With the first step taken out of the school grounds, reality struck Amatsuyu as he started walking in a loose direction to the right. Akira was following right behind him with a calm demeanor, in his head the situation was nothing special.

With the power he held, there was nothing for him to really worry about, even if the person Amatsuyu was talking about didn't exist.

Although it would've made him angry.

Amatsuyu was in a bit of a crisis as he had no idea of how to carry out his mission in reality. Where was he supposed to take it? He didn't actually know any person who fixed pens, and to the extent he had promised. Amatsuyu tried to take his thinking down a couple of branches, but always ran into the same problem in the end. Lack of information.

Without any actual knowledge of Akira and his unknown ability, there was no way for him to bring Akira down, even saving Kaharu would be improbable.

Right in front of them was a patch of green, to the left a shopping street and to the right, a residential area.

- Where should I go?

If I go forward, into that forest, there's no way I can take it anywhere, it's not like my acquaintance would be in there, I can't go to the residential area either. It's way more believable from Akira's perspective, but I can't take any steps from that because I don't know anyone there.

I guess that leaves me with only one choice...-

Akira observed the ground as he witnessed Amatsuyu's very hesitant feet turn to the left, which made him nod to himself slightly. Displaying a frown on his face, Akira asked

"So, tell me 'cause I'm kinda curious, how did you become a delinquent?"

Amatsuyu looked back in surprise, he answered

"Ah, I don't know, I was fed up with myself and the world around me so I revolted."

Akira let out a hum as he responded

"I see, that seems kinda childish. Maybe it's true that delinquents are the most child-like out of teenagers."

Amatsuyu tied his fist as he thought

- Does this guy have no filter!? -

He was about to make a comment about it before he suddenly stopped himself in his actions, and thought

- Wait, no filter?

Doesn't that mean that I can…?

If I could use that to fish out information out of him, then I'd maybe be able to figure out something -

Amatsuyu tried to relax his muscles as much as he could by lightening the weight they held on his movement, and looked back with a relaxed face.

The aura Akira emitted proved to give him the opposite feeling inside, despite Akira displaying a very careless facial expression, there was something utterly menacing about him. Akira scratched his worried cheek as he said

"So, Akira, what do you think about school?"

Akira paused for a moment as he stared at the unreliable eyes of Amatsuyu with a strange look. Amatsuyu's mental compartment took a break completely as he stared back very cautiously. Even though he'd presented the theory before where if you touched or broke Akira's possessions you'd disappear, that didn't have to be true.

What if all that was necessary for a disappearance was Akira's thought to wish for that? Amatsuyu broke into a cold sweat in that brief moment where Akira prepared himself to speak.

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Akira's eyes turned to hatred as he said

"I have no grievance with school itself, but I despise teachers. I wish they'd all die and never interact with me ever again."

Amatsuyu nodded his head slightly as he let out a "hmm", but quickly turned his head forward again. Bearing the sight of those eyes was too much to justify remaining his look there. But the statement gave Amatsuyu a different impression from before, Akira seemed a lot more composed before, now his veil of carelessness had been replaced with a mask of vile hatred.

That wasn't the most interesting point to Amatsuyu though as he picked up something very reminiscent about what he'd said

- I feel like I remember this from somewhere… -

Amatsuyu decided to ask another question try and test out a newly-formed theory he'd gotten. He asked, now unintentionally avoiding eye-contact with Akira

"You know the pen that made you hate Kaharu? Did it mean a lot to you?"

Akira eyed Amatsuyu for a moment before he decided to answer the question, as just walking would've been boring otherwise. He answered

"Obviously it did. My grandfather bought me that pen as a gift on the last day of school to do my summer homework. It's also the pen that… Nevermind.

So when your 'friend' or whatever stepped on it, I instantly just--

Hated him…"

Amatsuyu went quiet as he quickly commented

- He's awfully quiet… Did he go into reflection? Now? -

Amatsuyu also found it odd that Akira was reluctant to develop that story about the pen further, as he'd had no problems spilling his feelings before. It must've been something so personal that not even his worst enemy would be allowed to hear it.

Amatsuyu had gotten the clue he wanted though and started thinking

- 'Hated him'? There must be something related to that…

I know! -

Amatsuyu realized that the fear he had before might've been the case, despite not wanting it.

- This has to be related to the case when the teachers at our school disappeared last week! If we go by that logic, then what ties those two cases together isn't the touching or breaking of his belongings…

It's hatred!

He hated teachers, and then Kaharu.

But how did they disappear? Did he think it in his head? No, he's made it clear that he doesn't know about the powers at all. Otherwise, he wouldn't have spilled so many details in his answers by will.

Are his unawakened powers that strong that they just wipe anybody that crosses him?

With the aura he's putting out, that may actually be the case.

But even then, the teachers returned eventually, and not all disappeared. If they would've, that would've

What does tha------ -

*TAP TAP*

Amatsuyu jumped up in surprise as he let out a squeaky

"Y-Yes?"

Akari had tapped him on the shoulder without hesitation and said

"What's going on? I'm getting bored, and we've been walking for a while, when are we reaching your contact?

Or do you not have one?"

His eyes pierced Amatsuyu as he realized something more. Something far more terrifying than the aura Akira had, something worse than his stare and something more haunting than Akira's subtle smirk of confidence. The realization he'd made, the new theory Amatsuyu had formed, meant that Amatsuyu was in trouble. If he managed to upset him enough, he would also disappear.

That task would be a lot more arbitrary than 'if you touch Akira's things, you disappear', which instantly made things feel way more distant and imposing than before. Like a boxer with a long reach against a short-limbed boxer, They were technically in the same ring but the boxer with a long reach would be able to hit devastating blows from a distance without a problem.

Suddenly when Amatsuyu looked back, he saw the image of a crow-like shadow looming over him. Ready to strike at any moment, but also impossible to touch. He decided to ask one more question to test his theory's validity, he said

"We-We're soon there.

Let me ask, were all of your teachers absent recently?"

Akira got a confused look again as he stared at Amatsuyu, and was about to make a comment, but stopped himself as he realized something. He displayed his darkest smirk to Amatsuyu as he turned around and answered

"Yeah, I suppose they did last Thursday. How come?"

"Ah, no, nothing."

Amatsuyu immediately went back to thinking as they passed a convenience store to their right, there wasn't that much left of the street they were walking on. He thought

- Thursday? I'm pretty sure ours happened on Monday…

Maybe a random amount of people in that category, which is now teachers, disappear? But they're all from the same place, and they come back eventually…

Maybe it's location-based!? So all of the people in that category disappear in a certain location, and they come back because the location switches so they get 'freed'.

Wait… Doesn't that mean that Kaharu will never get out?

Because Akira hates teachers as a whole, so there are people that can switch out with each other, but he doesn't hate delinquents as a whole, he only hates Kaharu…!

There's no one for him to switch out with! He can't get out! -

Amatsuyu got a face of terror as he snapped out his thinking-mindset and looked forth, which caused him even more despair.

Smirking with something in mind, Akira was preparing himself to say something as they both stopped suddenly.

What Amatsuyu saw in front of him…

"Hey, Amatsuyu, we've reached the end of this street, haven't we? How long really is it?"

was the crude reminder that his thinking hadn't led him to any conclusion yet. Despite finding information and drawing conclusions, the end of his road had come as a completely ordinary vending machine took up his sight.

Amatsuyu stared quietly.

…