This chapter was surprisingly difficult to write despite the vividness with which some of the scenes were playing out in my mind. But anyway, it is here, so read to your heart's delight, and as always, let me know what you think!
Once she had (finally) managed to scrape her hair into a ponytail, Ayako regarded herself in the mirror, judging how messy her hair was. After a moment, she raised her eyes to the heavens in annoyance before tugging the scrunchie out in and trying again. And again, and again. In the end, she gave up with an annoyed sigh, and put the scrunchie away, and hunted out the hair slides she'd used the last time she'd had a bad hair day. Then, she quickly re-dragged the comb through her hair and used the hair slides to pin it back. Once she had, she sat down on her bed to slip on her long socks before padding back to her laptop, which had finished charging, and booting it up.
Once she had logged in, she played with the thought of uploading her posts to the blog now, instead of after breakfast, but after looking up at the time, decided against it. So instead, she headed downstairs and made a beeline for the kitchen cupboards, hunting out bread and peanut butter to make some breakfast sandwiches. She also hunted out snacks to take with her for lunch time.
"Oh, Ayako, you're up early."
Ayako's mother- Naomi- stepped into the kitchen and regarded Ayako. Ayako lifted her hand up to wave cheerily, but then noticed that was the hand holding the peanut butter knife, so she quickly put that down and just beamed. Naomi shook her head in amusement and went over to her.
"I have something to do today." Ayako explained. "So I figured, may as well, you know. It's okay, I've sorted lunch."
"That's your lunch?" Naomi raised an eyebrow, sounding (somewhat understandably) incredulous. Ayako chose not to say anything, and put away the rest of the bread loaf and the peanut butter before carrying her plate to the table. Almost as soon as she did that, her mother started clearing away the snacks that she'd left on the table, replacing them with ingredients to make a basic bento box type lunch.
"Mu-um! I was coming back for those, you know!"
"You need to eat properly if you want to keep up with your education." Was her predictably mother-like explanation for this as she dove into the cooking. Ayako rolled her eyes and sat down dramatically to begin her sandwiches. For a few moments, they were in silence, Ayako munching and Naomi busy preparing food.
"So, this something to do today, is it something to do with your friends?" Naomi asked a little too casually, not looking over at Ayako. Ayako swallowed her mouthful quickly and put down her bread slice. She took a moment to think about how best to answer, especially as she hadn't yet told Naomi about the Ending the End Class project.
"With my 3E friends, yes. Not Komari-san or the others. I don't even talk to them anymore."
"Good. I don't want you talking to those girls anymore anyway."
"I'm aware of that, Mum. " Ayako said, dragging her words out in an exaggeratedly patient way. "You keep telling me that."
"I know, I know." Naomi turned her head to look at Ayako. "I just don't want you getting in the same behaviours that led you into 3E."
Ayako chose to not respond to that, instead just picking up the bread from her plate and eating again. Okay, so perhaps slacking off to the extent she had last year was never good, but now she had spent time in 3E, and met all the people there and spent time with them….well, in a way, she was glad to be there. And she even had a purpose there.
"I mean, isn't it hard for you, Ayako? You don't really say anything about what it's like, but I've heard the talk about what 3E means….are you unhappy?"
Naomi finished the cooking, and quickly cleared up before packing Ayako's lunch in a red bento box, wrapping it up with the star-patterned wrapping cloth she'd brought back from Kyoto, and carrying it over to the dining table, where she put it down before sitting opposite Ayako.
"Did you hear me, Ayako?"
Ayako blinked confusedly at her mother before replaying back her words and realising. Oh, Mum. She laughed sheepishly.
"Sorry, Mum. "She rubbed her head. "But I'm fine, really. We're doing a lot of things together, as a class. Something big and important. "
"Big and important, huh?" Naomi tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at Ayako, considering. Ayako randomly noted how her eyes were the same as her mother's (even though she knew this already), and suddenly decided that she would be happy if she aged to look like how her mother did now. After a growth spurt though, obviously.
"Yeah," Ayako said enthusiastically. Please believe me. "It is important. And fun, and we're all working together. Learning, too, and not just classwork things!"
Ayako held off from mentioning that it was also something big, that hadn't been tried before, and that they'd barely started. She also added in the last bit as an afterthought, knowing that specifically mentioning learning would keep her mother happy. And sure enough, Naomi leant forward, interested.
