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Chapter 67 – Hidden State of Affairs
[I don’t feel like doing anything because it’s cold, so I’m going home.]
I sent that concise text to him. Though, I felt that it was an unnecessary thing to do because we haven’t done anything together recently.
Besides, if that guy really got a girlfriend, he would never hang out with me after school again. Also, he would probably send me a text of apology to explain his situation but I didn’t want to see that, so I decided to text him first.
Now that this was out of the way, the investigation could finally begin. To investigate the nature of their relationship, the easiest way to do so would be inquiring about it from the people they were close with.
Firstly, Kazawaguchi-senpai. Who was she?
It was strange that there weren’t any rumors about their relationship prior to this. I hung around with him the most, but I didn’t know about the senpai in question. To find out about her, I had to ask the third-year. Now here comes the problem, I don’t know any third-years. There were mentions of a third-year called Aki in my notebook, but I didn’t even recognize her face, so she was not an option. I had no choice but to ask a random third-year.
Sigh

I came to the floor where the third-year classrooms were.
The hallway was quiet and it felt intimidating. I could only hear the sound of my footsteps.
I casually looked around to see the third-years silently holding their pens while scribbling something on their books.
Right, it’s exam season
 It’ll be strange if they were playing around noisily during this time

I walked down the hallway and made my way to the stairs. I couldn’t bring myself to enter any of the classrooms.
I was about to go down the stairs when I saw a third-year student coming up. I immediately came up to him and called him.
“Excuse me, may I have a moment?”
The third-year heard my voice and gave an exaggerated reaction.
“E-Eh?? Are you talking to me?”
“Yes. I need to talk to you for a minute.”
“Wait, aren’t you the second-year, Hiwa-san?”
“That’s me, yes.”
“Ah
 Alright, I’m ready!”
“Firstly, let me make it clear. I don’t know you and I don’t have any speck of interest in you.”
“
Okay
 So, what do you want to talk about?”
“Do you know a third-year named Kazawaguchi-senpai?”
“Kazawaguchi? Ah, yeah, that girl
 I know her, she’s my classmate.”
Lucky.
I sang Ave Maria thrice in my mind.
“Do you know if Kazawaguchi-senpai is dating anyone?”
“Eh? That’s a question I didn’t expect
 But, no, I don’t think she is
”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I mean, why would I lie to you? Also, you’re too close!!”
Of course I wouldn’t be convinced by his words alone. It wasn’t uncommon for people to hide their relationship. Besides, this person seemed to lack any knowledge about relationships, there was no way that he would know about other people’s love affairs. I was a fool to even try.
“It feels like I’m being insulted
”
“It’s just your imagination. Anyway, is there anyone Kazawaguchi-senpai is close with? Like a close friend?”
“If it’s her close friend, it’s Fujikura.”
“Who?”
“Fujikura Fuuka. She’s probably studying in the library right now, you could try to go there.”
“I see. By the way, why aren’t you studying?”
“I’ll get a job after I graduate, I don’t want to enter a university.”
“Is that so? Alright then, thank you for cooperating with me. You’ll never see me again, don’t worry.”
“
Y-Yes
 But the second half of your words sound like a huge flag
”
I headed for the library hastily.
Fujikura Fuuka. Fujikura Fuuka

But soon I realized that I made a grave mistake. I didn’t know what she looked like.
I swallowed my embarrassment and turned back.
“Eh? I thought we’ll never see each other again?
”
“The situation has changed. Please come with me to the library, I don’t know who Fujikura Fuuka-senpai is. (If you refuse, I’ll burn you alive, I’m not kidding.)”
“G-Got it
”
Instead of thanking him, I smiled at him. It was public knowledge that boys loved to see me smile, that was why I didn’t smile much in public but I made a special exception for him this time. Though for some reason, he seemed frightened instead of elated.
Did he hear my inner voice? Is he a telepath?
Nevertheless, he agreed to help me.
We went to the library together and I waited at the door while I let the boy look for the person in question for me.
He found Fujikura-senpai in just a few seconds and led me to her.
I told him that he could go back now with my chin and he left the library immediately like a frightened chicken.
I approached Fujikura-senpai and sat down on the chair in front of her.
She was focused on her textbooks while listening to music with her headphones, so she didn’t notice me. I lightly tapped the desk to gain her attention.
“Huh? Who?”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Hiwa Arina.”
“The famous Hiwa-san? You have a business with me?”
“I’m sorry for coming so suddenly, I do have a few questions to ask you if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind, but why me?”
“You’re close with Kazawaguchi-senpai, aren’t you?”
“Mhm. We’re friends.”
“Have you noticed anything unusual about her lately?”
“Huh? I don’t think
 so?”
“Really? Is she seeing anyone currently?”
“I don’t think so. Kozue had been receiving confessions and she always turned them down. The confessions always came from the same person though
”
“Same person?”
“There’s someone who’s infatuated with her. He had been confessing to her since back when we were freshmen and he’s still doing it, funnily enough.”
Fujikura-senpai was trying to hold back her laughter.
I see. Now I understand.
“I understand, I’m sorry for interrupting your study.”
“Oh? Is that it?”
“Yes. I got what I wanted to know.”
I left the library.
*   *   *
*Sui’s PoV
That was close!! I thought she left already!!
Arina was in the library just now, I almost puked my organs out. Luckily, my throat was narrow so I didn’t puke them, but I almost died from the shock.
“Why are you hiding?”
“Arina was in the library!”
“Hiwa-san? Why do you need to hide from her?”
Her response surprised me. So she lacked critical information.
“Senpai, you don’t know the horror of that girl
 If she sees us together, who knows what she’ll do to us
”
“Who cares, it isn’t like we’re really dating.”
“That’s that and this is this! Arina knows that Shirona confessed to me! If she knew about us, she would stab me and I would die before I could explain myself! Also, she will definitely snitch us to Shirona and everything will be messy!”
“It’s fine~ I’ll help you explain everything~”
That dumb expression of yours didn’t look reassuring at all.
“Anyway! Please don’t come to my class like that again! I swear, one of these days, you’re going to give me a heart attack
”
“Got it, got it, sorry~”
“
Will I be alive until next week?
”
“Just hang on for a bit~ It’ll be over soon. I’m also having a hard time here~ Besides, I said that I’ll pay you for it, right?”
“
I’ll believe in you
”
“I always keep my promises. I know how to fix Hiwa-san’s illness.”
“
I’m counting on you.”