Flashpoint

The Misakigaoka High School cultural festival is always an event. As one of the larger schools in the area, each year it attracts the attention of not just students and parents, but also a sizable number of neighborhood residents. Open to the public, the school has gained a reputation for being open and welcome, if a little rowdy. Perhaps that was why this would be the first time ever that Misakigaoka's cultural festival would conclude with a latenight bonfire, sure to keep the party going deep into the night and the noise complaints coming.

Kouhei gazed at the completed fire-pit, taking in the fruits of his labor. Though he had hardly a hand in its actual construction, it was his lobbying and negotiating with the neighborhood council that had won them the approval for such an activity. The firepit was made of sturdy blocks of two by fours stacked on alternating sides, forming a square containment area that was ready to be burned itself to keep the fire going. Basic, and hardly worth too much fussing over, but Kouhei's sense of accomplishment came from the symbolic nature of its existence. It was the first of its kind on Misakigaoka land, and more importantly, a physical proof of Kouhei's own competence.

"Prez." A voice called for Kouhei's attention. It was Ono Misaki, the student council treasurer. Her flaxen hair waved in the wind, its wavy curls bobbing up and down. "Should we be going on patrol soon?"

"Don't even bother, he's obsessed with his little campfire." Reika mocked, sitting with her legs crossed, her face shaded under the hastily erected tent that served as the student council's command center for the duration of the festival.

Ignoring the interruption, Kouhei paced in a circle briefly before addressing Misaki. "Ono-san, you can go on patrol. Check at least all the hot food stalls, make sure they're not leaving grills unattended and have everything plugged in right. Oh, and take Takahashi with you." Kouhei motioned towards the blonde girl sitting under the tent with a tug of his head. Ayaka gave an 'aye-aye' salute and a tiny smirk, and soon the two were off performing their task.

"Passing on your duties to your poor subordinates just to get some alone time with me?" Reika watched the two depart, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"As if. I'm going to go get the firewood." Patrolling the festival was certainly an important task, but it wasn't as if there were any set guidelines for it, and Kouhei could trust Misaki and Ayaka to handle it on their own. Mostly, it consisted of visiting the stalls to make sure school guidelines were being followed, and the occasional lost child or first aid situation as they arise.

"Suit yourself." Reika replied, uninterested.

Kouhei thought it was odd that Reika wouldn't offer to help, but that suited him just fine. Being able to get away from Reika was what he had wanted in the first place. If she had asked, Kouhei would've refused, and he might've even tried to rope her into doing it by herself. As he walked towards the storage shed where the firewood was being kept, Kouhei brainstormed several ways to trick Reika into doing his bidding and stored the ideas for later use.

Reaching the storage shed at the edge of the field, Kouhei rooted around in his pocket for the key to the lock, only to discover... nothing? He was sure he had gotten the key from the janitor this morning, and he remembered putting it into his pocket clear as day. Frantically, Kouhei felt around his uniform for the missing key. He checked his shirt pocket, blazer pockets, and the back pockets of his pants. For good measure, he patted himself down from head to toe even where there were no pockets. Still unable to find the key, Kouhei tried to mentally retrace his steps. The pocket containing the key did not contain anything else, and Kouhei wasn't in the habit of putting his hands in his pockets when standing around. In fact, he could not recall reaching into the pocket even once since putting the key there, and the pocket in question was much too deep for the key to have fallen out accidentally. All day long, Kouhei had been directing the preparations and proceedings of the cultural festival, handling questions from students and visitors from the temporary command center of the student council tent.

Having eliminated the possibilities of an accident or an error on his own part, Kouhei stormed back to the student council tent to confront the only possible source of his woes. Having spent the vast majority of the day with the student council, the only irregularity that would have both the opportunity and motive was plainly obvious.

Kouhei approached to find said irregularity smirking at him from within the shade.

"Reika, what did you do with the key?"

"Whoa, a little familiar, are we?"

"Ayatsuji-san, give me back the key."

"Whatever could you be talking about?" Reika turned away, clearly enjoying the moment to its fullest.

Kouhei narrowed his eyes. After a painful moment of contemplation, he grunted.

"Please."

"Please?" Reika couldn't hold her laughter. "Wow, you're really attached to that puny campfire, huh?"

"Shut up."

"Ok, fine. I took your key. Since you asked so nicely, I won't stop you if you find it in time. Although to be honest, you could just burn the container instead."

"Are you kidding me? That would last all of 15 minutes."

"It would be quaint." Reika offered.

Kouhei ignored this latest provocation and set his mind to the task of finding the key. Like him, Reika had been moving with the student council for the entirety of the day, so it couldn't be very far. If he had been hiding something, the safest place would be...

Kouhei looked Reika up and down. He realized with horror that if she had really hidden the key on herself, there was really no way he could possibly recover it without being even more of a creep than he was already being. Though he tried not to think about it, closely examining Reika up close made Kouhei's mind start to wander. He started imagining Reika's silky white skin beneath her stockings, and the subtle curvatures of her body which could easily hide such a small key. Though he hated to be reminded of this fact, Kouhei was now acutely aware that this was his ex-girlfriend who was now his tormentor.

"Ew, what are you doing? Stop looking at me like that, creep!"

"Is it... possible that you're hiding the key on your body?" A desperate bluff from Kouhei, praying that if he were right he could somehow unnerve Reika enough for her to give up the key.

"Gross. I didn't do this so you could have an excuse to feel me up with your eyes." Reika contorted her face, clearly in distress. "I'll let you have one hint, owing to our... history together. It's not on me."

"Are you sure?" Kouhei ventured, still not sure whether he could trust his now nemesis.

