Ken frowned profusely, glancing sideways. The atmosphere was quiet for a moment. All eyes, not only Ken's, glanced alternately at Aoki and Ken with mixed expressions. Don't get it, don't believe it, wonder, amazed, and there's also ... anger.
Clap. Clap.
The sound of applause was the only expression that made the entire people in the hall simultaneously divert their gaze away from Aoki and Ken. Not long after that, another clapping sprang up, contagious in all directions. Gradually, the awkward atmosphere was changed by the roar of applause.
Ken glanced through the corner of his eye, curiously looking for someone who had clapped his hands for the first time. Ken was sure the voice came right from behind his back, or at least from someone in the line of adults behind the podium. However, what he saw was only a glimpse of the tall silhouette of a man who was still constantly clapping. His clothes were formal, just like Aoki's clothes who was still standing next to him while continuing his sentence.
For the umpteenth time, Ken did not listen to a single word that came out of Aoki's mouth. In front of many people, Ken tried hard to cover his face under his jacket hood. Feeling useless, he clicked his tongue as quietly as possible so that the microphone in front of Aoki's mouth would not catch him while turning his attention to the side of the hall. With a bored face, he stared at the view across the building from behind the window glass.
"Hey, did you hear what I heard?"
"... Yeah. Do you believe what he said?"
"I just can't believe what I heard."
It wasn't that he didn't hear the whispers, he was just trying to pretend to be deaf. Ken also refrained from glancing his eyes down just to find out who the owner of the voice that had been gossiping about him. He only hoped that Aoki would finish his speech quickly so that he could leave the podium which had drawn many eyes to him.
The applause from the whole crowd was heard again for the second time. Aoki's speech is over. Ken immediately followed his wide stride and walked down the podium side by side with him. Aoki glanced at the teenager beside him with a faint smirk.
"Today's event is only until three o'clock in the afternoon, but I hope you don't go home right away."
"Why?" asked Ken with an unpleasant intonation. His brows intertwined until it furrowed.
"Someone wants to meet you in person."
Only until then Aoki ended his explanation. He turned around while waving one of his hands. Actually at that time, Ken could no longer contain his irritation toward Aoki. It's just that he still remembers that he was in an open public place with all eyes on him without any obstructions. Not wanting to attract more attention, Ken walked quickly to the place where he previously was with a huff on his face.
Hopefully, he can ease his emotions when he rejoins Chikara. However, he saw someone standing next to Chikara and staring at him as if he were a famous person on the level of a top actor. With an increasingly resentful face, he glanced at Chikara. Chikara returned his glance by rolling his eyes as if he were also annoyed at the stranger beside him.
"Yo, Imai-kun!" greet the stranger without the slightest awkwardness. "You don't believe me no, before Aoki-san called you forward and made a horrendous announcement earlier, I already saw you as a person with an unusual aura. Ah, I was standing right next to you, in case you were curious, but you didn't seem to notice."
Ken did not respond. He didn't even have to bother to put on a fake smile in front of that stranger. Ken glanced at Chikara, to whom he only replied with a shrug.
"Hey ... come on. Shimada-kun has been silent at me. And now Imai-kun also intends to do the same. Are you two the kind of people who don't like to mingle?"
"Sorry, I'm not in a good mood," Ken replied. The young man in the flannel shirt beside him smiled at the response from his interlocutor. "And this friend of mine, he is indeed like that."
Regardless of the conditions around him, the strange young man laughed freely. After feeling satisfied, he cleared his throat while murmuring apologetically.
"I can guess just from his face that Shimada-kun is indeed a ... um, temperamental type. I said it like that just for fun anyway. Sorry if I was too fussy. My intention is just to get acquainted with you guys, seriously."
The strange young man in the flannel finally introduced himself to Ken and Chikara after he realized that he had been talking without introducing himself. His name is Yamashita Kouichi. He said that only he himself entered Higami while many of his friends were in Suimi. Since Yamashita is not the type who likes to be alone, he tries to blend in with the people who are nearby. Unfortunately, that person is Chikara who has a personality inversely related to Yamashita's.
After chatting with Yamashita, Ken felt that he was a pretty good person. He can make fun conversation material out of any random topic. His speech style is outspoken, but with a polite and semi-formal tone. Quite unique alloy in Ken's ears.
