Fang Cheng never expected to run into Asaka Akie here.
Tuition at Kashima Academy wasn't cheap. Middle-class families had to tighten their belts to afford to send one child there, while ordinary working-class families on the Fourth Layer could forget about it—unless their child had grades so exceptional that scholarships cleared every obstacle.
So Asaka Akie's home should have been on the Third Layer. What was she doing wandering around this godforsaken place in the middle of the night?
Fang Cheng parked his motorcycle in a wide stretch of road. He could see it as soon as he turned around, and he even locked it up.
He refused to believe it could still get stolen. If it did, he'd have a brain hemorrhage.
After parking, Fang Cheng walked over to Asaka Akie. The day after three girls had taken revenge on her at school, she'd returned to normal and gone back to class.
Sato Hayato had worked himself ragged investigating, but hadn't uncovered the truth. All he'd confirmed was that Asaka Akie and the three girls had indeed gotten into a physical altercation the previous day.
Fang Cheng didn't care about things that had nothing to do with him, but he hadn't expected to run into Asaka Akie here when she was so clearly upset.
To be honest, he really wanted to pretend he hadn't seen her and go take care of his own business.
But then he imagined seeing a news story tomorrow about a "high school girl jumping into the river and killing herself for unknown reasons." In the end, he hit the brakes.
Forget it. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda.
Asaka Akie stared blankly at the Edogawa, lost in her emotions. She didn't hear Fang Cheng approaching at all.
Fang Cheng stopped