Excerpt

Aimi ran up to Naoko the moment she caught sight of her walking towards them and all of the boys' eyes followed after her figure. 

It happened with so much synchrony that it looked quite dramatic from Naoko's point of view.

Upon reaching Naoko's side, she held onto Naoko's arm, preventing her from advancing further, and whispered, "Na-chan, are you really sure about coming along with me on this search for the stone? Perhaps it's better for you to wait at home? It's really okay you know, you don't have to follow me."

"I'm really okay, Ai-chan. Don't worry. Besides, remember that I'm supposed to be the brain while you're the brawn? How can we do without each other?" Naoko smiled reassuringly.

"... I've been doing some studying on my own. So it's really okay."

Naoko's smile faltered a little. "I see... I'll still go along though. Thank you for your concern."

Aimi smiled tightly then linked arms with her to walk back to the boys. 

Did I get Aimi's personality wrong? 

Naoko was sure that she had a good grasp on Aimi's personality from reading the book which she then cross referenced to the original soul's memories. However, there was not much about the original soul's communication with the others written in the book, so the only thing that she could think of as suspicious was how the Aimi in her memories seemed more favourable towards Tadashi than she appeared to be in the book. While she wondered if this was some effect of the world filling in its little details by itself once again, she reached the group of boys together with Aimi. 

When Aimi had ran over to Naoko, Tadashi's eyes trailed after Aimi as usual. By chance and quite inevitably, his gaze also landed on Naoko. 

Without rhyme or reason, intense sorrow and relief gushed through his entire being. It was so overwhelming during that split second that a tear escaped his eyes and rolled down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away with the back of his hand before anyone saw it. He stared at his hand then back at Naoko who was now walking towards them. 

What was that...?

⳾*⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*⳾