"Who are you and what have you done with Hyakuya Yuuichiro?" Guren asked in a tone as cold and sharp as his sword. Sugawara kept on looking from the man, to the sword and then back up at the man. He couldn't figure out where he had gone wrong.
"What are you saying?" Sugawara asked, trying to fall back into his assigned role. He figured that was the best thing to do for the time being. At least it was better than standing still and saying nothing.
"You know what I'm saying," Guren said. "You're not Yuu, you may look and sound like him but you're way too clever."
So it had actually been the calculation he had done wrong. That made sense. Shinoa had said that Yuu wasn't exactly one of the brightest people. He would have to play it off, tell a lie to cover up for him answering correctly. In the middle of his thinking, Sugawara realized how strange it was that normally you would be doing the right thing by answering correctly, but in this case, the correct answer was the wrong one.
"I was guessing!" He exclaimed.
Guren snorted. "Nice try," he said.
"What's this? Are you guys that angry at each other now?" Shinoa's voice sounded through the hallway.
"Since when did Yuu's guesses become accurate?" Guren asked, looking at Shinoa. "Did you teach him how to calculate?"
"Oh that?" Shinoa asked. "No, another from the squad must have done that. I did ask him some mathematic questions the other day and teased him about not being able to answer them correctly."
"And you want me to believe Yuu actually studied?" Guren asked.
"Maybe he got tired of being stupid?" Shinoa asked. "Then it would also make sense for him to call you stupid Guren." She added the last bit with a small glance at Sugawara. She hadn't needed to do that though. He had got the hint.
"Why can't you tell that I'm me, Stupid Guren," Sugawara said while trying to imitate the tone of a slightly angry child.
Guren moved his sword away from Sugawara's chest and put it away. "It's unlikely, but I'll believe you," he said, giving up. "But be careful what you say, Yuu," he said before he went down the hallway, opposite of the way Yuu came from.
"Mi-chan found Yoichi-san," Shinoa said in a hushed voice as Guren turned the corner. "We're going to the library. Kimizuki-san's already there."
Sugawara nodded his head and followed Shinoa down the hallway and to the library. It was completely empty aside from Kageyama, Nishinoya and Mitsuba. That really was their luck.
"You found him," Mitsuba said.
"Yes. We should go practice our teamwork," Shinoa said. "Kimizuki-san, leave the books and come with us."
Kageyama stood up and walked to the door. Mitsuba grabbed Nishinoya by the arm, but in such a way that it could be questioned whether she was holding onto him or not. Shinoa grabbed Sugawara by the sleeve and dragged him along in a way more obvious way. He could sense that she was annoyed from the way she was dragging him, but he also knew that most of this was just for show.
"Why are you doing this, Shinoa!" he yelled in a tone he hoped sounded like Yuu's. And he kept on complaining like that until they reached the room where they were usually practicing the use of their weapons. He didn't stop before the door was shut and Shinoa let go.
"Too bad you couldn't act this well while talking to Guren," Shinoa said.
"Sorry…" Sugawara apologized. He knew he had messed up.
"It wasn't your fault entirely," Shinoa said while glaring at Nishinoya. "What were you thinking getting all of you separated like that?"
"Hey! I was looking for knowledge to help us solve the problem!" Nishinoya yelled.
"You should find the library first then," Mitsuba said.
"Kageyama found it!" Nishinoya argued.
"After you left," Shinoa said. "And Sugawara-san had to go looking for you and then ran into Guren and blew our cover."
"And that's my fault too?" Nishinoya yelled.
"Yes!" Shinoa yelled back.
"I'm curious though," Mitsuba said. "What made Sugawara fail?"
"I was asked a mathematical question and solved it correctly," Sugawara answered.
"That doesn't sound like failure to me," Kageyama said.
"Yuu-san is stupid," Shinoa said. "He would never answer a mathematical question correctly."
"So what did you tell Lieutenant Coronel?" Mitsuba asked.
"That Yuu-san was studying. I'm not sure he bought that lie, but he did let us go," Shinoa answered.
"Couldn't you have just run?" Nishinoya asked.
"If we had done that, Lieutenant Coronel Guren might have stabbed Sugawara-san with that sword." Shinoa said in a dark tone.
Subconsciously Sugawara moved his hand to his chest, right at that point where Guren's sword had nearly touched him. "He really didn't believe I was Yuuichiro," he said.
"I still doubt he does," Shinoa answered truthfully.
"Anyway, what did you figure out, Kageyama?" Nishinoya asked, changing the subject away from Guren and Sugawara, which was something Sugawara was at least grateful for.
"I think I found a useful document," Kageyama said.
"Did you bring it?" Sugawara asked.
Kageyama fell silent. That silence could only be interpreted one way and everybody else let out a heavy sigh.
"Do you remember what it said?" Sugawara then asked.
"It was something about a different organization, actually several and areas where they were supposed to be. There was one with their whereabouts unspecified but they were in Tokyo somewhere. A source was named and their experiments were listed as well, like what they were researching. It does fit something with time," Kageyama explained.
"Have you always been that good at memorizing, Kageyama-san?" Shinoa asked.
"I can memorize some stuff better than other," Kageyama answered.
"When it comes to volleyball his memory is almost perfect," Sugawara explained.
"That could be used in our favor," Shinoa smiled at this.
"But Kageyama still isn't that smart," Sugawara added.
"I see," Shinoa nodded her head at this. "Anyways, I think we should start on practicing and agree that you three are not wondering around on your own again. If you were to run into anyone from my family next time, it would be even worse than what we have experienced today."
"Is your family that dangerous?" Nishinoya wondered without seeming to care.
"Yes," Shinoa answered. "They are the rulers of the Imperial Demon Army, Guren's superior and very powerful on top of that. I don't see them often, but I know this much at least."
"Why don't you see them?" Sugawara asked.
"I don't want to and they don't even care about me, so what's the point. Besides, they have some ways that I don't approve very much of, so that's why." Shinoa explained. "Mi-chan doesn't see her family much either."
Mitsuba nodded to this.
"But enough about us," Shinoa said. "Let's get started on your training and pray that nothing worse is going to happen before we can solve this problem."