Heading toward the classroom they wanted, Yumiko and Glenn walked down a hallway that spanned its entire actual length. Stopping, Yumiko was the first to enter the classroom, and behind her the young man who had been walking stood at the door, looking out into the classroom.

As she got closer, she met Ryou and Akiko stubbornly looking at a notebook that had mathematical formulas painted on it. Ryou was tirelessly explaining to the girl standing next to him about the solution to each problem on his homework assignment. Yumiko had no idea how stubborn Ryou was when it came to his studies, as she hadn't assumed about his school knowledge in general due to his frequent absences.

Also leaning against the window was a guy unfamiliar to her, staring meekly into the distance. Whether or not he had anything to do with Akiko and Ryou, the maiden could not know until this guy looked back at her. His calm gaze was memorable to Yumiko as it was directed in her direction, and soon the guy nodded for the two of them to be out of the way.

Looking closer, Yumiko realized that Akiko had actually been looking fondly into Ryou's eyes all this time and not paying attention to his explanations at all. With that, Yumiko guessed that her new acquaintance, if truth be told, was not eager to learn. But that was none of her business, she thought, and took a slight step forward before Akiko noticed her presence.

Akiko had it all over her face: she was glad that she could talk to the young man she was sincerely in love with, and without the help of Yumiko herself. With a gesture of her eyes, she checked on Yumiko's progress.

Yumiko, seeing this picture, was uncharacteristically happy in return, which made her feel warmer. Maybe it was a reaction to a person's dream that had come true, or maybe it was her desires, hidden deep inside her thoughts, which even the owner of those desires was barely able to get to.

Ryou, who had been talking nonstop, suddenly fell silent as he looked at his classmate who had just arrived, and his thoughts instantly shifted to the other things he wanted to talk about in private with her and Glenn. Things about which no one but the three of them knew.

"You showed up much later than usual today."

"I couldn't have arrived earlier."

The guy who had been watching them in front of the window approached them to introduce himself to the young student he seemed to have known before, but chose to remain silent.

"My name is Tomoyuki Yamashita, nice to meet you. I am a long-time friend and classmate of Akiko-chan."

Tomoyuki seemed a decent and pleasant person to the maiden by his kind voice, and Yumiko bowed friendly to him in response.

"Yumiko Sato. I am in this class with Hayashi-kun."

"I see, it seems you're not just here for the usual reason."

"Have you figured out what you're going to do next?" called Ryou attentively, expecting happy results, and then the maiden responded to his question with a nod.

Akiko did not understand the point of their conversation. Gratuitously, the young man noticed behind Yumiko a tall guy who had just entered the classroom. He was a stranger to the rest of the people he hadn't met yesterday. So it was, they hadn't crossed paths before.

"Do I seem to have confused classes?" jokingly wondered Glenn, then glanced at a puzzled Akiko, who hadn't expected the stranger to arrive.

"Glenn Zaliman, nice to meet you."

"Uh... Akiko Akiyama."

Glenn looked back toward Ryou, who was sitting at the desk, shone his confident gaze on him, and addressed his earlier question.

"We have a plan, but first I must talk it over with one man who will help us carry it out."

"Is he in school now? If so, who is that person?"

"She is in the teachers' office. Yumiko-chan, aren't you supposed to know her? She kind of approached you last year."

Ryou was confused as Glenn began to turn toward Yumiko.

"You mean Masumi-sensei? But what does she have to do with the child?"

"Oh, Masumi-sensei..." looked back Tomoyuki, thoughtfully. "I remember this teacher. She teaches chemistry to the kids in the middle grades. Always wearing something important, like robes or something."

"She is the key to directly addressing the Yoshiro family. We should approach her before recess is over."

"Just a second," Akiko interrupted a single thought, glancing in their direction. "I don't understand anything you're talking about here!"

"Yumiko-san and Ryou-san and I have an important case formed. Come with us if you're interested."

"With you...?"

"Dibs on me!" replied Tomoyuki impressedly. "Maybe I can help with something too."

"Huh? In that case, me either!"

A group of schoolchildren entered the teachers' office. Unbeknownst to them, the office, arranged with tables and desks, was empty, with only a few teachers present doing paperwork.

Following Glenn, they approached one of the desks, and behind the wooden wall that blocked the view of the person sitting there, a female figure peeked out.

"Allow me to introduce Masumi-sensei. She has unprecedented relevance to our case, as she is a friend of Yoshiro-kun's mother."

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He made a gesture of his outstretched hand to introduce the teacher to the students, and stepped aside and gave her the floor. The teacher was a young woman of thirty, whose characteristic feature was her long, dark hair. Coughing, she turned their eyes to herself.

"First, I want to thank Yu-chan for helping my foolish apprentice immeasurably. Without you, he wouldn't have moved one step."

Yumiko rejoiced discreetly at her words, but shook her head lightly.

"You overestimate my strength, sensei."

"Mm. Secondly, let people who are not involved in our conversation leave from the room."

Her stern and confident gaze concluded in the students' minds that she would not continue until the extra eyes left them. So, the ducked Tomoyuki lightly clapped a disappointed Akiko on the shoulder, and they departed, leaving the others alone.

