4/18
As I arrived at school, I came across a peculiar scenario.
Mr. Kamoshida's on the entrance. That's….odd. I wonder what made him do this.
As I walk near the entrance, Mr. Kamoshida's eyes fell on me.
"Oh, it's you. The girl with the reporter last week. Good morning!" he greeted.
"Good morning to you too, Mr. Kamoshida. I must say, it's odd for you to be at the gates in the morning. Whatever made you do this?" I asked.
"I just wanted to greet the students a good morning while also keeping watch for anyone who misbehaves."
"Ah, I see. Well, I should get going. I don't want to miss my class."
"Hey, how about we have a little chat later? Just you and me, at my office."
He's doing this again?
"Unfortunately Sir, I'm afraid I cannot make it today. I have a tutoring session later."
"I see. Some other time, then?"
"I'll think about it."
I can't believe this. He sounds like he's hitting on me! Well, whatever. Class is starting after a while so I should go.
Classes were per the usual. The teachers are still trying not to bring up Friday's events to the main topic.
I am admittedly starting to lose interest in the class again. Mr. Ushimaru is not a bad teacher but Social Studies is my least favorite subject for a reason. Still, I better not look like I'm bored so he doesn't get mad at me. I could try to look at my classmates to see what they're doing.
Well, some students seem to paying attention. I envy them. Some are like me who are bored but are not showing it fearing for Mr. Ushimaru's wrath. Oh, and there's Sakamoto-kun, seeming to be texting on his cellphone. Hope Mr. Ushimaru doesn't see him do that.
Amane-san said that our tutoring session would be delayed because she was finishing her project. In order to buy time, I decided to walk around school.
Throughout my walk, I thought it was nice that I could always see a variety of students around the school halls. Activities include talking, fiddling with their phone, studying, lounging and even stalking. Yeah, believe or not, a school as refined and strict as Shujin Academy had a creepy stalker. I don't try to mind her. As long as she doesn't hurt someone, it's fine.
Onto the next subject, today's talk was the same as usual. No wonders there. Recent events are still a hot topic among the students. I swear, it's like they say the same thing every day like NPCs on a video game.
As I passed down a hallway, I saw Mr. Kamoshida talking to a student who I assume is a member of the volleyball team. Intending myself to not be seen by him, I turned around and walked as discreetly as I could.
One notable observation was when I was walking on the third floor was when I noticed Sakamoto-kun, the twintailed girl from last time and the transfer student climbing the stairs to the rooftop. What are they doing there? I'm pretty sure they know that roof is off limits. And what's with the cat on the transfer student's bag? Isn't that the same cat I saw last time?
Curiosity took over for me and I decided to follow them when I heard someone familiar call me.
"Hey Kobayashi-san, what are you doing here?"
I turned around and found out the voice came from Maho-chan.
"Hey Maho-chan! I was just taking a walk around the school to buy time for Amane-san."
"Oh, OK. I just finished up my daily research. Do you want to go home together?"
"Ummm…" I said as my mind wondered on the rooftop. "Hey, isn't the rooftop off-limits to us students?"
"I believe so. Why do you ask?"
"I just saw some students went up to the rooftop."
"Are you sure? If that's true, they could get in trouble with that."
"I know. They look like they're making it their hangout spot or something. I thought it might be best to warn them about going there."
"OK then, I'm coming."
"Really?"
"Yeah, sure. Don't want to fumble your way taking to them."
We took our first steps on the stairs to the rooftop when we heard a stern adult male voice behind us.
"Where do you girls think you're going? You know that the rooftop is prohibited to students."
We turned around and we saw that the voice came from a male teacher. I think I remember seeing him teaching third years.
"Oh sorry. We saw some students climbing up to the rooftop and we decided to warn them." I said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, I suppose you are doing the right thing. I'll go along and teach those students a lesson."
And with that, the teacher went with us to the rooftop. By the time we reach the door and opened it, what we saw came as a shock for us.
There was no one on the rooftop.
"Are you girls lying to me? There's no one there!" the teacher said, anger evident in his voice.
"But I swear I did saw some students going up here!" I insisted.
"Is this your excuse for sneaking up to the rooftop?"
"No. We never intend to break any school rules." Maho-chan said. "We may have saw something different and mistaken it as someone going to the rooftop."
"What?!" I whispered to Maho-chan.
"Just go with it." she whispered back.
