Replay

3-3 Outlier

"Frank! Thanks for that on Sunday. He's finally talking to me again."

"Glad I could help," I returned to the taller boy, his bright expression contrasting the black uniform he wore. "It was only my opinion, though. You didn't need to take me out to lunch."

"I didn't. But I wanted to. And it's done already, so stop complaining about it." He laughed when I bit back another denial before he turned to chat with several other boys.

I resumed slowly walking through the parking lot and peering up at the towering members, my head swiveling in all directions as I scanned through the endless faces. Some of them caught my eyes and waved or called to me, to which I'd respond back before continuing on. But a complimentary feeling of dread weighed in my stomach as I kept on searching, a paradoxical fear of actually finding said person.

Not once had I spotted Kisaki Tetta in the entire three-and-a-half months I'd been in this world, even in the recent two when I'd been actively looking for him. While I knew full well my chances of just spotting him on the streets were slim as hell, I had passively kept an eye on my surroundings. And although a perfectly logical idea was to simply ask one of Moebius for his whereabouts, I ran the risk of him discovering I was searching for him.

But even if I couldn't find him, I'd surely find him by the end of this meeting. No need to tie myself in knots if I couldn't meet him beforehand. You hear that, me? It's okay if I can't, but it'd be ideal if I can. Whatever happens, it's okay, so stop being so jittery. Equal parts fear and relief tingled in my chest.

A long lock of platinum blond hair caught my eye, and I immediately edged behind a clump of boys, who all curiously stared at me ("what the hell are you doing?"). My eyes remained fixated on that tuft of hair, whose owner was... just an ordinary member of Toman.

I sighed as I stepped away from them ("sorry about that"). Emma had seen me as both Frank and myself, even if for only a short time. Yet nothing had happened in the past few months. That was partly since I'd been trying my best to avoid her out of paranoia. Emma did not know. Or maybe she did. But continuing to intentionally keep away from her as both Blake and Frank would conversely appear suspicious. Rude, not to mention.

I should make it up to her sometime as one of them.

Noise rippled through the gang as a group of bikes swerved into the parking lot, and although I could only see their bright headlights through the gaps of the legs of the towering members in front, I had an idea of whom had arrived. The meeting would be starting shortly.

True enough, Draken's voice effortlessly cut through the chatter, and we hurried to line up at the foot of the shrine's gates, our boots stampeding across the concrete.

"Good work, President!"

Three pairs of footsteps passed through the path formed by the gang. Draken and Mikey were the two obvious ones, but who was the third trailing behind? Or to be more specific, which version of him was it? I peeked out from the corner of my eye as they passed, but the blond boy's back told me nothing.

Once the President and Vice-President had passed, the rest of the gang followed them up the stairs onto the plaza in front of the shrine, illuminated by the ample moonlight. I peered up at the full moon. It was rather bright today.

My foot snagged on a stair, sending me crashing face first into the back of the boy in front of me. He didn't fall in turn, but he halted and glared back at me.

"I'm sorry about that," I said as I righted myself on the railing and rubbed my nose. "I tripped."

Now that I had a better look at him, it was the former member of Moebius who'd bumped into me at the first meeting since they'd joined. He now wore the Toman uniform, with "3rd Division" embroidered on his sleeve.