Comet Dragon, breaking into the gravity field

"...Let's not count the last two, shall we?"

"Are you talking about the lamp and the wild cat, or—"

After asking this question relentlessly, Shiina Riki suddenly realized that he had gone too far.

She lowered her head again and looked at the umbrella in her hand, which was dotted with stars. She had a vague urge to put it back to the original owner and run home in the rain.

"That must be the light—"

After a slowdown, the slightly swaying carriage finally stabilized. Before Naruse Ritsu could finish, Shiina Riki escaped through the door that automatically opened upon arrival.

He had never expected that after she took the initiative to ask him the question, she didn't want to hear his answer, so Ritsu Narose's movements were inevitably a step slower.

When he walked out of the station, he saw his umbrella held up under the street light, coated with a thin layer of white light in the drizzling rain.

Only after he came to her side did Shiina Riki continue their journey home with him.

"You haven't properly answered the other question I asked you before."

"what is the problem?"

"If I wasn't there, wouldn't you have come all the way here in vain?"

Seeing that Shiina Riki was still brooding over this matter, Naruse Ritsu had no choice but to repeat his previous words.

However, when he finished speaking, he found that Shiina Riki suddenly stopped and stood still.

——He is lying to me.

Shiina Riki thought so.

When Ritsu Narose came over, less than ten minutes had passed since she saw the message on Line.

If it was really just a "hobby" as he said, and he liked walking in the rain, then why did Ritsu Narose wear a raincoat and carry an umbrella that he would never use?

Are you trying to be cool and handsome like those middle school students with second-year syndrome?

Moreover, the umbrella he sent was not bought from a convenience store or supermarket. There were obvious signs of use on it.

She clearly brought the flag and the umbrella with her on purpose...

She curled her lips, and her already turbulent mood was further stirred up by this incident.

He followed Ritsu Narose silently, and suddenly there was a sense of awkwardness between the two of them.

"Are you going to walk all the way like this?"

"Shiina-san isn't someone who would just kick me away just because he has an umbrella, right?"

"..."

"Don't worry, I definitely won't follow you downstairs—it would be bad if your parents saw me and misunderstood."

For no reason, Shiina Riki was a little angry about this sentence.

She suddenly wanted to grab Ritsu Narose's collar and ask him why he ran over in the rain to bring her an umbrella, and why he was now keeping a distance from her.

"I'll return the umbrella to you when we get downstairs."

"Give it back to me?" Blinking, Ritsu Narose was a little surprised.

Thinking Shiina Riki had misunderstood his thoughts, he hesitated for a moment and explained, "I'm not too concerned about this umbrella... and I don't mean to urge Shiina-san to return it to me as soon as I get home. It's completely fine to return it tomorrow."

"tomorrow?"

"Since we will meet again tomorrow, it won't be too late to return it to me then, right?"

Hearing these matter-of-fact words, a faint joy suddenly jumped in my heart.

Turning his head in anger, Shiina Riki just happened to see the car lights turned on in the motorway behind him.

The gasoline-powered wheels stirred up the rainwater accumulated on the ground. When Shiina Riki came to her senses, she had already put down the umbrella she had been holding in her hand, shielding the two of them from the dirty water that was about to splash on them.

91. Confused Thoughts

"……Are you stupid?"

Although he understood that Shiina Riki had good intentions, Naruse Ritsu still felt a sense of uncertainty as he watched the car slow down and slowly drive towards the small bridge directly ahead.

Holding the bottom of the umbrella and holding it upright again, he couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the girl in front of him who was already drenched by the rain.

After hearing Ritsu Naruse's sigh, Riki Shiina finally realized what he had just done.

Suddenly, two blushes of shy pink appeared on her cheeks.

Instead of teasing or provoking her, Ritsu Narose pretended nothing had happened and looked at the plaque on the side of the road with the name of the bridge.

"The Shadow Bridge..."

Hearing Naruse Ritsu whispering the name she was all too familiar with, Shiina Riki hurriedly said, "My house is just up ahead!"

"Is that so? Then I'll take my leave."

"and many more!"

Just as he waved his hand and was about to turn around and leave, Naruse Ritsu saw Shiina Riki under the umbrella suddenly raise her rain-soaked face and look at him with bright eyes.

However, when he turned around, the original look was replaced by panic.

Even though the rain showed no sign of stopping, Ritsu Naruse could still feel a certain feeling from Riki Shiina that could not be washed away by the rain.

Or maybe it was because she was in this rain curtain and was washed by the rain that she revealed some of her true nature?

"Thank you, thank you..."

When he heard Shiina Riki trying hard to express his gratitude to him, Naruse Ritsu's first reaction was to look carefully at the girl in front of him who had finally become more frank.

Accepting her gratitude calmly, Ritsu Narose waved goodbye to her and turned to leave the "Face Shadow Bridge".

Watching him gradually walk away and disappear in the rain ahead, Shiina Riki then saw a red flash rising from the ground and flying into the deeper night in the distance.

The few pedestrians around seemed not to have seen the surreal scene. Only she stood there with an umbrella, silently watching the gradually fading red track.

Combing the hair that was wet by the rain and stuck to his forehead to the side, Shiina Riki once again set out on the road home alone.

Only then did she realize that the sense of security that had always been with her had quietly disappeared with the departure of Ritsu Narose.

When you walk with him, you don't have to worry about awkward silences, and you will also receive his warm care and attention.

The only thing she could and needed to do was to slowly take off her disguise in this soothing atmosphere and reveal her inner self that she could never normally reveal.

