The three of you were hunched over Makomo's backpack below the pier.

While you were sitting there going through all of the clothes and essential items she had in her backpack, you sniffled, wiping your eyes with your sleeve.

There's no guarantee she's alive. In any case, she could be long dead, and you're just grasping at straws to stay hopeful.

"I am almost positive that her phone was taken intentionally. Whether by herself or someone else" Tanjiro began speculating "and judging by the evidence,  it's pretty clear that she intended to spend a few nights away from home. Unless someone else interfered, there's a good chance she's alive"

"But why would she leave her stuff here? That doesn't make any sense" Sabito grumbles

"she said...that her time was running out. Didn't the voicemail say that?" Tanjiro looks at you

You nod "yeah, she seemed to be in a hurry."

"Check and see if her location's still on" Sabito suggested

You rush to turn on your phone, looking over Makomo's contact information

Astonished at what you found, you looked up from your phone to reply

"Her location...the last time it was on was a few miles away from here."

"What?!--" Sabito stands up quickly "Then we have to go now. What the hell are we waiting for?!"

"That's not a good idea." Tanjiro protested

"Tch," Sabito waved him off

He then placed his skateboard on the flat ground above the pier and looked back at you "We need to do something about this now. Who knows, she could be waiting for someone to find her"

"But Sabito, no one even knows we're here," You reply, gathering up Makomo's things in your arms "We could end up missing right with her, and then it'd all have been for nothing"

Sabito pauses to think about what you've said. He doesn't reply, he simply just swings his foot behind him and skates off toward the street.

"SABITO, NO" You called frantically, rushing to go after him

You stop in your tracks when Tanjiro blocks you with his arm calmly, but firmly. You want to just run past him but he looks deadly serious about this

"Tanjiro what are you doing?! He's going to get hurt" You cross your arms over yourself as you were visibly afraid

Tanjiro tilted his head toward Sabito who disappeared around the corner as he did "He's not going to get very far."

"What do you mean he's not?"

"You'll see"

You glance over Tanjiro's shoulder, waiting for something to happen. 

In the silence that ensues you stare around at the wide landscape before you. From where you stand by the dock, there's an empty lot surrounded by trees, leading to the main street. There aren't any visible cars out in the open but you suppose it could be easy for someone to park behind a tree

Only about a minute of waiting later, Sabito trudged out from behind the trees, skateboard in hand

Behind him stands a girl with short black hair and the signature butterfly clip you always saw her wearing. Upon squinting at her, you can easily tell this is Shinobu Kochou, the junior who always seemed to have a nose for the younger kids' arrangements.

Because Shinobu is revered for her disciplinary methods and skilled in her craft, the staff and teachers collectively know her as 'the hall monitor'. To her peers, however, she is not much more than a teachers' pet who takes her role too seriously.

You've seen her a few times, and know that she doesn't often lose her temper explosively as Tengen or Sanemi would. She doesn't need to. Somehow, one stare from those piercing violet eyes is enough to break any old foolish child down.

"OH GOD...IT'S SHINOBU. AND SHE'S COMING OVER HERE" You began to hyperventilate, fumbling with the cumbersome objects in your arms

"I don't really know who that lady is but she got really mad at me earlier this week," Tanjiro says, seeming to share your sentiment of fear towards this woman "I can't even imagine what she'll say to this."

"Should we just run for it?!" You take a tentative step back

"Where would we run? She has a car" Tanjiro frowned

FUCK, We're going to get in sooo much trouble

"(Y/n)." Shinobu called, walking toward you in a menacing manner

RUN, RUN RUN RUN. JUST RUN

"WAAAAGH" You scream, finally giving in to your instincts and dropping everything to attempt to run past the small woman

"OOH NO YOU DON'T." Shinobu snatched you by the collar of your uniform while you passed

Your limbs flailed at the recoil of having been grabbed with such force in mid-air. She yanked you back and pulled your face close enough to look her in the eye

"That's enough of that." Shinobu smiled "Let's get in the car now, shall we?"

You nod slowly "Y-yes Kochou-san"

Makomo...Makomo...

The same name repeated like a broken record in your head while you stared blankly ahead at the back of Shinobu's head

From your spot in between Tanjiro and Sabito in the back seat, it's hard to see really anything apart from the road ahead. 

To your right, Tanjiro is scrolling through his phone in his lap absent-mindedly, probably trying to avoid making eye contact with Shinobu through the driver's side mirror

On your left, Sabito watches the buildings go by out of the window. He likes to feel the wind on his skin, so the window is cracked just slightly to let some air in while sight-seeing.

Everything you guys were carrying is sitting in the front seat next to Shinobu. She insisted that all of your belongings would go there so that she could make sure you weren't up to something spectacularly wrong.

