Kokoro disappeared.
Not in the "kidnapped by plot" way.
She left voluntarily.
After breakfast at camp, she just stood up, looked at the mountains, and muttered:
"The forest cannot force romantic development if I live in it first."
Then walked into the woods like some kind of socially distant druid.
"She's building a shrine," Aya said, sipping orange juice.
"What kind of shrine?!"
"One that worships emotional repression."
Mission Log:
Kokoro has gone full anti-heroine.
Natsuki-sensei is pretending this is "educational camping."
Aya is sunbathing like a Bond villain.
And I am currently being hunted by flags like a deer in mating season.
I went after Kokoro.
Eventually found her near a stream, building a rock circle and placing her textbook in the center.
"What... is this?"
She didn't turn around.
"This is a Romance Rejection Zone. Any person standing inside this boundary is immune to accidental character development."
"That's not how physics OR feelings work."
Kokoro looked up at me, eyes serious.
"Then why did my heart flutter during the campfire?"
"I—Wait—WHAT?!"
She immediately threw a rock at me.
"Forget I said that! That was genre interference!"
Back at the tents, Natsuki-sensei called me over.
She handed me a clipboard.
It was a chart.
"Kazuki's Emotional Growth Tracker™"
☑ Survived hot spring
☑ Didn't die when kissed on the cheek
☑ Flustered by teacher's neck
☑ Had tent thoughts
☐ Confessed feelings
"What is this?!"
She smiled. "Just some light data collection."
"You're charting my suffering!"
"Therapeutic metrics," she said.
"THIS ISN'T A HEALING ARC!"
Later that night, Aya caught me alone, leaning against a tree.
She walked up, slow, quiet.
The way someone walks when they've decided your brain is no longer in charge.
She sat beside me.
"You look tired."
"I am. My thoughts have unionized."
She giggled.
Then, softly:
"Do you think you can ever go back to normal?"
"I hope so."
"Why?"
"Because normal means safe. Predictable. Not... this."
She tilted her head.
"But what if this is better?"
I froze.
There was something different in her voice.
Not teasing. Not joking.
Just kind.
"Do you like it?" I asked. "When I'm flustered all the time?"
"Honestly?"
She leaned in, so close I could hear her heartbeat.
"It's not the flustering. It's the fact that you still care. Even when you're panicking. Even when you're running from it all."
Pause.
Then she stood up.
"Try not to explode, Kazuki."
And left me there, heart doing cartwheels in twelve dimensions.
When I got back to the tent—
Kokoro was sitting cross-legged inside.
Wearing a blanket like a war cloak.
"Negotiations have failed," she said.
"Negotiations with who?"
"My own heart."
We all slept under the same roof again.
Sensei had mysteriously "misplaced" the second tent.
Again.
I woke up around 3 AM.
Voices outside.
I peeked through the flap.
Aya and Sensei.
Whispering.
"So? Is he waking up yet?" Sensei asked.
Aya smirked. "Not yet. But he's close."
"To what?"
"To choosing."
They both looked up at the tent.
At me.
And I realized something terrifying.
They weren't just reacting to the curse.
They were playing along with it.
Like they understood it.
Like they were waiting.
I closed my eyes.
And whispered:
"Please stop becoming real, brain."
But I already knew the truth.
This wasn't just my imagination anymore.
This was a story.
And I was still in Chapter 13.