"What sort of things? Can you tell me about them? "
"Hmm…." Ah crap, what do I say?! I can hardly talk about bullying or basic rights or anything like that…..Ayako's mind scrambled in panic for a moment, wondering what to say, and then she thought back to Saturday-only the day before yesterday- and the kerfuffle about the flowers being replaced. She hadn't actually been there at the time, but photos had been sent around.
"Botany! Gardening, that sort of thing. Look, I'll show you!" Ayako pulled her phone out of her blazer pocket, opened up her gallery and searched for the photographs of the flowers- not just the beds, but the baskets and the pots and the other arrangements- and showed them to Naomi. They then spent a few good minutes with Naomi asking questions and looking through the pictures approvingly while Ayako happily explained it all.
"Well then, that all looks very good. That's pretty impressive for a middle schooler. Like a professional botanical garden. "
"It does, doesn't it?" Ayako grinned cheesily. Naomi smiled back.
"Yes, it certainly does, and you're fishing for compliments, I can tell. Now, if you could apply that type of enthusiasm to your exams..."
"Mum….." Ayako groaned, thinking of the humiliating mid-terms. I want to do better, and I will, but not for the reasons that you'd probably assume. But I can't tell you those reasons yet. Naomi seemed to read some of Ayako's thoughts, as she shook her head ruefully, still smiling, as she got up.
"But I'm sure you will. Now, I need to go and get ready for work, and you should probably get ready to leave soon, if you have things to do."
"Yeah, I should." Ayako gave Naomi a thumbs up before she left, and then crammed the rest of the bread into her mouth and started to chew as fast as possible.
"Oh, and Ayako?" Naomi returned to the doorway of the kitchen suddenly, and Ayako swivelled around to stare. Since her mouth was full of food, she just tipped her head to the side as an acknowledgement of her mother's question. The gesture made Naomi chuckle before she put forward her question.
"If anything does trouble you later on, you'll tell me, won't you?" Naomi said. "I can try to help you."
Ayako suddenly had trouble swallowing, touched. She blinked, and then managed to swallow again, nodding vigorously and giving Naomi a thumbs-up. Then, Naomi left, and Ayako managed to swallow the rest of her breakfast.
Once she was upstairs again, she quickly opened up the blog and her associated email account, as well as the not-yet-uploaded post she had to put on the blog, which was a post that compiled together some of the worst comments that the trolls were still leaving on the blog, and then responding to those comments, either satirically or seriously, depending on the comment. It was an idea she'd seen on many other blogs, and it seemed to translate well on Ending the End Class. This post she would be uploading was the seventh one of its type.
She scanned the 'comment-response post' (as she thought of it) over for layout issues, changing a few things here and there, as well as any spelling mistakes. Then, she went over it one last time for luck before uploading it. She crossed her fingers as she watched the uploading process, and did a little happy dance when it was successful. She then skimmed over the latest emails, all of them comment notifications, deliberately leaving the horrible ones for later, when she would be somewhat insulated from all of that horror by being with her friends. Then, she shut down the laptop, made sure she had everything in her school bag (including the bento lunch Naomi made, as well as her own digital camera) before rushing down.
"I'm going now, Mum!" Ayako yelled up as she slipped on her shoes quickly, adjusted her bag so it wouldn't slip off her shoulder.
"Okay then!" her mother called down. "Take care, won't you?"
"Yeah, I will!" Ayako responded cheerfully. And one day soon I will tell you all about Ending the End Class. With that happy thought, Ayako bounded out of her house and headed towards school.
…
"Gah, we made it!" Jori groaned as they reached the entrance to the main campus. "I totally thought we'd be late."
"I told you we wouldn't though." Fuyumi pointed out patiently, still clinging to Jori's back. Tada chuckled at Jori's attempt to glare at Fuyumi before putting her down, even as he caught his own breath and set down his end of the wheelchair. Koujiro did the same, then merrily wheeled it over so that Fuyumi could sit in it.
"Man, that was a close call." Hirigi could be heard saying to Haru.
"Yeah, it was." Haru agreed. "Maybe next time I should make sure to remind Ichijou-sensei closer to the time."
"Where IS Ichijou-sensei anyway?" Yamada asked, blinking as she dusted leaves off her skirt. How the hell did she manage to do that?!
Tada opened his mouth to admit he didn't know when a response came from a surprising place.
"Aww, poor diddums. Lost without your teacher?" The lipsticked second-year girl from the library incident appeared with a few female friends in tow. Tada struggled to place her name, and then wondered if he had even found it out. Even so, he just narrowed his eyes at her.
