It's Kind of Familiar

Chapter 113: S2 Episode 12 - It's Kind of Familiar

'What just… happened?'

For some reason, I couldn't fully register what had just transpired. They were here one second and gone the next.

"Was Kashino… just kidnapped?" I asked in confusion as we watched the car drive further in the distance.

"Uwah! This isn't good!" Caramel exclaimed with such a distraught look on her face.

"What should we do?" Cafe asked us as we were all left speechless.

"I mean, shouldn't we report this to the police?" I brought up but I could see that Hanabusa already had his phone out.

For some reason, Andou stood as still as a statue even after the car disappeared into the distance.

"Wait, don't call the police," Andou finally spoke but I wasn't expecting to hear that.

"What do you mean don't call the police? We just saw a kidnapping right before our eyes!" I asserted but he remained unmoved.

"Just from how they're dressed, that person is definitely the Kashino Family's bodyguard," Andou confessed, which only made the rest of us remain very still in silence.

"...But why would the bodyguard kidnap Kashino?" Fraise asked but Andou sighed as if he was expecting this.

"*sigh* It was probably an order from Kashino's mother. She's always been a pushy person," Andou began and he fixed his glasses to explain. "The conditions where he'd have to be 1st place in tests or he'll have to drop out was also her doing. She wants him to be a doctor. No. Matter. What."

"So he keeps getting first place. Kashino's amazing too," Hanabusa said in relief but I wasn't getting their calm reactions.

"But Kashino has always received first place, right? Even before I arrived he remained at the top! Doesn't that break the condition if she plans on forcibly making him drop out?!" I tried to justify Kashino but Andou just shook his head.

"Well, you'd think but… I think there's more to it than that," said Andou.

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm saying that one of his mother's conditions was that he would be the *only* one to get first place in exams, Michiko."

After hearing that, I could already tell what he was hinting at. He didn't directly say it to my face but I knew that it had something to do with me.

'Are you shitting me? Just because Kashino and I somehow got the same score and shared 1st place ONE time means that he'll have to forcibly drop out?!!!'

"No, that has to be an exception! She can't do that! We've got to save him!" I attempted to run after the car in the direction it left but was immediately pulled back by Andou.

"Michiko, it's too late now!" Andou said as he gripped my shoulder.

"It can't be too late! After the amount of effort we all put into this, it's never too late!" I hurriedly exclaimed, brushing off his hand.

*RING RING RING!*

Before I could move, we heard a ringing noise coming from Fraise's gold staff.

"Guys, wait. Chocolat's calling me," Fraise said, trying to ease the situation, and picked up the call.

"This is bad!" Chocolat said from the other side which caught all of our attention.

From Fraise's staff, we could see a moving image, kind of like a built-in camera, showing the location of Chocolat and Kashino.

"Kashino is being taken into a huge building!" Chocolat panicked as she relayed the details in real-time.

We could see the building named "Kashino Hospital" on the other side. It was a humongous structure that seemed kind of familiar to me for some reason. I didn't know why but it felt like I'd seen it a couple of times before.

"I knew it… Chocolat, calm down. That's Kashino's house," Andou tried to ease the panicking sweets spirit.

"Shouldn't we be leaving right now?" I asked him but Andou only shook his head.

"It's too late right now. It'll be fine if we just leave early tomorrow."

"It's winter break anyways, but you're getting pretty fired up and serious about this," Hanabusa said with no worry as he brushed his green hair to the side.

"I mean, Kashino's my comrade. If we don't have him for the Grand Prix, we'll be in trouble," I calmly explained my thoughts which made Hanabusa's expression ease up a little bit.

"Ah, so that's how it is. I'm glad," Hanabusa chuckled to himself which only caused me more confusion.

'What could he be so glad about? There's a chance that we'll be in trouble during the Grand Prix!'

Plop! Plop! Plop!

From above, I could feel raindrops falling as they hit us and the ground. Suddenly, it began pouring buckets of water.

"Whoa, it's raining hard!" Said Andou, covering his face from the rain.

"Let's hurry up and get inside!"

We swiftly ran inside the middle school division which wasn't very far from where we were.

I still couldn't wrap my head around how familiar that building was to me. Maybe it was just my imagination.