"Let's head home, Fushimi-kun."
After school, classes done, everyone filtering out toward their respective lives — the ones without club activities, anyway. Students with somewhere to be after school had always struck me as vaguely enviable. I'd been thinking about joining the literary club or something, but I had somewhere to be today, so straight home it was. Sabakatani-san — still in full bunny suit, bag in hand — fell into step beside me.
"You're commuting in the bunny outfit?"
"Obviously not."
Yeah, figured.
"Depends on the day. I cosplay every day, so it's not always a bunny suit on the way home."
So she was commuting in cosplay. That was just a fact of her life now—a nightmare from where I was standing, but she clearly hadn't given it a second thought.
"Is that... fine? Nobody stops you?"
"Kuroko camouflage, right? Easy. Honestly, I could probably commit murder and never get arrested."
"Have you stabbed anyone?"
"No."
Didn't think so.
"I do pay for things at shops. And most registers are automated now, so I don't have to interact with anyone anyway."
"Who scans the barcodes?"
"If I put something on the counter, they can register it even if they can't consciously process me. Muscle memory takes over."
So they weren't ignoring her so much as running on autopilot. She existed — they just couldn't hold that fact in their heads. Like how a person can swallow bacteria without knowing it and still sneeze on reflex. They could see her, hear her, react to her without ever consciously clocking her. Her school records existed. Her test papers got graded. Transactions went through. The system worked around her.
"What about your family?"
"Currently being thoroughly ignored. They leave food out and pay tuition, but I'm basically a ghost in my own house."
She flashed a cheerful peace sign.
"Right."
I picked up my bag and headed out. Sabakatani-san followed. Huh — same direction.
"This isn't the way home."
"A detour?"
"You could call it that."
I nodded ahead. Tokoyami Akira was walking in front of us. The Moon-Shadow Goddess. The school's most beautiful second year, by consensus.
"Are you stalking her?"
"Technically, yes."
She drifted into a building — the kind that looks like nobody's been keeping up with maintenance — and the moment I clocked it, my Side-Sight started sketching out where this was going.
"Should we call the police?"
"She hasn't done anything yet—"
"I meant because you're stalking her."
You want to report me!? Fair, but still.
"Anyway."
I positioned myself on the side of the building, roughly facing the entrance.
"If Sabakatani-san stripped naked right here, nobody would care?"
"Probably not."
Huh.
"Should I?"
"Please don't."
"But don't you want to see them out in public? Don't you ever get the urge?"
"Does that mean you wander around naked at night?"
"Reason is winning. For now."
Small comfort. I stood against the building's wall and waited for what was coming.
"It's not going to rain."
"I know. Something else is coming down."
"Something else...? Wait — what?"
I'd been watching the roof ledge from the ground. A shape appeared at the edge. Not a flowerpot. A person. Tokoyami Akira, Moon-Shadow Goddess, the most beautiful girl in her year, stepped over the railing without hesitation, dropping from a height of several dozen meters.
Terminal velocity calculation: she'd be moving at over twenty meters per second on impact—half of free-fall maximum, but more than enough to be final.
I caught her.
"There we go."
One smooth motion. The Moon-Shadow Goddess, alive.
"...What?"
My arms buzzed from the impact. Whatever. The Side-Sight had read this coming from a block away. Catching her was the easy part.
"Why did you save me?"
"Spite."
I smiled. Honest answer.
"Spite...?"
"Keeping alive someone who wants to die. If you can think of a crueler thing to do to a person, I'd like to hear it."
"I... want to die..."
"Then do it somewhere I'm not standing."
"Was it a coincidence? You being here?"
"I saw you coming down. So I moved."
I didn't know the reason. Didn't need to.
"Wow... Fushimi-kun really does see the future..."
Sabakatani-san sounded genuinely impressed.
"Anyway."
I set Tokoyami down on the ground with zero ceremony and gave a casual wave. Done here. But her hand shot out and grabbed the hem of my uniform—a tight grip. Don't go.
"Cash in a registered envelope is fine for the thanks."
"My legs won't work. Please."
"Then don't jump off buildings." I paused. "Actually, that's useless advice. How far are you from home?"
"I need to get to the station first."
"Sure. Got it."
And so I picked her up again.
"Hmph. Lucky her."
Sabakatani-san looked genuinely put out. Did she want to be carried that badly?
"I'll walk you. Just tell me where to go. And only if you're okay handing your personal information to a stranger."
"Um... then... would it be alright if... your place...?"
"You want someone to listen."
"...Please."
Still in my arms, she tugged at the collar of my shirt. Her expression was the saddest thing I'd seen all day. I could've walked away. I considered it. But if she went and jumped somewhere I couldn't see and I found out later, I'd feel it. Easier to just take the hit now.

Chapter 3: A Girl Falls from the Sky