Part 1.

April 15th. 7 am.

Shizuku and Arkalee agreed to meet up in the cafeteria at near dawn.

I decided to wear a ponytail today instead of letting my long luscious blonde hair fly itself supremely this time around.

A different mood was today set and I was feeling happy. As such, as I got into the almighty cafeteria with no one but Shizuku and Arkalee in it, I greeted them with a smile, to which they questioned from a not so far away distance; after all, they were seated right next to the window north-west direction.

"Someone's looking happy today!"

"What happened, Yukishiro...?"

Shizuku exclaimed while on the other hand, Arkalee couldn't exactly process the whole reason behind my current happiness.

Before I answered them, I grabbed a chair from the diagonal table in front of the table that they were in and adjoined the said chair in the middle; ultimately flashing a smile.

"Secret."

Perhaps out of kindness there was already a third cup of coffee alongside the two other cups of coffees that they were sipping on, to whom I asked Shizuku if she was the one who did the favor as I took a seat.

"Is this for me?"

"Why, yes! It's always good to start your day with a coffee! I put it sugarless. Is that okay?"

"More than okay, Shizuku. Well, thank you!"

After thanking her and taking a delicate sip of the sugarless cup of coffee on this new immature dawn, I got to the point. After all, they were waiting for me and in addition to that, it was I who proposed that we would meet here when the others are still asleep for a while.

"Arkalee, did you get into contact with your friends?"

The young basking sunlight was barely grasping her cheeks' surface from the blazing reflection illuminated within the window; contrasting Shizuku who was fully engulfed with a dark environment full of black shadows all over her. Nonetheless, despite the transient expectation of a griefing reply from Arkalee, she answered rather succinctly.

"Sorta... It's a bit hard now because they know that I have a boyfriend... Even though I never told them that..."

"Any idea who might've told them that?"

To this, however, Arkalee answered rather fast, to both of our surprises.

"Daniel! Absolutely no doubt! He knows and well..."

"Wait, Arkalee. Why does he know?"

Although I asked this question, it's not as if the fact that she's in a relationship is something that no one knows about. I daresay that it's the other way around. Regardless, that's for the creatures in our class. Therefore, how can outsiders know?

"He's always around Hyunda!"

"So Hyunda told him? That's cheesy of him."

Frankly, this is time-wasting and as much as I would like to investigate this deeper, I need to get some things across, so I stopped this conversation from stretching itself between Arkalee and Shizuku.

"That aside, that's pretty bad, because they are around you because they are in hope to be your boyfriend, right? If they know, then they might not be as helpful as they were before."

"Hold on, Yukishiro, can't Arkalee just lie to them and say that she has broken up with Hyunda now that he's absent from the school...?"

I was ready to agree with Shizuku here but Arkalee's fairly predictable outburst put a stop to any train of thought involving that slight hope.

"WHAT?! That's ridiculous and false! No, no! We can't!"

"Eh, but Arkalee... Hyunda will never know if you just keep quiet. It's not like he has a way to know anyways."

"That's still lying... Isn't it...?"

"It's for a greater cause. Remember?"

I was hinting at what we had discussed previously and she caught on quickly. We all continued to sip on our coffees rather slowly.

"Okay fine... But we have to be successful!"

"Relax, Arkalee! Remember what I told you? If you follow our orders, then everything will work. Plus, it's just not true, right? You love Hyunda so much and you would never betray him, right? Lying about your relationship status doesn't even matter!"

"It's still... not alright with me, Yukishiro..."

I am losing my marbles over this love-stricken obsessive maiden in front of me with puppy eyes going on and on about the same thing.

Thankfully, Shizuku gave a helping hand to my overall point.

"If I may say, Arkalee... All you have to do is to get your friends to do the task, right?"

"Yes..."

"Sooo, there's no real need to go by your standards, Yukishiro. Try to put yourself in her place for a bit."

"Shiz..."

I tried not to look disappointed, but I think that my face showed extreme disappointment anyways. Nevertheless, I allowed Shizuku to continue...

"Thank you..."

"But still, Arkalee, I don't mean to pressure you, but it's crucial that you do your part and if you can't do your part, then..."

Shizuku progressed as soon as she was done with her coffee; lastly placing the metal cup softly on the table's surface.

"We have to put the plan to practice by noon. It's important that the rumors don't wither..."

