Kotomi and Utaha-senpai’s First Agreement

"Hello, I'd like to charge my phone," Kotomi said, handing her phone and a 500-yen coin to the store attendant. After taking the numbered tag, she turned back to browse the store.

This bookstore spanned three floors, and after checking the categories on each level, she took the elevator up to the third floor, where they kept manga and light novels.

"Didn't expect such a large bookstore in Chiba City," Kotomi murmured as she walked through rows of shelves. Since she hadn't picked out anything in particular yet, most of her time was spent wandering around.

After about ten minutes, she settled on two thriller-suspense light novels. Watching The Ring in the theater had terrified her, but it also sparked a strong desire to write something spine-chilling herself.

Imagining readers, viewers, or gamers trembling under their blankets late at night, too afraid to get up even for the bathroom, made her lips curl in a smile. She even let out a tiny, villainous chuckle under her breath.

"Right! I've decided—I'll study horror novels and horror manga." She walked over to the manga section and quickly found what she was looking for.

Though she had system-level creation skills, she still wanted to refine her understanding of horror. Creating a truly horrifying work required understanding both the art and atmosphere of fear.

Tomie, Souichi's Diary of Delights, Lovesick Dead.

"Ito Junji's work is definitely my favorite," Kotomi said to herself, pulling several volumes off the shelf.

Even though The Ring had once cast a dark shadow over her childhood, she was fascinated by the horror genre. Scared or not, she couldn't help but love it.

Sometimes she even imagined horror scenes or creatures in her mind—things so terrifying they could drive a person to insanity with a single glance. Unfortunately, her drawing skills back then had only been sufficient for stick figures, so she never managed to bring her monstrous ideas to life.

If she had, she mused, she could have left behind her own urban legends, and maybe even an unsolved mystery to baffle archaeologists centuries later.

"With the God-Level Heroine System, I'll definitely make it happen this time," she thought determinedly.

With a stack of manga and novels in her arms, Kotomi headed back down to the second floor. She paused briefly, noticing she may have bought a bit too much this time.

Thinking of her room's bookshelf, which was already crowded, she sighed. "Maybe I should pick up a new bookshelf during the next Amazon sale. So many expenses; I really need to hustle and make more money!"

If her hands hadn't been full of books, she might have clenched her fist in resolve right then and there.

The elevator opened smoothly on the first floor, and she spotted Utaha waiting nearby, seated on a bench with her books.

"Utaha-senpai!" Kotomi called out softly, careful to keep her voice down in the bookstore.

Utaha raised her head and smiled, walking over as Kotomi approached.

"Wow, you really picked out a lot. Let's see... Ito Junji? I'm impressed, Kotomi. For someone who was so scared of The Ring, you sure went all-in with horror manga and suspense novels."

"Pretty much anything in manga or novels is interesting to me, aside from a few exceptions."

"Seriously? I can't even read Ito Junji's work alone at home, but here you are, practically inhaling it. Not what I expected for someone with 'low serotonin transporter,'" Utaha teased.

"Low serotonin transporter... Is this joke ever going to end?" Kotomi sighed, balancing her stack of books.

Heading toward the front, Kotomi returned her number tag and retrieved her phone. It had charged up to 54%, more than enough for now. As she waited for the cashier to ring up her books, she unlocked her phone and was surprised to see sixteen unread messages.

Sixteen?!

She opened them immediately, finding texts from both Yui and Aimi.

Yui had sent two messages, while Aimi had sent fourteen.

"What did she message me so much about?" Kotomi muttered, then clicked on Aimi's messages.

[Onee-chan.]

[When you're on your way back.]

[Remember to buy.]

[The matcha cake from Adshima Yakiniku.]

The following ten messages were all cutesy emojis—some pleading, some pouting, others trying to look adorably annoyed or excited.

"So she just wants a treat, huh?" Kotomi exhaled, relieved that it wasn't anything more serious.

She remembered when she and Aimi had first gone to Adshima Yakiniku. As first-time customers, they hadn't realized the restaurant sold desserts as well. It was only after they got home and Aimi had heard from Iroha about the sweets that she'd wanted to go back and try them.

But with her third-year studies ramping up, Aimi hadn't had the time, so now she was relying on her sister to bring back a cake.

[Sure, I'll pick one up. But can you text it all at once next time? Instead of sending five words at a time?]

Aimi's response came back quickly.

[Got it.]

[Onee-chan.]

[But I thought.]

[Sending them like this.]

[Looked cuter?]

[Cough.]

[Koff.]

...

[Cute, my foot!]

Kotomi replied, exasperated, before switching to Yui's messages.

[Kotomi, I was doing practice problems and got stuck on one. I tried solving it a few times but can't tell which answer is correct.]

Yui had attached a photo of the question below her message.

Kotomi recognized it immediately as a particularly challenging problem.

At first glance, Kotomi didn't find anything unusual about Yui's question. She quickly calculated the answer but, upon a second read, noticed that this question was actually above their grade level—a high school sophomore-level problem tucked into a freshman assignment.

