Hi fellas! Sorry this took an extra day, I've been doing a lot of unpacking and editing and gah, it's a lot all at once! But I have the chapter, and I hope you all enjoy! The cast list is on my profile, and a link to the blog for image references and small blurbs on the cast can be found there as well! I'll be adding another page for side characters that aren't canon characters soon, but for now it's a work in progress working out which characters will be seen in the fic down the line.
That said, I hope you all enjoy, and subs for Existing are now officiall CLOSED! Thank you to everyone who submitted! It was super hard narrowing it down to a small list of OCs, and even then I went a little over on the limit I set for myself, haha. You guys did great with your characters!
01
ME: (2009/05/03 5:48PM)
I just can't believe you guys anymore.
Lose my number.
TSUTSUMI KUROU: (2009/05/03 5:48PM)
For real?
KAWAKAMI MIKIO: (2009/05/03 5:49PM)
Where the hell did this attitude come from
ME: (2009/05/03 5:52PM)
This isn't an attitude.
I'm just sick of you guys.
Why do you even talk to me to begin with?
HISANOBU JO: (2009/05/03 5:54PM)
Dude
What the fuck is wrong with you
We're your friends
ME: (2009/05/03 5:55PM)
I don't remember making friends with some horndogs.
I remember scum of the earth latching onto me out of nowhere and bitching about which girls are too stuck-up to look your way.
Pretty sure relationships are against school policy btw, keep it in your pants.
KAWAKAMI MIKIO: (2009/05/03 5:56PM)
WOW
TSUTSUMI KUROU: (2009/05/03 5:56PM)
What the fuck that was so uncalled for
ME: (2009/05/03 5:57PM)
You know what else is uncalled for?
Telling me which girls will suck me off so I can "get my stick out of my ass"
HISANOBU JO: (2009/05/03 5:58PM)
We were just looking out for you, Tobishima
That's what friends do
But clearly you think you're better than us because you're a little cherry boy
We took you in. I took you in
Did anyone else want to be friends with you?
No
So you'd better shape your shit up and get your head back on straight
Or else you're gonna regret it
ME: (2009/05/03 6:00PM)
Lose
My
Number
HISABOBU JO: (2009/05/03 6:01PM)
Don't come crying to me when you come to your senses
Already a week into his third year, and Tobishima Kuni was exhausted.
His back popped and creaked as he stretched his arms high above his head. He rolled out of bed, seeing the sun start to rise through his window, and Kuni yawned with a groan. It was his birthday last week, officially eighteen years old, but it felt like nothing had really changed at all despite starting his third year and becoming one step closer to an adult. He was just… exhausted.
Maybe it was because of his turbulent Christmas and New Year's.
Frankly speaking, his first and second years of high school had been exhausting and hectic. Thanks to having a mother who was famous nationwide for her ikebana business and a father who was well-known for his whiskey distribution and collecting, everyone wanted to cosy up to Kuni so their parents could bypass the wait lists his mother and father had in place. Kuni had been content with staying in the background, mostly because he couldn't see himself as a prominent player in social circles despite his desire to find something to make him stand out. But of course, nothing ever worked out the way he wanted. After his classmates gave up trying to do their parents' bidding by getting chummy with Kuni, he was designated a loner that nobody wanted to approach; so it was beyond him why people like the up-and-coming star of the track and field team and the prodigious pianist in his class had started to hang around. Even their friend, who was on the fast track to become a junior idol, tried to act chummy with Kuni. But it was all so performative, almost, and Kuni always left every conversation feeling disgusted and uncomfortable.
Cutting them off at the start of last year was definitely a long overdue decision on Kuni's part, but with everything slowing down and with Kuni effectively becoming a loner once again, a sudden influx of energy from another self-proclaimed friend had drained his reserves for a good decade at least. And could he be blamed for being so exhausted, so many months after his spontaneous new friend group had formed? No one ever wanted to hang out with the boring kid, and then all of a sudden one of the most popular girls in school had latched onto him.
Dragged him, not quite kicking and screaming, to his crush's front door and strong-armed her—and her oblivious companions'—way into the home to spite the girl's family.
It felt like such a basic rom-com shoujo manga plot.
He did have to admit, though, it was… fun. He'd expected a low-key eighteenth birthday, yet the same group he'd been forced to hang out with on Christmas had showed up to his home, and his mother had been beside herself with joy that Kuni finally brought friends over. Never mind the semantics—he didn't bring them over, they just showed up uninvited. It felt like what mattered was that, for once, Kuni felt like he had a chance to be special for one day.
For all his exhaustion, he didn't mind it. It would just take a lot of getting used to.
When Kuni came down to the kitchen for breakfast, he was almost immediately beset by his younger sisters. The twins, Haruichi and Hajime, both slid across the hall and latched onto his legs in what was essentially their daily ritual by this point. They were still in their pyjamas, like Kuni was, but they'd clearly been awake for a while and had been waiting for him to leave his room. Kuni stumbled once, as he felt them wrap their arms and legs around each leg, and then when he heard them giggle, Kuni let out a tired sigh and began to move again. Where did they even get all this energy so early in the morning?
"Alright, you little goblins," he told them as he tried to walk with a wide gait, if only to avoid hurting them. "Let go before you get hurt."
Hajime just clung to him tighter. He could feel Haruichi's grip loosen, but after seeing her sister refuse to let go, she kept it steady.
"Can you beat up my classmate's brother?" Hajime demanded of him. This wasn't the first time she'd brought it up. Ever since he started following their older sister's footsteps into martial arts, and then branching out to a different school of martial arts to try and not be lumped together with her, compared to her, Hajime had this fascination with Kuni beating up her classmates' siblings.
"I already told you, no," Kuni grumbled. He glowered down at Hajime, and she just giggled innocently. For a ten-year-old, she sure liked to keep acting like she was five. "Why do you keep asking me to beat them up? I don't do kenjutsu to beat people up."
"Boo, aneki would've done it," Hajime heckled him.
"Aneki just likes to spar with willing opponents," he said. "I don't like doing that."
Hajime made a face like she'd licked a whole raw lemon. "What's the point of having a cool older brother if he won't do anything cool?" she whined.
Well now she was just giving him a backhanded compliment. Kuni huffed out his cheeks and stomped towards the kitchen, and neither twin let go throughout the whole trip. Instead, they just focused on each other and brainstormed what their lunch boxes would have today.
Haruichi looked up at Kuni when they made it to the kitchen and began to dig into their breakfasts. She was the quieter one of the two, always following Hajime's lead, but some days Kuni wondered if Haruichi just liked him more than Hajime seemed to. Hajime felt like the type to pull the pigtails of a girl she wanted to be friends with, but some days it was almost too bratty to be considered affectionate. It seemed like Haruichi wanted to ask him something, but couldn't find the courage to ask it. Kuni watched her back, doing his best to make his expression patient and coaxing, but she just turned back to her food and began to shovel it into her mouth faster.
Alright then.
Whatever question she wanted to ask was overshadowed by Masumii—the aneki in question—who stumbled down the stairs with a yawn and shuffled into the kitchen. She had yet to leave the nest like their eldest sister, Kamlyn, had. Though Kuni assumed it was because the university Masumii attended was close to home, and it was pointless to move out into an apartment when there was plenty of space after Kamlyn moved out—especially when Masumii was able to pay rent well enough compared to someone else she could rent from. At least their mother wouldn't hike up the lease or make inspections that would catch Masumii off-guard, and she was saving a considerable amount of money not living in student dorms to avoid such distractions.
Their mother, Kuwa, rushed out of the kitchen and handed Masumii her own breakfast in a bowl and glass—yoghurt and oats with a protein shake to wash it all down, compared to everyone else's natto, rice and miso soup—and Masumii smiled sleepily when their mother pecked her on the forehead. Kuni watched quietly, sipping his miso soup as he watched Masumii approach the table, and when she caught his stare, the words seemed to slip out of her without meaning to.
"You walkin' to school with your girlfriend today?" she asked.
