I've finally got around to updating! Mainly because I'm snowed in, which is very strange for my sector of Oregon. Anyway, I'd like to thank ManiaAzn for beta-ing for me!
Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 5
"So why did these guys follow orders in the first place if this was so bad? Why didn't they just say no?"
Natsuki took a bite of her hamburger before answering Mikoto's question through her food, looking down at the text book that sat between their trays.
"Well, they couldn't disobey orders, now could they? It was an order, and obeying orders meant upholding the emperor's honor as well as their own family's honor. You remember who the emperor was during World War II?" Natsuki quizzed her student as she took a drink from her soda.
"Yeah, that Hirohito guy, right?" Mikoto smiled when Natsuki nodded her head, confirming her answer correct.
"Yep. Anyway, the pilots and the crew were told that Japan had already declared war on the United States so, for all they knew, Pearl Harbor was fair game. The real plan the higher ups planned out was to send the declaration thirty minutes before the attack, but the United States had no way of receiving and translating the note within that amount of time. You know, recently there have been letters coming out from veterans that took part in this operation, apologizing for their actions."
Mikoto looked up with surprise. "That's nice of them, but why? It was the higher up's fault, wasn't it? The one's who planned it? The pilots were just tricked!"
"Yeah, but they fired the torpedoes. Guess they felt guilty. Anyway, what did we do to the torpedoes to make sure they didn't hit the bottom of the harbor?"
Mikoto looked down at her book for a second as Natsuki munched away at her french-fries.
This had been going on for the last thirty minutes. Mikoto had agreed to meet Natsuki the day after their talk at the food court of the local mall. They ate and studied at the same time and, as the minutes went by, Natsuki found that Mikoto was fairly easy to teach one-on-one. Natsuki originally wasn't excited about spending her free Saturday afternoon tutoring the athlete, but soon found herself caught by surprise. Mikoto was both inquisitive and showed a genuine interest. All she usually did was stare out the window, but it seemed all she needed was a direct approach.
"They added floaters to the sides so that the torpedoes wouldn't sink and hit the bottom of the harbor floor." Mikoto responded after reading for a minute or two.
"Yep. The only time that design of torpedo was used during the war." Natsuki added. "It seems like you've got it. You'll be fine for the test on Wednesday."
Mikoto suddenly got a surprised look on her face before staring down at her text book. Natsuki looked at her in question, knowing from her flushed expression that she wasn't looking up anything. "I can't believe it, what is she doing here?!"
The young teacher heard her student murmur under her voice as her nose dug further into the book. "What?" Natsuki asked before tapping Mikoto's head with her finger. "Hello! Earth to Minagi! Who's here?"
"She's here!" Mikoto hissed, looking up at Natsuki with desperate eyes.
"She?"
"Look!" Mikoto pointed to a couple walking just a little ways away from where they were sitting. There was a man that Natsuki ungratefully recognized, his spiky hair and ridiculous sideburns an unwelcome sit, but the woman with him Natsuki was pleasantly taken aback to see.
"Mai?" Natsuki said, causing Mikoto to gape at her.
"You know Mai-san?!"
Natsuki, without turning her head away from the couple, took up a french-fry and gnawed at the crunchy tip absentmindedly. "Yeah, we went to school together. We were roomies, actually. She always had my back, even when I was in trouble…though she'd lecture me if I did anything stupid."
Natsuki groaned as she remembered Mai's aggravated speeches about how Natsuki needed to be more responsible and how she needed to control her temper. She had at lest a hundred under her belt. The young teacher hadn't actually seen Mai since their graduation. She went off to a far away college and her friend went to some culinary institute. A sudden realization struck Natsuki, causing her to spit out her half chewed french-fry.
"Wait! You like Mai?!"
"Shhh!" Mikoto urged. "Yes, alright! She owns the restaurant I work at." Mikoto confessed, her face almost as red as Natsuki's could get.
Natsuki paused for a second and, without warning, stood up and turned in the couple's direction. "HEY!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. "TOKIHA MAI!"
Several people jumped at Natsuki's sudden outburst, Mikoto being among them. Mai and the spiky haired man also jumped before turning to face the owner of the booming voice, surprise smeared across their faces.
"DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE ACTUALLY EATING FAST FOOD! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR LITTLE SPEECH ABOUT HOME COOKED MEALS?! HYPOCRITE!"
Mikoto looked absolutely horrified by her teacher's acts but Natsuki only grinned in Mai's direction, holding back a laugh at her old friend's surprised expression. Natsuki was just about to say something else to ruffle Mai's feathers when the orange haired woman regained her bearings and shouted back at Natsuki, matching the woman's volume and frightening her companion.
"WELL MAYBE IF SOMEONE ACTAULLY ATE HEATHY FOOD THEY WOUDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT GETTING FAT AS THEY PLAYED STUPID VIDEO GAMES INSTEAD OF DOING THEIR HOMEWORK!" Mai yelled back. Everyone in the food court watched in complete confusion, including Mikoto and the spiky haired guy.
A few moment's later Natsuki, despite the distance, could see Mai's eyes start to tear up. Natsuki smiled at her friend and dropped her stiff stance as Mai ran up to her. Like she expected her friend latched herself around her neck, an invincible death grip that Natsuki couldn't get out of, even if she tried. Even though the hug pained her healing wounds Natsuki didn't struggle as Mai proceeded to hit her shoulder angrily.
"You idiot! How dare you embarrass me like that in public! And after not calling me for so long! What if you had crashed that damned vehicle you ride around on and killed yourself, how would I have known?!" Natsuki chuckled dryly at the irony. She had just crashed her bike. "Then you just suddenly pop up and---"
"Kuga." Natsuki turned her attention away from her over eccentric friend to face the spiky haired man, who seemed a little less than happy to see her.
"Tate." Natsuki responded blandly.
She had never liked the guy during high school, always chasing after Mai. He had good intentions, but he was just too stupid and always seemed to mess something up enough to make Mai upset. Natsuki could remember plenty of times when Mai cried over something that idiotic Tate Yuuichi had done to botch their relationship. Natsuki wasn't exactly thrilled to see them together.
Natsuki and Tate glared at each other for a second as Mai continued to reprimand the young teacher out for her lack of communication. After a while she cooled off and allowed Natsuki to actually breathe again, and resumed her place by Tate's side. This also didn't please Natsuki. If she remembered their little 'love pattern' correctly, learned from watching the couple through high school, their closeness was due to getting over a big fight. Mai began drilling Natsuki for answers but before the biker could answer any of them Mai looked down and saw Mikoto, still sitting at the table, stricken from shock.
"Mikoto!" Mai exclaimed, smiling when she saw the second year student. Mikoto looked up nervously at first, but seemed to calm down when her eyes finally landed on Mai.
"Hello Tokiha-san." She responded a little nervously.
"Oh, stop that! I already gave you permission to call me Mai." Mikoto flushed a little, but kept her smile. Natsuki would even say it grew slightly.
"Ah, sorry Mai-san."
"What are you doing here? And with Natsuki no less!" Both Tate and Natsuki found it a little strange that Mai found Mikoto more interesting than either of them: one, her boyfriend and the other, a friend she hadn't seen in forever. But unlike Natsuki, who was grinning, Tate looked unpleased as Mai leaned over Mikoto's shoulder, looking at the text book.
"A school book?" Mai said, confused.
"What are you two doing with a school book? Oh no…" She looked back over at Natsuki with a frown. "You're not going to burn it, are you?"
"What?! No!" Natsuki exclaimed, shoving her hands into her jacket pocket. "I haven't done that since high school…okay, maybe one in college, but the freaking librarian started it." Mai glared at Natsuki incredulously.
"It's not like that, Mai-san." Mikoto defended Natsuki as Mai picked up the book and examined it, probably expecting the biker to have drawn over the pages. "Kuga-sensei was just helping me study. I have a test this week and--"
Before Mikoto finished her sentence a loud thud drew her attention. Mai had dropped the book out of surprised and stared in disbelief at Mikoto.
"I-I'm sorry Mikoto, but did you just say Kuga-sensei?" Mikoto nodded and looked confused as her teacher slapped a hand over her face, concealing a blush. Mai turned her disbelieving gaze to Natsuki.
