Disclaimer: I think you can guess by now.

This Means War

Ayame

After my little talk with Tezuka, I had sort of expected the tennis team to retaliate. It was only natural, after all the trouble I'd caused them. One happy day passed normally, but on Thursday, it because clear what their intentions were.

Thursday started normally enough, but that changed when I reached my locker. I was already running a bit late, since I had brought Sachiko to her class again, but if everything went as planned, I still could have made it on time.

Everything didn't go as planned. The problem was opening my locker. After entering the combination and raising the latch, I still could seem to open the door. No matter how hard I pulled, even if I threw all my weight backwards, it wouldn't come open. I looked at the crack between the door and the wall of the locker, and there was no longer any question what was holding the door close.

"Superglue," I scowled. I made a mental note to find Kazuko again; she had a method involving hydrochloric acid and a packing knife that could break superglue, with some effort. While pondering the best time to break my locker open, the bell rang.

"Dammit!" I growled, spinning towards my class. I tore through the halls, but it was already too late. As I walked through the door, I could see Inui watching me expectantly, and Fuji concealing giggles. I stalked through the classroom, reluctantly accepting my detention, and slumping into my seat.

Leaning over to my neighbor, a girl who I was on good terms with, I hissed, "I need a pencil and lined paper, please." She quietly passed them over, and for the next three classes, I continued to take notes on pillaged paper.

Because I didn't have my homework for English, I acquired yet another detention. It was starting to seem like I was spending as much time serving my disciplinary sentences as I was taking classes.

As sensei began to finish the lesson, I hurriedly packed up. My lunch happened to coincide with the second years today, and if I moved fast, I could probably catch Kazuko and get her to help me open my locker door. Normally, I could have done it by myself, but the pocketknife I keep at school was – three guesses – in my locker.

Hurrying through the halls, I caught a glimpse of streaked hair rounding a corner in the second floor hallway. I pushed through the crowds of students milling around the hall, and called to her. "Kazuko!"

She looked up, and held up her hand. "Do you need some assistance again, senpai?" she asked with her little angel smile, that didn't seem nearly as out-of-place as it should have on her face.

"I'm afraid I do," I sighed, "Not offensive, this time. More like damage control." She shrugged.

"Oh, well. It's to be expected. Make sure you get back at them, though. It's not good to fall behind, especially with idiots like them. What's the problem?" Kazuko asked.

"They super glued my locker shut," I explained, "You have a way to open it, right? Didn't something like that happen to you in middle school?"

"Actually, yes," she smiled, "Somebody glued me in the science room. For shame, that was a fire hazard," she added the last sentence sarcastically, and then adopted the educational tone of a teacher introducing a new topic to their class. "When in a situation like that, creativity is key. For example, they failed to realize that by using concentrated hydrochloric acid, on can dissolve superglue, which can then be picked out of the crack of the door using a dissection knife."

I nodded, smiling to myself. Kazuko was quite brilliant, really. She could have easily been near the top of her class, if she hadn't chosen to redirect her effort at what she considered more amusing ventures. But she hadn't become a miniature, female Tezuka; and that was why I liked her.

"So, to the science room, then?" I asked, "Oda-sensei is easily distracted, so we should be able to get what we want from his room."

Kazuko nodded, "We'll make an evil genius out of you yet. All we have to do is tell him we heard there was going to be a fight on the basketball courts, and he'll be gone for at least twenty minutes."

And that was exactly what we did. At the first mention of a fight, Oda-sensei (who I think might have mild panic disorder) raced from the room, and Kazuko and I immediately started looking through the cabinets. I found the acids in the back, luckily in a box that wasn't locked. If we had gone to a more responsible teacher, we never would have been able to open that box. That was part of the reason why we choose good old unreliable Oda in the first place.

I opened the tan metal box, and looked in slight confusion at the collection of medication-orange plastic bottles with black rubber eyedropper covers staring back at me. They all looked identical to me, but luckily Kazuko knew what she was doing.

