Chapter 18: Back

'You have returned to the real world. Welcome back,' the metaverse navigator app
announced. "Man, that was awesome!" Ryuji exclaimed. "Hey, so...you saw that, right? Well
of course you did...Kamoshida beating his students, it's for real. Who knows what goes on
behind closed doors. Hey, what if we go look for witnesses tomorrow? We totally gotta bring
this sicko down! No one else can…" "Sure, I'll help ya," I responded. "Nice! But, uh...it
doesn't look like your criminal record will help. That bastard Kamoshida made sure everyone
at the school knew about it," Ryuji said.

"Igor always said that friendships are important...they will be a key to unlocking
whatever. I haven't met the creep in person but I've definitely heard about him. What if he
turns out to just be some hallucinating drug homeless addict in the end, huh? Ever thought
about that…?" Joji expressed. I rolled my eyes in my head…

"Damn, this is awesome!" Ryuji exclaimed as he finished his bowl of noodles,

"Well...I'm not talking about your story, of course, that's the only thing that sucks." I had just
finished telling Ryuji about my trip to Japan and everything in between. "You know, we're
more alike than originally viewed…" I commented. "How so?" "Well...just the way we're
treated like garbage, like we don't belong. You said Kamoshida bullied you until he made
you quit the track team entirely?" "More than that. There was an act of 'self defense' too,
when I was barely 14...I don't wanna talk about it now." There was silence between us for a
moment…"Hey, the volleyball rally's tomorrow. We can go search for witnesses while the
game is going on. Maybe catch a few before the game even starts. Is that a plan?" "Well,
sure."

"Oh, you went to school today...that's great!" Sojiro said. He was sitting on a barstool,
reading an old newspaper. "I guess you learned your lesson from last time...you can't miss
any more school, or else you'll get expelled!"

Chapter 19: The volleyball ralley

​ "ANNOYING...we're nowhere near the middle of the school year and they're already
making us play at the volleyball ralley?" an annoyed gymnast said. "Yeah dude, and they got
us up against Kamoshida! That muscly dude is totally gonna crush us!" "No way, we're
taking that sicko down! I've heard some pretty nasty rumors about him…"

Riiiing! The school bell rang, indicating it was time for the volleyball ralley. Crowds piled
up as everyone headed to the gymnasium. Ryuji and I stayed closed together. As soon as
we saw Kamoshida, we saw him flexing. Some high school girls were flattering over him,
they put their hands on their chins as they admired him from afar. He had a trophy in one
hand.

As soon as everyone settled down, Kamoshida announced over a speakerphone:

"Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for team Kamoshida!" The crowd cheered. Right after, the
ralley started. ...It wasn't long before an accident happened. Kamoshida got too caught up
with himself that he ended up shooting the ball towards a blue haired boy that I've seen
earlier. The ball hit him head on, leaving a big bruise right on his face. Kamoshida rushed to
his side. "Someone, take him to the nurse's office!"

Right after the accident, Ryuji and I sneaked our way out of the game. We were at an
outdoor porch area that had metal benches and vending machines. "You saw all of that,
right? The whole school is totally in love with him!" Ryuji told me. Yeah, right…"anyway,
enough about that. Let's go look for witnesses!"

While we were running through the halls, we heard whispers and hearsay among the
students. "He's like, killed multiple people, right?" "Omg, I heard he does drugs!" "He pulls
out knives on unsuspecting people walking by…" I've heard enough. I think we all know who
they were referring to.

"Bro...we know why you have those bruises," Ryuji said as he pointed to multiple
healing stab wounds located at a volleyball member's arms. "I...I don't know what you're
talking about!" "Look...we're here to help. We know that creep Kamoshida's been abusing
you. Just join our side and we can help!" "I...I…" the volleyball team member said before a
single tear ran down his face. He ran away. "WOAH - hold up!" Ryuji yelled out. It was too
late. "C'mon, let's follow him!"

"Hey...there's these two weirdos trying to dig up dirt on Kamoshida. What do you
assert we should do?" the volleyball member who ran away told another volleyball team
member. "Shit, here they come!" "Hey...what'd you run away for?" Ryuji asked.
"Umm...goodbye," one said before they both ran off. "Crap, they keep leaving! This is
bullshit…" Ryuji said.

