Chapter 8: Twisted Graduation Gift…
That Monday was hectic as the whole school prepared vigorously for the upcoming graduation ceremony. All the first and second years were bustling around the school with things to do. All the third year students were called together to rehearse for the ceremony.
And that is exactly what the girls and the guys were doing. Rehearsing what they had to do for their graduation ceremony. Saya and Sayo were conducting their class in terms of singing the school's anthem. Ayumi was busy teaching the underclassmen how to sing the same anthem.
After they were done rehearsing the anthem, they practiced how to walk into the ceremony properly. They did that about three times before they got it perfect. Then the class representative was to accept the diplomas. That wasn't too hard though.
The first strenuous day was over in a flash. The girls didn't even get to see the guys, which was a little disappointing for them.
Although, while the girls were doing their rehearsals, the guys were having just as many problems with theirs.
When Kumiko walked into the classroom, the guys were mostly on the right side of the room sitting on the desks. They had cleared the floor for some reason… Hayato was standing in the back with Take and Tsuchi. Ryu was in the front with two others. That Hayato had just casually draped his jacket over his shoulders and his hands were shoved into his pockets.
"Today, we'll be practicing for the graduation ceremony." she announced.
"Eh?" they all drawled.
"Don't 'eh'!" Kumiko retaliated childishly.
"We don't need to practice that." Tsuchi told her.
"What are you saying?" she tilted her head a little. "It's a big moment celebrating your departure." she told them. "Don't you want to practice hard and look great?" she asked, setting down her role book and striking a quick pose.
Next thing, all the guys are outside the room and Kumiko is holding her role book in front of her. "Class 3-D, please enter." she says as if she's reading it off the book…
As she looks over to the door, Omori opens it carelessly, scratches his neck and yawns while making his way in. They all slump past her, giving her the perfect opportunity to make a remark.
"Don't walk so sluggishly!" she demands.
One of them looks at her as if he's retarded when he passes her and she makes another comment.
"Hey, don't look at the guests like that!"
The two guys keep walking and Hayato and Tsuchi make it in front of her. Hayato, being the smart ass he is, started walking like he was in the military, swinging his arms stupidly like a robot or something. Tsuchi and the rest followed suit and copied their idiotic leader. Well, except for Ryu anyway…
"This isn't an athletic meet!" she complains again, starting to act a bit childish… "You don't have to wave your hands so much!"
Hyuga turns to her first, the rest of them following suit. "You keep telling us so many things, we don't get it all!" he complained back at her, making some odd gestures with his arms.
"Is walking normally that difficult for you?" she asked, as if it were that hard to believe…
Now they're all lined up into four rows, from the blackboard forward. Kumiko stood a few feet from them, facing them like a conductor of an orchestra or something.
"Now we will sing the school anthem." she told them. "One, two, three, go." she waved her hands like a choral instructor, expecting them to know the song… But no one sang. She lost her footing a little. "What's wrong?"
Hayato turned his head to Ryu. "Do you know the anthem?"
"I don't." Ryu shook his head lightly.
Take looked over at Hayato. "We have an anthem?"
"We do!" Kumiko told them. She thought for a moment. "I don't know it, either…" she realized.
Finally, their practice was coming to an end. They were all sitting in rows with Kumiko standing at her podium with mock diplomas in her hands.
"Time to hand out the diplomas." she announced. "Class 3-D's representative, Yabuki Hayato."
He uncrossed his legs and stood up confidently, knowing that the sooner he did this, the sooner this practice would be over. So, with his hands still shoved into his pockets and jacket still draped over his shoulders, he walked up to the front of the podium, facing his teacher.
"This certifies…" she started, but was cut off by her student being silly.
Hayato pulled his left hand out of his pocket and lifted his arm to grab the mock diplomas out of her hands. "Thanks." he says, slightly bowing his head and turning to leave her.
"Hey, Hey, don't 'thanks'." she grabbed his wrist before he actually did turn around and snatched the papers back from him. "Use both of your hands and lower your head." she told him.
He reluctantly did so. So, she turned the papers so that when he looked down at them, they would be right side up. "Here." she said, handing them to him.
Instead of bowing his head however, he threw it back. "Yes…" he mumbled. Bringing his head back down and turning to the class, he got a bit hyper. The practice was finally over. "Now that we have our diplomas, it means the ceremony is…"
"Over!" they all cheered.
"Who wants theirs?" Hayato held them up like prizes to be won at a gambling hall…
The guys all hooted and hollered, reaching for the papers like animals as Hayato made his way through the crowd.
Kumiko watched them like that and began to worry. "Are they going to be okay during the ceremony like this?"
"Man!" Kiri complained loudly. "Those stupid rehearsals took all day!"
"I know, they ate up all of our time…" Mitsu nodded her head in agreement.
"Totally sucks." Maki added.
"Yeah." Juri sighed.
"It still has to happen, whether we like it or not…" Sayo mentioned lowly. Only Saya was able to hear her.
"True…" Saya agreed.
"Too bad our days like this are coming to a close though…" Maki mentioned, a hint of sadness in her voice.
With the reminder that they would more than likely only have about a month together before they all took their separate paths, they all drifted off into their thoughts a little.
"Yeah…" they all mumbled in agreement.
The girls decided to head home since they were pretty tired from all the things they had to do today. Saya and Sayo walked together in silence, each thinking about what had happened just a few days ago.
"Sayo, why didn't you apply for a college?" Saya asked out of the blue.
Sayo looked up from the pavement to the sky thoughtfully. "I guess I just don't want to go just yet." she answered.
"Hmm…" Saya nodded her head.
"Or maybe I just don't want to go at all…" Sayo mumbled again.
With that, Saya looked over at her cousin curiously. "What do you mean by that?"
"I guess I just…" Sayo tried to find the right words to fit the way she felt about what the next few years could possibly have in store for her. "Want to let the wind carry me through these next couple years."
"That's a powerful judgment." Saya blinked at her cousin's thoughts.
"Well, I don't want to be just another girl who graduated from high school, you know?" Sayo then looked over to Saya with a small smile on her face.
"I know." Saya smiled back.
"Though, I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to keep myself afloat…" Sayo mumbled, looking back down at the pavement again.
"I'm in the same boat." Saya chuckled.
The two kept walking until they had to split ways in order to make it home.
The guys were sitting at Café de Rovne, minding their own business and just chilling out with each other in general, when the detective Yankumi hated the attitude of so much waltzed in like he owned the place. "Welcome." said the owner as the detective walked by him.
The five were sitting in the usual fashion. Hayato and Ryu on the couch. The other three on the chairs with their backs facing the entrance. They all sat up and were alert when they saw the man standing there sternly.
"Long time no see, see." he greeted with a gruff tone, which was normal, and his head tilted to the right a bit.
The guys were silent, not wanting to cause any trouble for themselves or the manager of the bar. So the detective figured he'd not waste time and just continued. "You guys hanging around with each other as usual?" he asked, not really caring.
