Chapter 4

Maruo and Ishiki arrived at school fifteen minutes after Yukiko. After being scolded by the security guard and being forced to fill in an admonition that confirmed their late arrival, the boys headed to the classroom.

While they walked upstairs to the second floor, both of them were still talkingーor, better said, arguingーin a low voice. Ishiki was mad because of Maruo's comment when they were still walking with Yukiko, although he didn't really know what was exactly what he was about to say. Ishiki had a remote idea of what it was, but he didn't want to jump to a rushed conclusion. What was important now was to replace Yukiko's manga, even if because of Maruo the girl's mood had been altered to a point where it would be harder to put her in a good mood again.

"C'mon, Issan. I just wanted to tease her a little! She didn't even let me finish!", Maruo excused himself, waving his hand in the air like trying to dissipate his friend's bad mood.

"Well, I guess is irredeemable", sighed Ishiki. "Anyway, Yukiko already gave you what you deserved".

"Have at least a bit of empathy. That girl may be a Level 0, but I believe that she really has developed quite a good super punch, don't you think?".

"Why do you ask me? I'm not the one she hit".

"Huh? I swore those hits in your face were her doing", exclaimed Maruo, surprised. "Then, how did you get them? You didn't have them yesterday".

"Ah, well...", answered Ishiki, being taken off-guard.

What do I tell him now? I can't reveal myself, much less in a place like this, he thought. It wasn't that he distrusted his friends, or that he was afraid of them informing Judgment or Anti-Skill. On the contrary, nobody else knew better than Ishiki that they were willing to cover his back.

The problem was that he didn't want to involve them. Yukiko would be excessively worried, and she was so hardheaded that he was sure that she would try to chase him to help with the search of the murderer. Maruo, instead, would surely use his ability to beat up every Skill-Out member that they encountered, which would get him in greater trouble, not to mention the huge risk of rummaging in the affairs of such a dangerous organization.

If something went wrong, he preferred to be the only one to get killed.

"Y-You know, I think you should compensate Yukiko, too. After all, is your fault that she got even angrier!", said Ishiki, changing the topic hurriedly.

"I'll think in something. I guess I have some ideas of how to do it", answered Maruo while they walked upstairs to the third floor, where their classroom was.

When they got to the third floor, they headed to the classroom. The voice of their teacher could be heard inside. The boys lamented their luck at having that teacher's class the day they arrived late. Kuroe would be really mad just because two feckless kids went late, and the fact that she was already interrupted by Yukiko when the girl arrived earlier didn't make their situation any better.

"You'll knock the door!", whispered Maruo.

"I did it last time. You'll go this time, you coward!"

"She knows you better. Knock the door!"

"That's exactly why she will not hesitate in killing me! You knock!"

The door suddenly slid to the side. They didn't notice that they've stopped whispering.

"What about, instead of knocking the door, you two just get in and sit down?", said the teacher, glaring at them.

"Eeeeek! S-Sensei!", squealed Maruo, turning pale. A tall and slim lady had her gaze fixated on them. Her eyes, sapphire-colored, penetrated coldly in the boys' eyes. However, just the red-haired seemed affected by that icy contained fury.

"Good morning, Sensei", said Ishiki, entering without looking too much into teacher Kuroe's eyes. Maruo followed him, not without making a polite bow to the woman.

Ishiki took a seat at his desk, right next to the window. He directed a glance to the seat at his right, where Yukiko sat. She, however, looked away. Her ears were still reddened, but the rest of the class didn't know if it was because of anger or shame.

The moment the class restarted, Ishiki couldn't concentrate nor clear his thoughts. Last night's events, added to the ones that morning, had left a mix of unease and worries hard to explain.

Last night's questioning gave him more information about the murders than the previous ones. Although he had intercepted and attacked various Skill-Out members, the only one he could extract some information from was the one from last night, even if it was just an insinuation that he was aware of the reason for someone to kill other Ability Users. The other ones didn't seem to know a thing about the events.

I have to found him again. I will interrogate him again, and if necessary I'll resort to torture to make him spill everything he knows.

Shaking his head, Ishiki tried to take those thoughts out of his mind, at least for now. He had to behave like usual while his acquaintances were close by.

Watching Yukiko with the corner of his eyes, he saw that she was looking at him, although she looked away quickly. Maruo, who sat on the desk in front of Ishiki, was watching the scene, mockingly grinning at his friend. Extending his hand, he placed a small piece of sloppily folded paper on his classmate's desk.

Ishiki took the paper and opened it. When he read what was inside, his face reddened.

