Chapter 23:

Losing A Place to Belong

The Pride of A Banchou


We left Sakuya’s apartment and went to meet the landlord. I asked him to let me see the surveillance cameras' record of Sakuya’s apartment from yesterday night. By saying that Sakuya felt like she was being stalked by someone, the landlord easily agreed to help us.

Even though the stalker is right here…” My gaze strayed toward Hiiro, the true stalker who managed to casually duplicate her keys without her knowledge.

“This is the record from last night, after she went back home.” The landlord explained as he played the video.

We saw Sakuya entering her room, still clad in her black yukata, around 10 PM. After that, no one was seen approaching her apartment. The landlord sped up the video, but even when the morning came, no one came in or came out from her apartment.

Including Sakuya herself.

“Speaking of which, isn’t today the first day of school? Is Kagura-san so anxious about the stalker that she doesn’t want to go to school?” The landlord asked worriedly.

“No, actually…” Ouji started explaining, but I hurriedly cut him off.

“Yeah, that’s what happened. That’s why we're doing this to reassure her.” I smiled at the landlord, hoping that he wouldn’t ask anything else.

Fortunately, the landlord completely bought my story. We thanked him before returning to Sakuya’s room.

“That’s odd…Sakuya-chan definitely didn’t come out from her room at all, yet she isn’t here.” Hiiro looked around the apartment with puzzled eyes.

“How did she get out, then?” I also looked around for any potential escape route.

“Won’t that tree suffice?” Ouji pointed out at a big tree outside her bedroom’s window.

“No, even if it’s Sakuya-san, it’s a bit too much.” I immediately rejected that theory. “The distance from her window to the tree is too far, considering she doesn’t have a balcony.”

“She doesn’t need one.” Ouji insisted. “If it’s Kagura-san, she can jump from the window and still reach the tree.”

“Yeah, but the tree is quite tall.” I said doubtfully. “She’d have to jump again from the lowest branch to the ground, and the height is more than three meters. She won’t survive that unscathed.”

“Instead of standing around and debating about it, how about we check the tree’s surroundings?” Hiiro suggested. “Ouji-senpai knows best of Sakuya-chan’s physical ability. If Sakuya-chan did jump from there, it should leave some traces, right?”

We ended up visiting the big tree that grew on the apartment’s backyard. It was so tall that I had to crane my neck just to see its full height. If it were me, I’d break my legs trying to jump from the lowest branch. But then again, Sakuya had inhuman strength incomparable to normal people.

“…she jumped.”

“Yeah, she jumped.”

“She definitely jumped.”

We all reached the same conclusion the moment we saw a deep dent on the ground, right next to the tree. It had the shape of a human's footprints, and yet it was carved so deep into the ground that it wasn’t easily erased.

“So we’ve established that Sakuya-chan has indeed run away from home. The question is, why would she do that?” Hiiro asked.

“…I’ll explain.” I answered with a somber tone. I faced the two of them and took a deep breath before confessing the truth. “Sakuya-san is actually the heiress of the Kagura Family, the yakuza family that controls the whole Kanto region.”

I had expected Hiiro to simply nod and proclaim that he knew about it all along, and Ouji to wear a shocked face. But what happened was the complete opposite.

“Ah, I see.” Ouji nodded. “I’ve had my suspicions for quite a while, but I wasn’t sure until now.”

“WHAT?! Sakuya-chan?! That adorable, goddess-like Sakuya-chan was part of a yakuza family?!” Hiiro cradled his head like the world was ending.

“Wait, what?!” I alternated between the two, caught off guard by their unexpected responses. “Wait, hold on a bit. Hiiro, I thought you would’ve already guessed it by now! Isn’t her name quite obvious?! And Senpai, how did you know?!”

“ “It’s because her name is the same.” ”

Both of them answered simultaneously.

“I thought her name was too obvious, so Sakuya-chan couldn’t possibly be a member of Kagura Family!” Hiiro complained.

“Oh? I thought that since she has the same name, she must be a part of that family.” Ouji stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

I shook my head and laughed in exasperation. “Well, that’s…anyway, let’s put that aside for now. Sakuya-san ran away from her family's home and has been chased by them for two years.”

I proceeded to tell them about how Sakuya had been found out by Kikuchi because of the war, and how the bet was actually a way for Kikuchi to drag Sakuya back home. I also told them about Sakuya spotting a member of Kagura Family in the summer festival last night.

