Ch 54
V 1.0
Front Stairs of Kanazawa High School
Hinata City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Metro Tokyo, Japan
late January, late afternoon
Aki Wakirihara paused at the bottom of the stairs to catch her breath. Even though she was in very good shape, being the primary support for a fifty kilo girl was a bit much, especially after walking down multiple flights of stairs. It actually would have been easier if she had been able to carry a semiconscious Sarah McDougal over her shoulders in a fireman carry, but being in an awkward position trying to support the much shorter girl with her arm over her shoulder had sapped her endurance.
A few moments later Nyamo Namo came to a halt next to her, a blushing Shinobu Maehara in her arms in a bridal carry. After the first flight of stairs the islander girl had simply swept the limping girl into her arms; even though the two girls were approximately the same height and weight, Nyamo was apparently much stronger than she looked. Carefully lowering her doppelganger to the ground, she put Shinobu's hand on Aki's free shoulder and said "Wait here."
As Nyamo moved towards the busy street, Aki looked over and saw that the blunette was standing on one foot only, using her hand on her shoulder to keep her balance while her injured leg was slightly elevated off the ground. "You okay there Shinobu-chan?"
"I think my ankle is getting worse." Shinobu had been biting her lip in pain, and beads of sweat were starting to appear on her forehead.
"Are you feeling any sharp pain in your leg?" Aki asked in concern; if the girl had a fracture the situation was getting more serious than they could handle on their own.
"No, it's just throbbing. I can't stand on it for long now." Shinobu probably would have said more, but they both looked over as a piercing whistle was heard. Nyamo was waving at a minivan taxi that then pulled over to the curb. After a brief discussion with the driver the dusky girl opened the sliding side door and hurried back to the trio. Taking Shinobu into her arms again the girls moved toward the minivan, with Aki going in first and pulling Sarah in after her into the back seat, then Shinobu was placed in the middle seat before Nyamo got into the middle as well before closing the sliding door and gesturing for the driver to get moving. As the taxi moved into traffic, Nyamo looked at Aki and asked, "How is Sarah-kun?"
"She's pretty out of it, the lights are on but no one's home. She didn't even say anything when I grabbed her boob," said Aki. Seeing Nyamo scowl at her the taller girl hurried to explain. "It was an accident, I was just shifting my grip!" Frowning for a few moments more, the islander girl looked away from her to her mobile phone, which she had pulled out of her skirt pocket as well as a Bluetooth earpiece.
Putting the earpiece on, Nyamo activated it and then speed-dialed a number, waiting a few moments before speaking, her flat tone of voice seizing Aki's attention. "Keitaro-sama, this is Nyamo, there's been another incident at school. Sarah-kun has taken seriously ill and Shinobu-chan has been injured." After a pause she spoke again. "Shinobu-chan was assaulted by bullies, Sarah-kun stopped them before she was seriously hurt, but Sarah-kun almost collapsed afterwards. Our classmate Aki-san says she appears to have adrenaline crash." A pause while she put her fingers against the side of the blonde's throat. "Sarah-kun has no physical injuries and is breathing unaided, but she is semi-conscious, non-responsive, pale, sweating and has a rapid pulse." Another pause. "Shinobu-chan has an injured leg, one of the bullies appeared to have struck her there. She cannot walk unaided…"
Aki interrupted. "Nyamo-chan, Shinobu-chan's leg is getting worse, she can't stand on it anymore." Nyamo nodded in acknowledgement.
"Keitaro-sama, Shinobu-chan may have a fracture in her lower right leg, at or above the ankle." Looking over at the blunette, she asked, "Any sharp pain?"
Shinobu shook her head. "It's just throbbing, but I can't stand on it."
"Possible hairline fracture in her leg. No other visible injuries." Nyamo paused again. "We are in a taxi on the way to the Hinata-sou. Should we divert?" Another long pause. "Very well." The girl turned her attention to the front of the taxi. "Driver-san, change of plan. We need to go to Hinata City General Hospital. How long to get there?"