Kuni choked on his miso soup.
"What girlfriend?" he coughed.
Kuwa was hovering over Kuni, eyes sparkling and a big smile on her face. "Oh, did my baby boy get a girlfriend?" she asked, hopeful.
"What girlfriend?" he repeated, more confused.
Hajime munched on some natto and rice as she hummed. "I think it was that girl from his kenjutsu class. The foreign one."
"Oh, she's very pretty," Kuwa said with approval.
"I thought it was the one who dragged him out on Christmas," Haruichi chimed in, confused. "The one with the cane."
"She had a very confident air about her," Kuwa mused, still approving.
"Maybe Kuni's a player and he nabbed both," Masumii teased.
Kuwa looked down at Kuni pointedly. The approval was gone.
"I don't have a girlfriend!" he insisted.
Thankfully, it didn't take much to convince his mother of the truth. Kuwa dropped her disapproving gaze and smiled with relief, glad that her son wasn't some playboy trying to scam some girls for a thrill, and she patted Kuni's shoulder reassuringly as she moved past him.
"As long as you promise to introduce them to us," she told him, "I don't mind who you date, alright?"
Kuni felt relief fill his chest. He smiled and nodded, able to relax now that the brief drama stirred up by Masumii was over. But Masumii wasn't done with him.
"Hear that?" Masumii teased. "Mom basically admitted she's okay if you bring a boy home, too."
"She did not say that!" Kuni gasped. He looked to Kuwa for backup. "Did you?"
Kuwa just beamed at him with the loving acceptance of the most patient saint in the world. It was almost radiating off of her in rays.
"I do worry some days that the men on the street will snatch you up before any of the women," she told him brightly. "But that just means my baby boy is so beautiful he transcends societal norms. That means you're a real catch, honey!"
And then Kuwa made a heart shape with her hands and winked at him.
Unbelievable. Ganged up in the worst way possible—with unconditional love. Kuni had to finish breakfast and get out of the house ASAP.
Kuni practically rushed back upstairs after he finished breakfast, locking himself in the bathroom to glare at his reflection. As he brushed his teeth and combed his messy, fluffy hair back enough to tie it into a half-ponytail, Kuni leaned closer to the mirror and frowned. Really, what about him was so pretty that he supposedly transcended societal norms. The best he had going for him was maybe a typical bishounen look, the kind some girls obsessed over in their tweens, but compared to everyone else at Fujimi Academy? Kuni was just average. Who cared about any of the appeals he might have? Blond hair? No, Jo had that covered long before he'd dragged Kuni into his friend group. A decent build? Hell no, a ton of guys on the track team and in the kyudo and kendo clubs had better physiques than Kuni. A pretty face? Hello, everyone was a child of a rich couple in that school, they had the money to look leagues better than him!
When Kuni looked at his fair skin, expressionless face, teal eyes and fluffy blond hair, he just saw what he was always used to seeing growing up—nothing special. Frankly speaking, you had to be a special kind of vain to think everything about you was stunning, and Kuni didn't have a vain bone in his body. He couldn't even find what made him stand out from the crowd, especially not when other people could already do it all better.
What about him was such a catch?
He had a crease in his brow when he left the bathroom, frustrated that he was, well, frustrated so early in the morning. It was starting to build up layers that would take forever to get rid of during the day, and Kuni just hurried back to his room and shrugged on his uniform without a second thought. Why did Masumii have to bring up his love life over breakfast? Kuni should've just let the conversation peter out without looking to Kuwa to disprove Masumii's teasing. Maybe he would've left feeling less frustrated and more assured.
When Kuwa met him at the front door with his bento, she pecked him on the cheek and held his face in her hands. She looked somewhat apologetic, and Kuni could feel himself calming down a bit more.
"Don't take it too seriously, dear," Kuwa reminded him. "You just go at your own pace, regardless of what we say, alright? Rome wasn't built in a day."
Kuni nodded once. He let out a calming breath, a little more confident now, and he smiled at his mother.
"See you when I get home," he told her. "And don't work too hard today. I'll help out with dinner tonight."
"What would I do without you?" Kuwa laughed. She pinched his cheeks and sent him off without another word, and Kuni waved back to her with a more positive attitude for the coming day.
It may have been average, but he supposed average was good enough sometimes. There was nothing wrong with anything normal. Even if normal got exhausting.
One new message from 0X-XXXX-XXXX 2010/02/09 at 6:58PM.
"Honey, come back home, please. We can talk this out. You know your father and I love you, we really do. It's just… Things aren't as black and white as they might seem, alright? We don't ignore you on purpose, I swear, and you know how hard we try to spend time with you. But sometimes it's hard to make ends meet and we have to sacrifice time we're never going to get back in order to keep you fed and healthy. Did I ever tell you how proud I was when I found out you got the scholarship to Fujimi Academy? My baby, going to a rich private school because he's talented! I… I don't remember if I ever told you… Please come home. At least before curfew, please. I promise, when—when the next big celebration comes around, there won't be any interruptions or anything! M—Maybe you can show us some basketball moves…? Oh, God… Have we ever been to one of your games? Oh God—"
Message exceeded three minutes.
The locker room gossip was always exhausting. But the classroom gossip? Way more annoying.
"I heard Higashiyama won second place in a tournament over the break. Can you believe such a cry-baby like her got second place!?"
Kyousuke couldn't believe it, either. She reeked of a sheltered, helicopter-parented rich kid who could hardly defend herself in an argument, let alone with a weapon.
"Onibo tried to get me to join the fitness club this morning. She never lets up, huh? How can anyone like her when she looks like a total gorilla?"
Kyousuke had been approached by the girl before, though he'd never taken note of her name. She rivalled even him in terms of height, but compared to Kyousuke, she was probably the kind of rich gym nut who had a personal trainer and gym at home. Stupid fitness influencer, or whatever they were called.
"Did you see the stink Tsunoda made at the archery club this morning? He was yelling about how someone in his class would regret turning him down."
Oh, Kyousuke recognised that name. Good to know that Tsunoda didn't just pick on the lower class students in the school. He was probably stupidly trying to recruit for the track and field team. Why would you try to poach from the Goddamn archery team?
"That's not the only thing he's done. Apparently he tried to go into the third-years' classes and see Ranbato, and Jitsuno kept getting between them."
Kyousuke's brow quirked. Wasn't Ranbato the one he claimed was his girlfriend? Weren't relationships forbidden within Fujimi? No, perhaps the biggest question of all needed to be asked first—did he seriously think a needy rich girl who'd sleep with anyone would remain faithful to him?
"Speaking of Tsunoda's tantrums…" A lull in conversation. Kyousuke could tell immediately that they were all looking at him. Ever since Tsunoda had declared them to be rivals last year, Kyousuke had to put up with his annoying interjections and competitiveness. The guy never even beat Kyousuke at anything physical to begin with. They were in entirely different leagues. Compared to Tsunoda, whose silver spoon had earned him a place at Fujimi and track and field accomplishments amounted to mere footnotes in the school's competitions, Kyousuke actually worked to get where he was right now. That scholarship wasn't for show, and the basketball team damn well knew it. Comparing Kyousuke to Tsunoda was just self-gratification on Tsunoda's part. "They're in the same class again, huh? I was kinda hoping someone else would deal with the slum rat for the year."
"Maybe next year. But we definitely should be getting extra credits for being so nice to him all the time."
"Hey, maybe he might actually push his luck and get expelled this year. Wouldn't that be a treat?"
A gaggle of snickers came from the front of the class. Kyousuke kept his gaze firmly trained out the window, but it was obvious who was the one leading the gossip in his class. Like most of the rich girls whose faces were at least somewhat aesthetically pleasing, Yuuki Miku was always being flocked by other girls in their class and even some of the boys. She was a pretty face, for sure, and she had a chest that Kyousuke wouldn't deny ogling when he was bored, but she was far too high maintenance and a waste of time in the grand scheme of things. Not that it had stopped her from trying last year. Miku had acted like she was being oh so gracious to offer Kyousuke a chance to go on a date with her over one weekend, but frankly, everyone past her face was unappealing. More power to whoever did manage to score the babe, but Kyousuke respected himself too much to allow her to demean him and treat him like he should be grateful for her time.
