Chapter 3 - Confrontation & Collapse
On their way to school, they met up with Sonoko as usual. Today was actually a really nice summer day, not a single cloud in the sky and a warm temperature that didn't make one feel like Tokyo had turned into a gigantic frying pan. The whole Teitan High School hoped it would stay like this until their summer festival was over, so it would be a great success. Of course, the school play would be an integral part of that, but Sonoko didn't seem pressured even with her role as head organizer of said play. After greeting each other, Sonoko quickly changed the topic to her relationship with Makoto, because she apparently had an extensive phone call with him yesterday. Shinichi would've made a few snarky comments at Sonoko, but ever since Shinichi and Ran actually got together and since Sonoko had met Makoto, the two of them had a silent agreement to keep the snarking at each other, in regards to relationships at least, limited.
One street corner before they went into sight of the Teitan High School, Shinichi and Ran stopped holding hands, which significantly lowered the amount of teasing they received from the rest of their classmates. The first few lessons of the day went over pretty fast, the students and even the teachers were enchanted by an uplifting mood.
During the break, Ran, who was on her way to the girls bathroom, spotted Kamiko and Ikema on the hallway. The boy had an arm wrapped around Kamiko and was talking to some other boys that Ran didn't really know.
"Hey, hey, Ikema-kun, still can't believe you got yourself a pretty thing like that." One of the boys jeered.
Ikema huffed. "Well, your lack of trust in my abilities as a girl magnet may be forgiven if you start to appreciate me properly now. Not many people can score a chick like Kamiko, isn't that right?"
Kamiko faked a smile - Ran could tell that she did, but it went over the head of the boys - and nodded. "Right..." She said. Ikema gave her a dirty smile in response and placed a wet smooch on her cheek. His saliva ran down her face and the way Ikema had her in his grip, she couldn't move her arms to wipe it away. Ran felt a bit sick watching this.
The boys jeered for a bit longer, when Kamiko wiggled a bit in his grip to get the attention of her 'boyfriend'. "Hey, Ikema, honey, can you let go of me? I need to go to the bathroom..." This sentence only furthered the amusement of the boys around her.
"Sweetie, we're in the middle of a conversation here," Ikema answered, "you can go later. Just hold it in."
"No, I...I can't...I really need to go to the bathroom..." Kamiko insisted with a blush on her face.
"Too bad, it's really impolite to just walk away from people like, you know?" Ikema said with a sadistic smile. "Either you hold it in or you let it go, but you'll stay right here, got it?"
"Got it..." Kamiko said.
Ran had enough, she couldn't just stand around and watch this any longer. With clenched fists, she walked towards the group of boys and Kamiko. "Ikema-kun!" Ran exclaimed.
Ikema looked at her. "You again? Is it about standing too close to the girls locker room door? I already told you and your friend, it's none of your business..."
"No, that's not it!" Ran interrupted him. "What do you think you're doing with your girlfriend?"
"Again, that's none of your business!" Ikema hissed at Ran.
"You can't just keep her here, she asked you to let her go to the bathroom. I can't believe she even has to ask for that...what kind of person are you!?" Ran almost yelled at this point.
"Listen, I don't let myself get talked to like that...!" Ikema barked and clenched his fists as well. Observing his movements, Ran got ready to defend herself from an incoming punch of his, when he suddenly relaxed his body again, as he looked past Ran now instead of looking at her. Ran looked over her shoulder to see where he was actually looking now; standing at the end of the hallway was Jodie-sensei, who observed the situation critically from a distance. Ran guessed that she was out of hearing range, otherwise she would've probably put Ikema in his place by now. However, Ikema couldn't just attack Ran now. She remembered that he already got in some other trouble with a teacher recently, so Ikema needed to lay low for a while. He released Kamiko from his grip and pushed her slightly towards Ran. "Here, do whatever you girls do in the bathroom." He jeered and walked off, his still snickering entourage following him.
Ran grabbed Kamiko's arm and pulled her into the girls bathroom nearby. She took a tissue from her pocket and offered it to Kamiko. The girl gave her a short smile, but shook her head. "No, thank you, I got one myself." She said to Ran and indeed pulled a tissue out of her own pocket, wiping off Ikema's saliva from her cheek with it. "It wasn't necessary to do that, really." Kamiko continued. The tone in her voice indicated that it wasn't some kind of shy thank you, no, for some reason Kamiko seemed unhappy with Ran getting her out of that situation.
"Of course it was necessary! He can't just treat you like this..." Ran said.
Kamiko shook her head again. "You're really too naive..." She said, before remembering that she really had to use the toilet, so she hurried into a stall. Now Ran also remembered that she had on her way to the bathroom herself when she came upon Kamiko and Ikema, so she did the same.
Shortly after, Kamiko and Ran washed their hands. "Phew..." Kamiko said. "That was really close..."
Ran turned to the girl. "See? It was necessary...aside from his general behavior..."
