Chapter Text
Ayano woke up in her house on Friday morning, it was the first day of school. Ayano got up out of bed and walked downstairs, her parents were on a trip to America so she had to get ready by herself though Ayano didn't particularly care. Ayano made toast since it was quick to make and ate it slowly while staring into nothing. Once she had finished she got up and started walking to school, it wasn't far due to the town being very small.
Ayano arrives at school and walks to the gym for orientation. She walks straight to the gym and maneuvers around other students. She gets to the gym and sits in the chair closest to her, it's a while before anyone else gets there but after some time passes the teachers and students arrive and the teachers start a speech about how happy they are to see all of us here and how they are sure we will have a great year and the school rules and a bunch of other stuff. Ayano watches the speech while sitting perfectly still and soaking in all that they have to say.
The speech ends after some time and Ayano gets up and starts walking out of the gym to walk around the school. Ayano barely pays any actual attention, just walking around to somewhat get used to the school. While walking she doesn't even notice as an oncoming student walks into her, they collide and they both fall over. The other student starts apologizing and gets up quickly to help her up, Ayano doesn't care and thinks of this as only a minor inconvenience. She still reaches up to grab his hand since it is the most convenient way of getting back up.
Suddenly, Ayano is filled with emotions. Ayano's heart skips a beat as she can finally feel things after so many years of feeling empty and hollow, Ayano also notices that the world is so much brighter and more colorful. She must have finally found the one who will save her. Ayano looks at her savior's face and examines it for all its small details. He has pink hair and yellow eyes and slightly pale skin. Ayano tries to ask him his name but all the words get caught in her throat, it's like all basic functions of her body have suddenly stopped working in the presence of this boy.
"Are you okay?" Ayano again tries to say something to him but she can't think straight. The boy looks nervous, "Well, I'll just be ....going now." He then makes a small nervous laugh. As he walks away Ayano slowly feels all the emotions just given to her taken away. She goes to run back into his presence but soon sees some girls crowding around him. He looks confused, then scared.
The girls started saying the worst things about him to his face, Ayano didn't care too much as she was just silently admiring the boy from afar. Ayano wasn't picking up on too much of what they were saying but something that she did catch was one of the girls calling him "Umeji," Ayano thought about how wonderful that name was. After some time, it seemed the girls had finally had enough of him and walked away while giggling to themselves. Umeji looked ready to cry, Ayano wanted to walk over and talk to him but she knew that she would lose control of herself like before.
Ayano followed Umeji throughout the school while staying out of view of him, she was having so much fun watching him while he walked throughout the school. Umeji met up with some people, who Ayano deduced were his friends, and they started up a chat. Hmm, Ayano started to wonder if these "friends" could potentially get in the way of her confessing her love. Just in case, Ayano would have to get rid of them, not all at once as that would be suspicious. She would have to eliminate them one by one until he is by himself.
Ayano followed him as they were all getting their ID photo's taken, after hers was done she sneakily grabbed one of Umeji's photos and tucked it away into her pocket. Ayano then got the idea to steal things from him and put them up on display in her room in a "shrine" of sorts, the idea made Ayano really giddy and she made sure from that point on that she would be super vigilant grabbing anything she could from him. Ayano also got a glance at Umeji's schedule and learned that he was in the class above her which would make him her Senpai, how romantic.
The school day was over and Umeji and his friends started to leave school, Ayano follows Umeji out of the school and to his home, she then walks to her own home and thinks about him the entire way. Once Ayano is home she gets dressed in her casual clothes and goes into town where she gets a decently sized shrine, she brings the shrine home and puts it on a table she had in her room. She excitedly puts the photo up in the shrine and stares at it for a period of time, this was only interrupted by her phone ringing with a notification about a text from an unknown number.
Info-chan: Hey.
Ayano: Do I know you?
Info-chan: I saw you stalking an upperclassman today.
Ayano: I'm sorry, there must be some misunderstanding.
Info-chan: There's no need to play dumb with me. I'm trying to help you. Want some information about the guys he was with?
Ayano: I'm listening.
Info-chan: Their names are Hokuto, Gaku, Hayanari, and Dairoku.
Info-chan: They are his friends, he cherishes them and relies on them for support.
Info-chan: If they are still around when you confess your love to Umeji then he will choose them over you.
Ayano: Why are you telling me this?
Info-chan: I would be happy if something bad happened to Umeji's friends. I think you might be the right person to give them what they deserve.
Ayano: Who are you?
Info-chan: Have you ever heard of Info-chan?
Ayano: An urban legend about a girl who hacks people and sells their dirty secrets to the highest bidder.
Info-chan: That's just the tip of the iceberg. I sell a lot more than just blackmail.
Ayano: Are you trying to tell me that you're info-chan? Do you really expect me to believe that?
Info-chan: I've installed an app on your phone. Take a look.
Ayano checks her phone and an app mysteriously appears on it with a figure on the cover of it.
Ayano: How did you do that?
Info-chan: That's not something you need to be concerned with.
Info-chan: If you do a few small favors for me, I can offer a wide variety of services that should help you get rid of Umeji's friends. Everything you need to know is in that app.
Ayano: And what if I don't want anything to do with you?
Info-chan: If you're not interested in my services, I won't take it personally. Feel free to ignore me.
Info-chan: But DON'T ignore Umeji's friends. You have ten weeks until the end of the school year.
Info-chan: Make them suffer.
Ayano turned her phone off and gazed at Umeji's photo one more time before getting in bed and falling asleep to sweet dreams of Umeji.