Two days had passed since their infiltration of Old Castle High School
.
Now that Takaya thought about it, it had been a long time since he’d experienced school life.
He’d last attended his own school almost two years ago. All his year-mates were now either college students or working adults. He wondered how they were doing—and then realized he hadn’t thought about his friends in a long while.
Takaya had mixed feelings about surrounding himself with students who were two years younger than he was.
But even were he inclined to leisurely immersed himself in nostalgia, this school was a bit too peculiar.
(What a weird school...)
Indeed, like Endou had said, this school was definitely not normal.
The more you observed the inner workings of the school, the more distinct the freakishness of the so-called ‘iron student council’, Mikuriya’s executive office, became.
The stringent checking for lateness at the gates; the airport-like examination of possessions; the uniform inspections; the executive office-supervised broadcasting department, which could not play anything other than what was approved. Why were only ‘Gregorian chants’ broadcast all day every day? That was weird. This wasn’t a Christian school; when he‘d asked the reason, the response had been: ’It’s to calm the mind to make studying easier.’ (Though it was true that Western music had become popular of late.)
There were student assemblies in the mornings three times a week.
In ‘president of the student council admonitory speeches’, Mikuriya herself took the mike to address the students. They called for ‘conducting the ideal school life’—fine-sounding homilies that were truly eloquent and full of conviction; he couldn’t fault them for their content. Her movements and gestures were melodramatic, and apt to pull you in if you weren’t paying attention. Takaya was surprised to suddenly realize that all the students were gazing blankly at her, as if in a partial hypnotic state. You could say they were being brainwashed. Thereafter followed the announcement of transgressors and acknowledgment of contributors to the student council. Lastly came a recitation of the constitution by the entire student body. Her control over the school was chilling.
Student council president Mikuriya was being made into an object of worship.
When she ‘proceeded’ across the school, there would invariably be five or six members of the executive office accompanying her while the students made way, bowing at 90-degree angles and not lifting their heads until she had passed. It was like the procession of a daimyo, or perhaps even more vividly like expressionless military troops, and it sent a shudder through Takaya.
The executive office watched over the activities of each and every student.
Their grades, of course; their dispositions, friendships, family backgrounds, even association between the genders—all were monitored.
(In other words who was close to or had broken up with whom, where they met, the extent of sexual relationships—all were entered into an executive office database.) Such private information was obtained via a system of anonymous reporting. Reporting on another person (depending on the value of the information) reduced the reporter’s transgression points. This was conducted semi-publicly, outrageously enough.
The patrolling committee members even called out problematic behavior that didn’t contravene the constitution. Anyone who was called out three times would be expelled.
It was downright insane.
Due to the anonymous reporting system, the relationship between students was extremely strained. It was impossible to relax even with your friends. If you confided your distress and were unlucky enough, it might be leaked to the executive office.
Thus the bonds between students were weakened, and the controlling power of the executive office enhanced. It commanded even individual privacy. In the final analysis, secrets and weaknesses were dug up and stored as threats against confrontation—as means to enforce obedience.
(It’s totally dirty...)
Under these circumstances, even those who wanted to put up a resistance would find it extremely difficult to do so. What he didn’t understand was why the students had allowed the deterioration into such a system. First of all, what did the executive office gain?
(What is their goal?)
The more he knew, the less he understood.
(What is happening in this school?)
Noon recess.
In the hall nearby a member of the patrol committee (what the students referred to as a patroller) was issuing a ticket to a student for changing his bicycle without a permission slip—a breach of the constitution. The mechanical movements of the patroller looked like that of a mean-spirited police officer. ...In contrast, the student was meek and courteous to the point of using honorifics.
“This is outrageous,” Takaya said, half-disgusted as he rested his chin on his hands on the desk, while Endou worked steadily at his bento next to him.
“I gotta be more careful, too. Three more points and it’s another yellow card for me.”
“Yellow card?”
“Suspension.” Endou showed him the back of his student id. There was a line of many red seals and numbers.
“You get two points for tardiness, five points for truancy. Even if you give a reason and it turns out not to be true—in other words if you’re just skipping school, you get ten points in a single fell swoop. Ten points mean suspension. Three suspensions and you’re expelled.”