"Let me see," she instructed, systematically lifting the bottles and reading the sticker labels, which had looked like nonsense to me. "Here it is. The strongest concentration of hydrochloric acid kept at school," she announced pointing at some bolded letters among the rest of the meaningless labels. HCl 20M.

"Oh," I said feeling kind of stupid. Kazuko slipped the bottle into the breast pocket of her uniform jacket, and stood.

"Coming?" she asked, turning towards the door, "I'm getting my pocket knife, because we're less likely to break it prying the door open. It's thicker."

"Yeah," I said, but my attention was on something else. As Kazuko had pulled out the hydrochloric acid, it had revealed the label of a nearby bottle. This one wasn't labeled solely with a chemical formula, but also with its name.

Propionic acid. As Kazuko turned her back towards the door, I slipped the second bottle into my own pocket, before replacing the rest of the chemicals and following her out the door.

At the time, I wasn't entirely sure what I was planning on doing it, but it seemed like a good thing to have if I was going to retaliate again. And, in accordance to Tezuka's request, it shouldn't affect the tennis team's practice. I coughed to myself to cover a smirk.

After Kazuko had retrieved her pocketknife from her own locker, we set about opening mine. Using the eyedropper cover, I carefully funneled it down the thin crack between the door and the wall that was filled with glue. It was strong enough that if I used too much in one place, it started to visibly eat away the metal of the locker door. On the bright side, most of the glue was either gone or easily broken when I was finished. Kazuko chipped out the last of the glue, and my locker opened at last.

There were two downsides to my brilliant plan. The first was that our little project attracted an uncountable number of stares from the other students. Fuji also found out, and he, Eiji, and Momo came to laugh at my expense. Inui also came, and smirked knowingly, but he didn't actually laugh like the rest of them. They stood a little huddle to the side, snickering to each other and generally patting themselves on the back.

I couldn't help but notice Kondo's conspicuous absence from the group, but decided that he was probably spending lunch helping the secretary at the office, goody two-shoe that he is.

The other downside was that, even though Kazuko got a chance to eat as I destroyed the glue with the acid, I didn't. And because I had two consecutive detentions after school, it was quite likely I wouldn't be eating until late tonight. I sighed, thinking about my poor stomach as I went through my locker, finding the books I'd need until the end of school. Sometimes it seemed these plans were as hard on me as they were on them.

But, I reminded myself, recalling one of Kazuko's earliest 'lessons', patience is important. All the best pranks require time and thoroughness. That was why my pranks had a lasting effect on the tennis team, and I was able to work my way out of theirs.

Almost all of theirs, I corrected myself, having to mentally stop my chain of thought yet again. The Inui Juice, I hadn't gotten out of – Kondo had gotten me out of it. But seeing as it was his fault I had been in such a situation in the first place, it didn't count.

Thinking of Kondo made me remember that I needed to run by his first period classroom after school, to drop off tomorrow's chocolates. Since the tennis tournament was coming up this weekend, I would also be hanging up a large banner proclaiming 'Go, Kondo-chan!' Depending on the reaction I got, my slow and painful fan girl revenge was coming to an end. Pretty soon the more prying girls would start staying after school or coming early, trying to catch me, and I couldn't evade them forever.

So, I had prepared flowers, chocolates, a card, plus the large obnoxious banner. The grand finale. I shoved all of it into my backpack, and hurried off to catch my first detention.

The first detention with the math teacher was about what one would expect from a detention. First I went through grading homework, and then I had to write sentences; all while the sensei watched me glaringly while working on his computer. He finished with a lecture on punctuality and preparedness, which I treated like I normally did – smile and nod. After about an hour and a half, I was finally free to go to the science classroom, to finish my second detention.