“So she most likely ran away again to evade her family, huh?” Hiiro sighed. “I’d thought she has a complicated family, but this is way worse than I imagined.”

“What should we do now?” Ouji stared at me. “Should we bring her back? Or should we let Kagura-san go?”

At his question, we all fell silent. Now that we knew the Kagura Family had caught up on Sakuya’s presence here, it wasn’t safe for her to attend school. If we truly cared about her, then it was best that we let Sakuya disappear from the radar like she did two years ago. Foolishly searching for Sakuya would only lead the Kagura Family to her.

But were we truly ready to let Sakuya disappear like this? Without ever saying goodbye or telling anyone the truth?

“…I’ll still look for her.” Hiiro broke the silence.

“In doing so, you’ll expose her location to the Kagura Family.” I warned him, despite my own desire to say the same thing as Hiiro did.

“Even if it’s true, I’ll protect her. I don’t want to let Sakuya-chan fight on her own any longer.” Hiiro insisted.

“The opponent this time is a yakuza family, you know? They’re not someone you can beat so easily!” I raised my voice.

“I don’t care!” Hiiro snapped at me. “All my life, I don’t have anything I truly desire! But Sakuya-chan has given my life a meaning! Even if I have to fight the whole family, or even if I have to throw away my life, I’ll follow her anywhere!”

The two of us locked eyes for a moment as we both pushed for different things. Within Hiiro's eyes, a burning flame of resolve dwelled. I found myself envying the way Hiiro so easily and unwaveringly made his decision.

“I’ll find Kagura-san and stay by her side as well.” Ouji announced calmly. “The day I lost to her, I swore to dedicate my everything to her. I do not intend to break that promise until the day I die.”

Hearing that, I clenched my fist and bit my lips. Even though both of them had displayed their unwavering decision to find Sakuya, my mind and heart were still at war over this choice. If this were to happen in a romance novel, I could easily follow my heart and proclaim my resolve to find her, no matter what happens.

But this was reality.

If I made just one wrong move, I could expose Sakuya to danger and destroy all of her efforts. My head was telling me that letting Sakuya go was the correct choice, yet my heart couldn’t accept her disappearing without saying anything like this.

I sighed deeply and shook my head. “Let’s just…let’s just take some time to think about this first, okay? We shouldn’t make any hasty movement without understanding the whole situation.”

Ouji frowned. “If we waited too long, Kagura-san might go somewhere out of our reach.” He protested.

“Yeah, but currently we don’t even know where to look for her.” I argued.

“Wait, how did you know about Sakuya-chan’s identity in the first place, Ryuu?” Hiiro asked me. “Did she tell you…? No, it doesn’t sound like something she would do.”

“Actually, President told me about Sakuya-san. It happened on the first day I enrolled in Sakurasaki.” I answered.

After Sakuya asked me about it back when I accidentally revealed her identity, I dug up my memories and finally remembered Yuuki’s words. He warned me on my first day to stay away from Sakuya, yet I forgot all about it and stuck to her instead.

“The Student Council President?!” “Koyama?!”

Both of them were surprised.

“Let’s go back to school and interrogate him at once!” Hiiro turned around with so much vigor, but fortunately I managed to catch him before he ran off.

“Stop it, he would’ve already gone home at this point.” I stopped him.

“Then let’s go to his house! Don’t worry, I know where he lives!”

“You're seriously…ugh, I’m not even surprised anymore.” I let out an exasperated sigh. “Anyway, let’s ask President about this tomorrow. That way, we can have some time to think about our decision a bit longer. Okay?” I coaxed him.

“Ngh…fine, we’re ambushing him the first thing tomorrow morning.” Hiiro reluctantly yielded.

“That’s fine with you, right? Senpai.” I turned toward the silent Ouji.

“…I can wait until tomorrow.” He nodded.

With that settled, we went back to our respective houses, while holding various emotions and expectations in our hearts.

*****

The next day, Yuuki was also guarding the school's main gate just like yesterday, which was somewhat rare since the Student Council only did guard duty on special occasions such as school ceremonies. When I got there, Hiiro and Ouji already got him surrounded in a very delinquent way.

“You know where she is, right?! Tell us already!”

“If you don’t, we won’t hesitate to use force.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down!” I hurriedly dragged the two hotblooded delinquents away from Yuuki. “President, are you okay?”

“Shiba-kun, thank God you’re here.” Yuuki massaged his temple as he glared toward the two troublemakers. “Had you arrived a little later, I don’t know if I could’ve kept my patience any longer.”