"Allow me to add something to that. It's more than important. Because action against these rumors will start soon. Akimiyashika and Hinagiku must've reported to the student council already, so relying on the current rumors isn't a good strategy. We need to deepen the credibility of the rumors."

I don't know much about the student council, but it doesn't take a fool to realize that Carol and Anea will fear them. Speaking of which, I will have to contact them fairly soon. I don't want them to get mixed signals should I stop contacting them suddenly.

"Okay, I get it! I do, but still... There has to be another w---"

I interrupted Arkalee before she could speak more nonsense.

"There isn't. I don't care what you do, just convince them to do the task. If you have something better in mind, then go for it. If you don't, then all these rumors about Ikkiri might as well be lies and the state will be reset. Is that what you want...?"

"No! Uh...! Look, I'll see if I can do something...! Bye!"

Realizing that she had to take action quickly, Arkalee left us all alone in this empty cafeteria.

Our glances chased her figure until she was no longer visible through the doors.

And then, Shizuku cast a sharp glance onto me and spoke.

"Do you think she can do it...?"

"I don't exactly know what motivates her, but if you think about it... The more you mention Ikkiri, the more she feels obliged to bring turmoil to her life. The reason doesn't matter, just keep on mentioning Ikkiri and how it badly affects her and Arkalee will do it."

Does that sum up her entire character? I wonder.

"Yeah, that's true! Where do you think she went?"

"I think she went to her "friends" and gave them some lip service. After all, what better way to wake up than to have a girl standing in front of your dorm's entrance?"

Another sip down the drain; almost out of the liquid.

"Maybe keeping her in check is a good idea... Do you want me to go with her and make sure she doesn't try anything out of the ordinary?"

"That would be amazing news for both of us, Shiz... Well, will you do it?"

"I don't mind doing it. Although, I am supposed to keep an eye on Akimiyashika, right?"

Shizuku was now speaking part of the first step of the overall plan. In order to catch Ikkiri off guard, we first need to strip her of her protection.

"Akimiyashika isn't easy to deal with, but I trust you got this?"

"I am honored you are giving me the hardest task. But... I think Arkalee doesn't really know how to deal with Hinagiku. Plus, won't they suspect me if I am not there with you?"

"Shizuku, that's only a problem if they don't know where I am. That can be rearranged..."

Just as I was about to continue, I saw Sana walking into the cafeteria. She looked somewhat paranoid when she saw me and Shizuku.

Noticing this, I softly spoke to Shizuku; crossing the line of silence.

"We'll talk when it's lunchtime, go after Arkalee."

She simply gave me a thumbs-up and started to leave her seat.

However, Sana was about to leave, even though she had just entered the cafeteria. Without a doubt, she didn't want to talk to me.

Unable to become content with that, I shouted across the cafeteria to Sana who was right next to the entrance door; contrasting the current position of Shizuku, who took the exit door down south. Having two doors here is actually helpful.

"Sana!! How was your sleep?!"

I expected her to run away, but as I closed in on her, she simply decided to start talking.

Nevertheless, she was fairly direct.

"What are you doing here so early in the morning...?"

"It's 7:19 am, Sana. In a little more than an hour, we will be in class. I'm an early girl."

"Right... Alright, I'll see you in class then."

"No, wait. Why don't we eat together?"

"I'm not hungry, Yukishiro, eat by yourself..."

Cynical, I couldn't keep a straight look on my face and further closed in our distance.

"....?"

I leaned on her face from up and down, smelled her hair, examined the height of her eyelashes, saw the glimpse in her eyes, and attempted to determine her mood.

"You... haven't been sleeping a lot recently... Your eyebags are heavy and they feel hollow. Are you okay? Do you nee-"

"God, you are so creepy!"

"Sana, don't be like that. I'm just worried about your mental state."

Angry at my words, she forcefully left and slammed the door to my face, causing my eyes to widen from the disrespect.

Equally, I kicked the door so she could hear the resonating sound.

Part 2.

1 pm.

We regressed to the cafeteria in our dorm along with the rest of the other girls in order to have lunch.

After Arkalee and Shizuku had collected her meals, they met up with me, who was at the furthest table on the east; far away from all the other girls.

