Repercussions on the future

Arriving earlier than usual thanks to the lift, I said my father goodbye as he drove. From there, I made my way to the classroom. As I could have expected, it was emptier than when I normally arrived. Which also meant, there was no crowd to blend into.
Having been absent for three days after holidays painted a bad picture, and several heads turned towards me as I entered the room. A few quiet comments were shared, but nothing major or anyone coming to me.

A bit later, the others came in. Upon seeing me, Ono quickly jumped out to catch Tanaka, who had separated from the group to head for his own classroom. He rejoined them, entering after them.
Now with all four assembled, they surrounded me. …Albeit with varying levels of intent. Suzuki took his seat to my side, and Tanaka stood behind me. Neither of them gave of the inquisition vibe the other two shared. Sugimoto was in his customary seat to my right, and Ono brought up the front.
With them squaring me off, it was easy to guess what they wanted. Still, I waited for one of them to go first.
To my surprise, it was Suzuki. “Are you feeling alright?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Yes.” I was startled, as I had prepared for the interrogation, not well wished thoughts.
Nonetheless, he took my answer as a good sign. “Thank god. I just recently went through something similar, so I know how it feels. Please, if you have any questions regarding catching up on school stuff, do not hesitate to ask me.” He puffed his chest out slightly.
“Thanks.” I was grateful for it. And with another thought in mind, I took him up on the offer. “Maybe we can arrange a meeting for later? There are in fact things I would like to ask you about.”
He was slightly confused for a moment, until realization spread over his face. Knowing what I was referring to, he gave me a quick nod, his face not betraying any emotion.

“Now that we know you are right and all,” Sugimoto spoke up after Suzuki had confirmed my state. “it is time we get down to the important business.” Leaning forward and starring me directly in the eyes, he asked “What is up with you and being surrounded by girl?”
As always, his priorities were… skewed, to say the least. “I wouldn’t say surrounded…”
“While that may be right,” Ono threw in his weight. “there are quite some rumors going around. There is Fujiwara from our class, the shrine priestess we met on Sunday, and I heard about a certain barista.”
“Mori is the owner of a café I visited. How the hell does she play into this?” ‘And more importantly, how the hell do you get information about that?’
While Sugimoto was seething at the mention of another woman, Ono played another card I did not expect. “Oh yeah, there was also a lady visiting you on Sunday.”
A sense of danger befell me. “…What are you talking about? I had no visitors-”
But he brushed it off. “Yes yes, admitting it is hard, but you shouldn’t lie.” A devious smile spread on his face. “Try to remember, there was someone at the front door that day…”
It hit me like a bucket full of ice water. ‘He is referring to the black fox. How?! It makes no sense. …Still, combining it with the fact he knew about Mori, maybe it is a sign or hint, that he-’
“Come on Rentarou.” Tanaka spoke up from behind me. “I know your curiosity all to well, but asking Yamazaki’s neighbors for information is going too far.”
‘Neighbors? …Oh!’ If one didn’t know about magic, asking neighbors seemed like one of the few choices on how to get that information. And I understood the feeling of not wanting to suggest your friend might stalk someone like paparazzi.
To ease up the tense mood, Ono giggled. “Sorry, but I couldn’t help it wanting to tease him. Be at ease, I hadn’t asked any neighbors. In fact, it was a coincidence that I learned about it.”
As everyone was at a miss trying to make sense of what he had just said, Ono gave a full explanation. “You see, at the day of the festival I had visited a relative. On my way back from them, I realized I was in the area where Yamazaki lift. So, on a whim, I decided to swing by. And there, I saw someone standing at the door.
…I mean, I didn’t want to pry, but just walking up to them seemed awkward, especially if they maybe had said they would come to visit. Strolling up right next to an expected guest as an unexpected one was not something I wanted to do.”
This would explain how he knew about. Finished with his part, Ono looked at me expectantly. I didn’t know what he wanted. Maybe if I accepted his explanation? So I just nodded.
However, he took it as permission to continue his story. “That was when the real shock came for me. As Yamazaki opened the door, he collapsed.” I heard the sharp intake of several breaths. “Naturally, at this point I walked up, asking what is wrong. At that point, the lady simply told me he wasn’t in good condition, and that she would take care of it, and asked me to leave.
I mean, there wasn’t much I could do in that situation, so I did as she said. Surprisingly, you looked fine when you arrived at the festival. So I thought maybe it was just a short thing. But upon hearing you fell sick again, I kind of regretted not doing or saying anything. But, as there might be some medical history you didn’t wish to share, I chose to not say anything.”
The unsaid part of his consideration was that as we both had been looking after Suzuki, it had been easy for him to keep an eye on me too.

All his explanation were logical, and covered all the things touched upon. He didn’t mention Mori right now, but maybe someone in the café was trying to get to know humans better. And as Ono was good with connecting with people and relatively easy-going, I could see someone exchanging contact info with them. And with the scenes that happened before in the café, mentioning me in a story didn’t seem all too off.
Still, there was a part of me that couldn’t shake a certain suspicion. Asking others was against the rules as Suzune had put it, and just confronting him without knowing for certain would make me look like an idiot or worse. So, I chose to bide my time and observe for the moment.

