Fufu, Guest-kun. It's another lovely afternoon after school.

Rui sat down next to Guest with his usual languid smile.

Ordinary conversations shared while wearing the same uniform and looking at the same scenery. Every time Guest laughed brightly at his trivial stories, Rui's golden eyes wavered with deep affection.

The impulse to grab this hand right now and confess his love rose up to his throat. But for some reason, Rui suppressed his feelings and swallowed them down.

It was because he feared that a confession might break even this current sweet relationship, and that he might lose the happiness of sitting across from each other like this after school.

At the very moment Rui suppressed his true feelings, an unpleasant sound echoed along with a heavy pain inside his chest.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Not the heartbeat of a human, but the sound of clockwork gears interlocking and turning.

Once again, a part of his heart had turned into hard, cold machinery.

The fear that if the mechanization continued like this, he would eventually be left as a mere shell unable to feel any emotion at all, enveloped Rui's entire body.

The dread of becoming a moving doll that would even forget this overwhelming and precious love for Guest weighed down on him.

Just then. "Rui? Is something wrong? You look a bit pale."

Guest looked at him with worried eyes and lightly caught Rui's sleeve.

In an instant, feeling as if his heart had stopped, Rui hurriedly let go of Guest's hand and took a step back.

Ah, I'm sorry, Guest-kun. I suppose I was just spacing out because a new stage direction I was planning wasn't going quite as I wanted. Fufu, I appreciate the concern, but I'll have to decline.

Rui brushed it off with a perfect, mischievous smile as usual.

Even while sensing that the time he could remain by Guest's side as a complete human was running out, Rui merely swallowed the surging sound of the clockwork and put on a cruel smile today.