At seven in the morning, the pale blue skyline glowed faintly, and the mist had not yet dispersed.
Sakiko stood in front of Rikuo's apartment door, her fingers suspended in mid-air, an inch away from the door panel, yet she hesitated to let them fall.
Sakiko pursed her lips, her fingertips curled slightly, and she finally pulled them back.
"...What am I doing?"
Uika's words from last night seemed to still echo in her ears.
She looked down at the breakfast she was carrying—two boxes of bread and two bottles of milk, which she had bought on a whim.
"...Never mind."
Sakiko wrote a note, placed the breakfast by the door, and left.
Rikuo was still dreaming, playing the final bo5 sudden-death game against Faker. But the support in his dream seemed to have merged with Anon.
"How can that Q miss!"
Rikuo was startled awake in his dream when he saw Rell's Q-flash miss.
"...It seems I really shouldn't play LOL with Anon anymore. I haven't had nightmares even when fighting Anomalies. Oh, what time is it now?"
Rikuo picked up his phone. It was seven forty-five in the morning.
His brain instantly cleared. He shot up from the bed with a carp-flip, but tripped over the blanket tangled around his leg, and landed back on the mattress with a "thud."
"Why didn't my godson, Togawa Kiyotsugu, call me? Oh, he doesn't have a part-time job today. He probably isn't up either..."
Hearing the shouting from the second bedroom, Rikuo could only sigh.
"Since I'm definitely going to be late, there's no rush. I'll go out and have breakfast first."
After a quick wash-up, he went out and saw a plastic bag outside the room.
"Is this breakfast Sakiko brought for me?"
Rikuo picked up the plastic bag and saw a small note inside.
[Received the medicine yesterday, thank you.]
After Togawa Kiyotsugu opened the door yesterday, although it was blocked by the security chain, the gap was still enough for Rikuo to pass the medicine in.
"Sakiko probably hesitated and finally only dared to leave it at the door. Never mind, I'll block her classroom door today, and she won't be able to run."
...
Eight forty, Haneoka Academy.
"A mere school wall, watch me jump over it with the 5 of Spades."
Rikuo, from an unobserved angle, used the leg-strength-enhanced 5 of Spades to make a great leap into the campus.
"The first class is almost over. I'll go explain to the homeroom teacher first, then drop off my backpack after class. Then I'll go directly to block Sakiko-sensei's door."
After explaining in the office that his tardiness today was due to sick leave, the teacher, out of respect for his parents' overseas studies, let him off, only reminding him not to be late again.
Amidst the shocked gazes of his classmates, Rikuo put down his backpack and walked straight to the classroom next door.
"Riku, why are you only just arriving now?"
"Hmm, Rikuo-kun, you're quite late today."
"It's nothing, I was bound by Anon's terrible plays last night, and only recovered this morning. I have something to do, so I'll be going first."
"What do you mean, you're still calling me bad!"
Rikuo ignored Anon's complaints and walked towards Sakiko's class.
...
'First it was Soyo, now it's your turn, Rikuo-kun? It's just as Uika said, will I, such a difficult person, be treated forcefully?'
Sakiko looked at Rikuo standing at the classroom door, and Rikuo smiled back at her. The students in the class who didn't know Rikuo only thought this boy had a very refreshing smile, and a bolder girl stepped forward.
"Are you looking for someone?"
"Yes, I'm looking for Togawa-san in your class, the one sitting there looking at me."
Rikuo knew they didn't know Sakiko's given name, so he just used her surname.
"It seems Togawa-san doesn't want to come over herself. Do you need me to call her?"
"No need, I'll just wait and see when she comes over herself."
Hearing Rikuo's response, the girl didn't press the matter further.
Sakiko glanced at Rikuo, then ignored him and continued with her study. One class break passed, and Sakiko still made no move. Rikuo also returned to his own classroom. Then, it was the second class, the third class.
...
"What exactly do you want to do? Even Soyo isn't doing this anymore, why are you still like this?"
Sakiko finally couldn't take it anymore and pulled Rikuo aside during lunch break. Sakiko's brows furrowed tighter and tighter, her amber pupils filled with grievance.
"Didn't Sakiko herself say not to talk to me at school? I can only wait for you to come to me, but if I'm not at the classroom door, you'll definitely run away again, and at the apartment too, you'll hide."
Rikuo replied with a seemingly indifferent expression.
"But, what you're doing will affect me!"
"Yes, I want to affect you."
Rikuo rubbed his head and sighed.
"Sakiko, I originally wanted to help you slowly, and then tell you in the end. But, I found that you are still as difficult as I thought."
Rikuo pulled Sakiko towards the rooftop. The midday sun was dazzling, spring was about to end, and the temperature on the rooftop was high, with no other students eating lunch there.
"I wanted to wait for you to reconcile with Crychic yourself. Unfortunately, you couldn't move on. Then I thought, after you heard Tomori's first live performance, I would help. But I felt that was quite despicable, taking advantage of someone's vulnerability or something, so I decided against it. I also thought, after you could form your own band. But I found that you seem to be unable to find a direction to move forward now. Perhaps because I helped Mutsumi, you also haven't contacted Mutsumi anymore."
Sakiko turned her head away, not wanting to answer.
Rikuo sighed deeply and closed the rooftop door. (There were no cameras on the rooftop)
"So, I think. Perhaps it was I who made you stagnate. Interfering too much, instead caused you to be trapped in the past. Hiding things, not wanting to put pressure on you, instead made you stuck in your ways. Perhaps without me, you could have come out of it yourself, maybe the outcome wouldn't have been good enough, but at least you would have dared to take a step."
Sakiko stared into Rikuo's eyes, but still couldn't understand his words.
"What exactly do you want to express? Are you looking down on me?"
Rikuo did not answer her question.
"Your father, Togawa Kiyotsugu. He didn't want you to live a life abandoned by the family with him, so he pretended to be decadent, secretly working part-time every day when you weren't around. All the money he'stole' from your salary, he saved up and didn't touch."
"Shiina Taki has always been overshadowed by her sister's halo. She can come out of it on her own, and is now learning arrangement. Although she is impulsive, she dares to admit her mistakes."
"Nagasaki Soyo, once fixated on the past, couldn't see the people around her. But she can now reconcile with herself, dares to take responsibility for her mistakes, and can now understand your feelings."
"Wakaba Mutsumi, your other half, shared the blame with you when the band disbanded, but was treated as a punching bag by you and the past Soyo. Yet she still values her friends, and has now reconciled with Soyo."
"Takamatsu Tomori, because she could see your sadness and reluctance at the time, she believed all the responsibility for the band's disbandment was hers. She was lost for a long time because of this. But she can now bravely move forward, to reduce your self-blame, and to let you see her growth."
"So, Sakiko, why have you started to escape again?"
Rikuo said a long string of words, but Sakiko just turned her head, took a step back, and leaned against the door.
"I understand your hesitation, but why retreat? You're no longer in contact with Mutsumi, the band hasn't been formed, and you haven't let go of Crychic, have you?"
"..."
Sakiko didn't dare to refute, and the hand she tried to use to open the door was held by Rikuo.
"Because I was afraid of putting pressure on you, I always wanted to keep it from you. But when I gradually realized that you still hadn't changed, I started to wonder why people only know to remedy things after making mistakes. I feel that I don't want to regret."
"Please watch, my transformation."
Rikuo took out his pen, transformed it into the Blay Buckle, and inserted the Ace of Spades.
In Sakiko's surprised eyes, the silver and blue Kamen Rider Blade appeared.
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