Ignorance 3

"Senpai!” Ugh… This guy!

It’s been a couple of days since the talk with those two. I have no intention of starting a fight, so I mostly kept to myself. But now, this ‘Touya-kun’ has come to me? What is going on?

“Uh, who could you be…?”

So, of course, I deploy my ultimate weapon: Playing dumb!

“Eh?! Is Senpai for real?!”

Good thing Kazama ain’t around today, because this would not work at all if the dude got all over this dumbass’ face.

Still… The students whispering around us is getting annoying. Not because it’s bothersome by itself, but because I know that someone will say something at a bad time later on. And I might get in trouble.

Besides… What if Akamine hears? It is true that the group was bothering her before. And I don’t know about this ‘Touya-kun’, but I still don’t want to be on that girl’s bad side.

It gives me the creeps every time I remember.

“Whatever you need, it doesn’t have to involve yelling.” Seriously, how many times do I have to tell him to stop yelling? So annoying…

“S-Senpai loves to tease way too much! If it weren’t a serious topic, I wouldn’t have bothered coming!”

“No, seriously. Stop yelling.” I stand up from my seat, leave my piece of bread on the desk, and place a hand on the guy’s shoulder to freeze him up. Something of a smaller scale intimidation move compared to back at the mall. “It’s annoying the hell out of me and I’ll show you a thing or two if you don’t quit.”

“This… This is not the time for that…” Or so the guy says. But he still quit with that volume. Good. “Please hear me out.”

“There we go! See? It’s not that hard.” I shift my grip and snake my whole arm around his shoulders, grinning as I get him where I want him. “I’m very kind-hearted, so I’ll hear you out just because you listened to me. Okay? Let’s go buy something to drink while we’re at it.”

Like this, I get this annoying guy out of the classroom and out of earshot from anyone that might want to dig some dirt for the teachers. Never say that students can’t get crafty when you’ve annoyed them!

And… I don’t want this guy to enter the class’ perception. We have gloomy guys, unpopular guys, strict guys… There is no shortage of people like this ‘Touya-kun’. Guys that see people like me or Kazama in negative light. Sometimes for good reason, I admit. But sometimes simply because of their own made-up ideas of us.

That won’t do. I just want to have fun and have a laid-back final high school year. Be with the guys that’ll throw the best parties and meet the hottest chicks in college.

And this whole thing with ‘Touya-kun’, the feeling of déjà vu, and this dread are getting on my nerves.

“S-Senpai, can you please listen to me now?” His voice has already lost some fire while I slide my pocket change in the machine, but he seems to have grown a bit of a spine all the same.

Good for him.

“Hah? Well, I guess I can hear you out. What is it?” The less I have to deal with him the better. Summer vacation is around the corner; I should be checking out if anyone will not be stuck in supplementary lessons!

“Senpai… No. I’ll be blunt: When was the last time you saw Eika-san?”

“…Eh?”

The question caught me by surprise. Of course it did.

I’m not the shadiest or most popular guy in our group. I’d say I’m better-looking and more agreeable than most of us, but I wouldn’t say I’m the hottest or worst dude out there. So I don’t really know what to make out of that question.

Is he asking if I have something to do with Urara-chan? He looks weirdly focused. Is he jealous? Or is there something else going on?

“Please answer honestly. This is very important.”

“No, I mean… What are you talking about?” It sounds like something happened. I can’t even retrieve the can that the machine spat, because something that makes my skin crawl settled in my stomach.

I… Can’t move for a brief moment. The image of Urara-chan’s final words rewinds in the CPU in my head.

“I… Haven’t heard from Eika-san for a couple of days.” The annoying guy finally confesses. And anger swells in my chest since he should’ve definitely started with that part. “Her friends ask me before, but I have no idea either. Last time I saw her was when you interrupted us…”

“Urara-chan is… Missing?” I still can’t wrap my head around it. These things are events that happen on the TV, that are reported elsewhere.

It’s always ‘it doesn’t happen around me’ until it does, huh.

“I-I don’t want to say that she’s missing-missing, but…”

“No, but… It’s been like three days already. That’s definitely concerning.”

“So Senpai doesn’t know either?”

“Like hell I do! Urara-chan and her friends are kind of scared of Kazama! We’re not that close to begin with.” No. I shouldn’t be using this guy as a punching bag to offload my feelings. This is way too serious to devolve into a petty thug! “Are you sure that’s the last you saw of her?”

“Yeah… She didn’t even text me when she got home or anything. Her friends said that she didn’t meet up with them in the karaoke like she said she would.”

“What the…?” It’s not like we were close, but knowing that someone that I saw recently is now gone is… It puts a lot of things into perspective, I guess.

“I-I’ll try to look for her!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! The police should be called.” I almost hit the guy from how idiotic he sounds. Seriously! There’s only so much that a random-ass dude can do! Quit trying to gain romance points! “Are you stupid or do you chew when you drink water?”

“E-Eh?! Why would I chew when I drink…?” This guy cannot be this dense!

“I am insulting you! But stay focused.” I grab the guy by the shoulders. There’s no other way to drill in that little head of his how serious this is. “Listen, Urara-chan is a pretty girl. I don’t think this is a particularly dangerous zone, but shady people operate under that guise too. If the police are called, I’ll testify. But don’t do anything dangerous.”

“I-I still want to look for her.” The idiot balls his hands into fists but doesn’t look at me. He’s resolute but doesn’t want the confrontation. “She showed me around when I transferred after the Golden Week. I’m kind of a loser and she didn’t have to… I can’t just sit tight and wait for things to work out.”

“Whatever man. If this is something cute enough that her boyfriend looking for her will fix this, then I’ll happily take it.”

“I-I’m not her boyfriend!” The guy flinches away from me. He’s completely hopeless, huh. “I’ll ask for help! I just needed to know what Senpai knows!”

“I’m not going to go around looking for Urara-chan, but sure. You can count on me to tell my side of things.”

“You won’t twist what you saw like with Akamine-san, right?”

“Listen… Uh…” Damn. I’ve been teasing him with his name all this time. What’s his last name?

“Kamishiro.”

“Right, thanks.” Wow, he’s surprisingly astute when he wants to! Kamishiro Touya, huh. “Listen, Kamishiro. This is a little too serious to think about school squabbles, don’t you think?”

“Senpai is…” Kamishiro looks away, pained. “No, you’re right. Thanks.”

“Let’s just hope that Urara-chan’s playing a prank on her parents or something.” Seriously, I don’t know enough about her to tell. But it could totally be the case, right? Let’s just hope it is.

“Okay. Thanks for the help all the same, Senpai.” Kamishiro bowed almost a whole 90 degrees. His usual denseness and indecision completely gone.

“Thank me if I get any new info or something.” Seriously, this topic took all my appetite away! It’s one thing after the other. “If that’s all, I’ll leave. I haven’t finished eating.”

“Ah! Don’t forget your can!” Kamishiro goes out of his way to retrieve it for me. He doesn’t even throw it or anything, but rushed to hand it while keeping it from shaking too much.

He can be quite attentive, huh.

Let’s just hope the help he gets isn’t another woman. He’s so prone to funny business that it’d just make a serious situation even worse.