Chapter 8
KURODA
It had been an hour since Yamashita woke up. Kuroda was looking around the school for a free room for him to stay in. He peaked his head in to the room labelled 'R2' on the first floor. Inside was a room fitting about six people on the far side. On the side closest to him, Kuroda noticed that there was six more empty makeshift bedrolls. He looked up at the younger ghouls on the other side of the room.
"Um, excuse me, but... Is there anyone else staying in this room besides you six?" The boy on the bedroll in the far right corner stood up.
"Oh, hey big bro Kuro!"
"B-big bro? Kuro?"
"Uh... That is what we're supposed to call you, right?"
"Ugh, did Taiki tell you to call me that?"
"Yeah, why? Should we have not listened to him? Is he bad?"
"No, just... Nevermind, it isn't important right now. So, is there anyone else staying here?" The boy on the far right looked up.
"There was, but they all moved to a different room."
"Ah, thanks. Is it okay if I let someone else stay in here?" The boy on the left spoke up again.
"Sure, as long as he isn't bad."
"Thank you. I don't think he's bad, but I'm not so sure yet. If anything weird happens with him, could you let me, Ki, Makoto or Ryouji know, okay?"
"Okay big bro Kuro!"
"Don't... Damnit, Taiki..."Kuroda turned and walked out of the room mumbling to himself. "Nevermind that now, I have to stay on task."
Kuroda returned to Ryouji's room with the good news.
"I was able to find a place Yamashita can stay." He said as he entered.
"That's good." Makoto replied. "Which room?"
"R2, downstairs. He'll be staying there with six other younger ghouls."
"R2, huh? Not bad..." Kuroda turned to look at Yamashita, who was laying on the bed.
"Is he asleep?" Ryouji stood up.
"Looks like it. Now that that's sorted, once Yamashita settles in we need to start looking for Kumiko and find out just what the hell is going on." Makoto stared at the floor.
"Yeah... Just what the hell are they doing there?"
Just then, the communicator Ryouji kept from the last mission beeped to signal an incoming call. Ryouji picked it up.
"Hello?" The voice on the other end was Kumiko's.
"Ah, Ryouji! Thank God, I haven't been able to get a hold of any of the others."
"Huh, how about that. So, what's up?"
"I need to schedule another meeting with you guys soon. How does tomorrow work for you?" Kuroda was cautious about this meetup. It could be dangerous to send either Ryouji or Taiki as they'd been to whatever facility they found Yamashita in.
"What's the meeting for?" Ryouji inquired.
"Something's come up. I need to talk to you guys about it in private."
"Hrm... Me and Taiki are busy tomorrow, so I'm afraid we can't make it. Makoto and Kuroda should be free, though. Hang on, I'll ask them." Ryouji covered the microphone on the communicator and looked around. "Well?" He asked. Makoto nodded silently. Kuroda followed suit.
"Alright then..." Ryouji put the communicator back up to his ear. "Yeah, they said it was fine."
"Tell them I'll meet them in the usual place." The communicator clicked, and Ryouji put it down.
Taiki stood up.
"So... Trap?"
"Maybe, but we don't know for sure until we go."
"Then it's settled." Kuroda got up to leave. "Ki, Ryouji, you help Yamashita get settled in tomorrow. Taiki put his feet together and raised his hand to his head in a mock salute.
"Sir, yes sir!" He shouted.
"Thanks... If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get some rest." Kuroda headed back to his own room. Thinking about the day's events as he went. Who was the Professor? Could he and Kumiko really do what they promised? If not, what were they doing? Questions flooded his mind as he opened the door to his room and lay back on his bedroll, getting lost in his thoughts.
