Fuuki's hand tightly gripped the girl's wrist, the strength not brutal, but carrying an undeniable resistance. He pulled her, his footsteps swift and silent, like a gray shadow passing straight through the open gardens of Tsukinomori.
The two avoided the main path and crowded areas, specifically choosing small paths hidden by hedges and rarely visited. Sunlight pierced through the branches and leaves, casting swaying patches of light on the gravel path, but it couldn't dispel the coldness gathering between Fuuki's brows.
'The man on the ladder... is Kato! Wayward's drummer!'
'He deliberately lowered his voice and even removed his signature tongue stud and nose ring...'
'But that frivolous, greasy tone, the outline of his jaw, and that disguise full of loopholes—everything matches the records in Maehara Naoto's memory perfectly.'
Although Fuuki couldn't summon White Snake for the time being, he could still freely use the memory discs he had already made. So, he used his free time to carefully browse the memory disc in his hand, trying to extract useful information from it.
The act of [reading memories] itself consumed a lot of mental energy, so Fuuki had to slow down his browsing speed and prioritize obtaining information about potential threats, especially the rock band Wayward, where Maehara Naoto was—all of whom are Stand Users.
However, this also led to his schedule being packed again within two days after waking up, forcing him to squeeze out some time for rest again.
In addition to sorting out the current situation of the Togawa Family and maintaining intelligence networks, he also needed to find an absolutely safe opportunity to be alone with Mutsumi. During these precious times, he patiently instilled in Wakaba Mutsumi the cognitive system about "Stands" and closely observed her adaptation and control over the accidental power within her.
Mutsumi's understanding exceeded his expectations. She wasn't too surprised by the supernatural concept, but just listened quietly and nodded, like a calm lake absorbing falling raindrops.
Her acceptance was more like an instinctive acceptance rather than a rational understanding.
He observed her perception of this "ability"—whether she could be compatible with it and to what extent she could control it?
Unexpectedly, Mutsumi, who had healed Fuuki's wounds with her ability in a moment of crisis, could only emit a small blue current from her fingertips at this moment, and could not even sense the specific condition of the Stand within her.
At the same time, the girl also revealed a shocking fact to Fuuki—there was another "self" in her mental space, or rather, an aggregation of personalities fused with many wills.
Its name was Mortis. It was she who used the power of Ride the Lighting in a critical moment, and it was also she who had been keeping the meteorite fragment deep in her mental world.
It's just that the other party seemed to have quite a bit of opinion about Fuuki's existence, and after using the Stand ability that day, she fell silent again, and no matter how Mutsumi called, there was no response.
Multiple personalities? Split personality? Two souls in one body?
When Fuuki was studying at the seminary, he also studied psychology and was no stranger to this concept. Apart from feeling a little surprised that this kind of situation would happen to Wakaba Mutsumi, he quickly accepted this fact.
He was also not in a hurry to let Mutsumi try to control that power, but first set a strict rule: concealment is the first rule of survival, and even if she masters it in the future, she must not show it in front of others unless it is absolutely necessary.
'Regardless of whether that Mortis awakens, Mutsumi cannot actively use the Stand ability, so why would Kato have contact with her?'
'Or rather, why would he choose to appear in Tsukinomori today?'
'Is it Gravity? The so-called "Stand Users attract each other?"'
'There is also some kind of Gravity between meteorite fragments. I also relied on this characteristic to find Maehara Naoto before...'
'The key is, did Kato notice anything unusual about Mutsumi? Did he notice the power that once belonged to his teammate?'
Fuuki kept thinking about various possibilities. His exploration of the memory disc was not yet complete, and there was still a lot of key information that had not been discovered.
'There is still some time before the Tsukinomori Music Festival starts. Let's find a quiet place to read the memory again.'
Fuuki's pace was relatively long, and the girl, pulled by him, staggered a little. Her light green hair fluttered behind her shoulders, and her eyes reflected the ground retreating rapidly under her feet.
No questions, no resistance, only a kind of trust generated subconsciously. She could feel the unusual tension emanating from Fuuki's body, like a fully drawn bowstring.
Finally, Fuuki pulled Mutsumi to a corner of the fire escape behind a building.
This place was adjacent to a narrow road leading to the storage warehouse, far away from the main garden and the hustle and bustle of the music festival. Tall hedges semi-surrounded the corner, blocking most of the view and noise. Only the rustling of the wind through the hedges and the faint sound of music rehearsals in the distance could be heard.
Fuuki slowly let go of her hand. He stood sideways, blocking Mutsumi between himself and the outer passage, with his back against the peeling paint of the fire iron door, invisibly protecting the girl in the angle formed by himself and the outer wall.
He raised his left hand, his palm gently resting on the cold brick wall beside Mutsumi's ear. This action naturally formed a posture that seemed extremely intimate and even oppressive to others, his tall figure casting a shadow in front of her.
"What exactly happened just now? Tell me every detail." Fuuki's eyes were calm, patiently waiting for her to recount.
Mutsumi shrunk her shoulders slightly in the protective space he formed, and her eyelashes trembled very lightly. Her voice was very soft, but she recounted the experience just now with unusual clarity.
