The Fascinating Silver Red – Chapter 2

This is a fanfiction by Doughnut Gunso.

The majority of the crowd had already left the stage for other booths and shows, but Nagi showed no intention to leave yet.

“Why are we staying here, milady?” asked Hayate, who was a bit surprised that Nagi hadn’t demanded to go home for video games.

“I want to ask for Silver Red’s signature!” said Nagi eagerly, pulling a signing board out of nowhere.

“Again?” asked Hayate. He thought that Nagi had already asked for Silver Red’s signature once.

“Well, you know,” said Nagi, lowering her voice as she looked embarrassed. “As we moved twice over the summer, it is understandable that something is lost, and my signing board… happens to be lost.”

Hayate turned to Hinagiku. “Have you lost anything over the summer, Hinagiku-san?”

“No,” said Hinagiku. “You wouldn’t lose things that easily if you have packed your things properly, Nagi.”

“Ah, shut up, will you?” demanded Nagi. “I can ask for Silver Red’s signature again, and everything will be fine!” With that, she ran towards the dressing room. Hayate, Hinagiku and Aika followed her.

“She really likes this Silver Red, doesn’t she?” asked Hinagiku.

“Well, milady loves hero shows,” said Hayate, beaming. “And Silver Red is one of her favourite heroes.”

“Oh, I see…” said Hinagiku, but Hayate did not notice that she slightly blushed.

*

“Silver Red, could you please sign this for me?” asked Nagi as she opened the dressing room door. Her butler had never reminded her to knock before she enters, because he had never obeyed this rule himself.

“Why, you…” yelped Taro, who was completely taken by surprise. Obviously, he never expected that he would have guests.

The crew intended to chase Nagi away, but Hayate and the other two girls arrived at that moment. Aika gave the crew a nod, and they stopped. Hinagiku looked as if she wasn’t sure whether to say hi or not. On the one hand, she knew them; on the other hand, she didn’t want people to know she knew them…

Taro looked around. He knew that there was only one right thing to do, so he took the board from Nagi and signed “Silver Red” on it. “Next time, remember to knock,” he said. “It is very impolite, especially in Western countries.” Hinagiku nudged Hayate in the ribs.

“Speaking of Western countries, have you been to Greece, Mr. Silver Red?” Hayate asked Taro as he rubbed his ribs. He wasn’t sure why he had asked this question, but he asked anyway.

Taro racked his brain. “Yes,” he answered.

“Recently?”

“Yeah, why?” said Taro as he returned the board to Nagi.

“Nothing,” said Hayate, as he thought he was reassured that Taro was the Silver Red he met at Athena’s mansion in Greece. Unfortunately for him, Taro had indeed been to Greece, but it was in August, not May.

“Thank you!” said Nagi cheerfully as she took the board back. However, as she looked at the board, she was crestfallen.

“What is the matter, milady?” asked Hayate in a whisper.

“It’s weird, Hayate,” replied Nagi, also in a whisper. “The signature isn’t right.”

“What?”

“Like I said, it is different,” said Nagi. “The pattern has completely changed.”

“Changed, huh…?” said Hayate thoughtfully. And then he moved: so quickly that nobody saw it coming, and the next thing the others knew, Hayate was grabbing Taro from behind. Everybody screamed, but Taro shouted the loudest. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!!”

Hayate let him go. “Nothing,” he said. “I am sorry.” Grabbing Taro from behind did not feel like last time. “So he isn’t the real Silver Red after all…” he thought to himself.

“We are truly sorry, Mr. Silver Red,” said Hinagiku finally, blushing furiously. “We are leaving right now,” she said as she grabbed Hayate by his tie, dragging him away.

Taro calmed himself down as the students left. “So that was the girl, right?” he asked the crew. “The one who took my place when I was injured?”

He received a nod as reply.

*

“Honestly, you can’t do things like that, Hayate-kun! You are a student at Hakuou Academy, so think about how much damage your actions would do to our school’s reputation!”

Once they returned to the plaza, Hinagiku started giving Hayate the Sermon of the Day. He had a very bad record of making her mad, but this time he had gone too far. Offending a member of the public was much worse than offending her… wait, why was it so?

“I am sorry, Hinagiku-san,” Hayate bowed over and over again as he apologized to her. Oddly enough, while she was as angry at him as ever, Hayate found her less frightening this time. Maybe it was because he was not offending her, but a member of the public.

