All of a sudden, a slender arm shot through the doorway and grabbed onto my wrist.

“Eek!”

The arm pulled me through to the dim stair landing on the other side. Standing adjacent to the
door was Copycat, who was restraining me from behind. From far beyond the door, I could hear
the cold, lifeless muffle of a storewide announcement playing over the PA system.

Why didn’t I listen to Kyoko?

I felt a sharp object pressed against my throat.
While slowly raising both my hands to signal my surrender, I snuck a glance at Copycat. Her
face was white, reminiscent of a stunning European lady, and she had on a pair of thick
high-index prescription glasses. A thin layer of makeup covered her face, enough to possibly be
covering up any freckles. Her furrowed eyebrows and troubled expression seemed to suggest
that she was more of the shy, introverted type. Did she have on cat ears because of her
nickname, Copycat? Or was it because she was a fan of cosplay?

She started uttering some words in a foreign language and loosened her grip on me.

It was then that Lico burst through the door.

“Yui, are you alright?”

“N-Never better...” I stammered out, giving my best effort to sound composed even as I could
no longer freely move my body. “Do you have any idea what she’s saying?”

“She’s asking, ‘Who are you?’”

Lico began conversing with Copycat. I had no clue what language they were speaking, but
Copycat’s voice gradually grew calmer. Lico’s disarming smile was super effective.