Having arrived
yesterday, but without Nao, Noriko felt a little nervous when she
shakily navigated the slope down to the short road that connected
skiing facility with the small cluster of hotels where they lived.
Nao was arriving
by bus and should be here any moment now, and Noriko didn't plan to
miss out on more time with him than needed.
Suddenly her feet
shook more than usual, and as they had done with depressing
regularity her skies betrayed her again. She was left as an
undignified heap on the ground.
Noriko suspected
she spent more time getting back up on her feet than skiing and
cursed whoever had decided that alpine skiing was a fun way to spend
your free time.
After she managed
to get back on her feet again Noriko reluctantly left her dignity
behind her and punted her way to the parking place.
The bus arrived,
but Nao didn't. Another arrived an hour later, but still no Nao, and
he didn't even reply to her mails.
Distraught she
went inside the foyer, bought a cup of tea and seated herself by the
windows from where she could see the buses arrive. Three cups later
and another bus without Nao she gave up and took the elevator to
their room.
Worst
Christmas ever, she thought as she dragged out a futon and threw
herself on it. Noriko knew she behaved like a spoiled child, but it
just wasn't fair that her idiot brother was out there having the time
of his life with Ai-chan while she had to wait for a boyfriend who
didn't even have the grace to tell her he was late.
Sucks, she
sulked.
But even sulking
got boring, and in the end Noriko tired of playing the lonesome
orphan. She sent Nao a choice nasty mail and went down for the last
few hours of humiliation on the slopes.
Well outside she
couldn't stay angry for long. Despite making a habit of falling on
her butt with the grace of a lame elephant the whiteness surrounding
her was simply breathtaking.
With temperatures
at a friendly minus two or three she was never cold, and with renewed
vigour she finished her lonely skiing day and returned to the hotel.
Nao or no Nao, after a day like this taking a hot bath outdoors
promised to be heaven.
Noriko slipped
inside the women's locker room, stripped and brought her towel into
the bathing area. Ai-chan was already there rinsing off before the
baths, and so was Noriko's mother.
“Hi mom,”
Noriko said and sat down on a pallet.
“Where were you
all day?”
“Waiting for
Nao, and failing. Yeah and trying to ski, and failing.”
Both mother and
brother's girlfriend displayed risen eyebrows.
“Nao didn't
come, and he hasn't mailed me.”
Ai-chan dunked
herself with water and moved to the exit. Noriko's mother followed
her, so Noriko found herself in a sudden hurry. Outside she sank into
the shallow pool and waited for the interrogation to continue.
“Does he
usually do that?” her mother wanted to know.
Noriko was
prepared for that question. Her mother positively despised people who
didn't communicate.
“No, he only
does during a shoot, because they're not allowed to have their phones
on,” Noriko said. Crap! Don't tell me he got dragged into
whatever problems Kuri brought onto herself! Still, that only
made sense, and if so Noriko feared Nao might not show up at all.
“What's with
that face?” her mother said.
Noriko pouted and
slid deeper into the water to hide her sulking expression. This was
her own problem, and nothing she wanted to drag her parents into. But
I wanted Nao here. Stupid Kuri! First you took Urufu away, and now
Nao as well.
She submerged to
wash away that thought. Kuri hadn't taken anyone away, and Noriko
knew she was being unfair. OK, maybe you didn't, but I'm still the
only one without someone now. And that thought was a lie as well.
If Nao couldn't join them then that meant Kuri and Urufu had no way
of meeting as well.
When she came
back up above the surface for a breath her mother was waiting, and
Noriko noticed how Ai-chan just waited for an answer.
“Spill it!”
That wasn't her mother's friendly voice. That was the voice of her
mother the few times Noriko knew she could outmatch Kuri.
“I want to know
as well. We're involved now?”
“Involved with
what?” Noriko's mother said, and by now her tone had taken the
quality needed to cut through stone.
“There's a lot
of students at Irishima high...”
“Irishima
high?”
“Yeah, and a
few teachers as well...” Ai-chan continued.
A few
teachers? Idiot! You got your principal salivating all over the place
at the chance to sink Red Rose.
“Teachers?”
“Yes… we're
kind of not friends with Red Rose Academy now,” Ai-chan said, and
Noriko coughed when she heard that understatement.
“Noriko,” her
mother began. “You're going to tell me exactly what you've been up
to. I know some of it, but I didn't know you got Irishima high
involved as well.”
Tonight will
be no fun at all. Then Noriko spilled all of it, or almost all.
The secret about Urufu and Kuri living their lives for a second time
had to stay a secret.
As she talked she
saw Ai-chan raise her eyebrows from time to time at some choice
details that hadn't made their way to her yet. It wasn't as if Noriko
had tried to keep them secret from her or anything, but so much had
happened that some parts just got forgotten.
She began from
the attempted rape, continued with Urufu's expulsion, glossed over
Kuri's dangerous stunt as a hostess and the assault on her in the
girls' locker room the previous spring. She told them about the
revenge mission Principal Nakagawa had sent Urufu on, about the
suicide and the attack on Urufu behind the gym during the cultural
festival. Last of all Noriko told them about Kuri's smear campaign
and the dirty war that followed.
Talking about it
all made Noriko remember. Parts of it she relived, sitting there in
the hot spring water, but other parts she hadn't experienced herself.
It's been a long year. A long year and a half. Was it worth
it? Yeah, I fell in love and broke my heart. Then I fell in love
again, and I made friends with you all.
The strangest of
her new friends were Yukio and Kyoko, maybe because they were so
normal. I hope you had a good Christmas date.
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