Wednesday, 5/11

The first day of exams was better than Ren expected. He had no trouble breezing through the questions. What was giving Ren trouble was something else.

Time to go study with Yoshizawa.

Ren made his way to the Shujin gate after class had ended. As he moved through the hallways, he heard the usual whispers about him. He didn't care enough about them to listen. He stepped out of the main entrance to Shujin to see the red haired girl waiting at the gate. She had a nervous smile on her face. Ren tried to put on a happy face before walking up to her.

"Hey, Yoshizawa-san."

"Hello, Amamiya-senpai."

Ren's happy face had worked.

"You got a preferred place to study?" He asked.

"It's up to you, Senpai."

"Got it. Follow me."

Ren led Kasumi to the station where they got on the subway to Shibuya. Once there, they went to the diner on Central Street. They got a booth, drawing a few glances from the other Shujin students that were there. After the pair sat down, they got out their study materials.

"Where should we begin?" Kasumi asked.

"I'll just help with whatever you're learning. I've already studied for my classes."

In reality, Ren hadn't studied anything. Studying what had already been learned brought memories of who Ren had already studied with. Thoughts of her halted almost everything Ren tried to do, or at least changed his perception of it. Even playing Super Rash Toes was tainted.

Maybe Kasumi can change that. She could take my mind off Makoto. She could be the replace- NO! Stop that. That's fucked up.

"Um… ok." Kasumi complied.

They got to work. Ren pushed himself through the tedium that was reviewing first year lessons. He couldn't help but feel miserable from the boredom mixing with the other things on his mind. Boredom had emptied anything interesting from his mind, and left room for her.

"Is everything alright, Senpai?" Kasumi's voice snapped Ren out of autopilot.

Ren looked her in the eye. Kasumi was obviously concerned for him. It was a much softer look than Ann's affirmative, yet caring stare.

"Yeah. Let's just keep going." Ren grumbled.

"Are you-"

"I said yeah."

"How about we try some of your work? I might not be much help, but I can try." Kasumi suggested.

"Fine."

They started reviewing Ren's study material. Kasumi didn't stand to gain anything at that instant from studying, so she simply quizzed Ren. He toiled through the questions and his thoughts.

Makoto Makoto Makoto Makoto Makoto …

"Karasu."

"Hm?" For some reason, the word had caught Ren's full attention.

"Karasu. What is the English translation?"

"Uh… crow?"

"Correct! I never would've gotten that." Kasumi said with a kind smile.

She can tell something's wrong. She wants to cheer you up, Ren. Don't be a piece of shit.

"Not good with English?" Ren asked, trying to return the smile.

"Not exactly. I can read and write well enough in English, but my pronunciation could use some work."

Ren looked at the table, considering what he heard.

"I can read and write well enough in English…" Makoto said that! Back when we were studying!

He looked back up. Makoto was staring at him from across the booth.

"AH!" He jumped.

Kasumi's worried stare replaced Makoto.

"Are you sure everything's alright, Senpai? It's getting a little late to hide it, you know." She said knowingly.

Hallucinations? Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. How can I stop this shit? I could try replacing Makoto with Kasumi- NO! Stop this shit altogether, Ren. End things right here, right now. Figure your shit out. Kasumi is Kasumi, not a replacement.

"N-no." Ren began.

"I'd be glad to talk about it."

"Can I just admit something? It would take a weight off my shoulders."

"Go ahead."

"I… um… this is kinda hard to say…" Ren began before swiftly blurting out the remainder. "I'm only here with you to take my mind off another girl! You're just a replacement!"

Kasumi didn't have a negative reaction. In fact, she didn't have a reaction. She just stared at Ren. Her left eye twitched a little.

"I'm sorry… that was a lot to just say. And it was mean." Ren said with newfound guilt.

"No, as long as it makes you feel better… I guess it's okay." Kasumi said with a sigh. "The girl is Niijima-senpai, isn't it?"

