Students had just gotten out for a lunch break. Most of the teachers rushed to the administrative office, meanwhile Rick was in the hallway.
His eyes focused on his phone screen and it read:
"KEEP KAIDE TAKAMIYA ALIVE FOR AS LONG AS YOU CAN, +900 POINTS." (Quest progress 2%)
He then put his hand on his neck as he tilted it to the sides and it made a cracking sound, and entered the library.
It was quiet, the smell of books in the air hitting his nostrils as he passed a hand through his gray hair.
'Still two percent huh? I wonder what Hayase really wanted earlier,' he thought as he stood at a turn and entered the hallway, then a smug grin appeared on his face.
'I know I'm good looking but that girl is not my type, besides I have the stage set up for me now, now I'm just waiting for the actors.'
"But where is everyone," he said as he looked around in the library. It was empty, no one was present. "Well this sucks."
A while back that very afternoon, Ren was sitting at a chair. It was empty and the smell of food being prepared lingered in the air.
Horikita was seated at a special chair, had her arms folded and continuously tapping her left foot on the ground, her emerald eyes looking at her watch.
"You said we won't be here for more than five minutes, it's six that have already passed," She shifted her gaze towards Ren.
Ren looked at the large special chair Horikita was sitting in with a narrow gaze.
"I didn't say that," Ren glanced back at Horikita. "All I said is that this won't take long, don't put words into my mouth."
"Time is of the essence, I'm sure you know I can't afford to waste it."
"It's not wasting, if you're getting the clues needed to beat the level you have been struggling with."
"That is a reasonable argument."
"By the way, why didn't you just tell me that the key item is a drug? Was this some kind of test or what?" Ren asked as he took his phone out of his pocket.
At the mention of the word drug, Horikita's emerald eye flinched for a second.
"What was there to tell, when I was certain that you would easily discover it on your own? After all, you are my shadow. What better way to show your worth than that," She replied calmly, her voice calm and precise.
Ren stayed silent, his red eyes shifting to the man wearing a blue work suit carrying a big box.
"Something has piqued my curiosity, how did you discover the drug anyways?"
"I have a friend who is good at adding things together but is very aware of his skill set," He answered.
"Ilya is good at adding things, but she is still struggling. But it's great to see her still trying, now I'm regretting making her that promise," Horikita said, her tone slightly playful.
'I guess that's why she's fuming like that. I just hope I wouldn't be involved in whatever is going on between these two characters,' he thought to himself.
"Tatsuya Kagami, the student who got a special recommendation based on the fact that he managed to answer any question in a unique way without showing any struggle," Horikita stated as if she was reading it off a book.
"That's the only friend you might have that I could think of, who fits that description, and the other not so much. Would it be incorrect to assume I am right?"
"You are not wrong," Ren said as he sank in his chair, then he added, "Alright, they're almost done now, let's go."
"Where?" Horikita asked as she slowly got up from her seat.
"Just follow me," Ren ordered as he got up from his chair and put his phone back in his pocket. Without a word, Horikita followed.
At the same time, Tatsuya was sitting in a chair, he was looking down and standing right beside him was Aina.
Her golden hair looking more colorful as the sun rays bounced off, her purple eyes staring daggers right into him.
"You haven't been answering my phone calls and now you are not even going to look at me?" She folded her arms at her chest.
"What do you mean?" Tatsuya grabbed a pen and started flipping pages through a book. "Didn't you bring this book because you wanted help with your homework?"
"Well yes," she seemed to be caught off guard by his response but she maintained her composure, "but I also want a reasonable explanation to why you didn't respond to my calls."
"Nothing much, I was busy watching anime, I didn't have time to go on my phone," He started writing numbers from the bottom of the page then going up.
"That's soo like you," she pouted, "but you could have at least tried to inform me."
Tatsuya stopped writing and faced her, his eyes still had bags under them, "Well I uh..."
"Mmmm you look awful, have you not been sleeping again?" Then her voice lowered, "Or is there something going on? You do know that you can tell me anything right? Tats."
