Misuzawa Malik
7:25
Civitas Headquarters - General Room
“This is all we have on ‘Stigmata,’ and Toyotomi Sakura is at her apartment. She has called in sick. She apparently bought groceries rather uneventfully last evening, so the veracity of her illness is possibly suspect.”
“Are you willing to give her a personal visit, or should we bring her back here?”
The white-haired first year gave the older man a thankful smile as he took the manila folder from his assistant.
“There is no need for that. Dragging people around like that will only end up needlessly worsening our public image. It would just end up being another excuse for the Public Morals Committee to dig their claws into. A fruitless endeavor on their part, of course, but one that would be supremely annoying to deal with.”
“Besides, one should never shy away from meeting another face in our little community.”
There was another, unnamed reason, for why Malik would like to meet the girl face-to-face, instead of intermediaries. This sudden “illness” was simply too convenient. If it was something truly that simple, it would have never reached his ears. It smelled of either a bad cover-up or of some sort trap. Of course, it could always be that the rebellious girl was simply skipping class and wasn’t particularly thorough in covering her tracks. She wouldn’t be the first, obviously.
However… It was always better to prepare for the worst outcome, rather than the best. Tended to be more accurate as well, based on Malik’s own personal experience. Furthermore, they were dealing with someone willing to sell highly illicit goods to Akashi students. It was likely that they would not shy away from using any methods available to them in order to cover their tracks.
They had already crossed their Rubicon.
“In any case, let's visit our dear little Sakura-chan.”
“Perhaps we should swing by the apothecary and grab some cough medicine? Get-well chocolate? Or today’s homework?” A playful grin played on Malik’s lips. “Though… considering that we are skipping as well, that last one is probably out of our reach.”