If Mogami Yumeko had to use a word to describe her life, her everything, it would be 'unworthy'. And the second word would be 'unlucky'.

Since she was born, she only brought disappointment after disappointment. Her parents wanted her to be great at something, anything was alright for them. They treated her with love, but she couldn't return anything to them.

She wasn't great at school, she wasn't great at socializing, and she wasn't great at understanding.

Of course, they'd still give her encouragement, accepting her. But behind those gazes, it must be a disappointment.

Was it true? Yumeko didn't know, she wasn't brave enough to know either.

It was like a bubble, just one touch away from popping. And she couldn't risk that, just let her tread on this thin ice for the rest of her life. As much as she hated it, that's the reality she was living in.

And that's how she lived her life, keeping everything to herself, not talking to anyone. If she didn't establish any kind of expectation, or just create an impression that she's the worst at everything, then no one would be disappointed.

Even if the pain of being alone was unbearable.

Sitting alone on the rooftop of the middle school, Yumeko looked at the bento she made herself. It looked awful, and tasted the same. But that's how it was, it suited her. She was an awful human being, and she deserved to live the same awful way.

Gazing up at the sky above, it was a blue sky, so blue, so far away.

At one point, when a pencil was in her hands, the sky was the thing she wanted to draw the most. It was easy to draw, and hard to disappoint anyone. Just a light shade of blue, with white painted around as the moving clouds…

Holding back any kind of big emotional reaction, Yumeko slowly ate her bento. Enduring how bad it tasted.

Until one moment, the door toward the rooftop suddenly slammed open, and someone rushed in and closed the said door.

"…I bet they won't find me here…"

Peeking around the corner, Yumeko could see a boy there, panting heavily as he leaned against the door itself. 'Maybe it's best too not to let him know that I'm here,' she thought.

Unfortunately, her 'best situation' here, only lasted for a few seconds. And the boy's eyes met hers, with the air around them froze.

The two middle-schoolers screamed.

Come to think of it, Yumeko couldn't help but giggle at this memory. Out of every possible way to meet, she met Ikesugi in this way. Out of the blue, and kinda made them hate each other. In his case, it was because she made his friend find him in that game of hiding and seek. In her case, it was ruining a perfect afternoon.

Thankfully, this 'arch-nemesis' relationship between them didn't last long. With Ikesugi coming to have lunch with her, they quickly became friends. And for Yumeko, it was the first time she wouldn't disappoint anyone.

Maybe it's because they met at the worst way possible, from that point on, there's no other way but up.

Just that… it was a shame how late she met him. He was already going to high school, while she still had to stay for another year. And that's why she cherished every single moment with Ikesugi. It was already the 'good-old days' before it even started.

Just like the little crush she had.

By then, Yumeko didn't blame anyone, just herself and her luck. It was always like that, nothing good ever lasted over 30 seconds. After all, nothing last forever, and it'd always become a memory.

However, even if she already said something like 'I'm used to it', it didn't make it less painful.

The last year of middle school was just… hell for her.

With the school shuffling the entire year's students into new classes again, everyone in her class was new. And as the 'quiet and meek kid' here, she was picked on. Just like how it was, always came out with the worst possible outcome.

How many times that she had to pick up her books and everything because one of the girls threw it all away? She lost count from the fifth time forward. It's like that, day after day.

Of course, she could tell her parent, but nothing good came out in the end. It only got worse because she was 'so weak and pathetic that she had to tell her parent about it.'

That was what those bullies said, and… Yumeko found herself agreeing with that.

And Yumeko could do nothing but just endure it until she finally graduate, she betted that those people who bullied her, would probably just go on in their life's way like they did nothing wrong. For them, it's some 'cringy shit' they did back then.

Meanwhile, Yumeko just had to 'move on' from those things that happened to her. Life wasn't fair, but why did it feel like she was being picked on, even by god?

After that, she graduated and went to Shujin. Somehow, she was just enough to get in there, probably just that… luck was by her side, for once.

However, unlike what her parents had said about this school, or what she expected… It wasn't that great either. Rumors, bullying… it's all the same as before. Just that now, she wasn't on that list of victims.

