Finals are close as the end of the school year was near. You slowly make your way down the hall towards a door near the bathroom. You lean against the wall, closing your eyes and listening as all the students begin to leave the building or gather in their club rooms. You take slow and small deep breaths as you wait for the knock. The halls begin to get quiet, and you start to wonder how long it's going to take before you hear the knock.
"Hey- Yuki..." Your eyes open and quickly look in the direction of the voice.
"... Jun'ya?" You look at him surprised.
Wait... when was the last time you saw him? He's gotten taller. You tilt your head to the side a bit, looking him up and down.
"Jun'ya... is that you?" You ask. He smiles and nods.
"I had a growth spurt..." He chuckles.
"I see..."
"I haven't seen you for a while now- How have you been?"
"I've been ok-" You reply, softly.
"That's good. I've been looking for you for a bit now, I'm glad I was able to finally find you." He sooths. His eyes smiling along with his smile.
"You've been looking for me?" You say in a confused tone.
knock knock
The two small knocks. You turn and open the door to see Chifuyu panting a bit and wiping his forehead.
"You okay?" You calmly ask. He nods and sighs.
"I was originally on my way here, but Baji had called me..."
"Oh- what about?"
"Uh... something he was suspicious about- we can talk about it later though" He steps inside and looks at Jun'ya. "Who is this?"
"Jun'ya."
"HUH?" He looks at you shocked and leans in towards you. "He's gotten kinda tall... don't you think?" He whispers.
"Hey." Jun'ya laughs.
"How old are you?" Chifuyu questions, squinting his eyes a bit.
"I just turned sixteen not too long ago."
"Mmm."
"If you don't mind me asking, why is he here? Doesn't he go to another school?" Jun'ya asks you.
"Yeah, but he's here to help me with something."
"Did the student council say it was okay?" Jun'ya questions. You raise an eyebrow and tilt your head.
"Well- I didn't think I had to ask the student council." You sigh. Jun'ya pulls out his phone and sighs looking back at you.
"Welp, Sakura is in the student council office, I can escort you both there."
"Huh?" Chifuyu hums in confusion.
"Why would you escort us there?"
"Because it's my job to do so, besides Sakura wanted to talk to you, that's why I have been looking for you."
"Sakura? Why would Sakura want to speak to me?"
Jun'ya stares at you for a bit and then motions you to follow him.
"It's urgent." He answers. You furrow your eyebrows and slowly look at Chifuyu who's looking confused as you. You sigh a bit and follow behind Jun'ya.
Not even a few days after you and Chifuyu made the plan to figure out this Kasumi and Ayame business and you've already seemed to have been caught. What's worse is you haven't even done anything yet.
Jun'ya stops at the student council office and looks at both you and Chifuyu before opening the door. The two of you walk in to see Mitsuya, Peh-yan, and Sakura in the room. Mitsuya slowly looks in your direction and then at Chifuyu. His face turns and he glares at Chifuyu in confusion.
"Yuki- you're here. Thank you, Vice President." Sakura says.
"You're welcome President." Jun'ya nods.
Vice President?
Jun'ya closes the door behind you and Chifuyu, walking away from the room. You look at everyone feeling confused.
"Chifuyu? What are you doing here?" Peh-yan asks.
"..." Chifuyu furrows his eyebrows and looks off into the distance, staring towards the ground.
"Yeah... what are you doing here?" Mitsuya repeats looking towards Chifuyu confused.
"Who are you?" Sakura speaks. Chifuyu looks up and relaxes his eyes.
"Chifuyu Matsuno."
"Mmm... you aren't a student here... are you?" She asks. Chifuyu slowly shakes his head. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?"
"I came here to help Yuki with a project." Chifuyu calmly replies.
"Is that so-"
"Mhm"
"Yuki..." She looks at you. You feel her staring at you, waiting for you to respond. You look at Sakura. "I want to know what happened... between you and Ayame."
