Suspicion

The whole school day becomes like a blur to me, as I think about the events of yesterday. Still confused on what I saw in the news, or more accurately, what I didn't.
Finally the bell rings, signalling the end of the day, and quickly I dash out, determined to find out more about that fight.
'If anyone might know, that I don't need to hide the fact that I was watching the fight from, it'll be those two.'

...

It takes me a while to walk there, not wanting to raise any suspicion to me.
'For all I know HQ is just hiding their mistake and are actively scouring the city...'
Soon I reach their school. The moment I reach the entrance, the guard takes notice of me, without me even speaking.
"You don't go here do you?"
"Uh, yeah, I was just trying to meet up with some friends of mine that go here."
"I'm afraid I can't let you in. But you're free to wait outside."
"Right..."
'I'd rather not wait. They'll probably be doing club activities for a while... Where would be the best place to teleport to?
Can't risk any of the classrooms, and I don't know the layout that much... Would the roof be locked? Well it could get me a better vantage point of where to go for next.'
"Well I'll meet them later."

I say that, hoping the guard doesn't get suspicious, then I quickly move to a nearby area with no one watching, and teleport to the roof.
'Right, let's first check if it's locked...
...Yep, no surprise there, let's see what I can find then.'

From there I look all around the school, seeing the next best spot to teleport to, and get inside, but before I can do that, I manage to find one of the people I'm searching for.
'Aya! Bless her being part of the Track and Field club.
...Maybe I could teleport to the shed and get her attention somehow? They're doing laps and it's fairly close to the field... Yeah, that'll work.'

I teleport inside the shed. Thanks to me having no vision or knowledge of the inside, I land right on top of the basket holding all the balls, accidentally knocking it down.
"Ow... Hopefully no one was near yet...
Ok, I'll just open the door a tiny bit and see out to the field."
I do so, seeing the club still doing laps, luckily for me Aya was mostly by herself while running, so I wait for her to get close enough to try and get her attention, and soon that opportunity comes.
'Now's my chance!'
"Psst, Aya!"
That causes her to look around, so I wave from behind the door to hopefully make sure she sees me, and it doesn't take long before she realizes.
'I can see the shock in her face, no surprise there, I would be too...'

"Aya, why did you stop? Tired already?"
"Ah, uhh, a little yeah, I'll just go inside and grab some water real quick."
"Alright then."

'Inside? Should I just wait then?'
I step back and patiently wait, hoping she had a plan on how to get in. Then suddenly the door opens slightly more, before quickly closing, almost slamming, but luckily stopping just before that happens.

"Why are you here?"
"Aya? Oh, you went invisible."
She becomes visible again before continuing.
"Well?"
"Sorry, I kinda needed to talk to you, and Tomo, could you also go get him?"
"Seriously? What's going on?"
"Just something I'm curious about, please."
"Fine, wait here a moment."

...

Some more time passes, until finally they arrive.
"Kazu? It wasn't easy covering myself from so many people in such an open space, what do you want? She mentioned you were desperate."
"Huh?"
"I mean, only a desperate person would do this, so I don't think I was that off."
"...Fair enough, did you all happen to see the news yesterday?"
"Not me, did you Aya?"
"Definitely a nope from me, why?"
"Then, were you at the fight that happened by the river, near the bridge?"
"Oh, yeah, I think I saw some smoke coming from there, unfortunately I only came in when everything was over."
"I was in a track competition then, so I didn't see anything."
"...Well, something strange happened, it was Inferno."
"Out of prison?"
"Yeah, he was... Honestly, I have no idea what he was doing, but then Neptune came in and, well, after a little stare down they both went away."
"So what's so strange about that? Villain defeated, the hero won!"
"Aya, that's not it, later in the news they only reported the damage, nothing about his escape! ...Or capture."
"Oh... That does seem a little strange. What do you think Tomo?"
"Couldn't HQ just be hiding the fact they failed?"
"You really think they would? With Gaia there making sure everything goes alright?"
"...I guess she would just use that as motivation to force them to be better. You think Neptune just captured him and stuffed him in prison before anyone noticed?"
"No idea, it's all just very weird. I was hoping you would know more, maybe what Inferno was doing before, or... Anything, I guess."

We spent some time in silence, thinking, before finally starting to speak up again.
"There was also a strange feeling I had when I was inside the HQ"
"You were in the HQ?
Did you do something?!"
"Relax Tomo, Gaia just wanted to ask me something about back when Light Show robbed a bank."
"Oh, we heard about that, we were too slow to see it happen though, you were there?"
"Yeah, had to call it in, but in any case, that's not it. It was when I got lost in some magic maze of hallways or something. I had seen Neptune, so I tried chasing after him, hoping he could guide the way, that's when I saw the door to the prison."
"You didn't accidentally set inferno free right?"
"I'm serious Aya! Anyway, Neptune caught me and he guided me back, but it all just felt so... Odd, like something wasn't right."
"...Sorry, I didn't mean to tease so much, are you ok?"
"Yeah dude, you seem... Well, you could probably use a break."
"You guys believe me right?"
"If you say you saw Neptune take Inferno, then that's facts."
"Yeah! Besides, it could honestly just be that Neptune is trying to hide his failure from Gaia."
"Maybe..."

Ping!
'Huh? Oh, damn, I forgot about the club...'
"Kazu, where are you?! I just became leader and you already miss club twice?!"
"I guess I'm not the laziest anymore."
"Shut it Hiro, I'm really trying here!"
'Ah, my bad...'
"I'm really sorry Shin! I just had something important I needed to do, and yesterday, well... That was Gaia."
"Gaia?"
"Oh that! Yeah, Gaia brought us me to the Hero HQ to do something, I can vouch for him!"
"You serious Tarou? I had no idea. Alright, my bad. Did you all get specialized training over there or something?"
"I just needed to tell them what I saw, remember? With Light Show?"
"Ohhhh, right, was that it? Ok, I get it. Too late for you to come back to club today anyway, try not to miss tomorrow though."
"You got it."
'...I wonder.'
"Btw, you guys see the news? Or saw the recent fight?"
"No idea, I was probably sleeping."
"You're talking about the damage near the river? Yeah I saw the coverage, wonder who did that."
'I guess they don't know.'
"Yeah, crazy stuff, well stay safe out there."
"You too, bye Kazu."

'Maybe it really is Neptune covering his ass.'

"Who was it?"
"Oh just the club I'm in."
'Oh! This reminds me.'
"Before I forget, can we trade numbers?"
"WOAH, bold move from Kazu! Taking the initiative, how will Aya respond?"
"That goes for both of you, I don't want to have to use stealth to break into your school again if I ever need to ask or talk about something."
"Oh. What a shame~"
"Huh?"
"Nothing~!"
'No way...'

Brushing that aside, we trade numbers, after that they both go back, I quickly then teleport back to the roof, having been there already, and then back outside, where I first started.

Ping!
'Oh? Ah, just the club again, it's Tarou.'
"BTW! I'll also be making an appearance tomorrow, I want to invite you guys to see my training that day, I've been working on something special!"

'Interesting.'
"Sure, I'm in."