DOATEC High: Chapter 4
:The food chain:
Left. Left right. Left right right.
It had been a few days since the crash in the hallway, with the pressure of her mild tardiness and the fact that she was currently playing catch up, Mila needed some way to unwind.
Right left. Left right left. Right right right.
Thankfully, Hitomi seemed to be more observant than she let on. Not that Mila thought she was stupid, but with the way the brunette acted around her led her to be genuinely surprised when she told her she knew exactly what she was going through and how to ease her tension.
Left. Right right. Left right.
That was the reason her spirits were so high when Hitomi brought her along to the gym, a wide selection of equipment and a lot of room for her to let loose for the first time in nearly a week.
Right left... RIGHT.
Slamming her fist once more into the heavy sandbag that hung on the far side of the room, Mila could practically feel the stress seeping out of her with each long awaited punch. Bringing her taped up hand to her forehead, she breathed a deep sigh of relief as she carelessly wiped the thin veil of sweat from her skin. Turning to look over at her friend, who seemed to be having her own fun with a leisurely jog on the nearby treadmill, she couldn't help but smile at how seriously Hitomi seemed to be taking it, her short puffs through pursed lips and occasionally glancing down at her wrist to check her pulse monitor. If she didn't know any better, she would've sworn she was training to be an athlete in the Olympics, or some kind of local track star.
That would've been her first guess, if Hitomi hadn't already told her what she wanted to do.
"DOA? Isn't that the big fighting tournament they hold every couple of years?"
The smiling brunette nodded, swallowing her mouthful of scrambled egg.
"I always wanted to fight in a big arena like that once I'm done with school, take on the real challengers, maybe make some money from it." She grinned at the redhead as she leaned in closer. "You ever think about fighting professionally?"
Mila tilted her head a little in response, waiting a moment with a puzzled look before realizing that she wasn't joking.
"Me? Nah." She scoffed, waving her hand dismissively before reaching for her drink. "I do a little light sparring as a hobby, but I couldn't even get a punch past you, I wouldn't stand a chance in the real deal."
Now it was Hitomi's turn to look confused, thinking back to their first meeting, she giggled lightly and shook her head.
"I wouldn't say that, I wasn't kidding before when I said you would've broken poor Jessica over the sidewalk before. It took a lot to hold you back, and I have a suspicion you weren't really trying back then either."
She gave a sly smile, watching her friend who simply responded with a raised eyebrow.
"Besides, if you wanna keep up that hobby, I'm always looking for a sparring partner myself. You wanna take me on sometime?"
Mila took a moment to think, the offer wasn't a bad one, they'd both have a mutual hobby, it'd mean more time hanging out with a friend as well as letting out some of her pent up aggression in a nonviolent way. Well, as nonviolent as a sparring match could be. And while it was true that she hadn't really gone all out before, the apparent ease of which Hitomi had stopped her was actually pretty intimidating.
"I dunno if you'd get a decent match out of me, I'm still kinda an amateur. I've only had a few sparring matches with some of the people at my old gym."
Hitomi simply giggled.
"Well how do you expect to get better if you don't keep it up, it's kinda the idea of a sparring match."
Mila let slip a small smile, even a discreet chuckle as she turned back to her breakfast.
"Well, maybe just one wouldn't hurt."
The girls hadn't agreed when to set up their little fight, but the way Hitomi's eyes had lit up when she agreed still managed to bring a smile to Mila's face even the next day.
"You done already?"
The cheerful girl stepped up to her friend with her usual warm smile, the pair of them had opted to wear the school's provided gray tracksuits, though Hitomi had decided at some point to tie the jacket around her waist, leaving her in what she claimed was her favorite black tank top.
"Yeah, I'm all good, just getting back into the swing of things y'know?"
Starting to unwrap the tape from her fingers, Mila turned to walk beside her friend, who took a moment to stretch her arms up above her head while they moved, giving a very satisfied sigh.
"Ready to hit the showers then?"