“Ryuu, why are you siding with him?!” Hiiro protested as he broke away from my grip. “We almost got something!”

“Yeah, a fist to the face, I presume.” I replied sarcastically. “That belligerent attitude of yours won’t help anyone, Hiiro.”

Seeing Hiiro losing his usual coolheaded attitude really made me realize how much Sakuya’s disappearance had affected him. It comforted me to know that I wasn’t the only one losing my head over her disappearance.

“Okay, I don’t know what you guys want with me, but it’ll have to wait.” Yuuki interjected into our talk. “The principal has something to announce this morning, so all students must go to the auditorium.”

“Huh? Isn’t the opening ceremony already over yesterday?” I tilted my head.

“I also want to know what he’s going to say.” Yuuki shrugged. “At least you’re not late today, so I’ll call it a progress.”

“Ugh…I’ve apologized many times yesterday, so please give it a rest.” I shrunk back at the verbal jab.

“Anyway, I’ll hear out whatever you want to say later, so you should go to the auditorium now.” Yuuki instructed.

“Once the principal finishes talking, you’ll hear us out, right?” Ouji glared at Yuuki.

“Once the school is over, okay?! Now go inside before I changed my mind!” Yuuki shooed us away with an annoyed face.

The three of us joined the stream of students heading into the auditorium. Our seats were separated according to our class, so I made them promise to wait for me before charging into the Student Council room later.

“Hey, Ryuuji! I see you’re on time today!” Shou greeted me while casually inserting a verbal jab.

“Won’t everyone stop reminding me that I came late yesterday?” I sighed as I took the seat next to him.

“Well, I for one won’t stop until you actually tell me what happened between you and Kagura-san.” Shou smirked slyly.

“Ahem, what do you think the principal is going to tell us today, Reikou?” I ignored Shou’s provocation and asked Reikou, who sat in front of us with Minami.

“No idea. The principal has never summoned us like this before.” Reikou replied.

Before we could discuss it further, the principal climbed the stage and started testing the microphone. Everyone in the auditorium fell silent as all eyes were trained on the principal. He had a slightly rotund body, with a gentle face and calm demeanor. His soft-hearted appearance was in line with his kind disposition. Even though the delinquents had been causing trouble over and over again, he never got truly angry at them.

“Good morning, everyone.” The principal, Nakagawa Asano, started speaking. “Before we start the classes today, I have something important to tell everyone here. You see, this school will be closed down two weeks from now.”

For a moment, the whole auditorium was filled with deafening silence as everyone stared at Asano in disbelief. He had delivered the bombshell news with the same calmness as if he was speaking about tomorrow’s weather.

The next second, the auditorium broke out in great commotion. Even I couldn’t help but sit there dumbfoundedly. A school closing down wasn’t unheard of, yet no one would do that at the beginning of a new semester. And to give them only two weeks to settle everything? It was straight out ridiculous!

Does this have something to do with Sakuya-san disappearing…?” I thought to myself. “The timing is truly suspicious.

Asano cleared his throat loudly and regained everyone’s attention.

“For your information, the school is going to be closed because it was bought by a multinational company. They planned on changing the school into another facility. But you need not worry, for the school will take care of your transfer to other schools.” He explained.

As the students started to exhale in relief, he added another bombshell announcement.

“Unfortunately, as no school is big enough to accept all of you, we’ll have to transfer you into separate schools.”

“WHAT?!” Everyone cried out in shock.

“The teachers will help you choose the best school for you and prepare you accordingly, so it should pose no problem. That’s all from me, please do your best in class.” Asano ended his speech and left the stage promptly.

After that, the auditorium descended into pure chaos. The teachers and members of the Student Council struggled to get everyone back into their respective classrooms. Some students were so angry that they nearly stormed into the principal’s office. Fortunately, Yuuki managed to dissuade and return them back to their classrooms.

“That was…insane.” Shou sighed as we walked back to our classroom.

“Yes…what will happen to us?” Minami clutched her books with an anxious face.

“At this point, I don’t think there’s really anything we can do.” I said bitterly. “How are we going to fight against such a big company?”

All of us fell silent, unable to think of anything.

Classes proceeded as usual, but the atmosphere felt like we were in a funeral instead. The teacher was explaining about how they would handle the transfer, yet no one really listened to them. Everyone was either hanging their heads down, or talking in hushed voices. None of us were in the mood to actually study after the announcement.

Ochroleucous
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