The main building's corridor no longer buzzed with voices. Students moved in smaller groups, backpacks slung over their shoulders, exchanging quick jokes and plans for the afternoon.
Yuta stepped out with steady strides. The door closed behind him soundlessly. Beside him, Aika kept pace, her empty lunchbox dangling from her forearm.
The midday sun warmed their backs lightly. No wind, just a restrained breeze that gently stirred her hair.
"I won't lie. I liked the amulet."
She touched the thin necklace at her neck, where the small protective amulet rested. The central stone held a subtle glow, as if it absorbed light without reflecting it.
"Made it seem like you actually care about me."
Yuta didn't look away from the path ahead.
"I do."
Aika gave a sidelong smile but said nothing more.
Yuta's phone vibrated in his pocket.
He pulled it out with precise movements. Screen lit. A notification from Toknet.
> Megumi: As we agreed. I set it up with him behind the gym. Ten minutes from now.
Yuta read carefully.
> Yuta: Got it. Wait at the school entrance. It'll be quick.
She replied with just a confirmation emoji. No questions.
Aika stayed beside him, noticing the exchange without comment.
"It's her, isn't it?"
"It is."
"About that thing?"
Yuta pocketed the phone.
"Yeah."
Aika let out a quiet sigh. Not worried—just pragmatic.
"Alright then. Go do it."
She stopped at the staircase leading to the school's side gate. The flow of students increased there, but Aika didn't hesitate.
She leaned in and kissed Yuta's cheek, making no effort to hide it.
Passing students noticed. Two boys whispered to each other. A girl stifled a giggle.
But Aika was oblivious to it all.
"Tell me about it later if you want. Or don't. That's fine too."
She turned on her heels with a light spin and headed toward the gate.
Yuta watched until she vanished from sight.
Then he turned in the opposite direction.
The path skirting the main building led straight to the back of the gym.
It was a nearly forgotten area. Cracked concrete, vegetation held back by shade, and a silence that contrasted with the rest of the school. The old ventilation units made spaced, muffled noises, like metallic breaths.
Yuta walked to the edge of the shade.
He stopped beside a concrete pillar, where the gym's structure formed a narrow recess.
Here, the sunlight didn't reach. The air was cooler.
He rested a hand on the wall and closed his eyes for a second.
'I've never liked humiliating others…'
The feeling wasn't pride. Nor pleasure.
Just the recognition of a line.
'But this Tomoya is begging for a lesson.'
His hands were steady. His shoulders relaxed. But the energy beneath his skin began to hum.
'I won't kill him.'
'But today… he's going to hurt.'
Physically.
Mentally.
With every piece of what he deserves—and a little of what he needs to remember.
'I'm not doing this for revenge.'
'I'm doing it for prevention.'
The memory of Megumi's expression when she spoke of his persistence. The tension in her shoulders. The hesitation in her eyes.
That was already too much.
'If she had given in under pressure?'
'If he had managed to put her in an uncomfortable place?'
Yuta opened his eyes slowly. The gym's shadow cast diagonal lines across the cracked ground.
'It doesn't matter what he wanted with the game.'
'It doesn't matter if he thought it was just art.'
'System.'
The translucent interface appeared in the corner of his vision, as always. The mission pulsed in white with a faint reddish tint at the edges.
[⚠️ Active Mission – Scarier Than a Ghost]
'The system just made his life easier.'
'Messing with someone else's girlfriend is already stupid.'
'Doing it when that "someone" is a Jujutsu sorcerer…'
'That was the worst decision you made, Tomoya.'
He closed the menu. The glow dissipated like smoke.
There would be no display of power. No curses unleashed without need.
Yuta didn't have to show what he was.
He just needed to make him feel it.
Approaching footsteps broke the silence. Slow. Unhurried. As if unaware of what waited just ahead.
Yuta stepped back from the wall. Straightened his posture.
His eyes, now open and calm, fixed on the source of the sound.
---
Tomoya walked along the gym's side with a light step. His backpack tapped gently against his back, but he barely noticed.
'She set this up with me. Herself.'
His chest carried a strange confidence, buoyed by the last words he'd said to Megumi. Her rejection hadn't stung—it had felt like a natural hurdle. Part of the creative process.
'She just needs to see the scope. The game's about her, but not exactly her. It's a character… inspired.'
He visualized the protagonist's art, the dialogue, the cutscenes. He'd already drafted three full scenes in his mind based on Megumi's classroom gestures.
'And when she sees it all… she'll agree. Anyone would.'
He rounded the outer corridor with that thought in mind.
A smile almost forming on his lips.
But he stopped.
The moment he saw who was there.
It wasn't Megumi.
It was Yuta.
Tomoya froze mid-step, one foot still forward. His face paled two shades, and his shoulders lost the rhythm of his stride.
The smile he'd expected? It never came.
Yuta stood in the shade. Uniform neat, eyes fixed. An opaque calm that made everything heavier than it should be.
Tomoya tried to control his expression, but the surprise was obvious.
'Why is he here…?'
He wanted to ask. But the answer was already clear.
Megumi wasn't coming.
Yuta was.
And that changed everything.
He tried to regain control with a firmer step, shifting his weight forward. He couldn't seem intimidated.
But his palm trembled under the backpack strap.
Tomoya appeared at the gym's corner. Backpack on his shoulder, expression almost wary, but his gaze held firm. Trying to seem confident.
He said nothing upon seeing him.
Neither did Yuta.
The distance between them was just over five meters.
Enough time to think.
Enough space to act.
"You're the one who set this up?"
Tomoya's voice sounded firm, but there was something behind it. A buried hesitation.
Yuta responded with only a nod.
"Wanted to clear something up."
Tomoya frowned.
"About what?"
Yuta took a step forward.
"About you not understanding 'no.'"
Tomoya blinked twice, then raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.
"What's that supposed to mean? She's the one who called me. I only came because I thought she wanted to talk it over."
He tried to sound offended. A hint of indignation, as if he were the one inconvenienced.
Yuta didn't move.
"She called at my request."
The effect was immediate. Tomoya's face lost expression for half a second—that moment when truth tears through illusion.
But he recovered quickly. He wasn't stupid. Just too slow to realize when it was already too late.
"So what's this? You jealous?"
His voice carried a veiled venom. A weak attempt to turn the tables.
Yuta didn't answer.
Tomoya gave a short, nervous laugh.
"You two got a relationship or a cult? She can't even think for herself anymore?"
Yuta took another step.
Now the distance was less than three meters.
"She thought. When she told you no."
Tomoya took an imperceptible step back. Just a shift in balance. But Yuta noticed.
"You just didn't want to accept it."
Silence fell between them. The gym's ventilation fans spun slowly behind the concrete wall, like a broken clock ticking down.
Tomoya tried to steady his tone again.
"I didn't do anything wrong. I just asked her to talk. A project. A game. It's art. There's no crime in that."
"There's persistence."
"You don't know how it went—"
"She told me."
Another pause.
And now, Tomoya fell silent.
There was no more verbal escape.
Yuta kept his posture neutral, but inside, something pulsed.
'I should thank Tomoya.'
The air around them seemed to grow heavier—as if the light itself hesitated to cross the gap between them.
'The idiot's giving me a chance to test Bloodlust Aura for the first time.'
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