Walking up to the girl on the footbridge, I leaned against the railing to get her attention. Seeing me looming right by her, sight finally broke from the traffic, and turned to look at me instead. For a moment, I only kept her in my peripheral vision before speaking out what I had in mind.
"What are you doing up here?" Shifting my attention directly to her, I stared at her face to get a hold of her current mood.
"Who are you?" She asked, squinting in confusion.
"We're in the same class, the transfer student, don't remember?" I told her.
Right after I said that the box of intel about her flashed before my eyes.
Subject Name: Hakumi Ino
Current mood: Depressed
Love Meter Rating: 0 -(Neutral)
Regular Stats: -
Age: 18
Relationship: Single
Abilities: Unknown
Likes: Unknown
Dislikes: Unknown
Favorite Person: Her mother and father
Secrets: Unknown
Sexual Stats: **Locked** -(Required love meter rating +8)
Please increase your love meter rating with the subject to reveal more information!
'Single? Did Sato and her break up?' From what I remember, she was supposed to be in a relationship with Sato, but I suppose their relationship ended when he dropped out of class. 'Or there's more to this than I can figure out through guesswork.'
"Sorry, I've not really been paying attention in class, might've missed you," she finally replied after eyeing me up and down.
"Forget it," turning around and leaning my back against the bridge railing, I offered my hand for a handshake. "Akira, new transfer in Hayato High. Well, technically the second newest at the point but that's not important."
Staring at my hand for a bit, Hakumi turned back to look at the traffic without shaking it. Drawing my hand back into my pockets, I watched as she reached into her bag and took out a pack of cigarettes. The moment she opened it up, however, disappointment awaited her.
"Shit! Ran out…" Wheezing through her teeth, she rolled her eyes and put the pack back into her bag. Eyeing me from the sides, she huffed a sigh of exhaustion. "What the hell do you want? Did Kimura send you? Was Matsuri not enough of a joy toy for him? Whatever it is that you want out with it already, I have a client to meet up with soon!"
"A client?" Although she'd blurted out a lot of interesting parcels of information, I didn't wanna push her too far with an interrogation. Trying to make things go even smoother, I reached into my pocket and took out the pack of blunts that I'd bought from Hero today. "I just wanna talk. Would be a real shame if I just left after seeing that lonesome look in your eyes."
Holding one of the smokes in her direction, I waited for her to take the bait. Glancing between me and the smoke, she finally lowered her guard and took it off my fingers. With jittery fingers, she brought it to her lips and lit it up.
"Fine…I work as a girlfriend for hire for older guys, you have a problem with that?" She said, taking a deep hit of the smoke.
"Not really, just makes me wonder why you need the cash so much?" Leaning against the railing again, I looked her in the eyes as I questioned her further. "But forget that, you and I both know that you're not just waiting for a client here."
The moment she noticed that I'd seen through her, she quickly glanced away as if embarrassed.
"You're new, you have no idea," she mumbled, almost inaudibly.
"Then tell me, tell me why a girl like you was looking at that road underneath as if it was the last thing she was ever gonna see?" Even though I hated every single one of those responsible for Satori's death, I couldn't let her go ahead with what she had in mind…At least not when I had nothing to do with it.
Taking one last hit from the thing, Hakumi burst into a fit of coughs. Throwing the smoke away, she grabbed onto my shoulder for support before speaking again.
"Hero's stash? Did you buy this crap from him?" She asked, practically fuming out of her ears.
"Didn't have many options so yeah," hearing my response, she shook her head as if disappointed.
"Next time, ask for Matsuri or Sakura around school," she advised, seeming genuine in her attempt to help.
"Sure, but again, you didn't answer me," I asked again.
"Yeah yeah…" Fanning her hand in front to swat the smoke away, Hakumi clutched her bag tight and got ready to step down the bridge. "I was gonna off myself, there happy?"
"Could say that," offering her my hand once more, I gave it one last attempt to get on her good side. "See you in class then?"
As if frozen in time, Hakumi stared at my hand just like before, however this time, lowering her shoulders, she wrapped her fingers around mine.
"Maybe, just…don't talk to me in class, and don't bother me in general," nodding at her, I stayed there until she descended the bridge completely.
"You should've let her die, would've been one less thorn to pluck out of your skin," Mizuki whispered into my ears, she must've been aching to tell me that throughout my conversation with Hakumi.
"Not yet, she has potential," taking my leave from the spot as well, I made my way back home.
"Potential for what?" Mizuki asked, her hands wrapping around my shoulders like a monkey once again.
"She's having doubt, we could use that to find out more about Kimura and the others," slowly but surely, the cracks that peeked out to Kimura were opening up, I just had to make sure to strike at the right moment to make those gaps wider without burying myself under something unexpected.
"Playing the long game, are we?" Sensing a hint of joy in her tone, I knew that she was finally beginning to see the full picture. "Get closer to her and it'll lead you to more clues, not to mention the teacher Yuuko is already fond of you. Any plans about that bitch?"
"I do actually," thinking back to the intel screen I'd seen on Yuuko, one thing struck me as the most interesting. "We have to get some dirt on Hero, she was deathly afraid of him getting in trouble, maybe we can leverage that dirt to make her our pawn."
The excited sound of Mizuki's breaths trailed into my ears the moment I laid out the basis of my plan.
"Ahhhh! Finally! Perhaps I'll get to taste the broken heart of a son? Maybe even the mother, who knows?" Panting as if she'd run a mile, her breaths were growing increasingly suggestive.
"Save your excitement, there are plenty of pawns that need positioning before I can go ahead with it
all," warning her to contain her excitement, I made my home while fleshing out the rest of the plan.