Inkspired funny.

Seems I keep getting an absurd percentage of reads on this site. While a small one its 'popular' section definitely strokes my ego.

Obviously I need to take into account that I receive next to no readers elsewhere.

I'll return with a new chunk from Wingman Blues here soon.

Chapter one (segment nine), 2016, September, Ulf

Ryu's delivery had been beyond expectations. Not only was the fight between 5:2 and 3:1 resolved, but they had gained another ten students from 9:1, and with that Ulf's remaining staffing problems dissolved.

He smiled remembering Ryu's heads up. Apparently a girl in their middle school with fantastically bad taste in boys had nurtured a crush on him before he was expelled. It was a little flattering, and he wasn't above feeling his self esteem rising a bit.

Maybe Christina wouldn't think it was that fun, even though he trusted her to be mature enough to laugh it away in the end.

Probably.

They hadn't been able to share all that much time together since the night he spent in her apartment. By any normal standards they should have been lovers by now, but that night they only slept together just as they had done at the resort her grandfather ran together with his wife.

There was no mistaking why she called him over, but when he got there he was just too emotionally drained to do anything, and in a way he valued her closeness more than sex.

Ulf rehashed that evening as he had done several times by now. They slept together and nothing else but was that what she wanted? Had she wanted more, and if so was she angry with him now?

Gah, I'll just ask her when we meet. No point in worrying on my own. This was one occasion where fifty was much better than sixteen. Knowing that in order to avoid misunderstandings actually talking things over was a perfectly acceptable solution.

When he had been sixteen the first time talking something specific over hadn't been the main problem. Talking with a girl at all had been. He spent his two first years in high school with his tongue perpetually glued to the back of his mouth whenever a girl approached too close.

Third year less so after a second year took a fancy to him and tired of waiting. She made him her boyfriend with all the finesse and subtlety of a stereotypical caveman. She crowned her whirlwind campaign by kicking in the door to his classroom mid lecture, declaring she had come for her boyfriend and frenched him before he had a chance to rise from his chair.

Ulf grinned at the memory. It only lasted a little over a year, but before they grew apart she had reshaped him into a very different person.

His first. There was something about firsts.

“Hamarugen-san?”

He shook the memories away and turned to look for whoever had spoken to him.

“Hamarugen-san?”

A junior from the liberal arts section, but which class he couldn't tell. “Sorry, I spaced out a bit, what can I help you with?”

“We're the Latin seafood stall.”

Ulf dug up his phone and made a search. “The grill?”

“Yeah. There's a problem. We wondered if we could extend the barbecue instead. We could use the stall for sales only.”

There's no way they came up with this on their own. They're not club members so no one told them to think independently. “Who told you to ask me?”

The junior pointed over his shoulder with a thumb. Behind him Ulf saw Christina talking frantically into her headset while still making time to wave at him.

“Fine, we'll do so. Get your grills out of the booth and set it up at one end of the two lines.” Ulf drew a quick sketch on the ground with the two lines of grills and where he wanted the last two set up at one end. “Got it?”

He received a nod in return, and the junior returned to make the changes.

Christina. I should have known. But Ryu's getting damn good at this as well so it could have been him. Ulf started walking towards Christina. If nothing else he could get a hug and a kiss from her before they were swamped with more work.

He made it halfway to her.

“Hamarugen-san?”

What's up this time? The girl looking up at him was a complete stranger. “How can I be of assistance?” Not much point in pretending I don't know she's looking for help.

“I'm from the tea club and we've been told to cooperate with the espresso stall.”

“Yes?” How bloody hard can it be?

“We don't know how. Just because both stalls serve hot drinks we're not the same.”

Ulf looked over her shoulder to where Christina still stood. She threw him an ironic smile and waved to let him know she'd wait for him a bit longer.

“OK, split down the middle.”

When he saw her face mimic a question mark he pulled out the umbrella he had used just moments earlier.

“Like this,” Ulf said and drew two boxes on the ground. “You're organised in two groups like this at the moment. Split each group in two this way and merge the two halves. Got it?”

She nodded understanding.

“Each new group continues planning like before, but this time both groups will have knowledge about serving tea as well as coffee. Should solve your problem.”

The freshman girl, because her uniform gave away that she was one, gave him an uncertain look as if she couldn't believe such a simple solution would do any good.

“Trust me on this. If it doesn't work you can always come back. OK?”

