Once again Akira faced the prison in his dreams, receiving the advice to forge bonds with people so he could better harness his potential. So that's why his bond with Ryuji created that item, and the reason he now held the Fool card. He wondered about the number of confidants he could attain, wishing to keep himself safe from harm.
"Kuku... So that's the kind of host I managed to steal for myself... I have high expectations from thee."
Akira got up with a wild bed hair, looking like a sparrow nest. "Oh yeah, today's the rally... Ryuji said to get evidence against Kamoshida." He fought valiantly against the rebel strands, but his hairstyle still ended up as 'windblown'. "Well, not that I care." After putting on his school uniform, he went downstairs to get coffee and bread, courtesy of Sojiro. "Remember, no playing hooky." The old man seemed to be daring Akira to rebuff this statement. "Silent treatment, huh?"
"I'm going." Akira flipped the plaque to 'open' and set for the station, briefly checking the Metanav icon. Ryuji had messaged him and said that he got the Nav app too and that it kept coming back from deletion. "So that guy doesn't want us to stay on the sidelines..." - The students were distractedly commenting their ideas about the impending rally, some weren't eager to get a volleyball to the face from a former pro, while others were excitedly waiting for the chance to see the coach in action.
Classes passed by fast, with the homeroom teachers reminding the students to go to the gymnasium and attend the volley games. Akira and Ryuji were sitting by a wall, watching their classmates play against the teachers. They were pretty darn bored, being forced to watch the students get wrecked by Kamoshida. "Oh, she's still the odd one out..." The blond mumbled this at the sight of Takamaki, but his friend didn't pry, sensing it was a touchy spot. "Well, blonde hair does stick out like a sore thumb, like you."
Then the mood of the room shifted when Kamoshida geared up for a spike- *THWACK!* The onlookers gasped when a boy got downed, with the culprit telling some students to take his victim to the nurse. Ryuji ground his teeth at the sight and grabbed the ball that rolled towards him. "Buddy, we'll make him pay..." He threw the ball back to the players. "Let's go, his mug is making me sick..." The pair of outcasts got up and went to the vending machines.
Once they were sure that nobody was paying attention, Ryuji began his tirade about the coach, enraged at his peacocking and blatant violence, Mishima could have suffered a grave injury until where they knew. "These games are only to make people kiss his ass!" Akira didn't refute and reminded his friend to watch his volume. "What do you have in mind? I don't think it will be easy to discredit him" Ryuji scratched his head, his plan was quite simplistic.
"We'll look around and find the guys that douchebag sees as slaves. Then we'll make them reveal the bastard that is Kamoshida." The blond was very sure that all the slaves could be found around the grounds, they just had to find them. "That asshole won't even see this coming." Akira frowned, if the man was such an obvious abuser of his authority, then why weren't there anyone crying out about the matter? He hatched a secondary plan, they needed material evidence too.
Besides that, Akira doubted that the club members would snitch on Kamoshida, much less to pariahs like him and his partner. "Ryuji, do you think you can snap pics without them noticing?" The blond made a confused face. "But ain't we gonna convince them to 'fess up?" Akira recalled that detective who attended Leblanc, wondering if he could steer her against Kamoshida, then he explained his plan to his friend. "Erm... you think she'll listen to you?" The blond kicked a stray pebble, wondering if the detective would see their point. "Let's try that if my idea fails, 'kay?"
~My fuuuuur!~
Sojiro was flicking through the channels, trying to find anything interesting. "Excuse me, can you return to that one with the idol?" He glanced at his customer. "I wouldn't have pegged you as a fan of hers. Just a sec." Naoto let out a chuckle. "She's an old friend, I'm curious to see how she's doing." Kujikawa Rise was being interviewed about her latest gig and the host was now reading some fan suggestions for questions. "... Your fans want to know about your ideal type in a man..." The young idol flushed slightly at those words, making her friend watch with amusement.
Naoto leaned on her chin, staring up at the screen. "I wonder if I should go see her, now that we're in the same city." Sojiro made no comment, simply cleaning the tables and checking his supplies. "I've searched the area, but I didn't see anything that looked off." She swished her mug, drawing up theories of what the cat had meant by a castle. "Maybe... wait, that sounds quite ridiculous." Yet she couldn't help but wonder if the animal had a role similar to the white rabbit of Alice, having the ability to take people to the other side.
"Well, the only concrete proof that I have of another world is that talking cat." Finding the animal would be an ordeal, Tokyo was big and she was only one person. And if she were to sum it with the possibility that the cat could escape capture by slipping into that dimension, then she would have an impossible undertaking. Sojiro reacted with a start when Naoto began hitting the counter with the handle of the spoon, sporting quite the pitiful expression and letting out a tortured sigh. "Talk about searching a needle in a haystack..."
