"Hey, hey! What are you going to do next? Beat him up? Torture him? Throw him in the ocean? Can I come??"
".....Fuck no."
Reiji rolled his eyes and ignored Arata, who was still vibrating in his massage chair with a smile that was a little too eager.
"Oh come on! I don't get to come along with the syndicate jobs because they're too dangerous! So a nonsensical high school drama quest sounds perfect for me!" he jabbered on in his excitement. "And I'll even waive the fee for the job and return your money? It's a great deal, right?"
"Look, you coming along has no benefit to me and might even be detrimental. And I'm not going to beat him up either! Probably. So it won't be as fun as you're imagining. Besides, I don't even know where he is right now; he might even be at his house, which means I can't confront him today."
Arata snorted at his words.
"Do you really think it would take me more than a minute to find out who posted that rumor? I spent the rest of the time tracking his phone's location and searching through his chat records with a program and some keywords to see if someone put him up to it!"
Reiji's eyes widened, not expecting Arata to have gone above and beyond in such a short time. Leaving aside his capabilities, he was more surprised that he even cared enough to go the extra mile.
Then again, Arata prided himself on his skills and track record.
"Seriously? Then where is he right now? And did you manage to see if there was someone behind him?" Reiji asked, his voice increasing in pace.
"He's at a cafe, though I'm not sure if he's alone. As for the other matter, I didn't find any evidence that he was instructed to do this. If someone really did, the deal was made offline."
Reiji digested the information and knew that now might be the best time to meet Minato, because the longer this dragged out, the more troublesome it would be to help Noa regain the trust of the students.
So he had to make a compromise.
"....Fine, you can come," he sighed, but then quickly added onto it when he saw Arata celebrating. "But I have two conditions!"
"Ughhhh, fine. What are they?"
"First, you have to listen to whatever I say, and you can't cause trouble. Second, you only return half of the 100k you 'stole' and do another job for me instead. It's also fairly simple anyway."
"Stole is a harsh word, but I agree. What's this other job?"
"I'll let you know later, we should go to the cafe first in case he leaves."
Arata pressed a switch on the massage chair to make it stop vibrating and slowly got up with a stretch. He then hopped back onto his hoverboard and crossed his arms.
"LET'S GO BEAT THAT ASSHOLE UP!"
"We're not beating up anyone....I think."
***
"This is completely humiliating!" Arata grumbled, hugging his metal briefcase to his chest.
Reiji ignored him and checked his phone for any updates on the situation.
"Are you listening? How could you do this to me?"
"It's just a taxi, it's not going to kill you," Reiji muttered, his eyes still on the phone screen.
"Who knows what bacteria are infesting this thing! We could've just taken my car!"
"All of your cars stand out too much. We're going to confront someone, and the last thing we need is to bring more attention to ourselves for no reason."
"There is a reason! My dignity!"
Before Reiji could retort, the old taxi driver spoke up from the front.
"Umm...I clean my car every day, though....."
Reiji felt like digging himself into a hole, and even Arata had an embarrassed look on his pale face.
"S-Sorry....." he mumbled.
Reiji shook his head and refocused on the phone, only putting it away when he saw that not a lot had changed.
Well, aside from the increasing number of insults thrown his and Noa's way.
But there were more supporters than he had expected, which was a little surprising.
Though that was mostly for Noa, not him.
Soon, the car pulled into the front of a row of stores just a few doors down from the cafe where Minato was currently at.
Reiji pulled out some cash and paid the driver, giving him a little extra as an apology for Arata's words.
After getting out, he turned to the beaming hacker and asked, "Is he still inside the cafe?"
Arata snapped out of his daze and checked his phone.
"Yep, still there! Let's go punch him!"
Reiji pursed his lips and pulled Arata back by his collar, who was already trying to jog away.
"ACK!"
"Don't forget the first condition."
"Tch, fine! Spoilsport!"
The two of them walked towards the cafe cautiously, and to their great luck, spotted them instantly.
Minato was sitting on one of the tables outside the cafe with a few other people wearing uniforms from Souhei High.
They seemed to be having an animated discussion, so Reiji signaled Arata to stay quiet and approached them by walking behind some people passing by.
Then he leaned against the tree near them and pretended to be on a call, staying out of sight and posing casually to not arouse suspicion.
"Are you not scared? What if he finds out??" a voice reached his ears, barely audible enough from Reiji's position.
"Pfft? How would he find out? I used a VPN and made a throwaway account."
