...*looks at my dusted document and blows the dust bunnies off it*
Yes, I know I owe you guys a lot. Yes I know I'm a terrible author. Yes I know I've been gone for so long. And I am SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO (100x) SORRY! ;;w;;
It's been what, 6 months since my last chapter?! Not even I could believe that and I'm the writer!
Rest assured I'm not dead and neither is this story. I just haven't gotten around to writing it recently and I'm really super duper sorry for that! q~q
I haven't been feeling myself these past few months and I really thought I needed a break from a lot of things, and that included writing. I always wanna give my best whenever I write and I really couldn't give it my all when there was too much going on with me. So I AM SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY OF THIS CHAPTER AND FOR NOT KEEPING MY PROMISES I KNOW BERATE ME ALL YOU WANT.
I would also like to sincerely apologize for the degradation in the quality of chapters ever since I started getting busy again. Back when I was writing this before my 3rd year of high school, this had been my sole focus throughout the summer and I had really fun with it. Because I became too busy, I couldn't really think of scenes just as nice as I did when I wrote these chapters everyday. I still have lots of fun writing, but I'm not very sure of its quality anymore, since I sort of lost continuity – if I consistently wrote, I'm sure the quality would be consistent as well. But hey, I'm waiting for my 5-6 month summer vacation to get myself going again, so I really really do hope that you still have the chance to read! I hope my story hasn't gone down the "Shithole of badly written stories" ;;w;;
But other than that, I would like to give my sincerest thanks to all of the people that faved, followed, and reviewed this fanfiction! You guys are the reason I keep going and give me the inspiration to continue writing despite all the challenges in my way. your beautiful comments in the review section warm my heart and I mean it. That's why I wanna post this before Christmas - I mean, I have to give my precious readers a gift one way or another ;;w;;
SO MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR MY LOVELY READERS! I LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDYING SUPPORT! You've all been nothing but great and that's why I am compelled to continue this story no matter what.
Please have faith that I will NEVER give up on this story even though I know that the latest arc is sort of (not sort of, it's REALLY) messed up. Again, I couldn't really give it much focus and that's why there are a bunch of inconsistencies.
Forewarning: I'M SORRY FOR OOCNESS. I am yet to reorient myself with these characters and their relationships with one another, as well as the world they live in. So yeah, please bear with this chapter for a bit because I know it's nothing compared to what I used to make. But still, I hope you guys find at least some enjoyment in this one QAQ
Forewarning number 2:There is official Nagikae in this chapter. And for all of you who have the argument that it isn't canon in the real thing because of Kayano said "I'm not under Nagisa's radar AT THE MOMENT", 7 years is a long time. Ups and downs in a relationship happen. So for this chapter, Nagikae is canon. Okay? okay we can argue later.
DISCLAIMER: ANSATSU KYOUSHITSU BELONGS TO THE ONE AND ONLY GENIUS THAT IS MATSUI-SENSEI.
Please enjoy this VERY LATE installment of To Reach You!
"Oh, to the castle of the Egg Prince~! Dressed in tux and gown – handsome men, and pretty ladies –rounding up the ballroom~! I have prepared my evening dress; but dear, I look like a red fish! Stepping onto the stage I make my mark, but with an ounce of dis~taste~!"
The girl's voice was followed by an ebullient chorus of pristine voices sent goosebumps to the audience of the hall –dousing them with wonder as grins came upon their faces at the beauty of the theatrical performance. But the music and exuberant colors merely faded away before any of them can reach the corridors outside of the venue; for this was but a block of petunias in the vast, beauteous garden known as the Kimii Cultural Fiesta.
Each hallway of the school's buildings had been decked with bunting, posters, props, but most of all, people.
"Welcome! Would you like to join the Art club's portrait challenge? Only 150 yen to have your face painted by our most talented artists!"
"Hallo, hallo! Wouldn't you care for a slice of our special blueberry shortcake? Brought to you by Occult club!"
"See our school's very own fashion design club and their special guest Akiba idols! Their performance is at 3 PM. LIMITED TO TODAY!"
Cheery voices, upbeat music (live and not), a bright sunny day – just one look at the festival would have one think that it was the work of a collaboration of creative geniuses. And Rinka had to admit that she was impressed at all the work the rest of the students put into this. She would've applauded it had she not been holding dozens of freebies and prizes she got from the clubs she'd already tried out.
Taking a bite out of her strawberry choco-banana crepe, her emerald eyes looked up and about for the next attraction she should try out. She glanced at posters put up left and right – even up and down, if you wish – until her gaze dropped at an all-too-familiar bush of black, shabby hair coming from a sliding door from her right.
"Ah, Hayami."
Rinka eyed him from top to bottom for a moment before responding "Heavy weight lifting in the cultural festival?" this would have sounded sarcastic had she not sounded too serious while wording it out.
"Oh, this?" he slightly raised the two large boxes in his hold just to gesture to the 'heavy weight' she spoke about "I was asked by some seniors if I could help out with fixing a few things for the fiesta. Turns out, some clubs were short on time preparation due to the third years having schedule problems. That's why they need the extra hand."
"Making a slave of yourself, huh? That's too like you it's hard to hide my acerbity." She would've crossed her arms sardonically had it not been for the load in her arms, but her expression of (mock) disdain was enough for the other to get the message –and smile.
"When you put it that way, it's like you're saying I enjoy making a slave of myself. Though…" he took a brief second to have a good look at her before giving her his own sly smile "Seems to me I'm not the only one who's kept busy all morning."
The pigtailed sniper let her previous expression fall and replaced it with a knowing smile "Hmph, touché."
"Have you seen any of the others?"
"Nope. Not a single one of them." she shook her head for emphasis on her words. "It can't be helped though. Now that we're no longer as busy as we were, they're now scattered all over the area to go wherever they feel like creating chaos." she may have referred to all of them, but she particularly had Karma and Nakamura in mind. (But after a certain event from last night, Manami was also an afterthought)
Chiba chuckled at that "Can't say you're wrong about that. But I did hear that Isogai and the others have arrived; pretty sure Sugino and Karma must be with them."
"Mm. I heard from Nakamura."
"Are you gonna go meet them?"
"If I happen to pass them by, I'll leave them with a few greetings or so." She said this before taking an indifferent bite out of her crepe.
"I see." He settled for her response just like that. Albeit what Chiba was doing to himself now, he knew the two of them were no exception to wanting some time to themselves and other, less familiar people (in an inoffensive way) after all that time expended working.
"In any case, that must be getting heavy by now. You should be getting your errand done soon."
She found slight amusement in seeing him look over his shoulder to find he was lagging behind the rest of his seniors. "Ah, woops." He adjusted the weight he had on his shoulders and prepared to jog over to them, but not before glancing back at Rinka in a slightly hurried fashion.
"I'll see you later."
"Mm. See you." She let slip a small smile – which did not go unnoticed. Turning a heel, she proceeded to get back to what she was doing (which was basically anything but nothing).
Mumbling to herself, she managed to get a hand into her skirt pocket to read a pamphlet one of the seniors gave her in the midst of her wandering. The colors and gigantic text were typical of a restaurant booth by the cooking club – but it was needless to say that that Beef Stroganoff on the menu didn't catch even a bit of her attention. Never mind the price, that plate on the picture was tempting enough. So they better not fool her with photo-shopped food.
Rinka checked the watch on her wrist – it was 20 minutes to 1 PM.
"Guess I'll go have lunch here…" she mumbled to herself and put the pamphlet back. But not two steps after she did, her eyes fell upon an all-too-familiar figure crowned with blonde hair which was being roofed by arms laxly – walking in the opposite direction she was. The expression she had on looked placid (enough, at least), yet if the ginger hadn't known her too well by this time, the subtle discontentment on her face would have gone unnoticed.
