Justice's Confidant

Akechi walks inside the school gate, a pleasant smile making its way  to his lips when some of his fans stop him in his tracks to strike up a  conversation with him. It's a regular occurrence whenever he attends  school if his work permits, and to be frank, it's become a bit of a  nuisance to him, but he has to keep up appearances. He grins and bears  with it for the meantime, but these half-hearted interactions can get  rather exhausting, so he politely excuses himself by saying that he  needs to get to class and ignores the chorus of whines of protest from  behind him.

As the young man approaches the entrance of the building, he spots  somebody in the corner of his eyes. It's a young woman with pale brown  hair, her slender frame leaning against the trunk of a tree as her eyes  scan through the contents of the novel in her hand. It's a face that  Akechi has never seen before (not that he makes it a habit to memorize  his peer's faces anyways), but the young woman has a certain air around  her that makes her stick out from the rest of the students.

Akechi notices a pair of male students standing nearby, both of them  being not so discreet as they stare at the woman who happened to catch  the high school detective's attention as well. The two students nudge  each other with their arms, and they talk loud enough for Akechi to hear  their conversation.

"Dude, go talk to her," one of them says, and the other guy shakes his head.

"No way! She's like, way out of my league. I heard that back in Gekkoukan High, some people called her the 'Cool Beauty'. It totally fits her!"

Akechi inwardly sighs to himself, not particularly interested in some  supposed transfer student from another school. Before he can proceed to  get to class before the bell rings, the young man is stopped by his  fans once more, these ones being much more enthusiastic and persistent  than the previous ones. Akechi glances off to the side as the one-sided  conversation of fawning and admiration continues, hoping to hide the  annoyance that threatens to cross over his face, and his eyes happen to  make contact with the female transfer student's.

The commotion had prompted her to look up from her book, but after  staring at Akechi for a brief second or two with an uninterested look,  she directs her attention back to what she's reading. Judging from her  reaction, she either doesn't know Akechi or cares little for his  popularity, and it's a bit refreshing to not have to deal with such  superficialities for once, as hurtful as it might be to his own pride to  not be recognized for his efforts. In any case, she doesn't really  matter, and Akechi tries to get through the day without trouble.

---

The afternoon rain isn't letting up at all as the high school  detective leaves the building once classes are over for the day. His  umbrella helps keep both him and his belongings dry from the downpour,  and as he moves to leave the gates so that he can relax at home with no  pretenses, he happens to see the same young woman from that morning. She  stands there in the open, no umbrella in sight as she allows herself to  become drenched in the rain, and it almost looks like she's enjoying  herself with the way her body casually sways while standing there.

The other students swerve around her while giving sideglances and  whispering amongst one another, generally avoiding her due to this  strange behaviour, and Akechi briefly wonders if she's lonely being like  that. It doesn't seem to bother her though. The falling rain gives her a  sense of mystique as she tilts her head back to let the water droplets  shower over her face, and before Akechi can even think about what he's  doing, his legs are already walking over to his fellow student. As the  upcoming Detective Prince, it's important for him to appear like a  pleasant young man to offer his aid to others.

Akechi holds his umbrella out to protect the woman from the rain, but  he has to step a bit closer to her than he'd like so that he doesn't  get wet as well. Realizing that the rain has stopped falling on her, the  transfer student opens her eyes and directs her gaze towards the owner  of the umbrella. Akechi stares back at deep blue eyes, and he notices  the small droplets that remain on her long eyelashes that she peers up  from. The young woman blinks slowly, almost lazily as she tilts her head  to the side in curiosity.

"You're the guy from this morning," she comments in realization, and  the high school detective is surprised to find that she has a warm and  gentle tone akin to that of a loving mother, as strange of a comparison  as it might be for him to make. He had expected a much sharper kind of  voice from her.

The young man smiles his same rehearsed smile. "I'm Goro Akechi."

"Atsuko," the transfer student introduces herself in a simple manner, her face remaining neutral. "Atsuko Yukimura."

"It probably isn't a good idea for you to just stand in the rain like  this, Yukimura-san. You might end up getting sick," Akechi brings up,  speaking in his usual formal and distanced manner. It isn't that he  particularly cares about Atsuko's health—she is a stranger, after  all—but this interaction might be a good display of charisma and  kindness for others to see and think highly of him for. All of this is  calculated so that whoever passes by will have a better and more  accepting opinion of him.

"I like the rain," Atsuko responds, the simple statement of fact  acting like an explanation or argument as to why she chooses to act like  this. Something tells Akechi that this isn't the first time she's had a  conversation like this.

The young man blinks in surprise. "O-Oh, I see."

"Nevertheless, I thank you for your kind consideration." Atsuko  offers her words of gratitude before taking a step back into the rain  and giving a formal bow to show her appreciation.

Akechi is left feeling slightly flustered at how this situation  didn't exactly play out as he had anticipated, but he's quick to recover  himself. He clears his throat with an awkward cough and decides to say  his farewells before turning on his heel to start heading back home. As  he walks away, the detective can feel Atsuko's eyes on his back, and he  has to consciously stop himself from looking back. She's a strange woman  and is one he doesn't think he'll be getting close to any time soon due  to being on two completely different pages.