Made Perfect

9

(JK)

Everything calms down and returns to it's original pace. School life among the students resumes as if all the terrible things that happened in the past month or so meant nothing. The sheer amount of panic among every party involved in both the Kuzuryuu incident and the disappearance of Hinata Hajime has dissolved back to near silence. Not like Hinata's situation caused much uproar, strangely. Unlike any other situation, it wasn't a good thing. Yes, I appreciated how light my workload is comparatively, though his mystery doesn't sit right with me.

As heartless as it is to think, with Kuzuryuu, I at least knew the truth of the situation and could handle the backlash of the lies told about it. Although, the Steering Committee's choice in a cover up was decided and told before I had any say. Why would they say some pervert broke into the school and not blame it on the Yakuza? Everyone knew Kuzuryuu Natsumi was born into that life, yet they wasted the opportunity. As a result, I had an influx of rightfully concerned parents and students come to me to yell about safety and I would blindly give them my lines on promises of an improved security system. How exhausting. At least it's over now. I suppose the Committee isn't as wise as I once thought.

However, with Hinata's situation, things only make less sense as they go on. After my talk with Nanami, I checked the dorm Mrs. Hinata claimed to help him move into. I searched everything. Every drawer, corner, and  compartment poked into with eyes desperate for details, just like I was taught years ago. All that work and the only thing I found was a black tie. Male Reserve Course students wore a uniform with a similar tie, devoid of any distinctive marks or tags, much like the one I retrieved from that room. This 'evidence' simply wasn't enough. A black tie isn't a strange thing to own. Hell, half of the staff wears one daily! There's a high chance that the previous student left it behind. A strange coincidence to keep note of nonetheless.

I can no longer search that dorm for any more clues. It's been cleaned and prepped for a new occupant. Now I'm back to before. No leads. No real evidence to think about. Only a headache when I try to understand it. The lies, the inconsistencies, and, worst of all, the inability to make any headway towards the truth... It's just exhausting! Perhaps the Steering Committee wasn't completely lying about that boy getting into trouble and hurting himself after getting expelled. Regardless, factors aren't adding up. Even if Hinata faked moving into said dorm after he knew the previous owner left, where did his stuff go? Did he move everything before running away? Then why would he have his mother help him move? I guess it was so his family couldn't stop him or figure out his plan. How depressing.

The Committee's lack of communication itched at my clarity. Regardless of what really happened, they act strange when the topic goes to him. Sometimes I question if I'm overreacting. Genuinely, what real reason did I have for not believing them? A new lack of communication, pressure to believe that Hinata hurt himself anytime the strange details were mentioned, and not telling me what the kid did to get expelled in the first place. Sounds like genuine reasons to not fully believe them, I'd say.

The answer doesn't get any clearer throughout my daily morning commute. Usually these thoughts don't terrorize me until I'm falling asleep. I wouldn't think about it as early if it weren't for the date. July 8th. The date lingers as it marks 2 weeks since Mrs. Hinata came by. I take a breath and I blow on my coffee. There's no need to stress about this. It isn't helping anything. On the bright side, it's only 12 days until summer break!

Focusing on the positives, I continue my normal walk to the school. Listening to nostalgic hits through cheap earbuds and sipping hot coffee to assure myself that no matter what the truth held, everything would be alright. Whether it be a confusing web of lies from either the Steering Committee or Hinata, I had to remind myself that it would work out. One was much more stress relieving than the other, yet still had dark consequences. At least, it's calming down.