Suddenly, Shiina Riki remembered the record he had seen in Naruse Ritsu's study before.

——Did he touch himself in order to observe humans?

There is no direct evidence to prove this, but Shiina Riki believes that it was for this reason that he came to bring her an umbrella at night.

Otherwise there is no other reason to explain why he did this...

Like a ship dropping its anchor at the shore, Shiina Riki kept emphasizing this point in his mind.

From returning home, taking a shower, and changing into dry, comfortable clothes, to sitting in front of the computer and repeatedly thinking about how to compose music, even lying on the bed with the lights turned off and facing the wall...

Curled up in bed, she kept emphasizing this point.

It was not until she woke up the next day that she found herself in the mirror with dark circles under her eyes due to staying up late and not sleeping.

At this moment, her confused thoughts were defeated by an even stronger sense of sleepiness.

He rolled up the dried umbrella and took it away. Even though the weather forecast for today did not report the possibility of rain, Shiina Riki still walked on the road as an outlier among the people who did not carry umbrellas.

After entering the classroom, she placed the umbrella she had been holding tightly in her hand diagonally on the wall next to her seat. However, not long after putting it down, she picked it up again and stared blankly at the star pattern on it.

When the bell rang, she was overwhelmed by sleepiness and spent the morning with the teacher shaking his head helplessly and the students behind him sweating profusely.

"You look very happy today."

During lunch break, standing in front of the outdoor beverage machine, Shiina Riki had just taken out his usual chocolate-flavored milk jelly from the delivery port when the girl next to him with medium-long hair and side bangs suddenly spoke.

Hachiman Kairin, her classmate and friend.

"How can I be happy?" After removing the straw, Shiina Riki retorted habitually.

“Few people would stare at an umbrella, especially on a sunny day.”

"Ahem! I—"

After choking on the drink, when Shiina Riki recovered, she saw Hachiman Kailing observing her with her emerald green eyes.

Without the desire to continue arguing, she finished her drink and returned to the classroom to lie down on the table to rest.

However, as soon as he lay down on the cold table, Shiina Riki recalled the scene last night when he was too weak to sit on the chair, resting his head on the table in a daze.

With her limited talents, even if she tried her best to catch up, it would be difficult for her to produce a satisfactory answer.

not enough time.

Far from enough.

What Ritsu Naruse said was right. "Shiina Riki" was indeed being chased by something, and the thing that was chasing and oppressing her was created by her own hands.

As a band that is about to perform live, what do they have to show off?

The wild cat's superb guitar skills may be one of them, and the "Haruhi Shadow" once created by Takamatsu Tomo and Toyokawa Shoko is also one of them, and Takamatsu Tomo's heart-shaking singing voice - other than that, there is nothing else.

Having to struggle to survive in the concerts hosted by Poppin'Party and Afterglow... She suddenly felt a little regretful for agreeing to Rinrinko-senpai's request.

But without this kind of pressure, neither Chihaya Aine nor Nagasaki Motoyo would be willing to put in the effort to practice seriously, right?

Although this problem seems to have been partially solved by Ritsu Naruse...

Turning his head slightly and looking at the umbrella leaning against the wall, Shiina Riki's mood became strange again.

She took out her cell phone and opened the chat history with Ritsu Narose, and she saw the question mark he sent her yesterday afternoon.

That was the message she sent while she was working.

If I think about it for a moment, I will know that it must be my actions yesterday that caught his attention.

Looking at the blank message bar at the bottom of the screen, Shiina Riki didn't know what to say in response - the two of them had never chatted alone since they added each other as friends.

The few times they communicated were in group chats.

"So annoying."

She put away her phone, and the worries she had forgotten about came flooding back like a tide.

“If only there were more time…”

Suddenly, Shiina Riki, who had been muttering to herself, sat up straight, and as if realizing something, she took out her mobile phone and opened the chat software.

Before heading to that world, a word she said unintentionally came back to her like a boomerang.

"If we can prepare it there..."

Just like a drowning person grabbing the last weed on the shore, Shiina Riki pursed his thin lips, which he had not had time to apply lipstick on today, and finally made up his mind to send out the idea that he had checked several times and confirmed to be correct.

92. Roll, roll hard

"Yo~"

When Shiina Riki saw Naruse Ritsu, Naruse Ritsu, who felt a familiar gaze, also followed the source of the gaze and found her.

As a greeting, Ritsu Narose handed another cup of coffee from the bag to Riki Shiina.

"Eh, thank you..."

Perhaps last night's chat brought them closer together, and now Shiina Riki seems to have become accustomed to expressing gratitude in a more straightforward manner.

It was after school, and the two people mixed in with the students seemed inconspicuous.

Just like yesterday, there was no band practice today - once Shiina Riki remained silent in the chat group, no one would take the initiative to propose gathering for practice.

A guitarist in the band hadn't adjusted to her travel mindset yet, and was sweating profusely as she prayed that they wouldn't have to rush to gather and that they would be given more time to practice.

The bassist with something to hide is even less likely to propose this plan to strengthen team cohesion. She is stubborn and is still dreaming of an unattainable dream.

The taciturn lead singer would not do such conspicuous actions to gather the crowd, and the other guitarist rarely even sent messages.

On the way to her part-time job, Ritsu Naruse asked Tatsuki Shiina about the message she sent at noon today.

"What are you going to do?" Ritsu Narushe inserted the straw into the cup without rushing to taste the drink. Looking at the girl beside him, he asked curiously, "Are you going to start today?"

Not yet accustomed to being called by his name, a tingling sensation suddenly spread throughout Shiina Riki's body.