Seeing this, Rinka raised an eyebrow.
"Yo." Rio halfheartedly greeted before stopping a few steps beyond her and let her arms fall effortlessly to her sides.
"What's up with you?" as no-nonsense as ever, she inquired despite the blonde's back towards her.
Rio sidestepped so she could face her fellow clubmate – displaying a rather dissatisfied expression which she even emphasized with the shrug of her shoulders and palms open in the air.
"No-thing mu-ch~" She elongated the vowels as she said this – sarcastically shaking her head as she was at it. "I was just wandering from club to club and trying to have fun."
"But then…?" even though she pressed it, Rinka didn't feign disinterest and dullness in her tone – and her expression was more than enough to show that. She already had a feeling she was right about whatever happened anyway.
Not for long, Rio let this countenance of hers drop and she almost looked like she was pouting. "Someone couldn't take a joke and kicked me out of one, that's what. I'll admit that I may have touched on her weak spot, but not even I could believe she went that far, jeez." In mild annoyance, she placed her hands on her waist and crossed her eyebrows.
"Who are you talking about, anyway?" Rinka narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow at her story – unable to fully comprehend how on Earth things could have come to that.
Immediately after the pigtailed sniper saw the abrupt switch from pouty to mischievous on her clubmate's face, she regretted engaging a conversation with her in the first place.
With a palm positioned in front of her mouth and an evil look in her eye, she snickered
"Ohohoh, now wouldn't you like to know~."
"No I don—Hey wai—!"
"Welcome, masters!"
The squeaky voices of the maids from an improvised maid café in one of the 2nd year's classrooms couldn't possibly go overlooked. Not even a mere passerby could resist the temptation to glance (out of cringe or out of curiosity) at the room whenever any of the maids said something extremely and annoyingly cute.
It wasn't unusual. In every school, at least one of the clubs (let alone, the manga club) would set up a maid café during a high school cultural festival. This maid café in particular didn't look too different from what the rest of the building's interior did – there were buntings, colorful ribbons attached on the walls and to small posts where customers could line up, and the windows were stripped of their curtains to let in the bright light of the sun so that it reflected on the pearl-colored tiles and pale blue, concrete walls. The only differences that could be found were the multiple framed illustrations that were hung on every aesthetic corner of the walls of the room. Per se, there was nothing odd about it. But what puzzled the two girls that were, at the moment, sneakily taking a peek inside the room, was the presence of the certain someone Rio was talking about before she dragged Rinka all the way here.
Rinka would have been infuriated with her now, had it not been for her own surprise when she laid eyes on none other than Fuwa Yuzuki – who currently had on a bright smile as she greeted newcomers, ended a number of sentences with nya, and had a bounce in her step as she led each one to their tables to enquire their orders,
All while dressed in a frilly maid outfit with cat-ears on her head.
"Ueehh, I'm not seeing things right now, am I?" Rinka whispered – eyes furrowed with a look that was a mix of concern and disbelief as a drop of sweat formed at the side of her head.
In response to this, the blonde could only give a half-hearted laugh "I asked myself the same thing. But in any case," Rio's forced smile shifted to a rather cheeky one as she said,
"Let's drop by and say hello, shall we?"
After the last customer had entered, the short-haired manga-lover somewhat skipped to the entrance as she hugged a menu to her chest. And beaming with delight, she bowed in front of her next two customers.
"Welco-AHAHAHAHAH?!" but the moment her eyes looked up to see two people she knew far too well, Yuzuki's entire character faltered as she stiffened – bug-eyed and slack-jawed.
"I'm ba~ack~!" Rio casually waved to her with a grin that looked to innocent to say there was not a hint of cheekiness underneath that. And although that was enough for the coconut-head to twitch her eye, the addition of another person she did not wish to encounter today multiplied her embarrassment and contempt by five.
For, behind her, Rinka had her arms crossed and a cocked eyebrow – "care to explain yourself?" or something along those lines was written all over her face.
Yuzuki had to spend a few moments stuttering with a wide-eyed expression plastered on her face before she could actually react.
"G – you–! What –?! Why are you here?!"
"That's what we should be asking." The pigtailed ginger's fast response took the otaku aback as the embarrassment was beginning to take over her system again.
In an attempt to cover up that fact, she pouted, averted their stares, and crossed her arms "I-I'm just productively spending a little time trying to earn some money, there isn't a problem with that!"
"Mmmm….?" Both girls in front of her hummed – they were clearly unconvinced by such an excuse as they gave pejorative stares which she could actually feel without having to look at them.
"Gah! What do you want, anyway!?" it was clear from her tone, and the way she stood on her tiptoes with shoulders tensed and fists clenched that all she wanted was for them to get out of there. "And you!" she turned a vindictive gaze toward the blonde and pointed to her with an exaggerated finger.
"Didn't I tell you I was going to use your share of our money to print that photo of you on a large tarpaulin if I saw your face here again?!" there was a threatening fury in her eyes as she said this – even though it contradicted with the outfit she was wearing.
A 'tch' came from her lips; but she kept her composure and crossed her arms challengingly as she said in a mock-whiny manner, "Don't be such a grumpy old troll about it now, Yuzuki-chan – oh wait, here they call you Nyazuki-tan don't they?" she said that last bit with a sardonic bite in her words.
Instantaneously, the brunette felt as if she'd been shot-gunned in the head – and although that was just a picture in her head, the way she inhaled chokingly and twitched her eyes gave away how affected she was by that title.
In the midst of this banter, Rinka could only hum in very mild amusement. Rio seemed to be more pissed about being kicked out than she let out. And seeing the way things were going down, she thought it best to take a look at their menu now – which she took from Yuzuki's hold inconspicuously. It wasn't in her agenda to eat here, but now that things were going down this way, she might as well.
Somewhat regaining composure, Yuzuki tried to argue back defensively –but failed when she started stuttering "Th-that's only because the seniors said that all students not part of the club sh-should have a – a – !"
She couldn't bring herself to say 'Pet name'
"Aw, there's no need to be so down, Nyazuki-tan!" She waved her hand back and forth like she was effortlessly swatting a fly as she kept a teasing grin on. And it appeared that the blue-eyed trickster still felt unsatisfied by that effect on her, and continued sadistically "Besides, I was just kidding when I said 'I wonder how fast you'll agree if a certain someone sees you here and asks you to sit on his la—"
"PLEASE GO HOME!"
"Fuwa-san?"
Yuzuki's shoulders jerked up at the sound of one of the senior maid's voices as she froze in place.
"Is everything alright?" two of them had come from the makeshift kitchen of the room and looked to the three girls with concerned eyes.
Shakily, she turned her head over her shoulder and tried on her best smile of reassurance while letting out a nervous laugh.
"Y-yes, it's all good." She gave a thumbs-up and nodded – but that was to reassure herself more than her upperclassmen, however.
"Oh, we have more customers!" one of the two maids exclaimed with enthusiasm and pointed to the two girls by the classroom's entrance.
"Wha –?" her mouth was left agape at that.
"Fuwa-san, may you please get them a table." The other one said with a gentle smile as she used her arm to gesture to the next free table.
"B-But…" Yuzuki sighed in defeat – her form slumping a bit before turning to her clubmate's faces. One of them had on a triumphant and derisive grin while the other kept herself stone-faced as always (but if she looked closely, it was like she really enjoyed what just happened).
Pink eyes narrowed at them and were accompanied with a frown.
