In This World So Cruel

Chapter 8

Most of the people at the meeting were nervous. They tried not to show it though because the reason for their nervousness was none other than Suzuya Juuzou. They had all heard rumors of the carefree looking but merciless boy who slaughtered his enemies without fear or hesitation. The meeting had been calm until the boy spoke up. “Where’s my candy?” complained Juuzou. He had been promised candy but he never got any after the fight. Juuzou continued talking unaware of the atmosphere in the room “Sasaki had promised me some after the fig- I mean spar but I never got any”. He put up a face similar to pouting but under that face the investigators could see the real meaning, he was annoyed. After that the meeting had continued considerably silently while some people tried to offer Juuzou jelly beans and while he took the jelly beans he was still waiting for Sasaki’s candy, after all his candy was the best!

After the meeting finished Juuzou started walking down the hall not really paying any attention to his surroundings he ran into Arima. An apology on his tongue he looked up to see the sullen face of Arima. Changing what he was going to say he started talking. “Are you okay?” asked Juuzou realizing how unfamiliar those words sounded to him. Apparently Arima agreed because he had a look of shock on his face. Although the expression was brief Juuzou felt proud being able to something depressing off someone else’s mind for once. Arima quickly got over the shock and replied with a forced sounding “I’m fine”. Juuzou wasn’t great at reading people but anyone could tell that he was not alright. Juuzou ignored that for the time being and tried to figure out what was bothering him. “So” started Juuzou “How’s Sasaki doing?” At this statement Arima tensed up and his face fell. “Oh” thought Juuzou “That’s what’s bothering him. “ it didn’t take a genius to realize that Sasaki was bothering him. Juuzou tried to comfort him. “You don’t have to worry about Sasaki, he’s strong y’know” said Juuzou as he started to walk away. As he was walking away he could hear a faint “that’s not it” but choose to ignore it. After all there’s no use asking Arima for information.

Arima was actually quite surprised that Juuzou had been able to read him and even more surprised at his attempts to comfort him. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he headed towards his original destination, The Quinx squad house. When he arrived at the house he was greeted by three very eager faces and one nonchalant one. Quickly realizing this person was not the one they were hoping for their faces fell. Urie was the first to speak “What brings you here Arima?” asked Urie. He was hoping Arima was here to give him a promotion but judging by his creastfallen expression Arima did not have any good news. “Actually” started Arima trying to look a bit more cheerful “I’m here for information.” Everybody wondered what kind information Arima needed that he didn’t have but Mutsuki spoke up first “What kind of information do we have that you don’t have access to.” Everybody was taken back by the boy’s bluntness but Arima seemed unfazed. “I need information on Sasaki.” Most of the Quinx squad had no idea what to think but Saiko had other ideas. “I know you and Sasaki had something going on but I never thought you’d ask us for advice” said Saiko smugly. While the Quinx were still processing the information Arima blushed a bit and replied “I don’t know what you mean” and unknowingly made it worse. “Oh come on Arima,” started Saiko in a teasing tone “We all heard Sasaki and you in office the other day. He was quite loud when he screamed ‘notice me sempai.’” The quinx flushed red at the assumption she was making but decided to stay out of it afraid of the CCG’s Reaper’s wrath.

Arima stood there with his mouth open and a light pink dusting his cheeks realizing what Saiko had assumed. He cleared his throat and started talking. “ This is just a test to make sure he is still in control of himself and won’t harm anyone here.” Arima knew that that didn’t sound believable at all but it was the best he had. While Saiko didn’t buy the excuse one bit she decided to let it go in favor of knowing what he wanted to ask. “So,” started Saiko with curiosity laced into her voice “What did you want to ask us?” Arima had been quite surprised that she had let that go but continued with his original question. “Have you noticed anything weird about Sasaki?” After Arima said it he realized that the question could be rather suggestive but the quinx didn’t seem to mind. Urie was the first to talk. “His hair is weird” suggested Urie “Whenever he’s sad it’s down and flat but when he’s happy it’s floofy.” The quinx squad had to hold in their laughter at what Urie had said. It was funny how the “All mighty Urie” had noticed an odd thing and had described his hair as “floofy”. Arima mentally faceplamed and asked again if anybody had noticed anything but this time in a more serious tone. Mutsuki was the first to speak up this time. “I have noticed that whenever we eat burgers and specifically burgers he gets the kind of longing stare and blanks out for a few minutes.” Said Mutsuki. While he had no idea if this was the kind of information Arima had wanted he had said it anyway. “Yeah” said Shizaru adding on to Mutsuki’s thought “and sometimes when he sees some things he says he gets a small headache and goes to sit down. Other times he just goes to sleep afterwards.”