Thrown off the Scent

Ryuo eagerly walked back with a bag of bread sticks and sauce in hand towards their table. His smile would quickly be wiped when he saw Benzou and Sumiwa standing at his table, carefully inspecting the food there. Quickly he ducked behind a half wall that surrounded the food court to separate it from the rest of the mall.

“Not good.” He murmured to himself as he peered over the wall to observe them. “Where’s Jurie?” Fortunately it seemed his girlfriend was nowhere to be found. Considering their current state in checking out the table, it seemed she had managed to evade them for now.

“Ew, yuck.” He could hear them talking as he listened in on Sumiwa making her negative remarks on his lunch. “What kind of person would pig out on something like that?” While he figured a Capa would hate on his favorite meal, Ryuo had to admit it wasn’t limited to his mortal enemies.

However right now there were more pressing concerns than someone insulting his food. He heard Benzou inform her of the only person he knew who could stomach such food. Which narrowed down the suspects to Ryuo.

“This isn’t good.” Would they be caught so easily when they took this major risk? If he had known how things would turn out, then there would be no way these two would ever go on a date in public for the rest of their lives. But what’s done was done, so now he needed to figure out a way to salvage this situation.

“You know, it’s kind of weird for them to be eating like this if Jurie was being blackmailed.” Sumiwa’s words perked up his ears upon hearing them. What did they think was going on? “I mean, he even let her grab some boba.”

“And I doubt she’d let him get his favorite food if he was under duress.” Benzou followed up her line of thinking. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this was a meeting between friends.” Ryuo gulped deeply as he continued to listen in on their conversation.

“I’d say it was a date.” She laughed, but it didn’t humor her companion.

“Don’t make jokes like that. You know it’d never happen.” Ryuo breathed a sigh of relief. At least the absurdity of the situation could give him some excuse.

“That’s because you don’t know Jurie like I do.” She replied. “She told me that someone’s favorite food is a glimpse into their heart. If this pizza really belongs to your president, then I guess even someone as orderly as him can be a weirdo.” While he didn’t appreciate the backhanded insult, Ryuo never thought she could be so perceptive. That girl always struck him as someone rather self-centered.

“You Capas always look at him like some kind of tyrant, but Ryuo’s still a teenage boy like you or me.” Benzou responded, defending his honor. “It’s just that he has to keep up the responsibilities in his position.”

“Whatever.” Unfortunately she dismissed his words, not caring one bit on his clearly biased thoughts. “You know, the two of us make for a good team. I bet we can finally catch them if we work together.” The tone in her voice indicated she wasn’t a fan of the arrangement, but that they had no choice if they wished to succeed.

“As much as I hate to admit it, you did help me out a lot with your creative use of photo editing to find someone who saw her. So I suppose it won’t hurt that much to let you continue to accompany me.” Benzou agreed, but would quickly come to regret his decision when Sumiwa would respond by getting behind him and attempted to climb his up back. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like? Let me get on your shoulders. That way we’ll be tall enough to look over the crowd to see them.” As annoying as she was about this plan, he couldn’t deny it had sound logic.

“Fine.” He ducked under and picked her up onto his shoulders, allowing her to commandeer him.

“Heheh, the view’s great up here.” She laughed as she peered around. “Hey, you’re not getting off to me being up here, are you?” She commented on the fact she was wearing a skirt, so her private parts were practically up against the back of his neck.

“And this is why I don’t associate with you Capas.” He replied, sighing. As if he’d ever even be remotely attracted to someone like her. “Now, point the way.”

“Hmm, I should follow them.” Ryuo said to himself. He knew they wouldn’t look where they had already searched, so he could slip in safely behind them.

Meanwhile Jurie had put plenty of space between her and the food court as she slipped into one of the many clothing stores in the mall. She leaned against the wall, trying to collect herself with deep breathes.

“What am I going to do now?” She asked herself, trying to figure out the situation. Somehow those two were working together despite their differences. Which could only mean both student councils took this situation seriously. It was only supposed to be a fun date for her and her boyfriend, but now she was hiding in fear of being caught.

