Saeki Miria gently closed the door and turned to head downstairs.
Her footsteps echoed in the empty stairwell. Milia walked very slowly, each step feeling as if she were treading on cotton.
She thought of the scene she had witnessed at noon in the courtyard: Hikigaya standing there confessing to Nikaido-san, Hiro accepting him, and Sakuraba Ema standing by the flowerbed, her face as pale as paper, her body unable to support itself as she leaned against Milia. She could only hold Ema's hand, feeling her utter helplessness.
Milia reached the second floor and paused. She stood there for a mont before continuing downward.
She wasn't heading toward the classrooms.
She stopped in front of the infirmary door. It was closed.
Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand and knocked twice.
"Co in," a thin, soft voice called from inside.
Saeki Miria pushed the door open.
The infirmary was pristine: white walls, white sheets, white curtains. Sunlight stread through the window, scattering into the air via the Tyndall effect. A woman wearing a white robe styled after a nun's habit sat at the desk. Her hair was white with a slight tint of pink, falling softly to her waist, mostly covered by a white nun-style wimple. A black cross hung from her right ear.
The school nurse—or, to use her full na:
Ikami ruru.
Milia stood at the door, watching her.
"Saeki-san?" ruru tilted her head, offering a gentle smile. "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell sowhere?"
Saeki Miria did not answer.
"It was you, wasn't it?"
ruru's smile stiffened slightly.
"Those posts," Milia said, struggling to remain calm. "You were the one who made them."
The room fell silent for a few seconds. ruru looked at her, a shadow flickering across her gray pupils, before she forced her smile back into place.
"What posts? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."
"Stop pretending." Milia's voice was trembling, but she did not back down.
"You knew from the start. Arranging for to co to this school wasn't just because of Hikigaya, was it? Those posts, those rumors—you sent them out after receiving my ssages. You knew I never use social dia. If I hadn't asked Miura yesterday, I would still be in the dark..."
"Saeki-san." ruru looked up, interrupting her.
The mirth and tenderness were gone from her eyes, replaced by a chilling sense of warning. The smile slowly faded from her face.
"You're right. I made those posts. I spread the rumors. Sakuraba Ema's current state was caused by ."
Milia bit her thumb lightly and took a deep breath.
"Why are you targeting her like this? Haven't I done everything you asked?"
ruru remained silent for a long ti. She simply stared out the window at the students moving about the campus.
"She hasn't done anything wrong. Quite the contrary... she's a very good girl. Gentle, kind, always thinking of others."
"Then why did you—"
"Because it must be done," ruru interrupted.
"Must? What do you an 'must'? You must destroy an innocent person?"
"Saeki-san, do you rember when we first t?" ruru's voice suddenly beca very tender—terrifyingly so.
"The things that happened in your middle school... those photos, those rumors, those betrayals."
Milia's body froze. That was the one mory she wanted to forget most.
"You ca to then, crying, saying you didn't want to live anymore," ruru continued, her voice remaining soft.
"You said everyone hated you, everyone mocked you, and you felt there was no place for you in this world.
Then Hikigaya-kun appeared. He saved you. He swapped bodies with you and helped you solve those problems. You felt you were finally saved, didn't you?"
Milia murmured to herself, "Don't... don't ntion Hikigaya-kun..."
"But you see, Saeki-san." ruru took a step closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Have you ever wondered why Hikigaya-kun appeared there? Why he was able to save you at that exact mont?
It wasn't a coincidence."
Milia felt the blood in her veins turn cold. "Wha... what are you saying?"
Milia took a step back, her back hitting the door. Her mind was in a state of total chaos.
"Why..."
"Because it was necessary. Necessary for you to get close to Hikigaya-kun. Necessary for you to beco his friend. Necessary for you to... monitor him and those around him.
And Sakuraba-san... she is also part of the plan."
"I don't understand..." Milia shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "I don't understand what you're saying..."
ruru sighed, a sound filled with exhaustion.
"Saeki-san, you only need to know one thing." She looked at Milia with a complex gaze. "If I stop what I am doing now, more people will be hurt. More people will... end up like you did in middle school, or even worse."
"But Ema is in a terrible state right now!" Milia practically scread. "She's on the verge of a breakdown! Can't you see that?"
"I can see it." ruru's voice suddenly turned frigid. "I know her current state better than anyone. But... it's not enough."
"Not enough?" Milia felt her voice shaking. "What exactly do you want to do to her? What do you want her to beco?"
ruru didn't answer. She simply stared at Milia with the kind of look a researcher might give a lab rat—calm, objective, and devoid of emotion.
"Continue doing what you are supposed to do," ruru said finally, her voice returning to its usual gentleness, though that gentleness now felt horrific. "Observe them. Report on their situation. Especially Hikigaya-kun... I need to know every single change he undergoes."
"What if I say no?" Milia looked up, trying to keep her voice from wavering. "What if I won't help you anymore?"
ruru smiled. It was a gentle smile, like the sunlight hitting her, but Milia only felt a full-body chill.
"Then everyone will find out your secret," ruru said softly.
"Your ability, the things from your middle school, and... the fact that you have been deceiving Hikigaya-kun this entire ti."
She leaned in close to Milia's ear, each word sharp as a blade.
"Do you want him to know? Want him to know you've been lying to him from the very start? Want him to know that you transferred here, beca his friend, smiled at him, spoke to him... and all of it was planned?"
Milia closed her eyes.
"Do you want him to look at you with eyes that see nothing but trash?" ruru continued with a cruel tenderness.
"Want him to never speak to you again, never look at you again?"
"Don't..." Milia's voice was raspy from crying. "Please... don't..."
"Then continue doing what you are supposed to do." ruru stepped back, resuming her expression of a gentle school nurse.
"Now, dry your tears and go back to class. Rember, our conversation today... never happened."
Milia opened her eyes and looked at the woman before her—the white nun's habit, the gentle smile—but in those gray eyes was a bottomless darkness.
She turned, pulled open the door, and walked out. The door closed softly behind her.
The corridor was empty. Her footsteps echoed again, each one feeling as if she were stepping on the edge of a knife.
She leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to sit on the floor, burying her face in her knees and weeping silently.
She rembered the whispers from middle school, the disgusting insults online, and the feeling of being isolated and helpless as she stood on the edge of the overpass.
She thought of Hikigaya, the person who had pulled her back, the person she most feared losing.
And Sakuraba Ema , the friend who always smiled at her and was now on the brink of collapse.
What should she do?
Continue to hurt Ema? Or... let Hikigaya know everything and lose him forever?
She didn't know...
At the other end of the corridor, Tachibana Sherry leaned against the corner, listening to the faint sound of crying. She pulled out her phone and quickly typed a line.
"Target confird. School nurse Ikami ruru admitted to being the mastermind behind the rumors. Saeki Miria is being controlled via threats. Need to further investigate ruru's motives."
She tucked her phone away and turned to leave, her lips curling into a aningful smile.
The truth was slowly surfacing.
And the ga... had only just begun.
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