Ch 68
V 1.25
Kagazawa High School
Hinata City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Metro Tokyo, Japan
early March, early Wednesday morning
The look on Sarah's face was not a glare, but it came close. It did wonders in clearing the hallway in front of her though.
The taller blonde was leading the Hinata-sou girls through the hallway, making a path through the mass of students walking to their classes. While not as crowded as the Tokyo subways, some judicious shouldering was sometimes required, which sometimes lead to the groping that had so annoyed Sarah when she had first starting attending school in Japan. But now the sundry students were giving their rough diamond formation if not a wide berth then plenty of room to pass by, with Shinobu and Su side by side behind her and Nyamo bringing up the rear.
Coming up to their homeroom door, Sarah was surprised to see Hikari standing outside of it, leaning up against the wall and looking down at the floor. Given that she was usually sitting at her desk in the classroom it was not a good sign.
"Hey Hikari-san, what's shaking?" Sarah was surprised to see relief form on the twin-tailed girl's face when she looked up at her.
"Sarah-san, I'm so glad to see you." The expression on the brunette's face shifted to that of guilt. "I hope you're feeling better now. Were you able to deal with the video of you singing at the church?"
"Not the way I would have preferred, but I got those assholes' comments taken off at least." Sarah observed the other girl twitch slightly at her language but otherwise not react. "What's up, no offense but you looked a little too happy to see me right now."
Hikari's look of guilt got stronger. "Ever since you left the other day the class has been getting rowdier. There really isn't that much I can do without either you or Sensei Ito being here."
"They're not ragging on you again, are they?" While not crossing the line into the physical, their classmates had never been shy about showing their disdain for the Class Representative.
"No, not like that. They're just ignoring me again." Hikari looked back down at the floor again, visibly depressed.
"Good." Seeing her friend's head snap up in surprise at the apparently harsh reply, Sarah kept talking. "If they had tried something physical on you, Nyamo and Su-chan would have kicked their asses." Glancing over at the aforementioned girls, Hikari saw Nyamo give a solemn nod of agreement, while Su just smiled widely.
"But they don't have any authority to do things like that," Hikari protested weakly.
"They don't need authority, we're your friends, we're not going to leave you hanging." Sarah saw the doubt in her classmate's eyes and kept talking. "Girls, face me." Once the two islander girls were looking at her Sarah raised her right hand and mimed the sign of the cross in front of them, a twisted smile on her face. "By the power invested in me by Kanazawa High, I now designate you as deputy substitute class representatives, with the power to kick ass and take names if someone is under physical assault or danger and I'm not there to stop it. Do you accept this grave authority?"
"Hai." Both girls replied in unison, bowing their heads.
"Well then, go forth and kick ass some more." Sarah turned back to Hikari, who was looking at her wide-eyed. "Happy?"
"You don't have the authority to do that! And they can't use physical force on other students!" Hikari exclaimed in horror.
"I said only if someone else was in physical danger. Obviously it's only if they can't get a teacher to stop it and it won't put them in danger. I don't have to tell you that, right?" Sarah glanced at the two girls and they nodded in unison again. "We're not going to be breaking up gang fights Hikari-san. Unless you want to be all alone with that group of dipshits in there." The blonde jerked her head toward their homeroom.
"No. And thank you." Hikari gave a watery smile as she replied. She could tell that the American girl was partially jesting with making the other girls her 'deputies', but she could tell she was serious as well, and that realization was making her feel warm inside. "Did you finish all the assignments that Nyamo-san took home to you?"
"Yes Sensei Horaki, I did all my homework." Sarah's voice was slightly mocking, but not in a mean way. "I even compared it to everyone else's to make sure it was done correctly." The blonde eyed the brunette's expression for a moment. "And we compare answers and figure out what we did wrong if we don't match, we're not copying off each other."
"I didn't say anything of the sort," Hikari protested.
"But I could see the look on your face, and I have a pretty good idea how you think. And you aren't denying you were thinking that." The brunette flushed slightly at the blonde's words. "Besides, if Keitaro-san or Kanako-san thought we were cheating we would be so grounded we'd look like worms in the dirt."
"Hai, hai, I'm sorry." Hikari gave a quick head bow before looking back at her. "If you don't mind my asking, what did you do for the two days you were off?"
"You mean beside beat the hell out of a training post with a bokken?" Sarah smiled thinly at the confused look on Hikari's face. "I went to the cathedral to talk to the girl that posted the video online, I managed to convince her to change the settings so the comments were deleted and locked out, so things should die down in a few days."
"Um… Sarah-chan. I don't think things are quieting down." Su had her MolMolTech tablet out and after a moment looked up from it, her normal smile conspicuously absent. "It's actually getting more views now."
"You're freaking kidding me." Sarah wheeled around so she was facing the blonde islander girl directly.
" 'Fraid not, Sarah-chan." Su turned over her tablet so that the other girl could see the screen. "Take a look at this."
"What am I looking at?" All Sarah could see on screen was what looked to be bar graphs with numbers on it.
"Statistics for video Chouko-san posted." The American girl raised an eyebrow in a silent question and the islander girl continued to explain. "This graph here shows how many views video had received, and this other graph shows how many people in specific countries have watched it."
"Okay…?" Sarah still did not understand what Su talking about.
The blonde islander sighed. "When video was first posted online, most views were in Japan, over 95%. Small numbers of people in other countries watch too, but it probably because they were sent links to video by family and friends. But now that video was changed, views have increased, and in great many countries beside Japan."
"Why would views increase, except for the comments I haven't changed anything else on the damn thing." Sarah was focusing on the graphs with a puzzled expression. "How many views are there now?"
"One point three million." Sarah's eyes snapped up toward Su, wide in disbelief. "Views in Japan are continuing to climb, but now down to 30%. Rest of views scattered around world now. Most come from United States, and from Central and South America, about 50% of total. Rest of views come from Europe."
"So why the hell did this increase?" By now all the girls were crowded around Sarah looking down at the tablet.
"Beats me." Su gave an uncharacteristic shrug. "It's not like we can look at comments to tell."
"Har de har har." Sarah rolled her eyes.
"Maybe it's because it's a church video?" Shinobu's quiet voice none the less caused all eyes to turn toward her. "You are singing in a Christian church, maybe it spread because of that. And most of those countries are Western Christian."
Sarah cocked her head as she considered it. "Maybe, but it would still be passing around by word of mouth. What I want to know is what kicked off this increase? It's not like they are talking about it during church services on Sunday." She pointed at the number of views graph, which increased by an astronomical amount in less than a day. Idly she went to the page the video was on, only for a fifteen second cat food commercial to auto-play only for her to hit 'stop' before the video itself started playing. "I don't think they're all cat people either."
"English." Everyone turned to look at Nyamo now. "You changed the title and description to English and romanji, before it was in hiragana. Only Japanese speakers could read description before, now everyone around world who speak English know what video is about."
Sarah stared at her roommate for a long moment before closing her eyes and knocking the top of her closed fist against her forehead, muttering stupid stupid stupid in a low voice.
"That explain lots, since title is English search engines will pick up on it, especially if have high numbers of views online." Seeing Sarah turn her head to look at her with a flat expression on her face Su kept talking, actually looking regretful for once. "Sorry Sarah-chan, my bad for using English on video."
