Kiyotaka's POV:
I had been observing the cat since the evening once in a while. There were times when he sneaked into Karaoke during evenings and wouldn't come back until nightfall. But it looked like he had different plans tonight. He didn't move out of his room. Because of this GPS tracker, I was able to pinpoint his room which was literally beneath mine since his floor is the third one. Though the tracker wasn't perfectly accurate, it was good enough to notice a room difference.
I sat up on my bed when I noticed him leaving his room. I glanced at the time which was past midnight. "Where could he be going this late? Is it his trauma that's acting up again and he needed fresh air?" I wondered aloud and got off my bed. I grabbed one of my sweatshirts since I was only on my t-shirt. I looked at his location again to find him going to the rooftop. That was natural since the main building's rooftop would be closed by now. Well, because it was midnight.
I waited until he reached the rooftop and took the elevator to the last floor. I took the stairs that led to the rooftop and reached for the door. I didn't open it soon until I caught onto his song. I slightly opened it to hear a tune I was familiar with. It was the same tune Takahashi Sensei used to hum while calculating the results at the end of the day back in the white room. She was in charge of all my observations and recorded them all to submit to the team later. Her name was Takahashi Asuka. Truly, the cat was named after her, as Sora.
She used to have a chat with me after my tests were over for the day. I heard some stories about her son. She said that she loved him but he didn't return it because she had kept her distance from him, due to her being a researcher in the white room. Anyone would say she was selfish since she kept her child away from that place. And I had no opinion since it was her personal choice. She used to call him Little Kitty and never actually mentioned his name maybe due to security reasons.
She always wished if he had a brother to stick around with him so he wouldn't feel so lonely. But her days in the white room ended after a certain accident and I didn't hear about her anymore from that day on which was about a year and 5 months ago. The reason that I'm still alive is because of her. That day, Takahashi Sensei's husband tried to kill me. Of course, he wouldn't be able to shoot me to death but there was a mix of inhibitors in my tea which I didn't notice. They were certainly from the white room if they were so undetectable.
He was closely acquainted with that man though I didn't exactly have any details about him aside from him being one of the White Room's founding sponsors. His reasons were specified to be because of his wife, Takahashi Sensei, working as a researcher.
While my body was paralyzed, he tried to shoot me in my vitals over my torso. But right then, Takahashi Sensei stopped him by pushing him aside while she took a blow to her shoulder. The commotion attracted the others and soon the security was called and the details after that were kept hidden from me.
Until now, I had wondered if this was the Takahashi I heard of. At first, he was timid which didn't suit his mother's description of him though I was wrong about that. He certainly didn't look like his mother but his physique and voice including his tone were similar to Takahashi Sensei. He even had the same white hair which I didn't take into consideration. But the only question was his age. I was told that he was around two years younger than me which didn't match here. Did he manage to hide his actual age even from this school?
I was interrupted from my monologue when the cat called over to me from the other side. "Kouji San, I know you're there. I know how to use GPS tracking too." His voice was always so small that you wouldn't be able to hear it in a crowd. I walked out of my hiding place while closing the door behind me. He just glanced at me for a second before turning to the front again. I walked over to the railing as well and looked at the scenery instead of him. I thought of just confirming the info from him and I needed a reason to come over here as well.
"Who was that song for?" I asked but I was met with complete silence and the summer breeze just passed through us indicating that it was rather eerie. Since I already knew about it and the lyrics indicated her perspective on him, I pretended like I guessed it through the lyrics. "It was your mother. Right? Is she..." I trailed off not expecting her to be alive glancing at his tear-struck face. His tears were glistening in his eyes due to the night light as he tried to not let them break through.
He shook his head gently while caressing the pattern on his guitar. He was indicating that she wasn't alive anymore which must be one of the biggest tragedies he would ever face in his life. I always had to adapt to observe his body language since he talked less. "I see... Sorry for your loss." I offered my condolences since I was acquainted with Takahashi Sensei in the past for a really long time indicating years.
He looked up at me the same moment I glanced at him as I was met with a pair of red eyes still glistening in the lights of the rooftop due to the tears. "Tell me, Kouji San. Why did you come up here?" He asked me with a serious expression which was the first time I saw him like that. I didn't want to tell him the actual reason nor that I was acquainted with Takahashi Sensei. It would lead him to think of clues and would eventually even reach near the information of the White Room. He was smart enough to at least guess I was related to his mother from her workplace. However, I doubt he was aware of that place because he was kept away from it.