The middle-aged driver looked ahead on the road and did some mental calculations. "At this rate about twenty minutes, we're in the middle of rush hour here." Indeed, while traffic was not stop and go, they were averaging maybe 40 kilometers per hour (25 mph).
Nyamo repeated the speed and time into her earpiece then listened for a moment before speaking again. "We are in a green minivan taxi, company number 0909." Another pause. "We are heading west on the main street, passing the district post office." Something that had surprised Sarah upon arriving in Hinata City was that most streets were not named, with addresses relying on landmarks as well as city names, district, and building numbers; the blonde had been tearing her hair out for a while until she got use to it.
"Very well, I will tell him." Looking up at the driver, Nyamo spoke in a formal tone of voice. "Driver-san, the Urashima Clan requests your assistance." The man stiffened visibly at the words. "Keitaro-sama asks that you drive as fast as safely possible to the hospital. Should there be legal issues as a result of any reasonable and justifiable actions, the Urashima will help you resolve them. Will you help us?"
"Hai!" Stepping harder on the accelerator, the taxi minivan began to weave through traffic, acting more like a New York City cabbie offered a $100 tip than the normal polite Tokyo taxi driver.
"Keitaro-sama, we are now passing Tomiko Botanical Park." Another pause. "Very well, I will let the doctors know that. I will call you if anything else comes up." Reaching up, Nyamo tapped her earpiece. "Driver-san, please turn on your emergency blinker lights. We will have company shortly." The driver raised an eyebrow but did as she asked before concentrating on the road again. Turning her attention back to her friend, Nyamo asked, "Any change?"
Aki looked at her with worry on her face. "I think she's starting to get worse." Indeed, Sarah was twitching in her friend's arms and moaning softly. Nyamo reached out and put her fingers to the side of the blonde's throat again for a few moments before withdrawing them. "Driver-san, time to the hospital?" The dusky girl's voice had risen slightly higher at her question.
"Fifteen minutes!" The driver cut a corner turn, the minivan's tires squealing and almost matching Shinobu's squeak of dismay as she hung on to her seat.
"Don't do this, Sarah-kun, not after all you've been through. Stay strong." Nyamo reached out and intertwined her fingers with the blonde's.
"Yuri… Gaz… Grandpa… Mama…." The words Sarah was speaking were barely audible, but the girls could make them out, as well as see the tears that were starting to stream down her face. Shinobu looked ready to cry herself, Aki was looking stricken, and Nyamo was frowning.
"Stay strong, Sarah-kun. There is so much left to do. Stay strong." Nyamo did not wince as Sarah's hand gripped her own hard, her blue eyes popping open but unseeing.
"Poppa… Keitaro… help me…." The tears were now flowing in earnest. "Please help…." Sarah's body was starting to shudder.
All three girls looked up as they became aware of the high-low electronic sirens. Looking through the back window, the girls could see two police motorcycles coming up behind them, blue lights flashing.
"Crap, they're pulling us over!?" Aki exclaimed. They did not have time to explain what was happening and waiting for an ambulance before Sarah got worse.
"No, they are not." Nyamo said. They watched as the motorcycles came around on either side, with the one on the driver side gesturing for the taxi to follow him, then pulling ahead of the minivan, all traffic before them moving to the side of the road at the sound of the sirens. "They are our escorts."
"Holy hell." Aki looked shocked as their speed almost doubled on the cleared roads.
"Driver-san, time?" Nyamo asked again, a slight smile now on her face.
"Five minutes, thank the gods." The driver responded, shock on his face as well.
"Shinobu-chan, we have to get Sarah-kun into the emergency room as fast as possible, I am going to pull you out the door and to the side once I open it and brace you against the taxi. Then Aki-san and I will pull Sarah-kun out. Understand?" The blunette nodded at Nyamo's words. Silence fell in the minivan until the hospital was visible in the front window when she spoke again. "Thirty seconds, stand ready."