"It isn't any of your business. "He informed her shortly. She just narrowed her eyes and sneered, and her friends tittered and giggled. Tsukuda let out an angry huff, but she didn't do anything, and some of the other 3E students came closer, curious. But it was Eriko who chose to respond to the second-year girls.
"You should all be indoors, in the hall. Why are you all out here?" She asked, sounding every inch like a stern teacher. Or class rep, even.
"The assembly will start soon, so I suggest you go inside. We'll be joining you."
"We don't need to take any advice from you!" one of the other girls said, causing the rest of the posse to twitter amongst themselves. Tada exchanged a look with Tsukuda, both of them wondering what would happen next. They stared each other down for a moment or two, during which Yamada lost interest and drifted away, turning her head to the sky to search out the moon. Eventually though, the lipsticked girl tossed her frizzy hair and gave them a snooty look. Another of the girls, with bleached blond hair, did something similar.
"Let's just go, Komori-san. "She sniffed haughtily. Eriko scrutinised them, but did not say anything
"I think we will." The lipsticked girl-Komori-Chan? - pronounced. And with that, the posse headed back into the school building. Tada let out a huge sigh of relief.
"That struck me as extraordinarily pointless." Tsukuda remarked.
"Why is that girl even wearing lipstick anyway? How is she getting away with it?" Eriko burst out on the heels of that remark, clearly frustrated by the fact. Kaori patted her shoulder consolingly. Tada just shook his head and shrugged at her. I'd been wondering the same thing myself.
Izzy moved his inhaler away from his mouth to snicker at this, before putting the inhaler in his pocket and sauntering towards the door. Kuroba followed him, and after a moment of wild looking around, Hana did too. And Ruko, sensing a photo-op opportunity, clung to her camera and snuck after them. Tada face-palmed at the sight, and looked around to see if Ichijou would come.
"We should probably go inside now." Tada decided, pointing in the direction of the disappearing four.
"Roger that!" Koujiro saluted Tada cheerfully before taking over the steering of Fuyumi's wheelchair and heading straight to the door, Jori rushing over. Tada, Tsukuda, Eriko and Kaori fell into a walk behind them, and the others all followed along at various paces- Ayako half-skipping, Yukiyama almost drifting, and Azama ambling as if there was nothing to worry about. .
"Hey, Yamada, come on!" Tsukuda snagged Yamada by the sleeve to make sure she wasn't left outside, making her squeak in surprise. They all filed into the hall and bee-lined for the end of the hall where they usually stood during the assemblies, side-stepping some students and almost bumping into others, fielding the usual sneers and jeers. Just like the beginning of any old assembly. Part of Tada looked out for Ueno amongst the crowds of students, although he didn't expect an acknowledgement from his former friend, but he didn't spot him. He did, however, see Aida. As she was turned away from him though, he allowed himself to scrutinise her, wondering. After the day of Haru and Tsukuda's exclusion, Hiro had stopped talking to Aida, and hadn't mentioned her since. Tada didn't even know what class she was in this year, or what she thought about anything. I wonder, will that matter? Is there hope that maybe, just maybe, she could end up an ally? Or should I give that sort of idea up?
Shaking the thought away, he found his way to 'his' standing spot (dragging Ruko away from where she was sneakily photographing two unsuspecting first-year boys deep in conversation)next to Tsukuda and behind Fuyumi, Jori and Koujiro, and just waited for the assembly to start. Ruko gave him a dark look, then dug in her pocket for a packet of Starbursts before slinking away to further down the line, where Ayako, Kaori, Haru and Eriko were. As the final students found their places, Ichijou rushed in, all unruffled as usual, and took her place with some of the other teachers on the side, beginning a conversation with another female teacher.
"I don't think this is going to be good. I…feel some sort of dread." Fuyumi said suddenly, turning around to catch the eyes of as many of them as they could. Tada frowned quizzically at her.
"Fuyumi-san, when are these assemblies ever good?!" Jori spluttered. Fuyumi gave her a resigned look, one which seemed to say 'you don't know what you are talking about'. But she didn't say anything, not even to protest at Jori's blistering tone. That isn't good.
"What do you mean?" Tada asked conversationally, although the sinking feeling in his stomach didn't disappear. At that moment, the sound of static filled the room and more than a few of the students jumped. Okikura just smiled and waited for the hubbub to die down, and that was when Tada realised that just like at the beginning of the year, Okikura had been standing there just watching them. Creep.
