"The Tokyo Metropolitan Police department have announced they will begin their internal and external investigations into just how far the operation stemmed across the involved bodies…" Sojiro turned the TV down. He'd folded his arms and chuckled. He closed the store for the evening on my prior instruction via Futaba so that we could openly talk about our activities.
"Still can't believe it…but you kids actually did it." he commented, scratching his signature goatee matching his slicked hair.
"Yep. Our expulsions are officially null and void too. You still got yours, Ren?" Shiho pulled out her expulsion notice and I followed suit.
"Of course. It's what started this thing after all."
"The board seriously made all the students who received false expulsion notices wait so long?" Sojiro asked, bewildered at the incompetency these higher ups possessed.
"According to Kawakami. Apparently a public confession in front of every staff and student wasn't enough to count as official action." Ann replied. Looking at it again, these notices were designed like wanted posters you'd find in a fantasy world adventurer's guild or outlaws from the Wild West.
"No…that's not quite right. Us running into one another kicked it all off."
"Yeah, it also brought the ire of two blonde hotheads along with the protection of an invincible backer and a golden hearted softie." I teased. We'd stared at one another and forgot the others were around us.
"A playerific response as usual, Ryuji…" Ann groaned.
"…" Ryuji mumbled something but it went over my head. At this point, all that reached my sight was her obsidian eyes and I was falling for her all over again.
"I'm happy it's smooth sailing for both of you but do you need to shove it into our faces like that?" Ann pouted.
"You're talking like you don't have guys ask you out all the time, Ann." Shiho teased. Ann didn't take it as a joking matter and got annoyed. Her drop dead gorgeous looks can make any man stare.
"Good grief…you would think Skull would say that." Mona, my black and white tabby with ocean blue eyes contributed.
"Even I'm not that insensitive an ass…" he uttered to the cat.
"Hm…someone's feeling daring just because they've got one to themselves now." Ann shot back. Great…are they gonna bicker like kids again?
"At the very least, I'm keeping mine." Hearing Shiho's response, Ann snapped at this and pushed back harder:
"What are you trying to imply? That my taste in men is horrific? Besides, I wonder what could be said about yours?" Shiho defended. On second thought, this could get ugly…
"Rein it in, the both of you." I ordered to which they gave me funny looks.
"What are you, my father?" Ann childishly replied.
"*sigh* What are you worried about, Ren?" Shiho asked.
"I feel like you'll both open up some serious wounds if you continue." Alluding to the treatment both of them endured under Kamoshida, it seemed they both took the hint…and teased me for my thoughts.
"Babe…we're just playing." Shiho mocked, kissing me on the cheek.
"Concerned we'll rip into one another? As far as I'm concerned, that's your thing." Ann jabbed.
"Oh?" Sojiro observed, shooting a glance my way.
"Forget I even brought it up, you two." The girls presented me with two options: either I continue to try and wedge myself between their catfight and they expose things I'd rather he not hear or I don't do a thing. I chose the latter.
"So now that this man's behind bars, you're all going to finally be honest students? In Ren's case, he's going to be leaving Tokyo soon so wherever he transfers to, it's hopefully going to be more pleasant." he affirmed. Shock spilled on everyone's faces aside from Shiho.
"About that…" Before I could get anything else out, the others spoke first.
"That's not true…is it?" Ann urged. Seems she's not picked up on Shiho's non-reaction…
"You've got to be kidding me…I mean, he's their kid but still…" Ryuji grumbled.
"Was that really why…" Futaba whispered. It seemed she was thinking hard on something. None took it worse than my kouhai Sumire - she was pretty much trembling.
"No…" was all she whispered.
"...Sorry, kid. I didn't realise you hadn't told them yet." Sojiro responded. Looking at the others, I saw the mixture of emotions at hearing info I didn't want them to know about.
"I'll explain to you all. Sumire-"
"I just need a moment." Before I could reassure her, Sumire walked out of the store before the tears could fall down her face. The girl was such an honest person that I'd begun having second thoughts of involving her further with this.
"*sigh* I'm going to get her back and then explain to you all." Taking a glance at my woman, she nodded. I went out to go and find the redhead who took off into a sprint. I had a good lay of the area and thankfully she didn't go far around the neighbourhood, partly because of how lost she would end up if she did. I'd caught sight of that giant red ribbon by the car park and stopped my kouhai before she could run again.
"Can't you just stop running a sec?" I called out. As she turned to look at me, she still slightly trembled and looked really hurt. It didn't help that the same day we renewed our friendship, I'd had that call from my parents and didn't have the guts to tell her I could be leaving. And I kept putting down her efforts too...I aimed to never tell any of them of my parent's phone call. And now it can't be helped.
"Ren…" she managed. Slowly going over to my kouhai, I ruffled her burgundy locks warmly - no one spied on us in that moment. A warm breath escaped her lips and looking into her ruby eyes the rather odd thought came into my head about whether she wore coloured contacts or ruby was their natural colour.
"I'm not going anywhere, Sumire Yoshizawa."
"Do you really mean that?" she questioned, slightly calmer.
"Sorry that I didn't speak up sooner. I've laid my eggs in their basket and put my trust in Principal Kobayakawa and Kawakami-sensei. I need their help persuading my parents to allow me to stay. I won't tell you it's guaranteed because it isn't but I'm fairly confident that we'll sway my parents to my side. Even if it doesn't quite work out, it doesn't mean I'm heading off for a while." Her eyes shimmered with light, hope seemingly restored.