Fuuki listened quietly, his eyes without the slightest fluctuation, but Mutsumi could feel his hand bracing against the wall, the knuckles seeming to turn slightly white from the force.
"Very good." Fuuki's voice softened a little, "Mutsumi, you must remember every word I'm about to say."
He leaned in slightly, the distance between them close enough to feel the shallow rise and fall of each other's breath.
"First, regarding Stands and Mortis," his tone carried a hint of gentle prudence, his fingertip lightly pointing towards the location of her heart. "You must not let anyone be aware of their existence. Treat it as a phantom hidden in the shadows, no matter what happens, no matter who asks, even if your closest people are around, do not actively mention or use it."
Mutsumi steadily looked at him, gently nodding as her eyelashes lightly fluttered.
"Second," Fuuki's speech slowed down, each word wrapped in sand-like steadiness, "From now until we leave Tsukinomori, you must always stay by my side, I must be within your sight. If..."
"If you are temporarily separated, as long as you feel something is not right—for example, unfamiliar gazes, strange sounds, or inexplicable approaches... don't think about anything, leave there immediately. Run to where there are many people as fast as you can, don't hesitate, don't look back to confirm, your safety is the most important thing."
The girl nodded again, this time the movement was slightly larger, and in her amber pupils, in addition to the usual calmness, there also floated a trace of entrusted, warm weight.
'Does Fuuki want to protect me too?'
'Like protecting Saki...'
Fuuki's hand bracing against the wall slowly lowered, but he didn't take half a step back, still protecting her in the corner with his body, and then, after remembering something, he took out his phone and started contacting Sakiko, who they had left behind.
Just then, the light and shadow at the entrance of the corridor flickered silently.
============
Nagasaki Soyo, holding a huge storage box, was carefully walking through the dim corridor of the old school building.
Today was the Tsukinomori Music Festival, an annual event at Tsukinomori, and the Brass Band Club seniors had an important performance in the afternoon. As a reliable junior, she had volunteered to fetch some of the equipment they needed.
This shortcut to the old storage room was usually rarely used, and it was even quieter at this moment.
She lowered her head slightly, focusing on the road beneath her feet, avoiding tripping over some discarded easels piled up against the wall. Her smooth brown hair fell from her shoulders, covering half of her cheek.
Just as she passed a particularly dimly lit corner, the corner of her eye inadvertently glanced at that deeper corner, half-surrounded by hedges.
Her footsteps stopped instantly.
The light outlined the contours in the corner stingily. A tall, blond-haired boy, wearing dark gray casual clothes that were out of place at Tsukinomori, was trapping a petite figure between himself and the wall in a very aggressive posture.
One of the boy's hands was propped against the wall, his body leaning forward, almost completely enveloping the girl in his shadow. The girl who was being 'kabedon' looked up slightly, her light green hair falling down, making it impossible to see her expression, but that posture, in the dim light, seemed incredibly passive and... fragile.
Soyo's heart skipped a beat, and the hand holding the box tightened subconsciously.
She recognized the girl being 'kabedon'—Wakaba Mutsumi from Class C of the third year.
In her memory, Wakaba Mutsumi was like a daisy growing in a corner, quiet, aloof, with a sense of transparency that made it difficult to approach.
But now, she was being trapped in a corner by a strange boy, who was obviously not from this school, in such an aggressive posture!
Shock and a sense of instinctive vigilance instantly seized Soyo.
'Who is that blond boy? Why is he at Tsukinomori? What is he doing to Wakaba Mutsumi? Coercion? Threats?'
Countless bad guesses flashed through Soyo's mind in an instant. She could even see the boy lowering his head, seemingly saying something to Wakaba Mutsumi, the distance being too close.
And Wakaba Mutsumi, who was trapped, didn't make any resisting movements, just stood there quietly, and that submissive posture seemed to Soyo to be a helpless silence.
Soyo's delicate brows furrowed tightly, and a complex light flashed in her light blue eyes.
As a student of Tsukinomori, she knew the weight of the word "decency" and had to get used to acting within the framework of the rules.
Directly rushing over to question a strange, tall boy? This was not in line with her way of doing things, and it might put Wakaba Mutsumi in an even more awkward or dangerous situation. But Wakaba Mutsumi's seemingly imprisoned posture made it impossible for her to turn a blind eye.
The hand holding the box was a little pale because of the force. She held her breath, and her body subconsciously shrank back into the shadow of the discarded easel next to her, revealing only a pair of eyes full of doubt and vigilance, staring intently at the movement in the corner.
She needed to confirm, to confirm that Wakaba Mutsumi was really safe. If that boy made any further improper moves... Soyo pursed her lips, her eyes quickly scanning the surroundings, thinking about the location of the nearest teacher's office or disciplinary committee duty station.
In any case, she couldn't ignore it.
She carefully adjusted her breathing, like a cat lurking in the grass, quietly observing in the shadows, waiting for the best time to intervene or ask for help.
In the depths of the corridor, there was only the monotonous ticking of the old clock, and the girl's drumming heartbeat.
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