The hours passed by Kokona in a blur.
Her mind was heavily preoccupied with the subject of the phone call she recieved minutes before the time came for people to go to class, and many times she found herself wishing for a time machine to appear before her, so that she could keep herself from saying yes to a wealthy man who didn't have it within himself to ask someone closer to his own age out on a date.
She silently cursed herself for her fragile state and the man for his lack of a means of being infatuated with others who weren't significantly younger than he was.
So engrossed in these thoughts, her teacher's lesson came in through one ear and left right out of the other for her, her holding her head up on her palm and staring absentmindedly at the teacher as she did her job.
When the bell for lunch rang throughout the school, Kokona was in the middle of wondering whether she could call the man who she'd set an appointment with and cancel it, only to remember she couldn't call a blocked phone number.
Mentally berating herself in a mixture of self-loathing and guilt, Kokona gave a troubled expression to her desk.
"Kokona?"
It was only at the sound of the young woman's voice that Kokona broke from her long lapse from reality.
Leaning her head off of her palm, Kokona looked up to find that it was Saki who called her name, her being a girl that held a great resemblance to the Vocaloid character Miku Hatsune, bright blue pig tails and all.
The memory of why Saki started wearing her hair in this manner, when, even with her pig tails, it nearly reached her waist, was rather strange, Kokona recalled.
It had been half a year ago, during exam season, and Saki had been having trouble studying due to her hair's long length.
During that time, she would only brush her long hair down, and it reached well past her waist.
As a result of it being so long, Saki would spend more time adjusting her hair so it wouldn't hinder her studying than on studying itself.
When the girl couldn't take the stress of it anymore, she decided to wear her hair in pig tails, which immediately had positive and negative consequences.
On the positive side of things, Saki never had to struggle with studying anymore.
On the negative side of things, there was no escaping the people who compared her to Miku on sight.
She seemed to be unaffected by this at first, so Kokona let her be after asking if Saki was okay when put under the teasing, to which she said she was fine.
It only took a week for signs saying the opposite to pop up.
On the Monday following her hairstyle change, Saki would sit at a table with her head on her cheek, her and all the friends that made up their group, sans Kokona, sitting at a table as the purple haired girl made food for everyone.
The presence of a problem existing for Saki was evident to those present, but no one said a word about it.
Kokona probably felt the strongest compulsion to question what was wrong with her friend, among others.
Kokona could see Koharu, a girl with green hair and eyes who was a year younger than Saki, looking over at the Miku-lookalike from the opposite corner of the table, but, like Kokona, she said nothing.
The same went for Mei, a girl with blue hair that was in the same class as Koharu, as well as Yuna and Yui, girls who, at that time, were in their last year of middle school with gold and red hair respectively.
The fact that Saki said nothing in the conversation made it all the more strange a situation.
While she wasn't known for her extroverted nature, that was assuming she had one to begin with, she would always contribute to the conversation by at least being the listener of the spoken topics.
When Kokona finished making food for everyone, she would carry the platter while looking intently at Saki, who stared absentmindedly at the wall.
The proof that everyone wanted to ask what made Saki this way came to Kokona in the numerous glances everyone would make, it becoming like a domino effect.
Someone, typically Koharu, would glance over at Saki, and someone focused even somewhat on her would follow her gaze, the same happening to someone else until everyone was looking over at Saki.
In retrospect, it seemed both understandable and weird that Kokona would whisper her questioning to her friend.
"Saki, are you okay?" She asked, leaning down to look the girl in the eyes.
She didn't respond for a moment, not even meeting Kokona's gaze, before she lifted her head, her expression tired, her gazing back up at her with a strange look in her eye, "I'm just tired."
"Tired from what?" Kokona asked for elaboration.
The turning of four heads in their direction only solidified any belief Kokona had that the girls around Saki wanted to ask the same thing.
"Tired from stress. Tired from pressure. Tired from people in general." Saki said in a monotone that creeped Kokona out somewhat.
