Fikush-ON!

Ch. 17: Last School Year

"...you see anything?" Ichiro whispered to Tadaaki, who was peeking around the corner.

He hold two of his fingers up, motioning us to stay put, until he lowered his hand. "Looks clear. Come on, let's move."

Silently but swiftly, we moved through the third floor's hallway, finally reaching the door to the elevated walkway. Opening the door, we stepped on the walkway, welcomed by a cool spring breeze.

Our third, and final, school year began today. None of us cared to listen to the principal's tedious and boring speech for the third time, so we decided to skip the morning assembly entirely. However, the basement was locked, and couple of teachers were patrolling the hallways to catch no-good rascals like us. But if we stayed in the walkway's blind spot, we wouldn't be spotted.

Leaning against the chain-link fence, we scoped out the surrounding neighborhood. After a bit of silence, I looked at my friends.

"What're we gonna do this year?"

Couple of weeks goes by pretty quickly, when you think about it. It took me some time to fix my sleep schedule, and even longer to start paying attention during classes. I even wrote some notes today, can you believe it? Anyway, I decided to not go to the club room after the classes. I had saved enough of my allowance to buy a new game, which I'd been waiting for since last year. So, right as the classes ended, I headed downtown. I seriously hope that the local game store has the game in stock, or I'm going to be seriously pissed off...

Approximately half an hour later I stepped out of the game store, holding my newest purchase in my hand. A western, post-apocalyptic RPG. I've heard good things about this one, and I generally like western RPG's more than the Japanese ones. With a satisfied nod, I slipped the game case into my school bag, and was ready to head home.

"Oh, Eiji-kun! Over here"

Confused, I turned to face the voice. It was Yui, in her school uniform. She was standing on the other side of the street, waving at me. At first, I just thought she was just saying hi, but she just continued waving, as if motioning me to come closer. Still puzzled a bit, I crossed the street.

"What's up?" I asked her.

It was at that moment I spotted a big metal case on the ground next to her, possibly a guitar case or something. She didn't even have time to answer, as I figured out what was on her mind and shook my head.

"Nah, no way."

It caught Yui off guard. "Bu-but I didn't say anything yet!"

"I bet it's related to that big, heavy-looking metal case," I said, pointing at the said thing.

She didn't even try to deny it, but started outright whining: "Please! It's so heavy!"

"You're not a child anymore..." I muttered with a frustrated sigh.

I watched Yui's whimpering for a while, trying to decide on what to do, until I heard approaching footsteps. It was Yui's club.

"Yui-chan! Don't make other people do your work!" Akiyama scolded her.

Now that I had people who I could get some answers from, I pointed at the metal case, asking: "What's the story behind this?"

"Oh, that? It's some old guitar, we found it in the club's storage room," Akiyama explained. "Sawako-sensei gave us the permission to sell it, and the money would be added to the club's funds. We're currently heading to the music store."

I nodded for an answer, slipping my hands into my uniform's coat's pockets. My fingers reached some change, which gave me an idea.

"Music store, you say?" I muttered to myself. "I mean, if you're heading there, then I guess I could come along. I can carry that case for you, too."