Control (Aphorism Fanfic) COMPLETED

Chapter 4

Aira wasn't the first one who first noticed that Misaki was gone after confronting Tatsumi.

The trip to Sanjuurou and Rokudou's room was unusually quiet for Sanjuurou, with no girl asking him questions or muttering snide remarks. When they all got into room 206, Aira asked where Misaki was, leading the others to notice her absence as well.

Sanjuurou thought nothing much about it; that girl has always been closed off, and not particularly close to any of them. He didn't find it surprising that she wandered off without telling the rest, and so they shrugged off her absence.

But dinner, however, became a whole different story.

After hearing a mute Tatsumi and his friend, Mikotogawa's account of Tomonaga's acts, Sanjuurou got Mino and Noa to stay with them in his room while Aira, Rokudou and him went to get dinner.

"We'll eat first," Sanjuurou said to Rokudou as they collected their food. "Then we'll grab some for the rest of them."

"Misaki-chan!" Aira called as she, Rokudou and Sanjuurou made walking to their usual table, beaming at the sight of the blonde-haired girl.

Misaki glanced up, her eyes hollow and blank. Aira smiled, waving at her. Misaki's eyes lowered and she turned away from them.

"Kanade," Tomonaga called from a table a little distance away.

Misaki twitched at someone calling her by her last name. Her grip on her food tray tightened.

Rokudou frowned, throwing Sanjuurou a questioning glance.

"Come and eat at our table instead," Tomonaga said, smiling.

Misaki took a deep breath before turning and joining him. Tomonaga glanced straight at Sanjuurou, smirking.

His jaw tightened, and he started cursing at Tomonaga in his head.

"Why?" Aira asked once they got back to their seats.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sanjuurou started eating. "Misaki got bored with us, and now is following Tomonaga."

"But she wouldn't do that," Aira said, voice trailing off.

"Let me ask you, Hirasaka – how close were you to her, anyway? She never was very close friends with any of us," he said, a bit snappily.

When he realised that his tone of voice was more annoyed than he wanted to reveal, he quickly turned his attention back to his food.

"Even though Misaki wasn't very close to us," Rokudou cried, "But she was still our friend! She wouldn't join Tomonaga for no reason! Do you really think that, Hinata-kun?"

Sanjuurou paused for a second before he continued eating.

At Tomonaga's table, Misaki tried to ignore the look on Aira, Rokudou and Sanjuurou's faces. She focused on her soup, trying her best to forget the hurt, confusion and betrayal in their eyes, the way Aira and Rokudou gasped and exchanged shocked glances, and the way Sanjuurou looked at her. She felt her chest uncharacteristically tightened.

She only managed ate only a few mouthfuls while Tomonaga talked idly about his plans – things that she did not bother to listen to.

* * *

The next day, amidst avoiding her group of friends, Misaki overheard from Aira and Noa's conversation about how Tomonaga stole the eyes of a friend of Tatsumi's, a girl named Mikotogawa.

Enraged by Tomonaga not keeping his part of the deal, she stormed to Tomonaga's 'office' – the empty Class 4.

"What is it?" he asked upon seeing her, disinterested.