The American girl sighed. "It's okay, you didn't know this would happen. Please tell me that's all the good news you have for me?" she asked with a hopeful expression on her face.
"Eh…" Su looked to the side, avoiding Sarah's gaze.
"Just tell me." Sarah internally braced herself.
"Remember I set up email address to ask for permission to use video on other websites?" After seeing her nod Su continued. "I check mailbox on my phone while you looking at tablet. There are emails from reporters and websites asking for interview with you."
Sarah recoiled. "Oh hell no!" She snarled as she shuddered for a moment. "Delete them!"
"That is not good idea," stated Nyamo. "If you ignore this things may get out of hand, like the comments from before." The blonde frowned. "Better if you tell Keitaro-sama first, he may have idea on how to deal with this."
"You're right." Sarah sighed and glanced back at Su. "How many emails are there?"
"Fifty two. Most of them have emails addresses of newspapers and magazines and websites I recognize, a lot of them are in English or Japanese," the islander girl replied.
Sarah sighed again. "Later then." She looked down at her watch and saw it was five minutes until the first bell. "Is it a bad thing I'm actually looking forward to class now?" She was about to say something else that would probably also count as taunting Murphy, but mentally bit her tongue instead, which saved her a lot of pain when someone slammed into her from behind.
"Sarah-chan, you're back!" Overly enthusiastic greeting? Check. Long black hair whipping around toward her face? Check. Large soft boobs pressed high up against her? Double check. This could only be one person.
"Good morning Aki-san," Sarah said in an even tone of voice. "Miss me?"
"Like you wouldn't believe." The upperclassman had wrapped her arms around Sarah's waist and arms and pressed herself against the blonde's back. "Who else would let me do this to them?"
"Oh, I don't know, your boyfriend maybe? Most of the hetro male population of this school, including the teachers?" Sarah replied deadpan. "A lot of the females too." Most of the girls around the pair did not overly react to Aki's actions, more or less inured to them by now except for the embarrassed blush on Hikari's cheeks.
"But I get the best of both worlds with you, Sarah-chan." Aki had dropped her face down into the blonde's neck before freezing in place and taking a deep breath. "Oh gods you smell so good," the taller girl practically moaned.
"What the hell Aki-san?!" Sarah struggled to break free but with her arms pinned Aki was too strong for that to work short of using chi. After a few moments the blonde was able to wriggle around so she was facing the other girl, whose face was still pressed against her neck. By this point Shinobu had joined Hikari in blushing, while Nyamo had her normal poker face and Su was grinning widely.
"Sarah-chan are you wearing a new cologne?" Aki's question was serious for once, even though she was still pressing herself up against the other girl.
Her mind hiccupping at the question, Sarah thought about it for a moment. While she did sometimes use men's cologne when she was wearing her gakuran uniform, her small sampler bottle had recently run out so she had not put on any this morning. Some more thought came up with the answer.
"It's my coat." At her words Aki finally raised her face to look Sarah in the eyes. "I'm wearing Keitaro-san's sweater, so it has the smell of his aftershave and deodorant on it." The black hoodie she was wearing over her male uniform also had the faint not-at-all unpleasant smell of Keitaro's perspiration, which is why the blonde had 'forgotten' to return the garment to its owner the other day. In addition to its warmth, it felt just as reassuring as her blankey or teddy bear had been when she was younger… not that she was ever going to tell anyone that.
"That makes it even better! Who wouldn't want to get up close to that fine looking man! This way I can do both at the same time!" To Sarah's mortification, Aki dropped her face down again into her hoodie's collar and taking a deep breath started grinding up against her like they were dirty dancing. To make it worse, everyone in the hallway was staring at them now, which meant that official notice was imminent, Hikari's terminal blush notwithstanding.
"Goddamnit, Aki…" Sarah started struggling again, but she was still pinned by the larger girl; the most she was able to do was twist them around so they were next to the hallway wall with Aki's back to it. She tried pulling her arms up and free from the bear hug she was in, but the highest she was able to her hands were butt level.
Quickly she started running options through her mind. The first three were both painful and physically damaging to Aki; head-butting her in the face, slamming her head into the wall, and tripping her to the floor and deliberately falling on top of her either knees or elbows first. But as annoying as the upperclassman was, she was still a friend.
Feeling her friend's hips moving under her hands, Sarah was reminded of the old joke about what to do if a pit bull starts humping your leg. The answer? You let it finish. But the ribald joke made another idea pop into her head, and as desperate was she now was, she acted on it.
Moving her hands from the top of Aki's butt to the bottom Sarah grabbed the firm muscle and squeezed through the fabric of her skirt. Immediately Aki stopped grinding against her and whimpered. Squeezing again but harder caused the taller girl to moan out loud.
"Sarah-san! What are you doing?!" Hikari hissed out in a strident whisper. "We're in public!?"
"It's the best idea I could come up without causing bloodshed!" Sarah hissed back. By now Aki was slumped against her, thankfully without her full body weight. She was still taking deep breaths against her neck and hoodie collar though.
"Well it's not working!" Sarah blinked at her for a moment before looking around and understanding her meaning; they were surrounded by dozens of staring students, with blood trickling from the noses of most of the males (and some of the females). Who knew that anime trope existed in reality?
Just as she thought things could not get more awkward, a new voice spoke up. "Good morning, McDougal-san. May I ask what you are doing?" Looking up, Sarah saw the grim visage of Reiko Uehara, the senior secretary to the Vice Principal. The grey haired woman in her habitual black business pantsuit was looking at her with some curiosity on her face but not much else.
"Good morning Uehara-san." Sarah was thinking furiously to try and talk her way out of this and said the first thing that came to mind. "I'm just doing a uniform rules check."
Uehara arched a thin grey eyebrow. "By hugging another student in public?"
"No, I saw that Aki-san did not have panty-lines showing through her skirt and I wanted to confirm she was dressed properly." Normally it was not apparent what a female student was wearing under her uniform skirt, but Aki wore hers so tight around the hips it was actually possible. After deliberately patting over her skirt, Sarah reached down and under the garment, their height difference such that she was able to do so without flipping it up and felt around some more, trying to ignore the fact that the bare skin and firm muscle felt good under her hands. Aki whimpered again and shivered but did not say anything. "Ah, she is wearing panties, but it's a thong and not regulation underwear." Sarah had been both amused and horrified to see that the school dress code did specify what kind of undergarments female students were allowed and/or required to wear while not mentioning any required type for the male students.
By this time Aki's arms around Sarah had loosened enough for the blonde to be able to pull herself free. Gently she pushed the taller girl back so she was braced against the wall and able to stand on her own. Placing her hand under her chin Sarah lifted Aki's face so the two were looking eye-to-eye, although Aki's had a distinct glaze to them. "Aki-san! You are not wearing the correct uniform items as required by school rules! This is a warning but if I find you are not correctly dressed next time I check I will issue demerits!" For some reason Aki shivered again at those words but stayed silent as she nodded. "Now get going to class or you'll be late!" Aki nodded again and started walking away, struggling not to stagger.
"I see you have the situation well in hand McDougal-san, so please carry on." Uehara gave a twitch of a smile before turning and walking away herself, leaving Sarah at the center of a large group of students staring wide-eyed at her, not the least of which her friends. Even Nyamo was not as poker-faced as she normally was.
