"Thanks, Mai..."

Nibiiro breathed a sigh of relief, now recovered from his heart attack. Apparently, he suffers from a rare heart condition that causes this, and Shinomiya's the only one trained to use an epee pen in case of an emergency.

"I'm just glad you're okay... here, drink this."

Shinomiya sat down next to Nibiiro and handed him a glass of sugar water.

"Thanks..."

Nibiiro took the glass, but his hands were shaking.

"Do you need help?" Sanou offered.

"Eh? Uh... nah, I'm fine."

Nibiiro tried to act like he could handle it himself, but after having a heart attack a few minutes after waking up, his motor skills were less than to be desired. As he brought the glass up to his mouth, his hand spilled water all over his shirt.

"You don't look fine... let me help you drink."

While Shinomiya helped Nibiiro drink the glass of water, Sanou began patting down his wet shirt with some kitchen roll. Talk about being pampered...

"Thanks..."

"It's okay to rely on us, y'know? We understand your body is fragile."

Sanou chided him slightly for trying to act tough. Nibiiro shook his head.

"If I did that, then I'd just be burdening all of you. Especially you guys, Mai, Nozomi. You two are always looking out for me."

"That's because we care, Suzui-kun. Neither of us want to see you in pain."

"Mai's right. This is nothing, you're not being troublesome at all."

"The real troublemakers here are those three..."

Shinomiya gave the stink eye to Asukai, Masaoka, and Miura, who were quarantined in the corner of the room to make things easier to clean up. At least they had enough common sense to throw away the eggs and wash their hands afterwards.

"We said we're sorry, Mai-san!"

Asukai clapped his hands together and bowed once more. Masaoka and Miura joined in, profusely apologising for the mess they made.

"Where's my apology for having to clean up after you guys, eh?"

Jouji laughed as he wiped down the table once more. He was surprisingly adept at cleaning up.

"What?! Nah, you volunteered for that, you deserve nothing! I would've happily taken responsibility and cleaned up after myself if you guys left it!"

"Me and Jouji-kun started exactly because we don't trust you to do a good job. Knowing you, you'd make even more of a mess than when you first started."

Sanou sighed, shaking her head. Nibiiro laughed slightly.

"Y'know banchou, she makes a point. I dunno how to clean up anything except my—"

"Kakutarou, don't say it man! If ya say it, they'll know whatcha do every evenin'!"

"But every guy does this, Keizaburou! Even that wimpy Nibiiro, I bet he does it constantly cuz he's livin' with Shinomiya!"

Everyone in the room started to collectively cringe, except Asukai, who nodded in agreement with Masaoka.

"You know, there are two girls in the room right now..."

Sanou cracked her knuckles, causing Masaoka to quickly back down.

"Oh, crud... sorry Sanou, it won't happen again, I promise!"

"Yeah, yeah, we promise!"

Despite not being guilty, Miura also apologised. These two really did share a single brain cell, huh?

"Good. Otherwise, I woulda thrown you two outta the window!"

Even though Sanou wasn't a delinquent like those two, she could be just as scary as one of them if she wanted. It really reinforced my image of her being the mean older sister, in a good way of course.

"Masaoka, don't target Suzui either, ya hear? The dude just had a heart attack, don't give him another one!" Asukai exclaimed.

"Ah, that didn't bother me too much, Itsuki... don't worry about it." Nibiiro laughed awkwardly.

"Bro, you get heart attacks over the most whack reasons, I gotta take precautions."

"Yeah, it might've been too shocking to hear that." Jouji snickered.

"Don't act like I'm some kind of innocent girl or something. Mai is more embarrassed about this than I am."

Indeed, Shinomiya's face had turned red from Masaoka's comments.

"And that's why we aren't teasing her, dummy. Though, you do look really red, Mai-san." Jouji said.

"Eh? I do?"

"Yeah... wait, don't tell me, Suzui seriously does that?"

"Nah, even if he tried, he'd probably get a heart attack from how good it feels." Asukai snorted.

"I did not need that mental image in my head at 9am in the morning."

