God…this place is so different…

Is this button still used to follow and fav? (Caresses the next button)

Just kidding. It's been a while. A real while. Why?

Well, it wasn't writer's block…at least for this story. This chapter has been ready for a few months ago but I wasn't really satisfied with it. Which is why I kept adding and adding stuff and the week turned into a month.

That and that I now have like a shit ton of drabbles for new stories. I easily get sidetracked in writing.

And there's still no volume 12 but that has nothing with to do with it.

I hope you can forgive this shmuck and that you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 11 "Kawa-what?"

The midterms were converging on us right before our eyes. Which means that apprehensive faces that were doing their best to marathon all the contents of mid-year were appearing rather frequently in my class.

For that reason, I found myself in a session of night-time study. Though I already finished reviewing all the test material in front of me so I was now free of that hell. I groaned and stretched, lifting my arms over my head.

The hands of the clock were pointing close to twelve. I nodded.

I stood up from my chair and grabbed a black jacket that was lying on my bed.

I wasn't sleepy at all so I figured that taking a stroll around the neighborhood was a good idea. To both clear myself and look out for suspicious people prowling around my home. Either way, I was going to enjoy the calmness and peace of empty streets, devoid of any sound and noise.

Before going out, Should I drink some coffee?

I dragged myself down the stairs and into the living room while looking around.

Max Coffee, my goddess and muse, my blood and soul, my only partner in this cold, ruthless world. Only I know how many times she has accompanied me in stake-outs, sweetening those horribly boring and tedious vigilances.

Yeah, I was going to drink some coffee.

As I was walking into the living room, thinking various useless paraphernalia about MAX Coffee, I noticed my little sister Komachi napping on the sofa. This chick's midterms were coming up soon just like mine, but as usual, she didn't have a care in the world.

Sadly, these kids don't know that the world actually judges what school and what grades they had while job-hunting. But don't worry, Komachi-tan, Onii-chan will sacrifice his house-husband dream to take care of you.

As I rummaged around for the MAX Coffee I bought, I remembered that the container had already been opened and so I started boiling the water instead. I poured water into the kettle, flipping the power switch on with a click as I did so. Bored and waiting for the water to boil, I sat at the edge of the sofa where my little sister was sleeping.

Komachi was sleeping with her stomach exposed provocatively. Her bare, white skin rose and fell in time with her snores. As she stirred with a soft groan, I could see she was stretched out under my T-shirt and blazer, both of which she had taken without asking.

I hadn't noticed this earlier because she had been curled up in a ball, but why was she in her underwear? She was going to catch a cold at this rate.

I covered her with a nearby bath towel for now. In reaction, Komachi mumbled something in her sleep. As this was going on, the boiling water had started hissing and a click announced that it was done. I tipped the instant coffee into a mug and poured the hot water on top of it.

A pleasant smell wafted from the coffee. I added an ample amount of milk and sugar to the dark coffee and stirred it four whole times with a teaspoon. When I did that, my lovely sweet coffee was ready to be served.

The milk's luxurious aroma and the coffee's sweet-smelling fragrance mixed with each other. I just knew it was going to be great.

As if she had caught a wind of that scent, Komachi sprang up with a start.

The first thing she did was stand stock still, staring at me in silence for two whole seconds. She looked down at her figure covered by the towel for three seconds. Then she opened her eyes wide and stared at the clock for five whole seconds in silence.

I was drinking my coffee while watching her actions with a leveled eyebrow.

Then she inhaled deeply. "Crap! I overslept!" she started shouting in an obnoxiously loud voice. "I only planned to sleep for an hour, but then I slept for five!"

"Is that so?" I asked while blinking. "Wait, does that mean that you just got home and slept the whole afternoon?"

"You suck! I had a shower before I slept!" She exclaimed, annoyed.

I calmly took another sip. "My bad, I apologize."

"You don't look like it." Komachi shook her head. "Anyway, why didn't you wake me up?!"

"Why should I? Did you have something planned for today?" I asked but then glanced at her again. "Before that, put some clothes on, you're going to catch a cold and now that we're at it, why are you using my clothes?"

Hm? Oh, this. It's the perfect nightie. Isn't it like a one piece?" she said as she pulled on the front of the shirt.

I was bothered. Not because I can see her bra if she keeps stretching it but because she rummaged between my belonging without my permission. I glared at her, unamused, to let her know about this fact.

"…Okay, I'll stop wearing them, you whiner," she said.

"Oh, thanks. Then I'll give you some underwear, Komachi."

"Ohhh, much appreciated!"

I sipped my coffee, having sworn deep in my heart that I would actually give her a dust cloth instead. As Komachi rolled up the sleeves of my shirt like a one piece pajama again, she went into the kitchen and started heating up milk in the microwave.

"By the way, what are you doing at this hour?"

"I'm going out for a bit." I answered.

"Eh, at this hour?" She asked with a troubled look.

"Of course." I replied, absentmindedly. "At this hour, there are no people on the street babbling out loud their own personal problems or things that nobody cares. Unlike the busy and crowded day, the night is a field where only the bravest can put his foot in search of some tranquility and peace of mind." I nodded slowly as I took another sip of my delicious coffee.

"Why do you sound like you're going on a quest?" Komachi asked, confused. Then, she made a sound of surprise. "I still haven't had a break now that you mention it."

"Of course you hadn't, you haven't remotely done anything in the whole day to take a break from." I replied with an 'are you serious' look?

She puffed her cheeks and looked at me with a frown. I shrugged and finished my tea.

The microwave let out a ring. Komachi held the mug in both hands, and as she blew on it to cool it down, she started walking towards me. "Guess I'll study too."

"Nope, is too late for that. If you do, you're just gonna end up sleeping the whole afternoon again." I told her as I stood up from my chair, taking my empty cup to the sink. "Go sleep for today."

"How come is fine to you to stay up late without a care but you send me to sleep early?" She looked dubiously.

"First, it's past midnight. You're already going to bed late." I began, stating the obvious. "Second, unlike you, I'm a night owl so even if I went up to bed early, I would still be sleepy at day." If it was pointless to go to bed early, why do it? "And third, unlike me, dark circles look bad on you."

"You're pretty thoughtful about the strangest things, Onii-chan. You're kind of weird and gross in a sense…" She said with a faraway look.

"Is that so?" I said while narrowing my eyes at her. "Because I send you to sleep early, you start insulting me, brat? Wanna take this outside?" I made a threatening look, imitating those American gangsters on the movies that mom likes to see.

She was unaffected. "Stuff like that is what makes you gross. Man, there are so many different types of brothers and sisters out there. I have a friend who goes to the same cram school as me whose older sister became a delinquent. She doesn't come home at all at night and stuff." She explained to me with a serious glance.

"Uh huh."

"But ya know, his sis was a super serious student until she got into Sobu High. I wonder if something happened to her."

"Could be teenage problems, you know." I replied. Is not strange for kids that age to go under several psychological changes. Mostly, they tend to change under peer pressure but there are also other factors, like familiar surroundings and such.

Is also possible that they just want to rebel against their parents for stupid things. No one can tell what's going in the mind of a teen.

