While Derek lay sprawled across the bed, one leg bent and the other hanging off carelessly, he flipped through a manga with a relaxed expression. He had returned home with Hitomi after that pleasant—though tense—dinner with the Kure clan.
Karura had wanted to come as well. She had even suggested, quite naturally, that she could move in with them.
Of course, her grandfather had not agreed in the slightest.
Which only succeeded in increasing Karura's frustration.
Derek calmly turned the page when, suddenly—
BANG!
The door burst open, slamming violently against the wall. Two figures stormed in without any warning.
Karura and Hitomi.
And while Karura looked relatively relaxed… Hitomi was clearly upset.
Derek raised an eyebrow when he noticed her expression. He closed the manga and set it aside calmly, watching her with curiosity.
'Well… something happened.'
He then shifted his gaze toward Karura, silently asking for an explanation.
She only shook her head, giving a small shrug.
Before he could say anything, Hitomi spoke in a voice full of irritation.
"That annoying Nomoto Yuuya… he never does anything right."
"Oh." Derek tilted his head slightly. "What do you mean?"
Hitomi crossed her arms tightly.
"I asked Nomoto Yuuya to enroll you in the same school as me." She frowned. "But in the end, he failed… and instead enrolled you in Ishiyama High School."
Derek blinked once.
Then twice.
"I see…" he murmured thoughtfully. Then he frowned slightly and glanced at her sideways. "But I have a question."
Hitomi looked at him.
"When did I ever say I wanted to go to school?" Derek asked, his tone carrying a mix of curiosity, mild annoyance… and a hint of amusement at how absurd the situation was. "And why did you ask to have me enrolled in the first place?"
Hitomi opened her mouth to reply, but Derek was already lost in thought.
'Ishiyama High School…'
That name felt dangerously familiar.
'…ah. Right. I remember now.'
'Hehehe… this is going to be interesting.'
A faint smile appeared on Derek's face as he let out a relaxed sigh.
"Well, setting the school issue aside—for the record, I never asked for it," he said calmly as he sat up slightly on the bed. "Did the professor manage to find anything about my request?"
The atmosphere shifted instantly.
Hitomi and Karura grew serious almost at the same time.
Hitomi nodded slowly.
"Yes. He did."
Derek's eyes widened with genuine surprise.
"Wow…" he murmured, impressed. "That guy really is fast. He found it sooner than I expected. I'll have to give him credit."
"Actually…" Hitomi looked away for a moment before continuing. "It's not that he was fast."
Derek frowned slightly.
"Huh?"
"It's just…" Karura stepped forward and took over. Her expression was strangely complex. "This isn't a secret."
Derek looked at her attentively.
Karura pulled something out from behind her back and handed it to him.
A newspaper.
Derek took it with one hand and lowered his gaze to the front page.
There was a photograph of a tall man with a monstrous build, long wild hair, and a presence that felt closer to a prehistoric beast than a modern human.
His eyes slowly narrowed.
The name was printed in large letters.
Pickle.
For a moment, the world seemed to fall silent.
'…'
Derek said nothing.
His fingers tightened slightly around the paper.
'So… he's already made it here.'
A dangerous smile, filled with restrained excitement, slowly spread across his face.
'Big brother…'
He lifted his gaze toward Hitomi and Karura.
"I see…" he finally said, his calm voice carrying an unsettling weight. "So it's not just that they found him."
He folded the newspaper with a soft crinkle.
"The whole world knows he's here."