The First Problem

The next day, I awoke from my slumber, did my daily routine, ate breakfast alongside my sister and started making my way to school without a second thought.

As I was walking down the usually quiet street towards the main section of the city, my brain was already running quite a few plans as to how I was going to get the upper hand on Katsumi.

"She'll probably try to go ahead and speak with this Kyoko girl and try to find out from her own mouth the cause of all of this nonsense" I very so doubted that she would be able to get her to talk and that alone was a good thing for me.

"While she wastes her time trying to do all of this, I'll go ahead and try to obtain as much information as I can"

Even though it was going to be quite difficult to obtain any information about her, there were quite a few ways of being able to get anything in the world.

"I have the opportunity to listen in to what others say, manipulate others into obtaining the information for me or simply going to the source itself..."

Of course, all of those ideas were genuinely good, but there was simply one problem with all of them "The only problem is that I don't know anyone that can be able to give me the information that I desire..."

A sigh escaped my breath as I arrived at the main road towards the school. As I was making my way down the street, I took a few quick glances around the area I was in, to be more precise, I looked at the students around me, btu even then, I couldn't quite pinpoint anyone that would be of use for what I needed them for.

"I can't really talk to anyone just like that... If I do, it'll just look suspicious since I really don't talk to anyone"

I clicked my tongue at that simple fact and sighed to myself. Just as I did so, I heard the voice of a girl pass by me.

"Wait up~!"

"..."

I slowly lifted my gaze and turned towards the girl who was calling out to her friends off in the distance "Oh yeah... She's here"

The girl who had just passed me was none other than Nonaka Kazumi. We were both in the same back in middle school and we did talk... In those few occasions.

For whatever reason, she wouldn't ignore me and call out to me whenever she could. Back then, it was something that I didn't understand one bit, but upon asking her for the details of the matter, she simply said that it was because she wanted to.

"I'm glad that she isn't talking to me nowadays"

I continued walking and upon arriving at the school gates, I quickly put on my earbuds and listened to my music. This was the only way I could be at peace, but at the same time, I was coming up with some plan so that I would be able to obtain the information and give Miwa what she wanted.

"Now then... What to do?"

Upon arriving at the classroom, a simple yawn escaped my breath and upon taking my seat, for whatever reason, my gaze turned towards one specific side of the classroom and immediately doing so made me see that it was none other than Kazumi herself.

"So... We're in the same classroom. I didn't know that"

When it came to the matter about giving our introductions, I did it without any problems, but when it came to introductions about the others, I simply blocked each and every one of them.

In my eyes, it was no use knowing the names of people I wasn't going to be able to communicate with.

Just when I was going to turn my gaze back at the book in my hands, Kazumi decided to look my way and our gazes simply met... We stayed like that for a few seconds until she decided to wave at me with a smile on her face.

Seeing this, I knew that I needed to react in some way before things could get out of hand. I gave a slight bow with my head and returned to my book.

My mind was already on something even more important. I had no time to be greeting others and what not, but... In that moment, a thought crossed my mind. A thought that would be able to solve the problem I was having.

"Wait..." I turned towards Kazumi and simply stared at the side of her face for a brief moment "That's my ticket!"

The first half of classes passed by without any problems at all, but for me, it was the most troublesome hours of my life.

"How should I start? I'd look pretty weird if I just blurt out about wanting to know about Kyoko, much less about the fact that I never talked to Kazumi in both middle school and high school... It'll look pretty weird if I simply jump the gun and start a conversation..."

But even then, that was the best option I had "I guess I have to play the nice guy to get her to follow along with me"

I took in a deep breath and as soon as the bell rang, I decided to commence my one-time plan. Get Nonaka Kazumi to be my Personal Informant.

As soon as I saw an opening to approach her. I slowly made my way past her table and just like that, the plan had started.

"Hey there, Makoto. It's been a while~"

"Y-Yeah, it has..." "Crap, I wasn't expecting her to start things off"

"I see that you're just as alone as ever"

"Being along keeps me sane"

"That's pretty funny~!"

Kazumi started giggling at my response without a care in the world, but for me, I was being genuine with my answer.

"I'm not lying here. It really does keep me sane" "And I can see that you're still pretty communicative with everyone from school"

"I try to"

Yes. The only reason she talked to many people was because she wanted to be friends with everyone. Of course, there were those few who didn't want anything to do with her, including me, but even then, she still tried and tried to get them to become her friends.

And in her eyes, I was one of those few people whom she hadn't managed to wrap her fingers around.

"Hey, Makoto?"

"Yeah?"

"How about we go and grab some lunch?"

"Sure"

"H-Huh?"

"What?"

"I-It's nothing... I just wasn't expecting that answer from you"

"Well, either way, I need to go and grab lunch, so I won't be wasting any extra energy doing it like this"

She sighed to herself and stared back at me for a bit "I guess you're still the same as ever, aren't you?"

"Of course, I can't change my own ways of thinking and acting"

With those final words, the both of us exited the classroom and thus started making our way towards the cafeteria. My plan had gone off without any problems at all, the only thing I needed to do now was to make sure that my plan would go through all the way.

As we stood in line for us to get our lunch, I decided to breach the topic in a more nonchalant manner "I can tell that you're still trying to get everyone to be your friend, huh?"

"Not as much as back then"

"Really? Why is that?"

"I just know that not everyone is going to like you for who you are, so in my opinion, it's just better to be with the ones who'll understand you, don't you think?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm alone"

"That's not a pretty good thing to be honest..."

I shrugged my shoulders and waited a few seconds before heading straight towards the main topic of interest.

