Chapter 24

Inari has been calling me incessantly for the past few days, and it was starting to annoy me. I had a clue why she called, and it must be because she wanted money. She had always been the type to borrow money from others, and that would most probably get her into trouble. And she will only find me if she needs money.

We did get into a lot of trouble, thanks to the hare-brained mother of mine.

This time, she called again.

I pulled out my phone from my pocket, and saw her caller ID before I placed it back inside my pocket without accepting her call. I was busy with school work, and listening to lessons. I didn't want to accept the call while the teacher was there or my phone would get confiscated if I got caught.

The rate that she's been calling has started to worry me.

Once the lesson was over, I got out of the classroom to call her. I was nervous, and worried as I leaned my back against the window.

"Hello?"

"Izumi! Why didn't you pick up my calls?"

"I was in class –"

"I need you to listen carefully, stay low and don't get into trouble," she interrupted, her voice turning soft as if she didn't want to be overheard. "I am in a pinch right now, so I want you to stay safe. These people are not to be trifled with."

I grew alarmed. "What the fuck did you do?" I demanded.

"Well, I fucked with the yakuza head and stole some of his cash and valuables. He caught me with it while I was leaving the hotel room," she explained in a nonchalant way and added something as an afterthought. "I think he's your biological father, seeing that you both look the same."

"What the fuck?" I exclaimed. "I thought you said he's dead!"

"I might have missed a few points there, since I was high," she explained. "But I'm trapped in his house until I give you up, so don't worry! Mummy will protect you! So, stay low and don't do anything stupid okay?"

She didn't give me time to react, and ended the call immediately. I was left to hear the beeping dial tone as I felt my world crashing into tiny pieces. My hands shook, as I returned my phone inside my pocket and I had to rub my face a couple of times while I tried to understand what had happened.

Mother has found Father, and she's trapped in his house unless she gives up my location. But why would Father want to know where I was? I had never heard of him, for the past sixteen years. Why would he care either way? And also, why the fuck did she have to mess around with yakuzas?

A desperate groan left my lips and I covered my face with my hands, as I tried to ease my racing heart and mind. She was in real trouble and she didn't even want me to call the police. All she wanted for me was to stay hidden. Has she finally come to her senses?

The bell rang, pulling me out of my thoughts and I returned to the classroom with a frown.

 …

To add more to my worries, Kenta-san and Iwaizumi-san appeared in my classroom one afternoon, just when the last bell rang shrilly in the air. Seeing them there seemingly out of breath, I was taken aback and I turned serious when they shared troubled looks.

"It's Hajime."

With that statement, we ran out of the classroom. It seemed that Hajime-san was in trouble.

A girl had wanted to tell him something, probably wanted to confess to him and ask him out but he had not been back for thirty minutes and they got worried. We separated from there, going to the usual secluded places where it was most likely to be a place of confession (in my building) as both the third years had scoured the whole school by the time they reached my classroom.

For some reason, I went up to the roof. This roof is closed and out of bounds as it has no fencing to protect us in case we fall. It's a low building; two stories but it could break a leg or two. With my heart in my mouth, I ran up the stairs. My guess was right when the gate was unlocked and when I tried to open the door, it was unlocked too.

Holding my breath, I entered silently and peeked above the stairwell to see Hajime-san and an older girl arguing by the edge of the banister. I don't think that girl is his classmate, I had never seen her around him before. My eyes narrowed when I realized that he was already right at the edge of the roof and I felt panic rising immensely.

What is he doing? Why was he by the edge?

Quickly, I took out my phone to send a location to the group chat, so the other two could come in and assist. Pocketing the phone again, I looked over at them and began to make my way towards them silently. I hoped she didn't realize I was coming. Hajime-san noticed me immediately, and I held a finger to my lips to tell him not to alert her so I could bring her down easily.

He continued trying to convince her with something, the conversation I was hearing now was disjointed and confusing. She retaliated suddenly, unhappy with what he had said, and shoved him hard. She was a small girl, but she had enough power in her. With a shout, he tripped over the banister, and I saw him tipping backward, his body going over the edge.

"HAJIME!"

I let out a strangled shout.

My body moved forward before my mind could tell me to. I shoved the girl aside and ran towards the edge of the roof, towards the falling boy. Please get there on time! I threw myself over the edge without much thought, my arms were stretched out to grab a hold of any part of Hajime-san that I could reach. I could hear myself screaming, I was panicking and so afraid I would miss catching him.

I was so afraid of losing another precious one. I don't even know if I could live with myself if he happened to slip away from my hands even though I was so close to him. Luckily and by the grace of God, I managed to grab hold of his arms.

Don't let go!

Don't you dare!

Screaming as the bones in my shoulder sockets popped audibly due to the sudden force of weight tugging against the muscle, I struggled to hold him. The banister was resting awkwardly and painfully on my chest – they were digging into the bone – making it hard to breathe.

