The latest threat to Shuchi'in academy did not come with lighthearted regards. Since the start of the term, seven girls had been threatened with typed letters from unknown sources, each detailing their lives outside of school. The messages told where they lived, what clubs they went to, their favorite stores to visit, and some even knew what their sleep schedules were. The worst part was there were no threats, no demands. A paranoia fell upon the girl's of the academy at the realization that whoever wrote the notes had no intention of stopping, they only wanted their presence to be known. Some of the letters circled around enough to reach the student council, but they weren't sure what to do about the situation.
Without a lead or indication as to who the suspect could be, Shirogane didn't even know where to begin. Interrogating the male students would take too long, and the perpetrator wouldn't admit to it anyway. Many wondered who was next. That lingering question made it impossible for even Hayasaka to help since she couldn't be everywhere at once. Besides, with a threat around the corner, she had to prioritize Kaguya. Not everyone walked around off-campus with a bodyguard watching over them, but everyone had a target painted on their back.
"Do your games have any advice this time?" Shirogane asked Ishigami. He leaned back in his desk chair and stared out the window without a clue himself.
"Sometimes awareness is the answer," Ishigami said, clicking away on his gamepad. "The more people know, the more cautious they'll be. The criminal will be caught eventually."
"Eventually. That's what I'm worried about." He felt somewhat at ease knowing Kaguya was in safe hands, but a calm state was unreachable. "Aren't you worried?"
Ishigami stopped and looked up at the room entrance. Problems escalate and people get hurt, but he was determined to stay out of this one. The last time he took action to protect someone, it led to his suspension, and it wasn't worth another year of disownment to try again. Besides, Tsubame's boyfriend had enough muscle in him to keep her safe. "No, I'm not worried." He continued beating his level in silence.
After a few minutes, someone knocked on the door. Rei Onodera and Kobachi Osaragi walked in holding the hands of a blank faced Miko Iino behind them. "Ishigami, we need your help," Osaragi said.
"Leave me out of this," he said right before a rolled up newspaper slammed into the back of his head. Onodera steadied herself after the assault, then blasted him again for good measure.
"You haven't even heard what we were going to ask," she said, placing the papers on the head of the couch. "Iino thinks she's being followed to and from school. We were wondering if you'd walk home with her today."
"Can't she just take a taxi?" he asked, and the newspaper slapped across his face this time. His cheek turned pink with the impact, and his ear sustained a small paper cut.
"Are you serious?" she said, glancing at the president for help, but he didn't say anything. "Iino's really worried. Come on. All you have to do is walk her back."
He glanced at Iino standing in the doorway with her hand clutching her shoulder. Her eyes watched the carpet like it was moving under her feet. A small tear accumulated in the corner of her eye as her fingers dug into her sleeve. She didn't register the voices around her, even as Osaragi tried to coax her to sit down.
"Fine…" he said.
~o~
Ishigami watched, but it was difficult to tell how accurately the fear matched with reality. No one appeared interested in Miko. He traversed the crowded streets with eyes peeled open, gauging the live reactions of people that walked by. Strangers wanted nothing to do with his line of sight. Their blank faces reacted to him with disgust and avoidance, as if he intruded on their personal space by looking in their direction. At least it cleared their names, but he wondered what they thought. It's not like he could approach each of them saying he was looking out for a stalker. Now he was the creep, staring at people going about their day, analyzing their faces, collecting data on their emotions. Stalking them. It was for a good cause, but that didn't make it right.
The streets narrowed as they came closer to her place. The shops and restaurants turned into condos and apartments. The roads for cars thinned to bike paths and pedestrian walkways. The people lessened to a few joggers on their daily run. On walks, he spent his time consumed by his video games, isolating himself from the whims of the world. Now, with all his senses present, he couldn't help noticing the slightest shifts in the wind, the footsteps that echoed underneath him, the light mutterings inside the walls around them. The buildings above arched over them as if to block out the sun and hold them hostage between the windows.
Half a kilometer left. That's it.
