Ummm....

　The way home. As I walked, I thought back to the events of the day, and the more I thought about them, the more I was mystified.
　That event was about the chairman's attitude.

'But I don't remember doing anything to make the chairman fall in love with me.

　Thanks to the secret tools that Kuroemon prepared for me, he shouldn't know that the masked magician of the game before God is me. So it's unlikely that the game before the gods is the reason.
　The chairman of the committee is a popular person, so I've never talked to him at school other than in administrative conversations. Therefore, it is also unlikely to be the reason for what happened at school.

''Then is there someone else who likes you other than me?

　He said he wanted to put them in Yuki-kun's group........ If that's the case, then Takigawa!

Of course not. Is it a shot at Ishida?

　That's more likely to happen. I'm a little disappointed, but let's not worry about it. Yeah, don't worry about it.
　It's definitely better than getting depressed with strange expectations. What happened in the courtyard is like it never happened.

I guess I'll just enjoy my side trip today!

　I pulled myself together and looked up at the JR Tower. I am now at Sapporo Station.
　The reason why I am here is because I realized that I am not enjoying the city life to the fullest.
　It's been three weeks since I moved to Sapporo. I've been hit by a train, met God, came back to life, met Black, met White, went to an Onmyouji match, met Lin... so many things have happened.
　Even in the midst of all this, I was so busy with school and studying that I didn't get a chance to feel the city of Sapporo.

Today I'm going to enjoy myself to the fullest.

　Sapporo Station is just the start. It's a destination I've been wanting to go to since I entered the school. Today is the day I'm going to get there, no matter what it takes!

Sapporo Underpass, wow!

　Enter the underground walkway from Sapporo Station, commonly known as "Chikaho".
　What is this place? It's underground and they're doing street performances and stuff! Wow, they're having a bazaar and stuff! What? Another world? It's another world!

Hey, ease up, buddy. I'm not headed here.

　Yes, our destination is still a ways away. This is just a street.
　Distracted here and there, I continue to Odori Station and look for Exit 35.

'Ah, there it is!'

　So this is the rumored exit 35.

Yes!

　I get fired up and climb those stairs. And then, there it is...

At mate, MemeBooks, and Torah Fatty Ana!

　That's not all. All kinds of nerd shops exist solidly at the end of Exit 35! This is the true destination I was aiming for.

It's like a dream... hmm?

　While my heart is racing with emotion, I notice that the people around me are looking up at the sky.

'What, what's this? That's super bad.
End of the world...?
Wow....

　 Scary! What is this?

"...hmm? Hmm!

　In the midst of the flock of crows, a familiar white crow is perched high up.

...Yes, it must have been my imagination. It must be a crow in the sky.

　With that in mind, I move a little to the side from exit 35.
　Then, to keep a certain distance from me, that white crow moves as well.
　And then a large flock of crows moves in to follow that white crow.

'Oh no, I'm scared.'
What the f*ck is this?

　There's a bit of panic going on around us.

''Well let's get into the animate first, shall we?

　I decided to head quietly to the second floor of the Fatty Large Building.




◇




"Whoa!

　I changed my mind and decided to enjoy some anime fat.
　The interior of the shop is fairly spacious. There were so many otaku goods that it made my eyes flicker. There are notice boards all over the walls.
　I used to come here when I was in junior high school to say hello to my grandparents, but...

'Now you can come here every day if you want to.

　Soaked in emotion, we headed to the manga corner first.
　The latest works of art are pushed to the front of the store, and I'm ready to raid it!

I didn't know there were this many volumes. Wow! I didn't know this piece was animated too... oh, sorry.

　Muttering to myself, I was so engrossed in rummaging around that I didn't notice the person next to me and bumped into him.

'I'm sorry, are you okay?'
It's okay. I'm the one who........oh.
Oh!

　The person I bumped into was a girl with short blue hair and glasses. Or rather, she was the girl with glasses I rescued downtown the other day.

'Well, that's a coincidence,'
Yeah, that's right.

　I wasn't the only one who came here on my way home from school, was I? What a happy coincidence.

"Oh, by the way. I'm sorry I left without saying my name the other day.
No, no, no, no. You're welcome.

