Hearing that Arima also wanted to join, Byakuya was slightly surprised; Why was this guy getting involved too?
"Even you, Arima-kun…?"
Fura Taishi was even more bewildered.
These two transfer students looked like the studious, well-behaved type.
So why the hell were they trying to run around with delinquents like him?!
"Awesome! Our group just keeps getting bigger!"
Sasada Aki, however, was delighted.
Taishi knew Aki was a bit airheaded, so he didn't bother explaining anything to her.
"I'm friends with Uchiha-kun. Is there a problem?"
Arima repeated his intention to join the gang.
"…Forget it. Do whatever you want."
Taishi still didn't get what was going on, but he couldn't be bothered to figure it out.
"Just don't come crying to me when the teachers chew you out later."
"We won't."
Byakuya answered calmly.
"No."
Arima also replied.
And with that, Byakuya and Arima left with Taishi.
Byakuya had a clear goal for doing this.
But he couldn't figure out why Arima had chosen to follow him.
What was his reasoning?
In truth, Arima had been thinking the same thing about Byakuya.
From his perspective, Uchiha's actions made no sense.
What did joining a gang have to do with investigating ghouls?
But…
Byakuya had caught the interest of Yoshitoki Washuu and Kaiko.
There was no way someone like that would do something completely pointless.
So, Arima decided to follow him and see for himself.
Meanwhile, as Byakuya and Taishi left the classroom, Minami Uruka glanced toward the door with a subtle look of curiosity.
Byakuya went with Taishi and Aki, but he had no intention of playing along with their motorcycle gang activities.
After coming up with a simple excuse about not being good with motorcycles, he split off to do his own thing.
Neither Taishi nor Aki questioned him about it.
After all, they hadn't told the two transfer students beforehand that they were part of a racing gang.
Taishi himself, however, wasn't actually a fan of their reckless riding.
Not only did they get chased by the police, but if an accident happened, there was no turning back.
So today, he just planned to take a short ride to clear his head.
Then, once he calmed down, he'd go back to school.
After all; Minami was still there.
"Taishi… why don't you hang out with me and Ryou anymore?"
Aki suddenly asked.
"We used to always be together… but now, you're always going back to school."
Aki hadn't actually wanted to come to school today.
The only reason she showed up was because Taishi was going.
A long time ago, when Taishi gave up on his dream of playing baseball, he spiraled downwards and became a delinquent.
Back then, he, Aki, and Ryou spent every day skipping school, roaming the streets, and messing around.
They only showed up just enough to not get expelled.
But one day…
Taishi changed.
He suddenly started going back to class regularly.
And Aki just couldn't understand why.
Eventually, Aki began to notice a pattern-Taishi's behavior changed right around the time a certain transfer student arrived.
Uruka Minami.
"…It's just that the stuff you guys do is too dangerous. Besides, going to school isn't exactly a bad thing, right?"
Taishi gave a vague excuse.
Of course, there was no way he could just blurt out that he had feelings for Uruka.
If Aki and Ryou ever found out, they'd never let him live it down.
A delinquent biker like him-
Falling for a quiet, studious, top-ranking honor student like Uruka Minami?
What a joke.
"Is that so…?"
Aki muttered, clearly dissatisfied.
"Or maybe you've just got a crush on someone."
"Like someone from our class, for example?"
"What the hell are you talking about?! No way!"
Taishi shot back instantly, clearly flustered.
Damn it. Aki caught on way too fast.
But…
She probably didn't know exactly who, right?
At most, she was just guessing.
Yeah…
There's no way she could already know about Uruka Minami.
He absolutely could not admit to this.
"Pathetic…"
Aki scoffed under her breath, watching him panic.
At that moment, Byakuya had already arrived at 13th Ward's Hotel Street.
And Arima was right behind him.
"So Uchiha-san really doesn't waste his time on pointless things."
Arima finally spoke up.
Because right now, they were standing at the very site of "Lantern's" most recent feeding incident.
This was the case that had forced CCG to take "Lantern" more seriously and deploy investigators to track them down.
"…Something like that."
Byakuya responded vaguely.
A few moments later, his enhanced vision picked up a small object nearby.
A single shoe.
He walked over and picked it up.
"A 22cm flat leather shoe… Looks like it's from Seishin High School's official uniform. It was left near the crime scene, which means…"
"…There's a real possibility this belongs to our suspect."
It was a girl's size.
And without a doubt; this was Minami Uruka's shoe.
"True… The world is built from a million small details. And hidden within those details are the scattered fragments of truth."
Arima seemed to agree completely.
In fact-this was actually a scene from the original story.
Arima had originally found this shoe himself and started suspecting Minami Uruka.
The only difference was that this time, Byakuya had led him here first.
"We'll hand this over to the 13th Ward branch for analysis."
Byakuya decided.
The two of them made a quick stop at CCG's branch office, dropped off the shoe for investigation, and then returned to school to finish the rest of the day.
It was still only their first day, but Byakuya knew he needed to start keeping an eye on Taishi and the other delinquents tonight.
Why?
Because he and Arima joining their group might have sped up Uruka's urge to kill them.
In the original timeline, Uruka hunted them down because she believed delinquents were nothing but useless trash.
But now?
She might think they were also a bad influence on the new transfer students.
In truth, Taishi and his gang were reckless, but they weren't exactly evil.
They sped down the streets at dangerous speeds, disturbing civilians and provoking the police.
But they didn't deserve to die for it.
Uruka's complete disregard for human life was far worse.