Chapter 3

Ren thought it was a one-time thing. He had compartmentalized what happened the week before as an accident, and as such, it was meant to happen only once. But just like anything that he had come to assume involving Enma Ai at that point, he was wrong.

Tuesday of that week, she came to class with a bruise on her left knee. It wasn't one of those water-colored ones he had seen on her in the clinic. It was dark, almost like a mole, but it was too big to be one. It was like someone drew a circle on her skin and colored it in furiously with a marker. He had noticed it when she uncrossed her legs. She had them crossed during the entire period, but as he handed out graded homework to the class, she shifted her legs and there it was. He could've sworn their gazes met when he looked at her face with surprise. But she did not want to say anything and neither did he.

On Thursday, it was a cut on her cheek. It was shallow, a morbid checkmark starting from the corner of her lip and ending near her ear. She covered it by resting that side of her face on the palm of her hand. She didn't give any signs that it hurt, so Ren, urged by his daily mantra of "Stay out of her business", pretended it wasn't there.

Friday was the day the wrist splotches appeared. They were angry and shaped like fingers. By then, even the stoic Ren couldn't help but wonder what or who was doing things to the girl. Or was she doing this to herself? She was too nonchalant about them and wore them like macabre collectors' items. Her cut and bruise hadn't completely healed and together, the injuries seemed like paint on a pale canvass. Ren had thought of telling Ai to go to the clinic. Nothing too nagging. Just an offhand suggestion, or a teacher's order (those didn't need any explanation). But every time he neared her, the look in her eyes made him feel like speaking about them would break the truce that had somehow formed between them. It was a silent agreement, and his job was to shut up.

He had frankly thought about going back to the storeroom. He had the weird idea that if he did, he would find out what's happening without asking her. Anyway, he could make it seem accidental, too. It wasn't like anybody was saying anything. His fellow teachers didn't mention it. Her classmates didn't seem to notice anything was wrong. It was like he was the only one who could see. Until Onna.

"Is Enma Ai doing well?" She had asked several days after the huge bruise appeared on the girl.

They were on the school rooftop, smoking some menthols Ren had confiscated from a bunch of seniors.

He had to cover his choke with a cough when the nurse questioned. "What?"

"I said is Enma Ai doing well? Jesus, that bruise on her knee looks fucked up."

"Thank God," Ren breathed in relief. "I thought I was imagining things."

Onna brushed some strands of hair from her face and snorted. "What do you mean you're imagining things? You'd have to be blind not to see that that girl has issues."

"Well nobody's saying anything about it. None of the faculty drones are gossiping about it. Even students aren't giving a fuck."

"Well, maybe they're learning too much from you," mocked Onna. She put one leg up on the ledge.

"Wanyuudou said it might be a family thing."

"Wanyuudou knows?"

"He knows everything, that man."

"No shit. He could've at least warned me about it."

"He also said you were avoiding him." Onna grinned like a cheshire cat. "Are you?"

"I'm avoiding everyone-" the nurse gave him a look, "apart from you, of course. It's hard enough to deal with my own shit, you know." Ren took a long drag from his cig.

"Mm. But you have to admit. You're curious."

Yes, he was. Leave it to Onna to read him like a first aid book. He didn't want to do anything about it; he certainly didn't want to be involved in it (especially now that it seemed like a domestic matter, those sticky ones that needed the police to sort out), but deep down, he wanted to know what it was. Was it an angry father? A drugged mother? Or step-siblings from hell? Ren's family was nothing to brag about but he could say he didn't get beat up at 14. Ren believed that if you had to be hurt, it should be because you wanted to. Isn't that supposed to be a law of the universe?

"So what are you planning to do about it?" Onna asked as the break finished with the ringing bell.

"Nothing. Nothing, right now."

"Yeah? Going to wait til she shows up at school with a missing limb?"

"Shut it, Onna." Ren's temper flared. He was a bit surprised, given that he rarely got pissed at his ex. "I told you, it's not my job, okay?" He threw another glare at the woman and found her smiling at him.

