Chapter 9

Isuke's thoughts were always the loudest at night, causing her to have difficulty to fall asleep every night. Every night, she would always lie wide awake on her bed, thoughts swarming in her head. Thoughts about her past, thoughts about her current family situation and thoughts about her future.

Tonight though, only one thing was occupying her mind. Or rather, one person. And that person happened to be a certain Pocky-loving idiot with a wild mane of red hair and sparkling golden eyes. Haruki had always been in Isuke's mind ever since she met her, but in the beginning, her thoughts about the unsophisticated delinquent were mostly about how to torture her. She didn't know when the exact turning point is, but her thoughts about Haruki slowly evolved to those of fondness and admiration.

However, lately her thoughts about Haruki had shifted again… one that she could only describe as desire.

Isuke acknowledged the fact that she has a big sex appetite. She wasn't shy when it comes to sex. And since she hadn't gotten laid for quite some time, she had started to feel agitated. Maybe that is the reason why she lost her temper to Kenmochi at the basketball court. Maybe that is why she had been acting weird lately when she saw Haruki getting hit on by another girl, or when Haruki touched her and comforted her.

She couldn't sleep, she was sexually frustrated and Haruki just wouldn't get out of her head. She had to release some tension and then get some sleep. This wasn't her first time masturbating, but this would be the first time for her to be thinking about the redhead while doing the deed. With a sigh, she moved her hand to fondle her breast while thinking about Haruki's expressive golden eyes and her calloused but gentle hands caressing her face. She thought about Haruki's full lips and started to move her other hand into her underwear. When she reached her desired destination, she gasped.

She was already soaking wet.

Slowly, she dipped a finger into her aching core and moaned quietly. Then, she added another finger and started thrusting, while imagining that it was Haruki's fingers. Soft gasps and moans were now spilling from her lips as she slowly moved her hips in rhythm with her fingers. There was no turning back now, Haruki had invaded her mind and senses. Stopping midway, she removed her fingers that were dripping with her juices and brought it to her lips to suck on them, imagining that it was Haruki she was tasting, before dipping them into her vagina again. She pumped her fingers a few more times before moving her middle finger to her throbbing nub.

She started slowly and gently at first, but as her desire grew, her pace quickened. Loud moans were now filling the room as she stroke herself faster and harder, bringing herself closer and closer to the that delicious edge. It wasn't her own fingers stroking her now. Everything was now Haruki. And when she dipped her fingers into her vagina again, she imagined it to be Haruki's tongue.

She mewled and threw her head back. She couldn't stand it any longer. She needed the release. She needed to cum and she needed to cum hard. Bringing her middle finger back to her clit again, she stroke herself a few more times hard and fast. Her hips were now moving uncontrollably, arching higher and higher and she was getting wetter, if that's even possible. She was now standing on the edge of precipice and it was only a matter of time before she falls into a state of bliss.

She imagined Haruki's athletic but lithe body on top of hers, her luscious lips nipping at her neck and nipples. She thought about Haruki's gorgeous face. She thought about Haruki's scent that was already committed into her memory when she breathed in her jacket a few days ago, and the smell of her shampoo when she held her so tightly. That finally did it. With one final thrust, she came hard with Haruki's name spilling from her lips. Her fingers stayed inside her vagina, feeling the throbbing of her vagina walls slowly subside.

Isuke sighed contentedly. She had never orgasmed so hard in her life by just masturbating and she had Haruki to thank for. It didn't have to mean anything. So what if she had masturbated while imagining Haruki? She was just sex and sleep deprived. And she had been spending most of her time with the redhead. It would only be normal for her to imagine Haruki while masturbating. It doesn't mean that she is attracted to her or anything like that.

Isuke yawned and stretched on her bed, finally feeling free and weightless as sleep overcame her.


Haruki suddenly sneezed three times in a row while she was walking back to her home. She had just gotten off the last train after finishing her last assignment of the night. Even though it was quite chilly, she smiled despite herself when she remembered an old saying that if you sneeze three times in a row, it means that your secret admirer was thinking about you. She started wondering who her secret admirer could be.