“Thirty points and you’re out, huh? So if you’re tardy for two weeks in three years, you get expelled?”
“If you’re late for even a second it counts as a tardy. Normally this isn’t something the students decide. How the hell did it get like this?”
But even as Endou complained, he had accepted this unnatural state of affairs.
Takaya frowned.
Just then.
“Akemiii!” A female student came rushing in from the next class.
“Huh? Emi-chan?” said Inaba Akemi, eyes growing very round. Her bento was spread out alongside her friends’ on a nearby seat.
“What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I don’t know what to do, I’m so sorry, Akemi!”
The sudden commotion drew Takaya and Endou’s attention. Akemi’s friend Emi was deathly pale as she explained the particulars to Akemi.
“What—?! The ‘SEEVA’ live concert ticket was confiscated by a patroller!?”
“I’m so sorry, Akemi! There was an inspection of belongings only yesterday...! I didn’t think they’d do it today, too—!”
“Oh no...but, but that ticket was exclusive to fan club members, it’s a limited absolutely secret live event!”
“I’m so sorry—! What should I do?!”
Emi clung to Akemi and burst into tears. Akemi was very upset.
“You’re asking me what to do?!”
Emi was going to deliver the ticket to Akemi at school, but it had been discovered and confiscated by the inspection committee.
“Damn, that’s too bad,” Endou sympathized. “The inspection committee never returns the stuff they confiscate. Those girls are stans of ‘SEEVA’.”
“‘SEEVA’?”
The name sounded familiar—right, it must be that rock singer Yuzuru liked and was always listening to.
“What bad luck for them, getting inspected two days in a row, damn. They’re not getting it back.”
Emi was crying her eyes out. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Akemi!”
“I know you’re sorry...but I went to so much trouble... I even bought the ticket to Osaka...”
“What should we do?!”
As he gazed at the hopelessly wailing Emi, Takaya felt angry at the absurdity of it. The inspection committee could have simply allowed the ticket to be handed over, but no. No one was allowed to carry anything not related to studying.
“They have no choice but to give up,” Endou muttered. The two girls’ friends were trying to comfort them:
“It can’t be helped if it was confiscated.”
“It was just bad luck.”
No one suggested trying to retrieve it.
The helpless resignation around him irked Takaya. The matter should not be dropped so easily.
“...!”
As Takaya stood, about to say something, a voice behind him unexpectedly called his name.
“Is Ougi Takaya of junior class 2-B here?”
He turned in surprise. “Ah!” Endou exclaimed softly—for standing there were the members of the executive office themselves.
“Are you here... Ougi Takaya?”
Student council vice president Ozaki stepped into the room.
Silence fell. Endou pulled worriedly on Takaya’s sleeve. Takaya’s eyes hardened as he fixed a glare on Ozaki.
“You didn’t come yesterday either. The student council president and the rest of the council were waiting for you.”
“I’m new, so I’ve been busy.” Takaya answered arrogantly, thrusting his hands into his pockets. “I don’t have the time to go wait on your queen.”
His response rattled Endou and the rest of the students; they hadn’t expected such blatant defiance.
‘Oh crap,’ said their spasmatic expressions, and sure enough Ozaki’s face twisted spectacularly.
“What did you say just now?”
“I don’t like being ordered around. If she wants to say hello to me so badly, she can come herself.”
“Woah woah woah, Ougi!” Endou tugged on Takaya’s arm, his countenance quite altered. “You idiot! I told you not to go around acting like you’ve got a chip on your shoulder...!”
“What you said just now,” Ozaki interrupted coldly, “shall I take it as hostility towards the executive office?”
“N...no! Ougi is just not used to our school yet...!” Endou tried to defend him. Takaya brushed him aside and stepped forward.
“Take it however you like. I dislike your methods, and I won’t put up with them. That’s just how I am, and nothing you say will change that.”
“... So you won’t come no matter what?”
“I’m not so magnanimous as to play pretend with your silly child-queen.”
In contrast to the rest of the executive office members’ bristling anger, all emotion dropped from Ozaki’s face, and he looked at Takaya with the blankness of iron.
