Kanade! Mafuyu!

Oh, Ena.

I mentioned this on Nightcord, but there's this one place where I think Mizuki will show up.

So, I'm gonna go there!

Would you two mind sticking around here?

Okay.

Thanks!

I hope we find Mizuki soon.

Me too.

Wait, what if Mizuki comes here instead...?

We can let Ena know.

But I have a feeling that...

...we shouldn't let Mizuki see that we're here.

Us being here would be an indicator that Ena is too, which could cause problems if Mizuki wants to avoid her.

Then, we should hide somewhere.

But where...?

All the paths leading here are so open that there's nowhere to hide. We'll need to sneak on campus and hide in the bushes by the gate.

Oh...

We should be able to remain hidden from anyone going in or out of the school here.

Having to squat like this is going to be hard for me, but I'll deal with the pain somehow.

...

In the event that Mizuki does discover us, we may want to say, “We came looking for Ena.”

Wait, why?

Remember what I just said?

Us being here is a sign that Ena is also present.

By saying that we're looking for Ena, we can claim that our business is with her alone.

There's no way for Mizuki to know what we've been up to without logging in to Nightcord, which hasn't happened recently.

We could say that Ena's also stopped logging in and we haven't seen her for a little while...

Do you think Mizuki will want us to elaborate on that further...?

We'd have to lie...

But as long as it keeps Mizuki from running.

Right...

Wait, what if Mizuki runs without hearing what we have to say?

Then...

We'll just have to find a way to win this game of cat and mouse no matter what.

Oh...

But Mizuki's really athletic, right?

Yes.

When we played tag in SEKAI before, I don't think any of us was able to lay a finger on Mizuki.

I guess someone can have the stamina of a student-athlete without actually playing for any clubs or teams.

Right...

But I'm sorry.

I don't think I'll be of much help if it comes to a footrace...

I know.

We should be fine as long as we know which streets Mizuki goes down.

I basically memorized all of the streets, back alleys and side alleys around Kamiyama High the last time I came here to search.

What? A-All of them?

Yes. I know which streets go where, including where all the best shortcuts are.

Mizuki may miss or cut class a lot, but being a Kamiyama High student still gives the advantage here, so I felt that I needed to understand the lay of the land.

W-Wow...

I didn't realize just how much effort you were putting into our search...

I thought it was necessary.

All that's left is to see if Mizuki actually appears...

*Nod*

We'll be waiting right here for you, Mizuki.