A.N. (9/21/21) - This chapter starts from a certain someone's POV instead, enjoy!

Chapter 5 - The Operation Bell Starts

Hori sighed as she sat down at her seat.

"Something wrong?"

She looked up and saw her friend, Yoshikawa, staring at her concerned.

"Ah, it's nothing." She gave an awkward smile. "It's just, someone bumped into me outside the classroom earlier."

"An accident?"

"Seems so. They apologized when they passed by me. But apparently, they also dropped their phone. I picked it up, but I'm not sure what to do with it?"

"Why not just turn it over to the school?"

"Hmm, I guess I can do that."

Yoshikawa moved closer as Hori pulled out said item in question, flipping it open to see if there were any clues as to who it belonged to. But right as she did that, the phone began playing a cheerful song.

"H-Huh?"

"Ah, looks like somebody's trying to call it."

Hori realized that she was right and that the phone was currently playing its ringtone. The phone continued to sound out in her hands even as she began to panic.

"W-What should I do?"

"Just answer it."

But the ringing stopped before she could act. Both girls glanced at each other.

"You think they're gonna try again?"

"Maybe. Did you see who dropped it in the first place?"

"Erm, I wasn't paying attention. I don't think I recognize them."

"Well, it is the beginning of the school year. Not like we know everyone in our class, let alone the entire school."

The phone choose to chime at that moment, and both stared at the screen.

[Ikkun, remember that you have your shift at Iori later today. Don't be late and come quickly after class ends.]

After Hori finished reading the message, she began to panic.

"Wait, doesn't this mean they won't be able to pick it up after school?"

"Calm down," Yoshikawa said. "Didn't you read the text, it says that they have a shift at a place called Iori later. Why not just go there and return the phone yourself?"

Hori blinked.

"I guess I can do that." She thought about it. "But where exactly is this Iori place?"

"Wait, you don't know?" Yoshikawa gave her a strange look. "Didn't you see all those advertisements on the bulletin board today? Somebody plastered a bunch of promotional flyers all over it. It caused a commotion since people were surprised that somebody would do something like that."

Hori thought about it and realized she knew what Yoshikawa was talking about. She did notice a crowd forming around the shoe lockers earlier that morning. But she didn't think much of it at the time.

"So wait, you know what Iori is?"

"Yeah, apparently it's some kind of cake shop. A few of our classmates were even interested in visiting after school." Yoshikawa beamed as a thought crossed her mind. "Hey, why don't we all visit once school ends? Maybe you can return this phone to whoever it belongs while you're there!"

Hori thought about it and realized that maybe she could. Souta didn't need to be picked up from the daycare right away, so she still had some time to at least visit. And it would be nice to hang out with a friend after class.

The more she thought about it, the more Hori found the idea appealing to her. Smiling, she turned to Yoshikawa.

"Sure, why not."

}-{

Several hours ago...

Thursday began with her plan in motion.

As Isuzu began putting on her shoes, her brother's voice called out from behind her. "Hey Sis, have you seen my phone?"

"Nope," she replied. "Maybe you forgot it in the living room."

"I didn't see it there earlier when I checked."

"Hmm, I don't know what to say." Isuzu stood up. "We're gonna be late if we don't go soon. How about this, I'll help you find it when we get home."

He sighed. "Alright then."

In truth, he did forget it in the living room last night. The only reason he was unable to find it was because Isuzu had taken it off the table earlier in preparation for her plan today.

Since both siblings had the same model type, differing slightly only in color, Isuzu could have claimed that she simply mistook his phone for hers if she was ever caught. That excuse might be critical later if anyone ever figured out what she was going to do.

Now, on to step two.

}-{

Making sure that nobody was around, Isuzu reached into her bag and pulled out the small stack of ads that she printed out the day before.

Going as fast as she could, she stuck as many flyers as she could to the bulletin board and bolted before anyone could spot her. Displayed on each leaflet was the address of the shop as well as a special promotion for a discount deal upon purchase.

Technically, what she just did wasn't allowed since you needed permission first to use the bulletin board. So she didn't want to get caught if anyone saw her doing this.

Now for the next part.

}-{

"Hey Bro, want anything to eat? I'm gonna get something from the cafeteria now, so just tell me what I should bring back."

He gave her a questioning look, probably because usually they would get their lunches together. After all, there was no point in having only one of them go when both of them could talk on the way while getting their food.

