Chapter 6: The Trick to Lying

The world warped back into place as Akira and Ann stumbled as far away from the castle as they could. The sounds of the city faded back into focus, and the girls were left panting on the sidewalk, between some shrubbery and an awning. The girls looked at each other, sharing a silent wonder of 'Did we really get away?'

At some point, Akira's phone returned to her hand. She doesn't recall taking it out, seeing as she wasn't even wearing the pants holding it when they escaped, as a voice, feminine and robotic, announces, 'YOU HAVE RETURNED TO THE REAL WORLD. WELCOME BACK.'

"What does that mean?" Ann asks with a look of absolute befuddlement. "The real world?"

"It means we got out." Akira shoves her phone into her pocket. Was it somehow what brought them to the castle? Had it sent them there? It had to be, or otherwise how the hell it managed to know when they'd returned is beyond her at the moment. Questions for later.

"My head hurts so much right now just thinking about all this," Ann quietly moans.

"You're telling me, I'm pretty sure those guys gave me a concussion at the start."

A new voice cut in, "What's going on here? Are you two students of Shujin?" Two police officers approach, one of them leering back and forth between Akira and Ann. "Cutting classes are we?"

Ann gasps, "What? Of course not, we were just—!"

Don't let her finish, don't tell them anything! "Oh thank god, you're here!" Akira presses in, stepping up and clasping her hands together in front of her. "Officers, it was so awful! My friend and I were just on our way to school, when we were attacked by these, these," she lets herself stumble, cringing as she remembered the sharp pains she'd received from being bashed over the head with a sword, "horrible masked men!"

The officers look startled, glancing at each other. "D-Did you say you were attacked on the way to Shujin?"

"YES!" Akira screams, throwing her hands down to her sides in shaking fists. Her face grows red as frustration builds in her gut. "Weren't you listening!? They knocked me out, and when I woke up they had my friend in chains!" She looks at Ann, who turns away, rubbing at her tender wrists.

The officers mutter to themselves, and Akira bites down the grin of satisfaction fighting its way to her face. "You two should head to school, they'll need to know about this."

"Thank you officer, thank you!" Akira pleads once more. "I never wanted to miss school; it's my first day! I only just transferred. Ann-kun was just offering to show me around when, when—!"

The officers nod and send Ann and Akira on their way. As the pair turn back the way they'd come—the same way they'd gone before arriving at the castle—Ann turns and gapes at her, as she lets her smirk grow.

"How did you do that? You had them eating out of the palm of your hand! I could never lie like that."

Akira puts her hands in her pockets and holds her head up once they've crossed into the alleyway. "The trick to lying, Ann-kun, is to not actually lie."

"But, you didn't say anything about, about the castle, or Kamoshida—"

"Didn't need to. That'd just make me sound like a high school drug addict. We were on our way to school, the knights were wearing masks, and I was knocked out and woke up to you in chains. Everything else is just too far-fetched to be believable."

Ann looks at her with a mixed expression, before letting her own lips curl upwards. "Teach me your ways, Senpai."

When they arrive at Shujin's gates, everything looks completely normal. It's… almost hard to comprehend, having been here mere hours earlier and staring up at an expansive castle.

"It… really is here, huh? But before, it wasn't. What's going on, seriously?" Ann cries.

"That's what I'd like to know." A faculty member steps out to face them. "We received a call from the police," he says, like the girls are in trouble.

"They did!?" Ann asks, flinching back with her whole body.

Akira steps forward to salvage the situation. "Did they tell you what happened!?" She asks with a breathy desperation. "We need to see the nurse, Ann-kun's wrists are still really hurt—"

"W-Well," the man tries to save face, "first, I wanted to ask where you two have been—"

"We were being attacked!" Akira screams, silently enjoying the way he cringes with his whole body. "We only barely escaped, just when we ran into those officers!"

"What's this about an attack?" A familiar smug voice emerges from the doors to the school. Akria doesn't bother to hide her sneer.

