Shinobu hadn't had much time to get to know Ume before Ume left their group of friends, and had had virtually no direct contact with her since then either. In the short time they were associated, Ume's total lack of appreciation for how good she had it – which left her spoiled rotten and tended to lead to child-like pouting and even the occasional tantrum whenever any part of the group's activities didn't go exactly her way – had quickly put Shinobu off to her. Later, long after Ume had left the group, Shinobu developed a bit of sympathy for her, but still had no particular desire to be around her.
Ume was talking on her cell phone as she walked. Shinobu was leaning casually against the wall out of Ume's path as she watched her, and for a moment she thought that Ume might not even notice her there. But when Ume had closed to about 20 paces, their eyes met.
Ume never let up on her phone conversation, and as she seemed to be sharing gripes with whoever she was talking to, her face contorted into several scowls as she spoke. But she didn't break eye contact with Shinobu until she was about to walk past her, when with a loud sigh, she rolled her eyes and sharply turned her head back in the direction she was walking, and fed her next miscellaneous complaint to her friend on the phone.
Shinobu really couldn't tell if Ume's last gestures as she walked by were directed at her or if they were meant for the person on the other end of the cell phone, but then she didn't care too much either. While she didn't quite want to say that she held Ume in contempt, she certainly didn't have much respect for her, and would not lose any sleep if Ume were to blow her off like that. Shinobu shrugged the incident off resumed her people-watching. Suu was not long in coming.
All in all Shinobu felt she had had a good first day back at school, but nevertheless she was feeling a bit drained by the time she and Suu made it back to Hinata-sou. Kaolla had the remarkable ability to use any occasion whatsoever as an excuse to be even more energetic than usual, and her lack of enthusiasm for getting out of bed that morning notwithstanding, by the time she had come bounding out of the front doors of the high school to meet Shinobu with a flying glomp the more tired of the two girls found herself unable to believe that her friend had made it through the day without being kicked out of class. Shinobu had long since learned to use Suu's endless energy as a picker-upper, but every once in a while she still found herself wishing that the little inventor would 'invent' a big, fat Pause button and implant it into her forehead. Although Suu very near wore her out on the way home, Shinobu was still glad for her company.
Keitaro and Naru, regardless of whether either of the two wished it to be so at any given time, still tended to wind up as the center of attention around Hinata-sou. That fact combined with everyone's knowledge that Shinobu didn't like being made a spectacle of had spared her the pestering questions about the 'first day of school' for the past several years. Thus, upon her and Suu returning home, apart from the usual greetings whenever the residents passed one another, Shinobu was not subjected to any special treatment. After a short respite in the hot springs, Shinobu set right upon her homework, which in turn allowed her to finish in time to enjoy a leisurely conversation with Keitaro and Haruka before starting dinner. Keitaro and Naru managed to avoid conflict all evening, and it was much to Shinobu's regret that she turned down an invitation for a stargazing session in the hot springs on the grounds that she needed her sleep for the next day.
Suu was far less reluctant to go to school on the second day, and so Shinobu's hope to arrive at school early in time to meet up with her friends before class was realized. A large fountain was the centerpiece of the school's courtyard, and was the second meeting place for Shinobu's friends should their favorite tree already be too crowded. Everyone except Kyo was already there as Shinobu joined them.
"'Morning, Shinobu," acknowledged Yumi, speaking for everyone as they just nodded to Shinobu.
"To you all as well," replied Shinobu with a friendly smile. Looking around, she quickly noticed the one missing face. "Umm ... where's Kyo?"
This time it was Chie who answered. "Oh, I'm sure he's still standing in front of his bathroom mirror primping up something fierce," she said with a sigh. Turning then to Isao, who happened to be the nearest boy to her, Chie finished her thought. "None of you guys developed a prima donna complex. What exactly happened to our dear friend Kyo?"
Isao chuckled a little. "Beats me. But we love him anyway."
Michimo now came to Kyo's defense. "I wouldn't give Kyo too hard a time for his grooming habits, Chie. You're not exactly Miss Zero-Maintenance yourself, you know!"
Chie put a fake expression of indignance on her face. "Surely you do not imply that I primp like Kyo does?"
A genuine evil grin crossed Michimo's face. "Certainly not. At least when Kyo does it, it makes a difference!"
"Why you little ..."
Chie playfully swung her handbag at Michimo, though Michimo dodged her successfully. As the two of them sparred for a moment, Shinobu leaned forward towards them slightly to speak.
"Yeah, Chie. At least we've never been late for a movie because of Kyo."
Chie didn't take her eyes off of Michimo as she responded. "And I suppose you would have gone out in public without covering up a nice little line of pimples that magically appeared on your face between school and late evening?"
Shinobu chuckled. "That would depend a lot on the movie I was supposed to be seeing, I guess. But then, if there weAAAGGGPPHTTHTHT!"
"Surprise!"
With all eyes on Michimo and Chie, no one had seen Kyo creeping up behind them. Taking full advantage of the distraction, Kyo had snuck up to right behind Shinobu, then grabbed her waist just above her hips and lifted her off the ground a little as he shouted.
Her total surprise, matched immediately with the sensation of being lifted off the ground, meant that the remainder of Shinobu's sentence came out as a very awkward squeal. Kyo quickly dropped Shinobu and then tried to tower over her with his arms raised high in the classic 'Boo!' gesture.
