"So, where should we begin here?"
Those words alone made both Sawamura and Sekai straighten their backs and tighten their expressions.
From his position, Daigo only tilted his head a bit before nodding.
"From the beginning, right?"
There was a beat of silence in the room when he spoke up. The two standing straight seemed to freeze in place before slowly turning their attention to Daigo, who was still tilting his head. The serious mood that had been built up quickly dissipated into an awkward one that filled the room.
The first one to break the silence was Shinoda. He covered his mouth with his fist, coughing into it. To the two standing straight, it was clear that he was trying to hide his laughter.
"Shinoda-san, he wasn't joking."
"Eh?"
"This brat doesn't know how to joke," Sekai sighed out.
"Captain-san, was this supposed to be a time to joke?"
Not being able to withstand it anymore, Sekai threw his head down and slapped his hand over his face. A groan had escaped instead of a sigh, but he could hear Shinoda chuckling now from his desk.
To the side, Sawamura also gave a light laugh into her hand.
Seeing Sekai freely speak like that about his teammate was a good sign. It was unlike how he normally was with those in a higher position than him, and it showed when he brought out his more casual side with them. His own teammate being able to do so was an added bonus since it showed that he could view his newest teammate in such a light.
For his part, Daigo only watched in with a tilted head in confusion. The situation had changed rapidly without him being able to tell what was really going on underneath it all.
But he did feel something.
His Side Effect had started acting up.
I have messed up somewhere here. Maybe I should ask about it? But that may be a bit rude after I have already messed up. ...Staying silent may be for the best right now. Yes, I think it would probably be best for me to only speak when answering questions or needing to explain something.
He nodded his head three times before tilting it again.
But what if this is also a sort of test for me? Captain-san doesn't like to do things the normal way—hence why he has Vice-Captain-san on his squad—so he might be testing to see if I am able to speak up without needing to be told to do so. Oh, Captain-san is smart. I'm really glad I have someone like him as a captain.
He righted himself and slightly turned his head to face his captain. The way he made a face and shook his shoulders was probably something to worry about, but it was hard to tell right now. His captain always seemed to be like this with their vice captain, so there might have been nothing wrong at all.
Shinoda and Sawamura seemed to be only watching them and not getting directly involved yet.
That meant this really was a test.
"Captain-san, you are a very good captain, and I am very glad to be a part of your squad. Thank you for this opportunity."
"What the hell are you even saying now...?"
"Only that, I hope that I can help you even more as someone in your squad."
The way his captain threw his arms into the air with a loud sigh was a sight to see. If not for his phone being in his pocket, he was sure that he would need to take a recording of it to show their vice captain so he would not feel left out.
But he had to wait to do that since they needed to start the meeting.
"Haaaaah! Shinoda-san, permission to commit a crime without being charged for it!?"
"Denied."
"Shinoda-san, permission to go onto the chat and complain for a moment!?"
"Granted."
The speed at which his captain pulled out his phone was amazing. Everything had been done in a single action that Daigo knew he would be unable to replicate without seeing it multiple times. It was for simple actions like these that his view of his captain only increased, along with his respect for his captain.
Hearing a cough, he looked over to see a smiling Shinoda gesturing to his pocket, where his phone was. It had been turned to silent for the meeting, but now he was being told to pull it out. It might have been Shinoda's way of saying to look at what his captain was putting in the chat.
So he did as instructed.
WorTri: "How do you people deal with this brat?"
Decoy: "I'm sorry, we're in the middle of class."
Yoshi: "Yeah, what he said."
Honest Sister: "Working~"
Grumpy Cat: "The same as her."
Twin-Snipe: "Uh... Busy! Yeah, really busy with...stuff!"
Taicchi: "Eh!? Eh!? Who is he talking about?"
Honest Sister: "You can honestly take Taichi as your victim."
Grumpy Cat: "It was a painful sacrifice to make."
Twin-Snipe: "Thanks for all of your hard work!"
Yoshi: "Yeah, sure."
Decoy: "Sorry about this."
WorTri: "Taichi, tell me now. If you don't..."
Taicchi: "Please don't just end it on that! I'm super scared right now!"
Kuru-ma: "Um, excuse me? Please don't scare my teammates, Sekai. And the rest of you, should you be messaging when you have things to do?"
Almost Everyone: "Sorry!"
WorTri: "Tch. Fine."
