"I hate you sometimes."
Mai saw her supposed best friend grin and she rolled her eyes.
"Fine! Oliver. I've liked you for ages. But I was too wimpy to say anything. And then when I did buck up the courage stuff got in the way. Mainly Marcus, that idiot. I was… I was happy when Gene told me you liked me too. But I get it. You don't want to pursue anything. I'll get over it." Mai looked expectantly at Masako. "Happy?"
"Delighted." Masako turned to Oliver. "It's your turn."
"You can't make me do anything."
"No, I can't," Masako agreed. "But for the sake of peace within the household, we're all going to wait here until you say something."
"I have nothing to confess."
"Do you have a reply to either Gene or Mai's statements?"
"No."
Masako raised an eyebrow that Oliver ignored. Mai sighed. How could she like someone so stubborn?
"You really have nothing to say to me?" Mai asked.
"Why would I? You're not the first person to think they like me when they actually like Gene. What is the point in my replying to that?"
"Noll—"
"Don't tell me who I do and don't like, Oliver," Mai muttered. "I know the difference between you both and I know full well which idiot I like. Or are you just deflecting because you think I might be going abroad? Is that it?"
Oliver twitched at this.
"What would you say if I weren't going abroad?" Mai went on.
"There is no point contemplating it," Oliver muttered. "You're a hard worker and a good student, there is no reason why you wouldn't be picked."
"Humour me."
"Why?" Oliver asked, and his voice broke a little. "I am not suited for relation—"
"Bullshit."
"It is not. I often fail to express myself and I am bound to screw up," Oliver retorted. "I do not want to cause you any pain and—"
"You're causing me pain now!" Mai shouted. "It hurts that you won't give us a chance."
"I'm sorry."
Mai deflated. She took a deep breath and wiped away a stray tear.
"I understand. I'm sorry you feel that way. If you change your mind…" She looked up at Masako. "Can I go now?"
Masako nodded.
Mai stood up and left the room. She found Yasuhara in the dining room with Luna, playing with one of the cat toys.
"I heard raised voices," Yasuhara prompted.
"Yeah… I shouldn't have shouted."
"It's fine," Yasuhara said. "Sometimes you have to shout to be heard."
Mai dumped her phone on the table and walked into the kitchen.
"Do you want a cup of tea?"
"Yeah, please," Yasuhara replied. Mai heard him groan as he stood up. "My legs are so stiff. Luna, no! Luna, that's my trousers."
Mai smiled to herself. She made two cups of tea and brought them through. Luna had moved on to attacking something else and Yasuhara joined Mai at the table.
"So Oliver is still refusing to admit he has feelings?"
"No, he admits to them, sort of, he's just… I think he's scared."
"Of what?"
"Getting hurt. I mean his best friend just hurt him so it makes sense," Mai mumbled. "But still. Eugh. It's not even like I can say that I wouldn't do that, because up until yesterday, he would have believed Gene wouldn't have either…"
Before Yasuhara could come up with some sort of comforting reply, there was a knock at the door. Mai sighed and got up to answer it.
"I'll—" Yasuhara began.
"Nah, it's fine. I'll go."
Mai left her tea on the table and headed for the front door.
And as if her evening could not get any worse, Marcus stood on the other side.
"Mai-chan!"
He pushed through the front door and Mai's blood boiled. She slammed the door shut and followed him down the hall to the kitchen.
"Mar— What are you doing here?" Yasuhara asked.
"Came to see Mai-chan of course! Seeing as we're going to Singapore together—"
"I haven't even had an email yet!" Mai protested.
This did not seem to bother Marcus in the slightest.
"Doesn't matter. I went and asked the Study Abroad people. They told me you were a strong candidate. That's code for 'you got in'."
Mai gaped at him.
"No it's not!" she argued. "It's code for 'we're not allowed to talk about other people without their consent'."
Marcus rolled his eyes.
"You've got in Mai-chan, you should be happy! We're going together! It's gonna be great for our relationship!"
Yasuhara stepped back at the noise of frustration that emanated from Mai's mouth.
