Chapter 16 - The Sacrifice

Rooftop Garden

Two girls sat upon a bench under the shade of a tree, both silently admiring the flowers in the garden. There were all kinds of different flowers planted up here; they're planted by the Gardening Club. Apparently, every school year before summer begins the Gardening Club is given permission to replace one of the twenty flower beds with any type of flowers that the club decides upon by voting.

It started ever since a few years after the last of the twenty flower beds were full, something about welcoming the new students or something but also to change things up because apparently, some rich young misses didn't like how the garden always looked the same every year.

Wealth was very powerful back then, but now it's more of a tradition. It was there long enough for the students to just accept it; plus, it would get pretty boring if they stayed the same forever and it's cheaper to let the students do something they like doing rather than to hire professional gardeners.

Now enough of that.

The two girls were sat on a bench with three bento boxes and two plastic bags to the side, waiting. Asahina and Suika were waiting for the guys; Ren, Hiro, and Iniji. Ren had given them his student handbook while he and Hiro were heading to the infirmary so the girls could get to the rooftop along with Ren's bento and the plastic bags containing Hiro and Monoa's lunches plus drinks.

The excuse they gave was that they couldn't find any quiet place to have their lunch and Ren was the only person they knew that has access to the rooftop beside the teachers and student council members; but in actuality, they wanted to talk with him about his change.

The two even explicitly implied that he could come by himself, meaning only the three will be involved in the talk and they were sure he knew what they were hinting at but he just completely ignored it saying he'll catch up once they got Iniji.

This surprised the two as they have already discussed and have come up with their own answers, both of which are basically the same and would be something that most would want to be kept secret from friends you don't truly trust yet.

"You seem pretty nervous, Asa-chan" Suika glanced at Asahina's hands which were visibly shaking from both anticipation and nervousness.

"How could I not!? All signs point to only one possibility…and it's…" Asahina blushed red just thinking about it, her voice getting smaller and smaller until they couldn't be heard.

"Hehe, now you know how I felt when Kei-kun called me out to the gate~" Suika flashed a teasing smirk while leaning back.

"…" Asahina ignored Suika's smirk, slowly processing her best friend's words when a sudden thought came to mind.

"Sui-chan…" Asahina turned to Suika with a serious look on her face.

"Hmm? What is it, Asa-chan?" Suika stopped leaning on the bench and directed her attention to Asahina.

"Why are we assuming that Ren would directly tell us why he changed? Shouldn't we be assuming that he would try to avoid the topic altogether?" Asahina posed this question; the Ren she knew was a master of words and could talk his way out of almost every unfavorable situation.

"Even if the conclusion we came up with was right, there's no telling if Ren would confirm or deny it" Asahina added on; the old him would always dance around the answer, waiting for them to figure it out themselves while sprinkling hints in between his words.

"Hmm… You're right. What influenced us into thinking that?" Suika thought about it for a bit and saw the hole in their prediction of how the whole talk will play out.

"Maybe because his whole demeanor changed, we just assumed he would act a certain way. We completely overlooked the fact he was still the same Ishi-kun we know and love" Suika's turned serious and her brows knitted, a frown surfaced.

"No need to feel frustrated, he changed so much that even I don't really know how to act around him. I'm sure Ren will understand, so don't get angry at yourself for thinking of him differently" Asahina put her hand on Suika's, reassuring her with a gentle smile.

"Sigh, you're right. Ishi-kun would burst out laughing if he saw me right now" Suika pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind bringing her signature cheerful smile back.

"Right! This is Ishi-kun we're dealing with; we'll have to dig up the truth ourselves!" Suika stood up, raising her fist to the sky while declaring to the world; the world being the birds perching on tree branches and Asahina.

"Yeah, I do hope that it is…" Asahina trailed off in low mumbles while lightly blushing, hoping for the answer she came to turn out to be true, which it is but she doesn't know that yet.

"Hmm~" Suika's smile turned brighter seeing Asahina seemingly lost in her own thoughts.

