"Maki?"
When the surprised exclamation of the friend beside her rang out, the girl finally reacted that she was now sitting inside the activity room, trying to find a way to kill the boring time before her.
Those more than four difficult days of struggling to survive inside Shirakawa Apartments felt like an unreal dream.
Only when she saw the sunlight again and once again saw this familiar school before her eyes did she realize that she had finally returned to reality.
"Wh-what is going on, Maki, why did your clothes suddenly become torn and ragged? What happened?!"
Ah.
She really had returned.
She truly had left that place and returned.
The girl's body, somewhat losing strength, fell backward, then was supported by the anxious friend beside her.
The ear-piercing noise that came at her ear, and the reminder from the Sacrifice Game that she would participate in the next round one month later, crossed together with the noisy voices of the people around her. This gave Maki an even more unreal, strange feeling of not knowing whether she was dreaming or in reality.
'What exactly am I… no! No! That's not the main issue at all!'
It seemed as if she heard someone lightly saying thank you and goodbye to her, and that peculiar sensation of her body and consciousness receiving yet another step of strengthening.
But Maki now did not have the energy to pay attention to these things.
She remembered.
At the final moment, she had been pushed into the door by Takumi, while he himself, together with Oba-san, had been taken away by those black arms.
Did they come back?
Did the two of them successfully escape?
'Takumi-kun… Takumi-kun… you would not stay inside, right? Someone as smart as you, someone as capable as you, you definitely would not stay inside, right!'
She suddenly stood up.
In the next moment, the girl ran out of the activity room.
She ignored the shouts of the friend behind her, and she ignored the confused looks of the surrounding classmates.
Wearing the school uniform that had become dirty from crawling and rolling through the ruins, and that had been scratched in several places, the girl ran forward, but then because she did not know where her destination was for a moment, she stopped, standing somewhat dazed on the small path of the campus, lifting her head to look toward the sky.
Meanwhile, outside the main gate of Shuchiin Academy, Takumi stepped out of the taxi, muttering softly, "The price of taxis is really outrageous," while looking at the school gate before him, taking a deep breath, and then walking forward.
And then, unsurprisingly, he was chased out by the security guard.
"And he even had the attitude of calling the police if I didn't leave. Do I look that suspicious? The local security guards really have no manners."
Wearing a hat and a mask, and wanting to force his way through the checkpoint at the slightest disagreement, Takumi shook his head helplessly and left, then looked toward Shuchiin's outer wall.
It was not very tall, just a height of a little more than two meters, close to three meters.
Maki probably did not know what she was doing now, but at this time, she should be inside the school.
Takumi silently left the school gate and walked around the school's outer wall once. Relying on his fairly proficient scouting ability, he quickly found a corner area with few pedestrians and no surveillance.
He stepped back two steps, ran, and jumped.
In the next moment, Takumi jumped more than three meters high while holding his hat with one hand, turned his body in midair, and easily landed inside Shuchiin's campus.
It had been a long time since he had done this kind of detective infiltration activity.
Takumi could not help but recall the part-time moments he had before he started doing novel creation. But those things from back then actually did not have much worth remembering. Compared to that, quickly finding Maki and confirming her current situation was the real priority.
Thinking this, Takumi hid his figure using the shrubs and trees in the school, carefully observing the buildings outside and the various school facilities.
After a while, Takumi slipped in from a second-floor window into the men's changing room of Shuchiin's swimming hall, used his now greatly strengthened power to open the locker of the swimming class teacher, changed into the teacher's coat and sunglasses, then took off his hat and mask, and walked out, openly pretending to be a teacher of Shuchiin as he moved through the school.
'I remember that Maki seems to be a second-year student. Would she be in her class now? But I never asked her which class she is in. When I read the manga, I never remembered these details.'
Takumi felt slightly troubled.
Students occasionally passed by around him and politely greeted him. Some students whispered in confusion, wondering why there was suddenly such a strange teacher in the school, and why he looked so young.
Takumi did not pay attention to this and simply continued walking through the school. Then he was blocked by a pink-haired girl holding a die the size of a basketball.
"Next turn, move forward four!"
The pink-haired girl with a bow in her hair threw the large die onto the ground, then shouted enthusiastically. The two girls following beside her—one holding a rules sheet and reading out lines like "In this turn, Chika has obtained money five thousand," and the other picking up the die and saying with great momentum, "Next, it will be my turn," preparing to throw the die again.