For the most part, that was normal, too, only in the opposite order. First the lecture, then the sentences, and at the end of my three hour long detention-marathon, and finally the grading. It was during aforementioned grading that something rather interesting happened. I was looking through notebooks, that sensei had us keep notes and lab reports in, when I stumbled across none other than Kondo's. And at that exact moment, most conveniently, the teacher left to give a note to one of the other teachers, on a different floor. As soon as he left the room, my reaction was to wonder, exactly, would be the best thing to do now that I was left alone.

And then I looked, again, at Kondo's notebook. And realized that, I had also graded Eiji's notebook not that long ago. At one point, I had also seen Inui's, but it was submerged in the rest of the class's notebooks, and I didn't have chance of finding it in time, which was a shame. I reached into the breast pocket of my white uniform shirt, and pulled out a small dropper. Labeled propionic acid, and sealed close. I pinched my nose, and painted it into Kondo's notebook, and Eiji's notebook, sealing them closed.

For those of you who have never dealt with that particular chemical before, it absolutely reeks. Even relatively small amounts can take about an hour to air out, and it smells something like baby barf. And my experience with baby barf is particularly bad, because the babies I deal with are usually sick, and even when they're not throwing up, they smell like a rodent that crawled under the dryer and died a week and half ago in the middle of summer.

Conveniently, however, it can be hidden in a tightly squeezed notebook. Until said notebook is opened, that is, and the chemical is open to the air. I snickered, glad that I didn't have second period science on Friday.

The grand finale, indeed.

Kondo

I was distracted on Friday, I admit it. The finals were coming up, and we were facing Hyotei. The old rivalry from middle school didn't really matter to me, nor did the match order, because I always played doubles, but everyone else was so excited, it was hard to pay as much attention in class as I should have.

The 'secret admirer' had gone overboard today, and sensei was sneezing all throughout the lesson because of a hay fever from the flowers. It had taken a solid ten minutes to clean up the banner, which had been colored and decorated with glitter, proclaiming, Do your best, tennis-samas! Go, Kondo-chan! in Day-Glo letters.

The rest of the class, however, got a kick out of it. I think I made their day with my humiliation.

In second period, the day went from bad to worse. It was Eiji that opened the horrible notebook first, and the smell of whatever it was immediately wafted through the room. I choked, covering my nose and thinking it would go away. I was wrong. As soon as I opened my notebook, it instantly became a thousand times worse.

"What the . . ." I trailed off; because the smell was so strong I felt something like I could taste it when I opened my mouth. By now the entire class had noticed and was covering there face and one rather sensitive girl that sat next to Eiji had hurried out of the room. From there, it only got worse. Instead of the smell airing out, it only got more concentrated in the confined classroom. Sensei, as nonchalantly as possible, opened the door and all the windows, but it didn't seem to help.

It was Eiji's sharp eyes that detected the source of the smell. He waved his notebook in front of the teacher (which, in retrospect, was rather stupid, because he fanned the smell all over the room.) shouting, "There's something smelly in here, sensei!" and pointing out a nearly invisible streak of clear liquid shining on the paper. And sure enough, the closer you got to that streak, the worse the smell got.

If it had been anyone's notebook but Eiji or Inui, I wouldn't have thought twice. But, since it was Eiji, and I had noticed how much worse the smell got by my notebook, too, I started flipping through the pages – and low and behold, mine, too had the smelling substance painted on it's pages. It was over the notes, too, so I couldn't simply pull the pages out.

Eiji and I quickly turned our notebooks into sensei, amid a mix of gagging girls and snorting laughter. I was pretty sure I knew who was behind this. Sensei examined our notebooks distastefully, and said, "Please read pages 210 to 255 while I get rid of these." Then he looked at us and said, "I will make copies of your notes before I throw them away."

We trusted sensei to take care of it properly (stupid), so we let him have the notebooks and leave the classroom. Some of the more studious people started reading the assigned pages, but everybody else just skimmed the first few topics before getting distracted. I was among the second section of the class, and I started talking to Eiji.