Sanou slapped Asukai across the head.

"Owwww! Nozomi-san, why?!"

"Stop making Mai and Suzui feel weird! They're friends. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Thanks for fighting our corner, Nozomi..."

Nibiiro raised his hand in appreciation. Shinomiya nodded in agreement.

"Heh, no prob. Anything for you two!"

"Sounds like to me you're jealous, Nozo—"

Before Asukai could finish, Sanou flung him across the room with a dark red face.

"Rest in peace, monkee. Latom."

Jouji clapped his hands together in prayer.

"Uuu... my butt hurts..."

Asukai sniffled as he landed on the sofa upside down.

"You better be thankful that I didn't throw you outta the window..."

Sanou huffed, flicking Asukai on the forehead for good measure.

"Note to self, never tease Nozomi-san, or else she'll kill me..."

"Damn right I will!"

I think this is the first time I've ever seen a tsundere in real life.

"By the way, has anyone seen Takanori-san? It's like he's disappeared from the apartment."

Finally, after all this time, Shinomiya had noticed that I'd gone missing. Really, I was still hiding under the table, too scared to come out after everything that happened.

"Takanori-san came with you guys?" Nibiiro asked.

"Yeah, he tagged along since he had some info on the stalker." Jouji said.

"Isn't it bad if we lost him then?" Asukai said.

"Really bad, considering we're meant to look after him. We'll be called irresponsible if we let a 1st Year go missing..." Sanou said.

"How did we lose him if there're six o' us here?" Masaoka asked.

"The math don't add up, I'm telling ya!" Miura exclaimed.

"Well, we were all preoccupied with different things... I was taking care of Suzui-kun, Nozomi and Jouji-kun were cleaning up the table, and you three were sitting in the corner eating the rest of the eggs."

"Can I get a real breakfast now? I don't think eating those eggs first thing in the morning was a good idea..."

Asukai grumbled, holding his stomach.

"There's bananas in the fruit bowl."

"Ooh, banana!"

Asukai got up and rushed over to the kitchen. Masaoka and Miura also followed him to get some real food.

"I swear, taking care of those three are like taking care of children..." Sanou sighed.

"They have the collective IQ of a fifth grader." Jouji said.

"It's not that bad. It's kind of cute how childish they are." Shinomiya giggled.

"Shotacon." Jouji coughed.

"I am not a shotacon." Shinomiya glared.

"You like younger men, of course you're a shotacon!"

"I don't know Mai, I think I have to agree with Jouji-kun on this one..." Sanou snickered.

"Y-you two...!"

Once again, Shinomiya went red with embarrassment. I had no clue she was into that...

"Oh, no wonder you spend so much time with Takanori-san these days. Is he your type?"

"Nozomi, stop! This isn't funny!"

Sanou laughed as Shinomiya became more flustered from her teasing.

"She was also the first to notice he was missing..." Nibiiro muttered.

"Suzui-kun, you're not helping." Shinomiya huffed.

"It's okay Mai, we won't tell anyone." Sanou smiled.

"You know, Takanori-san might still be hiding under the table and listening in to our conversation."

Upon Jouji's suggestion, Shinomiya, Sanou, and Nibiiro all looked under the table, checking to see if I was there.

"...hey."

After meeting eye to eye with me, they all brought their heads back over the table, and looked at Jouji with shocked faces.

"What?"

"Look under the table."

Jouji dipped his head under the table and saw me. He smiled and waved.

"Oh hey, he is there!"

"That means he heard everything, Jouji-kun!"

"Oh."

I'm pretty sure if Shinomiya was as strong as Sanou, she'd also throw Jouji across the room without hesitation.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"He thinks I'm some sort of shotacon now!"

"But you are?"

"How many times do I have to repeat myself, I'm not!"

I felt bad for Shinomiya. I quietly crawled out from the under the table.

"I... I don't think you're a shotacon, senpai."

It felt really weird saying those words, but Shinomiya looked relieved upon hearing them.

"Thank goodness... finally, someone with some common sense."