“Thank you Hamarugen-san,” she said.

He was about to leave her when she suddenly tugged at his shirt sleeve. Ulf looked up and saw Christina glaring at the girl, and just then she let go.

“Anything more?” he asked, but she shook her head and ran away.

When he started walking to Christina he saw how she had already made the distance to him. Amused worry played over her face, and Ulf had an inkling of an idea what it was about.

“Sorry about that,” he said to Christina, “but I don't do two girls at the same time so you don't have to worry.” But isn't that a lie? Isn't this cheating on Maria?

She smirked. “I hope you understand that 'doing' a girl means something else. Besides, you all that certain she was going to confess?”

So you didn't catch up on my lie? “You glared. If I wasn't sure before I was after that.” It wasn't a topic he wanted to spend time on. Instead he drew her close and let go of all thoughts. Her arms around his back and her body pressed against his was all that mattered.

I can never get enough of this. If I didn't know how much I'd hurt your dreams I'd declare my love for you from the rooftop for the entire school to hear. He knew he wasn't in the clear yet, but at least admitting to himself that there were two women in his heart meant he was moving forward another tiny step.

“Ulf,” she murmured into his shirt. “do you have some free time around two pm day after tomorrow?”

Reluctantly he let go of her. There was something in her eyes, like she had thought something over and made a decision. If it's important for you. “If you need me at two pm I'll make time.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

He was rewarded with a smile that almost made his heart stop.

Chapter one (segment eight), 2016, September, Christina

It was abusing her position, but with so little time left she had no choice. A call to the old goat secured the approval of involving Uniclo in the fashion show. Christina didn't tell him she'd call her agency as well. He didn't need to know that.

That was her second planned phone call, but before she could make it her phone rang.

Amaya? “Christina here.”

“Hello, there's something I need to talk with you about.”

What's up now? I don't like that voice. “Yes. I'm a bit busy right now.”

“I'll make it short. Could you please not invite Urufu over to your place any more.”

What the fuck! “Eh, I don't understand.” Christina felt panic rising in her. She's supposed to be on our side.

“I'd really prefer if you broke up with him, but I understand you wouldn't listen to that anyway. So I'm placing a curfew on Urufu instead.”

Christina stared at her phone. The call was off. She had punched it off without thinking. We have so little time together already, and now this. Why? Why would you want to hurt us this way?

Tears came to her eyes. They did so easily, and they would as long as she was still a teen if she could believe that doctor whom Nakagawa had brought to the beach. There was little reason to believe anything else. She had been something of a crybaby when she was a teenager the first time.

Still, that call had been blunt to the degree of idiocy. A frontal assault like that was guaranteed to be met by resistance, so why hadn't Amaya been more sly instead of behaving like a pre-teen bully?

It was an important question, but it was one she just didn't have the time to handle right now. Later she'd talk with Ko-chan and maybe cry a little more, but now she needed to get a fashion show running from scratch with only hours to play with.

Then her phone rang again. Unknown number? “Ageruman Kuritina,” she said in the Japanese way.

“My name is Alice Kerringer. I'm calling from Uniclo concerning our autumn launch,” a voice said in English.

“Yes?”

“We're going live today. We've been in contact with your agency, but they told us to call you directly. We're interested in an event, but as you're still a high school student we got the impression there might be some scheduling issues.”

For the second time in a day Christina stared at her phone. Now that's what I call superb timing. “Yes, but I was just about to call you about a problem we have.” She sat down on the floor uncaring that her skirt would probably be stained from her doing so.

“Yes?” Now it was the other side's turn to ask that question.

“Ms Kerringer, our cultural festival is about to start, and some jerks destroyed our props for a fashion show.”

“Yes?” Christina could hear the rise in interest through the phone.

“I've cleared with our principal, and I was just about to call you to see if you had any interest in sponsoring us. Thinking how close it was for the launch and all that.”

“Ah, but we wouldn't want to seem partial to one school.”

Now that's just haggling, and a poor start to boot. “Ah, ms Kerringer, the finishing shoot was with students from here, so it would fit in rather well. If I may say so.”

There was a short delay. “If I understand those kind of events only run for a few minutes. It's a lot of work for us for so small an audience.”

Got you now! “There are two events. The second one is a beauty contest, and that one should attract the interest of everyone for the duration of both days.”