"Right this way, oh valued customers." She may have tried forcing herself to smile bubbly for them – but to no avail. She only ended up sounding like she worked in a funeral parlor and was about to lead the two into some kind of torture chamber. This didn't go unnoticed, however, for both Rio and Rinka believe they could have felt the negativity of her aura from a mile away and sweatdropped – it made them almost want to tell her it was all just for fun and finally leave her in her peace.
Almost.
"Thank you so much for your help, Fuwa-san. You really saved us." She heard one of the other maids– the club president of the manga club – tell her with a smile of approval and gratefulness.
"Haha…Don't mention it."
"Oi! Nyazuki-tan! Over here please!"
It was a good thing Yuzuki had her back turned on the voice of the boy that called her – she would have rendered him as soulless as the reaper now by the murderous glare that surfaced upon her features for a split-second, and how her eye just twitched at how appalled she was by the call. Nevertheless, she maintained her composure and mustered the sweetest beam she could (no matter how hard it was) as she turned around and replied to her customer.
"Yes! Please wait for just one moment, nya~!" And with that, she skipped over to their table in the most moe way possible – even bending over in an exaggerated manner as she took their order.
Meanwhile, the two friends whom she was forced to serve before them could do nothing more than watch her – with rather bemused faces at how she was able to completely act out a personality if she wanted to. Just how much manga has this girl read?
"Th-they really do call her that…" Rio commented with a sweatdrop – her cheek cupped by her palm as her perplexed blue eyes followed the figure of the person she was beginning not to recognize anymore. After a sigh, she smiled, fairly delighted at what she was seeing.
"But well, it looks like she's sort of having fun. Yuzuki-chan's gotten a little bold since Hide and Seek, huh? Seems like not only one of us is changing." She said with a genuine smile as she leaned back in a lax manner on her seat. Her orange-haired companion – who kept herself occupied with some of the manga that was provided on the table – flipped a page before replying.
"Is that why you're still here? To keep yourself entertained with that development?" her emerald eyes were not lifted from the seinen manga page in her hand, and her tone didn't sound very inquisitive – but it yearned for an answer.
Nonetheless, being used to this after working with her on the aforementioned Cultural Festival project, Rio shrugged and cupped her face with both her hands as she rested her elbows on the table.
Just in time, one of the maids came to their table and served them what they respectively ordered – and while all Rio ordered was a drink, Rinka apparently had enough money to buy herself an entire Beef stroganoff meal + drinks and potato salad.
Rio took the straw of her drink and started to twirl the ice inside "Well, that's not all there is to it." Her blue eyes fell on her coconut-haired friend once more – at the moment, she was going around tables and laying down the meals upon each table with commendable endurance she must have gained from assassination lessons. "For me, it's always a sight to see someone grow from what they used to be. Don't you think so?" the blonde flashed a bright smile – looking genuinely happy about her friend's development.
"I mean, Yuzuki-chan's never been this hardworking and proactive when we both first met her in middle school. She was always an observer now that I think about it – usually spouting out weird comments here and there, and was considered to be nothing more than a manga-obsessed girl with detective skills. Looking at her now, it's like she tried growing out of that by doing something that isn't like herself, yet is sucking it up. Don't you think that's something fun to think about?"
The way how her blonde-haired friend sounded – dare she even think it – prudent just now managed to bring Rinka's attention away from her book as she turned to look to where Yuzuki was as well; and she had to admit that this mischievous trickster was right. That's a girl that wants to be a future diplomat for you. She didn't notice it until later, but somehow a very small smile made it to her face "Guess so."
Rinka faced her again – but returned to her stoic countenance as she prepared to take a bite out of her meal "For someone that let her friend go through a lot of misery and humiliation not twenty minutes ago, you're quite the thoughtful type."
At that, the blonde gave a 'hmph' sound – yet didn't let her smile leave her face as she shrugged "Aw, when you say it like that, it's like you're saying I don't seem capable of treating people nicely~" she grinned and tilted her head on one of the palms supporting her cheeks after she rested her chin upon them. As Rinka mentally noted in her head "But you don't.", Rio continued speaking.
"I just hate having to do things the boring way. There's no fun if everything's done normally, right?"
"Hm?" Rinka's eyes were shut gently as she chewed on her food before replying "That sounds just like you."
"Right?" A hum of delight came from the cheeky blonde once more when she gave another one of her savvy smiles to herself and sipped on her drink. "And I'm proud of that~"
"Though this is a little out of topic, there's something I've been wondering."
"What?"
Rinka –practicing proper etiquette – finished wiping her mouth before speaking "When I think about what you said, I have to say that I expected you to be with Nagisa-kun and the others today – you were even the one who told me they were coming. Is there a reason for that?"
And while Rio was as skilled as Karma in feigning expressions, the split-second when she was caught off-guard did not escape Rinka's sharp eye – which narrowed with slight suspicion. But by how well she masked it, she doubted whether it was her imagination or not.
"Eh? Hah, that's because –"
"Customer, please do not get any closer…"
The helpless voice of one of the sophomore maids was able to grab both girls' attention as they sharply looked to its origin. What were the odds of one of the maids in a high school maid café eventually getting harassed by some witless outsiders?
100%.
"Isn't this alright? You were hired to do these things, weren't you?" the sickeningly flirty tone one of the boys used as he grabbed a wad of the young girl's hair and sniffed it – the other two of his companions snickering at the flustered reaction of the girl whose back was against a wall that was far away from the rest of the customers. But since the two girls from combat club were relatively near, it didn't slip any of their keen hearing.
At the sight, Rinka scoffed "This thing again?"
"Do these people never watch TV?" the blonde couldn't have sounded nor looked more bored than she did when she said that – suddenly losing all the enthusiasm she had when she got here.
Despite the way both girls responded to the situation, both knew that their sense of combat club duty and, of course, bloodlust was stimulated by the scene.
"U-um, I would think it best for you to stop immediately, before…" her voice came high-pitched and in a tone of great embarrassment. She kept an amount of distance between herself and her intimidator by looking to the side.
Why is it always this type of girl that gets attacked?
Fed up, another boy – whom Rinka observed to be a sophomore of Kimii – was preparing to stand up and looked just about ready to punch the guy if it's what's going to bring him to his place.
"Before what?" the boy, who looked no older than seventeen, grinned down like a predator that caught its prey with an arrogant glint in his eye.
But before he knew it, a wet, sticky, yet somehow sweet type of liquid was doused all over his head. He had been so caught by surprise that only by the time the sticky liquid reached his shoulders did he slowly turn to the imbecile (as he pertained to whoever it was in his mind) that dared to try such a thing with a hateful glare.
"Ah, my bad~!" Rio laughed and feigned guilt by the way she placed a hand over her mouth in a rather exaggerated manner.
Although, he was indeed caught by mild surprise once more to find out it was a girl – who looked up in an almost clueless manner at him with an empty cup in hand – that interrupted his antics; but not as much as the other male that was just about stand and mediate the situation, yet froze midway with a ridiculously shocked expression.
In fact, the pigtailed sniper herself could only manage a startled "Heh?" and had to process how she got there by looking back at the space she occupied a mere moment ago – her mind even visualized dotted-lines that took the shape of her blonde friend's form before it finally sunk in.
"There was a little bit of dirt there so I just thought I'd try washing it off…" she rubbed the back of her head in a sheepish fashion, but eventually killed the front with the dark look she had in her eye – like she usually would whenever she dealt with thugs like these.
"But it seems it's quite the stain…" and with a sadistic grin accompanied with a taunting wink, Rinka had to stifle an exasperated sigh from where she sat.
Aah, not again… – she contemplated on retreating after a while and prepared the payment for their food (and feeling relatively sympathetic, even left some money to pay for Rio's).
Though, she'd be lying if she said she didn't stay long enough to enjoy the show.