Still, he didn't seem to question it.

"Yakasobi bread."

"Alright, got it."

Now then, this was where things might get complicated.

Making a detour instead of heading directly to the cafeteria, she began walking down the hallway where Hori's classroom was located. This next part relieved heavily on luck to accomplish, so Isuzu was hoping that things would go well.

Spotting her target, Isuzu watched as Hori exited her class alone. Realizing this was her chance, she made her move.

Picking up speed, she deliberately bumped into her target while passing by her.

"Whoops, sorry about that."

But even as she said that Isuzu felt her brother's phone slip out of her pocket and clammer onto the ground. Isuzu didn't even bother to wait and soon took off.

"Ah! You forgot your—"

But she was already gone.

}-{

Once a dozen minutes passed, Isuzu pulled out her own phone and began to call her brother's phone. Barely a few seconds passed before she quickly canceled the call.

Next, she sent the text she prepared beforehand to inform whoever read Izumi's phone about his upcoming shift at Iori's cake shop. If everything played out according to plan, whoever saw the message would hopefully put together the fact that her brother was going to go there after school today.

Again, this part would rely heavily on luck. This plan hinged on the fact that Hori wouldn't simply just turn it into the school's lost and found. But even if that happened, she figured that she could always come up with another plan.

Still, she prayed for things to work out.

}-{

"How come you're here?" Her brother gave her a strange look. "Didn't you already do your shift yesterday?"

"I'm just here as another customer," she beamed at him. "Besides, I want to see you for your first day at your job!"

He rolled his eyes. "It's nothing special. You've seen dad work a thousand times already."

"Yeah, but that's Dad. I want to see you at work."

Currently, Izumi's appearance was what he normally looked like outside of school. That is, he had his piercings on full display and his hair pulled back, with his glasses also removed.

Isuzu was just smiling while sitting at one of the chairs nearby. Seeing that his sister was just going to be lingering around, he gave out a heavy sigh.

"You know that I'm mostly going to be in the back helping Dad, right? Mom's going to man the counter today."

"That's alright," she gestured towards her table where several papers were spread. "I'll keep myself busy."

"No, that's not the point. I'm saying go home."

"Aww, is someone embarrassed?"

"If I said yes, would that make you leave?"

"No, but if you don't like my company, I can always just invite Shindou to join me!"

"Please, stay as long as you like! Would you also like something to drink?!"

She laughed at his panicked expression. "Don't worry, I'll leave once I'm satisfied. Just ignore me while you work."

He looked like he wanted to argue, but he sighed again when he realized that she wasn't going to change her mind.

"Fine, I'll just leave you alone."

"Have fun!"

.Once he was gone, her smile faded as her nervousness finally revealed itself. Since school just ended a while ago, all she needed to do now was wait for Hori to appear.

The door's bell rang at that moment, and Isuzu looked up.

"Ah, there you are!"

Her eyes widened as she realized that it was Sakura and Remi who appeared at the entrance. Spotting her immediately, the two girls moved over to where she was and smiled at her.

"I knew that was you this morning! Who else would try to put up all those flyers."

"W-Wait just a moment," Isuzu held out a hand. "How did you figure out that was me? I never said anything about working in a cake shop."

"Sakura told me how she overheard some classmates saying that you worked here," Remi explained. "Apparently, they recognized you and mentioned you by name when she heard them talk."

"I told Remi that I might have been wrong," Sakura said with a sigh. "Especially since I recalled you saying something about not liking cake. Still, she was insistent that we at least checked the place out."

"Ahahahahaha…"

Even as Isuzu laughed on the outside, inwardly she was sweating buckets. She planned to wait for Hori to appear so that she could see if she would meet with her brother successfully. After all, she knew that things could still go wrong at this point since there was no guarantee that anything other than Hori returning her brother's phone would happen.

"Now that I think about it, how come you're just sitting out here doing your homework?"

At Remi's question, Isuzu nervously answered.

"Ah, that's because it's not my shift today. I just came here to see my brother."

"Your brother?" Her eyes brightened. "That's right, we've never met your brother yet. Isn't he your twin or something?"

Abort, time to abort!

There was no telling what would happen now if Remi stayed any longer to interfere, so Isuzu needed to do something drastic.

"Hey, since we're all free after school, how about we go out someplace and eat together?"

"Huh?" Remi gave her a confused look. "I guess that's fine, but why not just stay here?"

