The lunch bell had long faded, but the weight of what happened lingered like a storm cloud over Class 2-B. Students whispered in hushed tones, recounting what they had witnessed, their voices trembling with a mix of fear and morbid fascination.
Kaito didn't return to his seat.
When the afternoon classes were about to begin, he simply walked out. No announcement. No excuse. No eye contact with anyone. He took his untouched lunch bag and disappeared through the door, his footsteps echoing in the silent hallway.
Nobody stopped him. Nobody dared.
Everyone knew where he was going. The rooftop. His sanctuary.
Hikari and Riko remained frozen at the doorway where they had stood since the incident. Their legs refused to move, their minds refusing to process.
It was the whispers around them that finally painted the picture.
"I saw it clearly," a boy from the back whispered to his friend. "Takeda was about to hit him. His fist was already swinging. But Sato-senpai… he moved so fast. Like he wasn't even human."
Another student nodded, her voice shaky. "He caught Takeda's hand mid-swing. Flawlessly. Like he knew exactly where it would be. And then—" she swallowed hard—"one hit. Just one. Right on the neck. Takeda went down instantly. Unconscious before he hit the floor."
"But that's not the worst part," a third student added, his face pale. "When Takeda's body was falling, Sato-senpai grabbed his hair. Tight. And then he slammed his head against the ground. He wasn't just defending himself. He was…"
The word hung unspoken in the air. Destroying.
Riko listened, her analytical mind trying to process the data. One hit. Neck. Instant unconsciousness. That's not street fighting. That's training. Precision. Knowledge of exactly where to strike. But the second part—the hair grab, the slam—that wasn't precision. That was something else. Something raw.
Hikari stood beside her, equally motionless. Her face was unreadable, but her hands were clenched into fists at her sides.
"Why didn't he stop?" a girl whispered. "Takeda was already down. Why did he keep going?"
Nobody answered.
Because they all knew the truth. They had seen it in his eyes. Kaito Sato hadn't been fighting Takeda Ryuji in that moment. He had been fighting something else. Someone else. A ghost from a past they knew nothing about.
Hikari turned to Riko, her dark eyes burning with a determination that cut through the fog. "I'm going to the rooftop."
Riko met her gaze, her own composure cracking just enough to reveal the storm beneath. "I'm coming with you."
Without another word, they both moved—out of the classroom, down the hallway, toward the stairs that led up. Toward the answers that waited on the other side of a door neither of them had ever opened.
(End of Chapter 49)