The sounds of the cultural festival outside of the school buildings were even more blaring than they were inside. The horrible mix of people screaming, chattering, and music from both good and bad quality speakers was hardly bearable – but this was the essence of a Literate Academy's Festival.
Karma, in fact, was managing well in the crowd that looked like it could suck a small child in and that child can never be found again – but that's only because he was tall, and has mastered the ability to keep himself stable thanks to him always taking the train. Between his lips was a plastic straw from the juicebox he held in one hand as he read a small pamphlet – from his most recent stall visit – he held in the other.
"Uwah, what a hard bargain." He commented with astonishment laced on his voice and decided to throw both the pamphlet and his finished juicebox to the nearest trash can. Ah Karma, always nitty-gritty when it comes to money.
For a while, in spite of all the noise around him, he tried to follow the familiar sounds that would lead him back to where some of his friends were waiting for him – with the most dependable sound being the voice of a screaming Kayano and Kataoka, both amplified by mics.
He knew he found it when his eyes caught sight of a small stage set-up just behind the opened, front gate of the school. Despite being miniature, there was a heading above the stage fancy enough to make it look like an important event– with eye-catching kanji that read "日本文化クイズビー(Japanese Culture Quiz Bee)" – and yes, Kayano, Kanzaki, and Kataoka were participating in it; with great passion…and fury.
"HEY! THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OUR POINT!" yelled the greenette while pointing to the team sitting by the table directly across theirs (though in a safe distance as each team was stationed by each end of the stage). The anger was clear from the way her eyes looked like a more intense version of every angry chibi character the world of anime had ever seen, and how her teeth seemed to become sharp as she spouted out her hateful words. In essence, she had on the same expression she would if someone ever mentioned the name "Forever 0" again.
"SHE'S RIGHT! JUST NOW, THAT GIRL COMMITTED A FOUL MISTAKE! THAT CALLS FOR DISQUALIFICATION DOESN'T IT?!" Kataoka slammed her fist to the table – with the mics jumping as an aftereffect – as she mirrored the same expression as her green-haired friend. Although the former class rep was a generally composed and mature figure to be looked up to, when it came to competitions that threatened her very own pride, one would expect that the fierce class officer would fight the battle with fiery passion.
The hostess of the quiz bee, whom they both yelled at, had to clutch the skirt of her Yukata as she shakily held her mic and forced her friendly "generic hostess" smile "U-Um, please refrain from violen –"
"THEY'RE DELUSIONAL!" the hostess' attempt to pacify the situation had been cut short, however, as the opposing team of the former class E girls could be considered just as competitive as they were – and just as loud.
"DESPICABLE!" another one of them fired with her arms crossed over school uniform while she looked down on her opponents with absolute disgust.
"OUTRIGHT REPULSIVE!" And it seems their side of the team wasn't done yet when the last one joined in the war of insults.
"Please, this is just a quiz bee. Do not make such a big deal out of it." By her tone, it was clear that the hostess was beginning to become impatient with the way each team was acting – and the smile she forced herself to keep on made it more convincing how irritated she was by now.
"IT BECAME A WAR EVER SINCE SHE PULLED A TRICK LIKE THAT!"
"YEAH! KATAOKA LET 'EM HAVE IT!" of the audience, Maehara had been the most avid supporter of his friends and looked like he was having the most fun – which made him deviate from his companions, who can only look on with sweatdrops and undying anxiety.
"Th-things got out of hand quicker than I expected…" Sugino commented – arms crossed from the tension in his shoulders as his teeth were grit together in almost a frown.
"I'm more worried about the hostess now…" Isogai followed with a bleak smile as he watched the scene – reflected on his eyes was a type of anticipation that was ready for another disaster to happen.
Just as things appeared to be going to hell faster than expected, the raven-haired Madonna of the assassination classroom decided to intervene "Kayano-san, Kataoka-san, let us compose ourselves. These girls may have just as much potential as they may seem to."
At that, the three boys in the audience seemed to have dropped their earlier expressions, and looked up to the girl in puzzlement and incredulity.
"Could it be?" Isogai uttered in a low voice as his other two companions were standing next to him on both sides.
"Kanzaki-san, so amiable!" Sugino exclaimed with utmost awe at his longtime crush. Despite her audience, Kanzaki kept herself composed and sophisticated – almost like an actual Japanese Noble from the medieval times.
On the other side of the stage, however, were girls of the complete opposite – with sneers on their faces as they continued to yell "Yeah! You better listen to her!"
"You cocky first-years shouldn't be quick to underestimate us!"
Without much effort, Kanzaki stifled a chuckle and placed a hand over her lips gently,
"But garbage shouldn't talk like it has a chance to be more than it is now, should it?" and with a dangerous glint in her eye, she leaned her head back slightly to look down on them in such a way that a predator would undervalue its prey – a ghastly 'ohohohoho…' coming from her afterwards, causing her other two companions to forget their own fury for a moment and sweatdrop at the girl's unique competitiveness.
"S-She just shot them with the Kanzaki obloquy!" both Sugino and Maehara yelped out their thoughts as both nearly pulled their hair off from immense shock and amazement.
"You're kidding! It's that extreme of a competition?!" Isogai cried with his bulged eyes towards the unexpectedly hostile girl– it's not everyday you see Kanzaki this indulged in a heated competition.
"And to think the all they'll be getting is a Gift Certificate and some sweets…" the former class rep furrowed his eyebrows when he made himself aware of that fact once more – biting his lip in vexation.
The volume of the crowd in front of the stage was controlled by a row of temporary railings close to it and far from it – like they would for concerts; but it wasn't like anyone was a daredevil enough to get too close to that stage. In the slightly far back, Karma caught sight of his best friend's signature blue pigtails (which he is yet to cut). There weren't a lot of people crowding the area, so the redhead found his friend in a rather spacious area with his elbows rested behind him – just on top of the railings like he were some cool guy (what a show-off).
Approaching him, he caught his attention with a single comment if "It's gotten pretty intense, huh?" before resting himself on the railings a fair distance from the pigtailed boy.
Nagisa nodded and faced the stage again "And only 10 minutes in…"
It wasn't too long before Nagisa's wary expression shifted to one of complete surprise at the turn of events. He may have not exactly heard what happened, but he was pretty certain that the word "flat" had to be part of it – why else would Akari throw her shoe at the other team's member's face?
"HEY! Isn't that against the rules?!" one of the girls shouted with her finger pointing violently at the hostess – her other companion was occupied picking the one who had been attacked from the floor and checked if she was still conscious.
This time, the hostess didn't try to smile as she shouted back "There's nothing written about it! This game was never supposed to be violent! And if I had my way I would have disqualified all of you!"
And, as usual, the crazy red-haired freak seemed to be enjoying himself with the flow of events, while his best friend remained uneasy and wore a look of "really?" on his face. Nagisa sighed, seeing as he can't do anything about it now and should be used to it – well, guess he's gonna have to convince her to apologize properly later (for all of their sakes).
Karma chose the moment things (relatively) calmed down as the best time to start a conversation – without taking his eyes off the show before him, he started, "Kayano-chan – no, Akari-chan looks like she's gotten used to keeping the act on stage and on screen. It seems she's having more fun just by being herself." His smile grew slightly wider in amusement as he watched how Kataoka and Kanzaki had to hold the furious green-haired girl back.
Blue eyes had to soften at that statement – particularly as he stared at the one he was talking about as a tender feeling formed inside of him. As his blue pigtails were gently flying with the breeze that passed them by, Nagisa lowered his head and closed his eyes with a smile in reminiscence of a few events in his life that led to how he and Akari were today.
And on that note, he remembered something. "Speaking of which,"
He turned his head so he was now looking at Karma "How's it been?"
