Chapter 3

The rest of the day passed almost in a blur for Minato. Nothing particularly exciting happened, and that was a problem. Sara didn't even bother trying to talk to Minato, and that was enough for Hajime to realize that something was up.

The next day, Sara came to school with a scarf wrapped around her neck. While this wouldn't have been a big deal if it was cold outside, it was over 80 degrees. It was at this point that Hajime realized that things might have been a little worse than he had thought.

After listening to Itsuki drone on for what felt like forever, the bell finally rang, signifying lunch time. Hajime took this opportunity to walk over to Minato. "Have you noticed anything off about Sara?" He asked. Minato shook his head. "N-No, why?"

"Well, because something is definitely wrong."

"Why is t-that?"

"She's wearing a scarf when it's 80 degrees outside."

Minato just shook his head. "Maybe she likes t-to wear that scarf?"

Hajime let out a sigh, realizing that this entire talk with Minato was pointless. Minato was too dense to realize that something was up. Actually, looking at everyone else in the room, Hajime was the only one that noticed something was wrong.

Once break had ended, Hajime realized that there was really only one way to figure out what was wrong, and that was to talk to Sara. After sitting through the rest of the class, the final bell rung, telling students to leave the school.

After picking up his stuff, Hajime quickly ran over to Sara before she could leave the room. Thinking about the best way to approach this, Hajime nodded his head as he came to a conclusion. "Hey Sara, you wanna hang out with Minato and I after school?" He asked.

Sara looked happy for a second before shaking her head. "I-I'm b-busy."

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Sara was lying, or maybe it did. "Busy with what?"

"T-Things."

"What kind of things?"

"T-Things that I can't tell you about!"

Sara raised her voice when she said that last sentence, which was very uncharacteristic of her. Before Hajime could say anything else, Sara had ran out of the room.

Confused, and disappointed, Hajime walked over to Minato as he started to leave the class. "Go follow Sara and try to talk to her," He said, sounding serious. Now, Minato didn't exactly want to do this, but he decided that he would because Hajime wanted him to.

Nodding his head, Minato rushed out of the room and after Sara, running out of the school. Looking down the street and spotting Sara, Minato tried to call out to her.

"S-Sara!"

Sara didn't even turn her head towards Minato as she sped up, trying to get away from him.

"S-Sara!"

Yet again, she sped up, trying to get away from him.

"Sara!"

This time Sara stopped, but only to pick up a nearby rock off of the ground and throw it at Minato before dashing away. While Minato was able to dodge the rock, Sara had got away, causing him to let out a sigh. Minato was finally able to understand that something was wrong.

Returning home, Minato looked at the piece of paper with Sara's number on it. Pulling out his phone, Minato quickly typed in Sara's number and sent her a text.

'Hey'

The response he got was something he definitely was not expecting.

'Stop talking to me'

Minato couldn't help but feel crushed as he read that. Right when it felt like he had made a new friend, something like this had happened to him. Deciding to try and push all thoughts of Sara out of his head, he curled up into a ball on his bed and fell asleep.

The next day, both Minato and Hajime knew they had to do something about what was going on with Sara.

Almost as soon as school started, Minato walked up to Sara. "It sure would be nice if you would talk to me," He said, sounding serious. Almost as if he was the luckiest man alive, Sara spoke, staring at him.

"I d-don't know why I'm d-doing this," Sara said.

Beep

"I w-want you to know that I'm going to miss you."

Beep

Taking off her scarf, Sara revealed a collar that was strapped with explosives.

Beep

"The s-second that I started to talk to you, t-this collar was set to go off."

Beep

Minato couldn't even begin to comprehend what was happening. Everyone else in the room who noticed this was happening had bolted out of the room, excluding one individual who could not be seen and Hajime.

Beep

Beep

Boom!