Part II

Chapter 48

Kagura stood in front of the door to the faculty office, having bolted her way straight up here the very moment that she had arrived on campus. She only had about half an hour to accomplish her task this morning, the swim club's practice starting by then, and so didn't have much time to waste.

Ok, so, if my guess is right...

After taking a few deep breaths, she slid the door open just a crack, peeking inside.

...yep! I was right. That's why I could never find her in the afternoon. She's been coming in early to leave early. Well, early for her, anyway...

That raging torrent of wavy, hazel hair had always been impossible to miss. Sitting at her same messy desk as always, her forehead planted straight down onto the cover of a textbook, was her old English teacher, Yukari Tanizaki.

The heck? Is she sleeping? Man, right in the middle of everyone else, too. Whatever. Let's give this a shot.

With cautious steps, Kagura began to make her way across the floor of the office, thankful that the other present teachers hadn't taken much notice of her. She would chat with a few of them soon enough, but right now, her priority was Yukari.

Ok, here we go...

Kagura was standing behind her now. She steeled herself, feeling some sudden nervousness creep into her. "...hey! Yukari! Are you awake?"

There was no immediate reaction to her words, Yukari remaining in her lazy, comatose posture. But eventually, the woman sat herself up, moving with an incredible sluggishness as she did. She was now arching her neck over the back of her chair, looking on at her old student with an upside-down face.

It was difficult to get a real feel of her expression since she was oriented strangely, but if Kagura was reading it correctly, then the woman appeared quite aggravated. "Yukari! Hey, it's me!" She waved at her cheerfully, a huge smile on her face.

Yukari's eyes narrowed sharply, scrutinizing her visitor with great intent, before they opened back up with recognition. "Oh, it's you, kid."

"Uh...yeah..."

"My greatest signing."

"...huh?"

With the same lethargic speed that she had used to lift her head off the table, Yukari righted herself up, letting out a huge, overly dramatic sigh of annoyance afterward. She then swiveled her chair halfway around, shooting out a hand at her. "Put 'er there, Kagura."

Kagura took the gesture with hesitation, shaking her hand. "Hey...yeah, good to see you, too..."

Yukari let go. "So...whadda' ya' want? You want back in school?"

"What? No!" Kagura spread her arms out, gesturing for an embrace. "I...Yukari! I came here to see you! I've been trying to find you since last week. I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Oh. Yeah. I'm fine. Well, thanks for comin', kid. Good luck out there." The woman flung out a quick farewell salute before spinning her chair back around, returning her forehead to the top of her book.

"...Yukari." Kagura's arms fell with disappointment. "Come on...I came here to see my old homeroom teacher. Hey, I just wanna' catch up with you a bit. I mean, it's been a few months since I've seen you."

Her voice came out muffled as she talked into the book cover. "I'm a teacher. I'm busy."

"Yukari...come on. You're just tryna' sleep..."

"I'm reading."

"...hey, come on, stop foolin' around. Let's chat a little! Come on. I mean...I really missed seeing you, Tanizaki-sensei."

The formal sentiment appeared to hit home, Yukari now rolling her head back and forth as it lay. "Fine, fine, fine..." She pushed herself out of the chair and stood up, gradually turning to face her. "So, ok...yeah, how ya' doin', kid?"

Kagura collected herself for a moment as she planned out her response, taking in the woman that she hadn't seen for a while at the same time. Yukari was donned in her usual style of attire, a dress shirt with a long skirt today, and Kagura had to always admit that her old teacher did look pretty good in her outfits. It was a fairly simple thing for her to do in any case, given how naturally attractive Yukari was, and if the woman didn't have such an erratic personality, then her looks alone would have propelled her to real stardom on campus.

Unfortunately, however, it seemed like that infamous temperament of hers was on full display at the moment, just in the same way her coworkers had described it yesterday. Yukari was trying to downplay it, but Kagura could plainly see that her sensei was in one of her terrible moods: her brows were weighted with what seemed like scorn, an equally heavy grimace paired along with it.

Kagura smiled as she responded. "Oh...uh...well, life is going pretty good. I'll be off to college pretty soon. I'm super stoked about it, but I'll kinda' be bummed to move outta' town, though..."

"Yeah, them's the breaks, kid."

"...yeah. But, I guess that should be fun in itself, too! Never really been out on my own..."