"It was a co-" He cut me off not willing to accept my usual excuse anymore. "I don't care. I want the truth. I checked the GPS before coming here." There. He used the GPS tracker against me as proof yet, he didn't question my stalking. He definitely was hiding some secrets from me personally. I decided to tell him the half-truth and hide the other part. I crouched down to his level and sat on the floor beside him, his guitar bag in between, keeping some distance between us.
"I was trying out new things in the GPS tracking function and came across your location which was on the rooftop. It's past midnight so I came to check up on you. Sorry, I didn't know you were in your moment." Though I said it, I was a bit surprised myself that I apologized to him for his mother. I guess the favor I owe her is getting to me. He hugged his legs closer to his upper body while supporting them with his hands. "Since you already know, why don't you leave? I want to stay alone for some time..."
I nodded my head at him so as to not go overboard with the little progress I made with him and stood up. I waved my farewell to him while leaving towards the stairs and closed the door behind me again. "I do owe her a favor after all." The wish she had was for the 'Little Kitty' to have a brother which would basically oblige me to be one to him. That would mean I need to protect him and keep an eye on him too.
This was a difficult task that I faced in my entire life. I had no training or knowledge of how to look after humans, especially a kid. I assume he's 13 years old now... I walked down the stairs while thinking of the task I had at hand for me. This was also a chance for me to learn more about human relationships aside from having a normal teenage life and exploring the relationships with a girlfriend I was curious about before.
(I know some might say Kouji San's ooc and all that. But the light novel did show that he was curious about getting a girlfriend and having a normal teenage life. He even tried to make friends at the start of Volume 1 which did change in Vol 3. And owing his life is way too different from getting help from his butler Amasawa San to escape the White Room. He's literally breathing because of his mom and she did risk her life to save him while it might have ruined her relationship with her family.)
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Sora's POV:
I'd be lying if I said that I recovered from my 'bad' condition. Today being Mom's birthday didn't help in healing either and instead added some more fuel to the fire. I could barely get a wink and today's class felt like a pain. They were quite happy now that the case of Sudou San was solved and were back to running their loud mouths once the class was over. The good thing was that most of them didn't even know what happened behind the scenes including my involvement in the plans.
I got my Ramune Soda from the vending machine and I really wasn't in the mood for my popsicle and just needed a drink to quench my summer thirst. The place was a bit crowded today by coincidence or it could be because the girls were done with their club activities. I took a random alley to get away from that place so I could change my path and leave to the dormitories or to the rooftop to get some more rest. I was at the library until now with the thought that I could recover faster over there which actually didn't work.
I noticed two students coming this way and they were in the range of bumping into me. So, I tried to sidestep when they got closer to me which almost seemed like it was on purpose. When I stepped to the side, another one bumped into me from behind, and right at that moment, I got pushed forward. I bumped into the students in front of me and finally lost my balance. That was really on purpose. Are they third-years or second-years?
"We're sorry. It was nothing really. We were just trying to play and you were the first to show up." One of them said with a smirk maybe trying to provoke me. I stood up while trying my best to ignore all the physical contact I had and noticed that my soda can wasn't with me anymore. The taller one looked down toward the can on the road and I thought he was gonna step on it. But he grabbed it and tossed it back to me. I caught it with my left hand and walked away completely ignoring them because they were some students looking for trouble.
Once I was out of that alley, I stood at the side of the road and took a sip of the drink savoring the flavor. I sighed after the coldness hit my throat which calmed me down. I finished the drink and walked towards the rooftop of the main school building again. I started to feel a bit lightheaded as I felt my headache worsen. I wasn't remembering any particular moments but it looked like the fatigue was catching up to me.
I hurried over to the rooftop not wanting to faint on the route. I stumbled a bit when I opened the door to the rooftop. My headache was getting worse by every minute. I closed the door behind me and was about to walk towards the bench I always used to doze off on. But my legs suddenly gave in taking me by surprise. This was unusual so it alerted me but I was confused since I was still feeling lightheaded and it also started to feel dizzy. I balanced myself by taking the support of the wall. Inhibitors...? But they take at least an hour to start their action...
The door to the rooftop suddenly opened up which took me off guard. I glanced back to see those students from before. It was a trap... Before I could move away from them, they grabbed my right wrist and threw me off to the wall behind us. I gritted my teeth due to the collision which did hit the back of my head hard. I wanted to stand up quickly to not give them an advantage but they were fast to pin me down by my shoulder and torso. My weight wouldn't help me at all. And I felt like my body's strength leaving or it was my mind which went dizzy.
