Tuesday, September 22nd.

The sky is clear and the sky is clear and blue.

Sayu came to school as usual, supervising and inspecting the upcoming sports meeting, and conscientiously performed his duties as the squad leader.

After the fourth period in the morning, Teacher Misaki called her to the office.

A man with naturally curly hair was standing next to Teacher Misaki and greeted her with a smile, "You must be Sayu. It's our first time meeting you. Please give me some advice today."

"Eh? Hello...please give me some advice." Sayu nodded in confusion, and at the same time gave Misaki a questioning look.

The other party then introduced him: "Sayu, let me introduce to you. This is Mr. Yagami, a writer. I came to school this time to conduct an interview about the incident a year ago."

"No~Teacher, you misunderstood."

The man who heard this laughed and said, "I'm just a freelance writer who keeps traveling. Although my writings are fortunate enough to be published by some magazines, I can't really be called a writer, so you don't have to call me that."

Teacher Misaki nodded, turned to Sayu, and asked, "That's it. I think you should be able to face that experience calmly now, right? How about it? Are you willing to be interviewed?"

"This..." Sayu's eyes wandered between the two of them, his expression slightly hesitant.

Seeing this,

"Sayu-kun, you don't have to be so nervous."

The man pushed up the black-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and said warmly: "I just admire your courage and want to pass this spirit on to more people who are immersed in darkness. Are you willing to help me?"

"But... I have told the media all the specific things before, Mr. Yagami."

"It doesn't matter. I have read those previous reports. Sayu may not know much about freelance writers and news media. There is actually a difference between the two."

"That's right..."

So Sayu no longer hesitated and immediately nodded and agreed, "Although I don't know if I can help Mr. Yagami, I will try my best."

"Thank you, Sayu-san." The man thanked him sincerely and took a notebook and a pen from the inner pocket of his windbreaker for recording.

He looked like he was about to start right now.

"——Please wait a moment, Mr. Yagami." Mr. Misaki stopped him repeatedly, and pointed to the rest area in the corner of the office, saying: "There is a sofa over there. You can go over and talk. It's quieter there."

Neither Iori nor Sayu had any objections to this, so they moved to the sofa in the rest area together and then started the interview.

"Then, please let me hear what you were thinking at that time, right? Sayu-san."

When Yagami took the lead in asking this question, Sayu nodded gently to express understanding and recounted the past.

"It was before the summer vacation last year. All the second-year students went to Hokkaido Broadcasting (TV) for a visit. My friend Yuko called me at the end, and I went to the roof to save her."

"Hmm, I've seen these news reports, what else is there?"

"Huh?"

"How did you save her then?"

"...I rushed up, hugged her, and lifted her off the platform at the edge of the roof."

"I see, the situation must have been critical at that time, right? Sayu-san's psychological quality is very good, so what were your thoughts at the time?"

"idea?"

"That's right." Yagami nodded affirmatively and said, "Compared to the simple record of events, what I want to know more is your thoughts and inner feelings at that time."

"Just, I received a call from my friend Yuko. I had to stop her and then ran to the roof of the TV station to rescue her."

"——Sayu-san?" Yagami stopped writing and raised his head, "Are you nervous? I've said before, just talk about your inner feelings and emotions at that time, even if it's a little abstract, it doesn't matter.

, I will convert it into words well."

"Do you feel... like you have to stop her?" Sayu tilted her head slightly and murmured.

"Uh... are you asking me questions here?"

"...No, it's not like that."

"Well, we have to stop her, right? Is there anything else besides that? Like being so nervous that I can't speak, my mind is blank, my hands and feet are cold... But in the end, I am driven to action by faith and will.

of?"

"Maybe...that's it..."

"Maybe...?" Yagami frowned slightly and cast his eyes on her face, observing her carefully.

The girl in front of me is very cute. Not only does she have regular facial features, her skin is also particularly fair.

However, at this moment, the other party seemed to be reminiscing about something, with his eyebrows furrowed and thinking hard, looking a little lost.