It was strange to find his captain give up that easily. Was it because he was tired of the conversation or because it had been Kuruma who had asked him to stop? Regardless of which it was, his captain had lowered his phone and sighed into the air again.
"Alright, I think that's enough of that," he said directly after.
There was a sudden change in the atmosphere.
Daigo felt it more as a general thing than his Side Effect working. Unlike a few seconds ago, everything in the room halted and became stagnant. Along with it came the sudden pressure from the person standing next to him. Instead of his captain standing there, it had quickly become the former A-Rank agent, Hikigane Sekai, who stood there.
A sudden desire to see who this person was made Daigo turn his eyes in that direction.
Unlike his captain, this man stood tall and with his eyebrows lowered. The posture he used demanded attention and seriousness, so much so that Daigo was sure he would start choking up if he tried to say anything out of line now.
This person was different from his captain.
Even if it's just for a moment, I need to stop messing around, thought Sekai.
Shinoda had allowed for some extra messing around before they started, but Sekai had had enough. There were things he needed to get done here before he could leave. Any more stalling and he was sure that his irritation would start to flare up in a more dangerous way.
From the corner of his eyes, he could see the brat freeze up at his sudden change in attitude. Out of everyone in the room, he was the only one who had never seen him shift to a more professional appearance. That may have been why the brat took a slight step to the side. A clear defensive action akin to lowering his head so as not to be seen by a predator.
That idiot and Kumokawa are too soft on him. Someone on my squad needs to be able to keep up, not make the rest of us slow down for them.
A flash of four others appeared in his mind. Each one of them was different from the other, and there was no uniformity between them whatsoever. The only thing that kept them together in his mind was the way they all refused to look at each other.
He was the same as those people.
I guess not all of them. Yasuko-ane is the only one who I don't have something against. Well, I mean, Minoru and Ketsueki are fine enough... Yeah, it really is just Denji. That guy can go and-...
Sekai stopped his own thoughts before they could escalate further. Thinking any more of that would go against his own way of life. A way of life that relied on making sure the people around him ended up happy while he would forsake his own happiness.
Even if it was some idiot he never wanted to think about.
"Now then," said Shinoda. Sekai nodded and saw the uncertain look Sawamura gave him. "We need to discuss what happened. Which one of you would like to go first?"
"I can organize the information well enough and send it to you while we talk."
"In that case, would you like to start, Girikage?"
Sekai saw the way the brat twitched at being called out. While he wanted to sigh, he knew he had to keep himself from doing so while in the current situation. So while the brat got himself ready, Sekai pulled out his phone and began organizing the information he had already written out earlier in the morning for this situation.
There was a slight pause before the brat finally spoke up.
When he did, even Sekai had to stop at what he started hearing.
The classroom failed to remain calm during the period before lunch. There were a number of reasons—growing bored with the class itself, growing hungry with lunch approaching, growing tired, etc.—but Hanzaki had a somewhat different reason.
...I need to make sure that the idiot at the base is fine.
He wanted to be ready in case anything happened, like what happened with his brother.
So in addition to the ordinary curiosity he felt about this and general worry, he wanted to make sure that Daigo wouldn't do anything dumb. He added this to a group chat with specific people allowed in it.
...I feel like this isn't right.
He had reason to question whether he should have said anything at all. That came down to his classmates, who were also part of Border. Most of them had not been told the specifics of what had happened before between Daigo and his brother.
Of course, it was not because he or Daigo didn't trust them. It had been because there was no reason to bring it up when it counted as a family issue. Beyond that, Hanzaki felt like it would have been too rude to the brothers.
...Would they still be fine if something else happened now?
He guessed that they would find a way around it all. Something else that had him worried was who he was currently with. Due to the chat earlier in the day, he knew that the Hikigane Squad Captain had also been with Daigo. Then he thought about his feelings towards that squad captain.
"It's really simple."
He unintentionally spoke out loud and quickly looked around to see if anyone noticed. They were in the middle of math class, and the problem on the blackboard was anything but simple. The teacher had not noticed his comment, but Hisato was looking his way from the desk by the wall. He used his finger to write in the air.
"No one noticed."
I can mostly trust Hisato, decided Hanzaki.
Anyway, the answer to his feelings about that person was something simple. After all, the personality of the Hikigane Squad Captain was similar to his own, so it was hard to imagine him as someone unrelated to the things happening with Daigo.
...None of this stuff had happened before. It might not be Hikigane Squad's fault, but that guy has been around for a lot of things now.
