Even as Eiji approached the lone girl sitting solemnly underneath the bus stop, she didn’t even spare him a single glance. Maybe her thoughts took that much out of her awareness. As the young man stopped before her, he heaved a sigh.

“Oye. You’re gonna get that sketchbook wet again.” He spoke. Indeed, sitting there for long wouldn’t keep anyone dry, what with the wind bypassing this simple shelter. A simple roof over your head simply wasn’t enough to stay out of THIS rain.

The girl raised her head in a start, looking quite taken aback by the sudden appearance of the schoolmate who had saved her just a few hours prior. Soon, she lowered her head again “…Sorry.”

Another sigh from Eiji. Maybe he wasn’t good at this, he thought. 

“Don’t apologize either…”

The rain was getting even stronger, and that spot really wasn’t one they had the luxury to chat casually at. Looking around briefly as if to drive the point home, Eiji spoke once more.

“I live just across the street, so if you don’t wanna go home for whatever reason, you’re free to wait this rain out at least.”

“Eh?” The girl looked at him in puzzlement. Her face almost beckoned the question of how serious Eiji was, even without her asking.

“You heard me.”

“Is it really okay for me to—“

“I just said so.” Eiji remarked, and handed her the umbrella. He didn't want her thinking he was some sleazebag that would cling onto her at any given opportunity.

“Wait!” The girl raised her voice as she got up from the bench, umbrella now at hand.

“This way.” Eiji walked on ahead through the rain. He didn’t really mind getting a bit wet, since he lived just a few feet away. Much to his surprise, the girl followed along, with long hurried steps. Then again, with legs as short as hers, long maybe wasn’t the most fitting word.

The young man and his tail, quickly walked up the rusty, slippery steps towards his apartment complex, and soon were under the protection of a wider, more solid roof over their heads. “Come in.” Eiji spoke as he unlocked the door and made his way inside.

Peaking her way through the door, the girl scanned the room in puzzlement. It was a normal home, albeit a small one. With nervous steps, she made her way inside.

The place didn’t look particularly clean, and there was a smell of cigarettes hanging about the air.

“Pardon the intrusion.” She muttered gingerly. There she was, waltzing into a complete stranger’s home just like that. With decisions as spontaneous as this, her trusting nature was sure to come back and bite her behind someday,

Well, not that she had any friends to trust anymore either…

The girl’s weird train of thoughts was interrupted by a black fur ball sitting on the ground. Upon closer inspection, she noticed a pair of two glowing cat eyes staring back at her.

“Meow.”

“A kitty!” The girl cried in delight, forgetting all about her worries in a mere instant, as she kneeled in order to let the feline know of her deep affections.

“You’re the second stray I pick up today.” Eiji commented, looking over to the two of them in silent confusion. Were cats that big a hit with young girls? He seemed to think.

“I see…” She replied, too enamored by the cat’s cuteness to care. “Does she have a name?”

“Not yet.” Eiji replied, as he wiped off his wet hair with a towel.

“I see, I see…”

“Here.” Eiji spoke as he threw a towel towards the young girl’s direction. She had a hard time catching it in mid-air, but ultimately managed to.

“Uhm… Thank you.” She bowed, albeit somewhat stiffly.

Eiji exhaled. Was it getting awkward or was it just him?

“Kanzaki Eiji.” He decided it was best to introduce himself.

The girl looked on in puzzlement, probably thinking how weird it was to enter a person’s house, while you don’t even know their full name.

“Mizuno Naomi.” The girl smiled despite herself. She hadn’t introduced herself either. This might have been the third time the two met, yet they only introduced themselves to each other just a few seconds ago. “And thank you about earlier today, too. You went out of your way to—“

The rustling of clothes caught Naomi completely off guard. Eiji had removed his wet hoodie, and thrown it straight into a basket.

“K-K-Kanzaki-senpai! You shouldn’t do that in front of me!”

“It’s fine, I’m wearing an undershirt. Cool your jets.” Eiji scoffed, despite his lack of common decency.

Naomi held back a chuckle as well. For some weird reason, she felt some of the tension leave her body. Despite his intimidating appearance, he wasn’t hard to talk to, nor was he scary in any way. One could probably even go as far as call him, easy-going, although that may have been a stretch. What was this guy, really?

Right as Naomi crossed her arms over her pillowy chest, did she realize how wet her own school uniform had gotten. What was she to do? Surely she couldn’t—

“You can use these.” Eiji said. He had gotten all changed out of his wet clothes too, and was offering her a set of his own, old clothes.

Naomi though, threw her hands up in a display of modesty. “I can’t accept these!”

“And I can’t accept you walking around the place while soaked. The place is already messy as it is.”

That was a fair point, both of them seemed to think.

“O-okay…”

The young girl reluctantly accepted, as she was guided towards the bathroom. Eiji was immodest enough to change in front of her, but Naomi certainly could never accomplish such a feat.

Right after Naomi was done changing into a red hoodie that fit her more like a dress, and a pair of oversized pants that were miraculously tied through some laces at her waist, Eiji put all of her clothes in the drier, which was arguably the best commodity his apartment had to offer.

As the two of them sat across from each other cross-legged, Eiji popped open the lid of one of the instant ramen cans he had just bought.

“Want one?” He offered, as he looked over the girl looking at him in puzzlement.

“Eh? No I’m not—“

Purrr

Despite her efforts, her stomach’s cute grumbling had betrayed her. The aroma of the ramen must have triggered something in her famished brain. Despite her fierce blush and the considerable embarrassment, Naomi accepted the cup of ramen filled with steaming hot water all the same.

