CHAPTER 2
Okay, now this was just great!
Chikako was furious. She squeezed the empty soda can with her hand, trying her best to crush it into pieces. She didn't succeed. She didn't have much strength.
The reason for Chikako's anger was the room arrangments in the hotel they were going to stay in. The rocket scientist known to man as Onizuka had come up with the brilliant idea of mixing boys and girls in the same rooms! What was worse was that he had picked the worst combinations possible. Chikako had been close to throwing up when she realized she would have to share a room with two of the biggest idiots in the universe: Kunio Murai and Yoshito Kikuchi! Spending the whole Okinawa trip with those two jerks as room mates made her seriously considering getting on a bus for a quick ride home, paradise resort or not. The only glimpse of light in the darkness was that the third room mate was Saeko.
Chikako and Saeko had fought with Murai as soon as they had entered the room. Murai had been very verbal about how he hated to be there with the two girls, and Chikako and her friend had made sure to shoot their own poison darts back at him. Kikuchi had said nothing at all. He just put up his quiet facade and started using his laptop.
Chikako came back to the room. She took a deep breath before she went inside. Those nerves had to be put in order. She would rather not get into a fight with the boys. If she would pick a fight once again, there was a big risk that Kikuchi would join in. Kikuchi had the oratory skills of a professor. If you tried to go up against him in pure argumentation, you were sure to lose. Chikako's rethoric skills were even poorer than her fighting abilities, and having an argument with Kikuchi was something she did not desire.
When she entered the room, her heart dropped all the way down to the ocean floor. Saeko was not there. But Murai and Kikiuchi were. And what was worse was that they had invited Kusano and Fujiyoshi as well! The Murai Triangle was sitting on the floor playing cards. Kikuchi was sitting on his bed, still using his laptop.
"Oh great! Even more dorks for the evening." she muttered, walking over to her bed.
"Says the girl with the dorkiest face in class." Murai muttered back. Fujiyoshi and Kusano smiled.
Chikako felt slight rage inside. Where the hell was Saeko! She didn't want to be alone with these knuckleheads! Saeko should be here and help her defend herself!
Fortunately, arguing with Murai was not very difficult. The only thing you had to do was making him lose his temper, something that wasn't very hard to do. Once he went into his angry mode, he behaved like a three year old, screaming while waving his arms all around. Chikako was not afraid of that. She knew he was never violent towards girls. Rather, he was pretty scared of getting into fights with them. Once he got furious, his arguments lost all intellectual power, and you only had to ride out the storm.
"Well, at least I haven't got a whole love letter drawn on my back." Chikako said with a smile as she sat down on her bed. At dinner, she had overheard from the other classmates what Onizuka had drawn on Murai's back.
That clicked. Murai jumped up immediately, his face red. His sudden, flimsy movements knocked over the pile of cards on the floor.
"Hey dude, watch it!" Kusano said angrily, but his voice could barely be heard over Murai's roaring.
"Shirai, you fucking brat! Shut the hell up or I'll punch those big glasses of yours!". He pointed towards her, making wild gestures with his hand.
"Oooh I'm so afraid!" Chikako replied with her best melodramatic voice. "Bah! You never go up against girls. Hell, you would probably get your ass handed to you by Uehara! Why should I worry about your pathetic threats?"
Murai stared at her.
"Shut up!" he said. "You'll regret saying that! I'll make your life a nightmare!"
"Oh really? You mean you are going to come up with some great plan to terrorize me? Ain't gonna happen. With your low intelligence, the best thing you could come up with is probably to put tacks or ice cream or something on my chair, and hope I'll sit down on it. Try it if you'd like. I am not Toroko, you know."
She smiled victoriously at him. Murai opened his mouth and closed it again. He seemed to be looking for words. Chikako enjoyed it. Murai was such a jerk.
"You're so incompetent, Murai." Chikako continued. "It's just like when you tried to get rid of Onizuka. None of your pathetic little plans worked out. I mean, trying to make him stumble and fall on a pair of scissors? Putting a cockroach in his food? That's just stupid. Too bad you lack the brains for such a job."
"Well, you're not very competent either!" Murai shouted. "How about that money embezzlement operation you tried to pull of together with Iijima and that bitch Aizawa, right before this trip? You three tried to get Onizuka framed for the incident, but in the end, you ended up with the dirty old men instead!"
When he mentioned this, Chikako got mad for real. She stood up and looked Murai straight in the eyes.
"The plan would have worked perfectly if not that little whore Kanzaki had interfered! Miyabi's plan was perfect. Too bad that blonde she-devil had to destroy it!"
