“All right, it’s time for the, uh… How many of these have we done? Well, it’s time for the whatever-eth courtyard assembly to come to order,” Monika Asahi proclaimed. Her dreary monotone was a complete mismatch for the lofty phrasing of her declaration.
Ryuuko gave her a round of applause and threw in a “yaaay!” for good measure. Tobi, on the other hand, didn’t think there was any need for that level of energy. In fact, he was already sick of it. Just sitting on a bench between the two girls was exhausting.
“What sort of meeting is this even supposed to be?” Tobi sighed.
“God, I’m hungry,” his backpack interjected.
“Oh right, I forgot. Baku has an appetite, doesn’t he?” Monika could see zingai and hear them as well—just like Tobi and Ryuuko. But while Tobi had Baku and Ryuuko had Chinurasha, Monika had no zingai of her own.
“Huh?” Baku shot back. “You got a problem with that?”
“No, it’s just tricky to deal with. What about yours, Ryuuko? You know, uhh…”
“Oh, did you forget her name?” Ryuuko opened her pouch, and a white, fluffy zingai sporting a pair of horns popped her head out.
Looking at the creature now, Tobi was a little surprised she could fit in the pouch at all. He could have been imagining it, but she seemed big. Had she grown?
“Her name is Chinurasha, but I usually call her Chinu!” Ryuuko explained.
“Right. So what about Chinu?” asked Monika.
“You mean, does she get hungry?” Ryuuko hummed to herself, prodding Chinu’s horns absentmindedly as she pondered the question. “Not as far as I can tell. Chinu doesn’t talk like Baku, so it’s hard for me to be certain, but I don’t believe she gets hungry.”
“Well, good. It’s better that way. But just so you know,” Monika added, giving Baku a light pat and ruffling Chinu’s fur, “you’d better watch your appetite.”
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been putting up with this?!” Baku shouted. “So friggin’ long!”
That’s great and all, thought Tobi, but could you please stop talking to Baku out in the open?
He almost said it out loud but swallowed the words at the last moment. Still, it was starting to feel a little silly being so cautious. While they weren’t alone in the courtyard, it didn’t seem like anyone else was paying them any attention. No one other than Haizaki, that is. The janitor was once again loitering in the parking lot across from the courtyard, but Tobi felt safe ignoring him.
“You’re doing great work, Baku,” said Monika.
Baku immediately let the compliment go to his head. “Heh-heh! You know it!”
“Not everyone can pull off that sort of self-restraint. Very impressive.”
“Tell me about it—not that I need you to! Impressive’s my middle name! Hey, hear that, Tobi? You can bow down and worship me anytime!”
“No thanks,” Tobi muttered.
“Praise be.” Ryuuko clapped her hands together and bowed reverently.
“Heh-heh-heh!” Baku chortled, clearly pleased.
Tobi found this reaction mildly irritating, but even more upsetting was that, with Baku on his back, Ryuuko’s gesture appeared to be directed at him. Could you please just not?
“The thing is,” said Monika, crossing her legs and tilting her head from side to side, “the more you eat, the more likely you are to lose control.”
“Huh?!” Baku shouted. “Now, hold on—don’t go lumpin’ me in with all those losers who can’t hold back! I can endure the unendurable!”
“I hope you’re right about that.”
“And seeing as I’ve been holding back for so long, how ’bout letting me have a snack as a little reward?”
“You know what happens to the masters of zingai you eat, don’t you?” Monika asked. Her tone was grave and a very serious look had come over her face. “Chiami Kon. Shuuji Masaki. Sound familiar? You’re the one who ate their zingai, aren’t you, Baku?”
“H-how’d you…?” Baku stammered.
Ryuuko clutched her pouch—and Chinu, whose head was still poking out of it—to her chest. “…Wh-where did you learn about that, Monika?”
“It’s related to the matter I’m looking into,” Monika replied.
“That’s not much of an answer, is it?” said Tobi.
Monika didn’t flinch. “There are too many relapses in this school,” she said, which wasn’t an answer, either.
She’d dodged his question, but since Tobi was interested in the topic she’d brought up instead, he had no choice but to listen.
“Puberty’s more dangerous than you might think,” Monika continued. “Relapses happen a lot easier when kids are growing into their bodies and turning into adults—developing their secondary sex characteristics and all that. But what we’re seeing here is abnormal. When relapses happen one after another like this, we have to assume there’s some instigating factor.”
