This is not the date I wanted.

After receiving Shidou's affirmation, Miku said with great enthusiasm.

"Ok!"

Shidou nodded in agreement at first, then realized something was wrong.

(hunting?)

"Ah, so you're here, Miku!"

Suddenly, at this moment, Miku's agent, Subaru Kuroraya, suddenly appeared in front of Miku and Shidou.

“Oh, no…”

Miku muttered to herself, shrank a little, and hid behind Shidou.

"There's no point trying to hide!"

Subaru walked forward angrily and pulled Miku out from behind Shidou, looking furious.

"Just when I was about to go back, I suddenly disappeared. Are you trying to make me anxious and cause my stomach disease to relapse? I almost called the police to find you."

"Hug, sorry."

Mijiu couldn't help but lower her head in shame.

"Really..."

After sighing helplessly, Ms. Subaru turned her gaze towards Shidou and her tone became slightly kinder.

"I'm sorry, Itsuka-kun. You were the one who found Miku, you really were a big help."

"No, I just..."

It's because of me that your idol suddenly disappeared. Shidou really didn't dare to say that.

"You came here to grab Miku's autographed album, right? At this time... it seems impossible."

Subaru looked at the time on his watch and seemed to have mistakenly thought that Shidou was delayed because he was helping Miku lead the way, and he couldn't help but feel sorry.

After hesitating for a moment, Subaru pulled out a CD with the handwritten name "Yuiya Miku" from his pocket and stuffed it into Shidou's hand.

"Wait! Miss Ang, this—"

Shidou said in a panic.

"You're welcome. I've received a lot of help from you before. Just consider this as an apology."

Without waiting for Shidou to hand the CD back, Subaru took Miku's hand and turned away.

"It's time to go Miku. We have work to do next!"

"Eh?! I still need to go check on my fans in the store—"

"Are you trying to make the scene go haywire?! Absolutely not!"

Watching Ms. Subaru pulling Miku into the car, Shidou looked at the signed CD in his hand. How should I put it...it's obviously very light, but it feels super heavy.

"Cheating... This is..."

The phone in his pocket buzzed slightly, and Shidou took it out and looked at it. Among the text messages from Kotori, there was a text message from Miku.

【Title: Come on

Text: You must find the hacker. And I can spare some time to go over there tomorrow, remember to keep it a secret from Tohka Nanashi and the others (>ω?* )ノ】

"Ah...Kotori, I'll be relying on you at home tomorrow."

With a wry sigh, Shidou put the CD into the pocket of his school uniform, then slapped his face hard.

"well!"

After adjusting his mood, Shidou rushed towards the store that Miku mentioned.

——————————————I arrived at the dividing line of the store————————————————————

"Ah... that girl. She was definitely here."

At the counter in the store, after hearing Shidou's description, Hayado Natsutake nodded slightly.

"Really? Then where is she now?"

Shidou asked in surprise.

"Sigh... Even if you asked me, there's no reason for us to ask about our guests' daily schedules."

Xia Zhu smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"That's right..."

Shidou couldn't help but droop his shoulders in disappointment.

"But speaking of which, that customer was really strange. He finally got the last signed CD, but he looked so regretful. He even asked me that there were only 99 copies, so where did the other one go?"

Hearing Hayado Natsutake muttering to himself, Shidou's shoulders couldn't help but tremble.

"Really... Why is it always when I'm about to give up..."

After muttering something quietly, Shidou raised his head and turned to leave.

"Thank you very much. Keep up the good work, Bamboo Princess."

"I'm the class monitor! Oh no - why am I being called this shameful title by two strangers in a row!"

……

(Think about it, think carefully! Meng Yue’s habits, interests, and ways of doing things——)

While strolling on the street, Shidou shook his head and kept thinking in his mind.

At first, Shidao thought Mengyue came to Akihabara to avoid him. But now, it seems that this is not the case.

Mengyue was just doing what she wanted to do as a matter of course.

Because Mengyue is a stay-at-home, she came to Akihabara.

Because Mengyue is a fan of Meijiu, she went to the store to buy Meijiu's autographed album.

If I follow this line of thought, perhaps I can predict Mengyue's next move.

(If I were Meng Yue, I would be relieved after grabbing the CD, and then...)

"Ah, I'm full! Really, it was all because of Shidou's business that delayed me. I ended up waiting in line for so long for this CD that I didn't even have time to eat. Luckily I found a ramen shop."

Suddenly, when passing by a ramen shop, a very familiar nagging voice came from the other side of the door, which made Shidao stop involuntarily.

