"Bye, (l/n). I didn't get the chance to say it last time, but it was nice working with you too."
—~—
Third Person POV
'Hm...?' (y/n) drearily thought as her (e/c) eyes slowly adjusted to the dim glow of the sunset through the windows, 'Where am I...?'
Gradually straightening up, her body ached and screamed in agony due to the uncomfortable position it was left in for the past few hours. She took in her surroundings and silently cursed at herself for sleeping the whole school day and the consequences she knew will come; however, that was probably the least of her worries.
Fully standing up and stretching her tired limbs did something fall off her shoulders and land on her chair with a slight 'tak!' which scared the absolute shit out of her.
"Eh?!" She sounded in terror and instantly turned around to find what made the noise. Her gaze peered down at the dark-colored jacket and she tilted her head in bewilderment before coming to the realization that it was probably her classmate's that woke her up after class, "Wahh... how nice of them. I should thank them tomorrow—"
Looking for a tag to maybe find a name attached to it, (y/n)'s eyes widened considerably and she almost couldn't believe what she read.
'Haitani'
"W...What...?" The (y/h) teen murmured and gawked at the red ink scribbled on the article tag, "Rindo was here? Or was it Ran? That doesn't make sense, we barely even knew each other... So that means..."
(Y/n) didn't even think— she flung her bag over her shoulder and bolted out of the classroom. He was right there and she wasn't able to talk to him like she wanted to.
'Damn you, Haitani,' the (h/c)-haired female thought and sprinted down the halls with the jacket hugged tightly in her arms. She was lucky that it was so late in the day that most clubs were gone by now but even if they weren't, she couldn't care less, 'How could you have the last word and I didn't even know it?'
An emerging smile formed on her lips that then bursted out into a joyous laugh. This gave her hope that maybe she could see his annoying face and endure all his irksome antics and experience that sort of relationship again. It wasn't the friendship she sought but— as unfortunate as it was— Rindo was considered somebody close and she didn't want to lose him like she did.
(Y/n) could see the doors. They were so close, and yet, something made her stop in her tracks. Were those whispers?
She slightly shivered thinking the school was haunted, but she strained her ears and her attention lead to a slightly ajar door leading to the rooftop of the school. Oh... there were people up there. Normally, (y/n) would have gone about her business and ignored them, but she didn't rule out the possibility that it could be Rindo and some of his friends.
With that, the female quietly ascended her way up the stairs and a cluster of voices were increasingly becoming louder and louder. She recognized both male and female tones and they were... arguing?
"Niki nii-san, you fucking lied to me!" The female voice fiercely shouted, "You told me that she would be there but she didn't even show up! I even got Izumi and Kano to join but all we did was talk about the school festival and it was fucking boring as hell."
'Wait... I know that voice...' (y/n) thought and racked her brain to find out why, 'Mina...?'
"Don't shout, Mina. People might hear you," an unfamiliar male voice responded in a calm manner and (y/n) tilted her head.
"No one's here anyways because you decided to have your supposed 'gang meetings' at night," she heard Mina scoff, "I mean, seriously? A goddamn school rooftop was your best option?"
'... Shit,' (y/n) thought. It all came crashing down on her...
She found them. The people who are after the Haitani brothers.
She almost forgot since it's been two months since starting the investigation, and it's been a whole month since learning her first— and only— clue. Gang: Shibuya Shadow, captain: Ogawa Niki, location: unknown... Unknown?
Now the pieces were starting to come together and it all made sense. No wonder why the Haitani brothers never found these guys... These people hid amongst the shadows when everyone else in the school had already left— the only people who remained were those in sport clubs and even they are not inside the main building.
(Y/n)'s demeanor changed almost instantaneously whilst she silently made her way to the rooftop door. Luckily, there was a bit of an opening as she peered in between the open space and found a total of five individuals. She could make out the figure of Mina to her right, a slightly older male with similar features to her left, and... the three boys from Red Bullet standing next to him...?
'So they were more involved than Rindo thought...' she noted.
"Mina," the boy with similar features to Mina— to which she could assume was her older brother, Niki— uttered with so much authority that the younger girl tensed and looked away, "Tell me what you were able to gather about (y/n) (l/n)."
"Nothing much really," the brunette rolled her hazel eyes and crossed her arms, "She's pretty lame, if you ask me. She's so focused on her club that it's almost concerning and I have to keep up this 'nice girl' act so she won't suspect anything... but how is this anything to do with the Haitani brothers?"