　Since we hadn't seen each other in a while, our conversation continued to be a little awkward, but we introduced ourselves to each other once again to say hello.
　Apparently, the glasses girl's name is Shizuku Tsukino.
　Hmm? Tsukino?

Shizuku. There you are.

　He was probably looking for Tsukino-san. A girl with short red hair walks over to us.
　Hmm? Somewhere in there... oh! It's Tsuki no Akari, who rescued me from the Tsundungu delinquent!

Hey, Sis.

　Sis!

'Huh? You're not a super high school boy! You're Yuki-kun, right? Long time no see.
Hi. Long time no see.

　The rumors of super high school students hadn't gone away yet.

'Huh? Shizuku and Yuki-kun, you knew each other?
Yeah. This is the guy who helped me the last time I was here.
'Oh! You're that guy I met downtown!

　Akari also thanked me for helping her downtown, I haven't processed the fact that the two of them are sisters yet, but I'll take the thanks for now.

'What, there you are over here?'

　As she was chatting with the Tsukino sisters, a man with a twangy haircut approached her.

'Ah, Soji! This way.

　Soji is a....................a bad boy!






◇






Soji, next time you see me, make sure you apologize to Yuki-kun, okay?
Why wouldn't he be? It's just that he's a little freaked out.

　On the way back from the animate fatty, three guys and girls were having a good conversation.

"Yuki-kun is a good person. He's a brave man.
'Yes. You helped me with Shizuku, so you should be nice to me.
Nah, I see that now. You owe me an apology, OK? I'm not trying to be a friend to you.

　Soshi Kasai is accused by the Tsukino sisters and agrees to apologize. But they stubbornly refuse to be friends with each other.
　In the meantime, Shizuku's smartphone made a sound.

Oh. A text message from Yui-san.
What, it's from Yui-san?
Let me see that drop!

　The two of them look at Shizuku's smartphone with a biting feeling.
You know Yuki Kosuke at your school, right? You'd better be friends with that boy.'
　The three of them looked at each other at the same terse sentence as always.

'He's supposed to be touring Kyoto with Tori-san right now, right? How much the hell do you know...?

　The content of the email was so well-timed that Sohji had a dubious look on his face.

''Yui-san also wants Sohji to get along with other people.
You're a good person, Yuki. I hope you'll get along.
I'm done. You gotta be nice to them, you gotta be nice to them!

　He couldn't refuse the wishes of two people who had the same circumstances as him and the benefactor who had given him the freedom he now had. Souji nodded curtly.






◇






I'm surprised, though. You met up with Akari-san on your way home from the park and he was a punk?

　After that, the conversation was surprisingly uneventful after the twat joined us. So I pretended to have to run an errand and I was the only one who went home.
　I think I could win a fight now, even if I was sold a fight, but I still haven't wiped out the trauma that was instilled in me on the first day of school. The way they stared at me when I was talking to the Tsukino sisters.......ugh, scary, scary.

　Incidentally, the white crow that was leading the flock of crows was White, as expected.
　Apparently, he was escorting me. It was a gesture, so I didn't know why he was bossing the crows or why he was escorting me, but I let him leave because the commotion was getting louder.

'Huh? Is that road under construction?

　As I was walking around thinking about this, I saw a sign that said it was under construction. There was nothing there this morning, but I heard that the construction work had started.

'It's under construction, but you can get through, go ahead.
'Oh, I see. Excuse me.

　When I got to the sign, the old construction guy let me through. I was thankful because there was no longer a need to go the long way.
　It is usually a deserted street, but now it is a little noisy with the sound of several construction vehicles' engines.

What's that? Are there any construction workers, any construction workers?

　Unmanned and moving? I don't see why not.

I'm sorry. Are you Yuuki Kosuke?
'What? Yes, I know, but....

　I was about to walk quickly through, when I was entangled by a suspicious man walking up ahead. He was dressed in tails and wearing a silk hat. Why is he dressed like that? I mean, how do you know my name?

Hmm. Well, goodbye then.

　The man in the silk hat tapped the ground with the stick he was holding and the parked excavator transformed into a humanoid robot.

''....Huh?''

　Unable to swallow the situation, I was crushed by the iron fist of the Transformer.