Late April.
Eight o'clock in the evening.
A gentle drizzle pattered down from the sky.
The crisp spring chill made the pedestrians hasten their steps.
"Something's off... Something is very off..."
Having finished his part-time shift, Kitahara held his umbrella, walking along his path home while the bizarre scenes from today flashed through his mind.
First, the girl sitting directly behind him—a transfer student he normally never exchanged a word with—suddenly took the initiative to strike up a conversation this morning, inviting him before everyone's eyes to have lunch together in the cafeteria.
During the break between classes when he went to the restroom, a pink-haired girl intentionally tripped and fell flat right in front of him.
Then after school, a girl who looked as gentle as still water intercepted him at the school gate, claiming she had come over to hang out with friends; even though the multipurpose hall stood right before their eyes, she insisted she was utterly hopeless with directions, hoping he would escort her closely by her side the entire way...
Especially the way these girls looked at him.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Kitahara always felt the gazes these girls directed at him were completely off, just like... hunters fixing their eyes on prey they wanted to capture.
"Well, it has come to this, let's just eat first..."
Kitahara retrieved his keys from his pocket in advance, planning to grab a late-night bite once he got home.
Just as he was about to arrive home, a figure suddenly caught his attention.
It was a girl clad in a school uniform, squatting beneath a streetlamp.
The girl possessed lovely blue short hair that lightly shielded her eyes and wore black tights; her frame appeared slender and frail. At this moment, both her hands held something unknown, and she was munching away contentedly like a little hamster.
As they brushed past each other, Kitahara cast a curious glance, and was instantly stunned.
The thing that girl was eating... seemed to be a handful of wood sorrel?!
In twenty-first-century Tokyo, there was actually still someone eating weeds to fill their belly?
Could it be some sort of pica?
Kitahara hesitated for two seconds, paused his footsteps slightly, and held out the umbrella in his hand.
A chilly, rainy night.
A homeless stray girl.
And apparently filling her belly with weeds...
Any normal person would inevitably feel a pang of compassion.
In any case, he was almost home and the rain was very light, so lending the umbrella to her was no issue.
But that was all.
Silently setting down the umbrella, Kitahara turned to leave.
If it were an elementary schooler, he would worry whether they had lost their way and dial the police, but the weed-eating girl under the streetlamp was clearly a high school student; if she genuinely ran into monumental trouble, she could easily call the police herself without requiring him to fret over it.
Just as he turned around, Kitahara suddenly felt the hem of his clothes being tugged.
Turning his head to look.
He saw the weed-eating, blue-haired girl lift the umbrella, the corners of her lips curving upward into a delighted arc, as though she had encountered something immensely wonderful:
"Lord Kami-sama~"
Kitahara raised an eyebrow in bewilderment.
Lord Kami-sama?
What kind of address is that?
Standing up, the blue-haired girl tilted her delicate face slightly; beneath the dim yellow streetlight, the girl's side profile was extraordinarily pretty, especially those eyes of hers, sparkling brightly in the light:
"Hungry."
"Food."
"..."
Kitahara's lips twitched faintly, only one thought crossing his mind.
Crap.
I've gotten myself into trouble.
Three minutes later.
Holding the key, Kitahara unlocked his apartment door.
"I'm home~."
The girl's crisp, melodious voice rang out.
With both hands behind her back, the blue-haired girl strolled naturally into the genkan, her delicate face utterly devoid of the tension one ought to feel entering a stranger's home.
Just earlier at his doorstep, after the blue-haired girl called out 'Hungry, food,' Kitahara instantly sensed trouble knocking, promptly pulling out a thousand yen to send her on her way.
Yet after taking the money, the blue-haired girl flatly refused to leave; instead, pushing her luck, she brazenly asked to borrow the bathroom to take a shower.
Kitahara naturally would not agree.
Who could have known that in the very next second, the blue-haired girl would discard all shame and drop to her knees, clutching his leg tightly and crying out pitifully with excuses like: 'If I don't shower I'll catch a cold, I have no money for medicine, I'll die right away, and you wouldn't want to become a murderer, would you?'
Left with no other choice, Kitahara had to bring this blue-haired girl—whose name he didn't even know—into his home.
"Something's off..."
"It's getting more and more off..."
"Compared to boys, girls are undoubtedly the more vulnerable party. To enter a strange man's house with zero guard like this, and even plan on borrowing the bathroom to shower—is she not afraid in the slightest?"
"This whole affair is way too fishy; there is definitely something wrong..."
While pondering, Kitahara was about to fetch a pair of slippers, only to turn around and see that the blue-haired girl had already bent down, retrieving a pair of spare slippers from the shoe rack with exceptionally practiced ease, just as if...
