It was late morning Friday, the students at Ibaraki Prefecture Tsuchiura First High School were all eager to finally go on the summer break. Pretty much all of them had plans on what to do and were excited about it.
Ippei too, was quite eager to do what he had in mind, he was visiting the young Tanigawa-sensei in the teacher's room after the morning ceremony was done. Isao had already prepared some options for the part-time job that Ippei could fit in.
"There's plenty of options, but I don't know what you'd really want so I just bring them all." Isao said, with a stack of documents in front of him.
"It's fine, I'd be willing to do pretty much any of them that suits me." Ippei replied with a smile, he was hopeful and was curious as to what Isao had prepared for him.
"Let's see... There's a moving company. 1,100 yen an hour, 9 AM to 5 PM. Quite a few of your friends are already working with them as it's a surprisingly pretty interesting job." Isao offered one option, and Ippei listened intently.
"Uh huh."
"Uhh... this one... it's an obvious scam, why is this here?"
Isao immediately crumpled that flyer and threw it in the bin.
"Sushiro also seemed pretty interesting if you like moving around. Similar wage, but it's only a 6 hour shift and most workers are female. Actually you know what, pretty much all restaurants are hiring all the time, you can pick and choose the one you want."
Ippei was not really feeling that option.
"This one... Huh..." Isao appeared to be surprised by it, "I don't know about this one either. Let's ignore it."
It was at that moment, Ippei saw what was on the paper in Isao's hand, and that he realized Isao assumed wrongly. Ippei was so interested and eager that he pulled the paper from Isao's hand.
It was a medium size, local musical instrument store, 'Ueno Music World', located in downtown Tsuchiura.
"Hey," Isao was surprised with how Ippei was so eager, "are you actually interested in that?"
"Yes, Tanigawa-sensei, this is perfect." Ippei replied with his eyes almost sparkling from excitement.
"I didn't know you like music. Ueno-san usually expected someone from the music club, but it seemed this year not many of them are interested in a part-time job. I can contact him regardless. You never know."
"Thank you, Tanigawa-sensei."
"Oh yeah, the wage is more than usual, I believe 1,700 an hour? But you'll have to go through the interviewing process which I heard is pretty tough as Ueno-san is picky. Will it be okay that it's not a guaranteed acceptance?"
"That's fine." Ippei replied gladfully, "Do you know Ueno-san?"
"Not really... but apparently he's been supporting the school band or something for ages as he's an alumni. He only usually accepts 1 part-time worker a term though so it's a highly contested position."
Ippei thought it was getting more and more interesting, he'd totally like working for someone a bit more hands-on within the small or medium size business rather than the corporate.
"Anyway, I'll send your profile in, you can put out the form... here." Isao picked up another piece of paper and gave it to Ippei with a pen.
Ippei didn't take long to finish filling in that form.
"Expect Nobuteru-san to contact you back... soon? Maybe next week? Maybe it'll be his wife Megumi-san. Or one of his other employees." Isao explained, and Ippei was content.
"Okay." Ippei nodded.
Isao took a look at the paper, and something stuck out to him quite a bit.
"You actually play instruments? Electone? What's that?" Isao asked as he was very curious, but didn't know what the Electone was.
"Ah, it's the trademark for Yamaha electric organ. I play it quite often." Ippei explained, even if Isao still didn't know what the electric organ was. He thought it was a brass instrument, but why would that be electric?
"In that case... you'll probably be contacted back since I don't think anyone else applied. It's a bit more involved and closer to the actual job. Think of it as a paid internship."
Ippei bowed as a thank you, and Isao was happy to be able to help him. Still, Isao didn't know why Ippei suddenly wanted to work part-time though, but it would nevertheless be a good experience for any students.
Then, Ippei walked out of the teacher's room, and noticed that Sachiko was standing right there in the hallway, clearly waiting for him. She saw that he was looking pretty happy.
"You look pretty upbeat right now, something good happened?" Sachiko asked with a smile. Happiness was always contagious to people one cared about.
"Yeah, I just applied for a part-time job. I think it is a good one." Ippei replied, also smiling.
"Where is it? Where is it?" Sachiko was very eager to know.
"Heheh..." Ippei seemed reluctant to tell her, so he could only laugh sheepishly, even if he didn't have anything to hide.
