“I'm not
going to apologise.”
“I don't
expect you to,” Urufu said.
They sat under
the great sails outside the cafeteria. With only a day until the
cultural festival the place had seen a transformation from student
hangout to what looked like a festival area with almost finished
stalls.
On the other
side of the building, close to the soccer field, the international
food area was also nearing completion, and the two friends had taken
a short lunch break.
“You know,
Christina was in the wrong this time. I'm not going to defend her,”
Urufu said when Yukio didn't say anything.
It wasn't fair
to his friend being this stubborn, but Yukio just felt helpless when
Kyoko got hurt. “It's not your fault,” he started, “and I don't
want to say bad things about your girlfriend, but it's...”
“It is my
fault as well,” Urufu interrupted. “Christina's behaviour was out
of line, but I agree with her initial assessment.”
When did
you start learning Japanese words like that? “What do you
mean?” While Urufu's grasp of kanji was still awful his spoken
Japanese evolved faster than was decent.
“The
bullying has to stop. If we're going to fight Red Rose Hell we can't
afford this kind of shit on our own turf. Anyone try to screw you up
they have to be put down mercilessly.”
Yukio stared
at his friend. “That's harsh.”
“Uhum.”
Urufu took another bite of his atrocious noodle sub and swallowed it
as if it deserved to be called food. “Look, I didn't get to run a
company because I was so damned friendly with everyone. I've fired a
few arse holes, and once I made certain an idiot was blacklisted.
Illegal yes, but damn that got the attention of any wannabe racists.”
He can be
cold sometimes. “Didn't you get into trouble for that?”
“Hell yeah!
We had to pay a hefty fine, but the dick stayed blacklisted all the
same. Well worth it.”
Suddenly Urufu
laughed at the memory and Yukio stared at him again.
A few
students, mostly freshmen looked in their direction from the stalls
they were finishing.
Urufu played
in a totally different league. Not for the first time Yukio felt
inadequate. “Man, sometimes I just don't understand why you stick
around with me. I give you headaches and I'm just a school kid.”
The glare
Yukio got in return for his comment was devastating. “Don't you
ever ask that question again! I stick around because you're the
bloody best friend anyone could wish for. I stick around because you
stood up for me when doing so put yourself at risk. Fuck it Yukio!
I'm the one honoured to have a friend like you, not the other way
around!”
That was about
as close to a love confession Yukio had ever heard in his life. The
harsh sincerity in the words made his heart lurch even though he
instinctively understood there was only a deep sense of friendship
behind them.
“Sorry,”
he said.
“And don't
you bloody sorry me! Your girl got hurt and she's my friend as well.
At least to the degree she accepts my friendship. Worst case I'll
accept a one sided friendship crush on her if you get what I mean.”
Yukio thought
he did. Urufu had absolutely no romantic interest in his Kyoko, but
he valued those he considered his friends almost as much as he valued
Christina
“I wonder,”
Yukio said. “Sometimes I wish I could make you smile the way you
made me smile, but it's only Kuri who has that power. I'm a bit
jealous, you know, if you get my meaning man.” And that was for all
practical purposes a love confession of his own. Friendship was funny
that way. Two persons. Two he had found he was willing to risk
everything for.
Urufu lit up
in the grin that had made more than a few girls look twice after him
the last couple of months.
There's
nothing left of your try to be part of geek squad, but there's also
nothing left of the rebel kid from middle school. The thought was
sobering. Urufu must have grown back into the man he had been before
he arrived in Japan, even if he sometimes acted just as childishly as
Yukio and the others in the gang of friends.
“Look, I'll
talk with Christina. She wants to apologise anyway. Kyoko's important
to her. It's her best friend after all. Deal?”
“Deal,”
Yukio answered.
“Let's head
back to our area. The poor sods there don't know crap about
organising a large scale event.” With that Urufu gobbled down the
last of his bread and rose.
Yukio downed
his bottled tea and followed.
No one
knows crap about your kind of organising, he thought. Two thirds
of the club were grouped into three teams of six members each and
each team was given full responsibility of one third of the barbecue
area, including coordinating work with the other stalls there.
Another group worked with the fashion show and Urufu assigned three
of the most hard working members of the club to be what he called the
fire brigade.
That had come
in handy more than once during the planning and set-up.
Yukio shook
his head and followed Urufu to the barbecue area. From the almost
industrial planning and set-up it was clear to Yukio that management
consulting only played part of the part here. Urufu must have some
prior experience from setting up parties as well.
As they passed
into the area Yukio found himself surrounded by people with
questions. Most were from other stalls and he redirected them to
their respective culture club group just as Urufu had requested, but
a few were internal questions. Among other things something was awry
with the fashion show.
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