A Book Can't Be Judged By The Cover Chapter 121: After School

"GUMI RUN!" Haji scread as soone smashed his head with a bat. The assailant made sure to give him multiple strikes so he won’t wake up midway.

"And the girl?" The assailant asked the other person in his team who managed to catch gumi as she was running away.

"We bring her too." The other man replied in a casual tone as if they were talking about sothing interesting.

.....

Earlier,

Disoriented, Haji looked around. There was a huge ear-piercing explosion and the car toppled before they could even react. The impact that transford the car into a dilapidated piece of junk was so strong that it imdiately knocked Akiko unconscious.

"What happened?" Haji muttered under his breath but no sound ca out. The only thing he could hear was the ringing in his eardrums.

He was upside down. Akiko and his parents too, were upside down. Shards of glass were scattered everywhere, filling the roof of the car that is now touching the ground. From a distance, Haji could see the truck. It had taken a direct hit to its front, and a visible dent could be seen. A tire started rolling down the highway, bouncing up and down as it accelerated.

Creak.

The door to the passenger side of the truck opened, and a masked man co out. He had a tall build, a bit on the muscular side, and he wore a ring on his finger. It was a ring with a huge gem on top of it. For a brief mont, the man turned around, made eye contact with Haji, and ran in the opposite direction.

...

"YOU!" Haji bolted upright from his scene, pointing his finger towards Akamine-sensei with his arms outstretched. There was visible anger in his voice, and his hands were shaking from pure fury. His gaze, which was bloodshot since he had just woken up, was directed toward Akamine-sensei, making her flinch.

Everyone in class turned around to give Haji a nice long stare. It took three seconds for Haji to realize what he just did, blurting out sothing in class and even bolting upright from his seat. With great embarrassnt, Haji’s face reddened as he returned to his seat. "Oh, ah uh- I see... so that’s how it works," Haji muttered to himself as he pretended to be interested in the notes written on the whiteboard.

Akamine-sensei was still shocked by Haji’s sudden outburst that she froze in front. It was ti for her to dismiss the entire class but she totally forgot about it.

From her seat, gumi tried to signal to their horoom teacher, waving her hand in her direction so she would co back to her senses. With another flinch, Akamine-sensei cleared her throat and dismissed everyone from class.

"Your dismissed," Akamine-sensei announced, prompting gumi to do her usual routine of greeting her out since she was the class representative.

...

Ding. Dong.

The school bell rang all throughout the premises of the Dai Yama High School. The setting sun and the temperatures lowering down was a sign for everyone that it was ti to go ho. Haji yawned as he got out of the entrance, slightly bowing his head down towards the guard who also tipped his cap in response.

Bump!

Haji was surprised that gumi bumped him to the side, causing him to stumble a couple of steps to the side before he got his balance back. "Hey," He casually greeted.

To his surprise, gumi burst out laughing as he patted him on the arm. "What you did during class... Hahah! That was hilarious."

A slightly bothered smile appeared on Haji’s face as he rembered what happened. He couldn’t help but feel a little bit embarrassed since he was half asleep when he called out to their horoom teacher.

"By the way, did the police get any leads?" gumi muttered out of nowhere. "You know... what happened during our school trip?"

"You an... the intruder who invited himself inside Aoi Umi Dormitory? Not yet, I’ve already testified to the police but so far... there were no leads." Haji continued. He rembered telling gumi about the car accident that killed his parents. It was in the spur of the mont since he was shaken up after eting the masked man.

And even though the police did explicitly say that the masked man may or may not be related to the Sasajima Incident, they assured Haji that they’ll look into it. Haji thought for sure that the policen were just giving out empty promises so he wouldn’t ask so many questions. However, unbeknownst to him, the policen did an every word they blurted out. They were serious about the Sasajima Incident, and even though it may be taboo to talk about it, the policen were keen on solving the mystery (they were just common policen though so they too had no idea how they’d approach a possible lead).

"Then there was the incident with your sister too... were they able to find out who sneaked inside the hospital?" gumi worriedly asked.

Haji shook his head in utter frustration. The news about the mysterious man who walked inside the hospital to visit his sister shocked him. As soon as he got ho from the school trip, Kirisu stopped by his place to tell him about it. Apparently, soone sneaked inside Akiko’s room, knocked the nurse unconscious, and then left so flowers on the table. There was only one reason why soone would do that— Haji could tell that the man was threatening him. Whoever he was, Haji vowed to himself that he was going to find him.

Since then, Kirisu decided to stay more hours (unpaid hours) at the hospital just in case the mysterious man returns. She also never left Akiko’s side, and if she were to go sowhere, she made sure that no one would let anyone in if they were going to visit Akiko.

’What’s going on.’ Haji muttered in his mind. Just then, gumi gave him a nudge.

"You all right?" gumi asked, to which Haji responded with a slight nod. One way or another, gumi could tell that the recent incidents were troubling Haji.

"Tell you what,"

"What?"

"I can stay over for dinner at your place today. Let’s cook sothing. We can stop by the grocery first." gumi offered. "Don’t worry about getting ho late, Franz would co to pick up after dinner."

Apparently, gumi had already scheduled and planned for everything, so much so that Haji felt bad for rejecting her offer out of goodwill. With a sigh, Haji approved her visit, and together the two of them walked ho, stopping by a nearby grocery store before heading ho.