Under the moonlight and the streetlights, Rikka pulled out her exclusive weapon, a black lace folding umbrella, from beneath her, raised it over her head, and declared war on Yuta.
"Yuta! The Bureau has tampered with you, creating an Evil Quirk Singularity inside your body! To remove it, we must defeat you now!"
With that, Rikka, who had been suppressing the indescribable throbbing in her heart, looked into Yuta's eyes and stammered out the prayer before the battle began.
"Explode... Explode, reality! Fracture, nerves! Banish this world!"
This time, Rikka recited the prayer haltingly. Because she kept staring at Yuta, her heart wouldn't stop pounding, and she couldn't calm down enough to properly act chuunibyou. She even removed her eye patch somewhat hastily, and her movements lacked the usual grace and agility of her past battles. Even her voice trembled slightly.
However, neither Yuta nor Totsuka noticed this abnormality. Only Rikka realized that after she removed her eye patch and loudly recited the prayer, her surroundings were still the familiar scene; she hadn't entered the so-called "battle mode" at all.
This was not normal, very not normal. If Fang Wuwei were here, he would have noticed that the faint magic circle that appeared every time Rikka recited a prayer was completely absent. This time, she was truly just acting chuunibyou.
Looking at the familiar yet now strange surroundings, Rikka was dumbfounded...
Where's my battleground? Where's my Queen of the Night? Where's my Evil King's True Eye?
Why is it still Yuta in front of me?!
"Master! Since it has come to this, we can only use that, death!"
Seeing Rikka's dumbfounded expression, Totsuka, who thought her Master's attack on Dark Flame Master had failed, immediately spoke the lines they had already rehearsed, successfully bringing the dazed Rikka back to her senses.
"Master!"
"Totsuka!"
Calling each other's names, the two began to spread out quickly, at a speed that was not fast at all, circling Yuta with him as the center...
As if to make Yuta dizzy, Totsuka and Rikka ran while speaking loudly, but in reality, their speed was clearly visible.
"How is it? Can you distinguish us, death?!"
"This is the Phantom Maze of us two. I am Rikka!"
"Totsuka is Totsuka, death!"
"Which one is me?!"
"Which one is Master, death?!"
Yuta, at the center, looked at the two circling him at an extremely slow speed, his face full of speechlessness, but perhaps there was a hint of happiness in his heart.
So... he immediately extended his hand in a traditional hand chop, horizontally striking Rikka and knocking her down.
Rikka, struck by Yuta, let out an adorable "Awoo" sound, her folding umbrella fell, and she herself tumbled to the side and fell to the ground.
"It would be strange if I couldn't tell."
On the other hand, Totsuka, who had told Yuta to find Rikka, looked at herself, untouched, and began to gloat, saying the lines she had expected Yuta to say if he had picked the wrong person.
"Idiot! That one over there is the real body, death!"
Totsuka, intent on delivering her lines, completely forgot that Yuta had picked the right person, and her single sentence left both Rikka and Yuta speechless.
"Are you happy that the substitute wasn't hit?"
"Uwaa!! It seems so, death!"
Yuta retorted, not wanting to waste any more time on Totsuka. He walked over and looked at Rikka, who was squatting on the ground, covering her head.
Undeniably, although he was a bit displeased and confused about being called out late at night, he was very happy. Happy that Rikka could return to normal, and happy that Rikka could talk to him again. He also seemed to be relieved that Rikka didn't dislike him as he had imagined.
"Seriously, what exactly do you want to do?"
Although his words were a casual complaint, as if it were troublesome, Yuta's smile was almost overflowing, and the corners of his mouth wouldn't go down.
"You made me worry for nothing... Are you okay?"
Hearing Yuta's incredibly gentle voice, Rikka looked up... and almost had a heart attack.
Under the moonlight, Yuta, with a gentle smile on his face, looked so handsome in Rikka's eyes? Especially looking at the beautiful, pure white full moon in the sky, it reminded her even more of that wonderful moonlit walk she had with Yuta during the summer vacation.
It seemed that ever since that day, she had become so strange, unable to look Yuta directly in the eye...
Yuta reached out, wanting to pull Rikka up, but Rikka looked at Yuta's outstretched hand and hesitated to take it.
In the past, let alone holding Yuta's hand, she felt nothing even when they were pressed against each other. But now, just looking at Yuta's gently extended hand made her heart feel like it was about to burst, and her face felt hot. She knew her face must be very red.
But she didn't understand why this was happening.
"What's wrong?"
Finally, at Yuta's second urging, Rikka timidly took Yuta's hand. Feeling a surge of strength from the gentle, warm hand, which was much larger than hers, pulling her up, Rikka stood up and stared blankly at Yuta's face.
Since that summer vacation, she had never looked Yuta directly in the eye, let alone at such a close distance. She could even see the gentleness in his eyes.
Rikka, looking directly into Yuta's eyes at such close range, felt more uncomfortable than looking at a so-called invisible god. Her heart pounded wildly, and a strange emotion swept through her entire body. At this moment, Yuta's image seemed to exist in her mind, and his eyes were deeply etched into her heart.
Those eyes that made her heart pound and were so gentle.
According to her coping mechanism, she should run now, run to a place where she couldn't see Yuta, run to a place where she couldn't hear Yuta's voice, which would calm her restless heart a little.
But... for some reason, she didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay by Yuta's side, just as Yuta had always accompanied her. She wanted to stand with Yuta forever and ever...
No... no!
Startled by this strange thought, Rikka managed to retrieve a sliver of sanity amidst her budding emotions. Feeling her stuffy chest and her heart beating too fast and uncomfortably, Rikka, for the sake of her life, ultimately fled. Just as she had countless times escaped the verdandi, this time, she was escaping Yuta, escaping the feelings in her heart.
Seeing Rikka run off in a hurry and panic, even leaving her dropped umbrella behind, Totsuka was quite shocked that her and Master's combined effort was so easily defeated. But Yuta at this moment was only worried; Rikka was too abnormal...
And Rikka just thought that as long as she left Yuta, everything would be like before, at most a little uncomfortable when sleeping, and she would be fine very quickly. But unfortunately, she was destined to toss and turn all night, her mind filled only with Yuta, Yuta, Yuta...
This night was destined for one girl to be sleepless.