Six

Hikaru winced. He got to his feet and took a shaky breath, bowing. They weren't choosing children in alphabetical order by given or surname, nor were they picking row by row or column by column. Kaho frowned, watching Officer Ueno lead him from the classroom, and close the door behind her. 

It wasn't Hikaru… 

Was it a coincidence? No, it would have been a coincidence if Hikaru was sitting in Makoto's chair, or Sousuke, on one of the ends of the columns and front row. It wasn't a coincidence that Officer Ueno picked him out, by name. 

Whatever happened last night, her Future Self warned her not to think poorly about him, to assume the worst. Whatever happened wasn't his fault, he didn't do anything.

"I'd like to be excused!" Emi declared, jumping up out of her seat, "Right now."

"Sit down, Miss Sato." 

"But, Sir!"

"Now, Miss Sato," Hiro Sensei said. 

Emi glared at her teacher, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. Her throat bobbed, like she was trying to stifle a sob. 

"It'll be okay," Makoto said quietly. But his voice was distant like he didn't quite believe it himself. 

"Hiro Sensei?" Rantaro asked, from the back row, "May I go to the office, and collect some electronics – you know, for college research?" 

"Go ahead," Hiro Sensei said, sitting down at his desk, waving him away. 

"I'll help!" Emi volunteered.

"No, Miss Sato. Your class representatives will assist Mr Suzuki, won't they? Honoka? Sousuke?"

"Yes, Sir!" they said in unison. 

Emi swore, throwing herself back into her seat, arms crossed. She produced her phone and returned to furiously typing, like she had a few days ago, when Naseru joined the class. Her volume was on loud, and the whole class could hear each character that Emi typed, every clack clack clack of her fingertips on the screen. 

Hiro Sensei's eye twitched. He poured himself more tea from his flask and massaged his temples. 

Kaho turned away from Emi, meeting the eyes of her desk neighbour, Hisashi. He shrugged at her and pulled his phone out of his blazer, putting in his headphones. Kaho pursed her lips, and glanced around the room, listened to some of her classmates shuffling their desks, moving chairs so they were facing chairs, and rummaging through their bags. Mariah jabbed her in the back with her pencil. Kaho turned her chair and smiled at her. 

"Did you have anything, in your box?" Mariah whispered, "I didn't, and Ryota didn't and Kikiyo didn't. Mamoru said he did, though, did you?" 

Kaho nodded, biting her lip. 

"What did it say?" Mairah asked. 

"It just said it wasn't Hikaru, that's all," Kaho whispered, her head down.

"What wasn't Hikaru?" Mariah hissed.

Kaho shrugged, "I'm sure when one of the blabbermouths gets called in, we'll find out." 

Mariah sighed, "If this means we can't go bowling tonight, I will be fuming. Fuming, do you hear me?" 

Kaho nodded. 

Hikaru didn't come back for over an hour, and Makoto took even longer in with Officer Ueno. Neither entertained the idea of talking to their classmates about what happened and asked Hiro Sensei to let them go to the library. He wrote them a Hall Pass and let them go, spurring Emi to ask too. She was shot down immediately. 

"What's wrong?" Naseru asked. It was the first thing Kaho had heard him say all day. He was looking at Emi, his desk neighbour, who wiped her eyes furiously. 

"I want to know what happened, obviously," Emi spat, "Notice how the girl who was sat in front of you on Monday isn't here. She hasn't been here since Monday?" 

Naseru's eyes flickered from Sayuri's empty seat back to Emi. He shrugged. Emi pursed her lips. 

"Before the break, my friend Mae stopped coming in. I thought she was sick… And now Sayuri's not here, and Officer Ueno is, she told me when Mae stopped answering my texts to leave her to rest and relax over the break and let her cool off because she was probably just mad at me for something. But I didn't say anything – or do anything! We weren't fighting, and Officer Ueno wouldn't have it. I thought – I thought she would be here on Monday, and she just didn't come back– do you know what that means?" 

The class had grown quiet as Emi's voice got louder, rising in octave as her hysteria increased. She got to her feet and ran her hands through her fringe, pacing along the length of hers and Maki's desks. Maki was watching her, the whole class was. Like they were under her spell. 

"Whatever happened to Sayuri could have happened to Mae!" she protested. 

"Miss Sato!" Hiro Sensei wheezed, "If you don't stop spouting this nonsense, I will have no choice but to send you to the office!" 

"It isn't nonsense!" she stomped, "Sayuri isn't here. And you said on Monday that Mae wasn't coming back! How would you know Mae wasn't coming back? Clearly, someone had to fill in forms for her to leave! So she's gone too, she left Hanagawa and didn't even-" Emi's voice cracked. Her breath hitched, "She didn't even say goodbye! How could you say that's nonsense!" 

Emi was crying, angry, hot tears racing down her cheeks as she defiantly glared at Hiro Sensei, his eyes were wide. He lifted his thermos and poured another shaky cupful of tea. When he picked up the cup, it trembled in his hands. 

Maki got up from her seat and stared at Emi, a good two inches taller than here, "C'mere Sato."

Emi paused, gawking at her, lip trembling. 

"I'm taking her to get some air," Maki said, draping an arm over Emi's shoulder and steering her from the classroom. She didn't even wait for permission. 

Maki's friends, sat in the two parallel columns to her, and stared at the empty seat, like an alien had just used a laser beam to abduct her through the ceiling. 

"What's with her?" Ayami asked, "She's been acting weird."

"I know, right, she went and told Tsumugi this morning that she liked her hair!" Shizuka laughed, "It's like she's been possessed."

Kaho's eyes flickered to Mariah, who nodded. 

Change.