Chapter 10:
"This way,"
Leading the charge, Satoshi brought us to a dully colored hallway. A teacher stood next to an open door, apparently talking to a few students inside.
"Doesn't that seem a bit odd?"
"Not really. You've probably already guessed what's going on; she's looking for me."
"It can't be that simple."
My expression went blank, not moving in the least. "Okay, maybe it could, but you never know."
"This could get bad if I'm right about who she's looking for. If I'm found out, I'm going to end up in a lot of trouble. The best possible outcome, I get stuck in the school for another hour while they sort out the paper work the principal filed on me." I ruffled my hair with my hand. "That would be troublesome."
"But, Fukube-san could be right." Chitanda perked up. "It might be something else."
"I doubt it," I said, peering at the teacher more closely. "She seems like an uptight woman. I bet even if the principal told her about my condition, she wouldn't budge an inch on the subject of my punishment."
"But, couldn't there have been more than one lunchroom incident?" Satoshi asked.
I shook my head. "No, with all the commotion, that seems hardly possible. "
"You can't be sure it's about you, though..?"
I started stroking my bangs. "No, I can't. But talking to the teacher might lead to trouble if my theory turns out to be correct."
A few students exit from the classroom, one of them being Natsuki. Noticing me, she waved. I did the same.
Hurriedly, yet carefully, she jogged up to us.
"Good afternoon, Natsuki-san." I greeted.
"Good afternoon, Hotaru-san." She politely returned.
"Wow, aren't you two stiff. We're school mates, not co-workers."
Chitanda giggled at Satoshi's casual behavior.
"Oh, I'm sorry, good afternoon Chitanda-san, Fukube-san,"
"Yo,"
"Good afternoon."
I glanced back at the teacher, impatiently tapping her foot. Natsuki noticed, and immediately commented. "She was asking if we'd seen someone."
"Who?"
"She'd heard rumors he'd been hiding in our club room in the past to escape punishment."
"Physical attributes?"
"She said he was tall, muscular, and looked kind of brutish."
"Were those her exact words?" Satoshi looked like he wanted to speak, but he resigned himself, realizing the potential importance my question could have had.
"No, I'm paraphrasing. She used more sophisticated wording, and spoke to us in complete sentences."
"Is there anything else?" Chitanda asked.
"She was pretty vague about his description. I assume that's because she felt that none of the normal members in the club room looked even remotely like that."
"That would make sense," I spoke out loud, but only in order to more firmly cement the concept in my mind. "Well, it seems it was the same lunchroom incident I was involved in, but she's not looking for me."
"She's looking for the guy you fought with…" Satoshi concluded. Chitanda silently affirmed that she agreed with the conclusion.
"Oh, that's right. You were in a..."
She stopped herself, hoping not to bring up a sour topic. I was tempted to explain myself, but she already looked like she acknowledged that I wasn't the instigator.
"Yes," Embarrassingly, Chitanda moved her eyes up towards mine. "I was kinda worried you'd get hurt."
Natsuki made a realization to herself at that moment. I couldn't be sure what conclusion she came to, but it appeared she was content with the information she discovered.
"Well, it's the only time so far I've found a good use for my powers…" I bent my arm, attempting to loosen my joints. "Of course, the lunchroom mess was caused them in the first place, so I can't say they were really that much of a blessing." I grabbed a look at the ceiling, and turned to Satoshi and Chitanda. "I guess the mystery's solved. I should probably be heading home."
My coat stretched backwards.
"You don't believe my conclusion?"
"It's not that," Chitanda poked at my arm nervously. "But, we need to find out where he is."
"Why?"
"To do a service for the teachers."
"You mean clean-up duty,"
"No! Students and teachers coming together to help each other is the right thing to do. If we can figure out something about where he is, you could also make a good impression on the principal."
"She's got a point," Satoshi interjected, adding to her argument. That would have been slightly more tolerable was he not smiling smugly, like he'd just made the joke of the century.
Natsuki, who I almost forgot was there, agreed as well. "It is a rare opportunity. Still, I… I'd careful. She didn't seem like the nicest woman I've ever seen."
Another inescapable situation; worse, I couldn't even find a mild interest in figuring this out. To convey this, I rubbed my head once again. "The thing is, I don't really think I can figure this out. I don't know him well enough to discover where he might be hiding."
"Well," Chitanda said. "We do know that he has a reputation of hiding in clubrooms to get out of trouble."
"It would seem that way," Satoshi added. "After all, why else would the teacher be checking there?"
"If he wanted to hide, he'd go in a club room with small groups of people. The teacher will probably check ours soon."
"Do you think he's there?" Natsuki asked.
