Chereads / Zion Rippers / Chapter 20 - Consequences

Chapter 20 - Consequences

The next day, Takeru is joined by girls, who were concerned about Seiichi as he appeared quite injured the day before. They were surprised to see Takeru was doing much better but they did not question it.

"Hey, hey Takeru... wait up!" - Miyuki, breathless

Takeru turns back and slows down in his tracks, he felt a bit annoyed at how clingy those two were.

"You're acting pretty friendly now" - Takeru

"This isn't about you, okay!? We were just asking about Seiichi" - Haru

"Y-Yeah! Totally not about you!" - Miyuki

"Heh… The man's fine. I gave him a call this morning, said he'll be up and about up till next week" - Takeru

"Wow, that's good to know" - Haru

The bell rings prompting the two girls to leave Takeru's side.

"Oh… We gotta go now see ya later" - Haru

"Yeah, alright" - Takeru

"C'mon Miyuki let's go" - Haru

"Huh? Uh erm sure" - Miyuki

"Don't daydream this early in the morning, we have class!" - Haru

"Shut up! I was just- AHH forget it" - Miyuki

Meanwhile, somewhere else in school, Haji was discussing with one of his lackeys. He was soon shocked by the information he received.

"WHAT!?" - Haji

"The Huyongs were taken down? And by Seiichi and that dog?" - Haji

(Haji to himself) "Fucking Seiichi ruining all my plans! He'll pay for this"

"Where is he?" - Haji

"Who, Mr. president?" - underling

"Seiichi, of course" - Haji

"Well, it seems due to the beatings he took from yesterday, he will not coming in today" - underling

"Where did you learn that from?" - Haji

"From that friend of his, Jorn" - Underling

"AH! GOD DAMN IT' - Haji

*Haji aggressively slams the table*

"A-Although, Hayano did come in today" - underling

"Hmm… alright, call him here. AT THIS INSTANT" - Haji

"O-Ok Mr. President" - underling

The underling runs off to find Takeru while Haji waits impatiently with his arms crossed.

Takeru, feeling quite unenthusiastic about today's early classes, was stretching his body while wandering about the school halls with no real purpose.

"Ahh, the dog" - Haji

"What did you just call me?" - Takeru

"That does not matter right now. What matters is your streak of violence you've left during the term. Just yesterday, I learned that you and, ugh I hate to say it, a colleague of mine have both engaged against some students in a fight, the same students are in the hospital today. I've heard that Denver, especially, had multiple fractures" - Haji

"BUT THEY-" - Takeru

"Nope. I do not want to hear any of your excuses. I'm reporting you and Seiichi to the principal, if you have anything to say, you say it to him. I will make sure Seiichi gets removed from our team, it's for the best" - Haji

"You can't do this!" - Takeru

"Oh yes I can. Now get out of here, go back to whatever class you have" - Haji

Takeru grits his teeth and readies a punch, but barely manages to hold himself before moving away slamming the door shut. Haji, his arms still crossed, let out a small chuckle due to successfully annoyed Takeru and ruined his life a bit.

"Heh, those guys were useless anyways… guess I have to do this myself" - Haji

(Takeru to himself) "I have to do something about…"

Takeru returns to class, yearning for it to end as quickly as possible. Once done, Takeru sprints off to the girls for help. He only meets with Haru in the hallway, who was together with her friends. Takeru calls her over and Haru appears a bit surprised due to his sudden appearance.

"Woah, Takeru? what are you doing here" - Haru

"I-I need your help!" - Takeru

"Well, that's rare. What happened this time?" - Haru

"It's that president bastard of the student council. He's in on us about yesterday. Well, at least Seiichi and me" - Takeru

"Tch… I think I know someone who could help, but first, let's get Miyuki" - Haru

"Alright" - Takeru

The highschoolers shuffled quickly through the crowd eventually joining up with Miyuki, who was in the yard. After a quick explanation, Miyuki joins the group and they get moving once more.

"Okay, we gotta find Seiichi's friend, Jorn. He should know something about this" - Haru

"I forgot, you were quite knowledgeable about matters here" - Miyuki, impressed by Haru's knowledge of the school gossip

Takeru was also of the same opinion judging by his facial manners.

"I'm not like you two who basically talk to no one" - Haru

"Rude" - Miyuki and Takeru

They kept moving forward until they located Jorn near the laboratory where he seemed to be chatting with his friends in a jovial manner. Jorn noticed them at the corner of his eyes and focused his attention on the trio.

