In this anime crossover, who stole my module?

"..."

The shadow at the top of the stairs briefly framed Yui Yuigahama's slightly flustered face as she looked back.

When her ever-vibrant light brown eyes looked back, they clearly reflected the profile of Natsume Ryo calmly rising.

"scare!"

Since then.

The moment their eyes met, the air seemed to freeze for a instant.

The sunlight perfectly outlined Yui's light peach-colored hair and slightly flushed cheeks, revealing her panic at being caught peeking.

Chapter 22 A Little Interlude During Lunch Break

Peeping is an embarrassing thing for a girl.

Especially when the person you're spying on is discovered to be alone with another girl.

The feeling was absolutely unbearable. Yui Yuigahama, who had never expected to be caught peeping by Natsume Ryo, could clearly feel her cheeks heating up at an alarming rate, and even her ears were starting to burn.

My heart skipped a beat, and my mind went completely blank, as if all my thoughts had been drained by this sudden eye contact.

"..."

However, Natsume Ryo's reaction upon seeing her was merely a slight raising of an eyebrow, as if he was only slightly surprised to see her here and had no intention of investigating further.

Instead, he simply raised his hand and waved lightly at her, as if it were a chance encounter between acquaintances, as a casual greeting.

"Eh?"

Yui Yuigahama seemed to have no idea that her first encounter with Ryo Natsume would be like this.

Her body stiffened slightly, as if she had been frozen in place.

A few seconds later, her brain came back online, and as if by reflex, she subconsciously raised her hand and awkwardly waved it at Natsume Ryo.

But as soon as she finished making that move, Yui Yuigahama immediately fell into self-doubt. Did her hesitant and awkward manner make her seem stupid in the other person's eyes?

This clumsy reaction of adolescent girls, with their boundless amplification of self-awareness, always seems to pop up and cause trouble at times like these.

When this idea clearly emerged.

Yui immediately regretted her response.

A burst of hot air shot straight to her cheek with a "bang".

It quickly tinged her fair skin with an alluring blush.

No, we can't stay here any longer!

"I-I'm leaving first!"

Yui Yuigahama almost fled in panic, turning away hastily and not daring to look at them again. She lowered her head and staggered as she hurriedly caught up with Yumiko Miura and Hina Ebina, who had already descended several steps.

That flustered figure, along with his slightly swaying bun, exuded an adorable clumsiness of someone caught doing something wrong.

Even the footsteps in the stairwell seemed unusually hurried.

Hina Ebina noticed the hurried footsteps behind her, adjusted her glasses, and calmly turned around. She immediately noticed the unusual blush on Yui's face and her clearly flustered expression:

"Huh? Yui? Why is your face so red?"

"Like a boiled shrimp."

"Could it be that he tried to peek but got caught?"

Hina Ebina's tone was clearly teasing.

"No, no, I didn't!"

Upon hearing this, Yui Yuigahama immediately waved her hands hastily, like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on, trying to deny it.

But her flushed cheeks and evasive eyes were clearly not convincing at all.

Seeing this, Hina Ebina's knowing smile deepened, clearly wanting to seize the opportunity to tease her simple-minded friend.

"Alright, alright, let's go."

However, before Hina Ebina could speak, Yumiko Miura urged her impatiently.

Normally, Yumiko would naturally notice why Yui suddenly blushed.

But now her mind is clearly no longer able to focus on these teenage gossips and trivialities.

Having just witnessed Natsume Ryo's supernatural act of "pointing to the sky and wiping away the clouds," all she wanted was to get away from the rooftop as quickly as possible, which had so profoundly impacted her worldview.

After urging her on, she quickly grabbed her two still-dawdling friends and sped up, disappearing down the stairs.

……

On the rooftop.

As the hurried footsteps faded into the distance in the stairwell and eventually disappeared completely.

Natsume Ryo finally lay down again, his hands behind his head, his gaze still fixed on the cloudless blue sky:

"It seems that the audience on the rooftop today, besides Rikka, also includes Yui Yuigahama, who just fled in panic."

"The other two figures that didn't fully appear, judging from the fleeting glimpse of blonde and short brown hair, should be Miura Yumiko and Ebina Hina, classmates."

Although I was somewhat surprised by the appearance of Yui and the other two.

However, considering the subtle noises he had heard from the stairwell earlier, it wasn't hard for Natsume Ryo to deduce that they had probably been lurking there for quite some time before he "pointed to the sky and touched the clouds" just now.

"so……"

Did they see it?

Natsume Ryo thought to himself.

Considering that Yui Yuigahama, Yumiko Miura, and Hina Ebina are all perfectly normal active high school girls, their worldview is based on realistic logic.

Unlike the person next to me, who had already reshaped his worldview over something as trivial as "turning into potato chips out of thin air" and firmly imagined himself as some kind of "contractor" and "evil king's true eye messenger".

Asking an average high school girl to accept that "a classmate can wipe away the clouds in the sky like an eraser" is no less difficult than asking her to believe that the earth will be destroyed tomorrow.

first timing.

Most likely, they will just think that they are seeing things or hallucinating, and then desperately try to explain it with known scientific common sense, such as strange weather phenomena, or simply blame it on not sleeping well.

This is a perfectly normal reaction process.

but.