If anything, she ought to be grateful for his attention. She definitely acted entitled to it, so some appreciation for it wouldn't kill her.
She was smirking at him as she tucked some hair behind her ear. The other girls clinging to her all went quiet as they noticed Kyousuke's gaze had moved from the window and towards their group, but Miku was smug compared to the rest of their fearful reactions.
"Maybe a slum rat isn't the right thing for him," Miku announced, looking him directly in the face. "With the way he looks at us, maybe we should be calling him a dog."
Kyousuke actually scoffed.
You fucking wish you were worth my time, he thought bitterly.
He moved his gaze back out the window. He slumped in his seat and glared at the other students making their ways through the front gate.
Kyousuke could see some of the members of the basketball team entering, most of them in one large group, and he tracked them through the front garden before they disappeared into the main building. He supposed they'd start contributing to the gossip mill now that they were here, and Kyousuke was going to have to put up with their chatter during practice this afternoon. Day in, day out, it was all the same—do my muscles stand out yet? Do you think I could take Yamada in 2-C in a fight? Why won't Taniuchi go out with me? Is she gay?
Pathetic drama and low stakes priorities. They had actual tournaments to worry about. Who cared if Taniuchi Yoko was into girls instead of them? The balls the team were supposed to be handling were on the court, not their own.
Miku let out a loud laugh that grated on Kyousuke's ears. God, she was annoying. She wasn't the only one upset that they were in the same class again. Kyousuke would give anything for a whole year without having to deal with her shit. Just about the only person in this class who didn't get on his nerves was Kowaita, and she was just plain pathetic. While most people looked at Kyousuke with an undercurrent—and sometimes outright expression—of fear, Kowaita was unique in that even her own shadow had her trembling in terror most days. Kyousuke was no bully, but sometimes testing the waters to see the extent of her fear was a nice way to stave off boredom.
On their first day of classes, he'd managed to confirm that eraser shavings landing on the back of her neck made her think bugs were crawling on her. Kyousuke hadn't even meant to get them on her—she just happened to sit in front of him and he'd just happened to blow on the eraser shavings a little too hard after erasing something in his textbook.
And speak of the devil, he thought as Miku's attention turned away from him and towards the doors to their class, Kowaita entered the room hunched in on herself and shaking like a leaf.
"Higashiyama, congrats!" Miku called over to the poor green-haired girl. She'd clearly put some effort into looking nice today, which Kyousuke assumed was in preparation for all the eyes on her after winning second place in a naginatajutsu tournament, and her hair was up in cat-like pigtails that hung close to her head. Unlike some of the others, whose twintails were so separated from their heads that they doubled as handlebars, Kowaita had put effort into making them as compact as possible so they wouldn't get caught in anything. "We heard all about it! Get over here!"
Higashiyama Kowaita was nothing if not a scaredy-cat. She looked at Miku, who normally never even gave her the time of day on a good day, and she clutched her bag tightly against her chest as she started shaking so hard that her knees looked ready to bend backwards.
"U—Um, uh—" Kowaita whimpered. She was already starting to tear up from the stress. Jesus, it was barely even time for homeroom to start and she was already about to cry. "I—Uh—Ah—"
"I saw the recordings of the tournament," Yoko chimed in, mousy and smiling. She matched Kowaita in terms of demeanour, but damn if she didn't have a ton more confidence than the walking hysterics case. "You were so graceful, Higashiyama. What's the name of that girl in the sojutsu club? You were way better than her, and she's, like, the star of the club!"
Miku snorted a laugh. "Miyamoto? It's not that hard to be better than her," she drawled. "She got held back this year—she's still in 2-B. Hey, we have some time before homeroom starts. Should we go check her out?"
"M—Miyamoto-senpai was held back?" Yoko gasped.
Even Kyousuke was surprised. Wasn't she one of the names that popped up on the rankings during exam season? How the hell did she get held back?
Miku giggled and waved a hand dismissively. "She probably did the same as the slum rat and cheated her way into the school," Miku went on. Fucking hell, even when the topic wasn't about Kyousuke, she brought it back to him. "I think she got caught and they let her stay to help her family save face."
Kowaita hurriedly stuffed her bag into her locker and scurried to her seat. She kept her head low and shoulders hunched as she sank into her chair in front of Kyousuke's desk, and Kyousuke rolled his eyes as he looked back out the window.
He felt a vibration in his pocket. He let out a heavy sigh as he fished his phone from his pocket and flipped it open.
A Goddamn text from his mother. She knew he hated using this stupid phone, especially in school. He could hardly work it half the time, and he never listened to her voicemails anyway. Shouldn't she be getting ready to raise someone else's kids right about now?
He opened his phone and glared at the screen, painstakingly trying to enter his text messages so he could read what the hell she wanted now. If it was about him running out of the house last night, he didn't want to hear it. Kyousuke had every right to be angry, especially when neither of them could be bothered to show up to his entrance ceremony like everyone else's parents had, and he would damn well die on this hill until he was out of this hellhole of a school and making a name for himself in the basketball leagues. He finally managed to open the text, reading the first line that was littered with apologies like usual, but he was quickly pulled from his phone by Miku's stupid, stupid laughter.
"Look! The slum rat's trying to take a picture of Higashiyama!" she jeered. "I bet she got her skirt stuck on the chair when she sat down again!"
Kowaita let out a quiet eep! sound as she burst out of her seat. Her hands patted the back of her skirt, her face so red that the moles around her chin, cheek and eye were barely visible, and she all but dropped into a squat beside the wall to hide herself from everyone in the class.
Kyousuke was gripping the phone so tightly that he could feel the seam of the plastic cover starting to creak.
"What's the matter, slum rat?" Miku laughed, approaching Kyousuke with a confident strut. "Upset you got caught trying to get some material for later? I bet she doesn't even wear sexy enough underwear for that kind of stuff. Or do you have a thing for corruption? Poor Higashiyama is too pure and skittish to resist a big, strong brute of a man like you, huh?"
Kyousuke kept staring at his phone screen, but his brow was twitching as Miku sidled up next to him and smirked smugly down at him. She probably enjoyed looking down on him in a literal and figurative sense—but the moment Kyousuke stood up, he knew he'd tower over her and intimidate her anew. She was always guarded when he stood at his full height, still talking shit but more prepared to put her track and field skills to use if he decided to follow through with the age-old phrase of, "Talk shit, get hit."
He could break her jaw with a backhand if he felt so inclined.
Miku's hand reached out for his phone, fast and with claw-like formation to snatch it from his grip. Kyousuke's free hand snapped up and wrapped around her wrist, and like the phone case, he could feel her wrist start to give as he gripped her arm tightly and gave it a twist.
She let out a scream and started hitting his hand. Clawing at it. Kyousuke just slowly looked away from his phone, directly into Miku's eyes as the pain made her drop into a kneel beside the desk, and his voice was low as he heard Yoko and the others scream and call for a teacher in the hallway.
"Do I look know I know how to work a fucking phone camera to you?" he seethed. Miku tried to smirk through the pain, trying to latch on to the insult he'd practically handed to her, but Kyousuke just twisted her arm further. "Is it so much to ask for five fucking minutes of peace in this Goddamn classroom? Every morning, every class, all you do is run your mouth and give me a hard time. You call me a dog, but you know what you sound like to me? The cats in heat on my street. Yowling and howling and screeching for attention. Making yourself into a bigger slut than Ranbato, even. So if you can't do the world a favour and shut the fuck up for one fucking morning, at least take your bullshit to someone who gives a shit instead of wasting my time."
He gave her a harsh shove, and Miku's head hit the desk beside him. She let out a pained cry, sobbing hysterically as she scrambled to her feet and ran out of the classroom, and the friends who'd stayed to watch all followed her as soon as it became apparent Miku was going to cry to a teacher.
