A month passed in the blink of an eye since Shiki joined Garan no Dou.
Due to her personality, even if Touko wanted to arrange suitable work for her, Garan no Dou didn't have such affairs. So, even after joining Garan no Dou, Shiki's daily life wasn't much different from before.
In the morning, she would wake up naturally, drink a little water and then go out for a walk. Whether on the streets or in the alleys, she went wherever she pleased, and if she encountered any impudent thugs, she would beat them up and seize their pocket money in the process.
Of course, there was a difference from before. In the past, she usually spent most of her afternoons at the Ogawa Apartments slashing dolls, but since being taken out of the Ogawa Apartments by Naoki, because their directions were completely opposite, Shiki had no desire to go there anymore.
Besides that, there was one most important thing.
*RING!*
On an overpass, Shiki, who was leaning against the railing looking at the scenery, took out her ringing phone from her pocket, "What?"
[Come home for dinner]
"Oh."
The caller was Naoki. Although the time wasn't fixed, basically every day between five-thirty and six in the evening, he would always call her to tell her to return to the office for dinner.
This was the biggest change in Shiki's life over the past month.
Although Naoki's cooking was still arguably bad in Shiki's eyes, it was true that she could feel his progress, and Shiki was quite satisfied with this.
"Just coming back."
Glancing at the vehicles below, Shiki put her phone back in her pocket, just about to turn around and go down the bridge, her eyes sharply caught a light flickering on the upper floor of a building across the way.
Slightly frowning, she focused her gaze and continued to look for a moment, then Shiki took out her phone again, "Hey, idiot? I'll be a little late coming back for dinner, leave a portion for me."
After speaking to herself, without giving Naoki on the other end of the phone time to ask, Shiki hung up, then walked towards the building across the way.
Suddenly, she wanted to go somewhere.
This was a scene that often appeared in her countless daily life.
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Inside Garan no Dou.
"Big brother, Miss Shiki said she'll be a little late coming back."
Seeing the hung-up phone, Gray turned around and conveyed Shiki's message to Naoki, who had just placed a freshly baked cake on the table.
"Also, she said you're an idiot."
"Does she really not plan on changing that address?" Slightly helplessly taking the phone from Gray's hand, Naoki sighed softly, "Since yesterday she said she wanted to eat chocolate cake, I even specially made one for her. If she comes back late, it might be cold."
"She is Miss Shiki after all."
After a month of interaction, Gray more or less understood what kind of person Shiki was.
Self-willed, wanting to go wherever she wanted, wanting to do whatever she wanted—in a certain sense, quite similar to Naoki.
"Oh, it smells really good."
Along with the voice, Touko entered the room right on time.
"Chocolate cake? Why did you suddenly make this, young man?"
"Didn't Shiki mention it yesterday? I just tried making it. Teacher, please feel free to eat if you want."
"Hmm? Let me try..."
Cutting a piece with a fork and putting it in her mouth, after a moment of silence, Touko laughed, "It tastes pretty good, but I think Shiki will definitely say it's bad. Compared to that, where's Shiki? Hasn't she come back yet?"
"She said she'd be a little late coming back."
"As usual."
An expected answer, but after sitting down, Touko suddenly remembered something, "By the way, have you guys heard about that incident lately? The case of the high school girl who jumped to her death from the Fujou Building."
"Last week's incident?"
Naoki recalled slightly.
Last week, suddenly a high school girl jumped from the Fujou Building and died. At that time, a pedestrian happened to pass by, and it was said that they fainted on the spot. And the girl who jumped eventually died during the transfer process.
The subsequent investigation found that she was a well-behaved girl with no problems at all, no motive for suicide, normal interpersonal relationships, and of course, no will.
This strange case made it rather difficult for the police to draw a conclusion for the time being, and it was even covered by television stations for a week in a row.
'Fujou... looking at the scenery, it's May now... the timeline is a bit early, but considering this is the first victim, there's no problem.'
"So? What's wrong with the Fujou Building again?"
"There was just news on TV, another person died." Touko said, "Just like the first one, she was a model student with no problems at all, from Reien. Her interpersonal relationships were very good, but suddenly she committed suicide by jumping, with absolutely no will."
Reien—Reien Girls' Academy.
"If I remember correctly, Teacher was also from Reien..."
"It's true I went there for a short time in high school, but it was mostly just enrollment." Touko laughed, "But with this, it's already two people, it seems there's something behind this, it feels like an urban legend."
"This place of ours is already not much different from an urban legend, right?"
Naoki smiled bitterly, "I wonder when that Shiki will be back. Anyway, let's eat first. Leave a little bit of leftovers for her."
"Aren't you afraid she'll come back and slash you?"
"Can she beat me?"
A straightforward sentence immediately silenced Touko.
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Meanwhile.
Arriving at the rooftop of the building, looking at the sunset in the distance, even Shiki couldn't help but feel a little better, "What a nice view. Suddenly wanted to come here and take a look, didn't expect a surprise."
Going wherever she wanted and seeing what would happen—that was Shiki's purpose in wandering the streets and alleys. Although most of the time she only saw boring things, this time she saw something good.
Of course, it wasn't just the sunset, although that was also nice, but what made Shiki feel better was a building in the distance illuminated by the sunset.
The Fujou Building.
Built in the 70s as a symbol of Mifune City's rapid economic growth, it attracted many people at the time due to its unique observation deck, but from Shiki's current perspective, all that could be seen was an empty building that had been completely abandoned.
The abandoned building under the sunset, truly a scene full of end-of-era significance.
"By the way, didn't someone die there last week?"
Die.
Because she possessed the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Shiki was quite sensitive to this.
After staring at the Fujou Building for a moment, looking at the time on her phone, Shiki sighed, "Oh well, I'll go take a look tomorrow. If I don't go back soon, there might not be any dinner left."