For the next few minutes, Kagura went over the details of her upcoming educational foray, talking about her summer so far as well, and she was delighted to see that Yukari was actually starting to enjoy the conversation. By all appearances, she did seem genuinely pleased to see that one of her old students was faring well, the better side of her beginning to show through as she smiled here and there, cracked a few jokes, even chuckled a bit. Kagura, in turn, returned the warm affections, remembering how much she really did enjoy this particular woman beneath all her faults, as no one could make her laugh like Tanizaki-sensei could.

"...but, yeah, it really is cool! I get to be on their swim team also...oh! Hey, I forgot to tell you: I'm an assistant coach for the swim team here now, too!"

"Yeah, I heard." Yukari considered something for a moment. "Can you open the pool?"

"...sorry, but you can't get in there, Yukari." She chuckled. "Man, remember the last time that you got in there without permission? Seriously, Minamo pretty much had...h-had..."

...whoa.

Kagura fought to keep her words from faltering then, having become truly shocked at the transformation that had just taken place before her. The very instant that she had mentioned Minamo's name, Yukari had entered what she could only describe as a state of seething rage. Her amused face had given way to one that was now filled with a killer menace, and there was this subtle, yet terrifying, viciousness about her entire character as well, as if Kagura had just witnessed the threat of a blade being slightly pulled out from its sheath.

And yet, despite the physical advantage that she clearly had over the thinner woman, Kagura had still instinctively taken a small step back away from her.

"...had...had a heart attack..."

Yukari didn't respond.

"...something wrong, Yukari?"

"No."

The woman had made no effort to hide the animosity that was now in her voice, Kagura blinking in surprise from how obvious she was making it sound. "Um. Right." She scratched the back of her head, thinking. "Umm...hey! Speaking...of Minamo...she wasn't here yesterday. So...I gave her a call, and she said she's really sick. She sounded really bad, and she's not coming in today either. Did you know that?"

Yukari just shrugged.

"...you didn't?"

"Nope."

"Oh. Well...like I was saying...I dunno', she just didn't sound like herself at all. Like, she was really depressed I think. I was getting really worried about her, but she didn't really talk about it much. But, I just figured that she'd tell you if something was wrong with her or not."

"She didn't."

"...ok, but, aren't you worried about her too, though?"

"Nope."

"Uh, why not?"

"'cause I don't care."

"...seriously? You're not worried about what's up with her, especially if she can't come to work?"

"Nope."

Kagura frowned. "Hey, that's not cool. You should give her a call at least to see how she's doing. She really didn't sound good at all. You could cheer her up or something..."

"If it's killin' you that much, then you go babysit her." Yukari began to turn around. "If you're done yappin', then I'm gonna' get back to work. "

"...dude, that's so not cool, Yukari. She's your friend, and you're ju-"

"She's not my fuckin' friend."

Kagura brought up her hands in defense as the woman swirled back towards her with anger. "Hey! Hey! Whoa...what's wrong, Yukari? Why are you gettin' mad?"

"'cause I ain't her damn friend, and it really pisses me off whenever people think I am, 'cause I'm not, you got me?"

"Wh-what? Come on. After all the stuff she always does for you, how the heck can you say that you're not her friend?"

Yukari snarled. "Don't act like you know all about us, 'cause you don't."

"Yeah, right! Everyone knows she's always looking out for you, and then you go and say stuff like that..."

"I'm gonna' tell you one more time, kid: don't talk like you know anythin' about us."

"...look, whatever. All I know is that Minamo's not doing well, and that you don't care about her."

"Yeah, you're right. I don't give a fuck about that piece of shit, so get lost already."

"...you know, Yukari..."

"What?"

"...I think..." Kagura felt her fists clench tightly at her sides. "...I think you say some really, really stupid crap sometimes, but..." She took a step closer. "...don't ever call my coach something like that again."

Yukari leaned forward, her head crooked. "Oh yeah? And why's that?"

"...just don't do it."

"I'll talk about that piece of shit however I wanna'."

"...you're really pushin' it now..."

"You wanna' make me stop then, cronie?"

"Yeah."

"Fine, th-"

''Tanizaki-sensei, let's go into my office for a few minutes, shall we?"

Both women glanced to their sides in surprise, neither of them having noticed the vice-principal coming to stand next to them, nor all the heads that had turned towards their rising voices.

