Chapter 9: Ventilation systems, dust bunnies, and the great escape

A/N: Chapter nine!? Unbelievable. Thank you guys who have subscribed, favorited and or followed. It makes me happy to see le followers/favoriters. Anyway here's chapter nine.

"So Kouta, why are you so desperate to keep anyone from finding out you like someone?" Akihisa asked as Kouta led him through a maze of ventilation ducts around the school. Apparently he traveled through them frequently.

"Because, anyway we're lucky I have this thing on my leg that lets me walk around, otherwise we'd be toast"

"Because, what?" Akihisa said.

"Wow, look at that, we're here" Kouta said obviously trying to change the subject. Kouta knocked over a grate that separated the vents and the room. The pair entered the room and surveyed the area of what looked like a storage room.

"Hey, isn't this where we plan our strategies for S.T. wars?" Akihisa said looking at the familiar area.

"Yeah, there's even a few of Mizuki's gelatin pouches left from the war with class D"

"Anyway, you seem to seriously want to keep this a secret"

"Keep what a secret?"

"That you like someone"

"Well duh, it'd ruin my image and probably get me killed."

"Most likely"

"Besides…I'm sure it's unrequited she likes someone else"

"Are you sure?" Akihisa said looking worriedly at his friend. If only Akihisa knew that the person Kouta's crush liked was him. Akihisa wouldn't know how to react to that information. That would only make things worse for Kouta, and he didn't need any more drama in his life than there already was.

"Do you think they'll find us here?" Akihisa said breaking Kouta out of his thoughts.

"Nah, the air ducts are so confusing they couldn't have followed u-", Hideyoshi burst through the vents followed by Yuuji.

"RUN THEY'RE COMING!" They said as they jumped out of the vents and ran towards the door.

"HOW'D YOU FIND US?!" Kouta said running to the door while Akihisa and Yuuji pushed the grate back over the vents.

"No time to explain! We've got to run or we're toast!" Hideyoshi said while he shoved Kouta and Akihisa out the door. The four ran out of the storage room and down the hall.

"Where do we go now?!" Akihisa said.

"We only have five minutes left before the end of the day. If we get to the maze, trade in Kouta's leg thingy for his crutches and book it out of here we could take refuge at Kouta's house until the coast is clear." Yuuji said leading the others to the maze.

"What?! Why my house?"

"It's our only choice. Shouko knows where Yuuji lives, Yuuko lives with me, and everyone knows where Akihisa lives" Hideyoshi said running directly behind Yuuji.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Akihisa said immediately taking offense to the statement that everyone knows where he lives.

"WE'VE ALL BEEN TO YOUR HOUSE BEFORE IDIOT!" Yuuji yelled before clamping his hand over his mouth quickly. Hopefully, the girls hadn't been close and heard his outburst.

"Well save for Shouko and Yuuko" Hideyoshi added.

"So no one knows where Kouta lives?" Akihisa said incredulously. He hadn't even thought about it before.

"I'd like to keep it that way, the last time I let you near my family you nearly killed them." Kouta said quickly checking behind himself to see if the girls had followed them.

"That was so not our fault! Mizuki was the one who made them eat her poison!" Akihisa said defensively.

"If Mizuki offers them any food, Akihisa will take a dive and eat it all, in the off chance the girls find us" Yuuji said.

"I sure as hell will not"

"Would you rather not go to Kouta's house and have to face the girls?" Hideyoshi said.

"…No"

"Then it's settled." Yuuji said.

"I never agreed to anything!" Kouta said quite loudly.

"C'mon man, it won't be that bad. Aren't your brothers and sister off at some school camping trip or something?" Akihisa said.

"Yeah, I guess it should be okay" Kouta said.

"Hallelujah" Yuuji said as they entered the maze arena. They quickly found Iron man and made an excuse that Kouta needed to leave early because of his leg injury. Then they left the building as fast as they could with Kouta on crutches. They followed Kouta all the way to his house where he unlocked the door and let them all in.

Because of his large family, Kouta had a fairly large house with four rooms and two bathrooms on the top floor, a living room, dining room and kitchen on the middle floor, and a large basement with two more bathrooms on the bottom floor.

"Nice place you got here" Akihisa said sitting down next to him.

"Thanks"

"So… do you think they're still looking for us?" Hideyoshi said joining Kouta and Akihisa on the couch."

"Well Shouko just texted me asking where we are so yeah, I'd guess yes" Yuuji said plopping down on a chair near the couch.

"They're probably checking our houses right now" Akihisa said shuddering.

"So what're we going to do now?" Kouta asked stretching his arms in front of him.

"We're going to spend the night here and go home tomorrow. Luckily it's the first day of spring break today" Yuuji said.

"You guys should call your parents and let them know you're here, when your done I've got an Xbox downstairs if you guys want to play it" Kouta said.

Hideyoshi and Yuuji texted their parents that they'd be at Kouta's house and then followed Akihisa and Kouta down to the basement.

-Back with the girls-

"Damn it! Where could they have gone?" Yuuko said collapsing onto the floor of the hallway.

"They probably left already" Minami said sliding down next to Yuuko.

"Where would they have gone?" Mizuki said standing in front of Minami and Yuuko.

"They wouldn't have gone to Yuuji's house because I know where he lives" Shouko said standing next to Mizuki.

"They also wouldn't have gone to Hideyoshi and I's house" Yuuko added.

"And definitely not to Aki's house, considering Both Mizuki and I know where that is." Minami added.

"That leaves only one person" Yuuko said.

"Yup, they're definitely at Kouta's house" Mizuki said.

"Anyone know where he lives by chance?" Minami asked.

They all shook their heads. She expected that. The only time she remembered anything involving Kouta's life outside of school was when Mizuki almost killed his family.

"This really sucks" Yuuko said.

"Yeah, after today we're on spring break."Mizuki added.

"We can check their houses tomorrow. Lets just call it a day for now." Minami said.

"Agreed" the other girls said in unison as they all stood up and walked they're separate ways as the bell for the end of the day sounded.

-back in the empty classroom.-

Iron man stood in the doorway and marveled at the empty room.

"Those kids sure are clever when it comes to breaking the rules" he sighed rubbing his temples and walking away.

A/N: Yay end of Chapter nine! Thank you so much for reading! See you in chapter 10!