"Miss Wakaba, if I'm not mistaken, it seems like there's something you want to talk to me about?"
After observing her carefully for a moment, Hanadasaki Ame asked tentatively.
He could not read minds, after all, and it was hard to tell what a girl with so little outward expression was thinking. But if a person had some desire in their heart, traces of it would always show somehow.
From a few of her subtle movements, he could sense her urge to communicate—and that what she wanted was a private conversation, something not meant for others to hear.
Wakaba Mutsumi gave a small nod.
Seeing that, Hanadasaki Ame turned his head and glanced around, then pointed toward a corner in the distance.
"Let's talk over there."
"Okay."
Wakaba Mutsumi followed after him step by step.
The corner Hanadasaki Ame chose was not hidden so much as it was out of the way. Few people normally came near it, so it gave them enough distance from anyone else.
Once they reached it together, he asked softly,
"What did you want to talk about, Miss Wakaba?"
"…The band."
Wakaba Mutsumi answered in a small voice.
"The band? I heard from Sister Soyo that she used to be in one with some other people. So I take it you were one of the members.
"The band itself doesn't really have anything to do with me, and you don't look like someone trying to invite me into it. So… one of the former band members must be attending Inaba High with me, and you don't want her coming into contact with Sister Soyo. Am I right?"
Hanadasaki Ame made a simple deduction.
Both Nagasaki Soyo and Wakaba Mutsumi were students at Tsukinomori Girls' Academy, so the main members of the band they formed were probably also concentrated around Tsukinomori. Perhaps they were all refined girls from that same world.
Judging from the attitudes of Wakaba Mutsumi and Nagasaki Soyo, the band had most likely run into trouble. A member had withdrawn, perhaps even transferred schools, and the group had been unable to continue.
The one preparing to attend Inaba High with him likely stayed in contact only with Wakaba Mutsumi, while Nagasaki Soyo herself was comparatively closer to Wakaba Mutsumi. There seemed to be a great many personal feelings tangled up in all of this.
Upon hearing his guess, Wakaba Mutsumi lifted her eyes to look at him, and a trace of surprise seemed to flicker through her pale golden irises.
After thinking for a moment, she lowered her gaze again to some pebble on the ground and said quietly,
"Yes. Soyo… shouldn't see Sakiko."
"I'm an outsider, after all. I was never part of what happened, so it wouldn't be right for me to make careless guesses or judgments about your situation. I hope your judgment is the correct one. I'll keep silent and won't tell Sister Soyo about Miss Sakiko.
"But if they happen to run into each other by chance, there won't be anything I can do."
Hanadasaki Ame shook his head slightly.
"By chance? Soyo would go to your school?"
Wakaba Mutsumi sounded a little surprised.
She knew where Inaba High and Tsukinomori Girls' Academy were located. From the luxury apartment where Soyo originally lived, traveling to those two places was not at all along the same route. The Hanada home was more conveniently situated. Was Soyo going to move there?
"No. I bought a villa near the school. Sister Soyo will be living there with me from now on. Since it's so close, it'll be easy for them to cross paths."
Hanadasaki Ame explained. It was not exactly a secret worth hiding. Most likely Nagasaki Soyo just had not gotten around to mentioning it to her yet.
"..."
At once, Wakaba Mutsumi imagined the worst-case scenario:
if Soyo went to school every day as usual, then stopped by Inaba High on the way home to see Hanadasaki Ame, wouldn't that mean she might run into Sakiko once a day!?
Just imagining it was enough to make everything go dark before her eyes.
Once Sakiko learned about this, how much psychological pressure would it put her under?
No. She had to find some way to keep Soyo occupied!
Soyo was a member of the wind ensemble club, so she would probably remain in it in high school as well. Club activities, combined with the trip home afterward, ought to be enough to make Soyo miss Sakiko, who had to work part-time.
But club activities were not held every single day. There would still be a risk of them meeting. She had to find a way to fill up Soyo's free time too!
She must not rush. There was still some time before school started. She had to think it through carefully…
"Could you first tell me a little about Miss Sakiko?"
Seeing Wakaba Mutsumi sink into thought, Hanadasaki Ame spoke up.
Nagasaki Soyo was going to arrive soon. There was not that much time left for slow deliberation.
Wakaba Mutsumi glanced at him, then took out her phone and pulled up a photo for him to see.
In the picture, five girls stood together in a practice room, gathered around the camera. She and Nagasaki Soyo were among them.
Pointing to the pale blue-haired girl in the Tsukinomori school uniform, she said,
"Her name is Toyokawa Sakiko."
Hanadasaki Ame raised his brows the moment he saw her.
He had seen this girl before.
On the day he met Shinjou Akane, Toyokawa Sakiko had passed by near the villa, and he had even heard a line of her inner thoughts.
She had been worrying about how many part-time hours it would take to earn the equivalent of the scholarship money.
In the photograph, however, her expression was gentle and innocent, her bearing poised and elegant, like a spotless white flower untouched by dust. She seemed almost to glow.
If she were to meet the future version of herself—gritting her teeth through exhausting part-time work—what would she think?
Environment shaped a person.
So did labor.
Her innocence had probably died long ago, on some night when she was drowned in the exhaustion of work.
"I'll remember her. If necessary, I'll look out for her where I can."
Hanadasaki Ame said this seriously.
But he was not giving up the first-place scholarship in his year.
If she wanted it, she could come and take it herself!
"Thank you."
Wakaba Mutsumi put her phone away and bowed her head slightly in thanks.
Helping with this brought him no benefit at all—only trouble. The fact that he was still willing to help was already better than she could have hoped for.
After that matter was settled, Wakaba Mutsumi fell silent again, lost in thoughts of her own.
Meanwhile, Hanadasaki Ame began thinking about what ought to be done with Nagasaki Soyo.
Toyokawa Sakiko was already at the point of having to work part-time, so it was obvious she could not continue with a band. Nagasaki Soyo, on the other hand, seemed stubbornly fixated on it, unable to untie the knot in her heart.
Thinking it through carefully, perhaps the best solution was simply to wait—to drag things out for a few years. Once she matured emotionally, stabilized, and began to feel the love she had previously lacked within her new home, perhaps she would gradually let go of the past and stop clinging to it so desperately.
That was the normal way to solve it.
But what if… she had a Key of the Heart?
If activating it became the goal, Hanadasaki Ame could not promise that he would treat her gently.
And besides, Toyokawa Sakiko herself could be heard through her inner voice. Her mind was clearly active in the same unusual way, which meant she most likely also possessed a Key of the Heart. It was very necessary for him to come into contact with her.
The more people he could find who carried Keys of the Heart, the more likely he would be to deduce the pattern behind their activation—and from there, reliably activate a chosen target's Key of the Heart, then attempt to reach the Far Shore of the Mind.
Every move he made had the same ultimate purpose:
Magnetic Field Rotation.
And for that purpose, he might well take things to extremes.
"By the way, Miss Wakaba—what do the other two remaining members of the band think about reforming it?"
To keep the two of them from standing there like wooden posts in awkward silence, Hanadasaki Ame looked for another topic to fill the lull.
In the photo Wakaba Mutsumi had just shown him, Wakaba Mutsumi, Toyokawa Sakiko, and Nagasaki Soyo were all from Tsukinomori Girls' Academy, while the remaining two wore different uniforms and clearly came from different places.
Wakaba Mutsumi stayed silent for a long while before finally giving a faint shake of her head.
"I don't know…"
They did not attend the same school, and without band activities, they did not even chat on Line anymore.
So how could they possibly know what each other was thinking?
…
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
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