1

With another day of school about to start, Kazuki went back to his ways of staring at the outside. It had been quite a tiring day yesterday, from running the errands to the hectic trip back home. Hikari and her friend had fun until late night.

Something else occupied his mind for most of the day. Feeling the ID card in his pocket, he recalled the event last evening.

He recalled seeing that thug approach his new classmate and how she handily took care of business. 

Pondering about it, he felt that there is something more to her. Unwittingly, his thoughts then drifted to Shiki's words about the disappearances and beings from another dimension.

Kazuki then shook his head. 

Really? Why did I suddenly think of that. Uehara's not—

"Dazing off again? That's two days in a row, Arata."

Kazuki's drifting thoughts abruptly ended, and he glanced over and once again saw Amagi in a scene not too different from yesterday. His hand quickly left his pocket as he faced his seatmate and friend.

"Anything the matter? You seem to be overthinking something."

"Oh, it's nothing to be worried about, Amagi."

Looking for something to quickly change the topic to, he noticed that the bandage wrapped around Amagi's forearm had disappeared.

"By the way, your arm's completely healed already?" asked Kazuki.

Raising her arm with vigor, Amagi beamed her reply, "All good to go! Since you had to do something yesterday, I just decided to visit the doctor to have this checked in advance, and he gave me an a-ok!"

Amagi gave him a thumbs up. "Dr. Kagami's such a cool guy. Not only is he a genius doctor, he also works as the chief pharmacist in Aspira Hospital."

"Dr. Kagami?" thought Kazuki. It took no time at all for him to imagine a young doctor with purple hair who was eccentric and expressive. "Aspira Hospital... You mean Dr. Shin Kagami?"

"Oh yeah, that's him!" Amagi's reply came almost instantly. "He also said some weird conspiracy theories and gave me a cool bracelet to congratulate me on a quick recovery. You know him?"

"Hmmm, yeah. Hikari got hurt before, and I accompanied her there. She seems to like him for the longest time. He did spout some nutjob conspiracies about the government, the future, and all that. He was nice to Hikari, though, and on that day, he gave her a necklace that she still wears every now and then."

Kazuki now fully remembered that the one and only time he went to Dr. Kagami for consultation and how it was not his best experience. Hikari had some fun and jokes with the doctor, so it wasn't so bad all in all.

"Yoooo!"

The startled Kazuki recovered in time to look in the direction of the loud and obnoxious voice.

Barging into the class, Shiki's loud footsteps resounded as he made a headway for Kazuki's window seat before conveniently sitting on Amagi's desk.

"Yo, you saw the news this morning, the both of you?"

It's not unusual to see Shiki being excitable, but his voice had a frantic layer this time, and it caused Kazuki and Amagi to abruptly stop their conversation.

"What's wrong, Shiki?" asked Amagi in a concerned voice.

After panting to recover his breath, Shiki paused for a while before speaking.

"You remember the thing about disappearances and suspicious things going on in town? Here."

Shiki wasted no time in showing his smartphone whose browser was already on a news page. It read MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE ONCE MORE. PARK MANAGER REPORTED MISSING.

Kazuki began reading the article, and so did Amagi. Being such a fresh sample of news, the article did not have as much detail as he would have liked, but it did name the victim, a park manager who's a large part of park operations.

Kazuki did not want to read more about the life of the recently-missing Sho Kamiya, which took up a lot of the page.

"Now remember what I said about that thing with interdimensional portals, evil demons coming out from Hell, and—"

Kazuki shook his head. 

"No, you did not say anything about that. You never said anything about demons from Hell or interdimensional portals. You only said some crap about beings taking people away and—"

"Who cares about the details? The point is that there is a chance that there would suddenly be a team of superpowered teens saving the world. Look at it this way. You, me, and..." 

Shiki pointed at Amagi. "Amagi can be the dream team!"

He continued in his now completely excited tone. "My apprentice and Amagi would be... Amazing!"

"Ermm... Not gonna happen. And do you think being one of those characters would be amazing? I know I'm a geek as much as you are, but we gotta keep it real, Shiki."

"Aww... Stop being such a killjoy!"

