74 Secre (1/2)

Seiji and Chiaki slowly walked down the street after leaving the coffee café.

”Haha, you actually knocked him unconscious, you’re pretty evil, Seigo… No, Seiji.” Chiaki broke out into laughter again as she thought back to the previous events. ”But you did a great job—as expected of my S-ranked weapon!” She gave him a huge thumbs-up.

”Heh, but of course.” Seiji pretended to gaze into the distance. ”A person capable of defeating me does not exist in this world.”

After one second of silence.

Both of them broke out into laughter.

”What’s with those embarrassing words of yours!? But it’s actually unexpectedly moving~” Chiaki stepped closer to Seiji as if it were the natural thing to do and clung on to his arm.

”We don’t need to fake being a couple anymore, do we?”

”We don’t. I just feel like doing this.”

Seiji glanced at the silver-haired girl.

”How did… your conversation with her go?”

”Mmm… Should I say that it didn’t go very well, or that it was fine?” Chiaki had a complex expression.

”It doesn’t seem like you two have gotten back together again, so what’s your current relationship with her?”

”It’s… friends,” Chiaki said wistfully, ”a special type of friendship. Friends that miss each other when apart. Perhaps we’ll meet each other soon again, but maybe we might never see each other again… Friends like that.”

Seiji remained silent.

Although that Tetsuo Sasaki was nothing more than an idiot, one thing he mentioned was indisputable—the fact that Haruka Shimizu didn’t intend to get back together with Chiaki again. Her taking along a fake boyfriend was plenty of evidence for this.

And if Haruka didn’t intend this, Chiaki definitely wouldn’t request it either, so…

At any rate, why exactly did Haruka Shimizu invite Chiaki out of the blue? This still remained a mystery.

Seiji was waiting for an answer.

After a long period of silence.

”Even though Haruka told me not to tell anyone else, including you… I think I should still let you know.” Chiaki looked up at Seiji as her eyes flashed with an indescribable light.

”Are you sure? If it’s an important secret, you don’t need to tell me.”

”It’s not a secret… Er, I don’t know.” Chiaki sighed. ”I don’t know what exactly this is…”

She didn’t know?

Seiji furrowed his brows.

”Haruka, she… first, she asked if I could transfer to Koaki High School, and be normal friends with her again.” Chiaki slowly began to speak. ”Of course, I rejected her and said this wasn’t possible.”

”Then, she requested that I… take a temporary leave of absence from school.”

”Leave of absence?” Seiji was confused.

He could understand asking her to transfer schools and be friends again, but what was with the leave of absence request?

Seiji raised his eyebrows.

”What kind of danger?”

”She didn’t tell me what it specifically was, she only said that there was a danger which could cause students to die,” Chiaki said in a heavy tone of voice.

Hey now, could it be?

The only upcoming thing that might be dangerous enough for students to die at Genhana High School… Seiji could only think of one such incident.

The Yin Yang Master duel!

Was this what Haruka Shimizu was alluding to? Did she know about it? Was she a person with mystical powers!?

Successive doubts kept arising in Seiji’s mind.

”It sounds really strange, right? What danger could befall Genhana High School?” Chiaki sighed before continuing, ”But Haruka seemed so serious; she begged me to believe her and do as she requested!”

”She invited me out solely for the purpose of telling me this.”

Seiji now understood the logic behind Haruka’s sudden invitation.

But now, new questions arose.

For Chiaki, at least.

”She obviously wasn’t making all this up, but she wouldn’t tell me anything about the danger… I don’t understand why…” the silver-haired girl muttered to herself. ”And she even told me not to tell anyone else… I honestly don’t get it; what kind of secret is this? Something which is dangerous enough to cause the death of high school students is a huge incident! It shouldn’t be hidden. Why didn’t Haruka tell me the details clearly, ask me to keep it a secret, and tell me to take a leave of absence from school?”

”I don’t understand. She refused to speak further on the subject no matter what, so I don’t get it.”

Chiaki looked at the boy by her side.

”That’s why I told you, Seiji… Seiji?”