The air in the school corridors had grown heavy with the collective stress of approaching project deadlines. When the final bell rang, the sigh of relief rising from the classrooms was almost a physical wave. As Sayori tucked her notebooks into her bag, Kyoko and Sakura were already hovering at the edge of her desk.
"If we fight over the color palette of those slides for one more hour tonight, I'm going to throw myself out of the library window," Sakura said, flinging her arms into the air.
Kyoko adjusted her glasses with a finger. "Let's call it visual consistency of data, Sakura, not a color palette. Sayori is right; a pink background doesn't really suit the topic of 'Survival in Hostile Environments'."
"But neon pink evokes danger!" Sakura protested.
Sayori cut in. "Neon pink only makes eyes bleed, Sakura. We'll make the final adjustments in the room tonight and be done with it."
Her eyes drifted toward the classroom exit. Kunon was heading for the door with his bag slung over one shoulder, making eye contact with no one. Sayori hesitated for a moment but then called out:
"Kunon! Wait."
Kunon stopped. As he turned back with heavy steps, his face wore its usual "why have I been stopped again?" expression.
"Let's go together," Sayori said as she reached him. "We need to finalize the conclusion of the project on the way. Time is running out."
Kunon looked into Sayori's eyes. After a few seconds of his classic weighing-up process, he simply nodded. "Reasonable. It would be efficient."
Sakura and Kyoko exchanged glances and smirked. As the four of them left school and walked toward the dorms, a strange balance was struck between Sakura's endless school gossip and Kunon's short responses of "Mm-hmm" or "Unnecessary."
When they entered the dorm room, the atmosphere immediately shifted into "boot camp" mode. Sayori had already organized the desk.
"I'm jumping in the shower," Kunon said, grabbing a towel and clean clothes from his wardrobe. "When I get out, I'll type up the final case analyses."
Sayori nodded. "You'd better be quick. Sakura's attention span is shorter than a house cat's."
As Kunon entered the bathroom and closed the door, Sakura instantly bounced onto Sayori's bed. "Ugh, finally! I can't even breathe when that guy is around; he looks at me like I'm about to make a mistake and he's going to report me for discipline."
Sayori laughed. "He's just a serious person, Sakura. That's all."
"Serious? Sayori, the guy is literally an iceberg. But admit it, the mystery makes him... you know, a little interesting. Even Kyoko is coming up with theories. The other day she said he was a secret agent, or that he's actually thirty years old or something."
"Don't be ridiculous," Sayori said, lining up her pens by height. "He's just a bit distant, that's all. Even though the notes I saw in his notebook are still on my mind, we should give him a chance."
Just then, Sakura stood up, saying, "I urgently need something to drink, my throat is parched." As she moved toward the kitchenette, the bathroom door creaked open. Kunon stepped out through a cloud of steam.
However, there was a problem: Kunon hadn't dressed yet. He was only wearing black sweatpants, drying his wet hair with a towel draped around his neck. His upper body was completely bare.
Sakura froze in the middle of the hallway. Her eyes went wide. The hard, trained musculature of Kunon's shoulders and back, combined with a few faint scars on his skin, created an intimidating yet impressive sight. Kunon paused when he noticed Sakura, but not even a hint of embarrassment showed on his face. He simply gave a cold look, walked to his wardrobe, and pulled on a t-shirt.
After those few seconds of that image, Sakura ran to Sayori's side at light speed without looking back. Her face was bright red.
"Sayori! Sayori!" she whispered, trying to shout.
Sayori frowned. "What happened? Did you see a mouse?"
"No! Kunon... He... The muscles... Sayori, the guy is literally like a statue! Did you see his shoulders? No, of course you didn't, but I did! How do all those muscles fit in that body? And on his back... there was something, but I couldn't look, it was too much!"
Sayori stood up and covered Sakura's mouth. "Sakura, shut up! What you're doing is wrong. You witnessed someone's private moment and now you're making gossip material out of it. It's rude."
"But Sayori, I'm serious... Underneath that icy boy is an action movie star!"
"Enough," Sayori said sharply. "Get a hold of yourself. Now, we are sitting at the table and working."
When Kunon came to the desk, having put on his shirt and roughly dried his hair, the energy in the room had completely shifted. Sayori opened her notes with her usual authoritative air. But Sakura... Sakura was no longer the old Sakura.
When Kunon pulled up his chair and sat next to her, Sakura slid away as if there were a nuclear bomb beside her. She didn't lift her head from the papers, making an extraordinary effort not to look at Kunon's face. The persistent flush on her face wasn't from the room's temperature.
"Sakura, the color saturation on the third page of the graphs is too low," Kunon said, pointing to the screen with his finger.
Without even being able to look at Kunon's finger, Sakura stammered, "Okay! Right away! I'll fix it right away, sir!"
Sayori gave Sakura a look that said "you're pathetic." "Kunon, you read the concluding paragraph of the 'Adaptation Under Pressure' section. Let's see if there's an error."
Kunon began reading the text in his deep voice. The unshakable confidence in his tone made Sakura's hands tremble even more. Hours passed. Sayori made constant warnings, Kunon trimmed the text with sharp and clear sentences, and Sakura gave her approval with "Mm-hmm, yes, great."
Finally, toward midnight, Sayori laid her pen on the desk. "It's done. It's really done. All that's left is to print and submit it tomorrow."
Sakura packed her things quickly, as if she were being released from prison. "Great! Awesome! I'm out of here, see you tomorrow, sleep well, bye-bye!"
When the door closed behind her, Sayori let out a deep breath. "What is wrong with her?" Kunon asked, appearing genuinely confused.
"That's just Sakura," Sayori said dismissively. "Sometimes her circuits fry. Don't mind her."
Kunon shrugged. He looked at Sayori while gathering the empty glasses from the desk. "We did a good job, Sayori. It wouldn't have been finished this quickly without your... structural order."
Sayori was surprised by this unexpected compliment. "Thank you. Your case analyses were... quite impressive too. You wrote them as if you were actually there."
Kunon's eyes darkened for a moment, and he looked away. "Sometimes imagination mimics reality," he said simply.
As they both went to their beds, the room was plunged into darkness. Sayori, watching the ceiling, couldn't help but think about what Sakura had described. Those marks on Kunon's back... they couldn't just be part of an imagination.
"Good night, Kunon," Sayori said quietly.
A response came from the darkness: "Good night, Sayori."
Just as Sayori was about to fall asleep, she heard a very soft clicking sound from Kunon's nightstand. When she opened her eyes slightly, she saw Kunon swallowing a pill from that unlabeled medicine bottle without any water.