Kyoko waved to
the student council president before she recalled that the third year
had stepped down by now. Since a week or so a second year boy from
7:2, which made him a classmate to Nao-sempai, had taken up that
role. The election campaign had been a non-event where the only
question among the first years was why Urufu didn't run for
president.
Blinking away her
thoughts Kyoko made for the club room to meet up with Yukio. They
hadn't been able to meet since that strange evening in the Stockholm
Haven café.
A few days
earlier she participated in one of the most surrealistic
conversations in her life. How to dismantle a school without ever
inviting the target to participate in the planning. Kyoko hadn't
understood all of it, only that the stakes had risen now when the
headships of both Himekaizen and Irishima high were active
participants in the war.
The door to their
clubroom slid open under her hands as she entered, and when she came
inside she saw Yukio chatting with the Wakayama twins. Urufu and
Kuri-chan still hadn't arrived.
In the lounge
area Nao-sempai sat half asleep in the sofa, and seated beside him
Hiroyuki-kun and Kichirou-kun ran a low voiced conversation where
they tried their best not to wake the junior up.
From time to time
Midori-chan offered a word or two, enough to make Kyoko understand
she was part of the conversation as well. Midori-chan still had a
mess of a hairdo, but it no longer was the horror show that had been
her trademark.
Ryu looked up
when Kyoko stepped further inside the room and beckoned her to the
table. During the short pause in their talking Yukio made place for a
flying kiss that made Noriko frown grinningly and Kyoko blush a
little. She still felt awkward with Yukio's public displays of
affection despite having been an item with him since August.
As she took a
place around the desks turned conference table Kyoko heard the door
slide open behind her.
“Perfect, seems
we're all gathered,” Urufu's voice announced.
“Just grabbing
a drink,” Kuri-chan said, and from the corner of her eye Kyoko saw
her friend beelining for the fridge still stocked with the last of
the drinks they had bought off the cultural festival. “Anyone want
one?”
The sound of the
fridge door opening accompanied Nao-sempai's snoring, and Kyoko heard
Kuri-chan run one round of orders to the group in and around the
sofa. A sudden yell told her Kuri-chan deliberately voided the other
club members' attempt not to disturb Nao-sempai.
“What the
hell?”
“Pocari Sweat,”
came Kuri-chan's answer before the sound of her steps receded towards
the fridge.
A bottle of
cold drink inside his shirt, Kyoko thought and smiled. It was an
outrageous act she would never have dared herself.
By her side Yukio
laughed open mouthed and Noriko grinned as well. She deserted her
place beside Yukio and walked around the table to take a seat beside
her brother. The small gesture filled Kyoko with warmth, and when
Noriko sat down facing her Kyoko shot the small girl a grateful
smile.
“Need any
help?” Urufu shouted, but he sat down and opened up his laptop as
if he knew beforehand that Kuri-chan would decline.
“Two hands is
enough for six drinks,” Kuri-chan shouted back and confirmed
Kyoko's impression.
When she returned
with an armful of bottles the aimless chatter subsided and everyone
looked at Urufu.
“Want me to
explain?” he said and looked at them over the screen.
“You'd better,”
Ryu growled. “I was planning to introduce Ai-chan to my parents
when we suddenly got marched away to the principal's office in
another school.”
Kyoko shared a
small sense of the discomfort he must have felt when he and his
sister got dragged inside Irishima high. Ryu attracted attention on
any normal day, but walking around in the Himekaizen uniform must
have made him stand out even more.
“Sorry about
that,” Urufu said. I didn't know they'd pull that stunt. To be
honest I don't even know why they guessed you waited for her by her
school gates.”
“Well that's
Ai-chan's fault,” Ryu answered and snorted. “Apparently she told
her club advisor why she wanted to leave earlier, and he in turn
reported that to their principal.”
Urufu shrugged.
“Still means they had it all planned for our vice principal to show
up there on short notice. Anyway, they pretty much took us by
surprise at the café as well.”
“So, what's
going on?” Noriko shot in to keep the conversation from derailing.
“Kyoko, mind
turning the whiteboard?” Urufu asked.
Kyoko rose and
faced the whiteboard towards them. While she was up she turned on the
water boiler and prepared some green tea.
The table turned
silent and Urufu used the break to set up his beamer.
“Well,” he
said after Kyoko had returned, “this is what's happening.”
Kyoko looked at
the whiteboard where two cutaways were displayed.
“This is
Himekaizen, and this is Irishima high. These,” Urufu said and
marked a few highlighted areas with a pen laser, “are available
classrooms.”
Kyoko looked at
three areas in the cutaway of Irishima high and five of them for
Himekaizen.
“Starting the
coming year Irishima high will open up an extra class of freshmen and
Himekaizen two.”
By now a large
number of club members had gathered by the table as those who entered
the room came directly for the display and those who sat in the
lounge area rose and joined them.
“Why a total of
eight classrooms?” Ryu asked.
“It's nine
actually. 9:1 already occupies one. All three freshman classes will
be pilfered from Red Rose junior high.”
“Uhum?”
“Himekaizen and
Irishima high will target the parents of the Red Rose ninth graders
directly.”
“I don't get
it.”
“Jeez,”
Kuri-chan interrupted. “Ryu, we're running a smear campaign here.
Our schools will target the first and second years as well in an
attempt to save the poor students from a school going belly up.”
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