I struggled in their hold and not being a fan of physical touch wasn't helping either. Another one came and pinned my hands above my head while covering my mouth. My eyes widened understanding what they were going to do. They were clearly trying to abduct me on orders. Those inhibitors finally made sense since I couldn't detect them sooner. "We can take him there in time, right?" The tallest one of them muttered while fishing out something from his bag. The other who pinned me down nodded at him. "There are three of us. It shouldn't be much of a hard task to carry him there. The footage would be deleted anyway."
I mustered up all my strength since the situation had already gotten out of hand. I kicked him in the gut throwing him off of me. The other student who was pinning my hands got alert and I tried to kick him too. But the tallest one among those three kicked me in my gut as well which affected my dizziness and I almost lost consciousness. I was barely hanging to it. There was a sudden bang as the door to the rooftop opened again. The other two looked towards it but the one who was pinning me didn't even avert his eyes away from me.
To my surprise, the other two students fell to the floor one after the other with a low thud. I felt free again as the student who was pinning me left me and went to attack as well. He fell to the floor next to me in the blink of an eye. I looked up to see who helped me while supporting myself with the wall. My red eyes met with a pair of brown ones. It was Kouji San who was staring at me with the same poker face maybe trying to decide to touch me or not.
I slowly stood up with the support of the wall while glancing at the other three students who seemed to be knocked out. I turned to Kouji San and bowed my head to him. "Thank you for helping me, Kouji San-" My voice hitched in the end as I was almost off my limits. He nodded at me and picked up his bag from the floor. "Are you alright? Let's go to the infirmary." He said while gesturing towards my imbalance form. I shook my head while standing up straight.
"It's fine... I don't like the infirmaries or doctors." I said while walking out of the open door. Kouji San walked behind me and locked the door from this side on purpose. "Do you want to file a complaint against them? I took some photos for the proof before stepping in." Kouji San offered me his help which took me by surprise. I was half expecting him to be behind this all since the drink that had inhibitors was Ramune which was my usual one.
I shook my head while glancing back at him. "I'll do that later. Please. I need to get back to my room." I said to which he nodded and gestured me to walk ahead. I couldn't contain myself anymore since I felt insecure. I wanted to go to my room as soon as possible so that I could feel safe again. But I kinda felt glad that he wasn't pressing me with questions about the situation. As we were walking back to the dormitories, I glanced to my right side again. "Were you...?" I trailed off not finding the energy to talk anymore. This inhibitor was working more quickly than I had expected.
"No. This was really a coincidence. I noticed you heading toward the main building while those three students were following you." He looked towards me and stared into my eyes as to indicate he was telling the truth this time. I frowned at the fact that I let some clumsy students follow me like that which was true. It seems my senses took quite a toll. I stumbled a bit as my legs were close to giving in. Kouji San caught me from my back with the help of my bag. I gave him a thankful look and studied myself again.
These inhibitors were stronger than the ones I had experienced in the past. That was why I was having trouble controlling myself which I did before. I couldn't take any step further because of the effect. I tried again to only lose my balance again. This time, he caught me with my right arm since I had no proper support. Though I hated physical contact, I had no other choice. I looked at him while my vision started to blur and nodded at him letting him support me while I slid my right hand across his neck. As we walked a bit further, I slowly lost consciousness without realizing and everything went black.
3rd Person's POV:
Ayanokouji was caught off-guard when Sora fainted suddenly while walking towards the dorms. He quickly tightened his grip around the younger's shoulder to balance him. He adjusted the straps of his bag on his right shoulder before slowly releasing Sora to the ground. He turned around and lifted him in a piggyback style while balancing his bag on his shoulder. He was surprised to find how light Sora was. He assumed his weight to be around 42 kilograms which was actually correct.
Ayanokouji carried him on his back to the dorms before anyone could notice. Since it was later than the time the club activities were finished, there weren't any students going back and forth between the dorms and the school route. Most of them would still be hanging out at the pallet or would just stay in their rooms. The brown-haired boy stood in front of the elevator for a second thinking of ways to press the button which wasn't possible in his current position.
He was about to take the stairs but stopped in his tracks when someone called him. "Ayanokouji Kun? What happened to him?" He glanced back to see his blonde-haired classmate, Hirata. "He's running a high fever and fainted while walking back to the dorms. I was with him at that time." He paused while turning back towards him. "He insisted on going back to his room and said that he doesn't like infirmaries." He explained as Hirata looked at the feverish boy with a face full of worry.