"Yes. And plus, if I actually did that, you would have absolutely no chance to get it back. That's no fun. I'm not honorless like you."

"Honor? You just want to see me squirm."

"Yeah." Reika admitted.

"Ok, I believe you then." Now with that settled, Kouhei wasted no time in pulling out his phone. He pulled up the speed dial and barked into the phone. "Hey Jun? I need you help. Yeah, I know. Can you get a couple of the guys, whoever's free, and come meet me by the student council tent?"

Soon, Kouhei's friend Jun showed up with a few of his friends in tow. Kouhei apologized profusely for interrupting their cultural festival, and explained that he had lost the only key to the storage shed somewhere. In the end, they decided to all split up to cover more ground.

"I owe you guys, really. I'll treat you all to a meal sometime. Oh, and, it's probably not just sitting there on the ground. I think I remember leaving it somewhere, I just don't remember where. Try to ask if anyone's seen a key like it instead of combing the ground."

"You got it, boss." Jun replied with a thumbs up.

"I'll go search the outdoor stalls with Sakamoto-san." Reika remarked. Kouhei shot her a side eye, as if to question what exactly she was up to. After a moment of thinking, Kouhei nodded, and the group scattered to begin the search.

"Interesting strategy. You know looking for a lost key is very different from looking for a hidden key, right? What if I put it inside of a box at the back of a stall? Your friends would be no help at all." Reika asked after ensuring they were out of earshot of the rest of the search party.

"Yes, but if that were true then I would never have a chance, there are way too many locations to check. You said it yourself, it's going to be somewhere that I could plausibly find it. You want the satisfaction of winning against me, and it's not a competition if I had no chance."

"Also very interesting to agree to come with me."

"You wouldn't suggest that for no reason, you could've just stayed behind and pretended to look around the tent. I'm going to figure out what that reason is." 

Having walked to the first stall, a takoyaki stand run by one of the first year classes, Kouhei and Reika asked the students on duty whether they had seen a lost key. Of course the answer was no. Though he already knew the answer, Kouhei didn't consider this charade a total waste of time. It was obvious that Reika wouldn't be giving away any unnecessary clues, at least intentionally. However, Kouhei was looking for something else. The existence of Reika herself might be a valuable clue, specifically the way the students running any stall would react to her, letting Kouhei know whether she was seen near the stall earlier in the day. Although Reika kept close to the student council for most of the day, there were periods of time when she was out of Kouhei's sight, though still with either of the other council members. Ascertaining the stalls Reika had visited earlier in the day, and thus the areas she had the opportunity to hide the keys at, was the real reason Kouhei agreed to accompany her on this charade.

On this particular occasion, it seemed like this was the first time Reika had been around the stall today. Reika and the other students exchanged some small talk while Kouhei checked around the back of the stall just in case. When Kouhei went to leave, Reika showed up with a box of takoyaki in her hand.

"Want one?" Reika held out a ball of takoyaki on a toothpick.

"Your distractions won't work on me, o wicked witch."

"Come on, we've been working all day, let's enjoy the festival."

With every stall they visited, Reika took the time to buy something or talk to the purveyors about their display. She peered closely at the art club's outdoor gallery, and played toss the ball at class 1-D's stall, winning a small teddy bear. Kouhei thought about just leaving her, but decided against it as it wouldn't be good for his image. Meanwhile, the clock ticked down to the planned start of the campfire.

"Only 30 minutes left until the bonfire. You're not going to make it unless you stop fooling around in the stalls and find that key in the next 5 minutes." Reika teased, confident in her imminent victory.

"Yeah, you're right. Anyway, I hope you had fun because I've got real work to do hauling all that firewood to the bonfire pit." Kouhei turned and began confidently strolling back to the student council tent.

"What? But you haven't found the key yet."

"Ah, but that's the thing. I finally figured out where you hid the key." Kouhei claimed, as he could see Reika staring back at him waiting for an elaboration. "The trick was to hide it somewhere I wouldn't look once I figured out you were the one sabotaging me. As an added benefit, it's not somewhere I would tell anyone to look if I asked for help. You then created the illusion of it being hidden among the outdoor stalls by volunteering to cover this area. After all, who would leave the key unguarded? But you could afford that, because you knew I would never look there even if I had stayed behind at the tent."

"Hmph." Reika's scoffed.

"It's in my book bag back at the tent, isn't it?"

***

Hiding something in the belongings of the person you want to keep it from seemed illogical on the surface, but the ruse relied on the fact that Kouhei would recognize Reika was the culprit. If it had been a mere accident, Kouhei would have immediately checked all of his own belongings as a matter of course, but if Reika was responsible, then surely no one would think to check their own belongings, which were the most vulnerable hiding spot imaginable.

In the end, Kouhei was able to recover the key just in time, calling in help from Jun and his friends again to move the firewood. The bonfire went ahead as planned, shooting a column of light into the cool summer air overhead, most visitors oblivious to its near cancellation.

Kouhei gazed at the crackling flame, Reika by his side.

"Credit where credit's due, it is more impressive than I had imagined." Reika remarked.

"Hey, despite all your sabotage, this isn't without your contribution either."

"Why did you wait until the last minute to tell me you had it figured out?"

"I think you overestimate me, you had me panicked for the first hour or so." Said Kouhei, his eyes still fixed on the bonfire. "But it's like you said, no fun in winning right away, right? I wanted to savor your smug overconfidence a little."

"Overconfidence, huh? I'll remember that for next time." Said Reika, her eyes reflecting the light of the flame.

"Plus, you looked like you were having fun."

Neither of the two said anything further, letting the statement linger in the air, and rise with the smoke. The silence hung between them as the cultural festival came to an end.