"You're a teacher?!" Tate yelled, startling people like Natsuki had done just moments ago.
"What's it to you?" Natsuki glared at him.
"When did this happen?!" Mai asked, finally out of her surprised stupor. Natsuki ran a hand through her hair as she sighed. Where to begin?
"After I got into college a professor took a liking to me and suggested I enroll in their teaching program. With no other leads to future careers I signed up and after I graduated he managed to land me a job teaching Japanese history at Fuka academy."
"Wow" Mai stared, obviously unsure of what to say. "Well, congratulations. I would have never thought! You always tormented our teachers, I never would have imagined." Natsuki grinned at her.
"Yeah, well since tormenting them was so much fun I decided to switch it up a bit and have a go at tormenting students. Right, Minagi?"
Mikoto laughed for a second and nodded. "She even uses a blow-horn if we aren't quiet after the bell rings."
"That's horrible!" Mai gasped.
"It works." Natsuki gave her another toothy grin.
"So, you own a restaurant now, huh? Should've known." Natsuki said, changing the subject before Mai could yell at her about 'improper discipline methods'.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Mai asked, obviously caught by surprised. Mikoto looked at Natsuki, her eyes wide. That's when the young teacher remembered Mikoto had told her this the other day, when the athlete had been spilling her guts. Oops.
"Yeah, well…" Natsuki scratched the back of her head before continuing. "Minagi told me. She, uh, she's the reason I saw you and told me that she worked for you!"
Well, it wasn't technically a lie.
"Oh. I see." Mai said, actually buying Natsuki's improvisation. "Yeah, it's just down the street from Fuka academy. You should come by some time…in fact."
Natsuki tilted her head, wondering what her friend was thinking.
"Why don't we go to that dance club? The over twenty-one club, a few blocks away from here? It'll have to be Monday, because I have work to do Sunday." Mai said as she scribbled an address down on a piece of paper. She stuffed it into Natsuki's hands and continued. "Have a cab drive you, don't ride your bike."
"Like I'm that stupid." Natsuki grinned as she stuffed the paper into her jacket. She couldn't ride her bike anyway, having already crashed it…but she wasn't telling that to Mai. "And don't bring slim here." Natsuki glared at Tate. "Just us to catch up."
"It's a date!" Mai yelled as she and Tate walked off, arm in arm. Mikoto, startled, looked at her while Natsuki blushed.
"It's not a date, you idiot!" Natsuki yelled, knowing Mai was just kidding.
Too bad Mikoto didn't get the joke.
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The weekend rolled by and it was Monday already. Natsuki learned that the festival event coming up wasn't a normal cultural festival, but a founder's day festival. Unlike a normal cultural festival, where the students do the work, it seemed the community would set up stalls for the student's enjoyment instead of the other way around. This really didn't make since to Natsuki and she didn't enjoy the faculty meetings the teachers had to endure to prepare for this damned thing. She had heard this school was rich, but this was absurd!
While Natsuki was stuck in a faculty meeting during lunch, Mikoto sat in the cafeteria, eating solemnly.
"What's with the face, kitty-cat." A sharp voice asked and Mikoto looked up at her red haired friend sitting across the table.
"Nothing Nao." The athlete responded, prodding her chopsticks around in her ramen. Nao raised her eyebrow in question as she watched Mikoto's odd behavior. On a normal day Mikoto would be slurping down her ramen while talking a mile a minute, usually all stuffed into the same incoherent sentence. And usually the endless blabbering would be about the woman she had a crush on.
"Something happen with Miss Wonderful?" Nao asked, sipping her drink as Mikoto sighed.
"No, not exactly."
"Hello Minagi-san, Yuuki-san." Both looked up and saw Fujino Shizuru, sitting down next to Mikoto.
"Haven't seen you in a while." Mikoto said familiarly, having known Shizuru from the sports clubs interaction with the student council.
"Yes, well…" Shizuru pulled her lunch out from her bag and both Nao and Mikoto couldn't help noticing a second bento. "Haruka-san was in the student council room and the person I usually eat lunch with is unavailable."