Hayato leaned his head on the back of the couch. "We've done nothing to have cops involved." he told the man before he continued any further. Ryu kept his gaze on the older man, curious on the inside as to why the older man was there.
"Do you know where Kudou is?" the man asked, getting to his main reason for coming into contact with the five.
"Kudou?" Ryu asked, as if he was confused as to why the man would be saying that name. A flashback hit the five of them all at once.
It was only two weeks after Yankumi had started working as their homeroom teacher. A senpai of theirs who was expelled from Kurogin, his name Kudou, asked Hayato and Ryu if they wanted to join his gang. The two refused. With Ryu being newer to all their plans since he had been gone for two months before, got caught by Kudou's gang after they had all split up and the gang was chasing after them.
Ryu and Hayato got caught by the cops, it was a big mess. But it was cleared up by Yankumi, who beat up Kudou and got him jailed for what Ryu and Hayato were being charged with. Kudou had sworn revenge on them all, including Yankumi.
"Wasn't he caught for theft?" Ryu asked, sitting up on the edge of the couch, all business now. The question was slightly rhetorical, meant to prod the detective into telling them why he actually came to see them in particular tonight.
The older man sighed and sat down on the chair he was next to. "He escaped last night." he admitted.
"Escaped?" Tsuchi repeated, shocked that something like this would happen.
"Wait, what?" Hyuga didn't think he'd heard right.
"Really?" Take asked, leaning forward with wide eyes.
"He's your senpai, right?" the man proceeded. "Do you know anything?" the real reasoning behind this visit was finally out of the bag.
"We don't know anything." Ryu told him, giving off a slightly bad tone. He was irked, just like the rest of them, that the man still thought they had any connections to the bastard after he tried to frame them.
"Huh?" the older man looked from Ryu to the other three. "You guys aren't thinking of doing something stupid before graduation, are you?" his tone was suspecting.
Hayato and Ryu stood up, causing the other three to follow, feeling somewhat threatened and put down by the older man's speech. "We said we don't know." Hayato reiterated for the man.
"I see." he wasn't really putting up much of a fight with the boys. "Sorry for disturbing." he then stood up and left, shoving Take's shoulder like he always does to someone on his way out.
Hayato and Ryu had troubled looks on their faces after the man left. This wasn't good for them at all.
One thing they didn't want was for the girls to find out they were in any kind of danger.
The next day, the guys were kind of bored. Saya and Sayo weren't hanging with the girls either. The girls joked around with the guys telling them that those two had a "secret agenda". Of course, Tsuchi and Hyuga were being perverted about that little comment.
"It's not something like that, honest." Maki struggled to clarify. Those two just didn't want to give it up. The rest of the guys watched, not attempting to help the girls at all.
"Yeah, really." Juri added in.
"If you won't tell us then it has to be." Hyuga argued with a smirk on his face.
"Why must you think with your genitals?" Kiri asked, sounding a bit disgusted.
"Hey, it's our best friend, how can we say no to it?" Tsuchi shrugged.
"Ew. Way too much information, thank you." Mitsu shivered and looked away.
"I thought that was common knowledge." Hyuga blinked a couple times, an air of question around his comment.
"Maybe to you guys, but not us ladies!" Mitsu argued.
"Sorry…" Tsuchi sounded sarcastic.
Juri and Maki hung their heads and sighed. This won't be good. Mitsu and Kiri were working on getting irritated. They both peeked up a little. Mitsu and Kiri had their fists formed at their sides already.
"Uh oh…" Juri mumbled.
"I know…" Maki nodded her head in agreement. "At least they'll learn from this experience…" she mentioned lightly.
"Maybe, but doubtful…" Juri shot down the thought quickly.
Luckily for them, they were in the park and no one was around. If a group of people witnessed this they would be in a lot of trouble for making a scene in public.
"I really hate it when guys are inconsiderate and don't think before they speak…" Mitsu glowered, her fists shaking at her side.
"I hear you Mi-chan." Kiri agreed, making no movements at all.
The guys were about to say something, but heard music in the distance that screamed street dancers were about. They looked around curiously for the source of the sound.
"You hear that?" Take was looking around as he inquired of the others.
"Don't try to change the subject!" Mitsu chastised before she heard the music too.
The girls began to look around too. They were close to the shrine and Tetsu and Minoru's takoyaki stand. From the volume that they were hearing the song at, that was the logical place for it to be coming from.
"That sounds familiar…" Kiri mumbled and the other three girls nodded in agreement.
Without thinking, they got up and left the guys to investigate on their own. The guys all looked at them, astonished that they were being totally contradictory to what they had just said.
"What hypocrites…" Ryu mumbled lowly as they watched the girls leave.
They quickly made the decision to follow them in case it was either dangerous or interesting enough to watch. When they all got to the takoyaki stand, it was closed up. Tetsu and Minoru were standing a little ways away from the attraction. The two groups got closer to see what it was and were surprised to find their first subjects of conversation there. On the exact opposite side of the sidewalk was their cousin, Noda Takeshi, and an older woman the groups didn't recognize.
Takeshi had his camera in hand and was pointing it at the two, who were dancing to their hearts content. The girls knew the two were going to be with Takeshi for another photo shoot, but they didn't know it was one that involved them dancing.
"I guess this answers our questions…" Tsuchi mumbled while watching the two girls.
Hyuga only nodded his head in agreement.
"See, we told you so!" Mitsu and Kiri stuck their tongues out at the two childishly.
"Alright, you win." Tsuchi sighed, fanning himself and watching the two girls dance.
The song was Crystal Kay's "Candy". They were breaking it down too. The woman standing behind Takeshi was smiling broadly, mouthing the words to the song and swaying to the beat while watching the two dance. Takeshi said nothing to them while he snapped shots of them in motion.
Once the song ended, the two girls walked over to Minoru and Tetsu to retrieve their water bottles. They sighed heavily trying to catch their breath. Takeshi stood up straight, pulled his laptop out of it's bag, and sat down on a bench with it on his lap. The older woman followed him but didn't sit down next to him. She only hovered over his shoulder. The two scanned through the pictures after they were all uploaded to the laptop.
Meanwhile, Tetsu and Minoru were chatting with Saya and Sayo about their performance. "You two were amazing." Minoru told them while nodding his head with his big, cute chubby smile.
"Thanks." The two smiled.
"You should teach Ojou to dance like that." Tetsu mentioned and all the guys stopped for a moment to imagine this. Even Takeshi, who was deeply immersed in his photos.
After a horrible view in their heads of their teacher trying to be like a young gangster, the guys all shuddered.
"Then again… maybe not…" Tetsu corrected himself before the two agreed.
Takeshi, on the other hand, started to laugh at the thought. The others looked over at him curiously.
"That would be a sin against nature." he busted out like a hyena.
"That's a little mean, Takeshi." the woman behind him commented lowly with a slight pout.
"Sorry, but if you'd met her you would probably say the same." Takeshi got out between laughs.
"Not only would she be incapable of pulling off the visage…" Sayo started, helping to prove Takeshi's point.