"Sure it isn't."

Ren stayed true to his words and let the matter go. He kept going to school with books. Ai kept going to school with bruises. They were smaller now, but more than a couple. They littered her body like specks of dirt. Once, Wanyuudou, catching him off guard in the men's room, asked if there was something Ren had to tell him. He replied, "Tanaka is failing Math," with which the principal gave a disappointed "I see." They both knew it wasn't what his superior was talking about.

Call it strange, but Ren felt like he was doing her a favor, keeping his end of the bargain. He knew that from the moment he found Ai in the storeroom, he had somehow agreed to keep things secret.

Until of course, everything happened right in his face.

It was exactly three weeks after the storeroom incident and Ren was on his mid-morning break. He decided to get out of the stifling school building for a change. Onna was out on a seminar and he had no one to share his pilfered lights with, so he figured he should find a secluded spot to indulge his vice. There was a cluster of trees just beyond the soccer field he had always eyed from the rooftop and now, he decided, was a good time as any to see if it was somewhere he could smoke in peace.

The grass rustled under his feet as he briskwalked to the site. It was very humid, the sun shining a little too brightly that most students decided to stay in for their own breaks. Perfect, thought Ren. There would be a small possibility of him getting caught violating the same rules he was expected to uphold.

He was but a few feet away from the nearest magnolia, his hand restlessly jiggling the cigarette pack in his right pocket, when he noticed something white flash between the tree trunks.

Ren stopped in his tracks. "What the-"

He decided not to move closer and instead squinted towards the direction of the movement. He heard rough, grumbling noises and slight thuds. Sounds that logically did not make for a positive conclusion. His foot seemed to move on its own accord and inched half a step forward.

"Hold it!"

Ren's ears pricked up. Did a voice just say what he thought it did? The reply came a little less clear and he could barely make out two alternating voices in conversation. They were students, his brain told him, finally catching up to the unusual events. As a teacher, he should probably get in there and demand to know what they were up to. But the larger part of Ren told him it was pointless. They were probably there to do what he was just about to. It couldn't be anything worse than that. They were kids, after all.

His foot that had moved in anticipation had began backing away slowly, when one of the voices teasingly said, "Who's going to die now, Ai-chan?"

The last two words seemed to do something to his body because the next thing he knew, he was running towards the trees, his lungs ready for a confrontation.

"What's going on here?" He had shouted even before he could clearly make out a group of about four boys surrounding something on the ground. All of them turned around at almost the same time, the recognition on their faces as swift as their decision to run. Ren, unfortunately, did not seem to know who any of them were. They were already too far for him to take a second look, either. All that was there to do was to tend to what they had left behind.

He had known it was her before she sat up.

"Enma-san."

Ren's throat constricted unconsciously as he smoothed his gaze over her bent legs and scraggly hair. There was mud on the sleeves of her blouse and on her skirt, little pieces of grass stuck everywhere, even on her socks. The state of her uniform made him not want to see what those boys did to her face.

"Enma-san."

Ai's movements were contained. She started brushing away the dirt on her arms and on her front with a pace so strangely slow, as if she was merely flicking away lint off of a newly laundered dress. And as always, she was dreadfully silent. The good thing was she was not telling Ren to fuck off. The bad thing was she was not telling him anything at all. Ren didn't know what to do with himself, so he settled for crouching beside her, just not too close for her to be uncomfortable. As he watched her clean herself up, the gears in his brain began to work out the reason for the girl's injuries. There was a burgeoning urge to go after those boys with a huge metal pipe, but he quashed it before it could fully form.

"I'm fine." Ai's voice cut through his thoughts.

Ren tried to bend down a little closer to see if she really was, but her hair was in the way.

Without thinking, he reached out and held a handful of locks away from her face. The way she shrank away from him was the fastest he had ever seen her move.

"I told you not to touch me before, didn't I?"

"Yes, but your face-"

"I'm alive. That's all that matters."

He wasn't sure about her definition of alive because from his vantage point, she was barely that.