'Oh to be young' Suika thought even though she was the same age as Asahina.

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I stood facing a now prostrating Miyako, suppressing the twitches on my face from showing. Akirou went to check on Monoa and Alice was sitting on the bed, Miyako had helped her get up since she was struggling to stand on her own.

How did things end up like this?

Well for one, I didn't tell Miyako to prostrate herself she did that of her own volition so stop glaring at me, Alice. Alice has been giving me the nasty stare like I'm the worst scum on earth ever since a minute ago when Miyako got on her knees and stayed silent.

Yeah, she hadn't uttered a single word. I mean, she is conscious, her shoulder was trembling. I don't know why she's doing this, but I should probably try to probe her for the reason.

"Umm… Miyako-san, why are you on the floor?" I put on a troubled face to convey my confusion. This caught Alice's attention as her stare softened a bit; she's realizing she might have jumped to the conclusion about my character.

For a second that is, then the next moment she showed an even more disgusted look like she had seen through me and my supposed attempt to get on her good side.

Are all rich young ladies this distrustful? I mean, I could sympathize with her since I've actually experienced nobles trying to suck up to me, but aren't you jumping the gun too fast? Did you forget that you have disguised your real identity already?

Probably nobody besides me, that Alex guy, the Headmaster, and maybe some staff members know who she really is; hence I'm confused why she's so doubtful of me.

Whatever, I'll just chalk it up to past experiences, I guess. It's not that important right now anyway.

"Aren't you gonna blackmail me into doing lewd stuff with you?" Miyako straightened herself into a sitting position with droplets of tears in the corner of her eyes with a fearful expression on her face, both hands covering her chest area.

"…" I stared her down with a deadpan expression, waiting for her to say it was a joke; I was also ignoring whatever Alice was doing. However, it never came, the more I looked at her the more I realized she was being serious.

"What kind of guy do you think I am?" I was very intrigued to hear her answer.

"A scumbag who would dig up girls' weaknesses and blackmail them while having a nice person façade on the surface" Miyako whimpered out while almost unnoticeably scooting backward little by little.

"Sigh, and why would think of me like that?" I pinched the bridge of my nose while letting out a heavy sigh. Alright, who slandered my name? I turned on [Perfect Mind] and released an aura that heightens critical thinking and memory recall to make her reconsider her image of me.

"Umm… Uhh…" Miyako thought about it and slowly started to find holes in her conclusion, a lot of holes. First, so what if he showed other people that photo? It's not nearly enough to even be considered blackmail material. Second, if he wanted to blackmail her he would have done it yesterday when he discovered her "hobbies" yet he hasn't shown any sign of planning to. Lastly, when she thought back to the comment Namaii made about him she just kinda took it to face value because she thought it was more interesting to have a hidden side to his character.

"…" Miyako fell silent and looked down at the floor with trembling shoulders, realizing she had done a whole bunch of mental gymnastics and came to the completely wrong conclusion about the boy in front of her.

Now that she could think more clearly for some reason, he seemed more and more like a real genuine good guy. His sincere offer to help his classmates in academics, his leniency with Iniji, his consideration of the feelings of others around him, he even pretended to not know about her "hobbies" to avoid making her feel uncomfortable. Every aspect of him screamed good guy.

"Please forgive me, I was wrong for jumping to conclusions" Miyako prostrated herself once again, this time asking for forgiveness for her accusation.

"You don't need to bow down to me, as long as you've seen the error of your ways. Just get up, Alicia-san is gonna burn a hole through my head if she keeps glaring at me" I smiled wryly while avoiding the stare of the ojou-sama.

"Thank you for forgiving me, if there's something I can do to make it up to you then state it" Miyako stood up before bowing deeply as a show of sincerity.

"You don't need to do anything to make it up to me, I'm sure I was just a misunderstanding" I denied her offer, waving my hand. I didn't see the point in making her do something for me because of an honest mistake, even if it almost got blown out of proportion.