Just as the two police motorcycles and the minivan was coming to a halt in front of the emergency room, the doors crashed open and a half dozen people came pouring out, two gurneys being pushed between them. The minivan had barely stopped moving when the sliding door was opened by an orderly, who was surprised to find his hands full of a blushing Shinobu, Nyamo turning back and starting to pull Sarah out of the minivan even as she spoke, her voice carrying above the din of several people talking. "That girl is Shinobu-chan, she has a possible fractured ankle. The blonde girl is Sarah-kun, she is in serious condition, stand clear."
Nyamo and Aki had barely gotten Sarah out of the taxi when there was a gurney next to them which they loaded her on without pause. Two orderlies started moving the gurney toward the ER doors with Nyamo walking beside them, still speaking in a loud clear voice. "The patient is Sarah McDougal, age fifteen, no obvious physical injuries but presenting symptoms consistent with hypoglycemia. She is semi-conscious but non-responsive, pale, sweating, rapid pulse. She is non-diabetic but had been highly emotional with extreme physical exertion before she collapsed." The dusky girl looked to the side and said, "Aki-san, stay with Shinobu-chan for now." With that Nyamo began walking through the doors with the gurney, leaving the taller girl to help load the younger girl onto the other gurney before they started moving at a slower pace toward the ER.
Click-click-click.
Click-click-click.
Click-click-click-click-click-click.
Sarah was slow to become conscious, but the rapid clicking she was hearing was helping wake her up. It was not like anything she had heard before since there was irregular pauses between the noises, as well as differences between the length of time the clicking would take place. However the sound was giving her something to concentrate on, something to help pull her out of unconsciousness.
Slowly opening her eyes, Sarah immediately squinted them shut due to the bright sunlight steaming through a window. Letting her eyes get used to the light level Sarah opened them again to see that she was in an unfamiliar room, on a bed that was too firm and itchy to be her own, with a rhythmic beeping coming from one side. Glancing over she could see a vital signs monitor and an IV stand with a clear bag of fluids hanging from it; a tube ran from the bag and various wires from the monitor to her bed and under the blanket she was covered with. Pulling out her arm from under the cover the blonde could see that everything was either taped, adhesive padded and in the case of the IV line inserted into a vein under her skin. Groaning in disgust she let her arm drop to the bed and turned back to the foot of the bed in time to see a figure standing at the window turn toward her.
"We've got to stop meeting like this, Sarah-chan. People are going to talk." Keitaro Urashima made a quick motion with his right hand and with a click-click-click something metallic in his hand folded up which he tucked into his pants pocket.
"Bite me, Dork-san." Sarah said half-heartedly as she watched as her guardian walk to the clear side of her bed. "What the hell happened, why am I in the hospital?"
"What's the last thing you remember, Sarah-kun?" Now that he was not standing in the beam of sunshine from outside, she could see that Keitaro was dressed in a dark blue sports coat and jeans, with a black polo shirt under the coat. His hair was messier than usual and his eyes had dark bags under them as though he had not slept the night before.
A thrum of anger ran through Sarah's body as she remembered what had happened at the school. Hearing a cry of pain as she stepped out of the Manga Arts Appreciation clubroom. Running toward the sound and around the corner to see Shinobu laying on the hallway floor cowering in fear, that fucking bitch Junko about kick her, standing so close she could only have been aiming for her friend's torso or head. Her vision literally turning red, her literally screaming in the petrified bully's face as she was about to hit her as hard as she could. Nyamo and Aki using all their strength to stop her, the bullies running away in terror. Shinobu crying on her shoulder, all the anger leaving her as well as all her strength. The slow fade to black, the sudden spike of fear that faded along with her consciousness.
Looking up at Keitaro, Sarah could see his dark brown eyes on her face, reading the emotions there. "That… bitch Junko, she was about to kick Shinobu-chan, I got so angry, I rushed her, I was going to hit her, but the other girls stopped me. Once I wasn't so angry anymore I started losing all my strength, then I guess I blacked out." Sarah blinked for a moment. "Why the hell did that happen, why am I here in the hospital?"