Looking around Sarah suddenly frowned. "What the hell you staring at you perverts!?" she bellowed in her best army sergeant voice. "Get to class!" In an explosion of motion everyone in the hall started moving; fifteen seconds later the hall was empty except for the Hinata Girls and Hikari.
"Is Sensei Ito in the classroom?" Sarah's question caused the twin-tailed girl to blink at her for a moment before shaking her head negatively. "Good." Walking up to the door the blonde threw it open so hard it almost slammed into the wall. "Guess what bitches!" Sarah roared as she stepped through the doorway. "Daddy's home!" Hesitantly the other girls entered the classroom, with Nyamo closing the door to prevent escape by any soon-to-be traumatized students.
Kobayashi Imports
Hinata City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Metro Tokyo, Japan
early March, Wednesday late morning
Katsuo was holding a cup of tea while he watched Keitaro reading documents across the table from him. Another cup of tea was sitting at his elbow, untouched after the first sip. Normally this would be as exciting as watching paint dry, but there were several things that made it more interesting.
The first was the micro-expressions that were showing on Keitaro. The younger man had a poker face that would impress a Vegas regular, but the slight twitches of his lips, eyes, and brows were apparent if you knew what to look for. Most of this had to with what he was reading; it was handwritten copies of the black gossip files that the Kobayashi family had accumulated over the years. They have been gathered over the years by various means, which occasionally involved money, threats, and sometimes mere happenstance. The fact that most of the people involved had criminal inclinations made it both easier and harder; those kind of people did not spend their free time at home reading a good book, they were usually partaking in recreational activities that at the very least were somewhat illegal like gambling. The worst of them were involved in things that were the stuff of nightmares.
The second thing of interest was Keitaro's mode of dress. Katsuo had not expected his friend to take a tram to his part of Hinata City and casually walk up his office. The fact that he was dressed in a dark polo shirt and jeans with a sports coat on top did nothing to dispel the image of a student or academic. But when he had walked up to the doorman and simply announced 'Keitaro Urashima to see Katsuo Kobayashi, he is expecting me,' the steady gaze behind the squared off glasses gave the heavily built Yakuza guard pause. After calling in to the receptionist and being told to bring him in immediately and with the utmost respect, the kobun bowed deeply before leading him in.
Inviting him into his inner office, Katsuo had offered some tea to his former classmate before seating him at the long wooden table that was off to the side and in front of his desk. Some comfortable chairs were surrounding a glass and wood coffee table on the opposite side of the desk, with the ornately carved teak desk taking the place of honor in the center of the room. A high tech business chair was behind the desk, and some skillfully done watercolor paintings were framed and hanging on the walls.
After Katsuo and his 'associates' (four burly men in business suits) were advised to turn off their mobile phones and being told that no electronics were permitted in the office, not even a desk phone, Keitaro did his ki ball trick, tossing the blue orb of energy into the air before him. The loud pop did not cover the sounds of two softer pops that resulted, one from under the desk and one from the coffee table. Giving a sardonic look at his friend, two of the associates quickly pulled the fried bugs from their concealed locations and took them out of the room while Katsuo glared at his remaining men, who by this point were on their knees groveling on the floor.
Once everything had calmed down, Katsuo went over to a painting and pulled on the frame, revealing a concealed wall safe. Dialing in a combination, the young oyabun did some hand signs and press one hand to the safe and twisting the handle with the other to open the door.
Taking out a bundle of papers that were sealed in a tube of parchment, Katsuo closed the safe and brought the package to the table where Keitaro was waiting. Gesturing silently toward one of the associates he was handed a small knife which he used to nick his thumb. Making a new set of hand signs, Katsuo then smeared some of the blood on the roll which then popped open. Pulling out a centimeter thick sheath of papers he handed then over to the younger man sitting on the other side of the table.
It had taken Keitaro about half an hour to go through all the papers, which was where all the micro-expressions had come in. Most people would not pick up on them, but Katsuo had graduate-level experience in determining people's reactions and emotions when they were trying to conceal them. Normally the expressions alone on his friend's face would tell him everything he needed to know about his current state of mind, but there was another indicator which was even more obvious.
Keitaro slowly and deliberately tapped the papers so the edges were even then rolled them into a cylinder and slide them back into the tube before placing it back on the table. Katsuo raised his tea to his lips and took a sip before grimacing and putting the cup down on the table.
"The tea not to your liking, Katsuo-san?" enquired Keitaro, curious about his reaction.
"Hot fragrant tea is what I prefer," Katsuo replied, a smile quirking his lips. "Cold tea, not so much."
"I've been reading for so long?" asked Keitaro in surprise. "Why didn't you call for another cup?"
"It hasn't been that long, it's just that my tea suddenly got very cold." Katsuo picked up his cup and shook it gently, resulting in the faint sound of clinking, before putting it down again.
"You're joking." Keitaro looked down at his own tea cup and was shocked to see small pieces of ice floating in it. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asked in surprise.
"I didn't want to interrupt. The sooner you finished reading those reports the better," replied Katsuo. "I knew they were bad, I didn't think you would have to use something as risky as the Soul of Ice to deal with it, especially after your time in Roanapur." Both of their eyes fell upon the tube sitting between them.
"It's because of my time there that I use it. I got a little too experienced with it." Keitaro answered softly, causing the other man's eyes to flick up in surprise. The Soul of Ice was a technique used only by well-trained chi level martial artists due to its risks, both physical and mental. The physical was the damage the user would sustain if they used up too much of their chi, which was very easy to do. The mental risks could result in negative psychological changes, which with overuse sometimes were permanent. Almost not worth mentioning were the actual environmental effects, such as ice and arctic temperature winds forming depending on how intense the usage was. "There was a couple times I had to use the technique for full emotional suppression, and one of those times it failed on me."
"Failed on you," Katsuo said flatly. "How is it you're not a vegetable? What happened when it failed?"
"I don't know, I wasn't actually thinking very clearly at that point." Keitaro glanced at Katsuo, then away. "And I think you know what happens after that." Oh yes, Katsuo knew what happened when an overly emotional chi fighter went into frenzy. People died. "I had to go into the Soul of Ice when I was reading the red ink reports."
Katsuo nodded solemnly. "We have standing orders to kick certain reports upstairs when we get them." As bad as it was to read about the dark secrets of people's lives, there were some reports involving sex crimes against both adults and children. There were half a dozen reports of instances like that spread through the thirty reports involving martial artist families before them, but they all had one thing in common; they had the words taisho suru written in red ink at the end of the report, dealt with, along with a stamped seal that he instantly recognized; that of the Roju no Kage. Given what the reports involved, Keitaro was sure the actions taken were of a terminal fashion.
"That being said, we need to go talk to some of these remaining martial arts families that are vulnerable to being blackmailed. Thankfully there are only three or four of those in the reports," Keitaro stated.
"Yes, but it's not going to be fun doing do. These people are more concerned with their family honor and public image, interacting with Yakuza isn't something they want to deal with," replied Katsuo.
"Well it's better they deal with you and me than one of the warring factions. We will probably be more polite about it," Keitaro responded. He glanced at his watch then back at his friend. "I have to go pick up Sarah-chan from school, do you think we can start visiting these families tomorrow?"
"Sarah-chan?" Katsuo had an amused look on his face. He knew the girl was Keitaro's ward so he wasn't going to make the obvious jokes since he liked having his teeth intact. "You have to walk her home from school?"
