They might have had too much fun during the summer festival, but they didn't expect to lose Aki so suddenly.
"Huh? Where is he?" Yuzu was dumbfounded.
"Did we miss him along the way?" Yuri asked hesitantly.
"..........."
No one could say anything, and they knew this was the real reason. They were having so much fun, but along the way, they forgot about Aki's existence, which made them lose him.
'How can that kid get lost?'
Shishio was speechless.
Even though the festival was quite crowded, it wasn't as jam-packed as the train in the morning. It was impossible for one to get lost or separated in this place.
Unless Aki was in a daze.
Shishio felt that this was the real reason since he must admit being surrounded by many girls made him forget Aki's existence, yet could one blame him?
Whether it was his right, left, front, or every corner of his side was surrounded by girls.
They also put their attention on him and also forgot about him.
Should he blame Aki for not trying to get into the conversation?
No.
Shishio knew that it was quite hard for Aki to enter the group, considering they were all focused on him.
"Wh-What should I do?"
Ayaka panicked when she thought that Aki had gotten lost in this place. After all, unlike others, Aki wasn't familiar with this place, and he wasn't a local. More importantly, he was a kid in her eyes, so when she thought he had gone, she thought he might have been kidnapped.
Still, if Shishio knew what Ayaka was thinking, he could only feel speechless since before Aki was a kid, Aki was also a male.
Aki might be only in his 1st year of middle school, but he definitely wasn't a kid.
This was what made him worried, and he thought it was better for Aki to move since it wasn't appropriate for a male and a female to stay together since many things might happen.
Shishio talked about his experience since if someone let him stay with the opposite gender, he might do something inappropriate with the girl. However, the girl would be more than happy to do something inappropriate with him, and she might even want to stay with him again.
While Shishio didn't believe Aki could do something like that, he wanted to be careful since no matter how weak his competitors were, he would never let go of his guard and end them.
Even a lion would do its best to hunt a rabbit.
So why should he let go of Aki when he messed up with many guys around him?
If those guys knew that Shishio didn't do anything to Aki, they would say it was unfair.
Shishio definitely didn't want to see him as someone who was unfair, so he wouldn't let go of Aki.
"Calm down."
Shishio patted Ayaka's shoulder and asked, "Can you call his phone?"
"Oh!"
They quickly reacted and started to call Aki.
After all, Aki also had a phone call, so he should be able to answer them and tell them where he was.
Ayaka tried to call Aki, and everyone also waited patiently, but after she tried many times, she shook her head. "He didn't answer his phone."
"Did he forget his phone in his room?" Yuzu frowned.
"..."
They thought this was the only possibility.
"Wait for me here. I will search for him."
When they waited for Aki to answer the phone, Shishio used his "enhanced sense of smell" to find Aki, and he had to pinpoint where Aki was. However, he wondered how that guy could appear in such a place.
Did he deliberately run away?
Shishio didn't really care and thought to find him immediately since the firework was about to appear.
"Can you?" Ayaka sighed in relief since she believed in him.
"Don't worry." Shishio patted Ayaka's head gently. "I will find him soon." He then left and went in the direction where Aki was.
When he left, everyone was looking at his back.
Nishino looked at Shishio's back, then looked at Ayaka, and the rest of the girls, thinking that he was really popular. However, it also made him curious about why he could be so popular.
Was it his face?
Nishino thought that it might be good to invite him to her liquor store.
---
Aki ran away.
He knew that he shouldn't do this, but he was just tired before. He thought that the trip to the festival would be fun, but it seemed he realized that it wasn't as fun as he had imagined. He felt that it was so tiring, especially when no one put their attention on him.
He was like air, which was ignored.
While he wasn't completely ignored since they often shared the food and played the game together, the fact that Ayaka didn't give her attention to him made his heart heavy. He might have realized it before, but he knew she had put her heart into someone else, and that person wasn't him.
Something like this might never really happen in his life.
After all, even if he was quite feminine, he had always been popular with the opposite gender. His older sister, and even his classmates, especially the female, were so close to him. However, this also brought dissatisfaction to his male classmates and made them call him a sissy.