"Man, you are already aware, no? Hitogata-chan doesn't seem to hate you for what happened earlier. I'm sure that if you invite her on a date everything will be solved. HAHAHA."

When he looked at Maruo, he was making a gesture of approval with his thumbs, like saying "Good luck with the girl, my friend!"

For some reason, this angered Ishiki a lot. The heat of his face and hands was rapidly rising, burning the piece of paper and reducing it to ashes. A smoke trail came out of the black powder that fell on his desk, attracting attention from both his classmates and his teacher, who interrupted her explanation about differential equationsーwhich, after all, was only listened to by two students.

"Using powers in class, Kōrihi-kun?", said the teacher with a calm tone that juxtaposed with her frown and the throbbing vein in her temple, which seemed about to burst.

"Ah! O-Obviously not, Kuroe-sensei!", exclaimed Ishiki, standing up, with his arms in a firm position.

"'Obviously not', you definitely were using them!", reclaimed Kuroe, walking towards the boy and pointing him with a finger, losing every formality. "Is the fifth time this month! I won't pay again for a burned desk or a frozen chalkboard!

"And for God's sake, call me just Sensei if you want! It looks really bad if a student calls their teacher with their name, independently of the honorifics they use!"

"Hah? To begin with, how did you pass from scolding me for one thing to reclaim for a totally different one, Nee-chan?", yelled Ishiki, flying off the handle.

Normally a situation like that would be unimaginable in a school, much less in a highly prestigious one like Kurumizawa Academy. Nonetheless, it was impossible for two siblings with so many differences between them to avoid fighting.

After all, Ishiki and Kuroe were exactly that: siblings. With a huge age gap of fifteen years between them, they never had the opportunity to truly be raised together.

In fact, it was so common for them to argue like that that the whole school already knew that the beautiful, black-haired, and blue-eyed teacher, was the older sister of the wrathful, almost delinquent with Level 4 powers. Although just by thinking about it, both of them had explosive personalities, and most of the student bodyーand even part of the facultyーwere sure that, if Kuroe had psychic skills, she would fight her brother right there.

The Kōrihi siblings would've continued arguing and yelling at each other if it wasn't for a voice, shy yet clear, interrupted what passed from a Mathematics class to an awkward entertainment for the students.

"U-Uhm... Excuse me, is this Kuroe Kōrihi-sensei's classroom?"

Who spoke was a girl that was way younger than the rest of the class, popping her head out from the classroom's door. She wore a sailor uniform that clearly resembled those from Sakugawa Middle School's students. Her black hair was short, and a weird but undoubtedly outstanding flowered headband crowned her head.

"A-Ah, good morning", said Kuroe, turning pale. "That's right, this is my class."

I hope she didn't see me yelling to a student, thought the teacher, walking towards the sliding door as if nothing had happened, though she glared one last time at her brother, who felt a chill up his spine.

"You're screwed~ ", sang Maruo to his friend in a whisper. He knew perfectly that Kuroe was a scary person, even without having any powers.

Ishiki limited himself to look at him again, not with anger but like yelling "Save me!" with his eyes. No one better than himself knew what was awaiting him when his sister finishes work.

Even though no adult in Academy City had powersーmainly because none of them underwent the Ability Development ProgramーKuroe was a dangerous woman when she was angry.

"What do you need, miss?", kindly inquired Kuroe, trying to calm the girl's nerves and shyness down dedicating a smile at her.

"Ah! I-I'm from Judgment. One of my partners is on her way to investigate some of the students of this academy...", answered the girl so nervously that she seemed about to suffer a panic attack right there.

To demonstrate the veracity of her words, the girl lightly tugged the right sleeve of her uniform. In fact, she was the armband with Judgment's emblem.

The same emblem that a certain girl wore...

"Oh, sure. I remember they sent a memorandum telling the teachers that you will come. Is your partner here yet?"

"She will be here in a minute. I think that she said she'll go to the lavatory for a moment..."

Then, a short ring sounded.

"Aah! I-I'm sorry!", exclaimed the girl, blushing while she took her flip phone from her skirt's pocket.

When she opened it, the girl starting to read the text on the screen. A message or an e-mail, maybe?

"S-she's on her way here. She will come soon...", she said, putting her phone back in her pocket.

As if some kind of summon was made, another girl popped her head from the door.

"Ah, Uiharu-san, you're here. Did you tell them?", she said, walking towards the short-haired girl.

"Shirai-san! Yes, I already told them", answered Uiharu, relaxing a bit now that her partner arrived.

At that moment, Ishiki turned pale.

The girl that entered the classroom, with brown hair tied into twin pigtails, wasn't another but the one who caused him his face bruises.