Walking back through the same route I had taken to my lunch spot. I saw Watari standing by the main gate of the school. Most of the time I can control my curiosity believing that ignorance is bliss but sometimes when I see things peculiar enough my human nature takes over and I end up putting my nose where it doesn’t belong. Watari standing by the main gate is one of those peculiar things. It wasn’t like he was trying to hide it either so checking it out wouldn’t be the same as eavesdropping or stalking.

As I got closer I realized Watari wasn’t alone. With him there was another student but not from our school. That uniform, it has to be Furei High School. What is a student from Furei High doing here? I walk closer to get some more information. That student is a girl. I can’t see her face but the uniform made it clear. The girl that Haruma saw that day, he said she wasn’t from our school. Did he say which school she went to? No. I didn’t ask him. Why would have I asked him? I was trying to not get involved. Should I get closer to try and see her face?

No, it's best to keep my distance.

Before I could do anything, the girl in Furei High uniform turns around and walks away. I reflexively turn back towards the school building to make sure Watari doesn’t notice me. I mean it’s not like he knows about me but he might have heard about the incident that happened with Akane. Though most people who are talking about it describe me as the dead eyed, creepy looking student in class 2-1, which is a total fabrication of my image.

Now facing the school building I decide to just walk back to the class. I felt a cold wind brushing against my left side as Watari walked past me with his head held high. My vision went from looking at his back to glancing at the west side school roof as if I was expecting someone to be standing there looking down on me, and on Watari. But the roof was empty. Guess Akane went back.

Walking through the hallway, I saw a student crouching down at the stairs that led to the west side school roof. She had her head resting on her hands which were supported against her knees. Her red hair completely covered her profile. I wouldn’t have gotten to see her face even if I wanted to. Finding her like this made it clear that Akane knew about the rumors going around about Watari and she probably saw him talking to that girl from the rooftop.

My legs froze up. I couldn’t take a step forward after seeing her like this. I wanted to say something, but before I could do anything her words from today’s morning resonated in my head.

“In fact, please try not to get involved.” I heard those words in my head clearly. She was right. It’s not my place to say anything. I shouldn’t get involved.

With my mind made, I decide to keep walking. Just as I was about to walk past her I heard a trembling voice, “You saw it too, did you not?”

“What do you mean?” I say without looking back.

“Do not joke with me right now. You know what I am talking about.” her voice is now stern.

“If you are talking about Watari talking to that girl I’ll just say that talking doesn’t mean anything.”

“But she was from Furei High. How would he even know her?”

“Because he’s popular. You should know about it. You both are popular. More importantly, how did you reach the conclusion that he even knows her?” Watari knows that girl. I could tell from the way they were talking but I couldn’t find it in myself to tell that to Akane. “I’m sure he gets approached by a bunch of girls he doesn’t know because he’s popular.” It is reasonable logic, but somehow I knew Akane wouldn’t fall for that.

“I know him. I know how he acts around people. He would not act like that unless it was someone he knew well. I know that because–” her rising voice suddenly disappeared.

“We should get back to the class.” I turn back to find her looking at me with stern eyes. There were no signs of her crying. She was biting her lips. I involuntarily extend my hand.

“I can get up on my own.”

That was the last thing she said before walking past me towards class. The hand that was extended was now lowered into a clenched fist.

I want to do something. But there’s nothing I can do. Even if there was something I could do there’s no point in getting involved. Best thing to do is for them to talk it out and I should leave it to them to do so.

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Right now I have to get back to class.

The door that I have opened everyday without giving a thought was too heavy for me to open today. I could watch Akane sitting on her usual seat through the glass on the door. If I hadn’t found her sitting on the stairs a few minutes earlier I wouldn’t have even thought there was something going on with her. She was there, in her usual place with her usual expressions. No one could even sense something had happened. She has always been great when it comes to hiding herself with her ice cold persona.

“Who we stalking today?” I feel some weight on my shoulders as a familiar voice whispers in my ears.

“Can you stop assuming that I can only be involved in crimes of some kind, Sensei?” I say as I shrug her arm off my back.

“Oh it’s Arima. Sorry I mistook you for some creep looking into my classroom.”

Kitagawa-sensei lied while laughing, she knew it was me. “I mean it’s your class too. You are allowed inside. You don’t have to stand outside.”