"Kamoshida!?" Ann yelps, clearly not expecting to see him again so soon.

"You two seem to be having some trouble. Maybe this could have been avoided if you'd had a ride to school?"

"Can it, John!" Akira spits. Seeing that other version of him had soured an already-sour opinion of the 'teacher'. "Trying to pick up students in your car is—"

"How dare you speak that way to Kamoshida-sensei!" The other teacher shouts back at her. "There's no leeway for someone like you, you know?"

Akira crosses her arms. She wasn't going to drop the subject. "He's the one who's been creeping on his students."

The other man folds his arms. "Do you really want to be expelled!?" His voice hangs heavy with condescension, and it's pissing Akira off. "Regardless, you're going to have to explain yourself. Follow me."

Akira lets her surprise—but not her anger—show on her face. "Ex-cuse me!?"

Kamoshida butts in with a sickeningly amicable smile. "Come now. I should have been more considerate, too. Let's just say we're both to blame."

"Well, if you say so…" His fellow teacher sounds so quick to acquiesce to the creep, it makes Akira's skin crawl. He turns back to her. "Still, you're coming with me. It's undeniable you're extremely late—"

"Hell no!" Akira takes Ann by the wrist. "I'm going with Ann-kun to the nurse's office, and then we're going to file a police report. What kind of school are you people running that you aren't even listening to what happened to us!?" She tugs on Ann and throws her a sympathetic smile. "Come on, let's get these injuries looked at."

"Y-Yeah, thanks…" Ann nods with wide eyes.

Akira pushes past the two men with a sneer thrown in Kamoshida's direction. His only answer is that same self-assured smile. She could almost see that other him's sadistic grin behind it.

"That was awful," Ann mutters as the two sit down on one of the cots in the nurse's office.

Akira nods in agreement. "I couldn't believe the way that other teacher didn't seem to care that we'd told the police about being attacked."

"I mean, it wasn't exactly what happened—"

"What matters is that's what he knew happened, he just didn't care!" Akira throws her hands up. "I get that he might not have believed us, but it's not like we walked away unscathed, either!"

Ann turns to look at her, her eyes cast in a worried light. "How's your head? You took a lot of hits back there."

Akira waves her off. "I've had worse; I'm more worried about those friction burns." Akira takes Ann's hands into her own, turning them over to look at the extent of the damage. The skin on her wrists are bright red and irritated, even looking glossy in places.

"I didn't think it would be this bad, but I guess I was pulling on them for at least an hour."

"It's pretty bad, but I'm glad it wasn't any worse. If your restraints were any tighter, you'd need some serious treatment." Akira looks around the office, wondering if there might be some aloe she could use right away.

"Are we really going to file a police report?" Ann asks uncertainly.

"If I have to," she flashes Ann a confident smile, "and don't worry, I'll take care of everything. It'll be easy to say that you're not in a place to talk about what happened."

"Um, can I ask something?"

Akira looks up at her, and sees Ann shying away from her. She turns her eyes back down to Ann's burns. "Shoot."

"What did the counselor mean when he said 'there's no leeway for someone like you'?"

Akira sighs. "I'm a transfer student, but I didn't tell you why I transferred."

"Is that why he said you'd get expelled?" She's asking so earnestly, the truth almost jumps to Akira's throat.

"I. Don't really want to talk about it right now, is that okay?" She looks away herself, hoping her meek demeanor will say what her voice can't.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to. But, after everything that happened, with the castle, and Morgana—"

The nurse takes that moment to save Akira from the awkwardness of this conversation and step into the room. "I was told we had two girls with injuries?"

Akira is quick to push the woman's attention onto Ann and her wrists, and thankfully, her burns do get some aloe vera and bandaging. Akira herself doesn't escape examination as the bumps on her head get some careful disinfecting.

"Did the school say anything about contacting the police?" Akira asks, hoping to get the hard part out of the way.

