Time to check the Peacekeepers

The ball thrown by Remi-sensei was now headed towards my face travelling at a greats peed. Good thing I have pretty good reflexes so I managed to catch the ball she threw at me. Getting a hold of the ball, I couldn’t help but feel some nostalgia.

‘How come this feels somewhat familiar to me?’

“Toshi! Nice form on those dribbles! Keep it up!”

“Yes coach!”

“Mr. Kazuchi what are you doing?! I already said that you’re not supposed to touch the ball with any part of your body. Why are you kicking it?”

“Huh? Uhhh, sorry sensei!”, I snapped out of my trance and bowed to apologize

‘What was I thinking, I just started instinctively kicking the ball.’

“Do it properly! Now, I have distributed all the balls to each team. You can spend the rest of the afternoon practicing ball control. And since this will be your last activity for today, if you want, you can even continue practicing even after the bell rings.”

Remi-sensei starts walking towards the exit but then she turns back around.

“Ohh I nearly forgot, your class needs to decide on who your class representative will be. That’s all, enjoy the rest of the afternoon.”

‘She’s leaving? What if I just decide to run off and go home? Just kidding, I would never do that’

“Uhh-uhhm excuse me, Kazuchi-kun.”, some random female classmate of mine approached me.

“Yes?”

“Sensei didn’t give enough balls for every individual student to use. Our teammates said we should practice in pairs. So uhh- “

“You want to pair up with me?! I don’t really mind, if it’s okay with you too Miss - uhhhh”

She smiles. “Uruha Tachibana, let’s do our best together, partner!”

“I’m Shinzo Kazuchi, but I guess you already know that. Haha”, she starts to laugh as well.

‘Okay now, just do exactly as Remi-sensei did, manipulate the air surrounding the ball’

I picked up the ball, tossed it up in the air and… made the ball levitate

“That was easy”

“Nice, pass it to me Kazuchi-kun”

“Alright”, I pointed my finger towards Tachibana-san and the ball hovered towards her direction.

‘I think I know how this works now, basically, I just imagine having an extra hand made out of air.’

Tachibana-san waited for the ball to be a few feet away from her before she prompted it to stop. She then maneuvers the ball to rotate around her with increasing speed before sending it flying towards me.

“Back to you Kazuchi-kun!!”

I maneuvered the ball to make a “U-turn” around me and back to her.

‘I wonder how Kido-san is doing’

My eyes searched around the area to look for her. And I saw her, she was having fun practicing with…no one? She has a ball all to herself?! And I don’t know how but the moment my eyes found her, she started looking around as well until our eyes met. I waved at her with a smile on my face, and she waved back.

*School bell ringing*

“Well, that’s it for today I guess”, Tachibana-san tosses the ball over to me. She then proceeds to pick up her bag.

“I’m gonna go ahead of you now Kazuchi, I still need to meet up with Yuki-chan”

“Yuki-chan? Our 3rd year senpai in that student peacekeeping group?”

“Yes, yes! You know Yuki-chan too?!”

“Actually, Senzo-senpai told me to meet them in their HQ after classes.”

“Senzo... Ahhh I see, then, want to go together then?”

“Ughh haha, I honestly have no idea where that place is so I’m glad you made such an offer”

I walk towards my bag to pick it up so we can make our leave.

“Hold on, aren’t you going to ask discretion from your girlfriend first?”, Tachibana-san stopped me at my tracks just as we were about to step outside of the coliseum.

“Huahh?!! G-gir-girlfriend?! What are you talking about?”

“Heh? You’re not dating that girl, Aozora- uhhh, Aozora Kido?”, Tachibana-san replied and was obviously awestruck by my response.

“What makes you think that Kido-san and I are dating each other?”

“Well, for one, I always notice how you two would sneak peeks at one another.”

“No-no-no…Kido-san and I aren’t dating. We just happened to meet during the practical exams and we became friends. That’s all there is to it.”

“Is that so… But you do like her, don’t you?”, Tachibana-san was smirking, obviously teasing me.

“Well- that’s uhhh…Wait a second, how do you even know that I sneak peeks on Aozora?”

Tachibana-san stood there silently for a few seconds.

“I uh- just happened to see it? Yes, that’s what it is! A coincidence!”, Tachibana-san looked like she’s kinda panicking.

“Anyways, since it’s been established and clarified that she isn’t your girlfriend, let’s proceed to that HQ.”

“Sure”

…

“The student peacekeepers’ room is somewhere on the second floor”, Tachibana-san says this as we arrive at a three-story building that looks like it just received a fresh coating of paint.

As we proceed to enter the first floor and walk through its hallway, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy due to the eerie silence that this place has. The only sounds that could be heard were the rustling of curtains from the distant rooms and the sound of our footsteps.

Just as we were about midway through the stairway that leads to the second floor…

“Wait, Tachibana-san”, I extend my left arm to usher her not to take another step.

“What’s the matter Kazuchi-kun?”

“Do you sense that too?”, I said in a soft tone and a low voice.

Tachibana-san cautiously looks around. “I don’t hear or see anyt--“

“Tachibana-san, watch out!”

“Vortex” I create vortex of wind to intercept a dagger that was swiftly gliding through the air and was headed towards us. The dagger changes course as it comes into contact with and it hits the ceiling instead. It then disappears into thin air. I take a look around to see where that dagger came from, but I couldn’t see anything or anyone.

“Are you okay Tachibana-san?”

Tachibana-san stood there for a few seconds probably feeling shocked from what just happened.

“Y-yeah, thanks Kazuchi-kun. That could’ve ended very badly if it wasn’t for you.”

“You’re really okay? Should we go to the nurse’s office?”

“No-no, I’m fine, really… Wait you had your power adaptor on you all this time?”

“No, not really, I just put it on as we entered this staircase. I kinda felt on edge ever since we entered this building”

“Ohh that’s— “

*footsteps coming from the second floor*

“Who’s there?!”