The hallway stood perfectly still.
Evening had already begun to settle over the campus.
The orange glow of the setting sun poured through the long corridor windows, painting the polished floor in streaks of gold. Most of the classrooms had already gone dark, their doors locked until tomorrow morning.
Only one room remained illuminated.
The Gaming Research Club.
Ruko remained standing in front of the locked door.
His hand still rested upon the cold metal doorknob.
His heartbeat echoed loudly inside his ears.
That voice...
There was no mistaking it.
Even after three years.
Even after countless sleepless nights wondering where she had disappeared.
Even after convincing himself that perhaps he had simply been chasing a memory that no longer existed.
He would never mistake that voice.
"...Mitsuru..."
The name escaped his lips before he even realized he had spoken.
Silence answered him.
Not an uncomfortable silence.
Not a fearful one.
Rather...
The silence of two people trying to process the impossible.
Then—
A soft laugh drifted from behind the door.
"...You recognized me."
It wasn't a question.
It was a simple observation.
Ruko slowly lowered his hand from the doorknob.
A small smile appeared on his face.
One he hadn't worn in years.
"...It's been a while."
His voice carried none of the anger he once thought he would feel.
No accusations.
No resentment.
No demands for answers.
Only quiet familiarity.
The voice behind the door answered almost immediately.
"...It has."
Again...
Simple.
Gentle.
Just two ordinary words.
Yet hearing them caused countless memories to rush through his mind.
Late-night ranked games.
Hours spent discussing hero drafts.
Arguing over objective priorities.
Celebrating impossible victories.
Laughing over ridiculous mistakes.
A friendship that had existed entirely behind two screens.
One built through voices rather than faces.
For three years—
He had imagined what this reunion would look like.
Sometimes he imagined shouting.
Sometimes demanding to know why she vanished.
Sometimes accusing her of abandoning him.
Sometimes asking whether she had ever considered how much her disappearance had affected him.
Yet standing here...
None of those words came.
Instead—
The first thing he felt...
Was relief.
She was alive.
She was real.
She was here.
Another quiet moment passed.
Neither moved.
A locked wooden door separated them.
Neither attempted to open it.
Almost as though both unconsciously understood...
This conversation somehow felt more natural this way.
Separated.
Just as they always had been.
One voice.
Then another.
Without seeing each other.
Ruko chuckled quietly.
"...You know..."
"I imagined this conversation a lot."
"...Did you?"
"Yeah."
"...Was I dramatic?"
"A little."
"...That sounds like me."
"...It does."
Another soft laugh escaped from behind the door.
The sound felt strangely nostalgic.
It was exactly the same laugh he remembered from years ago.
Warm.
Calm.
Almost teasing.
Then—
Ruko's expression gradually became more serious.
His gaze lowered toward the floor.
"...Back then..."
He quietly admitted,
"...I joined this school."
"...Joined this club."
"...Because I wanted answers."
The laughter stopped.
Silence followed.
"...I wanted to know why you disappeared."
"...I wanted to know whether you were really here."
"...I wanted to know if everything I saw..."
"...was real."
"I wanted to know why did you lie to me"
The words echoed softly throughout the empty hallway.
He had finally admitted it aloud.
The real reason.
The reason he had accepted becoming the Gaming Research Club's coach.
The reason he had remained.
The reason he continued searching.
Not because of tournaments.
Not because of school.
Because of Mitsuru.
The girl who had disappeared without saying goodbye.
Behind the door—
No response came.
She simply listened.
Patiently.
Then—
Ruko smiled.
A genuine one.
"But..."
He slowly shook his head.
"...Things changed."
The silence behind the door seemed to deepen.
"My reason for staying changed."
"...Right now..."
He looked toward the clubroom door.
"...My biggest concern isn't finding answers anymore."
"...It's winning."
He laughed quietly.
"I actually want this club to succeed."
"I want Kana to stop diving towers."
"I want Risa to master Melodious."
"I want Hikari to smile without comparing herself to anyone."
"I want Kazuha to stop carrying everything by herself."
His voice became softer.
"And..."
"I don't want this club to disappear."
Silence.
A very long silence.
The kind that wasn't empty.
But thoughtful.
Finally—
The voice behind the door spoke again.
Quieter than before.
