Chapter 4: Boy Meets Girl

Toudou Mashiro. Born May 7th, seventeen years old.

Her mother, a former stage actress, was renowned among theater enthusiasts. Her father, a doctor, remains a private figure, with no public details to speak of. This snippet comes straight from Wakupedia.

In short, Toudou Mashiro is the daughter of a doctor and an actress—a thoroughbred, born into a league apart. And here I am, Kuroki You, trailing her like some creep. If I get caught, well, it’s not like I can argue my case.

But hear me out—this wasn’t intentional. Let me rewind a few minutes. After making up my mind, I bolted out of the classroom and immediately caught sight of Toudou Mashiro’s back. That’s where things went south. Despite charging out full of resolve, my courage faltered, and instinct took over. I ducked out of sight. Now here I am, tailing her without so much as a word. One wrong move, and I’m done for.

“What is she even doing…?” I muttered under my breath.

Toudou Mashiro’s movements were bizarre. She climbed to the second floor, only to double back to the first. She headed east, then abruptly turned west. Her path was anything but efficient, her purpose a complete mystery.

Nanaho High School prides itself on nurturing its students’ diverse personalities—or so the pamphlet claims. It’s true the school boasts a range of club activities, advanced classes, and art programs. The campus itself is sprawling, with grounds and buildings so vast that I got lost as a first-year. But by second year? No one’s getting lost anymore. Definitely not Toudou Mashiro.

“Or… is she looking for something?” The thought slipped out, and the more I considered it, the more it made sense. That’s it. It’s like she’s playing hide-and-seek, searching for a spot to tuck herself away. She kept glancing around, checking corners and doorways. Every time she passed students whispering, “Hey, that’s the celebrity upperclassman! She’s super cute!” she’d quicken her pace, as if fleeing their gazes.

I nodded to myself, piecing it together. Toudou Mashiro was looking for a place to hide. Hide-and-seek, plain and simple. But then another question hit me.

“…Why?”

Of course, she wasn’t there to answer.

I lost track of how many minutes we’d been walking. Toudou Mashiro finally halted her aimless search.

She stopped at the top of a rarely used staircase, on the landing that led to the rooftop. The door to the outside remained shut, surrounded by a clutter of unused chairs and desks haphazardly stacked together. It was a cramped space, almost like a one-room apartment. There, Toudou Mashiro seemed to be hiding—or so I assumed.

Why assumed? Because I was crouched on the stairs below, holding my breath, unable to actually see her. In my mind’s eye, it was like a cross-section of a ‘く’-shaped staircase, with Toudou at the top and me at the bottom. I’d meant to be the seeker in this impromptu game of hide-and-seek, but somehow, the roles had flipped. Stuck here, I hadn’t the faintest idea how to start a conversation.

A faint voice, soft and out of place in the dim surroundings, drifted down to me.

“Um… I wonder if this is okay.”

It was Toudou, muttering to herself. She seemed to be doing something. What would a high school girl go to such lengths to hide and do at school? No, no, I wasn’t imagining anything strange.

The answer came faster than I expected. Cutting through my flustered thoughts, an artificial, metallic sound effect echoed—a heavy, unmistakable chime that was impossible to describe precisely.

“…!?”

My heart froze, as if a gun had been pressed to my temple. That sound—it was the startup tone for the mobile version of AirPoke, the game I’d sunk countless hours into, day and night. I nearly let out a gasp but clamped my mouth shut just in time. In that moment, everything clicked. Toudou Mashiro had been searching for a quiet spot to play the game in peace.

“Alright, let’s do our best today too,” she said brightly.

Today too? And tomorrow? Wait, yesterday as well? Was Toudou Mashiro hiding every day just to play games? At school, of all places, dodging everyone’s eyes?

That was… exactly like me.

I’d always pictured Toudou Mashiro at the top of the school’s social ladder—fending off invitations from the popular guys with a breezy smile, maybe heading to sophisticated mixers with charming college students. My bad for the baseless assumptions.

Oblivious to my spiraling thoughts, Toudou kept talking to herself, her voice cheerful. She was definitely the type to mutter aloud, just like me.

“Maybe I’ll try this character today… Can they use poison gas…? That’s pretty dangerous…”

Her words were accompanied by the familiar character-selection BGM, its notes sounding almost surreal in this context.

But seriously, Toudou Mashiro, I had something to say.

Put on some earphones!