"She wouldn't want to dance like that anyway." Saya finished, shrugging her shoulders.
"True…" Tetsu mumbled.
"It's okay, Tetsu-san." Saya smiled at him reassuringly.
"It was a fun topic though." Sayo chuckled a little.
"True." Takeshi nodded his head while looking back at the photos again.
"Do you see any really good ones?" the woman behind Takeshi asked.
"Yeah, they did really good this time. A lot better than their older ones." Takeshi nodded his head with a small smile.
"Really?" Saya's head snapped in his direction, a huge smile on her face.
Takeshi looks up at her with a smirk. "Really."
"Uwahh!" Saya and Sayo grew happier with the comment.
"Really girls, you did great." the woman behind Takeshi smiled at the two.
"Thanks Miku-san." the two smiled broadly at Miku.
"It's the truth." Miku shrugged.
"Noda-san, can we see them too?" Mitsu blew their cover and made their presence known.
Saya and Sayo looked over to the source of the voices. Their faces clearly showed the surprise of the guys being there as well. Takeshi looked over them as well and thought for a moment.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt." he mumbled. "Sure."
"Yay!" the girls smiled and bounded over to his side to peer at the photos on the screen.
The girls watched as Takeshi scrolled through the pictures and they made faces when they really liked them. Saya and Sayo could only sigh at their behavior. The two looked back at the guys pointedly, thinking they were up to something. But instead of asking straight out, they figured they'd annoy them first.
"So," Saya started with a devilish smirk on her features. "how was school today?"
Hayato's face immediately went sour. "Don't remind us…" he muttered darkly.
"Oh?" Sayo joined in, seeing that poking fun this time would indeed be fun.
"What happened?" Saya pressed on, smirk still present.
"Well…" Take started, drifting into a flashback for the whole group.
**Earlier, 3-D Classroom**
Kumiko walked in with a stack of papers in hand. Her face was all light and airy, as were her steps around the classroom. The guys were all looking at her as if she were an alien, which she did seem like one at times… But, this time especially. She was very perky while handing out the papers she brought in with her.
"Here." she said to them as she gave each person in the front of each row a stack to pass back with a bright smile. "This is the ceremony's program. Here, pass these out." she stood in front of them politely.
They couldn't say anything in return. She was acting way too weird and freaking them out a bit.
"The graduation ceremony will start at nine in the morning." she informed them, heading into the first row. "So, don't be late, okay?" she told innocently. She looked as though she were talking to a bunch of ten year olds…
The way she said that really freaked them out now. No one was really paying attention as they passed the programs back. "Yes, go ahead and pass them out." she said again.
After that little odd demonstration of her mood, Hyuga wasn't paying attention, didn't grab the papers and dropped them on the floor. As soon as she saw them hit the floor, she rushed over to pick them up.
While fixing the papers in her hands, she looks at Hyuga and asks "Are you alright?". All the guys are looking at her, astonished. "Here, next time don't drop it, okay?" she told Hyuga, holding the papers out to him. At the end she tilted her head all the way to the right with a bright smile.
"Uh okay…" Hyuga answered, holding the papers and staring out right at her odd behavior.
With that, she turned away from him and sauntered up to the front of the row again. Then she started daydreaming. Now, while the daydreaming was normal, the talking out loud about it was not.
"Yankumi…" Take tried to get her attention.
"Not Yankumi…" she started with her eyes closed. "Please call me Kumiko!"
"Kumiko?" Hayato answered, knowing that she was still daydreaming and wanting to pull her out of it. While it was hilarious, no one said a word and watched.
"Yes!" she exclaimed, turning around with her eyes closed to face the back of the classroom. She opened them and remembered where she was suddenly. She looked disappointed that it was just Hayato that had said that, and that she was still in the school.
"Don't daydream while handing out papers." Ryu scolded her calmly, looking blankly at her.
"Yes…" she answered and turned away, seeming really disappointed now.
**Back to the present**
"And that's how it happened…" Take ended the explanation. Tsuchi and Hyuga shuddered a little bit while Hayato and Ryu tried to remain calm in front of the girls.
Saya and Sayo blinked three times before busting out into a fit of laughter. Tetsu and Minoru joined soon after. Takeshi started howling as well.
The guys looked at them as if they had gone crazy or something. "What the hell…" Hayato mumbled.
"Oh, sorry…" Saya told them in between laughs. "It's just, I'm pretty sure that was about a guy or something."
"Yeah, she only gets that way when something happens and it has to do with the guy she likes." Sayo added in.
Tetsu and Minoru stopped laughing first. The two remembered when Kumiko came to the takoyaki stand and had some with Kuma before leaving for her "date".
"She said she had a date tonight." Minoru mentioned.
"Oh? With who?" Saya asked, still trying to calm her laughter.
"She said Kujo." Tetsu muttered out.
"Eh!" the girls were shocked now. Takeshi was like Saya and Sayo were, still trying to calm his laughter.
"Kujo as in, Momojo's Kujo-sensei?" Maki asked from afar.
"Yeah." Minoru nodded.
"Maji ka yo!" Kiri and Mitsu almost fell down.
"You're kidding…" Juri mumbled, astonished by their teacher's taste in women when he seemed like he would date a refined woman or something…
"Why would he want to date Kumiko-senpai?" Saya started.
"Yeah, he leaves for Hokkaido after we graduate… he doesn't seem like the type to want to be in a long distance relationship…" Sayo mumbled after Saya's question.
"He's leaving to Hokkaido?" Tetsu perked up in hearing that his love rival would disappear.
The girls only nodded as an answer.
"You wouldn't believe the ways she acted when she was 'in love' with Shinohara-san." Takeshi reeled from the bench calmly.
"That detective…" Tetsu muttered again.
"Aniki…" Minoru sounded a little worried.
"Well, anyway, Saya-chan, Sayo-chan, we should head to the studio to print the shots. You coming with or staying here?" Takeshi asked as he packed up his laptop and camera, standing from the bench.
"Yeah we'll come with." the two bounded over to their older cousin with smiles on their faces.
"Oh good, then I can tell you two a secret when Takeshi-kun's not looking." Miku smirked slyly with a laugh.
Saya and Sayo laughed with her for a moment then turned around to face the other girls. "We'll catch up with you girls later, okay?" Saya nodded.
"Mm, alright." the girls replied, nodding their heads.
"Later!" they called as they walked off with the older two.
"What about us?" Take pouted as the two disappeared down the sidewalk.
"Don't worry, we'll be talking about girl things with them later anyways. You won't want to hear that, will you?" Kiri teased with an evil grin.
"No way, keep us out of your girl talk." Hyuga made a disgusted face to accompany his comment.
"All right then, we will." Mitsu looked a tad angry because of his little comment.
"Good."
"Humph." Mitsu turned her head away from him with her eyes closed.
"Oh come on, you two are acting like children." Maki complained at their behavior.
"Yeah, really." Juri added in with a sigh.
"Not my fault." they both retorted in unison.
All the others around them stared at them in shock of what had just happened.
