"Ha... haha. I didn't realize you remembered me, Chisa."
Chisa, upon hearing Sebastian's response — which amounted to an admission — let her previously neutral expression shift into something more complex.
The gentlemanly smile Sebastian had been working hard to maintain crumbled.
Because he had now, at last, experienced firsthand what Iori had described — that look. The one reserved for garbage.
"Well — I have a few things to take care of, so I won't keep you."
Sebastian laughed awkwardly, concluded that his chances here were precisely zero, and promptly dragged Iori away by the ankle.
"Iori really does attract the strangest people."
Chisa watched Sebastian's retreating figure and took a small sip of her beer.
....
"My mission is complete! Seniors — when do we put this deserter on trial?"
Back in the shrubbery, Sebastian released Iori's leg and turned to the two seniors crouching nearby, looking for recognition.
"No rush — we'll deal with both of them once we've caught Imamura."
Kotobuki took hold of Iori's ankle and gave Sebastian a consolatory pat on the shoulder. "You did well. I'll mix you a special oolong tea when we get back."
"I'll pass on that, thanks. Why do you people keep acting like I enjoy that stuff?" Sebastian muttered.
"Didn't Kotobuki say? He said you drank the whole batch he made in one go and then passed out for an entire day."
"Hold on — why are you all being so rough with me? I just had a stomachache and came out looking for a toilet!"
Iori, still face-down on the ground, finally clocked the nature of his situation. He struggled upright and protested loudly to the three of them.
"Save it for after the punishment. Deserters don't deserve sympathy."
Sebastian stepped forward, crouched down, and helpfully stuffed something into Iori's mouth.
"No, wait — I have something useful! I saw which way Imamura ran. Let me go and I'll take you to him!"
Iori forced the obstruction out of his mouth with considerable tongue strength and yelled out his offer.
"Is that so. If you can save us some time, we might consider lightening your punishment."
Tokita looked at Iori, folded his arms, and nodded — signaling to Kotobuki to let go of Iori's leg.
"Just like that?" Sebastian clicked his tongue in mild dissatisfaction.
"Leave it to me — I'll find Imamura, and I won't run this time. I swear it."
Iori finally got to his feet and wiped the dirt off his face with solemn conviction.
"Good. I believe you. Everyone who joins Peek-a-Boo is a man of his word, and a man of his word doesn't break promises. Oh — and if you try to bolt again along the way, I'll come find you at the shop where you're staying."
"Don't worry. I won't be doing anything that stupid again."
Whether it was the threat or genuine resolve, Iori looked entirely sincere as he stood.
.....
About ten minutes later, on campus.
Club recruitment had ended, and since the semester hadn't formally begun, the campus — which had been reasonably lively earlier — was now largely empty.
"I saw Imamura head in this direction. There aren't many places to hide around here. Spread out a little — he can't have gone far."
Across the quiet open campus, Iori and Sebastian walked side by side, with Kotobuki and Tokita following close behind, watching.
The original plan had been for Iori to lead alone at the front, to prevent any mid-route mischief. For reasons nobody could quite explain, however, Iori had flatly refused to walk in front of Sebastian, and had insisted that Sebastian walk beside him as a condition of guiding them at all.
The request seemed reasonable enough, so Kotobuki and the others let Sebastian walk alongside Iori.
"Hey — what exactly are you plotting? Why do you insist on walking next to me?"
Sebastian kept his voice low as he put the question to Iori.
"Because you're psychologically unhinged, obviously! Look at what you did to Imamura earlier. Don't think I'm going to be as careless as he was — you are never appearing behind me for as long as I live!"
Possibly nursing a grudge from being caught, Iori glared at Sebastian and said this with complete candor.
"Why you little—" Sebastian's temper flared and he nearly came to blows with Iori on the spot, before the two supervisors behind them intervened in time.
"Why are you two always at each other's throats? Settle down, both of you. Find Imamura and we go back — the rest of the members are waiting."
Kotobuki directed this at the two of them with mild exasperation.
"Fine."
Both dropped their hands and sulked in silence. Though being told to hurry up and find someone didn't exactly help when they had no idea where to look.
Then Sebastian — who had been scanning the nearby shrubbery — had a thought, and his eyes lit up.
"A ruse! What about a ruse?"
"Hm? What do you mean?" The other three didn't follow, so Sebastian patiently explained the story of Zhou Yu and Huang Gai from the Three Kingdoms period — the stratagem where a loyal officer feigns receiving punishment to win the enemy's trust.
By the time he finished, all three had the look of sudden understanding.
"Oh, I see! Sebastian, you mean we tie Iori up and whip him, right?"
"Exactly!" Sebastian looked enormously pleased with himself.
"There is nothing exact about that! That is not what comes out of a civilized mouth! Hold on — is that really the core takeaway from that story?! We just need to make it look convincing! The deception is the whole point — there's no need to actually do anything!"
Iori erupted. He fixed Sebastian with a murderous stare, as though one more word of disagreement would result in bloodshed.
"Iori's version does seem workable too. Either way — we try his way first, and if it doesn't get results, we move to Sebastian's approach."
Kotobuki cracked his knuckles with evident enthusiasm.
...
"Ahhh — stop, stop hitting me! Ahhhh——!"
Some time later, a series of rhythmic, agonized screams from Iori shattered the peace of the quiet campus.
"Louder, Iori! You're not conveying the emotional depth — I need to hear the inner suffering of someone in genuine distress. Give me more!"
On the third floor of the academic building, Sebastian had somehow acquired a pair of binoculars and was sweeping them across the ground below while issuing performance notes to Iori via phone.
"You have got to be kidding me. I've been screaming down here for ten minutes, my throat is about to give out — why don't you come down here and do it?"
Iori's voice on the other end was audibly hoarse with barely-contained fury.
"I didn't run away. Why should I have to scream?" Sebastian said this as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"You only didn't run because we didn't tell you we were going! That's the only reason!"
"Oh, so you do understand that. Then I have even less reason to help you. Besides — when Imamura was harassing me, you turned around and walked away without a second thought.... So just keep praying that Imamura actually takes the bait. Because if we get to my plan, I won't be holding back."
"You absolute—!!"
Sebastian's words made Iori's jaw clench — but the thought of the two seniors possibly turning to him if the screaming didn't work sent a wave of fear through him that mingled with the fury and despair, and produced a shriek that tore across the entire campus.
"AHHHHH——!!"
"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE — I'M GOING HOME!!"
Moments after Iori's cry, an answering wail of equal force erupted like a thunderclap from a clump of shrubbery on the school grounds.
A blond young man in an oversized anime T-shirt launched himself out of the bushes with a look of pure terror, sprinted two steps toward the school gate — and was immediately pinned to the ground by two seniors who had been lying in wait the whole time.
"Got him."
Sebastian, expression composed, sent Iori one final message from the third floor.
---
15 Chapters Daily: https://patreon.com/VaultL