Fuyuka was already waiting for Haruki at their doorstep as Haruki was walking towards her house. Fuyuka never waited for her before, so she immediately knew that something wasn't right. She picked up her pace and as she got nearer and nearer to her sister, she could see that Fuyuka's face was in distress and she was trembling all over.

"Fuyuka, what's wrong? Did something happen to mom?" she asked in panic when she reached the doorstep.

"No, mom's fine. We have another debts to worry about now," Fuyuka said. "Three men in sunglasses and business suits were here just now, claiming that we owe them eight hundred thousand yen, including interests."

"Eight hundred thousand yen!?" Haruki said in disbelief, her eyes bulging. "Who are these people?"

"I don't know, but he showed us this," Fuyuka said, while handing a piece of paper for her sister to see. It was the picture of their dad who had bailed on them.

"I knew it! That old man bring us nothing but trouble!" Haruki said angrily. "It's not us who borrowed money from them, it's him! Why don't they look for him?!"

"They said that he's been uncontactable for months and they couldn't find him. So they tracked his last known address and it led them to us," Fuyuka explained worriedly. "They said we have to settle his debts owed to them within a month, otherwise unpleasant things will happen to us. They even gave me their name cards."

"Ahhh fuck it!" Haruki banged his fist on the wall. Luckily, all the other younger siblings were already asleep, so they didn't hear the commotion outside.

"What should we do, big sis?" Fuyuka asked in tears.

"Don't worry, I'll think of something," Haruki murmured after she had calmed down, hugging her sister to comfort her.

A few days after that, while she was deep in thoughts in class, Sumireko approached her with a business proposition. A deal that she was reluctant to accept but couldn't refuse. A deal that could end all her financial problems once and for all, but came with a cost. And that cost was her budding friendship with Isuke.

The assignment wasn't that hard, per se. She and Isuke were already friends, even though nobody at school knew about their friendship. So, it wouldn't be hard to approach her. If what everyone said about Haruki being popular with the girls is true, then it wouldn't be hard for her to make Isuke fall for her.

The hard part, however, was lying to and betraying her. And their friendship would probably be severed once she broke up with her, before humiliating her in public first. And to make things even more difficult, Isuke had been acting differently with her ever since the basketball court incident. She was no longer angry at the incident, but every time when they hung out together, Isuke had begun to show a more caring side to Haruki. It wasn't obvious, but Haruki could feel it. A subtle touch here, a shy glance there. She wasn't making it any easier for Haruki because the redhead could feel herself falling for the other girl even before she could execute her plan.

She wasn't sure if she was ready to end their friendship yet, but she needed the money in order to save her family. Her family needs her. She has a responsibility and some things are bigger than friendships.


A week had passed and there was still no progress. Sumireko had been getting impatient. "I have eyes all over the school, Sagae," Sumireko told her when they met up in her limousine, which were parked at exactly the same spot where they had their first appointment. "And they told me you're not making any progress."

"Yeah, I know, I know. I'm working on it," Haruki grumbled. "I'm trying, ok."

"What's so difficult? Just walk up and talk to her."

If only it were that easy. She'd had lots of chances with Isuke and yet she hadn't built up the courage to ask her out. "Easy for you to say. She only talks to people in the same status as her."

"Well, if you observe carefully now, people don't talk to her anymore, except for her annoying little sidekick. Use that as an advantage."

"What are you suggesting? That I kidnap her to somewhere that students rarely go to and ask her out? I'm not a creep," Haruki retorted.

"Do what you must," Sumireko said calmly. "You may leave now." She pressed a button on the panel to open the door for Haruki to leave. "And oh, Sagae," she said as Haruki stepped out of the limo. "I want to see some sort of result within the next few days."

Haruki groaned inwardly. Deadlines everywhere. How is she going to cope?


The next day at school, she was seriously considering to just ask Isuke out out of the blue, when suddenly, their science teacher announced that in order to pass their exams, there will be a science project this semester to determine their final grade. Groups will be formed, with four to five members in a group. And Haruki didn't know whether to consider herself lucky or not when the teacher announced that her group members are Kaminaga Kouko, Azuma Tokako, Tanaka Aimi and Isuke.

