Yamikuro and Kaminari lay under the sun on top of the school roof. It was all surrounded by gates, but had a few small trees growing on the grass planted here, along with benches to sit on.
They had never done this before, but Kaminari invited Yamikuro to spend the afternoon here.
"The sky sure is beautiful, isn't it?" Kaminari noted, looking at the huge white clouds with a light blue sky behind them.
"I've never paid attention to it, but it looks different from down there. I could almost reach for the clouds."
Yamikuro nodded with a smile.
"I could almost fantasize about anything looking at the sky."
"Do you think there's life beyond the sky we see?" Kaminari turned his head to Yamikuro, who was on his right. His blond hair glided on the hot rooftop.
Yamikuro did the same, raising an eyebrow at Kaminari's question.
Kaminari elaborated, without Yamikuro having to say anything.
"I mean, there's gotta be something up there... Oh, like the gods you've mentioned."
Yamikuro shrugged, turning his head back towards the sky.
"It would make sense. They have to be living somewhere away from us, right?"
"Exactly!"
As they were discussing the topic of gods, the door to the rooftop creaked open.
It was Isabella.
She looked at the two of them while raising an eyebrow.
"What are you two doing here...? Especially you, Kaminari, with your shirt off."
The two of them pushed themselves up from the ground. Neither of them expected anyone to still be in school at this time.
"What're you doing here, Isabella? Thought you'd be with the other girls?" Kaminari asked.
Isabella sighed, sitting down at a bench near them.
"Elara and Deia are currently cooking together. And since they told me they wanted to surprise me, I had nothing to do... Until I heard your voice, while I passed by the school."
"Those two have gotten pretty close, haven't they?" Yamikuro noted.
Kaminari smirked.
"So you got kicked out of the friend group or what?"
Isabella didn't feel like doing anything other than sighing at Kaminari's response.
"Kidding kidding, you're free to hang out with us, the two coolest people in The Hideout." Kaminari fell to his back, giggling.
"...So what do you two have planned?" Her interest slightly arose, thinking about the fact that she had nothing to do right now.
Kaminari's giggle turned into a wide smirk.
"We'll be looking into a mysterious guy that just recently made an appearance here."
Yamikuro's eyes widened.
"We will?"
"Yeah, we will. There are rumors about a man dressed in all black who is a wanted criminal, and just recently, he has been spotted somewhere in here. Think about it! If we, the three of us together, find him and perhaps even report him... We could get a reward."
"This could maybe even help us clear our names," Yamikuro added.
Isabella let out another sigh. She was stuck with two guys, who now wanted to investigate a possibly dangerous criminal.
"I guess I don't have anything better to do anyway..."
'What am I getting myself into?' She didn't say out loud, but she was scared for her safety.
Kaminari grinned at the fact that two of his friends were in on the plan.
"That is what I'm talking about! So, all I know is his name and appearance, apparently they call him Urashin."
Without them knowing, someone listened in on them, standing on the rooftop enclosure.
"...Urashin Kari," Rye said to himself, hiding the presence of his power. His red hair was slightly blown around by the wind.
Kaminari threw on his shirt, and the three of them took off to search for this mysterious man, Urashin.
It had been about an hour of walking around, eyeing each person, even asking a couple of questions.
Kaminari was too pushy; he scared a few people, and others walked off without a word.
Yamikuro only looked at people, trying to match the descriptions, but not one person was dressed in all black.
Isabella was with Kaminari most of the time to keep an eye on him.
Eventually, though, Yamikuro stopped at a familiar place.
Dine Diner.
That was the first place Kazuhiko took him to. It caused Yamikuro to think back to that day.
Then Kazuhiko leaned forward yet again.
"You don't have to carry all of this by yourself, you know."
Yamikuro stopped mid-bite.
Kazuhiko smiled, but his message remained the same.
"When you find some close people, don't be afraid to rely on them. Trust me, you'll suffer a lot more if you try to do all of it alone."
Yamikuro held onto his chest, slightly smiling.
"I've made friends... Especially ones I can rely on."
Kazuhiko had to have noticed Yamikuro's shift as a person, having a lively friend group that he could rely on.
"What's the matter?" Kaminari suddenly appeared next to Yamikuro, who inspected his quiet smile.
Kaminari turned to the diner, thinking it had something to do with Urashin.
All of a sudden, Kaminari grabbed Yamikuro in almost a hugging way.