"Hello again, Kunugigaoka Junior High." Okikura began once the room had gone utterly quiet. "Welcome to yet another wonderful assembly. Now, I have a couple of things to say regarding school rules, however, those will wait until the end. For now, I will step back for our Student Council President."
And sure enough, he did, and the prominent Hasegawa took the stand. He scanned the hall, as Tada had recognised to be a habit of his. And as with all the other times, Hasegawa's gaze stopped on Class 3E, and darkened. And as usual, Tada stiffened his shoulders, straightened just a little more, and in terms of looks, returned the sentiment. Usually, in such a case, Hasegawa sully narrowed his eyes further before dismissing them by returning his attention dead centre. But this time, he gave an almost imperceptible sneer before turning back to the middle and addressing everyone.
"What was that?" Tsukuda's whisper reached his ear, and only his. "What was that?!"
Tada turned slightly to her, and gave her a one shouldered shrug. I don't know. But as an afterthought, he pointed to Fuyumi, whose back was turned to them as she was watching the front. Tsukuda nodded grimly. So, maybe Fuyumi's concerns are more than the usual ones. But of course, that was not something either could confirm at that moment, so they just refocused on the assembly and listened to what was going on.
For the most of it, nothing bad happened. Or rather, nothing that wasn't something they were used to by now. Open insults, veiled insults and jokes at their expense. With a handout regarding the end-of-term exams, the old trick of pretending not to have enough or 3E was pulled again, but even that wasn't much of a bother, as Izzy had procured copies in advance, and they were sitting on Ichijou's desk in their classroom, waiting to be handed out. So as Hasegawa, a couple of club presidents and various teachers droned on, Tada found himself thinking that maybe Fuyumi was wrong.
And then Okikura stepped back up to the microphone and began to speak, and just like that, the assumption was broken.
"Now, for an announcement of school rules. As you know, especially if you are 3E, misbehaviour and violence are not tolerated in this school at all, and you are all expected to adhere to that. Unfortunately, I've had far too many reports of these rules been broken time and time again. But yet the culprits never seem to want to take responsibility for this. "
Okikura levelled a look at 3E, and on cue, pretty much the rest of the school started to laugh, cut off as soon as Okikura looked away. What…is he trying to say?
"Since personal responsibility and honesty are also values that we cultivate here, this is indeed troubling to the school image, particularly when this disorder is being caused by the same people, over and over again. Admittedly, there are the occasional times when it turns out they are in the clear, but those are rare, and I'm sure most of you have had trouble with 3E before, and have been frustrated and saddened when they have gotten away with it. "At this point, Okikura paused dramatically and gave a moment for the information to sink in.
"Get away with it?! Us? What planet is this idiot on?" Jori bristled, annoyed, her hands easily bunching into rock-like fists as she strengthened her stance and stared up at the stage. Tada was slack-jawed and almost numb with the confusion, although he could all too easily feel that Tsukuda had started to shake, beside him. A glance in her direction revealed to him a face that was a cross between stunned and apoplectic. Breathe, Hanae-Chan, breathe. Of course, she didn't notice, but on the bright side she didn't speak up and try to do something. There would be a time for that….later, once Okikura had actually finished telling them what he needed.
"So, to make sure that the rules of this school are upheld properly and that the persistent offenders are sanctioned appropriately, with the invaluable input of the School Board and the senior members of the Student Council, we have come up with a new scheme. If there is an altercation or any sort of incident where a 3E member is involved, the issue will be solved based upon the testimony of the main campus student, regardless of the incident, and 3E will be appropriately sanctioned. The only exception to this is if an independent witness, one who is not a member of 3E and therefore has no interest in letting them get away with things, is accurately able to vouch for them. If there is no such witness, then any ambiguity will be taken to assume it is the main campus student who is in the right.
So heed that advice carefully before getting into anything that could violate the values this school stands for. This applies to all of you. Now, I do not wish for you to be kept back from your educations any longer. So with that, the assembly is dismissed. Please return to your classrooms promptly. "
And, as if he'd done nothing more than give off a weather report, Okikura nodded at them all and left the stage calmly.
…
"Oi, for god's sake, push off! Kitabayashi, are you all right?!"