"No, it wasn't!" Kamiko said sharply. "That's normal behavior, nothing less. No need to make a big deal out of it."
"No need to make a big deal out of it...?" Ran repeated. "Are you listening to yourself? He almost caused you to...to wet yourself in front of his friends!"
"Oh please, it's just a bit of teasing from his part, he would've let go of me on his own." Kamiko looked down at her hands before turning back to Ran. "And even if he didn't, it wouldn't have been that bad, that's what we pay the janitors for, right? Well, at least that partially what the school pays them for..."
"..." Ran didn't know what to say. She couldn't really believe what she had just heard.
"Anyway, did you do it?" Kamiko asked.
"Huh?" Ran wondered. "Did I do what?"
"Come on, be a bit more sharp." Kamiko sighed. "Did you have sex with Kudo-kun yesterday?"
"Ahh, that..." Ran felt more stupid than yesterday that she rejected Shinichi because the words of this girl had crept into her mind. Kamiko seemed even less of someone who's advice one should listen to. "No, I did not."
"Too bad. Well, it didn't seem like he ditched you yet, so you should take the next chance you get no matter what!" Kamiko lectured.
"If I have...", Ran blushed, "...sex...with Shinichi...does that make me obliged to endure such a treatment from him too? Because I somehow feel like it doesn't...not that Shinichi would ever do such a terrible thing...and I don't think that having sex with him would make him do something like that!" She said with conviction.
"Terrible thing...? You're really making this bigger than it needs to be." Kamiko shrugged. "Take my word for it, he will behave similar after you've done it with him. And he'll ditch you, if you don't give him what he wants. And he wants it, trust me."
Not a false assumption by her, not at all, they both wanted it to be precise, but that wasn't the point here. "Kamiko-chan, Shinichi is not like Ikema-kun..."
"It doesn't matter!" Kamiko snapped. "Didn't you listen to me?! He's a boy just like Ikema, they will become alike eventually, even if you don't fuck with him. But if you want to stick with him, you have to make sure that you get it on, or else...ah, forget it! If you don't want to face reality, then don't! Just don't come running to once you've realized that I've been right all this time!" Kamiko hastily dried her hands and stormed off, running into Sonoko on her way out. "Out of my way!" She barked and shoved Sonoko aside.
Sonoko was caught off-guard by that, but managed not to fall to the ground. After staring at the door Kamiko had just left through, she went over to Ran. "Hey...is Kamiko-chan okay?" Sonoko asked.
Still looking at the door, Ran frowned. "I...I don't know..."
Meanwhile, Shinichi was also washing his hands, but in the boys bathroom of course. His mind was still concerned with the weird behavior of some of his fellow male classmates. Unfortunately, all of his subtle and less subtle attempts at getting information from them proved futile in the end. Every guy whom he had observed expressing that kind of weird behavior avoided questions and used empty phrases to get him off their backs. But their silence just reinforced his suspicions. Something weird was going and he would be the one to find out what it was.
"Yo, Kudo-kun!" He heard a familiar voice from behind say. Shinichi slightly turned his head to see friends of his, namely Masahito and some other fellows from the soccer team, approach him to also wash their hands.
"Hey, what's up guys?" Shinichi replied.
"Heard you got yourself and your girlfriend a dedication in the new Samonji novel. How did our great detective manage to achieve that?" Masahito asked with a grin.
"Well..." Shinichi said, with a similar grin on his face. The case surrounding the mystery writer Nintaro Shinmei hadn't been that long ago, but his daughter Kaori had already published the next novel in the series. The dedication had been her way of thanking Shinichi and Ran; hopefully these guys wouldn't read the novel too far or otherwise they would notice that Shinichi and Ran actually had a short cameo in it. Nevertheless, his audience wanted a tale from their great detective and Shinichi was ready to deliver. "Well, you see, it all started when Nintaro Shinmei went missin-..."
"KUDO!" An angry voice interrupted Shinichi. The boys turned around to see a very angry Ikema.
Shinichi frowned. "Hey, Ikema-kun...what's up?" The greeting sounded a lot more cold than the one toward his soccer mates. He wondered what that brute could want from him now.
"What's up, what's up..." Ikema mocked Shinichi's voice. "Your girlfriend's up, that's what's up."
"What about her?" Shinichi narrowed his eyes. What did Ran have to do with this?
"Your damn tomboy chick made me look stupid in front of the teachers and my lackeys, that about her! Just because she thinks that I can't treat my girlfriend the way I see fit." Ikema barked.
Shinichi slightly tilted his head. Ran had asked yesterday if Ikema mentioned Kamiko before, because she seemed happier than usual. He didn't see a connection between her happiness and the fact that her boyfriend is Ikema at the moment though. "Alright. So what?" Shinichi also didn't know what exactly Ikema wanted from him now.
