Blossoms of the Dark Continued

CXCVIII Shouto: Complication

Trigger Warning:

- slightly crude language

- disability insults

- mention of sexual assault

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Since the start of February, Ahearn-san, Sasaki-san, Selene, and I have worked hard to organize a criminal profile.

Like I had suspected, there were trails of financial crimes in both England and Japan.

Ahearn-san and Sasaki-san garnered concrete evidence from their sources.

I reached out to some other names mentioned in those trails, hoping to get some witnesses.

Selene bugged the manor with cameras and all sorts of recording devices.

A useful strategy, since she only resides at the manor for one night and one day. And during that one night and one day, she spends a lot of time inside Hanada-shi's office, generating a golden opportunity to investigate his documents and take a picture of anything suspicious. Only a few weeks have gone by, but already, the four of us are accumulating an unignorable list of illegal activities.

So when Selene tells me that she has found something particularly convicting during Lunch time, my curiosity is piqued.

We sit on the benches inside the gazebo, since that is the only spot in our little paradise that is covered in the least amount of snow. She tells me how a team of clothes' designers came to the Hanada mansion yesterday to create a new wardrobe for her. And she also describes what she overheard soon after.

She passes me a flash drive. "It was hard getting this under Hanada-sama's scrutiny, but this is something you should see. You've brought your computer with you, right?"

I nudge my school bag closer to me and pull my laptop out. This morning, she told me to bring it with me to class – something that I did not understand then – but I think I do now. When the screen turns on, and I insert the USB into the port, a single video file appears.

I click on it, and Selene sidles up to me to watch together.

It is a camera recording. Numerous recordings of the same scene at the same time, just at different angles. I count six. All of them show Hanada-shi screwing open the top of an expensive bottle of liquor. He lifts one of many smartphones and dials a phone number into it. When the call passes through, he holds the device up to his ear.

"Hello, Miyamoto Akutenshi. This is Hanada Asahi speaking," he says. A chill runs down my spine. I pause the video and glance at Selene, who gives a sympathetic glance. Of course, she has already seen this. The shock is over for her. Holding in my tongue for now, I press the play button and continue listening. "You participated in U.A.'s writing-drawing contest last fall. You and your team won second place in December."

I turn up the volume to a maximum to hear what Miyamoto has to say. Even so, his voice is faint. "Hello, Sir. It is true that I competed in that contest and got the silver brooch. But what does someone as influential as you want with someone like me?"

"Because you want revenge against the girl who stole the position you deserved: my daughter. And I am going to give it to you."

Selene reaches for my hand. Perhaps it is an attempt to calm herself, perhaps it is an attempt to soothe me, perhaps both. Whatever the reason, I thread my fingers through hers and give her hand a tight squeeze.

"Why?" Miyamoto asks. Good question. I am wondering the same thing, too.

Hanada-shi replies, "Because I want to teach her a lesson. You see, ever since my daughter has inherited my title and all its benefits, she thinks she has the right to talk back to her father. As her father, I think that you should have won first place. I have seen your team's work, and it is much better than what her and Todoroki Shouto created."