Kyousuke clicked his tongue and looked back at his phone. He didn't even bother reading the rest of the text. He was too pissed off to even deal with his mother's piss poor excuses. Kyousuke managed to find the command to delete the message, and he shut the flip phone with a scowl.
Kowaita was still shaking in a ball against the wall. She was actually crying this time, face still beet red, and Kyousuke just sneered as he looked out the window again.
"Get the fuck over it," he grunted at her. Kowaita flinched and curled even further in on herself. "As if I'd have any interest in someone so pathetic and gullible. Stop believing everything the bitch says already."
It didn't do anything to reassure her, but Kyousuke wasn't looking to reassure. He was sick of this class and the people in this school. He was sick of his parents never giving a damn. He was sick of it all.
A week into his second year, and he was just sick of everything that wasn't basketball.
Give it time, he told himself. I'm sure the team will do something to get on my nerves too.
HUSBAND AND WIFE KILLED IN FATAL COLLISION, OSAKA
A husband and wife have been killed in a collision with a semi-truck on the evening of July 28th, 2003. The family of five were travelling to Osaka from Sapporo to visit the night markets during the summer break when their car veered into the oncoming lane and collided with a semi-truck carrying goods for the local businesses. The three children, aged ten and eight, sustained heavy injuries but are recovering after surgeons operated on all three. The husband and wife died immediately upon impact.
The couple were well-known in their fields for their respective accomplishments. Shimura Hiroji, 38, was the general manager of acclaimed Italian restaurant Tuscan Oven in Higashi-ku, Sapporo, which has closed its doors for a mourning period of thirty days. The restaurant was a popular tourist destination for foreign visitors. Shimura Miho, 38, was an accomplished script writer whose work was seen in the hit drama programs "Chasing After Muraoka-chan", "Time Diary", and "The List of Things I'm Not Allowed to Do". She was also the writer for the successful live-action film adaptation of the popular Princess magazine manga "Prince Lily is Not a Boy".
The driver of the semi-truck is currently awaiting trial. The charges have not been made public.
"As promised," he said, uncertain. In one hand, Daizen held a small baggie with pills securely stored inside. In the other, he held a water bottle he wasn't entirely certain would be needed. "Why did you need them stored at my apartment again, though…?"
The redhead beside him paused her walk to take the bag of pills and pop them in her mouth. She took the water next, taking a hefty swig of it, and she seemed relieved as she capped it and offered it back to him. Daizen held up a hand, shaking his head, and she shrugged as she manoeuvred her bag to slip the bottle into it.
He'd known Ranbato Ari for about… barely five months now. He'd heard the rumours about her that spread like wildfire in his first year, of course, but he'd never imagined he'd be doing something like stashing her schizophrenia medication at his apartment to give to her each morning. It was the kind of development that came out of left field, even if the person who'd caused the development—a mutual friend, Jitsuno Sane—left plenty of hints that things would get weird fast.
Being dragged out of his apartment at Christmas to help her take buckets of KFC to his upperclassman's house should've clued him in to how his second year of high school would go.
"Satsuki-san and Yomi found what I had left at home," Ari told him as she fixed her ponytail. She started walking again, and Daizen kept in pace with her stride. After hearing all the rumours about her, he just never expected her to be so small. When you imagined a kenjutsu prodigy, you pictured someone more like Busujima in the third year—willowy and lithe, not hourglass-shaped and under 5'3. Even Sane was taller than Ari, though not by much. Daizen's normally wider strides had to be halved just so she didn't have to walk faster to keep up with him. "If I'm right, they'll have combed through the whole house and gotten rid of everything they could find. I hate to admit it, but Sane was right to ask my dad for extra medication to hide outside the house."
Daizen blinked at her slowly. So she was on a first name basis with Sane already? He'd already gotten the vibe that Ari was rather casual underneath her polite airs, though it was more like an indifference to how people around her treated her. Sane had given her a nickname, just the same as she had to Daizen and the other poor upperclassmen she'd dragged to Ari's house on Christmas, and Ari had taken that as Sane demanding familiarness when talking to each other.
It made a lot of sense, given the things he'd heard while keeping his ear to the ground. Anyone could walk up to Ari and demand her time, and she'd wordlessly follow until they were satisfied. But when he'd heard about who typically approached her, Daizen couldn't help judging her a little. Really, there had to be an upper limit to who was worth that much free reign. In his humble opinion, the track and field team were not worth that much. In his humble opinion, they offered more to society as eunuchs than as athletes. Keeping the gene pool clean and all that business.
"And since I live alone," Daizen sighed, "I'm the safest house to stash medicine at. I thought you said you had pills at the nurse's office."
"I do. Sane just wanted to be thorough. And I think my stash at school is down to about three days' worth," she explained. Daizen sighed and slumped his shoulders. If they didn't put the pills in every location they could think of, and instead left them all at school, maybe Ari wouldn't be running low on them during the school week. Ah, but then again, how did she handle weekends? Was Daizen supposed to be her weekend supply? Damn it, Sane, did you decide Daizen's every weekend plan for the rest of the school year with this idea?
It wasn't like he had a ton going on, but he still had a social life!
This whole mess wouldn't be happening if Ari would just ask Sane to deal with her sister and stepmother already. Daizen wasn't one to pry—okay, that was a lie, he was very much one to pry—but every time he heard about the issues Sane wanted to help Ari with, they all looped back to her sister and stepmother. Ari clearly had a father who loved her, if he was willing to go so far to keep her medicated so she could continue her rather successful hobby, and her kenjutsu teacher clearly cared too, given that she spent most of her time out of the house with the old man. The root cause of the problem was absolutely her sister and stepmother, so why wouldn't she just ask Sane for help?
Daizen furrowed his brows as they walked in silence. He knew Sane had already gathered plenty on her end—she was the type to be thorough and prepared, especially with her whole motto of, "If I go down, my client goes down with me". Tsukishima Yomi was her client, if only for all of five minutes. There was no way Sane hadn't put a Trojan virus on her phone in those five minutes.
Actually, the more Daizen thought about it, the more busy Sane seemed lately. Her request for Daizen to meet Ari on their walks to school had come out of nowhere at the start of the school year, but if he thought about it rationally, she was clearly making sure someone was with Ari at all times. That dumbass Tsunoda was more grating than usual because Sane would always linger around Ari like a bad smell, and Kuni, the fourth member of their motley crew, spent time with Ari during kenjutsu practice. About the only place they couldn't monitor her was at her own house, but Daizen assumed Sane had enough trust in Ari's father to let that time period slide.
If she was just waiting for Ari's permission, what was stopping Ari?
He hadn't missed the fresh bandages on her wrists today. She'd covered them with a wrist band, the type worn while exercising, but he knew how to tell clean bandages from old ones. She was even walking with a slightly wider gait, like she was trying not to let her thighs brush together.
Whatever happened at her house this week, it was way more than just her sister and stepmother finding her pill stash and cleaning the house of them.
He sucked in a deep breath and bit back a sigh. His tongue poked at the piercing on his lip as he thought on his words.
"Y'know, senpai," he started. Ari glanced at him, expression blank as usual. "I'm sure Sane-senpai would let you stay over at her house every so often, if you ever needed a break."
Ari shook her head gently. "It's fine," she said, tone neutral. "Sane has to take care of her siblings, so it's not fair to make her babysit me."
"It wouldn't really be babysitting. I think you'd actually be lending her a hand, more than anything."
Ari seemed to think on that, scrunching up her face in thought. She wasn't normally expressive, so it was interesting to see her indifferent mask slip when she was trying hard to think about something.
"I guess…" she finally grumbled.
"Ah, right." Daizen tilted his head as he looked down at her. "Isn't one of her brothers in your kenjutsu class?"
"Oh, yeah, Enten," she supplied. "He's very promising. I think he might give Tobishima a run for his money."