Crash - the door of the ramen shop was opened from the inside, and what Shidou saw was a girl wearing a black windbreaker and school uniform that looked like cosplay, with a toothpick in her mouth, a signed CD of Yui Miku in one hand, and the other hand scratching her long brown hair.

"Eh?"

Their eyes met involuntarily. The other party seemed to have not expected Shidou to appear here, and his body stiffened involuntarily.

Unable to help but rub his eyes, Shidou looked at the girl in front of him in disbelief.

After confirming that it was not an illusion, Shidao took a deep breath to suppress the emotions in his heart and said slowly,

"Finally found you, Mengyue..."

"—!!"

Meng Yue seemed to have finally reacted, and hurriedly spit out the toothpick, put the CD into the pocket of her windbreaker, and made a strange pose that Shidou couldn't understand, and said this in a very imposing manner,

"Everything is the choice of Steins;gate! Note*"

"……what is that?"

"…Nothing, I just wanted to talk about it."

Note*: This is the catchphrase of Okabe Rintaro, the protagonist of the anime "Steins;Gate" adapted from the game.

08 Why?

==============================

"Grilled rice balls and fried chicken rice balls, 270 yen in total."

"Here, 270 yuan, right?"

Putting the heated rice balls into the shopping bag, Shidou took out his wallet and handed a few coins to the cashier.

"Hi, that's right. Welcome to come next time."

The automatic door of the convenience store slowly opened to both sides, and Shidou saw that in the cold street, the girl with long brown hair was leaning against a telephone pole, wearing white headphones connected to a CD player on her ears, and tapping her toes to some melody.

“Hmph~Hmph~~”

Looking up at the crescent moon hanging high in the night sky, the girl seemed to be in a good mood and hummed a cheerful tune.

Looking at the girl's current state, Shidou couldn't help but smile with relief.

"Sorry, I kept you waiting for so long, Mengyue."

"Oh, you're here. What did you buy to eat?"

As if noticing Shidou, Mengyue took off one of her headphones and turned to look at Shidou.

“Grilled rice balls and fried chicken rice balls.”

"Eh? Is this enough? It's not nutritious at all."

"I can't help it. It's better than not eating anything."

Shidou gave a wry smile, took out the rice ball from the bag and unwrapped it.

"It actually tastes pretty good. Mengyue, do you want to try some?"

"Didn't you see I just came out of a ramen shop?" Meng Yue rolled her eyes in annoyance and sighed, "Really? I told you to just go to the ramen shop and eat. But you had to come to the convenience store and buy these rice balls to solve the problem."

Hearing Mengyue's complaint, Shidou couldn't help but scratch his cheek in embarrassment.

Just now, after meeting Mengyue, my originally excited mood was deflated by the meaningless lines that Mengyue suddenly said, and my tense nerves also relaxed at the same time.

As a result, Shidao's stomach, which had not taken in any food from the afternoon to the evening, began to growl.

If possible, Shidao really wants to go back to the past and do it all over again.

"Well... let's put it this way. If Mengyue and I go to a ramen restaurant together, and I eat with gusto while Mengyue doesn't eat anything, it would be a little awkward."

"When did you become such a thin-skinned man?"

Meng Yue looked at Shidao speechlessly.

"Don't make it sound like I'm shameless."

"Isn't it true, the playboy who stole the first kiss of many elf beauties?"

"Well……"

Looking at Mengyue with a smirk on her face, Shidao was speechless for a moment. After sighing with a helpless smile, he ate his rice ball in silence.

Walking on the busy streets of Akihabara, Mengyue and Shidao were heading towards the station.

(It’s incredible…)

Shidou swallowed the rice ball in his hand, secretly glanced at the profile of the girl beside him, and thought secretly.

He originally thought that when he met Meng Yue, his emotions would be even more excited, he would have a lot to say to her, and the meeting scene would be as touching as a light novel or comic.

However, in reality, the two of them just had an ordinary meeting, and then walked together naturally, chatting about various ordinary topics as usual.

Maybe, this is Meng Yue.

"Mengyue, are you listening to Mijiu's CD now?"

"Yeah, it's a new song. Miku's singing skills are getting better and better."

After saying this in admiration, Meng Yue sighed with some regret.

"I'm sorry, Shidou. I wanted to buy an extra copy for you. But it seems that an album was taken away by an internal staff, so I didn't get it for pre-order."

"Ah... about this."

Hearing this, Shidao smiled bitterly, and under Mengyue's surprised gaze, he took out a signed CD from his pocket.

"That insider... should be considered me."

In an instant, Shidao felt that Mengyue's gaze was unusually piercing.