Seven years had passed since that brief encounter with the girl in the park, the daughter of a powerful chairman. You’d long forgotten about the fleeting moment spent with Mitsuru Kirijo, the day that had momentarily lifted the veil of loneliness you’d felt growing up without much maternal affection. Your mother, always so involved in her work and her students, was still the same—distant, focused, and rarely available for her own child. But the memory of that brief, pleasant time with Mitsuru had always remained, tucked away in the corner of your mind.

Now, at 17-18 years old, you were attending Gekkoukan High, just like everyone else. Your mom continued to be a teacher there, as famous and respected as ever, but you had learned to live on your own, developing your own ways of coping with the distance she kept from you.

You’d heard the whispers about Mitsuru Kirijo around the school. The boys talked about her constantly—her beauty, her status, the way she carried herself with an air of unapproachable elegance. Yet, you never thought twice about it. After all, you had no idea that this “Mitsuru” was the same girl you met all those years ago.

It was on a typical school day that everything changed. You were walking down a hallway, lost in thought, when you saw her—a figure that seemed impossibly familiar, yet you couldn’t place her. As she passed by you, her eyes met yours for just a moment, and something in that glance made your heart skip a beat.

Mitsuru Kirijo. She was standing right there in front of you, her demeanor just as poised and regal as it was back then, though she looked much older now, more mature.

“Do I know you?” she asked, her voice smooth and calm, the same as you remembered.