"Come on, just tell me!" Sachiko pinched Ippei's arm as she told him.
"Ouch, stop," Ippei exclaimed, "it's Ueno Music World."
Sachiko looked at Ippei perplexed once she learnt where he actually applied. It's so out of the blue she didn't know how to respond.
"Really?" Sachiko asked like she didn't believe Ippei, and it irked him quite a bit.
"What? What's wrong with it? Is it not a good workplace?" Ippei asked back, wondering why.
"No, it's fantastic, but it's mostly people in the band who'd be accepted. One of my friends actually worked there last summer..." Sachiko paused, "It's just that I've never seen you being interested in music."
Ippei chuckled slightly, but realized that indeed his secrecy about it meant people would be surprised, so it was really his fault.
"Sorry, I never told you about this," Ippei looked guilty about it, although Sachiko didn't mind that much.
"It's fine, it's interesting to know!" Sachiko quickly reassured him, "Still, it's surprising to hear."
The two started walking to exit the school building, most of their friends had said their goodbye for the 3 weeks break, so all that were left were those who had other business to attend. Sachiko was there only because she wanted to wait for Ippei.
"You said your friend had worked there before?" Ippei went back to what Sachiko told him.
"Yeah, I think it was Junji... It's not quite a normal part time job in a sense that it requires little to no skills. While yes, most of it is shop keeping, that's not all you'll be doing." Sachiko answered.
"Do you know what the owner is like?"
"If I were to guess, Ueno-san is just your typical relatively small business owner... kinda like your dad."
Ippei shuddered a bit at that description, but knew it was probably because Sachiko didn't really have a proper specific answer.
"Aren't you going to be working a part-time job as well during the summer break?" Ippei asked, as Sachiko had not told him yet.
"Nope, I just want to ride my Honda to nearby places, like Shima Rin with her Yamaha Vino in Yuru Camp." Sachiko answered.
Ippei was then reminded how Sachiko was very much into Yuru Camp right now, and it made sense for her to answer that.
"Are you going somewhere today?" Ippei asked as they got to the front of the building.
"Yeah, I'll be having lunch at yakiniku place with friends in my class, do you want to come?" Sachiko replied.
Ippei stopped and considered for a moment, he knew it was mostly her female friends, and he didn't really want to spend on frivolous stuff right now, so he had to pass.
"I'll probably meet up with you during the summer break..." Ippei replied, and Sachiko understood why.
"Okay then. Just ask first in case I'm going somewhere further than Tsukuba, okay?" Sachiko grinned as she replied.
"Are you really going that far on your little bike?"
"It may be a small bike, but it's able to go anywhere as long as you're careful..." Sachiko retorted, "I'll probably have to give it to Soji after I go to Tokyo anyway, so I want to ride it as much as possible."
Ippei thought that Sachiko seemed confident she'll be moving to Tokyo after graduation. He could only wish to have just half the confidence that Sachiko always had.
The two got to the front of the school, where Ippei was going to wait for the bus, while Sachiko walked to the restaurant that her friend had booked for the occasion.
"Well, I'll see you around then." Sachiko said, waving her hand slightly.
"Yep, I'll call you." Ippei replied, looking a bit wistful.
Once Sachiko saw the expression, she knew that he would be missing her, but it was only a short break and they'd still be able to meet up anytime. It should be more fun as well considering they don't have to come to the school to do so.
Sachiko gazed at Ippei for a moment, before she rushed in and hugged him unexpectedly.
"I love you. Please be fine, alright? If you have any problems, don't hesitate to come to me." Sachiko said as she held Ippei in her arms, and he returned the hug as well.
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Ippei couldn't help but feel grateful for Sachiko.
"I love you too." Ippei said, with a slight melancholic tone that Sachiko could feel.
Sachiko released her hold on Ippei, before she waved and walked away across the street to her destination, leaving Ippei to go on with his day as well.
The bus arrived not long after, and Ippei boarded it along with a few other students who came out of the school later.
Ippei was at least hopeful now, he was sure that if he got to talk to Ueno-san about music, he'd get that job which paid really well considering it's part-time. He also knew he'd be able to use the money to buy some gifts for Sachiko, as a thank you gesture for her constant help. He wished he could help her in return, but because she seemed to have her life so much more together than him, Ippei thought it was unlikely.
