Nago-chan took a bite of her sandwich. “So ya didn’t just miss me; ya want somethin’ off me?”
“As sure as yuri is pure!”
“Not even hidin’ it, huh?” Nago-chan swallowed her bite of sandwich. “But go ahead and ask. What’re best friends for otherwise?”
“Okay, so I’m actually creating an indie mobile game with some pals of mine.”
“Oh, yeah, I know all about it. There was that guy who came to our booth, right? His circle was called the 05th Floor Alliance.”
“That’s the one.”
“He came off as a total wannabe to me back then. I can’t believe how big he’s gotten now. Like, I’m actually amazed. And you’re makin’ real waves with Koyagi as well, right?”
“I think I’m even more surprised than you. It’s crazy to think we’ve made it this far without the backing of a major publisher.”
“Oh, I think I get it. You’re workin’ with this shota, right? And ya got a taste of the good stuff?”
I spat out my coffee. “I-I didn’t get a taste of anything!” I couldn’t trust this “best friend” of mine when she came out with dirty quips like that out of the blue—relating to real people, no less! “Anyway, Aki’s not a shota. He’s too old.”
“Still not legal, though, is he?”
“Quit pushing it! And that isn’t even close to why I’m still with the Alliance.”
“Guh ha ha ha! Sure is fun to rile ya up!”
This lady was a total sadist and she made it look so innocent! Hopefully she hadn’t forgotten I knew every last one of her kinks—especially the ones that couldn’t be mentioned in polite company! I could literally blab about them to a trashy magazine or one of those drama channels on YTube and get her canceled! Not that I was gonna do that!
“What about this mobile game, then?”
“We’re gonna make a console version.”
“Damn, pretty impressive for an indie team. If you’re gonna go the whole hog like that, might be worth thinkin’ about findin’ a company to publish ya.”
“I think that’s what we’re already doing. Which brings me to that favor, Nago-chan—”
“Nope.”
“I haven’t even told you what it is yet!”
“I can guess by the way this convo’s goin’, dummy. Ya wanted me to help ya out with this stuff, right?”
“Nrk... I mean, yeah...”
My buddy was way too sharp. Which was also part of the reason I could rely on her so much.
“It’d just be really handy for us to have a teammate with knowledge of the console market,” I explained. “But you won’t do it?”
“Sure won’t. Plus, Tenchido doesn’t let ya have a second job.”
“Neither does my school!”
“Duh, I know that! All that means is ya could get in trouble, but that’s got nothin’ to do with me!”
I thought I had her, but she dodged my scathing comeback perfectly! She was born and raised in Kansai, only coming to Kanto for college, so really she was a Kansai girl through-and-through—and that gave her an impressive wit.
“Right... Aw, I was looking forward to getting to work with you again, Nago-chan, but I guess it’s not happening...” I looked up at her demurely, letting my eyes water.
“Hngh...”
I was using a traditional ninja technique of the Kageishi bloodline that made deadly use of the eyes, and I knew it would pierce right through the heart of my trusty friend.
By the way, I just made all of that up.
But it still worked! Nago-chan massaged her temples and sighed. “Fine. I’ll help ya out.”
“Really?!”
“I can’t actually join the team. But I can introduce ya to some trustworthy outsourcers. Even with your main staff, as ya make your game bigger, there’ll come a time you’ll need outsiders to help with UI and events and stuff. I know a good studio that can help, so I’ll pass ya their details.”
“Nago-chan!” I wailed. “Thank you!”
“I told ya not to cling to me like that!”
“Gotcha! The outsourcing company was caught!”
“Stop makin’ it sound like a big deal! If the CEO or legal catches wind of this, I’m screwed, okay?”
After that, we reminisced about the past and sang the praises of our most sacred religion: yaoi. Time flew by, and before we knew it, Nago-chan had to go back to her station on the battlefield (i.e. work). I stayed behind in the lounge, scrolling through social media on my phone—which also meant I’d be able to respond to any emergencies right away.
Obviously I wasn’t just messing around on social media. I was researching character design. Seeing what was in right now, looking up art techniques, and finding out which aspects to give your characters that’d make it easier for people to draw fan art of them. Though I’m well aware it wasn’t very teacherly of me to do this during work.
