Because of what Karma did the other day, I ended up having to go out with Hayami this afternoon.

There was still time until we were supposed to meet, so I decided to kill time however I felt like it.

I spoke to Ritsu, who had suddenly appeared on every classmate’s phone the other day.

“Hey, Ritsu, as a computer with a will of your own, do you already understand what emotions are?”

“No, at this point, I still cannot understand emotions like joy and sadness that everyone talks about. Ayanokōji-kun, do you not understand emotions either?”

“Yeah, I’m the same as you, I don’t know what the thing called emotions even is. I’ve tried to smile on purpose before, but I’ve never been able to smile naturally, so I want you to help me get my emotions back.”

“…Even if you ask me to help, I don’t think there’s anything I can do right now.”

“I’m not saying you have to help me right away. This is my guess, but as you keep interacting with your classmates from here on out, you’ll build up all kinds of experiences and you’ll come to understand emotions like joy and sadness and when that happens, find a common point that applies to every classmate and even to you, a machine, it can be anything, a signal from the brain, whatever. But I won’t accept something vague like ‘I cried so I was sad,’ tears are nothing more than a bodily reaction.”

“Understood. But will there really ever be an opportunity where ‘every classmate’s emotions match’?”

“Yeah… it will definitely happen before graduation. Also, this is my personal concern, keep this secret from Sensei and the classmates.”

“Roger!”

When I finished talking with Ritsu, it was the perfect time, so I hurried to the meeting spot.

* * *

“You’re late!”

It should’ve been exactly on time, but I got chewed out the second we met.

“No, I’m right on time.”

“Do you think it’s okay to make a girl wait? Well, you’re kind of clueless about basic common sense, so…”

“Sorry about that. I’ll be careful next time. So where are we going?”

Hayami was the one who made the plan, so I didn’t know anything important.

“Follow me.”

After walking behind Hayami for fifteen minutes, we arrived at a cat café.

“Hey, Hayami, is this really the place?”

“It is.”

She answered flatly and pulled my hand as she took me inside.

A few minutes after entering this so-called cat café, I lost my words at the sight in front of me.

Because the person in front of me wasn’t the usual calm and composed Hayami, it was Hayami smiling and talking to cats in a sweet voice, going “Nyaa~♪”

“This is unexpected. I didn’t think you had a hobby like this.”

“W-what?! Is it weird for me to like stuff like this?”

“Not at all, it’s the opposite. I think the ‘you’ right now feels more genuine and I think it’s cute.”

“C-cute… are you serious?”

If the guys in class saw this gap, it wouldn’t be strange if a few of them fell for Hayami.

“Yeah, I’m serious. And if anyone knows I’m not the type to make jokes, it’s you, since we’ve known each other a long time.”

“T-then… are you the type to call anyone cute so easily?”

“No, you’re the first.”

When I said that, Hayami buried her face into a cat’s back and kept whispering, “It’s fine… it’s fine…”

And as for me, my first time interacting with cats was interesting enough that I ended up enjoying the cat café more than I expected.

Next time, inviting Chiba and coming as three might not be bad.

Then Hayami and I headed to our next destination.

* * *

The next destination was a survival game field where the entire mountain was the playing area.

For assassins like us, it really was the ideal playground, training on the same field all the time isn’t practice.

“So, what are the rules?”

She’s stubbornly competitive, so it was obvious she’d turn this into a match like usual training.

“You’re unusually obedient today. We’ll count how many times you ‘kill’ me and how many times I ‘kill’ you, first to ten wins.”

“Alright, got it.”

Hayami and I started at the same time from opposite sides of a forest, a short distance apart.

The instant I started, I looked through my scope and took a shot.

Because the paint round’s range was far beyond what she assumed, Hayami let her guard down and I hit her cleanly.

Normally, if you aimed straight, the round would lose speed before reaching her and it wouldn’t land.

But if you perfectly account for the angle and the wind direction, extending a paint round’s effective range is easy.

In the second round, I took a shot the moment we started again, but this time I intentionally missed.

Missing meant my position was exposed and Hayami countered, running as she shot and took me out.

And with that, our survival-game assassination ended and the final result was that I lost to Hayami 10 to 7.

“Hey, that first shot… did you aim it?”

“No, I just fired randomly and it happened to hit. I missed the second one, didn’t I? Doing extra things isn’t a good habit.”

“But you’ve clearly improved compared to before.”

“That’s because Hayami teaches well. I’m grateful you’re always training me.”

“I-it’s not for you or anything. You’re… no, you’re necessary for the class, so I’m just training you up, hmph.”

“I see. By the way, have you realized what your strengths are?”

“My strengths?”

“Yeah. You always seem to think you can’t beat Chiba, but from where I’m standing, you have plenty of things you’re better at than him. Your weapon is ‘stability.’”

“Stability?”

“Yeah, I’m sure after today. Your sniping today was mostly from unstable positions and places, like while running or from up in trees and even so, you hit the target in one shot. Normally, what a sniper needs most is accurate shooting, so their firing position is often limited to stable, flat places and if the opponent is skilled, it becomes easy to predict. But if you have stability like yours, then in the extreme, you can snipe from anywhere and the enemy won’t be able to figure out your position.”

“…I see.”

“So starting today, train your core. Become someone who can snipe even from the most unstable places.”

“Okay. But tell me, why do you know me so well?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Because I’m actually ‘watching’ you.”

“So… you’re watching me…”

“Yeah, but it’s about time we head home.”

“Yeah… but let me say this at least. Th-thank you.”

“I can’t see a reason for you to thank me.”

“I see, then I’ll take it back.”

“I’m kidding. I’ll accept it.”

“Hehe, that’s fine.”

With that, Hayami and I headed home together.

Hoping that starting tomorrow, our usual daily life would begin again.

* * *

Hayami → Grateful
Hayami ← Pushing growth, looking forward to what comes next