Keitaro sighed and looked at the other man appraisingly before finally speaking. "Keep this to yourself, please." After Katsuo nodded he continued. "Sarah-chan can access her chi and has done so in public. It's not just affecting her physical abilities, she can use it while singing. We found that out when she went to Yamate Cathedral to honor her family and it was recorded on video and posted online."
Katsuo closed his eyes in pain for a moment before opening them again. "So the Catholic Church is involved?"
"Thankfully her face was not visible on the video. But yes, the Church and the Archbishop is now very interested in her," Keitaro said in a deadpan voice. "Plus there has been quite a bit of public interest in the video itself."
"No shit." Katsuo rubbed his face for a moment. "So what are you doing now?"
"We talked to the person who posted the video and had her take down the comments." Seeing the curiosity on his face Keitaro explained. "There were quite a few impolite comments, but we had to leave the video up due to copyright issues. Anyway, the Church is very interested in Sarah-chan since she did not receive religious education at home, and they want her to complete her sacraments. So we are going to meet today to try and sort things out."
"Yeah, good luck with that." Katsuo rubbed his face again. "Is that all you are doing?"
"I also made Sarah-chan my apprentice." Katsuo's eyes snapped up to him again. "That is where I was before I came here, I registered her with the civil authorities and the regular martial arts council. I was teaching her chi control and martial arts before, this just makes it official," explained Keitaro.
"You know that doing that makes you completely responsible for her actions involving martial arts and chi usage until she hits dan rank, right?" Katsuo was frowning; this tradition was one that went back to the feudal ages, when an apprentice was taken into a martial arts master's family in a form of informal adoption, since more times than not they were being groomed to carry on or even take over a school once the master passed away. But in modern times a chi user could do such horrific damage if they lost control that chi and ki usage would become public knowledge, therefore their instructor had to keep a short leash on them, dealing with them as necessary to protect life and their heritage, sometimes in a permanent fashion.
"I gave her a choice besides letting things go on as before. Apprenticeship, formal adoption into the clan, or marriage." Seeing his friend's eyes widen, Keitaro explained. "Neither of us wanted the last option, but she needs legal protection since the American government may take an interest in her. She chose apprenticeship."
Katsuo sighed in relief. "That's good to hear." He then perked up. "That reminds me, I have something for you to look at." Raising his hand, one of his kobun was at his side in a moment. "Go get the case I took out of storage yesterday." The man nodded and hurried off. "I got those watches for you to look at, you should pick out a couple."
"A couple? Isn't that a bit much?" Keitaro did not look too enthused at his words.
"Man, you've got to fit in better. Dressed that way you are, no one is going to take you seriously. You look like some kind of academic." Katsuo was finally smiling again. "Plus you have to get some more suits, you only have that one fancy outfit you wore the other day?" Keitaro nodded reluctantly. "Give me a day to make some calls and I'll set you up with a good tailor."
As he finished speaking, the kobun returned to the room with a leather box the size of a briefcase and placed it in front of his boss before stepping back to the doorway where he had been stationed. Katsuo opened the case before spinning it around and pushing it across the table toward Keitaro. "They're all in working order, go ahead and try some on." Seeing his friend eyeing the contents with some unease the oyabun smirked. "Don't worry, they won't bite."
After putting the intelligence reports back in the wall safe, he watched the younger man as he pulled out several watches to examine them. Finally there were three pieces in front of him; a blue and silver Omega Speedmaster, a black and silver Rolex Submariner, and a stainless steel and blue Rolex GMT-Master with the bright blue and red bezel known worldwide as the Pepsi model.
"Well, at least you're consistent. All conservative, all silver colored." Katsuo grinned at Keitaro, who gave a slight smile in return. "You need at least two, and you can take all three if you want."
"That's quite a bit of money there, Katsuo-kun." Keitaro glanced from the watches to his friend and back again.
"Eh." Katsuo waved off the comment. "I got them for like twenty percent of retail value, and they're already paid for."
Keitaro looked at the watches for a long moment before speaking again. "You certain about this?"
"Positive. You can wear the blue and black ones in your regular life," Katsuo replied. "If you don't mind my asking, why are you taking that one?" He gestured toward the Pepsi Rolex. "That's a little more flashy than I would think you would chose."
"Akira wore a watch like that one in Roanapur. Guess I should carry on the image here in Japan." Keitaro had picked up the watch in question and was rubbing the crystal with his thumb, visibly lost in thought. "I had borrowed it from Seta-sensei, he said something about winning it in a poker game."
"Lucky guy." Katsuo handed over a piece of velvet cloth which Keitaro used to wrap around each watch in thirds so they would not clink together and tucked the bundle in his coat pocket.
"One more thing, Katsuo-kun. Do you think you can get me some more of those blank chi-treated cards, about a dozen or so?" The Yakuza chieftain looked surprised at the question from his friend.
"Sure, it will take me a few days," Katsuo replied. "Can I ask why?"
"You ever read American comic books? A series called 'The X-Men'?" Keitaro was smiling thinly now.
"Can't say that I have. I stopped reading manga once I got into high school." Katsuo was baffled at the response.
"There's a character there that has a neat trick with cards I think I can replicate, but I need to experiment some." Katsuo was looking even more puzzled at this point. "I'll show you later if it works." Looking down at his watch, Keitaro stood up, his friend matching him. "Can I come by at about 10:00 AM tomorrow to start going out to talk to those families?"
"Certainly. Just make sure you're in your Akira suit, we might have to put the fear of the gods, or at least the Council, into some people tomorrow." Keitaro grimaced slightly before bowing slightly with his friend following suit and walking with him to the door.
Ofuna Botanical Park
Hinata City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Metro Tokyo, Japan
early March, Wednesday mid-afternoon
Sarah was staring at the pencil twirling between her fingers, the writing utensil going from top to bottom and back again non-stop as the four adults talked. She had gotten much better at what some people would consider an idle pastime, but it seemed that Keitaro had something else in common with Ranma Saotome besides the unwanted ability to attract girls. Her shisho believed that almost everything could be used as a form of training, although thankfully she was not walking on the top of fences… yet.
Right now she was working on her dexterity by slowly spinning pencils between her fingers, following one of the premises of her training; learn by doing something slowly until she was smooth at it, then increase speed until she was both smooth and fast. Where before she had been barely able to do so with her dominant hand, now she could use both hands, with the pencils going both forward and reverse. Sarah had thought that was an impressive achievement, until Keitaro demonstrated spinning a pencil in each hand… out of synch with each other, in opposite directions. When she asked in amazement what those skills had to do with real life, he simply smiled and stated that when a pen is stronger than a sword, sometimes a pencil could do more damage than a knife, before tossing the pencil at the grassy ground, the point skewering a leaf as it buried itself almost completely.
The pair had been walking around the botanical park for a while after arriving fifteen minutes before the scheduled meeting time. The Archbishop had been all hot and bothered to meet with her again (and yes, that did sound pretty horrible even in her mind) and had agreed to literally meet them halfway after Keitaro had expressed reluctance in making another trip across the prefecture again. Even Sarah, who did not have a lot of experience in hardball negotiation, knew that was a honking big sign as to how bad someone wanted something… and that something was at the very least a part of her.