"You son of a gun! You found him!"
Yamikuro snapped out of his reminiscing and looked at the window with a shocked expression.
A man dressed in all black, wearing a bandana, sat down and sipped on coffee.
Isabella also caught up to the two of them and noticed the man.
"Is that really him...?" She asked with slight hesitation.
As the three of them stared into the window with widened eyes, Urashin couldn't help but look back at them.
He had no idea what was going on.
"He spotted us!" Kaminari yelled, grabbing the two of them and taking off running.
They hid in an alleyway, hoping that the people passing by weren't also trying to find him.
"What do we do now?" Yamikuro asked, slightly disappointed.
Isabella tried fixing her hair.
"Next time, don't just take off running like this, especially when dragging us with you!"
Kaminari didn't hear either of them; his mind wandered on a completely different topic.
"I think I know how we can safely investigate him." He suddenly said with a hopeful expression.
"How?" Yamikuro was immediately curious.
"...By wearing these!" He shouted proudly, as if he had found the perfect solution.
In his hand, he held three pairs of disguise glasses with huge noses.
"Eh? What do you think?" Kaminari asked.
Isabella and Yamikuro stared at Kaminari with half-lidded eyes, their mouths completely flat. A dark shadow comically fell over their faces as if all hope had momentarily left their bodies.
"C-come on guys... It's not that bad. I've seen this work in movies countless times!" Kaminari tried to justify his perfect idea of a disguise.
This time, Isabella and Yamikuro dropped to their knees, sobbing loud enough to echo through the entire alleyway. Tears sprayed from their eyes like waterfalls, fists clenched as they dramatically mourned.
"It's so over...!" They cried.
Kaminari looked at both of them, confused, almost like a visible question mark could pop out of his head.
He couldn't let them flood the streets with just their tears, so he tried to convince them.
"We either do this, or he gets away. C'mon, guys."
Yamikuro and Isabella looked at each other, and with a sigh, they took the glasses.
It wasn't like they had any other choice, unless they wanted to confront him straight up.
"Huh, that was easy..." Kaminari said aloud, not expecting them to fall for it that quickly.
They then walked back to the diner, wearing disguise glasses with huge noses.
"Alright, here we go..." Kaminari said to himself before opening the door.
When they walked in, Mai, Kazuhiko's fiancée, immediately greeted them.
But she tilted her head after noticing the glasses they wore. She could immediately tell who they were, but decided to play along.
"Welcome, strangers I've never seen before, have a seat, I'll be right over."
Isabella couldn't hold eye contact; her eyes were glued to the ground.
'This is so dumb...'
They sat near the front of the diner, with Yamikuro facing Urashin, who was three tables away from them, at the back of the diner. Isabella and Kaminari sat with their backs against him.
"So? What's he doing?" Kaminari asked.
"...Just drinking his coffee," Yamikuro responded, pretending to look at the menu, while occasionally glancing at Urashin.
CLANG.
The three of them jumped in fear when they heard the fork drop on the ground.
All of a sudden, a throat-crushing presence appeared next to them.
"So this is what you look like, Darkness wielder. To think that you're..."
Yamikuro's eyes were wider than they'd ever been before, his heart beating out of his chest as he saw Urashin stand before him.
"Yamikuro... Asaki. To think that fate would try and punish me like this."
Isabella and Kaminari slightly looked to their right, trying not to catch the attention of Urashin.
'How did he get here this fast?' Both of them wondered, slightly shaken by him.
Urashin seemed to have ignored their presence.
"In any case... You aren't ready yet. Once the time is right, I'm sure our paths will cross once again."
Yamikuro couldn't get a word out; his entire body was trembling. He wasn't sure why.
"The coffee was delicious, thank you, Mai," Urashin said softly.
Before he left, he took another glance at Yamikuro and his friends.
"I'm sorry." He whispered to himself and opened the door.
Kaminari was also shaken by what had happened and took off his glasses.
"What was that just now?"
'Also, the disguise didn't work... I guess Yamikuro and Isabella were right after all.' He thought to himself, but didn't want to say out loud.
Isabella also took off the glasses, looking worried.
"Yamikuro... Are you okay?"
Yamikuro didn't respond; it felt like he had felt that same presence of Urashin before, but he couldn't remember when.
Whoever Urashin was, Yamikuro had to watch out for him.