Yukari grunted in fury, glared menacingly at her old student, and then slowly followed the elder man out of the room and into the hallway.

And then, as soon as they were out of sight, Kagura released her breath.

...holy...crap.

Kagura felt the tension in her chest begin to unwind then, only now realizing how much absolute outrage had exploded in her during that short chat. It had taken everything she had to control herself when Yukari had insulted her mentor, and she couldn't recall a time when she had ever experienced this much anger before. She was sweating now, her still jaw shaking as the adrenaline continued to course through her, her heart still pumping wildly from the rush of blood.

What...what the hell was that, man?

A grimace made its way across her face as she began to calm down, her mind frantically attempting to comprehend everything that had just happened.

...I mean...I knew Yukari might be mad still. Sure, but...holy, holy crap, man! She looked scary as hell...like, like she wanted to freaking kill Minamo. But, why? Just because she's gay? Or because she tried to kiss her? No way...that can't be it. Dude, what the hell happened between those two? Seriously...I've never seen anyone that pissed off before in my life...holy crap...

She settled her breathing, wiping away some perspiration on her face with a forearm.

But damn...crap. Whatever's goin' on, I blew it still. I blew it. I don't know what the hell just happened, but I blew it. I thought I could get her to feel bad at least, and maybe get her to call Minamo. But, argh, I think I just made things a lot worse, and now Yukari's pissed at me too. Yeah, I screwed up. Dammit'...dammit', now what the hell am I supposed to do? I couldn't get her to call Minamo, and Minamo won't come here to see her either. Crap, crap, crap...I'm no good at stuff like this. Why did I even try? Idiot, Kagura, you stupid, damn idiot...

"Are you alright, Kagura?"

She looked behind her as a hand clasped her shoulder, smiling when she saw one of her other old teachers standing behind her, a woman who had taught her science classes. "Oh...hey, sensei! I didn't see you in here."

"I just came back from the restroom. I heard something when I was in the hallway, and then I saw Yukari yelling at you. But, are you alright? You look a little shaken."

Around them, the rest of the faculty returned to their original activities. "Yeah, I'm ok, sensei. I...I just got a little worked up..."

"That's fine. Don't worry. But, what was all that about?"

Kagura sighed. "...just a stupid argument. Kind of a long story. Well, not really long, but..."

"Well, whatever happened, Yukari can't just be yelling at people like that." The woman shook her head with some disgust. "That girl. She hasn't changed at all. She's still the same old ball of anger that she always was..."

"Huh? Oh...wait, did you used to be one of her teachers, sensei?"

"Well...not directly, anyway. I was just an assistant in their lab classes at the time. But I remember her behavior from back then pretty well. She hasn't grown up at all." Her sensei put on a charming smile, her appearance as a whole pleasant and mature. "Anyway, Kagura, come and sit down with me for a bit! I was just about to take my breakfast downstairs. The A/C is always so terrible up here. But, come with me, I want to hear how you've been...and I'd like to get the dirt on what just went down, of course."

Kagura managed to chuckle, doing her best to suppress the aftereffects of the harrowing incident. "Oh...hey, sure, sensei. But, I can't stay for too long, though."

The woman waved away her concerns. "You can take it easy once in a while, especially after dealing with Yukari. Oh, do you like iced coffee? I'll make some for you..."

Man, this place always feels weird when no one else is around...

Kagura sat down with her sensei at one of the tables in the school cafeteria, looking about her with a bit of awe as she did. The large room had been empty when they had arrived, and seeing it in a barren state was always a bit of a strange experience to her. She was used to the place being quite lively, boys and girls sitting about everywhere with their trays of food, stuffing their faces as they loudly conversed.

I think that's what it really is, actually. It just freaks me out whenever it's so quiet in here.

"Is it cold enough for you?"

Kagura smiled as she took a sip of her drink, her companion at the table seated across from her. "Oh, yeah, it's great, sensei! Awesome drink for summer."

"Don't I know it. I hate summer, so a cold drink keeps my spirits up." She opened up a bento box that she had brought with her. "But anyway, keep going, Kagura."

"...oh! Yeah...yeah, I'm pretty excited. It should be fun to move out and be on my own...well, not exactly on my own. I'll have a roommate, I mean, but, you know what I mean..."