Once more there was a delay of hesitation. The Kerringer person probably spoke with someone else right now. This was the final part of negotiations, and anyone downplaying Christina Agerman when it came to negotiations usually didn't last long in business. Or hadn't in her previous life.

“Unless we can have a camera crew there I don't see the use for us.”

You're way too easy to read. “That's cleared as well,” Christina lied. “The original plan was for my agency to sponsor the event with stock clothing, but I understand why they asked you to call me directly now.”

And that was about as far from the truth as possible, but Christina knew her agency would prostrate themselves and cry hallelujah, or whatever people in Japan cried, at the opportunity for a public display together with a local behemoth like Uniclo.

“We're not paying any fees.”

“Of course not. This is a school event after all. I'm doing this in my role as club president, but we would really like to be able to display your autumn line before it's in the stores.”

And that was another lie. Uniclo sold clothes about as sexy as Chag had done the last years, which was to say cheap and not sexy at all. Maybe not entirely a lie after all. It would be clothes that weren't available at the shops yet, and that counted for a lot.

Christina sealed the deal over the phone, and after that she quickly placed a call to her agency. She almost heard the hallelujah cries over the phone, and with that their show was on track again.

Now it was the matter of scheduling her models. All of them. Especially the one who didn't have a clue he'd be forced on-stage.

While her fame was about to explode, she had already experienced it once. Whether she would become a national icon again or not was uncertain, but for the coming three months she'd become one of the most famous faces in Japan.

Ulf however didn't understand how fast his own fame was rising. Sure it was contained to Himekaizen only, but for all practical purposes their school was their world, and Christina planned to make her claim on him very, very, very public. Public enough to make certain it wouldn't be contained to their school any longer.

Amaya's call scared her, and it angered her, and it made her decide to put Ulf on the stage together with her. No one had the right to break them up. If their relationship broke down it should because of their own faults.

With new determination Christina punched Ko-chan's number. Amaya's call still made her need to cry a little.

Chapter one (segment seven), 2016, September, Ryu

Normally he would have flirted a bit more with the girls from 9:1. They kind of knew each other from earlier after all, but at the moment he needed them to help out with the chaos 5:2 and 3:1 were responsible for.

Of course he couldn't help flirting a little. He was the prince of Himekaizen after all, just as he had been the prince of Red Rose half a year earlier. Right now he used the latter knowledge ruthlessly. As long as the newly transferred girls believed they had more right to his attention because they had shared middle school with him they were prepared to help him with his plans.

When his phone blared alive he left it on speakers on purpose.

“Ryu here, what do you want Urufu?”

“Some shit happened to our props. Christina's on it but I'm sending Yukio over to the gym to help out as well. He has to help out with the play anyway.”

Ryu stared at his phone. From around him he could see the girls giving him questioning looks. “OK? Noriko's tied up with sponsors for the rest of the day. I'm kind of busy myself.”

There was a muffled sound from the phone. Is he laughing? “Stop picking up girls already!” Oh, no the bastard can see me from wherever he is. He's helping me.

Ryu understood he'd been given a que, but he wasn't exactly clear what it was. While their friendship had grown rapidly the last month he still couldn't communicate by silent magic the way Yukio and Urufu sometimes seemed to do. He had to play the cards he had been given by heart.

“Hard to avoid,” he started. “I'm with the only good Red Rose had to offer.”

The girls closest to him giggled with pleased amusement, and a couple of them blushed as well.

“With you saying that I assume you're dating a full length mirror right now.”

Now it was his turn to blush. Bastard! Then he laughed. “Wall mounted, Urufu. Wall mounted or it would be too small.”

“Yea yea, leave the toilet and get out here.”

So he's pretending he can't see me. OK means I'm playing it right. “No need. I'm with the only real roses from my middle school.”

That bought him more than a few gasps and shouts of admiration.

Above him the sky had clouded over, but there would be no rain for the length of the festival. He gave the clouds some more stares while he pretended to think about what Urufu had said.

“Ryu, can you handle your side of this. I had a chat with Christina and I need to get some extra funding to set up a couple of unplanned stalls.”

What's going on? “Sure, I can handle things here. At least with the help of girls I can trust.” And there he played the final card given to him by Urufu.

Ryu only needed a glance around him to see that they had bought it all. It wasn't fair, and it was a bit underhanded. Just like Urufu had taught him to work when time was of essence.