~Oh Skull, you're pathetic...~
Morgana was prowling about the school, keeping his eyes on the faces of the people passing by. "Daring to ditch me after my courteous lessons... I'm going to show those imbeciles that they messed with the wrong person!" The animal stealthily moved around the school grounds, there seemed to be an event that sent people into a tizzy. "I'm sure that if I look around, I'll find that oaf and that Wild-card." There could be no mistakes and he couldn't get spotted, for the adults would send him to the city pound and there might be bullies who would torment him.
But it seemed that he wouldn't have success today, not with how people moved around like an anthill. "Where would be a nice spot to nap in?" Morgana checked one of the bigger trees and escalated it, fussing around in the base of the larger branches for a nice place. "Yup, hidden from sight, weak wind and just enough space to curl in." He snorted at some dust that got on him and watched the students pass by him, unknowing of his presence.
~No need to be reckless~
As Akira had guessed, none of the obviously injured members of the volley club were willing to open their mouths, too afraid of repercussions and expecting that Kamoshida's name would let them get ahead in life. But he managed to eavesdrop on an interesting conversation, the friend of Takamaki had expressed concern for him, the delinquent transfer. At least Ryuji had followed his advice and took pictures of the bandaged students. If they pooled together the images, Akira might get to convince the detective to take action.
As he waited for Ryuji in an empty area of the patio, a girl approached him. "You're... Takamaki, right?" The girl began questioning his behavior and was aggressive about it, making the teen wonder what she hoped to achieve. "Whaddya want with my bro?" Ryuji was scowling at Takamaki, so she started questioning the reason he was so friendly with the transfer student, so Akira went to his defense. "He's my friend, Takamaki, even if we don't attend the same classes. Can't I have one?" The duo was staring down the girl.
"A-anyway, what do you want with Kamoshida?" She became apprehensive, she couldn't help but let the rumors get to her. "Eh? Oh yeah, figures that Kamoshida's girl would hound us." The girl got incensed and Ryuji was starting to get sparked up. Akira saw the blondes act like dogs separated by a gate until Ryuji said something that took her off guard. "Behind my back...?" Akira motioned with his head for Ryuji to drop the subject, but she tried to get a few more stabs in.
"Just so you know, nobody in this school will help you. I'm just warning you, that's all." Ryuji scoffed at that and Akira had a derisive side glance. "We never thought it would happen." Once she departed in a huff, Ryuji decided to clarify that he had known the girl since middle school, that was the reason he made the comment back in the gym. "Anyways... It looks like we'll have to go with your plan." Akira nodded. "But I did get a name, Mishima. It sounds like he's the one getting the brunt of Kamoshida."
Sure enough, Mishima was the one who got the ball to the face, but even he was unwilling to admit the existence of the abuse. To make matters worse, Kamoshida had caught sight of them and used his bulk to intimidate Ryuji and warned Akira to keep his head down. Using a facade of a concerned coach, the man told Mishima to head the practice and subtlely insinuated he'd get Akira and Ryuji kicked out if they made trouble. "That shitstain..."
Mishima had a defeated face, revealing to the pair of friends a terrible secret of the school, as everyone with the power to deal with Kamoshida simply sucked up to him and kept sweeping any indication of his violence under the rug and held the voices of the students gagged. "You don't understand what we're going through, nothing will help. If anything, you will make it worse." As Mishima ran off, Akira saw the pain in Ryuji's eyes and his disbelief. "Do you still want to take my suggestion?" The blond hung his head with frustration. "The way things are, that seems to be our best shot."
~Beat them down!~
Naoto was laying on her sofa and staring at the ceiling, tracing routes through Tokyo in her mind so she could do her job and search for the cat in one motion. The sooner she could start investigating the inner workings of the other world, the better it would be. "Wait, both times I found it, I was..." She got up and opened the city map, pinpointing the two spots where the cat had met her. "Now, if I trace a line through here..." Her eyes widened at the coincidence before her.
She mused if her hunch was correct, recalling her thoughts about a new band of teenagers dealing with paranormal happenings. "If that does happen, then history will have a new cycle." There was a big landmark close to the line she made, Shujin Academy. "And maybe the school could be the castle... But how does the two correlate?" She could only take a leap of faith and check the location, if she was wrong then she'd simply scratch that off a list of places to examine.
She crossed her arms and mulled over the facts, deducing that the one dubbed 'frizzly-hair' by the cat was most probably a student of Shujin, if the animal was really stationed there. Naoto yawned and rubbed her eyes, the office was working her to the bone. The only thing keeping them from being harsher was the fact she did bring results, so there was little justificative to keep a closer grip on her leash. "But I can't afford to lower my guard. Who knows until where that network can reach..."
Author-
You guessed it, Agent 5. I should make it a game, Guess the Voice. New quotes will appear from the next chapter onwards.