She took a breath, then said:
"It's sad to see you have all become Onizuka's servants! I am happy I am still strong and independent. And don't you dare call Miyabi a bitch! Miyabi is a much better person than all of you! She is sweet and caring for the ones who really are her true friends, and she treats traitors the way they should be treated!"
No one in the room noticed it, but Kikuchi suddenly stopped typing at his keyboard.
Murai groaned, his eyes fixed at Chikako.
"'Sweet and caring', huh? You three used Fujiyoshi, making him get humiliated in front of the whole class!"
Fujiyoshi looked bitter when Murai said this. Murai continued:
"Fujiyoshi had done nothing to harm Miyabi or anyone of you! In fact, he is one of the most forgiving persons in the class. He even respects Miyabi still. And you know that, Chikako! Do you honestly think it was right to do such a thing? Did you really feel 'sweet and caring' when you put him through all that?"
Chikako tried to keep a straight face, but she felt her cheeks getting red, and she unintentionally began staring at the wall instead of at Murai.
"Th-that was not my idea. It was Miyabi's plan! I just assisted her. Miyabi is the best one to make advanced plans. Why should I try to interfere? It would only mess up things. And besides, Miyabi would be angry if I did."
Kikuchi slowly closed his laptop. No one noticed this either.
To tell the truth, Chikako felt that the whole embezzlement operation and the usage of Fujiyoshi had been a bit too much. Personally, she hadn't want it to happen, but Miyabi had been so angry and determined that Chikako hadn't dared to say anything. When Miyabi was furious, you never wanted to mess with her. For every day since Onizuka had arrived, Miyabi had become more and more obsessed with getting him fired. In the end, she had been willing to go to any lengths to succeed with her plans. That was the reason they had done something so extreme. Fujiyoshi was a bit of a jerk, but he was actually a quite nice guy. He had even been friendly towards Chikako herself, from time to time. She had not wanted him to play the lead role in Miyabi's plan, but he was the only one in class who came from a poor family.
"Besides," Murai went on, "Where is Miyabi now? Why isn't she here now with her two best friends? You know what, you and Iijima might as well go back home to your 'sweet and caring' friend! Nobody wants you here anyway!"
Chikako got mad again and felt her courage seep back. She looked straight at Murai.
"Yeah, you are right actually! We should go back home! I hate staying here with you idiots, sharing a room and all. When Miyabi isn't here, it's no fun. I should go back home first thing tomorrow! I want to be with Miyabi!"
Suddenly, a voice cut through the air. It was not loud, but its power and authourity silenced all the other voices.
"Miyabi, Miyabi, Miyabi, Miyabi."
It was Kikuchi. He had put his laptop away and was now watching Chikako. She and Murai began staring at him.
Kikuchi was spinning a pen in one of his hands in a steady rhythm.
"Miyabi, Miyabi, Miyabi, Miyabi." he said again, not taking his eyes away from her.
Chikako didn't understand anything.
"Wh-what? What are you doing?" she finally said, not knowing what else to come up with.
"I'm just imitating you, Chikako. You sound like a parrot." Kikuchi said calmly.
"Eh, what? I don't sound like that! Knock it off! You're freaking me out!"
"You're pretty much freaking me out as well."
"What? Why?"
"Because you seem to have an unhealthy obsession for a certain girl named Miyabi Aizawa."
Chikako stared at his cool and relaxed face. His eyes were full of confidence, as usual. Chikako felt the hate grow inside of her. She began trembling. Out of all people on the planet, there was no one she hated as much as Kikuchi.
Kikuchi was everything she was not. Just like Miyabi, he had the intelligence, the good looks and the charisma, not to mention he was a good fighter as well, but the difference to Miyabi was that he completely ignored her. He didn't hate her, he wasn't bored by her, he never felt sorry for her. He simply didn't care about her at all. And that wasn't the only thing. The worst thing was that it always felt like his penetrating gaze saw right through her. When Kikuchi looked at her, she felt like he was reading her mind, seeing not only the faults of her exterior, but into the weakness of her soul. When he looked at her, she felt naked and defenseless.
Then there was one more thing. A very personal thing that only she felt. Kikuchi wore glasses, just like her. But the difference was that he looked good in them. In fact, he looked beautiful in his glasses. They made his face complete in a strange kind of way. Chikako envied this. She hated glasses so much. Her own glasses was what made her so ugly. Her glasses were the reason no boy wanted a date with her. Everytime she saw Kikuchi looking beautiful in his glasses, she felt like she wanted to cry.
