Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained

The morning sun added a pleasant warmth to the breakfast table.

Both Ayato and his mother were enjoying their short time together before they went their separate ways for school and work.

“... members of an infamous children trafficking ring were found dead under an anonymous tip to both the police and the press. With the scene of the crime stained black from top to bottom with blood, the victims included all executives and key appointment personnel related to the ring and they numbered…”

She tactfully turned off the television as the news dwelled on subjects that didn’t seem breakfast-friendly.

“...Do be careful out there, you have been coming home late for the past few days.”

Ayato nodded as he finished his last bits of toast.

“Done so soon? You sure you don’t want to eat one more?”

With his hands clapped together, he denoted his appreciation for the meal and shook his head in response to her question.

After a quick wash of the plates, he was ready to leave for school with his school bag in hand. He gave his mother a goodbye wave.

“Hehe, that’s a nice smile you are wearing! Go knock them out of the park!”

Without looking at the mirror, he didn’t even realise the curves of his lips to a degree he had rarely don on his countenance.

He shot her a big thumbs-up before leaving the house.

While making his commute to school, he took out the notebook/diary hybrid that contained not only the research he had made for the boy and girl he was hoping to matchmake, but also his experiences so far.

That would include the bizarre happenings yesterday with his close encounter with the Kurosaka Family.

Thinking back about it sent an unwitting shiver down his spine but he quickly shrugged it off.

So far, he was successful in making contact with Yoshinori Sayaka under a common interest in running but the boy connected to her by an imaginary red thread known as Fate, Kurosaka Kanata remained shrouded in mystery.

He didn’t seem to be outwardly hostile based on his actions yesterday but at the same time, he wasn’t really that interested in anyone else as well.

What I need to do is to increase the chance they interact with each other but how…

“Hard at work I see?”

It was a familiar cheery chirping behind him.

Ah, there you are, partnerー

Before he was able to turn his head fully to greet the girl with golden hair, he was stopped abruptly by a hand covering the turning side of his face.

“Sorry… I’ll need you to not look at me for a while… Just because!”

Even though he was unable to look at her, he could sense that her face was blushing a beet-root red from the awkward pauses in between her request.

Alright, if that’s what you want, partner…

“And no more calling me partner too! Only I can do that from now on!”

Her request piled on but it was fun to finally see Pip who was usually the one teasing to be this flustered.

Still, I have been meaning to ask, why can’t I just blast the two of them with the rocket launcher again and call it a day?

“First of all, you meant to say Type 1, Love Uninhibited, and second of all, no, it wouldn’t work.”

Ayato tried to steer the conversation back to its proper tracks by asking a question that had been on his mind ever since the first moment they met, only to be corrected and denied on the spot.

According to her, the explanation had to do with the functions of “Love Inhibited” which was a specific type of the Renai Arms series that allowed its targets to recognise the common affection that both parties had towards each other and act on this realisation.

In a sense, it served as the coup de grâce for typical will-they-won't-they storylines, a surefire way for a couple you knew were in love to just confess already.

The power to destroy rom-com fillers in the palm of my hand…

“Yeah yeah, chuunibyou. Anyways, because we don’t know what kind of relationship they would develop, we can’t just blast them with Type 1 or any random types out there. They don’t seem madly in love right now either.”

So not only do I have to nudge them closer together, I also have to find out what kind of love they have developed…

“In gist, yes. That’s the markings of a long-standing relationship endorsed by CERUB. We can apply the same general guideline to the future couples we will be matching too.”

In shedding more light on this line of work, they have found themselves in front of the school entrance.

The morning student crowd had started thinning as the clock had three minutes before class officially began.

“We aren’t at the dating stage yet, that is where I excel at! But in the meantime, let’s continue to work hard! For those two’s sake!”

As she declared so proudly, she ended the conversation and entered the school, the lone ring earring dangling to her right ear danced under the soft glow of the morning sun.

Incidentally, he had an identical fluorescent yellow ring as her earring, given to him by her not too long ago.

But this time, instead of catapulting it into the horizon, he had it tied around his neck and tugged it into his uniform.

Alright, let’s do this!

♡♡♡

“Thank you for joining me, Tsukimoto-kun.”

She stood back-facing the setting sun with her arms crossed as twilight gently ushered in the coming of night.

The Public Morals Committee armband around her arm fluttered unwaveringly against the passing wind.

The day was about to end without anything majorly eventful occurring. That was before the girl with a healthily tanned skin dropped Ayato a message.

[Up for running?]

[No thanks! x3 And isn’t today the only day you get to rest? Three days for track and one for PMC, go take a break already!]

[Running is my break though…]

[Then how about investigating something with me? There won’t be any running involved unless necessary.]

And that was how Ayato found himself meeting Yoshinori Sayaka in the late afternoon on a day when she wasn’t busy with her commitments.

This time around, he remembered to text Pip on their afterschool meet before going over. She acknowledged it and went on to conduct investigations of her own.

They began to walk as she started to talk about the circumstance.

“Rumour has it that at the exact moment when day turned into night, sounds of a violin playing could be heard within the school compounds..”

They entered the school again just when every other student was taking their leave.

“School had started not too long ago, three weeks at best, so there shouldn’t be a need for any student to stay behind until this late.”

The empty classrooms they passed by were devoid of presence, a husk to the time when it would have been filled with students.

“So let’s go and get any student still here to go back home! I will take the classrooms on this side and you will take those over there. We’ll meet on the top floor.”

Her determined voice reverberated in the corridors as she went down the line to survey the classrooms.

“If you found out what or who was playing the violin, advise them to stop causing a nuisance and maybe play it in a more suitable environment next time. See you around.”

Honestly, that sounded no different from her day-to-day PMC duties but Ayato found himself looking into the windows of every classroom nonetheless.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Just as the remnants of sunlight cast long-drawn shadows of classroom window rails onto the floor, off in the distance two storeys above, an eerie music sounded off.

Its sounds resembled those of a violin but it lacked all of the harmony a piece of music should contain.

An unkindness of ravens flew past the windows from outside, further dousing whatever remains of natural lighting there is.

He wasn’t a believer in the paranormal, but the atmosphere had him rethinking his life choices.

Still, he reluctantly made his way up the stairs as fast as he could in hopes of locating the source of the disturbance.

The sound led him to a classroom amongst his level, one that didn’t belong to class 3-4.

As soon as he approached the room, the music abruptly stopped as if it wasn’t even there in the beginning.

Now intrigued to discern the truth himself, Ayato proceeded to enter the classroom without waiting for Yoshinori-san.

The interior of the classroom wasn’t anything new. He had been studying in similar classrooms for the better part of his two and a something years studying in this middle school.

Shining into the classroom were the last vestiges of illumination coming from the sun and as he looked around, nothing in the room seemed amiss.

That was until the fluorescent lights in the corridor flickered on to replace the disappearing natural lighting.

Then and there, standing in between Ayato and the door he entered the classroom from was a figure with its features cloaked by darkness.

With rectangular lens where its eyes were supposed to be, it stared into his soul like a predator to its prey. In one of its upper limbs held a long article that shimmered unnaturally with indescribable intent.

Why does this keep happening…!

If he could scream, then that would be what he would be exclaiming but right now, he was petrified like a stone statue in a graveyard of dead silence.

[End of Chapter]