it felt strangely perfect in her hands, as though every detail had been customized specifically for her.
Kaoru had not told her that this was one of the magical tool's effects.
Whoever used it would find it taking the form most comfortable for them.
The two gathered their belongings and quietly hid themselves.
They waited.
And waited.
Yet Fūka saw nobody.
She frowned.
Before she could say anything, Kaoru pointed toward a particular patch of undergrowth.
"There. They're hiding too."
Fūka looked surprised.
Then suspicious.
She had not noticed anything.
How had Kaoru discovered them?
"Senpai, stay here. I'll go—"
Kaoru stopped halfway through the sentence.
Fūka was already creeping around from the opposite side.
His mouth twitched.
Forget it.
She had never been the type to obediently wait.
If Fūka was circling from the right, Kaoru would approach from the left.
Together, they could trap whoever was hiding there.
Kaoru quietly advanced toward the concealed figure.
Suddenly, a faint rustle came from the bushes beside him.
A dark shape lunged toward him.
Kaoru reacted instinctively and threw up his hands to block.
Then his palms met something unexpectedly soft.
His thoughts stalled for half a second.
That hesitation was enough.
The other person crashed into him, knocking both of them onto the ground.
"Wah! Senpai, you pervert! We've barely seen each other and you're already attacking a girl!"
The familiar voice immediately told Kaoru who it was.
He looked up.
Ichika was sprawled across him, her cheeks faintly red as she glared down with exaggerated indignation.
"Senpai is such a pervert! Who pushes a girl down the second they meet? Shameless!"
Kaoru immediately stopped moving.
The collision had left them in an extremely awkward position.
"Why are you here?"
He already knew she was performing.
Ichika, however, grabbed his wrists before he could pull away.
"Because Senpai hasn't moved all morning. I was worried you might have run into trouble, so I came all this way to check on you."
She instantly adopted a pitiful expression.
"Senpai, could you be a little gentler? Girls are delicate, you know."
"If it hurts, then get off me."
Kaoru sighed.
"Don't you think you're heavy?"
"Hey!"
Ichika pouted.
"You never tell a girl she's heavy. That's basic common sense, Senpai!"
Then she wriggled slightly.
"I can't get up. My backpack's too heavy."
She was still wearing her luggage, so that part at least was believable.
Hearing their voices, Fūka hurried over.
The sight that greeted her was Kaoru on the ground with an unfamiliar girl sprawled across him.
Fūka's expression became strange.
"Tch, tch. Young people really are adventurous these days."
Ichika turned toward the newcomer.
The playful expression she had been wearing with Kaoru immediately became more restrained.
"Senpai, I feel like I can explain."
Kaoru attempted to defend himself.
"I'm going back to fishing."
Fūka turned away without hesitation.
"Whatever you two decide to do, I heard nothing."
In other words, there was no need to explain.
She had already decided Kaoru was exactly that kind of person.
Kaoru watched her walk away helplessly.
Then Ichika's face filled his vision again.
"Who is she to Senpai?"
"My girlfriend."
"Oh?"
Ichika blinked.
"Not even a moment of hesitation. You've become awfully direct."
"What did you expect me to say?"
"That depends."
Ichika narrowed her eyes playfully.
"Exactly how many girlfriends does Senpai have?"
"Honami, Kei, Kikyō, Suzune, Akane, Nazuna, Airi, Mako—"
"W-wait! Stop!"
Ichika finally broke.
"Are you reading out a restaurant menu?!"
He had suddenly started listing names without hesitation.
Was he seriously showing off his harem?
"Don't you get tired sitting on me?"
Kaoru shifted slightly and finally freed his hands.
"You still haven't apologized."
Ichika immediately looked aggrieved.
"Senpai grabbed me in a very embarrassing way. How am I ever supposed to get married now?"
"White Room students get married?"
Kaoru genuinely sounded curious.
"Of course we do."
