“That incessant talk of one’s circumstances… If I hear your life story, my tears might form a river.”

Despite the fierce sarcasm exchanged, the two seemed to be quite friendly. Of course, whether they were actually close or not, Anita was eager to leave this place as soon as possible.

Professor Evan, noticing Anita’s increasing fatigue, coughed awkwardly belatedly.

“Ah, I’ve needlessly made you wait because of that lad. Just pass this on to Building 4.”

“Building 4?”

Unfortunately, Anitta was bad with directions. For someone still unfamiliar with the buildings they wandered through every day, this was an overwhelming task.

Noticing this, Professor Evan pulled Edmund’s arm and nudged him next to Anita, wearing a content expression after passing off the nuisance.

“You’re supposed to help freshmen as the student body president, right?”

Shortly after, Anita holding a pile of thick documents, and a disgruntled Edmund, stepped out of the classroom.

“Give it to me. Let me carry it.”

Without much thought, Anita handed over the documents to Edmund, causing her pupils to waver.

“What is it?”

Across the hall, she saw a familiar figure. At this moment, he was the person Anita wanted to avoid the most, and the person who would get her in trouble if she did.

She could pretend not to notice and just walk by, but it’s not easy. Yet, she didn’t want to run away like a guilty thief either. The resulting choice for Anita was to hide. Searching for a place to hide herself, she grabbed Edmund’s arm as a last resort.

“I’m sorry.”

Anita tried to hide behind him, but Edmund was quicker to grab her. He snatched her arm and pushed her against the wall before she could even react. What seemed like a wall clicked and opened.

Caught off guard and thrust into a sudden darkness, before Anita could protest, the door slammed shut. Confined within the darkness, Anita was left in bewilderment, unable to utter a word, her eyes flickering in confusion.

How many times have we seen this situation before?

“I found him scary.”

An unexpected voice in the darkness made Anita shudder. Glancing towards the direction of the voice, Edmund seemed to be standing behind Anita.

“Scary?”

She didn’t understand why he was acting so strangely in front of Rutger just a few days ago, and why he was acting like that now.

Had Rutger gone to see Edmund about that incident?

No, Anita swiftly erased the meaningless thought. There wouldn’t have been any conflict between them in the first place. They had no prior connection.

“What happened?”

“There were things. Many things.”

But there was something else in his tone. Anita glanced back at him without realizing it. She wanted to get a closer look at Edmund’s expression, but it didn’t take her long to realize it was useless in the dark.

“Hold on for a bit, it’s dark, but if we go out now, we’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

Without providing a reason I could comprehend, Anita agreed to his opinion for now. Imagining herself and Edmund emerging from this pitch-dark space and meeting Rutger sent shivers down her spine.

“What are you doing here?”

Anita’s ears twitched as she listened to the sounds of the noisy sound outside in contrast to the quiet of the warehouse. The woman’s voice, unusually clear and cheerful, was somehow familiar.

The woman’s voice was unusually clear and cheerful, and Anita almost answered without realizing it.

“…Why are you picking a fight since this morning?”

This time, I almost bit my tongue. I thought I was free of that. Letting out a long sigh upon hearing a voice I couldn’t ignore, I inadvertently found myself eavesdropping on a conversation between Lilliana and Rutger.

“I’ve been put in charge of organizing the upcoming charity event.”

“So?”

“You should come too.”

It was a relatively ordinary conversation, which was somewhat fortunate. Anita knew all too well that meddling excessively in someone else’s life wouldn’t lead to a good ending.

“Why would I.”

“You keep doing this. You say you’re going to help me, and you can’t even do this?”

The conversation was increasingly heading in a direction known only to Lilliana and Rutger. Feeling uncomfortably out of place, Anita took a step backward. Although this step didn’t entirely block out the conversation from the outside world, it was a step away from the discussion.

As Anita was stepping backward, she was blocked by something.

“This is a very familiar situation. Don’t you think?”

Luckily, she didn’t step on Edmund’s foot this time, as he grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

“Yes, quite similar.”

From Edmund’s perspective, it might have been a curious statement, but to Anita, it didn’t sound light. Her situation hadn’t changed much since then. Despite vaguely trying to avoid Rutger in the past and even declaring not to show up in front of her again to settle that old grudge, it seemed futile.

“If you come, we’ll collect some donations. “If you were born pretty, try putting it to use.”

“…….”

I don’t know how much longer I’m going to have to live like this. I feel so pathetic, running away like a sinner at the sound of his voice, at the sight of a single hair, at the sight of him talking to someone.

What was the point of hiding?

Anita raised her hand to grasp the latch of the warehouse door. She decided to just leave. She hadn’t heard anything she shouldn’t have. As she was about to open the door, there was a sudden thud, and something fell to the ground.

“Sorry… I dropped this.”

It was the sound of the stack of documents Edmund received from the Botany professor that fell to the ground. Unbound papers fluttered and scattered in all directions.

“No, I’ll pick them up. We can organize them together.”

The hand that was on the doorknob fell away. Anita, without hesitation, lowered herself from the door and began to grope the floor to find the scattered papers.

“You’re getting in trouble for my mistake.”

“It’s not a big deal, but you seem overly sorry.”

In the pitch-black warehouse, as Anita struggled to find the papers, a sudden laugh echoed around her.

“……?”

“How on earth do you perceive me?”