Five minutes before the meeting time Keitaro and Sarah were standing near the main gate with a line of sight toward the street. With that vantage point, they were able to see what looked to be an older Toyota Corolla sedan pull up with a familiar English priest behind the right-hand drive steering wheel. An older woman in a nun's habit and a grey-haired man in a black business suit with a purple waist sash under the coat got out of the car and waited at the entrance gate for the driver to park and join then before entering and greeting the duo.
The past fifteen minutes had been a bore, at least to her. Both Father Wesley and Sister Agnes had been negotiating with Keitaro as to what her religious education would consist of and how much time it would take. If Sarah had not done some preliminary internet research on what the Roman Catholic catechism involved she would have been overwhelmed. At first they had to determine at what level she would be taught, either as an adult or a youth. Given that the catechism for youths was a soft-cover book 300 pages long and the adult book was the size and thickness of a college textbook, it did not take much thought to decide on the former. The girl had taken the book titled Youcat the nun had given her and flipped through it. The catechism was not a kiddie book; it was in a question and answer format with some religious illustrations and the little she had seen showed that it would probably be an interesting read. After a minute or two of her perusal she had tucked the book into her shoulder bag and started listening to the adults again with half an ear, her eyes on the pencil flipping between her fingers as the group walked along.
Right now the adults seemed to be stuck on a not-insignificant issue; how long her religious classes would take and where. Apparently religious education took place at the cathedral in Yamate, and the classes normally took four months to complete, including mandatory church service attendance every Sunday. When asked why the classes were at the cathedral Sister Agnes had stated that they only had about twenty youths attending classes from the entire prefecture and it was better to have them all in one class and interacting with each other rather than have them in groups of two or three scattered at various churches throughout the archdiocese.
Finally they came to the final sticking point; the length of time the classes would take. Four months was a lot of time to commit to, especially when every Sunday she would have to travel over an hour on public transit to get to the cathedral from the Hinata-sou, stay for an hour and a half service and a two hour catechism class, and then take public transit back home. That was practically most of the day right there!
By this point the group had stopped walking in the middle of a garden consisting of various types of peonies, the trio of clerics facing Keitaro and Sarah. The discussion had not reached the argument stage, far from it, but Father Wesley was standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest and a frown on his face, Sister Agnes was leaning forward with an earnest expression, and the Archbishop standing behind the nun and the priest, his hands clasped in front of him with very little emotion on his face. Keitaro had a polite look on his face, but it wasn't his normal friendly expression and by now everyone probably realized that.
As decided beforehand, Sarah let Keitaro do most of the talking unless something came up that required an immediate decision by her. But by this point she was starting to get annoyed, especially when something was said that irked her, something that her guardian had predicted.
"…But this would be the best way to do this. Sarah-san would be able to interact with other Catholic youths, attend services, and be able to honor her mother and grandfather." The clerics had been playing 'good cop/bad cop' with them, with Father Wesley being the hardliner and Sister Agnes as the person nominally on her side trying to make things easier, with the Archbishop silently observing. Sarah would have appreciated it too, if the nun had not played the dead relatives card. She had actually felt her eyebrow twitch at the words, and Keitaro was looked less pleasant than before.
"You know, it's kind of funny." The sound of Sarah speaking up without prompting caused the others to stop talking. "I know you guys are all interested in saving my soul and all, but I kind of think that most poor little orphan girls would not get this level of interest from the Church."
"The Church is interested in saving everyone's soul, Sarah-san," Sister Agnes quickly replied. "Especially those that are already a part of us."
"True," Sarah allowed. "Which makes it kind of strange that you haven't mentioned my friend Nyamo in all of this." The clerics looked puzzled at the islander girl being brought up. "After all, she's been baptized as a Christian as well, and I haven't heard anything about you guys wanting to go through all this for her too." Now the trio before them flinched and tried not to look guilty, with varying levels of success. "Plus I don't think it normally takes a priest, a nun, and the head archbishop to enroll a kid in catechism class." Blue eyes tracked across the clerics in front of her, seeing that Father Wesley was frowning deeper, Sister Agnes was looking chagrined, and the Archbishop was now focusing most of his attention on her instead of Keitaro.
"We are doing what we think is best to help you in your spiritual and religious life," protested Sister Agnes.
"Yes, you are." Sarah was pretty sure the nun had not realized how her statement could be interpreted but she was certain the Archbishop did, given the minute twitch she had observed. "But there are some other options I can take besides the ones you have presented."
"Such as?" Sister Agnes was looking concerned now.
"Well for one thing, I could always continue on as I have up to this point. Just because I'm not attending services or completed sacraments doesn't mean I can't live my life using Christian values," Sarah stated. "Especially since I haven't had the best experiences with the Church."
"Sarah-san, have we done anything to offend or hurt you?" The nun had an upset expression on her face.
"Not per se, not like that jerk pastor back home," Sarah replied. "But what you guys aren't talking about is what I think you are most interested in. My singing." All three clerics flushed slightly. "For some reason most people don't understand why I don't like singing in public, and what I feel about it is enough to make this a deal-breaker."
"Deal-breaker?" This time it was Father Wesley who spoke.
Sarah nodded. "As in I could very well walk away from all this if you guys keep pushing it. I've lived without the Church for most of my life, and I can keep it that way. I am under no obligation or requirement to join the Church." Seeing Sister Agnes open her mouth to speak Sarah rolled right over her. "This is MY choice to make, not yours, not Keitaro-san's, MINE. Or are you guys saying that free will isn't a thing in the Church anymore?" Sarah cocked an eyebrow as Sister Agnes' mouth opened and closed for a few moments before staying shut. Father Wesley's mouth was a thin line, and the Archbishop's expression was much more focused.
The Archbishop finally broke the sudden silence. "What is it that you want, Sarah-san?"
"My mom and grandpa back." Everyone was taken aback at the girl's seemingly flippant answer. "For there to be peace in my life. For the nightmares to stop." Every once in a while she still had nightmares about Roanapur and escaping from it. Nyamo had gotten good at waking her up before Keitaro had to come in, usually by poking her at a distance with the bokken she kept stored in her closet. "It looks like I might never get what I truly want."
"Sarah-san, all things are possible with the Lord," stated the Archbishop softly.
"Sister Agnes told you what happened to me, about Roanapur?" While technically a question, it was said in such a flat tone that it was a declarative statement. The nun looked even more guilty as the other clerics shuffled slightly. Sarah continued talking. "When I was in that basement, when I was praying it was not God that answered. It was someone else who got me out of that hellhole, someone who I had treated badly and had no reason to come after me, and I have more trust and confidence in him now than anyone or anything else in this world." It was now Keitaro's turn to look uncomfortable. "And while singing can make other people feel good and bring me some peace, it's not worth the aggravation it causes."
"Your singing is a gift from God Himself, Sarah-san," Sister Agnes said a tone of utter conviction.
"True, but using that gift the way you guys would want causes me pain." Sarah glanced around at them for a moment. "The problem is you don't understand that."
"How does your singing cause pain?" It was Father Wesley who asked the question, skepticism in his voice.