Honestly, I just wanted to create a big distance between Akimiyashika, Hinagiku, and Ikkiri. The rest of the girls are pretty irrelevant to me. Though... I guess I've been far too interested in Sana recently. Someone connected to Omega deserves my obsessive radius.

Immense sunlight penetrating the windows of silky translucent glass invited a warm temperature to the fairly abnormally large white-colored cafeteria.

It didn't even take a single second for Arkalee to receive my bombarding attention in regard to her task earlier.

"So? How did it go?"

"Hmmmmm... It will work!"

I'm skeptical now... The way Arkalee reluctantly said her words is making me question if she was actually successful or not.

"It will work, Yukishiro."

But as soon as Shizuku confirmed the success, I calmed down.

"Perfect. I've contacted Carol. We will meet when the classes are over. Can you come with me, Shizuku?"

"Me? Of course--"

"Can I come too...?"

Shily, Arkalee asked, to which I gave the appropriate answer.

"No. The talk will be very quick anyways. Furthermore, we will take action tomorrow. The rest is done today."

Partial to this, I was eating my meal very fast, as it was plain old noodle soup.

The food here isn't the greatest, but I've heard it's worse in the boys' dorm.

Olivia isn't cruel but she isn't exactly bright. She's not interesting at all.

"I'm feeling a bit pressured, are you sure it's gonna work...?"

"Arkalee... If I say it's going to work, then it's going to work. Just get your pawns to do their thing and it will ultimately work."

That aside, I additionally said something; though partial to this current topic.

"Liyuga will be coming to the classroom this noon. I would appreciate it if you didn't do anything out of the ordinary, Arkalee."

"Like randomly crying for no reason."

Shizuku added that comment perfectly.

In response, Arkalee replied rather meekly alongside a certain high degree of sadness.

"It's not random... I just think about him all the time and it makes me super sad when he's not around."

I'm starting to feel like I'm out of emotion when it comes to Arkalee.

On the other hand, Shizuku, who is in front of her, rapidly eating the noodles, is always offering her some sort of consolation.

"It's going to be alright! The faster he clears the exam, the faster he comes back! And if he loves you, he will do anything to ace the exam quickly!"

"But that's kinda the thing... He has... failed all exams thus far... God, I'm so anxious, please tell me what can I do to make him be successful this time around..."

Another thing that I'm starting to feel is boredom. Their exam seems way more interesting than whatever is happening here. But the consequential degrees are most likely uncomparable.

With that said, we kept on eating until it was time to return to the classroom; where Liyuga awaited.

Part 3.

Side by side, Shizuku and I cast our sights on Liyuga, who was in the podium, standing proudly. Lus and Kanawari were by his side as Liyuga was their technical witness.

Arguably speaking, this part of the day was the part that I was waiting for the most.

"I would like to just say that what happened to Yulia was extremely unfortunate and I would like; if possible, for every single one of you to tightened your emotional bonds so this doesn't repeat itself."

I think it's very impressive how Liyuga is in a crowd of females only and he's not losing his composure. Either that or he's simply trying too hard.

Nonetheless, none of us replied to that.

Moving forward, Lus took charge, since Yuka-sensei was just observing the scenario enroll casually from her seat.

"I would like all of your attention, right now."

This part of her speech caused all eyes to fall on her without a second thought.

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It's rather ironic how the spotlight should be on Liyuga, but Lus went out of her way to stand in front of him; despite Liyuga being the key figure here.

"Based on the previous witnesses and their lack of contribution, something needs to change here."

"Lus, sweetie, what are you up to?"

"I am aiming to create success here and I think that simple questions towards the witnesses are lackluster. That's why I already asked Liyuga a favor up ahead in time."

Despite saying that to Yuka-sensei, we were all undoubtedly curious about the method she had in store. I remained silent because if there is positive information and clues that could lead to Omega, then that's all I need.

Lus then turned around and faced us as a whole once again.

"It is with pleasure that I announce that there is visible footage of Yulia that we can all see."

Upon hearing this great news, we all got excited, since we have been hoping for success here.

Chatter began and I turned right to Shizuku and expressed my humble excitement.

"No way, no way, no way...! This could be it! I'll finally know who did it!"

Certainly, certainly, I was bursting with happiness. If I am able to see the footage, then Omega will show up! There's no doubt here!

"I know! I know! I'm so excited too!"

