There were
rumours about their club. A few months earlier those rumours would
have been about 3:1, but Noriko didn't care.
Urufu ran the
planning for both of their events until Kuri returned to school a few
days later. Kyoko and Yukio were still absent though. An accident
they were told by their teacher, but in the eyes of Urufu she could
read that something disgusting had happened. Especially as he refused
to return her looks.
It didn't take
a genius to understand that it was all connected to his war with Red
Rose though. That scared her, but worse it hurt. It hurt that he
didn't trust her, and it hurt that the boy she still loved didn't
want to look at her even as a friend.
Planning and
working with the cultural festival was supposed to be fun, but with
Urufu at the helm it turned into work. He was efficient, and the club
members got a lot more individual responsibility than the members of
any other club, but it wasn't fun. Not once did his face flash into
that wolfish grin that made her heart lurch.
Whenever she
wondered if she wasn't imagining things she only had to watch Urufu's
face reflected in Ryu's to know it wasn't just a bad dream. Her
brother knew something, but he refused to share with her, and In
Yukio's absence he turned into Urufu's wingman without a single
thought of his own status.
Idiot bro,
I don't want to see you grow into a man this way, she once
thought, and she evens started to miss his inane antics. The brother
she had learned to love to hate rapidly vanished and was replaced by
someone harder, and with nowhere to turn Noriko silently assumed
Kyoko's duty as Kuri's wingman.
It wasn't lost
on anyone in the club.
Where she had
assumed summer's break to be the end of something the start of their
autumn term signalled a more important end. One she refused to
accept. When they started school in April she was the most mature of
the six of them, but now she wondered if she wasn't the only child
remaining.
She overheard
a whispered conversation between Kuri and Urufu and learned how Kuri
had been attacked at her own home. Knowing that four of the six of
them were being dragged back into her old nightmare made her sick
with fear.
Then a final
insanity occurred that made her force the issue. There were
transfers. A small class of transfers. Three weeks into the term
class 9:1 suddenly came into existence. Twenty five new students and
all from Red Rose Academy. Another ten were rumoured to still be in
the process of transferring.
Still, there
were rumours about their club. Of the transferees half a dozen
immediately applied for membership and were accepted within minutes
after Kuri entered their club room. Not a single one was of Japanese
origin and all of them wore silent faces telling tales of a school
they despised.
With close to
thirty members in the club Noriko finally had a reason to go to the
student council. Formally to apply for an increased budget, but in
reality she was hell-bent on finding out what was going on.
She stormed
into the office and was surprised to find the entire student council
there in a conversation with Principal Nakagawa and a third year
student she only vaguely recognised.
“We'll
increase security, but you'll have to report any outsiders on school
grounds.”
“Yes
sensei.”
Principal
Nakagawa looked in her direction as the door slid shut behind her.
“I'm aware that… Girl, we knock before we enter. Oh, it's you.”
There were
several more pairs of eyes turned in her direction now.
“Did you
need anything?” the council president asked.
Noriko looked
back at her. She could just as well have said: 'Please leave'. “I'll
need increased funding with six more embers joining the club,”
Noriko said, stating her official errand.
“We'll
handle that later.”
This time
Noriko turned directly to Principal Nakagawa. “I'll also need
directives concerning how the club is to handle the current
confrontation with Red Rose Academy,” she said.
Principal
Nakagawa frowned back at her, but he didn't say anything.
“I have one
member hospitalised and another who won't come to school. Our
president was assaulted at her own home. That counts as a problem for
me.”
“Girl, this
is none of your business,” Principal Nakagawa said.
Noriko hadn't
expected to see him here, but it made things a lot easier for her.
She would force his hand by dropping a bomb. “My club members being
targeted by the same people who paid for raping me isn't my problem?”
“What!”
Well, that
got the attention of the student council. Try to keep the lid down on
this one old goat!
“My office,
now!”
Noriko
followed her principal through the corridor. She tried to look
properly abashed, but this was a fight she had already won. She'd be
scolded and there would be some kind of punishment, but the real
battle was won.
She knew that
not all battles would be this easy. There were grown-ups involved in
some kind of power game, and she had neither the experience nor the
clout to fight them toe to toe. But she could help Urufu and Kuri
with the fight. They did have the experience if not the ability to
pull rank.
I just
can't figure out how to help them, but I'm good at figuring things
out sooner or later. Bro got all the charms, but brains is my
department.
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