The teacher sighed and said, "Alright, I can see that you two are being genuine so I'll let this slide. But if this happens again, I will have no choice but to send you to the principal's office. Understood?"
"Yes, sir. Thank you." we replied in unison.
And then the teacher left.
"You know, it's a good thing the teacher was kind enough to let it slip through." Maho-chan said as we're walking on the school hallways. "The last thing I want is a trip to the principal's office. My parents would go ballistic if it happened!"
"But I was sure that I saw them going up to the rooftop." I said, checking my memory of the recent event.
"Look Kobayashi-san, maybe you really are seeing things. It's a well-known rule of the school that us students are prohibited on rooftops. No one is going to be stupid enough to break that rule."
"I suppose so…"
After the tutoring session with Amane-san, I went to the nearby supermarket to buy groceries for the week. Afterwards, I headed straight home.
The evening went as usual. Mom decided to call us after dinner to check on us. She said she would be home tomorrow evening so at least there's something to look forward to. I relayed Mom's message to my siblings and not too long retired to my bedroom as I studied and the slept for the night.
4/19
After school, I passed by the bulletin board and happen to notice a new posting.
"VOLLEYBALL RALLY RESULTS: Mr. Kamoshida MVP! The roof of the school is off-limits!"
Those words immediately caught my attention on the bulletin.
"So you finally noticed it, huh?" a voice beside me said. Having recognized that voice, I turned around and saw that it belonged to Maho-chan. "Remember the interview we did? This is the article that it belonged to."
"Well, it certainly is eye-catching. Just another day of praising Mr. Kamoshida, I guess. What's with the warning about the rooftop though?" I said.
"Apparently, because of yesterday's events, a teacher requested that this warning to be made. I guess he thought that the rule wasn't known enough to students."
As we walked along, we passed by Sakamoto-kun and the transfer student outside talking to one another.
"What are they doing there?" I asked under my breath.
"Kobayashi-san, it might be best not to get involved with the transfer student." I heard Maho-chan say.
"Why do you say that?"
"Look, rumors spread like wildfire in this school. I should know, I'm a Newspaper Club member. The last I want is to be accused of being in cahoots with him . And the same goes for you, too."
"So, what so you do? You just avoid him?"
"Well, it's hard not to see him after school since his classroom is near my usual research spot. The best I could do if he approaches me, which happens pretty often surprisingly, is to ignore him."
"You know you could just move in a different location."
"No can do! That spot right there is the optimal spot for gossips and rumor mills among the whole school. There is no way I can just change locations!"
"If you say so."
"So, speaking of research, are you researching for a topic right now?" I asked, wanting to change topics.
"I am. Which reminds me that I had to go. I got a good lead on something and I don't want to miss it. See ya!" Maho-chan then left to the direction to the Practice Building.
It was around 8 PM that my mom arrived home.
"I'm home." Mom said tiredly.
"Welcome home, Mom. So, how's the trip?" I said.
"Tiring. Almost every day we have meetings for future projects. We were glad we were given a break on Sunday so I was able to buy some souvenirs."
"Who do you have meetings with?"
"Various heads of corporations. There was one that stuck out to me that was the one from the Kirijo Group. It's hard to believe that a woman so young was able to lead such a large company. Inherited from her late father, I heard."
Mom went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
"So, how was the weekend?"
"Well, we ate at some fancy hotel. Aunt Fumiko invited us there."
"Oh yeah. I remembered Fumiko inviting me but I had to turn it down because of trip. I'm pretty sure my older brother also turned it down."
"From what I heard from her, that seems to be the case. She seemed to be pissed about it."
"I can see why. We three are always busy nowadays that we barely had time for each other."
"We also went shopping on Sunday. We used the budget you allocated for us."
"That's good to hear. Now while I love to keep this chat longer, your mother is tired and she needs some rest."
"Oh, OK. Have a nice rest! Goodnight!"
"Good night."
As soon as Mom left to her room, I checked the plastic bag she brought home. It was full of local snacks and some souvenirs. I picked up what I assume was mine. It's a T-shirt with a stylized logo of Tatsumi Port Island on it. Good thing I like the color.
I set aside the plastic bag, locked the gate and door and went to my room.
This is it. Tomorrow is the day. I hope I can do this right.
A/N
Doing two-day chapter takes a long time to write it seems...
Also, next chapter is focused on original story. There will still be game stuff happening but don't expect those to be much.