Why? Because she chose to close her off instead.

"After all, nothing good would come out of opening your heart to anyone," Holding that thought, she slowly walked toward the library. It was her favorite place here, it just let her quietly be alone and read, or just do anything she want.

However, as she was about to open the door, someone else opened it first. It was a boy, a bit older and… definitely Ikesugi. There's no mistaking it.

And from how he looked, it seemed like he had the same exact thought as her too. The two just stood there, quiet and with their eyes widened.

Finally, it was he who spoke first. "…Mogami? Is that you?"

Finding that her mouth suddenly felt extremely dry, Yumeko said nothing, and she only nodded. "It's… it's good to know you're also studying in Shujin, Senpai," She said through her dry mouth, subtly tightening her grip on the notebooks in her hand. "I uh… wow. Small world, isn't it?"

"Definitely," Ikesugi smiled, rubbing the back of his neck out of slight awkwardness. "…It's a good thing this time though. I would be lying if I said I didn't want to see you again."

Feeling her heartbeat quicken at his words, all Yumeko did was just a numb nod. "O-oh. That's… Don't say things that make girls think something more than what you meant."

"Well, I mean… I wished both of us would be uh… friends longer," Trying his best to pick the best words to say, Ikesugi tried his best to keep his awkwardness in check. "It's a shame that we met each other that late, how about we have lunch tomorrow?"

"…Y-you mean together?"

"Y-yeah, I want to catch up with you-"

Unfortunately, Ikesugi's words were cut off as a random girl suddenly appeared next to him, completely out of nowhere as well. And surprised by her abrupt arrival, Ikesugi blinked in confusion, while Yumeko took a step back.

"Ikesugi-Senpai! You looked so cool on that field!" That girl exclaimed, while also not bothered to hide her glare toward Yumeko.

"I uh… I'm talking with Mogami here, just…" Trailing off, Ikesugi turned to Yumeko. " Um… Mogami, we're still having lunch tomorrow?"

For a split moment, she did want to say 'yes'. It was so tempting, to reconnect with the only person who managed to barge into her heart back then, and that single word was on the edge of her lips…

But she just couldn't do it.

That not-so-subtle glare that the girl gave her a moment ago, was too familiar. She hated that she could recognize that look, that all too familiar look from them. And if she did accept it, her past would only catch up like a shadow, wasn't it?

In the end, Yumeko said nothing and rushed into the library.

But a few moments after she stepped foot into the library, she stopped herself. Yumeko could feel it, she could clearly feel how much she was in the blink of a breakdown.

And she hastily turned around, picking up her pace until she was running at quick as she could. She ignored every gaze cast on her, even Ikesugi's. Her destination? The restroom.

Getting into the stall in the corner of the whole toilet, she slammed the door shut and rest her arms against it. And she felt her panting only become more and more uneven. It wasn't because of how she ran here, but just… everything.

They were pressuring her again, all those thoughts. All those words.

"N-no, I'm better than this…" She murmured, but strength still slipped away from her body, just like how her will to hold in her emotions. "I'm better… than…"

With her voice dying down in her mouth, Yumeko slumped against the bathroom door and dropped to the ground. She might had hear the bell ring outside, but she didn't care. She didn't want to go back and face anyone either.

Her notebook and pencil cases were spread on the ground of the stall, and she just kneeled there. Were there even any tears now? She didn't know, she didn't want to know either.

At this point, she just… didn't want to care.

And she hated herself for this.

But still, she couldn't keep her distance.

Peeking around the corner, Yumeko let her gaze to be settled on Ikesugi, who was talking to some girls on the other end of the hallway. There wasn't any hint of rage on her face, just sadness and a hint of jealousy instead.

"They just love to flock around him like a bunch of moths, isn't it?" With a downcasted gaze, she turned away and took in a deep breath. "Just ignore him like before, Mogami Yumeko… You've done this for a long time now, you should be fine…"

"Besides, I'm not worth his time anyway…" With a joyless chuckle, Yumeko was about to walk away when the obnoxious voice of that girl reached her ears.

"Ikesugi-Senpai, why are you going along with that girl anyway?"

