"What happened today?" Kanae asked Kyoko once Ren got the car going down the street. "Start from the beginning. What were you doing on stage in that ridiculous outfit? I see you've brought part of it with you," Kanae said as she pointed to the cloak Kyoko held in her lap with her torn shirt.
"There was a Bingo competition and I won," Kyoko replied intentionally leaving out that it was a princess bingo game. Kanae would roll her eyes and it would be embarrassing to have Ren overhear. "The reward was to go on stage in that outfit and ring the gong to start the school song."
Kanae didn't reply verbally but the look she gave Kyoko clearly meant, "you're crazy". Kanae would never dream of playing a game for that kind of reward. She sighed before responding, "So how did the wardrobe malfunction happen?" Kanae jumped back a bit as the atmosphere in the back seat suddenly went dark. She couldn't see them, but Kyoko's grudge demons were swirling around.
"HE happened," Kyoko said looking at her friend intently.
"He?" Kanae questioned.
"Sho put a hook through my shirt that was attached to the flag rope. When the flag was raised, the rope was pulled and my shirt went with it." Kyoko was fuming at the memory. She'd forgotten Ren was in the car until he spoke.
"Sho? You mean Officer Fuwa? The one you have a grudge against?" He said while trying to look at her in the rear-view mirror.
"Y-yes," Kyoko responded while trying to avoid his gaze in the mirror.
"That ex of yours, huh?" Kanae said contemplatively. "He certainly is a piece of work."
"Yes, but he won't get away with this!" Kyoko exclaimed clenching her fist.
"What do you plan to do?" Kanae asked.
Kyoko smirked before replying. "I spent the afternoon interviewing different people, guests of the event and students. Plenty of witnesses can attest that he was the only person who came near me. Several also saw how he patted my back. They didn't see him put the hook in my clothes, but that was the only opportunity for my clothes to be messed with." She was proud of herself for gathering all this evidence. Finally, she could expose Sho for what he was.
"That's great and all, but what are you going to do with this information?" Kanae asked her.
"I'm in charge of writing the church's blog post for this week. The blog is used to talk about different events that happen in the community and the church itself. I'll expose him there!" Kyoko said excitedly.
She was shocked to sense a sudden darkness coming from the driver seat. Her main grudge demon was slowly making its way over to the negative energy as if being lured in. "Uh, Ren, why are you angry?" Kyoko asked him hesitantly.
"Why would I be angry?" He said flashing her a dazzling smile in the rear-view mirror. That smile definitely does not match what he's thinking! "Officer Fuwa wronged you. It only makes sense that you want to get back at him. So you'll use the platform that's supposed to promote positive events in the community, and reflect well on the church, to expose his treatment of you." Kyoko winced at his words and never-ending smile.
"The blog is supposed to talk about community events. This happened at a community event!" Kyoko shot back. "Besides, it's a reporter's job to expose corruption." She was not going to back down on this. Sho deserved every bit of humiliation she could throw at him.
"Oh," Ren drawled out the word. "So pulling a prank on you is the equivalent of corruption? I always thought corruption was widespread abuse of power across an organization. But you're the reporter, I'm sure you know best what corruption is since it's your job."
The sarcasm dripping from Ren's words made both Kanae and Kyoko flinch. "So what, I just let what he did slide? He exposed me on live TV!" Kyoko said while blushing and subconsciously covering her stomach with her arms.
"I never said that what he did was right and does not deserve punishment. I'm just pointing out the holes in your plan for revenge," he replied calmly. "Besides, once you get revenge on him this time, won't he retaliate in kind? Then it'll just be a game of tit for tat."
Kyoko clenched her teeth and looked away from Ren. He's impossible to deal with when he gets like this! He won't listen to reason!
The car came to a stop while Kyoko was avoiding looking at him. She looked out the window to see her apartment. They had arrived at her home without her noticing. "Thank you for the ride," she mumbled as she got out of the car. Kanae got out with her.
Ren looked at her as she got out, "Make sure you think about who you're representing and the consequences of your actions before posting anything." He drove off after giving her the warning.
"I didn't know he could get like that," Kanae said from beside her. "I've only ever seen him act like a gentleman."
"It seems to be an attitude that he reserves for me. I've seen it before," Kyoko said replying to her friend. She sighed before continuing, "he acted like that when we first started working together. But we were getting along well at the end of the week so I thought his opinion of me changed. But I guess not. He still hates me," she told Kanae.
"Hmm," was all the reply Kanae gave before changing the topic. "Do you think your pregnancy was exposed?" She asked.