The bus got to the usual stop, and Ippei got off like normal. It was a pretty hot day, reaching nearly 35°C at mid-day. No signs of rain for a while now as well.
On the walk, Ippei thought back to the weird guy who turned up last Sunday, for whatever reasons. Maybe it was his Maebashi number plate, which reminded him of his mother as she was the only person he knew from there. Then it spiraled into the thoughts of the influence she had when he was a kid.
Ippei had always been interested in music, but he never really was confident enough to show his abilities, he was always worried that the others would see him as incompetent. Even revealing to Sachiko was pretty difficult for him, if she wasn't that close to him, he would never have done it.
Ippei didn't know why he was like this, but he wanted to change, to be more confident, that's why he decided Ueno Music World would be a good option to slowly ease into it again.
The walk along the Bizen river was enough to make Ippei sweaty and tired, the weather's been pretty brutal. He wanted it to be over quickly, but running home in this condition would make things worse, so he took it slowly and steadily.
Once Ippei got to within a few meters of his house though, he was quite confused and curious about the strange object that was in his dad's carport in front of his house, for it was not his father's shitty Probox.
It was also pretty obvious that Mizuho was engulfed by its presence, because he didn't notice Ippei walking up to him at all.
To Ippei's eyes, it was just a normal sedan. Although it was a sleek and premium looking one, even to his untrained eyes, it didn't seem all that unusual. The gleaming red paint was striking though, it was so obviously new as the plastic covers inside were not removed yet.
"Uh, dad?" Ippei called for Mizuho, who turned around and was very startled.
"Uwo! You're home already? Why so early?" Mizuho was startled by the sudden appearance.
"It's the start of the summer break, dad. They let the students go home early."
Ippei couldn't help but keep glancing towards the red car that was parked behind his father, even Mizuho noticed that. Ippei knew enough to know from the badge that it was a Lexus.
"What is this, dad?" Ippei inquired about the weird car that was parked there.
"Uh, it's a Lexus IS." Mizuho replied, seemingly a bit coy about it, as he usually would rattle off the whole trim level and even the specifications even if Ippei was not interested.
"Have you borrowed it from someone again?"
"Well, uh..."
It was clear from Mizuho's expression that he was trying to hide it but was not able to.
"No..." Mizuho sighed, "I bought it, it's mine, I just got it today."
Ippei had a bit of a shock once he heard that, but in his mind, it still didn't quite sink in yet just how big a purchase this was.
"Lexus is a domestic car, right? So it can't be that expensive..." Ippei wondered, he sounded a bit annoyed, but Mizuho didn't really know why.
"Uh..." Mizuho sounded like he was going to contradict his own son, but managed to hold it in.
"How much was it, dad?"
That question from Ippei was straightforward and pretty harsh sounding. If there's one thing Mizuho shouldn't do right now, it was to lie, because even Ippei could detect his own father's lie. Mizuho had never been great with lies.
"With tax?..." Mizuho wanted to prolong this as much as he could, so he did the finger calculator before he muttered out under his breath, "It's 10.3 million yen."
Ippei didn't quite hear that properly, but he had a general idea.
"Sorry, dad, can you say that again, but more clearly?"
Ippei's eyes were now twitching, and his whole body was shaking. He was trying to remain calm, but couldn't really do so.
"How much was it, dad?" Ippei repeated the question, this time in a shout which shook Mizuho.
"It was 10.3 million yen!"
Mizuho replied clearly and loudly, and with an annoyed tone that he didn't want to say to Ippei.
"Why are you acting so strange anyway? It's not like I can't afford it?" Mizuho started to grouse, which seemed to make the situation worse.
Ippei didn't say anything, he was only seething, he saw the report. Ippei was truly convinced that his father could not afford this 10.3 million yen car.
"Really? Dad? Can you REALLY afford it?" Ippei was asking in a clear hostile tone like he didn't believe it, and it shook Mizuho quite a lot.
"Yes?! Why are you doubting that?!" Mizuho replied back and was now more annoyed. Why was his own son interrogating him like this?
"I've seen the statement, dad, I know the shop isn't doing well."
Ippei's voice was now trembling. His emotion right now was mostly anger, partly confusion, and slight inkling something was not adding up in this narrative he had in his own mind.