She was clearly joking with that part. Daizen let out a weak laugh, mind flashing to the times when Kuni would beat himself up for not being as good at something as someone else, and he gently reminded her, "Best not to let Tobishima-senpai hear that."
"I'm kidding." A ghost of a smile flickered across her face. And then it was gone, just as quickly as it appeared. Daizen felt like he'd just seen a meteor shower in broad daylight. "You know, if there's one thing I kind of miss about being in England, it's that the English language uses a lot of sarcasm. It always falls flat when I speak Japanese."
"Perhaps we're too much of a deadpan people to understand complexities like sarcasm and dry humour," Daizen droned, biting back his own attempt at sarcasm.
Ari snorted softly. She shrugged, not even bothering to continue her tangent about her life in England, and not for the first time, Daizen felt like he'd had a carrot dangled in front of him before being taken away. Mere crumbs of information that could've bled into a bigger picture, if only he'd be fed more.
Really, how could he help Sane help Ari if Ari was so tight-lipped about herself? Sane had even said she was effectively non-existent in terms of digital footprint, barely using her phone to text people or take pictures of food she likes, and every piece of information she gave was always so out of pocket and random that Daizen barely had time to get his phone out to write it all down before the exact phrasing started to muddy in his memory.
Did Ari even want to go back to England when she graduated? She'd legally be an adult in both Japan and England by then, and while he didn't know if she still had dual citizenship, she still had time before she was forced to pick between Japanese citizenship only or a foreign citizenship. From what he did know, her mother was from Wales—did she have any extended family there that she could visit?
No, Daizen thought, cursing himself. If she had family she could visit, they would've taken her in when she was given up to the system by her mother's husband. He didn't know how bad it was with her stepfather, but he could infer enough from how much Ari would coldly state that she was a burden for him. She never mentioned her stepfather often, let alone her mother, so why would she even be in Japan if her mother's family could've taken her in? The harsh truth was that Ari's family in Wales hadn't wanted her. Why else would she have been here for the past seven years?
"Ah." Ari paused walking. Daizen was dragged from his thoughts, and he hadn't realised he'd reached up to fiddle with the rings hanging around his neck. He quickly tucked them back under his shirt and glanced back at Ari, brows raised. "I just had a thought. Do you know what you're studying for classical literature classes yet?"
Daizen tilted his head, surprised by the question. "I hear it'll be No Longer Human by Dazai Osamu."
"Great." Ari pulled her bag from her shoulder and unzipped it, fishing around for a notebook within. It looked worn and well-used, and when Daizen took a peek at the label, it clearly said Classic Lit. 2nd Year on the front. "We studied it last year too. If you want, I took a lot of notes on the novel. It was a heavy read, but definitely deserving of being called a masterpiece."
Huh. Was she always so into literature? Daizen had never noticed. He already admired her dedication to the sword, since he had an appreciation for traditional weaponry like bows and swords, but literature? Ari never even talked about books she liked to anyone. Sane had to wrestle half of the information about her food preferences out of her after Christmas.
"Do you… usually like classical literature?" he asked, cautious. He felt like if he came on too strongly, he'd spook her like some kind of stray cat.
"I usually like poetry more," Ari explained. She held the notebook out to him, and he took it without complaint. As he skimmed through the pages, he was impressed by the detail in her notes. Clearly she enjoyed the novel enough to put her all into her classwork for it. "The first one I ever read after learning to read kanji was actually Akutagawa's The Spider's Thread. Dad had a copy of it in his study, and I was a bit bored."
Daizen hummed. "Have you read Autumn Mountain?"
"Ah, no. A lot of bookstores tend to turn me away when they hear my accent."
Ah, right. He'd gotten used to it, and Ari did sound like a native speaker on her good days, but sometimes she'd slip and hints of her Welsh accent bled through. If that wasn't a surefire way to signal she wasn't entirely a full-blooded Japanese girl, nothing else would be. The skin that easily burned under the sun didn't help to make her blend in either.
"I'll go looking for a copy," he told her.
Ari blinked at him, genuinely surprised. "You will?"
There was an unspoken why in the question. Daizen gave her a gentle smile, and he was entirely truthful with his answer.
"Sane-senpai's done a lot for me, and if you're a friend of hers, she wants you spoiled as much as she tried to spoil me," he explained. "But I also just enjoy reading—more articles than novels, but I don't mind the classics. Someone I can talk to about them wouldn't be too bad."
She was staring at him, and someone ill-versed in the way of a victim's caution would think she simply hadn't heard him the first time. She was quiet, confused, and he could see the gears working in her head. Do you really gain that from this? Are you being truthful? Is it really just for that reason? All questions Daizen had once asked when Sane had caught him trying to dig up information on his would-be bullies and dragged him into her rambunctious life.
Eventually, Ari finally said, "I see."
And then, when the silence lingered, she added, "Don't spend too much money on books just for me."
"Ranbato-senpai, I plan to buy the books for myself and loan them to you," he pointed out. Ari huffed a laugh, rolling her eyes at him. He knew better than to outright say it was a gift. He said he'd help spoil her, but he wasn't giving it to her as a gift. Only loaning it. "Since Sane-senpai will no doubt designate my apartment as the weekend get-together location, I'll simply give you access to my bookshelf while she and Tobishima-senpai bicker about what they're doing that day."
Now she giggled. Ari was thankful as she looked up at him, mumbling, "Thanks, Shimura-kun."
He nodded to her, gracious, and didn't make a big show of her thanking him. Normally Sane would get excited and clingy, gushing about how they were making big progress if her Rosefinch was thanking her, but Daizen knew that kind of energy was too much first thing in the morning. That, and he wasn't really the cuddly, in-your-face type.
Ari pondered something as Daizen watched her. The school was getting close, and he could see some of his classmates from here—Miyamoto Rei and Igou Hisashi, one of whom he'd asked Sane to look into when he'd heard she'd been held back. The best that Daizen had been able to find was that her former homeroom teacher, Shido, had been the one to hold her back for reasons that never became clear. Always one excuse after another. Always some kind of reason that didn't fit the high-achieving, straight A student who followed the rules to the letter. He'd done plenty of listening in, even followed Rei and Hisashi around a little while between classes, but the most he could find was defensiveness and depression on Rei's part.
He'd heard her blame Shido for being held back. He'd heard her tell Hisashi that she'd been used to threaten her dad. He'd heard her snap at her former best friend, Komuro Takashi, for not caring when she'd tried to come to him last year about it.
Something wasn't right. This went beyond mere bullying. Even Sane, upon finding out what had happened to her former classmate, had been uncharacteristically quiet and cold while digging as deeply as possible for information in the school's servers. She was just as dedicated to digging up what had really happened as Daizen was. It was just… concerning, the things she'd said to him on the first day of school.
She'd said that this was beyond the school's walls in terms of seriousness. She'd said that this would be their biggest job yet, if they ever pursued it. And she'd volunteered herself to take the entirety of the fall if things went wrong. If that wasn't concerning, Daizen didn't know what possibly could be.
"Say, I've been thinking—"
Daizen was startled from his thoughts, dragging his gaze from the couple in front of them. He hadn't expected Ari to keep talking, let alone bring something up to him. Out of the three nuisances in her life, he was the one she knew the least—even Kuni knew her better by virtue of being in the same kenjutsu class.
"Hm?" he asked, keeping up a pleasant front.
"Since I don't think I'll be rid of you three any time soon, maybe I should start referring to you all more familiarly." She glanced at Daizen. "I… wouldn't mind being called just Ari."
Huh? Daizen stared at her, expression blank. She… wouldn't mind? Was she trying to ask in a roundabout way for Daizen to call his senpai by her first name?
Jeez, she was terrible at asking for things she wanted.
"I still have to be respectful to my senpais," he informed her matter-of-factly. Ari looked away, and tucked some hair behind her ear, looking crestfallen. "So you'll have to settle for Ari-senpai."