"No, I'm not showing yet. But someone did find out about it today," Kyoko tried to say it nonchalantly but it didn't help.
"WHAT?!" Kanae exclaimed. "Who, how?" She demanded.
"Come on up and I'll explain," Kyoko said leading the way into the apartment building.
Ren was furious at a few things at the moment. He'd kept his temper in check while he was driving but now that he was home, his anger was rolling off of him in waves.
The first thing he was mad at was obvious: Officer Fuwa's prank. Just how childish could he be to do that to someone? And he did it on live TV! He was a poor excuse for an officer as far as Ren was concerned.
As mad as he was at Fuwa, he was madder at Kyoko. What was she thinking trying to expose him on a church's platform? Not only would it reflect poorly on Fuwa, but also the church and the school. It would be negative publicity for two organizations she was supposed to be helping. She was already heading down a path to get her revenge regardless of who got hurt in the process.
He thought better of her. He liked working with her and admired her work ethic. She was capable of so much more than petty revenge. But as long as she had Officer Fuwa on her mind, she would never live up to her full potential. She would hurt people unrelated to her grudge with the articles she posted and eventually get fired due to her tunnel vision.
As much as he tried not to, he thought often of their night together. She had been curious, sweet, and playful despite the pain she was suffering due to her breakup. To see her personality twisted into its current state infuriated him. His fury smoldered in his chest as he thought about the one who gave her reason to be fueled by hatred. The one who hurt her deeply.
Kanae left Kyoko's place shortly after hearing the story about Max. She had to get home, and Kyoko had work to do. She sat in front of her laptop ready to type her story about Sho.
Ren's words invaded her mind before she had a chance to type anything. She clenched her teeth in anger thinking about his domineering attitude and lecture. She would get back at Sho. If he acted up again afterward, she wouldn't hesitate to respond in kind again.
She got to work on her scathing article about the officer who embarrassed a participant in the main event of the school fair.
Sho couldn't wait to see the results of his work. Kyoko couldn't handle a lot of pressure. The embarrassment from being publicly exposed, not just in front of a crowd but on TV too, would be too much for her. She would go crawling back home where she belonged.
Kyoko made sure to get to the church early the next morning. She wanted to print out her article to review it. She reviewed it on her computer at home but she proofread better on paper copies. It was satisfying to mark a paper copy to note mistakes and better wording.
The janitor let her into the building. Only a few people were there this early. She quickly logged in and printed off her work. She was searching for a pen when the janitor interrupted her.
"Ms. Kyoko, a young man is here to see you," he told her popping his head into the library.
"Me?" Kyoko asked pointing to herself. She'd only been here a few days. She couldn't imagine that anyone would have business with her.
"Yes," the janitor responded. Kyoko logged off the computer and grabbed her printed copy before following him to the door. She was surprised to see who was waiting for her.
"Max, is everything okay?" She asked worriedly. Max had never sought her out before.
"I'm fine. I just wanted to make sure you were okay after yesterday's events," he said sheepishly.
"Oh, I'm fine. It was embarrassing for sure, but also not the end of the world," Kyoko told him
"You mentioned you have a way to get back at him." Kyoko only nodded in response. "Can I help?" Max blurted out. "I can't believe he would do something like that. He's scum!" He shouted.
Kyoko was touched at his display of anger for her sake. "I appreciate it," she told him. "But I'm getting back at him through work. It's not something you can help with." He looked down at her response, but it was true. She already had the article written. All that was left was to make corrections and post it. "Speaking of yesterday," she said after a moment's thought. "What are you going to do about West? How are you going to get money for him?"
"Oh, ah…" he avoided her gaze and shuffled his feet while trying to figure out how to get out of this conversation.
"Out with it," Kyoko demanded.
"I don't know," he said sighing. "I'm too young to get a job to be able to give him the money he wants. But I also can't prove that I'm innocent. I'll probably just end up taking a beating." He mumbled the last bit but Kyoko still heard it.
"What about your parents? They must be able to help in some way?" Kyoko asked him.
"It's just my mom and I," he told her. "She has a lot to worry about. I don't want her stressing out over this."
Kyoko eyed him not sure what to think. She had no idea how to help him out of his predicament but she also didn't want him to get beat up again. How can I help him?
As she was thinking over options, another face showed up. This one was less welcome. "Kyoko, what a pleasure to see you this morning," Sho said grinning widely at her. He was never here this early. She didn't know what he was up to but she already knew she didn't like it.