"Ayame did it," I told him, "I don't know how, but it was definitely her." Eiji nodded.

"Of course it was, Taro-chan. But you won't turn her in, will you?" he said, laughing at me knowingly as he said the last sentence, and winking.

"It's too much trouble. She's sort of a pain to have angry at you, if you haven't noticed," I said dryly, choosing to ignore his teasing implications. Eiji just laughed at me. The smell was starting to air out of the classroom when sensei came back, and the lesson proceeded normally.

Or, at least it did for about twenty minutes. Then the smell came back, not as strong as before, but still definitely there. And this time, the other classroom doors opened, and the smell had infected the entire hallway.

It was coming from the vents. Sensei had burned the notebooks, because throwing them away wouldn't have gotten rid of the smell. But the smoke still smelled awful, and it had gotten into the air conditioning – and now the whole school smelled like whatever mysterious substance had been smeared in our notebooks. That was why it had been a bad idea to give sensei our notebooks.

I can't really say exactly what happened in the next forty five minutes or so, only that the smell got progressively worse until the entire school was evacuated in confusion. As we all settled outside the school buildings, classes mingling together and teachers loosing all semblance of control, I saw the principal walk into the crowd.

As I was trying to make myself scarce so I wouldn't be found and involved in this mess anymore than I already was, I saw his eyes land on me, and he pulled me out of the crowd. "Follow me," he said, not giving any other explanation as he wove through the masses of students, locating with surprising precision Eiji and a second year girl I recognized as Ayame's friend Kazuko. It probably didn't hurt that their hair stood our rather dramatically, Eiji because his hair was so unusually bright and Kazuko because she was one of the few students with the guts to challange the school 'no dyed hair' rule.

The principal took us aside; to a small office building that wasn't connected to the main school building. The vice principal, as well as some other staff were gathered there. You could practically see the brooding black cloud over their heads. All their anger, luckily, seemed to be directed at Kazuko, and not Eiji or myself.

The vice principal spoke first. "I'll cut to the chase," he frowned, "Kazuko, do you have anything to do with this?" Kazuko, in my memory, was involved in every large-scale prank in the school. Recently, Ayame had been giving her a run for her money, but I had a sneaking suspicion that Kazuko had been involved in a few of those too. The planning, at least, if not the execution. The carefully crafted innocent look only helped confirm my thoughts.

"I didn't do it," she said, "I have no more idea what's going on than you do." She was very convincing in the way she said it, looking straight at them and not a trace of guilt or fear in her voice.

Eiji and I stood by watching, Eiji's usual grin slightly dimmed by the heavy atmosphere. The adults were very angry that it had escalated into an entire school evacuation; this prank had turned into something as extreme as somebody pulling the fire alarm. If Ayame was caught, it would likely result in suspension.

"Do you have any idea who might have done it?" the vice principal pressed. I didn't know Kazuko very well, only that she tended to be more of a loner and that she liked to pull pranks. She also had a reputation as an experienced blackmailer who had set up a school wide network that she used mainly for person gain. Over all, she wasn't someone that I would want to get involved with if I could avoid it.

Kazuko shook her head, and proclaimed, "I had nothing to do with this, like I said. I don't know who did it. Besides, I don't even really know what happened."

"A chemical from the lab was taken, and sealed in the notebooks of the two boys over there," the vice principal said, "And when it was burned, the smell of the smoke circulated throughout the school."

Kazuko smirked, "Oh? And who did the burning?" The vice principal stiffened slightly, a waved his hand in the direction of our science teacher, who was part of the group of staff that had gathered. "Then doesn't it make it his fault?" Kazuko grinned, looking rather pleased with herself for managing to turn the blame on a teacher.

The vice principal scowled and persisted in phrasing and rephrasing the questions he'd already asked, to no avail. Kazuko's answers remained consistent. At last, she sighed, and pointed out, "And pray tell, when did I get access to the third year science notebooks?"

