Someone who Knew Him

Lightning rumbled in the sky. The rains exposed water that drenched the buildings, streets, and almost the entirety of Redoom City. The sky was completely overcast, without the slightest hint of light from the sun. At every human step when treading the road, water quickly wets all over their bodies. Only 2 people were watching from behind the 2nd-floor window.

One person, when the others had returned to their homes and dormitories, was caught in the rain again because he didn't bring an umbrella. It had happened to him for the umpteenth time.

"Unlucky..."

Meanwhile, his friend, who was beside him, continued to chew his food with his mouth.

"Rain..."

"Ah. Rain. It's raining there."

"We can't play in public parks anymore, Raka. I want to play that horse again."

"I don't, Fujitora."

"My name is Fujita, not Fujitora."

They were Raka Pradana and Tobi Fujita, both of whom were trapped on the 2nd floor of Wlynina Academy due to the rain, and both of whom did not bring an umbrella.

Clara has been looking for Raka, but Raka's whereabouts cannot be known. Raka was in the virtual audio room with Fujita at that time. They were there to do nothing. They're just curious. For that, Clara waited, waited, waited for Raka until she finally decided to go dorm because it was starting to rain heavily.

This is all Fujita's fault. Fujita shouldn't have asked Raka to skip class with the lure of getting something that would surprise Raka, which was nothing; just a space called virtual audio-only. And in the end, they drifted off to sleep there until it was too late to get home—and they could only wake up at 5:00 pm, 1 hour and 30 minutes later than school time.

"I'm sick of you, Fujitora."

"Uh, why?"

"It's all because of you."

"You slept too, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I slept there too. But if you don't take me there, I won't sleep there. Besides, what did you go there for?"

"I'm lazy to be in my class. My class teacher didn't come in, so they came to me one by one. That's why I came out and took you there."

"It's so troublesome."

"Ah. It's so troublesome. Because of this rain, we can't play horses in the public park."

"That's not what I mean. You're the one who's so troublesome."

After Raka said that, Fujita responded with a glance at Raka and went back to chewing his snacks.

Raka doesn't want to have a fever anymore, yesterday's fever was enough for him. He didn't want to miss this peaceful school. These are the best moments of his life. Therefore, he will wait for the rain to stop rather than having to break through the rain.

He didn't want to catch another cold.

Meanwhile, Fujita had no problem with anything. He was only with Raka because he had to be responsible for what he did. He wouldn't come home or call his bodyguards to pick him up.

The two of them were both caught in the rain inside the 2nd floor of Wlynina Academy.

"It seems some clubs are still active. Would you like to go there?" Fujita asked after hearing voices quite far away from him.

"Not. For the time being, I won't be going there. I was framed yesterday, you know."

"Yeah, I know that. Because of that, my bodyguard's car was confiscated by the police, and he had to take care of the matter. My poor bodyguard."

"You're the one who made him like that, Fujitora. I told you, we can just walk, but instead, you insist on using a car."

"It is my fault?"

"Just think about it!"

Fujita thought for a moment, then after that, his eyes fell on the overcast sky.

"By the way, it hasn't been like this in a long time. If you still use that name, you're probably busy taking care of them. You must be littering the puddles with their blood. Moments like this you rarely get."

"Ah. Only here do I find peace. I can even see humans from here," Raka said in a rather heavy tone, indicating that he was grateful for that.

"I wonder, no matter how hard they work, they won't be able to fight you. Why do they keep doing that?"

"I do not know. Only, it was all because of me, which made them hate me. That's why they will continue to see me until I die."

"Well, that's what they are. It can't be helped, humans have such an attitude. Until whenever, if you start it, you will also end it. You ended it by being here. You have ended your old life with this new life. You've opened a new sheet of paper—no, you've bought a new book to record your new life, Raka. I didn't think we would have a new life in this city, which is so far from our city."

"Ah. Even if we change places of residence, people's lives will always be the same. It is good, it is also bad. So, wherever I am, I will always see people like that."

Fujita glanced at Raka for a moment while Raka was saying that. After that, after Raka finished saying that, he handed his snacks to Raka.

"You want?"

"Thank You."

Raka accepted it. He looked straight at the busy people running from the rain. He casually ate it until he forgot that the snack left a mark on his cheek.

***

When the two of them decided to go downstairs, they met Prillia who had just come out of the teacher's room.

"Oh, you guys... What a coincidence."

Prillia came to them with an expression like she had been looking for them all along. Then, she suddenly told Raka and Fujita to follow her for reasons that Raka and Fujita didn't know about.

