Ever since I confessed, she has been acting strange. - CHAPTER 2:THE RUNAWAY SONGSTRESS ARC

Episode 8: Flags in the making

Billboards, giant screens – the face of Habataki Otoha is everywhere in the city. It feels strange to think that the singer herself is walking right next to me.

“So you really are the singer, huh?”

“Did you doubt it?”

“Hahaha. Sorry. I mean, I never expected the singer to fall from a rooftop.”

Catching a girl falling from the sky happens occasionally, but this was the first time it was a songstress.

“By the way, Habataki-san, why are you running away from home?”

“Rebellious phase?”

“Why do you say it like a question…”

“…I don’t really know myself.”

“Is that how it is? I never really had a rebellious phase after my parents left me, so I don’t really understand what it’s like.”

“I see. By the way, Habataki-san.”

“What?”

“Have you noticed that we’ve been walking in circles around the same area for a while now?”

“……………………”

She didn’t seem to notice.

The Fountain Square where we are now is the same one we passed about ten minutes ago.

“Could it be that you’re bad with directions?”

“No. It’s just that my sense of direction is a little unique.”

“I see. So you’re bad with directions.”

“No.”

It’s hard to tell because her expression doesn’t change much, but she’s definitely sulking.

Honestly, this singer really isn’t cut out to run away from home.

“I hate to toot my own horn, but I made the right decision to come with you. You’re so clumsy, I couldn’t possibly leave you alone. I can see why the people who take care of you have a hard time.

“You’re surprisingly ruthless, you know that?”

“Is that so?”

Considering that the young lady herself is quite straightforward when it comes to others, her attitude might have rubbed off on me.

“If you’d rather I hold back, I can.”

“No, that’s okay. Not many people are that direct with me. It’s kind of refreshing.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. Since people would be in trouble if I didn’t sing, they always try to please me or read my mood… Although I hear just as much gossip behind my back. Things like ‘I can’t tell what she’s thinking’ or ‘It’s creepy how she never smiles. Stuff like that.”

“What? That just means people around you are clueless.”

“Huh…?”

At my words, Habataki-san’s eyes widen under her hat.

“It’s true that you may seem cool on the surface, but you’re actually quite easy to read, Habataki-san… At least, you’re much easier to understand than the young lady was when she was little.” Back when the young lady was little, even though she seemed spoiled and tomboyish, she had a habit of burying her true feelings deep inside. For example, on her birthday, when her master and mistress couldn’t come home because of sudden work, she pretended that everything was fine in front of others, but later she sobbed all by herself.

Compared to the young lady back then, Habataki-san is much easier to understand.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. You get surprised, you laugh, you sulk, all pretty normal. From my point of view, you’re very real.”

“No one has ever said that to me before.”

“Then you must have been surrounded by some really clueless people.”

“Heh. Maybe so.”

A faint smile appears on her usually expressionless face.

“See? You’re smiling now.”

“Ah.”

Even she seems surprised by it, as Habataki-san reacts with a start.

“It’s strange… I don’t usually smile much, but…”

“Your cool expression in the commercials is stunning, but that fleeting, soft smile of yours is just as captivating… like a snowflake. Maybe if you showed this side of yourself to the people around you more often, the gossip would disappear in no time.”

“……………………”

…Did I say something to upset her?

“…By the way, what is your name?”

“I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. I’m Yagiri Eito.”

“May I call you Eito?”

“Of course, that’s fine.”

It seems I didn’t say anything to upset you after all.

While I breathe a sigh of relief, she continues.

“You can also call me Otoha.”

“Understood. Then Otoha-san it is.”

“Yes. That’s fine.”

Otoha-san nods with a satisfied expression, then takes my hand.

“…Let’s go, Eito. We’ll continue this outburst.”

“I’d rather not go in circles.”

“Then you lead the way, Eito. That sounds more fun.”

“Since I don’t know how to spend my days off, I’m not sure if I can make it fun for you… but all right. I’ll do my best.”

“I’m counting on you.”

☆

I’ve been driving around town, but I can’t seem to find Eito anywhere.

Now that I’ve calmed down and thought about it, it’s only natural. No matter how desperately I search, it will be nearly impossible to find a single person in this huge city.

I really need some kind of clue… but unfortunately, there’s nothing. His phone seems to be turned off, so I can’t reach him either.

…No. It’s too early to give up.

If there are no clues, then I’ll just have to come up with a hypothesis.

It’s rare that Eito is unreachable. Whenever he’s involved in work related to the Tendou family and might be out of contact, he always lets me know beforehand.

So if this is the case, I can only assume that he’s run into some unexpected trouble.

But what kind of trouble could it be?

The chances of him being involved in some kind of violent incident are slim. I’ve scanned the city, and there’s no sign of anything like that.

So then… as much as I don’t want to think about it, the most likely possibility is that it has to do with a girl. This is just my intuition, but my intuition has never been wrong.

With no concrete clues to go on, relying on something as uncertain as a gut feeling is unfortunately the only option I have right now.

Assuming it’s trouble with a girl… it’s probably that singer, isn’t it? As much as I didn’t want to think about it.

If I combine past patterns with my intuition to form a hypothesis, it would probably go something like this: “Eito caught Habataki Otoha when she fell from the sky, and that led to them spending time together.

It’s happened a few times before… Eito caught a girl falling from the sky.

Just as I’m getting a bad premonition, my phone buzzes with a message. It’s from Kazami.

“Yo! I used my connections and the Tendou family network to look into Habataki Otoha for you.”

“What did you find out?”

“Between you and me, it seems that she ran away from the hotel where she was staying.”

“And when was that?”

“This morning.”

“………………………………”

I couldn’t help but bury my face in my hands.

“Also, from what I heard, there were signs that she tried to use a rope to climb down from the roof of the building she ran to…”

“Let me guess, it was an old rope, right? And it probably broke in half, didn’t it?”

“Huh? How do you know that?”

“Just a hunch. I had a feeling. Call it experience, I guess.”

“Do you know where the building with the broken rope is? I want to go there and follow the trail.”

“I do, but… uh, aren’t you freaking out a little too much?”

“Of course I am! While we’re sitting here, all I know is that flags are being set up all over the place…!”