"You may leave," the vice principal snapped, his patience for her circuitous, argumentative answers clearly dwindling and not wanting to answer her question.

"Thank you," she purred, flouncing off in a self pleased way that reminded me of Echizen at his worst. Now it was me and Eiji's turn.

"You heard our questions earlier," the vice principal said, turning to us, "We obviously don't think either of you are the culprit, but if you have any idea who might be, we'd appreciate any information."

"No, I have no idea," I said smoothly with the practiced ease of someone who had wriggled out of one too many tight situations involving Ayame in the past. Eiji agreed with me enthusiastically, which made me smile. It seems that he had no inclination to turn her in, either.

"Very well, then," the vice principal sighed in defeat. "I suppose you may go, as well," he dismissed us. I slunk away and Eiji bounded after me. I was somewhat surprised to see that Kazuko had waited for us on the edge of the crowd.

"You do know who did it, right?" I asked her, slightly against my better judgment.

"Of course," she laughed. "I'm not stupid. That's what they get for putting her in consecutive detentions, though. I'm very proud of her. This kind of chaos is pure genius, no other word for it." She idly swept her hand, surveying the boisterous crowd of students. "Pure genius."

"Why didn't you turn her in?" I asked, not entirely sure I wanted to hear the answer.

"Blackmail material?" Eiji chirped, asking the silent question that I had implied.

"I just told you," Kazuko said, rolling her eyes, "She's got talent. I wouldn't want that potential to be squandered because she suddenly develops a fear of the disciplinary system. Besides, just what kind of person do you think I am?" The smirk that she plastered on her face along with the last question gave me the feeling of cold water running down my spine.

Eiji laughed, and I hovered between worry that Ayame was going to get into even more serious trouble later and relief that Kazuko seemed to be on Ayame's side against the school and wasn't going to turn her in. Kazuko flashed us a superior Echizen-esque smile, telling us how Ayame had gotten the chemical. "You know," she added, "You're the reason the locker was glued shut, so aren't you supposed to be taking some blame here?" I stared at her, not entirely sure of the right way to answer a question like that.

Inui appeared behind us shortly thereafter. "You two were questioned about this incident. As such, there is a 94 percent chance that Ayame is some how responsible for the evacuation of the school."

"Try, 100 percent chance," Kazuko laughed dryly, "She didn't mean it though." Inui scribbled something in his notebook, and flipped through the pages, he seemed to be examining Kazuko as she smirked irritatingly at him. "Don't tell anyone, 'kay? You'd ruin the fun. Besides, if there's honor among pranksters, you should be able to keep your mouth shut." You're going to regret it if you don't, Pink Boy. She didn't say the final sentence, but she didn't have to. It was perfectly clear in her tone.

Inui raised one eyebrow and scribbled in his notebook, muttering under his breath. "What kind of data could you possibly be getting from something like this?" I demanded. Inui smiled creepily. Stalker.

"That's creepy," Kazuko said, drawing out the a so the word was almost sung, "'m gonna escape now, then," she said, waving her hand behind her as she mixed with the crowd.

"Someone like that . . ." I scowled, "Nothing but trouble." Eiji grinned and slapped my back with excessive force.

"Someone like that is interesting!" Eiji crowed. I just dropped my head in defeat.

"I'll just focus on tennis now," I scowled, "And let Ayame take care of herself."

"That's the spirit!" Eiji agreed enthusiastically. It didn't take a genius to find the meaning behind his glee: Now we can do what we want without interference.

Really, I hate trying to play their conscience. I think it's a waste of time.

AN: This was maybe shorter than it could have been, but it's long enough for me. Sorry. Reviews are appreciated, and maybe some ideas on how to finish this? *Hopeful smile* If nobody says anything, then I'll come up with something on my own, but it's starting to wind down and I want to know what other people think about a possible ending . . .