The next day, Asagi found himself being trusted with a difficult task: to take his sister to school.
Apparently, due to his job, his father could not return home last night and slept over at his office, so he was unable to take his children to school this morning. That was why this time it was Asagi's duty as a big brother to accompany his little sister to school. Akari could go to school alone, there was no doubt about it, but why did she have to go alone when her school was in the same direction as her brother's school and even next to each other?
For Asagi of this world, this kind of task was nothing, but for the current Asagi, it was very difficult. How could he escort his sister when he himself was not familiar with the road to school? At this rate, it was clear that it would not be him who took his sister; it would be his sister who took him to school. Asagi felt ashamed, but he quickly accepted the reality because there was nothing he could do. He let Akari guide him to school under the pretense that Onii-chan wanted to test Akari if she remembered the way to school. This strategy worked. Thanks to his gullible little sister, he arrived safely at school without getting lost.
The moment Asagi entered his class, just like the day before, he was welcomed with a sight of the students being noisy. When he looked at Ueda's seat, he found the guy had already arrived, sitting up stiffly when he saw him at the door. Asagi only nodded briefly at him before going to his own seat. He just sat down when suddenly a guy approached him in excitement.
"Nagayama, I've heard the news! Isobe's president is arrested, right? For tax evasion, confinement, and murder attempt!"
"Ah?" Asagi blinked in surprise. It was not the news that surprised him, but that guy who suddenly told him about the news. To tell the truth, he had also seen the same news on the TV this morning. At that time, he thought that it was no wonder his father had been busy to the point he had to sleep over at his office. It turned out that the news he had been covering was truly big and shocking.
"Yeah, so?" he asked that guy back as he tried to recall his name. If he was not wrong, that guy's name should be Fujiwara something.
"I saw your dad's name on the online newspaper this morning. Hey, did he return home last night?"
"No, why?" Asagi was perplexed. Why did this guy ask about his father?
"Have you seen him or talked to him today?"
"No."
"Aaahhh... just as I thought! Dammit!" this time, this guy even cursed, bewildering Asagi even more. "You really haven't heard anything else from him?"
"I haven't," Asagi frowned. Just what was this guy thinking? What did he want from him? Don't tell him he wanted spoilers that had yet to be reported to the media? For what? Curious, he finally asked. "What do you want, Fujiwara?"
"Ah, this... you know, Isobe is a big company, right? And... you know Kudo from class B, right? We all know he's been on a case lately, so I thought perhaps Isobe's case had something to do with him. After all, it's quite a big case," Fujiwara answered awkwardly.
"Kudo?" Asagi was not just confused this time. He was feeling wary as well. The protagonist was being mentioned! "Why did you think so?"
"I've heard that he confessed to Mouri! That Mouri! That's why I thought maybe he will return soon since he has confessed to her."
Asagi's eyes widened when he heard that news, but a second later, they turned sharp. "Where did you hear that? When?"
"Someone from class B told me yesterday," Fujiwara shrugged. "I bet everyone in the school will know that soon."
"Have you told anyone else?"
"No, but I'm sure I'm not the only one in the class who knows. It's such big news after all."
It was good that Fujiwara had not told anyone, but it was bad that he was not the only one in the class who knew about it. Asagi felt agitated.
"Fujiwara, don't tell anyone else about this," he warned. He was aware of how dangerous it could be if Kudo's enemy, the black organization, found out the news about him from this school. It would not end well for such an unimportant character like him. Definitely would not. "Don't. Ever. Tell. Anyone. Else. Got it?"
"Why?"
"If he's really on a case, we have to suppress any news about him until he really comes back."
"Why? I mean, he's been solving crimes for ages and we don't have to hide anything about him—well, the police did ask us to hide his involvement in the murder at the festival, but this is a different case, so it should be alright if we talk about it, right?"
"No—listen, he hasn't appeared at all in the media after he got involved in that mysterious case. Even the case during the school festival has to be kept secret," Asagi answered as he recalled the famous case in the manga during Teitan High school festival, the case when Kudo Shinichi made an appearance in his school. If there was already news about Ran being confessed by Shinichi, it should be safe for him to mention that festival case because the confession was supposed to happen long after the school festival. Added with the fact that just now Fujiwara also mentioned that case, there was no doubt the festival murder had already happened. "It's obvious he doesn't want attention right now. That's why we can't let any news about him leak outside."