What were the odds? Both of them were never partnered for anything at school, but now suddenly, she was one of her group members.

"Alright, class. I want all of you to sit together with your group members now," the teacher instructed. "And start discussing what kind of project you want to do for your finals."

Shuffling of feet and scrapping of chairs were heard as students got up to sit together with their group members. Since Haruki's table was the emptiest amongst her group members, all of them moved to sit with her. Isuke strutted to sit next to Haruki but another group member, Aimi beat her to it. She wanted to tell Aimi to shove it, but she remembered the last time she got jealous. The last thing she wanted was for Haruki to call her out on her temper. Swallowing the bitter taste in her mouth, she opted to sit in front of Haruki instead. Tokaku played it cool and sat next to Isuke and Kouko sat down on the chair at the centre of the table.

"Hi everyone. I'm Tanaka Aimi. Nice to meet you all," the girl greeted cheerfully with a face splitting grin. Isuke wondered if she had some happy pills on her. No one could be this happy doing a stupid boring school project. Well, except for Kaminaga Kouko, who is well known for her excellent academic record.

"Yo, the name's Sagae Haruki. Nice to meet you, Tanaka-san." Haruki offered her hand for a handshake.

"H-hi, Sagae-san. Please, just call me Aimi," Aimi said shyly as she took Haruki's hand for a handshake while batting her eyelashes at her. "I wanna say that I've heard a lot of good things about you." The girl giggled.

Isuke perked up at that. She knew what the bubbly girl had insinuated. So, this is the reason why Aimi was so happy with this project. It was because of Haruki. Not only she has to deal with another fangirl of Haruki's, but she has to be reminded of that incident. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she had become very famous now after how she stood up to me, yeah? Bet you heard about that too?" Isuke said, smiling sweetly. Haruki could hear the acid dripping from her words.

"Eh, hey. Let's not bring that up anymore. That wasn't the proudest moment of my life. Besides, me and Isuke don't have any beef with each other. We're cool, yeah?" Haruki said, trying to defuse the situation.

"Oh, are you guys friends? You're on a first name basis with her?" Aimi asked innocently.

Isuke wanted to say yes, but Haruki answered before she could. "No, we aren't. I meant to say Isuke-sama." She glanced briefly at Isuke and caught a look of disappointment on her face, but it was gone quickly.

Tokaku watched the whole exchange with a disinterest façade. "Right. Isuke is too high on the social ladder to be making friends with my friend here. But now that her status has dropped, she should consider her choice of friends," Tokaku deadpanned.

"What is this? Attack Isuke day today?" Isuke said sarcastically as she leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms.

Kouko, ever an overachiever and a stickler for school rules, cleared her throat, wanting to get down to business immediately.

"Alright, without further ado, I'll appoint myself as the group leader. Let's discuss the project now. I've already thought of the topic while you guys were having your petty argument and it's-"

"My my. Is this a fucking matriarchy or something? Don't we all get a vote or something?" Isuke interrupted casually while filing her fingernails. "Not that Isuke cares or anything."

"We are all girls here. How is this a matriarchy?" Kouko asked.

"Whatever. I don't care."

"Yes, I know you don't 'cause you've never turned in your homework or assignments and then suddenly you became a smart student. Don't think I haven't noticed that you've engaged a lap dog to do all your homework and assignments for you," Kouko replied curtly.

Slowly, Isuke put her nail file on the table and glared at Kouko. She could feel venomous words dripping at the tip of her tongue, ready to be let out. How dare the goody-two-shoes insult her intelligence? And how did she even know about Isuke having Haruki doing all her homework and assignments for her?

"I don't know what's worse. Being bold enough to insult my intelligence or accusing me for having a lap dog. Do you even have any evidence that I need someone to do my homework?" Isuke asked sweetly as she propped her elbows on the table, interlaced her fingers before placing them under her chin and flashing Kouko a saccharine smile.

