Takeshi approached the first student he saw.
It was a guy sitting on a bench in the second-floor hallway with a notebook open on his lap. He had his headphones on and was staring at the notebook without actually reading what was in front of him.
Takeshi stopped in front of him.
"Hey."
The guy looked up.
"Do you know Yuki Tachibana?"
Takeshi asked.
The guy looked at him for a moment. Then he lowered his gaze back to the notebook without answering.
Takeshi waited two seconds, but the guy didn't look up again.
He kept walking.
The chat popped up.
[excellent start]
[talked to a wall]
[try someone who isn't wearing headphones]
[helpful chat advice]
Takeshi ignored the messages and looked for another student. Up ahead, two girls were standing by the lockers, talking to each other. He approached and waited a moment before interrupting.
"Excuse me."
He began.
"Do you know where Yuki Tachibana is?"
The two girls looked at him and then at each other. One of them shrugged.
"I don't know who that is."
She answered.
"Me neither."
Said the other.
Takeshi nodded and walked away.
[nobody knows anything]
[or they don't want to say]
[probably the second one]
He went down to the first floor and asked three more students. One told him he didn't know her.
Another looked at him like the question was weird and kept walking without answering.
The third, a guy who was drinking water at a fountain, said he'd heard the name but didn't know what face it belonged to.
Takeshi stepped out into the main courtyard.
There were more students outside than inside. He scanned them, looking for any floating sign above someone's head, but nothing. He headed toward the nearest group—four guys sitting on the ground with their backpacks leaning against the concrete bench.
"Does anyone know Yuki Tachibana?"
He asked.
Three of the four looked at him with blank expressions. The fourth, who had his back turned, twisted his head, sized Takeshi up for a second, and turned back around.
"No."
Said one of the three.
The other two didn't say anything.
Takeshi walked away from the group.
[this is going well]
[really well]
[extraordinarily well]
[the chat applauds your progress]
He crossed the courtyard and asked two more people, but neither gave him any useful information.
A girl who was sitting alone reading on a bench said she thought she knew the name but wasn't sure, and in the end said she hadn't really paid attention to anyone.
Takeshi went back inside the building.
Time was still running. He had no exact way to measure it, but he knew every lap gave him a rough idea of how much was left of the fifteen minutes before Yuki stopped waiting and started looking for him. He didn't have much time left.
He headed for the stairs in the right wing of the building, which he still hadn't used on this lap.
The stairs connected the three floors on the opposite side from the ones he normally used. On the landing between the first and second floors there was a window that looked out the side of the building. Takeshi glanced at it as he passed without stopping.
He climbed to the second floor and then he saw her.
She was coming down from the third floor with the calm steps of someone who wasn't in a hurry. Albino hair, completely white, cut neatly just below her shoulders. Blue eyes that looked down at the exact moment Takeshi looked up from the stair landing.
Above her head there was a sign.
[AOI MIZUHARA]
[Life: 100%]
[Sanity: 100%]
[Trust: 100%]
Takeshi didn't move while she finished descending the last steps and stopped in front of him.
She didn't say anything, just looked at him with an expression Takeshi couldn't read. It wasn't surprise or discomfort, but he didn't have time to try to figure it out.
"Hey."
Takeshi said.
"Do you know Yuki Tachibana?"
Aoi didn't answer right away. She kept looking at him for another moment before she opened her mouth.
"Yes."
She said in a calm, direct voice.
"I know her."
"Did you see her today?"
Takeshi asked.
"Yes."
Aoi answered.
Takeshi waited, but Aoi didn't continue on her own, so he asked again.
"Do you know where she is?"
Aoi looked at him for a moment before answering.
"I saw her behind the training field."
The training field. Takeshi had been at the training field on the previous lap and hadn't seen anything, but he hadn't checked the back. He had walked the perimeter from the inside and inspected the wooden structures, but he hadn't gone around the outside of the field to see what was behind it.
"Thanks."
Takeshi said.
He took a step to go down the stairs and pass by Aoi toward the exit.
"Why are you looking for her?"
The question came when he already had his foot on the first step. Takeshi turned his head toward Aoi and answered without thinking, because time was still running and his brain had its resources occupied with something else.
"I'm supposed to meet her."
He answered and kept going down the stairs.
He didn't look back. He listened to his own footsteps until he exited the side of the building and turned toward the back courtyard at a quick pace.
The chat appeared while he was walking.
[oooooh]
[what just happened]
[did you guys notice?]
[Aoi went quiet]
[she didn't say anything after that]
[interesting]
[very interesting]
'What are they talking about?'
Takeshi didn't read the messages in full. He crossed the back courtyard in a straight line toward the training field, passed the wooden structures he had checked on the previous lap, and went around the field on the right side toward the back.
There was a strip of ground between the edge of the field and the back fence of the school, with trees on the sides, unpaved dirt, and shade from the position of the morning sun.
Takeshi quickened his pace.
Behind him, on the stairs in the right wing of the building, Aoi Mizuhara remained standing on the landing between the first and second floors. She hadn't gone down or up. She was in the exact same spot where Takeshi had left her, one hand resting on the railing and her gaze directed toward the door he had gone out through.
She didn't say anything, but her stats changed.
[Life: 100%]
[Sanity: 95%]
[Trust: 100%]