Glaring at the 3D students who had tripped Kitabayashi up, but not daring to go any further than that, Tsukuda focussed upon the smaller, puzzle loving boy and helped him up, picking up the Sudoku book he had dropped hand handing it back before grabbing his wrist and dragging him away from the boys. She was hoping that getting outside the hall, using the exit that led to outdoors and therefore the path to their campus, would be enough. Surely they won't bother to follow us out here, where it is too much bother. But of course, her luck wasn't in good supply today, and so when she got to the doorway, she found a bunch of tall, muscular jock-types (she could not tell what year they were in) surrounding Fuyumi's wheelchair, taunting her and telling her to get up and tell them 'properly' if she wanted them to let her through. Jori and Koujiro, both perfectly robust, were trying to remonstrate with them, but all the same, she could not let it lie.
"Go and join Tada, or Eriko!" she let go off Kitabayashi's wrist and gave him a hurried (but kind) shove. "Go! Now! Just head back to class!" He glared at her balefully with his teal eyes, but he complied well enough, and Tsukuda rushed at the jocks.
"Oho, it's that crazy old broad. " One jock said. "What should we do with her?"
"Well, she needs dealing with, the same as these imbeciles here." Another said, reaching out to grab at her forcefully. Quickly, using everything her beloved aunt had told her (and all the things she'd learnt from her wonderful 3E friends), she dodged the attack by ducking, her long ponytail whipping her face , and then sprang up to block the boy's fists with the side of her arm. The boy tried to force her away, and she felt herself skid against the flooring, but she kept it up, bringing up her other arm as a reinforcement of sorts. When the boy decided to kick her, she turned and ducked again, spinning around in a circle to draw him away from Fuyumi and the others. Thankfully, the strategy worked, as they were able to slip away unscathed (or so she hoped). The only trouble was that it left her alone with the boys, who wasted no time in surrounding her, boxing her in with both their bodies and their menace. She didn't mind taking them on to protect her friends….but they referred to her as a crazy old broad. Who knew how far those attitudes could manifest? What would she let herself in for if she went too far? How far was too far? I shouldn't need to have to ask myself these questions.
Looking around her wildly, as if seeking an escape route, she found one in the form of Ichijou walking with the teacher she had been with the entire assembly. She seemed relatively unruffled, despite what Okikura had just sentenced them too. Do you not see it, Ichijou-sensei? In the end though, it didn't matter, as the boys also spotted the staff, and promptly decided to split.
"Ah, Tsukuda-san, you're still here? We should hurry, don't you think?" Ichijou said pleasantly. Hurry. Hurry, hurry, hurry in case it ends up already being too late.
"Yes, yes, I will hurry, don't worry!" Tsukuda shouted out, breaking into a run and rushing forward. She ignored Ichijou's protest that she didn't mean that 'you should go quite that fast' and instead kept moving and moving past everyone, slowing down next to everyone to check on them but speeding up so that she missed no-one. Luckily, none of the others had seemed to immediately encounter trouble right off the bat. But it will happen, soon, and will I be able to help when it comes? The answer that she strongly suspected to be the correct one, given that she was just a human, was not one she wanted to here, and so she kept moving and moving, her feet almost controlling her than the other way around. In that way, she was the first to return to the building, a fact that made her snort a little in contrived humour as she slowed down to a stop to catch her breath, coming out in ear-splitting, shaky, rough gasps. She doubled over, resting her hands against her knees, taking deep breaths, but although she felt her heartbeat settle a little, the quavering didn't go away.
You should sit down now, Hanae. But when she looked up at the building, she found herself thinking of the jocks, the ones who had been pestering Fuyumi, circling around her, closing her in. I don't want to be shut in anywhere. I don't, I can't, I can't. Her stomach contents felt like they were curdling, rotting, and nausea rose up in her throat.
"Tsukuda-san?! What are you doing?" In the fog that was clouding her head the more she moved, she found she couldn't recognise who was calling her, and so she ignored the voice as she got deeper and deeper into the forest. Naturally enough, it just faded away, and she let it. I can't do this.