Shinobu had been in a very good mood this morning, so in thinking about it later that night it would surprise her how quickly her heart-stopping terror transformed into irritation and then to genuine anger. The instant she felt her feet back on solid ground, even before her heart had slid down her throat back into her chest, she angrily turned on her tormentor and gave him a very firm shove.
Brute strength had never been Shinobu's forté, and Kyo was certainly a mightier person than she. However, as he was on his toes and leaning forward over Shinobu, and he was nearly a full head and shoulders taller than her anyway, his center of gravity was much higher than hers. Shinobu also reflexively crouched a little after Kyo dropped her, lowering her center of gravity even more. All things considered, Shinobu's shove was more than enough to completely unbalance Kyo, and with his back to the fountain, he tripped backwards over the fountain ledge and fell flat on his back into the water.
Nearby groups of students close enough to see what had happened had laughed out loud at Shinobu's fright, but the laughter turned into uproarious hoots and cheers as the tables turned on the would-be prankster.
Yumi and Shinobu were the closest to the fountain at that moment, and both quickly turned to face Kyo fully. Shinobu's expression was fast melting from one of anger to one of apology, but Yumi was very much sharing in the amusement of the onlookers.
"Woah ho ho! Who's surprised now big guy, huh? Ha ha ha ha!"
Kyo's mouth hung open with an expression of absolute shock. He looked at Yumi for a second without responding, and then looked at Shinobu.
"Dammit Shinobu, this is my only clean uniform! They're gonna send me home now!"
Once again Yumi spoke before Shinobu could. "Hey, she let you off lightly, Kyo. You ever do that to me and you'll be wearing an imprint of my shoe between your legs for a week!"
Also once again, Kyo offered no response to Yumi's words, but just stared disbelievingly at Shinobu. After another few tense moments of silence, Kyo seemed to become aware that his predicament was also the source of amusement for a good two dozen other students who had seem it all happen, and an embarrassed blush began to spread across his face.
Shinobu was fast regretting her action and was searching for something apologetic to say, but Kyo's endurance for being the butt of the joke was too short. With a huff he hauled himself out of the water in the opposite direction of Shinobu and the others and stormed off, dozens of snickering faces watching him until he exited the courtyard.
As Shinobu, Chie and Yumi trodded into their homeroom, Yumi and Chie were still chatting merrily between themselves, but Shinobu just plunked down in her seat, and after taking a quick look at Kyo's conspicuously empty chair, slumped down over the desk portion of her chair.
Seeing this, Yumi and Chie ended their conversation, Chie sitting down and Yumi walking over to Shinobu and kneeling down in front of her.
"Aw come on Shinobu, you're not going to let this ruin your whole day, now are you?" Yumi said.
Shinobu looked up at her with a very glum look on her face. "Yes actually, I think I am," she replied dejectedly.
Yumi didn't say anything but Shinobu caught what Yumi was thinking from the latter girl's facial expression.
"I feel bad about what happened. I didn't mean to humiliate him in front of half the courtyard," Shinobu said.
"Why not? Isn't that exactly what he did to you?"
Shinobu didn't reply, and after a moment, Yumi spoke again. "Look Shinobu, you can't just go grabbing a girl from behind like that and not expect them not to react. You'd have been totally justified in bopping him in the face. I meant it when I said you let him off lightly. That that fountain happened to be there was just a stroke of luck."
"That's not me, Yumi. You know that."
Yumi was fast sensing that there was little point in arguing the situation right then. The homeroom teacher was just walking in anyway, so she offered her downtrodden friend a sympathetic pat on the back before standing up and moving back to her own seat.
Shinobu made it through the day well enough, but when she returned home on this day, her obvious lack of high spirit attracted the sort of attention from her roommates that she had avoided yesterday.
"You don't look too happy, Shinobu. Is something wrong?"
Shinobu looked up to see Naru coming down the stairs as she went up them. Although Shinobu had not actually thought of the situation in this light, given the nature of what was bothering her, seeing Naru only made her feel worse.
"Umm ... no. I just didn't sleep too well last night, that's all," Shinobu rattled off quickly. She didn't slow her pace either.
Naru's face wrinkled a little, and Shinobu realized too late the hole in her excuse.
"But didn't you pass up on the nighttime hot springs so you could go to bed early? Are you sure you're OK?"
The two girls passed each other on the stairs at this point.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll see you later, OK?" Shinobu said, doing her best to sound like she meant it. She didn't turn to look at Naru but by the sound of Naru's slowed footsteps, Shinobu didn't think Naru was buying it. But Naru made no effort to stop her, and Shinobu made it to her room and closed the door.
Shinobu ended up unwittingly taking a short nap, falling asleep at her desk for about 45 minutes before snapping back to consciousness. She felt a little better, but her discomfort at the events of the day fast returned to the forefront of her mind. She sat still for a few minutes thinking about what her next action would be, and then with some resolve, she picked up the telephone that sat next to her desk lamp. Running her finger down the line of quick-dial buttons, stopping at the one with 'Kyo' written next to it, and with a sigh she pressed it.
Kyo had no cell phone, and several times in the past few years when she had tried to pass on some group plans to him or other such time-sensitive information she had expressed exasperation to him later than his family didn't have an answering machine. She let the phone ring about 15 times before hanging the phone up again with another sigh and a slight shake of her head.
Shinobu gave her head a more rigorous shake after a moment, and then picked up her school handbag. She still had homework to do, and there would still be hungry mouths expecting dinner later that evening.