On top of the rusty old rails of the now abandoned rollercoaster, I sit alone. This park means a lot to me, and even if it’s been scheduled for demolition already, and I’ve already said my goodbyes to it with one final show, I can’t help but continue my routine of visiting it every day. Though, of course, nowadays it is a lot harder to pull off, considering I have to sneak past the construction workers and place myself on this tower of an attraction.

On top of a rollercoaster sucks, though. The sun is beating on my head to no end, while there’s not a single lick of wind to cool me down. I thought I’d be able to at least feel some kind of breeze, but clearly, I was mistaken.

“Caw!” From behind me, a familiar sound echoes. As planned, I raise my hand forward for the critter to have somewhere to rest.

On the black bird’s feet is a small note wrapped with a red ribbon. Unfortunately, this is my main method of communication with others for now, seeing that my old phone has gone kaput in that incident two weeks ago, and I still can’t find a place to fix it… Maybe I should just buy a new one if this goes on; it’s times like this that you really start to miss the whole “modern convenience” everyone has been going on about, like CURVE, for instance.

Opening the note, I let out a sigh as I take a glance at its content.

A giant, shivering “help”, written all in capital English, showing that the writer must be in a dire situation…

Not!

“Here we go again…”

Letting out a sigh of defeat, I spread my cape like a glider and jump off the rollercoaster, bidding farewell to the location of my childhood to go and take care of what could only be described as a giant child.

My short flight eventually takes me to the National Library, where I assume the sender is. After all, at this time of the day when there’s no school, there’s only one place where she can really be at.

Lo and behold, as soon as I enter the building and am blessed by the cool breeze of artificial winds coming from the slew of ACs, I can very clearly see the… thing lying dead on a nearby table.

Sometimes, I wonder about Hakuen’s taste in women.

I mean, look at her right now. I can’t even tell if that’s human or not - she looks like a blob, or a slime in clothes if anything. Maybe a pile of drifting seaweed.

“Yoichiiiii…” As if able to distinguish my footsteps, the blob lets out a huge sigh. “I need helppppp…”

“... What is it this time?”

“I can’t finishhhh…”

Seeing the defeated seaweed makes me lose all my motivation as well. Letting out a harmonizing sigh, I ask:

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Natsume, it’s been a week since you’re like this. Can you at least tell me what happened when you came to the venue for the competition?”

“Don’t wannaaaaa…”

I am going to lose it. Dealing with dead people is easier than this.

“Well, you have to tell me something, or I’ll never know! How about I call Hakuen, I know…”

“No!” Immediately, bones come back to her body, and Natsume jumps up as strong as ever. “Never say his name again!”

All according to plan. Let’s assume that what I said was according to plan. Nonetheless, now I finally have something to hold onto, and I’m not about to let it go so soon.

“Why not?” I feign my best innocent face. “We’re friends, right? And I see you’re a lot closer with him than me…”

“We are not close!” Once again, Natsume interrupts me. Good, that means she’s taking the bait.

“Are you sure about that? Because if anything, I’d even say you’re mad at him right now.”

“I am not mad at him!” I can almost see the fire coming out of her mouth, but just like that, it’s already doused. “Okay, maybe I am mad at him, but I’m always mad at him, all right? I have no reason not to be mad at him!”

Worked like a charm. Now, to push her buttons just a bit more…

“I don’t know… has he done anything for you to be mad at him?”

“Well… Yeah! A lot, actually! From the first time I met him, to the stupid duel you two had, and then… and then…”

“And then?” I raise my eyebrows in doubt.

“And then… he had the gall to lie to me about our relationship …” Natsume’s voice lowers, and she soon turns back into her blob-like state.

Bingo.

“What do you mean, ‘lie’?”

“Like you don’t know about it,” a sharp glare is thrown at me, though the girl in question is still very much as squishy as a jellyfish. “Actually, why didn’t you tell me he had his inheritance frozen, or rather, he’s some big-shot rich kid in the first place?”

“To be honest… I’m more surprised you didn’t know,” I shrug at the accusation. “The Fuutsuno name is basically common knowledge at this point.”

“Well excuse me for not knowing basic knowledge! But that doesn’t mean he had to lie about it, and even go out to fool around with other girls too!”

Finally, I got her right where I wanted.

“Buuuut…” I purposely lengthen the sound to make it extra teasing. “There’s nothing between you and him, right? So who cares if he fools around with women?”

“W-Well, that’s still a horrible thing to do!”

“Morality aside, it’s still pretty ridiculous of you to be this mad at him,” I continue pressing onward. “Unless, of course, you…”

“No! I will not hear it any further!” Natsume looks as if she’s about to roll around kicking and screaming like an actual child throwing a tantrum. “I am not in love with him! I can’t be! After all, everything he does angers me…”

“Which shows you care about him.”

“He’s always caught in stupid situations…”

“Which shows you’ve been watching him, and with interest, too.”

“His attitude is unbearable…”

“Doesn’t that mean you’re just jealous that he wasn’t spending as much time with you?”

“But… Everything I’ve said was bad! How can I like a person if I have nothing good to say about them?”

I’ve been waiting for that. And now, it’s time to throw the final card.

“Who said that love needed something like that?” I concluded with a smirk of confidence. “You might need to rationalize yourself in order to hate someone, but love is a positive emotion in nature. Why would we need logic or rationality to explain love?”

“I…”

At the same time, a large caw comes from outside the building, interrupting Natsume’s words. Right on time, too.

Without any excess movement, I raise my hand at the same time when my crow flies through the door to land perfectly on my finger, its leg carrying yet another wrapped note, this time by a blue ribbon.

“If you’re still unsure, then I have just the solution for you,” I open the note and show it to the confused girl.

Tomorrow, 6 PM, Wonderland Park.

Well, well, Hakuen, look what you have here. Surprise us.