Chinae could hardly sleep a wink after being sent that note. How did somebody else figure out her secret? The worst part about it was that whoever sent the note didn’t have any demands. They didn’t say they wanted her to do anything. If it was something grimy, like her body, then she could at least understand the leech who was blackmailing her.

Yet without any way for her to try and appease them, she felt defenseless. What did they want from her? Did they enjoy her squirming or was there a plan in place against her? Either way, this thinking made it too difficult for her to pay attention. Well, to be fair she rarely paid attention in class anyway.

With a problem like this, there was only one person she could go to right now who could possibly help. Luckily for her, he was the one that came to her with a different question.

“Hey.” Ishi entered her classroom after classes had ended. “We were going to go get some treats at the bakery.” He was going with the other three girls from his own class, so of course he didn’t want Chinae to be left out this time.

“I have something I need to tell you.” She responded, ignoring his question. “In private.” The boy instantly realized this was really important, so he told the others to go on ahead without him. Hopefully they’d be able to catch up later.

“Gosh, you really like flaking on us all the time.” Ryugi had grievances she wanted to air out before they left him alone.

“Don’t worry about them.” Said Ritusko, as her gal pals were also joining them on this short little fun trip. “They’re just a couple of loners, so I think it’s a match made in heaven.”

“Oh ha ha.” Ryugi had a sarcastic laugh in response. “You better not be late.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” While Ishi didn’t mind hanging out with Ryugi all that much, her friends were people he could take or leave. “Don’t worry, this shouldn’t take too long.”

“If that’s what you say.” Rinse was a little more apprehensive with the weird amount of attention he sent towards Chinae. Not that she disliked the girl in any way, but it was a little odd how he seemed to be friendly with someone like her. First off, the boy had to go out of his way to see her since they weren’t classmates. The second part was that he didn’t seem the type of guy to want to put up with the harsh words that girl always had at him.

The group separated with Ishi and Chinae finding a nice and private spot behind the school to avoid potential eavesdroppers.

“What’s the problem?” He asked in a hushed tone. Since they were in public, there was no telling if anyone might overhear them, whether intentional or unintentional.

“Somebody knows.” That was all she needed to say for him to understand the severity of the situation.

“Really?” For a moment, he almost couldn’t believe it, but she was never the type to joke about her circumstances. “Do you know who?”

“No, all I got was this.” She showed him the paper left on her door from last night. Judging from the handwriting, he couldn’t figure out who this would’ve belonged to. Did one of their classmates find out? But, how come there wasn’t any demands listed here, or even the threat of releasing the secret?

“This is bad.” Based on everything he could think of in his head, Ishi was at a loss for any leads. Whoever left that note wanted to avoid any possibility of being found out.

“What are we supposed to do?” She pleaded with him to help her out. It was rare of him to see her so disheveled and desperate to be begging him of all people.

“For now… Nothing.” As much as she didn’t want to hear him say that he basically had no plans, it was the best course of action in the moment. “If they really know the truth, then they’ll be contacting you again.” After all, they would’ve exposed her by now if that’s what they were planning. Since there had yet to be any demands, he believed the perpetrator wanted to place fear in her to make the girl more likely to comply with anything they wanted.

“You can’t expect me to just sit back and pretend this isn’t going on.” That wasn’t what he was asking, just that they bide their time for now.

“Look, don’t let that fear control you.” That would be what that person wanted. “Come join us at the bakery. We should be safe for now.” While she wanted nothing more than to go home and stuff her face into her bed, she knew he was right and decided to join the others as they enjoyed some treats.

“Yummy!” Compared to Chinae, everyone else was in very high spirits on this day. Ryugi had taken a big bite of some chocolate confections she picked up. “Ishi, you gotta try these out.”

“I’m not really into chocolate.” He declined the offer as he went to pick out a fruit tart. Their variety in flavors interested him more than the mix of sweetness and bitterness that chocolate had. Meanwhile, Rinse was enjoying a buttery croissant with some cream on top. Youna had also taken a small bite of her chocolate cornet.

“So what are you getting, Chinae?” Ryugi placed an arm on the girl’s shoulder as she asked. Doing so led to her jumping up a bit in fear, as the paranoia had built. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, you’ve been acting weird since you got here.” Rinse took note of the change in her demeanor. That girl hadn’t been rude to Ishi once. “I guess it’s whatever you wanted to talk to Ishi about.”

“Yeah, but don’t worry I’m fine.” Chinae to calm her nerves to reduce suspicision as she picked out an eclair with lemon filling. “Uh, thanks for inviting me.”

“Wow, are you sure you’re all right?” Ryugi put up her hand onto the girl’s forehead to check her temperature. “You almost never care about hanging with us.”

“Maybe she’s finally realizing we’re the cool people.” Ryugi’s friends never failed to make Ishi roll his eyes in disappointment.

“Anyway, everything’s fine.” He attempted to change the topic for Chinae’s sake. “Rinse, are you looking forward to that meet-and-greet?”

“Of course I am.” This would make for the fifth one she had done in her career. One for each year since she became a professional idol at age 12. Though this was going to be set up here in this town, which would make it a newer experience for her. “It’s going to be a blast, and I bet you’re all just raring to go.”

“Well, I’m only going because of obligations.” He answered, since it was a certainty that Koto would beg him to buy the tickets then his parents would make him accompany the boy. There was also Otoya, who would also want to drop by to see and support Rinse. While the handshake was a nice bonus, Ishi didn’t see much of a point to it when he already lived next door to the idol.

“You know I’m coming to support you all the way.” Ryugi proudly proclaimed while Youna also agreed, though much less loudly.

“What about you, Chinae?” Rinse had to ask her, as her sister would be one of the idols there. “I know you don’t care about the idol business, but your sister’s going to be there.”

“Sorry, I won’t be able to make it.” She hated having to deflect whenever the subject came up. While Chinae was glad to be friends with Rinse in this form, it was a challenge to come up with why she was never around when her sister was going to be showing up somewhere. “Don’t worry about it, she’s cool with it.”

“I know that’s what she says.” It was a conversation piece that came up fairly often between the idols. “But I bet it would make her really happy if you could spare some time to come see her do something she loves.”

“It’s fine.” She got up from her seat, barely finished with her treat. “Sorry, I gotta get going home now.” With that, Chinae briskly walked out of the store, leaving the others confused.

“Sheesh, that girl’s really weird.” Ryugi commented, which got everyone to take one good look at her. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. “Like, is it that hard to support your sister? It’s not like we’re asking her to be an idol.”

“Yeah, I should talk to Chiana about that.” Rinse was concerned if there was a rift between the siblings causing the divide.

“What do you think, Ishi?” Youna asked. He was usually the one with insights into things that they were unsure of, but even he wasn’t confident in what he was feeling about that girl. So he could only say what was really on his mind.

“Yeah, it really is a shame that Chinae won’t be at that meet-and-greet.”