It was evening, after university lectures had ended. Autumn days are short, and the rotary in front of Sakurahama Gakuen-mae Station was already beginning to be dyed in madder red. Having left his bicycle at the parking area, Kanata walked alone along the sidewalk. The club welcome party had ended yesterday. He had no particular business today, and he intended to head straight home. (*I wonder if Asuka ate properly.*) He recalled the events of yesterday. His smartphone being confiscated, being swept away by her tears—and himself, unable to say anything in return. Even now, he still didn't know if that had been the right thing. From the other side of the sidewalk, the sign for the karaoke box "Utahime" in front of the station came into view. Pink and yellow neon glowed faintly in the sky that had yet to grow fully dark. It was then. "[excited]Kanata-kun!" A voice called out, and Kanata stopped in his tracks. When he turned around, Risa was approaching at a light jog, her crimson short hair swaying. Her golden eyes sparkled in the evening sun, and the thin black bracelet on her left wrist swayed faintly. With her usual bright smile, she lined up beside Kanata. "Headed home now? Can we talk for just a bit?" "Ah, Risa-senpai. Um..." (*This is bad.*) An alarm went off somewhere in his head. If Asuka saw this—. But Risa's smile was so utterly natural that he couldn't find a reason to refuse. "Yeah, just for a bit." Kanata stopped on the street beside the entrance to Utahime. Foot traffic was sparse, with students spilling out from the station passing by in scattered groups. "[gentle]Did you enjoy the welcome party? The coach said you've got quite a knack for tennis, Kanata-kun." "No, that's not..." "[laughing]So modest. But hey, since you went to the trouble of joining, you should come to practice more. I'll teach you too." Risa took a step closer to Kanata. A faint, sweet scent of perfume. Her golden eyes narrowed in the evening sun. "[gentle]I don't think you need to worry about that girl. You're free to do as you like, Kanata-kun." At those words, Kanata felt a slight prick in his chest. Free—. (*What even is freedom, anyway?*) He was just beginning to ponder that. It was then. *Rustle.* The sound of a convenience store bag falling to the ground. When the two of them turned around at the same time—. There stood Asuka. Her long, platinum-silver hair swayed softly in the evening breeze. The convenience store bag she must have been holding had fallen at her feet, a plastic bottle of tea rolling out from inside. Her purple odd eyes were opened wide. Her left eye a deep bluish-purple, her right a pale silver—and in both, tears were gradually beginning to well up. "Asu..." Kanata's voice stopped midway. The gazes of the three intersected. On the twilight street, a silence fell for an instant, as if all sound had vanished. Only the distant sound of a train passing could be heard. A passerby glanced their way and hurried past. Asuka's lips, trembling, parted. "[crying]Why... are you together...?" She staggered closer to Kanata and grabbed his arm tightly with both hands. An unbelievable strength was packed into those slender fingers. "Wait a minute, Asuka. This is just—we just happened to run into each other—" "[crying]Happened to!? You just happened to!? With this person again!" Asuka's voice suddenly grew loud. A group of university student passersby stopped and turned to look. Risa looked down at Asuka with cold eyes. "[cold]Calm down. We were just talking. You don't need to shout like that." That single remark made something inside Asuka snap. "[angry]This has nothing to do with you!!" Asuka's scream echoed through the station-front rotary. "[crying]Kanata is my person! He's been mine, only mine, for ages! So why are you... why are you getting in the way!!" Tears streamed down Asuka's white cheeks and dripped from the tip of her chin. Her purple eyes were red and bloodshot from crying, yet they emitted an eerie light. He could hear the group of university students snickering. "What's that, a lover's quarrel?" "Isn't that bad? A love triangle?" "That girl is seriously crying..." The whispered voices flew into his ears. Kanata's face grew hot with shame. Apologetic feelings and irritation welled up in his chest all at once. (*Just... stop it already...*) He wanted to say it. But his voice wouldn't come out. "[cold]I said we were just talking. You're being immature, Asuka-chan." Risa's voice was calm, but a faint sneer floated at the corners of her mouth. Her golden eyes stared coldly at Asuka. "[angry]Shut up, shut up, shut up!! You don't know anything about Kanata anyway!!" Crying and screaming, Asuka pulled hard on Kanata's arm. "We're going home now! Kanata, let's go!!" "Wha—wait, Asuka..." Kanata tried to turn back toward Risa, but Asuka's slender arm wouldn't allow it. She forcibly pulled Kanata's arm and marched steadily down the sidewalk. "[serious]See you, Kanata-kun. Tomorrow." Risa's voice came from behind him in a composed tone. He couldn't turn around. Instead, the mocking voices of the university student group lingered in his ears for a long time. Asuka continued walking wordlessly along the road from the station. As if her earlier intensity had been a lie, she had become quiet. Her platinum-silver hair swayed gently in the twilight, and her downcast profile was expressionless. Only her hand gripping Kanata's arm hadn't loosened its strength in the slightest. "Asuka, that just now was really a coincidence—" "[gentle]Yeah, I know." Asuka answered quietly. Her voice was calm, but somehow hollow. They entered the quiet residential area of Sakuragaoka New Town. Their two houses came into view. Ordinary two-story houses, fifteen years old, sitting side-by-side with a hedge between them. The camphor tree in Donguri Park cast its shadow in the twilight. Asuka silently unlocked her front door and pulled Kanata by the hand inside. They took off their shoes and proceeded down the hallway. Only her footsteps echoed faintly on the flooring. "Um, Asuka..." Asuka turned around and stared at Kanata, who was about to say something. Her purple eyes were dully moist. "[gentle]Just for a bit, come to my room." Saying only that, she climbed the stairs to the second floor. Kanata hesitated. But just as he hadn't been able to push away the crying, screaming Asuka earlier, he couldn't ignore her now either. Asuka's room was slightly tidier than the last time he had visited. The south-facing window was shut tight, and the blackout curtains were drawn precisely. A futon laid out in the middle of the six-tatami-mat room sat isolated at its center. "Come in." Asuka invited Kanata into the room and entered herself. And then—it was right after she closed the door. *Click.