The Plan to Find the Missing Book

After first period ended, Yuta checked to see if Shiori was still panicking over her lost book.

Her bag was open on the desk, and her hand shuffled through the contents. Alarm was written all over her.

Kurosawa and Hitomura also had their eyes on Shiori, concern showing in their eyes.

Yuta stood and approached his student’s desk. “Still haven’t found your book?”

Shiori paused and glanced up at Yuta with tear filled eyes. She shook her head.

“I see.” He quickly looked around the room. “It has to be around here somewhere. Perhaps someone wanted to read it a bit, but class started before they could return it to you.”

“If that were the class, they would have returned it by now.” Kurosawa joined the conversation. “We know Ozaki didn’t misplace the book, which means someone probably stole it.”

Shiori wiped the tears from her eyes. “Stole it…?”

In his head, Yuta agreed with the athlete. Since the book wasn’t in the area, that was the only logical explanation to the book’s disappearance. The perpetrator must be the same people that were slipping notes in Shiori’s locker. ‘But who could it be?’

The only leads he had to the identity of her bullies was the conversation he heard in the halls on the day of Shiori’s breakdown. It was unlikely that those girls stole the book, since they weren’t in the same class. They could have connections to the thief, though.

“Don’t worry Ozaki, we’ll find the book.”

“Are you sure you have to look for her book? Shouldn’t you be studying?” Kurosawa crossed her arms and grinned.

“Believe me, I want to study. But I can’t just ignore this.”

An arm landed over Yuta’s shoulders. “I’ll help out, too. We’ll find it faster with more people searching for it.”

Yuta turned to see Hitomura uncomfortably close to him. “Thanks, but would you please not be so close?”

Hitomura let go of Yuta and shuffled back. He pushed his glasses up and smirked. “I’ll use my vast information network to find clues to the whereabouts of this maiden’s beloved book.”

“Let me guess, you’re going to ask the anime club to help?”

“Not just the anime club, Yuta…” His smirk grows. “But the gaming club and the chess club, too.”

“Hitomura, you’re in the chess club?” Kurosawa asked.

“I attend from time to time. I should mention that my title in the chess club is ‘King’, because I have never even come close to losing.”

“Oh really?”

“Really. I don’t play games… I conquer them!” Hitomura began to laugh maniacally.

Yuta turned back to Shiori. “I’ll try to see if I can find anything during lunch. I’ll have Kotori help as well.”

Shiori tilted her head. “Kotori…?”

Hitomura calmed down. “That’s his adorable but overly attached cousin that just transferred here.”

“But there weren’t any transfers today…”

Yuta sighed. “She’s a first-year, so she doesn’t attend this class.”

Kurosawa thought for a second. “Was she the one running in the halls earlier?”

“Pink pigtails, wears glasses, and has a lot of energy?”

“Yes.”

“That’s her alright. She–” a sneeze interrupted his sentence.

“Ichikawa, you should rest in the nurse’s office. You don’t want that cold to get any worse, do you?”

“I’m fine. It’s just a slight cold, nothing serious.”

Kurosawa shook her head. “I heard you sneezing during class. You need to go take care of that before it gets worse.”

“I said I’m fine. I don’t need to–” another sneeze stopped him from continuing.

She straightened her posture. “As class rep, I’m ordering you to rest in the nurse’s office.”

“I don’t think that’s–”

“No buts! Now go.”

“Fine, whatever you say.” He started toward his desk but was stopped.

“Uh-uh, you’re not going there to study. You’re going there to rest. No textbooks,” Kurosawa decreed.

Shiori watched Yuta leave the classroom and picked up her bag to follow him. Hitomura stepped back to let her through.

Footsteps sounded behind Yuta, rapidly approaching. “Hitomura, I don’t–” he turned around to see Shiori. “Oh, Ozaki. You’re not sick, are you?”

She shook her head. “I… wanted to escort you… To the nurse’s office…” She avoided eye contact out of embarrassment.

“You don’t have to escort me just because you feel like it’s your fault I’m sick.”

“But…” She held her bag tighter.

“If you really want to, I won’t stop you. I just don’t want you to do it for that reason.”

“I want to…”

“Then feel free to join me.” He spun around and continued moving down the hall. Shiori stepped next to him and walked at the same pace but kept her eyes on the ground.

…

In front of the nurse’s office, Yuta turned to Shiori. “Thanks for walking with me. You should get back to class so you’re not late.”

She nodded and went on her way, retracing her steps.

Yuta watched Shiori leave, unaware of the nurse that was now directly behind him.

“Is that your girlfriend?”

Yuta jumped, spinning around to see Ms. Sasaki looking down at him. “No, I’m just her tutor. We’re not a thing.”

“Is that so?” Her eyes narrowed, then she shrugged. “As long as you treat her with respect it doesn’t matter to me.” She opened the door and gestured for Yuta to enter.

The door closed behind him, leaving him and the nurse in the otherwise empty room.

Ms. Sasaki pushed the curtains around one of the beds to the side. “So what brings you to my office? No one comes here unless they have a problem. Especially boys.”

A sneeze answered the nurse’s question for him.

“A cold, huh? That’s not such a big deal.” She stood at the side of the bed and waited for Yuta to sit down.

“Kurosawa forced me to come here. A cold isn’t that big of a deal.”

Ms. Sasaki put a hand to his forehead. “No sign of a fever. All you need is a quick rest. Go to sleep and you’ll feel better when you wake up.”

“Thanks, Ms. Sasaki…” Yuta closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep, wishing he was able to take this time to study.

When he woke up, the nurse was on the bed, leaning over him.