"Just as if she returned to her own house?"
The subtle emotion surging in his heart made Kitahara unable to resist muttering a complaint under his breath.
"Lord Kami-sama." Having changed into the slippers, the blue-haired girl looked up, the corners of her lips tilting upward faintly, a wisp of subtle delight lingering at the edges of her eyes. "I am Yamada Ryo; I still don't know your name."
"...Kitahara Makoto."
Kitahara replied in a soft voice:
"Just call me by my name; don't call me Lord Kami-sama, it sounds very awkward."
"Alright then." Ryo clasped her hands behind her back. "Then from now on I'll call you Kitahara. It's a pleasure to meet you; please take good care of me from now on."
Kitahara: "..."
I'm only letting you borrow the bathroom to shower; there is no 'from now on' at all!
Ryo raised her right hand: "The wood sorrel was so dry; could I drink some milk?"
"Sure, I'll go get it for you..."
Before Kitahara could finish speaking, he saw Ryo walk familiarly up to the refrigerator, reach out to open it, and pull out two cartons of milk from inside.
"Here." Ryo handed a bottle of milk over. "Don't mention it."
Kitahara: "..."
Treating someone else's milk as your own gift to offer—how do you have the nerve!
Taking the milk with resignation, Kitahara asked curiously:
"Yamada-san, why were you sitting alone under the streetlamp?"
Ryo tilted her head toward him:
"Ryo."
"What?"
"Call me directly by my given name."
Kitahara hesitated: "Calling you by your given name right away is a bit improper, isn't it?"
Japan was a place that placed great weight on elaborate etiquette; only sufficiently intimate friends could directly call someone by their given name, otherwise it was considered very rude behavior.
"I don't want to hear you say Yamada; it's too distant." Ryo tilted her chin up slightly, her snow-white neck appearing exquisitely graceful under the light, her tone suddenly turning serious. "Call me Ryo directly."
"...Ryo-san?"
"Call me Senpai; I'm seventeen years old right now, exactly one year older than you."
"Wait." Kitahara quickly caught the blind spot. "How do you know how old I am?"
Ryo blinked her eyes, suddenly poking out the tip of her pink tongue and knocking her fist lightly against her head:
"Ehehe~"
Hey, hey, don't try to act cute to gloss over it!
"Mom and Dad are busy with work; they often don't come home for days, and sometimes I don't see them for half a month straight... Today I came over to buy vinyl records and couldn't resist spending all my allowance; forget eating, I don't even have money left to ride the train..."
Hearing Ryo's explanation, Kitahara summarized subconsciously:
"A broken home, a runaway girl."
"Well, in short, that's the situation." Ryo finished the milk in one breath, letting out a refreshing exhale. "Since no one is home anyway, going back tomorrow doesn't matter either."
A bad premonition welled up in his heart, and Kitahara couldn't resist asking:
"Wait, what do you mean going back tomorrow? Didn't we agree you were just borrowing the bathroom?"
"Ehehe~"
"Stop playing dumb, alright?!"
"..."
"My clothes are soaked through from the rain; if I don't shower quickly, I really might catch a cold." Ryo walked to the bathroom door, turning her head back, tilting her head slightly while closing her right eye. "I never lock the door when I shower; if Kitahara wants to peek, I'll pretend I didn't notice, okay?"
"I have no interest in peeking." Kitahara said expressionlessly, "If I want to look, I will only look fair and square."
He originally intended to frighten Ryo so she would leave in a panic, but for some reason, upon hearing those words, not only was Ryo not scared in the least, her face instead bloomed into a sweet, heart-stirring smile:
"As long as Kitahara-kun answers one question correctly, you can look at me showering fair and square, you know."
"What question?"
Kitahara asked subconsciously.
It wasn't that he wanted to watch an unfamiliar girl shower; the question had slipped out entirely on reflex.
"Well, let me think..." Pointing a slender, doll-like index finger upward, Ryo smiled over at him. "Got it: what does one plus one equal?"
Kitahara: "..."
It's a brain teaser, isn't it?
It definitely is!
"One plus one, right?" Kitahara said expressionlessly, "My answer is two."
Clap, clap.
Ryo clapped lightly to show encouragement:
"Very good, correct answer."
Kitahara: "..."
An indescribable premonition welled up in his heart.
He felt like prey, firmly targeted by the hunter senpai before his eyes.
"Well, the door really won't be locked." Clasping her hands behind her back, Ryo smiled as she walked into the bathroom. "If Kitahara wants to see a beautiful girl shower, then just come right on in fair and square."
"..."
Whoosh.
Hot water poured down from the showerhead.
Lathering up, Ryo recalled the gathering everyone held at the café yesterday evening.
