Shopping and strolling through the streets—these are said to be the activities girls find most irresistible, while boys often find them utterly torturous.
Kitagawa Ryo had always struggled to understand why girls could display such superhuman stamina and willpower when it came to shopping. He had even witnessed cases where someone would browse around the entire day and end up buying just two things. His own shopping habits were far more efficient: make a shopping list beforehand, head out, pick items quickly, and get out of the mall as fast as possible.
After enrolling in Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, his shopping time had been cut even further.
The Keyaki Mall, the largest shopping center within the school grounds, kindly offered online shopping services to students and teachers alike. Place an order on a specific website, and your items would be delivered directly to your dorm room within a day—convenience at its best.
Still, since Horikita Suzune had invited him out, Kitagawa Ryo decided to go out for once.
Lately, aside from attending classes, he had mostly stayed holed up in his dorm playing video games. The consoles and cartridges were also delivered directly to him after ordering.
What comforted Kitagawa Ryo was that perhaps due to his repeated excuses about feeling unwell, hardly anyone had disturbed him. Besides the occasional greeting messages, his poor dorm door—once battered and having multiple spare keys in circulation—had finally enjoyed some peace.
Thinking it polite to arrive early, he left his room fifteen minutes before the agreed time. Keyaki Mall wasn't far from the student dorms, and when he arrived, there were still seven or eight minutes to spare.
Standing casually under a shady tree near the mall entrance, Kitagawa Ryo idly watched students coming and going. It was the weekend, so nearly everyone was in casual wear. The weather had gotten hotter recently, and many girls had already transitioned to summer outfits, showing off fair arms and legs everywhere.
Kitagawa Ryo, on the other hand, didn't own many styles of casual clothes. He still wore a shirt from the school uniform set. Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School had both jacket and shirt versions of the uniform. While the jacket was fixed in red, students could choose different colors for the inner shirt. If he recalled correctly, Karuizawa Kei preferred the blue version.
As for him, he didn't care much about these things and stuck with the default white.
Due to the high temperature, he had rolled up his sleeves slightly and unbuttoned an extra button at the collar. Leaning against the tree, he waited for Horikita Suzune.
He had just looked down to glance at his phone when he suddenly noticed people around him subtly shifting their gaze toward him. Two upperclassman girls walking past spoke a bit louder, allowing him to hear their conversation clearly.
"This summer outfit looks really good. Should we go ask what brand it is?" "...Are you seriously pretending not to notice it's a uniform, or do you actually not know?" "Only a top-tier hottie could make a uniform look this good. And he's all alone too."
Just as Kitagawa Ryo was focused on eavesdropping on the two girls whispering, Horikita Suzune finally arrived and spotted him immediately. The scene gave her an odd sense of déjà vu as she walked up to him.
"Ryo, you're early?"
"Just by five minutes."
Hearing her voice, Kitagawa Ryo turned to face her. Unlike Honami or Kei's blue eyes that reminded him of calm waves, meeting Suzune's gaze at close range always made his heart tingle with that subtle reddish-purple glow.
Unlike her brother's obsession with her hair length, Kitagawa Ryo thought her most unforgettable feature was her alluring, fox-like, yet cat-like violet-red eyes.
"Let's go inside, the air conditioning's on."
Turning around to walk beside him, Horikita Suzune subtly tried to reach for his right hand with her left. But once their hands touched, she suddenly wasn't sure how to hold it—just fingers? Full interlock? Would it feel too casual? Too intimate?
Sensing her indecision, Kitagawa Ryo took the initiative and held her hand.
Immediately, she could feel several gazes shooting toward their linked hands. Instinctively, she wanted to pull away, but Kitagawa had already stepped forward. Their clasped hands hung in the open air like a luxury watch intentionally put on display.
"Hm? Did you forget something?"
Noticing that she hadn't moved, Kitagawa looked back with a puzzled glance.
Today, Horikita Suzune wore a light blue and white casual outfit. Due to their slight height difference, when he turned around, he caught a perfect view of her delicate collarbone and beautifully shaped chest.
"No, just zoned out for a second."
Snapping back to reality, Suzune quickly took two steps forward and resumed walking beside him into the Keyaki Mall.
Her emotions adjusted quickly, and she soon got used to holding hands.
After all, it was just hand-holding. Around them, many couples had girls clinging to their boyfriends' arms like koalas. Some pairs on the benches looked like they wanted to coil around each other like snakes, kissing without a care.
"Do you shop at malls often, Suzune?" Kitagawa casually asked.
"Fairly often. I used to live alone, so I had to come about twice a month to restock daily supplies."
Remembering his past confusion about girls and shopping, Kitagawa asked:
"So why do you think girls like shopping so much?"
"Hm?"
Caught off guard, Suzune pondered a bit before answering:
"If I had to summarize, it probably gives a sense of reality."
"Like that saying, 'If you're feeling down, go to the marketplace.' Though markets have that rustic charm, malls offer more of a sense of modern vibrancy."
Worried he might not get it, she pointed to the wide array of stores on the mall's first floor:
"The dazzling products provide visual and auditory stimulation. Even if you don't buy anything, just seeing, touching, and exploring gives you the feeling of being immersed in this lively atmosphere."
"That's such a Suzune-style answer."
