Looking at Horikita Suzune before her, Yuki thought of Sakurako.
In a corner where Yuki couldn't see, had Sakurako ever doubted herself, questioned herself, or even resented the sister who had taken away their parents' affection?
"Horikita Suzune, what do you really want to do?"
Tsubaki Yuki paused, pulled a pack of tissues from her pocket, and handed it to Horikita Suzune.
Horikita Suzune took the tissues. She hadn't even noticed the tears running down her cheeks.
"You really care about your sister."
"Yeah. So I won't let anyone speak badly of her. Not even herself."
"Tsubaki Yuki," she said with her head bowed, her voice still nasal, "thank you."
"Don't thank me." Tsubaki Yuki leaned back against the wall again, folding her arms across her chest. "I just thought you looked awful a moment ago. At least in the classroom, you can put on that look like you look down on everyone. That suits you better."
Horikita Suzune lifted her head and glared at Tsubaki Yuki with her swollen, red eyes, but something was beginning to grow again in their depths.
"Tsubaki, I want to make it to Class A, but this time, it won't be to earn my brother's approval. It'll be to surpass myself. I'll make reaching Class A my goal for these three years and live them without regrets!"
"Then... good luck." Seeing that Horikita Suzune had recovered considerably, Yuki was finally a little surprised that she had just said so much.
"I'm so lucky to have run into you tonight, Tsubaki." Horikita Suzune smiled.
It was the first time Yuki had seen her smile, and she couldn't help looking at her with the same astonishment one might feel upon seeing a rare animal at the zoo.
"Would you like to work hard together, Tsubaki? We can both make it to Class A."
"No thanks. But I'll be watching your efforts. If there's something that isn't too much trouble, maybe I'll give you a little help."
Tsubaki Yuki didn't want to get involved in the class promotion business. Rather than thinking about how to get Class D into Class A, it was more realistic to think about saving up 20 million herself.
Besides, Yuto was in Class A. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't see them winning. Even if she gave it her all, she couldn't imagine having the slightest chance of beating Yuto.
"Anyway, you seem fine now, so I'll head back." Yuki had just received a message from Yuto telling her to go back on her own. He had some things to take care of.
Yuki had also gotten a little worked up after remembering Sakurako. She might have to take an extra dose of her medicine tonight.
Night fell.
A cool breeze swept over the Artificial Lake beside the Dormitory Building.
Amasawa Yuto stood alone by the lake.
He had already checked that no one was around. After all, it was already 11:58 p.m.
Amasawa Yuto thought back to his recent fight with Horikita Manabu.
Horikita Manabu was definitely trained, but he wasn't as good as the martial arts instructors Amasawa Yuto had grown tired of fighting in the White Room.
But there was the phone that had fallen to the ground during their fight.
When Amasawa Yuto picked up his phone afterward, he hadn't paid attention to the crack across the screen.
His attention had been drawn to the message notifications.
One was, of course, Horikita Manabu's bank transfer notification.
But he hadn't sent the one million he'd mentioned. He'd sent the two million Amasawa Yuto had asked for.
Amasawa Yuto immediately understood what he meant. Whatever he wanted to say wasn't something he wanted Morishita Ran to hear.
So Amasawa Yuto had agreed to Horikita Manabu's proposal. He was curious to know what it was, too.
The other message was why Amasawa Yuto was here now.
"00:00"
It was just those simple characters.
The sender was an anonymous mailbox, so there was no way to trace its origin.
At first glance, it looked like a time, but it could also be a score on a scoreboard.
And if it was a time, which day did midnight refer to?
What did a time mean? A meeting? It didn't give a location, either.
Amasawa Yuto couldn't be sure of the sender's intentions, so he had come outside the dormitory. That way, if anything happened and this turned into the second fight of the night, no one else would get caught up in it.
Still, Yuto suspected the answer might be surprisingly simple.
Sending a message with just a time: I'll call you at 00:00.
Maybe it really was that simple. After all, if they wanted to send an email, they could have just put it in this one.
As for the date, it should be tonight.
He'd find out what it meant soon enough.
When the time on his phone changed to 00:00, a call came in.
Amasawa Yuto looked at the unfamiliar number. He didn't recognize it at all.
He answered. "Hello?"
Although the caller had made the call, there was no sound on the other end.
Amasawa Yuto said nothing, either, and silently stared down the person on the other end of the line.
After about half a minute of silence, the caller seemed to finally confirm that Amasawa Yuto was alone. Some noise came through at last.
It sounded like fabric rubbing against fabric. The person on the other end had probably just shifted position.
"Amasawa Yuto." A voice finally came through.
It was a deep, mature male voice, but it sounded deliberately disguised. There wasn't much he could tell from it.
Amasawa Yuto didn't answer. He just listened in silence.
The other person had only given a name, which didn't tell him much.
The caller continued, "Let me tell you something interesting. It's about Professor Suzukake."
At the name, Amasawa Yuto's guard shot up. There weren't many people who knew that name, and anyone who knew both him and Professor Suzukake was definitely someone in the know about the White Room.
"What do you want to tell me?" Amasawa Yuto asked calmly. He needed to go along with the caller's lead; otherwise, the man might deliberately keep him in suspense.
Mentioning Professor Suzukake made him understand why the caller had chosen this time tonight.
"On this day one year ago, at this exact time, Professor Suzukake killed himself. But before he did, he sent something."
"What did he send?"
"I can't tell you that. It was something Professor Suzukake didn't want anyone to find, even after his death."
Amasawa Yuto weighed how credible the information was. "Who did he send it to?"
"Overseas. I don't know where it's ended up by now. Maybe Canada? Maybe China?"
"Why tell me?"
"I just felt sorry for you and thought I'd let you in on a little information."
"You don't know what was in the package. You're trying to get me to tell you, aren't you?"
After Amasawa Yuto said that, the caller was silent for a few seconds.
"Looks like I underestimated you a little." The caller spoke again. "But don't think you have everything under control, Amasawa Yuto. I'll be keeping an eye on you."
With that, the caller hung up.
The whole call had lasted less than two minutes. Even satellite tracking probably wouldn't have helped, and Amasawa Yuto didn't have the means to do it anyway.
Amasawa Yuto stared at his phone screen and memorized the unfamiliar number.
I'll look into it when I have time.
It was just past midnight, and Amasawa Yuto was getting ready to head back.
But just then, he sensed something out of place.
Someone's here at this hour?
Before you continue