Midst this, however, Sana was glancing at us with a preoccupied horrifying glance. Naturally, she isn't taking this well, because we are celebrating this moment for the wrong reasons.

"May I now have your attention? If that's alright."

Switching positions with Lus, Liyuga came forth and spoke to the rest of us.

"Yes, it's true that here in this pen-drive, I have extremely good information in regards to that event. However, I would like for all of you to not raise your hopes too much..."

"I'm sorry, but what exactly do you mean by that?!"

Repulsed, I erupted from my seat and demanded an answer immediately from Liyuga, who calmly interjected my rage.

His soothing reply didn't calm me down but it informed me of something.

"You'll see. It's something that the student council wasn't even aware of until we checked the logs. What a damn disaster this is..."

Unable to fully intercept what he was referring to, all that I could witness was his disappointed face as he handed Lus the pen drive.

"May I?"

"Of course. Let me just lock the screen for a moment."

It's a shame that while inserting the pen drive onto the main computer, the screen had to be locked. It's helpful, but I would've liked to see what other contents the student council's pen-drive had in store.

Regardless, I couldn't stop stomping on the ground mercilessly due to the fact that Liyuga didn't even come close to telling me what had happened exactly.

I wasn't the only one troubled by this as no one else but Liyuga, Lus, and Kanawari knew what the pen-drive really had for us. In other words, they got it earlier.

Around thirty seconds later, Liyuga spoke to us all once more, deliberately announcing that something was about to begin.

"Usually, this would be classified as very secretive information as it revolves around the cameras and what they essentially do; which is to observe behaviors that cross the boundaries. Nonetheless, as a student council member, I have the authority and as such, I will now open all the footages that the school had around that day."

At long last, the screen was visible to every single one of us now that Yuka-sensei had turned off the lights which allowed the contrasting bright illumination emitted through the projector to gain the spotlight.

On the screen, there was a log entry with the day of the festival in it.

After being inserted, a compilation of camera footages; easily going beyond a hundred was shown which blew us immediately.

"What the hell..."

"I had no idea..."

"All this time there were so many..."

Reactions aside, this was fairly predictable. A school of this prestige will naturally be tight when it comes to security.

Still, to have this many cameras... It's not something to feel comfortable with.

"I've concluded that the correct method to finding who the orchestrator is... is no other than monitoring every action Yulia took that day that is visible to all the cameras."

Yet despite saying that, Lus looked to not be done whatsoever. After all, in face of more than 100 cameras containing endless footage, there had to be a way to track it down.

"There are 150 cameras in total, according to Liyuga. It would be extremely time-wasting if we looked at every single one of them at normal speed, so I propose we start with the first camera and play it at x 32 speed. I've done the calculations and every camera should take around 5 minutes. However, 150 cameras multiplied by 5 is 750 which in hours and minutes is amplified to 12 hours, so with that said..."

"Lus, we are not going to spend 12 hours here."

"That's right, it's an insane task."

Although she was being objected to, Lus didn't give up and spoke elegantly with an even more confident attitude.

"I was just stating the statistical facts. The obvious path of action here is to have a starting point. And just like every one of us, we all have a starting point in the morning."

"The dorm!"

Almost every single one of us except a few and most surely me shouted that.

But Sana made sure to say something that would speed up the process here.

So, she spoke timidly at first but resonating, her voice volume continuously grew louder with each word.

"You... should start at the cafeteria near block E... The timestamp is 8 am. Please."

Showing some compassion, Lus spoke in Sana's direction; as the rest of us assaulted Sana with our glares.

"I know this isn't easy for you, but... if you'd like, why don't you come here in front and input the timestamps? You were Yulia's best friend, so I can only assume you were with her the majority of the day."

"I would be obliged to."

Without showing any signs of backing down from the task and instead of being fully resolved into doing what was right to do, Sana went to the computer and sat right next to Yuka-sensei.

Her table was fairly crowded as Sana, Lus, Kanawari, and Liyuga were all over it.

The next hour went exactly as Sana told us and from the constant observation, she was not lying whatsoever.

At 8 am, Sana and Yulia met up in the cafeteria near block E. Then a few minutes later, Hyunda came into the cafeteria, but we deducted nothing about that. In the exact meantime when Hyunda came in, Sana got a message from Daniel to which she had to leave, so she was not aware of what happened at that time. After some talk between Yulia and Hyunda, she contacted someone. Sana had asked everyone around here in this classroom if she called any of us.