The disappointment came to an abrupt halt, quickly overtaken by joy. Ari was clearly forcing her smile to stay hidden, lips twitching as she lowered her head and nodded once in response. It was like she was trying to make sure no one knew she was happy, desperate to hide what brought her joy from those who would exploit her little weaknesses.
"Th—Then," she forced out, working to keep her tone neutral, "I'll keep up the formalities. Can I call you Daizen-kun?"
Daizen sighed and shrugged his shoulders, putting on a show of being reluctant. But Ari was good at seeing through big displays like this, no thanks to Sane's habit of being exaggerated all the time.
"I suppose," he drawled. "If my senpai wants to call me something, who am I to stop her?"
"You've been relegated to my drug dealer," Ari deadpanned. "The least I can do is be a little more familiar with you."
He snorted a laugh. When she put it like that, it sounded absurd. But then again, most people would consider hiding their pills at someone else's house absurd to begin with.
"Make sure you tell Marikawa-sensei you're running low," he reminded her.
"Yes, yes," Ari mumbled.
"And get those new cuts looked at as well," he went on.
"I will, I will," she mumbled.
"And for the love of God, don't talk to the track and field guys today," he demanded. "I don't care how low your standards are, they shouldn't be that low. That's just torturing yourself at that point."
Ari scrunched up her face and turned to look at him. "It's not like I like when they approach me."
Daizen sucked in a short breath. He had a litany of responses he could give, most of which amounted to whether or not she actually even wanted to sleep with some of the boys in their school. But that was going to make Ari clam up and stop talking about it. And while she didn't seem the petty type, some people would feel spiteful enough to seek out someone they were told to avoid on principle.
So instead, he said flatly, "Why not just tell them to hit the road?"
"If only it were that easy," Ari muttered, sounding just the slightest bit annoyed.
Well, good to know some of the guys at their school really were that scummy. Daizen made a mental note to look into exactly who had been giving Ari extra attention the past two years, and he was definitely going to add that to the pile of things Sane planned to go nuclear with. He'd be more than happy to take the fall for this one, but somehow he doubted there'd be much distance for him to fall to begin with. For all intents and purposes, he was just the innocent bystander making a report anonymously. And he knew if Ari's father found out about what was going on, she'd have the best lawyer he could buy.
Now her teacher? That was a murder trial waiting to happen. Not that Daizen could say the world would be missing out if the track and field boys happened to be targeted by an eight-year-old master of the sword on a spree. In fact, the world would probably thank Katagami Tsukasa for his service.
"I'll just tell Sane-senpai to be an even bigger goblin, then," he said airily. "And Tobishima-senpai will gladly lend a hand."
Ari let out a dry hum. "You'd think I was the Prime Minister's daughter or something," she mused.
"If you were the Prime Minister's daughter, you wouldn't have so many people at school messing with you," Daizen said matter-of-factly. "You're just being targeted because you're—"
He stopped himself. He sucked in a short breath. He glanced at Ari.
Ari had her brows raised, expression unimpressed as she said, "Go on."
Daizen had wanted to say she was an easy target. He'd wanted to say that, from where he was standing, she looked like the easiest to bully right after his classmate, Hirano Kohta. He'd wanted to say that Ari let them do whatever they wanted to her, all while covering for them by playing herself off as clumsy to the adults around them.
He also knew that she'd probably expected him to say it was because she was a foreigner. He knew, in Ari's mind, that it wasn't that she didn't fight back that made her easy to pick on, but that she wasn't born and raised in Japan. That she was a hāfu.
Daizen sighed. He hung his head and reached up to rub at his brow. He scratched at his piercings as he did so.
"I wasn't going to say it was because of xenophobia," he started. Ari huffed and looked away from him. "I wasn't. You just… The Prime Minister's daughter wouldn't let herself be bullied so ruthlessly—"
"I'm not being bullied," Ari said, and it sounded like a reflex.
"I know what bullying looks like, senpai. Don't tell me I don't."
She didn't respond. She just walked a little faster, hands clenched into fists by her sides.
"You know your dad would move heaven and earth for you," he said, and he felt like he was lecturing her. "Who cares if your sister is an idol, anyway? You're even more famous, I'd argue. You won second place at a kenjutsu tournament, and you were only seventeen when it happened, for crying out loud! Everyone knows you can defend yourself, but you don't. So neanderthals like Tsunoda and his friends start to think they can do whatever they want. Do you want to be the next Furuta Junko?"
Ari actually stopped then. She turned around to look at Daizen, and she appeared more angry than he'd ever seen her before. Granted, she never let her anger show, but even the subtleties were hard to miss right now.
"Isn't that going a bit too far?" she scoffed.
"It's not going far enough," Daizen reiterated. "Don't you have any self-preservation to speak of? When I was in your position, I fought tooth and nail to get away from it all. You just let it happen and tell people around you that it's your fault."
She opened her mouth. She closed it. She forced herself to calm down and put her indifferent expression back on her face.
Daizen knew what she'd wanted to say. He could see it in her eyes. She genuinely believed it was her fault, even when all she'd done was exist.
No wonder Sane had been so insistent on raiding the house with KFC and her siblings in tow at Christmas. Whatever Yomi had told her in those brief five minutes as a client had been enough for Sane to figure out that Ari hadn't done anything to be mistreated by her family except be born. And she believed them.
"I'll talk to you later," Ari said, and Daizen felt his heart leap into his throat. Shit, did he get too aggressive with this? Damn it, he should've been more detached from the conversation; if he hadn't let his own trauma get in the way, he might've been able to get through to her. Daizen's mind ran through quickfire scenarios, statements he could make, anything that would salvage this. He refused to let the hard work he'd put into becoming Ari's friend go to waste. Not when she meant so much to Sane.
Ari turned on her heel and began to walk off. Daizen called out to her, jogging to catch up, and he managed to get out a quick, "Ari-senpai, I'm sorry—I just worry—"
"Take care at kyudo today, Daizen-kun," Ari said, and while her tone was flat, the presence of his first name was enough to reassure him that she wasn't burning bridges with him right now. Daizen felt relief blossom in his chest. Okay, he hadn't fucked it up. He'd just given Ari too much to think about in one go. He could live with that. Sometimes you had to break a few eggs to make an omelette, and figuring out how much it took to make someone admit a harsh truth without scaring them off was one such egg. "And if I have to stay away from the track and field team, so do you. I know you know the best places to hide from Tsunoda and his friends."
Despite the fact that she was walking, Daizen didn't continue jogging to catch up with her. He just slowed to a walk, letting out a relieved sigh, and he noticed a bit too late that he'd managed to catch up to Rei and Hisashi in his attempt to reach Ari.
Hisashi, personable as ever, called out to him with a friendly, "Yo, Shimura! How's it going?"
Daizen waved to him, nodding in greeting, and continued his walk in silence. Not that Hisashi seemed to mind. He and Rei had no problem resuming their conversation as the three of them walked slowly to the school's front gate.
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 2:51AM)
sooooooo does anyone in this thread listen to kowaikawaii
Anonymous: (148210869) (2010/02/12 2:51AM)
Ew get the fuck out of this thread
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 2:52AM)
whats wrong with them
Anonymous: (162672881) (2010/02/12 2:54AM)
don't listen to the other guy. i think it's neat that idol groups are branching out into different genres
Anonymous: (148210869) (2010/02/12 2:55AM)
They're ruining the sanctity of idol groups
Anonymous: (199120177) (2010/02/12 2:56AM)
LMAO get a load of this dumbass thinking there's something sacred about idol groups
Anonymous: (199120177) (2010/02/12 2:58AM)
What's wrong, guy? Gonna go cry to Morning Musume about how some mean middle school girls ruined pop music for you by refusing to actually sing a pop song?
