Stealing Spree

Using the girl as my guide to the infirmary, we arrived there without any problem popping up. The girl expertly evaded the eyes of the teachers inside the infirmary, after all.

Actually, I thought she was going to be really annoying – a different kind of annoying than Saionji earlier – because of how she even hopped and skipped like an excited rabbit on our way to the Administration Building. Her ribbon that kept her right ear free from being covered by her long hair bounced and swayed comically. As much as I wanted to admit it, it caught my attention, enough for me to watch out whether it would eventually come loose and slide off her hair.

Surprisingly it remained there even after she stopped hopping when we arrived atop the stairs and before the infirmary door.

When she noticed me staring at it earlier, she even gave an unsolicited background story about it.

"You see. This ribbon is Matsuri's gift to me for my birthday last year. She said that tying this to keep my ears open could help me focus in our lessons. Isn't she silly? As if this can stop me from slacking off."

Yeah. The takeaway there was… she truly treasures the gift from her sister as well as declares how proud she is as a slacker. How is she still not suspended? Weird.

In any case, I did reply to that but not to the point that I showed too much interest.

I figured out that she was intentionally trying to make me react to everything that concerns her twin sister.

But I must say. Their faces might be identical but there's nothing similar about them. Or maybe there is? Like how they seem to care about each other. Aside from that, they're like the embodiment of the meaning of their names. Matsuri is like a festival; loud, chaotic, and fun to be with. On the other hand, this girl, Hanabi, is like a firework, she's beautiful and flashy yet the impression she would be giving someone was either something worth remembering or just a fleeting scene that would soon be forgotten. Nonetheless, she'll continue lighting up the night sky as there's an almost unlimited supply of her.

Okay. I might've gone overboard with characterizing them through their name. But that's the idea. They might be twins but they're not like two peas in the same pod.

"Alright, senpai, you can wait here. I'll talk to the guy inside."

After peeking inside the infirmary and noticing the lack of a school nurse waiting inside, it reminded me of Hayashi-sensei. But then again, we're in a different school, the nurse must've gone out for a moment.

Since I came here anticipating a nurse's presence, it didn't really matter whether someone was in there or not.

And so, I decided to come in after instructing the girl who guided me.

However, also falling within my expectation, Higashina Hanabi responded with a shake of her head. She shook it hard enough for a part of her hair to be clamped by her pale lips.

She then blew it away before giggling by herself. "I'll come in with you, Ruki! And you can call me Hanabi. I don't mind."

"Well, if you say so. But please, behave yourself, Hanabi. And do not open your mouth no matter what you hear."

The girl bobbed her head quickly and made an 'okay' gesture with her hand before zipping her mouth.

Really, after the egocentric Saionji, I encountered this weird twin of Matsuri. She's really far from the impression I picked up upon seeing her behind that tree.

It could be that she's intentionally acting like this but I wasn't that keen on finding out which is which.

And so, the two of us stepped inside the infirmary and went to the bed where the curtain was spread out to isolate and cover the patient who was probably resting on it.

After saying 'excuse me' in barely audible voices, we slid open the curtain and stepped inside the private space created around the infirmary bed.

And obviously, the guy lying down on it could only show his surprise as he alternately stared at us. Although he looked pale, his body couldn't be called thin. This guy being a sickly dude checks out.

His facial features attached to his file probably showed how he looked if he was healthy.

At the moment, the eyebags decorating his face made him look like a zombie. A zombie who requires a good night's sleep.

I don't know if he's lacking sleep or if it's just the result of being unable to get regular sleep where he won't be woken up every half an hour or so. Whatever his illness is… it must be bad enough for him to become like this.

Nonetheless, this dude should really stay at a hospital… Whoever approved him to be discharged and allowed him to go back to school should be sacked. He's just walking to his doom by forcing himself to go.

While I was still trying to process all of that, the sickly guy, Kazehito, opened his mouth. "W-who are you?"

His voice was clearly weak, forced, and cracked as if he was having difficulty talking. If I was a compassionate guy, I would probably be careful around him and stop any attempt in squeezing him of information.

Unfortunately, I'm not.

And so, after taking a seat at the side of her bed, I responded with the line I rehearsed in my mind on our way here.

"I apologize if we disturbed you, senpai. I asked Hanabi-senpai here to guide me because I wanted to visit you…"

Naturally, the guy raised a pair of wh-questions. "What? Why do you want to visit me?"

He appeared skeptical or puzzled. He's not expecting a visitor, after all. And if ever he was, it's probably Kanno-sensei.

In any case, I answered that with the same prepared background that I thought of earlier. Saying that I'm his junior in middle school and I heard about him from Kanno-sensei, the guy instantly relaxed.

That's easy, to say the least.

Behind me, I heard Hanabi stifling her laughter and pinching my back. She probably caught on to my bullshit.

But I guess, even without me telling her my reason for visiting the guy, she already has an idea.

To make the guy comfortable in talking about something more personal, I naturally tried to butter him up in a lot of ways. I picked stories that, even as fiction, would sound like it's something that happened for real.

And as minutes flew by, Kazehito eventually became convinced that I'm really a junior who admires his unrelenting pursuit to finish his compulsory education regardless of his condition.

After sounding out that it was about time to ask him about Kanno-sensei, I carefully rearranged my words to make it seem like it was a question that naturally sprouted.

"Oh. Right, senpai. Do you have some sort of inspiration that made you take this path? A thing or even a person. Someone who motivates you to continue."

Upon hearing that, Kazehito's weak laughter abruptly stopped before his eyes seemingly sank as he contemplated how to answer that.

Hanabi, on the other hand, leaned closer to my ears and whispered, "Now I get why Matsuri cannot stop thinking about you, Ruki. You're undeniably an expert at everything."