If she was going to hide and play games, she needed to mute the sound. What was the point of sneaking around if the game’s audio gave her away? It was like hiding her head but leaving her presence screaming for attention. Anyone nearby would notice instantly.

This was bad. The gamer in me was itching to intervene. Seeing a newbie play your favorite game so carelessly—it’s practically a reflex to want to offer tips.

Just moments ago, I’d thought Toudou was some untouchable celebrity, a world apart from me. But now, realizing she’d stepped into my world, I felt an unexpected kinship. It was like when you discover a celebrity you barely cared about shares your obscure hobby, and suddenly you’re invested.

What a contradiction. I’d started this chase—or rather, this game of tag—to keep my distance from her extroverted aura. Yet here I was, itching to give her advice.

That’s when it happened. From an unexpected direction, the rough voices of male students broke through the silence.

“Alright, the loser’s treating us to ramen!”

“Bring it on, I’ll take you up!”

The boisterous voices of students echoed through the corridor next to the stairs, loud and brash, likely from some sports club. Their shouts felt like they were closing in, practically vibrating through the air.

“…!?”

I craned my neck to peek below the staircase… Nothing. Good—they weren’t coming this way after all.

“…Phew.”

My tense shoulders slumped in relief. Sticking my head out like that without thinking was reckless. If I’d locked eyes with those guys, this whole situation would’ve screamed suspicion.

Anxiety dulls judgment.

It’s just like hide-and-seek. The closer danger creeps, the more you fixate on what’s out there. Is the seeker near? Is it your imagination or reality? Your heartbeat quickens, pounding in your ears. When the footsteps finally fade, the urge to confirm your safety takes over, and you cautiously poke your head out. It’s a universal instinct, something anyone might do.

Wait. If that’s true… A chilling realization hit me, and I slowly raised my gaze, dreading what I might find.

Two eyes were above my head. They were Toudou Mashiro’s pupils.

“Ah.”

The sound slipped from my lips. It was like being caught by the seeker in hide-and-seek. Toudou Mashiro, just like me, had leaned over to check for safety. The difference? She’d clearly spotted the suspicious figure lurking below—me.

Looking down, Toudou said. “…Kuroki-kun.”

“…Ah, haha.”

A forced smile was my only defense, right? In moments like this, it might just smooth things over.

“Why are you here, Kuroki-kun? It’s not a coincidence, is it?”

So much for smoothing things up.

“Ah, no… um…”

Her eyes narrowed, sharp with suspicion. The situation spoke for itself—any excuse I could muster would sound like a lie.

“Have you been listening the whole time…?”

“Listening… to what?”

Her question threw me off, its direction unexpected.

Even from below, I could see her face flush a vivid red.

“M-my monologue… or something. That’s what I mean by listening.”

I had been listening. But admitting it felt like admitting defeat.

“The whole time? Well, sort of… I heard some, didn’t hear others…? Honestly, I barely heard anything…”

“Hmm…?”

Her gaze pierced through me, unrelenting. If this were a manga panel, my face would be drenched in a waterfall of cold sweat.

As if testing the truth of my words, Toudou opened her mouth slowly. “Or rather, you know…”

Was she about to scold me? Chew me out? Maybe being ignored would be easier. Bracing myself, I was completely unprepared for what she said next.

“Kuroki-kun… you’re good at this game, right…?”

I was the one caught, yet Toudou Mashiro spoke like a kid whose prank had just been found out.

My brain was in chaos. This game? She meant AirPoke Mobile, right…?

“I’m… pretty into it, yeah. You’re talking about AirPoke, right…?”

Toudou’s brows furrowed, not in anger but as if something had just clicked for her.

“You know about AirPoke.”

“Eh? Well, yeah, from the game’s startup sound—”

I’d heard that unmistakable chime.

“—You know from the startup sound, huh.”

“Ah.”

This is what they mean by letting the cat out of the bag. It’s like confessing that I heard everything.

“I see, I see. You can tell from the sound. Even though it wasn’t that loud.”

Might as well own it. I pointed out what I’d noticed.

“It’s louder than you think. The game sounds were echoing quite a bit.”

Toudou fixed me with a half-lidded stare. On a beautiful girl like her, it should’ve been devastatingly cute, but to me, it felt like a bullet aimed straight at my heart.

“So you did hear everything after all.”

“SORRY.”

There was nothing left but to apologize, plain and honest.