“I see. I understand very well.”
“...”
“Endou-kun.”
Endou jumped. “Ye...yes?”
“You were at the game centers in Newtown yesterday after class, I believe. Visiting entertainment establishments like game centers on your way home from school is banned by the student council.”
Endou paled.
“A violation of student council regulation article 12, paragraph 5 is an addition of five points. I believe you get your second yellow card with three more points.”
“Um...but...I...”
“As punishment, your activities will be stopped starting from tomorrow, so you won’t be able to attend your arts class on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. I believe you just make the required attendance for Art. If you miss those days, you won’t receive credit for the class.” Ozaki’s lips lifted in a sneer. “Which means you can’t advance next term.”
Endou’s pale face was completely frozen. Then he elbowed Takaya out of the way, thrust forward as if propelled, and knelt in front of Ozaki.
“Endou...!”
“P-please! Please let me off this time! I can’t repeat a year! I can’t!”
“Well...” Ozaki said 1, glancing at Takaya. “A violation is a violation, alas.”
“Please, please, I’m begging you! I can’t get suspended! Please just let it go...!”
“...”
Everyone in the classroom watched, holding their breaths. Takaya stared wide-eyed at Endou kneeling there at his feet with his back to Takaya. Then Takaya turned his gaze to Ozaki.
Ozaki smiled triumphantly. “If it’s that important to you... Well, I can think it over.”
“Re...really?!”
“Ougi Takaya-kun.”
Everyone’s gaze turned to Takaya. Ozaki was still smiling.
“If you come to the executive office to pledge your allegiance to student president Mikuriya—”
A murmur rippled through the classroom. Takaya’s eyes opened wide. This had been Ozaki’s intention from the start. Had someone seen them at the game center yesterday and made an anonymous report? They were now using that material to extort Endou and make Takaya fall in line.
“O-Ougi...!” Endou threw himself at Takaya’s feet. “Please go! Just go! For my sake!”
“Endou...”
“Please, Ougi!”
“You don’t need to go for the likes of him, Ougi.”
A voice from the front of the room interrupted Endou’s supplication. Everyone turned in surprise. A group of male students entered. Spotting the young man standing at their head, their classmates stirred in what sounded like relief. Though he was of average height, he was sharp of eye and had an out-sized presence.
(Nezu Kouichi...!)
Takaya was surprised. These were the ‘recalcitrant elements’ who had risen up against Mikuriya’s student leadership.
Nezu’s vibrant voice resounded within the classroom.
“If Endou has to repeat a year, that’s his own problem; he knows he’s squeaking by, and yet he chooses to cut class.”
“What did you say, Ne...Nezu!”
“Stop hanging out with him, Ougi. Be yourself, and stop worrying about whether it’s an imposition on others,” Nezu told him boldly as he approached. It didn’t slip Takaya’s notice that the formerly calm and collected Ozaki instinctively shrank from Nezu. “You take as much satisfaction in your underhanded methods as ever, Student Leadership. Now you’re bullying the new student?”
“You again...Nezu Kouichi.”
“Shaking people down for information about breaches of the constitution—what are you, yakuza police? You can’t make a new student obey you without resorting to these methods?”
A thin layer of sweat appeared on Ozaki’s forehead—evidence of his overwhelming strain.
“Your desperation just makes you look more pathetic. Is the executive office so afraid one new student will damage its prestige?”
“Mind your tongue, Nezu Kouichi. You lot didn’t come to the assembly this morning. Do you want to be called out again? One more time and you’ll be stripped of your membership rights.”
“Called out? Am I supposed to care about that?” Nezu laughed, feigning ignorance. “Even if I’m not a member, I’m still a student of Old Castle High School. If you drive me out of the student council, I‘ll still graduate—just as a ’student unaffiliated with the student council’.”
“What a ridiculous...!” Ozaki audibly ground his teeth. “Those expelled from the student council must immediately be expelled from the school. You will not be able to remain.”
“I won’t allow you to do that.”
“What...?!”
