26

Chapter 26 A couple of hours later, Kaede and Kotaro walked outside. "Well done.", said Kotaro as he patted Kaede on the head. Kaede smiled slightly while scratching her cheek, blushing lightly when she realized that Kotaro had seen her doing all those embarrassing things. She didn't want anyone else to see her embarrass herself like that. While thinking about how embarrassed she was, though, she suddenly remembered something else that happened earlier today while she was alone with the piano. After remembering it, she felt a mixture of excitement and anxiety fill her insides: If she had been able to remember what exactly had happened in the rehearsal hall just then, then she would have been saved from having to deal with her father's anger for the rest of her life. She would have avoided being forced into an argument with her own mother, whom she was pretty certain wasn't going to be happy about what she had done today. As she walked alongside Kotaro, the young woman's eyes were glued to the ground. Although it had barely been two days since she had last been at Hope's Peak, she already missed the familiar surroundings, the comforting music, and all the other familiar faces. The fact that she missed school, especially the school cafeteria, made her feel very guilty. When they reached the gate of Hope's Peak Academy, Kaede looked up. "There seems to be an abnormality around here... Something strange has happened. Do you mind staying behind and taking a look?" Kotaro nodded his head without even thinking twice, and with a smile he continued saying, "You don't need to worry; I'll protect you while you stay behind and keep watch by myself". Kaede nodded her head before turning around and heading toward the dormitory building. It was late evening now and almost midnight. After walking around the academy several times, Kaede finally found the entrance that led to the dormitory buildings located in the innermost part of Hope's Peak Academy. Once she arrived, she headed straight towards the dormitories. There were numerous students walking about, most of whom had already returned home by this point and thus she was the only one still walking about the dormitory complex, but she knew that it wouldn't be long before most of them were asleep. With each step she took, the sounds of her footsteps echoed throughout the area and occasionally collided with the noise emitted by the various alarm system systems installed by the security guards and teachers. A slight frown appeared between Kaede's eyebrows as she tried hard to concentrate as much as possible, but it was quite difficult to do so considering that there were many people who weren' t even supposed to leave their rooms. And besides, everything that had happened today and the previous evening really wasn't helping her concentration, so her thoughts wandered off to other things as soon as she was within hearing distance. What did it mean if she hadn't managed to find a single camera on any of her routes to get rid of? Had someone been watching? Were there cameras in the classrooms themselves? Were there recordings of her playing the piano or was it simply because someone had found a way to turn some of the computers on in the studios that recorded her performances? It would certainly be easier for her to figure all these things out if she'd actually had a chance to observe everything herself instead of relying on the footage the security guard at the main gate had let her take and subsequently deleting it once she had left. But unfortunately, she had never even come close to finding any of the videos, which were likely hidden away somewhere under a layer of dust and probably couldn't even be found without a search engine - and Kaede wasn't about to use one of those anyway. Her priority was not to be able to record whatever information she found. The only thing that had been bothering her the entire day, aside from the fact that she was feeling a little anxious, was whether she would be able to find out the truth regarding what had happened to her parents. Was she capable of performing such incredible feats and performing such incredible feats well enough that they would be rewarded? Or was she doomed to remain forever an amateur in spite of her incredible talent? In spite of that, however, nothing seemed to bother her as much anymore. On the contrary, she was filled with great curiosity and even enthusiasm. This sudden change of mood had caused her, at that particular moment, to forget everything else. And so, despite knowing that she should have been concentrating solely on her mission, which was to locate a particular camera so that she could take a video of it herself, Kaede had become distracted by everything that surrounded her during her walk through the corridor, including her memories and her feelings. And so, despite the fact that she was still walking briskly through the hallway, she didn't notice the sudden sound of footsteps approaching quickly from behind her. As she continued walking in her slow paced manner along the narrow corridor, however, she suddenly felt a sudden pain coming from her left leg, making her stumble and lose her balance as she fell to the ground. When she landed, her hands instinctively gripped the sides of her backpack, preventing it from falling to the floor beside her, and when she opened her eyes again and looked up, she noticed that she was lying flat on the ground. Just before the young blonde realized what was happening