Before they can continue, the bell rang, and most students dropped what they were doing and headed back to their seats. It's time for class to start.

Here's to another day then.

Minutes passed. Mr. Tsuda, the homeroom teacher, has yet to show up. Eventually, soft chatters grew into murmurs of students talking to each other. Everyone must have been wondering what is going on with their teacher.

"He's absent on the second day of class?" asked Amagi.

Kazuki met him with a shrug. "Beats me."

It's not like him to be late, but on the second day of class, he was conspicuously absent.

The chattering in class stopped as a figure now stood in front of the door.

In stepped a mature-looking woman with a voluptuous figure. With her figure, eye bags, and gray wavy hair, everyone in class recognized Miyuko Sadohara, the school's resident counselor and part-time assistant chemistry instructor. 

However, instead of the usual white jacket placed over her favorite low-cut attire, she wore a regular polo shirt today.

"Excuse me, class," said Ms. Sadohara in her lazy voice. "Mr. Tsuda would not be here today. He's not feeling well, so I have been asked to substitute temporarily."

She fell onto her seat and remained slouched for a good thirty seconds, all the while starting to rant.

"The nerve of that guy, calling in sick at 1 a.m. I should be relaxing now until later," complained the teacher. "Anyway, it's just the second day of class, so you guys can take it easy."

Well that's unexpected.

Kazuki Arata paid little attention to what was happening as their substitute teacher started taking attendance. He knew where his name is in the call order, and it would be a while before he gets called.

"Nakahara!"

"Here!" answered a polite male voice.

"Nagisa!"

"Here!" answered a timid female voice.

"Shiki!"

"Here!" replied Shiki with much energy.

"Daimonji!"

......

"Daimonji isn't here?" wondered Ms. Sadohara aloud. She then proceeded with the next person on the list.

"Arata!"

"Here," answered Kazuki with his usual deadpan voice.

"Tachibana!"

"Here!" replied a deep male voice.

"Uehara..." Her voice trailed off while her eyes stared at the empty seat at the other corner of the room. She quickly got back to calling attendance.

"Suedo!"

"Here!"

Attendance checking continued. It will take some time before classes would start...

2

Just like that, another school day ended.

Having packed his things ahead of time, Kazuki strolled on his own. Shiki just got into trouble, so the guy asking for hangouts after school was definitely out. As for Amagi, she just left for the swimming club's meeting.

Having recovered from her minor injury, it was back to the afterschool clubs for her.

Only that day did Kazuki remember that recruitment drives were happening this day.

In a way, he felt really comfortable being like this. It's not that he disliked the company of two of the few friends he had, but he really found a unique form of joy in solitude. After all, this situation completely fit him.

That much he learned after that incident that proved to him that in the social ladder, anyone who's not securely at the top is just disposable. All it takes is an incident or two, and unless you have something to keep you afloat, it's over.

For Kazuki, he had none. His grades were average. He did not have immense talent nor charisma. All he had was... useless knowledge like the latest news on geek stuff like video games and the countless hours on social media being unproductive.

He remembered the faces of people whom he thought were his friends, the most memorable one being a sly, handsome upperclassman with dark gray hair who began tormenting him. It felt like it came like a flash, but thinking back at it, Kazuki realized that his fall from grace was gradual and steady, like that saying about the boiling frog.

Flushing those frustrating images and events away, he still knew that he deserved it. He got a bit too ahead of himself and started picking on others and overstepping what someone is allowed to do as his position in the social ladder dictates. 

He never had that immunity reserved for the cool boys, and the situation easily turned on him.

For Kazuki, it was an unjust fate, yet there is nothing anyone in his position can do.

Fully lost in his thoughts, he walked all the way and reached the main quadrangle of the school. What was the sports track yesterday was now filled with makeshift tents and tables set up as students handed out flyers to passersby.

"Speaking of clubs..."

Ignoring the numerous faces that he had grown to know from the past years, he seemingly sank into his own thoughts once again.

He put his right hand into his pocket once again, catching hold of the ID before pulling it out.

"She really did not show up... Would have made giving it back a lot easier."