"What do you mean? What are you trying to say?" she asked.
"Just listen to yourself, Chikako. 'Miyabi thinks this', 'Miyabi says that', 'Miyabi would be this', 'Miyabi is so lovely and sweet'...you repeat the same kind of phrases over and over again."
"Huh?"
"Let me ask you an honest question, Chikako. Why do you hang out with Miyabi?"
Chikako could not read anything from Kikuchi's expressionless face.
"Why the hell do you ask that? Maybe it's because we're friends! You know, friends do tend to spend time together. Never heard of that?"
"Ah, I see. So you're friends..."
Chikako was totally clueless. Where was he going with all this? Kikuchi's face and voice were completely neutral. He could have been talking about the weather. But Chikako knew very well that Kikuchi was not such a simple guy. She knew that he had a secret plan going on. When he spoke in this manner, there was always something nasty beneath the surface, ready to crawl up when you least expected it.
Chikako sat down on her bed again, trying to think of something else. After a few seconds, Kikuchi spoke.
"Are you really good friends, Chikako? Close friends who care deeply for eachother? Do you trust Miyabi with all your heart?"
"Why, yeah! Of course I do! She is my best friend in the whole world!"
Murai and his boys were now quiet, listening to her and Kikuchi. They seemed to be a bit tense. Chikako felt more and more uneasy. What were they up to, really?
"Okay? Best friends, you say? Hmm..."
Kikuchi took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes a bit, then put the glasses back on. Then he took a deep breath.
"If I am going to express my honest opinion, I have to say that I find your claim that you two are best friends a bit strange. You know, from all I've seen and heard, she is quite rude towards you from time to time."
Chikako frowned.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Well, for example, remember that time in the cafeteria last year, when you spilled that huge glass of juice all over your school uniform? You got plenty of that stuff on your skirt as well. It made a big wet spot in the front."
Murai and his friends looked down in the floor smiling. Kikuchi's face was still neutral.
Chikako opened her mouth, but then quickly closed it again.
"Do you remember who laughed the most?" Kikuchi continued. "Miyabi did. She even pointed at you and called out to everyone in the cafeteria what you had done. Because of that, every kid in there noticed it, and everybody laughed."
Chikako coughed quietly, then she chuckled.
"Whu...well, that...that's nothing! She was just teasing me. You know, like close friends do. And besides, I deserved it. I embarrassed Miyabi in front of everyone by screwing up. I was clumsy. I did a Toro-chan, hahaha!"
Her laugh echoed in the quiet room.
"Okay? Personally, I thought she was being quite reckless. As I recall, you were smiling, but your eyes looked very sad." Kikuchi said.
"What are you trying to say, Kikuchi? Everyone does that! I mean, look at you guys!" Chikako pointed to Murai and his two boys. "Don't say you don't fool around, pull pranks on eachother and laugh when someone of you gets into an embarrassing situation!"
"Well, yeah...but we don't do those kind of things, do we?" Murai said.
"You do! Your boys over there laughed quite a lot when they saw the drawing on your back!" Chikako said.
Murai charged up for a new emotional outburst, but Fujiyoshi quickly put a hand on his shoulder.
"Yes, we laughed at him." Fujiyoshi said. "After all, it was a good prank. But afterwards, we helped him clean it up and now we don't pick on him anymore. Miyabi didn't drop it like that. Remember what she did? She took a picture with her cell phone of you being all soaked. Later, she sent it to practically every student in school. Days after the incident, people still laughed when they saw you in the corridor."
"You're just idiots!" Chikako snarled. "The whole thing was just a joke, and I don't mind! Miyabi was only playing a joke! A joke!"
"Does she ever do those kind of jokes with Saeko?" Kikuchi asked her.
"What? I don't know! I guess she does."
"Come to think of it, aren't you three best friends who always are together?"
"Of course we are."
"Really? Because several times, I've seen Miyabi and Saeko hang out with eachother at school, or out in the town, without you. They seem to do that frequently."
He kept staring at her.
"So...so what? She probably had a special reason to do so! I have no idea."
"You mean she never gives you a specific reason why she does it? She just goes out with Saeko and doesn't even bother to give you a call or tell you about it? Isn't that a bit cold?"
"I don't mind! Miyabi would never do something bad to me! If she hangs out with Saeko alone there is probably a good reason for her to do so. Who am I to doubt her?"
"Mmm okay. If you say so..." Kikuchi said.
Chikako frowned and began fixing with her things. She tried her best to ignore him.
"Do you smoke, by the way?" Kikuchi asked her.
