The smile that hid the pain.

The next day after school, we are on our way to Shiroisora High School. Ryo is bringing his brass knuckle. He's too anxious to not bring anything with him. As for me, I'm not bringing anything because I'm pretty sure that nothing will happen, it's the same with Erii. Ryo is scratching his head and says,

"Aze, why did you accept his invitation... I still can't believe we're doing this."

Erii says,

"We should be fine, Ryo. I also think that they're not trying to harm us in the first place. You were the one who arrogantly attacked him and paid the price. Even I was surprised to see you got beaten with just two hits."

Ryo clicked his tongue and then replies,

"Argh! This is making me anxious... well, I admit that it was my fault. I didn't expect him to be that good..."

Erii says,

"You should apologize to them as soon as we meet them."

Ryo sighed and replies,

"Yeah, yeah... I get it, Erii-chan. I will apologize to them."

Ryo is looking at me and asks,

"You're unexpectedly quiet today, Aze."

I reply,

"Huh? I'm just too occupied with my thoughts."

Ryo says,

"Heeeh... that's new. What are you thinking right now? Mind to share it with us?"

Erii is looking at me with curiosity. I reply,

"Well, it's nothing important. I was thinking that the guy who beat you up, is a kickboxer, but I'm amazed by his strength. Compared to the other martial arts, his kicks were surprisingly amazing for a kickboxer."

Ryo surprised and says,

"Hah? Did you think so too? I asked myself what was kind of martial art he used. The way he moves isn't like taekwondo, karate, or muay thai... so he's a kickboxer, huh?"

I nod confidently and reply,

"Exactly like you said, I've seen so many martial arts students and I'm sure it was kickboxing."

Erii and Ryo nod with understanding.

We arrived at the Shiroisora High School. We entered the school building and all their students looked at us and whispered to each other. Well, it wasn't surprising since we have beaten one of their students. We went to the second floor to find clas 2-1. When we found the class. the three of us nodded and opened the class door. There are only three people in there. We are surprised to see a girl beside the white-haired and the brown-haired guy. Erii and Ryo says at the same time,

"Hime-chan?!"

A brown-red-haired girl wearing fashionable glasses playing a game console and resting her feet on the table while chewing a beef jerky hanging on her mouth. She's wearing the Shiroihana All-Female High School, her skirt... I can see a glimpse of her panties from here. Black with flower patterns... I realized that she has nice legs as well... She's waving at us with her gorgeous smiles and white teeth.

I'm surprised that Erii and Ryo know that girl. I ask,

"You guys know her?"

Ryo replies,

"What?! You don't know who she is?! She's literally everywhere! On the billboards, on the walls, her pictures are everywhere! She's the rising star model! Her reputation is on par with Miyazaki-San!"

Erii nods and says,

"I'm her big fan! I admired her body and I've tried all her recommendation from fashion magazines and she opened my world about fashion!"

I just realized that I've seen her face many times in Utube. I ask,

"Why did you guys call her Hime-chan?"

Erii replies,

"Because it's her stage name made by her fans, and she's worthy to be called Hime (Princess)!"

The brown-red-haired girl just smiling and keep on focusing on her game console. The brown-haired guys say,

"Please have a seat."

The three of us sat down in front of them. All we heard are the sound effects from her game console. The brown-haired guy stood up and suddenly bows to us. We are surprised and he says,

"We apologize for the student of ours who harassed one of your students... We already reported it to the headmaster and he's already expelled from here."

The three of us surprised and we stood up. We also apologized for what we did yesterday. I just realized that the two of them look alike. Are they twins? The brown-haired guy smiled and then he says,

"Then, let me do the honor to introduce ourselves. As you can see, we are triplets."

The three of us surprised and looked at each of them carefully. They really are a triplet! The brown-haired guy continues,

"My name is Renjiro Hasegawa. He is Okuro Hasegawa. She is Aiko Hasegawa."

I ask,

"Hasegawa... that sounds familiar..."

I remembered that uncle Hiro once told me about the famous Hasegawa family. The owner of the luxurious textile in Japan at the front but behind it, they're the infamous yakuza family that is the largest and the second strongest yakuza in Japan. He said that they're the most dangerous people in Japan even though they're not the strongest yakuza. Aiko and Renjiro glared at me and then smirked as they realized what I was thinking. Ryo replies,

"They owned the famous textile industry, Aze. They only sell a million worth of textile and nothing below it!"

I nod and I just realized that we haven't introduced ourselves. I say,

"My name is Azera Norl. He's Ryoichi Inoue. She's Erii Yamaguchi."

Renjiro replies,

"Nice to meet you, Norl-Kun, Inoue-Kun, and Yamaguchi-San."

We nod and then Renjiro says,

"Ah, since the three of us have the same last name, you can call me Ren, Kuro for him, and Aiko for her, or you can call her Hime-chan if you prefer that."

We nod and then Aiko asks Erii,

"Do you like games, Erii-San?"

Erii replies,

"Yes! Hime-chan."

Ryo and I just realized why suddenly Erii interested in games, so it was because of Aiko. Aiko grabbed something under her desk and pulled out another gaming console and then gave it to Erii. Aiko says,

"Let's play together then!"

Erii nodded and sat beside Aiko. Aiko opened a bag of chips and put it between her and Erii. They are already transcendent to another world. The rest of us talked about ourselves to know each other better.

Without realizing the time, the sun is going down. Erii and Ryo says,

"It's already late. I think we have to go now."

Erii gave the game console back to Aiko, but she said that Erii should keep it so they can play together online. Erii happily accepted. When we are about to leave, Ren says,

"Norl-Kun can we talk more for a bit? I have something important matter to discuss with you."

Ryo and Erii looked at each other and then looked at me. They are a bit worried but it seems that it's something that they shouldn't hear, so they will wait for me at the school's gate. I approached them and sat in front of them. As soon as Erii and Ryo left the class and their footsteps are no longer can be heard, Aiko closed the game on her console and put it down under her desk. I'm a bit nervous but for some reason, I felt like nothing bad is going to happen. Ren says,

"I was surprised when I found out that you are Leonard and Iyona's son."

I glared at them and clenched my fists and put them on my lap. Ren continues,

"Relax, Norl-Kun. We are in the same boat. You want to know the truth about your parents' death, correct? We already investigated the accident, and we found some evidence. The reason why we asked you this is because we need your cooperation."

I reply,

"Is that so? There's no way the yakuza family willingly or even bother to do something like that. What's your goal?"

Ren replies,

"There are two reasons why we are investigating your parents' death. First, we are confident that the culprit behind your parents' death is the Sakurai family. The reason why they did that, we still don't know. That's why, since we coincidentally met with each other, we took this chance to bring you in since they're your parents. The second reason is that Ai-chan's master is your mother, Norl-Kun. Iyona-San teaches and trained her personally. Iyona-San always talked about her son and she seemed happy when she talked about you. Ai-chan knows a lot about you thanks to Iyona-San. As soon as Ai-chan heard about the news, she was devastated and wished to meet you, Norl-Kun."

A tear just fell from my eye. Aiko stood up and sat beside me. She comforted me and asks,

"Can I give you a hug?"

My eyes are red and I looked at her. She opened her arms and hugged me so tightly. It felt different when someone knows a lot about me and gave me a hug than some stranger showing useless sympathy. Aiko says,

"Iyona-San is still one of the precious people in my life. I want to avenge her and I also want to be the friend that you need."

I smirked and looked at her. She smiled, but that smiled wasn't to comfort or encouraged me, it was the smile that hid the pain, just like me.