The pain was unbearable.
The images she'd just witnessed felt as though they were tearing Tsugumi Matsuri's heart apart. She couldn't believe it—every fear she'd ever tried to bury had just become real—and all she wanted was to put as much distance between herself and that place as she possibly could. But her eyes kept flooding with soft, hazy scenes, memories rising unbidden: time spent with Inori, warmth she'd never felt before in her life. And now the person she treasured most had betrayed her.
——Why is it like this? I finally found someone I liked, finally found a best friend I thought I'd keep forever. Why do both those beautiful things add up to something this painful?
Matsuri ran, fighting back tears with everything she had. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding. Maybe it wasn't what it looked like. But words like that weren't going to convince a child, let alone herself.
When you already suspect something—and then you see what looks like proof—it's nearly impossible to stay rational enough to question whether that "proof" actually makes sense. Especially for someone like Matsuri, who had so little experience navigating the messy reality of the world. In this moment, she had decided, with absolute stubbornness, that what she'd seen was the truth.
Inori had been deceiving her on purpose. Inori had known she liked Shu, and had deliberately gotten close to him anyway—charming him, making him devoted to her—so she could bully Matsuri later. All this time, living under the same roof… who could have imagined that sweet little Inori was this kind of woman?
Inori took a shortcut to cut her off, vaulting over whatever obstacles got in her way with King Crimson's help, parkouring after her.
Her transfer had been headline-worthy news the moment it happened—enough to shake the whole school—and in the Tennouzu High uniform she was wearing now, more than a few students heading home had already recognized her on the way. She didn't have time to deal with them. Her brow was creased, her lip caught lightly between her teeth, working through the problem: if Matsuri really had heard what she and Shu were talking about, where did she even begin to explain it?
Going by how quickly Matsuri had accepted Shu being in Funeral Parlor in the original story—and how fast she'd moved to help him rescue Gai and Inori—this probably wasn't going to be an insurmountable problem.
But the original story was a reference, not a guarantee. Inori never let herself treat fiction as fact. She always planned for failure, always made sure she could turn a losing hand around before she needed to.
What she didn't understand was why Matsuri's reaction had been this extreme. She'd looked at Inori like Inori had committed some unforgivable sin.
Matsuri, still running, crashed headlong into someone.
But the other person's chest felt wrong—small and slight and soft, yet somehow solid, like a wall where there shouldn't be one. Despite being the one who'd been running, Matsuri was the one who stumbled back several steps. The other person didn't move at all.
Matsuri looked up to apologize—and froze.
"Inori?"
"Where are you going in such a hurry?"
Inori smiled, easy and natural. Her signature expression.
"I… I… why did you follow me?"
The words cracked open the dam. All of Matsuri's pent-up anguish came flooding out at once, and no matter how much she didn't want to cry in front of Inori, tears were already running down her face. The sight of that unwilling, reluctant weeping made something ache in the chest even of a bystander.
Plenty of their schoolmates had noticed the scene by now—stopping, clustering, murmuring—and one of the two girls involved was Inori, the internet idol and lead vocalist of EGOIST, who had only just transferred here today…
"I saw my dearest friend acting strangely," Inori said. "Can't I ask what's wrong?"
"You—! …Inori, it's all because of you…"
"Me?"
Inori couldn't ask directly—not here, in front of everyone—whether Matsuri had overheard the conversation with Shu. So she didn't rush. She let Matsuri get there herself.
"If you… if you liked Shu… you could have just told me. I… I wouldn't have stood in your way…"
"...Hah?"
Inori rarely let that kind of genuine surprise show on her face anymore. She blinked, eyes narrowing, brow furrowing—if this were a manga there'd be several oversized question marks floating in the air around her head.
"Me? Interested in that guy? Are you serious?!"
"But I saw you with your arms around him, laughing together…"
"And that's all you saw?"
"Isn't that enough?!"
