On the other side, at the special teaching building, Sakura Airi was sitting alone on the empty steps, repeatedly pressing the power button of her camera with some unwillingness, but there was still no response.
This was the place where Sudo Ken had the conflict with the few people from Class D earlier. It was different from the regular school buildings, only students with experimental classes would come here, so normally there weren't many people.
Sakura, who worked part-time as a net idol and a photo model, often needed to take selfies, but she didn't want others to know about this side of herself. So she would choose a place like this where normally no one would come.
She never expected that she would end up witnessing the conflict between Sudo Ken and the others from Class D.
"It won't turn on…"
Sakura looked at the camera in her hand, her eyes full of disappointment.
[The camera is broken… it won't turn on… what about the photos inside…]
[If… if I had just said I was the witness from the start… would things not have ended up like this…]
[But… but… I really can't communicate normally with others… the camera is broken… if I want to buy a new camera with my current points… it's too expensive… there's no way… I can only get it repaired… but that store clerk… I-I don't want to go to that place…]
At this moment, Sakura's eyes seemed a little moist, almost as if she was about to cry.
'Yare yare, looks like this is a bit troublesome.'
At the corner of the corridor not far from Sakura, Saiki was standing there, hearing Sakura's inner voice.
'Sakura's problem with communication seems to be even worse than I imagined.'
At that moment, Saiki's phone slightly vibrated, without making any sound. Ever since that night he ran into Kushida, Saiki had formed a habit of turning all his electronic devices to silent.
He looked down at the phone screen. It was a message from Kushida.
[Kushida: It seems like I accidentally broke Sakura-san's camera… I'm thinking of going with her to the school's digital store tomorrow to get it repaired. Do you want to come with me?]
[Saiki: Mm.]
This time, Saiki very quickly gave a firm reply.
———
The next morning, there were no classes, so Saiki met up with Kushida early.
Though the reason was to accompany Sakura to get her camera repaired, Kushida had arranged to meet Saiki beforehand.
"Good morning, Saiki!"
Kushida greeted Saiki very enthusiastically, and the latter also responded out of courtesy.
"By the way, Saiki! Yesterday I discovered something…"
As Kushida spoke, she handed her phone to Saiki. Displayed on it was a glamour photo of a graceful young girl.
Sakura, or rather, the net idol Shizuku.
In the photo, Sakura wasn't wearing glasses. Her beauty was shown without any cover, with twin ponytails, completely looking like a lively young girl, totally different from her usual gloomy appearance.
That Kushida could find Sakura's blog made Saiki have to admit she was impressive.
"Did you recognize who this is?"
"Who is it?" Of course, Saiki knew this person's identity, but still pretended not to.
"Eh? You've never heard of the net idol Shizuku?"
"Sorry, I haven't."
Saiki shook his head. If he said he knew, Kushida or someone else might misunderstand. People who are into net idols are probably more like Ike Kanji types.
"I see… never mind, she's a really popular idol online!"
"I see."
"Don't you think she looks like someone in our class?"
"Who?"
"It's Sakura! Look at this background… isn't it the front of our dorm room?"
"It really does seem like it."
Saiki replied, and only after speaking did he realize he should've used a more surprised tone and expression. But luckily, Kushida didn't mind.
"Shizuku hasn't replied to any comments lately. It started around three months ago, Sakura is Shizuku... Though it feels like a big difference, maybe this is why she doesn't like talking to people."
This school had a rule prohibiting external communication, but it didn't ban internet use, so even after coming to school, Sakura could log in and see comments, she just couldn't reply.
"That may be, but I think we'd better not bring this up later. Let's pretend we don't know."
"Mm."
After exchanging a few words, the two headed together to the school's digital mall, here, all kinds of electronic goods could be found. As long as your points were enough, there was nothing you couldn't buy.
Sakura had already been waiting in front of the digital mall for a while.
"Just waiting for Sakura-san, sorry again about yesterday!"
When Kushida saw Sakura, she immediately showed an apologetic expression and spoke as if there were no flaws in her demeanor.
"No… no… it was my own clumsiness… and even made you come along with me, I'm very sorry."
Sakura glanced at the two of them, but her timid eyes quickly shifted away and could only stare at the bricks on the ground.
Even with someone like Kushida who could talk with almost anyone, Sakura still seemed awkward. But she had no choice, she had to accept Kushida's invitation to repair her camera.