Ren looked at her inquisitively.

"How'd you know?"

"I've heard a few rumors."

Great. Now she has another reason to not speak with me. But isn't that what I want? Ending things with her would be healthy… right? No. I can't let things end like this. I need to speak with her. I need closure. I need to tell her myself that I don't want her. That will hopefully help.

Ren doubted almost everything that went through his mind.

"I'd like to apologize for my reaction." Kasumi said out of nowhere.

Reaction? The hell is the talking about?

"Oh- um… don't-"

"It's because of my sister!" Kasumi blurted in the same way that Ren had. "A lot of people considered her to just be my replacement in gymnastics. But she wasn't. She was so much more… I hope. Now here I am, being the replacement for some other girl. I suppose it's fitting."

Sister? Past tense? Oh no. Her sister died, didn't she?

Kasumi dejectedly stared down at the diner table.

"Please, don't think of yourself that way, Yoshizawa-san. I know that I'm the one who said it… but it's because I'm messed up. I've got some shit to figure out right now." Kasumi looked up at Ren. "And your sister was definitely more than a replacement. She was your sister, and that's the least of it. Of course she was so much more."

Pathetic attempt at redeeming yourself, asshole.

"Y-yeah. I guess you're right." Kasumi said. Her look told Ren that she didn't fully agree with him.

"Yoshizawa-san, if you ever need someone to talk about it with, please let me know."

"I-I'll do my best."

"Great. Wanna call it a day?"

That's not a question for her. It's for you, Ren. You just wanna go home and sleep, don't you? Too bad. You have work.

Kasumi nodded. She got up and began packing up her stuff. Ren did the same. They left soon after. As they got outside, Ren considered escorting Kasumi home.

Replacement…

He immediately said goodbye to her and parted ways. He walked to the station in a rush.

5/11

Exams have unfortunately slowed progress on the investigation. While I am having no trouble with them, they leave several of my leads busy at the moment. While I can't pursue some leads, I was still able to survey Amamiya. Today he went to the diner on Central Street with Yoshizawa. I am struggling to comprehend the implications of this. From Suzui's account, Takamaki and Amamiya are romantically engaged with each other. Wouldn't Amamiya spending time alone with another girl upset Takamaki? Girlfriends are supposed to be upset by that, right? Maybe Takamaki is alright with it? Amamiya and Yoshizawa both left in a rush. I'll have to ask Yoshizawa about that.

As Makoto read through her notes, a thought popped into her head.

I've been getting more and more disorganized with the investigation. Things are unraveling. Quickly. I need to make progress, she thought.

Ren stared down at the prompt on his phone to accept the call from Ayumi. He declined it just as he sat down on his bed.

I probably should tell Ayumi about our situation, but… that's a lot of effort. Better to just ghost her. Or maybe I could tell her that I'll spend time with her if she gets her son to be a better person… nah. That's not gonna happen. Yoshiro doesn't seem like a very nice guy, at least on the outside. Maybe I should do some investigating about him.

Ren opened Shujinstagram and pulled up Yoshiro Takata's page. The most recent photo was from Club Day. It was of the volleyball team. None of them were smiling as they stood in front of their booth.

"'Shujin proud.' My ass." Ren remarked as he read the caption.

Ren noticed the idiot who had shoved him on Club Day.

This guy might be of note. I should learn his name.

Ren pressed a button to pull up the account names of the people tagged in the photo. The one over the idiot's face was labeled 'BigDMan.'

Jackass.

Ren pressed the label. He was taken to Dai Shirai's page. Photos of the volleyball team, Kamoshida, and Dai himself filled the page. But an exception to that caught Ren's eye. It really caught Ren's eye. He tapped on the photo. The photo itself was of Dai and a girl. The caption was even more believable.

A heart emoji. How touching.

Curious to find out who the opportunity was, Ren pulled up the tags. He tapped on the girl's tag.

