Chapter 6: Helping Hand

Her father was awaiting her after school. Tsubasa was surprised about that, as she was under the assumption that he was always busy with work.

He was resting against his car when she approached him, his arms crossed against his chest.

"What are you doing here?" She flinched a bit. The way she said it sounded way harsher than she wanted to.

But her father ignored it, took off his sunglasses and regarded her with an unidentifiable look. "How was school", he asked. "I hope you paid attention."

She was confused. He never cared for how her day went; he never asked how she felt. "Good", she answered his question, "And, yes, I did, father."

Apparently, something else was troubling him. His eyes scanned the students leaving the building, looking out for anyone maybe listening in, before saying: "I got another call from your teacher today. You had an argument?"

For maybe a fraction of a second, Tsubasa could feel her heart stop. Her teacher told her father about that? About Kanade? Tsubasa's family was powerful. If her father considered her friend a bad influence, no guessing what could happen to her.

"It… it was nothing, just… j-just a disagreement with a friend of mine", she stumbled.

A greying eyebrow raised up on his face. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, daddy, please. Let me handle this", she almost pleaded.

Her father decided to let the topic go. For now. He knew that if anything happened, he would know about it, after all.

The next day of school felt like any other before the regrettable day. Her morning routine was like always, even her father locked himself up in his little office like usual. It felt almost like nothing happened. Tsubasa decided she liked it that way. Routine meant security, even if it was boring sometimes.

And this routine also found its roots again in her school life, now more than ever, it seemed. Her teacher did not ask any questions regarding her little quarrel with Kanade, who was not even a student at this school, and when the first half of her classes were finally over, she took a seat under her favorite tree to eat her lunch.

It tasted better than before. Probably because she can enjoy for once. No stress, no Kanade, just her by herself, as it always was and always would be.

"Good day to you."

Tsubasa would have screamed in desperation if that was something she did. Why can't the world just leave her alone for ten fucking minutes, for God's sake?

She was surprised over her own thoughts. She started to sound like Kanade. Seemed she really was a bad influence.

Silently, she kept eating her food, ignoring the girl trying to strike up a conversation.

"How are you doing?"

Fan-fucking-tastic, the persistent type. Demonstratively, she scooted a bit to the right, away from her unwanted verbal assailant.

"Your name is Tsubasa, right? Kazanari Tsubasa?"

Yes, what of it? Tsubasa closed her eyes and took a deep breath in and out through her nose. Loud enough that this annoying woman must have heard.

"Are you angry?"

Did she really just ask that? How stupid can one person be? Tsubasa closed her lunch box, placed it on the grass and stood up. She took a deep breath, ready to give that woman a piece of her mind, turned around…

…and looked into the face of an angel.

The girl, no, woman, was tall and well endowed, to say the least. She wore tight jeans and a button-up shirt, accenting her form perfectly. Her hair was waist-long and wavy, framing her body and beautiful face. She looked foreign, western. Only now did Tsubasa realize that her previous words were spoken with an accent.

Tsubasa forgot everything as her eyes trailed up and down the woman, drinking in her form, her long legs, her hips, her breasts, finally reaching her face and stopping on those beautiful blue eyes. She forgot what she was about to say to her, she forgot she was angry, she even forgot where she was.

She did not even realize how the woman bit her lip to stifle a laugh.

"Are you okay?"

Hearing her voice jolted her brain into first gear. It was something, at least. She opened her mouth, wanted to apologize, but leaving her throat was a pretty stupid sounding: "Uhhhh…"

But the woman nodded, and with a crooked smile said: "Good to hear."

Tsubasa could not remember the last time she blushed so heavily. She honestly was scared she would pass out.

Luckily, the woman was respectful enough to not make fun of her mental shutdown. She took a seat next to where Tsubasa was sitting, and smiled at her reassuringly, leaving the young girl no other choice but to sit down again as well.

The woman extended her hand towards Tsubasa and said with a bright smile: "My name is Maria."

Tsubasa hesitated. She never liked physical contact, and always found handshaking annoying and downright stupid. But when she saw Maria's face, with those sparkling eyes and perfect smile, she acted out of impulse and shook her hand.

It felt wonderful.

Her hand felt firm, but at the same time softer than the most expensive silk. The warmth of her skin seemed to take over Tsubasa's mind, as if it was a saving blanket in a raging blizzard.

She never wanted to let go.

But she had to. She did not want to make the scene any more awkward than it already was. She pulled her hand back, maybe a bit too fast, and grabbed her box of food from the grass.

"Do you sit here often? All by yourself, I mean", Maria asked.

Tsubasa's eyes trailed over to the fountain with a lot of other students gathering around it, talking, laughing, some even flirting. She nodded. "I prefer being by myself."

"Doesn't it get boring?"

"I'm used to it."

A delicate eyebrow arched on the woman's forehead. "Really? Do you not have friends to do stuff with?"

A dejected shake of her head, then: "Not in school, no."

"You are referring to the one you had an argument with yesterday, right?"

Tsubasa stopped eating her lunch and regarded Maria with a wary look. But her opponent kept smiling at her, honestly and caring. Either she really showed concern for whatever reason, or she was a damn good actress.