Keitaro sighed. "From what Nyamo-chan told me, you unconsciously tapped into your chi reserves when you ran to stop Shinobu-chan from being kicked. It wasn't a flash step, but because you are not used to regulating how you use your chi you burned through it too fast. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as when you used it during that race, here you essentially induced a case of hypoglycemia in about thirty seconds, during the race you drove yourself into a full-blown coma. This time you just knocked yourself out, with the treatment you received here at the hospital you were able to recover in less than a day."
"How bad was I? Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar, right?" asked Sarah. She remembered covering this when studying diabetes in health class, but the fine details escaped her right now.
"Normal blood sugar for a non-diabetic averages about 100 mg per deciliter if they're not fasting. Hypoglycemia symptoms happens around 60 to 70 mg. When the doctor did a finger stick test on you in the ER you measured 40 mg." Keitaro paused for a moment to let Sarah think on that. "They gave you dextrose via IV and your levels came back up to near normal, but they decided to let you sleep it off since you were visibly exhausted. It's been almost eighteen hours since you collapsed."
"Crap!" Sarah exclaimed. "How is everyone? How's Shinobu-chan?"
"Shinobu-chan is fine, it turns out she did not have a fracture, just some deep muscle bruising as well as some strained tendons in her leg above her ankle. Wrapping her leg up and some time in the hot springs will sort her out." Keitaro said.
"Am I missing something here? You're not saying something, I can tell." As tired as Keitaro looked, there was something else on his face.
Giving a sigh, Keitaro continued. "The other tenants at the Hinata-sou did not react well to hearing what happened to Shinobu-chan. Naru-san lost her temper, she wanted to chase down the bullies and beat the hell out of them, it was all Kitsune-san was able to do to hold her back before she calmed down. But the worst was Su-chan."
"What did Su-chan do?" Sarah asked in some apprehension. It was very easy to underestimate the blonde islander girl given her erratic Japanese language usage and hyperactive child persona, but anyone who knew her for any length of time was aware that she could cause massive damage if she was so inclined, and that did not include her giant turtle mecha.
"Su-chan stopped smiling. In fact, she was starting to look angry." Sarah froze at that pronunciation. "She started blaming herself for Shinobu-chan being hurt since she didn't wait for her after school like she normally does. Su-chan was expecting some parts to be delivered to the Hinata-sou for her newest Mecha-Tama upgrades, so she left school as soon as classes were over instead of waiting for Shinobu-chan."
"So what did Su-chan do? They didn't have to call out the anti-kaiju squad, did they?" Sarah had visions of a giant Mecha-Tama stomping through Tokyo breathing fire and screeching like Godzilla while army tanks and helicopters were ineffectively firing on it.
"No, thankfully. It took Shinobu-chan talking to her and me threatening to call her family to get her to promise not to do anything physical or permanent to those girls. I also had to promise her that we weren't going to let this go, that the bullies would be punished. That's where I'm going to now that you are awake, there's a police detective that wants to talk you and I need to call him," Keitaro said.
"I'm not going to be in trouble, am I?" Sarah asked nervously. "I was screaming and cussing and almost punched that bitch Junko."
"No, you are not in trouble. I think the police will agree with me on that." Keitaro looked oddly certain in his statement. "Besides, your father and I will be present during the interview. I do suggest that you don't call that girl a bitch while you are talking about her."
"Where is Dad anyway?" Sarah asked. As far as she could tell only she and Keitaro were in the room.
"He's asleep in that chair over there." Keitaro tilted his head and after Sarah craned her neck to the side indicated she could see Noriyasu Seta sprawled out in an armchair, apparently asleep. "He was here all night, finally fell asleep about two last night. He worries about you, you know."
"He had a funny way of showing it," said Sarah, some bitterness in her voice. She knew her adoptive father cared for her, especially since he had gotten her out of the tense situation she had with her uncle back in the States, but it seemed that he would only talk to her for a few minutes when he came to visit on the weekends before going off to talk to (or annoy to be honest) Haruka at the Hinata Tea House.