"It's not really your business, just… don't bother me every single moment, will ya?"

"But… am I not attractive enough for your standard? Don't lower your standard for someone like her."

And at that exact moment, as the words reached her, the sadness was replaced by something else. A spark of rage emerged, and Yumeko tightened her fist as hard as she could.

However, she just took a deep breath and walked away. She couldn't bear the weight of starting a fight, and… it'd only make her look worse in Ikesugi's eyes anyway. In his eyes, she still was that friend back in middle school.

It's better to let his impression of her keep like this, even if it meant she could only watch him from afar.

Even if it'd be painful.

At first, it wasn't anything big. Just some subtle glances toward Ikesugi. Sitting far away from him during lunch, and use her own notebook to shield his own gaze. And that's the full extent of her action.

While also holding her own anger when those obnoxious girls flocked around him, like a bunch of moths toward a lamp… No, a bunch of flies toward a plate of food.

"It just has to be like this every single day…" Narrowing her glare toward the girls at Ikesugi's table, Yumeko could feel her teeth gritting and seething with anger. "Aren't you bitches have something better to do than this, huh?"

Were these few lines the origin of her… intensification of 'looking at Ikesugi afar'? At this point, she couldn't really tell. Maybe it was earlier, maybe it was something else later down the road.

Everything just… happened along the way.

And before long, the second year came around, and it was middle school all over again. Within one year, Ikesugi wouldn't be in school anymore. And she'd be wasting her time for nothing, again.

"And it's just gonna happen again and again and again and again…" Voicing her thought out loud, Yumeko stared at the age-old notebook on her study table. "But… why am I expecting something would change, you know how it'd end, Yumeko."

With a black trash bag in her hand, she stood completely still in her room. And spread on the table alongside her notebook, it was everything she kept from Ikesugi. Pen, paper, a pair of glasses that he left behind one day…

"At this point, I'm pretty much the center of a rumor anyway," She chuckled coldly, not toward anyone, just toward herself. "Congrats, you somehow managed to get the rumor on you when Kamoshida just confessed to the shit he's done."

"...I'm no different from those bitch who flocks around Senpai. I'm the fucking worst."

Without another word, she threw everything into the trash bag, including the notebook. She didn't put much thought into it, she just wanted to throw everything that reminded her of this away. Of course, there were only sketches of landscape and the sky in that notebook. But then she would be reminded of the day she met Ikesugi, and it'd ended up being the same cycle.

And before she realized it, she was standing before the trash spot in her neighborhood. Tightening her grip on the trashbag, she smacked it to the ground, again and again. She just had to relieve those emotions, and the bag in her hand was the perfect candidate.

But just as she relieved those anger, the regret also set in. It was a few days after, but it still came back in a huge wave.

It was all for nothing, she'd just return to the cycle of stalking him. In fact, she was doing this right this second.

Watching Ikesugi from afar, peeking over the corner of the hallway. She was pretty sure that the aura she gave out is certainly driving everything around her away. And the fact that obnoxious bitch was flocking around him…

However, she felt something different this time. Someone was behind her.

Turning around, she came face-to-face with a girl she somewhat recognized. She wasn't a part of those flock of flies, she was… that girl who shared the same PE class as her.

If she remembered, her name was… Akiyama something, right?

Instead of using the rational part of her mind, the emotional side took over. Just like before, it always did.

But for some reason, Akiyama stayed.

And Yumeko was grateful… no, she felt just like when Ikesugi returned after their chance encounter in middle school. Not necessarily in a romantic sense, but just the feeling of someone wanting to know you more…

It felt good.

And right now, standing outside of Ikesugi's classroom, Yumeko took a deep breath and steeled her nerve. Even if she wanted to run away, even if she wanted to just lie to herself…

"Lying and Running away won't solve anything, after all."

Repeating what Akiyama… No, what Saya said to her earlier in her mind, Yumeko placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it. "You can do it, Yumeko. Just be honest toward him-"

"Mogami, you're waiting for me?"

As her entire body froze, she slowly turned around and came face-to-face with Ikesugi. And for Ikesugi, he looked genuinely surprised by her sudden appearance.