You shift to gaze over Tanjiro's shoulder at his phone screen, and you get a subtle whiff of the scent on his clothing.For some reason, he smells sweet, like strawberries.

He knows you're looking but Tanjiro has nothing to hide. His social media feeds seem to just consist of mostly tame memes or aesthetic posts. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"So," Shinobu speaks up, causing all of you to snap to attention immediately "Anybody going to tell me what you were thinking  while you ran away from school and came down here as soon as class started?"

Tanjiro scratches his head and Sabito clears his throat in discomfort

"Uhmmm..." You murmur, looking down at your lap

Are they seriously gonna make me do it?!

"We were looking-" Tanjiro started, but Sabito cut him off mid-sentence "Makomo is missing and we found her stuff. She is me and (Y/n)'s friend."

"She's friends with Tanjiro too" You added

The two boys fell silent and looked at you. You didn't look back at either of them

"Oh, that girl" Shinobu mutters "she came so close to making the championship league on the swim team last year. She fell off due to depression; at least that's what the staff has said"

Depression..?

"I did hear about her going missing, actually" Shinobu adjusted the mirror to make direct eye contact with you "and based on what I just saw, I have reason to believe you all have something to do with it."

Sabito scowls but says nothing

Your pupils shrank "Us?!"

"Was it not you tampering with evidence just now? And trying to run from consequences?" 

Tanjiro shot a knowing look in your direction. He told you so.

"Yeah..." You give a defeated sigh, going limp against the seat

"If I remember correctly, you three are quite the problem children. Especially (Y/n) and Sabito. Did you kidnap your friend?"

What kind of psycho would even suggest that...

"NO." Sabito exclaimed, rolling his eyes "What reason would we have to do some fucked up shit like that?"

"Oh please, I know none of you are as innocent as you lead on. If you don't want me to call the police and label you a suspect right now, then I suggest you give me one reason not to." Shinobu stated, still keeping her passive-aggressive nature as usual

You clench the lucky chain in your hand tighter. It was the one thing you couldn't hand over to Shinobu Please work...

"(Y/n) was with me the night she left," Sabito added "There's no way either of us could have."

"And what about new kid over there?" Shinobu casts her cold stare upon Tanjiro, and he becomes visibly uncomfortable

"I was..." He frowned, looking down at his feet "Visiting my father. In the hospital."

"Likely story" Sabito mumbled

You stomped on the boy's foot as hard as you could to shut him up, glaring him in the eye

"I'll have to talk to you about this more later. For now, I've been tasked with bringing you all back to class" Shinobu said finally, pulling into the parking lot by the academy

The three of you gave a collective groan

"I'm not sentencing you to torture or something. Suck it up." Shinobu sighed, turning the car off and getting out

"I'd beg to differ," Sabito said under his breath

After grabbing all of the necessary belongings from Shinobu's car, the three of you were on your way. Of course, Shinobu confiscated Makomo's backpack and gave it to the school, so the victory of finding a clue was short-lived. However, while you were standing outside of the principal's office eavesdropping, you didn't hear Shinobu mention any of your names in the discussion. Perhaps she was showing a little bit of compassion.

At the end of the school day, the very first thing you did was rush to catch up with Tanjiro on his way out of class. He seemed lost like he wasn't all there in his mind

Both of you were dead silent while you walked down the stairs in front of the building. The day full of grief and anxiety left both of you too emotionally drained to speak, but not enough to want to be alone. You walk side by side past hundreds of students leaving the school, completely stone-faced and even a little bit traumatized

"Is...Nezuko here today?" You asked quietly when you broke away from the crowd

Tanjiro shook his head "She overslept so I let her stay in bed."

"I see," You yawned

You shiver at the icy gust of wind passing by, hugging your shoulders

"I shouldn't have gone..." You whisper

Tanjiro looked down at you with a hint of concern in his eyes 

"I just feel like, a lot of this happened because I didn't do my part as a friend and listen to her..." You wiped your eye with one hand "That was all she wanted. A real friend."

The red-haired boy paused, not knowing how to respond. He knows you're right--you weren't a good friend to the girl. But despite how he feels, he cares too much to say the wrong thing. Seeing you cry makes him feel like he might cry too.

"...Let's take the bus. You're tired, and reasonably so--we've been running around all day." He suggested, walking you over to the bus stop

You followed sheepishly, leaning into his arm a bit

He sits down at the bus stop with you beside him and speaks up again "It's okay to get misguided sometimes. You lost sight of what was important, and it might feel shameful to dwell on,"

You watch your feet sitting motionless on the concrete while you listen to him, feeling soothed by his voice

"but there's still time to make things right. And, Makomo must think of you as a real friend if she wanted you to run away with her." Tanjiro smiles a little "It's all just speculation but I think I'm right, and that she would want you to keep being hopeful."