"...That medium-fatty tuna was eight hundred yen a piece, you know."

"So? Don't whine over one measly bite. What a small-minded guy."

"The price per bite is way too high. And don't just eat without permission."

Himuro acted as if my protest was a passing breeze, licking the soy sauce from her thin lips with a sweep of her well-shaped tongue.

That strangely sensual gesture nearly stole my gaze for a split second, but I immediately cranked the Emptiness Filter in my brain to full throttle and killed all emotion. Desires are nothingness. Given my history of betrayal, a pretty girl's lips are nothing but mobile red mucous membranes.

"So? You, earlier you said 'let me use it too'..."

"Not 'you.' Himuro."

"...I know. There's no one at this school who doesn't know the downer-type unattainable flower they call the 'Ice Princess.'"

When I gave a throwaway reply, Himuro narrowed her cold crimson eyes just slightly.

"Hmm. Then this'll be quick. Let me use that hole of yours, Mawaru Kageya."

"...Huh? How do you know my name?"

I was a background character, and from a different class, at that—yet this celebrity of the school had spoken my full name without a moment's hesitation. I nearly lost my mask of emptiness on the spot.

"How, you ask... No reason. You're always by the window with those dead-fish eyes, so you just stuck in my memory like a glitch in the scenery."

Himuro turned away, looking uninterested, then pulled out her smartphone from her skirt pocket and tossed it carelessly toward the shadow stretching at my feet.

Clatter!

The phone didn't get sucked into the shadow... Instead, it bounced off with a pitiful sound and rolled across the concrete floor.

"...Hey. It won't go in. Is your shadow defective?"

"My ability isn't an automatic door. And I don't want to be held responsible if you break your phone, so stop."

"Tch... Useless."

Himuro knitted her well-shaped brows in dissatisfaction and picked up her fallen phone. I let out a colossal sigh and explained the basic rules of this Shadow Storage.

"It's basically just a normal shadow. Unless I consciously go through the process of 'accepting' something, nothing goes in and nothing comes out. I'm the gatekeeper myself."

"Hmm... So it won't work unless you give permission. Surprisingly possessive specifications. Just like you."

"Where exactly am I a bundle of possessiveness? Are your eyes just holes in your head?"

I shut her down immediately, but Himuro's crimson eyes glinted with a sticky light—like a child who'd found a new toy, or a conqueror sizing up untouched territory.

She slowly took off the cardigan she'd been wearing over her shoulders, then shoved it toward my chest together with her phone.

"Put it in."

"...Huh?"

"I said, put it into that shadow of yours. A practical exercise. Or what, are you saying you won't get it unless I personally teach you, hand over hand? What a high-maintenance gatekeeper you are."

"...No thanks. I'll do it myself."

From the cardigan pressed against me wafted a faint citrusy, sweet yet cool fragrance. Through the fabric, I could even feel the residual warmth from the unattainable flower of the school who'd been wearing it until moments ago.

For an ordinary high school boy, this level of proximity and olfactory input would be enough to boil his brain and cause a freeze. Unfortunately, my heart had already died once, completely. Right now, it was just a colossal pain.

"...Yeah, yeah. You'll be satisfied if I put it in, right?"

Rather than resist further and invite extra meddling, it was far better to just give a quick demonstration and bore her out of it.

I took the items she'd shoved at me, focused my mind, and sank my hand into my shadow.

With that peculiar coolness like dipping into water, the mass in my hand suddenly vanished. When I pulled my hand back out, nothing remained—just a stain of black asphalt.

Himuro's crimson eyes widened slightly.

Her usual downer, cold mask peeled away for just a fleeting moment, replaced by an age-appropriate face filled with pure curiosity.

"It really... disappeared. Completely, inside your shadow."

"That's what I've been telling you. When I take stuff out, it's like this."

I thrust my hand into the shadow again and pulled out only her smartphone to show her. Not a scratch on the screen, and not a speck of dust from the rooftop.

"What about the weight?"

"I don't feel it at all. It's an alternate dimension that ignores the laws of physics. Well, it's kind of like part of my own body."

"...Time is stopped."