Eiko Takao?

From the girl's self obsessed Shujinstagram page, Ren could tell what kind of person she was. The gum popping, hair ribbon sporting, ponytail wearing girl who would always start a sentence with the word, "Like." That kind of girl.

The most recent posts on her Shujinstagram were strangely not of her. They were of Dai. Ren pulled up the oldest photo of Dai on the account. It was posted last Sunday.

Just started dating, huh? I guess she's excited to have a boyfriend.

Ren looked at the other photo's of Dai on Eiko's page. They all had one thing in common: Dai smiled in none of them.

Apparently even the girl that's worth a heart emoji isn't worth smiling about. Dai probably has an ulterior motive to dating Eiko. He just looks so unhappy in all of these photos with her. Meh. Who cares? I'm reading into it too hard.

While Ren's interest had been momentarily piqued, it quickly slipped away into the back of his mind. He had other things to think about that weren't Dai and Yoshiro. Other people to think about.

Thursday, 5/12

Thursday went just as well for Ren as Wednesday did, in terms of exams. As he left the classroom for the day, he was stopped by the familiar face of Maruki.

"Afternoon, Amamiya-kun. I was hoping I could speak with you."

"Sorry, Maruki-san. Nothing to talk about out. See you." Ren said as he tried to make his way passed Maruki.

Maruki quickly stepped in front of him, holding his hands up in a passive aggressive manner.

"I'm not so sure about that. Could you please follow me to the nurse's office? You don't have to if you really don't want to, but it's pretty important to me."

Sorry, Maruki. I haven't gotten the girl yet.

"Fine." Ren said flatly.

Ren followed Maruki, trying to block out the whispers as they walked. They had entertained him for a few weeks, but now they were just becoming a nuisance.

"Oooh, I'll bet he's in trouble! You think they're gonna expel him?" A girl whispered to her friend.

"I hope not… I mean, he's kinda cute…" The other girl said dreamily.

"Pfft. That's all you care about." The first girl replied.

Ren and Maruki kept walking. They reached the nurse's office, and Maruki opened the door for Ren. Ren stepped into the room and took his usual seat on the couch. He took a few chocolates out of the bowl on the table. Maruki sat down in his chair and breathed deeply.

"Everything alright, Amamiya-kun?"

Why the hell does everyone keep asking me that? Oh yeah. Because there is something wrong. And it's only becoming more and more obvious to those around me. Maybe following Maruki here wasn't such a bad idea…

"You know the answer, Maruki-san. Isn't that why you brought me here?"

"Not exactly. When I last saw you, you looked pretty happy. That was Club Day. Now, you look the exact opposite of happy. What changed?"

He wanted to bring me here because he noticed that I looked unhappy? But he came looking for me after class. Until then, he hadn't seen me. How could he have known I was unhappy? Is Maruki stalking me?

"You came looking for me because you knew I was unhappy. But you hadn't seen me since Club Day. How'd you notice the change, Maruki-san?" Ren made sure to add a little bite to Maruki's name.

"Oh! My apologies. I usually don't mention this, but I received an anonymous tip about you." Maruki said with warm smile.

Anonymous tip? Someone cared about me enough to tell the counselor that I feel like shit? That feels incredible. Could it have been Makoto? I hope it was her.

Ren's laid his suspicions of Maruki to rest. He relaxed in his seat, feeling much more comfortable with Maruki.

"Oh. That's interesting." Was all Ren could say.

"I'm sure it is. But as I said, the tips are anonymous. I don't know who left it, and you probably don't either. So back to my question. Why the change?" Maruki said.

The only thing I could guess is that Tae's drugs made me depressed. I should probably notify her that that is a side effect. What to tell Maruki? ...It's probably a bad idea to tell someone who is paid by Shujin Academy that I am consuming experimental drugs on the side. And ol' reliable definitely wouldn't work. Better to just play dumb.