"But the case on the school festival is being kept secret only because the murderer is our alumnus, right? It's not because Kudo solved it. I thought we have to keep his involvement secret because the case itself should be kept secret."
Asagi shook his head. "Wrong. Do you know who's the one who suggested that we have to keep that case a secret?"
"Kudo's friend from another school?"
"Yes, but his friend isn't an ordinary person. He's Hattori Heiji," Asagi told him. "Do you know who is Hattori Heiji?"
"Yeah, he's... the high school detective from Osaka." Fujiwara gulped nervously. "Wait, you mean..."
"Yes, he might have some ideas about Kudo's big case. That's why he took the initiative to tell us to conceal this case from the public. Even the police agreed with him. There's no doubt Kudo's involvement must be kept secret too."
"That's..." Fujiwara looked confused. "I'm not sure if I understand what you said, but do you mean we have to hide Kudo until he returns permanently? We have to hide his involvement not just in that murder during the festival, but also in other cases?"
Asagi nodded.
"Then when the teacher and the police called you specifically that time... I remember you told us that they asked you to keep Kudo and the murder from your family who weren't watching the play that time," he mumbled. "Did they also tell you all that? To keep quiet about Kudo until he's back permanently?"
"Yeah." Asagi did not remember at all if the teacher and the police really had asked him to hide the murder and Shinichi's involvement from his family, but he agreed with their decision that time. "You know my dad is a journalist. If he knows about Kudo and the murder, he probably won't be able to keep quiet about it. Apparently, Kudo also asked the police to hide his involvement in other cases, so they told me to shut up," he added a logical explanation to convince Fujiwara.
"But why the teacher didn't give us the same warning?"
"They did. It's just that people like you misunderstand their point. They want us to keep quiet about Kudo until he's back, but some of us think we only need to keep quiet about his involvement in that festival murder." Actually, Asagi also did not know whether or not the teacher had warned them to hide Shinichi until he really returned, but he chose to side with the teacher and throw some excuses so that Fujiwara would accept that he also had to be quiet about Shinichi.
"Then why didn't you remind us? You're the student council president!" Fujiwara complained.
"Well, I happen to discover this misunderstanding just now after talking with you. I had no idea that there might be some people who get the wrong idea about the teacher's warning."
Fujiwara was silent after that. He started to look worried. After a while, he glanced uneasily at him. "In that case... Hey, Nagayama, doesn't this sound suspicious? And dangerous?"
"Yeah, so we'd better shut up."
"We really can't speak about him at all, can we?"
"Yes. It's better that way, for the sake of our and Kudo's safety." Asagi stood up from his seat. "Remember, don't tell anyone else about that confession rumor. If you know anyone who already knows, remind them."
Where are you going?" Fujiwara asked when he saw Asagi standing up.
"Class B. They need to be reminded."
After that, Asagi hurriedly walked towards Class 2-B, the source of the rumor. The moment he arrived, he immediately looked for Yoshino. The secretary was in the middle of chatting merrily with her friends, so when she saw the president looking for her, she was a bit taken aback before she approached him.
"What is it?" she asked straight to the point with a cheerful tone. "It's unusual for you to come to my class only to look for me, so I bet this is very important."
"Have you heard about Kudo's confession to Mouri?" Asagi asked without beating around the bush.
"Yes. The whole class already knows about it."
"Remind your classmates not to tell anyone else. Keep it only in this class."
"Why?"
Hearing that simple question, Asagi could not help but sigh disappointedly. "You are a member of the student council, but you still have to ask why?"
"Wh-what about it? Why can't I ask? Besides, it's not a taboo being in a relationship here, so why can't we tell others?" Yoshino pouted, feeling offended. She looked quite cute when pouting like that, honestly, but for some reason, Asagi could not think about how cute she was. Instead, he felt helpless. He could not believe that even a member of the student council was unable to understand the importance of Kudo's news these days. Don't tell him that Fujiwara was right when he said that the teacher did not warn them to keep quiet about Kudo until he returned? Or perhaps the students had been warned properly, but they underestimated the warning because they could not understand the importance of Shinichi's cover-up?
When Asagi thought about it again, this kind of failure was to be expected. After all, even though they knew Shinichi was working on a difficult case, the students also knew he was alright and still in touch with Ran from time to time. They did not know how serious his case was. They did not understand. They thought it was just a difficult case, not a dangerous case when in truth, it was a very big case that could cost so many lives.