I also noted that this delinquent girl goes to my school but I don't recall someone that fits that description.

"How come that you aren't going under those changes?" She tilted her head.

"I am different." I said while scratching my head. "I don't really see anything worthy for me to change…"

"Not even a girl?"

"No." I frowned. "What are you talking now?"

Komachi sighed with a smile that expressed 'Let's just give up'. "But well, it's his family so I can't really say anything. We're getting closer lately, so he's been confiding in me, but there's not much I can do. Oh, his name's Kawasaki Taishi-kun and he started attending my cram school this April."

I blinked.

His?

Closer?

Taishi-kun?

"Komachi." I gave her a cold glare that I reserved for my targets. "What's your relationship with this Taishi-kun? What do you mean by getting closer?"

"Whoa, you've got a scary look in your eyes, Onii-chan…" She reeled back, slightly cowering in fear.

For a normal person, it would seem that I'm overreacting but I'm not. This was my idiot sister here we're talking about. Something might happen to her if she didn't watch out for herself.

Especially around some pre-pubescent boy that only had porn and lewd thoughts on his mind and didn't fully understand the biological changes that his body is being subjected to.

It was natural that I'd be worried for her as a family member. But I should give her this talk later.

"I don't know if I can do something, but if you have problems, don't hesitate to come for me." I patted her head. "I would never give some of my time to a stranger but its fine if it's you."

"Thanks!" She smiled brightly.

I bet this is how Ryuuta felt when I came for him to help in my childhood with ghosts that walked in my room and such.

I now sympathize with him. Being an older brother is hard…but is harder being the older brother of a little sister.

.

.

.

I was sleeping in the classroom. I am mostly ready for any test that comes up so there's no need for me to pay any attention for this preparing classes and all.

Of course, this didn't really sit well for some of the teachers, who saw this as a display of disrespect and wanted to punish me.

Using a proxy.

"So..." Hiratsuka-sensei straightened herself before glaring me with a reproaching look. "Before I decide your punishment, tell me, why do you sleep in class even though we're close to midterms?"

Why Hiratsuka-sensei? Do they always dump the responsibility on her?

Do they appeal to her 'youth' as a 2* year old teacher?

How opportunistic.

I replied with a tired look. "I was sleepy." I shrugged my shoulders while shaking my head.

"…" She kept looking at me as if she waited for me to elaborate. After a few minutes, she massaged her temple, as if she suddenly had a headache and sighed heavily.

"That's it? No excuse of how society is at fault? Of how much you work to have nothing in contribution?" She asked with a glare that was %50 whiter and %50 disbelieve.

"Not really." I replied, listlessly. "I mean, you already said that you were going to punish me either way, so why to waste breath?"

"Indeed." She sighed again. "How to punish you, though…" Hiratsuka thought to herself out loud.

"So…am I free to go?" I asked hesitantly while taking a few steps back.

"Yeah, yeah…whatever." Hiratsuka-sensei dismissed me while probably thinking in which way she was going to punish me. I couldn't do anything so I decided to leave it to future Hachiman.

I turned to see the door open and the figure of a lone female student holding her school bag.

Hiratsuka-sensei sighed with astonishment. "Geez… there's no end to the problem children in this class." But she didn't say that with disgust - in fact, she looked happy more than anything.

"Kawasaki Saki. Are you fashionably late too?" Hiratsuka-sensei called out to her with a wry smile on her face.

But the girl named Kawasaki Saki only answered with a silent nod. Then, she walked pass us. For a few seconds, we exchanged looks.

Her turquoise eyes had an ambitionless blank, which gazed vacantly into the distance. It expressed how much she didn't care about the world that surrounded her.

I swore I'd seen that girl somewhere before… wait a minute, if she was in my class, then no shit I'd seen her before.

But then again, I doubt that even if she was in my class, I would have recognized her or something, as I didn't even remember Yuigahama, the social butterfly that everyone knew.

Oh, well.

.

.

.

I stopped by the bookstore in the Marinepia shopping center instead of going straight home.

I eyed the shelves and purchased a single book. There went my thousand-yen note, along with the small change jiggling around in my wallet.

After that, I went to the café, thinking I may as well study. But it seemed everyone else was thinking the same thing because the place was crowded with students of all sorts. Just when I was figuring I should have gone home, after all, I spotted some familiar faces.

A jersey-clad Totsuka Saika was staring down the showcase cake.

"Okay, it's your turn to ask a question next, Yukinon." said familiar face number two.

Yuigahama and Yukinoshita weren't wasting their time as they waited to get served and were absorbed in their studying.

"Right, a Japanese question then," Yukinoshita stated. "Complete the following expression: 'When the going gets tough-'"

"The Tokyo-Chiba line shuts down?"

Correction: it was just a Trans Chiba Ultra Quiz and Yuigahama got the answer wrong too. The correct answer was 'These days, there are more trains that slow down without stopping.'

At this mistake, Yukinoshita's face clouded over too, just as you'd expect of her at such erroneous answer.

"Incorrect… next question, then. This one is more about geography. Name two of Chiba's local specialties."

Tick tock, tick tock. The hands of the mental clock ticked away. Yuigahama gulped. "Miso peas… and boiled peas?" She had a deadly serious look on her face.

A savage Yuigahama who will take make-up tests has appeared!

I shook my head and slowly drifted away from that group. I mean, if I was not invited, that only means that they didn't want my presence right? Right?

Though they invited Totsuka...and he isn't even in the club…

Whatever.

I follow the loner path, the loner path has never, NEVER, hurt me in any way. Besides, without group, my get more XP and Skill points.

I seated a couple of tables away from them and took my books out of my bag, laying them on the table. It's time to study!

Do you know that study by yourself is more efficient than studying in groups?

Is really obvious.

Without the distractions of friends, one could entirely focus on the material in front of him.

Yeah, because I'm alone, with no friends, that I will come out victoriously.

The thought of scrubbing my perfect score on Yukinoshita's face makes me want to study for the rest of the day!

Muahahahahahaha! As expected, loners, just like PC, are master race! (A/N: 8man's opinions don't necessarily represent max's and he won't hold any responsibility if you are offended by this statement.)

As I thought of how loners will one day conquer the universe, I decided to take a break from studying.

I started to eat the food that I bought beforehand. I took a bite out of my hamburger while reading the book in front of me.

I could hear the chatter of the people around me, unfortunately. I couldn't help it, they were talking out loud.

"Hey, man. Did you get that weird mail yesterday?"

"Yeah, gives me the creeps."

"But isn't kind of interesting? I mean, an urban legend like that…"

"Well, I think is bullshit. I mean, come on, a serial killer who only targets criminals? The media or the police would have released information about him already.

I almost choked on the food in my mouth but I played it cool. What the fuck?!

"But don't you know that the police wouldn't release this stuff to the people? I mean, I am sure as hell that I would help the guy if I found him killing some bastard that deserves it…"

That's why they didn't release that information.

People love vigilantes or crime fighters because they actually have the guts to administrate 'justice' by their own hands. They broke away from the law, they were free.

People admired them because they were different.

