Chapter 43 Ambush

Ambush

The next day.

Break after the first period.

Unusually, Sou quickly gets up from his seat and leaves the classroom.

He quickly walks through the hallway and down the stairs.

When he gets to the first floor, he walks a little and heads for the entrance.

When he reaches his destination, he goes to Mizuki’s shoebox, which he remembers in his mind.

“Sorry, Nakatani-san.”

With a single word of apology, he opens Mizuki’s shoebox to check its contents.

Inside was a pair of brown loafers that seemed to be Mizuki’s personal belongings. Yesterday, they had been very dirty, but today, they were not. The loafers were well polished, like new.

“I guess you’re still hiding.”

Murmuring to himself at the entrance where no one else is present, Sou carefully closes Mizuki’s shoebox.

“Hmm… I might have to keep visiting the entrance. It might be a waste of time. But I have to do my best for Nakatani-san.”

Sou waited at the entrance until the end of the break. As if waiting for the culprit to show up.

But in the end, the culprit never showed up. Surprisingly, no other students came to the entrance except Sou. So he had to leave the entrance a minute before the break ended and hurry back to the classroom.

Later, Sou went to the entrance again during the break after the second period.

Time passed, and it was lunchtime.

So far, Sou has gone to the entrance three times during the break but has had no luck.

He persistently goes to the entrance without taking his lunch, even though he thinks it is time to change places. The reason he goes to the entrance is because he predicts that the culprit will hide Mizuki’s loafers again.

He has no basis for this, but somehow he has a feeling that this will happen.

In contrast to the breaks, the hallway is filled with the loud voices of the students. As the long break approaches, it’s hard to contain the excitement.

With the students’ voices ringing in his ears, Sou reaches the entrance.

“Eh?”

When he recognizes the entire entrance, Sou unconsciously narrows his eyes.

This is because there were other people there before him. There were three people. And all three are standing in front of Mizuki’s shoebox.

“Hahaha. I’ll hide that ugly b🬀🬀ch’s loafers this time, too. Kekekek. Just imagining the sad and desperate look on her face gets me excited! Ahh, it’s the best~~”

The girl in the middle lets out an eerie laugh and takes a pair of loafers out of Mizuki’s shoebox without permission. With no excuse and a dirty smile on her face, she roughly closes the shoebox.

“I agree! Besides, that guy will be happy too!”

“Of course! He’ll be happy that things are going according to plan, right?”

Following the girl’s lead, the other two smile maliciously and express their own thoughts as they please.

“Well, where are we going to hide them today?”

Turning on her heels, the leader tries to disappear through the entrance.

The two cronies follow.

“Hey, what are you guys doing?”

Just as the three girls are about to leave the entrance, Sou calls out in a blatant manner. Then he quickly takes out his smartphone from his blazer pocket, starts the camera, and takes a picture of the three girls who are surprised and looking at him.

When he checks the photo saved in the album, he sees that one of the girls, the leader, is grabbing Mizuki’s loafers with her hand.

“Those loafers aren’t yours, are they? They’re Nakatani-san’s, right?”

Sou knows that they are actually Mizuki’s personal property, but he deliberately asks in a questioning manner. This is to put pressure on the three girls.

“I also took a photo as evidence.”

He shows the photo he just took on his smartphone screen and shows it to the three girls.

“““Ugh….””””

Unable to say anything back, they let out a pathetic voice, and the three girls make bitter faces.

“If you don’t want this photo to be spread all over the school, you will have to accept my request.”

With a slight smile on his face, as if he’s planning something dirty, Sou begins to speak.

However, there is no response, and the three girls remain silent, looking uncomfortable.

“Who is the person you were talking about? That guy is the one pulling the strings, right?”

Sou persistently asked the three girls, who blatantly averted their eyes.

To get them to answer, Sou had no choice but to take a fighting stance and hit a shoebox with all his might to show the difference in their strength.

Sou’s right straight collided with someone’s shoebox, and a crashing sound echoed.

Even the girls were scared, and their shoulders shook with fear.

“Hurry up, or I might explode in anger, you know?”