“Do you know who you’re talking to?” Mom asked, squinting, her arms crossing over her chest. The Yakuza might be intimidating, but I would highly avoid Mom’s fixed stare more. I only knew her as the sweetest Mom, and I never wanted to see her angry.

  “Tsk!” Sheathing their swords, the Yakuza’s tongue clicked and turned around, leaving like nothing happened. But why? Mom is just… Mom! She didn’t have any affiliation to Yakuza or something.

  “Hey, apologize first!” Sera shouted as a follow up, but I covered her mouth to prevent her from spitting words of danger.

  My hands shaking, my cringy whisper reached her ears. “Stop that, Sera! There’s no chance they’ll apologize.” Everyone entitled doesn’t.

  Flicking my hand, she compined, her eyebrows furrowing. “Why? They did something wrong! Isn’t it the right thing to do? ”

  “This isn’t the pce to talk about that. Just let it go.” Which parent did she learn how to be confrontational? I want to know.

  With the crowd still staring at us, Mom pulled us up standing. I narrowed my eyes and asked, “Mom, I thought you’ll wait for us in Shinjuku?”

  “I’m just visiting a friend. Why do you think it will take long? As soon as I finished, I came to search for you.” Luckily, she came at the right time. Else, we’ll be minced meat.

  The girl stood up with a stooped posture, rushed to get her green notebook, shook off the dust it got, and rushed back towards us, specifically towards us. With a shaky voice, she stuttered, which was accompanied by jerky gestures, “S–Sera-chan… I’m sorry, it’s so s–sudden. But… I’m a huge fan… since you p–participated at CosFiesta Mashup 7th… C–Can I get an autograph?”

  Sera-chan? How did she know her name? Was she one of the followers of the underground blogger that leaked her name? Or maybe my whispers were so loud. But still, it was questionable how she knew Sera at the event. This wasn’t just a simple fan. Our eyes did meet, and after that, she tried her hardest to avoid my gaze, hiding her face with her hood.

  “Autograph?” Sera asked me, her eyes narrowing, her head tilting towards her side. The concept of ownership still didn’t click to Sera. After all, she was just starting to involve herself in this world. But even in another world, they should know the concept of ownership.

  Pulling out a pen from my bag and giving it to her, I expined. “It’s one proof of your identity. A sign should be your personal Kanji stroke, something that only you can write. If I see it, I will know it’s yours.”

  “I see… What is a fan?” Sera asked.

  “Puns aside, it is someone who really loved your cospys, Sera.”

  “Then… those that approached me for memories, they’re also fans?”

  Nodding, I replied, “The longer you pursue cospying, the more fans you’ll know. You’ll be grateful that you’re helping them too much.”

  She took the notebook, but only gazed at it for seconds before she asked, “Should it be in Kanji?”

  Shaking my head, I replied, “I wouldn’t suggest that, but I have a suggestion. Why don’t you try writing your name in your old world nguage?”

  Her pupils dited when her head pivoted at me. It seemed she got an idea what to write. She gripped the pen like a quill, drawing strokes of elegance horizontally. Six characters, that was all it took to present Sera’s name in another world’s nguage.

  “There! I’m happy I have such a bright admirer!” After signing, she handed the notebook to the girl with a warm smile.

  The girl csped Sera’s hands before getting the notebook. Though the girl’s mask hid her mouth, her eyes closed and curved in joy when she replied her gratitude to Sera. “T–Thank you very much!”

  Sera slightly flinched, half-smiling due to shock. She expected her adoration, but her expectations of it might be low. “Y–You’re welcome…”

  The girl bowed for about ninety degrees and walked away with lingering happiness. As I saw her getting further, a recent memory suddenly appeared, overpping my reality. Her back… It was like when I saw Rise get out of the bathroom after PE css. Now that I think about it, their heights match. Am I still sick? I softly spped my cheeks and shook my head to return to reality.

  “What are you doing, Kou-chan?” Mom asked.

  “Nothing, Mom. Just a reality check.” But what if that was really Rise? Will it be possible that she hid her face because she will be discovered as Hina Satou? And if she really was Rise, does her ignoring me a huge hint of what I discovered from her face?

  We went home and expined the concept of Yakuzas to Sera. With her contagious curiosity, knowing there exists a power beyond societal rules, I also questioned if the peace we felt was real… or was it only an illusion?

  Still, I expected this day to end with me getting answers, but I only got more questions. First, was she really Hina Satou? Second, what was the reason she was hiding her face from everyone? And third, what did Hina Satou mean she didn’t have any cssmates?

  I went to school the earliest out of all of my attended csses for only one reason… I wanted to talk to Rise directly. I hoped she wouldn't avoid me.

  After an hour of investigating Hina Satou’s page and underground blog posts, Ms. Yamamoto’s history css started. However, Rise didn’t come. Our adviser initiated the attendance check, and no one had information why Rise hadn’t come to school yet. Everyone thought she was still sick… until she opened the cssroom door.

  Entering the room, she ignored all of her cssmates as she went towards and sat on her seat. Everyone witnessed the unnatural redness of her swelling right cheek, and only a few, including me, knew that it wasn’t makeup. Still, she tried her hardest to avoid making eye contact with me.

  I waited until breaktime for the opportunity to talk to her, but seconds after the bell rang, she vanished instantly from her seat like a bubble pop. It would be a hassle guessing which pce she was hiding, but it was my only way to talk to her. Usually, I wouldn’t care about it and give up, but these thoughts of curiosity bothered my mind like an unstoppable arm clock.

  But I didn’t notice that the biggest clue to my questions for her was the green notebook she left at her desk. I pretended to pass through her seat, hiding my intentions, and gazed over the notebook, witnessing the same six strange strokes written by Sera yesterday. Signatures were really unique to one's identity. Rise was there at the Shibuya Halloween, but I still couldn’t figure out if she was Hina Satou.

  Rise and I share the same feeling of withdrawal from society. Crowded pces were a no-go to us. I first thought of the rooftop, but when I checked it, countless groups of students practicing their dances and doing mini-picnics greeted me. Closing the rooftop door, I shook my head and uttered, “Lonely rooftops were only present in Animes.”

  If I didn’t want to be bothered, the library would give me the least noise of reality. When I checked the pce, traversing from bookshelf to bookshelf and wandering around the lobby, I didn’t find her. How about the abandoned storerooms? Those pces were blocked by a barricade.

  Fifteen minutes of running, those were the only pces within the building where I could hide from the crowd. Outside was also filled with students eating lunch and pying video games. I still had half of my break to search, but I was already breathless.

  I passed through a stairway at the ground floor. Without any consciousness, an entity pulled me underneath the stairs, my view filled with shadows. A girl pinned me on the ground, not being able to see her clear face since my gsses flew away. I felt her tears sprinkling down on my face, her trembling traversing through my pinned arms. However, I could recognize her soft voice accompanying cycles of sobbing.

  “S–Sugiyama-kun… Please help me…”

  Rise… What in the world happened to her?