“Superb, I knew I could count on anyone leaving that hell hole,” Urufu said and sealed the deal. With 9:1 you could trust their almost fanatical hatred of Red Rose.

They closed the call and Ryu drew a deep breath. We're building an army here. There's going to be a showdown sooner or later, but I don't know what kind of war Urufu is planning for.

It was time to focus on the problem closest at hand instead. Ryu turned and shot the girls his most charming smile. “I have a small problem with my own class and some juniors. Would you mind helping me?”

“Sure, what is it?” It was a girl from what had been 9 – C or 9 – D in middle school, he couldn't remember which. Cute but not exactly a beauty. Bright though, and he wondered why she hadn't transferred to Irishima High instead.

He looked at her eyes. She bought absolutely nothing of that call, but she's still playing along. Maybe I've got an ally here. “The juniors wanted an outdoor cos-play café here, but they don't want to handle dishes. I need to use some of my classmates for the dishes and they resent it.”

“We transferred here too late for festival planning. I'm sure my classmates would want to take part in anything you need us for,” she said and confirmed his hope.

“Urufu wants an international cuisine food plaza, and with some extras waiting tables I'm certain we could promise everyone handling dishes some slots waiting tables in fancy clothes and get some spare time as well.”

She looked at him. “Urufu? There was one delinquent in Red Rose who was caught fighting...”

Ryu laughed. “It's him, but he never was a delinquent.” He looked at her again. “He's running the show, and trust me, he's very good at it.”

“Funny. Guess that's why he turned down patrolling the festival grounds then.”

So the rumours about the thugs are true then. “Patrolling?” Ryu asked to confirm his suspicion.

They had almost arrived at the centre of the local problem before she answered. “Yea. The student council wanted some help and asked some of my classmates they believed were suited to the task.”

Suited to the task. Damn, you're almost as cold hearted as Urufu. “And you just remembered Urufu being expelled from Red Rose?”

She blushed a little at that. With a smirk she turned around an almost finished stall and waited for him. “No, no I didn't.”

Aww, shit! Not another one? And he doesn't even try the way I do. Ryu grinned and beckoned one of the juniors from 5:2 to him. “So what brought him to your attention?” It wasn't very nice of him to ask that question, but with the festival about to start he couldn't afford any hidden friction between the members of his staff.

“I had a crush on him, but he didn't know any Japanese so I didn't know how to approach him,” she admitted.

Good thing you didn't. I'm sure he was still in love with that lost wife of his a year ago. But I can't tell you that. Suddenly Ryu felt awkward. “He's going out with Kuri now.”

“Kuri?” And it was as if a glimmer of hope had died in her eyes.

Sorry, but I'm going to extinguish it once and for all. “Ageruman-san. She's from Sweden as well. You don't stand a chance, and I wouldn't root for you anyway, because they're both my friends.” It was harsh, but he didn't have time for anything else.

She threw a hand to her mouth. “Ageruman-san? The model?”

“Yeah. There's nothing coming between those two,” he said. And with those words he slowly started to accept that it was time for him to move forward as well, just as his sister had done.

Chapter one (segment six), 2016, September, Kyoko

“What do you mean with ripped?” Kyoko asked.

“Someone broke into our club room and ripped apart the clothes we were supposed to use for the fashion show.”

Kyoko sighed. This started to look just like what had happened to Kuri-chan early January this year. It had been their last term at middle school, and not everyone appreciated how beautiful the tall and skinny girl had become.

“Envious idiots?” Kyoko asked no one in particular. She got no response, not even from Midori-chan who had just reported the vandalism burglary. “OK, I'll have Kuri-chan handle it,” Kyoko said.

Bur first of all she needed to calm down a scared club member. She might look like a gorilla with that awful hairdo, but Midori-chan was just as scared and fragile as any other girl.

Any other person, Urufu and Kuri-chan would have said. They were kind of funny that way refusing to accept the normal differences between men and women. Sometimes she admired them for it. Sometimes they were just a major pain.

Kyoko scrolled up her call history and punched the fifth last number. It should have been either the last or the second one these days. Yukio's normally competed for the other slot, but now things were strained between Kuri-chan and her,.and they hadn't spoken much lately.

She quickly told Kuri-chan what had happened. There was a certain relief in hearing her friends voice, but right now she would have preferred seeing Kuri-chan face to face. After the call Kyoko walked down the stairs to make her way to the gym hall. There had been a rescheduling and for all effective purposes they now had to run the fashion show both days instead of only once.