"Hey sorry guys we gotta borrow Jorn for a minute" - Haru

"W-What's this about!?" - Jorn

"Takeru you can handle this" - Haru

"Jorn, Seiichi and I are in huge trouble. That asshole of a president is planning to get rid of the both of us, due to the fight from yesterday. We were not even at fault!" - Takeru

"Y-Yeah! those guys were trying to assault Haru and I!" - Miyuki

"I should've known this would happen… god damn it" - Jorn, face palming and slightly shaking his head

"Look, there have been several rumours about Haji lately" - Jorn

"What sort of rumours?" - Haru

"It's not really concrete stuff, but people have been saying that he has been meeting with people connected with Denver. Maybe that's why he's so pissed and he definitely used the fight as an excuse to get back at you two" - Jorn

"Why would this 'gracious' president of ours be talking to someone like Denver?" - Haru

"That asshole must've been planning something. He would never shut his trap about the cultural festivals, but it makes sense that this was a ploy. Ahh fuck...if only we knew from the start" - Jorn

"Has he always been like this?" - Haru

"I don't know… He never got the chance before. Seiichi was always president until now" - Jorn

"Well, what do we do now?" - Takeru

"..." - All

"... Okay, since no one has any other ideas, I'm presenting mine" - Takeru

"First, Jorn since you're well connected with the student council, I'm trusting you to find information about what the president has been planning. Secondly, Haru and Miyuki, you two can go around and listen to some gossip, see if anything pops up" - Takeru

"I'll talk to the principal, see if I can reason my way out of this" - Takeru

"It's a plan at least, I'm in" - Jorn

"We'll see what we can do too" - Haru

"Okay, once we're done we'll meet up here" - Takeru

The team splits up to handle their current tasks. Miyuki was hesitant to walk around with Haru talking to people but she did her best to overcome her anxiety. Takeru was biting his nail, brainstorming a solution to deal with the principal.

(Jorn to himself) "I guess I have to snoop around Haji's desk"

Jorn arrives at the president's desk, which was empty. He took a quick look around to see if anyone was passing by or closeby before slowly stepping towards the desk.

(Jorn to himself) "I'm guessing he went for lunch, otherwise he wouldn't ever leave this place"

Jorn starts searching around, finding nothing but a small piece of paper saying:

"Take the closest left and look up where your dominant arm stands"

"Huh? What is that supposed to mean?" - Jorn

Jorn soon realised the simplicity of the puzzle, prompting him to act accordingly.

"Wait, this isn't so complicated. Haji is right handed and the closest left must mean from here itself" - Jorn

Jorn follows the riddle closely, which eventually leads him to a diary with not much written in it.

"On the faithful day, they'll all pay!"

"That's it?!" - Jorn

"... At least it's still something" - Jorn

Jorn tries to leave the journal as he found it and quickly gets out of the room. Once, at the meeting spot he perceives the two girls, both of them having a face of disappointment on them.

"What's going on?" - Jorn

"Ahh we just… couldn't find anything" - Haru

"..." - Miyuki

"Hey, it's fine, at least you tried. Let's wait for Takeru, then I'll share my discoveries" - Jorn

"Good job on finding something" - Haru

"Thanks" - Jorn

Meanwhile, Takeru is discussing with the principal to find a solution. He was trying his best to act convincing and polite.

"Sir, please I beg of you, we were fighting for a good purpose. Two girls needed our help, we couldn't just stand by and watch!" - Takeru

"Sigh… look, Takeru, you have been pinned to many quarrels in the past including the one from yesterday" - Principal

"..." - Takeru

"I can't let you go anymore, you even involved someone from the council" - Principal

"...Let me take the blame" - Takeru

"What?" - Principal

"Leave Seiichi out of this, pin it all on me…" - Takeru

"That's very noble for someone like you. I'll give it some thought. You can leave now" - Principal, pointing a hand to the door

"Thank you, sir" - Takeru, grimly

Takeru walks away from the principal's office and meets up with the others. He tried to show a more joyful facet than he had a few moments earlier so as to not worry his friends. The others were quite anxious once they saw Takeru approaching.

"What'd he say?" - Haru

"... I managed to bring Seiichi out of it" - Takeru

"Nice!" - Jorn

"Wait… what about you?" - Miyuki, noticing his depressed tone

"..." - Takeru

"Answer, Takeru!" - Miyuki

"...I… I took the fall for Seiichi. I told the principal to blame it all on me" - Takeru

Miyuki, with a stern frown, suddenly grabs Takeru by the collar and forces him back a few steps. Although trying to look angry, she couldn't help but have teary eyes.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" - Miyuki

"Woah, Miyuki calm down…" - Haru

"It's fine, I'm the trouble maker… it isn't, like, anything changed" - Takeru

"Yes it has… We all thought you were the rebel of the school, fighting just for the heck of it. Everyone looked at you with fear and disgust…" - Miyuki

Miyuki starts crying and looks away for a moment

"B-But we were wrong… Yesterday *sniff*, if you were you were there, I don't know what could've happened an- and even now, you protected your friend and took everything onto yourself" - Miyuki

"..." - Takeru

"*Sniff* People are so wrong about you!" - Miyuki

"This situation is fucked up… it's always like this… only those with power can change people's perception…" - Jorn

"Look, before you all leave I actually found something useful- Jorn

"What is it?" - Takeru

"I found Haji's "diary", if you could call it that. It had one line in it, saying something like 'on the faithful day they will all pay', I don't really know what it means though" - Jorn

"Hmmm… Guess the best person to ask would be the man himself" - Takeru

"Well, how are we gonna go about that?" - Jorn

"... I don't know…" - Takeru

"..." - All

"You know what, I'm sure everyone is a bit out of it right now. We have the weekend to think over it…" - Takeru

"Alright" - Haru

The group breaks up and go their separate ways. Haru pats Miyuki's back as they walk away, Takeru kept his silence and went back to his mellow depressed self.

(Haru to herself) "I didn't know Miyuki could be so aggressive…"