"I-I'm not sure… since our last session, I was feeling better, but that just kinda faded away."

Maruki raised his hand to his chin.

"Hmmm."

He doesn't believe me.

"It's the truth, Maruki-san." Ren added.

"I believe you, Amamiya-kun." Maruki said, taking his hand away from his face. "Is it safe for me to assume that the same conflict that troubled you last week is what troubles you now?"

Ren nodded.

"I believe that I have a solution. A way for you to communicate with Niijima-san."

Ren flinched at the name. He was back on guard. He developed a complete and total distrust of Maruki within milliseconds.

How the fuck does he know it's her?!

For once, Ren voiced his actual thoughts.

"How the fuck do you know it's her?!"

Maruki's eyes went wide for a second, but he closed them and put a smile on his face.

"Like I said. There was an anonymous tip. Niijima's name was on that note."

Who the fuck left that note?!

"Oh… Sorry, Maruki-san for being so, um, vulgar."

"It's quite alright, Amamiya-kun." Maruki said, looking Ren in the eye with a smile. "Now, I'd like to detail my idea. Niijima-san is the student council president, correct?"

"Yep."

"So, why not leave a note in the suggestion box? The student council is obligated to check it at every meeting. It's right outside the student council room."

Suggestion box? Why does no one tell me about this stuff?

"That sounds like a good idea. I think I'll try that." Ren said.

"I'm glad to hear that. Unless there's something you'd like to talk about, you're free to leave." Maruki said before quickly adding, "You could've left anytime you want! I'm not forcing you to come h-here!"

Awkward as ever.

"I got nothing. Thank you, Maruki-san. I'll see you later." Ren said as he stood up from the couch.

"Goodbye, Amamiya-kun." Maruki waved.

Ren left the nurse's office.

5/12

Ren Amamiya went to speak with the counselor today. I tried to listen in (strictly for investigative purposes) but I could barely understand what was being said. I suppose it's a good thing that the school counselor has partially sound-proof doors. What I did hear wasn't useful. "How the fuck do you know it's her?!" was all I got. Ren must've been upset enough to raise his voice to a level where I could hear it. It's fair to assume that he's upset about her. But who is her? It could be Takamaki, or maybe Yoshizawa. Likely one of the two. I'll just have to add it to my list of questions. Maybe I could ask Maruki about Ren Amamiya's mental state. I know that confidentiality is important for a school counselor, but… it's important. Maruki must understand that, right?

Investigation Agenda

Question Suzui-san - SUCCESS

Question remaining volleyball team members (maybe)

Follow/question Takamaki (strictly investigative purposes)

Follow/question Yoshizawa-san (strictly investigative purposes)

Ask Haru about any changes in Amamiya's behavior

Investigate Untouchable

Question Mishima

Question Maruki

Take a break

Friday, 5/13

Friday went just as well as the previous two days. Ren even had something to motivate him. The sticky note that he had written that morning, meant for the student council suggestion box, was tucked safely inside his pocket. As he sat waiting in his chair for the bell signaling the end of the day, his foot began to tap.

Nervous. That's weird. I'm putting a piece of paper with some ink on it in a box. That's it.

The bell rang. Ren stood up, nodded a quick goodbye to Ann, and left. He walked through the hall to the stairs. As he went up the stairs, he was met with a wave of first years walking down.

"Hey, get of the- holy shit it's him. Amamiya the Impaler!"

Impaler? I haven't even stabbed anyone. Fucking Mishima. I don't actually know if it's him spreading these rumors. I just like to blame him at this point.

The crowd coming down the stairs parting for Ren. Even the people in the back of the crowd moved away, clued in to Ren's presence from the whispering. Ren finally made it through the crowd to see a mostly empty third floor. The lingering students and teachers were only their for makeup assignments, grading exams, or club activities. Ren made his way down the hall to the student council office. Once he reached it, he noticed what seemed to be the suggestion box. It was a cardboard box on a stool with a little slit in the top for pieces of paper.