My acts are misunderstood as some kind of vigilante justice, already explained before. The kind of acts that people would be eager to cheer from afar and in the worst case, replicate under my name.

Copycats or followers. Things that I neither wanted nor liked.

I checked my phone and saw the mail that arrived in my inbox and if I didn't choke before, now I was.

Where the fuck did this information came from?!

This was…unsettlingly accurate. Unlike the article that was posted on the net, this one was thoroughly redacted, all the facts checked in credibility by me.

After all, it's about me who we are talking about here.

But who-

Wait. I think I know who may know about this.

The face of the girl with orange hair came to my mind. The stalker and later, upgraded into a kidnapper, girl who messed with me the month before.

So she's back? Well, not really but if it's her, what are her motives?

Hmmm…

I grunted.

"What a pain in the ass…" I muttered while massaging my temple. Everything was so easy some months ago.

Just find someone, prove that someone was a criminal hidden in the shadows of the legal system, kill that someone and drink MAX Coffee.

Then, shit happened.

"Just the hell is going on…" I pinched the bridge of my nose. Why was that girl so bent on me? What kind of plan does she have in mind?

I shook my head. Is obvious that I won't find any peace or silence in this place full of noise so I stood up and was about to leave when two figures, middle school students judging by their faces, crossed through the main door.

One of them, a black-haired girl with a bob cut and blue eyes gasped at me with a look of recognition.

"Onii-chan?!" She covered her mouth in surprise.

I was busy eyeing the other figure that was accompanying her. A male boy with short, messy greenish hair and turquoise eyes like his sister. He also seems to have quite thick eyebrows.

Who was this punk?

Ah, maybe he was that Kawa-whatever Taishi that Komachi talked last night. So going off to malls on their free time, huh?

"Hikki?" I heard a female voice all to my side. I turned to see Yuigahama with the same look of recognition that Komachi gave me before. On the background, I saw how Totsuka was peering over his chair.

I turned to them with an annoyed look on my face.

.

.

.

I now found myself sitting in the table of Yukinoshita's group study, specifically on the edge, beside Komachi.

I was about to take the identified male known as Taishi to a dark alley and question his relationship with my sister and according to his answers, dispose of the noxious material hanging beside my sister but that plan went out of the window when Yuigahama called me earlier.

"…Hikki?" Komachi repeated, confused. "Hikki?" She repeated again, astonished. "Hikki?" Now she was looking at me with a large grin that ran across her mouth.

I was looking at Yuigahama, obviously displeased at her intervention.

"U-Uh?" She looked at me and Komachi. "Am I interrupting something?"

You interrupted my leave, you orange-haired bimbo.

"Excuse me?" Komachi approached Yuigahama with a strange lit on her eyes. "But is it possible that Hikki is…" She pointed at me. "That individual right there?"

Hey, what's with you asking that? Individual? Not 'my brother'?

That's it. You can make your own coffee from now on, you little witch.

"O-Oh…yeah." Yuigahama replied, hesitantly. "And you're…?"

"My name is Hikigaya Komachi!" She presented herself while striking a pose. "I'm the little sister Hikigaya Hachiman. And yes, I have it tough!"

"Ah…" The boy yelped, lost in thought as he quickly ducked his head and bowed in my direction. "My name is Kawasaki Taishi…nice to meet you." He was eyeing Yuigahama with an embarrassed gaze.

Ah, Teenage hormones in its full splendor.

"This is Kawasaki Taishi-kun. I told you about him yesterday, y'know? The guy whose sister became a delinquent." Komachi explained to me while I eyed the boy warily.

"Is that so?" I replied, not really interested in whatever problem this little runt had. "Well, have a nice chat then, I'm heading home." I said as I walked towards the main door before Komachi yanked me by my collar.

"Now now…!" She said cheerily. "You're not going to present me your friend here?"

"I would…if I saw someone labeled like that." I replied, trying to walk to the main door.

"How cruel!" Yuigahama yelled, enraged. "You mean after all we've been through, we're not friends?!"

"What kind of friend doesn't invite you to her study group?" I shot back while freeing myself from Komachi's hold. "In fact, since when we're friends? I mean, have you ever called me like that?"

"Ugh!" She reeled back with an averting gaze.

"Well, then. I'm off-" I tried to say but I found myself looking at my little sister with a scrutinizing glare.

"Onii-chan." She said as she looked at me with upturned eyes. "Komachi needs your help." She tilted her head to the side as she bashfully smiled at me.

Hmmm…

"I will bite." I said exasperatedly. "What do you want?"

"Could you help Komachi help Taishi-kun's sister?" Hah?

"Why should-"

"Is something wrong with her sister?" Yuigahama inquired.

Komachi told her what she told me last night.

"She is from Sobu high?" Yuigahama then smiled victoriously. "Leave it to us, Komachi!"

"Say wha-"

"After all, Hikki is in the service club and Kawasaki-kun's sister is in Sobu high. This is totally in the service club's jurisdiction!"

Oh yeah…

Oh fuck.

Now, my only hope is that Yukinoshita refuses Taishi's request under some political bullshit or something. I don't really want to work.

"So…" I glared at the little punk sitting on the other side of Komachi. "What's your problem, Kawasaki-kun?"

The undertone was not missed by the little boy.

"Onii-chan, can you, like, soften up a little?"

"Yes, Hikigaya-kun. I know you're not accustomed to interacting with strangers but please, have some common courtesy." Yukinoshita came to Komachi's aid with her poisonous words.

I rolled my eyes in response.

"Though, I believe that we should present ourselves before continuing." She said while looking at the unknown faces.

"Hi there! I'm Hikigaya Komachi. Thanks for being there for my brother," Komachi greeted them with a knowing smile. One of her special traits, since she was little, was being able to fit right in wherever she went, often to a baffling degree.

She may have taken that after Ryuuta.

A trait that I obviously didn't inherit.

"You're Hikigaya's younger sister?" Totsuka said politely. "Pleased to meet you, I'm his classmate. My name's Totsuka Saika."

"Oh, you're so polite, how charming. And oh my, what a cutie. Right, right, onii-chan?"

"Yes." I replied with a smirk. "Totsuka-kun is a real cutie." I stressed the suffix to indicate gender.

"H-Hikigaya…" Totsuka looked at me with a bashful look. Oi, Don't go all dere on me now!

"Kun?" Komachi laughed. "Haha! Funny joke! Hahaha, what are you saying, my idiot brother?"

"Er, um. I am a boy…" Totsuka said shyly as he turned his face away, blushing. No one will believe it if you act like that, Totsuka.

"Uh… really?" Komachi asked, nudging me with her elbow.

I nodded, conveying how hard was for me after finding out. He completely fooled me at our first meeting.

"Y-yeah…" Komachi stared straight at Totsuka's face, only half-convinced. As she murmured stuff like, "What long eyelashes you have. What pretty skin," Totsuka blushingly looked away from her gaze, fidgeting uncomfortably.

I was watching the spectacle with interest, but when he made eye contact with me as if saying, "Help meeeeeee…" I tore Komachi away from him.

"That's enough for now. Anyway, this is Yuigahama-san and that's Yukinoshita-san." Komachi finally looked at the two of them after my brief introduction.