Chikako put her things down and looked at him in disbelief.
"No I don't smoke, thank you!" she said angrily.
"But you have smoked. I have seen you doing it."
"What? When?"
"It was when Miyabi had a party at her place with the whole class invited, plus some of the senior girls. One of those girls offered you some free cigarettes."
"Oh...yeah, okay. That's true. I smoked at that party. So what?"
"It seemed to me you didn't like it that much. Remember what happened?"
"No." Chikako said sourly.
"You looked like you were feeling a bit sick while smoking it. And after the cigarette was done and the seniors had left the three of you, you ran to the bathroom and spent the rest of the party in there. It seemed your body didn't react very well."
"Shut up!" Chikako said angrily. "Don't mention that! I'm not a smoker, I know! So what? I hate cigarettes! I've always done!"
"But still, you smoked one."
Chikako looked away.
"At first, you turned down her offer, right?" Kikuchi said. "Then Miyabi took you aside and talked to you. She looked very angry. And after that, you accepted the senior girl's cigarette."
Chikako was quiet for a few seconds. Then she said:
"Well...a senior girl wanted to be kind and give me some free cigarettes...and it's...it's rude to say 'no' to her when she's being kind like that. And I would have made Miyabi look bad at her own party if her close friend would have been whining and had refused such a nice offer..."
"I see..."
"It's nothing strange!" Chikako said angrily. "I have to try out new things, don't I? Otherwise you never learn things in life! I can't be a baby all my life. I have to grow up someday and learn the things adults do!"
"I guess so." Kikuchi said.
He put his pen on the bedside table.
"What about boys?" he suddenly said. "Are you having any luck with them?"
"That's none of your business!"
Chikako's face now had a shade of red, and she did not look at Kikuchi anymore.
"I guess it's not. But I happen to know a thing or two. Remember that time when that guy Takeshi in class 3-1 approached you and said he wanted to spend time with you? He told you such sweet words about how much he liked you. You seemed to be really happy. In fact, you seemed like you were in love. Your eyes were shining."
Chikako's mouth fell wide open. She hadn't told him about that! How could he know all the details?
"You brought him along to a party. You wore the kind of dress he had told you he loved. Then at that party, you introduced him to Miyabi, and then he and Miyabi began dating just a few days after that. They even hugged and kissed in front of you in the school corridor. It was almost as if Miyabi stole him away from you. You looked so sad. It must have felt really painful."
"Sh-shut up! I cannot control what person a guy falls in love with! If he and Miyabi loved eachother and wanted to be together and he had lost interest in me, that's their business! You can't force a person to love you!"
Chikako now looked very troubled. Her gaze bounced around the room, like she was trapped in a cage. Her breathing was heavy.
She faced Kikuchi again and stared at him, gritting her teeth.
"S-stop this nonsense!" she said, her voice trembling. "You don't know anything about Miyabi. I am her close friend, and we have a great relation, something you would never understand!"
At that moment, Kikuchi's voice changed. He looked angry. He leaned forwards and looked her deep into the eyes.
"Oh, it's quite easy for me to understand, Chikako. It's easy to understand how a weak and lonely person like you always pucker up for a popular girl like Miyabi, regardless if she is treating you like shit."
He almost spat out the last word.
"You are so desperate to be one of the cool guys. You would do anything to get accepted by them. And you swallow any crap they put in your mouth. Miyabi dominates you completely, and you get humiliated by her over and over again, and yet you trust her and follow her."
Chikako was white in the face.
"Th-that's not true! Y-you're lying!" she stuttered.
"You say Miyabi is your best friend, and that you two have a great relation. I'm afraid you have been mistaken. Do you want some real evidence of Miyabi's true character? Do you want proof of how wrong you have been about her? Fine then. I'll tell you."
Kikuchi took a deep breath.
"Remember back in elementary school? Long before you came to Holy Forest and met Miyabi or anyone of us? Your classmates in your old school were not very nice to you. They had a very special name for you..."
Chikako's blood froze. No, he couldn't...!
"Kikuchi!" Fujiyoshi said in panic. He, Murai and Kusano suddenly looked very nervous.
But nothing could stop Kikuchi now. He was about to move the last piece and kill the king. His eyes were burning.
"They used to call you...'Chikakobuta'."
He smiled.
Chikako felt like she had been hit by a train. She jumped off the bed and stared at Kikuchi with her eyes full of hate and humiliation. Her face turned pale, then turned red, then turned pale again. Her hands were shaking.
"Shut up! SHUT UP! Where did you hear that name! You cannot know that name! YOU CAN'T!"