"Because when people see something they don't have themselves, they either try and take it for themselves or control it, like my teacher at school who tried to force me into the Choral Club. Or better yet, talk smack about who they are jealous of it." Seeing the clerics blink at the odd term, she explained. "'Talk smack' means speak badly about, that is the reason I went to talk with Chouko-san. You remember the comments on that web page, Sister Agnes?" The elderly nun nodded unhappily; she had caught a glimpse when Sarah and Su had been working on changing the page and those remarks had been some of the most shocking and vulgar it had ever been her displeasure to read. "Never mind those idiots that were waiting for us outside the cathedral the other day. If I start going to normal catechism class with all those people and sing at regular services like you guys probably want me to, I'll be the worst kept secret since McDonald's secret sauce, the cathedral will turn into a three ring circus."
"So your concern is about the publicity your presence would cause?" This from the Archbishop. "You would not be required to sing at either class or service, as much as we would want you to." For once the unhappy looks on both Father Wesley's and Sister Agnes' faces matched, even if they were for different reasons.
"It's not just my singing that would draw attention, it's my looks," Sarah replied. "How many blonde haired blue eyed girls do you have in your catechism class? It's not going to be much of a jump for someone who saw that video to link it to me if I'm at the cathedral."
"Your face wasn't visible in that video," Father Wesley responded.
"And you haven't answered my question, how many blonde girls are in your catechism class?" Sarah countered. "I'll even expand the subject group; with either natural or dyed hair, how many young girls in your church have blonde hair?" Given that gyaru teens, with artificially light colored hair, darkly tanned skin and dramatic make-up, weren't the type of girls to go religious services she could guess the number and show it with the fingers of one hand… with plenty of digits to spare. After a few moments with no answer, she continued talking. "And how much you want to bet that if I go to your classes and services they are going to ask me to sing, and keep asking when I say 'no'?"
"So what do you want, special treatment?" There was a derisive tone in Father Wesley's voice.
"Well, when the choice is between special treatment and no treatment at all…" Sarah's voice had trailed off as everyone had stiffened at the English priest's question, the man himself becoming silent when the Archbishop reached out to put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
"What would you suggest, Sarah-san?" the Archbishop asked softly, leaving his hand on the younger priest's shoulder to keep him quiet.
"You said that you have two tracks of classes and you are almost done with one?" Sarah asked. As it had been explained to her, there were two four month long classes a year, spring and autumn, with a gap in between due to summer and winter holidays. At the end of each track of classes was a special service at the cathedral that combined both the First Communion and Confirmation sacraments lead by the Archbishop himself. "How about this, I study the book you gave me and in a month you test me on it, if I have any questions I can call Sister Agnes. Verbal or written, I don't care." Sarah couldn't believe she was actually volunteering for more homework.
"What about the church service attendance, that is important as well," Sister Agnes protested.
"You said I have to go to Sunday service, not that I have to the cathedral service. There's Catholic churches closer to where we live, right Keitaro-san?" Sarah asked her guardian, who nodded hesitantly. "I go to services at a parish church, have the priest sign an attendance slip, and I meet that requirement as well. And more importantly, they don't know me as the girl singing at the cathedral."
By this point Father Wesley was looking positively choleric, Sister Agnes was looking wary but hopeful, and the Archbishop was looking contemplative. Keitaro was mostly emotionless but that was because she could not concentrate on reading him.
"If you want to think about this, be my guest, but there is something you should know," Sarah stated. "I wasn't bluffing about walking away from all this. There are more options for me than you think." The clerics blinked at her, curiosity writ large across their faces. "I could go agnostic and believe in God but not the Church. I can switch churches, I saw online that there are Anglican churches near where I live." This statement made the two junior clerics pale; the Anglican Communion was separate from the Roman Church, therefore the Catholic archdiocese had no authority over them. "Heck, I can even do what he does," Sarah hooked her thumb over her shoulder toward Keitaro, surprising all the adults now. "He prays to the gods and the spirits of his relatives, that sounds pretty good to me." She turned and looked at her guardian. "No insult intended, Keitaro-san."
"None taken," Keitaro replied evenly. He glanced over at the clerics who were still looking shocked. "We can either give you a few minutes or a few days to think about this before you let us know what you decide."
"A few minutes is fine, Keitaro-san," the Archbishop answered politely. By this point he was visibly gripping Father Wesley's shoulder tightly, who looked like he really wanted to speak but was not. Sister Agnes looked very upset but was silent as well. "If you will excuse us?" When the duo nodded, the clerics walked away for a short distance before stopping to quietly talk among themselves.
"Are you seriously considering becoming a Shintoist, Sarah-san?" The blonde turned to look at her guardian, who looked curious but not really upset.
"Not like you're thinking probably." Sarah answered. "You honor your relatives, you kneel and light incense and pray to your gods. I can do the same, only I would pray to God, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary and light a candle or two. That and living my life according to Christian values should be more than enough for me." The girl paused for a second, "I really am sorry if I upset you, Keitaro-san."
"No, no, I'm fine," Keitaro replied. "What I'm not happy about is that you were starting to get disrespectful there at the end."
"That's because they were starting to get on my nerves," Sarah explained. "I like Sister Agnes and the Archbishop is cool, but Father Wesley acts like he has a stick up his ass, he thinks he's better than me and that pisses me off."
"Sarah-san…" Keitaro groaned but did not say anything more about her language. He had noticed the younger priest's attitude as well but it was still within social bounds so he could not comment about it.
"The thing that really annoys me is that they all think they know better than us," Sarah stated. "Maybe they do, about religion at least. But they don't understand about why I act and feel the way I do. You're probably the only person that comes close, because you were there. You got me out." Sarah's eyes drifted off to focus on a distant place in her memory that any combat veteran would recognize; Americans called it 'the thousand yards stare'.
"Sarah-san…" This time Keitaro was not reprimanding his ward; he was thinking back to when he had first laid eyes on the young teen during the rescue. Locked in a cage, dressed only in undersized children's underwear, terror and panic on her face when she first saw him armed, masked and wearing heavy battle armor, followed by relief and joy when he pulled off the nomex balaclava mask.
Keitaro blinked and focused on Sarah when he felt a nudge against him; she had leaned up against him and laid her head on his shoulder. Moving his arm up he put it on her shoulder in a half hug and they stayed that way for a few minutes until the clerics finally turned and walked toward them.
"We wish to make a counter-proposal." It was the Archbishop who spoke first, with Father Wesley stone-faced on one side of him, and Sister Agnes looking happier on the other.
"Go ahead," Keitaro replied, Sarah staying quiet beside him.
"While the academics and the church services are an important part of catechism, interacting with your instructor and fellow Catholics is a vital part of your education as well," stated the Archbishop while speaking directly to Sarah. "What I propose is in addition to your independent study, Sister Agnes comes to visit you at a location of your choosing and discusses your studies and tests your knowledge. This would ideally be every week for about an hour, that way we can be sure you understand what you are learning, as we are not seeking that you just memorize by rote."
Sarah managed to restrain a snort; Japanese education had a well-earned reputation for concentrating on rote memorization, especially for those who were testing for high level university exams like Keitaro.
"Would meeting at the Hinata-sou be acceptable as the location?" Keitaro asked.
"Entirely acceptable," the Archbishop answered quickly.
"What about the church services at a closer location?" Sarah was the next to ask a question.
"That is acceptable as well, as long as you tell us which one so we can call and explain things," the Archbishop replied.