"Come on, let's go girls." Mitsu declared as she started to walk away from the guys before the others could even recover from what had just transpired.
The girls all blinked rapidly a few times. "Oh, uh… sure." they nodded.
"Wait up Mi-chan!" Juri called as they jogged to catch up with her.
The guys all watched them leave with blank stares. "Girls…" they muttered.
Takeshi was completely enraptured in the world that was his photo albums on his laptop. The girls were on the other side of the room, chit chatting lightly about things that had happened earlier that day. Apparently Takeshi had tuned out the rest of the world to focus on his thoughts.
"So, what was it that you wanted to tell us about Miku-san?" Saya asked curiously, leaning closer to Miku so Takeshi wouldn't hear. Although, he wouldn't hear because he wasn't paying them any mind at all.
"Oh, well…" Miku started, blushing at the sudden change of topic.
"Oh, she's blushing." Sayo smirked with delight, knowing this would be a really good bit of information.
"I'm really hoping that Takeshi-kun will agree to it…" Miku mumbled, lowering her head to hide her embarrassment.
"To what?" Saya pushed on.
"Well, I really would like to spend my life with him." Miku admitted sincerely.
Saya and Sayo couldn't say anything in response. They watched Miku for a moment, then looked up at each other with smiles on their faces. That was all the communication they needed.
"Don't worry, Miku-san. I would give you my blessings if it does happen." Saya told the woman sincerely.
"Mm. Me too, I would welcome you with open arms." Sayo's smile softened into a caring and comforting one.
Miku looked up at both the girls. Seeing their sweet faces helped her perk up a bit. "Thanks you two." she chuckled.
"Has he said anything to you about that sort of thing?" Saya inquired again, but the tone of the question was somewhat serious this time.
Miku only shook her head. "But I don't mind." she answered. "I know he still has school things to deal with and his dream to achieve. So I'm in no hurry really."
"Well, I'm really glad you care so much about him Miku-san." Sayo piped up.
"Why is that?" Miku looked over to Sayo with a questioning expression.
"Because, he's such a good guy even though he has such a past…" Sayo started to explain, a retrospective air hung over her face. "He's had a lot of disappointments with women, plus he's helped me out a lot throughout my days."
"You really care for him, don't you, Sayo-chan?" Miku smiled sweetly at Sayo, Saya watching the two with a bright expression on her face, expressing that she was enjoying the conversation.
"He's my important cousin, just like Saya." Sayo's retrospective look turned into a very happy one with a bright smile attached to it.
"Glad to hear it." Saya continued to smile brightly.
Takeshi finally dislodged himself from his inner world and looked away from the laptop. "Saya-chan, Sayo-chan, come on over to look." he called.
The girls' heads snapped in his direction at the sound of his voice. "Sure." the two nodded their heads and bounded over to him from the couch they were on.
Miku stayed there, watching the three interact with each other. "If only I knew what he was thinking…" she whispered to herself.
A few hours later, the girls are out walking around in the park. They were waiting for Saya and Sayo to show up. Who knew where they were, what they were doing, or how long they were going to be. And they opted out of trying to find them because they already learned their lesson last time. Finding those two, as odd as it may seem, was just about as hard as finding a needle in a haystack.
"Man, those two are never on time, are they?" Kiri complained, sitting on the edge of the fountain.
"I know…" Mitsu added in, tapping her foot rapidly against the pavement.
"Now now, they'll be here." Maki tried to calm the two down. They had been worked up ever since the little argument with the guys earlier…
"Saya will probably call us when they're on their way." Juri shrugged, knowing how the two girls were.
Just after Juri mentioned a phone call, Mitsu's rang in her pocket. She jumped up, startled by the sudden noise and vibration on her hip. Fishing it out of her pocket with a scowl, she checked the caller ID to see if Juri's assumption was true.
Bingo.
Flipping it open hurriedly, she clicked one button to put it on speaker. "You know what?" she answered with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"What?" Saya answered, a little playful.
"You are so late." Mitsu answered in a matter-of-fact way.
"We know." Saya replied indifferently. "Takeshi-kun was having inner arguments until Miku-san helped him out."
"Oh." the other girls responded.
"We'll be there in a few, okay?"
"Alright, but be quick-footed please." Mitsu conformed to the prolonged wait.
"Sure." and Saya hung up.
"Well, at least it won't be too much longer before they get here, right?" Maki tried to cheer up Mitsu.
"Whatever." Mitsu sighed and joined Kiri on the edge of the fountain.
"Now we have to wait." Kiri mumbled.
Just a few minutes later, the two girls they were waiting on turned the corner with heavy steps. For some reason, they were running quite fast.
"What are you two running from?" Maki asked, seemingly confused by their actions.
"Sorry." Saya huffed between her gasps for air.
"We ran as fast as we could to get here quickly." Sayo finished, huffing just like her cousin.
"I didn't mean you had to high tail it here…" Mitsu mumbled irritably.
"Well, we wanted to get here quickly anyways." Saya shrugged once she caught her breath.
"Why is that?" Kiri got suspicious rather quickly after hearing that.
"Well, we've been so busy with graduation things, we forgot to mention something that we managed to pull off getting last Sunday." Saya explained, a smile spreading across her face and her breathing stabilizing.
"And that would be?" Mitsu started tapping her foot against the pavement once more, losing her patience.
"We have successfully secured a room for us to sit around in and sing karaoke as much as we want at the Dream Star." Sayo wore a smirk instead of a smile.
The other four were silent for a moment, taking in all the information that had just been sang into their ears. Had they heard right?
"No way!" Maki gasped, her jaw hanging open in aw.
"There isn't an extra cost for the karaoke, is there?" Mitsu narrowed her eyes with suspicion.
"Nope, since Friday is karaoke open mic night and the karaoke is used as entertainment as well." Saya explained. "Of course, there is no screen in the main room. The only thing singers on the dance floor have to go by is a little television on a stand that has the lyrics scrolling."
"Wow, that would be too hard for me…" Juri chuckled a little, even though she was totally serious about what she said.
"How did you two get this free room?" Maki asked out of curiosity. Hey, it's not like something like this happens everyday.
"Well, we visited two more times to see what the crowd was like, you know? To get a feel for it." Saya started the explanation well.
"Yeah, and?" Mitsu prodded impatiently.
"I guess DJ Tama took a liking to us or something, because he worked out a deal with his boss and conveyed that we were soon-to-be graduates." Sayo continued, gesturing a little here and there.
"Okay…" Kiri nodded, not quite understanding the significance.
"Well, it just so happens that the guy's daughter graduated from Momojo last year, so he gave us a special for our graduation night." Saya finished, a triumphant smile on her face by the end.
"Wow, that's pretty cool." Juri smiled brightly, excited that she could sing all night long and not have to worry about a song limit.
"I'll say." Mitsu and Kiri both finally snapped out of their irritation when they heard the special condition.
"We should thank the men properly when we have the chance." Maki instructed the girls firmly, holding up one index finger like a teacher would when scolding an elementary school student.
