When we entered the clubroom after school, me and Yuna saw the whole gang together, Omoyo included.
"Oh, hey guys," she said, giving us a casual wave. "Glad to see . . . you?"
But as soon as Yuna saw her, her face turned red and her cheeks puffed out. She walked right over to Omoyo, glaring at her. This was the first time I had ever seen Yuna look anything other than gloomy. She. Was. Seriously. Mad.
And to illustrate how mad she was, she pushed the volume of her phone to max and shoved it into Omoyo's right ear as it played, "YOU ARE AN IDIOT!"
Computer-generated or not, we were all surprised by the outburst. I certainly couldn't think of a reason why Yuna would be so mad. But then she explained, "Hisao told me that you were the Piper's target. That he broke into your house to get to you. That means at some point, he was following us. I sensed someone was close by and following us, but didn't think there was anything wrong with that. You, however, can tell what other people are feeling, so you must have known that whoever was following us was bad news. Why didn't you say anything? If you had, that whole ordeal could've been avoided!"
"I'm sorry!" Omoyo cried out. "But I couldn't help but. The Piper's feelings really did a number on my mind and I couldn't think straight!"
She put down the phone and moved her lips like she was screaming. No sound came out, of course, so I had no way of knowing what she was trying to say until Mirai, who also had a talent for lip reading translated for us.
"That's no excuse. If Hisao had been even a second late, you would have died."
Yuna put her hands on Omoyo's shoulders and then dropped her head down as if her neck could no longer keep it up. With her face pointed to the floor, her next words were obscurred. But Mirai had no trouble translating since his power let him see anything and everything.
"I've already lost my mom because of that tunnel," she had said. "I don't know what I'd do if I ended up losing a friend too."
I wanted to ask what tunnel she was talking about, but I held my tongue while knowing that now was not a good time to ask. But I did vaguely remember hearing something about a tunnel before. I think it was from one of the police officers who interviewed us that time.
We were all still, unable to say anything, but Yuna eventually calmed down, retreated from Omoyo and took her seat. The air, however, remained heavy. Even Mirai, who had his hand on that mascot elephant head thought better and left it where it was on the desk sitting at the back corner of the room.
As soon as I sat next to Yuna, our meeting began.
"Ahem!" Mirai stood before us and coughed. "So . . . as you all know, the Piper went after Homura. Thanks to Underling Hisao, the worst was averted and Omoyo is still with us. As both the president of this club and Homura's friend, Hisao, I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
He turned to me and gave me a deep, deep bow. I've never had someone bow so deeply to me before and it left me feeling somewhat embarrassed. There was little that I could say, other than a hesitant, "Uh . . . you're welcome."
"Henceforth," Mirai continued as he straightened up and flashed one of his usual big smiles, "you will no longer be called Underling Hisao. Instead, You are now Tank Hisao! Give a round of applause!"
He was the only one clapping. I was just dumbfounded and wondered if I should be happy that my reward for risking my neck and livelihood fighting a deranged serial killer was a new nickname. And honestly, I wasn't sure if the new nickname was a good one either.
"Well, with that out of the way," Mirai said after he was done clapping, "let's get on to even more serious business. I'm sure all of you know by now, but instead of handing the Pipers over to the cops, we let the Shirogami Clan take them. The news hasn't given out much details yet, but you can be sure that they'll tell the whole world that the Shirogami Clan, or someone tied to them is the hero who stopped the evil monsters. That is, of course, is a lie. The truth is, members of this club were the ones who took down the Pipers. But we're not going to say anything about that and will let the Shirogami Clan hog all the glory. Let me tell you why.
"First reason, the attention we'll get for capturing the Pipers will be a headache to certain members of this club."
All eyes turned to me, singling me out. It was uncomfortable, but I couldn't say anything against it. Mirai continued on with the second reason.
"Second reason," he said, "if we tried to get the truth out after the Shirogami Clan has already taken the credit, we'd end up on their bad side. They've already kicked their old leader out of office, so there's no telling what they'd do to anyone who crosses them."
"Wait, what?" I asked. "What do you mean they kicked their old leader out?"
"It's exactly what I mean," Mirai said. "Some of the big shots of the Shirogami Clan got together to stage a coup, a rebellion, an uprising, a mutiny, whatever word you want to use. And they succeeded."
