I wonder what might be so important for Indah to come to the handicraft club amidst her activities, whatever she was doing. I’m not sure if she already knew the handicraft clubs’ classroom or if she was searching for it, but she did spend her time finding me. 

I went outside of the classroom to meet her and asked, “What is it?”

“Come with me.” She said, without bothering to give me a sliver of explanation whatsoever, and suddenly grabbed my hand.

I furrowed a bit, not understanding what was going on. “Wait, wait. I gotta ask for permission from the others.” I said while resisting her pull.

She looked back at me with a serious face, and said, “I already said I’m going to borrow you for a while, didn’t I?”

“Well, yeah, but still,” I said, then turned towards the handicraft club and told them, “I’ll be going for a while.”

“Okay. Don’t be out for long.” Mr. Daya said. The other members, instead of answering, started to whistle teasingly. I shrugged at it and proceeded to go.

Honestly, I had no idea where we were going. We simply walked toward the middle part of the school. Indah was walking ahead in a bit of a rush, and I followed suit. “So, what is it? What happened?” I asked her for the second time. 

“I found the source of the rumor.” She said concisely.

I looked at her, stupefied. “How?” I questioned.

She looked at me for a bit. “Well, girls have their information source.” 

‘Oh, it must be that thing my mother used to do whenever her friends come over.’ I thought to myself.

I then put the conclusion I reached in my head into words and told her, “You were gossipping.”

“You don’t have to put it like that.” She said.

Not long after, when we were about to pass by the restroom at the corner of the corridor connected to the middle area, Indah stopped a few meters from it. She pointed toward the small guy that was about to go into the restroom, and shouted at me, “It’s that guy! hurry!”

Indah shook my body towards the boy, and my balance was momentarily lost, but I managed to stop my fall with my leg. “Wait, wait, wait. At least give me the details first. Are you sure it’s him?”

“Argh, you!” She expressed her frustration with a facepalm.

In just a few seconds, Indah regained her composure, and explained, “The thing with rumor is that everyone who has heard about it hears it from someone else. If the chain of narration is too long, it's impossible to find out. Not to mention if someone falsely recollected whom they heard it from. Since this fresh rumor has only circulated for less than a week, it was quite easy to find out the source. He’s someone from the same middle school as you.”

I was entirely impressed by her train of thought. She’s very clever, huh? Who would have thought. She said she wanted to join the journalist clubs, so perhaps she had a bit of familiarity. “Wow. You know what? You might make a great detective.” I complimented her.

“Argh, come on!” She said, flailing her hand. I could see her face become redder, then she scolded me, “Hurry up and approach him!”

Once again, she shook my body towards the restroom. And once again, I managed to stop my fall. I looked back at her, disgruntled by her violent conduct. Then I went towards the restroom, and, speaking of the devil, the guy was about to go out.

“Hey, dude.” I greeted him awkwardly.

He froze in his place. His mouth was open, seemingly surprised by my greetings. He looked at me from head to toe to head again, and said, “Hi.”

The guy was about to leave, but I had a feeling that I had to keep him here for a while. “Um, I heard we were from the same middle school?” I asked him.

Indah was slowly walking toward the girl’s restroom beside the boy’s restroom. I glanced at her, and in effect, the guy followed my gaze. But she seemed like she was trying her best not to look back.

The guy then faced me once again and said, “Oh, yeah. Right.”

“I don’t think we’ve met each other,” I said, then offered him a handshake. “I’m Uril. Nice to meet you.” I introduced myself.

He unwillingly took my handshake and introduced himself. “I’m Arok.” He said without a trace of a smile on his face.

He turned his body again, eagerly trying to leave me. “Excuse me,” I said, attempting to stop him from getting away. “You know, it seems that our classmates have been... assuming that I’m a delinquent. You know that’s not true right?” I shot him the issue I had at hand. 

I was racking my brain about how to approach this ever since I greeted him, and decided to tackle it this way. “Otherwise I might have been quite popular back then. Ahahaha.” I said, adding a fake laugh at the end.

But Arok doesn’t want to laugh along, it seems. He gave me an angry look, and said, “Oh, no you were.”