Immediately, Karma knew what he was talking about, looked at Nagisa by the corner of his eyes, and sighed to the straw of his juicebox before lowering it down and facing the stage. "To put simply, things don't look like they're gonna change soon." He shrugged at that blithely and was ready to get rid of the topic before –
"And how do you feel about that?"
"What are you, my psychiatrist? I'm grateful, but I don't think I need one – especially from a guy that doesn't even look like he's got his own way of living handled properly." – and though Nagisa knew he was blatantly talking about the pigtails and his issues with his mom, he feigned to be unaffected and kept a smug smirk on while he waited for his best friend's answer.
Karma narrowed his eyes – so he is set on talking about it. What a slippery little sneak. After another sigh, the redhead leaned back and threw his juicebox behind him – and with amazing accuracy, it landed exactly in the recyclables bin.
He put his hands in his pockets and started "I'll admit. For now, I'm satisfied with just that." He didn't even need to turn his head to know that Nagisa gave him a look just now "But that doesn't mean I won't be making any moves soon." With a smirk, he faced the blue-haired boy "I'm not so much of a coward as to not try anything."
"I can agree. You're not the type to back down – proof of that's still clear on a bruise you made that's still healing."
Both laughed at the memory – but Nagisa only did so rather halfheartedly, especially with the way Karma didn't even look sorry for it. That civil war may have amended friendships, but it tore open wounds – literally.
After the short reminiscence session, the usually sharp, blue orbs of the former assassin seemed to gleam with a hint of ease as they faced the redhead once more "You've come to take it rather well."
"Don't get the wrong idea, Nagisa. If anything, continuing to fool myself immaturely would only stain my down-to-earth reputation, and I can't have that." He put his hands inside his pockets and lowered his head – eyes gently closed in a manner that displayed how much he didn't really like talking about this type of thing. However,
"And…when I really think about it…" his sudden shift in tone caused Nagisa to look at him with a mix of surprise and expectancy in his eyes.
As his hair danced in the cool wind that passed by, Karma's tone of voice lowered – becoming more firm and contemplative.
"At all costs, I don't want to lose her to anyone."
Nagisa was left astonished by the amount of straightforward determination he just displayed. The often impenetrable look in eyes was broken – now, they were distant, yet firm as he put in to words such a resolve. It had been fun, for a while, to see this boy get behind him in the game of life that one time, but at this rate he's gonna beat him.
"So? Does that satisfy you?" the expression Karma had on was broken immediately, and had been replaced by a rather disinterested one.
The pigtailed boy could only nod, seeing his generic attitude again "Mm. I think I've heard enough."
Nagisa paused for a while and looked at the Akari again (in a more calmed down state) "If I'm gonna be honest, I had almost the exact same thoughts."
His best friend's sudden openness about this topic caught Karma's attention – having him turn to him to indicate that he was listening rather well.
With blue orbs softened, a reminiscent smile slightly pulled his lips up "A lot happened between us before we got to this point. And as it turns out, surprisingly those thoughts aren't any different from now." Nagisa kept his smile and turned to his best friend again in a somewhat knowing fashion.
"The agony doesn't stop."
Just then, Karma recalled that time he helped the said greenette with these love problems along with Nakamura. He doesn't know what it took for them to get to this level, but deep down, he'd have to applaud the girl – getting his denser-than-a-brick-wall best friend to look at her in the way he's talking about her right now must have been quite the mountain range to climb (He'll probably tease her about it later when he gets the chance).
But Karma will never admit that – he'll never hear the end of it. He didn't even bother to ask about the "a lot of things happened" he mentioned, for it must be a long and painful story of misunderstandings. Instead, he wore a trademark smile of his own, and slightly turned his eyes up to catch a glimpse of the orange clouds that flew above them.
"Hehh? Just now, you sounded like a real adult."
Nagisa couldn't help but scoff a little at that "Believe me, I'm far from that."
A sigh escaped Karma's lips – what an annoying brat – he thought before punching the guy on his arm.
"Ah!" pain shot through the pigtailed boy's arm; and Nagisa didn't even need to face him to know that he was smiling when he said "I know."
Although this was a friendly gesture, it seemed the sadistic demon of Class E didn't know his own strength as a pained hiss came from the victim of this.
"Tsch…it was there…" Nagisa's body slouched greatly as he held on to the part of his arm that was throbbing under his grip – and just when it finally stopped hurting after all these months.
On the other hand, of course, Karma just laughed – it was a rare, genuine one, like he was content with himself; and, deep down, a lot of other things as well.
As Nagisa continued to soothe his injury by rubbing it, he slightly opened one of his eyes so that he would glance at his friend – and thus came upon a certain observation.
'Karma…he looks happier than the last time I saw him' he thought – blinking his eyes rather curiously.
He took one last look at Karma's seemingly pleased expression – his eyes were on the stage, yet there was a degree of detachment that can be detected – and though his mind was almost always elsewhere, this time it was the type of detachment that you can read, for it was akin to how a child would daydream of his future and not feel the slightest bit worried.
Nagisa smiled – that's more like it.
Footsteps upon tiled flooring had been amplified by the quiet, empty corridors – bouncing off the concrete walls as if to resonate in one's ears. It wasn't a wonder why this floor alone was devoid of all joie de vivre. Not only was it in the basement floor, but there was nothing there but some old classrooms that were turned into "Top Secret Faculty Meeting Areas", and the nurse's office – the place which the blonde was heading over to now.
"Aah…" with a pout and crossed arms, Rio sighed out of bitterness – her blue-eyed stare narrowed to the side of the floor "Why do I have to be the one that has to get the stuff from the nurse's office?" she said with a sour tone; it was clear she wasn't at all fond of the turn of events that occurred.
"Someone that arrogant shouldn't be hitting on girls like that if all it takes is one hit to get him knocked out." She complained, and her mind flashed back to what happened to her 15 minutes prior to this.
Laid on the ground was the man that had attacked the maid in the café, with both the blonde and said maid towering over him to check if he was alright – with the former even poking the guy's stupid grinning face for good measure as a sweatdrop came to the side of her head.
"O-Oi, are you okay?" she even asked then. And while she continued to feel rather uneasy about the guy's health, the maid she just helped out stuttered "I-I'll call the club president…" and then scurried away.
Rio made a 'Tch' sound with her closed teeth "And if they had a maid protection squad, then why didn't they come earlier?" she whined and kicked off some dust from the floor with her shoe as she kept walking.
"Rinka even ditched me while I was getting told off…" she said with a betrayed yet completely unsurprised tone as the memory of seeing their empty table, without the pigtailed sniper, replayed. All she saw on top was the payment for their food, and couldn't help but twitch her eyebrow that time.
The blue-orbed girl stopped in her tracks for a moment to sigh at that recollection.
"I didn't even get a single sip out of that drink!" she complained once more, outraged – with clenched her fists as she stomped on the floor repeatedly, but not exaggeratedly – just like how a 9 year old would throw a tantrum after not getting what she wanted. Normally, this wouldn't have been okay, but since she was alone, it was no problem.
She huffed and let some hair out of her face before she continued to walk to her destination – the sooner it's over with, the better. With another long silence alone, Rio's tone of voice became much more calm and contemplative.
"Well…I did go a little too far…" – she admitted, her steps becoming just a tiny bit slower.
And sighing again, she said to herself "Really, I should get a hold of myself…" Her brows were furrowed as she crossed her arms – some of her fingers gently curled at the side of her uniform.
"Oh?" She was snapped out of this state, however, when her eyes fell on a very familiar face heading from the opposite direction, but it seemed that they had the same terminus. Upon having eye contact with her, the other looked just as surprised to see Rio there.