"We're only pulling your leg." Jouji laughed.

"We are? I seriously thought Mai was into shotas." Sanou said.

"Nah. There's no way that's possible when she likes..."

Jouji's gaze trailed at Nibiiro, before he looked back up at Sanou.

"She likes?"

"...forget about it."

Jouji shook his head. It looked like he didn't want to face the wrath of Sanou's throw if he said it.

"Are you okay, Takanori-san? You were hiding under there for such a long time... you're not hurt, are you?"

Shinomiya got up and checked on me with a concerned face. Jouji and Sanou began whispering to each other.

"Uh... n-no, I'm not..."

It was really embarrassing seeing her do this in front of so many people. Nibiiro joined in on the whispering that was going on in the background.

"Were you scared? I'm sorry for shouting like that earlier..."

"N-no, it's not that either! You were right to get angry at them... I mean, they really made a mess, and stuff..."

I swear, I'm only ever like this around Shinomiya... why couldn't I just be my usual self around her?

"Then why were you hidden for so long?"

"I felt... uh... kind of out of place, I guess...? I don't really get the group dynamic, nor do I really fit in..."

"Aww... it's okay. Sorry for making you feel left out. We might be 2nd Years, but you don't have to think of us that way if it's making you feel uncomfortable. Just think of us as your friends and relax. You don't have to act so serious all the time. Isn't that right, everyone?"

She smiled and patted my head. Sanou, Jouji, and Nibiiro all seemed to nod in agreement, not with her statement, but with what what they were whispering about earlier.

"R-right..."

"Yup, definitely not a shotacon." Jouji whistled.

"Takanori-san is barely a shota." Shinomiya said.

Soon after, the idiot trio returned with bananas in each of their hands. Asukai was peeling his while Masaoka and Miura pretended theirs were guns.

"Oh, you guys talking about Mai-san's shota complex?"

Asukai casually asked, biting into his banana.

"I swear, you guys... for the last time, I am not a shotacon!"

Shinomiya was on the verge of screaming like Godzilla again.

"Eh, but I thought you were?"

"If I'm a shotacon, then you're a siscon."

Ouch. Shinomiya launched a brutal retaliation against Asukai, who clutched his heart and dramatically fell to the floor in shock.

"Just because I love Hoshi-chan doesn't mean I'm a siscon!"

"That's exactly what a siscon would say!"

"Oh yeah, then how about you?! If I showed you a pic of a shota right now, there'd be a waterfall in your pants!"

"W-what?! No there wouldn't, don't be ridiculous!"

"Ha, that's exactly what a shotacon would say!"

"Fine then, I'll prove it to you! Let's test your hypothesis!"

"Aight, bet! Nozomi-san, give me your phone!"

"Wait, my phone?" Sanou asked.

"Yeah, don't you have pictures of shotas in your gallery?"

"Ha?"

"What? You do, don't you?!"

"What makes you think that, you gorilla?!"

"W-well, you and Mai-san were drooling over something or the other, about how cute some boy was, and eeeeeeeek!"

Sanou grabbed Asukai by the ear and threw him across the room once more.

"Wait, is Nozomi-san also a shotacon...?" Jouji said.

"Like hell I am! Do you wanna get thrown next too, dumbass?!"

"U-uh, I'll pass!"

"Welcome to my world, Nozomi..." Shinomiya sighed.

After clearing up the misunderstanding of who was a shotacon and who was a siscon, everyone gathered round the table to discuss about the stalker like we had originally planned. Shinomiya filled everyone in with the information I got off Oozora.

Asukai slammed his fist on the table.

"What? Suzui, the stalker? Oozora's chatting a whole load of horse crap, what does that guy think he's doing?"

"He's asking for a beatin' banchou, that's what."

Masaoka cracked his knuckles. Miura nodded in agreement.

"Even weirder is I haven't messaged him at all this month, yet he showed Takanori-san proof of me sending the message?"

Nibiiro turned to me for confirmation. I nodded.

"Yeah. I'm just as confused about it as you are, since... well."