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 2:58AM)
i think they have a pop vibe to them tho
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 2:59AM)
i like it
Anonymous: (148210869) (2010/02/12 3:01AM)
Which means it's pop music, and trying to act like they're fucking SiM or Seikima-II is just insulting to both genres
Anonymous: (199120177) (2010/02/12 3:03AM)
You're just mad you can't fuck them
Anonymous: (148210869) (2010/02/12 3:06AM)
433-1254, Kawagishi, Mizuho-ku Nagoya-shi, Aichi
Anonymous: (199120177) (2010/02/12 3:07AM)
Is that supposed to be my address? God, you can't even dox me properly, let alone win an argument
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 3:08AM)
i think the lead singer is really cute
Anonymous: (121742429) (2010/02/12 3:09AM)
are we shitting on bands? who are we talking about?
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 3:09AM)
kowaikawaii
Anonymous: (121742429) (2010/02/12 3:11AM)
oh those guys? yeah fully agree the lead is cute
Anonymous: (121742429) (2010/02/12 3:12AM)
but doesn't she come off kinda uncomfortable whenever she has to stop singing and start screaming?
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 3:14AM)
shes shy
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 3:15AM)
i want her
Anonymous: (199120177) (2010/02/12 3:16AM)
Well shit, I made fun of the wrong guy
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 3:17AM)
i could make her more confident
Anonymous: (199120177) (2010/02/12 3:20AM)
Down boy. Ain't she like 17?
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 3:21AM)
16
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 3:22AM)
she turns 17 in march
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 3:23AM)
id cherish her
Anonymous: (121742429) (2010/02/12 3:25AM)
i'm sorry do you WANT her to be treated like shit? she legally isn't allowed to date
Anonymous: (181444828) (2010/02/12 3:26AM)
i dont have to date her. i just have to have her
Anonymous: (148210869) (2010/02/12 3:29AM)
Everyone form a prayer circle for Tsukishima Yomi. She's got a delusional otaku for a fan
Anonymous: (199120177) (2010/02/12 3:30AM)
Hey dumbass instead of doxing someone who upset you, dox the actual freak in the thread
Anonymous: (148210869) (2010/02/12 3:32AM)
Eat shit and die
"I can't believe she stole your makeup while you were on tour," Kawamoto Harumi grumbled.
Yomi smiled at the girl, making a show of looking helpless, and tucked some hair behind her ear.
"It can't be helped," she said gently. "It's not like I can't buy more, but I wish she'd asked before using it. I could've helped her find which kit suited her complexion."
On the other side of her desk, Niki Toshimi and Ichijou Misuzu looked at each other nervously.
"Have you told your dad that she's doing that?" Misuzu asked her, worried.
"He should be giving her a stern talking to," Toshimi agreed, nodding her head emphatically.
As if he would say anything, even if the redhead was actually taking Yomi's makeup. The reality of it all was that the makeup had been a gift from her bandmates, and Yomi couldn't stand the look of it. Though all three of them went to different schools, somehow the things Yomi said about the band and the things in her day to day life made their way back to her bandmates. She wanted to smoke out the rat that was tattling on her to her bandmates, but she couldn't do that without giving away that she knew—or let her bandmates use her suspicions against her.
The best she could manage was making sure only the things she wanted her bandmates to hear let slip in conversation.
"I just feel really bad about it," she sighed. "Miyano-chan bought it for me as an early birthday present, and then my sister went and stole it while I was on tour. I didn't want to lose it while performing, but I guess even home isn't safe…"
"She's so mean…" Toshimi muttered. "If anything Misuzu gave to me got stolen, I'd throw a huge fit."
Misuzu clung to Toshimi's arm with a giggle. "But we share everything we give each other anyway, so we don't have to worry about losing anything!"
God. These two were so annoying when they got all handsy and bragged about how close they were. She wished they'd rip the bandaid off and accept they were gay already.
Yomi smiled sweetly at them.
"You guys are so adorable," she gushed. "I wish I was as close to Miyano-chan and Juri-chan… I wish my dad hadn't made me go to the same school as my sister. I'm glad I have you guys as my friends, but with my reputation in the band to worry about and everything, I get a little anxious about what she might say about me to the others…"
The girls cooed over Yomi and showered her with reassurances. As much as she hated that the leech went to this school as well, sometimes it came with its advantages. She'd definitely done her best to build up her reputation as a nice, fun person, but the moment Yomi had showed up, it was all downhill from there. Compared to Ari, who'd had to work for her popularity in her first year, Yomi was given her friends and fans on a silver platter. So when they noticed Yomi avoided Ari, and Ari withdrew out of shame from her friends, she'd made it so easy for Yomi to cry about how horribly her half-sister treated her at home.
Did any of the first- and second-years respect Ari? If they did, it was only because they hadn't spoken to Yomi yet. By the time Ari graduated, Yomi aimed to have her as thoroughly isolated as possible.
"It's a shame the whole thing with Jistuno-senpai didn't work out," Harumi mumbled. Everyone went tense as they looked at her. Right, Yomi thought, the cripple. Yomi hadn't foreseen her latching on to Ari so thoroughly, but what was one girl with a cane compared to the rest of the school? Her hacking skills weren't even that impressive. Anyone could jailbreak a phone with the right instructions. "I can't believe she was so mean to you and everything."
"I hate to sound vain, but I really think it's jealousy," Yomi said sheepishly. "I mean, I really appreciated you sending me to her, Kawamoto-chan, but none of us could predict she'd get upset over me being an idol. I had to be allowed some privacy, right?"
"She normally works with others so well," Harumi went on. She reached up and rubbed her cheek with a sigh. "And you were so clear about wanting help for your issue with your sister."
Yeah, no, Yomi hadn't said that at all. When she'd approached Sane during lunch one day, she'd asked for Sane to hack into Ari's phone for some damning dirt—the phone Yomi had stolen that morning before they'd both left for school—and when Sane wanted her motive for it, Yomi had refused to tell her. That led to Sane throwing her money back in her face and running off with Ari's phone, and now the leech probably knew from Sane that she'd tried to break into her phone.
No one could fault Yomi for thinking that the cripple relying on the cane to walk could break into a sprint so quickly.
"I guess she just didn't like me," Yomi sighed, acting despondent.
"Make sure you're careful, Tsukishima-san," Harumi pleaded. "Jitsuno-senpai is bad news to anyone she doesn't like. I heard one boy left the school—just transferred out and everything—because he threatened her. No one knows what she said or did, but he was spooked enough to leave entirely."
Threats? Please, anyone could threaten a person. You just had to use the right words. That wasn't a special skill. He just proved to be worse than Sane at threatening people, was all.
"Ah, by the way!" Misuzu let go of Toshimi and beamed at Yomi. "You're going to rehearsals after school today, right? Do you think your manager would let us sit in on the practice?"
Excuse the fuck out of Yomi? Who the hell did she think she was, asking for exclusive access to rehearsals? She may have been Yomi's friend, but she wasn't that close to her. If anyone deserved access to her rehearsals, it was Harumi for actually being useful enough to suggest an information broker and hacker for advice with Ari. Even if it hadn't panned out, that was still more than Misuzu and Toshimi, who'd simply whined and bitched about how unfair Yomi's home life was and how mean Ari was to her. They didn't even publicly ostracise Ari!
Yomi bowed her head in apology and held her hands up as though in prayer. "I'm so sorry, Ichijou-chan! My mother is very strict about who comes in and out of rehearsals! She even forbade Sakura-chan from listening in."
Not that anyone knew that was Yomi's request. Ever since the fan meet where Sakura's throat was slashed by an anti-fan, Yomi was the one put in charge of the group as the lead singer. Sakura's voice box was damaged despite the successful surgery and recovery, and since she wasn't singing anymore, there was no point in keeping her around. Miyano and Juri had liked Sakura more than her. She wished they'd gotten their throats slashed as well.
New bandmates would've served Yomi better than a mere promotion to group leader.
"Oh, that's a shame…" Misuzu was crestfallen as she leaned on the other desk. Beside her, Toshimi tilted her head at Yomi.
"How is Uehara-san, anyway?" she asked, curious. "Does she still try to spend time with you guys?"
