Price of admission

Price of admission Part 12

Class had went on and ended quite uneventfully and everyone was on their way to their next class, save for Nishikata who was making a b-line straight for his friend Hamaguchi. 'He thinks he can win by shoving a wedge between Takagi and I? Well I'll show him!' His expression softened up as he realized what just went through his mind. 'Wait, but Takagi and I ... I don't know.' He shook the thought from his head and continued looking for Hamaguchi.

It didn't take long, he managed to find him sitting with Takao and Kimura, sitting at a bench in front of a window. "Hey." He said trying to sound friendly. "How have you guys been?"

Hamaguchi and Takao tried to avoid eye contact, while Kimura turned to him and smiled. "Hey Nishikata, wanna sit?"

"Actually, I kinda need to talk with Hamaguchi and Takao alone." Kimura looked at him curiously, then at the others and noticed that they were trying to avoid eye contact with just about everything.

"You guys mind telling me what's going on?" There was no response and Kimura just sighed. "Okay then, I hope you all get it sorted out." He stood up and left them alone.

When Kimura was finally out of earshot, Nishikata turned back to his two friends, specifically Hamaguchi, and glared at him. "You think playing dirty is going to help you win?" He asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Hamaguchi replied.

"Don't play dumb, she told me who she got to deliver the letter for her." Hamaguchi didn't look like he was about to spill, so Nishikata decided to push a little harder. "I could ask Houjou about it, seems like it's a little childish so I'm not entirely sure if you would have told her-"

"Okay! Be quiet! There are still people who can hear us." Hamaguchi snapped.

"I want the truth."

Hamaguchi sighed and looked off to the side. "Early yesterday, someone came up to me, and asked me to sneak a letter into your bag. I didn't know what it was-"

"Bull shit." Nishikata interrupted.

"Fine, it was obviously a love letter, but she wanted it delivered, and I did just that. You're making it sound like I did something wrong."

"You were trying to use it to put distance between Takagi and I. Don't pretend that your actions are justified by being friendly."

Hamaguchi and Nishikata stared each other down for a bit before Hamaguchi eventually folded. "Okay, yes, I tried to take advantage of it by leaving your bag open so more people in the locker room would see it, and pointing it out so people would see you two standing together. But I didn't think you two were close enough for any distance to be put between you guys."

"I-" He froze. "Wait, that doesn't make sense; my bag was closed when I got back into the locker room, and how could you have taken the second picture if you were already on the ground?"

"Huh?" Hamaguchi shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't be like that, who else would be motivated to do something like-" At that precise moment, he noticed Takao was trying desperately to avoid looking at him and sweating profusely. "Takao ... didn't you have to go to the restroom during gym yesterday?"

Takao glanced back at him before looking away again. "You can't prove anything."

"Can't prove anything?" He hissed. "If Hamaguchi is right, and he left my bag open, and you were the only one who went into the locker room between then and all of us returning, then I think that gives me plausible cause."