“Tell this to Mikuriya: you lot seem to have compelled the school administration and staff to obey by brute force, but don’t assume your reign will continue indefinitely. Our power is greater than yours,” Nezu stated unflinchingly. “We have not the least inclination to obey a constitution voted in using underhanded means. You should take Ougi’s refusal to appear as a rejection of the constitution. We will not obey Mikuriya’s student leadership.”
“...Guh...!”
The executive office members had no possible retort to Nezu’s vibrant determination. Ozaki glared painfully at ‘the leader of the recalcitrant element’.
“...You lot won’t be allowed to interfere.”
“...”
“Endou, Ougi, keep in mind what I just said. If you don’t come to the executive office room today, Endou will be suspended. You got that?”
“There’s no reason for you to go, Ougi.”
“You must come if you don’t want Endou to repeat a year. Understand? Let’s go.” Ozaki was about to leave the room accompanied by the rest of the executive office members when—
“Wait!” A female student yelled, hot on their heels.
“Emi-chan...!”
“Please return the ticket I had this morning! It’s very important! I have to have it back!” Emi clung desperately to Ozaki, entreating him tearfully. “Please return that ticket! Please, please! I’ll never do it again!”
“E-Emi-chan! You don’t need to...”
“Please, please give it back!”
Ozaki looked at her coldly and shook her off with irritation.
“Ah...!”
Mikuriya’s servants surrounded Emi as she fell to the floor and forcefully held her down to prevent her from chasing after Ozaki.
“Please, please...!”
“Issue 2-C’s Satou Emi a ticket for obstruction of professional duties. That will be an addition of three points.”
“Understood.”
“Vice president Ozaki!” Emi sobbed while an inspection committee member mechanically issued her a ticket. The students gulped as they stood by and watched this series of disquieting events. The atmosphere within the classroom was uncomfortable. Takaya felt irritation rising again as anger and frustration, along with resignation that drowned them both out, filled the room.
(What the hell is with this school...?!)
“Ougi, please go. I’m begging you.”
Something inside Takaya snapped at Endou’s supplication. The child-like wheedling was intolerable; Takaya glared at Endou.
“Eek...”
A frightened Endou hurried off; Takaya looked after his retreating back, then turned around to look at Nezu.
(There it is again...)
Nezu’s gaze was full of animosity—a complete turnaround from when he’d been telling Ozaki off.
(Does he intend to make an ally of me...or...)
Finally the executive office and inspection committee members all left. Akemi rushed over to the sobbing Emi. Nezu and his gang silently left the room.
“...”
Takaya stood stock still within the maelstrom, his expression harsh.
After school that day.
Takaya headed in the direction of the executive office room.
To dangle Endou’s grade promotion as an incentive was absolutely reprehensible, but he could not simply ignore it.
And anyway, it was necessary that he at least meet this student called Mikuriya Juri.
When the bell rang for the end of Sixth Period, Takaya headed for the executive office rooms located on the first floor of the north building.
The student council president’s room was the furthest back on the right-hand side.
“Ougi Takaya of junior year class B is here,” announced a member of the executive office, and Takaya opened the door.
The room was carpeted. At its center was a splendid desk and leather-covered chair. The opulence of the furnishings probably exceeded that of the principle’s office.
A young female student in a sailor uniform was seated on the chair. Vice president Ozaki stood beside her.
“Welcome. I’ve been waiting for you, transfer student of junior year class B.”
“...”
Takaya simply stood there for a second in surprise.
He’d wondered if the figure sitting there were actually a doll.
Her skin was so white as to appear sickly, and her black hair fell evenly to her shoulders. Her petite eyes and nose were set in a lovely refined face. She looked much younger than a junior, and her tiny build made it seem as if she were being engulfed by her magnificent chair. The imbalance was so great as to seem bizarre.
(This is Mikuriya Juri?)
She was so far from what he’d imagined that Takaya was slightly confounded. He’d thought she would look tougher, sturdier.
But his sense of discomfort quickly changed into something else.
(She’s also...)
“Please come in,” she prompted, and Takaya stepped inside. The feeling of sinking into the carpet disgusted him.
“I’m glad you’re stepping into line, Ougi-kun. If you had done so from the beginning, there wouldn’t have been any problems.”
Ozaki’s triumphant smile irked him; to push down the feeling, Takaya looked straight at Mikuriya Juri.