"Interesting seeing you here. Weren't you together with Karma and the others?" Rio asked with genuine curiosity.
Sugino rubbed the back of his head "I was, but…" he paused to shift his expression from a normal one to one of disgruntlement – a sweatdrop forming at the side of his head as his eyes turned to look to the side. That expression of his only meant one thing – it wasn't a very good experience.
"In simple terms, what was supposed to be a heated competition between two competitive teams ended up in a riot and caused the hostess to require special medical attention. Since Isogai's checking on her right now, he asked me if I could go get the nurse." He finished with his hands falling on his hips.
Typically, the blonde replied with a "Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun." – and Sugino wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not at this point, but just accepted that her personality is to blame for it all.
"Though, I think it would have been better if they kept their cool just a little bit more…" The baseball-lover heaved another sigh as though he were exhausted, and lowered his hand from his head. "Well? What's your reason for being here?"
"I just hit someone too hard, is all." She said ever-so dismissively as she took a few steps closer to the double-doors of the nurse's office.
"Why do I feel uneasy hearing that…?" Sugino had to suppress a slight shudder at the thought of what Nakamura may have done. There was such a large variety for what her statement meant, and thinking about each of them from the worst thing to the most horrible thing didn't make him feel any better.
"Aw, don't be such a baby~" Rio waved her hand flippantly before latching her hands onto the handles of the doors " 'sides, it was bound to happen anyway." And, preventing Sugino from saying anything more, she burst the doors open in an exaggerated manner – causing a loud bang to echo in the room and hallways.
"Ya-ho! Inari Sensei~? – eh?" she muttered out that last part after she noticed something wrong with this office.
"No one's in here…" Rio put into words her observation with a look of mild surprise and confusion – mirroring her baseball-loving friend's. The two of them stepped inside the room and scanned the area for confirmation of the previous statement. And there was no doubt – not a single patient was there and the beds looked to be untouched so far. The lights weren't on either, and the only source that allowed them to see was the sunset's rays that came through the thin curtains of the office and enveloped the room in a bright orange hue.
Sugino furrowed his eyebrows and turned to his friend with confusion in his eyes "She's out?"
In response to this, the blonde shrugged then turned away – thinking about something "Hm, if that's so, then why isn't there a – "
"Excuse me, may I help you?" sharply, the two first-years shifted their positions to face the entrance of the office. When both realized that they were met with the familiar face of one of the assistant nurses, they relaxed their forms.
"Ah, are you the sub-nurse?" Rio asked politely – earning her a split-second glance from Sugino.
The brunette, who the two noted to probably be younger than Inari-sensei, with an exhausted voice, released a breath and approached them as she replied.
"Well, yes I believe you can say that." despite how visibly tired she was, the sub-nurse had no still managed to keep a warm smile towards the children.
"I'm Mrs. Shinozaki Eriko. What is it that you need?"
"Mm, I see. Okay, I think I know what to get for the both of you." The assistant nurse lowered her hand from her chin with a smile.
"Though, what you need isn't here, so I'll have to go get them from outside. Please forgive me, however – I may take a while since the other meds are still with some sports clubs, and I still have to attend to someone there because of a serious injury. Even though I have a student medical team roaming around helping me, our materials are still a little limited, so I'd have to run back and forth for them sometimes."
"N-No, please take your time. We're also sorry for the trouble." – Sugino in his usual friendly and respectful manner.
Shinozaki-sensei smiled apologetically "Sorry if I have to make you wait. It appears that our head nurse, Yamazaki-sensei, had an important matter to attend to that she couldn't afford to miss, it seems. I'd hate for you to feel that I'm belittling your problem, but for now I'll have to accommodate one more person before I can give you what you need."
"Yamazaki-sensei?" Rio tilted her head at the name.
"Oh, that's right she lets you call her 'Inari-sensei', correct? She prefers that over her last name so it's no wonder you're unfamiliar with it."
At the new piece of information, the two 1st years merely nodded in understanding and shrugged at one another – as if some silent conversation occurred between them.
"Then, I'll have to excuse myself for now. Please wait here." She turned a heel and prepared to leave, but was stopped when she heard the voice of the baseball player.
"We're really sorry." Sugino said respectfully, but the nurse waved her hand at him – indicating it wasn't a big deal. And with that, she left the two to wait.
Not much silence passed before Rio was able to strike up another conversation topic "Just wondering, but why did Inari-sensei suddenly decide to take a leave of all the times?"
The spiky-haired boy merely shrugged at her – somewhat mirroring the puzzlement on her face "I don't know – but knowing her, I don't think she'd skip out on her job if it wasn't something important."
"Hm, you think so?" the blonde still pressed – a shred of doubt and suspicion laced on her voice.
Sugino shrugged once more "Well, it's not like we can ask her right now. But it's a good thing she was able to find someone to fill in for her." He placed a hand behind his head and looked to some of his surroundings while he spoke.
"Though if Shinozaki-sensei becomes too occupied, that's gonna be a problem. I hope Nagisa and Kayano can control the situation for a little longer. And that Isogai, I wonder if he knows what he's doing…" he trailed off when he realized that his blonde friend had most likely not heard a word of what he just said as she was busy being fascinated by some of the display materials of the nurse' office – making sounds such as "ooh!" or "Aah!" each time she found something that caught her interest.
"Uwah! They have something like this in here?" Her blue orbs were somewhat glistening with wonder as she tampered with a book that seemed to be about places on the human anatomy that are extra sensitive to mobility.
At the sight, Sugino's shoulders slumped "I should have known…" – unsurprised that he was blatantly ignored, he too decided to entertain himself with his surroundings out of boredom for a while.
That was until something came to his mind out of curiosity, and he turned back to the blonde trickster – whom now held in her hands someone's cemented teeth.
"By the way, you haven't come to greet any of them yet, have you? – Nagisa and the others, I mean."
At his statement, Rio, though in an almost unnoticeable manner, was caught off guard, and unknowingly momentarily paused in her playing with the teeth as he continued to speak "Some of them were even asking where you were."
Smirking, the blonde turned to face him – putting a hand on her cheek as she said in a teasing manner "Ehh~? It's touching to know how much they miss me."
"Then why haven't you come to see them?" the baseball-lover asked – ignoring her behavior.
"I'm busier than I look, you know?" This time, Rio picked up a small book (it was about different types of foot diseases) and carried on with her childlike antics as she responded.
"That's the first I've heard of that…" Sugino raised an eyebrow at her reply and couldn't help but feel more suspicious of her behavior. Now that he'd actually paid attention, there's something a little odd about his blonde friend today; but he wasn't quite sure what it was – he even has doubts whether he's imagining this or not.
"Why are you so set on getting an answer from me about that?" her blue eyes were kept on the book as she flipped a page.
Then, Sugino chose not to ignore his suspicions any longer and replied to her somewhat apprehensively "Well…I may be wrong, but…with the way you're taking it, doesn't it seem like you're avoi – OW!"
She didn't even give him a chance to finish before she whacked him on the head using the book she was just reading. What's worse, apparently the force she had used had been a little bit more than she had planned it to be, for the poor boy, surprised as he already was at the abrupt violence, ended up hitting a shelf behind him at her blow.
In a series of loud thuds, clunks and clatters, a disarray of objects had crashed onto the tiled floor from the top of the shelf – some of them even hitting Sugino's head again in the process.
"Ah…" With a hiss of pain, the spiky haired boy rubbed his throbbing head before sharply turning back to Rio – anger evident in his glare as he yelled at her vehemently (which was rare as it is) "What's your problem?!"
In response to this, the blonde glared back and scoffed – looking at him incredulously "Me? Well you shouldn't just jump into conclusions and say stuff like that! It's rather rude, even for me." She crossed her arms at him – still keeping a challenging glare.