I didn't pay enough attention when I came here to study. This would've been good to know about before I went through all this shit.

Ren placed the note in the box. He began to walk away until he realized something.

She could just disregard that note… I should leave more than one.

Ren quickly unzipped his bag and pulled out a pen and the pad of sticky notes. He viciously scribbled additional messages to Makoto on them, hoping at least one of them would provoke a response. After he had left what he deemed a good amount, he put the sticky notes and pen away. He then left Shujin to go back to his apartment before work that evening.

Leblanc had customers again! Unfortunately, they were the two customers that Ren least wanted to serve.

Except for that movie critic. Fuck that guy. I'm happy he's not here.

Sae Niijima and Goro Akechi were having what Ren was sure was a pleasant cup of coffee. Akechi had his cheesy, very fake looking smile on, and Sae looked like she was slightly annoyed. They both turned to look at the door when Ren entered.

"Amamiya-kun." Sae simply said.

The Niijima Death Stare had something else to it that evening. A nostalgia that Ren hadn't predicted. It was oddly comforting to be looked at by those red eyes. Akechi's gaze was the opposite of Sae's. While it was warm and friendly, it was much less comforting than the NDS. There was something behind his smile. That something was why Ren had decided he didn't like Akechi. That, and the fact that Akechi was famous.

"Hello, Niijima-san. It's so wonderful to see you here. You brighten every room with your smile!" Ren said with a bow.

"As expected. Thank you for the coffee, Akechi-san." Sae said as she stood up. As she walked passed Ren, she lowered her voice. "Know your place, Amamiya-kun, as a criminal. Stay away from Makoto."

I'm sure she would be happy to hear that Makoto's staying away from me.

Ren resisted the urge to indulge in his expansive list of insults, expletives, and kind words. He settled for a sarcastic smirk.

"Hmph." Sae left.

"Keep scaring away the customers, and you're gonna have to pay for their coffee." Sojiro said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, right." Ren said as he walked behind the counter.

Sojiro stopped him before he could get his apron on.

"Kid over there was asking to speak to you."

Ren looked over. Akechi took a sip of his coffee and waved at Ren, his disgustingly fake smile plastered across his face.

Fuck that. I'd rather learn to make coffee than talk to a celebrity detective.

"He said he's a big tipper." Sojiro added as if it would help Ren's perception of Akechi.

"Fine." Ren said as he left from behind the counter.

"Want any coffee?" Sojiro asked.

"Yeah. The usual, please." Ren said as he slid into the booth, across from Akechi.

Akechi set down his cup of coffee that he was already sipping.

"I've been waiting to meet you, Amamiya-san." Akechi said.

Why am I worth your time, oh great Akechi-sama?

"That's cool." Ren said.

"Wouldn't you like to know why?"

Frankly my detective, I don't give a damn.

"Nope."

"Knowledge is power, Ren!" Sojiro called out from behind the counter.

If Sojiro keeps encouraging me to talk to celebrities, he's gonna have one less barista.

"Fine. Why have you been waiting to meet me?" Ren said with frustration.

"Because you're an acquaintance of Niijima-san, of course."

"Which Niijima are you talking about?"

"Sae-san."

"Ah. Very cool. That was so worth my time."

Akechi made a sad face.

As if that's real.

"I'll get to the point, Amamiya-san. I know that Sae-san told you to stay away from her sister. Why is that?"

"I lead a terrorist cell out of my apartment. Oh, I also have an assault on my record." Ren remarked.

Akechi let out a lighthearted chuckle.

"I can guess which one of those is true. Now, I ask you, did you do it? The assault, I mean."

I'm planning an assault if this conversation doesn't end soon.

"No."

"That leads me to our topic of discussion for tonight." Akechi said. "Whoever got that on your record, would you want to exact vengeance on that person?"

