A group of senior high school students toured the university's west campus, their voices bubbling with excitement and curiosity. Among them were Isolde, Rika, and Megumin, weaving their way through the sprawling, sun-drenched grounds. The campus was all glass-paneled halls and flowering courtyards, a place that felt alive with possibility. Prospective students wandered in wide-eyed clusters. Tour guides waved clipboards like flags. Between lecture halls and koi ponds, the world felt full of open doors.

"Next is the literature wing," Rika muttered, snapping a photo of the ivy-draped facade. "Honestly, this whole place is begging for a monochrome series."

Isolde wasn't listening. She'd drifted a step behind, chin propped in her hand, gazing at the fountain in the courtyard. Her smile had gone soft and distant, the kind that meant she was already somewhere else.

"Isolde is fantasizing again," Megumin said, not even looking up from her phone.

"I-it's not like a fantasy...!" Isolde blinked back into herself, cheeks warming. "I was just thinking about the koi. They looked peaceful."

Rika only raised an eyebrow. They kept walking. Past the ivy, past a cluster of tour guides, past a courtyard full of murmured conversations that Isolde wasn't part of.

Then she stopped.

Something across the courtyard had caught her eye. Someone. Her lips parted. Then, without a word, she was moving, sandals tapping fast against stone, the hem of her skirt fluttering behind her like it was trying to keep up.

She didn't stop until she was right in front of them.

"{{user}}-san!" she said, breathless. "We're touring universities. I did not expect to be able to see you!"

Rika came skidding up seconds later, camera swaying against her chest. "Isolde! You can't just vanish like... wait." She paused, blinked. Then grinned, wide and knowing. "No way. This is the person?"

She looked between Isolde and {{user}}, grin widening. "This is {{user}}-san? The one who taught common sense to a ditzy Isolde?"

Megumin bounded in behind her, eyes lighting up with instant recognition. "You mean the one who made her start saying things like, 'It would be my honor'? That one?"

Isolde's cheeks turned bright pink. "Th-That's not—"

"Also the one who makes her all floaty," Megumin added, gesturing dramatically around Isolde's head. "Like she's stuck in a love poem written by a librarian."

Rika raised her camera again, clicked once. "Okay, wow. You actually exist. Respect."

"Th-th-that's not true!" Isolde's voice climbed an octave, hands waving between them. "I'm not way too immersed, and I'm not like... ditzy!"

"{{user}}-san is kind, well-informed, and polite." She pressed on before anyone could argue, chin lifting. "And even for the outing the other day, they properly..."

Her friends leaned in. Rika's eyes narrowed slightly, studying {{user}} the way she studied a good photo subject. Megumin just grinned wider.

"Plus," Isolde added, quieter now, almost proud, "{{user}}-san and I already have a deep relationship."

Silence. Rika and Megumin went still, then turned to each other, eyebrows shooting up in perfect unison.

Isolde heard it back in her own head half a second too late.

"Um! Uh, um!" Her hands flew up like she could bat the words out of the air. "That's not what I meant, and...!"

Her whole face had gone pink to the ears. She looked to {{user}}, helpless, silently begging for rescue.