Chapter Text
As the chimes from the Naoetsu High School clock rang out, signaling the end of the school day, I was hurrying up a flight of stairs.
My destination was only a couple stories above me, but whenever you’re late, whatever path you’re on tends to feel unnaturally long, right? Stairs are a particularly bad offender. You start thinking Surely it’s just the next landing, only to find there’s still two more floors to go.
At that moment, the main staircase at my private high school seemed to be pushing me back like I was trying to climb a “down” escalator—the rectangular stairwell itself appeared to rearrange into an extravagant spiral, the kind you’d find in a Western-style palace.
As I reached the second floor landing, I heard a strange sound coming from just above.
I caught my breath and looked up—a girl was teetering on the third-floor railing. You shouldn’t sit on the railing, it’s dangerous, I thought, and no sooner had I formed a cautionary “Hey!” in my mouth than the girl slipped backward and began to fall.
Without thinking, I leapt forward to catch her.
It was a better decision than letting her hit the ground, right?
Well, maybe it was a mistake.
Her long, dark hair was flaring wildly, but her face seemed oddly serene as she fell through the air. She had the grace of an Olympic diver… or perhaps a suicide jumper. In any case, her calm demeanor abruptly changed to one of shock and alarm when her body hit my arms.
Her eyes, which had been almost closed as if in a daze, shot wide open, and she glared at me as if I were some kind of demon.
I guess she didn’t want to be caught.
“Caught” is a funny word. A ball wants to be caught, as does someone who accidentally falls down. But a robber, or anyone doing something “wrong” or suspicious, doesn’t. I wonder which meaning best applied in her case.
Because, at that moment, I was closer to Senjougahara Hitagi than anyone I’d ever seen at Naoetsu High School, and I had most certainly caught her. I’d caught a glimpse of something about her body that she didn’t want anyone, much less a boy in her class, to see.
I set her down, and she immediately took off running down the stairs.
I briefly considered calling after her, but it was obvious she was even more mortified about what just happened than I was, and I was already late to where I was supposed to be.
I blinked a few times, then began climbing the stairs in the opposite direction as Senjougahara, though a bit slower than I had before.