We all said she did not.

Which was very weird because who else would she be calling? Well, Daniel, I think. That would make the most sense, because it is her boyfriend we are talking about, after all.

Still, I couldn't help but notice the extreme anxiety on Yulia's face. Nonetheless, Hyunda was standing in a position opposed to the camera itself so I couldn't see what his expression was like. If it was entirely based on this, then Hyunda is Omega. However, more content started to arise.

Hyunda made a call to; again, not someone currently present and upon hearing that call, Yulia's anxiety... vanished, and instead she was smirking to Hyunda who shrugged. This isn't the behavior of Omega... Most likely, the one behind that call is Omega and he is toying with Yulia's emotions...?

How I wish there was voicing in these footages.

Anyways, Hyunda did something rather eye-catching. He started to clap which further brought Yulia's anxiety to the surface once more. Again, this was constantly pointing out about the probability of Hyunda being Omega, but I couldn't link anything to his actions. More like, his actions made no sense to me whatsoever or anyone that was watching.

Soon after, Yulia texted someone which was Sana, as Sana herself said. Yulia asked where Sana was; according to Sana. I cannot fathom why her location is relevant.

Now, Omega would need constant monitorization on Yulia, so the fact that Yulia got up and left, right afterward and Hyunda did nothing whatsoever at that time except starting to fall asleep on the table with his forearms crossed, brings me to the conclusion that they must've had a talk about something that was feeding up Yulia's anxiety.

BUT WHAT EXACTLY?!

"Sana, may I ask you something?"

This was when we were still on the timestamp of 8:20 am.

"...What...?"

All eyes were on me this time around so I quickly got to the point.

"As you might've noticed, in that conversation, Yulia looks rather anxious. Why do you suppose that's the case?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be watching this..."

"........"

I kept my silence and so, the scenario alike moved on; as our attention was focused on Yulia's movements to which Sana said that Yulia was next seen subsequently after in the edge of block D 25 minutes later.

Sana said she was attending an event and Daniel was there too. This is fairly normal. Yulia, however, looked like she was trying too hard to keep her posture up.

Again, there's just nothing here that tells me the source of her anxiety. Her boyfriend is there, her best friend is there, so what's the fucking deal here? What am I missing?

We also agreed that we would limit ourselves to following Yulia's movements on camera only and no one else's because it would be too time-wasting otherwise. Nonetheless, at the time, I still did not understand what Liyuga was referring to earlier when he mentioned those disappointing words.

And then, the most awkward thing happened. It should not be possible, but Yulia and Daniel had to go somewhere, but it was a place that had no cameras around it. Never mind the place, the whole area was an edge that disappeared as soon as they both turned to the left.

"Huh? Where did they go?!"

"I can't see them anymore!"

"Liyuga, what is the meaning of this...?"

Extremely revolted, practically everyone verbally assaulted Liyuga with aggressive words in regards to this.

Liyuga, to us, clarified our doubts.

"I'm afraid that's no longer the school's responsibility. What they did, was highly prohibited in the first place. It's a forbidden area to enter because it's not under vigilance. But I don't understand... There is supposed to be a guard there at all times... What is going on.........."

This is completely new. I had no idea that there was a prohibited area in this school in the first place. This school is gigantic; therefore I haven't explored it completely, but this was within your calculations, Omega...

Plus, there is a supposed guard who is supposed to guard such a prohibited area yet the guard was apparently not doing his job...

"Girls, let's move on. We can't be here forever. An hour has already gone by!"

Upon hearing Yuka-sensei's command, we continued our examination.

Yulia took many events and nothing out of the ordinary happened. As a matter of fact, she looked extremely happy.

This kept on not making any damn sense, because, how can you kill yourself when you feel so happy? I know, I know.

It's Omega's punchline. The contrast. That's what I'm here for and I won't take no for an answer.

Something happened at 11 am, however. Yulia and Sana came into contact. Shortly after, they met up at the Taco Bell restaurant. Their talk was very enthusiastic which further brought the question to the table... What happened?

A few minutes later, Arkalee came in and joined them. And very soon after, they hurried to the plaza.

No matter how I keep looking at this, this is extremely average and not suicide material.

Is this actually the footage?

"Yukishiro..."