I pointed at Nibiiro's phone, which was out open on the table. He was showing us his side of the message log, proving that he never sent any image like that to Oozora.

"Plus, there wasn't an image of you and Mai together on his phone either. Oozora-san's story sounds like a whole lot of baloney." Sanou said.

"Even me and Keizaburou could come up with a better fake story, and we share an IQ o' room temperature!" Masaoka said.

"Damn straight proud tootin' we do!" Miura exclaimed.

"Confronting Takanori-san like this makes no sense either. What reason would he have to do this? Why is he trying to mislead him? There's no clear benefit here either." Shinomiya said.

"I can't help but feel like he was tryna send a message to us through Takanori-san by going up to him like this." Asukai said.

"It's not about the money, it's about sendin' a message." Masaoka and Miura said.

"You know, I kind of agree with Itsuki here. Oozora-san probably told Takanori-san all of this because he's close to Mai, but isn't as close to her as us, meaning he'd be more likely to believe whatever he says." Nibiiro said.

"Not to mention, he's accusing you of being the stalker. There's no way he could brazenly say it to our faces."

"Yeah. I still don't know what his role in all of this is, but he definitely has ties to the stalker. That much is a fact."

"He might be working alongside them to try and frame you?" Sanou suggested.

"That could be the case... I still can't help but think Oozora-san's actions lack a motive though."

"Cuz there is no good reason for him to do all this! He's the leader of A Class, what would he want from a bunch of E Class chumps like us? He's rich, he's smart, he has good looks... it'd be stupid to throw that all away by helping out some creep. I might be stupid, but even I know about guilt by association."

Asukai huffed, crossing his arms.

"Maybe the stalker is one of his friends? Maybe that's why he's helping them?" Jouji said.

"It could be. Or... I don't want to jump the gun here, but... what if Oozora-san is the stalker?" Nibiiro said.

A tense silence fell between everyone.

"That guy... a stalker?"

"I dunno. I can't see it..."

Both Jouji and Asukai couldn't imagine him doing such a thing, and neither could I. It seemed nonsensical for Oozora to be the stalker since he was an upstanding young man with no tendencies towards it.

"It's probably a bad idea if we start accusing people with no evidence, Suzui." Sanou said.

"Yeah, you're right... my bad, I'm probably way off the mark."

Nibiiro laughed it off.

"At the very least, we know someone in A Class is most likely to be our culprit."

"Someone in A Class, huh? I didn't expect that..." Shinomiya muttered.

It must've been a shock to find out that a student with more power than her was most likely targeting her. It was almost like there was an abuse of power at play, making the situation even scarier for her.

"It's real weird, especially since you'd think a crime like stalking would be committed by someone in the bottom of the barrel with nothing left to lose, like in E Class." Asukai said.

Considering that she'd been enduring this for months, Shinomiya also probably thought that one of her classmates was behind it.

"I guess they must really like Mai... in a very creepy and disgusting way, of course." Sanou gagged.

"In any case, we have a solid grasp on what kind of person the stalker is now. I think we can capture them this weekend." Nibiiro said.

"Woah, already?" Asukai asked.

"Yeah. If you remember, the stalker stole Mai's schedule. We can use that to predict their movements."

"Ah, I get it. The stalker will be where Mai-san is, according to her schedule. We can use that to our advantage to also be there and intercept him, thus capturing the stalker." Jouji said.

"Ooh, ahh, I get it! That's smart, Suzui!"

"Ideally, we should lure the stalker into a secluded place so we can surround them on all sides to make sure they can't escape." Nibiiro said.

"Easier said than done. You wouldn't happen to visit a secluded place on your schedule, Mai?" Sanou said.

"Umm... no, not really. However, if they're stalking me, then they're sure to follow wherever I go. We could plan a route in advance that leads them into a place like that so we can capture them." Shinomiya said.

"I know just the place." Jouji grinned.

"Where?"

"Let's get that bugger in the Drachma forest."

A bird's ominous shriek echoed in the distance.

"No way, no way, no way, that place is haunted!" Asukai exclaimed.