It was not entirely their fault, Asagi knew that. Shinichi was at fault too for creating such a false impression. This false impression might also be the reason behind Fujiwara's alleged misunderstanding. Just like Fujiwara, it seemed Yoshino was also the victim of the false impression. Since she was still under the false impression, Asagi had to help her see the truth.
"You know the reason why Kudo's been taking a break from school, right?" Asagi started, trying to explain step by step.
"Yeah. Ran-chan said he's been working on a difficult case," Yoshino nodded.
"And you also know that ever since he's working on that difficult case, he hasn't made an appearance in the media?"
Yoshino nodded again.
"Okay. So you know he's been on a case and since then, he hasn't appeared at all in the public. Why do you think he hasn't appeared since then?"
"Because the case hasn't been solved yet?"
"Other than that?"
"Because... oh! He's working undercover! Like spies in movies!" Yoshino exclaimed excitedly.
"Right. Now, let's assume he's been working undercover. What would happen if one day his enemy gets some info about him from this school? He's been hiding all this time, but what if his enemy finds him just because we're talking about him?"
Yoshino's face suddenly turned ugly. "That... that won't be good."
"Why?"
"Because Kudo-kun's going to be in danger."
"Yes. That won't be good because his cover may be blown. Once his cover is blown, the enemy will try to harm him and so, he will be in danger," Asagi continued slowly as if he was teaching a little kid why they should not leak other people's secrets. "And the one in danger won't be Kudo alone. Students and teachers here will also be in danger. Imagine that his enemy catches the news about him from a student or teacher from our school. The enemy may want more info, so it may not be impossible they will try to get it by using illegal methods, such as kidnapping and torturing. Yoshino, you don't want that to happen, do you?"
"I don't want that," Yoshino shook her head hard. "I understand. I won't tell anyone else about him."
"You have to remind your classmates too."
"Roger! Leave it to me!" Yoshino saluted with a determined expression. This girl was really funny sometimes to the point it could make people doubt her sanity. However, once Asagi looked at her eyes, he immediately knew she was really serious. She had understood and would do her job well.
"Good. I'm counting on you." Asagi felt more relieved now. "Oh, and Yoshino? I need to trouble you to trace people outside your class who may have heard this rumor from your classmates. We really need to control this rumor."
"Got it. I'll inform you once I have the result."
"Thanks. Sorry for the trouble."
"It's alright. I know it's important," Yoshino replied sincerely. "Oh, by the way, yesterday I've visited Ueda-kun's mom with Inaba-kun. We've also visited his workplaces and home. Ueda-kun didn't lie to us."
"Good. Evidence?"
"All here," Yoshino pointed to her own phone. "Inaba-kun also has it."
"Great. You take care of the rumor in your class first. I'll go with Inaba to meet Serizawa-sensei now. We need to tell her about this."
"Okay. Should I tell everyone about Kudo-kun's rumor through the chatgroup?"
"Good idea. All of us will have to remind our classmates," Asagi agreed and after pondering for a while, he added, "I think we need to talk more about Kudo. Let's meet up after school."
"Sounds good. I may be able to share the result of quick tracing after school. Alright, leave the chatgroup to me!" And before he knew it, Yoshino was already typing on her own smartphone, telling the other members of the student council about their meeting plan. In the end, Asagi had to stay a bit longer with Yoshino near class B to plan their meeting, such as the topic, the place, and the time. Yoshino also informed that she and Inaba had confirmed that Ueda's circumstances were true and that they had collected the evidence to prove it. After everything was done, Asagi went to Inaba's class, feeling completely baffled by what had happened just now.
He could not believe he just planned another meeting after school today even though he did not want to! Being a student council president was really tiresome and annoying! But what could he do? Whether he liked it or not, he was the president. And whether he liked it or not, the topic about Ueda and Kudo were important. Especially Kudo. That guy was a death magnet and the source of danger. His presence in his life might even determine his own life and death in this world. He could not ignore any news about him.
When he arrived at Inaba's class, he found his vice president on his seat being preoccupied with his phone. Asagi called him, turning his attention to the door.
"Nagayama!" Inaba immediately got up and approached him. "I just read the chatgroup. We're going to meet up after school?"
"Yeah."
"To talk about Kudo?" this time, Inaba whispered.
"Mm," Asagi nodded. "Have you heard anything about him?"
"Well, the girls in my class are talking about him as we speak. Something about he's already taken."