This was also why he decided to come to Tokyo because he wanted to become more manly.
Yet even after how long he had been in Tokyo, he didn't see progress and thought that he was still like before.
However, if Shishio knew, he would say that Aki was wrong since Aki was more manly than others since Aki had decided to move away from his parents and live in Tokyo alone.
Still, it would be even better if Aki decided to move into the dorm where only a male lived instead of joining a female dorm.
Well, Aki's feminity was also why Ayaka mistook him for a female and was accepted into the dorm. However, if she knew he was a male, she wouldn't accept him since all the people who lived in the dorm were female.
If Yuzu, Yuri, and Sumire complained to their parents, Ayaka might not have a choice but to send Aki out. However, the three were kind and gentle girls, so it was quite hard for them to do so.
Aki also had never done anything perverted or disgusting. Instead, his actions were more girlish than most girls, so they let go of their guard.
Everything was okay for Aki until Shishio came.
Shishio robbed all the attention, and no one cared about him.
Still, Aki would be lying if he didn't feel jealous and envious since Shishio was every part of men that he wanted to become. Yet when such a man appeared in front of him, the consequences were more dangerous than he had thought.
While Aki didn't lose his living place and normally lived like before, he felt everything was stolen from him. He wanted to take them back and see their reactions, so when everyone talked to each other, he decided to slip away.
If Shishio wasn't there, Aki might not think a way since his life was quite nice, and he was comfortably surrounded by many beautiful women and girls.
Aki decided to slip away, so everyone would worry about him, and Ayaka would search for him. However, while his idea was good, he was too naive. He had been away for so long, yet he didn't see anyone search for him.
Aki also started to panic since he was in an unfamiliar place and didn't know where he was. He wanted to call Ayaka to ask where everyone was, but he forgot that he didn't bring his phone. Even worse, the fireworks were about to start, and he was left alone in a place where he didn't know.
"Caretaker-san..."
Aki started to cry and squatted down. He was alone in this place with only a light on top of him. He was like a heroine in the drama who was caught in trouble.
Suddenly the sound of fireworks sounded, and a few of them started to explode in the sky, showing beautiful sparks in the middle of the night sky.
Aki stared at those fireworks in a daze.
"If I don't do this, then I should be..."
If he didn't do this, he would watch those fireworks with everyone, but because of his stupidity, he was separated from everyone.
Aki held his head and felt a deep regret since he knew that he could enjoy the fireworks alone without anyone by his side.
"What am I doing...?"
"Yeah, what are you doing? Come on. Let's go back."
"!!!"
Aki was startled and became happy since he thought the one who had found him was...
"Caretaker-san..."
"No, it's me, Shishio."
"....."
Shishio looked at Aki, who cried, and felt that this guy was really like a girl.
However, he didn't want to let go of his guard since, as a man, he knew that they were all wolves in sheep's clothing.
The real reason why King Arthur and Fionn mac Cumhaill were betrayed by their wives was that they put men as a guard for their wives, and because of this, their men, Lancelot and Diarmuid, had more time to spend with their wives instead of themselves, which led to a tragedy.
If Lancelot and Diarmuid were eunuchs, there might not be a problem.
Unfortunately...
While Shishio didn't think it would happen to Aki since he was the one who stole Ayaka, considering how the story was, it wouldn't hurt to be more careful, right?
After all, Shishio didn't want Aki to do some crazy things on Sunarahasou. Even if Aki wanted to do something crazy, he wanted him to do it somewhere else, and after he had cut his relationship with everyone.
Still, he also realized that his thought might be too much since his opponent was just a middle school student.
Lastly, he was quite curious about Aki's older sister somehow.
"Come on. Let's go back."
Shishio grabbed Aki's collar and picked him up, ignoring Aki, who was in a daze since he felt this guy wasted his time.
Fortunately, because of him, he could get more good points from Ayaka and made her depend on him more.
Still, he must admit that the fireworks were beautiful.