"...What do you mean, Suzune-style?"
"Something that you would say. But honestly, it makes a lot of sense."
Reflecting on her words about that 'sense of reality,' Kitagawa moved forward.
"Where to?"
"Let's try the two stores I checked beforehand."
Suzune lifted her chin slightly, brimming with confidence.
"We've got nothing else to do today, so Ryo, try them all on. The more options, the better the chance of finding the perfect one."
"You sure you're not getting kickbacks from the store?"
"Of course I am. If you buy something, I'll split the commission with you."
Playfully teasing each other, they headed toward the men's clothing stores on the third floor. Since the elevator was crowded and the floors weren't too high, they opted to take the stairs.
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The fitting room was a small, enclosed space.
Many people liked the confined nature of such places, feeling a strange sense of safety in being able to see everything around them at a glance. Everything was known, and that brought comfort.
But Karuizawa Kei could never agree with that view—at least not for a long time.
To her, narrow and sealed spaces had never represented safety. Instead, they were always linked to the feeling of "nowhere to escape."
But that was all in the past.
The fitting room was still small, but her mindset had completely changed.
Stepping out from behind that door meant transformation. A new impression.
With that belief in mind, she swiftly changed into the outfit she had immediately fallen in love with. Then Karuizawa Kei stepped out of the fitting room and gave a polite nod to the waiting female staff member.
As if Horikita Suzune would ever invite her out for shopping. In truth, the call she had received was from Kitagawa Ryo. It was only in casual conversation that she happened to learn Suzune had asked him to go shopping over the weekend.
She had already planned the perfect "coincidence."
It just so happened she was also out buying new clothes today. After all, it was the weekend.
"I think this outfit suits you wonderfully!"
The shop assistant's praise snapped Kei out of her thoughts. Even as a seasoned employee accustomed to seeing beautiful girls, it was the first time she had offered such a sincere compliment.
The sleeveless pure-white dress Kei wore had a simple color and design—no fancy patterns, nothing complicated. Yet, once worn by her, it seemed to emit an aura of its own, effortlessly making every other girl nearby feel lacking in comparison.
And Kei herself added even more to the outfit with her natural charm. Just standing there, her posture was elegant and upright, completely devoid of the hunched backs common among girls her age.
But the most captivating thing was Kei's inner and outward confidence—a contagious kind of self-assurance.
"Thank you for the compliment."
Looking at her reflection in the full-length mirror, Karuizawa Kei smiled. She had worn countless elaborate costumes and gowns in her theater troupe days—some far more detailed and intricate than this—but she still preferred the elegance of a pure white sleeveless dress.
Leaning slightly forward, she carefully checked the subtle makeup she had put on earlier that morning.
No lipstick—just a light gloss that made her lips appear dewy, like soft jelly awaiting a kiss.
Her honey-colored long hair draped smoothly down to her waist, and her airy bangs were styled into the perfect fluff with meticulous care.
"I'll go ahead and pay."
Satisfied, Kei nodded and decided not to change back. She simply asked the staff to remove the tags and paid a considerable amount of personal points at the register before leaving the store.
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Shiina Hiyori was a girl who preferred peace and quiet over physical activity. Although she had previously gone through some theater training with Kitagawa Ryo and had been urged by him to exercise more regularly, her stamina still lingered just below average.
Despite that, she always carried her bag wherever she went. It was always heavy with all sorts of mystery novels, and ever since joining the tea ceremony club, it also held a set of teacups and leaves for two.
Though not against socializing, Shiina still walked quietly beneath the shade of the trees, carrying her bag.
It was the weekend, and many couples were headed toward the Keyaki Mall. She spotted a chubby boy walking hand-in-hand with a girl, trying his best to suck in his belly as he chatted with her—perhaps hoping to appear a bit slimmer.
Everyone wanted to show their best side to the one they liked.
That seemed to be the first step in romance.
Shiina observed like a detective, picking up on all sorts of little details.
Truthfully, she was just collecting topics for future conversations with Ryo.
Realizing that made her shy. She lowered her head slightly, ears turning pink.
Before entering Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, she had lived in London with her parents. Her contact with Kitagawa Ryo had been limited to video calls and messages through social apps.
She loved his plays, but she hadn't expected him to also enjoy her favorite mystery novels.
She cherished every moment spent with Kitagawa Ryo.
They could talk about Ellery Queen, Lawrence Block, Cornell Woolrich... Shiina was amazed by how many of the same books they'd both read. Their conversations wove those stories into shape.
Those mysteries, those tales, those plots came together like a gigantic, luminous moon that shone over both of them—even if for a long time, one lived in London and the other in Tokyo.
But the eleven-and-a-half-hour time difference seemed to disappear whenever they talked about books. Shiina felt like they still lived under the same glowing moon, close enough to touch.
And it was warm.
Recalling their past conversations, her mind suddenly drifted to something strange:
[Golden Rule #3 of Detective Fiction: Romantic entanglements must be avoided in detective stories; otherwise, the pure intellectual contest becomes hopelessly muddled. A detective's job is to catch the criminal, not to make sure lovers end up together.]
By that logic, she and Kitagawa Ryo were both unfit to be detectives.
Shiina's cheeks flushed pink.
Because she liked him.
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