Ichika began describing an exaggeratedly miserable future.
"Maybe they'll marry me off to some disgusting old man. Or some boy I've never even met."
"Then I'll have lots of children, and they'll send those children back into the White Room."
"And when those children grow up, they'll marry them off too, and the cycle continues forever."
Kaoru listened with surprising interest.
"So some disgusting old man already has his eye on you?"
"Yes."
Ichika's smile became strangely cold.
"A particularly awful old man."
She remained sitting above Kaoru.
"Senpai should be grateful. You're getting to spend time with such a cute girl before that happens."
"Thank you for your generosity."
Kaoru answered dryly.
"Can you get up now?"
"Is Senpai worried about something?"
Ichika narrowed her eyes.
"There's a cute underclassman sitting right here. Shouldn't you be happier?"
"Because I think you came here to tell me something."
Kaoru met her eyes.
Ichika froze for the briefest instant.
"You came all this way to find me, and for the past several days you've been deliberately forcing yourself to get closer."
"There has to be something you want to say, Amasawa-san."
Ichika's fingers tightened slightly against his collar.
Then her shoulders lifted, and her usual adorable smile returned.
"My, my. Senpai figured it out."
She tapped herself lightly on the head and stuck out her tongue.
"Does that mean Senpai is entering my romance route now?"
"You have a romance route?"
Kaoru looked genuinely puzzled.
"Of course."
Ichika spoke as though explaining something obvious.
"Every girl has one. Haven't you played dating sims?"
She patiently continued.
"Senpai offering to listen to my secrets and help with my problems is a classic event flag."
"The heroine reveals her vulnerable side, the protagonist acts all yasashii, and—"
She flashed him a V-sign.
"Ta-da! Suddenly I'm completely conquered and become some helpless idiot who can't live without Senpai!"
Kaoru knew she was acting.
Ichika knew he knew she was acting.
She simply did not want to discuss the real subject, so she was trying to joke her way around it.
"I'm not that yasashii."
"Aw. That's disappointing."
Ichika pouted.
"I'm this cute. Senpai should at least put in a little effort."
"Is that so?"
Kaoru studied her expression.
"I don't think I need to conquer Amasawa-san."
"I think I can have you without doing that."
Ichika went completely still.
For once, she could not fully hide the disturbance in her eyes.
Then it struck her how foolish she had been.
If even her biological father had issued such an order, why would she assume Kaoru himself knew nothing about it?
"I've been wondering when they would finally lose patience and make a move."
Kaoru placed a hand lightly at her waist, more to steady her than anything else.
"And what kind of strategy they would choose."
"In the end, their plan was disappointingly simple."
Ichika's thoughts scattered for an instant.
Her voice turned cold.
"You know everything?"
"I guessed."
Kaoru remained calm.
"Amasawa-san has no reason to ignore Ayanokōji and come over here just to play house with me."
He paused.
"Besides, you always look slightly irritated whenever you're around me."
Ichika's expression shifted.
Then she quickly returned to normal and puffed her cheeks.
"Senpai is lying. Am I really that bad at acting?"
"You keep approaching Morishita-san, Kei, and the others."
Kaoru looked at her.
"Were you trying to gather information about me?"
Ichika narrowed her eyes.
His instincts were annoyingly sharp.
But she had no intention of admitting anything.
She wanted to uncover Kaoru's secrets.
She had absolutely no desire to hand him her own.
"Hehe."
Ichika's smile became sharper.
"That expression of yours is really irritating."
"I was going to collect information, see if I could cause some trouble inside your little harem, maybe turn those women against each other."
She chuckled.
"I thought your face would be hilarious once everything started falling apart."
"But those women are unbelievably stupid. They don't even seem to care how close someone else gets to you. It's almost like—"
Ichika abruptly slapped a hand over her mouth.
Panic flashed through her eyes.
What had she just said?
She had actually spoken her real thoughts out loud.