They, somehow, couldn't catch up to Toru. Which was kinda weird.
"I'm sure he went this way," said Asahi.
"Why, his house is in the other direction," said Hijiri.
"No I'm positive that I saw him as well," said Tokita.
"Are you sure."
"Argh, how hard is this supposed to be, he's not that hard to find," said Asahi.
Sasamori was looking around worriedly. Why would he come this way.
"I'm not sure Mizushima-san would come here in the first place," she finally said.
The others stopped talking and looked around.
The alley was shaded in the late afternoon, and that didn't need to add to the mood.
"It is kinda spooky," said Kuga.
"Why would Toru come here," said Asahi as she stepped a little closer to Tokita.
"I don't think I've ever been to this place either," said Hijiri.
Sasamori looked around once again.
"Um where is here?"
The others frantically looked around and realized they were lost in a back alley.
"That's it!"
She pulled out her phone. She waited a second or two then yelled into it.
"WHERE ARE YOU?"
The others knew she was talking to Toru, but they questioned the need to yell.
"How?"
She paused as she listened to the response.
"But we saw you come into this alley."
"I don't know what alley we were following you."
The others knew that it was time to send her a life line. Tokita took the phone out of her hand.
"Hey Mizushima."
"What's this about an alley?"
"Well we wondered why you weren't going to the library like we agreed and-"
"I'm at the library. I've been here for a good ten minutes."
"Really?"
Sasamori was slowly edging toward him.
"Yeah, I had to pick up something for my mom so I first went to the post office then I came straight here."
"Which post office?"
"Two blocks away from school."
"The guy we were following went in the opposite direction."
"Then it wasn't me."
They all jumped and turned around.
Toru was standing in the entrance to the ally with the phone still to his ear. Tokita smiled and handed the phone back to Asahi. Toru hung up the phone.
He sighed and was about to say something when Sasamori jumped on him.
"MIZUSHIMA-SAM!"
"Wh-!"
She dung her face into his chest and started crying.
"We tried to follow you because Tokita-san said you were acting strange and then-"
"Okay. Okay. It's fine."
Toru hesitantly wrapped his arms around the crying Sasamori. It was clear to everyone that he really didn't feel comfortable with the situation.
"What's going on here?" Kuga asked out loud.
"How should I know?" asked Toru.
None of them noticed the eyes watching them from the shadows.