Mila shot her a skeptical look, which was received by a playful giggle.
"Oh c'mon, I'm not gonna grope you every time."
"Just when I least expect it?"
"Wouldn't be as fun if you saw it coming."
The redhead simply rolled her eyes and smiled, as weird as she sometimes was, the bouncy brunette's attitude was slowly starting to rub off on her.
The pair walked down the hall past the main gym hall, since they had free time they decided to head over to the cafeteria and grab some drinks while they waited for the next class. But a commotion from the hall itself caught the girls' attention, pulling the sliding door just enough to peek through, the curious teens watched what would become the school's next big story amongst the students.
A class of girls in their gym uniforms stood in two lines, one behind the other, watching as the teacher seemed to be having some kind of disagreement with another member of staff. The woman, who was at least a foot taller and considerably more intimidating, never once raised her voice against her colleague, but instead stood there listening to the other woman's words with a cold look in her eyes.
"Who's that?" Mila whispered to the brunette hovering just above her, the pair of them standing either side of the crack in the door to better see what was going on.
"That's the headmistress, Ms. Rachel Kira..." Hitomi's voice sounded a little harsher than usual, almost as if she disliked saying the name. "And the lady with the white hair is the gym teacher and soccer coach, Ms. Christie Stewart."
Christie looked like a typical gym teacher, dressed in a red variant of the tracksuits the students wore, her trusty whistle dangling around her neck. Rachel on the other hand was dressed more like a lab professor than a headmistress, wearing a red turtleneck dress covered by what looked to be a white lab coat, a pair of red heels and a silver necklace with a blue stone pendant finishing off her outfit.
"Sounds like they're arguing about something, what do you think it could be?"
Hitomi sighed quietly.
"It could be anything, Ms. Kira tends to walk into classes and criticize the teachers if she doesn't think they're doing things the way she would. Sometimes they try to reason with her, but it looks like Ms. Stewart isn't backing down this time."
Mila simply nodded, watching the shorter woman standing her ground while the imposing figure before her simply gave her a threatening smirk. It seemed like the students wanted nothing more than to just carry on with their lesson, a few of the girls shifting uncomfortably in their places, until a collective gasp spread like a wave through the hall as a pointed finger at the headmistress' shoulder, was grabbed and countered with a vicious slam against the hardwood floor.
With that one move, in front of the entire first year class, Rachel proved that she was the top dog on campus. Christie could do nothing but squirm and painfully groan at the feeling of the headmistress' five inch heel digging into her pelvis, until Rachel had had her fun and let her go. Giving a silent smirk that cemented her position of dominance, the taller woman turned to leave for the staff room, leaving the humiliated coach to pick herself up and try to earn back the respect of her stunned class.
In the time it took Rachel to reach the door of the hall, Hitomi and Mila had already made their hasty exit, sitting themselves down in the cafeteria, slightly out of breath from their sudden jog through the corridors.
"I can't believe she did that, is she allowed to do that?"
Hitomi shook her head solemnly.
"Not at all, the school is strictly against violence. Unless it's a supervised sport, neither student or staff are allowed to lay their hands on each other."
Mila gave a skeptical look.
"Why do you sound like this has happened before?"
The brunette gave a saddened smile.
"Cause it has, a few teachers I liked have left because Ms. Kira threatened or assaulted them."
"Then how has she not been fired?"
Hitomi shook her head again.
"Nobody will report her, they're either too scared she'll come for them next or worried that the story won't stick. She's managed to talk her way past accusations before, despite the evidence stacked against her. The system is too far in her corner."
The redhead thought for a moment.
"What about us? Why doesn't a student report her? A whole class just witnessed her attacking a teacher."
"Students have even less sway than the staff, and if she found out who tried, their future at the school is essentially over. She just has too much power."
The girls sat quietly in the mostly empty lunch hall, frustrated and conflicted, Hitomi stood to go get their drinks.
"Somebody should at least try.." Mila mumbled to herself. "Nobody should have to spend their days in fear like this."
