Fractal Plane: Beyond Public Eyes

Chapter 2 - Enter Yui Kimura

1

"Just what do you think you're doing here at this time, all alone... Yuki-tan?"

As those words left his mouth, Kazuki clearly saw the green-haired girl wince. He saw her mouth moving and heard some stammering, but no comprehensible sound came from her.

"Yu-yuki-tan? What? Ahaha."

Ignoring the girl whose arms flailed wildly, Kazuki heaved a sigh befrore shaking his head slowly.

"Just answer my question. What is someone like you doing here all alone?"

He narrowed his eyes and gave the idol a better look, and he felt a sharp expression piercing through him with each passing second.

It was at this time that she also quit putting up the innocent façade, and the expression on her face turned sour. Like a switch being flipped, the innocent voice transformed into the one he had heard at the Imperial Tracks event – causing unpleasant memories to resurface.

"Geez! I'm just here for some karaoke, okay? Nothing suspicious or anything, just karaoke!"

"You could have been in big trouble just a few minutes ago," he answered, recalling the scene a while ago. "By any chance, are you sneaking out of your home or something? All for karaoke? Alone?"

"Argghh! Who are you? My da-"

Even in the midst of her fiery words, she caught herself and stared at Kazuki before finishing her sentence. It was a sight that puzzled Kazuki, and he can only look back at the idol blankly.

"Perhaps you mean, "Dad?" asked Kazuki in as innocent a voice as he can muster.

To which Yuki-tan put her hands on her waist and pouted.

"Hmph! Never mind that. Now, if you'll excuse me."

She turned to go the other way before Kazuki reached out.

"Oh, and by the way—"

Unfortunately, she turned right back. Kazuki was unable to stop himself in time, and his hand found a soft body part... and it's not her arm.

Even though he pulled his arm back immediately, the damage had already been done. He mouthed "I'm sorry," but he now stared at a pair of teary eyes filled with righteous anger. The next thing he felt was the full force of a right hand hitting him across his cheek.

"Idiot! Pervert! Asshole!"

Kazuki tried his best to calm her down in order to prevent a commotion, but even he panicked at the sight of the girl wildly stomping and swinging her arms in the otherwise quiet alley.

"Geez, why does it have to be you of all people, too? First, you ruined my Imperial Tracks event, and now this. Arrrgghh!"

She scratched her head, and Kazuki still drew blanks on how to diffuse the situation. He was still in the process of thinking before a sharp stomp pierced his left foot, causing him to let out a surprised shout of his own.

"Get out of my sight! I'll make your life a living Hell! Remember that!" yelled Yuki-tan before she ran off, leaving Kazuki behind with a second slap for a farewell.

Her figure took only a few seconds to disappear into the rest of the shadowy alley.

"What did I just witness?"

Dumbfounded, Kazuki was unable to react in time and stop her like he originally intended. It turned into a disastrous situation that he once thought only happens in anime and manga. He silently cursed his own social awkwardness while letting the events sink in.