That was not all there was to it. He did not want to think they had not been noticing things about Daigo until recently, but he could be pretty quiet about problems, and they would sometimes find things that made them think, "Wait, how long has it been like this!?"
Besides, he always answered honestly when asked about things, so why would things change? There was no reason to believe that any of them would be different from how they have usually been, even more so for him and Daigo. If something changed, then it would have been him who would know first.
...Huh? Where did that come from? Whatever. It isn't like he won't tell us if we ask him about what happened.
But even if that were the case, why should they do that? It would seem like they were being nosy if they asked. More than that, it would say something about Daigo himself if he did not tell them anything. Would it mean he did not trust them enough to know? Maybe it would have been his way of not involving them.
He considered the options and found that each one he came up with left a bad feeling in his heart. None of the outcomes he could come up with would mean anything good for them—for him.
...Hold on a moment... Where is this coming from?
This would be the second time he questioned himself. The unknown feeling that formed collided with the worry that started to creep up, creating a whirl of pressure that struck him to the core. The weight of his thoughts and feelings began pressing on him until he was forced to sit upright.
From the corner of his eye, he could see Hisato looking his way, but he refused to return the look. Doing so might expose him more than he would like. Preventing this side of himself from being seen by the others was the reason for his sudden movement.
Hanzaki held a hand to his chest before dragging it upwards and towards his shoulder. Once his hand reached his shoulder, he grabbed hold of it and lowered his upper body until it touched the desk. With his arm across his face, he hid his face and let the pressure sink in as the energy he had started to drain from him.
What is this? Hanzaki wondered for the third time.
A noise reached his ears, but he refused to lift his head. It was only when he heard their teacher tell them that it was lunch that he gave any sort of reaction.
Without lifting his head, he listened to everyone begin to move around him. Most of them were moving away from his seat, but there was a clear sound that was moving towards him. He felt a presence next to his desk, but he still refused to lift his head.
"Try not to overthink things," said Hisato.
Beyond that single sentence, he said nothing. Only silence remained between the two of them as their free time started.
The repeated sound of footsteps was drowned out by the voices in the hallway. No one focused on the girl walking; they only stayed out of the way and made sure not to get hit. Otherwise, they left the girl alone. Only a few thought to look at who was moving through the hall, but they brushed it off once they saw who it was.
It was only when they got to the floor below that others started to focus and talk. Their voices also covered the footsteps' sound, and the people on this floor were even quicker to move to the side. This time, it was out of both fear and curiosity. What caught their attention the most was the light hair of the girl and the male uniform she wore. After that, there were the hard steps she took and the determined expression she wore.
The girl continued to walk through the hallway until she reached one of the classrooms. Without turning her head, she looked to her right and her left. The students peeking out from the other classrooms moved back to hide. The only ones who refused to do so were the ones who knew her well enough already.
Without any warning, she grabbed the door to the classroom and opened it with great force. Before it could slam against the other side, she made a sudden stop, making sure no noise was made. She scanned the room until she found the ones she had been looking forward.
"Hanzaki! Sasamori!"
The others in the room turned to her before all pointing to the back of the class. Even if she had already noticed them, everyone pointed to the two as if accusing them of something. It was a bit concerning, and she felt like she should say something about it, but there were other things she was focused on.
As she began walking over to the two boys, one of them looked over at her with wide eyes.
"Shigenaga-senpai!? What are you doing here!?"
"I didn't come to see you two, but it looks like that guy isn't here today. So..."
Shigenaga looked over from Sasamori to Hanzaki.
The hatless boy had his head down and was not reacting to anything they said. She raised a brow at Sasamori, but he only shook his head, refusing to say anything. She accepted that and thought nothing more about it.
"I came here to see Girikage. One of you should know where he is, right?"
"He's at the base right now. I don't know the specifics, but something came up during the recent festival, so he had to go to the base."
"I see," she said. "Then do you know if he will be coming to school today or will he be gone the whole time?"
"From the looks of things, he will probably be out the whole time."
Shigenaga nodded her head instead of verbally answering. This had not gone the way she wanted, but these answers were good enough to satisfy her. If they had outright refused to answer her, it would have gotten on her nerves, but it was not a big enough matter to cause a commotion. The fact that Sasamori had answered her properly was enough to put him on her good side for the time being.