Keitaro looked at her for a long moment before replying. "I hate to say this, but Seta-sensei isn't very good at parenting. I think it is more along the lines of the squeaky wheel getting the grease. That being said, it is not an excuse to misbehave just to get attention." The young man smiled thinly while the blonde blushed slightly; back on Koh Tao Sarah had done nothing but act out to get noticed. "Besides, he isn't the only one that cares about for you. You have the tenants at the Hinata-sou, you have your friends at school like Aki-san and Hikari-san, you have Nyamo-chan. You're not alone anymore, Sarah-chan."
"I notice you didn't mention yourself there, Dork-san." There was no heat in Sarah's voice as she spoke.
"After everything I've done, you doubt that I care for you?" Keitaro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No." If there was one thing that Sarah McDougal was absolutely certain about, it was that Keitaro Urashima cared about her. The physical proof of it could probably still be seen in Thailand by satellite from outer space. "You are still the baddest motherfucker in the valley, Dork-san." She was referring to her improvised prayer she said on the first day of school in Japan.
"Language, Sarah-chan." The two smiled at each other before Keitaro continued speaking. "Nyamo-chan told me what happened when you saved Shinobu-chan, she said you nearly lost control of yourself. I don't really blame you for that, but one thing you have to remember about fighting is when chi fighters totally lose control, people die. You heard of the term berserker, yes?" Sarah nodded silently. "When chi fighters lose control, it's called frenzy. They start using their full strength against other people, and it takes guns or another chi fighter to stop them, usually permanently." Sarah nodded silently again. "That being said, I want you to tell me something. What were you thinking when you were in that bully's face?" asked Keitaro with a serious expresion.
Sarah had to admit, she was tempted to lie. She did not want to have her training stopped or her chi sealed. But right now, looking at her sensei's face, what she absolutely did not want was for Keitaro to be disappointed in her.
"I… I wanted to hurt her. She was hurting Shinobu-chan, the nicest and sweetest girl I know, and I wanted to punch her until she was bloody." Sarah let out a rattling sigh and looked away from Keitaro and down at her lap.
"You didn't want to do more? You didn't want to seriously hurt her, maim her? Go farther than that?" Keitaro asked in an even tone.
"God no. I…saw too much in…" Sarah took a deep breath before continuing. "Roanapur. As bad as I wanted to hurt her, I didn't want to see her dead. Life is too precious for that. Even for a bitch like her." Sarah ended saying before she looked up at Keitaro, who had a pleased smile on his face.
"Good. You passed one of the first tests of Urashima-ryu, just because you have the ability and justification to hurt someone does not mean you should. The Urashima do not end human life unless we have to. You could have punched that girl straight out, you could have broken free from Nyamo-chan and Aki-san, but you didn't. Even though you were furious, you didn't cross that line. I'm proud of you, Sarah-kun."
Sarah ducked her head, blushing furiously. Out of all the things that people had ever told her, Keitaro's words were probably the highest praise. Short of seeing her mother and grandfather again, she didn't think she could be as happy as she was now.
"But now, seeing how you blew through your chi so fast, I think there is only one thing to do." The smile on her sensei's face twisted slightly.
"More training?" Sarah asked, apprehension in her voice.
"More training," Keitaro agreed. "That being said, I'm going to give you a week to recover before I increase your training. Once you are cleared to leave and be active, you will resume your normal training, and we will start working your way up from there."
"Hai, sensei." Sarah replied, resignation apparent. Truth be told, she could not complain about the training she was receiving; once Keitaro saw that she was doing the assigned exercises correctly, he would do them right alongside her, finishing in better condition that she did.
"But some good news. Since you are getting an easy week before the increase, I'm going to do the demonstrations I told you about, and Haruka-chan and Kanako-chan will be assisting me." Sarah perked up at Keitaro's words; her sensei had promised a demonstration of the various martial arts that were a part of Urashima-ryu , including karate, jujitsu, and kendo.