"Yes, I get you. No worries. Well, I'm certainly glad to hear that your future is shaping up well. You were definitely one of my more fun students to have around, Kagura, so be sure to keep your sense of humor with you at all times." The woman began to dig into her meal, some rice and fried eggs.

Kagura chuckled with embarrassment. "Hey, thanks...well, you made it fun, sensei. No offense to the others, but if you weren't my teacher then I'd have killed myself from boredom in the lab..."

The woman joined in her laughter. "Well, I'm glad you enjoyed my lessons. Oh, by the way, I heard from some other students that you were helping our swim team out?"

"Oh...yeah. Min-...Kurosawa-sensei got me to be her assistant coach. That's actually where I have to be soon, to get the practice started. Anyway, it's been pretty fun so far...but kinda' weird, too, 'cause I'm kinda' bossing around my friends, ha ha..."

Another laugh. "Yes, it's always a little surreal when you have to manage people that you've known for awhile. Probably odder than when you don't know them, in my opinion."

"Yeah, well, I think I got used to it. It's a pretty good experience, too. And working with Kurosawa-sensei is awesome! She's always been really cool, so it's a total blast to work side-by-side with her."

"Oh, that girl's an angel, Kagura. She's a real blessing to this school." The woman rolled her eyes. "Not like some other faculty members around here, one in particular..." She shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry that Yukari got upset with you. So, what was that whole thing about, anyway?"

"...ah...well, Kurosawa-sensei's been absent since yesterday. I...I gave her a call, and she said she was pretty sick and feeling down about something. So, I asked Tanizaki-sensei if she could call her to cheer her up I guess, but then she sorta' got mad...umm..." She looked down at her drink on the table. "...I think they had a fight or something, so they aren't talking to each other. And...I guess I lost my cool with some stuff, too..."

"It's alright. I'm sure Yukari's at fault for everything, in any case. She's a bundle of trouble. Anyway, I wouldn't worry about Minamo. I didn't know she was sick, but she'll be back up to speed in no time. It's not easy to keep a hard worker like her down for long."

"Oh...so...you guys haven't heard anything about her, either?"

"No. Well, at least I haven't. She might have called in with administration."

"...and Tanizaki-sensei didn't talk about her either? Like...you know, they usually carpool together, so I figured she might have let others know that Kurosawa-sensei was out..."

"Not really. She's actually been sort of quiet this week. She hasn't said much to anyone."

"...ah, ok. Umm, actually, speaking of Tanizaki-sensei...is...she...?"

"She'll get reprimanded as usual. She won't get fired, don't worry. She's done far worse things before than yelling at people in the office."

...whew. "Oh, ok, ok. Yeah...ha, I just didn't wanna' be the one to get her in real trouble. She'd come after me then...oh, hey! You were saying before, sensei, that you used to teach them both when they went to school here?"

"Oh, I wasn't a full-time teacher at the time, remember? I was just a lab tech, but I had them in my classes for three years." Another sad shake of the head. "I've seriously never understood how Minamo became friends with that girl. They were like night and day...they still are like night and day. It's just always baffled me."

Kagura put on a flaky smile. "Yeah...I mean, I don't mind Tanizaki-sensei. She's nuts, but, she's nice too, sometimes...but, yeah, I guess it's hard to see why they hang out with each other."

"They always go drinking together, too. And then the next day, they'll be fighting in the office about something silly. Oh, well. Friendship is a strange thing."

"...can I ask you a question, sensei?"

"Well, of course."

She kept watching her drink on the table, beads of condensation now peppering it. "...how was Kurosawa-sensei in school?"

The woman looked up, savoring her own iced coffee as she finished her meal. "Pardon?"

"Oh, I mean...I was just wondering how Kurosawa-sensei used to be in high school. Like, was she always like how she is now? You know...really enthusiastic and stuff...always going out of her way to help people, and stuff like that."

"No."

Kagura shifted in her seat. "Wow, really?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to infer that she wasn't like that at all. No, no." Her sensei waved a hand about. "She was always a nice student. But she was very shy in her first year and kept to herself a lot. She had some personal troubles, I guess, and so she was always a bit low-key because of them."

"...she had troubles? Umm...can I ask what was wrong?"