No one had ever seen Chikako mad like this before. She was hollering with all her power right into Kikuchi's face. Murai and his two friends looked terrified.
"Yes, we know that name, Chikako. We know everything about your past." Kikuchi said. His voice sounded confident but had a slight tremble. He was indeed uncomfortable with Chikako's desperation.
"Shut up! You can't! You're a monster! A demon! How did you find out about that name? HOW! Tell me or I'll kill you!" she grabbed Kikuchi's collar.
"Think, Chikako! Even you would be able to figure out how we learnt about it. Deep inside, you know it very well. Miyabi told us."
"She did not! SHE DID NOT! She's my best friend! I told no one but her! She would never tell you!"
"She told us that name, and so much more. For a long time now, she has been telling us all your little secrets, all your embarrassing moments and how ugly she thought you were. She used to tell it to the whole class when we gathered in the class room during lunch break, anytime you were not there with us. We laughed. Everyone laughed."
"Lies! Lies!"
Chikako let go of Kikuchi. She put her hands to her face, shaking her head violently.
"Want to hear some more things she told us? How about this: back in your old school you were voted The Ugliest Girl In Class every single year. You wet your bed until you turned seven. And you once invited your whole class over to your house for a birthday party, but no one came."
"Stop it! Stop it!"
Kikuchi raised his voice again.
"No, YOU stop it, Chikako! It's time to wake up now! Miyabi is not the sweet friend you think she is. She is not the kind-hearted girl she once was. You have seen enough now during this semester to know her true nature. She doesn't care about your feelings! She doesn't care about anyone's feelings but her own! She only wants you around as her little pet. She is only interested in going through with her plans, using you as a tool. And you follow! You believe every single word she says! You obey her every command!"
"Nooo!"
"Do you know what people like you are called? 'Ass kissers'! That's what you are. You were always left out of the loop. You were unpopular. You were desperate to be one of the cool girls. You would do anything. Even selling your soul. That's why you are always following Miyabi, who used to be the queen bee of this class. You always hope to get a piece of the fame she used to have. You are idolizing her in every single way. You look up to her so much that you don't even object when she is rude towards you. She constantly mistreats you, and you let it happen."
Chikako was shaking. Her arms hung down, totally powerless. She didn't say anything.
Kikuchi's voice became calm again.
"You wanted people to admire you. But the truth is, no one admires you. Not a single person. The fact that you act as Miyabi's loyal dog is the reason why everyone in the class looks down on you. That's why no one respects you. How can they respect someone who never stands on her own? Someone who never makes her own choices? No one likes you, Chikako. People laugh at you behind your back. Even Yoshikawa and Tomoko do."
Kikuchi had finished his speech. Chikako just stood there for a long time. Then she slowly raised her head and faced the four boys.
"I hate you...I hate you so much." she whispered.
Then she snapped. She began screaming and stomping the floor.
"Go to hell! I hate you! I never want to speak to you ever again! Never! NEVER! Do you hear me!"
She ran out of the room, slamming the door as she left. The crashing sound echoed through the hotel corridor.
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room after Chikako had stormed out.
"That was cruel, Kikuchi." Fujiyoshi said. He gave the guy with the glasses a cold stare.
Kikuchi sighed and closed his eyes. All the power he held just a minute ago was now gone. He looked tired.
"I know, Fujiyoshi. But I couldn't hold back anymore. She can't live in that dream world forever."
"Don't you think you went a little too far?" Kusano asked, looking worried.
"No. She had to find out the whole truth. She has to know she is the laughing stock of the whole class."
"Knock it off, Kikuchi. You definitely went too far." Fujiyoshi said. "You crushed her. Did you really want to open her eyes...or did you want to ram a stake through her heart?"
"Think about it, Fujiyoshi." Kikuchi said, eyes still closed. "Chikako is completely attached to Miyabi. Do you think anything less than an ice cold shower could make her wake up from that trance? Look, I'm not proud of what I just did, but sometimes you have to be brutally honest to make someone see the truth...isn't that what Onizuka has taught us?"
Fujiyoshi stared at him for a couple of seconds, then he sighed and looked away.
"Iijima is probably going to be really pissed when she finds out..." Kusano mumbled.
"I'll deal with Iijima. I'll take responsibility for that. You guys don't have to do anything." Kikuchi said.
"I feel sorry for her." Murai said. "I think we should talk to Chikako...or something like that..."
"Me too, but it's not much we can do right now." Kikuchi said and took up his laptop again. "She'll cool down and come back eventually. We can talk to her then."