BAREFACED

Chapter 76

The next day you slowly make your way to school. It's pretty cold outside and you can see the greyness in the clouds. It looks like it's going to snow soon.

I wonder how quiet school is going to be now that no one I'm close to is going to be there...

You walk into the school and head towards your homeroom class. As you walk up the stairs you freeze at a familiar face. Ren stops walking down the stairs when your eyes meet.

"Hey..." Ren slowly says. You relax your eyes and walk past him. He doesn't try to stop you and instead watches you walk away before he continues down the stairs.

You sit at your desk during lunch. You haven't been feeling really hungry, so you didn't bring anything for lunch. You sigh and sit back a bit, trying to think about what Kisaki really wants from you. Not only that but where is Takemichi?

Your eyes widen when you think about Hina. You sit up quickly and pull out your phone. You text Hinata, asking if you both can hang out today. You stare at your phone after messaging her, placing your phone back down and closing your eyes. The sound of your phone buzzing causes you to open your eyes and pick up your phone. 

She agreed to hang out.

After school you make your way to Hinata's school. When you get there, you slowly make your way to the front of the school. That's when you see Hina walking out. She has a big smile on her face as she approaches you.

"Yuki." She bubbles. You smile back at her.

The two of you sit quietly at a bench. You relax your eyes, a lot of things going through your mind. Hina leans towards you which causes you to look at her. When you do, she smiles at you.

"What's on your mind?" She softly asks.

"Huh?" 

"There's got to be something on your mind... you look so distracted." 

"Oh... Do I?"

"Mhm..." She hums.

You stare off into the distance and put your hands in your pocket.

"Do you know what happened to Takemichi?" You calmly ask. 

Silence causes you to look in Hina's direction. She has a soft look in her eyes.

"No... I don't know what happened to him." She softly answers. "He was there one day but gone the next day... No one knew what happened... not even his friends-"

"So, he just- disappeared?" 

"Mhm... I thought maybe he moved... but I didn't hear anything about that..."

"I wonder... what really happened to him." You calmly say. "You never went around asking teachers or anything?" 

Hina stares off into the distance before shaking her head. "I thought... maybe he doesn't want to be found-"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Maybe he ran away or something." 

You look at Hina feeling very confused. You lean back and furrow your eyebrows unable to understand what she was talking about. Run away?

"Why would he run away?" You ask. Hina doesn't really answer which makes you more curious.

"Hey... Yuki-" 

"Hm?"

"Do you like that Mikey guy?"

"Huh?" You look at her feeling confused. She slowly looks at you with genuine curiosity in her eyes. You furrow your eyebrows.