Chapter 21
Eriri pushed her bicycle to a stop at the entrance of an alley, staring at the new yellow sign in front of her. Her golden twin tails swayed irritably in the morning breeze.
"Roadwork ahead. Please detour—you've got to be kidding me!"
Yesterday, when she had come this way after school, the road had been fine. Overnight, half of it had been dug up. A construction crew's truck was parked in the middle of the road. Workers in hard hats moved behind the barricades, their posture clearly saying, "This road is closed, and love isn't getting through either."
Eriri glanced at her phone—7:16 AM. If she detoured to Toyonoki Academy, it would take at least twenty minutes longer. She would definitely be late.
"Damn it…" She bit her lower lip, her mind racing. Bus stop… The nearest bus stop was two blocks away. There was a direct line that passed near the school at 7:25. If she could catch it—
She didn't hesitate any longer. She quickly pushed her bicycle deep into the alley and locked it to the railing of a shop's back door. Then she grabbed her school bag and ran.
Sneakers? No such luck. Today, Eriri was wearing her standard school uniform—white shirt, navy blue blazer, pleated skirt that reached her knees, and shiny leather shoes on her feet. This outfit was a disaster. The skirt restricted her stride. The leather shoes made fast but clumsy sounds against the ground. Her school bag banged wildly against her back, the textbooks and drawing tools inside rattling.
"Haah… haah…"
After running less than a hundred meters, Eriri was already out of breath. Her constitution had never been good—as a child, she caught colds every month. In middle school, she had even earned the humiliating nickname "The Jade Girl of Island Village Middle School," half for her looks and half for her fragile appearance that seemed like it would fall over in the wind. Although Genji's Reverse Cursed Technique had healed the fatigue from staying up late, her basic physical fitness wouldn't improve overnight.
"Eriri, do you need help?" Genji's voice sounded in her ear, only she could hear it.
"No, I don't…" Eriri gritted her teeth and continued running, her cheeks flushed from the exertion. "I can… do it myself…"
Even so, by the time she finally rushed to the bus stop, she felt like she was about to collapse. At 7:22 AM, the platform was already packed—office workers, students, and elderly people carrying shopping bags. Eriri squeezed through the crowd and stood on tiptoe, looking toward the end of the road.
At 7:24, the massive body of a bus turned the corner.
The doors opened with a hiss. The crowd surged forward. Eriri was pushed onto the bus. She swiped her transit card, then remembered something and quickly swiped it again.
"Two people?" The driver, a middle-aged uncle, glanced at her.
"…Yes," Eriri answered vaguely, lowering her head as she walked into the bus.
Morning rush hour buses were like sardine cans. All the seats were taken. The aisles were packed with people. Eriri squeezed through the crowd, her gaze scanning the rows of seats—and then she froze.
By the window, a girl with long black hair sat quietly.
Utaha Kasumigaoka.
Today, she wasn't wearing her school uniform—just a white shirt and a pleated skirt, her slender legs wrapped in black stockings that gleamed softly in the morning light. In her hand, she held a hardcover book, but her eyes weren't looking at the words. She was staring at the flowing street scene outside the window, a characteristic morning laziness in her crimson eyes.
Eriri's mind was screaming: Don't go over there! Stand! Standing is better than sitting next to that gloomy woman!
But her feet were already moving.
Because on the entire bus, the only empty seat was next to Utaha—or rather, it wasn't empty, because she had placed her school bag on it. But at that moment, Utaha seemed to sense something. She turned her head and met Eriri's gaze.
They looked at each other for a second.
Utaha raised an eyebrow, and the corners of her lips curled into a smile. Then she reached out, picked up the school bag from the seat beside her, and hugged it to herself.
She had given up her seat.
Eriri opened her mouth to say something, but the bus suddenly turned, and inertia made her stumble. She quickly grabbed the handrail beside her and sat down next to Utaha, resigned to her fate.
"Thanks," she whispered, her voice strained.
"You're welcome," Utaha looked out the window again, her voice very soft. "After all, making a golden retriever stand and bounce around in a morning rush hour bus… if you get carsick and throw up, everyone on the bus will suffer."
"W-Who gets carsick?!" Eriri flared up. "And who are you calling a golden retriever?!"
"You tell me," Utaha didn't turn around.
A typical start. Eriri turned away in anger and looked out the window on the other side. Genji had appeared at some point, "standing" in the aisle—of course, only she could see him. He had his arms crossed, watching the street scene passing by outside the window with interest, occasionally glancing at the two arguing girls with a smile at the corner of his lips.
The bus drove smoothly. The streets outside the window gradually transitioned from residential areas to commercial districts, with more high-rise buildings and denser traffic. Inside the bus, it was quiet, only the hum of the engine and the occasional station announcement breaking the silence. Most passengers had their heads down, playing with their phones, or had their eyes closed resting, the fatigue of early morning written on everyone's faces.
Eriri secretly glanced at Utaha from the corner of her eye.
The black-haired girl was still looking out the window, her profile looking especially quiet in the morning light. She wasn't wearing makeup today—or very little—her long eyelashes casting a faint shadow on her cheeks, her lips a natural pale pink. The morning light streamed through the bus window, making her simple white shirt and black stockings… actually look kind of pretty.
Eriri quickly looked away, her cheeks inexplicably flushing. She forced herself to look forward, but in the bus's rearview mirror, she met the suspicious gaze of the driver uncle.
The uncle looked at her, then at the empty seat beside her—in the driver's eyes, there was no one next to Utaha—and frowned.
Eriri's heart tightened. Only then did she remember that she had just swiped her card twice. From the driver's perspective, this was a high school girl riding the bus alone, paying for two people, and talking to "thin air"…
"Hey, little girl," the driver finally couldn't help but speak. "You swiped your card twice just now. Do you want me to—"
The words didn't come out.
The bus jerked violently.
It wasn't the jolt of hitting a bump. The entire vehicle tilted to the left, as if struck by some massive force. Exclamations immediately rang out inside the bus. Standing passengers stumbled. Some who weren't holding onto the handrails fell to the floor.
"What's happening?!" The driver quickly stabilized the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes.
But the brakes didn't respond.
No, it wasn't a malfunction—it was as if something was holding the brake pedal down. The driver pressed down hard, but the pedal didn't budge, as if it had been welded to the floor. The bus didn't slow down. Instead, it began to accelerate, the engine roaring abnormally.
"The brakes… the brakes are broken!" The driver turned pale. He desperately turned the steering wheel, trying to pull over.
But the steering wheel was also locked.
The entire bus was like a wild beast, rampaging through the morning traffic. Horns blared. People screamed. Cars collided. Inside the bus, chaos erupted. Passengers grabbed onto anything they could in terror. Children cried out.