"No, I cannot accept this. I must repent for my sins; what is your order?" Miyako held one hand to her chest and declared with a serious expression. I feel like she's making a mountain out of a molehill and from the looks of it she's serious about this.

"Sigh… Fine, how about having lunch with us then?" I relented and stated my 'order' then briefly glanced towards Alice while casting a nature spell [Cure Minor Illness] to get rid of the rest of her fever. It was gonna go away in an hour anyway might as well get rid of it for her, plus…

"But, I have to look after Alicia-san as the Class Rep" Miyako showed a troubled expression. I like people like her, thinking about others first and less concerned about her desire; a commendable trait.

"It's alright, Miyako-san. I can take care of myse-"

"Alright, she can come along too" I interrupted her and suggested, this was why I decided to cure her fever, I saw this development from a mile away.

"That is a nice suggestion, but-"

"She looks healthy to me. Try standing up on your own, Alicia-san" I interrupted once again while looking towards Alice with a gentle smile.

Alice thought for a second before leaning forward, hopping off the bed. She landed and staggered, which made Miyako rush over to try and support her but before she got there Alice had steadied her footing and stood upright.

Miyako's eyes widen, it has only been five minutes since Alice was struggling to get up off the floor but now she was standing just fine. Tis the power of magic, it has instantaneous effects; no side effects.

"See? She's fine. Akirou-kun, is Monoa-kun up yet?" I turned to where I sensed Monoa and Akirou's presence.

"Uhh… He's refusing to get off the bed saying 'just five more hours' and rolled up into a ball" Akirou peeked out of the curtains with a wry smile on his face.

"How long is he gonna sleep for? Let's just pick him up, he's getting out whether he likes it or not" I flipped the curtains over before going up to and grabbing Monoa's legs.

"Akirou-kun, catch!" I easily dragged Monoa by the leg and controlled toss his body towards Akirou, who managed to react fast enough to grab Monoa from under his arms.

"W-w-wat!?" Monoa's eyes snapped open by the involuntary movements of his body that made him think he was falling.

「Now, we march. Sacrifice! Sacrifice! Sacrifice!」 I started chanting while holding Monoa's spread legs to my sides.

「Come on, Akirou! Say it with me! Sacrifice! Sacrifice! Sacrifice!」

"Uh… Alright"「 Sacrifice! Sacrifice! Sacrifice!」 Akirou hesitated a bit at first, but started to follow along after a bit.

「「Sacrifice! Sacrifice! Sacrifice!」」 Our chants slowly started to synchronize, then we started to move, heading towards the door. I ignored the astonished look coming from Miyako and the weird stare from Alice, fully immersing in acting like a tribal man carrying a virgin woman to sacrifice to the ancient volcano god with a crazed smile.

Akirou seemed to be immersed in it too; he doesn't seem to be affected by the girls' stare while fully engaging in this fun act.

"Ahhh!!" Monoa was playing his part very well with the high-pitch girly scream and barely putting any strength in his struggle.

「「Sacrifice! Sacrifice! Sacrifice!」」

We headed out the door and proceeded to towards the closest stair leading to the rooftop with Miyako and Alice following behind at a distance. Strangely we didn't run into any other students and managed to get all the way to the third floor before a male teacher saw us and stopped our shenanigans.

On that day, a few students said they could hear the faint scream of a girl echoing through the hallway. These students told their friends and when they found out they weren't the only ones who heard it, a new rumor about the ghost of a girl who was defiled, killed, and then buried on these grounds before the school was ever constructed was born.

The Occult Club and Supernatural Research Club were very intrigued and started investigating, but that's a story for another time.

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Ren and co arrived on the rooftop; Iniji was now back on his feet and wide awake, sulking. Hiro was trying to comfort him with a wry smile while Atsuka was looking at Iniji with fascination. Alice was looking around the rooftop that has railings on the edges and benches placed here and there.

"Alright, let's get moving everyone. Hina and Namaii-san have been waiting for a while now, don't wanna keep them waiting too long" Ren turned towards the garden and walked in that direction, not minding the sulking Iniji one bit.

