The walk to school was a lot of fun. I spent most of the time chatting with Miyu; it turns out we have a lot in common. As we talked animatedly, she spun her wagasa between her fingers with a carefree smile.
The breeze was gentle, the sky was clear, and for a moment I felt like everything was calm.
Soon we arrived at the school gates. The outside looked empty and quiet; it was my first time coming on a Saturday, and the lack of the usual student bustle felt strange.
"Hurry up, Mochi-senpai!" Miyu exclaimed excitedly. "If we finish early, let's go to a café. I'll treat you to a dessert to thank you for helping me."
"Great! Then let's finish this quickly."
We entered the building. Miyu glanced around and stopped in front of the umbrella stand next to the entrance—the one where all the students leave theirs on rainy days. Today, of course, it was completely empty.
"I'll leave it here," she said confidently, placing her wagasa in the first available slot.
"Are you sure it's okay to leave it there?" I asked, slightly doubtful.
"Don't worry, nothing bad will happen just leaving it for a few minutes," she replied with a carefree smile.
But it wasn't just a few minutes.
The paperwork ended up taking over an hour. Miyu had to fill out several forms, talk to two teachers, and visit the administration office. When we finally came back out to the entrance… the umbrella stand was completely empty.
"Eh…? Where is it?!" Miyu shouted, instantly panicking.
We searched around the stand, behind the doors, even in the corners, but the wagasa had completely disappeared.
"M-Mochi-senpai… what do we do?" she asked with a trembling voice. Her eyes were already on the verge of tears.
"Calm down. Let's report it to headquarters, they'll surely know what to do," I suggested, trying to keep calm.
"We can't do that! They definitely won't let it slide that I lost my weapon the day after I got it!" she said, grabbing her head. "When they gave it to me, they made me repeat at least ten times that I had to take care of it… and I lose it the very next day?!"
"It's okay, stay calm," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'll help you look for it. I don't think it could've gone far."
"Thank you, senpai!" Miyu exclaimed, suddenly hugging me tightly.
…She was squeezing me too hard. But I couldn't bring myself to tell her to let go. At least not yet.
Now… what do we do?
I looked around for any witnesses, but the school was just as empty as before. No students, no janitors, no one in sight.
"Let's go back to the teacher's lounge," I suggested. "Maybe someone found the umbrella and gave it to a teacher."
Miyu nodded right away, and we headed there. We knocked on the door, explained the situation, and asked if anyone had turned in a traditional red umbrella.
But no luck.
However, we didn't leave empty-handed. One of the teachers in charge informed us that they had held supplementary classes that day for a small group of students with low grades. He complained quite a bit about having to spend his Saturday dealing with kids who clearly weren't interested in learning.
"Delinquents" was the exact word he used.
And that gave me an idea.
"Sensei, who were the students present today?" I asked politely.
"Who else would it be? Honda and his group. Always the same ones," he huffed in annoyance. "They spent the whole day wasting my time, not taking anything seriously…"
While the teacher kept venting his frustration, I leaned closer to Miyu and whispered in her ear:
"I know them. They're a pretty troublesome group. But I think I know where they usually hang out after class."
"Then let's go," Miyu said, with renewed determination. "We'll get it back!"
"Thank you for your time, Sensei. We'll be going now!" I said quickly, before he could ask any more questions.
We hurried out of the school, and once we were outside, Miyu looked at me expectantly.
"So? Where to now?"
"Honda and his group are pretty well-known around school," I explained to Miyu as we walked. "A while ago, Haruka warned me about them. She also told me to avoid the old abandoned skate park near the construction zone. According to her, that's where all those delinquents hang out. So… that's where we need to go."
The sun was starting to set, painting the buildings in golden tones. The atmosphere felt more tense, more charged.
As we walked down the nearly empty streets, Miyu asked a question I hadn't considered until that moment.
"If it turns out they do have my umbrella… how are we going to get it back?"
I stopped for a moment to think.
"Well… we could try talking to them and ask them to return it."
"And if they don't want to?"
"Then," I said with resolve, "we'll have to use force."
Before, the very idea of approaching those guys would've frozen me in place. Honda and his group always had a reputation for being troublesome—aggressive, even. But after everything I've been through recently… facing a few high school delinquents doesn't seem so terrifying anymore. Not after going up against a fang-covered anomaly that wanted to eat me alive.
