Sham’s words didn’t push Mizuki into deep philosophy, but they clung like burrs on a hem, enough to itch, enough to confuse. “Yun-chan is a pitiful person. If you don’t even know that, how can you win her? So, Mizuki, do you want to know it all—everything about Yun-chan?”
That voice still snagged at Mizuki’s heart. Why had Sham said it? Why had she done what she did? The questions fluttered like moths against glass.
Most of all, Yunshi Bianqi—the person she liked—seemed to hide a secret behind a quiet veil. Sham knew it, and she was ready to hand it over.
Mizuki didn’t know much, but her guesses circled close, like hawks shadowing their prey.
Yun Shi was indeed hiding something from her. And not something small—it felt like a boulder sunk in a lake.
“About Yun-chan…”
Mizuki stared at her own palm, lines like dry riverbeds, and drifted into thought. She swore she had never considered a person this seriously.
When she first met Yun Shi, Mizuki hadn’t stepped into the Underworld yet. Back then, she’d thought he was a boy almost too delicate, a paper crane come to life. She hadn’t thought beyond that. Now, it didn’t feel so simple. All she really knew now was that Yun Shi had very few friends…
What was she hiding? The itch of it wouldn’t let Mizuki rest.
To untangle Sham’s meaning, Mizuki decided to use her return home to swing by school.
First thing back, she chose to observe. Early in the morning, she saw Yun Shi arrive. Nothing looked different. Same uniform draped like light clouds. Same bored yawn, like a cat in sun.
Back in class, nothing changed either. During lectures, Yun Shi kept gazing out the window like a kite watching the sky. Only now and then did she glance at the textbook. That was the Yun Shi Mizuki knew, the same ripple, the same calm.
“Did you buy this week’s magazine?”
“Yeah, it was awesome.”
“By the way, Koyuzu, can I have my notes back?”
“Sorry, let me borrow them just a little longer.”
“Oh, fine.”
After class, boys and girls traded small talk like warm beans in a bowl. It was the usual hum. Yun Shi still sat in her spot, an isolated shore, the air around her saying keep out.
Go say hi.
Mizuki thought it, and her feet started to move.
“Um, Bianqi-san.”
A girl cut in first, a pebble skipping ahead across the water. Mizuki’s step froze midair.
“What is it, Kumiko Misaki?”
“About your help the other day… thank you so much!”
They looked like something close to friends. Even so, discomfort pricked Mizuki’s chest, a thorn set under skin.
“Mizuki-chan, what’s wrong?”
A girl noticed Mizuki spacing out and waved a hand. Mizuki surfaced like a fish breaking water.
“It’s nothing…”
She answered. The girl was one of her closer friends in class.
“Really? Don’t lie to me.”
“R-really, it’s nothing…”
How could she admit she’d fallen for Yun Shi? One whisper and her gossip-loving friend would whip up a storm. Headache guaranteed.
She hadn’t expected it herself, that she’d like Yun Shi one day. They used to stick together a lot, but that had felt ordinary, the way sunlight sits on a desk. She’d only ever treated Yun Shi as a good friend, never as someone to fall in love with.
Fate has a sly hand. Mizuki still lost her heart to Yun Shi. She already loved someone else, and yet here she was, planting a second seed. Shame weighed like rain-soaked cloth.
Still, if Sham said Yun Shi was hiding something from her, Mizuki had to find out…
After so long observing, she still saw no difference. The day moved like an old river, familiar banks, familiar bends.
When the bell rang again, Mizuki slipped into a silent tail. She watched Yun Shi walk alone into the men’s restroom.
“That’s… not exactly odd…”
When Yun Shi vanished from sight, Mizuki stepped out and wiped sweat off her brow, a helpless smile tugging at her mouth.
A boy going into the men’s room is normal. Why did it feel off for a moment? It had to be her mind playing tricks.
Meanwhile, in a stall inside, Yun Shi was using the toilet with calm inevitability.
“Something’s been off lately…”
She pressed a hand to her head, annoyance like a drumbeat.
“Feels like I ate something bad…”
Her face went pale as paper. She hunched and shivered, vowing never to touch hot-and-sour cabbage again.
Her body couldn’t handle the storm.
When she came out, Yun Shi had no idea someone was tailing her. She flowed back into her ordinary day.
Class, break, class again, lunch with a bento, class, break, dismissal.
Nothing changed.