"I'll get a heart attack if I step inside there again!" Nibiiro exclaimed.

"And that's exactly why it's perfect boys! No one wants to enter the forest voluntarily, but if that stalker is as much of a simp as he lets on, then he'd follow Mai-san wherever she goes, even if it's into a creepy forest that's probably cursed!"

"Your logic is sound, but the forest is also a mess to map out. If we enter, there's a high chance we'd lose the stalker, and more likely, each other." Sanou said.

"Our brains ain't big enough to remember geography either, yanno?" Masaoka said.

"Yea, we'd prolly get lost first!" Miura said.

"That's why we prepare and practice beforehand. We explore the forest, jot down it's layout, and decide on a route for Mai-san to take."

"I don't know, I'm getting the vibe everyone here doesn't want to enter the Drachma forest... personally, I don't mind." Shinomiya said.

"Damn, she has more balls than you two." Jouji snickered.

"I value my life." Nibiiro said.

"I'm a monkey brain." Asukai said.

"Valid excuses, I suppose."

Jouji, Nibiiro, and Asukai laughed.

"I'm not against it either, but it seems too difficult to get prepared in a single day." Sanou said.

"Well, we have the rest of today to work it out. Mai-san, what's your schedule like on the weekend?"

"It's free until 3pm. I don't have anything planned until them."

"Perfect, that means the stalker won't be able to watch us do this either. Come on guys, this plan is foolproof. What can go wrong?"

Jouji was having a hard time convincing the rest of them to go along with it. I guess I should help him out.

"Instead of memorising the routes and chasing the stalker like some wild dogs... how about we decide on designated positions beforehand to hide in? That way, when Shinomiya-senpai enters the forest and the stalker follows her, we can leap out of our spots and ambush them, effectively trapping them in an encirclement."

Upon suggesting my alternative plan, everyone looked less apprehensive. There'd be no reason to memorise any routes anymore, since we'd just be hiding and waiting.

"That sounds safer than Jouji's plan. No offence, dude." Asukai said.

"None taken. As long as we capture that guy, I don't mind how we go about it."

"Yeah, Takanori-san's plan sounds solid. A lot easier to pull off too." Sanou said.

"My only worry is the stalker giving the slip, but... with Itsuki, Masaoka-san, and Miura-san here, I have a funny feeling they won't." Nibiiro laughed.

"Hell yea, we'll pulverise that guy into a pancake." Masaoka said.

"Golden and fluffy, with maple syrup on top! Just like how ma used to make 'em!" Miura cackled.

"We'll probably need to buy some equipment fit for the forest too. Stuff like flashlights, GPS, walkie-talkies, etc... and if we're going all the way, I think we should get some hidden body cams too, just so we can record everything as proof."

Nibiiro had thought far ahead into this. To minimise the risk of things going wrong, it was important we had good visibility and communication with each other during the operation.

"The cameras sound good. When we unmask that bastard, he'll be caught in 4K and can do nothing about it!" Asukai laughed.

"Looks like we have a plan. Thanks, Takanori-san."

Nibiiro grinned, reaching out and ruffling my hair.

"...it's nothing. I just wanted to help Shinomiya-senpai out any way I could."

Being a 1st Year, it was hard for me to make any meaningful contributions when everyone else was a senior. I wanted to try my best and be useful to Shinomiya, since she's been struggling with this stalker for a long time.

"I really appreciate it. Thank you." Shinomiya smiled.

...and selfishly, I also wanted to protect that smile as well.

"Alright, let's start making rounds. Mai, Nozomi, Jouji, and Takanori-san, can you guys handle checking out the forest? I'll go with Itsuki, Masaoka-san, and Miura-san to buy the items we need. Once we're done, we'll join you guys in the forest."

"Yup, sounds good to me." Nozomi said.

"Great, let's get this plan on the road!"

Asukai exclaimed, fist pumping the air. Masaoka and Miura cheered in the background.

And so, we spent the rest of our Saturday preparing to catch the stalker tomorrow.