"I'm not entirely sure," I responded. "But if the teacher's going to check there anyways, we shouldn't worry about."
"He probably has a good hiding place, though. The teacher may not be able to find him." Natsuki said.
"Someone that big would find it difficult to hide, though."
"Some people do have unusual talents, Hotaru,"
"I could totally see him as having unusual talents."
"I better be going." Natsuki said. "But I'll see you guys later," She gave a curious wink towards me, and dashed out as we saw her off.
"Anyways, I think we should check the club rosters to see if we can find this guy." Satoshi suggested.
"Wait," I stopped him before he could go any further. "You probably know those by heart. What club has the least amount of members?"
"Well…" Satoshi scratched his chin. "The Chess Club with three. It would be quite an ironic place for him to hide."
"It seems so obvious, though," Chitanda remarked. "He might think of something that wouldn't be so easy to figure out."
"True," I said, agreeing with her. "What others do you know?"
"Hm, he wouldn't be in any of the sports club, the teacher would have checked there already. Besides, that's pretty obvious in of itself. There are so many clubs, though. It might take a while to find out where he is."
"What's his name?"
"Let me think… Oh yeah, that's right. Kenichi Hunan,"
"What class?"
"2-D,"
"He'd probably want to get out of the teacher's sight in a hurry." Chitanda said.
"Most likely," I said. "What club rooms are close to there?"
"Not too many," Satoshi admitted. "Which narrows down our search a bit. The closest to that classroom specifically is the Go Club."
"Okay. Let's go," She again pushed me all the way to the classroom, even though that wasn't really necessary. I had no choice but to follow her.
The clubroom was mostly deserted, except for a club leader cleaning up the room. "What's up?" He asked.
"I have a feeling there's someone hiding from the teachers in here."
"Really?"He looked very surprised. "But, we already saw the teacher. We looked around this place pretty thoroughly, but we couldn't find anything.
The room looked plain, like something that would be hard to hide in. There was a table in the center, but besides that, the only object possible to hide in was a large cabinet with a door. I assumed inside it was shelves of various Go boards and game pieces.
"Did you check in there?"
He glanced back. "Yes, we did."
I did another check around the room. It was a particularly plain club room. It was possible we had gotten the wrong room, but another theory came to mind.
"Are you sure you looked everywhere inside?" I abruptly stated, my nerves tensing.
"Yes, we did. That was the place the teacher told us to check most carefully."
I opened up the door, and examined the shelves. Most of it was covered with shadows, making it hard to see distinct shapes. I checked in the right corner, also dark with shadow. Then, I stuck my hand out.
"I found him,"
Chitanda and Satoshi reacted to my call, running up to the closet as well.
"He's right here," I tugged his shirt. Reluctantly, he rolled out of his hiding place.
"How, how didn't we see that?" The club leader inquired, frazzled at the discovery.
"An honest mistake, anyone could have made it." I watched as he stood himself up. "'Doesn't seem very sophisticated of you to hide from punishment. You gave me the impression you were more responsible than that."
He dusted himself off, standing up as he did so. "Shut up,"
The club leader disappeared in a hurry, most likely to find a teacher. "I doubt you'll say that when the teachers show up. You'll probably play the victim, like you probably have several times in the past."
"Listen punk," He pointed his finger at me. "This ain't over. I'll show you I'm stronger. Next time we meet, you won't be so lucky."
It was showing up again. Worse than before. My nerves tightening had turned into full blown anger. I could feel my head started to lose itself to the impulsive state of mind I'd fallen into earlier that day. "Don't try it,"
Satoshi and Chitanda both looked surprised. I ignored the two sets of footsteps on their way to the classroom.
"Haha, wise guy, eh? Just wait till I wipe that smug smile of your…"
A thumping sound echoed through the room. It took me a moment to realize what had happened.
I'd just punched him.
He didn't look hurt, just a bump on his face that was proof enough of what I had done.
The teacher and the club leader entered the club room.
"So, I see you did find the…" She silenced herself. Noticing the man on the ground, she discovered a new target for her anger. "Hunan-san, wait outside this hallway. I want everyone besides Hotaru-san to leave as well."
They did. Chitanda projected a worried glance on her way out. I attempted to reassure her by showing a small smile.
"Hotaru-san, this is a warning. I am fully aware of everything that happened in the cafeteria. Due to the predicament Hunan-san put you in, I did not decide to remind you of it. But his behavior is not an excuse for retaliation on your part. I'll let it pass this time, but cross me again, and you won't be so lucky."
She started to walk out the door. "Oh, and by the way, I know everything about the accident you were involved in during the science demonstration. And I don't care; as long as I'm here, you will not get away with using your predicament as an excuse for avoiding punishment."