Muttering as if ruminating on my words, Himuro took her smartphone, then crouched down and stared hard at my shadow.

Poke, poke—her white fingertip prodded the shadow. Since I hadn't given permission, it naturally felt like nothing but concrete, yet she continued observing it with fervent interest.

"So, what about living things? What would happen if I tried to go inside right now?"

"Impossible. Once, I accidentally tried to drag a cicada in, but it got repelled like your phone just now. Seems it's designed not to accept living cells."

Listening to my explanation, Himuro narrowed her eyes as if running some fine calculations.

Then, she abruptly stood up and briskly brushed the dust off her pleated skirt.

"I see. I've got a rough grasp of the rules."

"Good for you. Now, I'm gonna eat the rest of my sushi... Here, your cardigan."

I took the cardigan out of my shadow and held it out to her.

But Himuro made no move to take it. Instead, she stepped forward, closing the distance between us to its absolute limit. The drifting citrus fragrance mixed with the tepid midday heat and hit my nostrils directly.

"...Hey. The test is over. Take your clothes."

"No need to return them. Carrying them around is a hassle. Just stow them deep in your shadow."

"My shadow's not some convenient coin locker."

"I'm telling you to put them in. Or..."

Himuro whispered in a tone that was playful yet issued an absolute command.

"Would you rather leave my clothes on this filthy ground? Or what, are you planning to take it home yourself and sniff it night after night in your room? Did you have that kind of creepy hobby?"

"...Just what kind of glitched character does your brain register me as?"

With a deep sigh, I sank her personal belongings—still carrying her body heat—deep into the bottom of my alternate dimension once again.

"...So, how long are you planning to leave these with me?"

"Who knows? Until I need them. Hey, Kageya."

Himuro leaned in a little closer, peering up directly into my eyes as if from below.

Deep within those crimson eyes, I saw a chilling, cloyingly sweet emotion swirling.

"While they're inside, time is stopped and no one can touch them. As long as you're the gatekeeper, the scent on my clothes, the warmth they had now, every wrinkle—none of it degrades. They'll be preserved just like that, forever. Isn't that right?"

"...Well, in theory."

"...Isn't that just perfect."

Himuro lifted the corners of her mouth, a terribly alluring smile like ice beginning to melt spreading across her face.

"Inside your shadow, no one else can touch them, and they'll never be dirtied. A completely 'dedicated space' just for me. I'll buy up your entire privacy, along with you."

"...Don't you ever think I might just pawn them off at some random shop?"

"Go ahead and try if you can. From tomorrow, I'll post on the school bulletin board—with video 'Discovered: a pervert who pulls premium sushi out of his shadow. Contents suspected stolen goods.' If you don't want to be socially murdered, you'll make sure my scent doesn't fade and store them carefully, with the utmost care."

"You're pinning a theft frame job on me too, after eating half my sushi..."

My entirely reasonable retort was swallowed up by her amused, dismissive sniff.

Looking satisfied, Himuro spun on her heel and put her hand on the rooftop door handle.

"See you, Kageya. Take proper, respectful care of my belongings. If you so much as lay a finger on them... well, you know what'll happen then, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Not interested in a face on legs. Won't touch 'em."

As I spat that over my shoulder, she waved at me through the gap in the door.

"Ah, and don't you dare eat the rest of that medium-fatty tuna. I'm eating it after school. Until then, you stay right there, as my personal 'storage vault.'"

Bang! The rooftop's iron door shut mercilessly.

It was only after the sound of her footsteps had completely vanished that I realized—leaving her cardigan with me, making me save the sushi, it was all just her unbelievably unreasonable pretext for "You're absolutely keeping me company after school too."

Left behind, I stared alternately at the shadow at my feet and the premium sushi tub that was still more than half full, and let out yet another sigh—I'd lost count of how many today.

‘...Who was it that said this was a sanctuary just for me?’

My Shadow Inside, the one place in the world where I alone was supposed to be free.

And into it, a beautiful girl seething with deadly venom and unfathomable possessiveness had scattered her own body heat and scent, declaring an illegal occupation and marking her territory.