"Including the chi tricks?" Sarah asked hopefully. The only time she had seen Keitaro use chi and ki had been in Roanapur, and she had been too busy being scared out of her mind at the time.
"I hope you are not referring to the centuries old secret and forbidden techniques of my family's martial arts as 'tricks'?" Keitaro asked with a raised eyebrow again, only for Sarah to return fire with pleading eyes. "Fine, including the chi techniques."
"Yay!" Sarah cheered, with Keitaro chuckling in return.
"Well, now that I have you in a good mood, I need to leave for a few minutes, I have to call that police detective. I'll let the nurse know you are awake, after they do a check-up they will probably feed you, although I must warn you, the food here is nowhere near Shinobu-chan's level."
"Oh crap! Knock me out, please Keitaro-sensei!" Sarah pleaded facetiously.
"If you don't cause problems I'll see if I can sneak something in." Keitaro semi-seriously stated.
"I promise, I'll be good." Sarah straightened up and the look on her face would have been considered angelic by anyone who didn't know her; those who did know her would have started sweating bullets at the sight.
"I'll be right back then." Turning to leave the room, Keitaro's eyes landed on Seta's sprawled out form, only to notice that the older man's eyes were opened and fixed on him. Seeing the sorrowful look on his face, Keitaro realized that his mentor had probably been awake for all of his and Sarah's conversion, but before he could say anything the other man started to slowly stretch out, as though he was just coming awake.
"Good morning, Seta-sensei. Good news, Sarah just woke up, and she's feeling better. How are you feeling?" Keitaro watched as his boss came to his feet, trying to twist the kinks out of his back and neck.
"Like I spent the night in an armchair." Seta turned toward Sarah, a smile on his face. "Good to see you up, Sarah-chan."
"Not so much up as awake. Good to see you too, Dad." Sarah smiled at Seta, but there was something lacking that both men picked up on.
"Seta-sensei, I have to make a phone call, I'll return in a few minutes. I'll leave you two to catch up." Keitaro gave an encouraging smile to both father and daughter before turning and leaving the room.
Classroom 2-A
Kanazawa High School
Hinata City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Metro Tokyo, Japan
late January, early afternoon
(the next day)
There was tension simmering below the surface in the classroom, and Hikari Horaki did not know what to do about it. The normally boisterous class was talking quietly amongst themselves at the end of the lunch period except for a trio of girls sitting in the corner of the room, returning all the looks they were receiving with glares of their own.
The first sign that something was wrong was when all four girls from the Hinata Inn called in absent that day. To the Class Rep's knowledge that had never happened before; Shinobu very rarely took ill, and Su literally laughed in the face of sickness. Sarah and Nyamo had been at the school for less than a month but they did not look like they had delicate health either; the blonde's injuries on the school track not withstanding. But for all four to miss school was unprecedented, so Hikari asked the attendance office about it and was told that their guardian had kept them at home for 'family reasons' She knew that the four girls were not related to each other, at least by blood, but she also knew no one was going to confront the heir apparent of the most powerful clan in the prefecture about something like this.
The next sign that something was wrong was the level of gossiping going on. The students of Classroom 2-A were never shy about talking about each other, but today it seemed that everyone was talking about a website that apparently every student in class and the school were busily devouring. Everyone had received an email, a text message or both, containing a web address and link to a website that had every text message, email, video, and photo from the mobile phones of three certain girls in this very classroom, girls who had nothing good to say about their fellow students. All sorts of nasty comments were displayed with certain names blacked out to protect the identities of the victims of their remarks, but gossip about other students' looks, body types and weights, clothes, dating habits, sexual preferences and financial situations were rampant. Hikari did not listen to tittle-tattle in the best of times, but this was black gossip at its worse. That was nothing compared to the videos and photos that had been published on the site.