"Huh?"
"Ayame hasn't showed herself in school for a while."
"..."
"Hana Kaneko... hasn't been in class for a while either- that's what you said, Mitsuya?"
"Mhm." Mitsuya hums.
"Why are you telling me this?" You question.
"I was wondering if you had any association with them... they haven't been showing up to school and their guardians have been hard to read... to even add- Hana's sister doesn't even know where she is."
"Really?" You look at her feeling a mixture of confusion and shock.
"So- I was wondering... do you know where they are or what's going on?" She asks. You stare at her bit before clenching onto your sweater pocket.
"How would I know? I have nothing to do with them..."
"..." Sakura stares at you a bit before sighing and nodding. "Also- can I ask you something?" She asks pulling out a big old book. It's the log... with information on everyone in the school.
"Yeah... what about it." You ask, slowly approaching the desk where she placed the log.
"Interesting enough... there's two pages missing from the log..."
"Okay?" You look up from the log and at her. "I remember... We spoke about this." You say. She nods.
"Two pages... the page consisting information on you... and another page..." She flips through the book showing the ripped part where the pages were ripped. Then she stops on another rip and points at it. "This page... the page where Ayame Yoshizaki is supposed to be." She stops.
"..." You furrow your eyebrows a bit.
"Coincidental?" She asks leaning forward a bit. You shake your head slowly. "Do you happen to know where these pages are? I never got to ask you last time..." You shake your head.
"Last time I saw this log... everything- well I thought everything was in it."
"How were you even able to get the log? You don't even have access to the office- are you telling me you broke in?" Sakura questions.
"I-... yeah." You sigh looking down. "I'm sorry- I just... was curious I guess..."
"About what?" She asks.
"About-" You pause and stare at her a bit. You mind is blank. "A-bout..." Your eyes widen when you realize you can't remember... now thinking about it- you can't remember anything. What were you doing originally? Why did you steal the log a long time ago. Sakura sighs and closes the log.
"All I know is Kasumi told me about it." You say. Sakura stops and turns towards you.
"Kasumi... so she actually came in here?"
"Huh?"
"And I could never catch her..." She sighs looking away. She turns and grabs another book from off a shelf.
"What do you mean?" You ask feeling confused. She looks at you for a bit before pushing the book towards you.
"I want you to find Kasumi in there for me. The book should be in order by given name." She calmly says. You slowly nod and flip through the log until you stop at one name. Kasumi...
"Kasumi Yoshizawa..." You slowly say. "What am I supposed to see? I don't get it." Chifuyu leans in looking at the log. His eyes widen and his finger points at a part in the page.
"She passed away... last year- in the fall." Chifuyu slowly says.
"Huh" You look at where Chifuyu points at.
Kasumi Yoshizawa, deceased at sixteen. Passed away in sleep due to epilepsy at home. Input October 15 2004. You stand stiff as you read that.
"Kasumi was in my class. We were actually friends... so the fact someone is pretending to be her is disrespectful." Sakura says in a stern tone.
"Why the hell would someone do that?" Chifuyu huffs.
"I had thought you were pulling that shitty prank with the girl pretending to be Kasumi... I had said something to staff but who ever she is- she hides her traces very well."
"..." You stare off into the distance after hearing all of that. Kasumi- is really a fake... but if she's not real- then...
"Is Ayame... really a foster kid?" You ask, slowly looking up at Sakura. Sakura looks at you for a bit before nodding.
"From what I recall her family was in a horrible accident... but I don't know much else since I no longer have her page in the current log. Not even in this book here." She says pointing to the book in front of you.
You clench your sweater more and quickly turn out the room, and quickly out the doors.
"YUKI?!" Sakura shouts out. Chifuyu, Mitsuya and Peh-yan follow behind. You run down the stairs and into the art room where you see Ren. He has headphones on and painting something. You grab a cup of dirty water from a girl who was dipping her paint brush in and splashed his painting with it. He jerks and quickly takes off his headphones. He looks at you with shock and anger in his face.