Natsume Ryo was still somewhat interested in whether Yui Yuigahama, Yumiko Miura, and Hina Ebina had actually witnessed him erasing the clouds.

As a biological species, the human body generally exhibits predictable patterns in its reactions.

Therefore, it can be inferred that determining which specific person was affected is a very simple method.

Just pay close attention to their reactions during class.

See if they deliberately avoid my gaze, or if they seem restless in class, secretly observing my actions.

By observing these subtle changes in body language and facial expressions, the answer will naturally become clear and obvious.

After all, not everyone is like Rikka Takanashi, who has already accepted this aspect of her personality.

For an average high school girl, witnessing her classmate wipe away the clouds in the sky like a god is an experience so powerful that it can take her days to recover.

With this thought in mind, Natsume Ryo made a decision: stop dwelling on it and refocus his attention on the present moment.

now.

The afternoon sun shone down without obstruction, bringing a warm and gentle feeling.

The wind on the rooftop seemed to have become much gentler, lightly brushing against my cheeks and bringing a sense of comfort.

The feeling of sunlight and a gentle breeze falling evenly on your skin. For someone who has just filled their stomach, it's the perfect sleeping aid.

"..."

As expected, Rikka Takanashi, lying next to Natsume Ryo, couldn't resist the comfortable environment and the drowsiness after lunch. Her breathing gradually became steady and long, and her little face, wearing an eye mask, turned towards Natsume Ryo as she fell asleep.

Judging from her completely unguarded sleeping face, she was clearly unaware of the brief commotion that Yui and the others had caused at the stairwell.

Natsume Ryo turned his head to the side and saw that she was sleeping soundly.

So he didn't wake her up, but instead let her enjoy this rare lunch break a little longer.

Until the time for afternoon classes was getting closer and closer.

……

The school bell is about to ring.

Chapter 23: Suspect Investigation Completed, The Beginning of the Blonde Queen's Collapse

After a while.

The lunch break is coming to an end.

"Wake up, it's time to go back to the classroom."

After waking up Rikka Takanashi, Natsume Ryo left the rooftop one after the other and returned to the classroom.

At this moment, most of the students in the class had returned to their seats.

As Natsume Ryo's old deskmate, Hachiman Hikigaya had already resigned himself to his new seat near the corridor, exuding the same aloof aura as always, as if he were continuing his "energy-saving" business in a different place.

When Hachiman Hikigaya saw Ryo Natsume and Rikka Takanashi walk into the classroom one after the other, he symbolically raised his dead fish eyes for a moment, whether as a greeting or not, before lowering them again, seemingly lost in thought or pondering some twisted philosophy of life.

Natsume Ryo was already used to this, and went straight back to his familiar second-to-last row by the window, pulled out a chair and sat down.

Rikka Takanashi followed closely behind, sitting behind Ryo Natsume. Although she didn't say any more chuunibyou lines, her left eye, which wasn't covered by the eyepatch, would still occasionally steal glances at Ryo Natsume's back, its light gleaming, as if she was still immersed in witnessing the clouds being wiped away.

……

Jingle Bell--!

Not long after, the bell rang on time for the first class in the afternoon, and the teacher walked onto the podium with the lesson plan.

As usual, Natsume Ryo took out his books and laid them out on the table.

In the past, even though he already knew the course content by heart, Natsume Ryo would still pretend to be listening attentively in order to reduce the teacher's attention to him.

A transparent persona of "ordinary but not sociable".

However, the situation has now undergone a subtle change.

For the first time ever, Natsume Ryo diverted some of his attention to the girls in front of him.

First, Yui Yuigahama is sitting diagonally in front.

Although her body was facing the podium, her small gestures revealed her inner turmoil.

She seemed to still be reeling from the embarrassment of being caught peeking.

Yui Yuigahama would occasionally lower her head, pretending to tidy up her books or pencil case, but in reality, she was quietly adjusting her posture, trying to find a more discreet angle so she could sneak a glance behind her.

This was evident in her tightly pursed lips and slightly furrowed brows, revealing her inner struggle—a desire for confirmation coupled with an extreme fear of being discovered.

However, fate seems to always favor innocent and naive girls.

When Yui Yuigahama mustered her courage and turned her head slightly at a small angle, the moment her gaze caught the outline of Ryo Natsume's profile, their eyes met precisely once again.

Their eyes met again!

"scare!"

Yui Yuigahama thought she had been caught spying again.

Instantly, his back tensed up, and he jerked his neck back as if he had been electrocuted. His gaze frantically returned to the blackboard in front of him, and he even subconsciously straightened his back, trying to use this overly serious posture to cover up his brief loss of composure.

However, her lips were slightly pursed, and her ears quickly turned red, clearly revealing that her inner state was not as calm as it appeared.

They care, want to observe secretly, but are afraid of being discovered. Once discovered, they panic and try to cover it up in various clumsy ways. This reaction is exactly the same as when they were caught at the stairwell.

Yuihama's obvious distraction and flustered reaction after being caught peeking were far from the expected reaction to witnessing a supernatural phenomenon.

This clearly shows that her mind was completely occupied by something else at this moment, and she had no time to care about anything else.

It is obvious that Yui Yuigahama most likely did not see the scene of "pointing to the sky and wiping away the clouds" from the rooftop.