Free Web NovelChapter 91: One Job
"Oi, wait!" Kichiro called out, surprised at Hajime’s sudden outburst before he fled out of the room. He didn’t specify where he was going and that bothered Kichiro a bit. He was the leader of the bunch, after all, and the responsibility of keeping everyone in check falls heavily on his shoulders.
"He’s probably going to take a huge dump. Let him be," Shoichi brushed it off as they started another round of card games. Apparently, Shinji was also interested in playing cards so he joined the next round without speaking another word.
It was still early in the afternoon so the orange glow in the surroundings still gave Hajime the reassurance that no trouble had happened to Megumi and whoever was in her group. Besides, Megumi wasn’t your typical rich girl who doesn’t know how to take care of herself without her butler. As mentioned before, she wasn’t born a rich girl, but rather, her parents just became successful later in life and that affected her social standing more than anything else.
So Hajime wasn’t worried about Megumi making poor decisions or accidentally offending someone while she was outside. What he’s worried about the most was Megumi’s vulnerability as someone wealthy. Anyone could basically target her at any given moment and that possibility will only increase the longer she was outside.
The hottest part of the afternoon was about to ensue but Hajime didn’t bother going back to the room to get his hoodie. Instead, he rushed out of Aoi Umi Dormitory with just his shirt, shorts, and slippers. He impulsively covered his face from the blazing heat of the sun that bore down on Tokyo and managed to pick up his pace into a sprint. Hot and arid heat blowing against his face, Hajime went farther from the neighborhood and deeper into the streets of Tokyo.
"Ah, right," Hajime said to himself, picking up his phone and dialing Franz’s number. Up until now, it’s still only Franz’s number which was saved on his phone so he didn’t have that much of an option.
A few seconds later, Hajime’s phone began to ring. Instead of just replying with a message, Franz went out of his way to call him, which was rather unusual considering that he never called Hajime in the past.
"Hello? Young sir?" Franz spoke on the other side of the line with a soothing voice. The faint sound of the car’s engine could be heard since he was driving the limousine.
"Franz-san?" Hajime asked as he balked, stopping right by the center of the sidewalk which surprised a couple of passersby who were around him.
"You don’t have any idea where the young miss is right now?" Franz asked straightforwardly before Hajime could ask his question.
This in turn gave Hajime a sense of apprehensiveness since Franz didn’t answer the question in his message. And instead, he was confirming whether Hajime was aware of the young miss’s location at that very moment. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
As for Franz, the first thing that came to his mind when he received the message was the fact that Hajime couldn’t believe where Megumi went. But now, after hearing Hajime’s bated breaths through the phone, he confirmed that Hajime actually didn’t know the young miss’s whereabouts. Either he lost her, or he simply didn’t follow her in the first place.
Meanwhile, Hajime was wondering why Franz asked the question back. Of course, he didn’t know. If he did, then he wouldn’t have asked— or so that’s what he thought as if it was obvious. But after a couple of seconds, Hajime’s face paled as he realized that Franz meant between the lines of what he said.
’You didn’t do your job properly and now you’re asking me where she is?’— This was what Hajime thought Franz meant.
"AH! I’m really sorry, Franz-san, I wasn’t expecting their group to go somewhere so I didn’t follow them. I’m a failure as a bodyguard." Hajime bowed a perfect ninety-degree bow in the middle of the crowd while he apologized with earnestness.
"No, um," Franz wanted to say that he didn’t mean anything when he asked the question.
After all, Franz was currently on his way back. He was specifically instructed by Mr. Kikuchi to leave Megumi in Hajime’s care and to take a few days off while they were on the school trip. The excitement of a few days off got the better of Franz that he forgot to tell Hajime that he’d be looking after the young miss without his assistance.
In essence, both of them were at fault here, so Franz couldn’t possibly blame Hajime even though he made a wrong move. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
"Just... make up a reason and ask your homeroom teacher about it. I’m sure she’ll give you her location without being suspicious. Tell her that you need to give her something, or something along those lines." Franz said. "I’m on my way back, so I can’t be of assistance right now. I apologize Hajime, It slipped past my mind to tell you that I won’t be there. Please locate the young miss as soon as possible and message me as soon as possible."
"I promise that this won’t reach her father. But make sure you act fast."
"Right!" Hajime snapped back into a straight line after bowing down. He didn’t ask Franz any additional questions.
Click!
Franz hanging up was the signal that prompted Hajime to retrace his footsteps back to Aoi Umi Dormitory. By now, five minutes had already passed. Hajime put overthinking at the back of his mind. For now, his goal was to locate Akamine-sensei and ask her if she knew where Megumi’s group went for that afternoon. He still had no idea what reason to tell sensei but he was confident he could come up with a valid one on the spot. That’s why he didn’t think that much about it. Besides, there were already a couple of things in his mind so he had no luxury to think of anything else.
His job was on the line here, and not only that, his reputation is as well.
Hajime took a hard left, confident that he wouldn’t bump into anyone.
"Ouch!"
Just his luck, there was someone by the corner and he squarely bumped into her, falling right on top of her as he winced.
