Just like what Akamine-sensei relayed to Haji, gumi’s group was actually by Ueno Park, enjoying the sights over there before they go to Ayoko for a quick stop so they could buy so souvenirs. They figured that they won’t have ti to do such a thing while they were on a trip tomorrow and by the last day, they concluded that they’d just enjoy themselves.
Getting souvenirs is pretty much an errand that the three of them want to finish as soon as possible so they allotted a portion of their ti that afternoon to check it out. With this, they won’t have to worry about running out of ti throughout the school trip. Cramming most of their so-called ’errand’ in every free ti they had was the optimal decision— or so that’s what they decided amongst themselves.
"I wonder what Haji is doing right now..." Because the other two in gumi’s group kept on hopelessly pestering her about the ’guy’ she was interested in, she unavoidably started thinking about Haji, her thoughts plagued by the guy she didn’t want to think about right now. "Argh~! Why am I thinking about him right now? No, this is just normal, he’s one of the first friends I made so this is just natural, right? Right?" She tried to justify her thoughts with her own reasoning which was pretty biased in its own way. Then again, she couldn’t help but deal with both of these since she didn’t want to disclose who the ’guy’ was to the other two.
Most likely, they’d spread false information and so sort of misunderstanding would just ensue. Also, it might even discourage Haji from being friends with him. She absolutely dreaded the thought of Haji not showing any interest in her.
"What was that?"
"Is he all right?"
"Shouldn’t we call an ambulance?"
"Was it heat stroke? No, it doesn’t seem like it."
"Sir, are you all right? Do you need help with sothing?"
"Give him space, he might suffocate at this rate."
A crowd started forming in the middle of the park near Shinobazu Pond. The noisy and playful children also briefly stopped their joyfulness as they noticed the commotion along with the other adults. A heavy silence imdiately befell the park, giving way to rising tension and mild panic as they watched the troubled person kneel down and collapse in the middle of the crowd.
"Everybody, step back! Step back!" Even the security guards in Ueno Park were already mobilized, and they rushed to the scene of the cri, trying to recognize what the racket was. It wasn’t that rare for a disturbance to happen in the park so the security guards were used to such situations. Even though there was a possibility that soone was already dying, they moved calmly with a sense of level-headedness.
It seed like a huge commotion so it was only natural for gumi and her group to be curious about it as well. Slowly, they inched their way towards the center of the commotion, wondering why sothing like that would happen in the middle of the afternoon in Ueno Park.
"What’s going on?" Kaori asked, nudging Shizuka.
"I don’t know. Let’s check it out."
As for gumi, she was way ahead of the two, and for a mont back there, she saw a familiar form in the middle of the commotion.
There were two security guys, huddled in front of a familiar individual who was clutching his throat too hard. He was choking himself, and the security guys were trying to calm him down by patting his back and whispering a couple of indistinct words to him. They were probably trying to reassure him so he would regain his composure and soften his grip on his neck at the sa ti.
The person was breathing raggedly, and his raspy breathing ca out as if he was dying. Veins started surfacing on his forehead, evident in the fact that he was really choking himself.
Haji?
gumi muttered the na in her mind, unsure of what she had just seen. But after seeing that it was really Haji and confirming that he was the cause of the commotion, gumi started pushing people away just so she could get to him.
"HAJI!" gumi scread from afar so the crowd would at least disperse a bit so she could make her way toward him. "He’s my friend! Stop blocking my way!" She exclaid.
Presently, gumi’s mind just shut down and the only thing that drove her forward was the thought of getting in there and helping Haji. Even a fool would be able to tell that Haji was suffering, and whatever it was, gumi urged herself that she had to do sothing.
"Please make way!" gumi shouted for the second ti, trying to shove other people around as gently as she could. It was obvious that she was genuinely worried for Haji.
anwhile, Kaori and Shizuka just watched from afar as gumi struggled through the crowd. A portion of their mory started resurfacing in their mind, followed by a light bulb that lit up as an idea conveniently ca to their head.
"Oh, I see," Kaori said, pounding her fist on her other open palm while nodding towards Shizuka.
"You were thinking about how they ca together to school, aren’t you?" Shizuka asked with an indifferent expression on her face. "You don’t have to think too much into that, Kaori. That could happen to anyone so it doesn’t count." She pointed out.
"Now, it would be way different if they really did co together to school. Still, we have no proof to conclude such a thing."
"You’re right, but why was gumi too worried? It’s not like they were close or anything?" Kaori asked, bewildered.
"She’s the class representative. Of course, she had to act worried when her classmate is suffering from a severe panic attack." Shizuka explained. "Look, does that look normal to you?"
That’s when Kaori saw Haji’s face. As soon as the crowd partially cleared up, she barely caught a glimpse of the contorted expression that Haji wore as he tried to breathe and choke himself at the sa ti.
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