When their eyes met, Yuigahama laughed nervously. "P-pleased to meet you," she introduced herself. "I'm Hikki's classmate Yuigahama Yui."

"Oh, hi, nice to meet you t-" Komachi stopped moving and stared straight at Yuigahama. "Huh…"

Yuigahama avoided her eyes, sweating profusely.

What was that? The look on Komachi implied that she recognized Yuigahama from somewhere but from where?

Their stare down lasted for a whole three seconds until a voice diffused the standstill.

"…are you done yet?" Yukinoshita interjected calmly, having waited patiently for quite some time.

It was amazing how just the sound of her voice made Yuigahama and Komachi shut up and pay attention to her. Her transparently cold voice was extremely quiet and subdued. And yet the message got across, loud and clear.

So perhaps it would be more accurate to say that - rather than merely shutting up they were in awe of her. Komachi opened her eyes wide and sat rooted to the spot in front of Yukinoshita. As she beheld Yukinoshita, she was spellbound for a moment.

"Pleased to meet you. I am Yukinoshita Yukino. Hikigaya-kun is my… what is Hikigaya-kun to me, I wonder…? He is not my classmate, nor is he my friend… I am loath to admit it, but he is my acquaintance, I suppose?"

"This is Yukinoshita Yukino-san. As you may have seen, humbleness is not her strong point. Try to not imitate her cold and demeaning attitude, please?" I advised Komachi.

Young people this age are really impressionable. I don't want Yukinoshita 2.0 in my house.

"Talk about yourself. What kind of kid in Chiba would take you as a role model?" Yukinoshita shot back, with a sarcastic smile.

"Of course there is someone!" I looked at Komachi with a soft smile, smile that she returned.

"My role model is my older brother!" I smiled.

"The other one, of course." And as my smile was erased from my face, I sunk into the table.

"Eh? Older brother?" Yuigahama looked between the two of us with a widened glance.

"Well, going back on subject." I straightened my pose, changing the subject. "What was your problem…Kawasaki-kun?" It took me a few seconds to make my voice came out normally, without any death threats.

"R-Right!" Yuigahama remembered why I was dragged into this table and directed her look to Taishi, who averted his gaze with a small flush on his face.

Yukinoshita, on the other hand, was giving me a scrutinizing look. When I looked back at her, she coughed and looked at Taishi.

"You're right about that, but… lately, Nee-chan's been coming home late and she doesn't listen to what our parents say at all. She gets angry at me and tells me it's none of my business when I say something to her…"

Taishi hung his head as he spoke. It seemed he was brooding over it in his own particular way.

"…you're the only one I can rely on now, onii-san." He looked at me with something that was called dependence.

"You have no right to call me onii-san!" I spat with an intimidating look. Who do you think you are, huh? You think I would let Komachi be near an insect like you, huh? HUH?!

"Why are you shouting things an obstinate father would say?" Yukinoshita said, slightly creeped out.

"…excuse me, but what am I supposed to do?"

I turned my head to look at the boy (insect in disguise).

Taishi-kun was at an impasse, a worried expression on his face. Here he was pouring out his heart to me, but his only acquaintance was Komachi, which made his situation messy and difficult for him.

No, honestly, his position was that of an acquaintance of an acquaintance, and it wasn't like he could follow the strange turns of conversation. To say nothing of the fact that he was surrounded only by people who were older than he was. He really was in a bind.

Given all that, the fact that Taishi was determined to speak his mind displayed some impressive communicative powers. I suppose you could say he was a boy with good prospects. (Not that I'd ever let him take care of Komachi, though.)

"Nee-chan's an eleventh grader at Soubu High… oh, and her name is Kawasaki Saki. Nee-chan is… how do you put it…? A delinquent? She's turned rotten…?"

Kawasaki Saki?

Huh…

Hmm…

Nah…

…

Oh, wait!

"You mean the Kawasaki Saki in our class?" I asked, recalling the early meeting today.

"Kawasaki Saki-san…" Yukinoshita uttered that name and cocked her head slightly, which showed how little she knew about Kawasaki.

But Yuigahama, who was in the same class as Kawasaki, clapped her hands in recognition, just as expect from her. "Oooh. Kawasaki-san, right? She's kinda the scary, delinquent type."

"You're not friends?" I asked.

"We've talked, I guess, but we're not really friends…" Yuigahama responded delicately. "And hey, that's not something you should ask a girl. It puts us in a hard position."

"You girls live in a strange world, aren't you?"

Even with girls, there were the groups, cliques, unions, guilds and what have you. Anyway, from the way she spoke, it didn't seem like Yuigahama's group had a particularly good rapport with Kawasaki.

"But I've never seen Kawasaki-san get along with anyone…" Totsuka remarked. "I feel like she's always staring blankly out the window."

"…oh, that's pretty much what she's like." I remembered how Kawasaki Saki acted in the classroom. She was a lone girl with gray eyes who just peered at the moving clouds. I thought she would start saying 'How troublesome' with a bored tone at any second.

Come to think of it, she wasn't looking at anything in the classroom but rather at some faster-moving place beyond her line of sight.

"So about when did your sister become a delinquent?" Yukinoshita asked Taishi suddenly.

He reacted with a start. "Y-yes'm!"

It should be noted that he was nervous not just because Yukinoshita was scary but because a beautiful older girl was talking to him. It was the correct reaction for a boy in middle school. If I were a middle schooler I'd probably be like that too. But when you become a jaded high school student, you'd realize that she was just plain scary.

"Er, uh… it was probably around the time nee-chan entered Sobu High since she was a super serious student back in middle school. She was relatively nice back then and often made dinner and stuff. She changed only very recently."

"So it was when she entered tenth grade?" I asked, to which Taishi answered in the affirmative.

Upon hearing that, Yukinoshita began to ponder. "In regards to changes when she became a tenth grader, does anything come to mind?"

"This is just a generic answer, but didn't she change her class? It was after she entered class F."

"In other words, it was when she became Hikigaya-kun's classmate." She looked directly at me.

I scowled but didn't say anything. I won't feed her with comebacks.

Yuigahama looked at Taishi-kun. "But y'know, when you say she comes home late, just what time does she come back? I get home relatively late and stuff too. It's not so unusual for a high school kid, y'know?"

"Oh, huh, about that." Taishi-kun looked away, flustered.

I see how it is. He was being shy because an awfully sexy older girl was talking to him. It was the correct reaction for a boy in middle school. When you become a jaded high school student, you come to realize that you can, in fact, say what you like to a slut.

"But coming home at three o'clock and stuff is too late."

"That's more like morning…" And she'd be late too, oh my. She'd only get around five hours of sleep if any.

"And your parents don't say anything to her when she comes home at th-that hour, I take it?" Totsuka asked Taishi worriedly.

"No. Both our parents work, and we have a younger brother and sister, so they don't really yell at nee-chan. Plus, it's just so late they rarely see her around anyway… well, I guess bringing up so many kids means you've got quite a lot on your plate," Taishi answered, relatively unshaken.

"On the odd occasion we do come across each other, we end up fighting, and whenever I say anything, she gets really stubborn and says, 'It's got nothing to do with you'…" Taishi's shoulders drooped. He was greatly perplexed.

