Kuroba Kaito had gotten stuck with a strange transfer student.
Whenever the sports clubs dragged him along to make up the numbers, he would always see her around the field. Every time there was a group project, her name was always among the group members.
When he went to the cafeteria, she sat at the next table. When he went to the school store, she followed behind him, always keeping just the right distance.
Every day at school, he could feel someone's gaze following him.
Her girlish feelings and deliberate attempts to get close to him couldn't have been more obvious, but he didn't want to call her out, so he could only pretend not to notice.
That was until he happened to see that career-planning form in the office. Kuroba Kaito just couldn't sit still anymore.
Under future aspirations, she had written in plain sight: I want to become Kuroba Chisaki.
Who writes something this weird on a career-planning form?!
Before the teacher could check it, he hurriedly grabbed the form and went to find her in the art club.
The girl, standing on a chair, was startled by the door opening. The box in her arms dropped to the floor, and in an instant, countless sheets of paper scattered in the breeze.
Kazama Chisaki quietly gathered up the scattered things without saying a word of explanation. After a while, she looked up at the person who had come in. "What is it?"
Kuroba Kaito stared at the floor covered in portraits of himself, his feelings complicated. He couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "Do you like me?"
"Yeah." She nodded, looking a little puzzled. "Isn't it obvious?"
The boy stood there, awkward and stunned.
*
She really did like him, and she really did want to use him. It was only natural that he would hate her for approaching him with an ulterior motive.
The new year arrived, and she could no longer write the same wish she had made every year before.
She put the wish slip she had filled in by mistake back in her pocket, then wrote a new wish for Kuroba-kun's safety and good fortune and hung it on the tree.
The crowd bustled around her as Kazama Chisaki left the shrine, stepping through the snow. A familiar figure appeared at the end of the road, seeming to be waiting for someone.
She pulled her hat down and walked past without disturbing him. The instant they passed each other, someone caught her by the arm.
The thing in her pocket fell from the sudden tug. She hurried to pick it up, but the boy got there first.
Stained by melting snow, the blurry words were still just visible: I want to become Kuroba Chisaki.
"There's no point asking the gods for something like that."
He clutched the wish slip tightly, his voice urgent.
"You should ask me."
Theme: Love is mutual understanding
