Chapter Text
When the dust settled in they were licking their wounds and checking the damages. Barely anyone in Furin had time to take care of others, they had full hands with themselves and helping repair the town.
That’s why no one noticed Sakura disappearance instantly. People wondered where he was from time to time, but then just dismissed it as he was probably just in a different place helping and called it a day.
The first to question his absence were of course his vice captains, when he didn’t respond to their messages. In the beginning, they thought that he is maybe sick so gave him few more days. But no matter how much they waited, there was no answer from their beloved captain. He didn’t even answer when meeting of all captains came. As if hoping that their fears are unfounded, they decided to visit the place where Sakura lived hoping that they will find him there and drag him out to the meeting if necessary.
However, to their horrifying realization, the house was empty without traces of living activity. The layer of dust on the kitchen counter showed that no one was here for a good few days and most of Sakura essentials were taken too. It looked like the items that were left were the ones he couldn’t carry for long distances as if he was in a rush to leave and took only what was needed.
After that, everything spiraled out of control.
The news spread like fire and frantic search was called around town and nearby ones. Ultimately one person in town nearby said that they saw someone who looked like Sakura running in the direction of the train station. They remembered him because of his striking features and how panicked he looked.
They tried asking at the station, knowing well that this was probably a dead end, the station policy wouldn’t allow employees to show them recordings from CCTV and not say anything to protect customers' rights.
Luckily one of the workers there, a nice older lady, who was once saved by Furin boys and agreed to help them and ask other workers if they knew something. However, she said not to get hopes up, since people tend to focus on work and not on people. They thanked her anyway and came back to school.
In the meantime, while waiting for information, they had to decide on the next steps with everything.
Firstly, they had to discuss the defence of Makochi and how to distribute their forces. Endo still could attack, not only him, with how vulnerable they were now, anyone could be big trouble for them in the current state.
After that, they went to another topic - Sakura and his mysterious disappearance.
Mizuki, being the strategist at heart, quickly noticed that Sakura vanishing had something to do with the leader of Noroshi’s. It was noticeable that after the fight with the older guy, Sakura was clearly distraught, you could say even paranoid. Unnaturally so. At that time, they dismissed it as they had other things to do, but now they were reminded of his words.
„He won’t stop.” „He will be back” „That guy is insane, he can’t be called human” „If it’s him, he will do it...” „What should I do...” It was all silent cry for help, barely a whisper that no one cared to notice. They all failed as his friends and seniors. It was a unanimous decision to keep searching for him within their capability. However, the rest of the steps were put on hold till they heard from the nice lady from the train station.
There was also the matter of Sakura place. Since its tenant disappeared, it would be impossible that the rent would be paid and in turn their friend would lose a place to come back to, no matter how bare it was. Fortunately, it was super cheap and the landlord didn’t care as long as the rent was paid so they decided to poll the money every month so Sakura can come back any time.
Moreover, they decided to make turns sleeping there, just in case the situation develops - like Sakura comes back or someone tries to snoop around his place.
Class 1-1 is falling apart, just like Castle of Glass. Once a crack in it appears, it is only a matter of time before it breaks. This crack was a lack of their leader.
They had no one to truly keep them in check. It wasn’t possible to lean on Suo. Since Sakura vanished, he started fighting thugs on the street like possessed, without a smile leaving his face. However, it was not the usual warm one. It was the smile of the demon wanting to destroy everything on its path. So in the end no one dared to approach him and they just stared from afar hoping that seniors would intervene in his case soon, especially after a few more concerns were raised about him.
Nirei wasn’t much help either. Between one missing and the other going batshit insane, he tried his best, but he was basically a walking ball of anxiety and sadness, it wasn’t surprising to see him bursting into tears during class. People tried to comfort him, but without good results. It was helping for few hours, but then some issue happened and he was reverting. Anzai, Kiryu, and Tsugeura tried their best too, but it just wasn’t the same. Their spirit was slowly dying and there was no integrity.
Hiiragi and Umemiya planned to do something about it, but before they decided what to do with them, the old lady contacted them.
To shorten their talk - from the account of many of workers that were asked. It all turned into some detective work between workers, they were able to see Sakura journey or at least a big part of it. Alone he boarded the train at 5:45 am with it having the last stop at the capital, no one was with him and after 11 am when the tickets were checked again he wasn’t seen anymore. And the people from the stations which were stopping between 5:45am-11am no one remembered him, which isn’t shocking as those times are times when most of people move to work and school, so he probably was lost in the crowd.
In the end, it wasn’t much, but they had some clues to work on. From it they could guess that no one wasn’t pursuing him from get-go and that he was alone. Since no one saw him after 11 am, they could more or less check around the stations that the train passed if he got off. It all will be hard but not impossible.
However, there was a big issue with it - manpower. At this point, they didn’t have enough to cover such a wide range to ask questions and to protect the town.
As Four Kings were pondering what to do, with Tsubakino wanting to prioritize search for Sakura and Mizuki wanting to protect town more (they nearly started brawling to get their point across and Hiiragi with Umemiya had to physically stop them), the Roppo Ichiza and Shishitoren came to their aid. With their network and people they would manage the search for Sakura
„We are all friends! And friends help each other.” Choji said jumping around.
I have a debt to Sakura and I hope to repay it, even a little.” admitted Togame and Nakamura nodded along.
Umemiya was truly glad from the bottom of his heart that Sakura came to their school. It helped so many people and changed the status of the town and nearby ones. He silently vowed in his heart to find him no matter what.
Now he had to make sure that everyone would be ready to welcome the boy with open arms when he returned. With this in mind, he moved to find one of the problem children.