KOF School

Missing?

Iori made his way to the class next door a few minutes before cleaning period and went in. He spotted Shermie seated alone, drawing something that looked a lot like clothing designs on a notepad.
"Shermie?" Iori called as he approached her.
The girl looked up at him through her long fringe. "Iori? What are you doing here?"
"Where's Yashiro?" Iori asked.
Shermie looked around, confused. "He isn't here yet. Hmm... that's odd... he's usually very early." She turned back to Iori with a frown. "Is something wrong?"
"I just wanted to apologise to him for what happened the other day," Iori stated. "I did some damage on him."
Shermie frowned and shook her head. "No need. The damage you did on him still isn't as bad as what he did to you. He gave you two black eyes? Does it hurt?"
Iori shook his head. "Not really. I'll come again later and speak to him."
"Alright," Shermie nodded. "See ya."
Iori bowed and left to go back to his class. He spotted Najd coming up the stairs and waved at her before entering his classroom.

Recess came and Iori ate as quickly as he could and went over to Yashiro's class again. To his dismay, his place still stood empty, but so did Shermie's. Maybe they both went out together? After all, it's during recess do most students go to the toilet or run some in-school errands. Without much of a choice, he went back to his class and sat down with a book, keeping an eye on the staircase beside the back door of the classroom to see if they were returning.
No one came, not even Shermie. There was an explanation, since they could've used the back stairs, but he sadly didn't have any more time to spare since they soon had to go down to the lab for Biology. His only choice now was to go after school had ended, meaning to ambush Yashiro in the corridor as he would make his way towards the stairs to go home for the day.
But to his surprise, no Yashiro came. Iori spotted Shermie making her way out of the class and stopped her.
"Did Yashiro come to school today?" He asked. "I wanted to speak to him during recess but both you and him weren't around."
"I had to go see Ms. Mian for medicine since I wasn't feeling well," Shermie said. "But Yashiro didn't come to school today, he's absent."
"Oh..." Iori nodded to himself. "Will he be here tomorrow?"
Shermie slowly shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know. Yashiro didn't answer my texts. Maybe he's not feeling well."
That hurt Iori a bit, the thought of him attacking him just two days ago coming to mind. What if he had badly injured him so that he couldn't come to school today? Iori still couldn't help but feel like a monster for attacking him like that. What made it worse was the fact that he even felt proud of what he had done in that crazed state, even laughing in response when asked.
Everyone else thought that Yashiro deserved it, but Iori didn't quite think so. It was true that it was sick of Yashiro to ambush him like that, but that still didn't give him a reason to pummel him as he did.
"Yo," Iori turned around to see Kyo standing behind him with a smirk. "Let's go grab something to eat."
Iori nodded at him and turned back to Shermie, muttering a farewell as he bowed and turned around to follow the rest downstairs.

The Yagamis sat in the living room to watch the evening news like they usually would. Aside from the usual news of government, crimes, accidents, and E-sports, there was one that really got their attention.
It was a picture of Yashiro, followed by an interview with his frantic mother.
"Please, if you see my son anywhere, please inform the authorities," Yashira cried. "He's been gone for two days now, I hope he's okay. It would really help to know where he is, I would really appreciate to have him back."
"Darn..." Aiko said when a wet wipe advertisement aired during the commercial break. "Is it because he's embarrassed of what he had done to Niisan?"
Iori felt worse when she said that.
"Who knows?" Masaomi shrugged. "Maybe the mother killed him herself. You saw how she slapped him just because he got second place in class and not first? Psycho woman..."
"Well, she wasn't the only psycho that attacked him that day," Iori murmured softly.
Aiko, being the only one who heard him, gave him a light nudge and a knowing look. It was evident that she thought Iori had nothing to do with Yashiro going missing. But Iori couldn't shake off the feeling of guilt that he held.

***

The police invaded the school to question Yashiro's teachers and classmates. The band members were called to the school hall too and Kyo, Iori, and Nakoruru found Aiko among the mass of students that had gathered there. Kay kept checking on them via texts so they kept him updated.
"Do you think he was kidnapped or ran away?" Aiko whispered to her brother.
Iori shrugged. "Who knows? For all we know, he may not even be in Tokyo by now. Gosh... now I feel bad for attacking him like that."
"He's had a problem since Day 1, don't blame yourself, Yagami," Kyo added. "Besides, it wasn't really your fault."
Everyone were interviewed separately to see if their stories matched, even though Iori and Aiko were siblings.
"State your name," a burly police officer instructed Iori, eyeing him with indifferent suspicion.
"Yagami Iori," Iori said.
"How is your relationship with Nanakase Yashiro?" The policeman asked.
Iori licked his lips before beginning. "Our relationship wasn't that good. In fact, just before he disappeared, he ambushed me when he caught me alone in the band room."
"Is that why your eyes are swollen?" The policeman gave a meaningful glance at his bruised face.
Iori nodded. "Yes. He punched me in the face. I guess I fought back too, but I did see him during and after the performance that day. He even got on stage to receive some awards."
"When was the last you saw him?"
"In the school foyer, after the event. I wanted to confront him for attacking me, but realised that he was having a fight with his mother despite just being awarded. So I just quietly left since I didn't want to make the guy's day worse when it was already rotten."
"Was there anyone else with you when you witnessed that?"
"Yes, my family was with me. My sister—she's in band too—then, my dad, and my uncle."
The officer nodded. "I see. Other than your family?"
Iori frowned for a moment and shook his head. "No, I don't know. There were lots of people around me, but I don't know who else was among them."
"What was the reason of your rivalry with him?"
"He was a little mad at me since the band members voted for me to be the President and he didn't get the spot. Also, because we didn't choose his song selections to be played in Saturday's event."
"So he was jealous of you?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe he was, but it seemed more like resentment."
The policeman noted down his statements with detail. It was clear that he knew Iori was telling him nothing but the truth, just that he didn't show much of what he felt. Aiko had answered the same thing too, stating that Yashiro had a personal one-sided vendetta towards her brother. So did Kyo. He even went as far as ranting about Yashiro, telling the policeman that Iori had done nothing wrong when Yashiro had ambushed him like that, even mentioning that the redhead had ended up with a busted lip, a nosebleed, and swollen eyes because of him.
Even Iori didn't give that much detail about the fight he had with Yashiro.