We made our way down the hallways, following behind Erika. I guess she was going to be the first one to try to speak to this guy. Fern was glancing around cautiously, looking at all the room numbers and lagging behind a little at every turn.
We eventually made it to room #11.
Erika leaned up against the door.
“Hey, is anyone in there?”
No response.
Jaerin looked over at her.
“I think he’s inside, but I’m not sure.”
Erika tried again.
“Hello? We’re here to help you. Please talk to us!”
No response again.
There was no guarantee that he was even in his room. Especially if he was at a point where he felt like he had nothing else to lose.
I looked down at my phone. I might as well wait and see what happens.
POINTS
Your current points: 97,018
Current Rank: #56,294
I was steadily gaining more points with my booster. There wasn’t much reason to invest in more minions at this point since they all had a negligible impact, even in the relatively long term. For the time being, those in the higher ranks of caste one would probably be dominating everything, just from their sheer investing power.
I didn’t care that much about this stuff anyway.
I guess I should spend some money and ‘enjoy life’ as the director used to say. But I don’t have anything that I really wanted.
There was a notification on my phone.
For the first time ever, I received a message from someone other than the school. It was from Sumire, who conveniently stole my number from the public database.
—Where are you right now?
—I’m with Fern and Erika.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
—I asked you where you were, not who you were with.
—I’m on the 53rd floor of the men’s dormitory
I guess she was bored or lonely or both. Maybe she’d have a solution to our problem at hand. I couldn’t really be bothered to try to find or talk to this boy.
*
Sumire walked over to me.
“What’s going on here. Why does it look like you guys are planning a burglary, Akira?”
It was ironic since we were trying to solve a case relating to a burglary. But still, now that I look at the way we were acting, it does look like we’re about to commit a felony.
“It’s a bit of a long story.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got all day.”
I explained the situation to her.
“So how does this relate to us,” she asked.
“Kindness doesn’t need a reward.”
To be fair, that was a pretty hypocritical thing for me to say.
“I’m not interested in helping with this pointless effort, Akira.”
“You’re the one who asked me where I was and what I was doing.”
She looked over at Fern and Erika before sighing.
Walking toward them, she leaned down a little.
“Erika, can you use your [Molasses] on the door?” she said.
“Huh? Why?”
After waiting a short moment, Erika used her personal ability on the door as Sumire instructed.
Then, raising her leg, Sumire kicked straight against the side of the door. A thump echoed through the hall. There was a little creak as the door slowly slipped open, moving in slow motion.
I guess she wanted Erika’s ability just so it wouldn’t cause a commotion, the [Molasses] kept the door from slamming into the wall on the other side.
Fern and Jaerin looked at her in pure awe.
“You can dispel it now.”
With no care, Sumire simply invited herself into the boy’s room, much like how she invited herself into mine. The rest of us followed behind.
…
Leaning against his bed, a boy held his legs in his arms—crying quite unappealingly. Not to enforce masculine stereotypes, but the scrunched look on his face as he cried was definitely not something he’d want his girlfriend to see.
Sumire approached him.
“Hey, who are you? What are you guys doing in my room?”
She turned around and glared at Jaerin.
“You, the girlfriend, talk to him. I’ve brought you this far.”
“W-wait…”
“He’s your boyfriend, if you can’t talk to him then none of us can.”
Dragging me by the collar, Sumire forcefully began to pull me through the door.
Hey now, I would’ve left of my own accord if you had just said.
I guess Sumire had no shame when it came to making bold gestures in public. It was hard to breathe with my shirt choking me. Her nails actually dug into my neck which was likely an outcome of this hurried action, but it hurt a little.
Fern and Erika quickly followed upon watching this awkward scene.
…
Slam.
Sumire closed the door behind us.
“Either they solve this problem on their own or they don’t solve it at all,” she said.
I looked up at her, brushing her hand off of my neck.
“I wanted to ask them some stuff.”
“What? Why, Akira? Don’t tell me you’ve become a softie.”
“Never mind.”
There could’ve been some information regarding Fern’s incident, but I guess it wasn’t that big of a deal. I was just going with the flow anyway.
I fixed up my shirt and blazer after they went through that traumatic sequence. My tie had also gotten significantly tighter. Sigh, I guess I’ll redo it.
Erika looked at us.
“So, um, what do you guys want to do now? I think we should wait until they finish talking at least, just in case something happens. Is that fine with you, Sumire?”
“Is this that relevant to us?”
“I’m just trying to help her. It’s what a nice person would do, isn’t it?”
Sumire was silent for a moment.
I guess Erika’s words did seem a little out of character. Well, maybe Sumire’s initial impression of Erika was more shallow than mine.
We all sat outside the dorm room like a bunch of gangsters.