Something was very wrong, something very weird.
"What statement?" Mizuho sounded confused.
Mizuho suddenly had a realization, and it made his annoyance change to one of bemusement. He was holding a laugh in, and it only made Ippei more confused.
"Oh... that!" Mizuho said, still trying to hold in his laugh.
"What's funny about it, dad?!"
The clear distressed voice of Ippei made Mizuho bemusement go away in the moment.
"The shop is not bankrupt! Ippei!" Mizuho tried to explain, but he wasn't doing it very well at the moment.
"What?" Ippei was more confused now, with more questions than answers.
"You saw it on my laptop, right? It's difficult to explain, but we are not in financial trouble, Ippei."
Ippei couldn't believe his father one bit, especially when he perceived what Mizuho was saying as more blasé than confidence.
"Look, Ippei! I wouldn't buy a 10.3 million yen car if we were broke, okay?! Don't be stupid." Mizuho was fumbling his words right now, trying to reassure his own son.
It didn't make it any better though.
Ippei had a realization. That he was a fool. He was a fool to believe that his dad would trust him enough to reveal the true situation of their family circumstances.
The worries he had? It was for nothing, and he was a fool for it.
Ippei didn't say anything further, but he slowly walked, ignoring Mizuho completely.
"Hey, can we go for a ride? I'm sure you'll like this car a lot." Mizuho tried to plead with Ippei, realizing that what he said might be harsh for the situation right now.
Ippei didn't listen, he walked inside the house, and came back out not long after with his helmet and the Gorilla's key in hand.
"Where are you going?" Mizuho asked, quite alarmed by it.
Ippei kept walking, he went round the back of the house, pulled the moped out, and mounted it, he was kick starting it as Mizuho stood on the small walkway in order to obstruct Ippei.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Mizuho shouted again.
The Gorilla engine started easily, and Ippei accelerated directly at his own father.
Mizuho had to jump out in order not to get hit, and let Ippei ride that bike away in quite a haste manner.
Mizuho still didn't realize quite fully what exactly he did wrong.
Mizuho walked back inside the PC shop, and he sat at the workstation with his head completely in the mud. He didn't know what to do next, Ippei was too old for him to report a missing child. The bike was legally Mizuho's still but Mizuho didn't have the heart to report it to the police.
Mizuho also believed that reporting a missing person would be way overkill for a runaway teenage boy who would become 18 in a few weeks time. Rightly or wrongly, he didn't feel the situation was that dire yet.
It didn't make him any less concerned though.
It made him angry, not exactly at Ippei, even though directly aiming at him while fully accelerating warranted him to be angry about it.
Mizuho was just angry at himself, because he still didn't know what he did wrong exactly at the moment.
He looked around the room for a bit, seeing the phone there, he picked it up and looked for someone to call.
Somehow, the first person he thought of was Iori Yamada.
Mizuho knew that Ippei's guidance teacher changed this year, because the previous guy moved away or something, it didn't matter at this moment. He had not met the new guidance teacher, so he didn't have the contact of Isao Tanigawa, or maybe Ippei gave him but he didn't care enough.
The only contact Mizuho had with Iori was via Line, but it was good enough.
"Good day, Noda-san." Iori sounded pretty nervous and surprised that he called her, because she didn't know what the matter would be and that it was pretty damn unusual for a guy like Mizuho to call.
"Hey, sorry, Yamada-sensei. Are you occupied right now?" Mizuho said, stuttering a little bit.
Iori looked around the room, pretty confused at the moment as to why Mizuho would ask her that. She was in the teacher's room, relaxing as the other teachers were discussing where they'd be going tonight.
"It's okay, I can talk to you right now no problem. What is it, Noda-san?" Iori replied, bracing for whatever Mizuho had to say.
"Uh... you remember my son Ippei right?" Mizuho started, but then paused before actually revealing.
"Yeah?" Iori uttered for Mizuho to continue.
"He... may have run away from home."
Iori's demeanor changed from a teacher who finally had a break, to a very concerned one.
"Can you explain more of what happened?" Iori said in a clear and pretty stern tone, establishing authority and help Mizuho trusted her.
"Well, it's weird. He came home, and we had a bit of a row." Mizuho explained in uncertain terms, which annoyed Iori a bit, but she wouldn't call him out right now.