"Why are you tired of people?" Yui asked.
"People keep saying that I'm a Miku Hatsune lookalike. It's pretty tiring after a while." Saki replied in that same monotone, her eyes empty irises.
"Why did you put your hair up like that in the first place?" Mei asked.
It was then that Saki explained that her hair made it harder for her to study, and in a hope to help the situation, she tied her hair in pig tails.
"Can't you just cut it?" Yui asked.
"I'd like to keep my hair long." As though to emphasize these words, Saki stroked her right pig tail.
Several moments of questioning passed the group by, and eventually, Saki apparently decided she'd had enough of it, standing up suddenly.
"I'm sorry. I need to go to the Computer Club now. I'll see you guys later."
Without waiting for an answer, Saki left the room, her head lowered by a certain angle.
The remaining five were left in silence to the girl's absence.
It was almost customary for the group to come together, even if some of them were sick, on as regular a basis as possible.
On their free days, they would go out together, simply hanging out with one another, and, more recently, upon more than half of the group entering Akademi, they regularly met on Mondays while Kokona cooked for everyone.
For one of them to leave early was understandable, but Kokona was skeptical that Saki would need to leave an hour early just to climb the two sets of stairs that would lead to the Computer Clubroom.
As a result of this unprecedented event, Kokona suggested the first thing to come to mind as a result of Saki being so upset by this.
The next day would find Saki walking behind Koharu and Mei as they walked side by side.
She noticed that something was different about the two when she saw their hair.
"Hey, guys?" She called out to them, jogging slightly to catch up, even as they stopped to turn to her.
"Yes Saki?" Mei asked.
"Why is your hair different?" Saki asked immediately, looking between Mei and Koharu's hairstyles.
The duo shared a look, Koharu having her hair in pig tails that were obviously several times smaller than Saki's, and Mei having a similar hairstyle, only she had an additional tiny pig tail tied behind her head.
They looked back at their senpai in unison, and Koharu said, "We thought it might help you."
"Really?"
"Yes." Mei nodded her confirmnation.
"Why?"
"You seemed pretty out of it yesterday. We thought maybe if we had weird hairstyles that it'd help too." Koharu explained.
Saki found irony in the fact that Koharu looked rather normal compared to herself and Mei, but said nothing of it.
Instead, she spoke on the topic at hand.
"Thanks guys, but really, you didn't need to do anything like this for me." Saki smiled despite this.
"That's a bummer then." Kokona's voice said behind her.
Saki turned, and found that instead of her regular hair, Kokona now sported two symmetrical drill shaped pieces of hair that stuck out of her head.
Blinking at the sight, Saki didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Kokona?"
"Yes?"
"Why is your hair like that?"
"Well," Saki watched Kokona reach up and tug on her drills, "My hair isn't as long as everyone else's, so this was all I could think to do."
"But why?" Saki asked incredulously.
"Why?" It was Kokona's turn to be incredulous. "I spent half the night trying to get my hair right so my friend wouldn't feel weird and you're asking why I did it?"
"Well..."
As Saki trailed off, Kokona sighed overdramatically.
Shrugging nonchalantly, she spoke with a playful smile, "Oh well, if you really didn't want us doing this in a group, I guess I stayed up late for nothing."
Saki blinked in surprise.
Then she smiled.
"Thanks guys. It means a lot that you'd do that for me." Saki smiled at Koharu and Mei, then Kokona, "I'll study hard so this doesn't go to waste."
"It's nothing. Don't even mention it." Kokona walked past her friends, pressing her hand in her skirt pocket to avoid them seeing the burner burns she had on her fingertips, a result of her many failed attempts at putting her hair in drills.
After testing ended, Saki went back to her old hairstyle, and with this accomplished, the group knew they could return to their regular hairstyles as well.
However, all members quickly realized that they felt off with their hairstyles back to normal.
When Kokona realized she didn't need to change her hair anymore, her having made to school revealed it was already too late to go back to normal, and the other members of the group took this as a sign of her encouraging them to keep their hairstyles strange.