"Hm?"

Almost silent to each other, Shizuku and I started a dialogue as we observed the camera movements from afar.

She looked fairly skeptical as I was abundantly skeptical too.

"What is this?"

"That's what I'm thinking... It just doesn't add up, but relax, as long as we keep tracing her movements, everything will become clear."

Yes.

I'm aware that it doesn't make sense now, but it will. That's why I'm not paranoid.

Sure enough, my paranoia was actually something that was going to be born extremely soon.

We saw Yulia, Sana, and Arkalee walk into the gigantic crowd because they were holding a concert and there are just so many students in this school and so... Capturing Yulia, Sana, and Arkalee were realistically impossible because the cameras were focused on the concert, not on the damn crowd! Are you serious?! What is this bullshit?! So inconvenient!!

And that was when it happened.

I finally understood the reason behind Liyuga's disappointment.

Given that Lus already knew this ahead of time, she walked towards the entrance door and turned the lights on; because the screen was fully black.

Some of us were having trouble understanding what was happening as we were seeing pitched black. While some of us immediately understood what had happened without having to resort to Liyuga's upcoming explanation.

As for me, I stood up with a pale face; unable to process why I was watching a compilation of cameras full of black ink only.

"What is the meaning of this? Continue to show the footage..."

"Well, we can't, and here is why: a blackout happened."

"What do you mean a blackout happened?! How am I supposed to believe that obvious lie?! Are you covering for him?!"

"No, I'm not! Just listen, I have an explanation for this!"

Although I was forcefully inserting my opinion, no one really seemed to differ because we were all expecting an answer out of this; so once again, our eyes were on Liyuga, who grabbed a nearby chair and sat in the middle of the podium. Swiftly taking a deep breath and adjusting his tight red tie, he spoke to us; rightfully.

"Please sit down?"

"I'm fine like this. Talk!"

"I'm not defending him, but can you speak a bit lower, Yukishiro? There's no reason to be hostile."

I was ready to intercept Lus' words, but Shizuku held my right hand and smiled. For some reason, that soothing bright smile of hers was enough to bring me to reason.

She said some additional words outside of that single action.

"The more you listen, the closer you'll get... Don't give up now, yeah?"

"...I guess I lost my composure..."

After I retook my seat, everyone looked at Liyuga. Upon noticing this, he desperately clapped his hands and gave a very honest speech.

"Ladies, I am gonna be very honest with all of you, because I am not in the mood to over-complicate this. The blackout and what happened to your friend is not a coincidence."

We already know that damn it...

"By blackout; I was referring to the power source of the cameras being externally drained. Allow me to explain. What happened probably wasn't a true blackout but just power drainage."

"I'm sorry, could you be more specific...?"

Tateyana spoke for all of us, basically.

Liyuga scratched his head and finally spoke once more.

"How do I say this in simple terms... Well, you know how if you don't pay the bills, you just have no access to the power of whatever you want to use? For example, if you don't pay the bills, you don't get to use water."

"Wait, are you saying that the school forgot to pay the bills...?"

Lost and shocked, we pondered over the possibility of that being the case as soon as Akimiyashika finalized that question.

Thankfully, Liyuga gave a negative answer.

"No way it did. But... It's not too different."

"Huh...?"

We all questioned what exactly Liyuga was getting at. I think his obvious intention was, to be honest, but he must've realized the low credibility of the truth and is trying to put it into real words.

"I'm saying that between 6 pm and 8 pm... there was very high inflation of taxes specified towards the control panel of all the cameras."

"I think I get where he's going at, so I'll take it from here if you don't mind."

"Yes, that would be nice..."

Feeling hopeless, Liyuga allowed Yuka-sensei to continue with the explanation and she said words that made a whole lot of sense to us yet nonetheless did not increase the credibility of the overall thing.

"Although I don't know how it's very possible that the school was processed by an outside force when it comes to the financial department of vigilance. It may sound ridiculous, but... that's all I can think of. Liyuga, what does the principal have to say about this? Has he said anything?"

Essentially, what they are trying to say is that there's a supposedly outside force that has financially taxed the school SPECIFICALLY in the department of vigilance...? I cannot accept this, it's full of holes! How does one even manage to do that?!

Such were my thoughts as I didn't buy the scenario until a clue to the truth arose.