"Yes I know, I do trust you and I'm a fan of your acting skills, trust me if there was something going on I'd tell you."
"It's just that, everything has been different since the audition, I thought..." She stopped mid sentence, her voice trailing off.
"You should know that I trust you, if you need help don't hesitate to come to me," She was making her contact with him in that moment.
Tatsuya's narrowed blue eyes were reflecting her face, 'I don't know what to say to you, especially when I know that you are that good of an actor that I can't tell whether you're being genuine or you are just acting.'
Meanwhile in the back of the kitchen, Ren and Horikita were walking towards a huge door.
In front of the door, was a man who stood, he had a mustache and was wearing his gray work suit and there was a frown on his face.
Ren was walking slightly in front, and immediately as he was walking towards the door the man stepped right in front of him.
"No unauthorized access beyond this point, I'm afraid you are going to have to turn back."
"I'm aware," Ren stopped walking.
"Then what are you doing here? Look, I'm working here. Just turn back and stop disturbing me." He pointed out for Ren to leave.
"We are here to check how you are maintaining the storage room." Horikita interfered.
"Look! This is when they are unpacking most of the food, come back another time. I don't care who you are but no student goes beyond this point." The man glared at the two of them.
"You must be new here, because clearly you don't know who you are talking to." Horikita started to slowly walk towards the man.
After she just took a few steps, "What's with all the ruckus!" A loud voice came from behind the door as it opened.
"Tekashin, is there a problem," a grumpy and buff looking man came out.
Ren recognized him immediately, it's the man who serves food in the cafeteria, he was huge and had a cloth tied over his head.
"Madam, how are you doing this afternoon?" He said, his voice low and calm.
"I am alright, we are just here to check the food conditions. I'm sure you've seen the situation around the student body, so we want to make sure that everything is in order." She explained, her voice calm as she looked up at the huge man in front of her.
"But madam the food has already been prepared, you should go eat and come back when we finish unpacking." The man tried to reason with them.
"There'll be no need."
"But miss this isn't..."
"All I hear are excuses, move out of the way."
'Mmmm it's like seeing Horikita debuff all his intimidating aura, I wonder just how much power this girl has.' Ren walked right beside her and side glanced at her.
"Wait why are you listening to these little kids, they can't talk to...." The man in the gray suit commented.
"Shut up and get back in and help with packing!" The grumpy man yelled.
"Arg, Ughhh, But..." He let out a growl. With fear in the man's eyes, he opened the door and went in.
"If you insist, your wish is my command." The man gestured as he opened the door.
They entered and inside the room were a lot of boxes, there were a lot of boxes covering the whole room and a few men.
Some were lifting the boxes from one place and taking them near the part which had a lot of fridges. Some were putting the jars on the shelves, all were busy doing something.
Most of them didn't stop working, some even pretended not to notice the two students in the room.
"So as you can see everything is working smoothly eh." He explained.
"Keep quiet will you." Horikita ordered, her voice sharp and precise.
Without a word the man moved back and kept quiet but his eyes focused on them.
"So what now?" She asked.
Ren's red eyes were busy looking around the whole room, and he started walking near the boxes being moved to the fridge.
"Is it alright if I can eat fruit first?" He asked calmly as he reached his hand to the box.
"You have a way of testing people's patience don't you," She asked.
"Not really, I'm just sure that line would trigger something in these NPC's especially when I do this," He said as he opened one of the boxes full of fruits.
He took out an orange and crushed it, he then let it drop to the ground.
Inside of the orange was a small plastic bag filled with gray looking powder.
All the men in the room stopped what they were doing and came closer to the two, all of them standing right beside the grumpy man who had a serious look.
The grumpy man didn't move and just stood there watching as he made a fist and a vein appeared on his forehead.
"Is that?" Horikita flinched taking a step back.
"Yes it is," Ren answered as he stepped on the bag, "I'm guessing our friends aren't too thrilled about us discovering their hiding place."