Preventing The Fall (Minako x Makoto)

Chapter 7

Faculty office...

Mitsuru, Junpei, Akihiko, Makoto and Minako had just entered the faculty office to interrogate Ekoda about Yamagishi Fuuka's disappearance. Inside was Natsuki and Yukari.

"Oh, Mitsuru-senpai, what are you doing here?" Yukari questioned.

"Same reason as you." Mitsuru replied. "Mr. Ekoda, I'm here to ask you about a student named Yamagishi Fuuka."

"No! I-I never thought it'd turn out like this!" Natsuki gasped. "Fuuka..."

"Moriyama-san." Minako mumbled as she clenched her fist.

"Wait...You're that girl..." Yukari widened her eyes.

"What did you do to Yamagishi?" Mitsuru demanded.

"Hold on, Mitsuru. This isn't an interrogation." Ekoda interrupted. "Natsuki, you don't have to say anything you don't want to. You wouldn't want to give her the wrong idea."

"Moriyama-san." Minako called, grabbing everyone's attention. "I can assure you we won't do anything to you. Could you just get straight to the point and tell us what you and your friends did?"

'She didn't mention anything about friends.' Makoto raised an eyebrow.

"Fuuka...She..." Natsuki gulped for a second. "She always looked so frazzled whenever I gave her a tough time...Then I realised...she's an honour student, but deep inside, she's just the same as us. I knew exactly which buttons to push. We were just messin' with her that day, too!"

Minako clenched her other fist in anger. Even after her warning to Natsuki and her gang, they didn't stop to torment Fuuka.

"May 29th..." Natsuki continued. "We took Fuuka to the gym...and locked the door from the inside."

"What?! You locked her in?!" Junpei was shocked.

"That night, Maki returned to school alone. She was afraid we'd get in trouble we'd get in trouble if Fuuka committed suicide. But, she never came back...and the next morning..."

"...She was found lying on the school ground by the gate." Yukari unwilling added.

"Damn it, you insensitive brat!" Minako slammed her fist on a table, taking everyone by surprise. "I warned you and your stupid group of friends about messing with Yamagishi! If it wasn't for Maki-san, you idiots would have left the poor girl to die!"

"T-That isn't true!" Natsuki suddenly got tears in her eyes.

"Is it not? Don't go playing the victim card when you're suddenly in trouble, Moriyama-san." Minako glared. "People like you make me sick."

"You're right..." Natsuki shut her eyes before placing a hand on her mouth. "I never meant for this to happen, believe me..."

"If you could please continue with your story?" Mitsuru said, placing a hand on the bridge of her nose.

"I went to the gym to let Fuuka out, but the door was still locked...So, I opened it and went inside, but she wasn't there...We all freaked out. Starting that night, we all went out looking for her. But every night, another one of us went missing...and they each ended up like Maki!" Natsuki concluded.

"I see..." Mitsuru gave a small sigh.

"By the way, Mr. Ekoda...All this time, you've attributed Yamagishi's absences to illness. But in reality, she was missing. You must have been aware of that." Mitsuru accused. "What was your intention?"

"I was thinking if the students, of course. You children may not understand, but we have to consider the future of everyone affected." Ekoda told bluntly.