"...You've changed."
Ruko smiled.
"...Maybe."
"I think so."
Another pause.
Then—
Ruko asked the question that had quietly lingered in his heart ever since hearing her voice.
"...Can I ask you something?"
"...Go ahead."
He looked toward the closed door.
The wooden surface separated them by barely a few centimeters.
Yet it still felt impossibly far away.
"...Are you going to play?"
Silence.
Then—
"...What do you mean?"
Her answer carried genuine curiosity.
Ruko folded his arms.
"What I mean is..."
"...When the practice match comes."
"...Against Ishika High."
"...Are you going to play as..."
He paused.
Then quietly spoke the name.
"...Mitsuru."
The hallway fell silent once more.
He continued.
"...The legendary roamer."
"...Or..."
"...Are you going to play at the same level as the four girls in the club?"
The implication hung heavily between them.
He had already noticed it.
Every member of the Gaming Research Club possessed potential.
Some more obvious than others.
But none of them...
None...
Had yet displayed the level of mastery he remembered from Mitsuru.
If she truly was inside this club—
Then she had been hiding.
Intentionally.
The answer came in the form of laughter.
Not loud laughter.
Just a quiet, amused giggle.
One that somehow carried years of familiarity.
"...Who knows?"
Ruko sighed.
"I should've expected that answer."
"You asked a difficult question."
"I asked a straightforward one."
"They're sometimes the hardest."
"...Fair enough."
The teasing tone remained unchanged.
Exactly as he remembered.
Then—
For the first time during their conversation—
Her voice became completely serious.
"The Gaming Research Club..."
She paused.
"...Is important to me."
Ruko quietly listened.
"I care about everyone inside."
"I care about what happens to this room."
"I care about what happens two weeks from now."
Another pause.
Then—
She softly laughed.
"After all..."
"...I wouldn't still belong to this club..."
"...if it didn't mean something to me."
The words felt sincere.
Entirely sincere.
There was no hesitation.
No deception.
Just quiet conviction.
For some reason—
That answer alone reassured Ruko.
Whatever reasons Mitsuru had for hiding herself...
Whatever circumstances had forced her to disappear years ago...
One thing remained unchanged.
She still cared.
About the club.
About the game.
About the people inside.
Perhaps...
More than anyone realized.
Then—
Without warning—
The lights inside the clubroom suddenly switched off.
The faint glow beneath the door disappeared.
Darkness swallowed the room.
"...Hm?"
Ruko instinctively looked up.
At nearly the same moment—
A door somewhere farther down the third-floor hallway quietly slid open.
Click.
Footsteps.
Soft.
Light.
Almost impossible to hear.
By the time Ruko turned toward the sound—
The hallway was already empty.
He hurried around the corner.
Nothing.
Only the fading evening sunlight stretching across vacant corridors.
No footsteps.
No shadow.
No figure.
Just silence.
He slowly returned to the Gaming Research Club door.
Still locked.
Still dark.
No voices.
No movement.
Almost as though nobody had ever been inside.
Ruko released a long breath.
"...You haven't changed at all."
A small smile formed on his face.
Always disappearing before he could catch up.
Always leaving him with another mystery instead of an answer.
It was frustrating.
Ridiculously frustrating.
And yet—
For the first time in years—
He didn't feel lost anymore.
Because now he knew.
Mitsuru was here.
Not as a rumor.
Not as a possibility.
Not as a dream.
She was somewhere within this school.
Somewhere close enough for their voices to meet through a single locked door.
He looked toward the darkened clubroom one last time.
Then quietly turned away.
The third-floor hallway stretched silently toward the stairwell.
Each step echoed against the empty corridor as he began walking toward the exit.
Outside, the last rays of sunlight slowly disappeared beyond the horizon.
Night was beginning to fall.
And with it—
The countdown toward the match against Ishika High continued.
Two weeks.
That was all the Gaming Research Club had left.
And somewhere within those remaining days—
The truth behind the legendary roamer named Mitsuru waited patiently.
Hidden.
Just beyond another closed door.
The evening air had begun to cool.
The golden hues of sunset slowly faded into softer shades of amber as the halls of Seishin Academy emptied one classroom after another. Club activities had long since ended for most students, leaving only the occasional footsteps echoing through the corridors.