Six months later, into the present, the group of friends Kokona had only worn their hair out of habit, but over time it had become a type of symbol, strange as it was, for their friendship.
Memories of this brought a genuine smile to Kokona's face, only for Saki's voice to cut into her new lapse from reality.
"Kokona, are you okay?" Saki asked her friend, who had a somewhat glazed expression now.
"Y-Yes, I'm fine." Kokona replied a bit hastily, "Ready to eat lunch?"
Upon reaching the rooftop and meeting up with her friends, Kokona felt herself making herself at home among the hexagon they made as they stood together.
Their talk was much of the same usual things; stories from their break were shared among each other, tales of how they spent it varying.
Kokona was fully immersed in the conversation until she caught a glimpse of a boy with shaggy black hair walking by, him carrying that same somewhat detached air that he had hours ago in the school plaza.
He walked to a bench, sitting down by himself and beginning to eat, him not showing any signs of happiness as this happened.
The other girls in the group caught onto Kokona's gaze, and they looked back at her, their expressions mirroring Kokona's feelings of pity.
"That's right, that Naijimi girl got murdered last week, right?" Yui asked, her red eyes cast slightly downward, her voice now several tones more serious.
"Yeah." Mei hugged herself. "I heard she was stabbed to death."
"Didn't she have a pretty bad falling out with that guy over there?" Yui asked while glancing back at the boy.
"Yes. I'm not surprised he looks so sad now." Koharu looked over at him now, "It can't be easy, having to live with the fact that your last memory of your best friend is fighting with her."
Needless to say, she meant this in the way of one who was in a bad argument with someone else, the kind that threatened to destruct any chances of both parties being on friendly terms again into contrition.
If one considered that Taro Yamada's relationship to Osana Naijimi was that of best friendship, this type of argument would normally be seen as good.
Both Taro and Osana could argue with the knowledge that they could go to that extent and still be friends afterwards, even if there was a point in time when tension existed.
Such was the beauty of having a best friend.
But in the case of where such arguments went unforgiven by each party, this would most often fester regret and guilt within the parties involved.
This was the tragic case of Taro Yamada's life.
His final memory of his best friend not being one of happiness, nor of hope.
It was only of a now perpetually regrettable argument, which could never be taken back.
The air between the six members of the group had visibly darkened, and seeing this whilst looking among her friends, Saki clapped her hands loudly, everyone jumping in surprise as they looked at her.
Her eyes were closed as she started to speak, "Look, I know we've gossipped about a lot of things before, but let's not delve too deep into this, okay?"
She opened her eyes, lowering her hands and meeting each of her friends in the eye, "What happened is awful, that's true, but it won't do us any good to brood on it. I can imagine Yamada is in a bad enough position as it is without us getting too nosy."
All of those present knew very well what Saki meant.
The day after Osana died, police had come into the school and called Yamada down for questioning.
The first sign that something had been wrong was when Yamada came back into class while being visibly shook up by whatever happened.
After that, the enigmatic "Info-chan" started spreading a rumor about what had happened.
As curiosity rose, people would come by to question him about the matter to see if it was true.
True to form, Info-chan's information was spot on, as Yamada's answers to such questions were true, though it was naturally marred somewhat by the spread of rumors.
Some thought Yamada had been questioned by the police as a suspect for Osana's death, which was the truth.
Others heard differently.
Some would hear that Yamada had in fact killed his best friend, others would hear that he was really happy to be without Naijimi, and was only putting on an act, and others would think other outrageous things.
Many wanted to ask Yamada himself in order to get the facts straight, but common sense coupled with a look at the state he was in would tell most that this wasn't the wisest decision.
Not everyone was aware of this however.
The people either so curious or so dumb to think Yamada would answer questions about his involvement in Naijimi's death became the physical embodiment to the metaphor "twisting the knife in the wound" for him.
This was probably the reason he stuck to himself, even moreso than before.
There once again came another wave of pity that welled inside of Kokona as she glanced over at her classmate.
