Shiori's Dilemma

A week had passed, and Shiori’s academic knowledge had increased slightly. Unfortunately, she still had a long way to go before she was caught up. Hitomura assisted Yuta in disposing of more notes that had been slipped in Shiori’s locker.

Yuta did not study as much as he wanted to, because Kotori bothered him almost every time he sat down with a textbook. Even though he always turned down her invitation to spend time together, she would either guilt him into submission or refuse to leave.

On Thursday morning, he was surprised to see Kotori waiting for him outside the restaurant.

“Let’s walk to school together!”

Yuta let out a sigh. “Well, you’re already here, so it’s not like I can say no.”

“Yay!” She waited for him to start walking before moving to his side and matching his pace. “Since you’re just walking to school, I’m not taking away any of your time by doing this!”

“I suppose you’re right. What made you want to walk to school with me?”

“Do I need a reason to want to spend time with my cousin?”

“No… I was just wondering. Why now and not before?”

“I didn’t think of it before. But yesterday I thought ‘I’m going to the same school as my cousin, but he doesn’t want me to be around him during school! Wait a second, we can go to school together! Then he’ll have to let me spend time with him! Huhuhu!’ And now here I am.”

“That… does sound like your thought process.”

Kotori pouted. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Anyway, have you made any friends yet?”

“A lot of people wanted to talk to me at first, but this week everyone’s been leaving me alone. I wonder why…” Her gaze fell to the ground in front of her.

Yuta could think of a few reasons why they suddenly stopped talking to her. ‘They probably think she’s too childish. She does act like she’s in elementary school.’ He shrugged and focused on the conversation. “That’s too bad. Hopefully you’ll be able to–”

She suddenly beamed. “It’s okay! I can be friends with the associates you spend the most time with!”

He facepalmed. “That’s just what Hitomura said. You can just call them my acquaintances.”

“Acquaintances! Is that closer than associates?”

“Um, that depends…”

“Hopefully you become good friends with them! They seemed like nice people!”

“I don’t have the time for friends.” Yuta shook his head and focused ahead of him.

…

After first period ended, Yuta noticed Shiori with her head on her desk. He got up and approached her. “Something bothering you?”

She turned her head so that her cheek made contact with the desk. “It’s gone…”

“What’s gone?” Yuta was nervous that her book might have been stolen again.

Shiori reached down and, to his relief, pulled out her book, holding it open as she set it down.

He looked at the book and frowned, unsure what Shiori was trying to show him. Then he noticed something: a page had been ripped out. By the looks of it, it was the final page that was missing.

‘So they did remove a page… Those jerks.’ He remembered that the one who stole Shiori’s book was the student council president’s girlfriend, but he didn’t know who was conspiring with her. ‘I’ll make them regret doing this to Ozaki.’ A determined look crossed Yuta’s face. “I’ll find that page for you.”

“No need,” a stern voice sounded from behind him. Yuta turned around to see a girl with long purple hair staring at him. “I know where it is.”

He’d seen her in the halls, but never paid attention to who she was. “You are…?”

“Huh? You don’t know who I am?” She appeared appalled. “My name is Minori Ichinose. You better not forget it.”

In the background, Hitomura jumped. He waved to get Yuta’s attention.

“Ichinose? Sorry, I’ve never heard of you.” His eye was caught by Hitomura's wild movements.

He mouthed something, but it was difficult for Yuta to interpret. It took several tries before Yuta got what he was saying–she’s the student council president’s girlfriend.

He returned his attention to the girl in front of him. “Oh, weren’t you the one that took Ozaki’s book last week?”

Ichinose rolled her eyes. “Do you really think someone in my position would stoop that low? Just imagine what that would do to Kazuya’s image!”

“Where’s the page?”

“Not playing around anymore, are we? Good. That’s the way I like things. The page is in Kurosawa’s locker. Goodbye.” She began to walk off but was cut off by an angry Kurosawa.

“What do you mean it’s in my locker?”

Ichinose shrugged smugly. “How should I know? I’m not the one who stole it.” She walked around Kurosawa, laughing.

Yuta watched her go. ‘She’s obviously trying to put the blame on Kurosawa. Maybe she would have been a little more believable if she didn’t have such a stuck-up personality. Does she really think this will clear her name?’ He put a hand to his chin. ‘Perhaps it’s not actually in Kurosawa’s locker, and she just wants us to go on a wild goose chase…’ A shake of the head brought him back to reality. ‘It wouldn’t hurt to check.’

“The nerve she has, coming in here and blaming me for this mess! We already know she was the thief!”

“Regardless, we should probably check. If it is in your locker, she’s just trying to put the blame on you.”

Kurosawa took a deep breath. “You’re right. Let’s check during lunch. Class is going to start soon.”

…

When lunch arrived, Yuta walked with Kurosawa and Shiori down to the lockers. Hitomura stayed behind because Ms. Suzuki, the history teacher, wanted a word with him.

Several guys gave Yuta either a jealous look or an angry one. It was obvious that they were jealous he was walking with Kurosawa. He got the same looks whenever he was helping her study in the library.

They stood in front of Kurosawa’s locker. She put the combination in and pulled the lock off. Slowly, she opened the locker.