A hero who wants to help others wants to live a normal life - Chapter 36

Chapter 36   Summer Vacation Plans

——◆◇◆◇——

“––I can’t believe something’s happening less than a month after we heard about it.”

It’s been a week since sempai visited the academy and we had that long conversation, and just as expected, trouble has reared its head.

Apparently, a student has gone missing, and after a search, only the student’s uniform was found discarded in some bushes.

But no one knows what it means. Did the student throw it away? Did someone else? Or did the wind just blow it there? No one knows.

They aren’t even sure if it really belonged to the missing student.

The thing is, there wasn’t any trace of the student’s body on the uniform. Normally, you’d expect at least a hair strand or a drop of sweat if someone had been wearing it. But there wasn’t anything like that.

At this point, it almost seems more reasonable to think that the uniform was newly made to resemble the student’s, rather than it being the actual one they wore.

In short, no one has any idea what really happened.

By the way, the reason I know all this isn’t because the school informed us. I got the details from senior’s bodyguard, Momochi-san, earlier this morning.

“This is about the warning you gave me, right?”

“Probably. But what do you think happened? They’re saying the student’s only missing for now…”

The news about the missing student has already spread to all the students.

But if this really is the ‘something’ sempai warned me about, then we probably shouldn’t hold out hope for the student’s safety.

“I think they’re most likely dead. I looked up the missing student, and they seemed to be just a regular person. No real target or value to them. I can’t imagine any reason to kidnap and keep them alive.”

It seems Inori thinks the same. Still…

“I see. Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

I can’t help but frown at how casually Inori says something like that, even though this should be a situation that would normally make anyone hesitate.

I know I shouldn’t be surprised; she’s improved a lot, but I still can’t help wanting her to be more careful with her words.

“Well, there’s also the chance that the missing student was in on it and disappeared because they were planning or doing something.”

If that’s the case and the missing student was an accomplice, then maybe they’re still alive. But who knows…?

“We won’t know unless we investigate that part.”

“Are you going to investigate?”

“No, people who are more qualified should handle that. Besides, if they find something, the seniors will let us know.”

“So, we just carry on as usual, right?”

“Yeah.”

Letting the seniors handle the investigation is the best approach. They’ll take care of it without me needing to say anything, and I’m not obligated to help.

We’re just regular students, after all. We may have special circumstances, but unless there’s something we absolutely need to do, we’re going to continue living as ordinary students.

——◆◇◆◇——

Two weeks had passed since one of the students went missing, and once again, the academy was abuzz with noise, just like before. In other words…

“Another missing person, huh?”

This time, it was a female student, but no further details were known. Perhaps, just like last time, only her uniform was left behind in the bushes.

“You don’t think the culprit was someone from the inside again, right?”

“That seems unlikely. But if that’s the case, it means the last missing student wasn’t the perpetrator but a victim, right?”

“Probably, yeah.”

But now that it’s happened twice, a third time wouldn’t be surprising. Heck, there could be a fourth or even a fifth. We don’t even know the culprit’s motive, so there’s no guarantee it will stop here.

“What should we do? Did that idiot contact you?”

The idiot… she’s talking about the senior, huh? She is an idiot, but still, don’t say it like that, especially where people at school could overhear. It could turn into a big problem if someone catches wind of it.

“No, nothing yet. But that probably means we should just keep our heads down and live as usual.”

If there were any new information or requests, we’d have gotten a call by now.

“Hmm, well, I guess that’s true. There’s nothing we can really do anyway, so just be careful, and I guess we’ll just go about our normal lives.”

“Not just me—you need to be careful too. It’s probably fine, but there’s no harm in avoiding injury.”

“Hmm, well, my priority is still you, but maybe I’ll be a little more cautious?”

“Sigh… Please, really be careful.”

I doubt anything could happen that would kill her, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t worry if she got hurt.

——◆◇◆◇——

“Summer break is almost here, huh?”

Even with students going missing, the days continued without disruption, and it was already time to start thinking about the upcoming summer vacation. It felt like just yesterday that I had enrolled, but time sure flies.

“Do you have any plans for summer break?”

“None. I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not hanging out with anyone.”

“Wow, that sounds like such a lonely life.”

“Shut up. Besides, this class doesn’t have that kind of vibe. Do you really think there’s anyone here who’d want to hang out with someone like me?”

Everyone around me is the child of someone important. We live in completely different worlds compared to us regular people. Just the other day, they were talking about attending some fancy party during the break. It’s impossible to even want to start a conversation with people like that. Do you really think I can make plans to hang out with them? No way.

“Hey, hey. You’ve got me, don’t you? Aren’t we friends?”

As I was talking with Inori, Kiriya chimed in.

Well, Kiriya is one of the rare people I get along with easily, so we’re on good terms, and calling him a friend wouldn’t be wrong. At the very least, I consider him a friend. But…

“Isn’t it kinda sad to call yourself someone’s friend?”

“And isn’t it a bit embarrassing to just outright say, ‘We’re friends,’ like that?”

“Shut up! What do you two think of people’s kindness?”

Even if we consider each other friends, even if we really are friends, it’s still a little awkward to actually say, “We’re friends,” out loud.

Kiriya, frustrated by our reaction, let out a sigh, shook his head lightly, and continued talking.

“Anyway, if you don’t have any plans for summer, how about hanging out together?”

“But isn’t your family one of those big, important ones? Don’t you have plans or something?”

I appreciate the invitation, but do you really have the time? Some of the other elite families’ kids were already talking about having their summer schedules fully booked…

“Well, I do have some stuff. I have to visit other families to greet them and train in the mountains or something, but I’m free for about half of the summer.”

Half your summer spent on greetings and training in the mountains? That sounds like a terrible vacation. And the fact that he’s just casually accepting it is impressive.

“Think about it the other way. Doesn’t it make you feel bad to know that half of your break is wasted on pointless stuff?”

“Don’t say that. I mean, I’ve been doing it since I was a kid, so it doesn’t really bother me anymore.”

I guess if you do the same thing every year, you just get used to it. But I’d hate it. It’s definitely not what I’d call normal.

“Visiting people is one thing, but what do you mean by training? Do you really go deep into the mountains and meditate under waterfalls or something?”

“No waterfalls, but we do have to climb cliffs instead.”

“Wow, that sounds pretty rough.”

“Yeah, it’s not just ‘sounds rough,’ it really is. It gets harder every year, so I can’t slack off, and if I don’t perform well, my parents and the head trainer will yell at me. I’ve got no choice but to take it seriously.”

I never thought I’d hear someone talk about training during summer break. But then again, considering we’re attending a school that fights monsters, maybe it’s normal here?

“Anyway, I’ve got stuff to do for half the break, but the other half is free. Want to go somewhere?”

“Somewhere, huh… Like the mountains?”

Since I’ve never really gone out with friends before due to my special circumstances, I’m not sure, but I imagine camping in the mountains is something guys do during summer break, right?

But when Kiriya heard my suggestion, he made a face, clearly not thrilled.

“Please, no mountains… I’ll be going there enough for training. If we’re going somewhere, let’s go to the beach instead.”

“The beach, huh… Yeah, that could work.”

The beach is a classic summer destination, so there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it sounds pretty good.

Still, training in the mountains, huh. He really does train, doesn’t he?