"Can we at least agree on that everyone?" Saki asked her friends.
There was a general sound of affirmation for four out of the five people Saki spoke to.
Noticing this, Saki looked over at Kokona, her still staring at Yamada.
By that point, he had already met Kokona's eyes, and they held each other's gaze for a moment.
She smiled in as much of a comforting way as she could to him, and Yamada forced a smile back, looking back down at his lunch and eating it.
Kokona looked away from him, her blinking in surprise when she saw all of her friends looking at her now.
"Kokona?" Saki's voice called her, and she looked at her friend in confusion.
"Yes?"
"Did you hear what I just said?"
She gave a sheepish look at Saki, shaking her head.
"Are you okay?" Yui asked, Kokona turning to look at the red head.
"I'm fine, why?" Kokona asked.
"You seem to be going out of it more and more lately." Yuna said honestly.
Kokona blinked in surprise, looking at the blonde, before looking around at her other friends, "Have I really?"
"You have actually." Mei said, looking away slightly.
"You keep having this weird look. Almost like your mind's completely somewhere else." Koharu added.
"Oh." Kokona smiled reassuringly at them. "It's fine. I'm fine. Just a bit distracted is all."
"Is it a guy that's making you act so strange?"
Kokona looked over at Yui's question, and the girl with drill shaped locks saw that the red was genuinely curious.
"No, it's not that." She said, shaking her head, her knowing this to be a lie.
Yamada accounted for her not paying attention then, but Kokona knew that this wasn't always the case.
That man who paid her to go out with him had that position, sad as that sounded.
"Are you sure?" Yui looked behind herself, at Yamada. "You seem to look at him whenever you space out like you just did."
"I'm sure." Kokona said after following Yui's gaze, her face not reddened at all when she realized what her underclassman was implying.
The purple haired girl had realized her feelings towards Yamada were of the romantic type well over a year ago, so her feeling that way towards him didn't mean that she was acting strangely for that reason.
"If you say so." Yui said, there being a note of skepticism in her voice as she shrugged.
Kokona mentally sighed, deciding not to say anything.
"Kokona, could I talk to you for a moment?" Saki asked.
As Kokona turned to the girl with pale blue hair, Saki's expression, laced with urgency, told her that she needed to talk with her at that moment.
Realizing this, Kokona nodded.
Ayano spent the first several minutes of lunch time moving towards the third years' floor, her eyes scanning the stairs as she looked for Kokona Haruka.
The person she saw first instead made her stop on the stairs, her heart stopping for a brief moment as he walked in front of her.
She breathed slowly, a person passing her by stopping next to her.
"Are you okay Aishi?"
She looked over at him, it being a green haired boy who she'd forgotten the name of, and she molded her face into a false smile, it being a perfect mask of a sheepish expression, "Yes, sorry."
The boy seemed a bit unconvinced, but didn't press the subject, walking past her whilst making occasional glances behind himself at her.
She held her smile up until he was out sight, then dropped it, her expression falling into a straight face.
When she was sure no one else was there to hear, she sighed heavily, trying to replicate the frustration she imagined other people who were normal would probably feel in that moment.
She felt absolutely nothing.
She looked up at the top of the staircase, eyes narrowing themselves.
Again, she had been reminded of the fact that she felt no emotions unless her Senpai was added into the equation.
Many times since she first saw him, Ayano repeatedly experimented with herself to make sure her feeling emotion for the first time wasn't coincidentally tied to her Senpai being in there.
Regardless of what she did, the result was the same, her being an emotionless shell without Senpai being involved.
It was somewhat depressing, she thought to herself.
At least, this was what she imagined someone who had emotions would think.
Why did she feel this need to make sure her Senpai would be hers?
She wondered this as she thought of the fact that she could only feel emotions when Senpai was involved, and that she felt absolutely fine without having emotions for all her life beforehand.
She made it her mission to appear normal to everyone, because she was aware of just how scary the idea of someone without emotions was to people.