"Yes ma'am." they all nodded with amused smiles playing their lips.
Maki could only shake her head at their childish behavior.
"Oh, and also, Takeshi-kun is offering to shoot your photos for graduation if you wish." Sayo informed the others. "He'll do it for free since it's kind of like a charity." she chuckled a little at the end, knowing how her older cousin was when it came to free things, especially when he was giving them.
"Oh good, my parents weren't wanting to spend any money on something like that anyways…" Mitsu mumbled.
"He said he'd do it before the graduation ceremony, so make sure you four meet us at Sayo's house." Saya told them with a straight face. "I'll be spending the night." she winked with that little bit.
"Geez, you can be so dirty sometimes, you know that?" Sayo muttered. She neglected to say what was really on her mind, which was that the comment Saya had made just then reminded her of Yabuki-kun… Which was just a little creepy.
"Well then, we'll be there." Kiri winked and held her thumb up.
"It's getting pretty late, we should head home for tonight." Maki suggested.
The girls all agreed, bade their farewells for the night, and headed home individually.
So the guys were hanging out in Café de Rovne when Yankumi comes barreling through the door, yelling at them. "You guys!"
"Oh, sit down!" Tsuchi nods as he sees her, Hyuga laying on the couch with his head by the taller boy.
"Yo, yo!" Hayato greets as he sets down his drink and looks up at their teacher. Ryu looks at the others over his shoulders since he was at the bar.
"What do you mean, 'yo'?" she asks them, stumbling around Hayato, stopping in between the two chairs to look at them all. "Weren't you guys in a fight?" she looked confused.
"Fight?" Hayato asks, almost as if the possibility was not present. He was also looking up at the confused woman. "We didn't say that." he turns his head to the guys, sticking some kind of food into his mouth.
"Takeda." Yankumi tried to press, seeing as Take was the one who called her in the first place… "You called and said they were fighting or something."
"Huh? I said we stopped two drunks from fighting." he told her, making a small gesture for 'stop'.
"Heh?" the older woman looked even more confused and dumbfounded as the boys carried on.
"And that drunk gave us money as thanks." Tsuchi informed her, taking a bit of the food that was there for his own. Yankumi looked over at him.
Hyuga took out the money they received and held it out like a fan to show how they got from the guy. "We told him no, but he was being pushy."
By this time, Ryu saw it as his time to join the conversation. He grabbed his drink and made his way to the empty chair next to Hayato, explaining the reason behind the all on his way over. "So, we decided to call you for advice."
"I didn't think you'd hang up and come straight here." Take thought out loud, holding the straw in his drink before taking a sip.
"So, you weren't fighting then…?" Yankumi asked in disbelief. Not because of the fact that they weren't fighting, but another reason…
Hayato stood from his chair, drink in hand. "Yankumi," he started, turning to look at their teacher. "Let's start listening to people till they finish, okay?" he instructed her, bouncing the glass in his hand with almost every word he said. After he was finished, he headed over to the bar for a refill.
The guys laughed a little at what he said to her and she was devastated. Again, not because her student was instructing her, but for another reason…
A string had been pulled tight in her head as she realized what he said was true… She quickly turned around and knelt down to lean on the table that was sitting behind her. She looked distant, almost as if she had spaced out.
The guys all had their lips pursed around their straws, sipping their drinks through them. Hayato was returning to his seat with his newly filled glass.
"Just when I was about to confess to Kujo-sensei…" she muttered to herself.
They all heard the word 'confess' and turned around. "Confess?"
Her eyes widened as she realized, yet again, that she had said that out loud. She looked over at their questioning faces and quickly turned away. "No, nothing…"
The guys just looked away, shaking their heads.
The girls didn't go to school the next day. Instead, they hit up the shopping districts to find things to wear to the ceremony as well as to their graduation party.
Saya and Sayo strayed from the pack around lunch time. They had to go talk with DJ Tama about some shout outs they wanted to do during their little party.
So the other four grabbed lunch without them.
"What should we eat?" Juri smiled as she inquired of the girls' opinions.
"Let's go have sushi." Kiri suggested. "I feel like toro…"
"Yeah, and I could go for ebi." Mitsu agreed, smiling widely.
"I'm not sure what I'll want yet…" Maki placed her fist on her chin thoughtfully.
"All right then, sushi it is!" Juri announced, thrusting one of her fists into the air.
"Hey now, don't hit anyone, okay?" Mitsu chuckled at her friends' behavior.
"Sorry…" Juri replied, giggling a little.
The girls headed to a nearby rotating sushi bar to sit down at and enjoy their lunch. They each had their preferences and had a conversation about the upcoming graduation ceremony.
"Man, it's too close." Mitsu complained, popping a piece of ebi-sushi into her mouth.
"I know, it almost doesn't seem real." Maki nodded her head in agreement, grabbing a plate off the belt.
"Try to imagine how I'm going to feel when I have no one to talk to after class." Kiri exaggerated, feeling like she was going to be the only one with problems…
"We'll all feel that way Kiri." Juri giggled at the complaint, leaning forward to grab a plate off the belt.
"Besides, didn't you," Maki pointed over at Kiri, "apply for the same college as me anyway?" she asked.
Kiri had this look covering her face that told the other girls 'I've been found out…'. She sat like that for a few seconds before clumsily opening and closing her mouth while she tried to get words to come out.
"Busted." Mitsu whispered in Kiri's ear with a satisfied smirk on her face.
Kiri's face contorted even more in surprise at Mitsu's little comment. She whipped her head to the side to face Mitsu. "Shh!"
"The cat's out of the bag, Kiri." Maki smirked before popping her sushi into her mouth casually.
"Man, I almost regret telling you guys about it." Kiri pouted, turning back to her sushi.
"Oh lighten up," Mitsu started, lifting her sushi to her mouth, "it's not like it's the end of the world or anything."
"Yeah yeah…" Kiri muttered.
"Saya applied for the same university as Mitsu too." Juri tried to reassure Kiri by re-informing her of this little bit of info.
"Oh yeah, I forgot." Kiri giggled a little.
The other three sighed and carried on with consuming their sushi.
"Come to think of it," Maki started, looking thoughtful again, "I don't think Sayo applied for any universities or colleges."
"Yeah, she didn't." Juri nodded. "She wants to let life drag her along for the next few years, she said."
"Is that so?" Mitsu nodded, grabbing another plate of ebi.
"Wow, she sure isn't picky, huh?" Kiri laughed a little, grabbing a plate of toro off the belt.
"Mm." Maki nodded once.
Saya and Sayo knocked on the door to the Dream Star and waited for a response. It only took a couple minutes before they were greeted by a man dressed in a white button down, black slacks covered by a black apron around his waist, and a pair of shiny black dress shoes. The man's hair was unruly and an odd shade of blue. His brown eyes peered at the girls questioningly.
"Can I help you ladies?" he asked politely.
"Yes, is DJ Tama here?" Saya asked with a smile.
"Oh, you're here for Yoshida-kun…" the man mumbled, nodding his head in understanding for a moment before turning around. "One sec." And he walked off quickly into the club.