Fujita and Raka obeyed Prillia's words. They did that because it was still raining so hard outside, so they had free time to do anything at Wlynina Academy.

Arriving at the door of the room, which is located between the study building and the special building, Raka looked around.

He found that the room in front of him was the Principal Office. He knew that because he saw the board hanging above his head.

"Did the principal call me? Am I causing trouble?" Raka asked, looking like an innocent student filled with questions.

"No, you're not causing any trouble at all, Raka. It's just, there's someone who wants to meet you as well as your friend, Fujita Tobi."

"I? Why me?" Fujita asked, pointing at himself.

"You'll know when you're in there!"

Prillia opened the door until it created an opening.

When the door was wide open, Raka and Fujita saw a bespectacled man in office formal attire sitting there.

The man put his teacup on the table and said, "Thank you for bringing them, Miss Prillia. You can go now!" without even looking at Raka, Fujita, or Prillia.

Prillia left from there and closed the door when Raka and Fujita were approaching the door.

Arriving beside the sofa, Raka saw the man's face. He knew that the man sitting there quietly was strong. He estimated the age of the man. The man was probably 27 years old.

The man realized that Raka was expecting him.

"Please sit! If you keep watching me, you'll just be standing there."

Raka wasn't surprised, but Fujita was the one who was.

Fujita was surprised that he had noticed the man too. Thus, when the man told them to sit down and said that, Fujita quickly sat down on the sofa without saying anything.

Raka, who was dumbfounded by watching the man, decided to sit down too. He sat beside Fujita, right in front of the table and the man.

Before the man asked, Raka looked at the table in front of him. He saw packs of cigarettes and matches, ashtrays and cigarette butts, a smartphone that probably belonged to the man, and a pill that Raka seemed to know, and occasionally he saw the face of the man who had beautiful lips.

"You know what made me call you?"

Raka could guess what he had just seen to answer the question, but he chose to be an innocent student.

"No sir. I do not know."

That man was not the principal of the Wlynina Academy. Raka and Fujita knew that the principal was not that man.

"Me too," Fujita said, trying not to do anything wrong.

The man suddenly picked up something wrapped in plastic. Then, he showed it to Raka and Fujita.

"You know what this is?"

Raka and Fujita knew what the item was shown to them. Although Fujita is still confused about the item, he is sure that what Raka said is true about the item, which is narcotics.

The man exposed the Apajuloy Pill before their eyes.

"A teacher found this a few days ago in the schoolyard," the man continued.

"U-Ugh..."

Somehow Fujita was suddenly surprised when the man said that.

Raka is suspicious of Fujita. To that, he turned to Fujita and saw the look on his face.

Is it possible...

What Raka was thinking was, the pills that were over there were the ones Fujita had bought that Raka had told him to throw away. The pill was found by a teacher after Fujita threw it in the schoolyard. In other words, Raka thought that the pill in the man's hand belonged to Fujita.

So, that's what they were summoned to this room for.

Raka already knew that he would be summoned because it was related to the item, but he did not expect that the item belonged to Fujita. It didn't live up to his expectations.

Oy, oy, Fujitora, you're causing trouble again. You brought your problem back to me. You and I will be expelled from school. Gosh, you're... so annoying, Fujitora.

Raka was annoyed and said that in his mind, but he didn't show it on his face.

"Do you guys know who this item belongs to?"

It was a question that Raka didn't want to hear. That question contained a million panics for both Raka and Fujita. Not only Raka panicked that he would be expelled, but Fujita too.

Raka panicked in his thoughts, but he was also thinking of some other things.

He thought back to Prillia's words saying that Raka was summoned not because he had a problem, nor did Fujita. He also thought about some of the items on the table.

Raka glanced at three. First, he glanced at Fujita. Second, he glanced at the man's face. And finally, he glanced at the cigarette pack. After that, he took the pack of cigarettes and then burned the cigarettes casually.

"Just like this cigarette, the item you are holding has acquired a new owner. If you asked who the previous owner of the pill was, I would answer that it was Tobi Fujita's."

Raka said that because he knew. He knew that the cigarette on the table did not belong to the man because his lips did not indicate that he was a smoker. He also knew that Fujita had thrown away the pill and that a teacher had managed to find it. Therefore, he easily answered the question and made Fujita look innocent.

"I thought you would act like that," The man said, looking straight at Raka after placing the pill on the table. "You have chosen to act that way. You have made your choice… Rama Pradana."