Hajime-san had a hold on me too, his grip was crushing and we stared at each other – gasping in pain. His sea-green eyes were wide with terror and desperation as he begged me silently not to let him go. I felt angry tears filling up my eyes as I couldn't think of another way to pull him up. I was getting desperate and became relieved when I heard shouts behind me.

"Hold on you two! We're coming!"

I felt someone grabbing a hold of my waist and then Iwaizumi-san appeared at my top right to lean down and hold onto Hajime-san. With their help, we managed to hoist him up safely and I lay down on the roof gasping, clutching onto my shoulders as I waited for the blood to cease pumping through my veins.

It hurts.

Both my arms felt like they were pulled off from the sockets and sucked back awkwardly.

"Izumi, are you okay?" Hajime-san demanded as he appeared above me.

"I thought I was going to lose you," I said roughly, wiping away tears. "Don't you dare do that again, Hajime-san!"

He burst out in relieved tears, grabbing me into a hug as he crushed me to him. I was taken aback by his actions but calmed down when I realized that his body was trembling badly as his arms tightened their hold on me. That fall must have scared the heck out of him. I don't blame him and wrapped my arms around him as I rubbed soothing circles around his back.

I looked at Iwaizumi-san and Kenta-san who were crowded between us, both holding sad smiles as they looked at their clumsy captain who was crying his eyes out. I knew they had been worried for him, and they must be relieved that he was fine after their manic search throughout the school. I was glad that I had made it on time.

I let out a deep sigh. "You're a lot of work, Hajime-san," I stated flatly.

"Yeah! You scared the shit out of us when you didn't come back after that girl asked you out for a stupid confession!" Iwaizumi-san added angrily. "We've searched the entire school for you! And you weren't even around! You should thank your lucky stars that Izumi found you before that crazy bitch pushed you off the roof!"

"Wait, where did the girl go?" Kenta-san added in surprise.

Surprised at the sudden statement, we looked around the roof. She was gone. There was no trace of her at all. She must have bolted when I had shoved her aside. I let out a sigh and felt anger coursing through my veins. What had been going on between the girl and Hajime-san? What had made her shove him like that?

I pushed Hajime-san back, so I could glare at him. "What happened?" I demanded.

His face was red from crying, including his eyes. "Huh?"

"You're being very obtuse," I snapped suddenly. "There must be a reason why she did that. No woman will do it without motive! Has she been trying to get to you before this happened? What the fuck were you thinking?"

I had never felt so much anger towards him before. I didn't know why, but I felt it right to know the reason behind this. I demanded to know what he had said to her, to make her do that to him. She wouldn't go to the extreme for nothing unless she's a psychopath and that's a different story.

Hajime-san was staring at me. "I'm sorry -"

"I don't want your apology!" I burst angrily. "I want your explanation!"

Hajime-san looked terrified by now. He had turned as white as paper. Both Kenta-san and Iwaizumi-san were silent, and they were glaring at him too. He looked at us, realizing that we wanted to know what had happened, and licked his lip as he readied himself to explain.

"She had confessed earlier, and I said I could not accept her feelings," he explained softly, his eyes cast down to his hands as he held them together. "But she was adamant about it, wanting to change herself to be the girl that I liked. I said no, and that I didn't want it. I thought it was over."

"Then?" Iwaizumi-san demanded.

"She wrote letters, got my number, and began to message me. She was getting annoying and obsessive, it was making me angry," he continued with his explanation as quickly as he could. "I told her time and time again to stop it, that I didn't like it. She wouldn't listen and keep up with it."

I was horrified to know that he was facing this all alone, and he didn't even show any signs of stress or worry whenever I was with him.

"I couldn't take it anymore, so I asked her to meet up so I could tell her directly to stop everything she was doing," he continued. "She got violent and tried to kill herself, so I stepped in but then she was cunning, telling me stories and managed to swap places. That's when Izumi came in. She was telling me that she had the right."

"Holy crap."

"She's delusional."

I pity her, and my heart hurts.

Hajime-san held my hand. "I'm sorry, Izumi."

"Why are you apologizing to me?" I asked, my voice was wavering.

It was Iwaizumi-san's turn to let out a grumbling sigh while Kenta-san shook his head in defeat. Hajime-san tightened his hold on my hand and pulled me to a hug again, his head resting against my shoulder as his arms tightened their hold around me. Once more, I could feel him trembling against me.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled again.

Sighing in defeat, I pressed my face against his shoulder, breathing in his unique scent. I had been scared for him and had lashed out due to my fear for him. I didn't realize that he had been shouldering this burden for so long, that it was wearing him down and my anger has shaken him.

"It's okay," I said.

"Thanks for saving me, Izumi," he mumbled.