This seemed to come from Minato.
'So it really was him,' Reiji confirmed.
"I don't know, man. That might not be enough."
"....R-Really? Nah, it has to be fine!"
"Forget it, what are you going to do next? Just leave it as is and let the gossip fester?"
"No, I have one more whammo post to make! I managed to get the inside scoop that the Vice-President tried to convince the President to punish Yagami properly, but she always side-stepped him and basically did nothing! I'm going to make an update about that tomorrow morning to make sure this doesn't die down, and I even have evidence!"
Reiji frowned, clenching his fists tightly to control his anger that was trying to push its way out.
He really hadn't expected them to have more in the tank, and he was now relieved that he hadn't postponed the confrontation.
'Fuck the eavesdropping. I'll get the rest of the info straight from his mouth.'
Reiji straightened up, raising an eyebrow when he saw Arata leaning against the tree next to him.
But unlike his casual pose, Arata was clearly trying to replicate the movements of a spy, with his legs squatted down, his head outstretched to give his ears a better listening point, and his arms hugging the trunk.
For a brief second, Reiji first thought he was trying to hump the tree.
Not only did he look like a creepy stalker, but his lean body, which didn't even know what the word 'exercise' meant, was already trembling from the act of squatting.
"....."
Reiji decided to ignore him.
He walked out into the open and approached their table, and Minato's friends had their eyes almost pop out of their sockets when they noticed him.
From the angle he came from, Minato had his back turned to him, so he hadn't caught on yet.
"Uh, h-haha, I gotta go, Minato, see ya at school."
"Me too, I got stuff to do!"
"I n-need to study for the midterms!"
His three friends all stood up simultaneously and ran off, leaving Minato behind to wallow in his utter bewilderment.
"Huh?... Aren't the midterms already over?"
"Yes, they are," Reiji replied, placing his hand on his shoulder.
"Ah? Who sa-AAAAAGHH!"
Minato turned around and almost lost his soul, spilling his mug of hot coffee all over himself in his surprise.
His face went completely pale in his obvious fear as his gaze darted around as if looking for help.
When Reiji saw him open his mouth, he spoke first.
"Scream, and you lose a finger."
Minato slammed his jaw shut immediately, but his quivering body didn't stop.
"Why don't we have a little talk somewhere a bit more private? Don't worry, if you answer my questions, I'll let you go without harming a single hair on your head," Reiji whispered, tightening his grip on Minato's shoulder.
"O-Okay....."
So Reiji guided Minato towards a quiet alleyway, draping his arm over him as if they were the best of friends in case he had any ideas about making a run for it.
Arata joined them with a crazed look on his face.
"Hehehehe, this'll be fun."
"Wh-Who's this?" Minato asked nervously.
"...Ignore him," Reiji said.
Once they entered the darker alleyway, a place similar to the one Greeny was cornered in, Reiji let go and lightly shoved Minato towards the wall, leaving him no room to escape.
"Wh-What do you want? I didn't do anything!" the terrified boy stammered.
"Oh, please, I overheard everything, so don't even try that bullshit with me."
"Ugh....."
"Tell me, why did you make that post? Aside from that one day, I don't think I ever did anything to you?"
"That's not why....I was doing this for someone else," Minato replied, his posture drooping once he knew there was no avoiding this.
"Who?"
"I don't know either!"
Reiji closed his eyes and clicked his tongue with disappointment.
Then he cracked his knuckles loudly after opening them again.
"Are you sure that's your answer?"
Minato backed away hastily, bumping into the wall behind him with a thump.
"W-Wait! I promise I'm telling the truth! I just got an envelope with a bunch of money in it and a letter filled with instructions, that's all there was to it! Here, this is the letter," Minato explained in a hurry, opening his bag haphazardly and pulling out a crumpled envelope.
Reiji took the envelope and read the letter inside it, his brows furrowing in irritation.
***
Kato Minato,
There is 200,000 yen attached to this envelope. This is just the advance, and if you successfully complete the tasks listed below, you'll receive another 200,000.
- Make an anonymous post on the school's forum about the President shielding Yagami Reiji from serious punishments.
- Bring up his past history and...
***
Reiji clicked his tongue, completely annoyed at the fact that there really wasn't much that could help him trace the source of the letter.
Not only were the contents very brief and somewhat vague, but there were no clues in the text that could provide a hint as to who the sender could be.
Everything was centered around Noa and Reiji.
'This....is going to be tougher than I was hoping for.'