Was that the reason?
Did she not want to have to keep up a mask to avoid people being afraid of her?
She softly shook her head of that thought.
No, she didn't even care about people to that extent at all.
She could pretend to, as much as she liked, but this simple lack of caring for anyone was unmistakable.
Even her parents weren't of any exception to that.
As she thought about it, Ayano realized she might have subconsciously disliked the experience of being empty of emotion for her entire life.
She never felt any sort of longing for emotion, but then, she somehow knew, deep down, she would enjoy life a bit more if she was with emotions.
Though she couldn't feel psychological emotions, she knew she felt physical things, like every other person.
Like everyone else, she had limits for everything.
She couldn't do more than a certain number of sit-ups for example, nor were her grades perfect.
She went through her entire life without feeling any of the simple emotions people had.
Even if she didn't feel them, she realized constantly pretending to have emotions she didn't have was tiring for her.
Perhaps the only emotion she had before meeting Senpai was curiosity.
She would wonder many times what it'd feel like to have emotions.
What would it feel like, she pondered, to study for a test for weeks on end, only to have that moment where one looked at their score and see they hadn't scored perfectly?
Would the natural reaction be a form of frustration?
Anger even?
And what would it feel like to embarass oneself in front of others, or to realize they would know your darkest secret?
Would one naturally feel dread? Or fear?
She reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone, remembering the person who claimed to be Info-chan.
Info-chan was really the closest thing she could call to her friend, Ayano realized.
She somehow knew what her darkest secret was, was willing to help her with her goals, and had even given her a nickname.
At the same time, it wasn't as though Info-chan wasn't without her own secrets.
Ayano turned on her phone, clicking on an app Info-chan had made, her seeing a chart come up with pictures of several members of the student body there, arranged in the order she recieved them in.
The very first one was a picture of a silhouette, it having long red hair and red rectangular rimmed glasses.
This was the picture of Info-chan that the girl provided to Ayano.
The reason Ayano assumed Info-chan was a girl, besides the feminine "chan" she gave to herself, was the recorded message that would play upon Ayano pressing on her picture.
Doing it again, Ayano watched her phone screen get filled with static, a recorded message playing through a girl's voice.
"Trying to look up my information? Don't bother." It said, almost mockingly. "There's nothing you need to know about me. You're a client, and I'm a provider. That's all we need to know about each other."
With this, the recording ended, and the chart of students returned to normal, along with her phone screen.
Ayano imagined she'd feel creeped out if she had emotions upon first hearing the message.
Having heard the message again, Ayano mentally shrugged to herself.
To say Info-chan was the closest thing to a friend she had didn't necessarily mean that there was any emotion or attachment between them.
After all, Info-chan was right.
Ayano was using Info-chan as much as Info-chan was using her, maybe even more so.
Like the pervert had said, Ayano was just a client.
She looked up at the stairs, recalling her wish to have her Senpai.
Even if it had been some form of love at first sight, Ayano knew she didn't enjoy life without emotion, and Senpai was her only means of feeling emotions.
She had to make sure her Senpai wouldn't be taken away by anyone.
She didn't care what she had to do make certain of that.
She'd have to avoid getting her Senpai in trouble for killing again though.
Thinking this, Ayano started walking up the stairs, going onto the rooftop and looking for Kokona.
The rooftop was made up of a square perimeter for the school, Ayano exiting onto the northeastern corner of the school.
Upon reaching the rooftop, Ayano saw Kokona walking away from her group of friends, another third year walking ahead of her.
Standing a bit away from Kokona's group was Senpai, him eating out of his bento as he sat on a bench.
Another girl walked towards him, and looking at her, Ayano realized Kuu Dere, a girl with sky blue hair and red eyes, was walking towards her Senpai, lunch in hand.
Seeing this, Ayano watched the girl closely, her talking to Senpai.
She couldn't read her lips as she talked, but Senpai looked surprised for a moment, him nodding before scooting over on the bench, Kuu Dere sitting on the opposite end of the bench from him.