If it weren't for this reason… Sakura probably wouldn't have come here at all, not just because of social anxiety.
[Thank goodness… this time Kushida-san is with me… and this… classmate…]
'Do you not even know my name?'
[Kushida-san's look at me earlier changed a little… do they already know… about me…?]
'What sharp intuition.'
Saiki mentally sighed. Sakura had the sharpest instincts of anyone he had ever seen. Maybe it came from her experience as an idol, she was extremely sensitive to subtle emotional changes others wouldn't notice.
[If it weren't for them being here… I wouldn't dare go… to that place.]
'This kind of place must be a nightmare for someone like Sakura.'
[Especially… that store clerk…]
'Store clerk? Yesterday I think I already heard from Sakura that she was really uncomfortable with one of the staff at the digital store. What's the reason?'
Saiki felt a bit curious. Sakura's emotion carried a bit of fear. But he would soon find the reason.
"Then let's go, Sakura-san!"
Kushida smiled at Sakura, and then led the way into the digital mall.
Inside, the goods were dazzling, laptops, game consoles, camcorders… all sorts of electronic devices were available. It was hard to believe this kind of store existed inside a high school.
Though every student's dorm came with a basic computer, it could only browse the internet. If you wanted to game or do other things, you needed the more advanced models sold in the digital mall.
Saiki didn't really like places like this either. Though there weren't many students, there were lots of mall staff, which meant he had to hear more "noise."
"The repair section is over there!"
Kushida immediately spotted the location of the repair area, pointed in that direction, and quickly walked over.
Saiki and Sakura followed behind her, when Sakura seemed to notice something and started hesitating.
[It's that person… he's still here…]
Following Sakura's line of sight, Saiki noticed a sleazy-looking man standing at the front desk of the repair area, he was a technician from the digital mall.
But even more disturbing than his appearance, were his inner thoughts.
[It's little Shizuku, it's little Shizuku!]
[So happy… never thought Shizuku would come to this school too! I comment on your posts every day, Shizuku!]
[ShizukuShizukuShizukuShizukuShizuku! I want to be with you! Are you here to buy something again?]
All of his inner thoughts were heard clearly by Saiki.
'Yare yare, so that's what's going on.' Saiki squinted his eyes slightly.
"So that's it, this guy is a pervert."
Saiki quickly understood why Sakura resisted coming here.
It was likely because she had been recognized by this store clerk the last time she came to buy a digital camera, and this clerk happened to be a perverted creep, who had probably stalked or harassed Sakura before.
'Could it be that this is the reason Sakura developed resistance to interacting with people? And since she's already gloomy by nature, she couldn't speak out about it.'
Saiki thought this to himself while quickly pulling out his phone to open Sakura's personal blog and look through the comments.
Soon, Saiki saw a series of disturbing comments, [I always felt we were very close.]
[Today, you look even cuter.]
[Did you notice our eyes met? I did.]
The same user had been posting messages like this every day, gradually getting more extreme.
Though the school banned external communication, Sakura could still see the comments.
Saiki looked over at the store clerk's area, his phone was on the counter. Using a little psychic power, he clearly saw some of the phone's data, and this guy was exactly the one who had left those disgusting messages.
'Now it's basically confirmed.' Saiki's eyes locked on the store clerk.
"Hello, my friend's camera broke. Can you help us repair it?"
Kushida, unaware of any of this, asked very politely while pointing at Sakura.
"Of course!" The clerk glanced at Kushida, then quickly shifted his eyes to Sakura.
[This girl's not bad… but beside her is my Shizuku!]
[Did Shizuku's camera break? There really are gods in this world!]
[This time I'll finally get to know Shizuku's real name, even get her address and phone number… amazing!]
The clerk had a disgusting smile on his face, and his greasy eyes locked on Sakura, then said, "Do you have a warranty card? If not, fill in your address and contact info here."
[Contact info… address…]
Sakura looked at the form the clerk handed over, feeling troubled. His eyes made her very uncomfortable…
But the camera was extremely important to her. No matter what, it had to be fixed.
Sakura was full of inner conflict. After a few seconds of hesitation, she finally made up her mind, took out the camera, and was about to hand it over, her pale, slender hand trembling slightly.
[That's the camera Shizuku used herself! There must be so many of her private photos inside! I can even feel Shizuku's body warmth!]
The clerk's filthy thoughts kept flowing, and he reached out to take the camera, but just then, another hand suddenly stopped him.
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