"That was a little odd…" Sayo mumbled to her cousin, who was still smiling.
"I know…"
The girls could hear faint voices coming from inside but hadn't a clue as to what they were actually saying. However, they had an idea when the blue-haired man came back with DJ Tama right behind him.
"Hey girls, how've you been?" DJ Tama asked in a friendly tone. His smile almost made Saya swoon a little but she stopped herself from doing so.
"Oh, pretty good." the two replied with small smiles.
"Well, that's good to hear." he chuckles a little. "Come on in."
The girls followed DJ Tama as he led them to a booth inside the club. The blue-haired guy turned out to be the bartender. Now, DJ Tama is considerably hot. It wasn't mentioned before, but this twenty year old man is tall, with dark brown hair, styled modernly and beautiful, deep brown eyes to go along with his luscious locks (AN: Think Yamashita Tomohisa). This time he was sporting a white button down shirt with a beautiful dark blue vine design on the front, loose fitting dark blue jeans, and a pair of original black Chuck Taylor converse.
The girls had to sit across from this hunk too.
"So, your graduation is tomorrow, right?" he inquired casually with a smile.
"Yes, and we'll be here tomorrow night after the ceremony." Sayo nodded with a smirk. She could tell Saya was having a hard time coping with the gorgeousness of the older man in front of them and she was enjoying seeing her like this. It was highly amusing to her.
"I see…" he nodded in understanding. "The two of you have questions about shout outs, am I right?"
"Yes." Saya answered, snapping out of her small haze.
"Well, let's hear them." he smirked.
"How many can we make?" Saya continued.
"As many as you want."
"Will it cost us anything?" Saya kept going. Sayo watched her cousin out of the corner of her eyes.
"Not at all."
"Tomorrow night is karaoke night, correct?" Sayo peeped up.
"You are correct." His smirk grew a little.
"Will that cost us extra?" Saya inquired again.
"Nope, karaoke is included in your package."
"Oh, well that's a relief." Saya smiled.
"Not only that, on karaoke night, all karaoke is free since it's voluntary." he continued. "Plus, with your package, you can sing karaoke in your little room in the back with the choice of everyone hearing it or not. Or you can just sing out here."
"Oh cool." Saya's eyes started to sparkle. "That means we can stay anonymous to the crowds."
"Absolutely."
"Hmm, well I think that covers everything we really wanted to know about." Sayo concluded the little visit.
"Yeah, that was all." Saya agreed.
"Well, they were good questions, ladies." DJ Tama told them as they all stood from the booth.
"Thank you for answering our questions." the two bowed simultaneously, which only creeped him out mildly.
"Not a problem." he nodded and held his hand out to shake theirs when they stood upright.
After they each shook hands with the older man, the two girls left silently and he went back to work. The bartender was not looking forward to having a bunch of newly graduated girls in the place. Just way too much immaturity for him. But maybe they would be different, who knew.
Honestly, the guys weren't having the best day in the world. A few of their classmates had come in that morning battered and bruised, telling the rest of the class that it was Kudo's doing. Hayato and Ryu both feared that the girls had already heard about this by the gossips that attended their school. And if they hadn't heard about it yet, they were bound to know by the end of the day.
To top things off, apparently the detective showed up that morning as well. The one who was spying told them that he was there telling Sawatari, though he referred to him as Saruwatari, that Kudo had escaped from jail. As well as his suspicions of Hayato and the others.
After Yankumi left the classroom, Hayato and Ryu decided to figure out how to stop the girls from knowing about their situation. For all they know, the gossip could be circulating to them right now. They needed to figure out a way to intervene, and fast.
"Man! I can't think of a way…" Hayato grumbled, hands on his head, ruffling up his own hair in frustration.
Ryu successfully suppressed his laughter, but couldn't help letting his smirk slip onto his face. Now, that was a truly amusing sight indeed. Hayato, mind you.
"Have you thought of anything over there?" he grumbled again, head hung down, hands still tangled in his strands.
"No…" Ryu answered simply, laughing silently so Hayato wouldn't hear him.
"Argh!" Hayato growled, his hands ruffling around in his hair again.
"We don't even know if they're even at school or not…" Ryu reasoned, before Hayato started pulling his hair out in bunches…
Hayato yanked his hands out of his hair quickly and his head shot up to look at Ryu. "I hadn't thought of that…" he mumbled.
"Obviously…" Ryu pointed out.
"Shut up…" Hayato scowled.
Ryu only smirked as an answer. Hayato sat there glaring back at him, thinking. Who was going to call the girls and do the "dirty work"?
"Why don't we have Take call Maki-chan and see where they are…" Hayato suggested, giving the "dirty work" to Takeda. Ryu didn't answer this time, he let Hayato do as he pleased.
The two entered the classroom amongst the rest of the guys. Hayato pulled Take away from his current conversation to tell him about his little "job".
"Why am I always calling her?" Take asked, both curious and irritated about the subject.
"Because, you're the one who's closest to her." Hayato answered with a suggestive smirk playing his lips.
Take started to blush a little and turned his head away, not arguing about the answer to the question. "Fine."
Tsuchi and Hyuga slinked over and held an ear to the conversation as well. They didn't say anything, just watched, like Ryu. Take fished his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and dialed for Maki. He was reluctant, the others could tell, to put the phone to his ear, but he did so anyway.
It rang three times before Maki picked up. At least, Take thought it was Maki.
"Hello?" It was Kiri.
"Hello Kiri-chan, did I dial the wrong number?" Take straightened up suddenly, eyes wide and panic written on his face.
"No, this is Maki's phone. Her hands are full at the moment, is there something I can do for you?" Kiri explained, giggles coming through in the background.
"Um, well I was wondering if you girls were at school today or not…" he trailed off, hating that the sound of that just wasn't great at all. In fact, he hated being nosey, especially when it came to girls. Curse Hayato for this humility.
"Nah, we're out shopping today. Actually, we're having sushi right now." Take could hear the smirk on Kiri's face when she mentioned sushi. Lucky.
"Oh, that sounds nice, what are you out shopping for?" he continued casually. At least, as casually as he could…
"Clothes, shoes, accessories. You know, girl things." Kiri listed lightly, trying to keep the little secret of their grad party under wraps.
"Ah, you must be having fun then." Take chuckled, still trying to be casual. The other guys were watching him, their faces changing every time Take said something. Confusion, question, boredom, they read every emotion that passed his eyes.
"Yeah, we're having a pretty good time. Hey! That was mine!" Kiri was now yelling at someone else who had apparently, Take guessed, took her sushi…
Some scratching, rattling, faint yelling, giggling, and finger nail clashing was heard. Take couldn't keep the phone to his ear, it was so loud. This went on for almost a minute. Maki finally took the phone from her rampaging friend and greeted take cheerfully, a few giggles still leaving her system.
"What happened?" Take asked, fearing the answer was something he didn't really want to know about.
