A Bad Premonition

It was now the end of June.

It was night when a person wandered around in Shibuya. He wore a hoodie, a face mask and a cap on his head to make him unrecognizable. His destination was by no means a place which should be found out by the public. Therefore, he nervously looked around to see if anyone was following him.

The person proceeded to walk stealthy into an alley in the shopping district of Shibuya. With no one following, he went on and turned after each corner as if he was in a maze.

After a while, the shady person finally arrived at his destination. In front of him was a small run down factory.

Still sweating nervously, he took one final breath to calm down and then entered it.

The interior of the building was also messy and dusty. There was a big graffiti of an owl at the wall which faced the entrance. Aside from the moon light, there was no other light source that would illuminate this place which made this place feel more ominous.

As he walked to the center of the building he recognized the presence of other people at the back of the factory.

There was a small group of persons looking like delinquents whose identities could not be seen due to the moon light not reaching their bodies.

Even though almost everyone was standing, there was one person who sat on a big couch alone.

“State your name.” a person from the group commanded.

Obeying the order, the shady person took of his cap and his face mask to reveal his face. With those removed, he made his dyed blonde slicked back hair visible as well as the nervousness on his face.

“I am Kirisaki Ken.” he stated.

“Kirisaki Ken?”

“Ain't that some big shot?”

“Who cares?”

Following Ken's introduction, many people in the group started to talk among themselves.

“Shut your mouths!” a person yelled.

“So, what does the next heir of the great Kirisaki Conglomerate want from us, 'The Owls of Tokyo'?” he continued.

With a now nervous grin, Ken made a demand to the group.

“How about a deal?”

Then, the next day at school.

It was lunch time when Kazuma decided to take a nap on his seat.

“Hey, wake up! Let's go grab something to eat in the cafeteria with Emma!” Yui said while shaking his shoulder to wake him up.

“Don't mind me. I'm too tired...” Kazuma replied with a sleepy voice before dozing off again.

“Geez... Fine, then! I will go with her alone!” Yui said with a pouting face as she turned her back on him and walked out of the classroom.

As an honor student, Kazuma had to pay attention to class and be diligent when taking notes. However, even he had some days when he was too exhausted from school so he would occasionally take a nap during lunch.

Today, however, he was even more exhausted than usual as he still was pondering about how and when he would tell Yui about his circumstances due to this matter being even more complicated to explain as Kazuma initially thought.

Even though weeks passed since Kazuma announced to her that he would tell her everything, Yui, who was still patiently waiting, did not pressure him because she knew it was a topic for Kazuma which required a lot of willpower to explain.

Every time, he tried to tell her, the words were stuck in his throat.

"..."

Bam.

With his classmates being too noisy, Kazuma got slightly annoyed and unintentionally slammed his hands on his desk as he stood up and walked out of the classroom with half open sleepy eyes.

“What's wrong with him?”

“Did you see his eyes?”

“Maybe his depressions finally hit after being rejected by Tachibana-san multiple times.”

Being startled by Kazuma who slammed both his hands on his desks and left attracting all the attention on him, his classmates started to gossip about him.

Yet Kazuma did not pay any attention to them and aimlessly staggered in the corridors of the school like a drunkard.

“Maybe the rooftop?” he murmured while yawning.

So he proceeded to walk to the rooftop hoping to sleep there without any disturbances.

When he arrived at the door of the rooftop, he realized that the door was already slightly open. However, he did not care about it and opened it.

The moment he opened the door, a gentle breeze caressed his hair and the bright sun shone at him as there were no clouds in the sky. When Kazuma's eyes finally adapted to the sun light, his eyes widened more as he saw a certain person already standing there and watching school ground.

In front of him was Emma whose smooth blonde hair mildly waved in the air. As she turned around to see who opened the door, her ocean blue eyes met his hazelnut brown eyes.

“Eh, Kazuma-san?” she reacted surprised.

“Emma? What are you doing here? I thought you were going to eat with Yui.”

Not being able to predict such an encounter here, Kazuma's tiredness completely faded away and he was now more woke than ever today.

“Oh, ehm, well, I had to decline her this time. I had to think about something. And what about you?” she stated hesitatingly.

“I just searched for a place to slee- I mean, I just felt like visiting the rooftop, haha...” he said scratching his head.

Not wanting to give her the impression of him as a slacker, he gave another excuse.

“I see, haha...”

Both of them were currently on edge and could only give a dry laugh as the atmosphere was too awkward for them.

Then, Kazuma decided to change the topic but as social as he was, his attempt would be deemed as a failure again.

“Do you know where Kirisaki is? I haven't seen him for the past weeks.” Kazuma blurted out.

“!” she reacted to his name.

After he thought about it, he hit himself internally for being inappropriate.

“I don't know... I can't even contact him...” she answered with a hint of sadness in her voice.

“I-I see. Maybe he is just skipping school and is doing something bad again. I mean, why are you even worrying about such a scumbag like him? Thinking about him is not worth your time.” he tried to cheer her up.

But it backfired.

“P-please don't talk bad about him!” she raised her voice.

“H-huh?” he was token by surprise due to this being the first time he heard her raising her voice against him.

“Ken-kun is not a bad person... I knew him since we were children! So please don't talk about him like that...” she defended Ken.

"After all, he is still my fiance!" she proclaimed with a serious expression.

Kazuma could only stand there as he did not know what he do or say to her. Aside from being shocked, he was sad. He just tried to cheer her up and landed on a landmine. Hearing your crush defending another person would make anyone feel miserable.

He knew it was his fault for giving a rude comment about an acquaintance of hers. He tried to apologize for his behavior.

“Emma, I apolo-”

“I'm sorry. Please leave me alone for a moment.” Emma said and ran to the exit.

While she ran to the exit, she passed by him with small tears coming from her eyes.

As each of her steps echoed from an even more further distance, Kazuma's despair only grew bigger and bigger.

“W-what have I done? I'm such an idiot!” he berated himself.

Bam.

Venting out his frustration, he punched the wall beside the door.

“Damn, it hurts...” he commented.

The pain he felt did not come from the punch against the wall but due to the fact that he hurt Emma.

And yet, there was a particular fact that hurt the most.

“After all, he is still her fiance, huh? So she had feelings for him, haha...” he muttered as he wore a wry smile.

Even though the bell already rang indicating that lunch was over, Kazuma still was on the roof and leaned on the wall. He was too depressed to attend classes.

And just like that, the school day was over.

Hearing the students having fun with their respective clubs, Kazuma watched the sun set.

“...”

He decided to finally walk home after all the students went home and after the sun was nowhere to be seen.

During his whole time on the roof, he did not check his phone despite it ringing a few times. So he checked the messages now while walking.

[Where are you? Class already started.]

[Are you on the toilet?]

[Don't tell me that you are still sleeping somewhere...]

[Geez, I don't care anymore! I'll go home with my friends today!]

All the messages he received were only from Yui.

Not having enough energy left, Kazuma did not reply and put his phone back in his pocket.

At that point of time, a reply could still have saved Yui from the upcoming incident.

But he did not know it.