"This what!" Ikema continued to reply by repeating Shinichi's questions and threw a punch at him. Even though he was taken by surprise, Shinichi dodged the punch without any effort. After all, he was able to dodge Ran's karate kicks, so this amateur punch had nothing on him. With Shinichi evading, Ikema's punch only hit the sink. He yelped in pain, held his hand and glared at Shinichi. "You bastard..." He growled.
Before Shinichi could reply anything, his soccer mates gathered around him, all of them forming a front against Ikema. "What's your deal man?!" Masahito yelled. Nodding and agreement from the others. "You jerk and your fellowship cause nothing but trouble; not hard to believe you mistreated your girlfriend again, it's sickening! Can't one day go by without you making an ass out of yourself?!"
"You...you...this is not over!" Ikema growled and fled out of the bathroom. Shinichi, Masahito and the others shook their heads in disapproval.
Shortly after, Shinichi entered their classroom and went over to Ran's desk, where she was busy reading in her mathbook for the upcoming lesson. "Hey, got a minute?" Shinichi asked.
Ran looked up from her book and gave him a smile. "Sure, go ahead."
"Just wanting to keep you informed that I had a little...argument with Ikema-kun in the bathroom." Shinichi started; Ran's eyes widened already. "He seemed pretty angry about you making him look stupid because of his girlfriend. Anyway, he tried to attack me..."
Now Ran gasped and covered her mouth with one hand in shock. "He attacked you?!"
He made a calming gesture with his hands. "He tried to attack me, tried. Ikema-kun threw a punch at me, but I evaded it and when some of my friends from the soccer club came to my side he fled the scene." As Shinichi concluded his recalling of the incident, he crouched down in front of her desk, came closer and talked a little more quiet. "Now, I'd be interested in hearing what exactly you supposedly did. You asked me about Ikema-kun yesterday because Kamiko-chan seemed happy recently...is that in some connected?"
Shifting slightly in her seat, Ran raised one hand to her forehead and sighed again. "Yeah...partially. It's actually a bit more complicated. You see..." Ran wanted to go on, but their teacher entered the class at this moment. Shinichi also noticed and sighed. "I'll explain after school, okay, Shinichi?"
He nodded and returned to his seat. Their teacher began to let students solve equations; since their math exams were right around the corner, the time for teaching them stuff was over. The students needed to be able to confidently solve the various mathematical problems their teacher gave them, or the exams were going to be a nightmare for them. Unfortunately for the students, it looked like a nightmare right now. Many students weren't able to fulfill the expectations of their teacher, making him more and more angry. After another bad answer, he lost his temper. "Okay, that's enough! Clearly, many of you haven't learned enough or maybe the damage that staring on a smartphone screen all day does to the human brain has been severely underestimated so far. In any way, you will all fail if you don't learn this stuff and I have done my part, I've taught you the methods, now you have to know them by heart and you have to learn to apply them. Otherwise you're doomed, academically speaking." Their math teacher inhaled deeply. "Alright. Kudo! Mouri!" He exclaimed, which made Shinichi and Ran sit even straighter in their seats. "You're among my best students in this class, will you please solve these next problems on the board for everyone to see? And please don't mess this up, you're my last hope here." He said, holding a piece of chalk in each of his hands.
Shinichi and Ran got up from their seats and took the chalk. 'Thanks for the low expectations, Sensei...' Shinichi thought, as the two of them began to scribble on the board. Luckily for them, they both managed to solve the exersise pretty easily.
Their teacher nodded with satisfaction. "Good, good. I hope everyone took notice how easy it can be if you know the methods. Hm, funnily you two used the exact same method in the same way. Well, I guess there aren't that many different methods in the books..."
"No, Sensei, that's because they learn this stuff together like a married couple!" One student yelled. A bit of laughter ensued.
Their teacher was confused. "A high school marriage? But Kudo-kun, you aren't old enough for that yet, are you?" Now the class couldn't hold themselves anymore and everyone started to burst out laughing. Shinichi and Ran tried to endure this whole procedure in blushing silence, which was pretty hard. "What...did I miss a joke or..." Their teacher was confused, before he got angry again. "EVERYONE, A BIT MORE DISCIPLINE PLEASE!" He screamed, silencing the laughter immediately. "I'm always in for some fun, but this is an academic institution, so I demand a bit of respect for the education." He turned to Shinichi and Ran. "You two may sit down now."
"Yes, Sensei..." They said in unison and headed for their seats.
As Shinichi went past the door to their classroom, it opened, revealing a student carrying a big stack of books, bigger than himself even. "Sensei, I've got the books you wanted!" The student said and wanted to enter the room, but he tripped. "Ahh..." He exclaimed as his huge tower of books fell forward, right in the direction of Shinichi. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get away in time and one of these heavy books hit him on the head. Shinichi held his head and fell down to the floor.
"Oh god, Shinichi!" He heard Ran cry out and saw her towering over him, before she crouched down. 'They are white...' Shinichi calmly thought from his point of view (it was more of a forensic fact finding than a perverted remark), as his vision started to blur.
"Shinichi, are you okay? Shinichi?!"