"Oh!" losing her footing suddenly, she only just managed to adjust herself so she'd end up on her knees when she suddenly dropped to the ground, heavily, all spent. Almost instantly, the nausea reared its head again, this time with a vengeance, and so she retched violently, but nothing came of it. Oh, just pull yourself together and get it out of your system. Wrapping her hands around her stomach, she tried again and again, hoping to get this sickness out of and away from her system. But all that happened was the sensation of her throat being scraped raw and her insides being filled with the heaviest type of emptiness instead, so she gave up, letting her head hang in shame and the water leak silently from her eyes with no attempt to wipe it. I should be stronger than this by now….I know all this….but….I don't want…I don't want…
"I'll come back in a moment! Go away!" she lied crabbily in response to the footsteps she heard quietly approach her. Sure enough, they stopped, and she waited for the sound of them receding. But that sound didn't come. Instead, after a moment or two, they actually came closer to her, and then the owner of the feet seemed to bash against the ground, presumably crouching or sitting down. Tsukuda didn't want to see, didn't want to know, so she stayed as she was, a few teardrops flying away as she squeezed her eyes shut. And then, the person shuffled a little closer and let out a melancholy little "Ohh" in a voice she would always swear to recognising.
Tada.
Tada-if it was indeed him-, didn't say anything, and kept them in the hush for a while longer. Tsukuda supposed that he was most likely scrutinising her. Is he beside me, or behind me? Where are you now, Tada? Curious despite herself, she decided to straighten out a little so she could take a peek, but it was at that moment his arms wrapped themselves around her and pulled her closer to his body. His knees poked a little into her back but she didn't find it uncomfortable. Instead, she thought, Oh, so he is crouching behind me. Okay, then. It was, in its own way, a bolstering fact, but she still had the overwhelming feeling of not wanting to go inside, of the powerlessness that would follow if she dared to.
She twisted a little so that she could meet his green eyes, so that she could tell him…well, not that, exactly, but something close to it. He let one arm fall back to his side to loosen his hold to make this easy for her, but he didn't release her, not completely. But if I were to leave, you would let me. It was another thing she was sure of….and for that reason, she didn't wriggle away. But she also lost her words, and found herself blinking, more than lost.
"Hanae."
He said her name, presumably as a way of anchoring her, or just to break the unearthly silence of the forest, but it was enough to unravel her, to send her pieces flying apart, and so rather than showing frustration and anger, she broke down instead.
"They're going to kill us! Tada, they're going to try to KILL us. And nobody can see that! Nobody seems to see that even if they decide they have the authority to take a life-one of ours- nobody is going to care because it's us. Because we're the End Class, 3E, the school disgraces and the worst disappointments. They're going to try to kill us and the world will let them get away with it if there are no 'independent witnesses'! And even if they don't actually kill us, Okikura's just given them a free pass to do whatever the hell they want! No matter what it is, they'll just PUNISH US instead….and….and…"
Sobs punctuated her poor attempt at explaining everything that was wrong with the day, but she didn't care at this point. She just cried and cried until she was all dried up and scraped out (all over again). Tada didn't say anything throughout this, and just remained there, comfortingly near. She didn't exactly cling to him, but she used the fact that he was tangibly there to gradually pull herself back together.
And after what seemed like an era, she did manage to do so, and she scooted away slightly from Tada so that he could move around a bit, not end up all pins-and-needles. Tsukuda then picked up the packet of tissues that were near her, and concentrated on opening the packet and cleaning her face with the tissues.
"Say, isn't Ichijou-sensei going to miss you?" she asked, reality (albeit a different aspect of it) setting in as she remembered there was still some of the school day to go through. She turned to look at Tada, who was now sitting cross-legged. He looked incredibly relieved that she was calm(er), and practically leapt to give an answer.
"Nah, it's all right. "He flapped a hand dismissively. "We're not the only ones going a little AWOL. Tsuwabuki-kun is somewhere around, digging for more things, and Kinomoto-kun is busy with the flower pots, dealing with the deadheads or whatever- "
"You realise you can only be AWOL or accounted for? You can't be some intermediate state in between." Tsukuda interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah." Tada stuck his tongue out at her cheekily, and unexpectedly, she laughed. Ah, it feels good to laugh.
"Say," she held up the now half-empty packet of tissues. "Thanks for this. I didn't actually have any tissues on me."
Tada just blinked at that, however, just zoning on the packet like it was a foreign object.
"I didn't give those to you…." He said eventually, blinking slowly. He reached out and took the packet from her and regarded it. Tsukuda also stared at it, not sure what to make of that revelation.
"That's….so strange." She turned back to the trees ahead of her, and an idea occurred to her. "Hey, didn't you say Tsuwabuki…."
"Other end, nearer to the building." Tada finished for her. "He couldn't have gotten here so fast….I don't even know if he clocked that you'd gone in the first place. But….maybe it is the ghost….."