Ayano continued to stare at the spectacle, but decided to leave it alone, returning her attention to Kokona.
She was walking on the east side of the school, following her friend to the southeastern corner.
Seeing this, Ayano followed them at a safe distance, her hand traveling into her skirt's right side, fingers brushing against a knife blade.
As Saki walked to the back corner of the school, behind a large metal casing, with Kokona in tow, Kokona asked her friend the obvious question.
"What is it you wanted to talk about?"
Saki turned to face Kokona, her expression serious.
"You haven't been acting like your usual self lately. Is something bothering you?"
Kokona blinked in surprise, but felt her lips moving before she could think.
"Oh... well... it's nothing..."
Her words came out unconvincingly, and it showed on Saki's expression.
"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine." Kokona relaxed somewhat at Saki's words. "But remember, I'm your friend, and I'd never judge you for anything."
Kokona was silent for a moment, but nodded.
Hesitance welled within her, but she forced herself to be honest.
"I guess... there's one thing I'd like to talk about."
"I'm listening."
Kokona closed her eyes, mentally sighing, before opening her eyes again, meeting the expectant gaze of Saki.
"... Ever since my mom died, my dad's been drinking a lot." She looked away again, reaching up and grasping her left elbow. "Sometimes, when he's drunk, he comes into my room and..."
She trailed off, her eyes snapping closed again, before she threw her head back, "Ugh, forget I said anything. I really, really don't want to talk about it."
Saki's eyes were wide.
"What? That sounds really serious!" Kokona didn't meet her eyes as she exclaimed this. "What does your dad do to you?"
"Look, I said I don't want to talk about it. Just leave it alone, okay?" Kokona said a bit more forcefully.
"You haven't done anything to be ashamed of. Just tell me what's wrong!" Saki persisted.
If only she knew, Kokona thought mirthlessly.
"I'm not gonna say anything else." Kokona lowered her head. "Please... just drop it."
It seemed Saki realized the futility in persisting further.
She did nothing to hide her sigh.
"If you say so. But now I'm really worried."
Kokona sighed softly, closing her eyes.
Then there came an indistinct yell.
Both girls looked up at one another at the sound, and seconds later, another yell was heard.
Wondering what it was, Kokona and Saki started walking back towards the source of the yell, doing this quickly as they saw a small crowd forming near the other corner opposite to theirs, never knowing that Ayano had listened in on their conversation and left immediately after the scream.
As they reached the crowd, they found Mei there, and the duo walked to her.
"Mei, what's going on?" Saki asked, the girl turning to them.
"I think someone's stuck inside the maze." Mei turned to look at the crowd that looked over the maze near the front of the school.
Another yell came, it being a word that no one could understand.
Saki walked closer to the crowd, looking over the maze to find that there was a boy with a dark tan that jumped high in the air every other moment, him seeming to be moving around inside of the maze with each jump.
Saki looked at the entrance to the maze, finding Koharu standing there with a teacher next to her, the older woman yelling into the maze.
The boy seemed to move closer and closer to the exit every few seconds, and eventually, the boy reached it.
Upon appearing there, he collapsed on the ground, on his hands and knees, breathing heavily.
Koharu walked to his side, kneeling down and offering him a hand.
After looking up at her, he accepted her hand, getting back up while saying something inaudible to her.
The teacher started speaking to him then, after saying something to Koharu that made her nod and walk away, and seeing that the apparent issue was resolved, the small crowd dispersed.
Saki remained there for a moment longer, watching the teacher speaking to the boy, him not seeming to have much to respond.
Realizing there wasn't much left to do, Saki turned away from the corner of the school building, walking back to her friends, finding Yui and Yuna to be there too now.
"It looks like he got out of there safely." Saki said to the four as she came into earshot.
"I wonder why he was even in the maze to begin with." pondered Yuna audibly, Saki glancing behind herself when she heard the door leading to the rooftop open itself, Koharu walking back to the outdoor world and to them.
