One and Only

Ch. 18 Second Years

We said our goodbyes to our new lower classmen, going to our own respective classroom. As we entered, Yaga was already present. Stoic and intimidating as ever.
"Welcome back," he began and proceeded to go through the formalities of the new year. The entire time, I could feel someone burning holes into the side of my skull. Satoru making it abundantly clear that he didn't care about the speech Yaga was giving and was waiting for his chance to come up to me.
"Now, I have a mission for you all to do as a team. Just something to get you all used to being together again." He handed each of us a report outlining a couple of disappearances happening in Ikebukuro. There have been couples going to a specific hotel room that never come out. "There have been 6 separate incidents that have been reported within the last 4 months, but we believe that there are more than what have been released."
"Well what's so special about that? They're probably running away from families or something." Satoru waved his hand.
"Normally, that is the case," Yaga responded. "The police found the belongings of every person who has stayed in that room. Nothing touched or missing. No signs of forced entry; nothing on the cameras that show someone going in or out of the room since the arrival of each tenant."
"So folks are just vanishing once they enter the room?" Suguru chimed in.
"There's a rumor that's been growing since the disappearances. Rumors of a portal to hell are what the locals have been gossiping about."
"Creepy." Shoko said in a rather flat tone.
"Some of the more frequent tenants say that they can hear crunching coming from that room, but no one has seen anything out of the norm. Our Windows, however, have been able to spot curse residue from a specific man. One of the older hotel staff, Yamato Kenichi, has been acting odd for the last couple of days. Start there. Dismissed." Yaga left the classroom before we did.
"We don't even know what the hotels called." Satoru complained.
"It's in the report." I said, flipping through the pages.
"Haa.. I'll go get some supplies, who knows what or who we'll find there. It's probably gross.." Shoko left with a sigh.
"I'll go with you." Suguru stood up, following Shoko out of the classroom.
I mentally cursed at Suguru for leaving me alone with Satoru.
Of course, Satoru wasted no time.
"Are we good?" Well, that definitely wasn't what I was expecting.
"I don't know, are we?" I honestly wasn't sure. Things had been tense the few times we did talk or see each other, but Satoru never really seemed to have been too bothered by it.
"I'd like to think we are," Satoru said. "I'm not mad or upset or anything like that, more so just concerned that you don't want to be friends anymore since we haven't even had a proper conversation till now."
"We are absolutely still friends." I quickly reassured him, I watched his shoulders relax. "I'll be honest, I'm still kind of beating myself up about it. Just give me a couple more days, I'll get over it." Those last few words felt like acid on my tongue. Of course I didn't want to get over it. "But yeah, we're good."

During the ride to Ikebukuro, the auxiliary agent filled us in on the rest of the report. They were able to get the owner to allow us in midday since there aren't many tenants at that time. The place was off limits to the public until we were done.
Yaga had failed to tell us that we'd be surveying the entire hotel, not just that hotel room. We decided to go through the hotel in pairs and meet up on the 3rd floor where the room was. Shoko and I were going through the 1st while Satoru and Suguru went to the 2nd. I was honestly relieved to be with Shoko, I hadn't told her about anything that happened. So, maybe now was a good time to spill.
"It shouldn't take too long, we'll meet up in the 3rd floor in like 30 minutes." Shoko said. "Don't play on the beds." She directed at the 2 boys.

"Anything?" Shoko asked as I walked out of the 6th room.
"Nope, place was clean."
"There wasn't anything here either." We quickly went through the last 4 rooms, and they all came up the same. No residue and no sign of a curse lingering. We still had 15 minutes before we had to meet up with the boys, so Shoko decided to go into one of the smoking rooms.
"So," she said as she exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Are you going to tell me what it is you've been fidgeting about?"
"Huh?" I was genuinely shocked.
"Mai, you've been messing with the hem of your sleeve since we were in the car. What's going on?"
"I.. fuck it. I kissed Satoru." I looked down embarrassed by my own confession.
"Well it's about fucking time." I could hear her smirk.
"hmHuh?! What's that's supposed to mean?!" I tried to defend.
"Mai, I adore you, but you're crush on him is really obvious. I was wondering what happened when you and him weren't talking. I thought he tried something, but now I'm surprised to hear you're the one who tried something." She took another drag from her cigarette. I threw my face into my hands.
"I don't know why I did it! Ugh, I'm still upset about it. Satoru says it's fine and that we should move past it.. but I haven't stopped thinking about it since." I confessed. "This really fucking sucks."
"Are you in love with him?" Shoko questioned. Her tone serious.
"God, yeah. I really am and that's what fucking sucks. He's a player. Always on a date or talking to a girl. He's even told me that he isn't ready for a committed relationship."
"But he always wants to be around you." She put out her cigarette. "I don't think it's that he's not ready for a commitment, but that's he's not ready to give up his current lifestyle." I just listened, digesting what she was getting at. "I've known you both for a year, we've been through a lot together. I can't say that I know you both, but I've been able to see how differently you guys act around each other and other people. You guys are really close, I just think that Satoru doesn't want to admit to himself that there's something there." I was quiet for a moment.
"Do you think I should just give up on it then?"
"I can't make that decision for you. That's something you need to figure out for yourself.. but what I do think is that you should at least enjoy yourself instead of being hung over him."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." I sighed out. And then thought of something else I should have told her a while ago.
"Also.. Suguru asked me on a date.."
"He did what now?" Shoko asked, I couldn't tell if she was shocked or confused.
"Yeah, a while back, when we had our sleepover? He said he liked me and wanted to date me, but with everything going on I felt overwhelmed. I told him I'd give him an answer once everything has, ya know, settled down." I explained.
"Do you think things have settled down? Outside of the Satoru thing, I mean." She asked.
"..Yeah? At least, as much as they could be."
"So.. what are you getting at?" I took a minute to think over her question. Putting my thoughts together as well as her advice.
"Well.. I guess I'll finally give him an answer?" I replied meekly.