Chapter 5: A Fateful Meeting Must Lead to a Fateful Ending.
The call ended.
Akari Honne wiped the trace of oil from her lips. She put on her earphones and replayed the recording she had just made on her phone, listening closely to every syllable.
The boy’s voice in her ears brought a satisfied smile to her pale face. She tapped the screen twice and added the date to the file.
A moment later, still hungry for more, she opened another clip hidden in a secret folder.
“Honne, I like you… No matter what, I’ll stay by your side and support you…”
The words jolted through her like a shock. Her fingers clenched tightly around the phone.
A soft breath escaped her lips, color flooding her porcelain cheeks. Her chest rose and fell as if the air itself had grown heavy and hot around her.
Click.
Unable to bear the storm inside her, she stood abruptly and walked to her bedroom. She drew the curtains shut, plunging the room into dimness. From her closet she pulled out a sand-colored jacket that belonged to a boy no one else could ever know about.
She crawled onto her bed with a rush of nervous energy. From beneath her pillow she pulled out a photo of Alan, pressed the jacket over it, and buried her flushed face deep into the fabric, breathing in his scent.
Her recording played again:
“Honne, I like you…”
Her eyes glazed. Fingers slipped under her skirt...
"Mmm~"
The audio was clearly spliced, the cadence unnatural, but she hardly cared.
Ten-odd minutes later the emptiness inside her was, for a breath, filled. Akari Honne let go of the pillow, parted her moist lips, and lay panting, hair stuck to her damp forehead.
Her eyes grew misty. She hugged the jacket close, the boy’s voice looping endlessly in her ears. For a fleeting moment, the hollow space in her heart felt filled.
But the emptiness soon returned, wider and heavier than before. Reality—cold and merciless—shattered the fantasy, leaving only loneliness to grip her once more. She twirled the photo between her numb fingers, the smiling face on it seeming to drift farther away.
Some people were like magnets and iron, once they met, they could never be separated. Akari Honne had fallen for Alan long before she even understood what love truly meant. She had met him before her own sister ever did.
Back then, the summer after eighth grade, the constant arguments between her parents—arguments Akari Honne didn’t understand—turned the promised vacation into a mirage. Her older sister was busy with club training. Her friends flooded social media with their holiday photos.
“Honne, didn’t you say you were going to Hokkaido? I haven’t seen a single post—did the plan get canceled?”
“No… just delayed a few days.”
“You should hurry. After this Sunday the event ends, but if you go before the weekend you can still see the Kendo tournament—it’s fun, actually…”
“You might even meet someone interesting too. Nina met Suzuki in Hokkaido, remember? You’ve never dated, right?”
“Dating? Feels a bit too early for me…”
“Oh come on, just try. Experience builds up, like our Math teacher said.”
Her pride and her fear of anyone discovering the chaos of her home pushed Akari Honne to board the train alone.
The excitement she had imagined dissolved into raw unease. She took countless lifeless photos of the coast and deflated festival balloons.
She tried the Budokan her friend had mentioned, but the crowds and heat drove her out after a single selfie. Evening found her on the seawall, willing the sun to fall faster so she could snap that final sunset and flee home.
But summer daylight was stubborn. Clouds gathered.
The golden orb vanished. Streetlamps flickered on one by one. A coarse voice broke the gloom.
“Oi, little girl. You alone?”
Akari Honne jerked around. A broad, menacing face loomed, reeking of alcohol and lust. Terror froze her; she spun and ran.
“Hey!”
The man grabbed her shoulder strap.
“Let me go!”
The disgusting man grabbed her cheek. She tried to break free but couldn’t. Somehow the scrawny man reeking of alcohol was impossibly strong.
Akari Honne couldn’t do anything. She shut her eyes as the vile man leaned his face toward hers.
“Oi, old man. Can’t pick up women your own age so you’re targeting little girls now? That’s disgusting and pathetic, you know.”
A mocking voice came from behind her. Akari Honne opened her eyes to see the man holding her looking toward a boy with black hair and red eyes.
The alley fell silent. The boy’s footsteps echoed against the walls. He approached casually, pried the man’s hand off her, and guided Akari Honne away.
The disgusting man’s face twisted with rage. He grabbed Alan’s shoulder, spinning him around, fist raised high.
“Close your eyes,” Alan ordered Akari.
Akari trembled violently. She caught a glimpse of a black tentacle sprouting from the man’s back.
Alan saw it too and grinned. The man in front of him was also a System user—one with a grotesque ability.
Five black tentacles lunged at him. Alan leapt aside, dodging them.
Just as he regained his footing, the tentacles came again. This time, strangely, he didn’t dodge.
They wrapped around him swiftly, pinning him to the wall. Alan grunted in pain.
Akari Honne, eyes shut tight, shook uncontrollably. She didn’t dare open them. All she could hear was the chaos of impacts—loud, violent thuds.