"To be honest, I'm not really sure what was wrong, but I remember that she had some consultations with her homeroom teacher about whatever it was, though. It was all private stuff, so I never found out the details. Anyway, I was worried about her at the time because of that, but she seemed to just completely change later on. That really made me happy to see. She became much more outgoing, and even became pretty popular, too. But then again, she was always a good athlete, though, so that might have been somewhat inevitable." She put on a playful sneer. "Complete opposite of Yukari. That girl just seemed to get worse as the school years went by. Always getting in more and more trouble. She's calmer compared to back then I guess, but not really. What I mean is, is if you give someone like her a paycheck, then they'll start to behave a little in order to get another one."

Kagura chuckled. Sounds like Yukari, alright. "Yeah, I totally get you on that, but, man...I never knew that about Kurosawa-sensei. All the students are always interested in knowing more about her, but...um...she doesn't really like talking about herself much..."

"She's very modest, so that's understandable."

"...yeah, I guess that's true. But, anyway! I'm glad she got help when she needed it, but...ha. So she used to be really shy, huh? I guess I can kinda' see it, now that I think about it..."

Her sensei shrugged. "She's still a little timid here and there. It's so funny, because when she is, she reminds me a lot of her first year version. She's such a sweetheart, though, and really gifted when it comes to dealing with students. We need more teachers like her, Kagura. No, we need more people like her, period."

She nodded. "Yeah...she's totally awesome. That's so cool that you remember her pretty well, too, sensei."

"Well, I've always been fond of her. I guess you could say she left an impression on me back then. She's one of my favorite success stories from this school, really. That typical caterpillar-into-a-butterfly thing, you know? I mean, everyone loves her now, and she deserves it. I really can't say enough about her."

"Oh, heck yeah! I've never met anyone who didn't love her either. Well, Tanizaki-sensei has problems with her..."

"It's just a simple case of jealousy. She has an ego problem, Kagura. Oh, the crazy things she demands at our staff meetings..."

Kagura smiled awkwardly. "...but she's not all bad, sensei. I know I'm saying that after she just kinda' went nuts, but...but I think kids do generally like her. She's pretty funny...and we used to talk to her about games and movies and stuff all the time. I dunno', I guess we just identified with her a little, like, she knows how to have a real good time and joke around and stuff."

"Is that so?" The woman thought to herself for a moment. "I suppose that's true. That's probably one reason as to why she hasn't gotten the boot yet. I know her students actually do very well in her classes, so you all must get along with her somehow. Well, I suppose I'm being a bit harsh on her. Yes, she's not all bad. She teaches English itself well. She's just difficult to work with...and obviously has some attitude problems."

"Yeah..." Kagura looked aside. "...I've always wondered...why she gets angry a lot. I wish she didn't..."

"...I don't know for sure, either, Kagura. Like I said, it's probably an ego thing. But, I suppose that's one reason why Minamo chooses to be around her. She's always the one to take on the toughest jobs, if you know what I mean. She's too caring sometimes."

She chuckled. "...actually...she told me once that they were best friends."

"Get out of here, Kagura. Really?"

"Yeah. It's..." A frown came on her face. "...umm...you know...I don't know what Tanizaki-sensei thinks, but...Kurosawa-sensei says...she says that she really enjoys being her friend. I dunno', she just likes her for some reason...and gets along with her the best, I guess..."

Her sensei snickered. "Sounds like a typical couple."

"...ha...wha'?"

"Oh, I just meant that couples fight like they do all the time, but most of them still get along. I guess they're like that. It's a funny way to look at it, but it fits. ...yes, I do remember occasions when they really seemed to enjoy each other's company back then. I was focusing more on the negative, I suppose." She began to chuckle again, relaxing back in her chair now. "But was Minamo talking about being best friends now, or since back in the day?"

Kagura tilted her head. "Huh? Oh, oh...I get it. Yeah, she said they've been best friends since high school."

"...now that really is a surprise to me!" The woman stared at the ceiling as she spoke. "I mean, well, yes, of course I knew that they were friends in high school, but 'best friends'? I'd have never guessed that they were the closest out of those three, but they are pretty inseparable..."

"Yeah? Well, I...w-w-wait! Those three...?"

"Oh, sorry, yes. Those two used to hang out with another girl all the time as well. Well, of course another girl, it was an all-girl's school back then. Anyway, she always seemed like she was the closest one to Minamo from my perspective." The woman drank from her cup. "Her name was Eiko."