"So…you're staying?" she optimistically asked. I nodded. This kouhai of mine was so overcome with happiness that she hugged me on instinct. I didn't reject her hug and held her back. The waterworks started again…she really was a bit of a crybaby. I chose not to continue entertaining the thought of toughening her up…we did need a kind hearted soul in our midst of cold hearted killers. Jeez…I'm gonna need to put more distance between us.
"I've not packed a single thing away in that room of mine. I can't say for sure how long I'm going to be here but for now, you're stuck with me and so is everyone else." I taunted. We'd let go and she seemed to have her head cool now.
"Amamiya-senpai…" she chided, honorifics creeping out.
"Sumire, I'd hoped to keep everyone out of it but it seems that can't be helped. I know it's been very hard for you to keep on hiding my secrets." I commented to which she shook her head.
"It's the proof of our friendship. I wouldn't dare stand by your side if I couldn't do that." she affirmed.
"You are a big softie, you know." I joked.
"Nowhere as much as you…" she teased right back.
"Come on, let's get back before my woman really begins to worry."
"Yeah…okay." We'd both made our way back to Leblanc and when we entered, there were warm gazes directed at Sumire. By the time the two of us sat down, she turned to everyone.
"Sorry…I'm alright now." she responded.
"It's fine…you're not the one we're annoyed at." Shiho assured. Sure enough, everyone probably internally seethed at the fact I made yet another girl cry and had not a shred of regret. I scratched my head, heaved out an exaggerated sigh and took control of the room.
"In all honesty, I don't really care whether you're all pissed or not. I wasn't planning on letting anyone into this but here goes…" I'd explained the subject of the call, some of the details about the call, my intentions to stay and what I'd done to pursue this.
"Damn…how did we not notice anything?" Ann reflected.
"Dude…" Ryuji commented.
"Hang on…MONA! You knew about this! Why didn't you say anything?" Futaba barked, petting my tabby ever so roughly.
"He would've convinced you otherwise!"
"Why are you getting angry at the cat, Futaba? And why are you desperate to stay my second problem child, Ren?" Sojiro admonished. How I really wished I didn't need to continue putting my life on the line.
"I've got the help of my principal and my homeroom teacher to sway my parents over - if they're not enough, then I'll continue rounding up as many people as I can. The fact is, I've gone and made deal after deal with many people and never do I back out until I see them to their conclusion. Hate it or love it, these guys want to continue this nonsense and take more people down." I explained. Ann grunted and shot me a nasty glare.
"Speaking of which, my vice leader entangled me into signing onto this bull. I won't be able to flake out and be a regular student any time soon." I admitted. She'd immaturely decided to kick me.
"Mr. Amamiya's reluctance aside, we've still got plenty of people to bring down. There's nothing overly noble about it: we're simply not turning a blind eye." Ann seconded, grinning at me.
"Boss, we got the strength and the tools for it, not to mention our invincible hacker to keep us outta trouble! Her track record's sensational that you haven't ran into trouble, right?" Ryuji boasted, patting Futaba's shoulder with his hand.
"Ryuji…hehe." Futaba snickered.
"Even though we're just students, we'll make sure to commit to both this and our studies too." Sumire tacked on.
"Sojiro, we'll do our best not to bring back our trouble to you or any of our family members." Shiho reassured.
"*sigh* What a waste of a hard sell - I'm already stuck with two criminals as it is. Let's see just how long you can keep up these double lives…" Sojiro challenged. We all had a helping or two of curry and rice (everyone paid for their portions) and before we knew it, everyone began to go home. The first to leave was Ryuji. He was followed by Ann. She was followed by Sumire. Lastly, Futaba and Sojiro left the establishment meaning it was just me and my woman.
"Ren." I looked at Shiho and saw there was some fright in her face.
"What's on your mind?" I cautiously asked.
"What is Sumire to you?" I figured that would be it…
"My kouhai. I'm growing a little too close, huh? I'm not going to two time on you and I'll remove those worries." When I moved closer, she backed away a couple of paces. The words leaving my mouth made her blush so bright that she'd looked like a peach.
"For goodness sake! We've literally just started our relationship a few hours ago and you're already thinking of going there?!" She panicked. Seemed my poor choice of words created a truly colourful picture.
"Well…I didn't say I wanted to do the forbidden yet. I'm not so depraved that I'd try something like that. There's loads I want to learn about you and loads I want to do with you." I nervously replied.
"...Thank goodness." she answered, calming down. Seeing her regain her cool, a huge wave of relief overcame me.
"And another thing…do the forbidden? Who uses that term anymore?" She cracked a grin.
"Well, it's a lot prettier than saying I want to XXX your XXX out." I answered, leaving my woman flustered and pink once more. She couldn't even respond - I took her lips to reboot her crashed brain and before I knew it, we'd interlocked our tongues. When she'd gotten her frame of mind back, she was exasperated.
"What have you absorbed and why are you so knowledgeable on it?"
"Chalk it up to my maternal grandfather's private stash. He'd caught me one night and instead of throwing me under the bus, he'd taught me some stuff and things to look out for. Then I'd had the talk too."
"How old were you?" I pulled Shiho closer to me and embraced her, not wanting to give the answer to her.
"No other woman will occupy my heart the way you do, Shiho."
"*sigh* I guess my fears were unwarranted. Although…" Although?
"Although what?" I prodded.
"...I don't think I want to say. I'm scared it'll ruin us before we've even had a chance." Shiho reluctantly answered.
"Okay. Let's walk to the station."
"It's okay, Ren. I'll head home." She responded, hugging me tightly. After I let go, I watched as she turned the corner and made her way to the station. Locking up the store, turning off the appliances and lights, I made my way to my bed and slept rather peacefully.