* The sound of the door being locked from the outside echoed clearly within the room. For an instant, Kanata couldn't comprehend what had happened. "...Asuka?" When he turned around, Asuka was standing in front of the door. A small key ring was clutched in her hand. She took another key from her pajama pocket and walked toward the window. "Asuka, what are you doing?" Wordlessly, she locked every window. The type of lock that couldn't be opened from the inside. *Click, click.* The dry sounds echoed coldly through the room. A chill ran down Kanata's spine. "[sad]With this..." Asuka slowly turned around. A single tear traced down her white cheek. But her lips held a faint smile. "[whispers]With this, we'll be all alone together forever." So saying, she gently plucked the smartphone from Kanata's hand. "Hey, wait just a—" "[gentle]It's okay. Kanata, no one can take you away anymore." Gazing at Kanata with her purple eyes moist with tears, Asuka carefully tucked the key ring into her pajama pocket. Kanata ran to the door and put his hands on it. He pushed. He pulled. The knob rattled noisily, but it wouldn't budge. It was locked from the outside. He rushed to the window. He opened the curtains and tried to undo the lock. But—all the locks she had fastened were structured so they couldn't be opened from the inside, no matter what. "Asuka, are you serious about this!?" Kanata raised his voice. Asuka stared straight at him. Her purple and silver odd eyes wavered behind a film of tears. "[whispers]Yeah, I'm serious." She simply nodded her head vertically. "[crying]Because I'm scared now. It feels like Kanata might go somewhere. Go somewhere with that person... I hate it, I hate you disappearing..." Asuka's voice began to tremble. "[scared]Everyone disappears... all the people precious to me, everyone, disappears before I know it. So, so at least Kanata—" She clung to Kanata. She wrapped her slender arms around Kanata's back and pressed her face against his chest. "[crying]At least you, Kanata, don't disappear..." Her tears soaked gradually into the chest of his pajamas. (*This is bad, this is really bad.*) Alarms continued to blare inside Kanata's head. He had to escape. But neither the windows nor the door would open. He had no smartphone. Even if he tried to call out to someone outside, next door was—his own house. No one was there. He was completely, utterly trapped. Just like that, the two of them collapsed onto the futon. "Whoa—stop it, Asuka!" Kanata resisted. But Asuka's body clung to him with unbelievable strength. Crying, she began unbuttoning Kanata's shirt with trembling hands. "[crying]Please, don't reject me... If you hate me, Kanata, I can't go on living..." Her hands touched Kanata's chest. Cold, slender, yet desperate fingertips. Asuka cast off her own pajamas. Her white skin emerged faintly in the dark room. Slender shoulders, softly swelling breasts, the pale-colored nipples at their tips. Kanata's penis, ironically, was standing rigidly erect. "Stop, I'm begging you, come to your senses—" With the last of his reason, Kanata shouted. But Asuka smiled through her tear-swollen face. "[whispers]I am in my senses. I've always been. For ever and ever, I've only ever wanted Kanata." She grasped Kanata's penis and pressed its tip against her own pussy. Soaked and dripping wet with love juices, it was almost completely ready. And then—. *Squelch...* "Ahhhh..." Asuka threw her head back, her vagina taking Kanata's penis deep into its depths. Hot. Tight. Constricting. Inside her was messily wet, yet contracted with unbelievable tightness. "Nn, haah...!" Asuka began to move her hips. Of her own accord, writhing lewdly atop Kanata, she tightened around his penis deep within her vagina. In a cowgirl position, sobbing violently, she desperately tried to confirm Kanata's existence. "[crying]Don't run away... the people who disappear, everyone disappears..." Asuka's voice came through mixed with weeping. Her desperate hip movements grew faster and faster. "At least you, Kanata, don't disappear...!!" Those words weren't the voice of the adult woman who had been shouting in front of the station until just a while ago—they were like the cry of a child. The very voice of that young Asuka from long ago, crying and seeking help under the camphor tree in Donguri Park. (*The people who disappear...?*) A small hole opened in the center of Kanata's anger. The "people who disappear" that Asuka was talking about—who was that? Every time her hips moved, wet, squelching sounds echoed from their joined parts. Her vagina squeezed Kanata's penis tightly, and love juices ran down her thighs, staining the sheets. "Ahh, ahh, it's hitting deep inside...!!" Asuka's scream echoed through the room. Her body convulsed violently, and her vagina clamped down hard on his penis. The moment she reached climax, she sobbed even more intensely. "[crying]Kanata, please, look only at me... you can't look at anyone else...!" Kanata was already at his limit too. The sensation of ejaculation welling up from deep in his hips. He couldn'