He couldn't be sure what kind of emotion it was. Maybe it was a stress reaction caused by remembering the scene at that time, or maybe...

——It’s impossible to forget, right?

Yagami thought quite amusingly, and quickly threw this idea out of his mind.

The matter came to a conclusion in the next second.

"Yes, the sophomore year of high school was a painful period for us. The choice Yuko made on that day also made my hands and feet feel cold."

Sayu shook his head when he said this, and then said: "But I'm sorry, as for the other emotions Mr. Yagami mentioned... I don't seem to have this kind of emotion."

"Well...can I ask a question?"

"Yes, please say."

Yagami put the pen in his hand against his chin, pondered for a while, and then asked again:

"What you just said, your friend's behavior on that day made you feel cold in your hands and feet. This is just your simple feeling about the incident itself, not your reaction at the moment at the scene... Can I understand it this way?"

"How did you feel about the incident...and your reaction at the scene...?" Sayu fell into a maze of thoughts, "I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what Mr. Yagami said."

"Ah haha, I'm sorry, did I say it too abstractly?" Yagami scratched his head with a smile and explained:

"Actually, I am also a fan of mystery and suspense novels. I often think of problems in strange places unconsciously. You don't have to worry about it."

After laughing for a while, he turned sideways again, took out a book from the shoulder bag placed aside, and handed it over.

"Anyway, that's it for today. Thank you for telling the truth, Sayu-san. I will give you this book as a thank you gift from me. Thank you for your hard work."

"This is... a suspense novel?" Sayu took the book and was a little confused.

"Yes, this is a book that I think is very interesting. If you have time, you can read it for fun." Yagami nodded and put the notes and pen into his windbreaker pocket.

After saying goodbye to her and Misaki-sensei respectively, Iori quickly left the school, and Sayu returned to the classroom with the novel in hand.

"Ah~~~"

Yuko was waiting next to her seat. When she saw her coming back, she waved her hand happily, "You're back, Sayu-chan~"

"Well, I'm back." Sayu showed a soft smile on his face, sat down on the steel chair, and put the novel given by Mr. Yagami into his school bag.

"What do you want Misaki-sensei to do?"

"A freelance journalist wanted to do an interview about the past, so he called me to ask about the situation. There was nothing special."

"That's it, I see. Can we have lunch now?"

"Um, okay, sorry to keep you waiting."

"Hmm, there's no need to be so polite. After all, it's me who wants to be like this."

The two cleared the table and started eating lunch a little later than usual.

"...Speaking of it."

During the meal, Masaka Yuko suddenly asked: "Izumi-san seems to have been avoiding us recently, and he feels very lost. Is there something happening between you that I don't know about?"

"This..." Sayu hesitated for a moment and said softly: "Well, when he sent me home last time, he suddenly confessed to me, but I refused..."

"Is such a thing possible...?"

The sudden increase in the volume caused the students in the class to look sideways. After seeing that there was nothing unusual, they all looked away and went about their own business.

"...You are too loud, Yuko."

"Um...I'm sorry, because I'm really surprised...hehehe." Yuko smiled and stuck out her tongue, and said: "But I understand it this way. She is indeed Sayu-chan, our Xugao."

Princess~~"

"That's why I told you to stop barking like that."

"Hehe, obey~"

"Really..."

Sayu raised his head and cast a slightly reproachful look at her. Because of this action, the girl's slender neck was exposed, and successfully attracted Yuko's attention.

"Eh? What a beautiful pendant! Is this your new one? Sayu-chan."

The combination of the platinum necklace and the transparent cinnabar bottle made the girl's skin look very fair.

"No, I didn't buy this." Sayu shook his head, and gently flicked the cinnabar bottle with the index finger of his right hand, causing the "little round beads" inside to make a crisp clicking sound, and laughed.

"I don't know what happened. I just woke up one day and this was placed on my desk. My brother probably gave it to me."

"Hey~~ She's really beautiful."
To be continued...