Sigh.

Ugh.

"—wait."

"...?"

"I need to go, I'll—sorry, I need to go look into something, but I don't want to—uh." He gets up. "I'll see you on Monday."

"You're skipping the rest of today's classes?"

"Yeah. Uh, I'll just—go."

And he goes.

"The fuck was that about."

"I know as much as you do." He sighs again. "I... think I do not want to be at school anymore, either. Are your parents home?"

"Kuroji is, Haru is probably back home by now but I dunno."

"Then—can I come over to your place?"

"...why are you asking me, do whatever you want."

"—right. Let's go, then? Kinda feeling claustrophobic here."

Inori gets to his feet and leads the way.

"...claustrophobic?" he asks after a couple of seconds.

"...feels like I'm in a sort of hostile environment, I guess," he says in an undertone. "Can't... trust anyone in Kokonoe High."

"...you can't trust anyone anywhere."

"I should've seen that one coming."

"Tadaima!" Inori calls as he walks into his house and takes his shoes off.

    "Inori-kun!" calls Harutsugu's voice from upstairs, and in a few seconds he's coming down to greet him. "And Tōkan-kun. He told you, then? 😰"

"Yeah. Um, is Kuroji here, too?"

"I am," he says, joining them in the foyer coming from the kitchen. "Did you need something, Tōkan-kun?"

Tōkan then drops to his knees and bows low enough for his forehead to touch the floor. "I am so sorry. This is all my fault. They're not trying to get at Inori, they're trying to get at me. Inori is, is collateral damage to them, they're—" But he has to cut himself off because now that he's allowed himself to say and think all of that he's on the verge of tears.

...what the fuck.

    "Oh, Tōkan-kun... 😔" says Harutsugu, coming down to his knees too and placing a hand on Tōkan's shoulder. "It's not your fault, it could have happened anytime..."

"It couldn't, it really couldn't, it—" He clears his throat and tries to keep his voice steady, forehead still on the floor. "The only way this happened was because, because there's money involved. And there's money because—because of me. They're mad that I'm, I'm calling them out on being—"

"Get up."

That startles him and he does look up.