N A G I S A S H I O T A
潮田 渚
student no. 11
She was standing still, glaring at us coldly. Fear was probably evident on my face.
I didn't know why, but compared to the Reaper, Iroha scared me more. It was probably because we couldn't hurt her. We couldn't hurt someone who was part of our class, our comrade.
I didn't know what came over her, but currently Terasaka was lying down, still conscious, but rather quite beat up. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" He asked her.
I may have a talent for assassination but this, this was something else; it was pure violence. It wasn't kill or be killed, it was squirm and groan slowly in excruciating pain.
We couldn't do anything.
So if I were to say something it was that Karma was right on time. He did a good job at that. As if he always had this psychic GPS when it came to Iroha. Then again, Ritsu was the one who guided him.
"Karma-kun" I greeted him while Iroha's hands were around my neck.
Again. He was just right on time.
When Iroha strangled me, it wasn't the same feeling as watching Terasaka get beat up. I wasn't as scared or terrified even though the least bit of me was. It was probably because of the fact that it was Iroha who tried to do it, and it wasn't to anyone else but me.
I think Korosensei was right. My recklessness was a bad point.
"What the fuck happened?" Karma asked, distracting Iroha, who loosened her grip on my neck as Karma held her wrists to stop her.
"You're late" Terasaka coughed, and Iroha finally let go of me, all thanks to Karma.
She was in pain, though. Not because of him, but due to something else. I could see it in her eyes. It was a kind of excruciating pain. The type that makes you scream or faint. It was when I was about to ask her that she fell. Thankfully, the redhead was there to catch her.
When the girl lost her consciousness, I caught Karma glaring at the trees. Or most likely someone behind the trees. The next thing he did was to look at Iroha's neck, remove some sort of tranquilizing dart, and hold her in his arms as he carried her on his back.
So many questions and yet we can't seem to find an answer.
A few kilometers away, we spotted Karasuma-sensei, who took over Karma's job, he took her into his arms, carrying her elsewhere. I didn't hear it out loud, but I was pretty sure the redhead asked about the person who shot Iroha, in a very cold voice.
Karasuma-sensei laid Iroha in a carrier, supported by a group of people who seemed like nurses and medics. We kept silent as a young adult woman entered our building to talk to our teachers while the rest of the staff brought Iroha down the mountain.
✖︎●✖︎
"What's wrong with Iroha-chan" Kayano pouted, feeling down along with the rest of the class.
Somehow after the incident, the class was left with a gloomy and dark atmosphere.
"I didn't expect her to suddenly burst up like that" Fuwa added.
Even Korosensei seems a bit shaken that he couldn't face the class. Thus, we were having a free study period.
"Before that, Nagisa, Terasaka, are you feeling better?" Isogai asked us, being the concerned class representative he was
"Nothing we can't handle" Terasaka was the one who answered for us both.
"Rather, from the look in her eyes, and just by reading the atmosphere, it feels like Iroha-chan has it worse" I assured him.
More that anything, it felt like it was Iroha who lost her mind.
"Hey, should we go find her?" Nakamura randomly suggested.
"Why not~" Karma finally had that typical smile of his on, as he sat on his seat, leaning back and forth.
"She's too hard to figure out, though. Just when we think we know her, it turns out we don't. It's just an ongoing cycle. Hell, just who is she anyways?" Maehara sighed, which caused Okuda to suddenly speak up.
"Even if she's hard to understand. I-I think she's a nice person. I-I hope everyone would understand that" the girl stammered as she tried to defend her friend despite how she has a hard time expressing herself. "I'm sure Iroha-chan doesn't mean to make things be this way".
"How unusual for you to speak up, Okuda-san" Karma noted.
"That's because they're pretty close, right, Okuda-san?" Kanzaki looked at her direction, with a smile.
Maehara sheepishly rubbed the back of his head smiling in defeat "You do have a point. I'm pretty hard to figure out myself".
"As if" Okano scoffed.
And with that the whole class started laughing.
"Okuda-san, not that you may know, but do you know where she could possibly be?" Isogai asked.
"N-no. I'm sorry" she replied.
"So we really don't have a lead, huh?" Kataoka looked defeated.
"No" Karma rebutted. "If anything, I think we have plenty, we just don't seem to mind. Remember that woman who talked to Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei? She probably knows something about Iroha's split-personality---".
"Split-personality? Is that why she's been acting weird?" I queried.
"I figured enough. She's probably the cause of all those recent gang fights on the local news" he guessed, only to be corrected when Korosensei slid the door open.
"No. The same Iroha you met on day one is the same one you've seen today. Thats how she truly is, no split-personality happening here, no" he told us. "Moreover, if you're looking for a lead, I'm pretty sure Okuda-san has a lot of them. To start off, there's her family---".
"Right. They're pretty rich, considering how her father has bodyguards to come after her" Karma agreed.
"Eh? People are actually after her?" Kayano asked in surprise. "I thought they were fine with her living alone".
"Wait. Guys" Isogai calmed us down. "Let Okuda-san speak up as well".
She looked at us quite hesitantly that you could hear her gulp. "I-I'm not sure if I should tell you but...I-Iroha-chan's surname isn't Inukai. Back in grade school, she was called Kozue".
"Divorced parents?" I wondered.
"I don't think so" Mimura stopped me. "That family's quite famous. Not in the entertainment world, but business-wise"
"They own a company near this area from what I know" Nakamura nodded.
"True. My parents worked with them one time. I'm pretty sure the divorce in such a family would be out in the media" Karma agreed.
"Then that means we could search her online" Okajima proposed, but Hara was already on it.
"Got anything, Ritsu?" She turned to the person we could count on.