There's no way

Regrets

The day was gray.

Well, in reality, it was quite sunny. Birds were chirping away, classes were light and the sightings of a festival could be found all over the school itself.

But within 2-A, the classroom was dull and sported an eerie aura to it, one of the few souls of the classroom itself feeling dead on their feet.

Anyone with half a brain and some knowledge about Nagatoro would know that the tanned girl was someone utterly active. She could always be seen bouncing around, throttling through the hallways (not allowed), talking cheerfully with her group of popular friends and overall being the sunshine of a person she could really be.

Seeing her staring at the chalkboard without an ounce of emotion coming out of her felt strange, and it left the entire classroom fearing weary. Plenty of times already had a classmate walk close to ask whether or not she was okay, just for her to remain quiet, apparently their words not really reaching her at all. It was weird-, no, scratch that, it was terrifying. What happened yesterday (to only the knowledge of Gamo-chan, Yoshi, and a few minutes later, Sakura) had hit Nagatoro hard on her heart. The girl was a shell of her former self, and only the unusual clench of fists that would immediately disappear were a sign something was going on inside that head of hers.

Gamo Maki sighed at the sight of her friend all battered down to pieces. This was a serious case of you reap what you sow , as her Paisen would usually say, but it was still very hard to see. Fact as it was, no matter how hard they looked nor how many classes they skipped, they hadn't found even a clue of where Paisen had hid himself yesterday.

"Ah, Nao-kun? I haven't seen him since this morning, and he didn't tell the teacher he'd leave early, so he's probably around here..." Was what one of his classmates had said once they decided to be bold about it and just ask around his own classroom, not really caring about the image they were giving off.

Hayachi had been a mess ever since she read that note she showed them, and to be fair, she herself teared up a little reading it. At some point within the entire note, she felt angry towards Hayachi. This was her doing, Paisen shouldn't be cutting them off the way he's cutting off Nagatoro, but it was only a brief rage; her friend needed help, and she sorta had guessed this would happen eventually.

Standing up once the class (She didn't pay attention, like usual) ended, she made her way to Hayachi and placed her hand on the tanned girl's shoulder, making her flinch.

"Hey there" Gamo greeted once Nagatoro finally lifted up her eyes to meet hers.

Upon closer inspection, one could easily see the telltale signs of crying around Nagatoro's face. The bags under her eyes were subtle, but clear, her nose was slightly stuck, and her hair was messier than usual. All in all, a sight you'd never expect Nagatoro to see in, and it stirred something weird within Gamo, even though it really was the tanned girl's own fault.

"Instead of looking like a zombie, why don't we form a plan to get back Paisen, huh?" She dragged a chair owned by an unknown student and took a seat right in front of Nagatoro.

"A plan!" Yoshi, as always, followed suit after picking up what was going on.

The blonde herself was also pretty worried about her friend, and had felt a jolt of pain at the realization of their actions on her Sensei. In her own, air headed mind, she had only followed through the other's doings, but knowing that it had probably hurt Sensei more than what she'd thought made her feel bad. More than she was willing to let on.

"What are we going to do once we find Paisen, Hayachi?" At the mention of her beloved Senpai, the short girl finally reacted, biting her lip and swallowing down the knot inside her throat.