On a semi-warm day of April, two teenagers were on the street resolving yet another mystery, a lavender-haired girl walking with confidence and sporting a neutral expression accompanied by a smaller, petite boy with brown messy hair and a shyer walk.

She was scrambling some quick notes in a notebook, barely watching where she was walking. Her thoughts were fully occupied by her case: a robbery of an ordinary family of the neighbourhood, the Kizuisens, of which the main suspect was loan shark Yoshikazu Shirogane. It was a tricky case on which she needed all her fo-

"K-Kirigiri?"

The girl turned her head to face her companion. She let out an annoyed sight.

"What is it, Naegi? We don't have much time.

-B-be careful to where you walk, you almost got ran over by a car earlier…

-Oh, right, I'll pay more attention to that, thank you"

She had to focus on the case. Where was she again? That luckster boy got her out of her trail of thoughts. Still, it was kind of pleasing to see he cared about her enough to make her such a remark.

They were heading back to the Kizuisen household after Kyoko had made a huge discovery at Shirogane's house. It was clear now: the only documents stolen from the Kizuisens were about loans, files had been burned by the culprit to try and hide the stolen proofs and she had everything to back up her theories. Now, she just had to explain everything to her client, Mrs. Kizuisen, before the trial.

They were too slow. They had to be there as soon as possible to have enough time to make everything crystal clear. She turned her head towards her classmate and friend, not stopping walking for any second.

"Excuse me, Naegi, but could you go faster? We have to act quickly.

-S-sure…"

He was weird. Why was he so slow? He was much faster usually. When he was speaking, he was barely blurting his words. She didn't have much time to focus on Naegi anyway, she had to focus on the case.

W were getting closer and closer to the house, she felt as if her classmate was further and further from her. It didn't prevent her from concentrating on her case, her recap and her proofs. She finished writing down everything in her notebook before putting it away.

She heard a rather faint thumping noise from behind her. Thinking it must have been a mundane occurrence, she ignored it. At least, she did before she noticed some kind of fear on the faces of people around her. Something must have happened, but they didn't have time to ignore it.

"Naegi-kun, don't pay attention to that, we have to move forward."

Her order didn't trigger any response, a bullet pointlessly flying through the air. She decided to repeat herself – maybe he didn't hear her in this all-of-a-sudden busy crowd.

"Naegi, do you hear me? Don't pay much attention to that, we have to get there as fast as we can."

Met once again with total silence, Kyoko turned around to make him notice her. When she did, there was no Naegi to be found. Well, that was until she noticed a familiar ahoge on the ground, eyes pointing in its direction by bystanders. A feeling of dread made her almost forget about her case.

As fast as she could, the teen detective ran to the source of attention. Her primary fear was confirmed when she indeed recognized her own friend on the ground, almost entirely motionless if it wasn't for his rising and lowing chest.

People backed away when they noticed she knew the unconscious boy. Kyoko, now sporting a worried expression on her face, crouched down to the ground. He was alive, sure, but what had happened? A new investigation had to be leaded by the sleuth.

She gently turned him on his back and put his head on her laps. She took a slightly anxious breath and gave him a long, carefully analysing look.

He was not bruised but had a much paler skin shade than his usual one. She could notice sweat drops running down his face, matching his troubled and harsh breathing. Only a single conclusion reached her mind. Almost mechanically, Kyoko put her hand on his forehead. Oh, she could feel it through her glove.

Without a word, she carefully put him on her back and proceeded to go back on track. She blatantly ignored the surrounding looks put on her.

"Oh, Miss Kirigiri, you've came back!" exclaimed Mrs. Kizuisen when she opened the door to the lavender-haired girl.

A short silence followed while her tired eyes grew wide.

"What happened?!"

Kyoko internally gulped. She didn't know precisely the reason, and especially not what had happened. She wasn't even looking back there. She noticed so late what had happened…

"He lost consciousness, that's all I'm sure off."

Another silence.

"Anyway, I need to make everything clear as quickly as possible. I need to bring back to Hope's Peak."