"Oh." Asagi deadpanned, then sighed heavily. It seemed it was already too late for them to suppress the rumor among the sophomores. "Then, I should trouble you to remind your classmates not to spread any rumor about Kudo." After that, he explained the reason the same way he explained it to Yoshino. Only after he made sure Inaba had understood did he move on to the next topic.
"I need you to go with me to meet Serizawa-sensei. We need to tell her about Ueda. Yoshino told me you have the evidence for his current situation."
"Now?"
"Now," Asagi affirmed. "Let's go. We don't have much time until the homeroom starts."
After that, the two of them went to the teacher's room to meet their advisor. The meeting was not long. They only reported what they had gathered about Ueda and let the advisor see the evidence. They also asked about the continuation of Ueda and Hasegawa's misconduct. After receiving the news from her about their punishment, Asagi and Inaba were dismissed, so they immediately returned to their own class. Right after Asagi sat down, he checked his phone to see if Yoshino had taken care of the chatgroup. When he read the newest chat from her that explained the importance of keeping Kudo's rumor a secret, Asagi smiled in satisfaction. His secretary might be a slow-thinker at first, but once she understood, she was definitely fast in doing her job.
The homeroom started not long after Asagi finished reading the chat. The teacher called the name of each student in the class, letting him learn about his classmates again. Thanks to the roll call, he figured out Fujiwara's other name: Isamu. He also managed to get the others' names. It was during the homeroom Asagi presented his point of view regarding Kudo's rumor. With the teacher's permission, he warned his classmates not to speak openly about Kudo and not to spread any news or rumors about him. He told them the importance of treating anything related to Kudo as a secret for the sake of their and Kudo's safety. At the end of the homeroom, the teacher even agreed with him and emphasized again how important it was to not spread anything about Kudo. With such support from his homeroom teacher, Asagi felt slightly relieved and hopeful. Maybe he still had a chance to control this rumor.
Ueda was called to the teacher's room after the homeroom ended. His classmates were looking at the poor guy questioningly, curious as to why he was called. Asagi knew why Ueda was called. No doubt, it must be his misconduct that caused this, but he did not tell anyone. He still wanted to protect his saviour from the possibility of bullying, so he would not tell anyone. If people ever find out why Ueda was called to the teacher's room, it would not be from him or the student council.
Time passed by boringly to Asagi. All he did was only studying, eating lunch, and reading news on his smartphone. Sometimes he chatted with his classmates, but being an adult trapped inside a teenager's body, Asagi found himself uninterested in their topic of discussion. That was why most of the time, he was always by himself, cross-checking the plot through the online news. After reading a few articles in speed, he could estimate how far the story had been going on. He found out that the Wimbledon Tournament had finished and Minerva Glass won again, so it meant the rumor about Shinichi had confessed to Ran was true. There was another news about a murder at Teitan University, but Asagi could not remember anything about it. He could not find any news about Mystery Train or some events before that that were mentioned in the manga, such as the murder at a hotel where Sera made her first appearance and another murder where Amuro, Sera, and Subaru chased the culprit who appeared to have kidnapped Conan, so he guessed Sera Masumi had not been transferred yet and Amuro had not joined Poirot, but just to make sure, he decided to ask Yoshino about Sera and visit Poirot on the way to home.
When the last period finally ended, Asagi did not dilly-dally in the class. He hurriedly got up, grabbed his bag, and went straight to the student council room. The meeting would be held there again and just like yesterday, Inaba would be responsible for borrowing the key. This time, he did not need to be accompanied anymore because he still remembered the way. When he saw the student council room, Asagi breathed in relief. He was glad he did not get lost.
Asagi was the first to arrive, so he waited for his friends in front of the door since the room was still locked. Not long after, the girls arrived together. After another few minutes, they saw Inaba coming with the key. They waited until the vice president opened the door before entering the room one by one. As the last to enter, Inaba closed the door before joining his friends at the rectangular-shaped tables.
"I don't need to tell you again about the purpose of this meeting, do I?" Asagi started once they were all seated.
"Well, the chat from Sumire-san said we're going to talk about Kudo Shinichi," Asakura said.
"Correct, but before that, let's review Ueda's case." Asagi straightened his back. "Inaba and I have reported Ueda's circumstance to our advisor. Ueda was called to the teacher's room this morning."
"What about Hasegawa-kun?" Asakura asked.
