Within her field of vision, nothing. No messages, unread.
Fourteen minutes and thirty-two seconds had passed since Yukishiro Rin disappeared from her side.
Even though it hadn't even been fifteen minutes, she felt as if a very long time had passed—so long that even the sky had dimmed, as if it had lost its pale blue hue.
Her mind was a mess.
Tōjō Reina felt as if she had returned to the time after kindergarten let out.
The other children had all been picked up, leaving her alone on the bench, staring at the gate, waiting for that figure that was so slow to appear.
That empty, forgotten feeling was exactly the same as it was now.
No, it was far worse than that.
At least back then, she was just letting her imagination run wild, but her mother would eventually appear, just a little late.
As compensation, she would even buy her the candies she liked; those candies were very sweet, sweet enough to drown out the grievance of waiting.
But what about now?
Now, it was genuine distress.
No one would come to compensate her, no one would pat her head and say, "You've been waiting a long time, haven't you?"
…Did I do something wrong?
The answer was naturally yes.
Even though Yukishiro Rin had clearly expressed before that she couldn't, she had still done it out of her own selfishness.
Their relationship probably hadn't reached the point where they could confide their wishes to each other.
She had crossed the line.
…But, weren't they good friends?
Between good friends… was it not okay to do that?
…No.
Tōjō Reina lowered her eyes, her fingernails unconsciously picking at the edge of her phone case.
Between them, they probably couldn't be considered good friends yet.
After all, she hadn't even fully figured out whether Yukishiro Rin was actually angry right now.
Was Yukishiro Rin angry? Judging by her behavior, perhaps so. After all, besides being annoyed, what other reason would make someone with such a good personality leave her all alone?
But…
There was another voice in her heart, stubbornly saying: That's not it; when Rin gets angry, it shouldn't look like this.
Perhaps everything was just a misunderstanding?
Rin wasn't angry at all; she just went the wrong way. As for not seeing the messages, it was because she was also anxiously looking for her…
Logically speaking, this could be confirmed with just a phone call.
But she didn't dare.
She didn't dare to poke through that thin layer of window paper; she didn't want to hear words denying their relationship, and even less did she want to admit that everything was probably just her own wishful thinking.
She was cowardly.
She had always been like this.
When targeted by those troublesome people, she didn't dare to refuse. Even though she had long loathed this life of being cornered, she didn't dare to run away, instead forcing herself to adapt, to accept, and to pretend everything was normal.
Tōjō Reina was just such a troublesome and awkward person.
This was also one of the reasons she chose to wear a mask, because she didn't want anyone to see this side of her.
She despised this side of herself too.
Her eyes felt a bit sore; she blinked desperately, trying to suppress the heat welling up.
Just when she felt she was about to cry, she suddenly felt an itch.
It seemed like something was gently poking her cheek.
Tōjō Reina froze.