"He did, but he specifically told the student council members to not tell what really happened. Look--- no one is supposed to know what really happened as the principal; although he gave us a very clear answer, he does not know the continuous origin of the source of the problem here. At maximum I can tell you, it's an outside financial force."

"What.... is that even supposed to.... mean.....?"

This time around, it wasn't me who got up from my seat, but instead, it was a certain individual who was clinging her fists rather desperately and meekly. This individual, who had been somewhat apathetic recently, started to show emotion; but the more dark kind of it.

She practically had tears in the corners of her eyes and she was looking at Liyuga like he was the source of the blame here.

"It means what it means... You might think of me as heartless, but the other members would not even tell you a single thing about this. Just be glad about the fact that I am..."

"Do... Do you realize what you are telling me...?"

"......"

We kept our silence and Sana continued despite Liyuga's brief silence.

"You are telling me that the school is partially responsible for this fucker's freedom and CONVINIENTELLY at the exact time it happened, there was power drainage?! What the hell is this shit?!"

"......."

Hopeless, Liyuga couldn't deliver an answer and instead looked down. Lus and Kanawari reached out to Sana by walking to her table; to whom Hinagiku and Akimiyashika also joined in.

"Sana, are you alright...?"

Asked Hinagiku who was finding trouble on how to solve the situation at hand. If I had to say, Sana looked fairly hostile and that's why I stopped Shizuku from getting out of her seat.

Yuka-sensei also realized that something was very wrong with Sana as she spoke aggressively subsequently.

"No, I'm not alright! What would you all know?! All you do is follow orders and pretend you actually care about what happened to Yulia, but you fakes just don't care! All of you are made out of plastic!"

Her words resonated so hard that our expressions soured faster than ever.

And she did not even give us a chance to talk back and continued.

"You don't approach me because you care about me, you just feel guilty if you don't take care of someone that has been through a rough time!"

"Sana, no one ever said such word---"

"Shut up, shut up! I can't stand the sight of you people! I am so done with this school! How can it be so corrupt to the point of helping out in the success of this horror show?!"

Forcefully after, Sana started to grab her empty bag without putting her material back inside the bag and stormed out of the classroom.

"Sana, wait!"

Yuka-sensei attempted to stop her but she was too late. By the time she had gotten into Sana's range, she had stormed out.

"I'll go after her!"

"I'll go with Aki too!"

Ready to leave the classroom and chase after Sana, Akimiyashika, and Hinagiku attempted to run off in hope of making things right, but before they could fully execute that, Lus gave them a piece of advice.

"Hold up. I don't think you should go after her right now."

"She's clearly hurt, Lus! We can't have her stay in grief any longer, you know how badly that could damage her mentality."

Sincerely, I was enjoying this so much that I had forgotten that I was supposed to redirect my rage to Liyuga, but as it stands, I'll see through this conversation.

After all, the more broken Sana is, the better. She's connected to Omega, after all.

"You have a point, Akimiyashika. I simply don't think that she's stable enough to be properly repaired. If you go after her, you'll just feed the image that she has of us."

"So you suggest that we do nothing...?!"

"That is what I'm suggesting. I'm not saying you are Sana, Akimiyashika, but... Try to put yourself in her shoes. How would a pity party feel like right now?"

"It's not a pity part--"

Lus rapidly interrupted Akimiyashika who was on her tracks.

"Only you think so. She will view it as a pity party. Emphasize a bit."

"......."

Akimiyashika remained silent which then gave Kanawari the window of opportunity to speak something in addition to what Lus had said.

She softly crept in from behind Lus' back and leaned on her right should to which Lus did not mind whatsoever.

"She's been through a lot! And she's right. This school is helping this horror show. Don't you think so, Liyuga?"

Kanawari, Lus, Hinagiku, and Akimiyashika were all standing on the entrance door yet all eyes were now on Liyuga who was lying with his face downcast on the floor while seating in a chair in the middle of the podium. Midst this, our teacher was doing absolutely nothing.

She either has a tremendous lack of initiative or she likes our little arguments.

"Can I go now? I'm not feeling very competent, sorry."

Liyuga's words were understandable, however, I had to keep a keen track of him because there is something that I have to get out of him no matter what.

And Yuka-sensei's upcoming words made sure that I could successfully

"I'm suspending class for the day. This means that you can go now, Liyuga."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shown this; it didn't contribute to anything, at all."