"The hell..."
"Yuki!" Chifuyu says as he walks into the room. "Why did you run off like that?" He asks as he tries to take your hand. You quickly pull your hand away and yank the headphones away from Ren.
"So you knew she was fucking lying to me and pretending to be my friend this whole time!" You shout.
"What are you talking about?"
"Ayame! YOU KNEW WHAT SHE WAS DOING!" You fume.
"What do you mean?"
"The whole Kasumi thing!"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
You clench your fists preparing to punch him but Mitsuya grabs your arm and pulls you away.
"Maybe he actually doesn't know." Mitsuya says trying to calm you down.
"I don't believe him... all he has done was LIE to me!" You say trying to pull away from Mitsuya.
"..." Ren goes and picks up his headphones that was thrown down.
"Why? I don't get it- why the hell do you so badly want to tear me down? What did I ever do to you guys? Why do you guys want to make me so fucking miserable?" You start to choke on your words as you feel tears forming in your eyes. "The fact she pretended to be someone else... to be my friend after everything- and what else. WHAT ELSE WAS SHE DOING! WAS AYAME REALLY INVOLVED WITH KISAKI!" You shout. Ren's eyes widen a bit then narrow. He looks around at all his club members in the room and then back at you.
"You should leave." He calmly replies.
"Huh?" You sniffle.
"You were banned from coming in here... so please leave."
"Banned...? Ayame isn't even here!"
"She's not the club president- I am..." Ren says looking towards you. "Ayame doesn't go here anymore."
"Huh..."
"I was going to be nice and unban you but after all this time... the first thing you do is come and make a fool out of me again."
"Again?" You slowly say. "I'm not making you out to be a fool... you are a fucking fool."
"...No- the only fool in here is you... slutting yourself out with a bunch of boys... a whore in love is nothing but a filthy fool."
Your eyes widen and your eye twitches. You grab a metal tray beside you that has paint all on it and hit his head with it. The paint on it explodes everywhere as you do. You repeatably hit him over and over again with the tray. Mitsuya tries to stop you but you hit him hard with the tray. All your feelings burst out. Tears and snot start to pour out your face. The anger bubbling up and then you realize you are sitting in the teachers lounge waiting for your grandma to pick you up.
You sit still, leaning against the wall and staring down towards the ground as you wait for your grandmother to come get you. You have been expelled for injuring a student to the point of needing an ambulance. The school ruled you out to be a danger to the school and it's students. Luckily- Ren's mother didn't press charges as she believes that his lack of responsibility and earnest was his fault into why he got his face beaten in. She then mentions that she warned him about Ayame but he didn't listen.
All that though whistled through your head as you sit lifelessly on the chair. A small knock at the door and the smell of fresh baked bread fills the air. Your grandmother walks in with a soft look on her face. You both walk down the hall as you exit the school. Students who were still there as they were leaving the building stare at the two of you as you exit the school. You sit quietly in the car and sink down in the seat. Your grandma pulls off not saying a single word.
Five minutes into the ride she takes a deep breath and then sighs.
"I'm sorry..." She slowly says. You slowly lift your head up and look in her direction. She has a tear falling down her cheek. "I was so in my feelings that I completely forgot about you... I did that when your mother passed away and yet I almost lost you too. Here I am... doing the same thing again..."
"..." You stare at her unable to respond.
"I know you are hurting... and I should have been there for you." She slowly says. "I'm sorry for leaving you alone... for so long." She sniffles. Your eyes begin to water, and your bottom lip starts to quiver.
"I wish... we stayed in the mountains... maybe your mother would still be alive... and you would still have your father." She sniffles.
You stare at her with a tired look in your face. She stops the car in front of the hospital, and she leans forward resting her face on the wheel. She begins to sob. You sit stiffly beside her as you watch her breakdown in front of you.