The nurse's eyes dart to anywhere but Akira's face. "Principal Kobayakawa has… asked that, if you must, the two of you make your report directly to the police department—"

Akira cocks her head. "But the police said to report to school first! Isn't it the school's responsibility to look out for its students' safety?"

"I'm sorry, Kurusu-san," Akira never gave her her name, "but I'm just the school nurse. If you have a problem, you can take it up with the Student Council."

Akira frowns. That giant lump is just passing the buck to anyone who's not him. "Alright, we'll do that."

"Should I let your teacher know you'll be returning to class now?" The nurse gives her a smile that almost looks real. "You should be able to make it in time for your afternoon classes."

Akira takes one look back at Ann, drawn into herself and looking for all the world like she's about to fall apart, and shakes her head. "No, I'm going to escort Ann-kun home, before making that report. This whole thing has been really hard on her."

The nurse takes her explanation with a nod. "I understand. I'll let Kawakami-sensei know—"

"Takamaki-san, Kurusu-san?" Speak of the devil. Kawakami arrives at the nurse's office, looking frazzled. Her makeup is better than it was yesterday, though. "I heard you two were in the nurse's office, and something about the police?"

The nurse turns back to her workstation as Akira looks at her homeroom teacher, despite neither of them having been in a classroom together as of yet.

"Kawakami-sensei, Ann-kun and I were… attacked, on our way to school. We met only a block away and…" She sighs, allowing her exhaustion seep into her breath, "We're going home early. We just got our injuries cleared but neither of us is in a state to go to classes right now."

"I-I have to talk to Shiho, first," Ann says quietly. Akira turns to her with a soft smile.

"I'm sure your friend can take a message. Ann-kun, this… this sucked. We need to get you home, and you can talk to them later, alright?"

Ann sighs, tired and weary, but doesn't protest.

"Ah, about that, Kurusu-san."

Akira turns to Kawakami, who's rubbing at her arm nervously. "What is it, Sensei?"

"I thought I should let you know…" She takes a deep breath, before continuing, "The students saw you two together on your way here, and people have already started talking about you."

Akira's gut turns to ice. "What do you mean?"

The teacher looks away, saying, "Somebody must have leaked your record, but I wasn't the one who said anything. Rumors are already going around about you and Takamaki-san."

"What kinds of rumors, sensei?" Akira insists.

Her eyes flick up to hers, and away again. "Not good ones."

"Nothing ever changes, I guess," Ann says with a sigh. "I just wanna get out of here." She gets up from the cot and hoists her bag's strap up onto her shoulder. "Do you still want to come with me, Akira-chan?" She asks, turning to her.

Akira scrambles to get up as well. "Of course. It wouldn't be right to send you off on your own after all this."

The girls head out of the room, as Kawakami watches them go. "Looking out for her own, eh?" She whispers to no one.

The walk from the nurse's office to the school gates is short. It's just a trip through the Practice Building and then you're basically at the entrance. But still, the snippets of conversation that come through in that couple of minutes is… telling, to say the least.

"Takamaki-san really is with that transfer student!"

"Isn't she the one with the record?"

"I heard she attacked a guy after taking his money—"

"She was arrested for everything under the sun! So scary…"

"If she's a prostitute, does that mean she and Takamaki are, you know?"

"What a couple of whores."

Needless to say, Akira couldn't get Ann out of Shujin fast enough.

They're still on their way to Aoyama-Itchome station when Akira speaks up. "I'm sorry you had to hear all that."

"So, you have a criminal record?" Ann asks, quietly. Akira doesn't know how to take it.

"Yeah. I was arrested back home. Assault… among other things."

Ann takes a deep breath. "It's okay. I know you're not that type of girl." Akira doesn't have the Guts to correct her. "I've heard those kinds of rumors before. Everyone at school is always gossiping about how I'm easy, or that I'm dating Kamoshida—"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Akira says flatly.

Ann laughs, a hollow and mirthless thing. "I know, right? I'll never look at him the same way again."

The pair pass the turnstiles, swiping their cards and climbing into a half-empty car.

"I'm sorry for making the rumors worse, though."