Ruko descended the staircase from the third floor in silence.
His hands remained tucked inside his pockets.
His thoughts, however—
Were nowhere near the staircase beneath his feet.
Instead—
They lingered behind a locked door.
Behind a familiar voice.
Behind a name he had spent three years searching for.
Mitsuru.
The conversation replayed itself over and over inside his mind.
"It's been a while."
"It has."
"The Gaming Research Club is important to me."
"Who knows?"
She had answered almost nothing.
Yet somehow...
She had answered everything.
She was here.
She cared about the Gaming Research Club.
And despite having every opportunity to reveal herself
She chose not to.
Not yet.
Ruko quietly exhaled through his nose.
"...Still as mysterious as ever."
He wasn't even angry.
Somehow...
That conversation had brought him an unexpected sense of peace.
For the first time in years, he wasn't chasing a ghost.
He was chasing someone real.
Someone close enough to hear his voice.
Someone who had answered him.
One day—
He would meet her face-to-face.
But not today.
The thought lingered as he reached the second floor landing.
His footsteps naturally slowed.
Because directly across the hallway—
Was another familiar room.
The Student Council Office.
Its polished wooden door remained firmly shut.
Light spilled beneath it, proving the room was still occupied.
Ruko stopped walking.
His gaze rested upon the gold-plated nameplate mounted beside the entrance.
Student Council Office
He quietly stared at it.
Kazuha should still be inside.
After all—
Practice had been canceled specifically because of today's meeting.
Considering how seriously Kazuha treated every responsibility placed upon her shoulders—
She was probably still buried beneath paperwork.
He couldn't help but wonder.
I wonder how the meeting went.
Knowing the Student Council...
Probably endless reports.
Budget discussions.
Festival planning.
Committee evaluations.
Approval forms.
The sort of things that would make even the most energetic person feel exhausted.
Especially Kazuha.
She rarely complained.
Which usually meant she had been given far more work than anyone realized.
Just as the thought crossed his mind—
Click.
The office door slowly opened.
Ruko instinctively looked up.
Then immediately blinked.
"...Wow."
Standing in the doorway—
Was Kazuha.
Or rather—
Someone who looked remarkably similar to Kazuha after surviving a natural disaster.
Her usually immaculate brown hair had become slightly messy.
A few loose strands framed her exhausted face.
Her student council blazer hung neatly as always, yet the thick stack of folders tucked beneath one arm suggested she had been carrying them for quite some time.
More importantly—
Her eyes.
Normally bright.
Warm.
Gentle.
Now looked...
Completely drained.
The kind of exhaustion that came not from physical exercise—
But from spending hours staring at documents.
She slowly stepped into the hallway.
Closed the office door behind her.
Then finally noticed Ruko standing several meters away.
"...Oh."
Her tired eyes widened slightly.
"...Ruko."
She managed a small smile.
One that looked like it required genuine effort.
"...Hi."
Ruko raised one hand.
"...Hey."
For several seconds—
Neither moved.
Then Ruko looked toward the mountain of paperwork in her arms.
"...Rough meeting?"
Kazuha stared blankly for a moment.
Then slowly looked down at the folders she was carrying.
Another long sigh escaped her lips.
"...I think..."
She paused.
"...The vice president accidentally volunteered me for three different committees."
"...Accidentally?"
"...That's what she claimed."
Ruko looked unconvinced.
"So..."
"...She escaped."
"...And you didn't."
"...Correct."
He nodded once.
"...Sounds about right."
Kazuha laughed weakly.
"It gets worse."
"...There's more?"
She slightly lifted the folders.
"Meeting minutes."
"Budget proposals."
"Activity reports."
"Festival preparation."
"Club evaluations."
"And..."
She revealed one final folder hidden beneath everything else.
"...Paperwork they forgot to give me last week."
Ruko stared at the stack.
Then at Kazuha.
Then back at the stack.
"...Did they..."
He pointed carefully.
"...Scold you too?"
Kazuha awkwardly looked away.
"...Maybe."
"...Maybe?"
"...A little."
"...How little?"
"...Not little."
Ruko sighed sympathetically.
"I figured."
She smiled sheepishly.
"I accidentally submitted one report without attaching the attendance sheet."