To think he encountered the legendary chaos-bringer Fujiwara Chika, this quickly?
This girl, with an impressive figure and an extremely cheerful personality, had attracted a large number of fans whether in the manga or the anime.
Should he try asking her?
"This student…"
Takumi lightly coughed, imitating the slow and steady tone of the old teachers as he slowly spoke.
"Ah, teacher! Hello, teacher, we are conducting extracurricular practice activities. Teacher, do you have anything you would like to instruct us on?"
Chika, who had been playing the game excitedly just moments ago, was first slightly stunned upon seeing Takumi. Then her gaze quickly swept around Takumi, as if searching for something. After not finding anyone besides Takumi, she let out a breath, then cheerfully waved her hand and asked with a bright smile.
Looking at the similarly casual behavior of the two people behind her, it seemed these students were not afraid to show their playful side in front of a teacher. Mm, it was also possible that most Shuchiin students had deep backgrounds, that teachers usually could only advise them, and that only the disciplinary committee members—who were also students—dared to enforce discipline?
"Have you seen student Shijō Maki pass through here?"
Takumi's expression did not change; he only asked in a very ordinary tone.
"Student Shijō Maki? Hmm, she seems to be the one who has some family relation with Kaguya… Not too sure. Teacher, teacher, did something happen? I am the famous Fujiwara Great Detective of the whole school. If you need anything, I can help you!"
At Takumi's question, Chika was slightly stunned, then gave an answer that was a little disappointing.
But immediately after, as if noticing something from Takumi's reaction, the girl's eyes began to shine, and she stepped forward with the intention of recommending herself.
"No need. You all keep playing. Just don't disturb other people."
Yet Takumi now had no interest in opening some new gal-branch at all; he only wanted to quickly find Maki, so he simply waved his hand and walked away.
"Eh, why like this…"
Behind him came the girl's slightly discouraged voice.
And Takumi, whose steps were light, had already walked past the small garden path under this teaching building and reached a more secluded road.
It was at this moment that he heard fragments of students' voices passing around him.
"What was with that girl just now?"
"Her clothes were too dirty, right?"
"By the way, isn't that Shijō, the second place in the year? How did she end up like this?"
Takumi's steps came to a stop.
He turned his head and looked toward the front of the road.
And Maki slightly lowered her head, let out a light sigh, and just sat there on the bench in silence.
From beside her came an anxious inquiry from a friend.
There were also several teachers and other students being attracted over, wanting to figure out what had happened.
Truly miserable to the extreme.
Clearly the eldest daughter of the Shijō family, yet appearing in such disheveled clothes in front of so many people. She would probably be scolded by her father after going home, right?
Thinking like this, Maki sighed lightly again, preparing to stand up and leave.
No matter what, she should go look for Oba-san first. She had been dragged down together with Takumi. If Takumi could return safely, then she definitely could as well. So as long as she confirmed Oba-san's safety, there was no need to worry about Takumi.
Honestly… She could have thought of this from the beginning, yet she still lost her composure and ran out like this.
Clearly, aside from his name, she knew absolutely nothing about him.
'Maybe after this, we might not even have the chance to meet again…'
"Yo, why not change into clean clothes? Looking like this, how are you going to maintain the dignity of the Shijō family's young lady?"
Then she heard that familiar voice.
The voice of that person whom she originally thought she would not hear, or at least not so soon.
"Eh?"
The girl lifted her head in some surprise and saw Takumi, who had removed his sunglasses and was lightly waving at her.
"Takumi-kun, why are you—"
Her surprised words did not have time to come out.
Because in the next moment, Takumi simply stepped forward, reached out his hand, and wrapped the girl in his arms. Completely unconcerned with the gazes and voices of the surrounding students and teachers, he directly lifted Maki up with both her feet off the ground.
"As a celebration for reuniting in the real world, a small hug shouldn't be too much, Maki?"
Takumi smiled at the girl very calmly.
And under multiple shocks, the girl, who took a long time to react to the current situation, immediately blushed. The instant flush almost filled her entire face.
"Y-you, you, you, you, you, you, you idiot, what are you doing!?"
After her cry came the questioning voices of other teachers rushing over, the uproar and jeering of students, and the sound of Takumi running away with great familiarity. All kinds of chaotic noises echoed through the campus, truly lively.
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