She was bleeding from her temple and her left eye was swollen. There was also some blood trickling down her nose and her lips were cracked and wounded.

"Jesus Christ," Ren whispered. It looked like Ai didn't even put up a fight. In times like this, his first instinct was to call Onna, but the dutiful nurse was not around. The only one left in the clinic was Dr. Yamamoto, a perverted prick who was sure to gossip about the incident faster than he could heal Ai's wounds. Then again, what did Ren know about healing? The only first aid he had ever administered was to unwrap a bandaid, and by the looks of things, that would be as much help as offering the girl one of his cigarettes.

Sighing, Ren got up. "I'll take you to the hospital." Ai's surprised eyes gazed up at him.

"What?"

"The hospital. I don't think the clinic is well equipped to handle your..." he vaguely motioned to her face, "...condition."

"I'm going to be fine," insisted Ai.

"You said that the last time."

Ai continued to stare at him, as though thinking how best to strike. Ren stared back. He had been watching for too long, that he knew. This time, he was going to at least try to do something. It didn't mean he had to get involved. He just had to get all of that blood off of her.

It felt like years before Ai gathered herself up. She put her weight against a tree trunk to avoid needing Ren's help. Her knees were always this close to buckling, but out of sheer will, she was able to firmly plant her feet on the ground. She leaned her head back, making Ren see the real extent of the damage. He stopped himself from wincing.

"You have to get those fixed."

"I can go to the clinic by myself-"

"I told you, what they've got isn't enough-"

"Nurse Onna will do just fine," she snapped.

"She's not there."

"Then the doctor-"

"He's a nincompoop." Ren pursed his lips. He clearly shouldn't have said that. "Just go to the hospital."

There was a hint of a smile on Ai's broken lips. "What are you so afraid of?"

Ren's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"No one's going to notice," she said in a small, sure voice that partly convinced him she was reading his mind. "They never do."

Her words rang with a truth that he was very uncomfortable with. He remembered the conversation he had with Onna, where he questioned his sanity for observing things that seemed invisible to everyone's eyes. This girl, bruised and bloodied in front of him, seemed invisible to everyone's eyes. But not to his, apparently. And for yet another reason he couldn't put his finger on, the sight of her wasn't something he could easily dispel from his thoughts. He had to try harder.

"There's a first time for everything," Ren argued. "And let's face it, neither of us want any of them to talk."

She had his eyes closed and for a moment, he thought she had fallen asleep. But then she bowed her head and slowly pushed herself off of the trunk.

"You can walk me."

So he did. First, he lent her his suit jacket, telling her to cover up as much as she could. It wouldn't do them both any favors if people on the street started pointing at the beaten up girl and the guy she was with who was too insensitive to even help hold her up. For her part, Ai's head remained bowed and she kept her eyes trained on Ren's pretentiously shined shoes for direction.

Walking with a slight limp, they couldn't go as fast as they wanted to, but they were fast enough not to gather stares from the crowd. The city was bustling and busy as always, and they had no time to look at the strange pair crossing the street.

Ren was acutely aware of her presence during their walk. Although he could touch her if he merely extended his arm several inches to the right, he kept his distance as much as their small gap could afford. There was the question "Are you all right?" ready to roll off his tongue any minute, but he stopped himself because like many things, it was futile when it came to her.

He could already see the big white building that was their destination. With only a couple of streets left to cross, a feeling of dread steadily began growing in his chest. What was he supposed to do once they get in there? He obviously had to introduce himself as her teacher. And then they would start to ask. What happened? Why didn't he bring her to the school clinic? Had her parents been informed? Had the principal been informed?

The teacher inwardly cursed himself for not thinking about all of these then. Ren was no McGyver; he was not good at making contingency plans at the drop of a hat. In fact, he was horrible at it. After all, never in his life did he need to formulate contingency plans; they were for spontaneous people. Ren was a creature of the most mundane habit. He risked a glance at his companion and saw her discretely clutching her side. The dread morphed into something close to concern, and he looked away.

"We're almost there," he said, trying to sound reassuring. They were already in front of the building, just waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green.

