Special Care Area

"Aren't you gonna go home?" I asked.

"My mom's going to pick me up. She's coming from work right now." She replied while watching the TV.

She called her mom a while ago to pick her up. She had already sent her mom her location so it'd be easier to find.

It was almost 8 pm.

We had dinner together a while ago. I made omelet rice since I haven't tried out any other recipes yet. Yamazuki seemed to like it. Thank god I didn't mess up this time.

"Why did you call your Mom?" I asked.

"Hmm? Oh, she'll be bringing a car. That's why." She continued watching TV.

"But wouldn't she be misunderstood if she saw you here?"

"Nah, it's alright."

"What do you mean alright? Is it normal for you to stay at a random dude's house this late?"

Those words slipped out of my mouth. Yamazuki gave me a murderous glare.

"You should study a bit, you know. The exams are coming." I tried to change the subject.

"We still have 2 weeks left though."

"Sakura-sensei told us to get a good preparation, you should at least listen to her."

To be honest, if I was her, I would've said the same thing. But since I knew something was up, I wanted all of us to be prepared for that.

"Want to have some coffee?" I asked.

"Nah, thanks."

As soon as she said that, I heard a noise of a car outside.

"Look's like your mom has come."

I looked at Yamazuki and immediately realized that she hadn't changed her clothes. She was still wearing my T-shirt and trouser. But it was too late. Someone had already ringed the doorbell.

"Coming." Said Yamazuki while walking toward the door.

She opened the door, and there was a middle-aged woman standing outside, with an umbrella in her hand.

"Oh god, sorry I was late." Said the woman.

"It's okay mom, I am alright," Yamazuki said.

Just as I thought it was her mom. Only if she came a bit late, she would've changed the clothes. I hope this doesn't get awkward.

Yamazuki's mom looked at me and said. "Thanks for taking care of my daughter. My name is Moriko Yamazuki. Nice to meet you."

"Ah-, nice to meet you too. My name is Ashiro Kaname." I bowed.

"Thanks again, Kaname-kun." She said, "Let's go Yuki."

"Yeah mom, bye Kaname-kun!" Yamazuki bid me goodbye as I saw her leaving my house wearing my clothes. I felt like some weird questions were going to strike Yamazuki a moment later.

I closed the door and was going to walk away, but just when I was going to. I heard Yamazuki's and her mom's conversation.

"You should've called me a bit earlier. Thank god you're alright." I heard a voice, which was probably her mom's.

"Uh, sorry. You don't need to worry about me that much, I am not a little girl, you know." Said Yamazuki.

I sighed

I heard a shutting car door noise. They were probably gone by now.

That girl, now I have to clean and return her clothes, too.

I was going to my room upstairs when suddenly my phone started ringing. I took out the phone from my right pocket to see who was the caller.

It was my dad.

…

"Why did you call me?" I asked. There wasn't any reason to call me back after what he had just done.

Is he planning to do more?

"Now that girl's gone, I can now finally explain some stuffs to you." He said.

Wait, how does he know Yamazuki wasn't here anymore? How did he know that she was in here in the first place? I didn't ask these questions since the answer was pretty obvious. This house was monitored by him.

At least give me some privacy for god's sake!

"Explain what?"

"I am going to explain how the special care thing works," He replied.

"Weren't you going to explain that to me after the exam?" I asked.

"I didn't want to waste my time." He replied, "Two weeks is a pretty long time."

"Go ahead, explain."

"The reason why I said that I'd be explaining the special care thing after your exam was because you would've seen the process with your own eyes."

"See what?"

"How that thing works. So basically, the school would remove 5% of the students who scored the lowest. By remove I mean they'd be sent to a special area in your school. Where they have to study without any touch with the outside world. That area is prohibited for the normal students."

"What do you mean by the outside world?"

"Eat, study, sleep. Those would be the only routine for them and as for the psychopaths. I think you already figured out that they'll have a different routine than the normal students. If you are thinking about electronic devices, then yes, mobile phones are allowed, but you can't contact anyone since your connection would be blocked. "

"So, if someone enters the Special Care area, you can't get out?"

"They can, unlike the normal school. The special care has 3 exams a month. Students who score over 70% would be released. But as for the psychopaths, their treatment would continue and there'd be no escape for them."

"You guys are brutal, aren't you?"

"You can say that."

This is where my suspicion grew way high. I used the word "You" in that sentence. My dad was definitely connected with this school.

"What if someone tries to change schools?"

"They won't be able to. This school has a contract with the government. Students of this school can't join any other school until graduation, of course. You are free to join another school after your graduation."

"Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"Now, let me go to the real question. Is there any other way to send someone to the Special care area? The answer is yes. There are 3 different ways. You know what number one is. Number two is intolerable actions, such as excessive bullying, murder or rape attempt and some other stuffs…"

"Murder and rape attempt? I think you are going too far."

I didn't ask about what'd happen if the attempt was successful. It'd probably led to expulsion or some police stuffs.

"I am not. You don't know how twisted the world is. The number three is signing an application, that you want to go to the Special care area on your own will and the authority won't be responsible for anything. You can get out, of course. There is another way, but I don't think it's that important."

"Why'd anyone go to the Special Care Area knowing the disadvantages?"

"It's pretty complicated, you'd understand that soon."

"Is there anything else you want to say?"

"Since I don't want to waste my time, you're going to face your first target tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

Here I thought I was getting 2 weeks of rest first. Life doesn't always go in your way.

"Since you wouldn't be visiting Dr. Nakamura before Wednesday. So I am going to explain it myself."

"Who's Nakamura?"

"Oh, the one you saw on the previous Wednesday morning. Now let me talk. The name of your first target is…"