He took another look at the ID. His eyes once again gravitated to the insignia, the silver rose. Getting to the place should be easy. Only one major housing complex in Shiroki City has that insignia, after all. Then, he realized that he had another problem.

"That housing complex is huge. How am I supposed to know where she lives?"

Asking the guard would be an option, but he felt that it would be more trouble than it's worth. Also, there's also the scenario where even the guards do not know her. It was then that he remembered a particular incident from the day before. Specifically, the phone call. He barely remembered the contents of the call, but he did remember one set of words.

"Come to think of it, she did say that she will be heading to Aria Alley tonight. Maybe it would be easier to give this thing in person."

Having placed himself in auto-pilot on his way out, he barely reacted in time in order to avoid bumping into a person in front of him. As he dodged, he also heard a short yelp from the person he startled.

"I'm sorry!" apologized Kazuki almost instinctively, looking at the little girl he just avoided.

A red-haired girl, a bit shorter than him and wearing her scarlet hair in a ponytail, had her hand out. On that hand, she held a bunch of flyers.

"Swimming club applications now open!" she was saying with a toothy grin. "Join the swimming club and let's be friends!"

Now, she blinked repeatedly, unsure of what to say at the probably intimidating person in front of her. She cleared her throat, and she suddenly stretched her hand out at Kazuki.

"Hi! Join the swimming club and let's be friends!" she said with much enthusiasm. "I'm Akane Fujiwara, nice to meet you!"

"U-umm..." said Kazuki while he hesitantly took the flyer. "You know the swimming club for boys is different, right?"

"Oh right! Ahahaha!" laughed Akane Fujiwara, goofily scratching her hair. "Must have been disappointing, huh? I am sure that you would have loved to see some pretty girls training in swimsuit. Right? Riiiight?"

"Maybe for some other guys..." Kazuki's voice trailed off. 

Deep in his mind, he imagined Shiki being the perfect partner for this girl. They think in the same wavelength.

However... the image of Amagi wearing her favorite bikini suddenly materialized in his mind. It was not just her. After a while, Kazuki began wondering what kind of swimsuit that transfer student would prefer.

Perhaps she was the kind who preferred the one-piece school swimsuit...

Before his thoughts can drift further, Kazuki heard an enthusiastic call from the red-haired girl in front of him.

"Juuust kidding! Come on, don't be so stiff and formal!" smiled Akane.

"What are you doing interacting with a loser like him, Akane?" interrupted the new voice out of nowhere.

Recognizing the voice, Kazuki's vision darkened and tunnel toward the source of the voice. The world around him seemed to stop as he turned to look at the owner of the voice.

It was a voice that remained all too familiar for Kazuki. He faced the person and abruptly scowled at the handsome student with dark gray hair in front of him as well as a group of guys behind him. All adorned in suits with badges worn over their uniforms, they stuck out like sore thumbs for Kazuki.

The leader of the clique has a face that he would never forget: Reijy Ishida, the third year student and heir to the Ishida Conglomerate. He wore his trademark sneer in front of Kazuki, one that Kazuki had grown sick of seeing for the past year.

"What do you want this time, Ishida?" snapped Kazuki.

Ishida placed his hand on his silky smooth hair and smirked. "Oh, the resident loser has the gall to ask me that? Get a load of this, guys."

The guys behind him laughed in chorus.

He resumed with a mocking voice. "Mind you, Akane's a freshman student athlete, a promising one that the Ishida Conglomerate had scouted for this school, and she is the last person who should interact with geeks like you. Maybe cut your stupid bangs away, learn a thing or two about class, and drop those stupid hobbies of yours. Then, maybe I can give you a break."

Before the rest of the clique can laugh further, the red-haired girl had enough, and she cut in with hands on her hips. "Hey, stop it. What's wrong with you? He's not doing anything, and what's with the sudden bad attitude, Reijy?"

In response, Ishida just chuckled some more and placed his hand on top of the girl's head.

"Akane, I have yet to tell you the horrible stuff he has done in the past. Guys like him are pretty damn rotten inside, you know?"

Knowing that this is going nowhere, Kazuki simply began walking away. He still heard a brief commotion and some ranting by Ishida behind him, but he paid no heed to whatever was going on. He had no time to waste on those guys.