"Do you know of an Okada Kyoko?"

"Okada... Kyoko?"

"Yeah"

"I do, what about her?"

"Well..." "What can I say...? What can I say...?" I fell deep in thought for a moment until a good answer came to mind "I'm sort of interested about her as a person"

"...!" At these words, Kazumi froze up and simply stared at me confused "I get it that it's weird for me asking for a girl's name, but do you really need to react like that?"

"Kazumi?"

"H-Huh?"

"Do you know her?"

"Y-Yeah... I kind of do" "W-Why do you want to know?"

"I just wanted to know if you know anything about her and an Ogawa Miwa?"

The once stiffened Kazumi eased up and sighed to herself "That's it?"

"Yeah, why did you think I was asking? I'm not interested in other people"

"I guess you have a point~"

The once gloomy and awkward Kazumi quickly turned back to the cheerful and friendly Kazumi that I knew from back in middle school. The change in personality was too much for me and I couldn't help but flinch in a bit of terror.

"Ogawa Miwa and Okada Kyoko..." She gently placed a finger to her chin and fell into thought for a bit "Back then, the both of them were relatively close, but as of late, I can't help but notice that their being distant"

"Do you know why that's the case?"

"No, not really"

"I see..."

"If you want... I-I can find out"

"You can? I'd appreciate it"

"But in return..."

"Hmm?"

"You have to do one thing that I ask of you, that's only fair, don't you think?"

I stared into her eyes for a bit, and I could clearly tell that there was no other way around it. Even though it pained me to agree to such a thing, there was nothing else I could do about it.

"Sure, that sounds like a fair deal"

"Perfect~"

She beamed me a smile and upon getting my food, I said my goodbye to her and started walking back down the halls.

"That went better than I expected. Now I just need to wait and see what she comes up with"

"You really are deviant through and through aren't you, Makoto?"

"Says the Torture Princess of Toshi High"

"At least I'm better than the Masochistic Wolf of Toshi High"

"Who the hell calls me that?"

"Me"

"..."

"What?"

"You really can't come up with any better ones?"

"Shut it"

I let out a sigh and noticed that the girl had her lunch in hand "Haven't had lunch yet?"

"No. What about you?"

"As you can see, I haven't"

I lifted the lunch I had decided to get and then looked over at the stairs "Usual spot?"

"Yeah"

"Let's go then"

"Not alongside you, maggot"

"Way to kill the mood there, Princess"

"..."

I let out a sigh and started walking up the stairs and after a minute or so, she started walking up the stairs as well.

"Why does she need to act like this all the damn time?"

Even though I had declared that there was no one I communicated with, there was one person whom I couldn't help but always bump heads with and speak with, that one being Kano Arisu.

Just like me, she was an antisocial girl and at the same time, she was a literal killer. Her words were almost like knives and whenever she spoke, you could literally feel then piercing you. At one point, she was infamous, but at the same time, less and less people started to talk about her.

The nickname Torture Princess was something that I had come up with upon meeting with her for the first time. Of course, she spoke to me with the same sharp tongue she did with others, but for me, those words couldn't hurt me and thus, a weird sort of relationship blossomed.

It wasn't a friendship, but it also wasn't one of strangers... It was simply a relationship of loners who understood one another.

Upon arriving at the rooftop, we closed the door and took our seats "I see that you were talking with the cheerful girl"

"Kazumi?"

"Yeah, her"

"Yeah, I just needed her for something"

"Even though you don't even talk to her, you asked her for help?"

"Of course, If you can't use the tools given to you efficiently, then they have no use"

"You really are disgusting"

"Yeah, yeah... I get that a lot"

She took a bite from her food, swallowed it and pointed her chopsticks at me "What did you need her for?"

"I got dragged into a club by Miss Mitsuru and the goal of the club is to help solve problems that students are having"

"That sounds like a pain"

"It is"

"So?"

"The thing was that there was a girl, Okada Kyoko who's ignoring her friend, Ogawa Miwa and she wants to know why it's happening"

"Isn't it a simple guess?"

"Yeah, but unless I get the answer right, I won't win"

"Win?"

"Yeah, the other person in the club is Morino Katsumi"

"The Princess?"

"Princess?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"N-Nothing" "Can't you come up with some more original names or what?" I cleared my throat and continued "I want to show her that not by doing things her way is going to be able to solve everything"

"I see... So, you're using others for your own benefit?"

"Of course, that's the only way things can be done"

"..."

"Besides, once I get an answer about what it is that's happening, I can put an even bigger and better plan into action"

"I see"

"That's it?"

"I have nothing else to say"

"That's a bummer. I thought for sure you would be all over an idea like that"

"It's not that I'm not, I just don't want to be dragged into anything like that myself"

"Yeah, yeah"

We continued eating there in peace and seeing as how we didn't want to be seen walking together, I stood up and headed towards the door.

"I'll see you back in class, Torture Princess"

"Yeah, see you"

With that, I left the rooftop and made my way down the stairs in hopes of finding out what I needed to do next.

Once he had left the rooftop, a sigh escaped my breath, and I couldn't help but find myself simply staring at the door for a brief moment.

"If only you knew the problems that you bring to others... You make them see the reality of things. Things that normal people simply don't want to see..."

There was another nickname for him. One that I had given him long ago. A nickname that arose because of his own actions.

"Child of Despair really did fit you back then... Maybe something like Walking Calamity can fit you now"

In conclusion... Solving problems a certain way can also bring in a lot more problems and in turn... Fear, anger, despair can arise and create an even bigger mess, but at times... You only need on person to ruin it. -By Kano Arisu