"Two more things." This was something that had occurred to Sarah as they were waiting for the clerics to finish talking among themselves. "First, taking your catechism classes and going to services is not going to be considered a commitment to complete the sacraments. I could very well complete your studies and decide that the Catholic Church is not for me. At which point we would part ways, correct?" Sarah asked.
The Archbishop was visibly not pleased at the question but he answered it anyway. "You are correct."
"And lastly, and I'm not saying this to be rude or a jerk, but it has to be asked." Sarah saw that everyone was looking at her curiously. "I'm currently in the middle of questioning my sexuality, is that going to be a major problem?"
"Questioning your sexuality?" Sister Agnes was the one who spoke, looking slightly confused. Father Wesley had gone rigid at the statement, while the Archbishop had blanked the expression on his face. Keitaro had turned to her with surprise on his own face but nothing else.
"I've discovered that I am attracted to both boys and girls. I have to decide if I prefer one instead the other and if I am going to act on it," Sarah explained with a straight face. She was completely serious; the last thing she wanted to do was go through all this and then get kicked out of the church if it turned out she preferred girls. "You guys aren't very into the gays if I recall correctly."
The Archbishop was the one to answer. "God's love is for everyone, no matter their orientation. It is true that we do not approve of activities of that nature, but for that matter we are against premarital sex in its entirety. We can go into further details during your classes if you like." The senior cleric took a breath for a moment. "So to answer your question, it is not a major problem at this point."
"At this point," Sarah echoed in an emotionless voice.
"Let us have the first couple classes and we can discuss it then. If it does turn out to be a problem, we can decide then on what to do," the Archbishop replied.
Sarah turned to Keitaro and silently asked what he thought. He gave a slight nod; the ball was in her court.
"Okay, let's go ahead with this." All three clerics gave slight but unmistakable sighs of relief at Sarah's words. "Any preferences as to when you want to come to the Hinata-sou, Sister Agnes?"
The elderly nun visibly thought for a few moments. "Thursday afternoons are free for me, this would also give you time to study the catechism book. Would that day at 4:00 PM be acceptable?"
"That's fine, Sister Agnes." Sarah turned and squarely faced the clerics and gave a medium bow. "I'm sorry for the trouble I have put you all through."
"It is no trouble, Sarah-san," the Archbishop replied as he and Sister Agnes bowed in return, Father Wesley doing so a moment later. "We look forward to seeing more of you. And thank you for all your help Keitaro-san."
After exchanging farewells, the clerics walked off toward the front gate, while Sarah and Keitaro stood and watched them go. After a moment she bumped him again and he put his hand back on her shoulder.
A few moments of silence later, Keitaro finally spoke up. "You're okay with this, Sarah-chan?"
"Yeah. I really do need to get the basic education before I make the decision. The book should help." Sarah shrugged the shoulder her bag containing the catechism book was slung from. "Plus I need to call Padre Ricardo, let him know I'm still around and kicking."
"Sounds good." The pair turned to walk toward the main gate of the garden. "I do have one question though." Sarah turned to look at him curiously. "Both boys and girls?" Keitaro asked with a straight look on his face.
Sarah snorted. "What can I say, I've always had a problem with being greedy." Seeing the humor in his eyes she smiled in return. "Besides, if it's good enough for you and your girlfriends it should be okay for me, dork."
It was now Keitaro's turn to huff. "You don't want the kind of love life I have, trust me gaki," he said with a slight smile as they walked through the gate.
A/N: The following omakes are not canon to the story; think of an alternate storyline that is much more cracky-er and humorous.
Omake 1 - Full Metal Sarah
In honor of R. Lee Ermey, best known for his role as the lead drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the Kubrick film 'Full Metal Jacket', who passed away in April. You will be missed, Gunny.
Warning - contains vulgar language.
Written by my beta Alpha Zulu Mark II; I gave him the idea and the premise, and he took off and ran with it.
Walking up to the door the blonde threw it open so hard it almost slammed into the wall. "Guess what bitches!" Sarah roared as she stepped through the doorway. "Daddy's home!" Hesitantly the other girls entered the classroom, with Nyamo closing the door to prevent escape by any soon-to-be traumatized students.
The students – who had been clustered up in groups and chatting away – froze in place, eyes wide as they fearfully whipped their heads toward the blonde girl wearing the boys' uniform. Her two shadows – Nyamo and Su – flanked her as Hikari almost snuck to her seat at the front left position and Shinobu to her seat in the back. Sarah scowled at the students.
"Is this a room full of retarded assholes?" she snarled. "Get. To. Your. Seats. NOW!" she thundered. The groups instantly broke up, students nearly frantically scrambling to go to their desks. Some sat down.
"Who told you worthless shits to SIT?! On your feet, maggots!" roared Sarah. "You will stand by your desk or I will beat your ears down to your ass and punt you into the next prefecture, do you get me?!"
"H…hai!" a few of the students replied.
"Bullshit! I can't hear you! Answer like you got a pair!" thundered the blonde.
"Hai!" screamed most of the students. Sarah spotted a girl near the front who hadn't yelled her confirmation.
"What is your major malfunction?" Sarah bit out, swiftly stepping to the girl and getting nose-to-nose with her. "Are you deaf or something? I said sound off like you have a pair, shit-stain!"
"But I'm a girl," began the female.
"You think that makes you special, is that it?" sneered Sarah. "When I want your opinion, I will fucking tell you your opinion. Now sound off like you got a pair of tits!"
"Hai!" she nearly cried.
"You bunch of disorganized grab-asstic rejects seem to be under the impression that you can do as you like here. Well you are WRONG!" yelled Sarah, moving back toward the front of the room, eyes raking the students who were standing by their desks, stiff and silent. "You don't want to listen to your Class Representative? Ok. Now you get to listen to me. You will listen, and you will obey. Do you get me?!"
"Hai!" came the cry.
"Bullshit!" declared Sarah, moving to a guy and glaring at him. "You. Fatso. Did your parents have any children that lived?" she demanded.
"H…Hai," he stammered.
"You're a cock-sucking liar, Fatso!" ripped back Sarah. "The only human parts of you ran down the crack of your momma's ass!"
A faint burst of laughter came from somewhere farther back in the room. Sarah zeroed in on it and marched over to the other young man. "So you think that was funny?" she growled, once more nose to nose with the young male student. "Do I strike you as a comedian, shit-face? Well? Do I?" she demanded.
"N…no," the young man started to say.
"Bullshit! You think this is a joke, do you? Your new name is Shit-Face. How do you like your new name, Shit-Face?" Sarah asked, the male student trembling as he tried to lean back from Sarah. "Answer me, Shit-Face! Do you like your new name?!"
"Hai!" he gave the only answer that would keep him in one piece.
"That's a little better," Sarah replied. "So much better, in fact, that you and Ass-Crack are now buddies. You will do everything together. If one of you makes trouble, both of you get your nuts stomped. If one of you fails an exam, you both get your text books shoved up your ass! When one of you takes a piss, the other one holds his dick! Do you get me?!"
"Hai!" came the terrified answer.
Sarah snorted in derision as she slowly made her way around the rows of desks, meeting the scared eyes of each of her classmates. "My job is to teach you animals how to behave. Because I am hard, you will not like me. Well I don't give a damn! Your tears are my Gatorade, and I am always thirsty!" she yelled. "I am hard, but I am fair. I do not have favorites and I do not discriminate – all of you are worthless little shits in my eyes. Am I understood?!"
