Volume 4 Chapter 3 – Yamanoi Shrine 1/ Yamanoi Shrine 3 – Different Date

| Shutou Kinuko

Sunlight streams through the gaps in the curtains, falling onto my head. As I wake up, I find myself slumped over my desk. Still dazed, I notice the soreness in my cheek.

I rub my cheek gently. As I do, I feel a scratch on my palm.

I must have dozed off…

My laptop in front of me turns on. Maybe I bumped it awake in the process.

With a soft hum, I play my edited video.

“Beautiful…”

A faint light flows out from Kyosuke-kun’s body. No matter how many times I watch it, I never get tired of it, so I made a video that only loops the magical part. It’s three hours long—no problem at all. It’s a secret from everyone. I saved it on my phone too. I even made a still image for my wallpaper. The blue one.

The video is carefully edited to avoid being too comical, with proper fade-ins and fade-outs. I even slowed down the speed a little.

Ah… my magical Kyosuke-sama.

I want to recreate the feeling of that moment—something like, “shuwa shuwa shuwa,” you know? But I can’t find the right music… Maybe I should go outside to gather some ambient sounds…

“Hmm.”

I change out of my pajamas into outdoor clothes. After applying a light layer of makeup, I put on some sunscreen.

I pin on the four-leaf clover badge that Kyosuke-kun once called “cute.” It’s attached to a beige-colored casquette. The badge’s paint has chipped, but I’ve repainted it many times.

I wear a loose, green raglan cut-sew top with white hot pants. I sling the camera that the roundtable group bought together around my neck. My gray backpack is packed with extra memory cards just in case. As always, I wear rubber-soled shoes to stay silent.

“Hm.”

Kyosuke-kun. Let’s have lots of fun together today too!

◆

Past noon, we left the house together.

With years of experience, I could tell where Kyosuke-kun was headed. Walking in this direction, along this route… He was going to the shrine. It’s been a while. I’ll get there ahead of him and capture him from the shrine’s side.

The roundtable’s reaction yesterday—it made me happy. For a photographer, unexpected situations are a feast.

The urge to rush to Kyosuke-kun when he collapsed, versus the anticipation of capturing the perfect shot. I won. My hand even bled from clenching it too hard.

I come to this shrine occasionally, so I know the layout well. I consider the best angles for my camera and move into position.

“Oh, Kinukinu!”

“…Haruharu. Yo.”

We crossed paths again.

A familiar face appeared—Mamiya Haruka, a second-year middle schooler, two grades below me. She’s one of the seven relentless witches aiming for Kyosuke-kun. An enemy of the roundtable. Within the witches, Haruharu is the designated loner. A pale-skinned, black-haired beauty who’s petite yet surprisingly… well-endowed. And she’s only in her second year of middle school.

I met Haruharu back when I was in middle school. Unlike me, she was a full-blown stalker of Kyosuke-kun. She’d openly go after his belongings, and our first encounter happened when I couldn’t help but stop her. Since then, we’ve often run into each other while vying for the same spots.

She had her usual black cat pin badge attached to her camera strap. Pft, the clover one’s cuter anyway.

“Kinukinu, are you here on official duty?”

“Nope. It’s a date.”

Don’t make it sound like a job. I’m always having a lovely conversation with Kyosuke-kun through the camera lens.

“What about you, Haruharu? Peeping?”

“Nope. It’s a date.”

Her stalking habits are way over the top. When I go on a date, I properly say goodbye to Kyosuke-kun in front of his house.

But she doesn’t hesitate to step onto his property. It was getting way out of hand, so I stopped her by threatening to show her trespassing photos.

“…”

“…”

“Date.”

“Date.”

“…Well, fine.”

“Ah… then, just as usual, it’s a double date… I would love to say…”

Haruharu looked deflated.

Unusual. She seemed down. The usually bold Haruharu?

But before that, it’s not a double date. It’s not even a single date. What she’s doing is just stalking.

“To be honest, I wish I hadn’t seen it, I wish I could delete it, I wish I could erase it from memory…”

“?”

“In the forest, I’ve only shown it to Umiumi. Things might get rough if I show it to anyone else… What do you think of this?”

The forest… she must mean the Witch’s Forest. If she’s holding back from sharing it with the witches, what could this photo be that even makes Haruharu hesitate…?

“Wha—?!”

Displayed on the high-end compact camera screen was Kyosuke-kun in casual clothes, smiling and arm-in-arm at a cafe with Aika-chan, who appeared to be borrowing Kyosuke-kun’s outfit.

And it was Kyosuke-kun, Version 1. Aika-chan’s expression was completely enraptured… In other words…

“…Cheating.”

“You’re not even dating him, Kinukinu…”

“…When was this?”

“Yesterday after school… At the cafe I was supposed to meet him at, he was having an affair… I was so shocked I left without saying a word!”

“Haruharu, you didn’t have a meeting with him, nor are you dating him.”

Yesterday after school, I was too excited over the “My Boyfriend, the Magician” reveal to notice… Did he get back with Aika? Was it because of that incident?… I need to let everyone know!

I pull out my phone and frantically start tapping.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah!”

Kyosuke-kun, catching us off guard in our state of shock, spoke to us.

Startled, I ended up clutching onto Haruharu, the unfortunate stalker witch.

Kyosuke-kun continued to approach us.

Too close! Too close! It’s too soon for this, Kyosuke-kun! This is indecent! Kyosuke-kun!