“...I’m here like you asked. So what are you gonna do to me now?”
Mikuriya Juri observed Takaya quietly. Ozaki interjected, “Watch your language. Take you hands out of your pockets—you’re standing before the president.”
Takaya ignored him. “You’re the one who called me here, student council president Mikuriya.”
“...That is correct, Ougi Takaya,” Mikuriya replied in a high resonant voice. “You seem to have immediately invited the student council’s censure with your speech and conduct upon your arrival here. It was reported to me by Ozaki.”
“That’s a ticket, then?”
“No. You have not yet been instructed in the constitution. You’re still the equivalent of an outsider, and so cannot violate it. I will now explain to you the righteousness of our school’s constitution, after which you will pledge your absolute adherence to it. However...”
“...”
“The instant you came here, you accepted the constitution.”
“Even if I tell you I can’t understand your constitution?”
Mikuriya’s eyes narrowed, and the petite curve of her thin lips lifted into a faint smile. “...You are not allowed to say that.”
“...”
“In this school the constitution is absolute. Old Castle High School students are required to follow it absolutely. Do you understand, Ougi Takaya?”
(I see...)
Takaya was finally satisfied that Mikuriya Juri...was as the rumors had painted her. Her Hakata doll-like appearance was deceptive. She was composed, dignified. The smile on that childish white face held a peculiar air of menace. Everyone feared it. The incongruous feeling of a mature woman living inside that child’s body made a bizarre impression on everyone who saw her.
(Feeling...?) Takaya’s gaze sharpened. (...No.)
“First, I will interview you to understand what kind of person you are. I am going to ask you to answer a few questions for me.”
“Interview...?”
“Please take a seat.” A folding chair had been placed for him in front of the desk. “I have a rough outline from your official documents and would like to ask a few corroborating questions. If anything needs to be corrected, do let me know.”
The endlessly meandering ‘interview’ followed. His name, date of birth, previous address, record, family composition... The questions started simple and grew quickly personal.
Chiaki had done pretty much all of the work for their infiltration into the school. Given that hypnotic suggestion was Chiaki’s forte, he hadn’t simply transferred Takaya’s records from Jouhoku High. The questions were delving so deeply that it would be impossible to keep up the song and dance. Takaya was getting annoyed—had Mikuriya noticed? Or was that her goal?
He was growing tired from the many questions.
“You were a junior at Jouhoku High School for two years, meaning you were kept back a year. What was the reason?”
“...”
“Please answer. Why was your attendance unsatisfactory?”
“Are you guys investigators?” Takaya finally snapped, reaching the end of his patience. “I‘ve had enough of this. Is it the executive office’s duty to thoroughly violate the students’ privacy? If so, you’re no better than tabloid reporters.”
“This is our mandate, as determined by the constitution.”
“No comment,” Takaya answered firmly. “This is an interrogation. If that’s your intent, then I have the right to remain silent, in accordance with Japanese law.”
“There is no right to silence in our constitution.”
“...!”
“If you do not answer our questions, then you cannot be admitted as a student council member. You cannot become a Old Castle High School student.”
“Is that a threat?”
Both Ozaki and Mikuriya fell silent. Ozaki was smiling that proud, vulgar smile of ‘triumph’ again, but Mikuriya’s expressionlessness was eerier.
Takaya gazed at Mikuriya.
“How very dictator-like of you,” he said, relaxing back into his chair. If a protracted battle was what they wanted, then he would steel himself for it.
Ozaki protested, “Ougi, your attitude is deplorable...!”
“You told me to come here. You’re interested in me, aren’t you? Then go ahead, let’s do this.”
“...!”
“Well? Come on, Special Higher Police.”
The eyes of the two inquisitors widened. Even Mikuriya looked surprised at Takaya’s confoundedly high self-confidence.
Takaya stared straight at her.
Mikuriya’s expression turned quite serious.
“Then answer me this.”
“...”
“Why did you come to this school?”
Takaya frowned.
Mikuriya stared straight back at him. The force of their eyes clashed in mid-air.
A strained atmosphere filled the room.
“As for that...” Takaya said, “Why don’t you ask yourselves the same question, kanshousha?”