"What, the one that was singing 'Hello Shooting Star' a while back? When we were playing hide-and-seek? How and why?"
"I don't know about the how….but that ghost is a good ghost, I'm sure of it." Tada murmured something that sounded a lot like 'flowers to a suicide' but he didn't elaborate, not even when Tsukuda narrowed her eyes at him. They just sat together in silence for a while longer, looking up at the tree branches against the sky. Then, Tada got up slowly, dusting the dirt and a few leaves from his clothes, before extending a hand out to Tsukuda. She glared.
"I can get up myself, you know."
"Oh, I know." He responded easily. "But don't you know that even the Protector of the Small needs protecting too, Hanae-Chan?"
She had no response for that. None at all. She just gazed at that hand that had anchored her so many times already during the school year, and let a new sort of feeling attempt to fill up what had been scraped out of her today. And as she did that, she accepted his hand and let him help her up.
"Thank you." She said simply. Gratefully. He nodded at her and they started walking back down to the building, their fingers still intertwined.
"Ah, I forgot to mention earlier, but Ichijou-sensei is letting Haru make us all cups of tea, and she might find some biscuits too." He told her after they'd walked part the way in silence.
"She is?"
"Yeah, I didn't catch the tail end of the conversation, but I heard Haru putting the idea forward, and it sounded like everyone else was pretty on board with that."
"Mhm…..but won't that take a long time? And why biscuits?" Tsukuda had a vision of a geisha carrying out a full-on tea ceremony, and the resulting bowls of green matcha tea. Tada laughed at her confusion.
"Not tea in that sense, Hanae-Chan. Tea with milk, made with tea bags, in a mug. You know, like 'oooh, let's kick back and have a cuppa', that sort of thing. Tea's a nice way to wind down after a long day, or even just a bad chunk of a day."
"'Have a cuppa?'" Tsukuda let out another laugh that surprised her. "Really?"
"Yeah, really. I think it'll help….after that assembly." Tada slanted a sideways look at her, assessing. Tsukuda just returned it straight on. She needed to be strong, she knew that. But….even the Protector of the Small needs protecting sometimes. And damned if she didn't need someone to look out for her, no matter how much she didn't want it.
"Mhm, yeah. Say, Tada, sorry for….well, you know. Having you come out for…." She gestured at herself sheepishly, trying to laugh off what must have been an all too vivid image of despair. Vivid, as her terror still clung to her, as the knowledge that they were still unsafe and that the notions of justice had been perverted by one new school rule did.
"No apologies, Hanae-Chan." Tada firmly resolved. "I came to you because I chose to. And in any case….that time when I needed to break away, I feel like I would have wanted someone to look for me, too."
Tsukuda just nodded respectfully at this, knowing full well what Tada referred to. I'd have followed, if I hadn't been excluded. The soppiness of such a conviction made a blush light her cheeks, so she clamped it down solidly, and they continued making their way down. As they got closer to the end, she let go of Tada's hand, sticking both of hers in the pockets of her tied blazer. Tada moved forward a little, and greeted Tsuwabuki, who was coming out of his end of the forest with a spade, some markers and an empty bag. The two boys exchanged brief and sober conversation, and then they formed a trio to enter the building, picking up Kinomoto on the way.
Once they were in the single corridor, they encountered Haru, who was carrying a tray with about ten or so mismatched mugs on them, all filled with pale brown liquid. Tea, as in a 'cuppa'. There were also saucers with a variety of biscuits and cookies.
"Ah, you're here. This is the first tray, and I need to get the other. Maybe one of you could take this in and start handing out the cups and saucers while I go back for the other one?"
"Oh, I'll do it!" Kinomoto stepped eagerly up to the task and took the tray from Haru, who promptly turned back to get the other. Kinomoto then went on ahead of them as they entered the classroom, putting the tray on Ichijou's desk and then going and delivering the tea and biscuits to each desk. Ichijou, on her part, was busy writing up starter-type notes onto the blackboard, and she turned to nod and beam at them as they entered.