What’s she getting at with this? Tobi took a moment to consider the situation. “…You mean there’s a root cause? Something making people relapse?”
“That’s my working theory,” said Monika.
“And you’re trying to find whoever or whatever is causing the problem, aren’t you?” Ryuuko sounded just a little too excited, though her enthusiasm baffled Tobi. “There must be some sort of lead that we can follow! Something that ties all the people who’ve relapsed together, for instance!”
“I can get my hands on the school’s data, to start us off,” Monika said. She spoke so casually, it almost didn’t register with Tobi how alarming that was.
“Do you mean ‘data’ in, umm, the ‘IT’ sense…?” asked Ryuuko. It sounded like she didn’t fully understand the words.
“I mean, I guess you could call it IT, sure. I’m talking about all the junk the school has saved on its servers.”
At that, Ryuuko finally began to understand the gravity of what Monika was saying. She looked slightly apprehensive. “…B-but how would you gain access to something like that?”
“Contacts, I guess? In other words, I know a guy.”
“D-does that mean…you’re acquainted with someone on this school’s board of directors, perhaps…?” Ryuuko was so shaken, she’d made a bizarre leap in logic. Tobi sighed.
“This place doesn’t have a board of directors,” said Monika. “It’s a public school.”
“Oh! Yes, umm, of course…”
“At any rate, if the school has the data, I can probably get my hands on it.”
Okay, but how, exactly? Why are you able to do that? Tobi still had plenty of questions, but he also had a feeling he’d be better off not knowing the answers. Something about this business was starting to smell distinctly criminal…or maybe it was the exact opposite. If this was all part of some police investigation, then gaining access to a bit of private information might be perfectly legal. But that would mean that Monika Asahi, a second-year middle school student, was a cop. And that would be absurd.
“I dunno, though.” Monika crossed her arms. “I can give it a try, but I doubt we’ll get any good leads that way. We should also put in some old-fashioned legwork. It’s pretty easy to pick out the people who’ve relapsed. I suggest we interview them one by one.”
“That’s not a job for me,” Tobi said reflexively.
Monika laughed. “Figures. I’m no good at that stuff, either.”
“In general, I enjoy speaking with people,” said Ryuuko. “As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained!” It was obvious she was feigning confidence, however.
“You sure you can do it, Oryuu…?” It seemed Baku shared Tobi’s concerns.
“Naturally!” she insisted. But a moment later, her spirits visibly plunged.
She sure keeps herself busy, thought Tobi.
“…But I’m aware that, from time to time, I can…put people off, I suppose,” Ryuuko continued. “And practically speaking, it would likely be difficult talking to someone with whom I’m not already acquainted.”
“Guess we should start by narrowing down the list a bit, then,” Monika said. She rested her elbows on her knees and propped her chin in her hands. “Hmm… I’ll give it some thought for now and get back to you.”
“Please do!” Ryuuko replied, once again brimming with enthusiasm for reasons beyond Tobi’s understanding.
Maybe it’s this sort of thing that “puts people off” from time to time, he thought, though he decided against voicing this theory. He had no right to talk when it came to social skills.
He got the feeling he’d made Asamiya mad without even realizing it. He must have done something to upset him, but he couldn’t figure out what. Had he said something insensitive? Or maybe he’d inadvertently been selfish and put the other boy off. Ryuuko, at least, could tell when she’d upset someone. In that respect, she was way ahead of Tobi.
“It’d be great if we could just eat ’em all and call it a day,” Baku mumbled.
Monika crossed her fingers, forming an X. In other words, that was out of the question. “Nope. Jokes aside, that’s seriously dangerous,” she said. “If you go on a feeding frenzy, there’s a chance you’ll wind up eating your master. There’s precedent for it.”
“Huh…? Eating my master? You mean you think I’d eat Tobi? Is that what you’re saying?”
“It’s super rare, so I’m fuzzy on the details.”
“Heh! As if I’d ever eat Tobi. I mean, look at him! No way he’d taste good, right?”
“…So you’d eat me if I looked tasty?” Tobi shot back.
“As if, moron! No way in hell I’d eat my partner, no matter what!”
Tobi instinctually believed Baku’s words. But hunger was based on instinct, too. It was a deep, primordial drive.