He can also read the situation around him. If he feels that a topic is sensitive enough for those around him, Yamashita will not bring it up, as when Ken took to the podium a while ago. While the people in the hall were still busy gossiping about him and Ken heard it clearly, Yamashita didn't seem to care and instead discussed the reaction of his classmates when he entered Higami and possessed the energy of the fire element.
If Kazuhiko had been here, the two of them would have instantly become close friends.
Yamashita also seems to have extensive connections because he knows the most detailed things in the Higami that should only be known by senior members or at least the top brass of the organization. Not only Higami but he also knows about the secrets and conspiracies within the Suimi, Jikai, and Futen groups. He said he got the reference only from searching the internet, but Ken didn't fully believe it.
How much detail can as he get from an internet search? Seriously? Such a large organization ....
"Yamashita Kouichi, you're not an intel man pretending to be a 17 year old kid just to get close to Ken, are you?"
Chikara who had previously been silent raised his voice and asked such a question with suspicion. Apparently, he also didn't believe that Yamashita said that he was just looking at the data from the internet. But unlike Ken, Chikara's suspicions seem to be more extreme until he believes Yamashita is an intel agent rather than a normal 17 year old teenager.
"Aah ... alright, fine. I confess. But please don't tell anyone else, whoever it is," Yamashita said. Ken nodded. Chikara was silent. "My uncle is a senior member here. He's Aoki-san's junior. I can tell Higami's secret by eavesdropping on their conversation once in a while."
"Alright, that one I can accept. Then what about the information from the other three groups?" Chikara inquires once more. "Does your big family belong to the higher-ups of Jikai, Suimi, and even Futen?"
Yamashita could only shrug his shoulders. His voice was low. "You could say so."
Chikara stopped his debate there. According to Ken, it was unusual. Quite ... no, but very strange. The Chikara he knew couldn't believe a word from anyone other than his family or his close friends, especially if it came from a stranger. Even if there is evidence, he wouldn't believe it so easily. Not surprisingly, Ken was confused to see Chikara silent until then, as if he decided to believe the explanation from Yamashita, the person he only knew a moment ago.
Ken feels curious. He wanted to ask the reason why Chikara could immediately believe Yamashita's words just like that. However, the sentence stuck in his throat when the microphone on the podium buzzed again and the flat voice of a person in a blue suit informed the entire room of new members to go up to the second floor through the emergency stairs located in the left and right front corners of the hall, not far from the podium.
Unlike the atmosphere on the first floor, the second floor does not consist of partition rooms. There's nothing there either. The carpet was not there so the soles of his shoes came into direct contact with the marble floor of the room. Surprisingly, the slippery floor of the room did not squeak as hard as he tried to rub the soles of his shoes on purpose.
The second floor is also very spacious. It may be about two or three times more spacious than the hall below. If compared to his school field, this second floor is still wider. Ken even found it difficult to define how large the room was because in his eyes this second floor seemed endless.
Ken, Chikara, and Yamashita followed the group in front of them to continue going up to the next floor. On the third floor, the atmosphere and views are not much different from those on the second floor. The marble floor was also not covered with carpets as far as his eyes could see. The difference is that there is a row of cylindrical iron poles at the end of the room near the window. The pole seemed to grow from the floor and its height did not reach the ceiling.
At the other end of the room opposite the cylindrical columns, Ken found access to the fourth floor. However, the group in front of him stopped and showed no signs of continuing in the direction he discovered. Confused and curious at the same time, he tried to lengthen his neck to be able to look forward and sharpen his hearing.
"Why? We don't go up again?"
"Dunno."
"We were told to sit down."
"Oh, right, right. Sit down, sit down!"
Since the group in front of him had already begun to sit down, Ken also lowered his body by squatting before sitting cross-legged. In that position, slightly straightening his back and neck, he could see the people in front. Three people in formal suits and two people in casual clothes stood in front of the new members. Not long after, the microphone buzzed again.
However, before the voice of someone holding the microphone was heard, all the lights illuminating the third floor room went out simultaneously accompanied by the sound of iron scouring the windows. Then, the room became completely dark.