"It's not your fault. Whoever leaked your record's the one I should be angry at, but I just… can't. I'm so tired, Akira-chan." She admits it so softly, Akira can't help but put her arm over the other girl's shoulder.

"Tell me about your friend, Shiho."

The tension in Ann's shoulders relaxes, and her face softens into a real smile. "I met her in my first year of middle school. It was the first time I'd really settled down in Tokyo instead of following my parents on business. They wanted me to start my secondary education here at home. It was… pretty bad, honestly."

Akira takes it all in. "Your parents travel a lot?"

"They're fashion designers, and they work all over. I spent most of my childhood in Finland. I'm only a quarter American, but people don't really see that when they look at me." Her eyes drop to the floor, a quiet resignation coming over her that Akira recognizes all too well.

Akira nods. "And that's why it was rough in middle school."

"Yeah, until I met Shiho." Ann smiles to herself. "She's my best friend. I knew her before I met Sakamoto. From the first time she talked to me we've just been the best of friends. I… I really needed her when she came into my life." Ann scowls, "And now Kamoshida's just, going and ruining everything!"

Akira lets her face twist in disgust. "What's he doing? Other than creeping on you."

"Shiho's on the volleyball team, the one Kamoshida's supposed to be coaching. But for months he's been hitting on me, trying to get me to… do things, and every time I try to pull away he says things about Shiho that just—" Her eyes glisten with the threat of tears.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, I understand." Akira takes Ann's hand and gently squeezes it. She hopes the other girl isn't too put off by sharing all this personal space. "Has he threatened her at all?"

"No, nothing like that. He just… makes it sound like if I don't do what he wants, he'll take her off the team, and stuff like that. Shiho loves volleyball, and I would never take that dream away from her."

"You're not doing anything like that. Kamoshida's the asshole here."

Ann huffs a laugh. "I know. Seeing inside that bastard's head's made it obvious what he really cares about." She looks up in front of her, staring into empty space before nodding to herself. She turns to her with a fire in her eyes that Akira likes. "Akira-chan, we need to go back."

"Into the castle?"

Ann nods. "If what Morgana said is true, then Kamoshida's doing horrible things to his students. And… and if that's what's inside his head, then we'll see for our own eyes what it looks like. He can't hide anything from us in there."

Akira grins. "I'm with you all the way. And don't worry, we'll meet up with Mona-chan, and we'll see everything there is to see. John's not getting away with this, I promise."

Ann laughs, "I still don't understand that nickname! Thanks, Akira-chan. I'm really glad we met when we did."

Akira laughs with her, "I'm glad too! I couldn't forgive myself if you climbed into some creep's car right in front of me."

"Well, it's not exactly stranger danger—"

"I didn't know that at the time!"

The two laugh together all the way to Ann's place.

After seeing Ann home, Akira braces herself for facing Sojiro back at Leblanc. The school must have called him at some point during this whole debacle, and after hearing how shitty Shujin was handling things, she couldn't count on them painting her in a sympathetic light.

Sure enough, as soon as the bell chimes over Leblanc's door, Sojiro is scowling at her like she's something he's stepped in.

"Hey, I got a couple of calls from your school," he says tersely.

Akira matches his frown with one of her own. "And what did they say?"

"Well, the first I heard was that you ditched half a day on your first day of school." The hand on his hip makes him look especially patronizing.

Akira crosses her arms. "And what did you hear second?"

"I wanted to hear it from you, kid." His eyes are hard, but he doesn't seem particularly threatening, which is a step up from the counselor at least.

Akira allows her bravado to slip, although she puts a bit of emphasis into showing her exhaustion. "I met a classmate on the way to school, while it was raining. Then one of the teacher's pulled up—"

"Get to the point," he says, stopping her short. Then he rubs at the back of his head. "Sorry, I just. Need to hear the important parts."

She sighs. She likes this side of him, though it chafes like hell. "We got attacked. Ann-kun and I, they knocked me out and when I woke up, she was strung up like, like…"

"Kid?"