Tonight? Oh shit, they're gonna be more of these? Dammit.

Ren took some time to actually consider the question.

I guess I'm a little upset that I was unjustly punished. But not as upset as I am at the fact that my perception of bald people changed. That's the big one.

"Maybe. What kind of vengeance?" Ren asked.

"This is all theoretical, of course. But it could be anything you wanted. Even death." Akechi's voice peaked at the last word, emphasizing it.

"Anything I wanted? I probably would get vengeance."

"Interesting. Even if it was breaking the law?"

"I probably wouldn't do it if it could get me in trouble." Ren said.

"Hmmm, interesting. So you would only enact your vengeance from the shadows?"

"Sure, if you wanna make it sound corny and shit."

Sojiro set down Ren's coffee on the table. Ren nodded a thank you, and Sojiro walked away.

"I guess I do. There's something so fascinating about vigilante-esque figures. Take Batman, for example. What he does is completely illegal, but it is morally correct. Or is it? Whether it is or isn't, the consumer is ultimately supposed to agree with Batman. But what Batman does isn't right. Ultimately, he's damaging the system. He brutalizes criminals, sometimes leaving them with lifelong injuries, always leaving them with hefty medical bills. Who's going to pay those bills? The criminals? No. The people the criminals are in the custody of will pay the bills, letting the criminals go into debt. When those criminals do their time, they're left with debt. A debt they can't make back because they can't get a job because of their criminal record. Those criminals will have no chance to ever live. Batman effectively killed them. But wouldn't it have been better if he had actually killed them? It would've saved time and money." Akechi said, his eyes growing cold. He lightened the mood with a chuckle, before saying, "Of course, take this all with a grain of salt. Batman is mere fiction."

That's very cool Akechi, but I'd rather not hear your philosophical musings on Batman.

"Look, I don't want to talk to you about Batman. I'm not in the mood, and I don't think that I'll ever be. So here's my offer: I give you a tip on a potential rule breaker, and you let me leave. Deal?"

Akechi looked hurt at Ren's lack of interest in the consequences of Batman's actions.

"So be it. Tell me about your 'rule breaker.'" He said with a little disappointment.

"He's a big time artist. Madarame. I think he's abusing his pupils or something."

"Madarame? The Madarame? Do you have evidence?"

"Nope. Just a hunch."

"A hunch…" Akechi said as his eyes lowered while he thought about Ren's information. "I propose a counter deal: if I investigate Madarame, whether I obtain results or not, you'll have another conversation with me."

Is he allowed to do that? Investigating people as a favor? That has to be breaking some kind of law.

"Fine. Sure. Whatever." Ren said nonchalantly.

While Ren had his suspicions of Madarame, he expected them to hold no actual weight. He believed that he was sending Akechi on a wild goose chase that would hopefully give Ren time to come up with an actual excuse to not speak with Akechi.

"Wonderful. Now, I have one more question. Why is it that you are so cautious of me?"

"Couldn't tell you. How about you tell me, Detective Akechi?"

Akechi chuckled.

"Well, I deduce that your mental state has made you much more aggressive and apprehensive to those not already in your circle. Through further deductions, I can glean that you're not only angry about speaking with me, but something else in general."

He wasn't wrong. The sticky note that Ren had dropped into the suggestion box was still on his mind. Whether Makoto had seen it or not was eating away at him, and he had no way of knowing whether she planned on speaking to him about it or ghosting him. The fact that Akechi got it right only made Ren more high strung.

I know that I asked for it, but the way he said it… that was just creepy. Like he wanted to get a reaction out of me. Fine. I'll give him a reaction.

Ren stood up from the booth and took one more sip from his coffee before breathing deeply.

"Well, I'm gonna de-drop these nuts in your mom's mouth. Have a good evening, Akechi-san. You too, Sojiro. I'll pay for the coffee on Monday."

Sojiro just grunted. Ren didn't wait to see Akechi's reaction as he left Leblanc in a rush.

