[Could it be?]
[Is there finally going to be some normal plot?]
[Gua! This is exactly what I want to see!]
[Nice, a battle royale is great, even if the protagonist isn't even there.]
[No way? Is Old Snow entering the race too?]
[Probably not, Rin feels like a pure NPC to me.]
[That's fine then. If she enters the race, I'll enter the race. If she comes to hit on my Reina, I'll start hitting on her right there, straight to 0721!]
[Legendary.]
[Uzi fans are truly disgusting.]
Was this a case of getting what one wished for?
Rin, who had been keeping an eye on the bullet chat with a portion of her consciousness, twitched her brow upward.
It was an extremely subtle change in expression, so fast it seemed like nothing more than a chance flicker of light on her eyelashes.
Looking at it now... it seemed she no longer needed to bother looking for opportunities through Reina.
The camera had delivered itself right to her door.
At the corner of the afternoon corridor, the light was crystal clear.
Yui stood just two steps away, gazing at her with calm eyes, her posture elegant and flawless, like an expensive piece of porcelain carefully placed there.
To be honest, Yui's initiative in seeking her out now did cause a moment of surprise in Rin's heart.
But thinking it over after coming to her senses, it seemed like a natural development.
After all, in the original script's sparse descriptions where she existed almost solely as background scenery, the character of Rin had never shown any desire for contact or attention toward Reina beyond that of an ordinary desk neighbor.
She was more like a randomly spawning piece of campus scenery.
Only when Reina was frightened into a frantic escape by the various blunt or roundabout insane words and deeds of the other heroines, hiding in some quiet corner to lick her psychological wounds, or during truly relaxed leisure time, would she encounter her a handful of times in those sparsely populated corners.
Purely a master of appearing and disappearing at will.
Combining that with the current point in time and calculating the progress of the original story...
It was indeed about time for the character of Yui to reach the plot point where she could no longer suppress her supreme desire for control and her increasingly burning possessiveness, shifting her actions from observation to more active intervention and exclusion.
So, synthesizing the excited speculations of the bullet chat spectators who loved drama, and Yui's current posture which was clearly not a chance encounter...
Her previous act of inviting Reina to lunch together...
Had she just happened to walk into the line of fire, prematurely triggering this young lady's sensitive and exclusionary radar?
In any other situation, Rin would probably just feel unlucky, but at this point in time, she could only say it suited her perfectly.
Rin's voice was steady, like a snowflake, light and faint, devoid of emotion: "What is it?"
Yui did not answer immediately.
Her gaze lingered on Rin's face for a moment, her scrutinizing eyes slowly sweeping over the other's exquisite features. A few seconds of silence stretched out, and a silent pressure permeated the air.
Finally, she spoke again, her voice carrying an unavoidable certainty:
"Yukishiro-san."
"Just now in the classroom, you seemed... very concerned about Reina?"
The end of the sentence rose slightly, yet it wasn't a question, but more of a statement.
It was a posture of calmly laying a captured anomaly on the negotiation table, waiting for the other party to provide an explanation or a direct confirmation.
Between the words, that sense of superiority and faint territorial awareness belonging to Yui was clearly discernible.
Rin tilted her head slightly, her white hair sliding past her ear with the movement.
"Reina didn't look very well," she replied, her tone as natural as if she were saying the weather was nice. "As her neighbor, it's only right to ask how she's doing."
"Just that?"
Yui took half a step forward, a subtle movement that made the faint sense of oppression radiating from her more distinct.
Her gaze didn't leave Rin's eyes, attempting to catch a sliver of a flaw within that azure calmness.
"I don't ever recall," Yui's voice slowed down, "you taking the initiative to invite any other classmate to lunch."
"Is Reina... perhaps a bit too special to you?"
Special.
The way she used that word with a mocking tone made it an accusation in itself.
Rin's expression didn't change at all; even her long, thick white eyelashes didn't flutter in response.
"Is she?" she asked back, her tone carrying a hint of genuine confusion, as if she were truly considering the validity of the question.
"When seats are adjacent, it's inevitable to speak a few more words than with others." She paused, as if suddenly remembering a neglected detail, and added, "Besides, Reina lent me stationery before, and I haven't properly thanked her yet."
Lending stationery? Thanking her?
Yui's brow twitched slightly.
This reason... was so ordinary it was almost tedious.
Yet, because of its excessive mundanity and logic, it was like a smooth pebble, making it difficult to find a point of leverage to argue against.
Classmates lending and returning stationery and thus having some interaction was the most common thing in school.
Could it really be just that?
Was this Rin really paying a bit more attention to Reina just because of such a trivial, easily forgotten favor?
Was she being too sensitive, seeing enemies everywhere?
No.
Yui immediately rejected that weak thought.