"We have no relationship!" she screamed. "I don't even like you! You just won't take 'no' for an answer!"
Marcus's expression soured a little.
"What did he say to you?"
Mai frowned.
"What?"
"I told that skinny twerp that he should back the fuck off. So what did he say to you?"
"Skinny— Do you mean Oliver? He didn't say—"
"Where is he?" Marcus demanded.
"Marcus—"
"I think you need to calm down," Yasuhara butted in. "This has nothing to do with—"
"Shut the fuck up!"
"Marcus! Just leave!" Mai shouted. "You have no right to barge into my house and insult my—"
The living room door opened and Masako stuck her head out.
"What the—"
"Masako," Marcus growled. "Where is—"
But before he could finish, one of the twins appeared behind Masako and Marcus made a beeline for him.
Masako had the sense to duck as Marcus raised a fist and powered it into the twin's face.
"Gene!" Mai shrieked. "For fucks sake! Marcus! What the fuck are you doing?!"
Gene fell back, staggering and clutching his bleeding nose.
"I'm calling the police," Yasuhara stated, "If you do not leave right now."
Marcus spun around. Yasuhara held his phone in one hand with his finger hovered over the screen.
"Yasuhara—" Mai began, but Marcus started towards him too.
Mai darted between them, which caused Marcus to pause, if only for a second. This gave Masako enough time to kick him hard from behind. Her foot landed squarely between his legs and Marcus went down, groaning.
"Call the police," Masako told Yasuhara. "Now."
Yasuhara moved away from the situation to make the call. Masako knelt down on Marcus's back to hold him in place as he moaned.
Mai looked to each of her housemates in turn. Masako alone seemed calm. Yasuhara was running his hand repeatedly through his hair. Gene was—
"Get up," Oliver muttered. "You'll get blood on the carpet."
Mai watched as Oliver held his hand out to Gene, who grinned with watery eyes and took it. She did not interfere and Oliver helped his brother to the kitchen.
"Wait!" Mai called. "Don't wash it off. It's evidence."
Oliver frowned, but nodded. He sat Gene down on a chair and collected some kitchen roll.
"Don't drip blood anywhere," Oliver muttered. "Otherwise we'll have to tell Mum."
The police turned up ten minutes later and began questioning the entire household. They took Marcus into a separate room to reduce the tension.
"...kicked him so that he wouldn't hurt Mai," Masako finished.
Mai watched her friend out of the corner of her eye and thanked any gods that might happen to have been listening that she had one friend with their head screwed on.
"Miss Taniyama, how long has Mr Jones been harrassing you?"
Mai's attention snapped back to the police officer in front of her.
"Uhh… Since the beginning of the academic year? I guess? He's never been quite like this before but…"
Other snippets of interviews caught her ears.
"... threatened me yesterday…"
"I think he mistook me for my…"
"... and I froze up…"
"Do you want to press charges? This could lead to a restraining order."
"I…" Mai opened and closed her mouth a few times. "I don't know?"
"As it's his first offence, the punishment would likely be—"
"Can't you just… I don't know, take him back to the station and give him a warning and stuff? Like I… Girls get blamed when they get 'promising young men' in trouble…" Mai mumbled.
The police officer gave Mai a pitying look.
"Okay. We can do that. But if this happens again, I would personally recommend pursuing—"
"I know," Mai interrupted. "Just… We can give him a chance. It's the end of term. Everyone is stressed around now so…"
The police officer nodded.
They took Marcus away and the house was suddenly very quiet.
"Can I clean up this blood now?" Gene asked. "They took a picture? Though not from my best side…"
"Has anyone seen Luna?" Mai asked. "I think all the noise might have scared her off…"
Gene went to clean himself up, while the others searched for the kitten.
They found her under Gene's bed. They also found the excrement she had deposited on his bed.
"You know what?" Oliver muttered as he stared at the sloppy cat faeces. "I think I can forgive Gene now…"
There was a moment of silence, and then everyone else burst out laughing.
Author's note: Maybe I ought to rename this story "well that escalated quickly"...?