Chapter 12: Frozen Rhythm【P2】

Anza

A swift kick from my shoe to his unstable knees sends him crashing right onto the floor.

I look down at his crumpled form. “You will have to excuse my friend. He is a bit… traumatized by his latest club application attempt.”

“Huh? How many flyers did he have to distribute?” Saori asks, tilting her head.

“Around two hundred?”

“Two hundred and fifty!” Toma’s arm shoots straight up from between us.

Saori chuckles. “Ah, that sounds like the cycling group or… the tennis club. We don’t resort to that though. Even with our popularity, we like to remain modest.”

She claps a hand over her mouth. “Though-following-club-voting-recommendations-does-give-substantial-club-benefits,” she blurts out in a rapid-fire breath, before thrusting the card back toward me. “But hey! Trying costs nothing!”

“Let’s go, let’s go!” an energetic voice booms over the speakers. “Get ready for the next round, everyone! Do I have any new challengers for the dance floor, yo!?”

“Ah,” Saori looks up toward the speakers. “That means I have to get back to work. Feel free to stop by! Otherwise, I will see you at the next competition.”

“Will do. Thanks,” I say, offering a quick nod.

“Anytime!”

She spins around and struts away, throwing a dramatic farewell wave over her shoulder.

The shaking momentum of her arm shoots a small blizzard of business cards right out of her cuff.

Instantly she drops to her knees, frantically trying to stuff the runaway paper back up her sleeve until we make eye contact.

A strained grin leaves her face before the cards are left to their fate on the floor as she vanishes into the crowd.

“Hey Toma, isn’t that perfect for you?” Asuka asks, nudging Toma with her shoe. “You love music—”

He groans in theatrical agony as he clutches a fresh red bump on his forehead.

I sigh down at him.

“Asuka, give me a hand.” I swipe the card right out of her hyper-focused view, breaking the trance. “We need to haul him to the ‘Medical Club’ before we have to check for a Graveyard club.”

Masaki

Never do I see Sora so focused on one objective—well, perhaps when she tends to her plants, or when she is down to her last token in a crane game.

I trail behind her, trying to stay out of the blast area as we move to who knows where.

“Sora, please!” Daiki stammers. “How about we go…”

He points toward a storefront. ”T-to that shop over there? Maybe find something to buy that can cheer you up?”

Sora pushes him backward without a word, shoving him straight into my path. I twist my torso, narrowly dodging his pool noodle spearing toward my face.

“Daiki, where are we going?” I whisper to him, our heads leaning close as we are forced to keep up with her relentless pace.

“I’ve tried defusing the bomb,” Daiki whispers back, leaning in even closer while keeping his eyes locked dead ahead on her back. “But there are too many wires. Something must have happened in that store. In any case, it is the opposite direction of the lake.”

“Shin?”

“M.I.A.”

He places a flat hand over his chest in solemn tribute. “I think we lost him at the last intersection. I will make the call to his family later.”

“And what are we going to do before we end up on the next phone call?”

“Maybe if we get a rope we could—”

“Good afternoon, lady!” a cheerful voice rings out ahead.

Before I can even look up, Sora abruptly cuts her engine. My eyes react too late as I face-plant into her spine.

“Move!” she sneers.

“Moving can wait! But your vote cannot!”

I crane my neck over Sora’s shoulder to see what is happening.

“Oh hey, Leisa!” I say, waltzing Sora out of my way to take center stage.

“Hey!” she squeaks, stumbling into a freestanding bulletin board.

“Yo, Masaki!” Leisa waves a stack of paper in the air before landing them right on my head. “Out on a date with your girlfriend?”

“Oh, Sora is—” My sentence dies in my throat as a wave of radiating heat prickles my peripheral vision.

Sora twitches. Her hands claw the empty air, violently strangling it before she vanishes right past Leisa in a cloud of dust.

“She is escaping!” Daiki bolts from behind me after her without looking back, bending his pool noodle into a circle.

An innocent smile plays on Leisa’s face as she deftly tucks a flyer into his collar while he charges past.

“Leisa, what’s up with the flyers?” I lean on my toes and tilt my head to get a closer look.

She twirls around to strike a dramatic pose. “The Smashing Ball Club implores your immediate service!”

I blink a few times, letting the breeze of her dramatic spin wash over me. “Smashi—”

“The tennis club.” She deadpans to me.

“Obviously.”

She thrusts a flyer from her stack toward my nose, freezing perfectly still like a wound-up music box waiting to be set off.

“Here is a flyer! Think it over, and scan when you are ready to support us!” She huffs with a few aggressive nods.

I glance down at the paper, flipping it a few times. A typed list of proposals fills the page, each bullet point accompanied by a pixelated square block. “Um… Am I supposed to sign up for something?”

“Ugh,” she rolls her head along her shoulders in an exasperated circle. “Have you been at the lake ever since you stepped foot on this island?”

“Well, actually, I was just on my—”

She closes the distance between us, stabbing a finger at a block of text on the paper. “Proposals.” She drags her finger across the page. “Code.” She taps the coded square lightly. “Vote.”

“That somehow... tells even less than the flyer.”

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Discover what happens next in: Chapter 12: Frozen Rhythm【P3】

Written by Limited_Infinity. Extras, official publishing platforms and updates are publicly available only on the Patreon page “_Limited_Infinity_”

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