"So, we're your third option huh?..." Nao said in a half bored half irritated manner. "No stupid fangirls you can sit with, no poisonous reptiles."
"Ara, I'm happy to see you also Yuuki-san. Always in such a pleasant mood." Shizuru responded as she opened one of the bentos.
Shizuru looked over at Mikoto and noticed instantly that she had not devoured her usual three bowls of ramen. "Minagi-san, is something bothering you?"
"That's what I asked before you interrupted!" Nao hissed at the third year before turning back to Mikoto. "Is this about that orange head bimbo your obsessed with?"
"She's not a bimbo!" Mikoto growled, finally looking up from her ramen.
"Ara, you mean Tokiha-san?" Mikoto turned as red as Nao's hair as they both stared at Shizuru with gawking expressions.
"H-How did you know?!" Mikoto stuttered.
"I often go to Tokiha-san's restaurant and can't help but notice certain…interactions?" Shizuru smiled as she took a bite of her lunch, Mikoto's complexion slipping to a near purple.
"Yeah, yeah, once again Fujino knows everything! Now tell me what's wrong! You're really freaking me out!" Nao yelled and Shizuru nodded in agreement, choosing to ignore the red head's earlier comment.
"Well, last Saturday I went to meet Kuga-sensei at the mall…" If Shizuru wasn't listening before, she was definitely paying attention now.
"You mean that new, violent history teacher?" Nao asked, looking a little confused. "What the hell? I thought you liked that Tokiha person."
"She offered to tutor me over the weekend for that test coming up on Wednesday."
Nao was surprised, "There's a test on Wednesday?"
"Yuuki-san, let Minagi-san finish." Shizuru sighed, signaling Mikoto to continue.
She told them about how she and the young teacher went to the mall to study, (Mikoto couldn't help but notice Shizuru paying extra attention) how they bumped into Mai and how Natsuki knew Mai from school. They were old friends.
"So what's the problem?" Nao asked, taking another sip of her drink, just to realize it's empty. Shizuru frowned a little at the coldness in Mikoto's voice when she spoke of Natsuki, chilling even more as the tale went on.
Mikoto scoffed at Nao's question, crossing her arms. "Mai asked Kuga-sensei to meet her at Rochester bar… she said it was a 'date'."
A snapping sound caught Mikoto and Nao's attention and stared wide-eyed at Shizuru's now broken chopsticks. What was more frightening was the blank expression on the student council president's face as she merely stared at Mikoto.
"Holy shit! Did you snap those with your fingers!" Nao exclaimed, but her shout went unnoticed by the third year.
"Excuse me?" Fujino asked Mikoto, her voice seemingly normal, contrary to her expression.
"What?! Do you like that Mai chick also…," But before Nao finished her sentence, her voice trailed off as her eyes fell once again upon the second, unopened bento in Shizuru's bag. She remained silent for a moment, letting her realization sink in properly before a hysterical laugh issued from her mouth.
"Holy shit! You have a crush on that barbaric teacher!" Shizuru merely glared at Nao as the second year red head continued her insane laughing, drawing attention from all around the cafeteria. "This is rich! Sophisticated, high-class Fujino Shizuru falling for motorcycle trailer trash!"
"Nao! Shut up!" Mikoto yelled, finally snapping out of her gloom long enough to smack Nao in the head.
"So, let me get this straight." Nao said, leaning over the table as she rubbed her head. "Mikoto likes Tokiha, who is dating some weirdo. Tokiha is going on a date with Kuga (At this point, the president sent her a dirty look) and Shizuru likes the freaking desk shaking teacher?!"
"Ara, has Yuuki-san made the mistake of falling asleep in Kuga-sensei's class?" Shizuru asked smugly, Nao responding with a small scuffing noise.
"Do you want my help or not?!"
"I'm awfully surprised you'd offer such a thing and I'm quite uncertain about accepting." Shizuru looked skeptically at the red head. Mikoto merely raised her eyebrow at her friend.
"What do you propose we do? Interrupt their date?"
Nao flashed a sneaky grin at the two love-stricken teens. This was going to be fun.