"Uh…" Trailing off, Yumeko pondered for a long few moments before she nodded. "...I am. It's just I have something to say or to confess, or whatever."

"And before you say anything, I… I just want to get this off my chest," Taking in another deep breath, she bowed with regret and shame clear on her face. "I'm… sorry for everything. For stalking you, for stealing anything you dropped, and just… being a creepy stalker."

"I know you're not going to like me after this, but it's fine. I just… I can't lie to myself anymore-"

"No, I'm not going to hate you, I never did, Mogami," WIth her own sentence being cut off by Ikesugi, Yumeko looked up with widened gaze. Did she just hear what he said? "Actually, I was the person who asked for a change of heart for you…"

"...H-huh? What?" In complete disbelief of the words reaching into her ears, she felt her entire body frozen in place. "S-senpai, you asked for my… my change of heart? Why?"

"Because I'm worried," Ikesugi said, giving out a small sigh. "I do care about you, Mogami."

"Maybe it was because we're friends, or because I wanted us to be more than just friends. But that doesn't matter," He continued, as Yumeko's mouth dropped in silence. "It hurts me seeing you like this, how you keep spiraling down…"

Trailing off and holding back a choked breath, Ikesugi looked away for a split moment. However, as his sight returned to Yumeko, he was surprised to see that… she was crying. She kept wiping her eyes from tears, but it didn't stop.

"Mogami?"

"I-it's fine, I'm just…" With her words interrupted by a choked breath of her own, Yumeko hastily took a deep breath. "If I didn't run away on that day we met, things might turn out differently…"

"In the end, it's still my own problem…" She continued, as she took a piece of tissue given by Ikesugi. "W-what an idiot I am…"

"No, I've seen your drawings, they're great-"

"It doesn't correlate with one another," Cutting him off, Yumeko just shook her head instead. "I… I got jealous with the sight of you and other girls, and I thought I wasn't up to par with them… A-and now we're just like how it was back in middle school…"

"You were going to leave Shujin in a year, a-and… I don't know whether I'd be this lucky again…"

"Then… we'll make the best out of the time I have left in Shujin," Taking in a deep breath of his own, Ikesugi held a small but hopeful smile. "And this time, we also make sure that we won't just be a year between us."

"...R-really?"

"Yeah, after all…" He nodded, glancing away with an embarrassed smile. "I'm staying until mid-March next year. It's June right now… We still have eight months together. Besides… I don't want us to repeat our mistakes."

With nothing coming out of her mouth for a few good long seconds, Yumeko lowered her gaze. The thieves were right, they did save her from her own self. The thoughts that kept dragging her into becoming a stalker toward Ikesugi...

But still, hearing what he just said, Yumeko felt a small smile emerged. A gesture that slowly became the norm for her. "I-if you say so, Senpai."

"Actually, call me Takuya. Didn't you used to love calling me 'Baka Takuya' when we first met?" He chuckled, and his smile widened as Yumeko softly replicated his action.

"...I'll consider it, Senpai," Wiping the last of the dry tears with the tissue, Yumeko took a deep breath. "But in r-return, c-call me 'Yumeko' too… okay?"

"Sure."

The two had their gaze met each other's, and they smiled warmly.

(Yumeko's side-Fin)

[Case 1: Stalker Girl - Case Closed]

So with that, the trilogy of Case 1 for Mementos Mission is done!

Of course, as you can see, this chapter is starkly different from every chapter I've written so far. Instead of being more plot-heavy and like a normal movie, it is more psychological-monologue-focused.

After all, this chapter's main job is to fill in the gap. As we've seen what happened with Saya's perspective and the thieves'. So here, we get to know more of the 'why' of Yumeko's action.

Crazy to think that originally she's just a small side request in the game. And now she's nothing like the canon version other than also stalking a senpai called 'Ikesugi' XD.

Anyway, for the next case... I apologize, but it'd come after the Kaneshiro case in the main story.

However, there's been 3 different cases planned right after Kaneshiro's arc in the main story, so expect to see quite a lot of updates/chapters after that.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the story so far, Reviews and Favorites are welcomed!