Mizuki, on the other hand, tailed her all day and ended up dead tired, like a stray dog after a long chase, with nothing to show for it.
“So what on earth is the secret Sham talked about…”
Mizuki was ready to cry, frustration piling like wet leaves. She felt like some hopeless stalker.
After school, time flowed into the Student Council room. Both Yun Shi and Mizuki were officers, so they met as usual.
“These are the documents for today’s meeting. You’ll present them later.”
Yun Shi passed her a folder, casual as passing a cup of tea.
“Oh—okay.”
As the vice president, Mizuki had no reason to refuse. She took it.
“You’ve been scarce lately. Busy?”
“Eh—uh, I, um…”
With Yun Shi talking to her, Mizuki’s tongue tied itself in knots. Her cheeks burned, words tripping and dropping. Facing the one you like, nerves braided tight; that was normal.
“Don’t push yourself too hard. I don’t know what you’re striving for.”
Yun Shi sounded calm, as if talking about weather. But Mizuki knew her well. This was Yun Shi’s crooked way of offering comfort, a hand under the table.
He’s still so gentle, no matter when.
A sweet warmth slid through Mizuki’s chest like honeyed tea.
Yun Shi’s words made it feel like she understood Mizuki’s recent flurry. In truth, she did. She knew things about Mizuki. That’s why she’d said what she said before.
The only thing she didn’t know was who Mizuki was getting stronger for.
Likewise, Mizuki hadn’t realized the person she liked had always been by her side. She hadn’t seen it.
The truth Sham wanted to hand her never came. Mizuki ended the day like any other, the sun setting on familiar streets.
They looked far apart, yet stood almost shoulder to shoulder; and still, somehow, far. When would they truly know? Without opening one’s heart, no one can receive the real thing.
“Yun-chan, if one day I change… would I still be me?”
Mizuki was afraid. If people learned she had feelings for two people, they might cast her aside like a cracked bowl. Especially the two she loved most.
“Haven’t you already changed?”
“Eh…”
“No matter how you change, you’re still you. Isn’t that enough?”
“But, I…”
“Mizuki. Be yourself. I’m always here. Even if I’m not beside you, at least in my heart, I’ll remember you exist. Didn’t you say you were my friend…”
By the end, Yun Shi’s voice turned awkward, like a chord slightly off-key.
Mizuki froze, then, after a quiet beat, a smile broke like dawn.
“Yun-chan, will you tell me everything about you someday?”
“Stuff like that… later.”
Yun Shi pressed a palm to her forehead, exasperation a small wave.
Mizuki chuckled and let it drop.
Maybe Yun-chan did have something she was hiding. But Mizuki no longer clutched at it…
Someday, he’ll tell me. That was how Miyuki Kiseki chose to believe.
She had her own answer to Sham’s words now. Maybe she was never meant to pry into another’s secrets. Rather than chasing answers, time could sift truth like clear water. Mizuki believed that with quiet stubbornness.
“Speaking of which, where did Asagi Renka go?”
Only then did Yun Shi notice the absence in the Student Council room. Normally, the president was always around.
What was going on…
“Um, Bianqi-san, the president took the day off.”
A male student in the room explained.
“Took the day off? Today?”
“Yes. So she passed all tasks to the vice president.”
“That’s not like her. Something happen?”
“Well… she didn’t say.”
“She didn’t say where she was going?”
“No.”
“…”
Yun Shi fell into thought. Normally she wouldn’t care much about Lian Hua’s movements. But one thing forced her hand.
Not long ago, Asagi Renka told her she planned to strike the Church. After some time to regroup, starting now wouldn’t be strange.
If Yun Shi wasn’t wrong, Lian Hua had already begun.
Her move would ripple through the Underworld, tugging other forces with the same resolve against the Church into motion.
If nothing unexpected happened, Yun Shi would be moving soon too…
“What’s wrong, Yun-chan? You okay?”
“…I’m fine.”
It seemed Mizuki hadn’t noticed. But that was only a matter of time. Sooner or later, she would step into the Underworld’s new struggle.
Before the storm breaks, the world holds its breath like a pond under gray sky…
Far away in London, Andrea stood alone on a footbridge. Without the other person who used to be here, the bridge seemed a touch lonely. Her face revealed nothing.
She took out a pocket watch, checked the hands, then gazed toward the distant rim of the sky, slipping into her own world.
“Has it begun…”