"Do we need any evidence for any rumours about you?" Kouko shot back in a monotous voice.

"Oooookay! Let's hear that project idea of yours, Kaminaga-san," Haruki intercepted suddenly, sensing that a fight is about to break out. She was worried for Isuke but most importantly, she didn't want the topic to go on any further because it's related to her and her illegal business. She was relief to know that Kouko has nothing to back up her accusation other than school rumours.

Kouko was about to begin when Isuke stood up abruptly. Between everybody attacking her today, to Haruki saying that they aren't friends and seeing Aimi giving the clueless Haruki heart-eyes looks, she'd had enough of the bullshit. "You know what? I don't have to be here to listen to all these."

"Sit down this instance!" Kouko whispered sternly. "This is a teamwork and you need to be here to do your part."

"Oh, don't worry, Kouko. Like you said, I have my lap dog to do everything for me," she mocked and strutted off.


Later that afternoon, when Haruki walked into the bleachers, Isuke was already there, as usual, waiting for her on the couch. Usually, Haruki would happily greet her friend but this time just sat down next to her without saying a word and took out her bag of weed. She rolled the joint and lit it before taking a puff and leaning onto the couch.

Isuke could sense that Haruki was brooding over something, but she ignored it and propped her legs on Haruki's laps as she lied down on the couch.

To her surprise, Haruki pushed her legs away. "I'm not in the mood today," the redhead said curtly.

Haruki had never pushed Isuke away before. Not even when she was in a sour mood because of her family problem. This is the first time and Isuke knew something was terribly wrong but she wasn't in the mood to deal with it either.

"Ok, looks like it's time for Isuke to go then," she said lightly and got up to leave. She was about to exit when Haruki spoke up.

"So that's it then, huh? You don't wanna know what's wrong, or I'm just your lap dog with no feelings?" Haruki asked snappily.

Isuke stopped in her tracks. So that's what it was about. Taking in a shaky breath, she said, "Well, you're the one who said we aren't friends when Aimi asked. So, if we aren't friends, then you'd rather be my lap dog."

Haruki stood up and walked in front of Isuke, disbelief in her eyes. "I only said that because of you! I thought you'd rather die than be seen hanging out with me. I know you, Isuke. You care about your image and popularity more than anything else! You've never even approached me at school!"

"I've never approached you at school?!" Isuke yelled angrily. How about the time when she approached Haruki in the cafeteria? Had Haruki forgotten about that? Granted, Tokaku and Haru were also there, but to say that she had never approached Haruki at school is unfair.

She took in a deep breath and tried to calm down. She really hated arguing with Haruki, but lately it seemed like all they ever do is arguing. Swallowing, she said flatly, "You know what? You're right. I'm shallow. I care about nothing but my image and popularity."

Haruki could hear the pained emotions behind Isuke's words. She immediately regretted implying that Isuke was shallow. "Oh God, I'm sorry, Isuke-sama. I didn't mean to say that. You do care about other things too."

"Like what?" Isuke snapped. "You've made it clear that I care about nothing else."

"Like… our friendship, for instance. You went out of the way to buy the limited edition Pocky for me," Haruki said gently, trying to coax the other girl not to be upset anymore. "I thought that was a very sweet gesture." She smiled genuinely as her hand reached out to rub Isuke's arm gently. "C'mon. Don't be mad at me anymore."

One look into Haruki's puppy eyes and Isuke knew that she couldn't stay mad at the redhead for long. The corners of her mouth twitched as she said, "Well… You're the one who was mad at me for no reason at all in the first place. I never said you're my lap dog. I'm gonna kill Kouko for saying that and for insulting my intelligence."

Haruki smiled. "So, you're ok with being seen hanging out with me in public?" Haruki asked carefully.

"Haruki, what makes you think that I'd be ashamed to be seen hanging out with you in public?" Isuke inquired with genuine curiosity.

"I… I don't know," Haruki replied awkwardly, while rubbing the back of her neck. "I've always had this impression that you only hang out with students who are of the same as or higher status than you. I've never seen you hang out with people like me."

