After that day, Misaki was left with lingering thoughts about Shirogane. After all, he was her junior. And it was concerning because Shirogane seemed to be walking alone into the darkness. She wanted to help, but there was nothing she could do. She would only end up hurt and become a burden, just like when she acted on her own before.

  "Misaki, you’re living a second life just to be useless..."

  She muttered to herself in a compining tone.

  At home, Misaki was sitting at her desk. The sound of her pen tapping against the table echoed repeatedly as she absentmindedly clicked it. Her head was a bit dizzy from trying to recall various things.

  Her concentration was broken when someone knocked on her door.

  "Just a moment."

  Kazuto rarely knocked on her door and usually just called out to her, so Misaki was sure it wasn’t him.

  "Oh, Endou. When did you get here?"

  The person knocking turned out to be Endou. Misaki hadn’t noticed his arrival because she had been in her room since she got back from school.

  "I came with Kazuto after he finished club activities. He finished pretty early today. Want to come out and py with us?"

  He asked.

  "Ah, not right now. I want to rest for a bit. I’ll catch up with you guys ter before dinner."

  From Misaki’s sound, Endou noticed that she didn’t look too well.

  "Are you sick? You look pale."

  He looked worried as he touched her forehead to check her temperature.

  "Not really. I’m just a bit dizzy. It’s just temporary because I’ve been thinking too much."

  "I’m not sure about that, considering the person saying this is often sickly."

  "Ugh..."

  Misaki couldn’t deny that fact and could only stay silent.

  "This is weird. Your skin temperature is normal, but your face looks pale."

  Endou said, confused.

  "I told you, I just need to rest. I’m just a little tired."

  "Alright. Get some good rest, then. I actually wanted to ask you for a favor, but it can wait."

  "Sure. If we can’t do it here, we can talk about it at school ter."

  "Mmm, just rest for now. If you need anything, we’re downstairs."

  "Okay. And please don’t tell Onii-chan about this. I don’t want him to worry too much about me."

  "Got it, got it. Rex."

  After exchanging a few more words, Endou finally left Misaki’s room.

  That night, Misaki felt better and came out to cook dinner for everyone. Unfortunately, since it was quite te, Endou couldn’t bring up his request and went home. There was always tomorrow, so there was no need to rush.

  "You look a bit pale. Are you sick?"

  The next morning, Kazuto asked the same question as Endou. And like déjà vu, Misaki gave the same answer.

  "Not really. I’m just a bit dizzy. It’s just temporary because I was thinking too much st night."

  "This is weird. You look pale, but your skin temperature is normal."

  "Don’t worry about it too much. Let’s go, I don’t want to be te for css."

  Misaki compined, zily expining and pushing Kazuto out of the school gate.

  "You should go to the nurse’s office if something’s wrong, got it?"

  He said firmly to Misaki. After all, he was worried about her fragile health.

  "Yeah, yeah, I got it."

  ---

  "And that’s how I ended up here."

  Misaki expined, now lying on the infirmary bed.

  "So that’s it. You’re saying that as soon as you reached the school gate, you fainted and found yourself here."

  "Mhm, mhm."

  "..."

  Blue and brown eyes stared at each other for a moment.

  "Wait, forget about my story. Why are you at my school? Why are you skipping css again!?"

  The person sitting next to Misaki was Shirogane. The problem was, it was still school hours, which meant he was skipping css right now.

  "I had some business and happened to stop by."

  Shirogane expined briefly.

  "You say that like you’re an adult with a job."

  Misaki compined, looking at him with half-lidded eyes.

  "But I’ve lived longer than you, which means I’m more mature. So there’s nothing wrong with that."

  An undeniable fact came out, leaving Misaki cornered.

  "Ugh— And what about your school!?"

  So she changed the subject since she couldn’t refute that.

  "I’ll manage somehow. Well, it won’t st long. Hold on for a second."

  While speaking, his fingers moved toward Misaki’s forehead, and she didn’t resist at all as he approached. And then...

  "My headache... is gone?"

  Misaki looked confused. When Shirogane’s fingers touched her forehead, the headache she had been feeling disappeared, and her slightly foggy vision cleared up.

  "Senpai, you need to take care of your health. Don’t stay up too te or overthink things, got it?"

  While Misaki was still in a state of confusion, Shirogane stood up, intending to leave.

  "Wait a second."

  But Misaki stopped him by grabbing the edge of his jacket.

  "Mmm, do you need something, Senpai?"

  "No, there’s something I need to give you. I didn’t expect us to meet like this, but luckily I brought it in my bag."

  And thankfully, her bag wasn’t taken to the cssroom but was brought here when she fainted earlier. She thought.

  "What is it?"

  Shirogane asked as Misaki handed him a few sheets of paper.

  "This is all I can do to help you. Just read it first."

  Shirogane followed her words and immediately started reading. A frown soon appeared as he read through each page slowly and carefully.

  "This is..."

  "Yeah, it’s a list of incidents that will happen in the future."

  Misaki expined with a bitter smile. As his senior, this was all she could do to help her junior. She could only help with her good memory; beyond that, she might end up hurt like in the st incident.

  But Shirogane looked at her differently.

  "Thank you, Senpai. This will be a big help. Leave the rest to me. After all, this is my wish and my task, so don’t make that face."

  "I just can’t stand seeing you alone, you know."

  "We’re just two characters with different stories. There’s nothing we can do about it."

  "Is that really how it is?"

  Misaki asked with a pleading expression.

  "...For now. Senpai might be able to help me in the future, maybe."

  "I’d be really grateful if that time really comes in the future."

  Misaki’s expression brightened after he said that, and Shirogane gave a faint smile.

  "I’ll take my leave, then."

  When Shirogane tried to leave for the second time, Misaki stopped him again by pulling him closer.

  "Before that..."

  Shirogane didn’t resist as he leaned closer, thinking she might want to whisper something. However...

  *Chuu...

  What he got instead was a kiss on his cheek, which left Shirogane frozen because he hadn’t expected it.

  "That’s for yesterday, and my thanks for looking out for my sister and helping me in so many ways."

  Misaki smiled innocently, her eyes narrowing, looking incredibly charming. Shirogane, still stunned, slowly felt his cheeks grow slightly red and quickly averted his gaze.

  "I-I-I should get back to school. See you ter, Senpai."

  After saying that, Shirogane turned around and walked out quickly of the room, as if something was chasing him from behind.

  "Hmm? Why did he leave in such a hurry?"

  Meanwhile, Misaki, still confused, didn’t know why Shirogane seemed embarrassed, especially since he had asked for something like that himself yesterday.

  "Did I do something wrong?"

  Misaki had done it to express her gratitude for Shirogane helping her selflessly all this time, but she might have overdone it.

  "Maybe... I should have asked for his permission?"

  Misaki still seemed clueless about how the world worked, asking that question.

  ---

  This marks the end of Shirogane’s arc as summer comes to a close. And since it’s now autumn, it’s time for Endou to shine ??

  ---

  By the way, I’m back! Without any significant changes.