It started with a sneeze.
Not a grand, thunderous, earth-shaking sneeze. Just a small, accidental achoo in the middle of the third-period math lecture. A ripple in an otherwise boring Tuesday. But to Kaito Fujimura, it was the sneeze that sent the world spiralling into chaos.
Because it was followed by something even more devastating.
A soft, traitorous tink against the classroom floor.
And then a roll.
And then—nothing.
The earring was gone.
Panic set in immediately.
Kaito's heart slammed against his ribs. His hands shot to his blazer pocket, fumbling past gum wrappers and an emergency rice cracker, but the velvet pouch had come loose during his rush to class. And inside that pouch were both earrings.
Now only one remained.
He hunched over his desk like a crumpled squirrel, eyes wide, searching the floor. There was no sign of it—just gum, dust, and the disappointing stain of someone's forgotten soda spill.
The second earring, the one pulsing with barely-contained time magic, was missing.
"Oh no," he whispered.
"What was that?" asked Mr. Yamaguchi.
"Nothing!" Kaito yelped. "Just, um, practising integers!"
Mr. Yamaguchi nodded approvingly. "Good initiative."
Kaito wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.
By the time the lunch bell rang, he was halfway to a meltdown. He tore through the classroom as discreetly as he could while everyone poured out into the hallways, scanning every corner and crevice.
Still nothing.
He even dropped to his knees and checked under the desks, pretending to look for a "contact lens," which was less suspicious than "a cursed earring that could destabilise the space-time continuum."
Ten minutes later, Arisa found him face down under the radiator.
She crouched beside him. "Please tell me you didn't lose it."
"I sneezed!" he wailed. "It betrayed me! The pouch must have opened, and it's—it's gone! One earring is gone!"
Her smile dropped.
"You lost one of those earrings," she said, slowly and precisely, "in a public school building."
"I'm sorry!"
"Do you have any idea what that means?"
Kaito flailed. "Vaguely! But I'm assuming it involves interdimensional consequences and the unravelling of moral order?"
She rubbed her temples. "It means that for the next few hours, I can't use my full rewind. I'm imbalanced. That's like giving someone one brake pad on a downhill bike ride."
"Shouldn't we call a lockdown?! Get a search dog? Burn the school down and start over?"
"No," she muttered. "We keep this quiet. We find it ourselves."
"Do you have a magical locator spell or something?!"
"This isn't Harry Potter, Kaito."
He grumbled and dragged himself to his feet.
Thus began the most chaotic school-wide scavenger hunt Seiryuu High had ever (not officially) seen.
Arisa and Kaito tore through classrooms, hallways, the library, and the chemistry lab. They checked garbage bins, lost-and-found boxes, and bathroom sinks. At one point, Arisa even interrogated a janitor.
"You saw nothing, understood?" she asked, eyes glittering.
The poor man nodded and fled.
Meanwhile, Kaito tried to retrace every possible step he had taken since homeroom.
His internal monologue screamed with guilt.
You had ONE JOB. Accessory Keeper. Not Accessory LOSER.
By mid-afternoon, they had searched almost every possible location—except one.
The art room.
It was quiet, filled with drying clay sculptures and the faint scent of turpentine. Kaito stepped in slowly, heart hammering, eyes scanning the floor.
And there, glinting beneath a desk like some forbidden jewel, was the missing earring.
He gasped and dove for it—
—just as a pair of shoes stepped between him and salvation.
He froze.
Slowly, he looked up.
Aya Takanashi stood there, her hands on her hips, holding the black earring between her thumb and forefinger.
"Lose something?" she asked, her tone suspiciously flat.
Kaito's heart dropped to his ankles. "Aya. Hi. Fancy seeing you here."
She held up the earring. "You dropped this earlier. I found it in the hallway and thought, Hey, that looks weird and cursed. Belongs to Kaito."
He reached for it. "Thanks. I'll just—"
She pulled it back.
"Why were you crawling around like a gremlin on caffeine all day?" she asked. "And what is this?"
Kaito stammered. "It's—it's part of a—fashion project."
"Since when do you care about fashion?"
"Experimental accessories. For Arisa. I mean—President Kanzuki. She, uh, she needs me to help her. With… earrings."
Aya narrowed her eyes.
"Why do I feel like you're lying?"
"I'm not lying," he said, his voice high and cracked. "I'm simply… creatively reorganising the truth."
She stared at the earring.
"It buzzes," she said.
"No, it doesn't."
"It just did. Like a heartbeat."
"It's from an Etsy shop run by witches in Sapporo. They have great reviews."
She tilted her head. "Kaito… what have you gotten yourself into?"
He hesitated. Then: "Something I can't explain. Yet."
"Is Kanzuki blackmailing you? Is this like a cult? If she's threatening you—"
"She's not," he said quickly. "I mean, sort of. But also no. It's complicated."
Aya's expression shifted from suspicion to worry.
"I'm your friend," she said quietly. "You don't have to keep secrets from me."
That hurt more than expected.
Kaito looked away. "I want to tell you. I do. But it's not just my secret."
Aya stared for a long moment, then—reluctantly—handed him the earring.
"If you won't tell me now," she said, "then promise me one thing."
"Anything."
"When it gets dangerous, you will tell me."
He nodded, throat tight. "I promise."
She left without another word.
Later that evening, Arisa sat cross-legged on the roof of the school, cradling both earrings in gloved hands like relics.
Kaito sat nearby, drained.
"She found it," he said. "Aya."
Arisa didn't look surprised. "Of course she did."
"She suspects something."
"She always has. You've been too obvious."
"You're the one who had me shadowing you like a magical bodyguard with a time-sensitive purse."
Arisa glanced over. "She gave it back?"
"Yeah. But she's asking questions."
Arisa was silent for a long moment.
Then, to Kaito's surprise, she said, "Good."
He blinked. "Huh?"
"If she hadn't… we might not have found it in time. That earring has been with me since I was twelve. If it had fallen into the wrong hands…"
Kaito swallowed. "What would've happened?"
She met his gaze, eyes suddenly old.
"Time doesn't like being mishandled, Kaito. There's always a cost. Someone has to pay it."
He didn't know what to say.
Arisa stood, brushing off her skirt.
"I'll protect this power. And I'll protect you. But if your friend keeps digging…"
Kaito stood too. "I'll handle her."
Arisa studied him. "You sure?"
"I'll try."
She nodded once. "Then let's keep going."
But neither of them noticed that, back in her room, Aya sat at her desk, typing furiously into a private search tab:
"Arisa Kanzuki earring mystery Seiryuu High black jewellery buzzing pulse"
And in her drawer, she kept something else.
A photo.
Of Arisa.
But the shadow in the image didn't match her posture.
It leaned closer.
Smiling.