Ayanokoji's Life As A Streamer!

SS: The Ones Left Behind

A/N: A short side story. After this is the prologue for the next arc, then we can get back to the main plot line. :keiborgar:

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"Your classmate, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, has gone missing."

Chabashira-sensei's word reverberated loudly within a number of people's ears. A certain black-haired girl's gaze, which was previously directed towards the empty chair of her seatmate, honed in on their teacher. Along with her, Hirata, Satou and the Ayanokoji group looked especially startled as well, while another girl remained deathly silent.

However, a few students that couldn't read the mood of the room decided to break this suffocating atmosphere, voicing out their own opinions.

"Man, that gloomy guy probably just up and left or something..." one Yamuchi said with gritted teeth, his hand scratching the back of his head.

"...Bro, what the hell?" Surprisingly, Ike was the one to speak up before anyone could reply to the boy, his tone raised up a little. "Come on man, that's too far. Ayanokoji could've been kidnapped or something!"

"What? Don't you think that's too out there?" Hondo snorted. "I agree with Haruki honestly. Maybe he just had enough or-"

"Both of you, shut up."

Upon hearing the ice-cold voice of their class leader, both Yamauchi and Hondo instantly clammed up. The usual look on the raven-haired girl's face already intimidated them enough, but this time, Horikita's gaze felt like she was going to lash out on anything that answered back to her.

She didn't even bother asking for permission as she stood up to speak.

"Sensei, has the school already searched everywhere he might be? What about-"

"Of course, Horikita. Every corner of the school and the entire island has already been investigated, with no signs of your classmate. Even the security cameras showed nothing. His last known location was his room, but he never went out of there..."

"What...? But that doesn't make any sense at all!" She slammed her palm on her desk, shocking the rest of the class even more. They've never seen their pseudo-class leader this agitated before.

"H-Horikita-san, calm down for a moment. I'm sure the school is already doing their best to find Ayanokoji-kun..." The other half of the class representatives, Hirata Yosuke, said with a mellow voice.

This seemed to knock some sense to the girl at least. Wordlessly, she sat back down on her seat, a very bitter frown visible on her face.

Just like Horikita, Ayanokoji's friend group was also worried about their missing friend. Being the loners they actually were, they haven't really gotten together since before the winter break, so after such a long time of not seeing each other, hearing the news of their friend going missing was anything but pleasant.

Unbeknowst to everyone, however, a certain blonde girl was ever so slightly trembling on her seat, her eyes wide in clear shock and fear. Horikita's arguing with their teacher, everyone's muttering and chattering... it was all just noise to her addled mind.

"Kiyotaka..."

Karuizawa Kei could still vividly hear the boy's voice inside her head. After all, they were just talking over the phone last night. Ayanokoji made no mention of a new enemy that was on his sight, or anything about a plan as sutprising as this. His disappearance was not his choice. And so, who could've done such a thing to him?

Only one name popped up in her mind.

In that instant, all the fear that threatened to drown her psyche instantly evaporated into nothingness. Her seat audibly scratched against the floor as she suddenly stood up and stepped out of the room, attracting virtually all the attention to her.

Classes and points be damned, Karuizawa Kei wanted answers.

"K-Karuizawa-san? Where are you..."

"Karuizawa. Classes are still ongoin-"

She slammed the door behind her.

...

On another classroom, class C was having a relatively normal homeroom session, courtesy of a bandaged-up, maroon-haired teen- or his lack of action, to be specific. Ryuuen Kakeru only ever stared outside through the glass beside his desk, a very bored look encompassing his face. Usually, the infamous leader of class C would be doing some kind of spiel during this time of the day, but according to Ibuki Mio and Ishizaki Daichi, the reign of this tyrant student has already ended after the latter tried and succeeded overthrowing him.

Ryuuen himself weren't really paying much attention to his surroundings, but when the back door leading to his class suddenly got slammed open, of course he turned to look. What he saw even made him raise an eyebrow slightly.

Karuizawa was panting as she leaned on the door frame, her face covered by her bangs as she was leaning forward. Suddenly, she turned to face him, her eyes burning with rage and hatred.

It was as if the defenseless girl he saw back on that abandoned building was nothing but a dream.

The girl ignored his teacher's feeble attempts to get her attention, with the blonde girl never leaving her gaze off of him as she approached his desk.

"What the hell do you wan-" Ryuuen started but couldn't finish as the much smaller girl grabbed his collars, then dragged him close to her.

"What did you do to him?! What did you do to Kiyotaka?!" She yelled loudly in his face while shaking him back and forth. Ryuuen thought his ear drums would've bled if this went on for longer.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, woman!" He grabbed the hysterical girl's hands then shoved her away from him, frowning. "What happened to subtlety? You're just barging in on my class now and screaming his name." Ryuuen wondered if that guy was planning something again, but dismissed it as he spent a few seconds thinking about it. This is just too chaotic and flashy for that secretive guy.

"What...? No, it has to be you..!" Karuizawa suddenly started trembling again, her arms hugging herself. "Please tell me, tell me he's still here... He can't leave me, he can't..."

The now kneeling girl sobbed on the floor in front of him. Several more of her classmates arrived on their door, instantly staring him down with clear hostility. He could see his own classmates looking back and forth between him and Karuizawa as well, confusion written all over their face. Ryuuen couldn't help but feel like a headache was about befall him. In the midst of it all, Karuizawa continued to cry loudly while remaining unresponsive to her classmates.

"...What a fucking mess." The grimacing teen says as he rubbed his temples.