Rin Kuga stood bewildered, caught in the crossfire between Kaguya Shinomiya and Utaha Kasumigaoka. The former's intentions were a complete enigma. With Utaha, he could at least hazard a guess—her motivations, while complex, were rooted in a familiar, fiery pride. But Kaguya Shinomiya?
She was an unsolved equation. Last time, during the perfunctory invitation to join the student council, she'd been a statue of silent, icy perfection.
Their quarrel—a clash between two of the school's most celebrated beauties—had magnetized the attention of every male student in the classroom.
"Whoa, that's Vice-President Shinomiya!"
"She's arguing with Kasumigaoka?"
"Over that guy Rin again, isn't it?"
"Ugh, him? Seriously?"
A low buzz of speculation filled the air, every whisper dissecting Rin, Utaha, and Kaguya, weaving theories from thin air.
The noise finally pierced Utaha's indignation. She realized the sheer tactical folly of having this showdown in the middle of the classroom. Idiot! She clicked her tongue softly against her teeth, frustration simmering.
But that moment of distraction was all Kaguya needed.
Her hand shot out, fingers closing firmly around Rin's wrist. "With me. Now."
Without waiting for a reply, she pulled, her grip surprisingly strong, steering him toward the door. Utaha's delayed reaction was a hand stretching out into empty air. "Hey, wait!"
She could only watch, fuming, as Rin was led away by the black-haired vice-president.
Behind them, the classroom erupted into fresh waves of astonished chatter. No one could believe it. The unapproachable Ice Queen, Kaguya Shinomiya, had just publicly dragged a boy out of class. What in the world was happening? Meanwhile, a chorus of soft, despairing sighs rose from the girls—their aloof prince had been snatched away yet again.
Click.
The sound of the rooftop access door closing echoed with finality. Kaguya stood with her back to it, hands behind her, a self-satisfied smile playing on her lips. Rin faced her, arms crossed over his chest, his expression the same practiced mask of detached boredom.
"So," he said, his voice flat. "What's this about?"
Even he had to admit he was stumped. This girl was an enigma wrapped in a mystery. His knowledge from his previous life was spotty at best—he recognized her as the Kaguya Shinomiya, but the intricate details of her character, the gears turning behind those ruby eyes, were unknown to him. Her sudden, forceful relocation of him to this windswept rooftop made no logical sense.
Kaguya's smile widened slightly at his question. She stepped closer, the scent of expensive, subtle perfume cutting through the crisp rooftop air. She produced her phone, tapped the screen awake, and held it out for him to see.
"Why don't you tell me," she said, her voice deceptively light, "exactly who the man in this video is?"
The bored, sleep-tinged haze vanished from Rin's eyes in an instant. His gaze locked onto the phone's screen. The video showed a brief, shaky clip—the moment a figure clad in golden and black armor dissolved into a shower of crimson light particles, revealing… him. It was the moment he had reverted from Zi-O.
Tch.
A flicker of cold annoyance. Sloppy. He'd assumed the school was clear. He hadn't accounted for a straggler, let alone one with the presence of mind to record evidence.
But his composure was absolute. The flicker of recognition was there and gone, buried beneath layers of royal indifference faster than a blink. He let his bored expression settle back into place.
"What?" he asked, tilting his head with faux confusion. "What's supposed to be in your video?"
"Hmph! Playing dumb?" Kaguya's eyes gleamed with triumph. She pulled the phone back, ready to deliver the crushing, definitive revelation. "Let me make it perfectly clear for you. This person is—"
Her words died in her throat. She stared at her phone. The screen showed her gallery. The video file… was gone. Not moved. Not corrupted. It had simply ceased to exist, as if it had never been recorded at all.
The smug certainty on her face shattered, replaced by open-mouthed shock. "Wha…? This… this can't be. How is this possible?" Her voice held a panicked edge, the flawless mask of the vice-president cracking to reveal the flustered, overly-serious girl beneath. It seemed some core aspects of her personality remained unchanged from the original timeline, at least as far as Rin's fragmented knowledge went.
Rin closed the distance between them in two unhurried steps. He leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a low, almost intimate murmur that carried the weight of absolute authority.
"You," he said, the words soft yet final, "are still too green."
Then he turned, pushing past the stunned girl, and exited the rooftop. He left her alone, the wind whipping at her hair as she stared uselessly at her blank phone screen, the proof of her discovery erased from reality itself.
He left behind only the echo of his words and the unsettling, hollow feeling that she had just tried to grasp smoke.