She breathed a heavy sigh as she neared them, then smiled at everyone, "Hey guys. Sorry I left without saying anything."
"It's fine." Yuna waved her hand nonchalantly. "We all know how you get whenever someone needs help."
Koharu laughed somewhat sheepishly at that.
Ayano walked down the stairs quickly, her typing in a text to Info-chan.
I think I might have some new info about Kokona Haruka you could use.
She only needed to wait for half a minute before she felt her phone vibrate.
If it's about her taking part in compensated dating then you're out of luck.
Ayano felt no interest in the information just given to her, simply replying.
I'm in luck then.
Do you have anything on her parents?
I tend to not care about details concerning student-parent relationships unless necessary.
Can I assume I should care about her parents?
Maybe.
She said her mom died some time ago, and her dad's a drunk who comes into her room every so often.
He goes in there when he's drunk?
Yes, from what Kokona said.
What does he do to her?
She didn't say.
I don't think this is enough to count as useful information.
Thanks for trying to help me though. Your efforts are acknowledged.
Would you mind me asking why she told you this?
She didn't. I heard her talking to her friend.
Saki Miyu?
Who?
A female upperclassman with bright blue hair tied into two big pigtails like she's Miku Hatsune?
I don't know who that is.
There came a long moment of silence, before Ayano's phone vibrated again.
Looking at her phone, she saw a picture of an anime girl wearing large pig tails in her bright cyan-blue hair.
Then came another text.
That's Miku Hatsune. Did she look like her?
Yes.
It's weird how alike they look.
Everyone's noticed by now.
Anyways, it makes sense that Kokona would tell Saki about that.
Why?
Saki has been best friends with Kokona since middle school. They've done all they could to keep from being seperated into different classes for the past few years.
You've been keeping tabs for that long?
Not really. I just know a few things from firsthand experience.
Regardless, the information you've given me won't be useful to me.
Could I ask you a question?
What?
Do you know where I can get an envelope for a letter?
Why?
I need to give one to Kokona.
For what?
You don't have a thing for her now, do you?
Of course not.
I wanted to give her a letter telling her that I want to talk to her about domestic abuse.
Why?
Your dad seems harmless to insects, much less you.
Ayano decided not to question the girl about the last comment.
You don't need to know.
Alright, fine. Where do you plan to meet her?
You don't need to know.
I'm going to if I'm writing this letter for you.
You don't have to do that.
It's my envelope. I'll do what I please with it.
Are you bored or something?
In a way. I'm a bit more curious about how you handle this rival for your Senpai's affection than the others.
There you go again with there being more than one person pining after Senpai. Can't you tell me who they all are so I can get rid of them quicker?
What would you do with that information? Use the knife you're carrying in your pocket to stab them all to death?
Ayano narrowed her eyes at her phone, her reaching the bottom of the stairs now.
I'm right, aren't I?
I can't have you screwing yourself over with something like this. Knowing how good of an actor you are, you'd try to make it out so I'd be the one forcing you to do all the awful things you're planning in that emotionless brain of yours.
I'd much rather give as much responsibility to you as possible.
How hurtful.
I wouldn't do something like that to you Info-chan.
Ayano felt herself mentally say this sarcastically.
Some risks aren't meant to be taken.
This is one of those risks.
Wonderful.
Could you be so kind as to tell me what the meeting place will be Yan-chan?
Seeing the equally sarcastically nice reply, Ayano relented details for her idea.
Tell her to go to the roof.
At what time?
Say 4:00.
I don't think that's a good time.
Why?
She's never free until 4:30 after school, or not on Mondays at least.
I see.
Tell her at 4:35 then.
Another question.
What?
Which part of the rooftop do you want her to go to?
Just saying "the rooftop" is pretty vague.
At this point, Ayano realized that flaw.
Say to go to the part of the roof behind that metal case, the corner closest to that old Sakura tree.
Okay.
As Ayano walked for a minute longer, she felt her phone vibrate again.