“...!” Ozaki and Mikuriya were obviously stunned. Takaya immediately stood.
“Junior class B Ougi Takaya pledges to comply with the Old Castle High School student constitution. There, satisfied? I trust that concludes our business.”
“Ougi, who the hell?!”
“I’m done. This room gives me the creeps.” Takaya walked to the door before turning back to Mikuriya. “I don’t know what you’re scheming, but you’ll never get what you’re looking for. You might as well give it up.”
“...!”
“The next time you summon me, you should at least have some tea made, Your Majesty.”
Takaya vanished through the door. Still seated in her leather-bound chair, Mikuriya’s face was stiff. Ozaki said agitatedly, “So he really is...”
“...” Mikuriya ordered, her voice hard, “Dispatch your subordinates, Gorou. Find out where he’s from.”
“He’s like us...!”
“I know not his intentions, but he must not be allowed to interfere with our plans. In all likelihood he is one of their allies. Look into his background.”
“If he is their ally...”
“Then he must be dealt with as soon as possible,” Mikuriya Juri said coldly, and glared sharply at the doorway through which Takaya had left.
“Ougi Takaya...” She bit off the name and took a silver chain out of her pocket. On it hung a cross. It was a rosary. “How much does he know about us?”
“Student council president.”
“No matter who he is, he cannot be allowed to interfere. No one will get in the way of the establishment of our kingdom. Do not take your eyes off him. Observe his every move. Do you understand, Gorou? Stay vigilant.”
Executive office members’ stares pierced Takaya as he left the student council president’s room. They saw him more as a heretic than an outsider. They were extremely wary of him, as if they had read the atmosphere within the room he had just left. It was no mystery to Takaya.
Brainwashing of new recruits...?
They were not possessed.
As he was about to leave, Takaya’s gaze suddenly snagged on scraps of paper in the trash can. They looked like a blue concert ticket that had been ripped up and tossed away. They bore the five letters ‘SEEVA’.
(This is...)
It must be Emi’s ticket.
Recalled the victim in tears, Takaya silently left the room.
It had grown dark and overcast outside. The sky looked ominous. He had the feeling it was about to rain. As he changed his shoes at the entrance, someone called out to him.
“Looks like you bowed to Mikuriya Juri after all, transfer student.”
He lifted his head to find Miike Tetsuya from his class leaning against the glass door. Takaya returned his dirty look.
He appeared to be waiting for someone.
“What do you want?”
“Here I was thinking you had a little spine...humph. Guess I overestimated you. If you’re kowtowing to that girl... You’re not all that after all—just another coward.”
“A kid like you wouldn’t understand,” Takaya said, slipping on his shoes. “You’ve toed the line quite well to not get expelled. Contrary to appearances, you’re actually pretty good at swimming with the tide, aren’t you?”
“What?!”
“I don’t know what went wrong for you, but cut out this stupid act. You want attention, don’t you?—that’s why you’re acting out like a spoiled kid.”
“What did you say?!” Tetsuya yelled, and grabbed Takaya’s collar. Takaya gazed at the round burn scars on the backs of his hands. Takaya gave Tetsuya a small smile as if he were remembering fond memories.
“Cigarette burns? Nobody does that anymore.”
“Fuck you!”
“Te-chan...!” Tetsuya turned in surprise to the shrill voice from behind him. Inaba Akemi had come charging up to them, her face white with anger. “What are you doing to Ougi-kun! Stop this violence!” She tore Tetsuya off of Takaya, yelling, “I’m so sorry, Ougi-kun! Te-chan, stop it! You’re the worst!”
“Shut up! This has nothing to do with you!”
“Of course it does, you’re my classmates! You’re a total thug! You haven’t changed at all from when you were in elementary school!”
“Shut up!” He thrust Akemi away and turned his back with his bag in his arms. “Don’t get too full of yourself, Ougi. I’m not letting you strut around with that oversized mug of yours—remember that!”
With that parting shot Tetsuya went out of the gates.
He’d apparently been waiting for Takaya to tell him that.
“Ow!” Akemi said as she stood up. “I’m sorry. Ougi-kun. You’re probably shocked. He’s just horrible. He’s been a hooligan since we were kids.”