"Did my dad send you to keep an eye on me?" Her voiced carried venom.

Maria's gentle demeanor fell almost immediately. "Oh, no, not at all! I am sorry if I concerned you. No, I am here because your teacher called me. She told me she was worried about you."

"Why? Because I skipped school one fucking time?" Now Tsubasa really was angry. She thought the topic was done. She apologized, after all!

"No", Maria replied quietly, trying to calm her down, "but you have to understand, she never saw you so angry. You yelled at someone. She told me you never do that."

She was stunned. Looking over the yard, she again saw people looking at her, whispering. Quick, but careful breaths filled her lungs, and she willed herself to relax. What was wrong with her today?

Maria continued: "You told your teacher that it was your friend who wanted you to skip school, correct?"

"Yeah", the girl sighed out, "I knew it was a bad idea. I knew I'd get in trouble. But at the same time, I wanted to see something new, you know?"

The warm smile, which Tsubasa decided she really liked, was back on Maria's lips. She nodded. "Did you have fun?"

"Oh, yes, I did", she answered, her eyes sparkling and her body animated as she reminisced, "although we couldn't actually do why we went, I still had a lot of fun. We talked a lot!"

"Oh, really?" Maria asked with interest, pulling her legs towards her and hugging them. "What did you guys talk about?"

She almost could not contain her excitement anymore as she remembered more and more details of her favorite day. "We talked about hobbies, my family, and…"

She stopped herself as she remembered the last topic of their conversation. Her cheeks felt warm as she turned away from Maria.

"…other stuff."

Maria did not pry into what she meant by 'other stuff', but Tsubasa was sure she picked up on her change of attitude. Of course she did. But instead she asked: "What about your family? Did she want to know how you live?"

"Well…" she started, thinking about how she would touch the subject without making herself feel bad. "We… we talked about my dead mom and my father. Kanade doesn't like him very much."

"Is that your friend's name?"

"Hm?" she asked confused.

"Kanade. Is that your friend's name?" Maria pried.

"Oh, have I not said? Sorry", she spoke ruefully.

"Don't worry about it" she waved off. "Was the argument about your dad then?"

"Yeah" she sighed. "I don't know why, but whenever we reach the topic she gets all aggressive and bad-mouths him. She did it too when she was here at school yesterday. Said I'd sound like my dad when I said that I did not want to skip school again."

"Do you hate your dad?"

Maria's question shook her to the core. Her eyes widened in disbelief over what she said. "No!" she protested. "Of course not. I love him! And I hate when she talks like that, I told her multiple times to stop saying it."

"But why would she say it then? Did she know your father beforehand, maybe?"

Tsubasa shook her head. "No. She had never even seen my house before I brought her. And when she met my dad the only thing she said is that she did not like him. Like always."

"She met him?" Maria sounded strangely surprised. "How did it go?"

Tsubasa hemmed and hawed. "Well… 'met' may be the wrong word. She was in my room when my father scolded me about what I did."

"Did she say something while he was in the room?"

The young girl regarded her for a short second. Why does she want to know so much about her friend? Is she after her? Why would it matter what she said?

But Tsubasa decided to answer, as to not be too suspicious. She could talk to Kanade about this conversation later. "She did not say anything, no."

Tsubasa thought she could hear Maria whisper something along the lines of 'that's good'.

"But afterwards" Tsubasa continued, "she chewed my ear off about how wrong he was and everything."

"And afterwards?"

Tsubasa shrugged. "She left."

"Left?" Maria asked. "Just like that? And did not call you again or write you a message or something?"

"No. Why?" Tsubasa asked wary.

She paused for a bit, as if to lay out her words carefully. "Well, it seemed like you two had a fight because of that, right? When I had a fight with my sister I try to reconsile as soon as possible. And if she is your friend, she'd want the same."

"Wait. Are you saying Kanade is not my friend?" Tsubasa could hear the anger in her voice rising.

And so did Maria. "Oh, no, Heavens forbid. I am just saying that it's unusual, that's all. Seems like you both think to be in the right here."

Another sigh from Tsubasa. She did this a lot in this conversation. "Maybe. Maybe she hates me now. Wouldn't blame her."

A gentle hand rested on Tsubasa's shoulder as Maria spoke: "Promise me you'll have a good talk to her, okay? I bet it was all just a big misunderstanding."

"You think so?" Tsubasa asked hopefully.

"Oh, absolutely" Maria proclaimed. "Don't think for a second she does not like you anymore or something because of an argument. I had just a few minutes with you, but I can already tell that you are a lovely and interesting girl. And I bet Kanade knows it too."

Tsubasa could feel her cheeks redden again. Right now, she had very intrusive and inappropriate thoughts involving the woman next to her.

Maria stood up, reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a small notebook. She quickly scribbled something in it and tore out the page, handing it to Tsubasa.

She took it reluctantly.

"This is my number. Why don't you give me a call sometime? I'd love taking more with you."

Tsubasa looked at the paper in disbelief as Maria excused herself and walked away. Did this really just happen? Did she have a weird conversation with a complete and drop-dead gorgeous stranger only to get her number at the end?

A silly grin spread over Tsubasa's face as she clutched the paper as tightly as she could without scrunching it up.

She would definitely call!