Isuke sighed. Yes, she certainly gave off this impression to other people. Everyone's perception of her is that she only cared about superficial stuff, and all this while, she had never felt the need to explain herself to anyone. But as always, things are different with Haruki.

"Haruki, the only reason why I hung out with Sumireko's circle was because she practically forced anyone who's rich and famous to her tea parties," Isuke started to explain. "Look what happened to Nio after I stopped going to her tea parties. I let Nio cling onto me because well, you know the reason. And look around, I don't have anyone whom I'd call a friend."

"What? Not even me?"

"Except you, but that's beside the point," Isuke said quickly.

"Then why don't you make more friends?" Haruki asked innocously.

Isuke sighed again. "The thing is, Haruki… I'm just… well… I'm not like you who's friendly and cheerful and likeable. And I'm not the type to even make an effort," Isuke admitted, crossing her arms. And when Haruki got even more confused, she said, "I just couldn't be bothered, alright?"

"Ah… so in short, Isuke-sama's just plain ol' lazy?" Haruki chuckled. That's just so like her.

"Yes, call it that, if you must," Isuke said. "You should feel lucky that I could be bothered enough to even make an effort for you."

"Yeah, I'm very lucky alright," Haruki said, without a trace of sarcasm in her voice. "So, you couldn't even be bothered to approach me at school because of your laziness, not because you're ashamed to be seen hanging out with me."

"Well, I did approach you that one time at the school cafeteria," Isuke defended with a pout.

Haruki just chortled and suddenly pulled a surprised Isuke into a hug.

Lately, Haruki had begun to get addicted to hugging Isuke. She didn't know why, but she just like having Isuke close to her. Isuke's warmth comforted Haruki, and it didn't help that Isuke's alluring perfume smelled like heaven to her. Not too heavy, not too sweet. Her perfume was just right, complementing her natural scent. She took a whiff of Isuke's scent as she hugged her and smiled.

Isuke slowly brought her hands up to Haruki's back and returned her hug. Haruki really is a hugger, not that she mind. In fact, she had gotten used to her spontaneous hugs. What she had not gotten used to, however, is how much she loves Haruki's scent. She inhaled deeply and her face reddened when memories of her masturbating and orgasming to Haruki's scent came rushing back to her.

"So, anyway, let me update you on what we've discussed just now," Haruki said as she released Isuke from the hug. "It involves some outdoor activities and I'll be partnering with Aimi-san to collect some soil samples. You'll be partnering with Tokaku to do the theory work once we've collected the samples."

"How cliché," Isuke scoffed with an eye roll. "The fangirl partnered up with her idol. Let me guess. It was Kouko's idea to assign both of you together because she wants to see me and Tokaku at each other's throats again?"

"No," Haruki said slowly. "It was my idea, actually. I know how much you dislike outdoor activities so I volunteered myself. And Tokaku's really good with theory."

"I see," Isuke said, her voice clipped.

"And also, can you not say that Aimi-san is my fangirl? 'Cause she's not. We're gonna go collect samples tomorrow and I don't want things to get awkward between me and her."

That was fast. Isuke looked at the redhead, contemplating her next words. In the end, she decided to drop it. She's not going to let her jealousy get the better of her because she doesn't want to argue with Haruki again. She couldn't say much too, because she chose to leave before the discussion had even started. Had she been there, she would have opposed to this arrangement.

"Fine," she finally complied, crossing her arms.


That night, as Haruki was spending time with her family, she received a text from Sumireko.

"So, my eyes and ears told me that you're in the same science group project with Isuke. You know what to do next."

Haruki sighed and typed a quick text back to the queen bee. She knew she has lots of opportunities but she was stalling. And there were only three more weeks left before the loan sharks came to collect their money.


To answer a few questions: I hope this chapter has answered a guest's question about the timeline.

And to answer Robin, well, Isuke's parents are still loving. It's just a misguided love, I can't give out more than this, otherwise I'd be spoiling it. Let's just say that I elaborated and explored further on the reason why Isuke's mama adopted her in the first place, since the reason is canon.

And thanks again for all the reviews!