As Hitoshi’s boots softly clicked against the stairs, his body slowly emerged from the 1st floor of the school and entered the 2nd floor.  As he came up, he began to take a look around, seeing if anyone was around.  He stopped for a moment, looking at everything and thinking as to whether or not he really wanted to confront Principal Ayuka at this time.  He was also thinking about the concerns that a few people had for him, specifically those from Tarou, as to whether or not she would be upset with him for being so late.

e stood on the East side of the second floor.  This floor wasn’t dedicated to nearly as much as the first floor of the Main Campus Building was, but it still offered quite a bit of useful rooms.  From east to west, there was a huge library, where all of the textbooks and other kinds of books that the students studied were kept.  Other than that, there were just a few classrooms on the left, and in the middle of the area, on the right, was a lone, wooden door that led to the Principal’s Office, where Principal Ayuka was, no doubt, waiting for him.

Hitoshi began to slowly walk forward, across the hall towards the office when a blue-haired girl crossed paths with him.  He stopped and smiled towards her as she slowed her pace and spoke to him.  She had a lot of nervousness in her voice, but she let out what she needed to, anyways.  “H-Hello there, Hitoshi, Kun.  You…l-look nice today!”  Not a moment passed between these nervous statements before the girl began to raise her pace again.  Unknown to Hitoshi, her cheeks were red as can be and she was walking away much faster than when she’d approached him.

After shrugging his shoulders and continuing down the hall, his mind wandered off of the nervous girl, and more onto the office where he would soon learn why the Principal of the entire school wanted him, of all people, to see her.  He stopped at the door and questioned himself.  “Am I ready to go in and see her?”  After a few moments’ hesitation, his brain made up its mind.  He couldn’t slack off anymore.  He might already be in trouble, and he didn’t need to make it worse than it already might have been.  He slowly turned the knob and opened the door.

Principal Ayuka’s Office was much more than just an office, on the inside.  There were lines of tables, where students could do work, a great many sets of bookshelves, and finally, the Principal’s desk, itself.  There was a beautiful, red carpet in front of the table-like desk which was adorned with two Swords and a Shield on either side.  At the desk was the brown-haired, armor-clad Principal herself.  She had her legs crossed in her cushioned chair and began to speak the moment Hitoshi walked into the door, making his dawdling quite apparent.

“Well, Hitoshi Hayama.  I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to make it up here.”  The Principal knew, full well, that he hadn’t come straight there.  Of course, how could she not?  He’d done so much between getting the message that anyone would be skeptical of his attitude towards this assignment.  Hitoshi tried to keep a straight face, though, and addressed her as a soldier would a superior.  He stood straight up and spoke to her, as sternly as he could.  “Reporting as ordered, Ayuka-sensei.  I do hope the day has been treating you well.”

Ayuka’s stern look quickly changed to a grin as she responded, acknowledging that he still had his manners.  She also didn’t waste any time with what she wanted.  She got straight to the point, right away.  “Listen, Hitoshi, I’ll cut right to the chase, since I know that we both don’t care much for being in the dark.”  Hitoshi was very surprised by this situation.  He knew he was in the dark about whatever this was, but he thought that Principal Ayuka, of all people, knew pretty much everything there was to know around campus.  “Sensei?  We’re both in the dark?”

Ayuka lost her grin and gave Hitoshi a quick nod.  “Unfortunately.  All of this is between the two of us, Hitoshi.  What I’m about to tell you cannot leave this room, and I believe it is something that you need to know for what I’m about to ask of you.”  She paused for a moment to take a breath, and then continued, filling Hitoshi in.  “Every four years, this campus has had strange disappearances.  Students will just disappear, leaving no trace behind.  We don’t really know anything, other than that.  Because of our inability to figure out how or why this is happening, we have made a tradition of cover-ups since before even I took over as principal.”

Her stern look became more stern as her voice changed and started to sound more forceful.  “However, now that I’m in charge,                 I want it stopped, and the time for that is now.”  Hitoshi lost his confident look as he tried to respond and show the Principal that he couldn’t really help with all of this disappearing stuff.  “I, well…I have the utmost respect for the secrets of the academy, sensei, but I’m afraid I don’t know anything about any disappearances, much less any kind of cover-ups.”

Ayuka smiled and chuckled for a moment, noticing the obvious nervous reaction she’d instilled in the poor guy.  “Calm down, Hitoshi.  It’s not like I’m suspecting little ol’ you for having anything to do with all this.  I just see potential in you, and I think you’re the person that can solve this puzzle.  It also might be the fact that we are so very close to that 4-year mark and you’re the least gossipy student that I could find that may have a little to do with this.”

Hitoshi got some mixed feelings on her calling his the ‘least gossipy’ student.  Was she trying to say that he was unpopular or something?  As he thought about it, he cleared his mind as his sensei began speaking again.  “Now, listen.  I want you to go to the beach and find Old Man Houjo.  You know the stories of the old hermit who lives up north, right?  The truth is, he has been a friend of the academy for years and years.  I want you to ask him about the disappearances, if there’s a way for us to rescue the people we’ve already lost, if…just, anything, Hitoshi.” 

Ayuka’s expression suddenly changed.  She seemed more regretful now, than stern and intimidating.  “Covering all of this up just isn’t for me.  We must be able to do something, and honestly, I don’t know where else to start.”  Seeing Ayuka’s regretful expression, Hitoshi gladly accepts his assignment and speaks to her as to whether he’ll be doing this alone, or not.

“I’ll find out whatever I can, sensei, but I really don’t have the, uh…intuitive and diplomatic skills to shoulder so much detective-work.  I’m not saying we have to, but it would be nice to have some backup or…”  His question seemed pointless, however.  As soon as he’d finished that last statement, she changed her tone again, now more intimidating again, acting like Hitoshi had jumped the gun.  “Do you think I’m crazy?  Of course you’re not going out there, alone.  I said you had potential, not that you were some kind of superhero.  I sent my aides to gather up your roommates, Tarou and Sei.  You three should work well as a team.  They’ll be waiting for you at the back gates.”

Hitoshi felt a lot more at ease, knowing that his two buddies would be accompanying him on this mission.  He smiled and acknowledged all of this.  “No problem, sensei.  We’ll head right out and find this Old Man Houjo and be back here before you know it.”  Ayukla was starting to get into a better mood about it as well, nodding to him and giving him some final words.  “Good.  Now, be careful out there.  We don’t know what, exactly we’re dealing with here.  Just, make sure you don’t make me regret choosing you for this, for ANY reason.”

Hitoshi felt a little nervous at this last statement, but he turned and headed out the door, preparing to head to the back Gate and start this strange mission he’d been given…