More Questions Without Answers

By the time classes were over, I immediately said goodbye to my friends and raced out of the classroom. I needed some answers to distract my mind from the looming shadow of losing our school.

“ “ “Ah.” ” ”

Coincidentally, all three of us ran into each other in the hallway.

“…you too?” I asked Hiiro and Ouji.

Hiiro sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “The classroom felt too suffocating. Everyone was practically in despair.”

“Yeah, mine too. No one wants to be shoved into a new school this late in the game.” Ouji nodded.

“Let’s think about this together after we talk with the President, okay?” I suggested as we started walking toward the Student Council room.

Knock. Knock.

“Come in.” Yuuki’s voice answered my knock.

“Excuse us.” I opened the door and entered, followed by Ouji and Hiiro.

“Ah, I didn’t realize you’re having guests, President. I’m sorry.” Marika, who was in the middle of giving a report to Yuuki, hurriedly apologized.

“No, it’s fine. Will you leave the room for a moment, Marika? We’ll continue this afterwards.” Yuuki asked her as he put his document down on the table.

Marika nodded and left the room, not forgetting to greet us with a polite bow. She truly was the epitome of a refined, traditional beauty.

“So? What do you guys want to ask me?” Yuuki laced his fingers together and faced us.

“Where is Kagura-san?” Ouji instantly blurted out.

“...huh?” Yuuki was completely taken aback by the unexpected question.

I groaned and took over the conversation. “Sorry, let me explain, President.”

I briefly told Yuuki about Sakuya running away from her family and Kikuchi finding her here, as well as how she suddenly disappeared since the first day of the new semester.

“So, you guys think she disappeared because she was being chased?” Yuuki concluded.

I nodded, trying my best to ignore the stinging pain of being left behind by Sakuya without even a word. “We’re hoping that you might have any idea where Sakuya-san could possibly hide. After all, you’re the person who told me about her family’s identity on my first day here.”

Yuuki’s face scrunched up into a scowl. “Unfortunately, you’re asking the wrong person here. I simply guessed her identity from her far-too-obvious surname and her incredible combat prowess. Even if she disappeared, I wouldn’t know where to look for her.”

“I thought so…” I slumped my shoulders in defeat.

“Don’t you have any idea of who might know?” Hiiro piped in, refusing to give up easily. “Maybe the school has the data of her relatives, or a secondary residence?”

“They don’t.” Yuuki flatly rejected him. “And even if they did, I won’t give private information to other students.”

“Let’s go. We won’t get anything else here.” Ouji had already lost his patience and went toward the door.

“Ah right, have you tried asking the principal?” Yuuki suggested, having just remembered this. “He must’ve known something about her, seeing that he let her enroll in this school. And he was always far too lenient toward Kagura, much to my dismay.”

His words brought hope to our faces. The two didn’t even say a word before dashing out of the Student Council room, nearly knocking into Marika who was about to enter. I hurriedly thanked Yuuki and chased after them.

*****

“They are very…lively, I suppose?” Marika smiled awkwardly as she closed the door behind her and approached my desk.

“A noisy bunch of troublemakers as always.” I grumbled. “And they will get worse if Kagura doesn’t hurry up and come back.”

I had my eyes fixed on the reports on my desk that I missed the shock written all over Marika’s face.

“W-What do you mean by that, President?” Marika put her hand on my desk and asked with a shaky voice.

“Hm?” I lifted my face and finally realized that I'd let the undesirable truth slip out. “They just told me that Kagura was missing. But this is her we're talking about. That stubborn girl probably ran away from home for a bit before coming back as if nothing happened.” I told a small lie.

No matter how much I trusted Marika, I wasn’t tactless enough to blabber about Kagura’s family matters to unrelated people. I couldn’t imagine having to live in hiding for two years, going through each day with fear of being caught by my pursuers. A newfound sense of respect for Kagura sprouted inside me.

“Maybe it would’ve been better if she never came back here.” I whispered to myself. “After all, this place will soon disappear as well…”

*****

“Sensei!”

Without even knocking first, Ouji shamelessly barged into the principal’s office like he owned the place.

“Please tell us where Kagura-san is!”

“Senpai, calm down a bit!” I ran after him while gasping desperately for air.

I shot an envious glance at Hiiro, who ran at the same speed as me yet didn't even break out a sweat.

The principal, Asano, paused in the middle of his phone call. For a moment, an awkward silence filled the room.

“…my apologies, Shusei-sensei, but something urgent has come up. May we continue this discussion later? Yes, yes, of course. Thank you very much for your consideration.” Asano smoothly ended his phone call before turning to us. “Now, what is this all about?”