"Oh nothing, really. Kiri and Mitsu are wrestling on the floor over a piece of toro sushi is all." Maki answered nonchalantly, as if that were normal, everyday behavior for the two girls.
Take, on the other hand, was quite amusing to the others at the moment. He had this horrified look on his face after he heard Maki's answer to his question. "Over…" he started to stutter in disbelief. "Over a piece of… TORO!"
"Eh?" the others sweat dropped, totally confused by the words coming out of Take's mouth.
"Yeah," Maki chuckled, knowing Take wasn't used to hearing about such petty fights. "Kiri's really protective of her food."
"Uh-huh…" was the only vague response Take could give. Seriously, a fight over a single piece of sushi? Something so petty? He just couldn't see the value in a fight like that.
"You okay Takeda-kun?" Maki's voice sounded through the speaker by Take's ear. He realized he was spaced out completely and the guys were staring at him.
"Yeah, I'm okay." he nodded stiffly. "So, how's your shopping going?" he asked to change the subject.
"Oh, it's going all right." Maki answered, leaving much to the imagination as to what could have been bought already.
"That's good." Take smiled. The guys were quite confused as to where the conversation was going, exactly.
"Hm?" Take could hear light questioning in the background, and knew that Maki wasn't speaking to him. "Okay… Takeda-kun?"
"Yes?"
"Sorry, we're going to go look for the rest of the group and continue our shopping spree." Maki explained. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Mm. Later." Take smiled and hung up.
"So?" Hayato inquired, eager to know the whereabouts of the girls. "Where are they?"
"They're out shopping…" Take answered with a small scowl towards Hayato.
"Oh good, then they shouldn't find out…" Hayato muttered with relief.
The guys all just looked at him with sweat drops. That's what he was worried about? Man, he sure could be crazy at times. However, even though Hayato was sure they were safe, Ryu had a sinking feeling the girls were bound to find out. Even if they weren't in school.
Saya and Sayo caught up with the rest of the girls after lunch and their talk with DJ Tama at the Dream Star. The girls were having a blast shopping for their clothes and whatnot. Saya and Sayo told them about everything they talked about with DJ Tama.
Once they all had everything they needed for the photo shoot and their grad party, the other four girls headed home to wash their new clothes before they wore them the next day and to get in a few extra hours of sleep before their big day.
Saya and Sayo decided to browse a bit more before heading towards Sayo's house.
Now, since they had absolutely no clue about what was going on with the guys, the two of them seeing Tsuchiya and Hyuga running down the street was completely coincidence.
Apparently Tsuchiya and Hyuga had stopped to admire a poster of a woman on a billboard and fell behind the others. The two girls found the two of their behavior odd and decided to pull a Yankumi.
They followed the two boys to a warehouse. Hayato, Ryu, and Take were waiting for the two in front of the doors.
"Hurry up!" Hayato hissed at the two in a low, harsh whisper.
Saya and Sayo hid behind a large metal crate across the way from the doors. Their expressions were full of curiosity and worry. Why did they always find those idiots in bad situations?
Once the five boys entered, Saya and Sayo made haste to the door and peeked their heads around the corners to see what was happening. The leader of the gang the guys were confronting came close to them. He looked really creepy, even for their standards. Two of the other 3-D students were on the ground, bleeding from their mouths. Apparently the guys were lured in by a hostage setup.
The girls hid behind a structure close to the door so they could hear, and if anyone else was going to come in they wouldn't be seen as easily. They watched them get hit by the leader, whose name hadn't been mentioned yet, and heard what they were telling him about their promise with Yankumi. Every time Hayato or Ryu would get hit, the two girls, respectively, winced.
After a little bit of talking, the leader walked away from the guys, letting his lackeys go in to do their dirty work. The girls saw them clench their fists at their sides, holding back their urge to protect themselves and fight back. Sayo turned her back this time. She couldn't watch them get beat up again. She didn't have it in her.
Saya felt the same, but if they both turned their backs, neither would know what was going on. So Saya watched, for both herself, and Sayo.
A few minutes later, the rest of the class came running into the warehouse. Misawa was at the back of the pack, so Saya decided to stop him. She grabbed his arm as he passed her. "Oi, Misawa-kun!"
Misawa was jerked back a little by the force of Saya's grip on his arm. He turned his body to look at the girl holding him back from joining his classmates. "Saya-chan? Sayo-chan?" surprise was evident in his voice when he saw the two of them standing there. "What are you two doing here? It's dangerous!"
"Like I care!" Saya retorted, irritated by the indirect comment about women being weaker than man. "What the hell is going on?"
"It's a bit obvious, isn't it? We're trying to save our friends." he replied, a little calmer than before.
"But, who is that guy? And what does he want from you guys?" Saya, more anxiously, asked again. Her worry accidentally slipped through her voice.
Sayo was standing behind Saya, trying to avert her eyes from the fighting scene ahead of them. She heard all the hits connecting in the background and a few grunts of pain from the guys.
"His name is Kudo, he's our senpai. He was expelled last year before he got to graduate. He wants to stop us from graduating because he thinks we're the same as him." Misawa answered as quickly as possible, trying not to stumble on his words.
Saya let his arm go. "I see…"
Misawa didn't reply. As soon as her hand was off of his arm, he rushed over to the rest of his classmates and joined in the defense.
The only thing the girls heard from the five who first showed up were their harsh, weary voices, yelling at their classmates to stop fighting. Of course, they didn't listen because they're hard headed. Saya saw Ryu, in the middle of the whole group clash, approaching Kudo. He was limping and trying to ask the man to stop the fighting. He got punched in the face for it.
Hayato got socked in the face hard and fell backwards to the floor. Saya bit down hard on her lip in order to stop from screaming, tears forming in the corners of her eyes, and her flesh slowly began to tear under her teeth. The blood trickled into her mouth and she swallowed hard.
In a way, she kind of looked like Hayato as well. His lip was busted though. She only tore a little skin. But they were both bleeding from the mouth. At that moment, she saw exactly what he saw.
Ryu, struggling his way to Kudo on the floor with his arms pulling his body forward. Ryu grabbed Kudo's ankle as firmly as he could. He pleaded for the man to stop the fighting again. This time, he was kicked and left on the floor. Kudo wasn't finished with him though.
Sayo chose the wrong time to turn around to see what was going on since Saya was being so quiet. It's not that Saya was doing it on purpose. She was just in too much shock, not to mention worried out of her mind, to tell Sayo anything about what was going on.
So, the two watched, with wide eyes, as Kudo prepared to impale Ryu in the back with a lead pipe. Hayato was forced to watch too, since he tried to help his friend.
Tears formed rapidly in Sayo's eyes as the pipe drew in closer to Ryu's back. Sayo couldn't watch again. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, only able to hear Hayato scream 'Stop!' at he man. She wasn't in as much control of herself as Saya was, so Sayo wasn't able to stop herself from screaming.
Yankumi saved their cover, however, as she burst in through the door, yelling "Don't touch them any further!" in her loudest yakuza voice.