"Miyu, we're close now. This is the construction zone. We're almost at the skate park."
Around us stood several half-built buildings. Rusted scaffolding, bent metal fences, machinery abandoned beneath dusty tarps. The whole area had a ghostly air to it. I'd heard there had been several fatal accidents during the construction. The company never compensated the families of the victims, and it all ended in a lawsuit that's still tied up in court. Since then, the construction has been suspended, stuck in legal limbo. The place is perfect for troublesome students to hide… or worse.
As we kept walking, we spotted a young man up ahead, standing by the sidewalk and nervously glancing around. He was tall and a bit stocky, his school uniform messy and sweat stains showing on his shirt. I recognized him instantly.
"Miyu," I whispered, discreetly pointing at him. "That's Kuroda. He's always with Honda. Let's go."
We approached with confident steps. As we got closer, I noticed he looked uneasy. He was sweating, and his eyes kept darting back and forth as if expecting something to jump out of the shadows.
"We're looking for Miyu's umbrella," I said directly, not wasting time. "We know you guys were at school when it disappeared. We want it back."
Kuroda flinched, as if my words had startled him more than expected.
"W-who are you? What do you want from me?"
"I just told you," I repeated firmly. "We want the umbrella. Red. Honda has it, doesn't he?"
Kuroda pressed his lips together, looking like he couldn't decide whether to answer or run.
"That umbrella is very important to me," Miyu added, stepping forward. Her voice was gentle and kind, and she offered him a sincere smile. "We're not looking for trouble. We just want it back."
That slight change in tone had an immediate effect. Kuroda's shoulders dropped, and he finally decided to speak. His expression shifted from defensive to worried.
"Alright…" he said at last. "I'll tell you everything that happened."
Kuroda led us into the shadow of a nearby abandoned building and there, in a low and nervous voice, he told us what had happened.
After leaving school, he, Shōma, and their leader Honda were all in a bad mood. They were furious about having to attend class on a Saturday, but Honda was the most upset of the three. He walked like a pressure cooker about to explode.
That's when they saw the umbrella in the stand, right at the entrance.
"It was weird," Kuroda said. "It glowed even in the shade. Honda thought it looked expensive… so he took it."
"For what?" I asked, frowning.
"To break it," he replied, shrugging. "He said he needed to let off steam, and smashing it would make him feel better."
At first, they thought it would be like breaking any other object. But when Honda found a metal trash can by the curb, he lifted the umbrella with both hands… and slammed it down with all his strength.
But it didn't go how they expected.
"The trash can crumpled like it had been crushed by a steamroller," Kuroda said, swallowing hard, "but the umbrella… not a scratch. Not even a wrinkle."
Miyu paled slightly beside me.
"Honda got excited," he continued. "He started laughing like a maniac. Said it was the best thing he'd ever touched. He kept looking for things to smash—he destroyed a park bench, then a vending machine, and every time he hit something, the umbrella remained like new."
We looked at him in silence, and on his face there was more than just nervousness. There was fear.
"But the worst part… was how he started acting afterward," Kuroda said, lowering his voice even more. "He got weird. More aggressive than usual. He started talking to himself, like he was hearing voices. He said that with that umbrella, no one could stop him. That he'd make everyone kneel before him."
I turned to Miyu and whispered seriously:
"The weapons we use are made from anomalies. If someone who's not trained uses them… their mind becomes corrupted." It was exactly what Haruka had explained to me when she gave me the knuckle dusters. Now I was seeing it with my own eyes.
"When he started laughing by himself, smashing light poles, and yelling that he was invincible… I got scared. Shōma tried to calm him down, but Honda shoved him to the ground. That's when I backed off. I didn't want to be around when he decided to test that umbrella on me."
"Where is he now?"
"In the old skate park, on the other side of the construction zone. He was with Shōma, but I don't know if he's still there… I didn't dare go back."
Miyu looked at me with concern.
"We have to go. If he keeps using that umbrella, he could hurt someone."
I nodded firmly.
"Lead the way, Kuroda. We're going to get back what's yours, Miyu."
Kuroda hesitated for a second… but then, with a determined gesture, he started walking.
"Alright. I'll show you the way."