225 Old School (2/2)

”Um, everyone's looking at us…” Ty whispered.

”Just keep walking, Tyberius,” Arah instructed. ”We'll be out of here soon… Oh no…”

Arah's words mirrored the panic I felt inside for now I knew for sure that this incident was in fact related to us.

Unfortunately, they saw me at the same time as we noticed them.

About two dozen grown men all in different kinds of civilian clothes formed two neat lines that began from outside the school gate to the black van idling on the side of the road.

They all bowed respectfully toward me right after they opened up a path to let me and my friends through.

”I'm going to kill him,” I whispered.

”Dude, isn't that Jensen waiting by the car…” Ty realized.

”Those idiots…” I growled. ”This isn't some kind of old school gang war movie...”

Arah could only shake her head. ”Talk about conspicuous…”

As Jensen opened the car door for me, he sent me an apologetic smile.

”It's not on you, Jensen,” I pointed to the individual sitting cozily in the back seat. ”It's on him… how did they even let you out of the hospital?”

”I broke out,” Azuma chuckled which caused him to cough afterward.

”Why?” was all I could ask Azuma after Arah, Ty, and I were safely seated inside the van and the driver had started the engine.

He coughed. Then he coughed some more. And only after he was done with his fit did he pass me the manila folder in his hand.

I opened it and found several photos of men and women I'd never seen before. All of them were human.

”Who are they?” I asked.

”Viseres of the Scarlet Moon,” Azuma answered.

My eyes narrowed after I heard his answer. ”How do you know this?”

”Some of the people in those photos are viseres who followed Ardeen Spellweaver after the fall of the Magesong Clan,” Azuma explained. He coughed once, then he continued with, ”Some of them are still on my contact list… and they were nice enough to warn me about what's been happening in your school.”

That's when I noticed that the photos taken had been taken at a specific place — Midtown High.

I passed Arah the ones I'd already finished looking at while taking mental notes on the composition. Most of the photos had been taken inside campus grounds while these Scarlet Moon lackeys roamed my school during the day.

”That's what the show of force was for,” Arah guessed. ”To point out to our enemies that Midtown High is under our protection…”

Azuma nodded.

”So did the Yakuza thing work?” Ty asked.

Arah shook her head. ”Probably not… It'll only make them more cautious… but at least they won't be moving as freely as before and now we know what they look like…”

Azuma nodded in agreement. ”Whoever it is they're after… let's not make it easy for them.”

The second to the last photo in the folder was a scene in the student council's office.

The visere in the photo — a woman in a neat business suit — was talking to the president, but Rufus and the other members of the council could be seen in the shot too.

I passed the folder to Arah. ”Order the guys in your unit to roam outside campus starting tomorrow… I want them to grab one of the guys in the photos if they ever show up near Midtown High again. It's about time we get some answers for ourselves.”

”Do you want them roughed up?” Azuma asked.

”Just enough to spill the beans,” I answered. ”You handle this personally, Azuma… I've got to focus on the other thing…”

”Ah, Darah's coming tonight, isn't she,” he replied.

”Yeah,” I sighed. ”It's going to be hectic in Hoodwink tonight…”