Is this satisfactory?
Accompanied with Info-chan's text was a picture of the note.
"Please come meet me on the roof at the corner closest to the Sakura tree at 4:35. I want to talk about my domestic abuse." She mouthed to herself.
I'd guess so.
Good.
Should I pick it up from wherever you are?
No need to worry. I'll bring it to her locker.
Why?
I need to be there anyway.
Why?
Did you hear about the guy who got lost in the maze a few minutes back?
No.
Since he's a transfer student, I know next to nothing about him. Since I'm Info-chan, my reputation must be upheld.
Alright. Go on about your info business.
Another question though. Why are you wearing gloves?
Fingerprints can be damning thing if people have the right evidence.
I can understand that logic. Sort of.
If I treat every little crime like the best detectives in the world will be on my case, I assume I'll be fine.
Suit yourself.
Having reached the bottom floor, Ayano immediately turned around, walking up the stairs again.
Info-chan obviously didn't want Ayano to know what her face looked like, so in regards to her doing this favor, she decided the normal thing to do would be to leave the info broker to her own devices.
With so little time left in her lunch period, it'd be better to go back to class and carry out the rest of her idea when she had more free time.
Having thought this, Ayano returned to her classroom, ignorant to the girl with long red locks of hair staring at her from across the long hallway through her red rimmed glasses, her red eyes gazing at her client as she disappeared up the stairs.
"Alright. Let's see what the fuss from this guy is about." Info-chan whispered to herself, her luminescent smile dropping as she looked towards the entrance of the school, walking forward as she looked around the corner.
Finding that no one had entered yet, Info-chan went to shoe locker that belonged to Kokona Haruka, opening it and placing the sealed envelope on top of her shoes.
After closing the locker and double checking to make sure it was Kokona's, Info-chan turned, walking outside and going towards where the maze was, finding the boy still there with the teacher.
Her voice became distinctly more reserved, her speaking to the teacher, "Excuse me, teacher?"
The woman turned to her, brown eyes narrowed, "Yes?"
"Were you planning on taking this boy to the counselor?"
"Yes, at least I wanted to." She sighed, turning to face the boy again. "He can understand what we're saying, but his Japanese speech isn't too strong."
The boy gave an off-put expression at this.
Was he a type of person with a "Loner" Persona? Info-chan pondered.
"That's fine." She responded to the teacher, looking at the boy with a curious expression. "Do you have any other languages you're fluent in?"
He nodded after giving her a curious look, him pulling out a phone and typing into it.
When he finished typing into it, he showed Info-chan the screen.
"Yes, English and Arabic."the phone read.
"Do you know English?" Info-chan looked at her teacher again.
"I do know some. But I can't say that I'm fluent in it."
"Okay." She turned to look at the boy again. "Can you tell me what you're trying to tell her in English?"
He took a second of thought before speaking.
"Yes. She wanted me to tell her why I was in the maze, and I wanted to say that I was exploring and only wanted to look around before getting lost."
Info-chan nodded, looking at the teacher again, her processing the boy's words still.
"He was only exploring before getting lost." She said, and the teacher nodded, looking at the boy again.
"Do you know which class you're in?" She asked him.
"I'm in Class 2-1."
"He's in Class 2-1." She interpreted again.
"I see. I'll have to talk with your teacher then." The woman sighed, looking at her wrist watch before looking at Info-chan once more, "I'll need to leave bringing him to the counselor to you. Can you do that?"
Info-chan nodded, watching the woman running away from them.
She could understand it.
It was almost time for class after all.
"Are you ready to go?" Info-chan asked the boy.
"Yes. Lead the way miss."
"I'm not sure I like you calling me miss." Info-chan replied in perfect English, crossing her arms.
"What would you like me to call you then?"
Info-chan simply told him her real name.
"Okay. I can call you that." The boy nodded again.
"Could you tell me your name?"
"Kai Nasir. It's nice to meet you." Kai smiled in a friendly manner to her, and she returned the smile.
"Likewise."