Matsuri had reached the stage of reckless desperation, completely ignoring the wall of astonished eyes from classmates surrounding them on all sides. A rumor about a famous idol and an ordinary girl competing for the same boy was practically gift-wrapping itself—Inori could already feel a headache building behind her eyes. But compared to all of that, there was one thing worth being genuinely relieved about.
...Matsuri hadn't heard the conversation with Shu. She'd only seen the tail end of Inori coaxing him to join, from behind—and had built an entire melodrama around it.
——As expected of you, Matsuri.
"I only wandered over because I happened to be passing by. I was just chatting with him about something—nothing happened, I promise."
With the real secret confirmed safe, Inori settled considerably. What remained was a ridiculous misunderstanding, and that was easy enough to deal with.
"Inori, I'm not an idiot!" Matsuri scrubbed at her tears, digging in with what passed for her forceful side. "You told me you were touring the school with an upperclassman! Why would you even be at Shu's place unless you'd arranged it beforehand?!"
"Calm down first."
Inori said it evenly, and at the same time let her gaze drift sideways—noting that the crowd had only grown larger. She couldn't let this continue, or she'd never wash herself clean no matter how far into Tokyo Bay she jumped. She had zero, zero interest in men. Especially not in a "male lead" archetype like Shu Ouma, whom she'd found irritating from the moment she knew anything about him. Even a rumor was unacceptable.
"Think about it, Matsuri. We've known each other long enough—do I seem like someone who acts like that?"
"...But…"
"Shu asked me to come by and give him feedback on some video work. I knew you liked him, so I made up an excuse—I didn't want you to misread it. And the thing you saw me doing from behind? His earphone had a component slip into his ear. I was just getting it out for him. That's all."
Inori pressed her fingers to her temple and laid it all out with a long-suffering sigh.
"I—I don't believe you!"
But the severity had already faded from Matsuri's face, replaced by something noticeably softer.
Inori knew the explanation probably wouldn't hold up to serious scrutiny. But sometimes the most unbelievable lie was more convincing than the truth—because in Matsuri's heart, this was a reasonable answer. She was saying "I don't believe you" because she hadn't quite cleared the emotional hurdle yet, not because she'd found any logical flaws.
What was needed now was something bolder. Something that would knock her over that threshold completely.
Conveniently, the sun had shifted in the sky while they'd been talking. The last light of dusk was spreading out across the street in deep amber and red—perfect atmosphere.
"You and Shu are pretty close, aren't you, Matsuri?"
"..."
A flash of apprehension crossed Matsuri's face, because Inori had just smiled. And it was a bad smile—the kind you saw on the villain in every TV drama ever.
"I've been wondering about it. He's such a shut-in, such a timid little guy—but lately he's been walking around looking genuinely happy. That's all because of you, isn't it."
"Inori— what are you—"
Inori was already moving, closing the gap in two quick steps. The rich scent of her perfume hit Matsuri's senses like a wave, flooding her brain—and before Matsuri had any idea what was happening, Inori's hands closed around both of her wrists, and that impossibly perfect face—too beautiful to be real—came surging toward her.
——!!
——Huh?
Matsuri's brain exploded.
Her wide brown eyes went completely blank. The look on her face was pure, unfiltered panic. And then sensation arrived: warm and cool at once, soft as honey—
Inori's lips, against hers.
Comfortable. The thought formed before Matsuri could stop it. Want more—
No. Absolutely not. Matsuri wasn't that far gone. She understood exactly what had just happened in the next fraction of a second—she'd just been kissed, without her consent, by another girl—
"That's what I'm talking about—only Inori could pull something like that off without even blinking!"
"The audacity! I'm in awe!"
The crowd around them erupted.
"Mmph—wha—Inori!! What do you think you're DOING—?!"
Matsuri shoved her back with everything she had. The helpless flailing, the face gone completely scarlet—she was unbearably cute like this, and Inori, completely unruffled, lifted a hand and touched the corner of her own mouth, still smiling.
"Have you ever kissed Shu?" she asked pleasantly. "I thought not."
She crossed her arms. With a full-on DIO face, Inori made her announcement.
"Your first kiss didn't go to Shu Ouma. It was me—Inori!"