At the end of my train of thought, the teacher walked in, and forced us to end the discussion. As Tanaka quickly hurried out of the room, Sugimoto groaned as he passed by him. “We got so distracted, we didn’t get any info out of him!”
And as fate would have it, it remained like that for a long time to come…

With the ringing of the bell signaling lunch break, several people rose from there chairs. I saw someone take Ayame by the hand, and drag her out the room. Then, in a matter of seconds, I was surrounded once more. This time, it wasn’t the guys: it was the girl group that usually stayed around Ayame.
By their silent stares I could guess what I wanted from me. And so, albeit reluctantly, I rose form my seat to join them. Making our way out of the classroom, I cast my eyes over to my supposed friends. Sugimoto held his hands up in prayer, Suzuki clenched his hands as if cheering me on, and Ono was typing at his phone, probably hoping for me to bring some kind of info with me. Essentially, I was abandoned.
Same as before, the group made their way to the rooftop. As it was getting hotter right now, despite it being lunch time, few people were here. Walking over to a corner without any people, they finally started talking to me. To my surprise, there was no harshness in their voices: They were filled with excitement.
“So, how far did you go?”
“How did it feel to have her take care of you?”
“Don’t worry, I understand if you didn’t feel too much of it. I would also rather take care of her, not the other way around.”
Being bombarded with several more exclamations of that kind, I quickly capitulated. To my luck, the previous boss girl intervened. “Alright, alright.” She clapped her hands loudly to draw everyone’s attention. “This way we won’t get any information out of him.”

I counted two and two together in my head, and had a rough idea of what was going on. But just to be sure, I asked them. “For what reason have you brought me up here?”
“Huh? It should be obvious.” The current leader, I thought her name was Kaori, spread her arms to gesture to everyone. “We want to know how far your relationship with Ayame has progressed.”
“…” Yes, I was right. Suppressing the urge to bring my palm to my face, I gave them a short answer. “Sorry to disappoint, but we are not in a relationship.”
However, my denial was met with denial of their own. “There is no need to be embarrassed.”
“Yes yes, she’s right. Aya already told us, after all.”
‘So she mentioned some stuff.’ I was pretty sure that she hadn’t said we were going out, just talking about what had happened on Sunday and Monday. To prevent further ideas from spreading, I had to make sure not to mention things she hadn’t admitted to. “…What exactly did she reveal?”
Showing a hint of admission, squealing erupted around me, followed by some murmurs.
“Oh, you hear that!”
“I knew it there was something.”
“She should have just told us.”
After the initial burst of excitement had subsided, they started to answer my question.
“Well, you had held hands…”
“You used her lap as a pillow…”
“She nursed you while you were sick-”
“-Even cooking for you!”
“But when we pushed her for more details-”
“-She blushed and clammed up.”

“…” So far those things had been accurate, and I couldn’t refute any of them. Still, there were a few things that seemed off to me. “Weren’t you all on guard against someone going out with her?” At least that was what I remembered from my first time being abducted.
Which was quickly dismissed. “Ah, we trust you.”
“If you were actually that bad, we would have cut you out long ago.”
“She looked so happy talking about you.”
“And frankly, you do not look like you have the balls to trick and cheat on her.”
“Not to mention our information network tailing you…”
Putting the last two comments aside, I got positive feedback.
Someone else seemed to read too much into my question, and added to the narrative. “AH, might you be referring to you looking for your childhood friend? We already talked with Suzu, and she told us she thinks of you as a friend, nothing more.” ‘I have to thank her for holding up that ruse.’
“Not only that, she gave us some info on your interactions with Aya.” ‘Scratch that, she just wanted to fan the flames.’
Sensing my hesitant mood, Kaori walked up to me, threw an arm around my shoulders, and slapped me on the back. “Don’t worry, we are all supportive of this. So you have nothing to fear from us.” She showed me a bright smile.

Not saying anything would be an admission. And that would be unfair to Ayame, as, if I were to do so, she should hear it first. Therefore, I tried denying it. “…I never said that I am going out with her.”
While some saw that as a display of embarrassment, others didn’t take too kindly to it, and started glaring daggers at me. Basically, ‘How could you betray out girl like that!’. To ensure my survival and prevent bad blood, I added a second part to it. “Don’t think that I will admit to anything that Ayame hasn’t said. I never said I will give you new information…”
As I had been thinking of this scenario for a while now, my cheeks were starting to take on a shade of red. Combining that with my vague wording, it soothed the aggravated minds.

After a bit more banter, we parted ways. As I walked down the stairs, a brown flash appeared next to me. “Good work.” Ayame greeted me.
“Thanks.” I couldn’t help but let out a short laugh. “So, you knew what was going on?”
“Kind off…” She averted her gaze.
“I am not blaming you or anything. It is in part on me. Just… how did you know?”
“Well, it isn’t the first time they took you away. And suddenly being dragged out of the room beforehand wasn’t exactly subtle.” With a slightly flushed face, she said. “I hope they weren’t too hard on you.”
“Ah. Well.” ‘Crap.’ With that reminder, I could feel color rising to my cheeks once more. “Not really. It went fine.”
“Is that so…” Now, with an awkward silence hanging between us, we needed something, anything to get a conversation flowing again.

And as chance would have it, we encountered a person that would throw everything into turmoil.