"What sort of row? Can you explain further?"
"We had a misunderstanding about the family situation, that's all I'm going to say..." Mizuho replied, it was clear that while he respected Iori, he was not comfortable with telling the whole story, "I was just wondering if... you happen to know where he might go?"
Iori wanted to let out a scream that she had to hold in. This was another curveball she didn't want right now. She thought if anything, the parents should know their kids better than the teachers, but it was a phone conversation and she wouldn't want to be rude.
"Did he just run off on foot, or?" Iori asked for more details.
"He stormed off on a motorbike." Mizuho replied.
That made Iori sucked through her teeth, as it was clearly more difficult to track down if the missing student was on a mode of transport that was fast and with the ability to go anywhere.
Still, she had to calm Mizuho down first, as it was clear he was distressed about it as well.
"I'm sure he'll be fine..." Iori said, yet, she had this thought that suddenly cropped up in her head, the Ryoji incident, but she tried to convince herself it was different.
"Yeah yeah I know you're going to say he's not going to do something stupid, but can you guarantee that?"
It was a question that pierced Iori's heart. She totally could not guarantee that. Also, it annoyed her quite a lot, as it sounded condescending. Yet, she couldn't really blame Mizuho Noda for it. He was in a distressed state after all, and he was very much right in that observation.
"I can't, Noda-san." Iori replied, "I can offer you several suggestions, but I can't help you any further than that."
"It's okay," It seemed Mizuho calmed down a little, "any little bit helps."
"In this case, have you checked what he brought with him?"
"Not much, a payment card."
"Your payment card?"
"His payment card, but I'm usually the one charging."
Iori thought about it for a moment, then she had another pressing question.
"Have you reported it to the police?" Iori suddenly asked once she realized Mizuho had not told her yet.
"No... I thought that would be excessive." Mizuho explained, and it made Iori alarmed.
"Report it! It helps! The patrol will track the bike down!"
Iori suddenly shouted, and she didn't realize that the group of her colleagues were now quietly eavesdropping, wondering what's going on. They got a pretty good gist of it.
"But I don't want him to get into trouble..." Mizuho pleaded, he thought it would be troubling.
"He won't, don't worry about that. He's not doing something illegal. Do it immediately after you hang up." Iori explained.
"Okay..." Mizuho conceded.
"Let's see... the most likely place he'd turn up would be a friend's house."
"Could it possibly be that girlfriend he has? Sachi, something?"
"Yes, Noda-san, it could possibly be that, but I have to say from experience, it's unlikely."
"Eh, why?"
"Being a burden to the family of someone you love is not something a teenager, or hell, adults, would do. It's more likely to be his friend's house."
"Really?..." Mizuho didn't seem convinced at all.
The group of teachers were now murmuring, wondering if this obviously missing student was a concern, and if they should help Iori somehow, but they were observing as she was still on the phone.
"It could also be the nearby parks, although it's not likely with a motorbike... but not an impossibility either. Or an internet cafe, which I believe is more likely."
"Well, in that case I wouldn't know how to track him... There's too many possibilities and I wouldn't know where to start." Mizuho groused again.
"In that case you should definitely report to the police."
Mizuho finally realized that it would indeed be good if he were to go to the police, even if they don't track Ippei immediately.
"That's all I could give you at the moment, don't hesitate to call me again if there's any development, alright?" Iori said once Mizuho went quiet for a while.
"Sure. Thank you for everything, Yamada-sensei."
Mizuho hung up the phone, and Iori still felt weird that he called her that. 'Yamada-sensei'.
Iori sighed, and then turned her chair around and saw the entire group of teachers standing there, looking at her.
"What?" Iori acted like nothing was wrong by instinct, but everyone listened and knew.
"Yamada-san, is it a missing kid case?" Misaki asked, just as concerned.
"Can we help you somehow?" Isao was the one who offered this, and it made Iori slightly bemused.
"Oh, yes, Tanigawa-san..." Iori said, slightly snidely. She was going to be kind and break it to him gently, but she couldn't hold it together anymore, "...it's your student, actually. It's Noda-kun."
"Eh?"
Isao was so shocked, he didn't know what to do next, it was like he was completely blue screened.
Instead of a karaoke party, the teachers were going to have quite a different night...