a month has passed since reina's assault
but to taki's immense relief
today she told him that her period is back.
so now
thankfully
he no longer wakes up in the dark
sweating from nightmares about coat hanger abortions.
"sensei..."
"are we gonna live like this forever?"
taki takes another drink of soda
he states at the bottle for a few seconds.
thank god he forced himself to survive rehab last year
otherwise reina would be stuck in here watching him die in delirium tremens.
he isn't sure how to answer.
reina sighs and finishes her sprite.
"they'll just kick us around until we die, right?"
taki nods
"pretty much."
or
of course
until he succeeds in getting revenge.
he won't let reina know though.
meanwhile
reina tosses her bottle into the trash can
taki tries to throw his in too
it bounces off the rim
reina frowns at him
"can you not?"
taki smirks at her
like he used to smirk at michie
reina rolls her eyes
crawls over him to the trash can
throws away his shit for him
"you're such a slob, sensei."
taki chuckles quietly
he sits up and stretches
grabs the stack of scores he was going over with reina before dinner.
the band has 2 more marches to learn
plus they need more polishing on the 2 feature pieces
particularly the second one.
he hands reina one of the marches and one of the feature pieces
"so, based on everything we talked about today, i need you to make a hit list for brass sectionals tomorrow. we'll go over it together when you're done."
reina nods
picks up her pencil
and they both go back to work.
the auditors are back.
taki can sense his students are scared
but also angry.
while reina conducts
he sees them exchanging meaningful glances
he sees folded notes circulating covertly
he hears whispers being exchanged when certain sections are not playing
he knows something is up
but with the extra guards around
he had no way of warning them to stop without alerting the auditors.
he just hopes
for their sake
that they aren't thinking about doing something stupid
as least
not as stupid as what he has planned in mind.
taki is in the middle of giving instructions to the trumpet section
when a bloodcurdling scream stops him
it's far away
outside the building
from the parking lot outside of the band room
his students look as terrified as he is
he forces himself to ignore it
tries to remember what he was saying
but the screaming goes on and on
so prolonged
that taki eventually asks the auditors what it is
one of them smirks
"we've decided to start teaching lessons to third kids who think they're hot shit"
the other guards cackle
"haha"
"hot shit"
"what we do is light the kid on fire and make the whole class watch"
"gets rid of the rebels and teaches everyone else a long lesson"
"gives the firsts a nice light show"
he feels weak in his knees
there's a child burning alive out there
how
how can he be expected to resume rehearsal
how can his children be expected to stay calm
how
taki closes his eyes.
"trumpets. measure 86."
later
he notices
to his immense relief
that no one is passing notes anymore.