Tsunagari

Chapter LV.

The following day, I noticed that Shunsui and Gōjun were watching me in a strange way. They wouldn't stop fixating me like on the previous day when we were in class after the incident at lunch, but this time, with much more insistence. And their silence was very much intense. It made me jittery.

When the final bell rang, it was very awkwardly and nervously that I said goodbye to them. But very quickly, my mind drifted to Tetsuya Tsurugi and his men, and I couldn't help but shudder.

I had only the sum of my three different pays to give him and I wondered for how long he would find it enough. And this, inevitably, led me to wonder if I should not... drop out of high school.

This idea made my heart clench.

It was my mother's dream to see me study and go to university. It would ruin all her hopes for me. And how would I explain it to Ojii-san and Obā-san?!

Do I have any other options?

The brown-haired young man didn't make any comments when I handed the money over to him and he had counted it. But I knew that it was only a matter of time before he would ask me for more money and it would not be possible for me to provide it.

What will I do at that moment?

Okā-san! Kami-sama! What do I do?

Should I really consider dropping out of high school to take on a full-time job?

I had parted with Tetsuya Tsurugi and his men and was making my way down the small alley to head for the supermarket when, suddenly- as I lifted my head up- I caught sight of Shunsui, who was coming into this direction.

Instantly, I froze into place, my heart skipping a beat.

Shunsui! What is he doing here?

He was too far away down the alley for me to tell if he had seen of me. Breaking into a panic, I flung around on the spot with the intention to run out of view before he could catch sight of me and ask me what I was doing there, only for me to bump into somebody's chest head-on; that somebody having showed up behind me out of nowhere.

As I looked up, I was stupefied to see that that person was none other than Gōjun!

'Gōjun!' I gasped, my heart skipping another beat.

He seized me by my wrists as I took an involuntary step backward, and I stared at him frantically. Had he not had a grip on me, I would have most certainly taken to my heels by now to avoid the look that Shunsui and he were giving me; the reddish-brown-haired young man having caught up with us by now.

'So, Princess, you're hanging out with shady people?!' Gōjun declared, and my eyes went wide at him in shock, my heart shaking.

Have they seen me talking to Tetsuya Tsurugi just a minute ago? Have they been following me? I have no doubt about it!

'I- I don't see what you're talking about,' I stammered.

At this lie, their expression grew even more execrable, and Gōjun shoved me against the side wall to pin my hands there on either side of my shoulders, with his knees resting in-between my legs. The next fraction of the second, Shunsui- who had moved in closer- had slammed his hand over the surface of the wall by the side of my head angrily to bend into my face and snarl, 'Do you think we're stupid? We've seen you giving money to those guys only a few minutes ago! And yesterday, I have followed you after school to see you with these same guys! What's going on, Hime? Who are those freaks?!'

My whole frame was shaking now, and I couldn't control my breathing anymore, tears coming to my eyes.

'Will you speak up, dammit?!' Gōjun shouted at me, tightening his grip on my hands. 'You'd better tell us everything if you don't want me to break your arm!'