"You can leave now."

"H- What?"

"You can leave. I can handle myself."

Ren tried to inhale some patience. "You can't."

"You're late for class," Ai pointed out.

Ren opened his mouth to retaliate but he realized she was right. Both their breaks were well over by then, and he had 20 people in Room 22B waiting for him to discuss logarithmic equations. On the other hand, his student was bleeding and there was no one there for her but him.

"I don't think I should leave you-"

"I don't think you should leave your class."

With that, the pedestrian light blinked and she took his surprise as an advantage and crossed.

"Enma-san!" He called after her, but she continued until she reached the other side. Ren expected Ai to turn around when she got to the hospital door, but she didn't.

The light blinked again, and cars whizzed past Ren. The next time he looked, Ai was gone.

The next few days passed by without a hiccup. Ren didn't want to admit it, but Ai was right. Nobody noticed. Apart from him, of course. The empty seat on the fifth row was a constant elephant in the room. Ren waited for one of his students to at least say something about their missing classmate- after all, she had been gone for two days, but all of them continued to gossip and sleep and not pay attention to his lessons just like always. It made him want to throw his lecture notes at their faces.

On the third day of Ai's absence, Ren could hardly bear walking into 1-B without having a slight mental breakdown. For one, he didn't know how she was. Two, he had no idea where she was. And three, a nagging feeling in his gut told him it was his fault, and that every day that he let pass without doing anything about anything was making it worse.

So right as the bell rang and class ended, he raced past his students and jogged to the clinic. He had to see Onna and tell her. He had an inkling that she wasn't going to say anything nice, but it's not like he had a choice.

The clinic door was partially open when he got there, but the clinic itself was empty save for the nurse. Onna was bent over some paperwork, holding her pen between her teeth, a sure sign that she was under stress.

"Yo." Ren greeted, trying to sound casual. Onna didn't even look up.

"What is it?"

"Busy?"

"Clearly."

Despite the obvious dismissal, Ren deposited himself on a chair across from her. "I need to tell you something."

"I already know you're still in love with me."

"Onna, this is serious." His hushed tone got the nurse's attention. "It's about Enma Ai."

The way Onna pushed the papers away told Ren she was intrigued. "All right. Five minutes."

Ren sighed heavily. "She got beat up."

"What? Where?"

"Here."

"Here? You mean at school?"

"Found her in the grounds. A group of older boys..." he trailed off, letting her fill in the blanks.

"Mother fucker," hissed Onna. "How can I not know this? Why didn't you take her here? Where is she?

Is she okay now?"

Ren closed his eyes. "Look, it happened three days ago, you weren't here so I had to take her to the hospital."

"Jesus Christ, Ren." The nurse leaned back into her chair, equal parts astounded and devastated.

"Those little fucks should be taught a lesson. Where's Ai? Did you tell her parents?"

Ren rubbed his eyes in frustration. The more questions Onna launched at him, the more he realized he did not handle the situation the way a thinking adult should have. The guilt felt like lead in his stomach.

"No. I- I didn't tell her parents. I didn't tell anybody but you-"

"What?" Onna was positively shouting now. "Why the fuck would you do that? That kid was badly hurt! Her parents have the right to know what happened!"

"But I don't know who her parents are! I didn't make out those boys' faces! What was I supposed to do? She was- she was bleeding and I just- I couldn't-"

A knock on the door halted their shouting match, and their heads snapped towards the door as though they were caught doing something illegal.

"Yes?" rasped Onna.

It was Wakata. He had a hand clutched to his chest, like he just ran a mile to get there. His perfect hair was plastered on his forehead, and his pleading eyes made Ren swallow. Enma Ai quickly crossed his thoughts.

"It's a student," Wakata breathed. "We need h-help."

"What happened?"

"Takanaga. He- he fell from the rooftop. We think he's dead."

A/N: I know it seems like I'm updating only once a year, but I would have you know that I'm not letting this fic die. I'm writing the next chapter as we speak. So in the meantime, please review if you can. I'd appreciate it.