Chapter 72: Chapter 71: Damage Control.
Takeshi remembered exactly the expression Aoi had worn when she left the apartment the previous morning.
She hadn’t said anything. She had placed the empty cup on the table, picked up her bag, and said, "See you tomorrow," without any visible anger or further questions.
Ophélia had been different. She had barely spoken during the rest of breakfast, finished her tea, and when she stood up, she had looked at Takeshi for a moment before saying goodbye. A brief look, not hostile, but carrying something he hadn’t been able to identify precisely.
It was now 7:40 in the morning, and he was walking to school while calculating the current state of the problem.
Nyx believed the outing with Sable had been to find a place where he could invite her. That meant if Nyx spoke with Sable, Sable wouldn’t confirm that version because she knew nothing about it. If Aoi or Ophélia asked Nyx what Takeshi had meant by "having options," Nyx might say something that contradicted whatever he said later.
And Sable, who knew absolutely nothing about this problem, could destroy the entire structure with a single sentence without even trying.
’I need all four of them not to talk to each other about this today.’
[takeshi in crisis management mode since 7 a.m.]
[aoi’s face when she left the apartment is going to haunt me]
[and ophélia’s look too]
[four independent people who can’t cross-reference information. impossible]
[impossible but takeshi is going to try anyway]
The first complication arrived before he even entered the building.
Sable was standing near the main entrance, checking something on her phone. Takeshi spotted her in time, but he also saw Nyx approaching from the opposite direction, about twenty meters away.
He calculated both of their trajectories.
They would reach the entrance at the same time.
Takeshi quickened his pace, reached Sable first, and stopped beside her.
"Hi."
He greeted her.
Sable looked up from her phone.
"Hi."
"How are you?"
She looked at him for a moment.
"The same as always."
Takeshi subtly turned his body so his back faced the direction Nyx was coming from and kept Sable oriented toward the building entrance. It wasn’t an elegant maneuver, but it worked as a visual barrier.
"Do you have practice today?"
He asked.
"This afternoon, yes."
"What time does it end?"
Sable frowned slightly.
"Why?"
"Just curious."
["just curious" takeshi and his answers]
[he’s literally blocking the line of sight with his body hahaha]
[sable is going to suspect something weird is going on]
[did nyx pass behind them? did she pass behind them?]
[SHE DID. she didn’t see them]
He heard Nyx’s footsteps pass behind him and enter the building.
He waited two seconds.
"Thanks for the other day."
Said Takeshi.
Sable looked at him with an expression that wasn’t exactly distrust, but it was close.
"I didn’t do anything special."
"You did for me."
She didn’t reply to that. She slipped her phone into her uniform pocket and entered the building without saying anything else.
Takeshi waited a moment before following.
First complication resolved.
The second arrived during first break.
Takeshi was on the second-floor hallway looking for Aoi because he needed to speak with her before she spoke with anyone else, when he saw Ophélia coming from the opposite end of the corridor and Sable stepping out of a side classroom at exactly the midpoint between them.
All three were in the same hallway.
None of them had seen each other yet.
Takeshi walked toward the center of the corridor at a normal pace, reached Sable first, and stood beside her.
"Are you heading to the music room?"
He asked.
Sable looked at him.
"Yes."
"I’ll walk with you for a moment."
"Why?"
"I want to ask you something."
Sable evaluated the answer for a second and then started walking toward the music room, which was in the opposite direction from where Ophélia was coming. Takeshi walked alongside her.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ophélia reach the spot where Sable had been, glance in their direction for a moment, and then continue toward the other end.
Aoi still hadn’t appeared.
[takeshi literally using his body as a barrier again]
["i want to ask you something" and now he has to invent a question]
[HAHAHA true, now he has to justify why he walked with her]
[did ophélia see them walking together?]
[i think she did]
[future problem unlocked]
"What did you want to ask?"
Said Sable when they reached the music room door.
Takeshi searched for a question in the time he had left.
"The place we looked at yesterday..."
He began.
"The café, does it close early on weekends?"
Sable looked at him with an expression that clearly said it was a question he could have asked through a text message.
"I don’t know, but I can find out."
"It’s not urgent."
"Then why ask now?"
Takeshi didn’t have a good answer for that.
"To know."
He replied.
Sable stared at him for another second, entered the music room, and closed the door.
Takeshi remained in the hallway.
’She suspects something is going on, but she still doesn’t know what.’
The third complication came during lunch.
Takeshi arrived at the school cafeteria and found Aoi and Nyx already seated at a table, facing each other. Ophélia wasn’t there. That was a problem because it meant she would arrive later, and Takeshi couldn’t control where she came from or who she saw first.
He sat beside Aoi because it was the remaining seat that wouldn’t make his choice look deliberate.
Aoi looked at him when he sat down.