"Sho, why have you graced us with your presence this morning?" She asked through gritted teeth. Max wasn't even trying to hide the scowl he was giving the officer.
"I wanted to check up on you. Yesterday's incident must have been shocking and frightening. I wanted to offer my aid if you needed any help to get back home," he told her trying to act gallant.
"What do you mean help me get home? I got home just fine yesterday and will today too." She was confused. Why would he help me get home?
"I don't mean home where you are living now but home as in back with my parents," he told her with a smug smile.
Realization dawned on her. "I see, you think that just because you embarrassed me I would run back to your parents house. I don't think so, Sho. You're not getting rid of me that easily," she told him happily. "In fact, I already have my revenge for yesterday planned," she said waving her article in front of him.
"What?" he asked confused.
"I said I already have my revenge planned. You see, I'm a reporter now. Asking people questions and getting information is part of my job. I have plenty of evidence that would lead any rational person to the conclusion that you were behind yesterday's accident," Kyoko said smugly. It felt so good to return his smugness back at him.
He reached out to try to snap the paper from Kyoko's hand but she pulled it back out of his reach. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked him. "You'll have to wait to see the article when it gets posted along with everyone else. No sneak peeks," she said teasingly.
"Wow," Kyoko heard from beside her. It was Max. She totally forgot he was there in her exchange with Sho. He was looking at her with a sense of wonder in his eyes. Apparently, he was impressed with how she was handling Sho.
A new plan entered Kyoko's mind as she looked at the young man who used his own jacket to cover her yesterday and rushed over early in the morning to check on her. "You know," she said turning back to Sho. "I could be convinced to not post this article and delete my digital copy of it…for a price," she said using a conniving smile.
"...what?" Sho said as he took a step back on guard against Kyoko's attitude.
"My friend Max here has a bit of a problem at school," Kyoko said waving at Max to get Sho to look at him. "A big dealer of Ecstasy has been bullying him recently. If that dealer were to have some trouble with the police that got him suspended, I think I would be so happy that I would forget all about this article." Kyoko kept a smile plastered on her face as she spoke.
"A dealer? Do you know when he's usually carrying?" Sho asked turning to Max.
At this point, Max's mouth dropped open. Kyoko was using blackmail on a police officer. And she was blackmailing him for his sake. "He always has a stash on him at lunchtime, but only a small amount. After school, he goes to an abandoned locker where he keeps a large amount. The lock on it was broken and the school didn't want to pay the money to fix it. So they just left it as is. He found a trick to opening it and has been using it without the faculty knowing," Max confessed.
"I can do something with that," Sho said thinking before turning back to Kyoko. "So if I arrest this kid for drug dealing, you won't post a scathing article about me?" He asked her.
"At least not this time," Kyoko replied.
"Hey kid, what's the locker number?" Sho asked Max keeping his eyes on Kyoko.
"It's 301. Everyone knows to stay away from it in case West thinks you're trying to steal from his stash," Max told him.
"Alright, I'll do something about the little drug dealer today. So do we have a deal?" Sho asked Kyoko.
"We have a deal," she told him while handing him the sheet of paper with her article written on it. "Once Max is no longer in danger, I'll delete the digital copy. And of course," Kyoko added, "there is to be no way West can trace getting caught back to Max."
"I figured," Sho said taking the paper and walking away.
Max and Kyoko watched him walk away. Kyoko felt great about this achievement. It wouldn't bring shame to Sho, but it was amazing grinding him under her thumb like that. She could get used to this feeling.
"Are you sure this is okay?" Max asked her.
"What do you mean?" Kyoko said turning to him confused.
"He's going to get away with what he did to you if you don't post your article," Max said.
"Don't worry about that. This exchange was satisfying in its own way. Getting him to take care of this problem for you is completely worth it," Kyoko told him.
"Um, thank you," Max said looking down embarrassed. "Honestly, I want to refuse letting you do this for me, but I can't think of any other way to get West to leave me alone." He looked back up at her before continuing, "So if there's ever anything you need me to do just ask! I'll even babysit for free after the baby is born."
Kyoko was taken aback by his determination. After the initial shock wore off she smiled at him. "I can't think of anything I'll need help with right now, but I'll remember your offer."
In answer to a question I got, Ren already knows where Kyoko lives. He picked her up at her home during the week they worked together.
Happy New Year everyone! I'm looking forward to this year. I hope you all are too.
Next week's chapter will probably be posted on Thursday instead of Friday. I'll be busy that day.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
-Besma0003