Then, he saw it. His peripheral vision caught movement behind them. What it was, he wasn't sure, a cat, a person. It wasn't there anymore. He scanned the street over once, then twice. Nothing. Iino grabbed a hold of his shirt, wondering why he stopped, but he didn't give her an answer. They continued walking, but he couldn't help looking back every few seconds to check. "Iino," he said, and stopped. She stopped too. The street continued in a straight line for ages with few people around. "I think I should start heading back. We live in opposite directions."
"You're not gonna stay with me?" she asked. The life left her eyes as the words left her mouth. She pinched at his clothes and pulled on them, trying to drag him in her direction without the force to do so. He stayed still, and she let go. She turned away with tears in her eyes, which he didn't mention, though the twisting in his chest was almost loud enough to hear. She took a deep breath but didn't exhale before she began to go to her apartment alone. As she walked, her arm lagged behind her, as if it couldn't accept that he wasn't following her, as if it wanted him to grab hold. He didn't.
"I'm sorry, Iino," he whispered, and turned to face the opposite end of the street. No one was there. He balled his hands and stood there, straight and tall, watching over the area behind her. Ten minutes passed without a sign of movement. The midday sun beat on his neck now that the buildings weren't tall enough to shield him. Nevertheless, with sweat dripping down his arms, he stood without a shift in resolve. Ten minutes turned into an hour, an hour turned into three. The sun began to set on a statue of Ishigami, and for a moment, he thought it might truly be the case that no one was there, that his paranoia was getting the better of him. Then, with orange filling the horizon ahead, he saw a person come out from behind a gap in one of the buildings.
At first, they peeked out behind the wall, then they stepped out completely. A tall boy with messy brown hair and a Shuchi'in academy outfit. As the boy drew closer, it became clear who it was. Goro Kayaba, a Junior in the class next to him. There was no mistaking the soulless expression, or the calm, collected spite. The Kayaba family worked closely with politicians, utilizing their connections to gain power under the table. Nothing was off limits to them, so long as their influence held firm, and Goro knew how to play the game well. His black uniform held tight to his arms, the definition in his physique trying to escape the boundary of his clothes. Admittedly, he was the last person Ishigami wanted the stalker to be.
Neither spoke until Kayaba got within a few feet, and his voice dripped with the poison that collected between his lips. "You're a persistent fucker aren't you. Thought for sure the academy's loser would tap out after a few minutes." He grabbed onto Ishgami's sweater vest. "Rumors claim you're a fighter, guess today I'll see if they're right." He pulled the boy up to his face with enough force that the black bangs fell out of the kid's eyes, but there was no response. He shook the open-eyed corpse by the collar, and Ishigami's head rattled back and forth.
There's no justice, Ishigami thought. His legs lost the ability to hold up his own body. His head hung there by the sheer will of Kayaba's arms. If you saw me back then, would you call that justice? Would you have sided with me? Even as the school stood against me. Would you side with me now? Miko…
"Don't play the tough guy. It doesn't turn out well for you," Kayaba said.
"I know it doesn't," he said, then threw a fist that blasted into Kayaba's face. The grip on him faltered, and he dropped to the ground. His head slammed into the concrete as the stalker reeled back with hands clutched to jaw. He laid there, his burning hand hovering in front of him. "I've learned nothing," he said as a roar pierced the air above him. He moved his arm to block an oncoming kick aimed for his face, and the impact caused him to clench his teeth in agony. He rolled over, escaping an attempt to stomp his head in, but as he got up, Kayaba's fist entered his stomach. The fingers crushed his intestines and he puked on himself, Kayaba's sleeve, and the ground. His lunch had not finished leaving his body before the side of his face had a meteoric force hit him. A mixture of vomit and blood in his mouth sprayed out and dripped down his chin. His vision blurred in and out with his heartbeat. His balance left him as he clutched onto a trash can sitting beside a tree. He couldn't tell if the smell engulfing his nose was the garbage or him. Before he could react, his hair was pulled from the trash can and a glob of spit was shot into his eye. He called out as the stalker started to walk away, "No, you can't leave." He threw himself off the trash can and swayed into a standing position. His legs buckled, but he held still with fists raised.
