Kai hesitated for a moment before stepping fully into the student council room.
Inside, sitting comfortably at the table, were three familiar faces.
Haruto.
Lala.
Emi Fujimoto.
The air in the room felt heavy, but not in an overtly threatening way.
It was something subtler.
More insidious.
Moreover, why was Lala, the new transfer student, there?
Just as Kai was about to ask why they had called him here, the door behind him burst open.
The student council president walked out in a hurry, pale and visibly shaken.
She was gripping a notebook very tight in her chest and the only thing she said was "I'll leave this to you, Suzuki-Kun!" with a very n ervous tone of voice.
It seemed like... they probably said something to her.
Kai also watched as she clutched her hands nervously, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room.
He didn't need to ask.
It was obvious.
They had threatened her.
And now, he was alone with them.
Kai let out a quiet sigh before dragging out a chair and taking a seat.
He couldn't show weakness.
Moreover, he knew that the only thing he could do was nothing more than act as natural as he could.
That's what he did.
He took an invisible but deep breath.
"Alright," he said, crossing his arms. "What do you want?"
Haruto leaned back in his chair, an easy-going smile on his face.
"Oh, nothing too serious. We just wanted to discuss a proposal for the upcoming school festival."
Kai raised an eyebrow.
"The festival?" He asked, with a suspicious tone of voice.
"There must be more than this." Kai thought in his mind.
"Yeah." Haruto nodded. "We submitted a request to set up a food stall. Just a simple thing—nothing too extravagant. But there's a small problem…"
Kai remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
"We don't belong to any official club." Emi said, with an almost sad voice.
Kai immediately understood.
No club, no participation.
That was the school rule.
The only way around it was through a special exception from the student council.
And who better to grant that exception than Kai Suzuki, a key organizer of the festival?
He had this special "privilege" to decide everything despite not being in the student council.
Why? Nobody knows.
It was probably because he was rich.
Kai sighed.
"So… you want me to approve a special permit?" He said, while looking at Haruto.
"Exactly." Haruto's smile didn't falter.
His tone seemed very friendly, just like his old self.
Kai studied their faces, waiting for the inevitable threat, the pressure, the real reason they wanted to be alone with him.
But oddly enough…
It never came.
Instead, the conversation shifted into something disturbingly normal.
To Kai's surprise, Haruto, Lala, and even Emi seemed genuinely friendly.
Haruto started talking about a ramen shop in town that served the best broth he'd ever had and how that ramen made him snap a dream to be a chef, that's why he wanted to open a food stall during the festival.
The funniest thing was that Haruto was never in the kitchen club.
Lala laughed at Kai's sarcastic comments, her eyes holding an unusual glint of interest.
Emi remained mostly silent, listening attentively and moving her eyes from Haruto to Kai.
For the first time in what felt like ages, Kai found himself lowering his guard towards an enemy.
He remembered the sweet moment with his old friends before meeting Hina.
Everything seemed so "perfect".
Hiro and Hana...
…The times they used to sit together, laughing with Yuna and Naomi.
For just a moment, it felt the same.
And that was dangerous.
As the conversation drifted, Haruto casually dropped a baited question.
He talked about multiple topics until he finally drifted to the love one.
"Is everything with Hina going well?" Emi asked, while covering her mouth in a shy way.
Kai nodded his head eagerly.
Probably a wrong move considering the plan he had to follow.
"Yeah... why are you asking?" He asked, suspiciously.
"Well... I-" Emi got interrupted by Haruto's voice.
"Hey… I heard rumors that you and Hina are living together." He said , with a teasing tone of voice and a malicious smirk on his face.
Kai chuckled immediately and pretended to play along the part of the embarassed guy.
But his soul went on alert.
"How does he know something like that? Does he really know or is he just asking because he doesn't...?" Kai wondered.
"Ahah, what kind of nonsense is that? People love to gossip."
"Really?" Haruto tilted his head slightly. "Because you two are being watched by everyone in this school. You know how popular Hina is."
"Everyone" He was probably referring to his gang.
Kai shrugged. "Well… my parents would kill me if something like that would be real."
Inside, however, his mind was racing.
They're fishing for information.
While Haruto worked on digging into Kai's connection with Hina, Lala took a different approach.
She kept staying silent and observing Kai with "wide" eyes.
She observed every single move, every single muscle spasm.
Kai felt her eyes on him despite her being silent.
When he turned, he knew that she was staring at him.
And she did that for way too long.
She tilted her head slightly, giving him a sweet smile… but her eyes carried something else entirely.
Then, while Kai yawned and stretched his arms, she finally spoke.
"H-Hey, Kai-Kun~." Lala said, with a blush on her face while looking away from him.
The sound of his name made Kai shiver without any actual reason.
He immediately looked at her.
Kai even noticed Haruto throwing a rapid glance at him.
"Hm?" He replied.
Lala bit her lip slightly before speaking again in a softer, almost playful tone.
"Why don't you show me around the city later~? I'm completely new around here and the student council spoke good words about you." She said, with an innocent voice, while looking at Kai, trying to be as cute as she could.
Her light voice, her petite stature, her expression--Everything about her was "adorable".
Kai stiffened slightly.
Haruto remained silent. Emi remained expressionless.
But Kai felt it.
This was calculated.
Yet, instead of reacting, he laughed it off.
"Hah! Sorry, but I already have plans for today. I have to do a lot of things for the club today." He said with a smile.
Lala pouted slightly, but then giggled and turned her gaze back to Haruto.
"Tsk~ What a shame~."
Kai didn't answer.
At the end of the conversation, Kai signed off on their request.
"Alright, here you go." He slid the paper over to Haruto.
"Thanks, Kai. You're a good friend." Haruto smirked.
Kai knew that wasn't true.
After that, Kai spoke with them for some other minutes before the bell rang.
Then, he waved at them and walked back towards his class.
----------
As Kai returned to class, Lucas was already waiting for him.
"Oh, finally. I was looking for you." Lucas said, his tone unusually serious.
Kai stopped. "What is it?" he asked, noticing Lucas' anxiety.
Lucas glanced around, then lowered his voice.
"There have been strange sightings outside the school."
Kai frowned. "What kind of sightings?"
"Hooded men. They've been lurking, like they're searching for something… or someone... voices around the school are saying that they are coming everyday." Lucas said with an almost scared voice.
Kai felt an uneasy chill.
"Excuse me, Lucas. Tell to the teacher that I am sick and I'm using the toilet." Kai said, before rapidly leaving the class again.
He started walking towards the stairs; to be specific, the stairs that lead to the rooftop.
"Damn... I have a bad feeling." Kai said to himself.
He then quickly pulled out his phone to contact his girlfriend.
"Meet me on the rooftop. Now." He texted...