Eh? 

I’m sure I’m not notorious back in middle school. Sure, I had fights with my friends sometimes, but it never awarded me a delinquent title. I wanted to ask him further, but before I even voiced my thoughts, he had already gone on talking.

“You were popular. Especially with the girls.” He said.

I’m not sure what he was talking about. Me, popular? My fame might be a little bit since I became the student council vice-president back then, but that’s it. His emphasis on the girls was also a bit weird. I wanted to refute him, but best that I listen to him a bit more, so I stayed silent.

Arok then went on saying, “I know who you are, Mr. Student council member. Everywhere you go, the girls are admiring you! even Anastasia! I had a crush on her! And you, just by existing, stole her heart from me! When I confessed my feelings, guess what she said? She said she has a crush on you!”

Eh?

He seemed so worked up to the point that drops of his saliva burst when he was... fuming. I guess his problem was being rejected by his crush. But what I didn't get was this baseless rivalry from him. I don’t even know Anastasia.

“You know what? I hate you, and I’m gonna make you friendless, womanless, lifeless. Just you wait.” Arok said his last bits, then left me.

I just stood there, looking at him going his way towards his destination, wherever that is. In just a few seconds, he disappeared from my sight due to how fast he was walking away from here. 

A voice of someone familiar came from behind me, “Is he gone?”

I looked back and saw Indah and Sasa peeking from behind the girls’ restroom entrance. Yes, he’s gone.” I said to them.

Indah went out first and stretched her neck in every possible direction to confirm Arok’s absence. Sasa followed behind her.

“Why are you here?” I asked Sasa. Indah was the one that brought me here, so I was curious why, somehow, she emerged from the restroom.

“Oh, um, I just happened to be in the restroom.” She said while lowering her head from embarrassment. “Sorry for eavesdropping.” She added.

Hmm, what a perfect coincidence. What are the chances? “No need to be sorry.” I relieved her.

Indah then approached me, and said, “Your friend’s a weirdo.”

“I didn't even know him before today.” I corrected her.

Seriously, what’s with him and his absurd reason to hate me? I don’t get him at all. I guess father is right about romance after all. “Love in school is unnecessary at all.” I blurted out my thoughts.

Indah slowly turned her head towards me, and from the look in her eyes, she was trying to see through me. “You sound like a virgin old man.” She said.

“... Shut up,” I said to her.

The three of us have no choice but to take a deep breath, then let out a sigh in unison.

“I suppose I can return to the handicraft club by now?” I asked for Indah and Sasa’s permission.

“Wait,” Indah told me, and asked, “What’s your next move on this problem?” 

I stayed silent. After being presented with Arok’s threat, surely I felt a little bit anxious about my social life in this school in the future. The fact that he successfully spread a rumor, albeit still in its budding phase, might mean that his threat might not be a bluff. So I got to prepare for possible harm.

“For the time being, I guess I should leave a better impression on my classmates.” I presented my idea. Arok did tell me to wait, but it is not like I have to comply and let myself be in misery.

“And how are you going to do that?” Indah asked.

“Talking with them, like normal?” I said the obvious.

Indah gave me a bored look, as if my plan was not going to work, and said, “What do you suppose is normal? Sasa was flinched just by being called out by you.” 

Sasa opened her mouth to voice her opinion, “Um, Uril. Truthfully, after I heard the rumor, you did become more intimidating in my eyes. And being stared at by you made me feel nervous and awkward.”

After we heard Sasa’s thoughts, Indah raised her chin towards me. Her expression made it seem like she just said ‘see?’ in her inner thoughts.

So it is safe to assume that my impression wards people away from me. There is nothing I can do about it, so I just have to push through despite the obstacle.

“I’ll think of something later.” I declared my plan.

Indah nodded slowly, then said, “Hmm. Alright then.” 

She and Sasa looked at each other. And, as if they telepathically reached an agreement, they said to me, “Guess we’ll make our way. Bye, Uril.”

“Bye,” I said while waving my hand towards them.

They replied to my handwave. Right before leaving, Sasa said, “Best of luck.” 

“Thank you,” I said, then I returned to the handicraft club swiftly.