In the end, all the panic wasn't worth it. There was just a small fire that was quickly extinguished with a fire extinguisher, so nothing serious happened. However, in the courtyard, the principals gave a stern lecture. At least they didn't find out who had done it. If they did, Chuuya would be in big trouble.

Already, he was in trouble with his friends. And yes, he was furious with Sheep for being so immature and rude to Sigma. He was upset. When it was break time and they went outside, he decided to confront them.

"What was that?" he inquired.

"What do you mean?" Shirase asked indifferently.

"You know what I mean."

"The fire? Come on, it was just a little prank. Nothing serious happened."

"I'm not talking about that; I mean Sigma."

The guys looked at each other. Some chuckled, including Shirase and Yuan. The girl tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Come on, don't be like that," she said. "It was just a little joke, no big deal."

"A joke?!" Chuuya exclaimed. "Wow, what a hilarious joke! Why don't you go tell her 'whore' to her face? I'm sure she'll find it hilarious."

"Come on, Chuuya. Don't get so worked up," Shirase looked at him with that damn superior and arrogant expression. "I thought you said you weren't her friend."

"That's none of your business! Whether or not I'm her friend, I don't think what you did was right. You don't know her, and you have no right to judge her like that. Let alone write those kinds of messages on her desk. That's not okay!"

"You're talking about right and wrong to the wrong people. What, you'll give us a lecture on ethics and morality now? We were just having fun. We're sorry if it bothers you so much."

Yuan smacked his gum annoyingly.

"Although, if I have to be honest, it seems suspicious," she smiled. "That girl always hangs out with them. I even saw her and the white-haired one going into a bathroom stall together once. She's always surrounded by them, and she seems to enjoy all the attention. She really seems like a wh..."

Chuuya grabbed her arm.

"Dare to say it, and you'll regret it."

The atmosphere became tense. Shirase intervened to make the redhead release Yuan.

"Calm down, Chuuya. It's okay, we might have gone too far with that joke, I admit. Violence isn't necessary."

He let go of Yuan, still very upset. He turned around and went to the library. Shirase was an idiot, Yuan was an idiot, and everyone was an idiot. He still wanted to join the basketball team, but he realized that maybe they weren't the kind of people he should associate with.

In the library, there were few people. It had always been that way. Almost no one found pleasure in reading, especially now that there were cell phones and they could entertain themselves with other things like playing, chatting, or posting photos on Instagram.

Chuuya had always been old-fashioned. He loved to read, especially poetry. Not just any poetry, but ancient poetry. He loved ancient Greek chants. He had read the Iliad and the Odyssey more than once. He got angry when in some edition of the Odyssey, instead of Odysseus, the name Ulysses appeared.

Another thing that fascinated him was French or English poetry. He found it beautiful. And since he had nowhere else to go, he went to look for poetry books. He started looking through the shelves. There were many interesting things, but it wasn't what he was looking for. Until someone gently touched his shoulder. It was Sigma.

"Hello," she greeted with a small smile. "Looking for a specific book?"

Chuuya's Windows restarted.

"Oh, yeah, I... " He smiled foolishly. "Are there poetry books?"

"Of course. Come."

She led him to another place and showed him the books.

"All of this is poetry," she said. "Are you going to borrow a book?"

"I just wanted to look, I didn't bring my student card."

They smiled at each other. Chuuya wanted with all his heart to apologize to her, but he didn't know where to start. Sigma knew that the boy's intention was never to make her feel bad, so she held no resentment.

"Sigma, I..."

"It's not necessary. I know. You're not the kind of person who enjoys seeing someone else being teased. I know you weren't part of that."

"I still apologize too much. What they did to you was horrible..."

"I don't care. I have nothing to hide. I don't care what they think; I know I'm neither a prostitute nor a nun. I'm just me. That's enough for me."

The redhead took her hand.

"And you're a wonderful person. Never doubt that. I'm glad to be your friend."

They smiled again, and the bell rang. They held hands and walked back to the classroom, not in a hurry because the class they had was terribly unbearable, and the teacher was even worse. So they dedicated themselves to talking and catching up on everything that had happened and they hadn't shared.

"You can't imagine what happened to Dazai yesterday," Sigma said.

"What did he do this time?"

She leaned closer to his ear and whispered something. Chuuya blushed and couldn't help but laugh.

"No way!" he exclaimed. "Seriously?"

"I swear," Sigma replied solemnly.

"And what did Mori do?"

"He gave him 'the talk,' along with a lecture for looking at that stuff. Then he started explaining how things really are, you know that Mori is a doctor."

"God, it must have been really embarrassing. Still, Dazai shouldn't be looking at those dirty pages. He's a pervert."

"Isn't he, though?"

They laughed and entered the classroom. The puzzled looks on their friends' faces were priceless when they saw them coming in together. Chuuya said goodbye to Sigma, waved to the others, and went to sit in his place next to Shirase. He frowned.

"Where were you?" he wanted to know.

"Not your business."

"Why were you with her?" he insisted.

"Also not your business. Leave me alone."

Shirase wasn't satisfied, but he stopped asking. After school, Chuuya approached his friends.

"Hey, hi!" he greeted. "Mind if I join you?"

Dazai raised an eyebrow.

"And why suddenly do you want to be with us?"

The redhead grinned from ear to ear.

"Because, between Shirase and you, you're the less annoying one."

The whole group laughed, including Dazai, who seemed content with the answer. He tapped Chuuya on the shoulder and smiled.

"I'm glad you came. I was starting to miss your insufferable presence."

"I know, it's not the same without me. I missed your stupidity too. By the way, how come Mori caught you watching porn?"

Osamu blushed to his ears.

"It wasn't porn!" he protested. "They were human reproduction documentaries!"

"And uncensored," Nikolai added mockingly.

"Shut up, no one asked you."

"Let's walk while you tell me everything," Nakahara suggested. "Explain to me, what exactly did Mori say to you?"

And as they walked back home, Dazai talked about the entire lecture his adoptive father had given him, with advice on relationships, interesting information, and general things. Then, to everyone's surprise, Dazai admitted that Mori had given him a couple of websites that, according to him, "were better for watching that kind of content."

It seems Dazai wasn't the only pervert in the family.

And when Fukuzawa found out, Mori would be the one in trouble.