“Since you were kids? So you’ve known him for a while?”
“Yeah. We went to the same elementary school. Since moving to the city we no longer live near each other, but now we’re going to the same school again. But I don’t know why he blew up at you like that, Ougi-kun.”
“...Yeah.” Takaya’s expression abruptly relaxed. “Maybe he recognized the scent.”
(Woah...he smiled.) Akemi gazed at Takaya’s profile in surprise. This was the first time she’d seen him smile. His face had always been so forbidding that she hadn’t even imagined such an expression on his it. It was so surprisingly gentle that she involuntarily stared.
“Looks like rain. We’d better leave or we’ll get soaked.”
“O-Ougi-kun!” Akemi said loudly, coming to her senses. “I brought an umbrella. Do you want to walk together for a while?”
“I’m close, so it’s fine,” Takaya had declined, but he was outmatched by Akemi’s kindness. When she learned that Takaya was staying in a hotel and he told her its name, she squealed, “Whaaat, Ougi-kun, you’re living in a hotel? That’s so cool!—Except it’s kinda far.”
The rain came down much harder, and in the end she walked with him to the hotel. He’d wanted to ask about the school, so it provided a good opportunity.
Near the school was the tax office, and trees had been planted along the Tsuboi River near there between the Sakura and Miyuki bridges. Takaya and Akemi walked along it in the rain.
“Oh no, they threw the ticket away?” Akemi’s shoulders drooped dejectedly when Takaya told her about the student leadership offices. “So it’s no use, then. Everyone was saying we should go to the executive office and ask for the ticket back, but nobody wanted to go because we were so scared.”
“How is your friend Emi?”
“Well, they gave her a ticket, right? She was suspended. Her grandpa suddenly fell sick before this, so she had to cut school. She told them her reason, but they wouldn’t accept it. Now with this inspection she has ten violation points altogether, so.”
“... That’s horrible.”
Emi had left early from the shock. Akemi’s shoulders drooped despondently. “Suspension reflects on her grades, too. But half of the responsibility is mine, so...I need to find some way to apologize to her.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Takaya stared fixedly into mid-air. “It’s the school that’s weird.”
“Is it really that weird? Do you find it very strange?”
“You don’t think it is?”
“Well... Te-chan and Nezu-kun say a lot of stuff, but I’m not that... It’s really strict, but it’s so our school does well, and I think it’s good the students can independently manage ourselves.”
(Is this also a result of brain-washing? ...Mikuriya Juri.)
Takaya’s expression turned severe. Even after an experience like that Akemi’s acceptance of the constitution had not changed. She was not conscious of the abnormality. Even if she was, she would not embrace open rebellion. ...She and Endou were the same.
And they were similar in other respects. Like Endou and the other students, Akemi was haunted by miscellaneous spirits. For some reason, each of the students was a attractor of weak spirits—as if they were magnets. Their attraction to these spirits appeared to have something to do with whether or not they opposed Mikuriya’s executive office.
In fact, several people in Takaya’s class seemed to repel these Various wraiths.
One of them was—...
“You said Miike Tetsuya is your childhood friend, right?”
Takaya’s sudden change of topic surprised Akemi.
“Ye-yeah, Why do you ask...?”
“He doesn’t seem to be a part of Nezu’s group—do you know why? Has he always rebelled against the executive office? Has he said anything to you? His younger sister is missing, right?”
“You know about Hokage-chan?!” Akemi went pale in her surprise. “Where did you hear it from? Who told you about that? Why are you...!”
“!”
Takaya suddenly turned his gaze forward in surprise. There in the tree-lined street along the Tsuboi riverside, a male student leaned against a tree trunk.
“Ah...!” Akemi covered her mouth, taken aback. Takaya fixed a sharp look on the other’s face, his expression quite serious. The ‘energy’ coiling around him marked him as no ordinary person. Here was other student in their class whom, like Miike Tetsuya, the ghosts would not touch...
“I want to speak with you, Ougi Takaya.”
“...This school is exceptionally fond of hazing its new students, huh?”
There in the rain Takaya quietly returned Nezu Kouichi’s gaze.