The disgusting man sneered, veins bulging across his forehead. He walked toward Alan pinned against the wall.
Four tentacles coiled around Alan’s arms and legs. One pointed directly at his head.
“This is what you get for meddling in adult business, boy.”
“Is molesting little girls what you call adult business? If so, I’d rather stay a boy forever.” Alan grinned.
The tentacles tightened.
“Shut up, you damn brat. Or I’ll kill you.”
“Then do it. Hurry.”
The man clenched his jaw, eyes bulging with fury as Alan endured the pain.
“What’s wrong? Can’t kill a kid? Ah, right—of course a cowardly pedophile like you wouldn’t have any balls.”
The man snapped. The tentacle aimed at Alan’s head shot forward.
Alan’s eyes widened. A faint drip-like sound followed.
Then a heavy thud.
Akari Honne flinched, wanting to open her eyes—terrified the red-eyed boy had been defeated.
But before she could, a gentle voice spoke:
“Keep them closed.”
Alan’s voice, calm.
He exhaled in relief as he looked at the small blue-haired girl clutching a cute tote bag.
At his feet, the disgusting man lay unconscious on the wet alley floor.
Alan glanced upward. A silenced pistol hovered in the air.
“Perish,” he muttered.
The pistol dissolved, merging with the air.
That was Alan’s ability: he could manifest a single pistol and control it freely—make it fly, add a silencer, attach a scope.
Limited to one pistol, but one was more than enough.
Alan shook his head, then looked at the girl still keeping her eyes shut.
He walked up to her and gently turned her around, guiding her out of the alley.
“You can open your eyes now.”
Akari opened them. Tears welled instantly. She turned and saw the boy smiling warmly at her.
Her knees gave out, and she collapsed onto the sidewalk, breath uneven and erratic.
“Can you walk?” Alan asked.
He helped her stand, but her legs buckled again.
“Looks like no. No taxis around here. I’ll carry you.”
Alan crouched, offering his back. Akari climbed on without thinking.
She felt thin, yet the shoulders beneath her were steady—the hands supporting her sure and strong.
She wondered: Did this boy, who seemed her age, really defeat that man and save her?
“What’s your name? Where do you live?”
“K-Kyoto.”
“Kyoto?” he repeated, surprised, then laughed softly. “Same as me.”
Fate, Akari Honne thought. Or something close.
“I’m only here because my team is competing in the Kendo Tournament.”
“That’s amazing.”
He shrugged modestly. “We’re the favorites to win, that’s all.”
“It’s not that I’m amazing—my girlfriend is. She was already allowed to compete in the All Japan Juvenile Kendo Tournament. Odds are she’ll sweep every high school Kendo title in the future.”
“……”
The word girlfriend stabbed her unexpectedly.
She still didn’t truly understand what it meant to like someone, so the sudden ache confused her.
“That’s… incredible,” she forced out.
But the boy beside her seemed oblivious. Lost in thought, he sighed. “She’s good, but it’s not like it brings any money…”
Realizing he’d said too much, Alan changed the subject.
“Don’t envy her. If you have a hobby you’re good at, I’m sure you can compete with her. You’re in a club, right?”
“Yes… Wind Orchestra.”
“You must be talented. I bet you’ve got a gift for music. Keep at it and you’ll be famous someday.”
He sounded more certain than she did, as if he’d already glimpsed her future.
His words lifted Akari’s mood. She rested her chin on his shoulder like a kitten.
“Mmm.”
Silence settled over them. Akari wanted to know more about him, hesitating, heart pounding.
They reached a busy street lined with shops; the approaching traffic signaled they were nearing their parting.
Her pulse raced.
I want to see him again.
I must see him again.
Her breathing quickened. Her hands tightened on his shoulders.
“Y-your name… what is it?”
“Alan. And yours?”
“A-Akari Honne…”
“……”
Their first meeting felt like a dream. From that day forward, Akari Honne couldn’t stop thinking about him.
After middle school, she chose her high school solely to follow him.
When she heard he had broken up with his girlfriend, she stayed up all night comforting him by text—while secretly planning how to win him next.
If we start dating, I’ll join every competition too.
I won’t look second-best in front of his ex.
But fate took a turn she never expected.
A bright, breezy morning.
Her older sister arrived—Alan beside her, eyes shining with joy.
“Honne, this is Alan. He’ll be my boyfriend from now on.”
“……”
The memory of their first meeting flashed across Akari Honne’s mind. Curled up in bed, Akari Honne hugged her knees.
Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes, soaking the sheets.
“Alan… you’re mine.”
“Just wait a little longer… just a little more…”
“No one will take you from me. Not even my sister.”
Her whisper faded into the dusty air, her tear-bright eyes burning with resolve.
A fateful meeting must lead to a fateful ending.
She and Alan would be together in the end.