As Tada and Tsukuda took their seats, she noted the different ways in which the other members of her class showed their own unrest. Jori paced near the front of the classroom, arms flailing in angry gestures as she protested to a bemused Fuyumi, Koujiro and Azama, variations of the phrase 'getting away with it' reaching Tsukuda's ears. Izzy was hard at work with his fingers flying across the keys of his laptop as usual, but with his face set in a hard stone expression as opposed to the cheeky devil demeanour he usually donned. Kuroba sat on Izzy's desk peering over, somehow seeming more intense. Ruko stood in the middle of the classroom mainlining sweets at a faster rate than usual, not looking as though she was enjoying the sweets at all. Kitabayashi was muttering in furious, even more indecipherable phrases of what could only be English. Yukiyama was listening to music as he was wont to do, but had curled up in his seat, fending off an invisible attack. Hana was folding an origami crane out of purple paper, three already complete on her desk, and a small stack of sheets of paper waiting. When she looked up and saw Tsukuda, her face broke out into a sweet honey-soft smile, and she got up and floated over to them, still holding the half-done crane.
"Hanae-san! You're back…..wait, did you go anywhere?" Hana's eyes widened in a way that made her looked baffled, and even more lost than her default. Tsukuda shook her head in amazement, and ruffled the younger girl's hair.
"It's fine. I'll look after you." She reassured genuinely. "Nice bird, by the way. You making enough for a wish?"
"Two wishes. "
"Yeah? That's a lot of birds."
"The wishes are worth it." Hana stated with conviction. Tsukuda nodded, she didn't doubt that at all. At that moment, Haru came in with the tray and headed to Tada and Tsukuda, who each reached over to take their cups and saucers before thanking her.
"Hana-san, did you get tea and biscuits yet?" Haru inquired. Hana looked over at her desk, and shook her head.
"Well then, you may take one from here." Hana obliged and went back to her seat, while Haru continued on to supply those who hadn't got it yet with sustenance. Tsukuda sipped at her tea, enjoying the warmth. And as she did, she watched the others approach their tea, and what it did to them. Quietening them, slowing them down, easing frown lines, softening mouths, relaxing shoulders and quelling shivers.
Does this mean we have a chance of being okay? She beseeched Tada with her eyes, pleading for an answer. His own lines, gentle already, softened sympathetically and he nodded once, with conviction.
I sure hope so.
"Ah, thank you, Ichinose-san!" Ichijou accepted her own tea as she put down her chalk. Haru went to sit down, and those not in their seats made their way there. Ichijou stood and drank her tea, clearly ready to start the lesson, but not bothering to hurry them along. Rather, she sipped and observed, as if trying to memorise their faces, as if trying to get their measure. But in a kind way. As if she will try her best to stand for us, even if she isn't much good at anything.
"All right then. I think we can begin the lesson. You can all finish at your own pace, and when I set an independent task I'll collect in the mugs and plates of those of you who have finished. And whoever is doing cleaning duty in this class today can deal with the rest afterwards. Will that work?" Ichijou pronounced, clasping her mug and making sure to have eye contact with each and every one of them. Her gaze went hazy with pity when it reached Tsukuda, and all she found herself able to do was give a watery smile back as she chorused her assent with the rest of the class. With that, Ichijou put her mug down on the desk, picked the chalk back up and started the lesson, talking about various reproductive cycles.
As she talked, Tsukuda wrote notes and listened diligently, but her mind kept circling back to the fear that was prominent. They're going to kill us. It would be a lie to say that she wasn't scared anymore, because she was, still, but here, with Tada at the desk next to her and this cup of tea, she felt better able to handle it. She snuck a glance at her good friend and fellow class rep.
I hope we'll be fine to- Her brain drove to a halt, as she came to a standstill. She snuck another look at Tada, who was busy concentrating on the biology lesson, and felt another new feeling inside her, one she couldn't name. Back in the forest, just before she'd broken enough to sob her heart out, Tada had called her by name. But not the nickname, and not with any honorific. Just Hanae. And as someone who seemed to adhere to honorifics fairly strongly, that was unusual. He probably hadn't noticed, though. Yet…now she was thinking about it, replaying his voice, she found that she liked it. A lot.
Feeling herself go more than a little pink out of bashfulness-why am I making such a big deal of this?-, she quickly diverted her gaze from him back to the board, and picked up her mug and held it to her face as she watched Ichijou draw a diagram. Meh, at least it is something new to brood on. But she still dwelt on that one little detail, over and over. And she found herself silently making a wish based on that one little detail, over, and over.
Call me by my name again, Tada.
Just casually throwing in the British-tea-drinkers stereotype there LOL. I do like being British. But yeah, anyway, the Tsukuda-POV section in particular was very visceral for me. I do hope I conveyed the different aspects of it correctly, or rather, well enough. And I apologise for my lazy chapter title. I couldn't think of a better one after all that =P.