It had been a while since she last walked the path leading to the mansion. In all honesty, it was the first time she didn't have an ulterior motive. No, this time she had been invited. But even so, it didn't make her feel less nervous.
She had gotten a call from Shizu, with whom she had developed a nice friendship over time. Since her graduation they had kept in contact, mostly talking about her college life and more importantly how her phobia of men influenced that life. Though they had many conversations, there was one topic they barely spoke about, more precisely a certain person.
The first days after graduation it had been a habit to ask Shizu about Mariya. After all, they had been roommates for quite some time. And unwillingly or not it had formed a bond. But over time she stopped asking due to only receiving the same answer, that he was fine. And though she was curious for more details, she figured that this was the extent of their bond. He did tell her that there was no need for him to interact with someone like her if it wasn't for making sure she kept his secret. Graduating ended this need and she hadn't seen or heard of him again since. Not once had he tried to contact her, not even through his sister.
She wasn't quite sure why it bothered her so much. He had never been the most pleasant person to her, more like a demon. But every once in a while, he had unsurprisingly been nice or thoughtful. Come to think of it, even when he was mean to her, he always kind of guided her towards certain ways to help her or to give her insights. Even though he always proclaimed not to take interest in her life, he always knew what was going on or at least tried to find out. Back then she couldn't quite place this, but now she knew that maybe he did for a little bit care about her wellbeing. Or at least enough so as not to get dragged in to situations that would cause him problems.
Reaching the gate surrounding the mansion, she warily opened it. She made sure to look where she was going, after all who knew if Rindoh still had this habit of laying traps. The walk from the gate to the front door was torturous. Not because of any said traps, but because of her nerves. When she arrived at the door, she froze. Had coming here been a good idea? Though she was delighted to finally spend some quality time with Shizu again, she wasn't quite prepared to see Mariya again. Did he even know she was coming? Finally she mustered up all her courage and knocked.
She had knocked several times, waiting patiently for someone to answer the door, but no one came to greet her. Had she been mistaken? Wasn't the invitation from Shizu today? Confused she checked her phone. No mistake, the date and time they had agreed upon were right. So why was no one answering the door? Deciding that just waiting wouldn't cut it, she texted Shizu to let her know of her arrival and that she would visit again later that day.
Ame no Kisaki hadn't changed at all since graduation. Not surprising knowing that it hadn't even been 1 year ago that she was still a student. Memories flooded her mind every step she took. Not all memories were pleasant, but all had become precious. Looking back at that time she realized that most of these memories were quite embarrassing. After all, how many times did her disillusions get the high ground and result into heavy nosebleeds? Shaking her head with a smile on her face, she continued walking the premises, once in a while laughing contently when remembering certain moments. Coming to this school and the bonds that had formed had changed her. Some changes were not profound, others only discovered recently. But these changes even those insignificant ones had turned her into a better person.
Time seemed to have flown by when she looked up at the sky. It was already late afternoon and time to return towards the mansion. While the walk through the school premises had been calming, the walk back to the mansion made her nervous again. Reaching the gate surrounding the mansion, she once again threaded carefully towards the front door. This time when she knocked, the door opened and she was greeted by someone that she didn't expect to see. Steeling her nerves she stepped inside the mansion not knowing what more this day could have in store.