"Hamburgers!" Isuzu suddenly shouted. "I'm in the mood for hamburgers. What about you Sakura, don't you think hamburgers sound nice about now?"

"What?" Feeling both of them turn to face her, she gave a bewildered look. "Erm… hamburgers sound nice."

"Great! Let's all go now."

Pushing her two friends out of the door, Isuzu tried to figure out if there was a way to still salvage her plan. But with things as they were, it looks like she wasn't going to be able to act anymore unless she was willing to ditch her friends. And Isuzu wasn't mean enough to do that, so that option wasn't possible.

Damn it, today was a mission failure.

}-{

As Hori and Yoshikawa passed by a group of girls from their school, they entered the shop and stared around.

"Wow, this place has a big selection."

"Oh, Hori look!" Yoshikawa pointed at one of the display cases. "That one looks so yummy, we should totally get that!"

Maybe I can bring home a slice for Souta as well…

Before she could get lost in her thoughts, she finally recalled the reason why she was here in the first place.

"Ah, hold on Yoshikawa. I'll return the phone first, then we can see if there's anything we'd like to buy."

"Sure, I'll wait over here while you do that."

Walking over to the cashier, she waited until the woman noticed her before she spoke.

"Excuse me, is there a worker here that goes by Ikkun? I think he forgot his phone at school."

Showing off the item, the woman blinked before she covered her mouth to hide the smile behind it.

"O-Oh, of course. You must be talking about Izumi, just wait a second while I call him out."

The woman moved to the back, and a minute later, a boy her age walked out. Hori's eyes widened as she took in his appearance before she slowly blinked and gestured to the item in her hands.

"Ah, is this yours?"

"Huh?" He stared at it and his eyes widened. "Ah, that's my phone! I've been looking for it all day."

"I found it in a hallway at school."

"School?" He gave her a confused look. "You go to Katagiri? Wait, no. That's not the point. I'm pretty sure I brought it home yesterday."

Not understanding what he was talking about, she flipped the object open and showed him the text. "I saw this message and figured that you would be here once classes were over."

"Huh?" He took the cellphone from her. "This was sent by… Isuzu? But she should have known that I forgot my phone. Or did she forget that I did…?"

Satisfied that she returned it properly, she beamed. "It's nice that you managed to get it back at least."

"Huh?" He looked up. "Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, I forgot to thank you properly."

"No, no, it's fine." She waved a hand. "It was just lucky that I saw the message, I was just gonna drop it off at the school's office otherwise."

"Still, you took the time to bring it here." He smiled at her. "Thank you."

"Hori~ you done yet!"

"Ah, almost!"

She turned back to face him and found that he was busy getting a slice of cake and putting it in a box. Looking up to see her staring at him, he smiled and passed her the packed dessert.

"Here's something on the house, as thanks for all the trouble."

"W-Wait, you shouldn't." She waved her hands in denial. "It was just a small thing."

"Just accept it. Really, it's just a thank-you present." He continued to smile. "Besides, I think our shop can afford to spare a single slice in return for your help."

"I-If you're sure…"

She watched as he placed the box in a plastic bag before handing it over to her, and she thanked him again when she took it.

He blinked. "Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. My name's Miyamura."

"Nice to meet you, Miyamura-kun." She smiled back. "My name's Hori."

"Ikkun, are you finished yet? Your father is calling for you to help him."

"Coming mom!" He turned back to her. "Well, I should be going. Again, thanks for returning the phone."

"Not at all. Thanks for the cake."

She watched him turn around and leave through the back room. Sighing to herself, she noticed Yoshikawa returning to her side with a small bag of her own.

"You took too long! I already bought something for myself."

"Sorry. But I'm done now."

"Oh, you got something for yourself? What is it?"

"Huh?" She looked down. "I think it was some kind of cheesecake. At least, that's what it looked like when he packaged it for me."

"He?"

"The person who lost his phone, Miyamura."

"Miyamura…" A strange smile came to Yoshikawa's face. "Ah, I think I understand now."

"Hmm?"

"Nothing." Yoshikawa pulled on her arm. "If you're done, let's go home for now."

"Sure."

The seeds have been planted, now what's going to happen from this point on.

Sadly for Isuzu, she wasn't exactly here to interfere. But things seemed to go pretty well so far. Sure, the two didn't become friends immediately. But that kind of thing takes time.

Let's see what her next plan will be when she tries to get them together again.