Sugino clicked his tongue at her attitude. But if he argued back, then surely there'd end up being no end to it until Rio forces herself to come out as the winner. Deciding to be the mature and better person, he chose not to argue anymore as it would all just be pointless in the end, especially if it's over something like this – it wasn't worth it.
So, albeit begrudgingly and insincerely, he looked away and grumbled "My bad then."
He then took notice of the mess they now had to take care of, and felt even more exasperated "Tsk. Aah, look what you did." He said irritably and crouched down to look where to start cleaning up.
Despite what he said, Rio said nothing in reply – an indication that she acknowledges what she did wrong (but was still too prideful to admit it). However, once she took notice of the objects that were scattered on the floor, the blonde felt her anger slowly dissipate as she was then overcome by a wave of curiosity. There were folders, papers, files, some old mementos, and even an opened suitcase – facing the floor – where she assumed most of the items came from. She took a few more seconds to scan the clatter of things and noted that it was indeed a peculiar collection – for something that fell from a shelf in the nurse's office, that is.
"What's all this doing here?" she took a step forward, but stopped when she noticed that her foot had landed on a piece of paper – moving her foot a tad, she discerned that it was a photo faced down.
"Hm? What do we have here?" curious, the blonde crouched down to pick it up – and at the first glance, she couldn't help but give a derisive scoff. "Hehh? What's this now?" she grinned mischievously at the picture of a child-version of her bespectacled friend. Hearing her up-to-no-good voice again, Sugino kept his back turned to her as he tried his best not to roll his eyes and chose to try his best and ignore her this time.
"Now, what would this be doing here? Don't tell me, does Inari-sensei keep a stash of some of their most embarrassing secrets in her office? Hah! Now wouldn't that be amusing. I'm guessing she thought this was an ideal hiding spot or something~" She joked and chuckled to herself, her impish nature surfacing once more – but her fun was cut short when she realized something off about the picture.
In the lower right, in somewhat blurred letters that were hard to catch at first glance, she could make out a name,
Katou Hanako
Rio blinked in question. She took a good look at the photo for good measure, and then blinked twice before her eyes narrowed with puzzlement.
"Hey, Sugino."
"What?"
The blonde skootched over to him and allowed him to have a look at the photo in her hand "This is Manami-chan, right?"
Noticing she didn't sound like she was fooling around this time, Sugino did what she wanted him to do and took a look at it.
"Looks like it." He simply said after just one small glance at it. However, much to his confusion, his blonde trickster friend didn't seem satisfied by the answer – in fact, it looked as if she only got even more confused.
"That's weird…Then why is a different name written here?" her brows were scrunched together in puzzlement. The sporty boy, starting to get confused as well, decided to look at the photo one more time. There was no doubt in his mind that the girl in the photo was the poison-loving girl he saw almost everyday, but this time, he too noticed the name and began to wonder as well.
"Katou…Hanako? Maybe it was supposed to be sent to someone with that name – like a postcard." He speculated some of the possibilities of this small predicament from the top of his head – this statement of his earned him a rather annoyed look from the blue-orbed girl though.
"Who'd send something like this as a postcard? There's barely any scenery and there isn't even a message written at the back." She snapped at him with clear annoyance – not at him, but just at what he said. Albeit that were the case, the baseball veteran could already feel his earlier irritation forming once more, but kept himself composed – that didn't stop him from giving her an annoyed look of his own for a short moment, however.
"I'm just suggesting things." He said calmly, shrugged, and raised his hands in a somewhat defensive way.
Rio placed her investigative gaze back on the picture in her hand "Actually, from the looks of it, this was taken a really long time ago – this girl that looks like Manami was asked to look at the taker's way and the one holding the camera took a shot. That's all that I can tell as far as my deduction skills go." – at the back of her mind, the blonde silently wished that their otaku friend was there with them.
"Hmm…" Sugino hummed thoughtfully – trying to get his head around it as well. Now, why would someone who looks almost exactly like Manami be in a photo as old as that? Not to mention, there was a name written there they knew nothing about.
Everything's just strange…
Sighing at his thoughts, he leaned back and let his hand support his body behind him – but immediately after, he felt something underneath his palm and checked to see what it was.
He recognized the object to be a folder – it felt like one too before he even looked. Sugino curiously stared down at it for a brief moment – it looked old yet a little well-preserved since it was still in one piece, save for the logo he couldn't seem to decipher due to it being blurred. He let another moment pass, and then decided to move his hand slightly.
His guess was right, it revealed a name – Okuda Hanako
"Hey, Nakamura." he found that she was still deeply thinking about something when he called her name. After she looked at him, he handed the folder to her "Look here."
Rio cocked an eyebrow as she read "Okuda Hanako?"
Unintentionally, she released a breath in relief – even the tension in her shoulders had gone and her expression relaxed once she took into account the information.
"Well, what do you know? It's her mom." She laughed – mostly to herself for not even thinking of such a possibility as she held the folder with both hands, and by force of habit, opened it. "They look so alike I can barely even differentiate the two – "
She cut herself off once she laid her eyes on the contents of the folder, and in that instant, her smile dropped and her eyebrows rose in shock.
When she opened the folder, she expected to see something like a profile; with the basic information such as an address and/or some expired passports or just more pictures – but she wasn't expecting to find the medical records of the woman… And before Rio knew it, her eyes were too fast to read a few certain words without thinking.
Hemorrhage
Health Deterioration
Weakness
The set of words she took into account only added to the confusion of the blonde – but they also gave her quite a shock as well as a sense of brooding as she absently read on. Rio then noticed that at the back of the paper she was reading was another one stapled behind it – and it only took one slight lift of the page for her to feel her blood run cold.
It was a death certificate – of the woman she was reading about.
And although Rio could no longer bear to read anymore, her eyes were still able to catch a few words.
Suffering from: Health Deterioration and weakness
Primary Cause: Childbirth
Secondary Cause: Overdose
Almost hastily, she flipped it back down, and looked to the floor in deep thought as she tried to piece things together – her brows were furrowed as if she was desperately asking many questions in her mind that she could not bring to words. Deep down, she was certain that this wasn't her business – that she shouldn't look any more than she just did.
But there was another question in her mind that kept her from really leaving it alone.
And while Rio was trying to get her head around it and remained silent, Sugino was preparing to fix the mess – but that was until he found a rather attention-grabbing photo from underneath one of the sets of folders he just lifted. Picking it up, he looked at it a little more closely, and found himself to be mildly surprised.
"Huh? Isn't this…Inari-sensei?"
His words apparently brought the blonde out of her thoughts – her hands instinctively closing the folder sharply as she turned to him. And though she was usually good at masking her emotions, this time she couldn't hide the sheer confusion all over her face; heck, Sugino himself could see it, and couldn't help but blink in question as he wondered what had gotten into her all of a sudden.
He didn't have the time to ask her, for she had already taken from him the picture he intended to show her from his hand –and her blue eyes, looking desperate to understand something, studied it closely.
No doubt about it – the woman in the picture was their school nurse along with two other people she failed to recognize. However, to her right there was the woman that looked almost exactly like Manami again – only older, without glasses, and with longer hair styled into low pigtails. The one with the glasses was the one to Inari's left instead – he wasn't taller than her, and his eyes were brown behind rectangular-framed spectacles that were almost touched by his bangs from his wavy (yet messy) black hair. By just looking at the photo, Rio could tell that this man was someone gentle and probably soft-hearted, but not very expressive by the smile he wore on the photo – to which she noticed was dated 02/10/2000 as typed on the lower right of the picture.