Just then, Takamaki pulled up toward us. "Hey, you!" she said as she pointed to me.
"Whaddya want with him?" Ryuji asserted. Takamaki ignored his statement. "What's with
you?" she said. "You were half a day late yesterday and you were talking about something
like a castle? Are you demented?" "I said, whaddya want with him?!" Ryuji asked a bit louder
this time. Takamaki paused. "...What're you planning on doing to Mr. Kamoshida?" Ryuji's
eyes expanded. "I see...I getcha...turns out you're all 'buddy - buddy' with that fool after all! I
knew it...I've known it since middle school." "This has NOTHING to do with you Sakamoto!
Back off. Anyway, I'm telling. Y'all aren't going to touch that guy," Takamaki firmly said as
she walked off right after. "What's with that gal? More importantly, who's stupid enough to fall
in love with a head case like that guy?"

Ryuji and I were walking together after school. "Man...that whole school is sick," Ryuji
stated. "What the hell are we gonna do about that creep anyway? Takamaki said she's
'telling'. That definitely doesn't sound good…" We paced a few steps before we unfortunately
had to part directions. "See ya tomorrow, I guess...we'll keep trying. We can't let this
happen," Ryuji said as he waved goodbye at me.

"Yo...Kamoshida played so awesome yesterday! Did you see that sexy ass?" a
schoolgirl commented. "Omg yes...I'm totally in love with him. Imma see him at his faculty
office to ask for a photograph." "Woah...you shouldn't go there by yourself. I've heard that
sometimes, walking by, you can hear screams in there even though supposedly the faculty
office is empty! "Woah. That's just probably some dumb rumor made by fans to frighten the
competition…"

During class, Ryuji decided to text me. He got my number the other day when we were
out eating noodles. 'Hey...you know Takamaki, right?' 'Of course.' 'She's bff's with a starter, a
girl on the volleyball team. Her name is Suzui. Shiho Suzui. Got it?' 'Why're you telling me
that?' 'Listen...since we couldn't get shit from the team, I was thinking. Maybe we could get
that Takamaki girl to go talk to her.' 'Talk to Suzui?' 'Yeah! That blue haired boy, Mishima.
His girlfriend IS Suzui. I was talking to some schoolmates and it turns out, they both get
abused pretty badly. Or, that's my theory, anyway…'

"Shiho...you doing ok?" She didn't respond. She simply tilted her head downwards,
attempting not to look at me. "I...I don't know," she finally managed to respond. "I heard
Mishima told you Kamoshida wanted you yesterday," I said. "It's...none of your business."
She held one arm with the other. ...Suddenly, my phone began ringing. "You better pick that
up," Shiho told me. "Oh, it's probably nothing...just my part time job," I told her. I secretly
knew what the call truly was. "Why don't you head off to volleyball practice?" "I...I don't
wanna." I noticed a bruise right above her eye. That's normal, but this bruise looked
especially big. I walked behind a bush and two guys came over to Shiho and attempted to
talk to her. "Hello?" "Takamaki! Where you've been?" "Oh, you know...I told you about that
new transfer student and Ryuji, right?" "Right...don't worry, nothing'll happen. I've already
planned to expel both of them from this school. They can't do shit."

"Hmm…? Oh, my bad...I'm in your way aren't I?" It was the Shiho girl. I could tell by
the name on her backpack. "Oh, no! It's fine...hey, i wanna ask you something. How'd you
get that bruise abive your eye?" She quickly covered it with her palm. "Oh, this? It's nothing,
really…" "You sure?" "Yeah, totally...anyway gotta go. See ya later." She scurried to shove
me aside and walked away.

"Gah! It's no use...it's no use. I tried talking to that kid Mishima about Kamoshida. I got
nothing. He wouldn't 'fess anything up. Got any other ideas?" Ryuji said. We were in the
porch area we were in yesterday. Suddenly, we began hearing meowing…"YOU FOOLS!" A
cat jumped onto a metal table. It was Morgana! "How the hell did you get here?!" Ryuji
demanded. "If your desire to leave the shadow dimension is strong enough, you will be
granted free access out. That's just the way it works. Actually, how did you fools enter that
dimension anyway?" "That's not important...why you'd come here?!" Ryuji continued his
inquiring. "I overheard you say something about Kamoshida…? Anyway, I came here
because if you've already forgotten, both of y'all abandoned me the other day when leaving
the castle. You said you could help me reach my goal - turning back into my human form."
"What about it? We can't do that now, we have more important matters on our hands!" Ryuji
said. "More import - Gosh, you're obnoxious! Anyway, I know a thing or two about
Kamoshida...what do you wanna do with him?" Morgana asked. "Hmm...oh, I don't know, get
rid of him! Kick him out from the damn school." "Here, follow me," Morgana said as she
jumped inside of my backpack.