"Family reasons, huh…" Yukinoshita said. "Every family has them."

She had a deep look of melancholy on her face that I had never seen before. She looked just like Taishi, who had come to tell us of his troubles. By that, I mean she was on the verge of tears.

This may be the second time I have seen her so weak since I met her. I instantly thought about her elder sister, Yukinoshita Haruno.

Now that I remember, she doesn't really talk much about her elder sister, nor the latter about her little sister. I didn't really think what kind of feud they had.

It was none of my business.

"Yukinoshita…" I called her out

But as soon as I called out to her, the clouds covered the sun and a shadow came

"You said something?" Yukinoshita answered me as she lifted her face. Her expression was no different from normal - cold and withering.

I didn't really try to comfort her but to bring her back to earth. She wouldn't accept help from a common person, less from me.

The only one who had noticed the change in Yukinoshita's demeanor was me. Taishi and the others went on talking normally.

"And that's not all… nee-chan gets all these phone calls from a weird place."

At Taishi's words, a question mark floated over Yuigahama's head. "Weird places?"

"Mmm. From Angel something-or-other, probably some kind of store… the manager guy talked to her."

"What about it is so weird?" Totsuka asked.

Taishi banged his fist against the table. "I mean think about it! Angel?! It's a totally sleazy store!"

"Huh, I don't get that vibe from it at all…" Yuigahama said somewhat hesitantly, but…

I totally got the vibe.

See, the thing is, try imagining this "Angel" word displayed in Tokyo's red-light district. See what I mean? The perverted factor just went up by fifty percent. And while we're at it, the word "Super" feels forty per cent more erotic.

Without a doubt, this was one sleazy store.

This brat had realized that, much as you'd expect. Maybe he is not that hopeless…or is that he is just that much of a pervert.

Like, disgusting.

"Hey, calm down for a sec, Kawasaki-kun," I said. "I understand everything."

Delighted at being understood, Taishi wiped passionate tears from the corner of his ears and embraced me in a passionate hug.

"O-onii-san!"

I beamed a smile at him, trying to hold the urge of slash his throat with the butter knife in front of me.

As we were binding their souls together under the god named Eros, the girls calmly decided on their future plans.

"In any case, if she's working somewhere, then we need to come up with a special plan," Yukinoshita said. "Even if it's not a dangerous store like this idiot seems to believe, the fact that she's working until dawn is troubling. We need to find out where she's going and stop her."

"And then what? She is just going to look another place to work." I made a counterargument. "IDs are really easy to forge these days and is not like every store takes a detailed story about his workers."

Komachi nodded in agreement. "Out of the frying pan and into the water."

"…you mean into the fire," said Yukinoshita.

"In other words, our only option is to simultaneously treat the symptoms and eradicate the root source," Yukinoshita concluded at approximately the same time I tore Taishi off me.

Again with eradicating source. What are you, an exterminator? Are requests just bugs to you?

Wait…

"Hey, wait a minute here. Are you planning to make us do something?" I asked with a scowl.

"But of course. Kawasaki Taishi-kun is the younger brother of Kawasaki Saki-san, a student of our school. This is to say nothing of how the bulk of his worries concerned her. I believe it is within the Service Club's line of work."

"Yeah, but all club activities are suspended for the midterms…" I tried to reason but a hand grabbed my sleeve.

"Onii-chan." Someone poked me incessantly in the back. When I turned around,

Komachi was smiling broadly at me.

It was Komachi's smile whenever she asked me to do something for her. A long time ago when Komachi wanted to have my Christmas present, she had this expression on her face too.

Why did Santa have to ask for my Love and Berry cards? There was no way I could fight against Komachi, who held the strongest trump card known as our parents' sympathy. Damn it, she wasn't cute at all…

"I'll do it…" I said reluctantly.

Taishi bowed enthusiastically, like an engine in high gear. "Th-thank you!" he shouted jubilantly. "Sorry for bothering you! I promise to do my best!"

Do not touch me, never again.

.

.

.

The Kawasaki Saki rehabilitation program started the next day forth.

After school, I went to the clubroom where Yukinoshita was waiting imperiously.

"Then let's begin."

Yuigahama and I nodded at her words. Oh, and for some reason, Totsuka was there too.

"Totsuka, you don't have to force yourself to be here." I mean, it was extremely painful having to put up with Yukinoshita's tyranny. No doubt he was only here because she had given him the death glare.

But Totsuka shook his head with a smile. "No, it's okay. I heard about what happened too. Plus, I'm interested in whatever you and the others do, Hikigaya-kun… I'd like to go out with you guys if I'm not getting in the way."

"I see." I nodded.

Since club activities were suspended during the midterms, the schoolyard was empty after school. Besides us, there were the fellow students who were studying individually inside the school, as well as the Kawasaki Saki-types who were getting lectured for being late.

Hiratsuka-sensei had probably pinned Kawasaki Saki down and was giving her a thorough talking-to as we spoke.

"I did some thinking and I believe that Kawasaki-san should solve her problems by her own hand," Yukinoshita declared. "There is little risk if she picked herself up with her own strength as opposed to being forced to do so by someone else, and there is almost no chance of relapse either."

"That makes sense." I agreed.

This isn't just limited to delinquents, but when other people comment on your actions, it's really irritating. For example, if someone close to you tried to tell you what to do, you'd start to feel resentful of them and do the opposite thing they told you.

I think those are the basic principles of reverse psychology.

"Okay, so what are we actually going to do?" I asked.

"Have you heard of animal therapy?" Yukinoshita addressed.

Animal therapy is, to put it simply, a type of spiritual therapy that involves petting an animal in order to reduce one's stress levels and to bring out one's positive traits. As Yukinoshita explained the gist of it, I could hear Yuigahama giggling. But in my opinion, it wasn't really a bad way of going about things.

From what Taishi said, Kawasaki was once a straight-laced and kind-hearted girl. This might be the impetus to bring out her kind-hearted side.

Is really a far-fetched theory, though.

"About that… does no one here own a cat?" Yukinoshita inquired, with a hand on her chin.

Totsuka shook his head glumly in response.

"I have a dog, is that okay?" Yuigahama pointed her little finger and her index finger up and made a hand sign with her thumb, middle finger and ring finger. That's a fox, not a dog.

"Cats are more likable." Yukinoshita insisted, with a small grimace at the mention of the word dog.

"I can understand." I nodded in agreement. "When they are not looking down on you with contempt, they can be cute little fur balls." I commented with a small smile.

Or is it just Kamakura who looks at me with contempt?

"We own a cat," I raised. "Is ours all right?"

"Yes."

With Yukinoshita's approval under my belt, I rang Komachi. I could hear some weird music in the background. What was with that cheesy music? Why was this chick's cell phone singing?

"Yeeeees, this is Komachi!"

"Oh, Komachi. You at home right now?"

"Yep, I am. What of it?"

"It's about the cat. Sorry, but could you take it to our school?"

"Huh? Why? Ka-kun's heavy, so I don't wanna."