5/13

Amamiya took extra time to leave Shujin today. It's probably not important. Surprisingly, once he left the building, he went home immediately. He also went to Leblanc in the evening for work, but I didn't follow him. Standing outside of a retro coffee shop yields few results. It's unfortunate that I found nothing today because I won't be able to investigate tomorrow. The other student council members have grown tired of me postponing meetings and pressured me to call one. I'll have to wait until Sunday to resume the investigation.

Saturday , 5/14

Makoto placed the suggestion box on the table. In all her time as a member of the student council, which was all three years she had been at Shujin, the suggestion box had only been used a handful of times. Most students distrusted the student council, or just didn't care. On the rare occasion that the box got an actual note, it was usually a girl asking for help with boys, or vice versa.

That was what made that day special. The suggestion box had as many notes in it that day as Makoto had seen over the last three years.

"It's strange that we received all of these suggestions now." Vice President Noriko Taira said.

"Is it? The whole thing with Kamoshida just happened." Secretary Michiko Hora said.

Makoto shivered at the name.

"Everything alright, Senpai?" Treasurer Eiji Tanaka said.

"Y-yes. Let's just go through the box."

The other three student council members nodded, and Makoto opened the box. She shuffled the notes inside with her hand, and picked one. She held it up to read.

"We need to talk."

She almost dropped the note.

Ren. Ren. Ren. Ren. It's Ren. Ren left the note. Him. Ren. Ren. It's Ren, was all that her mind could manage.

"Who would leave a not like that? That's not helpful at all." Eiji said.

"You never know, Tanaka-san. Someone on this council may have a s-e-c-r-e-t." Michiko said with a giggle.

"I-I'm sure it's nothing." Makoto said, quickly crumpling the note and tossing it towards the trash can.

"Heh. Totally…" Noriko scoffed.

"Let's just move on…" Makoto said shakily, reaching her hand into the box.

She pulled out the next note. She was careful not to read this one aloud.

'There's something I need to tell you.'

Makoto crumpled the note. She tossed it towards the trash can. She reached into the box again. She pulled out the next note.

'I can explain what happened.'

Crumple. Toss. Reach. Pull. Read. Crumple. Toss. Reach. Pull. Read. Crumple. Toss. Reach. Pull. Read. Crumple. Toss. Reach. Pull. Read. Crumple. Toss.

It was never ending. But there was one that stuck out to her. One that had more than a sentence on it. She read this one aloud.

"I'm being threatened by people, and so are other students. A group in Shibuya is blackmailing us into working for them, and they're threatening our families if we go to the police. Please help, I'm running out of options."

"Are you serious? We have to do something about this!" Eiji demanded, slamming his fist down on the table.

"Calm down, Tanaka-san. Anger won't get us anywhere." Makoto said calmly.

"Yeah, yeah. You say that every time." Eiji remarked.

"Pfft. When's every time? Nothing ever happens-" Noriko began.

"Silence. Here's what's gong to happen. I'll go to Shibuya on Sunday and investigate. I don't want you guys going, it's dangerous. This is my job. We'll have a meeting on Monday about it. You guys research student exploitation in Shibuya. Got it?" Makoto said, taking control of the meeting.

The student council had learned to not question Makoto's authority at this point.

"Got it." They all said in unison.

"Good. Meeting adjourned."

"But we still-" Eiji tried to speak but was cut off.

"We'll discuss it on Monday. Meeting adjourned." Makoto said in a tone that commanded respect.

The three student council members all left. Makoto was alone again.

There was something that Makoto had not read on the note: a name. The person had signed the note, but Makoto didn't want to reveal the name for the sake of the writer's privacy, for this note not to be traced back to the writer, and to prevent Eiji from going into his aggressive investigation mode. But now that she was alone, Makoto said the name aloud.

"Dai Shirai…"

Makoto packed up her bag and left for the day.