“Well, that is quite enough, Hina,” said Aika, coming to Hayate’s rescue. “I guess that he won’t dare do anything like that any more.”

“I seriously hope so,” snapped Hinagiku. “Because I won’t want to be forced to expel him!”

“What?” asked Hayate and Nagi, both surprised. “Don’t be kidding, Hinagiku,” said Nagi.

“No, I am not,” said Hinagiku. “As the Student Council President, I have the responsibility to protect the reputation of the school. If a student is damaging it, I have the power and responsibility to expel him!”

“No, please don’t, Hinagiku-san!” said Hayate, evidently panicked. “I won’t do anything like that again…”

“Like I said, I won’t want to expel you,” said Hinagiku, calming down a bit. “So please behave yourself in the future. Okay?”

“Yes, of course,” said Hayate, and he meant it. After all, now that he had proof that Taro wasn’t the “real” Silver Red, he would never hold him from behind again. Never.

“Hayate, I am thirsty,” said Nagi suddenly. “Let’s go find a drink or something.”

“Of course, milady,” said Hayate, relieved that the subject can finally be changed. “How about joining us, Hinagiku-san?”

Hinagiku shook her head. “Thanks for the offer, Hayate-kun,” she said. “But we have a Student Council meeting today. The election is coming soon, so we have a lot to do.”

“Oh,” said Hayate, sounding a bit disappointed. “Then see you tomorrow. You too, Aika-san.” Aika beamed.

*

“So that man isn’t the real Silver Red, huh?” said Nagi, after Hayate had told her his findings. “That’s why the signatures are different.” She was so disappointed that she threw the signing board away.

“Well, even so, you shouldn’t just throw his signature away,” said Hayate as he picked up the board. “He is another Silver Red, after all.”

“But impostors are not cool!” demanded Nagi.

“Even so, he…” began Hayate, but he was unable to continue his sentence as he felt he was shot at the back. A sense of sheering pain flowed through his body, and he was immediately immobilized. He lost all strength in his limbs and he fell to the ground. He didn’t even know what had happened.

“Hayate!” Nagi screamed as she saw her butler falling to the ground, but she was unable to help him, as she was soon grabbed by the neck, and was dragged into a car with her mouth covered. She was kidnapped. Again.

As always, the kidnappers did not tie her up or seal her mouth with tapes, but Nagi was not as calm as usual. This time, she witnessed her butler falling to the ground before being kidnapped, so she was worried – about herself, and about Hayate. They came in equal measures.

“What have you done to Hayate?” she demanded.

“We did our homework, young lady,” answered one of the kidnappers. “We know that as long as he is able to move, it is very hard to kidnap you, so we stunned him with an electric pistol.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry. That boy is too hard to kill. Our guess is that the gun could only stun him for about 10 minutes, but that is enough for us to go far away. He won’t be able to catch us.” The driver chose this moment to step harder on the accelerator, so the car moved even faster.

“This is bad, I am in serious trouble this time!” Nagi thought to herself, but the car had to halt at a red traffic light. “Damn!” swore the driver.

Nagi looked through the window. She saw a familiar mane of pink straight hair. “This is my chance!” she thought and stuck out her leg…

*

Hinagiku was on the way back to Hakuou Academy with Aika. Suddenly she heard a banging noise from a nearby car. She turned her head to the car and was shocked. She saw Nagi kicking the car door with her leg, while two men were trying to stop her.

“Nagi!” shouted Hinagiku, but the car drove off as the traffic light turned green.

“We have to call the police!” exclaimed Aika.

“That would be too late,” said Hinagiku. “I can hunt that car by myself!” With that, she was about to make a dash.

“Wait, you can’t go in your school uniform, Hina,” said Aika, grabbing Hinagiku by her shoulder. “As you said earlier, you have to think about the damage to the reputation of our school!”

“Then what should I do?” demanded Hinagiku. She did not think that saving her friend from kidnappers would be detrimental to the school’s reputation, but she couldn’t know what people would think seeing a girl hunting down a car…

“Well, take this,” said Aika, handing Hinagiku a small bag. Hinagiku looked into the bag and said: “You are kidding.”

Inside the bag, there was the Silver Red costume – of Hinagiku’s size.

“There is no time to argue,” said Aika, grinning.

Hinagiku thought for a moment, grabbed the bag, and began her run.