Without question, Kitahara had indeed forgotten everything right now; he wasn't faking amnesia to trick them. The trait of the [Knot of All Things] could only be activated by females, so Kitahara was unable to store his memories inside the ribbon hair tie.
Yet the girls were not worried.
Before restarting life, the girls had already consulted the Book of Answers, learning that there were plenty of ways to help Kitahara regain his memories, and that one day they would surely help him recall everything.
Therefore, after deliberating, the girls reached a unanimous agreement: before Kitahara recovered his memories, they would fulfill his 'wish'—
Letting Kitahara experience the feeling of being pursued by girls, as well as being plunged into a massive romantic bloodbath.
Twenty minutes later.
The sounds of washing inside the bathroom came to a quiet end.
"Kitahara," Ryo's call drifted out from the bathroom. "I don't have a change of clothes."
Kitahara was instantly speechless:
"If you don't have a change of clothes, what are you calling me for?"
"Bring one of your shirts over." Ryo's voice echoed out from the bathroom once more. "I can just wear your shirt."
Kitahara's lips twitched faintly:
"Can't you still wear the clothes you took off?"
"Can't wear them, they're already wet." Ryo replied with righteous justification, "Hurry up and bring the shirt over, or else I'm walking out naked—you wouldn't want me getting your floor all wet, right?"
Kitahara: "..."
If you walk out of the bathroom naked, you're clearly the one getting the short end of the stick, alright!
"...Wait there."
Kitahara let out a helpless breath, pinching the bridge of his nose as he went to fetch clothes.
He harbored a bizarre premonition that if he didn't bring the shirt over, this weed-eating girl he just picked up would genuinely stroll right out of the bathroom completely naked...
A moment later.
Holding a white shirt, Kitahara arrived at the bathroom door, tapped lightly, and turned his body sideways:
"Here."
The bathroom door cracked open slightly; seeing Kitahara standing with his back turned to her, the corners of Ryo's soft lips curled upward:
"Truly adorable."
If it were before restarting life, Kitahara would never have been this 'innocent and conservative'—he would have long stared right inside without batting an eye.
"What did you say?"
Kitahara glanced back in confusion.
"Well, I said thank you, Kitahara." Ryo reached out to take the shirt. "It's all thanks to Kitahara-sama's benevolence that I get to wear a clean shirt; for such great kindness, I wouldn't mind pledging myself to you, you know."
"..."
Kitahara had no desire to chat with her, turning around to head back to the living room instead.
Before long, Ryo pushed open the door and stepped out of the bathroom; a wisp of fragrance drifted into Kitahara's nose, prompting him to glance sideways involuntarily.
Having just stepped out from the bath, the blue-haired girl wore a languid expression, drying her hair with a towel, dressed only in the white shirt he usually wore; the hem shielded the base of her thighs, barely functioning as a dress.
Under the bright lighting, the girl's skin was as white as snow, like top-tier mutton-fat jade, dazzlingly pale under the illumination.
Not only that, Ryo was clearly not wearing any underwear; as she walked, the outlines of her petite steamed buns were faintly discernible beneath the shirt...
Kitahara quietly withdrew his gaze, feeling inexplicably parched.
She really came out dressed like that?
Showing zero guard toward a stranger is completely playing with fire, alright! If you ran into a bad guy, you'd already be crying and begging for mercy right now!
"Kitahara, I'm hungry."
Ryo looked over with pitiful, puppy-dog eyes:
"I want to eat something."
Taking a deep breath, Kitahara pointed a finger:
"There are some ingredients in the fridge; if you want to eat, cook it yourself."
Ryo shook her head flatly: "I don't know how to cook."
"Then what do you know how to do?"
"I know how to eat."
"..."
A fellow who only knows how to eat and doesn't know how to cook shouldn't look so smug about it!
Kitahara pressed the bridge of his nose, feeling more and more that bringing this person home was a terrible mistake:
"There are cup noodles in the kitchen; you know how to make cup noodles at least, right?"
"Don't want to." Crossing her arms over her chest, Ryo shook her head once more. "Cup noodles made by someone else taste better."
Kitahara gave a look of pure disdain: "Then don't eat."
"But I can't sleep on an empty stomach..." Leaning forward with her left hand propped on the floor, Ryo hooked her right index finger into the shirt's collar and slowly pulled downward, quickly exposing the girl's delicate, lovely collarbone to the air. "As long as Kitahara goes and makes the cup noodles, I can give you some rewards, you know."
Kitahara quickly averted his gaze:
"This is only our first time meeting; please conduct yourself with dignity."
"Ehh..."
The corners of Ryo's soft lips curved upward into a delighted arc:
"Little Kitahara right now truly is very cute after all."