“Sensei, please forgive our rudeness!” I bowed my head and forced the two of them to bow as well. “We’ll accept any punishment from you, but will you listen to us first?”

Asano laughed lightly and dismissed my apologies. “No, there’s no need for punishment. I can tell that something urgent has happened. Come, sit down and tell me what you need.” He gestured for us to sit on the chairs in front of his desk.

We gratefully took our seats. I glanced at Hiiro and Ouji, but they returned my glance with confusion, as if asking why I hadn’t started explaining. I sighed in resignation and once again told Asano about Sakuya’s family and her disappearance.

“I see…this is indeed troubling.” Asano nodded. Despite his words, he seemed as calm as always.

“Sensei, have you known about Sakuya-chan’s identity since the beginning?” Hiiro asked him, unable to hold back his curiosity.

“Yes, I do. I know about her, as well as Shijima-sensei’s identity.” Asano easily confessed. “Unfortunately, I have no idea why Sakuya-san decided to run away now, since Shijima-sensei has already been arrested more than a month ago.”

“Oh, I see—wait, what?!” I was stunned at the sudden revelation. It seemed that our principal here really liked to drop bombshell news without any prior warning whatsoever.

“Shijima-sensei? Why was he arrested?” Hiiro pressed him.

“Hmm…the school doesn’t know the whole story, but the police said that he was involved in a human trafficking business. It comes as a shock, really.” Asano lamented. “I know he’s a member of yakuza family, but for him to get caught by the police…”

Asano was still speaking, but his words didn’t enter my mind. I kept thinking about what Asano said regarding Kikuchi’s arrest. I’d assumed that Kikuchi left school and kept quiet about Sakuya’s whereabout as the result of their bet. But judging from his sly, underhanded tactics to make Sakuya lose the bet, it was highly impossible that Kikuchi would meekly keep his promise. It would make more sense for Sakuya to silence him by putting the man into prison.

However, that would bring a whole new question. If the arrest happened more than a month ago, then he would’ve been arrested well before the summer break even started.

With that in mind, how did Kagura Family know Sakuya was here?

If Kikuchi had told them beforehand, then Kagura Family would’ve come here sooner. The fact that they only appeared by the end of summer break meant that it couldn’t have been Kikuchi. The timing didn’t match up at all…as if someone else had tipped them about Sakuya’s whereabout.

“Could it be…there’s a traitor among us?” Chills ran down my spine the moment I thought of that possibility.

“…Ryuu! Were you listening?!”

“Y-Yes?!” I sat up straight when my name was called.

“I said, we’re done here. Asano-sensei said he doesn’t have any clue where Sakuya-chan might be hiding.” Hiiro repeated it for me.

“A-Ah…I see.” I nodded stiffly.

“Are you okay, Ryuu?” Ouji peered at me. His scowling face looked as fierce as usual, but I could see concern in his eyes.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry I spaced out.” I turned toward the principal. “Asano-sensei, thank you so much for your time.” I bowed at him.

“No, I’m also glad that I get to hear about Sakuya-san’s disappearance. If I find anything, I’ll tell you about it. I pray that you will be able to find her quickly.” Asano shook his head.

As we stood up to leave, Asano suddenly called out to me.

“Ah right, Shiba-kun, can you stay for a moment longer? There’s something I need to tell you.”

I glanced at Hiiro and Ouji, who nodded at me. “I understand, Sensei.”

I sat down again while the two of them left the room. Asano waited until he was sure they had left before started speaking.

“I want to talk to you regarding the school you’ll enter after Sakurasaki closes down.” Asano said.

He tried to maintain his calm attitude, but I could see his shoulders slumped at the mention of his own school closing down.

“Y-Yes, sure.” I nodded, even though I wasn’t too interested in the matter. Right now, Sakuya’s disappearance was the only thing that mattered in my mind. Everything else would have to wait. However, what Asano said next changed everything.

“As you’ve heard earlier, I was in contact with the principal of Sakurazaki Private Academy, Fukuzawa Shusei.” Asano continued. “He heard of our school closing down, and told me that he’s willing to accept some of our brightest students into his school.”

His words instantly captured my full attention. My heart started pounding loudly as I held my breath. Could it be…?

“One of them is you, Shiba-kun.” Asano put his hand on my shoulder. “With your stellar grades and good track record, he wants you to come to his school. In other words, once Sakurasaki closes down, you’ll attend Sakurazaki Private Academy next door. Isn’t it great that you can finally study in your dream school?” He smiled gently at me.