This got their attention and they all turned to where he was heading, they saw a beautiful garden with flower beds with lots of different species of flower and different kinds of trees, some that they've never even seen before; well, Alice could recognize every flower and trees since she was taught about them as part of her education.

Atsuka admired the flowers with a calm expression, Iniji completely forgot he was upset as a flash of inspiration came to him, Hiro only appreciated their beauty for a few seconds before following after Ren, and Alice only spared them a glance then waited for Atsuka to finish looking at them.

"Mmm… Very beautiful" Atsuka muttered then instinctively turned towards Alice, when Alice noticed the gaze she cocked her head to the side, which made Atsuka quickly averted her eyes with a blush.

"L-let's catch up with them, come on Monoa-san, Alicia-san" Atsuka went after the distant Ren and Hiro with haste in her steps.

"Oh! Right, I was a bit lost in thought there, haha" Iniji chuckled while scratching the back of his head before following them. Alice just silently walked behind Iniji.

"Oh, I don't believe we've met before. My name's Monoa Iniji from Class 1-A, nice to meet you" Iniji slowed down to match Alice's pace before introducing himself with a bright smile to lighten the mood.

"Stefan Alicia, Class 1-A…" Alice gave a light nod of acknowledgments before introducing herself in her own way.

"Not very talkative, huh? That's fine, I'm sure you're a bit nervous about studying abroad in Japan. Let's get along from now on, Alicia-san" Iniji's smile never wavered even at such a cold response, if anything it just made him want to get to know her better.

'The quiet or silent types are always the most interesting people to get to know' Iniji thought while staring off at Hiro sagely.

'Though, he's a lot more sociable than from what I've heard' Iniji turned his gaze to Ren, who is even further away.

Iniji had already known who Ren was even before the entrance ceremony. Believe it or not, Iniji used to be quite arrogant because he was always at the top of his years and flaunt this around; to his credit, he was very smart and good at studying, he even loved studying as that made him feel like he was better than all his peers.

One day when Iniji was in 8th grade, his Homeroom teacher suggested he joined in a prefectural math competition and pit his abilities against the brightest minds in the prefecture within his age range.

Iniji, of course, readily accepted it saying with confidence that he'd get 1st. However, when the results came out, Iniji's confidence was shattered. Iniji had lost 1st place to Ren making him 2nd place by a margin of 21 points, he wasn't even close as he only got 79 points while Ren got a perfect score of 100 points.

This was a reality check for Iniji; he wasn't the smartest like he thought he was. He was depressed… for like half a day before he found renewed determination and a flash of inspiration.

"So what if I'm not the smartest? I don't need to be the best at something to succeed; I just need to be good enough. Not all who succeed are the best; they were just good enough to get there" Iniji shouted in the middle of the night, which woke up his mom who was sleeping at the time, he got smacked in the back of the head for that.

Then the next day, still brimming with determination, he asked his dad to teach him computer coding. That's how Iniji got into coding, soon becoming an Indie Developer making small free games in his free time, garnering himself a following in the game making and gaming community.

'I wouldn't be where I am today if not for you, if you hadn't knocked me down a few pegs I would've stayed being the same arrogant brat like I was before' Iniji thought while having a melancholic expression on his face.

Meeting and befriending Ren was one of the reasons Iniji came to Kurimo, he knew that Ren would obviously be attending Kurimo Academy as it is one of the most prestigious private schools in Japan.

Iniji kept his grades high just for the reason of coming to Kurimo Academy, to see the boy who indirectly changed his life for the better. He didn't try to go out of his way to meet Ren before high school as that wouldn't be interesting; running into him by chance, now that's interesting.

Though he did hear rumors about Ren and even asked some of his schoolmates about him, he had never actually seen Ren before the entrance ceremony.'

'I guess it was naïve of me to think he would be just like what I've heard from others… If you want to know someone's true self, you gonna get to know them personally'

The smile on Iniji's face grew wider as he hasten his steps to catch up with Ren and Hiro.