A hushed Ryou said within himself how rude it was of the teacher, but he didn't think to question her methods, doubting the meaning and his presence around them. His conscience would not allow him to participate in their conversation, for he thought he had done nothing to be there.

However, curiosity got the better of the young man, and he decided to stay to listen to the teacher's further dialogue.

"Well, I guess I'm allowed to continue. Glenn-kun told me all the news, and I'm up to speed on the sharing. It's worth noting that my friend is on edge. It's the fourth day the organs have been unable to find her son, and the father doesn't show up at home, either, looking. We should get the task done quickly before the young family falls apart because of the disappearance."

"I've prepared a plan by which we can move around like fish in water. Yumiko-chan, you're the central figure."

"By the way, Glenn-kun. After we talk, we need to talk privately. Are you willing to stay and skip one class?"

"All right, Masumi-sensei. I agree."

Yumiko wondered if they had known each other for a long time, looking at the gentle interaction between student and teacher.

Five minutes later, Tomoyuki and Akiko, standing in the hallway, had already waited for their acquaintances and let the ringing bell ring past their ears. Grudgingly crossing her arms, Akiko stuck out her lip and had a menacing look on her face. Looking back at her, Tomoyuki chuckled slightly.

"They seem to be talking about something serious."

"Nonsense! What serious things can accompany seventeen-year-old high school students? My patience is about to burst."

"There are all kinds of people, Akiko-chan. Don't judge others by yourself."

"And anyway, why did you decide to pry into their business? It's obvious to a fool that we won't get any profit."

"You'll get it. You wanted to be with Ryou Hayashi as much as possible. I only gave you an excuse."

"What a savior, man."

Their peculiar interpretation was ended by the sound of the teacher's office door swinging open. Yumiko and Ryou came out of the office, after which Akiko's displeasure instantly changed to joy.

"How did the conversation go?" inquired Tomoyuki.

"We got our questions answered."

"What a mystery you are, hiding secrets! Tell me, it's not secret material!"

Akiko stepped close to Ryou and with a twinkle in her eye she expected him to react back.

"I beg you-u-u!"

"Huh? W-well okay, except we have to hurry to class."

They headed to their classrooms. Ryou briefly told them about the business that had caught up with him and Yumiko over the previous day. He didn't reveal any details, though.

At the end of the school day, Yumiko put her school tools in her backpack and immediately rushed to the bus stop. The sharply cold weather and light precipitation foretold a rare phenomenon for the spring season: spring snow. However, the thought of the cold could not stop Yumiko from hurrying to Glenn's apartment. There, a child was waiting for her, bored alone in the spacious apartment.

Before that, during her penultimate break, she met with Glenn and told him that she knew how to persuade the child to go outside. To this end, she had prepared suitable funds so that when she walked with Yoshiro, she would not refuse him any purchases. Glenn agreed with her idea and rethought his plan, the structure of which did not change.

The overcast weather caught the attention of the students coming out of school in surprise.

"Sato-chan!" Called the maiden following behind a running Ryou. "Let me help you!"

They stopped at the exit. Yumiko turned to face him and shook her head with a peaceful tone, smiling back at him.

"I don't want to neglect your help, Hayashi-kun. I'm sorry, but this is a case I want to put a point on with my own strength. I believe it is the best option for me to find answers to my questions, for I am similar to Yoshiro-kun in many things."

Turning around, she hurried back toward the exit.

Ryou was angry with himself again after hearing his refusal to help. He was tormented by the fact of his uselessness in this matter, and he thought that any other man would have done a better job than he did.

Suddenly, hearing the gentle and concerned voice of a familiar maiden, he looked around. A touched Akiko appeared before his face, tentatively trying to touch his shoulders.

"Ryou-kun, are you all right?"

"Yes... Thank you for worrying about me."

Ryou straightened his back and hoped for the best outcome from Yumiko. He believed in her with all his might.

"Is the weather expected to worsen?" said Ryou, looking up at the sky at the school's front door.

"The weather forecast predicted snow," complemented the unexpectedly arrived Glenn, who was looking confusedly down the side of the street from where Yumiko's silhouette had disappeared.

"Snow, also in April time?" misunderstood Ryou.

"It is a rare natural phenomenon. The important thing is that Yumiko came out without a jacket. There are no jackets in my house, I leave mine in the school checkroom."

"How come..."

Yumiko managed to catch the trolleybus and get to her friend's apartment in a short time. After catching her breath after a long run, she took the key to the door out of her backpack and quietly entered the apartment.

There was dead silence in the house. Yumiko remembered this ambience of serenity, when the silence in the house interrupted the tide of time itself. Nothing had changed in her house for ten years. This silence was characteristic only of houses in which a melody of emptiness had been playing for all eternity.

No light was on in any of the rooms, and as she walked down the hall to the living room, she switched on the light by pushing a button on the wall.

The silhouette of a boy sitting on the couch appeared. He looked at the maiden and rejoiced.

"Sis!", Yoshiro cried out and ran to her.

"I'm back... I promised I'd be back."