A/N: Here's another chapter for you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Corpse Party. All rights belong to their respectable owners.

Chapter 10

Yoshiki had been arrested. Something about public misconduct and overdrinking. He ended up missing about a week of school and by the time he got back, the student body was swimming with rumors. He had been bailed out (although no one knew whim had paid him) and he refused to speak about the matter.

If there was a warning sign for Ayumi to stop liking that prick, it was this. The guy was totally bad news, and Ayumi's status as top of the class would be endangered if she interacted with someone like Yoshiki. He was not a nice kid and he would surely cause trouble if she spent time with him. But... for some reason she couldn't seem to keep him out of her mind. She kept trying to tell herself that this wasn't a good idea, that she should just forget about him. Move on. Find some hot, new guy to preoccupy her thoughts.

But it was as if something prevented her from doing just that. Perhaps her heart felt that he must have some sob story or at least some rewarding qualities. There had to be something that was good about him. After all, Ayumi believed that everybody was good at heart. She felt that we were born kind, born as people without an angry thought, born as innocent human beings.

Rumiko bragged about Yoshiki's recent arrest. She spoke to all of her friends about how cool it was that he was now in the government's criminal records, how he was "brave" for going with the police to the station. What else was he supposed to do?, thought Ayumi. Try to avoid it and be faced with another charge? Rumiko talked about how it was her boyfriend who was now notorious around school. One day, in class, she said, to no one in particular, "Someday, we'll be like Bonnie and Clyde."

Ayumi, who was walking by, muttered with a snort, "Yeah, it's so romantic how they both died untimely, gruesome deaths."

"What did you say to me?" Rumiko asked with an angry tone.

Without turning back to look at her, Ayumi responded with a simple, "Nothing."

There was silence for a second and then Rumiko said with a smirk, "Whatever. You're just jealous because he loves me and not some depressed nerd."

Ayumi stooped walking and stood to face Rumiko. The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. "What did you say to me?" Ayumi asked quietly.

Rumiko laughed and said, "You heard me."

"Well, I regret to inform you that I am not so low as to like or date a criminal. That's trashy. And although I may be what you call a 'depressed nerd', at least I'm not a drugged up freak. So I hope you enjoy your lives as Bonnie and Clyde, until the police ambush you and pump your guts full of lead." And with a turn of her heel, Ayumi walked back to her desk.

She was halfway there when, all of a sudden, her hair was tugged so hard that she fell to ground. Stunned and dazed, she tried to get up, but a weight land on top of her own and she felt a blunt force on the side of her face. It quickly donned on her that she was in the middle of a fight and she saw a flash of strawberry blonde hair and knew that Rumiko was punching her.

Although Ayumi was small, she had more muscle mass over Rumiko due to cheerleading, and was strong enough to roll over so that she had the advantage of being on top of Rumiko. In the heat of the moment and forgetting all of her morals, Ayumi began to punch Rumiko repeatedly. The class was recording the fight on their phones and shouting. Rumiko pushed Ayumi off and started kicking her. Ayumi grabbed Rumiko's foot and brought her tumbling to the ground. Ayumi's lip was bleeding and she was quite sure that the skin around her eye was turning a deep purple. She delivered another punch to Rumiko's jaw before she was forcefully shoved backward. She tried to run back and hit Rumiko again, but was held back by the strong arms of a teacher. Rumiko was also being held back.

Ayumi's lip had been cut and had gotten a black eye. Her knuckles were cut and bloddied with both Rumiko's and her own blood. Her stomach hurt and she felt like she was going to throw up, for Rumiko had kicked her there. Her ankle felt awful and she was physically unable to walk on it. She couldn't feel her toes. Rumiko had a bloody nose and her jaw was badly bruised. Whenever she tried to open or close it, it made a popping noise and she clutched it in pain. She had a scratch on her cheek, no doubt from one of Ayumi's nails. Her collarbone was purple as well.

The two teachers holding them pulled them outside, Ayumi hopping on one foot and Rumiko whimpering.

And there, in the middle of the hallway, he stood, eyes wide in surprise.

Yoshiki Kishinuma.