"Here, let me help." Hirata offered his help in supporting Sora. "It's fine. He's pretty light." Ayanokouji said while gesturing to the elevator. Hirata understood while taking Sora's bag off his back and pressed the elevator button for them. As they went in, he pressed the button to the third floor and glanced at the white-haired kid again. "Good thing I know his room. His keycard should be in the front pocket of his bag." The blonde said while fishing out the keycard from the younger's bag. "Yesterday, he showed me his keycard for any emergency because he caught a light fever last time."
Hirata explained while walking out of the elevator and guided Ayanokouji to the kid's room. He scanned the keycard and opened the door for them letting Ayanokouji walk in first. The brown-haired male walked straight into his bedroom and turned his back towards the bed. He gently laid Sora on his bed while Hirata took off his shoes. Ayanokouji took a seat in Sora's study chair next to the bed to keep a watch on him while Hirata covered Sora in his sheets and increased the room temperature from 18 to 26 degrees.
The younger was fast asleep but his breaths were a bit rapid as his cheeks were flushed and his face turned paler indicating that his fever was going high. "I'll go check if he has any medications available." Hirata declared before walking into the bathroom for the first aid kit and luckily he found a lot of stuff which took him by surprise. He gulped looking at most of the usual illness available medicine while some of them even had a description written on a paper that was attached to the sheet.
"Guess he maintains these all because of disliking doctors..." He looked through the tablets and picked out the one that said it could help with high fevers. Though he wasn't sure of the temperature, it looked high to him. He also grabbed the thermometer and handed it to Ayanokouji. The male in front of him glanced at the medicine Hirata had in his hand. "Hirata, that isn't Aspirin. Right? You shouldn't use Aspirin for kids or teenagers." He instructed making Hirata double check who nodded back at him.
Hirata went into the kitchen to look for any cold patches and he found a bunch of them in the refrigerator. He took out one from the fridge and closed the door behind him. When he walked into the bedroom again, he found Ayanokouji staring at the thermometer screen. "Ayanokouji Kun, is it high?" He asked as the latter nodded at him. "Yes. 103 degrees." Hirata went near Sora's bed and took off his uniform blazer to make the kid comfortable while Ayanokouji supported his back. He attached the cold patch to the younger's head as the latter unconsciously shivered at the coldness.
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The white-haired kid opened his eyes and glanced around groggily. When he noticed Ayanokouji beside his bed, he tensed up and tried to sit but couldn't since he felt weak. "Takahashi, it's fine. You're in your room." Ayanokouji said trying to relax him and bring him back to his senses. The younger relaxed his shoulders upon realizing he was in his own room. He turned to his left for comfort which made him face Ayanokouji. The latter kept his eyes trained on the younger as Sora felt uncomfortable after a while.
"Takahashi, I have a question. How old are you actually?" Ayanokouji asked him to which the kid was surprised. He didn't answer and kept his silence not wanting to give out any clues. "Think of it as returning my favor. You're too light, haven't hit your puberty and I wouldn't even doubt if you were to be 12." Ayanokouji purposefully lowered the number to make the younger talk. Just as he expected, Sora tensed at his declaration and hesitated before answering. "I'll... turn 14 in this September."
"So you're still 13. How did you cover up your age to join this school?" He asked and was met with silence again. "Returning my favor." He emphasized the 'favor' word to make the kid talk. "Um... I had my data changed in the originals. I... wanted to experience some... freedom." He said slowly word by word still hesitating that he was giving away his information to a possible enemy who just saved him from danger.
"I didn't expect you to be so young, Takahashi Kun. But, that explains everything about your behavior in class." Hirata said walking in with a bowl of soup on a tray in his hands. Sora's eyes widened as he glared at Ayanokouji for asking him intentionally when Hirata was around. Hirata placed the soup on the study table and turned towards Sora. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I was in the kitchen." He apologized while looking down.
"... It's fine, Hirata San." Sora accepted his apology while averting his eyes since he felt uncomfortable. Hirata stepped towards the bed and kneeled beside Sora wanting to check his temperature. Sora jolted up when he noticed a hand coming towards him. "Relax, Takahashi. He just wants to check your pulse." Ayanokouji said from behind Hirata making Sora sigh. The blonde gave him a worried glance. "It's okay if you don't want to. Are you feeling dizzy or uncomfortable?"