The pipe didn't impale Ryu. Saya sighed and allowed herself to fall back a little, sitting herself on the floor next to Sayo. "Man, that's a twisted graduation gift…" Saya mumbled. "Seeing them get beat up and almost die…"
Sayo couldn't reply to the harsh whisper her cousin was exhaling. She couldn't really hear anything at the moment. She was too shocked from what almost happened to even think straight. Sayo was shaking from her shock, it was that bad.
Saya waited for Sayo to calm down, seeing the state she was in. She'd never seen her this bad before. Instead of watching Kumiko fight Kudo, she watched Sayo closely in order to make sure she was fine.
Kudo was finally caught again, thanks to Kumiko. The whole of 3-D sat together in the warehouse, just beat. They were all too tired to move from where they were. Yeah, this'll surely be a fun sight at the graduation ceremony tomorrow…
Sayo began to regain herself. Saya waited patiently for her cousin to ask her something first. Sayo slowly looked up at Saya blankly. Her face was tear-stained and eyes red. Saya sighed at the sight. This would also be a fun sight to have for the rest of the night…
"Is it over?" Sayo murmured, face still blank. She was prepared to hear the worst.
"Mm. That Kudo guy was caught by the detective." Saya replied, copying the blank expression of her counter part.
"Good." Sayo sighed deeply. Her shoulders slumped and she hung her head. A few more tears fell, but they were tears of relief.
Saya didn't say anything, she only smirked, shedding her own few tears of relief as well.
The two gathered themselves as Kumiko told the class that she was proud of them and that they were truly her students. The bonding moment gave them enough time to make it not so obvious that they had been crying. After they heard Kumiko's voice stop, they stood from their spots and revealed themselves to the rest of the class.
All the guys, including Kumiko, heard foot steps in the background and turned to find out what the source was. Misawa wasn't surprised at all. Kumiko and the others were though.
"Saya-chan? Sayo-chan? Why are you two here?" Kumiko questioned as she made her way to the two girls standing awkwardly near the entrance.
"Nothing, really…" they answered together, sounding seriously suspicious, even for them.
Kumiko didn't let the suspicion she heard in their voices slip past her ears. "You sound too suspicious…" Kumiko muttered, eyeing the girls with a semi-serious gaze.
"Eh?" Saya jumped a little and averted her eyes from her sempai, making her look even more suspicious, "Really?" she asked.
"Yes, you're acting even more suspicious than before!" Kumiko grumbled loudly, the class just looking on in both amusement and curiosity as to why the two girls really were there.
Saya was playing with fire. A raging pit of lava, waiting to unload on her at a moments notice. She knew this and yet, she continued to goof around. She scratched the back of her head innocently. A big, cheesy grin spread across her face.
Sayo was standing silently behind her cousin with her head down. She didn't want to see them. She listened to the conversation and could tell Saya was goofing around on purpose. It was Saya's own way of trying to cheer her up. A small, bitter smile spread on Sayo's face.
Saya paused, looking back at Sayo from the corner's of her eyes. Even though her head was down, Saya could see the smile. So, without any further ado, she decided to finish acting. She returned her sights to her angry volcano. Behind the volcano was a small stream of badly beaten, yet smiling, as best they could, boys. It seems that they too, were amused.
Saya took a deep breath. "This was pure coincidence, I swear!" she exclaimed, bowing in the process.
Kumiko, and the guys, were taken aback by this. They stared at her, waiting for more to be said.
Saya stood up straight again to continue. "We only followed Hyuga-kun and Tsuchiya-kun because they were acting weird."
Hayato shot a quick glare at the two. They just chuckled awkwardly, knowing Hayato wasn't going to be very happy when he's healed. They'll be in trouble.
"We really didn't mean for this to happen again," Saya finished, "We're sorry." With that said, both girls bowed.
The others were really astonished by her sincerity. Kumiko felt bad for getting so angry. She knew that seeing what they saw was probably very depressing for them. After all, they were sort of close to the guys.
The two girls stood up straight and turned to leave. Saya put her hands on Sayo's shoulders while they walked out to comfort her some more.
Kumiko jogged after them, but they were already out of sight by the time she made it to the doorway. She sighed, turning her head in the direction from which the two girls had appeared from. She would have turned all the way around if she hadn't noticed the small wet spots on the ground. Curious, she knelt down to take a closer look. Quickly, the conclusion of the wet spots being tear stains popped into her head. "Sayo-chan?" she questioned herself lowly. "Or was it Saya-chan?"
Kumiko stood up and looked out the doorway again. She didn't have a clue as to which girl shed the tears. Her facial expression got serious as she thought hard to recall any kind of hint.
Then it hit her. Right as she was walking in, she heard Hayato scream 'Stop!'. But she also heard another scream. It was more high pitched and girly. Since it was Ryu that was in trouble, she figured the tears came from Sayo.
"Oh man, I hope she's okay…" Kumiko mumbled to herself upon her realization.
As soon as Saya and Sayo arrived at Sayo's house, Sayo immediately passed out as soon as she hit her pillow. Saya sighed at the sight of her cousin. She felt bad for her in a way.
Sayo's mother came up with a cup of tea for Saya. She knocked on the door before entering slowly.
"Oh, thank you Aunt Mayumi." Saya nodded her head as she accepted the cup.
"Not a problem, sweetie." the older woman smiled kindly. She looked over at her daughter with concern. "What exactly happened to make her so tired?" she asked Saya, not taking her eyes off her daughter.
"Well…" Saya thought of how exactly to put it. She sighed before saying anything. "Sayo saw someone precious to her almost die earlier tonight…"
Mayumi gasped and turned to Saya with a look of shock. "Who was it, if you don't mind me asking."
Saya shook her head. "He's a friend of ours."
"He?"
Saya nodded her head. "He's the one she visited earlier this month."
"I see…" Mayumi nodded her head in understanding. "What's his name?"
"His name is Odagiri Ryu and he goes to Kurogin High School across the street." Saya answered, knowing that the next question would have been about the school he attended.
Mayumi's only response to the answer was a nod. She looked back at her daughter. There was a pause of silence before Mayumi inquired of one more thing from her niece. "Does Sayo…" she started hesitantly. She knew it was none of her business, but she needed to know.
Saya looked up at her aunt curiously.
"Does Sayo like him?"
Saya was a little shocked to hear that question come out of her aunt's mouth. She knew that it was safe to answer though, since Sayo was sound asleep. Nothing could wake her up now. "Well…" Saya chuckled a little, looking over at her cousin sincerely. "She may not realize it herself, but she really does like him a lot."
Mayumi nodded in understanding. There was another pause of silence. "Well, you should probably get to bed as well, Saya-chan. You two have to get up early in order to get to Takeshi-kun's studio on time for your photo shoot." And with that, Mayumi left the room silently.
Saya sighed and finished her tea. "What am I gonna do with you?" she mumbled, looking at Sayo's sleeping form once more.
Saya changed into the pajamas that she brought with her and crawled into bed beside Sayo. "Oyasumi." she whispered.
Tomorrow, hopefully, would be better than today was.
To be continued…