"Hai!" came the yell from the class.
"Good. Then hear this clearly," Sarah said, once more in front of the desks, her voice dropping to a lower volume that made it a bit harder for the students in the back to hear. "You rejects will un-fuck yourselves right now or I will unscrew your heads and shit down your necks. Am. I. Understood?" Sarah nearly purred, a scary smile teasing her lips.
"Hai!" screamed the class in terror, the students all pale, shaking and sweating. Sarah frowned, having heard a 'hai' from behind her. She turned to see Sensei Ito sitting at his desk, frozen in place, just as pale and sweaty as the students. When did he get here? Hikari said he wasn't in the room, didn't she? Sarah wondered. Oh, well, she dismissed the thought.
"Glad we got that straight. Good talk," she said before she and her two companions moved to their seats.
The bell rang.
Omake 2: Uniform Inspection (With Apologies to Monty Python)
Kanazawa High School
early Thursday morning
"What in the exact shit is this horsefuckery?" Sarah's voice was almost flat as she asked her question. The other Hinata Girls were standing around her at the foot of the stairs as they all stared at the front of the school.
Where normally there would be a stream of students walking through the doors into the building, now there was a line of girls of all years standing to the side talking and giggling with each other as they waited semi-patiently, about twenty in all. And lo and behold, there was Hikari coming down the steps, a figurative thunderstorm on her face. "This is all your fault, I want you to know this," the twin-tailed girl said without preamble in exasperation. Shocking everyone, she grabbed Sarah by the wrist and started hauling her up the stairs.
"What, I haven't even entered the building yet, how can this be my fault?" Sarah protested. She did not fight the pull and the other girls were keeping up with the pair.
"This is because what you did yesterday in the hall, now they are all waiting for you!" Sarah and Hikari came to a halt at the top of the stairs, and all the girls in the line focused on them, the giggling increasing. Almost absently the blonde noticed that most of the girls were what she mentally referred to as idiot fan girls, especially the ones that got interested in her after she started wearing the gakuran uniform.
"Waiting for me to do what?" Sarah would have said more but she saw Aki stroll out the door with could only be described as a shit-eating grin on her face. Immediately she pulled her into a hug, almost slamming the shorter girl into her busty chest.
"Good morning Sarah-chan! I just got everything ready, and I'm going to be the first one!" Aki was looking down as she watched as the blonde struggle for a few moments before being able to pull her face out of Marshmallow Hell.
"First one? To do what?" It took Sarah a few moments to catch her breath and ask the questions. She noticed that the line of girls did not look happy to hear that Aki stated that she was to be first, and the boys walking by were throwing her dirty looks too.
"The uniform check, of course! You have to make sure we are wearing our uniforms correctly!" Sarah blink-blinked at the taller girl's response. "We even have the cloakroom set up now for the inspections." The cloakroom was used to store student raincoats and umbrellas during the day in wet weather, but was normally otherwise unused.
"Inspections," Sarah repeated incredulously. She glanced over at Hikari, who nodded in acknowledgment and disgust. Her eyes went back to the line of girls, most of whom she noticed were dressed more risqué than normally allowed, generally short skirts and tight tied-off blouses.
"Yup! Some of the girls are kind of shy, so we're going to walk into the room one at a time for you to do a hands-on check, and if necessary punish us." Aki had a Cheshire Cat grin on her face now.
"Punish?" Sarah asked blankly.
"Oh yes, word was going around that instead of demerits or detentions something else could be arranged." Aki licked her lips as she spoke. "Punishment for the first offense is going to be a spanking."
"A SPANKING, A SPANKING!" The girls in line gleefully chanted in unison, unnerving Sarah for a moment.
"And after the spanking?" Sarah did not know why she asked the question that way, only that this situation for some reason was sounding familiar.
"After the spanking the punishment for the second offense will be the oral sex." Aki stated in a matter-of-fact tone, causing Sarah's eyes to go huge.
"THE ORAL SEX! THE ORAL SEX!" The girls in line chanted in unison again, hungry looks on their faces.
"I'm the first up, Sarah-kun," Aki said with a wide grin, using the male suffix for once. "You may need to do a thorough check on me once we get to the cloakroom." The taller girl was playing with the hem of her almost criminally short skirt. Sarah's wide eyes went from the smirking Aki to the flustered Hikari, then to the grinning Su, the tomato red Shinobu, and the interested looking Nyamo before sweeping back to the chanting girls.
"A SPANKING, A SPANKING! AND THEN THE ORAL SEX!"
A/N: I've got to stop saying that it's been too long since the last update. I keep jinxing myself.
My last update was in the beginning of January and I was winding myself up to start the next chapter when I got sick at the end of the month. Only it was not the flu like I initially thought but a severe infection. I had to be admitted to the hospital for a few days (hope this won't be a annual thing, *knock on wood*) and I wound up on IV antibiotics for almost three weeks. I had to have new IVs put in at different sites on my arms every couple days (I was running out of locations by the end of it) and I wound up off work for a month. Then I had to go back to work and with work stress I barely got back on the writing wagon a few weeks ago.
Soooo…. I'm sorry to say I did not get much done on the lemon I was working on. The good news is that I am planning to have at least one lemon segment done for the next update, Chapter 69 (appropriate, I know). I may even make the chapter relatively short (snerk) because I have plans for Chapter 70 that I am looking forward to doing. Readers of Naruto fan fics are probably familiar with the 'C-rank mission curse'… something like that is going to happen to Keitaro. What makes it worse is that it is going to be far more public than anyone involved is going to be comfortable with.
Next on the hit parade is AnimeExpo 2018 taking place early next month. I said it last year but I am saying it again… this is the last time I am buying a Premium Fan pass. As much as I like being able to go to the front of the line for panels, it's not worth the $350 (!?) I paid for it, and it's not getting cheaper. I'll just get a regular pass next time, since what I am getting more interested in is the Anime Music Videos rather than the animes themselves. Honestly, I am always a year or two behind what is popular; last year was Sword Art Online, this year it's Girls Und Panzer and High School DxD (and it's mostly the fan fics and AMVs). Who would have thought that I'd get interested in anime girls doing competitive tank combat? Also, I make my yearly offer to meet with any readers of this story that is attending AnimeExpo so we can share a cool beverage and shoot the breeze.
Since it's been so long since my last update, I'm going to have to go by January's and June's (!?) reading stats for the monthly awards. In that case the winner of the Most Unusual Place Reading My Story is Hungary, with the Runner Up being New Zealand. Note - when I referred to the graphs for how many people were watching Sarah's video and where they were located, I used the FFN stats page as my inspiration.
My thanks to AZ MII, PCH and WalkerofDarkness for their help in betaing this chapter, and special thanks to AZ for writing the Full Metal Sarah omake.
Thanks also to all the people who sent me reviews, both when I posted my last chapter and in the last month. If I have not replied to you, I will do so in the next few days. And Ted Hsu, thanks for asking about me, but it's a lot easier to respond if you had an account to send a message to (hint hint).
As of 2300 PST 17Jun18 this story has 446K Words, 940K Views (coming close to 1 million views!?), 1068 Reviews, 1535 Favorites and 1398 Story Alerts.
Thanks to all my readers and see you next chapter! *peace sign*