Eventually, the view outside the window grew dimmer and dimmer.
“The students’ll be finishing up their free day now. Good thing we didn’t have any emergencies.”
No news is good news, after all, and I was genuinely relieved my phone hadn’t buzzed a single time that day.
Oh. Maybe I was celebrating prematurely. Wasn’t it practically a law of nature that the moment you thought you’d won something, it would turn out you actually lost the very next second?
In which case, I wouldn’t make any assumptions till the day was properly over!
Bzz! Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!
“Oh, come on! I said I wasn’t making any assumptions!”
The social media app I had open switched to the screen notifying me of an incoming call. A number flashed up on the screen, but it wasn’t one I had saved, so I didn’t know who was calling me. We teachers couldn’t save every last student’s number after all; we’d just handed ours over to them for emergency use. And if I was being called by an unknown number at a time like this, it was bound to be a student.
“Please let this be something minor!” I prayed to God or Buddha or whoever it was and answered the call.
“Sensei? That you?”
“Oh, I know that voice. Otoi-san?”
“Yup, ’sme. Got a sec?”
“Of course,” I replied, my voice still a little strained—but on the inside, I was relieved. Judging by Otoi-san’s drawl, whatever the problem she had to report wasn’t that big. It’d be something inoffensive, like she wanted to try one more traditional dessert before coming back to the hotel, and she was after my recommendation.
“Y’see...”
“Mhm?”
“Kohinata’s gone missin’.”
“...Sorry, what?”
I felt the blood drain from my face. Missing. Seriously? Wasn’t that, like, among the most major of problems?!
My brain had started to recline in its seat, so I quickly hoisted it back up and opened up my mental manual to look up what I was supposed to do in this situation.
Do I call the police first? Or do I call the missing person? Or should I contact the class rep?
I couldn’t pick out the smartest course of action between them.
How did this even happen? I couldn’t imagine Ozuma-kun of all people getting lost. He had a good head on his shoulders and could bend the elements of technology completely to his will.
Also, did this mean Otoi-san and Ozuma-kun were spending their free day together? Was this a new potential ship, formed right under my nose, and I hadn’t even realized it? Huh... My top three spicy ships for Otoi-san were with Aki, Iroha-chan, or Midori-chan, but Ozuma-kun was a new one. But maybe this meant there was something equally delicious about them I just needed to dig for!
“Wait...”
While my brain was playing helmsman, I found my gaze slipping to one side—just in time to see Ozuma-kun returning to the hotel. Once he was in the lobby, he spotted me in the lounge and gave me a polite nod.
“Ozuma-kun’s just got back to the hotel,” I told Otoi-san over the phone.
“Oh, not him...”
“Not him? Then who?”
Kohinata wasn’t exactly a common name, and I didn’t think there was more than one among the second years.
“His sister. Kohinata Iroha.”
“Huh? Iroha-chan? What? Wait. What? What’s Iroha-chan doing in Kyoto?”
“Don’t make me explain; it’s too much effort. Just help me look for her.”
“Hold up. It’s kinda hard for me to swallow this story without an explanation. At least gimme something! Games have tutorials for a reason, y’know!”
“Just come to Tenchido Eternaland, ’kay? See y’there.”
The phone line went dead—and I know I didn’t press the button.
“You’re kidding...”
Iroha-chan was in Kyoto, and she’d gone missing? There were too many pieces missing in this puzzle. Everything in my mind was jumbled.
Was this even my responsibility to deal with? A student from the year below, who wasn’t even on the class trip, had gone missing, so...
I couldn’t find anything about it in my mental manual, but I decided it didn’t matter.
There was no precedent for this, and I didn’t know what to do. That meant there was only one thing I should do.
I was worried about Iroha-chan, so I needed to get over there. It was that simple!
“You going somewhere?” Ozuma-kun called out to me as I stood up and moved from the lounge to the lobby.
Perfect timing—I need to let him know what’s going on!
“Iroha-chan’s gone missing, and I’m off to find her. Mind tagging along, Ozuma-kun?”
“...What?”
Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too.