Evidently Itsuki wasn't familiar with the saying 'curiosity killed the cat'; he was currently waiting outside the ice cream shop downtown (she certainly still had the friendly kind female classmate persona down well, didn't she?) in his new clothes purchased the day before-- no point in letting a little change in gender stop him from figuring out exactly how much Asakura thought she knew, after all.

Against his better judgment, Itsuki found himself preparing to open the present that he had found on his table. Asakura probably wasn't the type to give him something immediately dangerous, and his curiosity had finally got the better of him.

He neatly peeled the tape along the edges and opened the wrapping paper cautiously, ready to jump back at the first sign of anything startling, but all that he found inside was a very normal-looking box. As he lifted the lid, however, there was a sudden explosion of something inside; he leaped back, stumbling over the kitten who had been rubbing against his legs, and found himself sitting on the floor a little dazed, scraps of confetti still falling from the air.

He stood up, brushing off his hair and picking up the kitten; they both peered into the box to see an innocent-looking chess set. Itsuki reached forward to take it out, and then thought better of it, instead taking his cell phone out of his pocket and dialing a number.

"Nagato-san? It's Koizumi. I have a favor to ask of you."