"What!?" Omoyo cried out in horror. "You can't be serious, Toshiro!"
"Oh, but I am," Mirai said. "Luckily, though, the great Lady Shirogami and her family escaped capture. I heard from my dad that a friend of the family helped them get away and kept them safe."
"Then shouldn't those guys in the Shirogami Clan get arrested or something?" I asked. "Or at least, can't this Lady Shirogami person come back with lawyers to take back control?"
But Isaneko said, "It's not that simple, even for someone with friends in high places like Lady Shirogami. For one thing, those scumbags in control of the clan now have their own 'friends in high places' and lawyers. They also have their own army of thugs willing to do dirty work."
"You make it sound like they're the Yakuza," I said.
"Well, with the stunts they've pulled recently, that's pretty much what they've become," Isaneko replied apathetically. It was amazing how she was treating these bombshells like it was yesterday's news, yesterday's boring news. "They also have the money to hire assassins."
"Suddenly, I feel like I'm in a spy action flick," I remarked. "I don't like it."
"Anyway, we're getting off topic," Mirai said. "Basically, I want us all on the same page that that the truth about the Pipers' capture doesn't leave this clubroom. But if any of you have something to say about it, now's your only chance."
He looked at all of us and all of us looked at him. The heavy air left from Yuna venting became heavier with this new serious situation.
"I have no objections," said Isaneko. She spoke without any hesitation.
As for me, my answer was obvious. "Same," I said.
And then our eyes all turned to the remaining two members of our club who hadn't said anything. Omoyo looked about conflicted as I was, and I was still wondering if I did the right thing after voicing my choice. Yuna, however, appeared stony while holding her phone facedown on her lap.
Finally, Omoyo spoke.
"Fine," she said. "It's not something worth fighting over anyway. As long as the Pipers' are behind bars, it doesn't matter who gets the credit. BUT! I do have a condition."
"What kind of condition?" Mirai asked.
"It's okay if you got secrets you don't want the rest of us to know," Omoyo said, "but if there's something about the future that involves any of us, and you got a scheme cooked up for it, you come clean and tell us everything. I'm grateful that everything you did was to protect me and save my life. I really am. But it just wasn't right for you to forcibly drag Oota into this without knowing anything. And it wasn't right for you to keep to yourself that I was going to die. That's the sort of thing you need to be upfront with us about so that we can work together to stop it. So, can you promise me that the next time you get a prediction like that, you'll tell us?"
Mirai seemed to hesitate. But after a moment, he said, "Alright. But can I at least choose when would be the right time to tell everything?"
Omoyo seemed reluctant, but then she said, "I guess if it's a matter of life and death, that's okay."
Mirai smiled. "Thanks." he said. "I promise if anything comes up, I'll let you all know as soon as I can."
"If that's settled," Isaneko cut in, "that just leaves Yuna."
Our eyes were all on Yuna now.
"So, Yuna?" Isaneko said. "What do you say about keeping this secret about the Piper?"
Yuna looked at all of us, her face unreadable. And then she typed into her phone. When she was done, she pressed play and it said, "I'm for it."
"Great!" Mirai said, flashing a beaming smile at us all. "Glad to see we're all on the same page. Now let's move on to our usual club stuff. Oh! But before that, about that promise I just made, Homura."
"What is it, Toshiro?" Omoyo asked.
"You know that Lady Isaneko's mom owns a company right?" Mirai said.
"Yeah," said Omoyo.
"Well, let me have Lady Isaneko explain," Mirai said. "Take it away, Lady Isaneko!"
Isaneko sighed. "If I must," she said before turning to us. "My mom's company is basically a front for a cult that she made, tricking gullible people into worshipping me as a heaven-sent messenger."
"Oh," said Omoyo.
There was a short pause, and then we all went, "Say WHAT!?"
Mirai had a big grin on his face and said, "And I signed us all up as official members of that cult!"
"WHAT!?" we all screamed again.
I had no idea what that would mean for me in the future. But what I could tell you then was that I was absolutely horrified to find out that I was technically a member of a shady cult. And I prayed that nothing seriously troublesome would come out of it.
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