Ka-kun is the name of our cat. He used to be called Kamakura, but because that was too much of a mouthful it got shortened at some point. His name was derived from how round like a Kamakura he was

"Yukinoshita said to bring him."

"I'll be right there." The phone suddenly cut off with a beep.

I sighed. I wonder why doesn't she show that love and devotion towards her onii-chan.

I closed my phone. Our high school was well-known in this area, so she probably wouldn't get lost coming here.

"She said she'll be right here," I informed Yukinoshita. "Shall we wait outside?"

We waited outside the school gates for twenty minutes, upon which Komachi appeared with a carry casket in hand.

"I apologize for calling you out here," Yukinoshita said.

"No, no, I'm happy to do it for you, Yukino-san," Komachi answered smilingly as she opened the lid of her carry bag.

Kamakura was enshrined inside. He scowled at me openly with a "Huh? Whatchu lookin' at, punk?" sort of look on his face. Not the cutest of felines.

"Aww, he's so cute!" Totsuka said as he stroked the cat. Kamakura twisted his body as if to say, "Hey, hey, calm down! Hang on a minute! Not my stomach! Anywhere but there!" He was totally at Totsuka's mercy.

.

.

.

When we put Kamakura into the cardboard box, he tried touching it with his front paw. When he smoothed the ground three times, he purred contentedly as if to say, "Heh… good enough."

Now then, we were waiting for Kawasaki Saki's appearance. The problem was that we didn't know when she would turn up. The length of Hiratsuka-sensei's lectures depended on her whims.

That woman can be surprisingly vindictive when she wants to. Especially towards me, dear god.

"Let's divide the duties," Yukinoshita proposed, taking charge. She made Totsuka lie in wait in front of the staffroom, while Yuigahama was stationed by the side of the bicycle parking area. Komachi was on patrol. And I was ordered to carry the cardboard box around and run around.

When you think about it, the others had their jobs, but I had nothing to do until Kawasaki Saki was spotted. While I was on standby, I fostered my great willpower and went off to buy a Sportop carton from the nearby vending machine. As I put my straw in and took one or two sips, I returned to my station.

It was then when I was a witness of a peculiar sight.

"Meow." I heard Kamakura's familiar meowing.

"Meow." I heard a girl's familiar meowing.

Yukinoshita was crouched in front of Kamakura, with a fascinated look on her eyes while 'talking' with Kamakura, who appeared strangely happy.

Damn you, Kamakura. You never look that happy when you're talking to me.

I approached silently to the black haired girl, who was still talking with Kamakura.

"…What are you doing?" I asked, behind her.

I saw how she flinched and stood up quickly at hearing my voice in such proximity. She then composed herself, looking at me like she always does.

"What are you talking about?" Yukinoshita answered innocently.

"Nothing, just you were talking to the cat just now." I replied with the same innocent look.

"More importantly, I'm quite certain I ordered you to be on standby, but it seems following a simple instruction is beyond your abilities. I took your level of incompetence into account, but honestly, you have surpassed my calculations. I wonder how I can phrase my orders to make them simple enough for someone stupider than a grade-schooler to understand."

Yukinoshita was fifty per cent colder than normal and her tone was ruthless. Her eyes were telling me that I was dead if I uttered another word.

I chuckled. "You ordered me to move the card box around. For me to do that, I need to be close to the card box." I retorted. "I have justification to be here, what about you?"

"What?"

I stood up. "What if Kawasaki had walked by the entrance door and saw you petting the cat?" I asked with a smug expression. "Our plan would be over. She would have passed the cat and went straight to whatever place she stays until morning."

Yeah, try to be snarky at me, I dare you.

I was about to grill the embarrassed looking Yukinoshita when my phone started ringing.

Caller ID unknown.

Giving the time, it couldn't be Yukinoshita (she was standing in front of me), I had Komachi and Yuigahama's numbers registered on my phone so the only possibility could be Totsuka.

Or that Komachi passed my contact to the poisonous bug.

Or…

"Hello."

"Oh, is this Onii-san? I asked for your number from Hikigaya-san." The known voice said.

Nope. Just the insect. That little brat of Komachi, passing my contact info so carelessly like that.

"I don't have a brother in law. Who are you?" I asked coldly. Yukinoshita took interest in the conversation and was paying deep attention.

"I-I just heard about the cat and well, nee-chan has cat allergy." Taishi stammered.

"Fantastic." I seethed in a sarcastically. "When I asked about pertinent information about your sister, why didn't you tell me that?"

"I didn't think it wasn't relevant…" He trailed off.

"Ok then." After a sigh, I snapped my phone shut. This was a complete waste of time.

And I don't like to waste time.

"What happened?" Yukinoshita asked.

"Abort cat therapy." I grunted. "Kawasaki is allergic to cats."

"I see…" She nodded with a look of understanding. She then frowned. "Wait, you asked personal information about Kawasaki?"

"You didn't?" I arched an eyebrow.

She frowned. "That's violation of privacy."

I shrugged with an indifferent look. "There's no privacy to violate here. Is not as if we're asking about what kind of underwear she uses (Black Lace) or her bank account."

"Though how would allergies play a role on the request?" Yukinoshita asked,

"You don't know until it plays a role." It was true that there was some really irrelevant information, like how she only knew to cook sweet potato and such.

But hey. Information was information.

Yukinoshita was staring at me with a pondering look. "For someone who claims to dislike helping people, you're strangely thoughtful and throughout about our requests."

I hummed. "Don't misunderstand me. I'm not doing it for you nor Taichi's ." Seriously woman, who do you think you are?

"Then…?"

"I'm doing it for Komachi, of course." I replied with a serious look. Yukinoshita seemed weirded out, taking a step away from me.

"I don't know why but so sudden, I feel more disgusted than usual…" Yukinoshita mumbled with an ill expression.

"Oi oi, what's with that expression?"

"It seems that I now understand the lack of lascivious gazes against women in general." She muttered with realization. "You just were a siscon."

What the hell? Where did you get that conclusion?

"Just because I want the best for my cute little sister?"

"The fact that you say you add the word cute makes you a siscon."

"Is it wrong to emphasize the cuteness of my brethren?"

"Cuteness that I see it's not genetic." Yukinoshita teased, with an amused look.

"I don't need cuteness." I objected. "All I need is money and a future wife who supports me."

"I also see that rottenness is not only outside."

"Not a big deal. Everyone is rotten on the inside." I said with a shrug. "The quickly you realize the better."

"They're not." Yukinoshita strongly asserted. "And the quickly you realize, the better."

Woman, I tip my hat to you. You must be the most hard-headed induvial whom I had the displeasure to cross paths with. "Suit yourself." I gave a nod and picked Kamakura's card box from the ground.

'About damn time.' Was what Kamakura's look conveyed.

.

.

.

When I contacted the others to tell them that we'd given up, Yuigahama, Totsuka and Komachi returned.

"Onii-chan, you got a call from Kawasaki-kun?" Komachi asked.

"Yeah. Don't go giving phone numbers away to strangers. What if something dangerous happens? Be careful when you handle personal information." I chided.

"Hikigaya-kun's personal details aren't such a big deal." Yukinoshita teased me, but only half-jokingly.