Junko Himura, Eri Maki and Ami Nakano were apparently involved in criminal activities. Dating older men for money barely scratched the surface; there were emails on the website that detailed their plans to drug and rob the men they dated and blackmail them with videos and photos of them in compromising positions with visibly school age girls, both drugged or not. There were also videos of them faking groping attacks on the trains to extort money from hapless men, shoplifting, drinking, smoking weed, and even some videos where they would play weird sex games with multiple boys, including what looked to be an orgy with bozuzoku bikers.
Hikari did not want to go to the website; she did not want to even hear the gossip that was traveling from lips to ears at nearly the speed of light. But just hearing the whispers from the other students, including what her fellow Class Representatives were saying, was making it hard for the twin-pigtailed girl to even look at the three girls in question. Of course, the other students did not have a problem with snickering, giggling, glaring or throwing shocked looks at the three delinquent girls, who were starting to look seriously angry at all the negative attention they were receiving.
The Class Rep was relieved to hear the school bell ring signaling the end of the lunch period, but she was surprised that Sensei Wada was not already in the classroom; normally she was already sitting at her desk by this time. But a few minutes painfully stretched on as the students continued to talk among themselves. Hikari knew better than to try and bring the class to order without the teacher present. At best they would ignore her, and at worse they would start heckling her. She had learned the hard way the truth about the hoary military axiom; Never give an order you know won't be obeyed.
Finally the door to the classroom opened, but instead of Sensei Wada walking in the distinctive form of Uehara-san entered the classroom with a man in a suit following behind her. Uehara was the secretary of the vice-principal and some whispered the true power of the school administration. Very little occurred in the school without her knowing, and her motivations were unknown to most people since she did not go out of her way to maintain order. But one thing that both staff and students learned very quickly was not to get on her bad side; the tall thin grey-haired woman was known as the Shinigami for a reason.
Hawk-like black eyes swept the classroom and in moments the students fell silent on their own. After she was sure all attention was on her the grim woman spoke. "Junko Himura, Eri Maki, Ami Nakano. Collect all your personal belongings and follow me. You have been summoned to the main office."
Anger flashed across Junko's face, as well as fear across the faces of Eri and Ami, but the three girls did as they were told, standing and picking up their school bags from beside their desks. Walking to the front of the classroom, the girls were silently directed to the doorway, which they passed through first with Uehara and the unknown man following behind them.
Outside the door there were four people waiting for them; a pale Sensei Wada, a woman in a business pantsuit, and two uniformed police officers. The girls twitched at the sight of the police but other than some frantic looking about for an escape path that did not exist, the group walked toward the administration offices with Uehara leading the way; Sensei Wada entered the classroom behind them, her presence no longer needed.
Once the group arrived at the administration area rather than entering an office they went into a conference room where there were two other men waiting. One man was the school principal, but the younger man was unknown to them. He was dressed in blue jeans and a black polo shirt with a dark blue sports coat over it; his clothing suggested he was not a police officer or some other official nor was he a member of the school staff.
The three girls were instructed to leave their bags against the wall on the floor and to stand in a line on one side of the large table with the police officers behind them, while the principal was sitting on the other side (the only person sitting in fact) with Uehara standing behind him and to the side and the unidentified man on the other side behind the pair.
"Himura-san, Maki-san, Nakano-san." The principal finally spoke. "You have been summoned because of certain information that has been posted online. This information appears to have been stolen from your personal mobile phones and was posted to an internet website and also forwarded to the Tokyo Police Department." All three girls blanched at that statement. "This meeting was called to inform you that because of the information and what looks to be proof of criminal wrongdoing on your parts you are being suspended indefinitely from school pending investigation."
"Bullshit!" Everyone appeared to be taken aback from the outburst from Junko Himura. "You can't prove anything from some videos and pictures, someone could have made that shit up!"
"Perhaps, but the material has to be investigated regardless. By my authority as principal I am suspending you while this is being looked into. If and when you are cleared of wrongdoing you will be readmitted into school," the administrator replied. Seeing Junko was about speak again he continued. "Detective, I believe it is your turn."