"He was called too. According to our advisor, they would receive different punishment," Inaba answered. "Ueda is punished by deducting all his scores in physics homework by half of the initial score. Hasegawa is punished by zeroing all his physics homework done by Ueda."
"So... does that mean case closed for Ueda-kun?" Yoshino asked.
"Regarding his misconduct, yes, but do remember that we shouldn't talk about it anymore. It seems nobody has any idea about their punishment and misconduct, so let's keep it to ourselves," Asagi reminded.
"Naturally. We've agreed about it yesterday," Asakura replied in agreement.
"Yes! No more bullying!" the secretary added spiritedly.
"Well, it seems everyone's agreed with you, President," Inaba grinned. "How about we close this and start the other topic?"
"Not yet," the president rejected the idea. "It hasn't finished yet. We've agreed to help him yesterday, remember? I want us to collect donations from all the students of Teitan High to help Ueda's mom. It's voluntary, so we won't tag any price for the donation and there will be no obligation to donate. What do you think?"
Yoshino was the first to agree. After her, Asakura and Inaba also confirmed their agreement. Once they had made that decision, Asagi started to discuss the donation with his friends. After discussing for a few minutes, they agreed to broadcast Ueda's mom's illness to the whole school and assigned class representatives to collect cash donations from their classmates. The student council would collect the donation from class representatives and then handed it over to Ueda. They would also open a donation box for Ueda to support him in the long run.
"Let's also announce it through the student council SNS," Inaba suggested. "It's nothing new; we do this every time someone from our school is in need of help."
Thanks to his suggestion, Asagi managed to know that the student council had an SNS account and that collecting donations was like a tradition in their school.
"Alright," he agreed, "but who's going to take care of the SNS?"
"Me. Who else?" Yoshino chuckled. "Managing our SNS is one of the secretary's jobs. Don't worry, it will be done!"
"Thanks, Yoshino." Then, Asagi turned to Asakura. "I'm counting on you to take care of the cash income, treasurer."
"Of course. It's my job," the treasurer agreed readily, fully understood that what the president meant by cash income was the money donated for Ueda.
After that, Asagi assigned Inaba to assist him in overseeing the donation period by acting as a bridge between the student council and Ueda's family. In other words, he wanted Inaba to monitor Ueda's mom's condition.
"Actually, this job should be assigned to me since I'm Ueda's classmate, but I don't think I can handle this by myself, not after I heard the rumor about Kudo," Asagi admitted guiltily. He did not feel guilty because he could not handle Ueda by himself. He was guilty because he hid the real reason for his decision behind his friends. After all, he could not possibly tell them that he wanted Inaba to help him because he needed more time for himself to adjust to this new world. Even if he told them, they would not believe him and would instead think that he was being selfish. Nobody would understand his predicament.
"Kudo's rumor... is it really that troublesome?" Inaba frowned.
"Yeah, and dangerous, I told you before," Asagi said. "It's like a contagious malady. Once it spreads, I'm afraid there will be no end to it. We have to contain it as soon as possible and this will be a very hard job."
"Did you say this because you think it's dangerous to be involved with anything related to him?"
"Yes. That's why I think we will be very busy from today onwards. If I have to handle Ueda by myself, I'm afraid I will ruin all of our hard work, so Inaba, please help me take care of Ueda's mom."
"Hmm, I don't really understand. Nagayama, just how dangerous is this Kudo's thing? Why do you think it's like a malady?" the vice president was confused. Not only him, the girls were also in the same confusion. Noticing the heavy atmosphere around him, Asagi let out a gentle smile, trying to comfort his friends a little.
"Don't worry, I will explain soon after this," he said. "So, do we all agree about our plan to help Ueda? Or is there any question?"
"Like I said, I still don't get it, but since you said you'll explain, okay, for now, I'll agree," Inaba answered, but his eyes looked worried.
"Me too, and no, no question other than the thing related to Kudo that you've mentioned just now," Asakura answered.
"Me too," Yoshino said.
"Since everyone already agrees with your idea, can we move on to the other topic?" Inaba said, looking impatient. When he saw that nobody seemed to disagree with the vice president, Asagi finally nodded his head.
"Very well." He paused, looking at his friends one by one with a serious demeanor, emphasizing how important this other topic was. "Kudo Shinichi. Let us talk about him."
~o0o~
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please don't hesitate to comment and vote. I will gladly receive your feedback.
See you next chapter!