Daily Life Of A Ponytail Girl

"You two there, hold it!"

Still lunch break, the two girls suddenly heard a voice call out to them. A girl with long red hair was walking into their direction. She wore the same style of uniform as the first-year girl, with a red arm strap around her right arm. She also had a butterfly clip in her hair.

"Oh no, it's her again. . ." Yūi suddenly said.

"H- her? W- who's h- her?" the scared first-year redhead replied. Yūi lowered her voice and responded. "It's none other than Akane Matsuko, my arch-nemesis and leader of the Ethics Committee!

"With all these broken vending machines around, they're probably looking for suspicious people who might be related to it. . ." the ponytail girl thought to herself."

"W- what should we do?" the girl muttered back.

"Try to act as innocently as possible, and don't go immediately screaming about your innocence okay." The first-year girl gave a few nods back to Yūi before the approaching girl stood right in front of them.

"Hey there Akane, long time no see huh? I heard you was busy with Ethics Committee business so I thought it'd be bes-"

"Quit the talking, you know why I'm here don't you?" Before Yūi could finish talking, the redhead girl interrupted her swiftly.

"Just tell me what you did this time and I'll handle this quickly okay?"

"Wait wait wait, why would you think I have anything to do with this!?" Yūi retorted.

"Well, there's the suspicious whispering you just did with that other girl, and then there is that you two both have drinks somehow. Honestly, I'm just checking to make sure you're not related to this problem somehow."

"Just say that from the beginning then, geez." Yūi let out a sigh of relief. Akane pulled out a notebook and started questioning Yūi, who sprung into a military position.

"Are you somehow in any way related to this vending machine problem?"

"I'm not related to this problem in the slightest, sir!"

"But are you really sure?"

"Yes, I'm really sure!"

". . ."

". . ."

". . . But are you reeeaaaa-"

"Do you want me to be the guilty one or something?!"

". . . Well, it'd make my job a lot easier if I found the responsible one this quickly."

"H- hey, uhm, hey. . ."

Suddenly, the first-year girl spoke up again.

"S- she only even got involved with this all be- because she was trying to help me since I tried to use the machine and then it started smoking and thenshecamebyandthenandthen-!" With a panicked expression and with tears in her eyes, the girl tried explaining the situation to the Ethics Committee leader.

Akane made a soft smile towards the young girl. "No need to panic. I won't hurt you or do anything scary to you, I somehow get the feeling that you are innocent just by looking at you."

"You can see that for her but not for me?!"

"Stay out of this." Akane replied to Yūi who had thrown herself into the conversation.

"For now I guess you too are innocent until proven guilty, but I'd still like to ask you to come with me. I could use some help with finding the culprit, and seeing as you helped us a few times in the past, it'd be appreciated if you lend us your services again."

Yūi let out a short sigh before looking up again.

"Well, I suppose if the Ethics Committee leader herself came to request my aid, I have no choice but to help. Anyways it was nice to meet you, coffee girl, I'll see you around again sometime most likely!"

"Y- yes, I'd like to see you again too!

Yūi and Akane started walking away, leaving the first-year girl behind. Finally alone again, the girl let out a sigh of relief.

"That Akane girl sure seems scary. . . I should make sure to be careful around her. Oh, I forgot to ask the nice girl about her name!"