Chapter 55: X

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: X

Oota monologue, POV

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?"Can I ask one more thing?" I muttered.

?"I knew it," he groaned.

?"It’s quick."

?"Right, sure. Whatever you say, Brochacho."

?"Have you ever let someone use your Discord account? Even as a joke?"

?"No," I replied.

?"Have you ever given someone permission to send something from your account?"

?"Never."

?"What about someone who knew your password?"

?He thought again. "I already said no."

?"Right." It was work; I wanted to ask him some other things while repeating what I had asked before to see if there were any small changes from his previous responses.

?He looked at me. "You’re not listening."

?I went quiet. I wanted to listen to what he had to say. He tapped his fingers against the table.

?"Questions like this aren’t about curiosity," he pointed out.

?"You’re making me sound suspicious," I smiled faintly.

?"I’m saying you’re looking for a specific answer."

?"Maybe I am." I didn’t quite understand why I felt the need to keep concealing the fact that this was part of some plan which had something to do with my personal life.

?For starters, I wasn’t particularly angry about the donation, but I was curious to know who they were, just to be on the safer side. I can’t trust anyone from the school because they could use this against me at any time. The fact that they went as far as to conceal themselves and create thousands of other leads and misdirections was on its own too suspicious to overlook.

?"Then ask the question."

?I looked at him. "What if someone sent a message from your account without you knowing?"

?"Then I’d want to know who."

?"Would you?" He didn’t seem that way to me, though.

?"Obviously."

?"Even if the message wasn’t harmful?" I asked again. It wasn’t even that much of a deal if you think about it, but depending on who they were... my past was at stake.

?"Depends."

?"How?" I asked, unclear on his phrasing.

?"If someone can use my account without me knowing, that’s a problem." He paused.

?"Why?" I muttered.

?"Because then they can do worse." That answer was immediate, with no hesitation.

?I nodded. "Fair."

?"Is that what happened?" He looked at me.

?"I don’t know," I answered. I wasn’t actually lying, either; it wasn’t even clear to me if this was all the truth or another fabrication of some sort.

?"You do," he pressed. Does he want that answer this bad? I mean, it’s not like he is the one in danger.

?Worry about a hacker? "No."

?"You know something."

?"Maybe." He knew I was lying and had no proof to prove me otherwise. The system hadn’t flagged me, which implied that I was speaking the truth.

?He stared at me. For a moment, his eyes shifted to my wrist, then back at me. He was just checking for any indicator.

?He stared at me; obviously, I stared back. It was starting to feel uncomfortable. Then he smiled.

?"You’re terrible at this."

?"You’re not exactly easy to fool," I laughed, nervously, of course. The boy in front of me didn’t have any edge over me completely, but I was cut off multiple times.

?There’s no way someone like him would be deceived or used by another.

?"Good." We both laughed.

?The tension broke. For the next hour, we talked about everything except the reason I’d actually asked him to meet. When we finally stood to leave, Kazuki put his phone into his pocket.

?"So."

?"So."

?"Did you get what you wanted?" I looked at him.

?"What makes you think I wanted something?" I asked, placing my phone in my pocket as well. Obviously just messing around—why wouldn’t he know?

?"You spent half the afternoon asking about my Discord account." He laid out his reasoning, which I didn’t bother to go against.

?"Maybe I was genuinely interested," I replied as if I hadn’t just heard him clearly state he knew already.

?"Sure," he chuckled softly. "Whatever helps you sleep."

?We walked out of the café together. The afternoon air was colder than I expected. Where did all the heat go?

?We stood outside for a moment.

?"Same time next week?" he asked.

?"Maybe." I don’t think we can do the same next week. Next time I shouldn’t make this awkward and start asking questions left and right.

?"You’ll ask me another suspicious question," he added. "If so, bring better questions. Like what boob size am I into? Or better yet, if I’ve had my first experience yet?"

?Who the actual fuck asks those kind of questions?

?"I’ll try," I replied, showing none of those inner expressions outside.

?He started walking, took a few steps, then stopped and turned around. The sound of moving vehicles was loud, and people were walking past, engaged in their conversations.

?"Hey," he called out. I could barely hear him due to the noise, but could still make out what he was saying from his lips.

?"Yeah?" I muttered.

?"If someone really did use my account..." He pulled his phone from his pocket. "...tell me."

?I nodded. "I will."

?He looked at me for another second, then walked away. I watched him disappear down the street; only after he was gone did I take my phone out.

?I opened Discord, opened our conversation, then opened the screenshot I’d saved. The original message was still there.

?You’re lucky to have such a cute girlfriend helping you with your note updates.

?I read it again, then again.

?Kazuki hadn’t written it. Or so now I could say so after meeting him in person. And Kazuki had been willing to show me everything. He’d even helped me look. That ruled him out.

?At least, it ruled out the version of Kazuki I’d been investigating.

?I put my phone away. Then another thought came to me. Something that had bothered me ever since I’d first seen the message.

?The wording.

?Not the mention of Shion or the notes.

?The word girlfriend. Why girlfriend?

?Whoever sent that message hadn’t simply known about Shion. They knew enough about me to know how Shion and I looked from the outside.

?They knew enough about her to connect her to my notes. And they knew enough about Kazuki to know that using his account would make the message look more complicated.

?That wasn’t random. Someone had chosen Kazuki.

?And if Kazuki was telling the truth, then whoever sent that message hadn’t needed his permission. They had needed his identity.

?It was uncomfortable because those people obviously knew how even the ones involved in this case would react, and they had made many routes for all of us to follow.

?I started walking home. My phone suddenly buzzed; I checked, seeing a new Discord message notification.

?From Kazuki. I scanned my fingerprint on the screen to reveal the message.

?Sasuke: You forgot something.

?I stopped to reply.

?Oota: What?

?The reply came almost immediately.

?Kazuki: You never told me why Shion matters.

?I stared at the screen. Then another message appeared.

?Kazuki: You owe me an answer next time.

?Oota: Maybe. Lol

?Three dots appeared.

?Kazuki: That’s not an answer.

?I put my phone away. For the first time that afternoon, I felt calm. Well, a bit. ℯ𝕝.

?Sasuke wasn’t stupid, not even close.

?He’d probably noticed much more than I’d wanted him to, but he hadn’t forced the issue. And he’d let me leave without knowing what I was really investigating.

?That made him useful, while at the same time also dangerous.

?I kept walking.

?The hospital donation was still unexplained, Shion was unexplained, and Yyxx was still unexplained.

?And now I had one more problem.

?If Kazuki wasn’t Yyxx...

?...then someone had been wearing his name. And whoever they were had known exactly where to point my attention.

?Why Shion?

?The reason I ruled out Kazuki earlier—that’s plausible. Since the evidence doesn’t yet establish that this was the precise motivation, perhaps the X used Kazuki because they knew him. Perhaps they had access to his account.

?The identity itself was part of a larger scheme, or perhaps Kazuki is connected to the X in a way I haven’t discovered yet.

?And if what I’m thinking is true, then the investigation itself could be part of the trap.

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"Seize the outpost K5 with your knight, and you can go to sleep. Checkmate will come by itself."

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