"...That's it?"
"...Apparently that's a serious offense."
"...Student councils are terrifying."
"They really are."
Both of them laughed quietly.
The exhaustion surrounding Kazuha softened ever so slightly.
Even if only for a moment.
Eventually—
The two began walking toward the school entrance together.
Neither hurried.
There wasn't any reason to.
The campus had already emptied considerably.
The evening breeze drifted through the open hallways.
Outside—
The sky had begun transitioning from orange into deep shades of violet.
Streetlights gradually flickered to life.
The city beyond the school slowly awakened for the evening.
The walk home had quietly become routine.
Neither Ruko nor Kazuha ever acknowledged it.
It simply...
Happened.
Somehow they always ended up leaving school at nearly the same time.
Walking the same roads.
Crossing the same intersections.
Sharing comfortable conversations.
Or—
Sometimes—
Sharing comfortable silence.
Today was mostly the latter.
Kazuha walked beside him at a noticeably slower pace than usual.
Every few steps she shifted the folders slightly beneath her arm.
Clearly trying to prevent them from slipping.
Ruko glanced sideways.
"...Want me to carry those?"
She immediately shook her head.
"I can manage."
"...You're stubborn."
"I learned from someone."
"...Who?"
She smiled mischievously.
"You."
"I refuse that accusation."
"I have evidence."
"I object."
"Overruled."
Ruko sighed.
"...Student council really changed you."
She giggled.
The conversation faded once again.
Only the sound of footsteps accompanied them.
Eventually—
Buzz.
Kazuha's phone vibrated inside her blazer pocket.
She blinked.
"...Hm?"
Carefully balancing the folders against one arm, she retrieved her phone with the other.
Her expression gradually changed as she read the message.
"...Oh."
"...Something wrong?"
She looked toward him.
A tiny bit embarrassed.
"...Actually..."
"...Would you mind doing me a small favor?"
Ruko raised an eyebrow.
"What kind of favor?"
She scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"...Mom just messaged me."
She turned the screen slightly.
"My parents are both getting home late today."
"So she asked if I could buy groceries before going home."
"...Makes sense."
She smiled apologetically.
"Normally I wouldn't ask..."
Her eyes briefly drifted toward the thick stack of paperwork she still carried.
"...But after today's meeting..."
She laughed weakly.
"...I'm honestly too tired to carry everything and groceries at the same time."
For the first time since leaving the Student Council Office—
She sounded genuinely exhausted.
Not just physically.
Mentally.
The kind of exhaustion no amount of determination could immediately fix.
Ruko looked at the folders.
Then at Kazuha.
Then quietly nodded.
"...Sure."
Her eyes brightened slightly.
"...Really?"
"Yeah."
"...Thank you."
"No problem."
A relieved smile spread across her face.
A real one this time.
Not the forced smile she had worn outside the Student Council Office.
It was a small change.
But Ruko noticed it.
Somehow—
Helping her felt... natural.
Almost expected.
The two adjusted their route at the next intersection.
Instead of continuing toward the residential district—
They turned toward the city's shopping street.
The evening crowds had already begun gathering.
Store signs illuminated one after another.
Restaurants released delicious aromas into the air.
Convenience stores bustled with customers finishing work.
Children laughed while chasing one another through the sidewalks.
The city possessed a warmth entirely different from the quiet school campus.
Kazuha looked around.
"...It's lively."
"It usually is around this time."
She smiled.
"I don't actually come here very often."
"...Really?"
"Student council."
She lifted the paperwork slightly.
"...Most afternoons disappear before I realize it."
Ruko quietly glanced at her.
For someone everyone admired as the perfect Student Council President—
Very few people probably realized just how much responsibility rested on her shoulders.
Every event.
Every report.
Every club.
Every student concern.
Every meeting.
Every decision.
She carried all of it without complaint.
Perhaps...
Far more than anyone should.
The evening breeze gently passed between them as they continued walking deeper into the city.
Ahead—
The bright lights of the supermarket came into view.
Neither of them knew it yet.
But what had begun as a simple favor...
Would become another ordinary memory.
One more quiet moment shared between two classmates walking home beneath the evening sky.
And somehow—
Those ordinary moments were slowly becoming the most precious part of their days.