Not anymore, but that was thanks to Yomi making sure they kept missing each other. Sakura used to only reach out to Yomi, mostly giving her tips and helping her be more confident in her role as leader, but after Juri and Miyano would get too busy to answer their phones, it became Yomi's responsibility to make sure they could all meet up.
It really wasn't a big deal that she gave a phone to a boy she knew would do as she told him and pretended that Sakura had gotten a new phone number because of a stalker. Juri and Miyano hardly asked about her nowadays anyway, especially since Sakura did end up moving to the countryside for her rehabilitation after several failed meetups organised by Yomi.
"She's moved to Nagano," she told them. "I think she said Chino, specifically? Something about wanting to reconnect with nature and her spiritual side after a near-death experience." Yomi made sure to sound a little melancholic as she added, "I hope she feels better soon…"
"Maybe you guys could visit her during the winter break!" Harumi suggested, cheerful and bright. Like she thought she'd come up with the greatest idea ever known. "I think Chino is known for being beautiful all year round, so visiting her in the winter might cheer her up a little!"
Annoying. She changed her mind about Harumi being the only one entitled to sit in on rehearsals.
"I'll be doing shows in Nagoya during the winter," Yomi lamented. "Why is it so hard to have a social life now?"
"That's how fame goes, isn't it?" Toshimi mused. "Sacrificing time for talent?"
Misuzu nodded sagely in agreement. "I don't think I could ever give up the time I spend with Toshimi for anything, no matter how talented I might be at it."
"Aw, Misuzu!" Toshimi swept Misuzu up into a big hug, and Misuzu giggled as she cuddled Toshimi back.
What the hell was wrong with them? They were talking about Yomi right now. How did Misuzu manage to make it about how much she wanted to kiss Toshimi's ass?
God, she hoped next year they'd all be separated. Another year in the same class as these two idiots was going to drag down the class average.
Yomi looked back over at Harumi, and she propped her chin up on her palm as she leaned forward onto her desk.
"By the way, Kawamoto-chan," she said gently. "Is everything going good for you? I remember you said you had a crush on someone at the end of last year, but you never updated us on how that panned out."
Harumi was startled by the question. She nervously looked away, cheeks flushing red, and she picked at her fingernails. Yomi could recall how absolutely unbearable the girl was, always sighing wistfully at nothing and never paying attention to what Yomi was saying. She was ready to drop the girl before she broke down one day and asked Yomi what the point of liking someone was when they weren't allowed to date at school. As much as Yomi hated the rule as well, she had to be thankful for it in some capacity—if it didn't exist, she would've had to put up with Harumi's constant pining in her vicinity.
Harumi looked at Yomi sheepishly. She looked away just as quickly, and Yomi hummed curiously. Was it someone she knew? This was juicy. Now she kinda wanted to find out who it was.
"W—Well…" Harumi stammered. She looked anxiously at Toshimi and Misuzu, and then at Yomi. "Actually, um, I—I… figured something out after graduation. I—It wasn't really one person I liked… I kinda realised I have a habit of, um… getting a crush on someone really easily…"
"Oh, poor thing," Toshimi cooed. "You must go through heartbreak so often."
"I did at first," Harumi agreed. "B—But then I did some more thinking, a—and…" She pursed her lips as she looked at the trio nervously. "Um… Can I… I mean… You guys would always be my friends, r—right?"
Toshimi and Misuzu nodded eagerly, excited to hear what she had to say. Yomi was less enthusiastic, making sure she appeared more calm as she nodded to Harumi. Frankly, whatever it was she was about to confess, Yomi never intended to stay friends with her anyway. As soon as they all graduated, she was conveniently losing their numbers and focusing on her fame.
Harumi blushed even more and smiled gently, reassured by their responses, and she squirmed on her feet.
"I, um… Realised that I was getting crushes on a lot of girls…" she confessed. "I think I'm gay."
Misuzu seemed to hesitate, faltering for a moment, but Toshimi was rushing over to Harumi's side and taking her hand with a big smile and a cheer.
"I'm so happy for you, Kawamoto-chan!" she cheered. "You were so brave to tell us! Is there anyone you like right now? Maybe we can organise a girls' day out with them!"
Misuzu, realising that Toshimi was unabashedly accepting Harumi's confession, quickly recovered and crowded the other side of Harumi. "Y—Yeah! And since she's a girl, that means you don't have to worry yourself over figuring out what she likes, right? She might like the same things most girls do!"
It was a very touching display, Yomi had to admit, but she was struggling to figure out exactly what that meant for the dynamic. Did that mean that Yomi was the object of her affections? Was she going to stalk Yomi now? How could she trust Harumi anymore? She was just as dangerous as the boys who'd try to corner her alone now.
She couldn't believe she let a Goddamn onabe near her.
"You must've been so scared to tell us," Yomi said sympathetically. "I'm proud of you for speaking up, Kawamoto-chan."
Harumi had tears in her eyes as she nodded, smiling with a relief that only came from holding in a horrible, terrible secret that ate away at your soul. She looked liberated, like she could finally stop being so scared of what her friends thought of her.
Harumi didn't have the right to feel safe. Not when she was a danger to Yomi now.
Yomi looked up at the time, peeking at the clock at the front of the room, and she saw there was five minutes until homeroom started. She waved to the girls and asked them, "Hey, does anyone need the bathroom before classes start? A drink? We've got five minutes."
Of all people, it was Harumi who chirped, "I might go wash my face before class starts. I don't wanna start the day with puffy eyes."
They left the class together as Toshimi and Misuzu returned to their seats, and Harumi was wiping at her eyes with her sleeve as she fanned her face with her other hand. They were quiet as they passed other students in the hall, some rushing to their classrooms while others were emerging from their respective bathrooms in a chatter, and when they walked into the girls' bathroom, Yomi noticed it was entirely empty. Damn it, she thought. She wanted someone to at least keep Harumi from acting up.
She wasn't one to pass up on some gossip, though. When Yomi was done with her business and washing her hands beside Harumi, she glanced at her in the mirror and asked, "Hey, Kawamoto-chan? Who do you have a crush on right now?"
Harumi looked at her, surprised she'd asked, and Yomi beamed at her. "I mean, I can't date because of my contract, but I can at least help play matchmaker, right?"
"Ah," Harumi said, almost like she'd forgotten about Yomi's contract. She was fully expecting her to pigeon toe around it again, avoiding Yomi's gaze, but instead Harumi was more bashful and tucked her hair behind her ear. "It's… actually Niki-san…"
Yomi froze. Was she for fucking real? It wasn't even Yomi that she liked? What the fuck was wrong with her? Was she blind? Toshimi was way too plain compared to Yomi. Did lesbians just have bad taste in women? God, no wonder no one ever came out of the closet—not even the guys who were horny-brained could agree with that kind of taste.
"How do you plan to…?" Yomi asked, trailing off.
Harumi laughed, helpless, and shrugged. "Like I said, I tend to get crushes very easily. Maybe in a couple of weeks, I'll be over her. It just might take a while to recover, is all…"
Well, at least her terrible taste wasn't a permanent thing. There were only so many plain girls around before you ran out of some to fall for. And then Harumi would get some real taste—like Yomi, for instance. Because honestly, it was insulting that the lesbian didn't even think she was attractive.
"Well, my offer still stands," Yomi chirped. She dried her hands and gestured to Harumi to follow her out of the bathroom, the two walking quickly to beat the bell to the classroom. "Just say the word, and I'll do my best to play Cupid!"
Harumi giggled. She nodded, happy for the support, and when they returned to the classroom, they both sank into their chairs just before the homeroom teacher entered. Hayashi Kyoko scolded two boys who came in late, and then she jumped into roll call before the homeroom period had a chance to end.
As soon as Yomi was done responding to her name, she made a mental note to find better friends to hang around this year. Toshimi and Misuzu were just plain unbearable, and Harumi was going to be problematic. She needed someone proper, someone she could call reliable, and if good help was hard to come by in Fujimi Academy, of all places, then there was no hope for anyone in this stupid school.
She'd have to do everything her Goddamn self.