Oi.

"It's not for me, it's for Komachi. You hear me? Don't you give your number away lightly, okay? Especially to boys."

"No way, you saw right through me?" Komachi deflected my warning with a laugh. Well, my little sister was one of those "spare me the details" types.

Now that the animal therapy operation had failed, we had to come up with another plan. I had a plan of my own but I didn't want to solve all the problems. It was unproductive and didn't help the true purpose of me joining this club.

I looked to Yukinoshita, waiting for a proposal. When I did, she looked at Komachi and me in turn and let out a soft sigh.

"…you get along well as siblings." She hesitated. "I'm somewhat jealous."

"Huh? Oh, people say that a lot when they're an only child. It's not such a great thing." I replied absentmindedly. "Sometimes, Komachi is a real handful." Komachi elbowed me in response, with a dirty glare.

"No, I…" Yukinoshita trailed off, which was rare for her. Usually, she declared whatever was on her mind, even at the expense of hurting others. "No, never mind."

So she didn't want to talk about her sister, huh? Is their relationship that bad?

"Now then, what are we gonna do? We gotta think of something." Yuigahama said while giving us a look of expectation.

"Er, uh…" Totsuka raised his hand timidly. He looked at both Yukinoshita and Yuigahama with an uncertain look in his eyes, as if he wanted to contribute something but wasn't sure how to go about it.

Go ahead and say it. We were in a stalemate so any ideas were welcoming.

"Go ahead," said Yukinoshita. "I don't mind if you speak your mind. It would help us all out."

"Okay then… so um, how about you tell Hiratsuka-sensei about it? I think she might be too close to her parents to tell them her problems. But if she were talking to another adult, she might be able to confide her problems, maybe?"

Oh, what a great call. Indeed, she might not be able to talk to her parents because they were her parents.

That's why a third party was necessary. A reliable person with an abundance of life experience might be able to pitch in and help.

And also….

"But Hiratsuka-sensei, you say…" There was a worrying factor in there. Could you really call such a pitiful person an adult? The only thing that was adult about her was her chest and rear.

If I heard her with my eyes closed, I could swear that I was hearing a ten-year-old otaku from 1990.

"Compared to other teachers, Hiratsuka-sensei is very in touch with her students," Yukinoshita declared. "There is no better person for the job."

"Oh, yeah, I guess." Just like Yukinoshita said, Hiratsuka-sensei really did work hard in guiding her students. She directed students who were wrapped up in their worries to the Service Club, and on a daily level, she connected with the students. She could probably do what we needed of her since she was highly observant and all. "Then I'll try contacting her."

But then again, Hiratsuka-sensei was in a position of authority. A student wouldn't be able to talk freely with a person like that, especially someone reserved and aloof like Kawasaki.

I explained the gist of the Kawasaki Saki situation in my text message. Hiratsuka-sensei's phone address, which I had absolutely no use or desire for, had come in handy for once.

"That's about it. I told her we'll explain more at the entrance. Okay, that'll make her come."

After I closed off the email, we waited for five minutes.

We heard the stiff sound of her heels scratching against the floor, signaling Hiratsuka-sensei's appearance.

"Hikigaya, I understand the situation," She said with a serious face. "I'll hear out the details." She put out the cigarette she had been smoking on a portable ash tray.

Yukinoshita explained what we knew about Kawasaki Saki, as well as what we had surmised. Hiratsuka-sensei listened silently until I finished, upon which she let out a short, terse sigh.

"The fact that a student of our school is working at a part-time job past midnight is a serious matter. We need to deal with this quickly before it escalates any further. I'll handle it."

Hiratsuka-sensei cackled in a rather unprofessional way. "What are you looking at? I let Kawasaki go just before I came here. And it took another two minutes to come here."

…What was this indescribable unease that come over me? Her entire manner reeked of schadenfreude.

No, wait. Before that, who are you? What is this newfound air of professionalism and maturity around Hiratsuka-sensei? Is this what Otakus call gap moe?

"Um, you do know you're not allowed to punch or kick her?" I asked hesitantly.

"Impossible… you do realize I only do that kind of thing to you?" She replied while scratching her head with a troubled smile.

"Oh I see. I was amazed that you could still work as a teacher if you were using violence with all your students." I said while nodding to myself. Such obvious detail escaped my mind.

As this was going on, Kawasaki Saki appeared at the entrance. She dragged her feet lazily and occasionally let out a wide yawn. She slung her schoolbag over her shoulder listlessly as if she didn't give a crap about anything. Her elbows were swinging back and forth idly.

"Hold it right there, Kawasaki," Hiratsuka-sensei called out authoritatively to her back. The sound of her voice shook the ground roughly.

At that, Kawasaki turned around, her eyes narrowing half-way as if she was glaring. As she turned around, she stooped over in a smooth motion.

Hiratsuka-sensei was tall as well, but she was inferior to Kawasaki. Her long legs, covered loosely by her boots, kicked a small rock smartly.

"…you want something?" Kawasaki said belligerently in a husky 'I don't give a shit' tone. The way she spoke so bluntly was scary. She wasn't the delinquent or Yankee "I'll beat the shit outta you!"-type of scary.

She had the kind of vibe of a person sitting in the corner of the counter, smoking and holding whiskey in one hand.

On the other hand, Hiratsuka-sensei's entire body was also emitting a similar scary aura. She was scary the way a tired old man is when he helps himself to a bottle of beer as he's eating his fifth helping of soba at a Chinese cookery in front of the station in the sleazy part of town, yelling things like, "He's hopeless! What a shit pitcher!" at the relay broadcast of baseball. What was this, the clash of the titans?

"Kawasaki, I hear you've been coming home late these days - that you've been coming back in the early hours of the morning. Just what are you doing and where?"

"Did someone tell you that?"

"My client information is strictly confidential. Now answer my question," Hiratsuka-sensei said in her take-no-shit tone.

Kawasaki sighed languidly. From the looks of it, she was ridiculing sensei. "Nothing much. Does it really matter where I go? Not like I'm getting in anyone's way."

"But you might in the future. You won't be a high school student forever. Don't you see there are people watching out for you? Like your parents and me," Hiratsuka-sensei insisted.

But Kawasaki only looked at her with a bored expression.

Losing patience, Hiratsuka-sensei grabbed Kawasaki by the arm. "Have you never considered how your parents are feeling?" she demanded seriously, clinging as if she would never let go.

Her touch was probably warm and tender. I wondered if her passionate feelings would melt Kawasaki's heart.

"Sensei…" Kawasaki whispered, touching Hiratsuka-sensei's hand and looking straight into her eyes.

Then-

"Like I know how my parents feel. And anyway, there's no way you could know since you've never been a parent either, sensei. Shouldn't you only say that stuff after you get married and have kids yourself?"

"Uuuuurk!"

Daaaaamn. Hook, line, and sink.

Kawasaki had turned the tables completely. Hiratsuka-sensei lost her footing like a boxer hit by a sucker punch. She was receiving a considerable amount of damage. It seemed her feelings hadn't gotten across.

"Sensei, you should worry about your own future before you worry about mine. Like getting married and stuff."