At the very least, he was glad that the Fujiwara girl was defending him, sort of.

3

Minutes after disembarking the crowded train, the neon lights that line up numerous bars indicated to Kazuki that he's approaching Aria Alley. As he took step after step, the bustling murmurs of the crowds that filled the main streets eventually gave way to loud, raunchy jokes and boisterous laughter from likely drunk people.

"What's she gonna do here, anyway? Place looks suspicious."

Kazuki took his phone out of his pocket and flicked the screensaver depicting a cute anime girl. 7:45 p.m.

He walked past the first bar that stood at the entrance to the alley.

Aria Alley's entrance has always been easy to spot. The bar adjacent to the main street, Noel's, as well as the half-torn banner that hung on top of a pole are landmarks that everyone knows.

Despite its healthy selection of niche restaurants and food parks, Aria Alley at night is not the most ideal place for students to find themselves in. As Kazuki walked past stores and bars, some which were just about to open at this late time, his mind ran through the various alternative places for students to hang out after school. Besides, minors like him and his classmates are not allowed anywhere near a bottle of liquor, legally anyway.

Moving past the first few stores, Kazuki entered the real heart of Aria Alley: its numerous network of streets that lead to attractions, often adult-oriented, of all sorts. From one central plaza, numerous streets stretch out like branches, all leading to different sectors of the alley.

It is not a stretch to say that the interior of Aria Alley is like a modern day labyrinth, with most of the roads leading to dead ends.

Why did he even go here anyway? He could have just waited another day and handed it over at school. It would be hard to find her in this network of streets anyway. However, he knew the answer deep inside.

Curiosity. And Rebellion, a feeling that pushed him to try things and push further than how far he has been told to out of spite.

Thinking about it right now, Kazuki knew that he had always felt an air of curiosity surrounding that transfer student named Sayaka Uehara. She seemed to be someone in his same boat. Somehow, he sensed a loneliness inside her, probably due to how straight to the point and stoic she was, both in her introduction, the phone call, and her confrontation with that thug yesterday.

As a result, she could be one who had learned to put on a façade of being considerate and friendly.

To his annoyance, the image of Reijy Ishida surfaced in his mind once again, reminding him of the painful fact that his attempts at being a people person did not really work out that well before.

To be fair, the transfer student probably would not rub people the wrong way, nor would she try figuratively playing with fire. If all else fails, she had the looks to fall back to, anyway.

Preoccupied with those thoughts, Kazuki Arata failed to notice someone about to collide with him before it was too late.

"Oops!"

Hit by a sudden force, Kazuki stumbled backward, and along with him, the person who bumped him as well as a briefcase that slammed the ground hard.

"Hey, be careful, man," said Kazuki while trying to make out the other guy's features through the dim lamps and multicolored neon signs.

Kazuki, in his random search for Sayaka, had entered one of the branches of the alley. He had been walking for several more minutes before he was stopped by the force of another person hitting him square on the stomach.

"Owww..."

Rubbing his backside in an attempt to recover from the fall was a blonde youth. Like Kazuki, the youth had bangs covering much of his face, and he wore a cap that helped cover up his features even more.

"You okay? You seem to be in a rush. Here, let me help you with your briefcase."

Kazuki was the first to get up, and he instinctively reached out for the briefcase that has been kept shut by two locks on its side when his hand got slapped away.

"I'll take care of that!" quickly answered the blonde youth who proceeded to spring back to his feet and collect the briefcase.

His actions were surprising enough to cause Kazuki to pause in shock. "Man, calm down. Just trying to help."

Hearing Kazuki's disappointed voice, the blonde then made a bowing gesture.

"I-I'm sorry. Really!"

He bowed repeatedly, even clasping his hands together in front of him. "Yeah, I'm feeling a bit jittery alright. Apologies."

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way."

With another bow, the blonde wasted no time returning to his hasty walk towards his destination.

"God, I hope I'm not late..." he said under his breath.

Left looking at his figure disappear into the darkness, Kazuki shook his head slowly.

Really sketchy.

Bottling up his thoughts, he decided not to follow the person.