It was after school.

  Ren walked home, following his usual routine.

  But just as he arrived at his apartment building, a luxury car pulled up and parked out front.

  Two people stepped out.

  It wasn't a surprise—they weren't strangers, after all.

  Given that they had retly transferred to Teitan High School, their visit here was expected. Their purpose for ing today was obvious.

  "Good evening, Amamiya san."

  Kaguya greeted him, her demeanor as posed and polite as it was at school, perhaps even more so.

  "Good evening, Shinomiya," Ren replied calmly. "I expected someoo test me eventually, but I didn't think the testers would just walk right in."

  "I guess the rules for the diary's holders must be different from mine."

  That much was clear.

  It wouldn't make sense for the rules g the one who writes the diary to be the same as those for those who read it.

  Ren wasn't fond of standing around outside talking.

  "Let's head upstairs. We talk there."

  "Yes."

  The three of them entered Ren's apartment.

  As soon as the door opened, a cool breeze greeted them.

  For a single-person apartment, this was typical, though the chill in the air was noticeably sharp.

  "It's so cold," Hayasaka muttered, visibly shivering.

  "That's normal here," Ren said casually as he walked inside and switched on the air ditioner.

  "In Beika City, it's pretty easy to rent a spacious, well-decorated pce for cheap. All you need is a bit of ce and maybe a strong stitution."

  "Why's that?"

  "Because most of these kinds of apartments have… issues."

  "Issues?"

  "For instahe temperature might stay unnaturally low."

  He turo face them, his voice calm but ced with meaning.

  "And if you ever experienething like that… well, it might mean there's something… un lingering around."

  "!?"

  Both Kaguya and Hayasaka froze, their expressions immediately shifting to caution.

  They uood exactly what he was implying and they realized what kind of pce this might be.

  "Amamiya, are you really okay living in a pce like this?" Kaguya asked, her tone slightly uneasy.

  "If necessary, I could arrange a safer pce for you to live."

  "There's no need for that," Ren replied, shaking his head as he set the remote trol down.

  It was clear Kaguya genuinely wao help solve his housing issue, but he didn't feel it was necessary.

  "I've lived here for a year already."

  "And?"

  "Well, the spirits here seem to get along with me just fine."

  "…." Spirits?"

  Kaguya and Hayasaka exged a look, their expressions stiffening.

  "Besides, our schedules don't overp much, and the diary seems to offer me some level of prote."

  "That does make sense," Kaguya admitted. "Something as unusual as the diary probably has safeguards in pce for its owner."

  "But that proteight not apply to us as mere diary holders," she added thoughtfully.

  "Let's get to the point," Ren said, turning the versation back to them. "You didn't just e here to test me or the diary's rules, right?"

  "What else do you want? Do you want to hear your own story?"

  "…My story? I do that?"

  Kaguya seemed genuinely surprised.

  "Of course."

  "I still remember parts of your story," Ren replied, "but if you waails about Kudo Shinichi, I probably won't recall much."

  He wasn't trying to be evasive, he just felt the o set expectations.

  "Also, you might not be familiar with the kind of stories I'm talking about."

  "If it gets too personal, don't hold it against me for sharing."

  "Of course not," Kaguya promised, taking a deep breath and fixing her gaze on him. Her expression turned serious.

  "Amamiya, what's my story?"

  "It's not difficult to expin," Ren said calmly. "You'll uand just by hearing the title of it."

  "Kaguya-sama: Love is War ~ The Geniuses' War of Love and Brains."

  "!?"

  Hearing the title, Kaguya's posure shattered, her expression nearly colpsing.

  "Pfft!"

  Standing behind her, Hayasaka couldn't hold back her ughter.

  Just from the title alone, she could tell this was a romaory, probably one filled with awkwardness and pride on both sides.

  "Amamiya-san, I don't have a lover," Kaguya said, trying tain her posure.

  "Well, like I said, the story might not have started yet," Ren replied with a shrug. "But if you think about it, Shinomiya-san, there must be someone iudent cil with… certain feelings toward yht?"

  "…Yes."

  Kaguya didn't deny it.

  She might have been a girl raised in isotion, but she wasn't so oblivious as to miss the signs of others' affe.

  "Shirogane Miyuki."

  "Si year, he's been trying to get my attention."

  "peting with me academically, running against me iudent cil eles, everything he's done has been to make me notice him."

  "Unfortunately…"

  Kaguya shook her head, a hint ret fshing in her eyes.

  "I don't have the freedom to choose love."

  "Because of my upbringing, I was taught to never prioritize feelings like that."

  "So it's a family issue," Ren noted.

  Her answer didn't surprise him.

  The Kaguya sitting before him was a far cry from the love-obsessed version of her depicted in the inal story.

  This Kaguya was someone shaped by her family's rigid expectations, a girl who uood the intricacies of her world far too well.

  That uanding had made her iionally distance herself from things like love.

  Ren could already imagine how Shirogane Miyuki, the protagonist of the inal story had tried to win her over this past year, only to be met with deliberate indifference.

  "It's not just a family issue," Kaguya tinued.

  "No matter how mismatched the circumstances, a 'princess' is never paired with a oner. Even if the Shinomiya family were to fall, this principle would remain the same."

  "That's always been my role, to be the princess iower."

  Her answer ainfully rational.

  She uood the gap between herself and others all too well.

  Even if someoried their hardest, they would never meet the Shinomiya family's standards.

  Knowing that, she had chosen to avoid such retionships entirely.

  "So, it seems like stories are just stories," Ren cluded.

  "There's always some deviatioween fi ay."

  "…And now?"

  "What if you had the freedom to choose now?"

  Kaguya shook her head again.

  "After learning what my 'story' is supposed to be, I 't immerse myself in it."

  "This might just be my own stubbornness as the protagonist of that story."

  "I, Shinomiya Kaguya, refuse to let myself be trolled by someone else's narrative."

  "That's a shame," Ren said softly.

  He decided it was best not to mention the more private parts of her story.

  If Kaguya had already made her choice, theory truly was just a story and not her destiny.