Hiratsuka-sensei's body keeled over at the continued pummeling. Her knees were trembling. So the damage had reached her legs, huh… The impact reached her hips, her shoulders and all the way up to her voice box. She croaked, but no words came out. Her eyes were watering.

The callous Kawasaki paid no heed and disappeared into the bicycle parking area. We all looked at each other wordlessly, not knowing what to say. Yuigahama and Komachi gazed pointedly at the ground, while Totsuka muttered, "Poor sensei," to himself.

Then Yukinoshita crouched down. It was as if she was trying to avoid making a presence of herself.

Why? Why was it up to me to do something?

As I watched my teacher's pitiful state, I felt compelled to say something. Could it be… that I was feeling sorry for her?

I walked towards the sorry teacher laying in the dirt and helped her get up. "Sensei. Come on, it's fine."

Sensei turned around stiffly like she was a zombie. She sniffed. "I'm going home…" she said in a thin, trembling voice as she rubbed her eyes with the sides of her thumbs.

And then, without even waiting for my response, she began making her way unsteadily towards the car park.

I shook my head and went back with the group.

Someone should already marry her.

.

.

.

We decided to call it a day and so, everyone went to their respective homes.

It was late at night and I was watching the web news on the net.

Nothing, in particular, just killing time. I was already done with my studies and I didn't really felt like taking a walk outside.

It was then when I saw another attack of the 'owl', like the net, dubbed him.

"Again…?" Seriously, was is the police doing?

I shrugged and clicked on the news report to see how this guy was doing.

[MURDER ON CHIBA: THE OWL STRIKES AGAIN!]

What? Murder?

Today at dawn, residents have made a grim discovery. The body of a sixteen-year-old girl has been found here on Chiba. The initial police report says that the girl's body has been stabbed over 15 times, much to the parent's horror. An eye witness says that he saw a silhouette that reminisced of the Owl that is terrorizing our city at the time of the murder.

Has he escalated on his crimes?

Oh. Oooooooooh….

What's this?

Did he evolve? From brazen (Stupid) to cautions? Changed his murder weapon and escalated from assault to homicide?

This fast?

No, that can't be. His laughable attempts of murder were to catch the attention of the media and administrate his twisted sense of justice. That guy was stupid.

Killers could evolve. They got smarter, braver, more arrogant and such. But this curve of learning wasn't possible.

Which means…there's a parasite taking advantage of the Owl's stupidity to commit his own acts without throwing suspicion to himself.

Clever but the police will quickly catch his act. Even the force counted with a few bright lights that could notice this.

I hope. If not, I guess it will be on my hand to dispose of him.

But my police force couldn't be this ignorant, could they?

Anyway, better to lay low for a while. Especially with that mail. People will be more alert on the streets and there may be even some idiots trying to hunt for me with cellphones and cameras.

Besides, there something on top priority now. That damn Mail.

I closed the window and turned off my computer. Standing up from my seat, I grabbed my hoodie and walked through the door.

.

.

.

The streets of my neighborhood were a desert. Devoid of any presence and noise. The soothing chirping of the crickets could be heard on the night, making me form a small smile on my mouth.

Peaceful.

I had my hands tucked inside the pockets of my hoodie and my head covered by the hood of the black hoodie.

Glancing around, I could see that all the lights of the surrounding houses were turned off. Better like this, I won't have to deal with police calls about a shady man prowling around the neighborhood.

The probabilities of finding the sender of that mail are zero to none.

The Internet is such a handy tool for everyone.

You could be whoever you want on the Internet. You could do whatever you wanted on the internet.

Internet was an unrestricted place. Unlike broadcast television and radio, cable, magazines and book publishers and editorials who are owned by large conglomerates, government and such, the Internet was the property of the public.

Internet was a free place. There is pornography. There are bomb recipes. The Internet swarms with ideas of all types, popular, unpopular and illegal.

You could find anything on the internet.

Facebook, Twitter and other social media, where people practically broadcast their own life to the public were also dangerous. You opened your life not only to your family and friends but to strangers.

Who could be sexual offenders, stalkers, and serial killers. You were practically bait hanging from a pole.

The Internet is such a scary place. But because of that, one learns to use it.

Blademaster. While the possibilities to find the sender are zero to none, it doesn't mean I won't try.

And besides, Internet was a really good and innovating invent.

It's us who misuses it.

I turned in a corner while mumbling my own thoughts when I saw at far away, the silhouette of a silver-haired girl who had her hair tied into a pony-tail, yawning with a tired look on her face.

"That's…" I muttered, watching in slight amazement at the person.

Kawasaki Saki. I looked at my watch and it was 2:50 in the morning. I have been wandering around the neighborhood for almost three hours.

I looked at her opening the door of her house while peering over the corner.

I haven't wandered that far from my comfort zone ( the area around my house), so that means that she and the poisonous bug lives nearby?

That's some utile info. It shall serve to keep the poisonous bug out of my house and Komachi's life.

With my original train of thought lost in some part of my mind, I decided to go home for today. The walk today was kind of enlightening.

.

.

.

Kamitsuki Kento was rubbing his temple while drinking some coffee. He was staring at the ceiling with a dead look on his face.

He sighed loudly as he slumped further in the chair.

'First of all, the recent paraphernalia of the Artist.' People couldn't simply forget about those heinous cases and the media still plague about the history of that sicko.

Seriously, the only thing those idiots do is entitle these monsters.

'Second, out of the light but right into the frying pan, there's the case of weapon trafficking.' They discovered a huge stash of guns while investigating the Sleeping Dragon's hideout. They higher-ups caused an uproar at how many weapons were in place, asking how this number could pass Japan's borders and airports.

A special squad was tasked to investigate this case but Kamitsuki was doing his own.

Everything went back to Killer Killer.

He was linked to those two, or rather, he was the thing that linked the two cases with each other.

He was also waiting for the shit-storm that was about to fall over the police station.

All for a stupid mail.

God damn however was the one who brought these headaches to his presence. He will personally hunt that person down and shoot him while the mouth of the pistol's cannon is embedded on his ass.

"Kamitsuki-san, is something wrong?"

"No." Kamitsuki growled, making the officer squeak and scurry away.

With that goddamn email, the press will be even more annoying and painful to deal with. Those sharks are already pestering the chief, which means that the Chief will take his stress on Kamitsuki, which he will take on his subordinates.

It's a cycle that goes and goes for the eternity of times.

Now, there's the Owl. Seriously, Chiba was a real handful. Just…where did these guys come from?

He sighed, puffing smoke out of his chest. "Enough dilly-dallying." He turned, his green coat fluttering in the air. "Let's get back to work."

Who knows? Maybe the Owl has marked himself as another target for a bigger fish and they were running against the clock.

Though, would he be so brazen to act in a time where everyone was now aware of his existence and all the eyes of the media were probably focused on him?

No, he was something different from your usual perverts and fetishist. He will surely lay low until this whole thing goes away.

Something to be happy for, he guesses.

Finally, I posted this. And I hope you liked it. If not, well, that's fine. You can tell me what you didn't like and I will take a look and improve.

Criticism is always welcome.

Until next chapter. Soon, I hope.