Near the peak of Mount Fujikasane, at the edge of a clearing where a stream snaked through white flowers, Kanao remained sitting in silence under an old tree.
Her lilac eyes followed the flow of the water, lost in a daze. The moonlight outlined every petal sharply, and between her fingers, the worn coin spun with an almost imperceptible friction, back and forth, back and forth.
Her mind remained completely blank.
She simply existed there, letting time pass right through her...
Until a voice broke the murmur of the stream behind her.
"What a surprise! We meet again, Kanao~"
Turning slightly, an attractive face returned her gaze with an overly wide smile.
It was Marcus, who had guided himself the entire way thanks to the sensitivity of his Breathing.
"..."
Kanao looked at him in silence, but her fingers already rested lightly on the hilt of her sword.
Marcus froze for an instant and, coming to a halt, raised his hands.
"Well~ being on high alert is a good thing, but I come in peace." He formed a conciliatory smile. "I just wanted to propose that we team up."
"Team up?"
"With me?"
"... Absolutely out of the question."
Maintaining her absolute silence, Kanao gave him one last sharp look and stood up to leave.
Marcus raised an eyebrow. It was the second time she rejected him...
Even so, he persisted in his effort. He picked up the pace and followed her, maintaining exactly five meters of distance.
"Take your time to decide. Seven days is a long time... walking alone must be boring. There are quite a few demons up here, going together is safer, right?" He made a calculated pause. "And if deciding proves too difficult for you... why not flip that coin?"
Kanao's eyelashes fluttered slightly, and she picked up the pace.
Evidently, Kanao knew how to reject people.
Only specific things were decided with a toss in the air.
The things she hated doing, the ones that displeased her, triggered an immediate dismissal.
And it was completely logical.
If she truly had to submit every single decision to the whim of a coin, what would happen the day a stranger stood in front of her and said, "Please, marry me"? Would she actually have to reach into her pocket and grant him a fifty percent chance?
However, it was evident this was her very first time running into someone so shameless.
Her rejection was completely unequivocal. And even so, there he remained.
If she sped up, he sped up. If she slowed down, he slowed down. He maintained his exact position at all times.
He simply stayed there, exactly five meters away, like a smiling shadow.
Three minutes... five minutes... ten minutes...
Finally coming to a halt, she turned around to look at him.
This man was a ghost. He walked in complete silence and his presence faded away almost entirely.
Every time she convinced herself his departure was final, turning her head was enough to find him still right there, smiling at her with an infuriating calmness.
Having to stay on guard against the demons and, on top of that, against him too felt incredibly annoying.
"If you find me that annoying, maybe you could toss a coin to decide if you join me."
"If it lands on tails, I will leave obediently."
"..."
Kanao's silence dragged on a moment longer than usual. Then, with a brief movement, she pulled the coin from her clothes.
Clink
The metallic sound cut through the night air, crisp as a little bell.
The coin spun, fell, and Kanao caught it deftly, covering it under her palm.
And after a brief pause, she removed her hand.
Tails.
She showed the result to Marcus, her face maintaining its usual serene expression, except... the corners of her lips seemed to curve upward an almost imperceptible fraction.
"..."
Marcus deciphered the message behind that microscopic smile: "Look, you have terrible luck."
"... Does she have a mischievous side?"
"..."
Pocketing the coin, Kanao locked her gaze directly on him.
The message was clear: Keep your promise.
"... is this my third rejection?" Marcus smiled in resignation and turned around.
He needed Kanao to see him as a man of his word. So he walked away, accepting his fate, under the watchful gaze of those lilac eyes.
"Sigh..."
Kanao finally sighed in relief.
After confirming Marcus's presence had completely faded away, she turned and resumed her path up the mountain.
However...
Three minutes later.
"This is incredible, it is destiny, we meet again, Kanao!"
Marcus, still wearing his bright smile, waited for her right on the path ahead, and at his feet lay a little demon that died with its eyes wide open, turning into ashes.
"What a surprise... want to team up?"
"..."
Kanao stared fixedly at that smile.
How familiar... Irritatingly familiar.
"Well, if deciding proves too difficult, you can toss the coin. If it lands on tails, I will leave."
"..."
Maintaining her silence, Kanao tossed the coin.
Clink
And like someone showing off a trophy, she showed him the result with both eyebrows perfectly still.
Tails.
A vein popped on Marcus's forehead.
"What terrible luck!"
With stiff steps, he walked away.
...
Another three minutes passed...
"This is definitely destiny."
"..."
"Want to team up with me?"
Clink.
Tails.
"Fuck! Goodbye!"
...
Three minutes later...
"Kanao~"
Tails.
"This is completely absurd…"
...
Three minutes later.
"Again!"
Tails.
"Aaaaaah! I will be back!"
...
Three minutes later.
Tails.
"AHHH! IMPOSSIBLE! Ten tails in a row...! Kanao, you are cheating!"
Seeing Marcus crumbling in front of her, the now usual smile on Kanao's lips was about to fade... so she flipped the coin one more time.
Heads.
And she finally spoke.
Her voice was soft like the brush of silk. Her words, however, cut like frost.
"I am not cheating, you just have terrible luck."
"I almost thought the coin had a problem."
After saying such hurtful words, she walked smiling past a petrified Marcus.
...
Another three minutes passed...
Kanao stopped. It was not a conscious action, her feet simply ceased advancing, and she found herself waiting.
Waiting for the person who was supposed to appear to show up.
However, after waiting for ten seconds, Marcus's figure still did not show up.
"... Did he give up?"
...
"... Better this way."
She squeezed the coin between her fingers, tucked it away carefully, and resumed her path with her usual expression.
But in every three-minute interval that followed, her eyes searched her surroundings without her ordering them to.
And she found nothing.
Until thirty minutes passed…
———————
Flip a coin! If it lands on heads, drop your Power Stones. If it lands on tails... flip it again until it's heads and drop them anyway!
________
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