“T-thanks…” She muttered shyly, despite Eiji not looking concerned at all.

Eiji had noticed how restless the girl had been acting at first, and although it seemed like she had gotten over it, some of her fidgeting suggested otherwise. She kept glancing around the room, and for some reason, she fixated her gaze in one part of it in particular.

“So… why were you sitting out in the rain?” Eiji asked, completely out of the blue.

The girl before him gulped in response.

“I just…” She thought about the answer she would give for a second. “Didn’t wanna go home. I had so many things to think about. I just couldn’t face everyone with a smile like usual.”

Ultimately she didn’t have any reason to lie to Eiji. It wouldn’t be right either, since he had done so much for her already.

“With a smile, huh?” Eiji muttered, as he slurped some of his noodles.

“I’m the eldest of three siblings. I can’t let them see me in such a pitiful state…” Naomi replied, her lips forming a solemn smile.

Pitiful.

Eiji thought. At school she seemed like that one helpless girl, that couldn’t stand up for herself. That much was true. But back home, she acted like the big sister figure for her siblings, and made quite the effort for it too as it seemed.

That didn’t really strike Eiji as pitiful.

“Meow!”

Eiji’s train of thoughts was interrupted by his cat’s leap onto his lap. With an elated expression, the feline reveled in the scent of the piping hot noodles.

“Oye, that’s not for you.” Eiji scolded.

“Meow!” The cat seemed to protest.

“You just ate too, so pipe down already.”

“Meowww…” The cat seemed to give up on her pursuit for noodles, as it slumped onto the young man’s lap.

Naomi’s expression softened at the sight. He certainly didn’t strike her as the scary delinquent type after all.

“So you live alone, Senpai?” She asked.

“Do you think one can share this dump with anyone else?” Eiji retorted.

“Heh, not really, no.”

A brief silence ensued, as they silently slurped on their noodles, with the protesting cries of the kitty still working as the background noise.

“About back at school…” Eiji broke the silence yet again. “What did you do to get them all up against you like that?”

“Oh you mean those upperclassmen? They were just….” Naomi stopped briefly. “…I don’t know.” She ultimately sighed.

“It’s all a little complicated.” She finally voiced. Somehow, she didn’t really want to go into detail about how she was harassed, and how she was even getting nasty looks from those girls in question even before the whole incident had even begun.

“And why wouldn’t anyone stand up for you?” Eiji questioned, as he slurped up the last of his noodles, causing a last resounding meow to ensue.

“I don’t… have any friends.” Naomi smiled sadly once more. “Not anymore at least.”

“Not… anymore?” Eiji muttered back. Despite being quite cryptic about it, it somehow seemed like it wasn’t just a mere fight between friends she was referring to. At least that’s what Eiji seemed to think anyway.

Contemplating on whether or not to talk about it, Naomi looked at her reflection through the water filled cup.

“I had a friend, not too long ago.” She finally spoke, unable to contain her will to open up any longer. “Her name was Hazuki.”

Instead of answering, Eiji decided to not intervene just yet.

“Despite her being my only friend, I never really had the need for another. We were inseparable for many years. She was all I ever needed…”

Eiji looked on as her expression shifted into one of pure melancholy.

“It will probably come as a surprise to you senpai but, one of our favorite past times was investigating the occult.”

Eiji raised a brow. This was suddenly getting extremely interesting.

“We loved scary ghost stories, and urban legend talks. Now that I think about it, it was Hazuki who got me into it in the first place, but I can say with certainty I was fascinated by the subject just as much as she was.” Naomi sighed in the face of her resurfacing memories.

“But one day, 3 months ago, we payed the price for our curiosity.” The young girl’s expression grew darker. “You probably won’t believe it. I mean why would you? But something really weird happened.”

Eiji perked up at the sound of that.

‘We went into a supposed haunted place here at our neighborhood. It was an abandoned parking lot.” Naomi gulped. “We thought it would be a nice experience to have but… we couldn’t… I couldn’t be more wrong. Something jumped at us. A weird, monster-like presence, with big eyes, and even bigger jaws…”

Naomi’s fingers were trembling as she grasped her cup and exhaled shakily.

“It… got Hazuki. I… I didn’t know what to do so…” The young girl exhaled once more, trying to find what little composure she could muster. “I ran away… She told me to run so I… I did.”

Eiji sat back once more, not leaving her from his gaze in the slightest.

“I went straight to her family and later that night… they found her… her… body.” Naomi finally finished with a sigh, as if to expel all those negative feelings together through it.

“So I’ve been alone ever since. I know you probably won’t believe me… But that’s also why I created the occult club in the school. I think it serves to remind me of her… Although it was quite the stupid decision. I’m the only member after all.” Naomi smiled sadly once more, as she looked back at her cup of ramen, that had probably gone cold and stale.

“Must have been rough…” Those were all the words Eiji spared. He had come to a conclusion about the projection of that girl he had been following after all, and about the mysterious parking lot too. He needed to know a bit more, but he really couldn’t press her further for now.

“Ah…!” Naomi exclaimed underneath her breath. “The noodles got soggy.”

“I have another if you want.” Eiji offered, but the girl shook her head with a small smile.

“It’s okay…” Naomi replied still looking quite shaken. Probably sensing that, or just out for treats, the kitty resting on Eiji’s lap ventured towards her.

After eyeing the cat, Naomi looked over to Eiji with an almost pleading look.

“Can I… feed her?”

“Go ahead. But only a little.” Eiji said as he got up and looked at the girl before him in silent contemplation. This case was much more complex than anything he had faced before.