"Was that... a confession?"
Mai pressed the question through a haze of heat and shame, her pulse thundering in the silence of the room. She held her breath, waiting for the reality-altering declaration that seemed to linger in the air between them.
Rin merely let out a soft, exasperated huff. A small smirk played on his lips, though his eyes remained fixed on the ceiling. "Good grief. You're overthinking it. Just go to sleep; I'll deal with your little 'predicament' in the morning."
Without giving her a chance to retort, Rin rolled onto his side, turning his back to her and effectively severing the conversation.
"You—!"
Mai gasped, the word dying in her throat as indignation warred with her lingering embarrassment. He had lured her in with an ambiguous, soul-stirring line only to shut her out the moment she pushed for clarity. It was infuriating. This underclassman was becoming increasingly impossible to handle. With an aggressive huff, she spun around to face the opposite direction, putting as much distance between them as the mattress allowed.
The night passed in a heavy, wordless standoff.
The next morning, sharp shafts of sunlight pierced the bedroom window, lancing across Rin's face. The intrusive glare dragged him upward from the depths of sleep. He blinked, his eyes stinging and heavy, and let out a long, jagged yawn as he kicked the duvet aside.
Sitting up, he found the Bunny Girl Senpai had long since beaten him to the day. Mai stood near the vanity, her fingers nimbly working the buttons of her school blazer. She was already fully armored in her student persona.
Rin leaned back on his elbows, a lazy, predatory grin spreading across his face. He propped his chin on one hand, his gaze tracing the sharp lines of her uniform. "Last night... you were spectacular."
The comment was a deliberate grenade tossed into the quiet morning. This time, however, Mai didn't explode into a flurry of kicks. Her fingers faltered for a fraction of a second, and a rich, rosy hue bloomed across her cheeks, but she kept her back to him.
"If you have time for such nonsense, you have time to get out of bed," she countered, her voice remarkably steady despite the blush. "We have school."
Even as a ghost—a literal shadow ignored by the collective consciousness—she refused to let her discipline slip.
"Take it easy," Rin drawled, sliding out of the bed with the fluid grace of someone who owned every second of the day. "There's no rush."
He disappeared into the bathroom, the click of the door echoing behind him. As soon as he was gone, the air seemed to leave the room. Mai's shoulders slumped, her expression turning somber as she looked at her reflection in the mirror—a reflection only one person in the world could still acknowledge.
"Rin..." she whispered to the empty room.
They walked toward the school side-by-side. After a long stretch of silence, Rin broke the quiet.
"By the way, I've worked out how to fix your 'transparency' issue."
Mai's heart skipped a beat. "Really? How?" She tried to sound skeptical, half-convinced he was merely offering hollow comfort. Yet, looking at the calm certainty etched into his profile, she found it harder and harder to doubt him. In her experience, Rin Kuga didn't make promises he couldn't enforce upon reality.
"This condition of yours... it's born of a specific anxiety, isn't it?" Rin began, his voice dropping an octave. "That morning in the classroom..."
He trailed off, sparing her the embarrassment of finishing the thought. He knew the catalyst—the sight of him flanked by Utaha and Sakura had triggered a subconscious desire in Mai to vanish, to escape the crushing weight of social competition and jealousy.
As he analyzed the situation, a flicker of reluctant empathy crossed his mind. Then he looked at her—this brilliant, stubborn girl who was currently being deleted by the universe. To let such a subject simply fade into the Void would be a waste of a perfectly good world.
Mai's face burned a fiercer red with every word he spoke. He had seen right through her. The "Adolescence Syndrome" wasn't some random curse; it was a physical manifestation of her own spiraling thoughts.
"Don't worry about it," Rin said, his gaze sweeping over her from head to toe one last time before they reached the gates. "I've already decided on the cure. You just need to start thinking about how you're going to repay me."