That was about the time…
She stared at the photo and its date for a long while, and felt the gears in her head turn. But at the same time, she felt something off deep down – tugging at her heart to make it feel heavier than it usually was.
"This was taken…about 16 years ago…" she mumbled mostly to herself, but Sugino heard it. And despite not really getting what she meant by that, he had a feeling she had just realized something. Whether it was a good or bad thing, he wasn't so sure of. But with that unsettled expression that seemed to haunt the usually cheeky blonde's face, he felt it leaned to the latter.
"…almost a year before Manami-chan was born…" she finally said, and the baseball veteran still couldn't grasp where she was coming from with this.
"Heh? But here, Inari-sensei looks like she's a musician…And the people with her look like…" trailing off, he felt his eyes grow slightly wider when he realized it. That was when he finally understood.
And looking at how big Inari's smile is with the people in the photo, with a guitar strapped onto her back, all Rio can get from this picture, somehow, was a feeling of pain and loss. Like the future that they were probably anticipating when they took this photo…
Probably never came…
More questions stirred inside the heads of the two freshmen. And though deep down, they knew they were getting themselves into some bad news, neither could help but wonder what on Earth had happened – the things they found out weren't piecing quite well together with what they already knew beforehand.
It all came to a point where all Sugino could say was "What is all this?"
Rio continued to eye the clatter with suspicion for another time – the confusion in her scrunched eyebrows refusing to disappear. Albeit she was reluctant, she wasn't able to stop herself from reaching for the set of folders that rested nearby – and Sugino could only panic once he saw that she was still looking through the mysterious pile of items.
"What are you doing!?"
"I know we can't get curious about it, and we shouldn't be looking at all of this in the first place, but…the fact that I can't get it around my head is bothering me too much that I can't leave it alone!" she said without even sparing him a glance – almost hastily trying to find something within the clatter that can appease the questions in her mind that gave her a headache.
"That may be so, but…" that's when he noticed that when Rio spread a few papers, there was a folder with the name Okuda Akihito sitting close by, but looking at it closely, he noticed there was a very conspicuous stain – and, in spite of what he said, he picked it up.
True enough, when he got a better look at it, the folder looked like it was accidentally splashed on by something. He was sure it wasn't coffee, but he wishes it was for the presumption in his head made him feel queasy inside – and he hopes he's wrong about this conjecture. However, due to his experiences in middle school, without a doubt, Sugino had to assume that it was blood – since no one would spill coffee that looked this brown all over a folder accidentally.
Which only means…
There was probably a lot of blood…
Realizing this, a chill went up his spine and he had to swallow a lump that formed in his throat before setting that folder aside – whatever it was, he knew that finding out wasn't an option and was convinced that this was too much for them to just casually look through.
"O-Oi, Nakamura, let's not get involved any more than this…" he told her anxiously – really hoping that this time, she would actually listen to him.
And thankfully, her response meant that she did.
"Y-yeah, I think we should too…" she said, just as uneasy – though her fearful eyes still didn't tear away from the pictures of Inari she found when she was still a musician; while on the floor just in front of her were a collection of bills and bank loans that, upon just looking for a bit, the blonde realized were records of when she sold everything she had to do with music, and when she made withdrawals using an account with the Okuda name…
Swallowing the lump on her throat, she at last nodded and became submissive this time
"Though…" She looked at the box that fell where it lay next to an empty case – where all of it came from. Making one last conclusion, she lowered whatever she was holding to her lap as she fixed a hard stare to the ground.
"Why, and for what reasons, would all of these be gathered into one place like this, and why is it hidden up there – in the nurse's office of all places – like it didn't want to be found?" she said in low voice. As the words slowly left her mouth, it was as if at the same time she was finally completing a puzzle in her head – and dreaded the final picture.
"It only means…?" Sugino waited for her answer nervously – but he wished she wouldn't say what he thinks she will. But Rio shook her head almost bleakly, and crushed all of his hopes for that.
Blue eyes were half-lidded as they took one last look at the mess they were never meant to find.
"I'm sure…that all of these…are things that Manami knows nothing about…"
"What do we have here?" Rio and Sugino jumped and froze on their spots at the new yet all too familiar voice – and that was when whatever fears, anxieties and troubles they had had doubled over.
No words then would be able to describe how great their regret was especially with the tone of voice he used – the sarcastic, scary "You're dead when I'm done with you" voice.
"Here I'm told by Isogai to check why Sugino was taking so long, and I find out this is what you've been wasting your precious time on, huh?"
Slowly and hesitantly, Rio and Sugino turned their heads – eyes wide as saucers – to look back at the redhead, and found themselves gaping at the anger in his eyes. He may have sounded like he was smiling with the tone he used, but that didn't seem to be on his face right now as they could tell any moment now that a vein was gonna pop on his face somewhere there – he looked that pissed at them, and it was made even more clear with the dangerously hostile tone of voice he used on them.
"What are you two loftily laying your hands on?" then, Rio and Sugino stiffened – overwhelmed by shock and the fear of his anger as well as what he plans on doing to them after this.
And while they stutter out an explanation, Karma's eyes move to the pile of items scattered all over the floor and sees all the stuff that came from a case that he had seen before….
That's when he figured out that they aren't just picking up the pieces of a mess.
He feigned a smile, and forcefully pushed them towards the door in the same way a policeman would while saying "C'mon, let's talk this out somewhere else, hm?"
The other two just complied when he let them go – disobeying him now would bring them even more misfortune. Besides, things just got even more confusing with the way he reacted to it. Before Rio stepped out of the room, she spotted Karma just standing before the mess they made with his eyes to the floor inscrutably – and that's what raised her suspicions even more, and she narrowed her eyes at him before she stepped out with Sugino.
Mercury eyes were glued to the clutter as the owner of which worked the gears in his head – but that wasn't very easy when it was hard to calm down due to his own jumbled emotions. In fact, the longer he stared at it, the more uneasy he became. He was shocked himself when he just found the two of them there, and looking through information they weren't supposed to meddle in. And though he could always get mad at them, the fact that they know, and how he reacted to it, made things all the more complicated. Now, because he acted on impulse, he's gonna have to explain a few things.
But for the time being, even he had to admit that he didn't exactly know what to do. But first, he knew he had to calm down and smartly think of a way through this.
So for now, he chose to clean up the mess – all of it. He left not one still on the ground, but did it as fast as he could – placing them all back into the case that was hidden in a box. Once it was all cleared out, he stepped back a bit and threw it back up on the highest part of the shelf.
He looked at it one more time just to make sure it was secured there, and was satisfied when he saw nothing moving – 'good', he thought, and nodded before running out of the room and shutting the door. Although his thoughts were nothing close to cool and collected, he casually went up to the two nuisances (as he put it in his mind) and told them to follow him.
Little did he know – that his shutting the door too hard caused the box to fall back down.
Chapter 27: What You Are To Me (FIESTA ARC! [Part 4: Prelude to a Catastrophe])
Yeah...that was pretty much it :")
PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! I'd love to know what you think so that I can improve! I've gotten pretty rusty over the months and it's my own fault for being slothful and negligent.
I appreciate any criticisms and will try my best to address them if they are constructive and benefit the story! ^W^
Again, I'm sorry for the long time I was gone. I really do hope to post the next chapter soon but until then, I hope you guys don't lose faith or interest in this story ;;w;; Each one of you means a lot to me and though I don't seem like it because of all the months I've been out, all my readers are precious to me. I know I may have disappointed you guys with this chapter but I honestly tried my best this time despite everything that happened.
I love you guys, really I do. Thanks for sticking by this story. I can never thank all of you enough. Please review and MERRY CHRISTMAS ONCE AGAIN!
'Til the next chapter!
With all the love in the world
~TheFlowerWeSawThatDay