"Good morning."
She said, even though it was noon.
"Good morning."
Nyx looked up from her tray and regarded him with her usual calm expression, with no trace of the red ears from the previous morning.
No one spoke for a moment.
Aoi cut her food with precision.
"I saw you walk Sable Kuroe to the music room."
’Fast.’
"We ran into each other in the hallway."
Takeshi replied.
"Do you talk often?"
"Not particularly."
Aoi nodded.
[aoi saw everything from somewhere in that hallway]
["we ran into each other in the hallway" technically true]
[aoi quietly gathering information as always]
[nyx is silent too. both of them are thinking]
[takeshi stuck between the two of them trying to eat normally]
Ophélia arrived five minutes later carrying her tray. She saw the only available seat, which was next to Nyx, and sat down.
She glanced at Takeshi as she settled in and then looked at her food.
The table remained silent for several seconds that felt longer than they really were.
Nyx was the first to speak.
"Takeshi, did you confirm the place we talked about?"
Takeshi processed the question. Nyx was talking about the place he had supposedly gone to find with Sable so he could invite her. She was asking it in front of Aoi and Ophélia.
"Not yet..."
He said.
"And when are you going to confirm it?"
"This week... maybe..."
Aoi set her fork down on the tray with a soft sound. She didn’t say anything and kept looking at her food.
Ophélia drank some water.
Takeshi ate in silence and mentally counted how many different variables he was managing simultaneously.
Four people. Four partial or incorrect versions of the same situation, and none of the four could talk to the others without something breaking.
[nyx asking about the plan in front of aoi and ophélia without realizing what she’s doing]
[aoi put down her fork. maximum alert signal]
[ophélia drank water. also an alert signal]
[takeshi eating in silence with three bombs at the table]
[the most tense lunch in this school’s history]
The afternoon was more manageable because classes kept people separated in fixed places for defined periods of time. Takeshi spent the school hours mentally reviewing the status of each variable.
Nyx, who believed a version of the story that was internally consistent. The risk was that she might speak directly with Sable.
Aoi, who hadn’t received any direct explanation. She had heard Nyx mention "the place we talked about" and had stored that information without commenting on it. The risk was that she might ask Nyx what it meant.
Ophélia, who had heard the same thing as Aoi and likewise hadn’t commented. The risk with Ophélia was harder to calculate because the way she processed information was less predictable than the other two.
Sable, who knew nothing about any of the stories circulating about her. The risk was that someone might ask her directly, and her honest answer would destroy everything.
After classes ended, Takeshi intercepted Nyx before she reached the usual meeting spot near the main entrance.
"Do you have anything to do right now?"
He asked.
Nyx looked at him.
"I was planning to wait for Aoi."
"Can I keep you company for a while first?"
A brief pause.
"Okay."
They walked down the side corridor, which was the longer route to the exit but the one least likely to cross paths with Sable, who would be arriving at the music room for practice around that time.
[takeshi strategically separating nyx from aoi]
[so they won’t talk without him present]
[this is human relationship logistics management]
[and it’s working so far]
["so far" being the important part]
Nyx walked beside him without asking why they had taken the longer route. They talked about unimportant things: a test scheduled for the following week, a minor student council matter.
At the main entrance they met Aoi, who was waiting with her bag in hand.
Aoi looked at Takeshi, then at Nyx, and then back at Takeshi.
"Ophélia already went to the shrine."
She informed them.
"She sent me a message."
Takeshi processed the information. Ophélia had gone to the shrine alone. That was a real security risk, completely separate from the social problem of the morning.
"What time did she leave?"
He asked.
"Twenty minutes ago."
"Alone?"
"That’s what the message said."
Takeshi calculated the time. If she had left twenty minutes ago, she would already be near the shrine or inside it. She was probably fine.
[ophélia went to the shrine alone]
[takeshi is not happy about that]
[remember there’s a killer on the loose]
[wait, sable was at practice. she couldn’t have followed ophélia]
"I’m heading home."
Said Takeshi.
Aoi looked at him.
"You’re not going to the shrine?"
"Ophélia’s already there. She’s fine."
Aoi said nothing else.
Takeshi walked toward his apartment along the usual route, automatically checking his surroundings the way he had learned to do over the past few days. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
He arrived at the apartment, went inside, took off his shoes, and sat down on the living room sofa.
Akari wasn’t home yet.
The silence was complete.
Takeshi rested his head against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes for a moment.
The day had been a constant exercise in divided attention. He had managed four different situations in parallel without any of them collapsing.
Everything was still standing.
He was about to open his eyes when the phone vibrated on the table.
He picked it up without thinking.
It was a message from Merwyn.
He read it once and then again.
The message said:
Ophélia has been kidnapped. I need you to come now.
Takeshi was already on his feet before he finished reading the second line.