The evening set in as the sun disappeared over the horizon, and Kayaba sighed at the kid's tenacity. He walked back over, hands in his pocket, and glared into the boy's eyes. "You knowing who I am is kind of a problem, so we'll make a deal. Put this behind us. No one gets to know I'm the stalker, and no one gets to see the pictures of Iino-" A shadow flashed across the ground as an outstretched arm plunged into his diaphragm. The air in his lungs burst out as his hand reached for his chest, and he gagged on the atmosphere that rushed back into his heart.
"I won't be blackmailed again," Ishigami said, wiping the blood from his lips. He gathered some strength, then returned a fist into the stalker's face. Without the ability to throw one back, Kayaba grappled his shoulders to stop another attack.
Ishigami did the same, and they held each other at arm's length, but his legs couldn't support the fight, leading to him being thrown onto the ground and pinned down. Fingers reached around his neck and two thumbs shoved themselves up against his throat. The blood traveling to his brain lost connection, and he couldn't speak. He couldn't breathe. At first, he tried to get the guy off, but he didn't have the energy to push him over. He tried to punch the guy's face, but he lost the chance twelve seconds ago. His fingers dug into the space between his neck and the choke hold. A small breath, it's all he wanted. A tiny moment to breathe.
There's no justice, is there, Kyoko? he thought as his vision faded.
He heard a distant cry muffled by the fluid drowning his brain. He didn't see what happened, but the body above him yelled in pain and a hand slipped from his neck. Oxygen jumped into his throat. The world around him collapsed into view and he stole the chance to throw Kayaba off him. He didn't wait. He threw punch after punch into the guy's face, ignoring the defensive arms that shielded against his attack. His knee dug into Kayaba's ribs as the assault continued. He heard the boy call out for him to stop, and for a second, ignored that too. He landed thirty-seven hits before calling it, then looked around to see Iino sitting on the ground next to him. One hand rested in her lap, and her left cheek was covered in one large bruise. As Kayaba uncovered his face, Ishigami unleashed one last fist into the same cheek, which knocked Kayaba out on the concrete.
Seeing this, Ishigami crawled out from pinning him. He sat next to Iino hunched over in pain, and grabbed her hand in her lap. She winced. "Like this." He balled his fist with his thumb resting against his knuckles. "You throw a punch like this," he said between breaths. She nodded, her lips quivering.
He dug into Kayaba's pockets and took his phone, turning it on and using the guy's finger to unlock it. She tried to look over his shoulder, but he wouldn't let her. He scrolled through the photo gallery, deleting over a dozen photos of Iino, then continued to wipe out the pictures saved of other girls in the school. Despite seven people being given letters, there were many more targets stored on the phone, and a lot of the photos were taken inside their apartments. He let Shirogane know what he found, then factory reset the device to be safe. Of all the people in the school, Shirogane would believe that he beat up someone for a good reason.
~o~
The following week at school threw Ishigami off. The expulsion of Kayaba was a silent move by the principal to prevent bad press leaking out, but that didn't stop the student body from finding out what happened. With two people coming to school in casts, his peers already knew who to ask for details, and although he tried to keep quiet, Iino wanted to quell rumors that he hit her. He expected the news of him beating up another student to spread up the chain of command, and expected another suspension to be served to him in response but it didn't happen. Shirogane informed him the school would turn a blind eye to his involvement.
"Did Hayasaka handle the rest?" Ishigami asked, resting his head against the student council couch. He didn't have the energy to play games, and his head still felt the repercussions of that night.
"She broke into his apartment and practically burned every device in the vicinity," Shirogane said, setting his coffee on the desk. "You did a good thing."
"I'm tired of doing good things," he said, shifting his body to lie down. But it wasn't completely true. A knock rang against the door, and Iino walked in, with a cast around her hand and a smile on her face. She walked to school by herself that morning, and he couldn't be happier.