Something's making her voice smaller than she'd like when she says, "They kept calling her 'Princess'..."

"Christ… Look, kid, sorry for the third degree. How'd you two get out of there?"

Akira shakes her head. "We just barely escaped. They knocked me out the first time when I fought back, but I was ready for them after."

Sojiro stares at her, his jaw working as he tries to find the words. "What was this other girl's name again?"

"Takamaki Ann. Ann-kun. We were already hitting it off, but…" She picks at her nails idly, "I escorted her home before coming back here."

Sojiro looks around the currently-empty shop. "Well, kid, you came back at a good time. Not sure what I would have done if there'd been any customers right now. Head upstairs, try to relax, okay?"

She nods. "Thanks, Sojiro."

"Call me 'Boss'," he reminds her.

She smiles. "Right, Boss."

She beelines for her desk, pulling out the journal from yesterday. She couldn't write down everything that happened, but…

'I met Ann-kun on my way to school. It was raining, and we both happened to stop under an awning nearby. Some guy pulled up in his car and started calling us out, calling Her out. I didn't know he was a teacher at Shujin, but I stopped her anyway. He looks like a John and talks like a John, and he was a total creep the whole time. He drove off, and another student, Sakamoto Ryuji-kun, ran up and talked with us for a bit before leaving.

'Ann-kun and I never made it to the school. Big guys in masks surrounded us, calling Ann 'Princess'. I tried to stop them, but they knocked me out before I could do anything. I woke up and Ann was chained to the wall. I still don't know how I really got her down, but we managed to escape. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced, but it was also kind of exciting, in a twisted way.

'The school sucks, by the way. The police officers who we tried to tell about this called them, but the Principal just wanted us to go right back to the police for a report. Kobayakawa just doesn't want any of this getting back to the school. He's so obsessed with Shujin's reputation, and I only ever had one conversation with the guy!

'Rumors are already flying about me and Ann, but she said she's used to it. She's a quarter American, and spent a lot of time overseas, so she was bullied pretty hard when she came to Tokyo for middle school. She has a friend named Shiho, but I haven't met her yet.'

Akira considers leaving a note about Sojiro's reaction, but since she's basically writing this for Sojiro to read, she figures that's enough for now.

Downstairs, Sojiro pulls out his phone and scrolls through his contacts for a specific number.

The dial tone rings before his call is picked up. 'Kotomine Akine speaking!'

"Aki-chan, it's Sojiro."

'So-chan? And it's only been three days! What do you think of her?'

Sojiro thinks to the girl he's taken in, in all her fiery glory. "I think she reminds me a lot of her mother, what I knew of the girl from all those years ago."

'Sweet as can be and an angel?'

"Quick as a whip with a tongue as sharp, more like."

'Oh, you just don't know Hibiki-chan like I do! But I really wasn't expecting you to call so soon, is something the matter?'

While he's thinking about it… "You know, isn't this a conflict of interest, on your end? I know you're a social worker, but—"

'Don't you start with 'a conflict of interest'. Akira-chan is my goddaughter, and this is the only way I can look out for her at this point. Do you know she hasn't spoken to her mother at all since the arrest? I'm trying everything I can, So-chan. Thank you so much for doing this for me.'

Sojiro pinches the bridge of his nose. "You know I hate it when you call me that. It's 'Boss', if you're trying to be casual."

'Oh, hush, you've been like an old man for over twenty years! I called you So-chan before we dated, and I'll call you So-chan for every year after the fact! Now why did you call, before I get the idea that you just like hearing my voice.'

"Something happened with Akira…"

A/N:How To Lie To The Fuzz: A Guide to Teenaged Delinquency, by Kurusu Akira

With no Ryuji in the scene to cause problem, Akira's the one under fire by the school faculty. And with just cause! At this point, the school expected her to arrive with dirty knees and popping breath mints.

This was one of my favorite chapters to write so far. By all means, tell me what you think!

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/9XG3U7a