A Book Can't Be Judged By The Cover

Chapter 88: Hajime’s Parents

"Still, what happened to you? Were you bullied, by any chance?" With his arms clasped tightly together while his brows were furrowed, Officer Hideki eyed Hajime with a concerned gaze. In himself, he couldn’t believe that such a fine young man had to experience the harshness of the world. Seeing Hajime’s injury felt like a wake-up call to him, stressing out the fact that it could happen to anyone. And today, Hajime just so happened to be the unlucky one.

Before replying, Hajime gave a glance at Akamine-sensei. If it were only the policeman present in the room then he’d have disclosed about the debt collectors but now he was met with a dilemma since Akamine-sensei was present. Either he’d tell Officer Hideki about the debt collectors and risk Akamine-sensei becoming aware of it, or he’d hide it all together and not tell the officer about it so Akamine-sensei would also remain oblivious.

He opted for the latter.

"I was attacked by three people. They jumped on me while I was on my way home." Hajime responded.

"An aggravated assault. Do you recognize your attackers?" Hideki asked.

"Yes, but I don’t know their names. I’ve seen them a couple of times in the past." Hajime’s answer couldn’t be any vaguer.

The interrogation continued for a few more minutes before Hideki decided that it’d be best for Hajime to go home. It was getting late, after all, and he wouldn’t want him to be the subject of another assault. "I have the police car available outside. I’ll drive you home." Hideki offered. However, Hajime rejected it, saying that he didn’t want to burden the policeman any further.

"It’s okay, I’ll walk him home," Akamine-sensei said, offering her hand to Hajime and pulling him back to his feet.

"Don’t overexert, okay? Your ribs are still broken. It’d be better if you take a couple of days rest." Hideki reminded him as a way of saying goodbye. "And you take care always. I wouldn’t want to see you back here again with another set of injuries."

Hajime bowed in response. ’Frankly, I do hope I don’t end up in here for the second time either.’ He muttered in his mind.

As the two walked away from the police station, Hideki sighed in relief, just glad that Hajime didn’t suffer any injuries and that he could dismiss him home instead of sending him to the hospital. ’That kid’s a real tough nut to crack, all right. If it were me I’d have died or something after that one-sided beating.

"Um, Officer Hideki?" One of the policemen called for him, handing him a coffee to which he obliged. "Where’s the kid?"

"I just sent him home." Hideki jerked his thumb towards the front door. "Why? Do you need anything?"

"What?! You sent him home?! In any case, check it out. It’s about his parents." The policeman said, carelessly handing Hideki a bunch of case files which scattered on the table.

"His parents? What about them?" Hideki casually asked back when suddenly his eyes widened before he spat out his coffee.

.....

Back to the present, Dai Yama High School Trip,

Most male students opted to bring backpacks while the girls brought luggage. Because of that, the unpacking took way more time in general for the girls. As for the boys, they were already out in the open, exploring the vicinity while the girls took their sweet time painstakingly dragging their luggage to their rooms and unpacking.

And it’s not like the guys could help them either. After all, there was a punishment reserved for anyone who crossed the girl’s area. There were other guys who wanted to risk it of course but they were branded as creeps since they volunteered to go instead of waiting for the girls to ask for their help. Then there were those who couldn’t care less just like Kichiro and his group.

"Follow me, men, I’ll take you someplace nice." He grinned, swaying a bag in his hand while he walked.

"What? You even brought her? Awesome!" Shoichi whispered to Kichiro as they put their arms on each other’s shoulders, doing a little ritual as they led the way.

On the other hand, there was Shinji who kept on reading a book. For a moment, Hajime wondered why he was too engrossed in reading a novel when they were on the sidewalks. One wrong move and he could possibly end up in the hospital, especially since he wasn’t paying attention to the road.

"You like reading?" Shinji couldn’t help but ask since Hajime was glancing at him from time to time. freewebnovёl.ƈom

"Not particularly." Hajime shrugged, trying to take a peek at the novel he was reading.

"Curious?" This time, Shinji briefly wore a suspicious smile before he flashed one page of the novel to Hajime.

It was brief, but Hajime saw clearly the graphic outlines and the vivid black and white scene that instantly imprinted itself on his head. Even with the shock he experienced, Hajime maintained his clear-headed expression before monotonously commenting something. "And here I was thinking it was a refined novel."

"Can’t judge a book by the cover, you know." Shinji shrugged back as he relaxed. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

"What are you two talking about, get your butts over here!" Kichiro muttered, evilly glaring at Hajime alone as if outrightly telling him that he wasn’t welcome to join them— just Shinji was more than enough.

Hajime still followed suit, however, since everyone was responsible for their group and he didn’t want to be the one causing trouble for the three of them. At the very least, he wanted to lay low, even if it meant allowing Kichiro and his ’lackey’ Shoichi to treat him badly.

"..."

"I wanna meet her! Just this once! Please!" Shoichi pleaded.

"Later, we’re almost there." Kichiro hissed, slightly annoyed at Shoichi’s pestering.

’What are they talking about?’ Hajime couldn’t really overhear what the two of them were discussing but based on what little he heard, he concluded that they were talking about a girl or something along those lines.

"And we’ve arrived! Hahha~!" Kichiro said, extending his hand upward towards the sign of an odd-looking multi-colored house.

Except it wasn’t a house, but a cat cafe.