“I know that…”

The expressions on Kitagawa-sensei’s face changed, a sad but yet kind smile took over, “So, what happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Do you think I won’t be able to tell if my students are having trouble?”

Well, in my defense she really hasn’t given me reason to believe otherwise. I wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t decided to read my notebook. I mean what kind of teacher looks through the personal properties of their students. That's a super invasion of privacy.

“Akane looks disturbed too. What did you do?”

“Nothing. Why do you think Akane is disturbed? She looks the same as usual to me.”

“Do you think a novice like you can compare to my experience?” she said, putting her arms on her waist and puffing her chest.

“Yeah I guess experience does come with ag–” I suddenly felt the atmosphere getting heavier. The woman who was in front me had transformed into a blood eyed demon.

“Choose your next words carefully.”

“I- I was just saying you do have a lot of experience since you have to deal with so many problem children and I am honored to be your student.” Please don’t kill me, I still have my dream of being useless to society I need to work on.

The atmosphere returned to its original state.

The demon was gone.

“You should be honored.” Kitagawa-sensei said, crossing her arms. “Now, tell me what’s wrong with both of you.”

“I’m not supposed to get involved. So I’ll just do that.”

“You really are stubborn. That doesn’t explain anything.”

“There’s nothing to explain. My only choices are either to get involved or not. So I’ll choose to not get involved.”

“You do realize that what you are saying doesn’t make sense to me, right?” As I try to tell her that it doesn’t need to make sense to her she puts her index finger in front of me. “Let me complete. It doesn’t make sense to me, but if someone told you to get involved doesn’t that mean you are already involved on some level?”

“Already involved?”

“Think about it. If someone is telling you that you shouldn’t get involved doesn’t that mean that they already think of you as someone who’s involved?”

Already involved. If that’s the case then it’s true that I have more than just two choices. That’s just getting ahead of myself. After all, I'm not involved with Akane in any way. Besides, she's already told me to not get involved. Thinking that I’m something in her eyes would be arrogant.

“What would someone who can change personalities do?” A gleeful smile takes over Kitagawa-sensei’s face. “If someone thinks they don’t belong somewhere, what would they do to fit in? Wanna know what I think they should do?”

Before giving me a chance to respond, Kitagawa-sensei places her hand on the door handle, “They will blast their way in.” She slides the door with such force a long bang sound could be heard. Everyone had stopped whatever they were doing and was now staring intently at the door.

Kitagawa-sensei walks inside in her usual manly attitude, I follow her with my head down and find my place besides Akane Sawatari.

“What happened to her?” I could hear someone’s voice coming from behind.

When I finally took notice of my expressions I realized I’ve been smiling this whole time.

“Why are you smiling in such a creepy way? And why is Kitagawa-sensei so full of energy? What did you say to her?” I heard Akane’s usual cold voice.

“She just happened to solve a difficult problem in my presence. Well, at least that’s what she thinks.”

“What are you talking about?”

I turn towards Akane, looking straight into her eyes. “I know how to solve your problem.”

“I have no problems that I need your help with.”

“You wanna know who that girl is and what’s her relation with Watari.” There was a subtle change in her expression. She has gotten better at hiding her expressions but I can still get a reaction out of her.

“I told you to not get involved with me.” She shoots daggers.

“I’m not doing this for you. Right now I’m stuck with you until Kitagawa-sensei decides she had enough fun. I’d rather get involved than keep thinking about this situation.”

“You can just not think anything about me.”

“That’s hard considering we’ll have to keep seeing each other. The only other option is you find out about her on your own.”

“Then I will do it on my own. So you ca–”

“Do you have any ideas where to start?” I have to keep control over the conversation. “You can think of ideas while we follow my plan. If your plan is better we’ll switch. Let me put it this way. Let’s see who can find the truth about that girl first. It’s a challenge. The winner gets one wish the other has to fulfill.” I know Akane won’t back down from a challenge from someone like me, someone she sees as insignificant. That’s my ultimate weapon.

“A bait as plain as your life. Fine, I'll bite.” I can see faint traces of a smile on her lips. “Remember I will not lose to someone like you. What is your big idea anyway?”

A grin took over my face almost instantly.

“Let’s start dating.”