The man in the business suit spoke up. "I am Detective Asuma Ishikawa from the juvenile crimes division of the Tokyo Police Department. You three are to be taken into custody and questioned regarding the information that was forwarded to us." At those words the female plainclothes officer and the two uniformed officers stepped up behind them and before they realize what was happening they were handcuffed behind their backs. "Your possessions will be impounded and investigated as well, including any mobile phones or portable computers."
"This is bullshit! This is because of that clumsy geek Maehara and that crazy bitch McDougal isn't it! You can't prove anything, no one going to take the word of some iteki slut!" Junko would have kept ranting, but suddenly a massive feeling of crushing cold pressure was felt by everyone in the room causing the police officers to flinch, the administrators to cringe, and the younger girls to freeze in place.
"Himura-san." The young man standing behind the principal was staring at the redhead intensely, who was starting to shake at the look he was giving her. "These allegations will be investigated and if you are not guilty you do not have anything to worry about." The look on his face suggested he did not believe this to be the case. "And you should remember to keep a civil tongue, you never know who it is you are dealing with."
"And who the fuck are you?" Junko blustered, only to nearly collapse as the pressure on her doubled, the only thing keeping her standing being the hands of the female officer holding her up; her two friends were visibly trembling.
"My name is Keitaro Urashima, Sarah-kun and Shinobu-chan's guardian." The redhead barely heard the words, her full attention taken by the two dark eyes staring at her from behind a pair of rectangular glasses, the faint sound of distorted screaming in her ears, the pupils in her own eyes shrunken to pinpricks. It seemed like the two were staring at each other forever before he finally glanced away from her toward the male detective, who looked shaken. "Detective Ishikawa, I believe we are done here."
"Hai, Urashima-sama." The man in the suit was all but standing at attention as he spoke. "Officer Shoji, pick up their bags, everyone else we're leaving."
After the police and the students left the conference room Keitaro turned and faced the principal and the secretary, who were looking visibly nervous at having his attention on them. "This is the second time I've had to deal with misconduct at this school. I don't need to say what will result if it happens again?" The two administrators shook their head silently. "Good day then." Turning, Keitaro walked out of the room.
A/N - *singing off-key* Feelings…Nothing More Than Feelings…. *clears throat* Cleaning up some of the emotional mess from the attack on Shinobu. Probably not the beatdown that most people would prefer happening, but those bullies are not going to have an easy time of it. The Japanese legal system is harsh, and even though the material forwarded to them can be considered suspect due to how it was obtained, it will be intensely scrutinized.
I'm sure most of you realized this, but the mobile phone info dump was orchestrated by Su, and Keitaro is not happy about it. Mostly it is because of the loophole that she exploited, and the fact that those girls' reputations are effectively ruined at that school, but Su has no regrets.
Some of you may be thinking that Nyamo was much more talkative and assertive than she normally is, but that is because when Shit Gets Real, she drops the islander girl act. Sarah is her best friend and was serious ill; it was no time to screw around.
Everyone in this story has issues due to trauma or regrets, a newsstand could be stocked with all the issues they have. This includes Seta, who has the guilts about Sarah being kidnapped, the promise he had Keitaro make, and how he is more or less neglecting his adopted daughter (and ward in Nyamo's case). They will be having a serious discussion about all of this in the future.
This chapter's Most Unusual Place Reading My Story Award goes to Egypt; one person there read sixteen chapters of the story. Runner Up goes to Georgia (the country not the state – a John Ringo joke there for those who read the Paladin of Shadows series he wrote).
Many thanks to my beta readers AZ MII and PCH, and to my FFN beta WalkerofDarkness for their quick and through work.
As of 0000PDT 12Sept16 this story has 316K words, 754K Views, 851 Reviews, 1332 Story Favorites, 1228 Story Alerts, and 61 C2 Listings.
Thanks again to everyone who reads and follows this story. *victory sign*