Not finding the need to say anything else, she nodded again and began to turn around to leave the room. As she did so, a noise reached her ears. The sound of someone groaning was heard, making her turn her attention to the hatless boy who had been keeping his head down the entire time.
She raised an eyebrow at the slight glare he gave her.
"What do you want him for?" asked Hanzaki.
"If you needed to know then I would have told you."
"That sounds pretty suspicious. You better not want to use him like most others."
Shigenaga narrowed her own eyes at Hanzaki. From the side, she could see Sasamori straighten his posture, as if ready to do something if that was her intention. The protectiveness of these two was commendable, but not something she felt like dealing with. Hanzaki's assumption was based on how others were, but it was placing that assumption on her as a brand. The thought of such a thing made her anger start to surface.
Using all of her willpower, she remained calm and tried not to think about what was happening to her. It was just a result of others doing something as stupid as using Girikage and the protectiveness she had heard about instead of real ire from these two boys.
Knowing that, she took a breath and released it. Some of the tension in her shoulders was also released, but the majority of it remained.
"I won't use Girikage, that much, I'll say. Doing something like that is for fools who refuse to take responsibility for themselves."
"Ariake-senpai has said you were that type of person, so I'll ease up a bit. But everyone knows how tough you are. I don't trust what you have in mind for him."
"Bringing up that guy..." Shigenaga sighed this time instead of letting out a breath. She forcibly relaxed her body and eased her expression. "Look, I'm not going to be doing anything to Girikage. I only wanted to ask him some questions."
"Like what exactly?"
Shigenaga found herself clicking her tongue before she knew what she was doing. This was starting to get on her nerves.
"If you want to know so bad, then fine. But if I tell you my reason for wanting to meet with him, you need to answer me something, got it? And I mean you specifically, Hanzaki. Sasamori has been helping me since we started talking, but you're being a real pest right now. Especially since I want to leave before my teammates find out I'm on this floor."
Hanzaki thought about the conversation they were having. Originally, he had not wanted anything to do with Shigenaga and would leave the talking up to Hisato. That went well enough at first, but the more he heard, the more the pressure in him started to build up. Too many times had someone come in asking for Daigo only to end up using him, wasting his time, then blaming him if something went wrong in the end.
Most of the time, when he was blamed, there would be Lukas or Suzume to get some payback, but this was different. Neither one of them was here to listen to this, and Shigenaga was not someone to mess with lightly. If she was the next person to use Daigo, then it would be difficult to go against her without problem. The only way he knew to deal with her was to bring in Ariake, but he had always felt a bit bad for Ariake and felt like they would just be using him.
Now he was being presented with two options. Both of which would minimize needing an outside force or having to go directly against Shigenaga. That alone was tempting to him. At the same time, it was clear that there were only these two options for him.
"...Fine. I'll go along with that. Now what do you want with him?"
"I don't remember you being this rude."
Shigenaga shook her head, but Hanzaki refused to take his eyes off of her. Even if she said something like that, it was just her way of getting her thoughts out.
What mattered right now was making sure that she had no bad intentions for meeting with Daigo.
"I wanted to know how he managed to get Hikigane-san to mentor him."
Hanzaki stopped for a moment to register what she had said. After thinking about it, he turned to look at Hisato to see that their thoughts aligned. Both of them gave each other a look before turning back to Shigenaga.
Without any hesitation, they spoke in unison.
"He isn't mentoring him."
"...Hm?"
"Huh?"
Shigenaga looked to the side, her eyes narrowing.
Hanzaki and Hisato looked at each other.
"Please don't lie to me," said Shigenaga.
"We aren't lying," said Hanzaki and Hisato.
Shigenaga turned her head to the other side.
Hanzaki and Hisato looked away from each other.
A new silence came over the room. The other students stopped moving and watched the interaction with interest. They knew little about what was actually going on, but they knew that things looked to be going in a fun direction.
Shigenaga looked back at Hanzaki and Hisato before sighing. She rubbed the bridge of her nose to calm herself down before speaking.
"Then what is their relationship exactly?"
Hanzaki spoke first, his hand raised.
"Hikigane-san is his captain."
Hisato spoke next, his hand raised.
"They are teammates."
Shigenaga nodded at the first answer. Then she nodded at the second answer. She crossed her arms and nodded for the third time. After looking to be thinking it over, she opened her eyes and her mouth wide. She took in a large breath as the students around them tilted their heads.
A moment later, she spoke.
"THAT'S EVEN WORSE! YOU ASSHOLES!"