They went to the living room, where the lady had put a blanket over the unlucky boy. The sleuth was doing her best to explain to her client what she thought had happened. Something was lurking in the back of her mind, crawling all over her focus ever so slowly…

"Miss Kirigiri? Is everything okay?"

The sound of the woman's voice got her out of her reasoning.

"You went quiet all of a sudden…" said to her Mrs. Kizuisen, looking directly into her purple eyes.

"It's… It's nothing. I'm sorry for this inconvenience. Where have I stopped?" she replied.

"I think it was at the burnt documents. Something is on your mind?"

Kyoko slightly jumped. Someone had read through her mind? Her cover was being dismantled. She had to focus again, but that something was invading her thoughts.

"That's right. If you'll excuse me, I'll bring my classmate back to our school. Let me give you my notes and phone number along with the pieces of evidence I've found."

The lady smiled, wrinkles cracking around her eyes.

"Oh, so that was what occupying your mind?"

"G… Goodbye"

The sleuth fled as soon as she could.

Somebody reading through her mind.

Her façade broken.

Naegi.

That case.

What was happening?

She had made her way back to the dormitories. She was lucky the corridors were empty, at least nobody would pop the question she dread-

A high-pitched, usually joyful voice rung through the corridor.

"Makoto!"

Maizono Sayaka.

"What happened?!" the pop idol asked with an intense worry in her voice and eyes.

"I don't exactly know myself. Please let me access to his room first."

Kyoko proceeded to the bedroom, Sayaka following without saying a word. They weren't looking at each other, one focusing on the door, the other one on her best friend. A short yet long lapse of time where only footsteps, breathing and key noises could be heard.

She eventually reached the door. As she pressed her hand against it, it opened. Just as she expected. It was obvious Naegi wasn't locking his door. As silent as she was previously, she entered the room, Maizono still following her.

Kyoko carefully put the boy on the bed before her classmate took off his shoes, jacket and hoodie. While this wasn't the first thing to cross her mind, she had to admit it was something to be done.

The two girls' priorities seemed to diverge a lot. When she headed to the bathroom to wet a washcloth or any piece of fabric she could find, the idol had grabbed the chair of the desk to put it next to the bed.

Once she had put a washcloth on Naegi's forehead, she noticed Maizono looking right into her eyes, her expression mixing worry with some kind of determination.

"Kirigiri, what happened to him?" she asked.

While she would avoid the question with Mrs. Kizuisen, she wouldn't be able to do so with her classmate. His childhood friend (as she understood it, they weren't very clear on that point). His best friend. Perhaps the one he had a crush on.

That last thought sparkled an uncomfortable feeling inside her. She ignored it.

"To be honest with you, I'm not entirely sure. He fainted when we were in the street. I wasn't looking, but it's surely linked to his current condition" replied Kyoko.

"You're saying you… Didn't see it? But weren't you together?" Sayaka's face deformed.

"We were but he was a few feet behind me"

"But if he fainted, you should have seen it, don't you?!"

That sudden burst would have startled anybody but she didn't flinch. She wasn't expecting a good reaction from Maizono when her best friend's health was the main problem. That wasn't the main issue, anyway. No, what was haunting her mind was…

Why didn't she notice so?

She was seeing herself in that street, her mind focused on the case, heading to the Kizuisen household. Naegi would answer her all the way through, until he stopped talking around some point. More of the case, the burnt documents about taxes, the ransacked room. People making a lot of noise. Her calling out to Naegi only to be met with silence.

And then the vision of his signature ahoge on the floor surrounded by the same persons that were disturbing their communication. Their poor, poor communication. The realisation struck her like a truck.

She had been blind and deaf.

Kyoko looked down. She was in too much shock to bother keeping up with her emotionless loner wolf façade.

"I was too focused on what I was doing, I wasn't even looking at him…"

"Kirigiri?"

Maizono marked a pause.

"You… You seem different than usual…"

The lavender-haired girl put a streak of hair behind her ear.

"I… I need some time alone. Take care."

Once again, as soon as she could, Kyoko fled from the scene.

Oh, what had she done?