"The younger one, Rindo, apparently has an agreement with her," Niki stated and (y/n) figured out that the three boys from Red Bullet were the cause of that information, "And they seem to be pretty close. If we can get (y/n) to bring us closer to Rindo and his brother, we can get our vengeance and finally kill the Haitani's."
Wait... kill...?
Her breath hitched in her throat and her heart was beating so loud that she was afraid they could hear it through the door. She knew they were after the Haitani's reputation but isn't killing them a bit too much?! Whatever happened between them that caused Niki to harbor such thoughts wasn't that bad, right? Sure, (y/n) hated Rindo when they first met and even if he never showed his considerate side to her, she would never go as far as killing him.
"Are you sure about that? Because they don't seem to be friends," Mina mentioned.
"They're definitely working together, at the very least. I sent Goro, Katsu, and Ren to Red Bullet as undercover," Niki said and (y/n) guessed that those names belonged to the three other guys standing next to him.
"Yeah, I got fucking decked," the more burly of the three and who seemed to be the leader spoke up whilst rubbing his cheek. There was no apparent bruise there but (y/n) imagined that he was reliving that experience.
"It was surprising to see Goro-san knocked down so easily," the shortest one bearing rectangular glasses snickered before a slap at the back of his head thrusted him forward, "Ack—!"
"Shut up, Katsu," the tallest one with a laidback personality said and blew a small bubble in his bubblegum, "You were already down before you even turned around."
"Ren-san!" Katsu whined as Niki shook his head in irritation.
"You all. Shut. Up." the brown-haired male ordered and the three boys were quickly silenced.
'Hmm... so they're not members of Red Bullet but was used as messengers,' (y/n) thought, 'These people were using Red Bullet as another pawn to take down the Haitani brothers in exchange for protection if Rindo and I had found them early on. Damn, they were already one step ahead.'
"No, that's not what I meant," Mina huffed, "They haven't talked to each other the whole day and when I asked around, apparently they had a fight. I don't think they're speaking to each other anymore."
"That's fine, the plan is still set in motion," the brown-haired male closed his eyes and leaned back against the short ledge, "If anything, we can hold her hostage and separate the Haitani brothers. Rindo is known to be the weaker of the two so it won't be hard to catch him off guard when he comes to rescue her."
(Y/n)'s eyes widened upon hearing their plans against her and Rindo, 'Oh fuck, oh fuck—'
"Then do so already! I'm already tired sitting in that stupid home ec club and pretending to be nice to that chick," Mina bitterly grumbled, "I don't understand how you played your dumb little mind games for the past couple of months. It looks like they already gave up."
"But that's the best part," Niki lips widened into a sickening grin and (y/n) shivered at the sight. A malicious intent gleaned in his hazel eyes and shadows defined his face that the (h/c)-haired female felt the hair at the back of her neck stand up, "They're frustrated and their guard is so unbelievably down that it won't be difficult to execute it. We would have a perfect victory and all of Roppongi will know our names— not theirs."
"Don't add me into this. I'm not seeking revenge, you are," the younger girl scowled before heaving a heavy exhale, "Whatever... It was pointless of me to argue. So what do you want me to do next?"
"The next time you see (y/n), I want you to invite her somewhere— pretend you're just hanging out," Niki explained, "Then bring her to the Red Bullet hideout. We'll trap Rindo there and maybe we can also get Ran while we're at it."
"Alright, you owe my friends and I some food for wasting our time in that stupid home ec club," Mina said and stuffed her hands in the school blazer's pockets, "I'm gonna head out now. Have fun up here, nii-san."
'Oh fucking shit— time to go!' (y/n) thought in a panic and did not hesitate to speedily— yet quietly— zoom down the steps as fast as she could, 'I gotta get to Rindo and tell him that these guys are out to kill him.'
She knew they were still not in best terms but she couldn't just watch him die. If it came down to it, she'll just have to force him to listen to her if she had to.
(Y/n) had reached the bottom door exiting the rooftop area just as the top door opened. Flinching, she tried to open the door as silently as she could but it still let out a small 'creak!' sound anyways.
'God—!' She thought as her (e/c) eyes widened in fear.
"Hey, what was that?"
—~—
Author's note: 🤭 Not the most exciting chapter but... 👀
NOTE: My upload times will be changed a bit cause of school. I'll figure it out in the next couple of weeks so bare with me please
Anyways take care and see you in the next chapter :)