Jurie thought she’d have more time in her hiding spot, but it didn’t take long for the pair to walk in the store in their strange setup. The sight alone was enough to scare her from its sheer absurdity rather than the idea of what it represented to her.

“Why are we going in here? We’re not here to shop you know.” Said Benzou as their appearance caused a bit of shock to the rest of the shoppers.

“Because this is Jurie’s favorite store, duh.” She answered, looking around in search of the girl. “Now come on, let’s get in the middle so I can get a good look here.”

“Of cours-” He paused mid-step, keeping his foot up in the air. “Hold on, let me put you down.”

“What?” She barely got any warning before his knelt down and placed her down on the ground. “What’s your deal? You better have a good-”

“There’s a cockroach on the ground there.” He pointed down, revealing what gave him pause.

“Eek!” She jumped behind him, cowering in fear. “What are you waiting for? Kill that thing.”

“I’m not going to do that.” He knelt down and picked up the tiny creature. “It’s not doing anything wrong, so I’m not going to end its life.”

“You Montas really are weirdos.” She maintained space between them as he held the thing in his hands.

“There’s nothing weird with understanding one’s power. It’s a responsibility to protect those who can’t protect themselves.” He responded in a serious yet uncaring tone. As if it didn’t matter what her opinion on him was.

“Huh, I never took him for that kind of guy.” She always viewed Benzou as a brute that was used by the council to keep others under control. But the way she spoke, she could sense a caring nature behind that scary face.

Then an idea hit her as she watched them argue. This was her best opportunity to make an escape now that Sumiwa’s watchful eyes weren’t actively paying attention to her surroundings. Quickly she left her hiding place and slipped by them. Being just a mere meter from them as she quickly rushed out the store’s only exit.

Jurie was running through the mall when she felt an arm grab her and pull her aside into the hall leading to the restrooms. Her fears were quickly calmed when it turned out the person who grabbed her was Ryuo. “Am I glad to see you.” She gave him a hug as they were reunited once more.

“Me too.” He replied as their embrace ended. “I see you’ve ran into our uninvited guests.” Ryuo explained that he had followed the pair to that store. He hung around outside when he saw her sprinting out in her escape.

“What are we going to do?” She asked, trying to think over their options. “When Sumiwa gets in a rabbit hole, she tends to go all the way.” As she thought, the girl noticed something in his hands. “Really, you brought along those bread sticks?”

“I’m hungry and I already had these in my hands when I nearly ran into them.” He answered, reaching in and taking a piece. “I’d say this is actually a logical decision.” As they talked, he noticed the pair walking, with Sumiwa on Benzou’s shoulders, pass the side hallway they were at. He pushed her aside so they would not be spotted should someone peer in. “We’ll have to give them the slip somehow.”

“Wait.” They heard Benzou speaking when the pair exited from view.

“What, you need a bathroom break or something?”

“It’s not that. I smell something interesting.”

“Dude, that’s gross.” Considering where they were, Sumiwa didn’t take his words seriously until she was given no choice when he dropped her from his shoulders once more.

“I smell bread sticks.” His answer sent chills down the spines of Jurie and Ryuo.

“You idiot, those things are giving us away!” She whispered to him in a yelling manner.

“Wait a second, that gives me an idea.” Was his only response.

Benzou and Sumiwa quickly ran towards the restrooms where he claimed to have picked up the scent. They ran past the women’s restroom and into the men’s as this was where he believed it had been coming from.

“You know, girls shouldn’t be in here.” He said as they took a step inside.

“Whatever, I just want to find them.” She brushed him off as they looked around. What they found was a bag of breadsticks laying on top of the lid of the trash can, instead of being properly being thrown away.

“I guess some people just can’t be bothered to do things right.” He said, picking it up. “Is this anyone’s?” He spoke loudly towards the direction of the stalls. Without a response, he said it again. “I’ll throw these bread sticks away if you don’t say anything.” Again there was no response, as no one was in here.

“That was a complete waste of time.” Said Sumiwa as they exited the men’s restroom. Neither of them aware that Ryuo and Jurie were able to give them the slip thanks to his bait.