Chapter 72 Movements In The Background - Part 4

I waited in front of Kobayashi's room as she finished getting ready.

This was the floor that Akasaka lived on as well.

By pure chance, Akasaka was just leaving her room. The two of us made eye contact for a few seconds before she turned away. I guess she hadn't put two and two together and realised that I had Hamasaki's student card, which she had stolen.

I continued waiting for Kobayashi. She was taking quite a long time. I tried to call her using the contacts system provided by the school; however, the call did not go through.

"Have you been waiting long?" The door suddenly swung open as Lucy walked out dressed in a long skirt and an old, greyish shirt.

I did wait a pretty long time, but oh well.

"I just got here."

"That's good. I was worried I was taking too long~"

She made her way beside me, and we began walking to the elevator.

"So which café are we going to?"

"It's one in the middle of the mall named The Outcome."

"Alright."

**

The café was quite packed. It was definitely the most popular café in the school by far. Practically every table was taken up by students happily chatting and enjoying their meals. The atmosphere was very modern. It was what you'd expect from a top-of-the-range establishment. I didn't recognise any of the faces in the café, so I assumed that they were mostly 2-B or 2-A students and upperclassmen.

We were approached by one of the servers.

"I'm sorry, the café is currently full at the moment. Would you mind waiting until there is a free table?"

"Yes, that's fine," Kobayashi answered on our behalf.

We waited just outside the entrance of The Outcome. Not long after, we were let in after some seats had freed up. We were at a table with four seats, and the two of us sat opposite each other. She seemed a little on edge, but I just chalked it up to some awkwardness.

As I was looking at the menu, I noticed a small commotion at the entrance of the café.

"Sir, we're full at the moment."

"Don't worry; one of my friends is already in here."

He walked in without any care for the employee.

I didn't give it any thought, but suddenly, he walked straight towards us. He was quite a large, strong-looking person with a very overbearing presence. The look on his face suggested that he was just having a casual meetup with one of his friends. However, the look on Kobayashi's face suggested otherwise.

"Hey now, didn't I ask you to come alone? Who is this person?"

"H-he's just one of my classmates..."

"Why did you bring him?"

"U-um..." It looked like she couldn't think of an answer.

I kind of figured that there were some ulterior motives for bringing me to this café. When she first arrived, she didn't look excited as I expected her to be. Looks like I've been caught in a problematic situation.

He turned to face me.

"You're not welcome here, leave."

What was I meant to do here?

I didn't really want to involve myself in this but considering she brought me here. She probably expected me to do something. I slid my seat out a little bit and slowly stood up. As I got up, I could feel Kobayashi subtly tugging at my shirt.

What a pain.

I sat back down.

"I just wanted to get some food."

"Hahaha, you're tough shit, aren't you? Alright, I'll let you listen in, but you ain't backin' out of this once you've heard it."

At least insist on me leaving or something... this sounded like quite a hassle.

"Fukuda... h-he's not involved in this..." muttered Kobayashi, her voice slightly shaking.

"You tryin' to play the hero card now? You brought him here in the first place, you coward. You're the one who involved him."

Yogi Fukuda, the only survivor of class 2-F aside from Kanako, I would say I was impressed. Still, I had a suspicion that there were some specific circumstances which allowed for it.

I wanted nothing to do with this.

I stood up once again and proceeded to push into my chair.

"Too late little boy. You should've left earlier. You're involved now. Take a seat."

Oh my.

Well, there was nothing for me to gain by not listening. I sat back down. Fukuda instantly got to the point.

"Did I say you could tell Kaoru about our plan?" He asked Kobayashi.

"I-I didn't mean to..."

"Don't lie to me. I know she's not smart enough to figure it out on her own."

"Uh..."

"Well, now that you've betrayed me, expect consequences."

"W-wait, what are you going to do..?"

Fukuda looked like the type of person who could dish out some severe punishments when he wished. Kobayashi constantly glanced at me as if to see if I could do anything.

"I can't really deal with you that well unless you're in my class, so I'll be bringing you into my class first of all. Then you'll learn what happens when you disobey me."

The academic exam was an opportunity to bring Kobayashi into his class. All he needed to do was cause her to rank last place in the class. On the contrary, he also could rank first and join our class. It all depended on how capable he was.

I hope that things stay relatively stable.

Fukuda finally directed his attention to me.

"Now, what am I going to do with you?"

He stared at me for a little while.

"Your facial expression is monotone, like a lifeless doll. I like it."

"What are you talking about."

"You act as if you don't realise, which is even more interesting."

Was that how I appeared to others?

"Well, I don't think you really know about the situation, so I'll let you off the hook."

"Oh."

He looked at me once again before getting up from his seat and leaving without another word.

I looked at the girl opposite me, who was shaking at her fingertips. The whole encounter had obviously taken a toll on her.

It looked like a good opportunity to leave. I hadn't ordered anything to eat, but I didn't really want to anyways. There was nothing that really appealed to me, so I preferred to just leave it as it was. I got up from my seat and made my way out of the café.

This entire situation was bothersome.

She'd be better off finding someone else to confide in.

***

As I returned to my dorm, I was greeted by a girl standing right in front of my door. It was Akasaka, the girl who stole Hamasaki's student card.

"What are you doing."

She suddenly walked towards me, slamming her arm against the wall.

"You have it, don't you?"

"What are you talking about."

She looked very unhappy.

"Hamsaki's student card—I know you have it."

"What do you mean."

She moved her face closer to mine, staring right into my eyes with a dark glare I had somewhat grown accustomed to after looking at it for so long.

"I know you have it, now give it back, or we'll have problems."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

She suddenly began sticking her hands into my pockets. I didn't have the card on me, so she wouldn't be able to find anything by doing so. I let her search me until she was satisfied.

'I'm telling you, I don't have it."

"I don't believe you. You probably have it in your room somewhere."

That was true, I did have it in my room, but she wouldn't be able to find it even if she searched my entire room.

"I don't know what I can say to you."

"We're going to have issues if you don't give it back."

I walked past her and towards the door of my room. I tapped my phone onto the scanner, and it unlocked with a slight beep. As I slid my door open, I could hear her footsteps coming closer. When I walked into my room, she quickly followed behind, letting herself in.

"What are you doing," I asked.

"I know you have it here somewhere."

She began rummaging through my belongings. I could have stopped her, but I decided that the easiest method to get rid of her was to have her try to find the student card. I had nothing important to get to anyways, so it wasn't like it was really wasting my time.

After several minutes, she seemed to have given up hope.

"Are you convinced?"

"I don't understand. You definitely have it somewhere."

"I don't have her student card. Could you leave my room now."

"No! Not until I find it."

I considered dragging her out of my room, but it wasn't worth the effort.

I decided to take a seat on my bed and look at my phone. She was still frantically looking everywhere, trying to find the student card. I considered that something like this would happen, so I hid the student card in advance.

It looked like I had missed a few texts from Takeuchi.

-

[Wanna hang out?]

[Hello?]

[Do you want to study together in the library?]

-

Maybe I should have replied.

Well, it was too late now. I had had enough of going out for the time being.

A few more minutes went by as Akasaka continued to search my room to no avail.

"Are you done yet."

With a look of defeat on her face, she finally gave up.

"I know you have it. You'll regret doing this."

Angrily she stomped out the door, slamming it behind her.

I could finally lie down and stare at the roof without anyone else in my room.

***