After he apologized with a bow to the whole class, he started to leave.

Yuka-sensei then gave the final words of the day to us; who was on the edge of our seats. Having the class suspended was great news for me.

"Classes will resume tomorrow. I'll check on Sana later and please, be mindful of her. She's one of you!"

"Yes!"

Part 4.

Shizuku accompanied me who was stalking Liyuga from a ten-meter distance.

While the others hurried to the dorm, Shizuku stood by my side and so, we started to dialogue as we stalked Liyuga who was going back to block A; all the way to the north. We walked on a prestigious white mosaic floor full of elegance adjoined with a barrage of brilliantly illuminated windows reflected by the sunset's light.

"Uh, we have to meet up with Carol and Anea soon, Yukishiro..."

"I know! But I can't let this chance go!"

"...Don't freak out, but... I just don't see how a boy from our class could have financial ties to the point of financially disrupting our school's taxes. It's ridiculous to even think about it."

Even I couldn't ignore this.

However, I proposed a hypothesis to Shizuku, who is by my right side.

I erupted my right index finger and pointed out my thoughts.

"He has help from the outside, that's the only logical explanation."

"Alright, but to tax a school like this and to make it work, is a little bit..."

"It doesn't add up! That's why I need to get the truth out of Liyuga! If I go to the principal, he definitely won't tell me..."

"And you think Liyuga will, Yukishiro? Sigh."

We both sighed, however, I didn't lose hope regardless.

"Can you go by yourself and talk to Carol and Anea, Shizuku?"

Despite my simple request, Shizuku started to freak out and stopped her tracks for a bit; with a sour expression on her face.

"Now look here you... You gotta decide. Either you prioritize getting information out of Liyuga or you go and meet them with me. I can't do all of this by myself."

"Gosh! Let's just reach out to Liyuga and then meet up with them as soon as possible."

As such, we started to run towards Liyuga who was being bombarded by the attention of girls along the way. We were closing in on him until he noticed us and turned his back to the girls and faced us.

"What are you two doing here....? You should be aiming to comfort Sana..."

Now... This is the part where I use Sana's mental state to my advantage.

Therefore, with a sharp glance towards Shizuku, we began our advancement.

We ignored the spiteful looks from the girls who were going in and out of the collateral staircases and spoke.

"I think that we can offer her a better comfort if we give her the truth..."

"Don't tell me that you two want to know what the principal told us...?"

We put our serious faces on and looked at Liyuga who had no choice but to reply to our silence.

"I won't. The principal's orders are absolute. It could cause a weird scale of rumors and as far as I'm concerned; we have a very BIG one to deal with right now. No one stops talking about her. You know to whom I'm referring, right?"

Adjusting our facial expressions, we resembled fear; though fake.

Shizuku spoke in our supposed defense.

"....So word has gotten out about what Ikkiri has been doing...?"

"....How do you think she's going to react, Shizuku...?"

"I don't know but I hope she doesn't take it out on us like last time..."

We expected Liyuga to buy some of this but his face was full of disbelief.

He slicked his hair back and little and spoke.

"A companion of mine will take care of the issue. The student council isn't a one-man team anyways. Do you have anything else to say or am I free to go?"

Liyuga made zero comments about the actual situation. But it's alright.

Tomorrow, that's when it will hit the floor.

Nonetheless, I couldn't allow Liyuga to go away so quickly, so I told him another suggestion that I had in mind.

"This is different so I was hoping you could help me with it."

"Hm?"

"You said a guard was supposed to be guarding the prohibited area, right?"

"Yes, I did say so."

"Good. Could you arrange a meeting for me and him or is it a her?"

"It's a him. He's also really old. I'll see what I can do. Is that all?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Bye then. And please be more civilized. All of you."

".............." x2.

I am fairly certain that Shizuku and I cursed on Liyuga's back the moment he turned around on us and continued his long path towards block A.

Our cynical expressions told anyone that we were not fine with being treated like some nuisances.

Ultimately, Shizuku brushed it off and prompted the suggestive path of action that we should take.

"That's something, right?"

"Yes, I think. That area deserves to be inspected. That so-called "prohibited" area..."

"Right. But not right now, please? We have to meet up with them!"

"You have a point, Shizuku. Shall we get going then?"