Sora shook his head lightly while taking the support of the headboard on the bed. Hirata glanced between the soup and him. "How about you have some soup first? You need to at least take pills to let the fever go down. You can change your clothes later after you're done eating." Sora stared at his blonde-haired classmate for a few seconds before nodding. Hirata helped set down the tray on his lap as Sora took some small sips of the soup.
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Ayanokouji just watched the exchange from the sidelines about how well Hirata took care of the younger. Almost like an elder brother. Hirata offered to spoon-feed him but the younger refused and looked away from embarrassment. He wanted to help Sora in changing clothes too but the latter shut his bathroom door on his face. He refused to take pills even though his fever was high. But Hirata was successful in forcing him to take the pill with Ayanokouji's help.
And now he was trying to put Sora to sleep who was refusing and insisted that he wouldn't until they both leave. It was all because of how scared he would be to go to sleep on days when an incident like this happened. Hirata sighed at the stubbornness Sora held. He had no idea that the kid was this stubborn until now, not even Ayanokouji. "Fine. If something happens, call me right away. You do know that my room is just beside yours." He tried to at least convince him into calling him as the latter nodded while looking away.
Ayanokouji finally thought of interrupting. "That's not a good idea, Hirata. He always has trouble sleeping." He said making Sora turn to him while he frowned at the taller. "What do you mean, Ayanokouji Kun?"Ayanokouji ignored Sora's threatening looks and continued. "He always dozes off on the rooftop after feeling tired in the evenings. I saw him go for a walk dead in the night sometimes as well."
Hirata processed all that information and leaned toward Sora who tried to back off but he was already lying on the bed. "Takahashi Kun, please listen. You can sleep alone, but not now. I'll stay until you go to sleep and leave after that. How does that sound?" It was Sora's time to give up since those two were teaming up against him.
He sighed, nodding his head, and shifted under his covers to his right facing away from them while trying to sleep. "Hirata San, can I have the temperature changed to 20?" He asked tiredly making the latter sweatdrop at him. "That's not good for you right now, Takahashi Kun. The least we can go for is 25." He said while decreasing the airconditioner temperature. After what it felt like eternities, the white-haired kid drifted into a deep sleep only after turning off the lights.
Hirata let out a relieved sigh that Sora was finally asleep. He looked at the sleeping figure before turning to Ayanokouji who was at the door ready to leave. "Thank you for giving a hand, Ayanokouji Kun." He just nodded back at him as Hirata walked out and closed the door behind him. He turned around facing Ayanokouji. "You missed the dinner, right? How about we eat in my room? I can cook something for us in a few minutes." Ayanokouji glanced at the time in his phone which showed that it was past 8 pm. "Alright." He agreed curious about Hirata's cooking skills.
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Sora's POV:
I sighed while I was in class, sitting in my seat as usual after the classes were over. I was frustrated at the fact that I still couldn't find a safe place even after going through so much to enroll here. But relatively, this place was much better for me compared to the outside as the attacks over there might get constant once they pindown my location. Regardless, I was safer here than in the other places right now.
I was able to fully recover since it was a weekend after that day and Hirata San helped me a lot to recover as well. I definitely got closer to him than I had expected in my initial days over here. During the lunch break, I reported the situation to Horikita Senpai directly and requested him to keep the investigations secret from the other students as it might cause chaos or even give him a chance to abduct me in easier ways. I had to pay 40 thousand points again to Kouji San to get the proof from him which was fair enough since I did the same last time to him.
I glanced back at him to notice he wasn't glancing at me like he usually does. Is he done analyzing me or something?... I brushed off the thoughts, not having the energy to deal with him currently. I had some other issues at hand. Since we were supposed to go to the island for the summer vacation, there was a high chance that I might get more stalkers on me. Who knows, I might even get attacked.
I had a chat with Lrot San and VX San last night about this so we changed the meeting time to as soon as it would be possible for me. That way, I could get my knife for more security. Of course, Lrot started to throw a fit about how I needed to be more careful and lectured me about making some friends to have company at times like these.
My thoughts were cut off when I heard my name being called. "Takahashi Kun, want to walk back together? I don't have any club activities today." Hirata San called over to me from his desk while grabbing his bag. I nodded at him grabbing my bag too and stood up. I guess it wouldn't be bad to be at ease around him at least.
A/N: Alright! That was the end of Vol 1 for this fanfic. I'm counting this in my own volume since the important events are different compared to the original. I'll continue the next volume here too and maybe the third volume as well.
I hope you had a fun time reading this volume. We're stepping into the main arc from this chapter on~
Word Count: 5241