My One With The Guys

Chapter 19: Find Atsuko!

Atsuko hasn't come for the past four days, should I message her? She hasn't been answering any of us. I take out my phone and head to messages and click her name. I was about to type but then I look back at all of the messages I've sent her and she hasn't answered...What's going on? I look at Yasuo, I see him staring at the door like he is waiting for someone to come in, was he waiting for Atsuko? Something weird is going on. My morning class seemed so much slower than usual, I kept looking at my phone waiting for a response (I even got my phone taken away a couple of times which made me more anxious since I couldn't see if she answered), my leg'd been bouncing up and down none stop thinking of so many outcomes of why she isn't at school.Finally the lunch bell rang, I went straight to the cafeteria maybe one of the guys close to her has gotten something from her.
I walk into the cafeteria and see; Yasuo, and Genki. They're looking at each other with their phones out, I get to their table and they look at me with so much hope, I shake my head and they all look down to either the table or the ground. I sat next to Yasuo, he looked the most down. He's holding his phone like he was holding onto it as if it would break into pieces, he's probably thinking about so many possibilities why she isn't answering anyone.
"So are we gonna sit here and do nothing?" Genki asked, he looked mad and upset
"What can we do? None of us can get in touch with her," Yasuo said back, I watched as Genki started clenching his fist I gotta change this mood, I look at the group and said
"Let's go to her house after school," We all looked at each other and nodded our heads.
The bell rang and we all went to our last classes, I wanted the end of the day to come faster but every time I checked the time only a minute would pass

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The end bell finally rang and I started running to the bus stop, I saw Genki and Yasuo already at the stop. Once I got to them I opened my phone and looked for messages from her, but still nothing. My hopes are low now but we'll get answers when we get to her house. I got off of messages and went to the transit app, the bus was five minutes away and we were still waiting for Kisho wherever he was. They came about two minutes after I checked the transit app, they both were jogging and the bus was already coming down. They started sprinting to the bus stop, once the bus stopped for me Genki, Yasuo. Hoshi and Kisho had just made it.

We all got on the bus; I sat at the back in a window seat, Yasuo was sitting at the seat before the back doors, and Genki sat on the opposite side of Yasuo. I canceled all sounds around me just watching the outside move so fast, it was calm. A couple of minutes passed and I started looking around the bus and saw Genki listening to music, Yasuo on his phone scrolling through messages from someone (was probably Atsuko). We get to our stop, and all of us get off. I go on the transit app again and see that the next bus was in thirty minutes, we won't have enough time.
"I know a shortcut, follow me," Yasuo said. He started walking between trees while Genki and I froze and looked at each other. I started walking behind Yasuo as Genki followed.
We were inside a ravine, trees and plants all around us. They all looked different; some had lighter leaves, darker, yellow leaves. Thankfully we can see the ground (that was all muddy with no grip. If we tried to run we would probably fall), Yasuo starts picking up the pace to a slow jog. I look back and nod my head to Genki. I look ahead for Yasuo and he's almost out of sight, I start to run to catch up but he just keeps going faster and faster, I can feel my legs keep getting heavier and heavier as we run, I feel like I'm about to fall but I can't fall now I have to find Atsuko first.

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We finally got out of the ravine, I took a moment to try to brush off the mud as I saw Yasuo and Genki still running, I stopped brushing off the mud and caught up to Yasuo. We get to Atsuko's house as Genki knocks on the door, we wait a couple of seconds before we see the door handle move, Atsuko-. It was her father, I sigh and drift my head to my left shoulder while Genki started talking to Mr.Hara
"Hello Mr.Hara, is Atsuko home?" Genki asks as he's trying to catch his breath
"What are you talking about? Isn't she with you guys?" I look up and I see Mr.Hara confused, Yasuo looks back at me as I'm looking at Yasuo.
"No, she didn't even come to school," Yasuo said
"The school never called me to tell me that, where is she?" Mr.Hara was panicking, as he looked for his phone and turned on the 'find my Iphone' app and searched for her phone "I can't find her, she must have turned off her phone," he turned off his phone and went into a squat form with his hands on his head.
"Alright we gotta find her, if anyone finds her call," I tell them, and they all nod their heads "then let's go."
"Wait I want to find my daughter too, I'll tell you all the places she goes that I know about," Mr.Hara says, we all look back and wait for him to finish "she likes to go to the park just down at the corner, corner store by the bus stop, parking lot by the school, the ravine. Those are all the places I know about, please help me to find my daughter." He tells us, I look at Yasuo, he walks up to Mr.Hara and talks to him.
We all go our ways, and I head to the park. I got to the park and saw no one, so I held onto the slide and sat down at the top, and started thinking of places she could have gone. My phone went off, I was having hope but it was just my emails that I'd been piling up. I was about to put my phone back in my pocket until I took a second glance at the date and time.

I know where Atsuko is.