My heart started racing.
What will I do if someone figures out my true identity…?
Rio was smiling at me and seemed gentle enough. It didn’t look like she was here to interrogate me, at least.
“So I heard you were there for the Sky Towers incident and during the recent cruise ship hijacking.”
Uh…? The Sky Towers incident? Cruise ship hijacking?
I wasn’t quite following her. And what did she mean that she “heard”?
“And since I consider myself this school’s—no, Japan’s—biggest Phantom Thief Red fan, I wanted to ask you about it!” Rio’s voice was so loud that everyone could hear her.
D-did she say she’s Phantom Thief Red’s biggest fan?!
Phantom thieves have fans?! What’s that even supposed to mean?!
“I’m sure you know who Phantom Thief Red is, right? He may be a phantom thief, but it’s not like he steals for no reason. He’s a modern-day Robin Hood who takes back valuable diamonds and pictures and returns them to their rightful owners without getting caught by the police. Have you ever heard of someone so heroic?! Not me, that’s for sure! There’s nobody like Red! I have so much respect for him.”
Rio was holding out both of her arms as she went on a passionate rant.
…………
Uh… How should I respond to this…?
It wasn’t just me, either—my classmates were staring blankly, too.
Sounds like the Phantom Thief club is for people who like phantom thieves.
“Whaddaya think? You know where I’m coming from, right? I can break it down for you more if you need me to…”
“Oh, no! I think I get it! I’m curious how you knew about the incident at the Sky Towers and the cruise hijacking, though. Neither of those were picked up by the news.”
“From a friend in the drama club. When she first told me, I wasn’t sure I could believe her. I mean, it’s Hibiki Shirasato we’re talkin’ about here. I heard you’re friends with him?”
Right… Hibiki mentioned it in the drama club the other day.
Now I get why he doesn’t know about Kei, though.
Hmm, this is a problem. Not only did everyone in the drama club hear about the incidents, but I also don’t really have anything I can share, either.
It’s not like I can tell her I teamed up with Hibiki to help save the hostages.
“So during the case at the Sky Towers…”
Her eyes sparkling, Rio began to bring up a new topic.
S-stop right there!
I tried to slow Rio down, but my surroundings caught my attention.
Is it just me, or is everybody watching us right now?
A high schooler being in the building was strange enough as it was, so it looked like everyone wanted to see what was up.
I was struggling to find an answer for her, when…
“What are you doing in the hallway, Kouzuki? Not causing another ruckus, are we?”
A calm voice carried through the crowd from behind me.
I know who that is!
And I was right: It was President Shiori, or the Ice Queen, as the school lovingly calls her.
Maybe she can get me out of this.
“Oh, hey, Shiori. What’s up?” Rio said to President Shiori.
Uh?
“Hello to you, too, Kiyose,” President Shiori responded, sounding uncharacteristically nervous.
“W-wait, do you two know each other?!”
“Yes, we do. When I was a first-year student, Kiyose was the student body president for the middle school.”
“Whaaaaaat?! So you were the middle school’s student body president two years ago?”
“Huh, has it been that long? I’ll have you know that even the high schoolers talk about Shiori’s good work as president, and it always makes me happy to hear it.”
“Really…? Thank you!”
President Shiori, who was usually cool, calm, and collected, seemed a bit bashful.
I’d never seen her with that expression before… I was almost surprised—very surprised, actually. I didn’t know President Shiori could even feel bashful. Maybe Rio was someone she looked up to?
“So you’re here to see Kouzuki?” Shiori asked.
“Yup. I wanted to ask her—”
Rio began to explain herself, when a teacher appeared down the hall. It was Mr. Sakai, a math teacher who was quick to get angry. He was always lecturing somebody, and his speeches were known to run on and on and on. Angering him was guaranteed to cost you at least fifteen minutes of your day. He’s one of my least favorite teachers.
He looked at Rio and walked this way. He was probably going to tell her to go back to the high school. She wasn’t supposed to be here without a special reason to come.
Hmm… This situation could take a bad turn…
“Aw, man! I hate having to listen to that teacher’s lectures,” Rio said, playfully sticking her tongue out. “I’ll come back another time, Asuka.” She then turned around and darted away down the hall.
“Hey, you. Wait!”
And just like I expected, Mr. Sakai quickly followed after her. He was the type who needed to say his piece before he could let something go.
“Mr. Sakai, please don’t run in the hallways,” President Shiori said without missing a beat, and Mr. Sakai turned to face us.
“Oh, Orihara. What was Kiyose doing here from the high school?”
“She came to return a lost item she found.” President Shiori didn’t bat an eye at the teacher.
“Oh, I see… All right, I’ll take your word for it,” Mr. Sakai said with a shrug before getting on with his day.
“Whoa… Mr. Sakai listened to you and left you alone in three seconds! I feel like I just saw a miracle.”
“It’s because I’m the student body president. You’d be able to communicate with the teachers like this, too, if you decided to run.”
“Uh-uh! No way! I could never be president!”
“I didn’t think I could at first, either, but it’s definitely possible… Though, there is a lot you need to learn first.”
That’s the hard part.
“You know, Kiyose’s work as the president is why I’m able to talk to Mr. Sakai like that. It’s why our school lets students be a little more individual, too.”
Oh?
I only knew the school for what it was when I joined it, so I’d assumed it was always like this.
“When I started out here in middle school, the teachers were in charge of making all the rules. There were strict rules on skirt lengths and hairstyles for girls.”
“What?! You had to have a certain hairstyle to go here?!”
“But it was Kiyose who changed that. Take the culture festival, for example. It was fun for us students to be able to decide what we wanted to do, right?”
“Yeah! Getting all the different booths ready for the event was super fun for everyone!”
“When it comes to things like security and student safety, the administration still plays a significant role, but I feel like our school is more lenient in certain areas, especially when compared with other schools. The same goes for our club activities.”
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. That’s true. They even let us start eating lunch early, too. (*Author’s note: They do not do this.) And it was all thanks to Kiyose…
“Whatever she does, she goes all in. She had the support of the entire student body behind her and was amazing when it came to organizing events and leading people. So I knew I could follow her. Sometimes, she went a little overboard, but that’s what the rest of us were there for.”
There was a gentleness in President Shiori’s eyes as she explained.
“Is she the reason you also wanted to become student body president…?”
“She is. I wanted to lead my classmates like she led us, but it’s not as easy as she made it look.”
What do you mean?! You’re an amazing class president! We all trust you, and in just three seconds, you even convinced old Mr. Sakai to stop before he started lecturing us! That’s not something many of us can do!
“That’s nice to hear, but the real issue is a certain somebody who likes to cause trouble,” she said, staring straight at me.
Ah-ha-ha…
It wasn’t like I was trying to make problems, but sometimes they just happen. I’ll be more careful…
Krrrr
Huh?
I felt my foot nudge something and looked down to find a somewhat expensive-looking pen rolling across the ground.
“Someone must’ve dropped this.” I bent over and picked it up. It was a shiny black pen with a fancy golden tip and clip.
This looks expensive.
There wasn’t anyone in our class who used a pen like this—not that I’d ever seen before, at least.