It wasn't that she couldn't see the challenge; it was just that, for her, the answer had come too easily. So why would she flag something she could solve without a second thought?

That said, just because it was easy for her didn't mean it was for everyone else.

Kotomi reviewed Yui's work and found she'd meticulously written out each step, using everything she'd learned so far to tackle the problem. Kotomi couldn't help but smile admiringly.

Yui really is smart.

Even if Yui didn't get the right answer, her process was impressive. For someone who didn't know it was an advanced question, Yui had correctly mapped most of the solution path. The only reason her answer was off was that she hadn't learned a key formula yet—something they wouldn't cover until next year.

For a freshman to independently work out most of the solution to an advanced question was a pretty big accomplishment.

"Wow, I didn't realize Yui was so sharp."

Kotomi's smile broadened as she typed her response, almost as if she were watching her own kid make her proud:

[Kotomi: Awesome work!]

[Yui: Huh? But I got the wrong answer.]

[Kotomi: It's actually an advanced question, so you wouldn't know the formula you needed yet. But you were so close—the rest of your method was right on track!]

[Yui: What! So it's not that I'm dumb, just that it was an advanced question? Yay! I'm not dumb!]

Kotomi could feel Yui's relief through her reply.

She's been a little too tense lately, Kotomi thought, and typed out some encouraging advice.

[Kotomi: Remember to keep calm. When you're reading a question, try not to focus only on how to solve it—think about whether there's anything unusual about it, too."

[Yui: Got it! Back to grinding away at these questions!]

[Kotomi: Good luck!]

She set her phone down to find Utaha standing across from her, holding two shopping bags with a slight smile, as if she'd been waiting for Kotomi to finish up for some time.

"So, who were you chatting with? Looked like you were pretty focused," Utaha asked.

"Oh… just replying to messages from my sister and a friend," Kotomi replied, sheepishly aware that she'd gotten so absorbed in her messages she'd forgotten to pay. "Um…how much is it, by the way?"

"Together, we spent 12,886 yen in total. I already paid for us. Here, these are your books." Utaha lifted the heavier of the two bags in her right hand and held it out to Kotomi.

Kotomi's portion must have made up three-fourths of the cost, as Utaha had only bought two books herself.

"Senpai, I'll pay you back. Let me transfer it to you later." Kotomi said, feeling a little guilty.

She wasn't one to leave a debt unpaid, and even during her hardest times in her past life, she'd never borrowed or taken loans from anyone.

"Oh, don't worry about it! I mean, you're still a high schooler, right? Your money probably comes from your family's allowance. I'm a high schooler too, but at least the money I spend comes from my monthly royalties, so let's just call it a treat from me."

"No way. My stack alone cost over ten thousand yen—I have to pay you back."

Surprised by her serious tone, Utaha chuckled, "All right, all right. But don't rush it. Pay me back whenever you're earning your own money. It can be our first little agreement—say, once you've graduated and become a dependable working adult?"

Since Utaha put it that way, Kotomi had to relent. Still, she planned to repay Utaha within the next few days. If Utaha asked how she earned it, she'd just say it was part-time job money.

As they left the bookstore, the sky glowed with the soft hues of sunset. The fading light seemed to carry a gentle reminder: the day was coming to an end, and it was time to head home.

"I wish I could treat you to dinner too, but I've got to finish up my homework. I can't believe they gave us assignments when we only have one day off this week…" Utaha grumbled.

"I'm okay—I'm supposed to be home for dinner, anyway. But Utaha-senpai, you haven't done any of your homework yet, have you?"

"Of course not! Not a single page. Ah, I'm amazing," Utaha boasted proudly.

"Good for you."

Utaha laughed and continued, "Guess I'll be heading home to tackle that. I had a great time hanging out with you today, Kotomi. Think I could ask you out again sometime?"

The hopeful tone in Utaha's voice was unmistakable.

"You make me sound like a rental girlfriend," Kotomi teased. "But sure! As long as we're not watching another horror movie, feel free to ask anytime."

"Deal, then, 'Miss Low Serotonin Transporter'!"

"Are you ever gonna drop that joke?!"

They parted ways at the bookstore entrance, Kotomi heading back toward Adshima Yakiniku.

"Welcome! Oh, wait… You're Miss Izumi from earlier today!" Sakura Adachi, one of the owners, greeted her as she walked in. The last of the customers had just left, and Sakura was tidying up, looking surprised to see Kotomi again.

It seemed they were getting ready to close up for the day.

Sakura hadn't caught Kotomi's last name that morning, but she'd overheard Utaha calling her "Izumi," which had helped the name stick in her mind.

At that moment, Hougetsu Shimamura, the other co-owner, emerged from the kitchen, having changed from her chef's coat into a soft blue-gray sweater similar to Sakura's.

"Sakura, everything cleaned up yet? It's rare to close early like this, so let's make the most of it and head to a—"

Hazuki stopped mid-sentence, finally noticing Kotomi. After a pause, she seemed to remember something, and her face lit up with recognition.

"Oh! You're the girl Sakura mentioned before. Miss Izumi, was it?"