Some third years with a lot of clout had forced a beauty contest. An embarrassing misunderstanding of the American style prom queen and king, Noriko had said.

Above her she heard running steps. She knew those steps. Kuri-chan must have been running since she got the call. She did a lot of running between the festival planning room and the two events the cultural club was involved in.

At least 3:1 weren't involved with anything that Urufu didn't handle himself with that monstrous planning brain of his. Kyoko wondered how he kept up with it. 6:1 had a play to prepare, the club had both the fashion show and the barbecue area and on top of it all another full twenty stalls from several classes depended on him by now.

She sighed and took a few more steps. More carefully now after she had experienced falling down them. With a bit of guilt Kyoko realised she would have preferred if it had been Yukio's steps running down the stairs from above, but he covered Urufu's back, and Urufu had already gained a hero's aura as a demon organiser. He was being swamped with requests, and thus she and Yukio got very little time for each other during school hours.

“Ko-chan!”

Kyoko turned her head upwards and nodded to Kuri-chan as she bounced down the stairs. “Yo!” she greeted her blond friend.

“Yo! That was some time ago.”

It had been. A year or so. Both Kuri-chan's Japanese and English had been littered with stereotypical American slang during their early days of friendship. Friendship. The word made Kyoko's chest constrict.

“Going to the gym?”

“Yeah,” Kyoko said. They really needed to talk.

Kuri-chan suddenly grabbed both her arms. “Ko-chan, about everything. I'm sorry.” Her face was painted with worry and guilt.

“You're an arse.” Kyoko wasn't prepared to forgive her friend just yet.

“I'm sorry.”

“You're an insensitive moron.” And venting her frustration helped a little.

“I'm sorry.”

“You're an arrogant bastard.” But that was also an important part of Kuri-chan, and it had become a part of their friendship.

“I'm sorry.”

“You're my best friend.” Because in the end she really was, no matter what happened between them.

“I'm sorry.”

“What the hell...” Then Kyoko saw the guilty grin splitting her friend's face in two. “You're hopeless,” Kyoko said and shook her head.

“I'm sorry,” Kuri-chan answered and let go of one arm. Only one arm. She hugged the other to herself, and Kyoko found herself escorted through corridor, cafeteria, under the sails and all the way to the gym hall.

It didn't bother her at all. Kuri-chan's stupid antics was a vast improvement over the last day's estrangement between them. But their friendship had changed. It could never again be as innocent as it had been earlier.

“So how do you plan to solve the clothes?” Kyoko asked as they entered.

They had to navigate some props for one of the bands that was going to perform during the festival. And by the scene she saw some freshmen from 6:1 working on the set to their play, but Yukio wasn't among them.

Kuri-chan held her answer while they made their way through the impromptu obstacle course. “I'll handle it with the agency, but there's another solution as well. I'll ask the old goat first,” she said when they were through.

There's only one more student in the school who'd dare to refer to Principal Nakagawa as the old goat, but only Kuri-chan would get away with it. “Ask Principal Nakagawa about what?” Kyoko asked and acknowledged the livestock referral.

“Remember the fashion shoot last month?”

Kyoko pretended to study the students from 6:1. “Yeah.” Not that she had taken much part in those shoots. She didn't have the looks for it, and she knew Kuri-chan would only grow even more beautiful in the years ahead.

“Should be about time for Uniclo to launch that line about now. And the shoot ended up with a high school beach party special.”

Oh, you meant the last one when all of us were invited? “Yeah?”

“All club members are from this school. I think I can get them to sponsor a Himekaizen special, because it would tie in with that last evening.”


The answer confirmed her unspoken question and Kyoko could see why that would need a green light from the headship.

Chapter one (segment five), 2016, September, Yukio

“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.

Chapter one (segment four), 2016, September, Kyoko

The world spun and someone rang with a hammer in her head.

“Will it scar?” a voice asked.

Where am I?

“No, I don't think so. She split an eyebrow, but I could tape it just fine.”

There were curtains around her, and the voices came from the other side of them.

It hurts. Why does it hurt? Kyoko tried to sit up, but she was too weak and a feeling of being disgusting caught her all of a sudden. Leaning to her side she retched, and for some time there was only the heaving and the pain in her stomach.

When she came to again familiar faces surrounded her bed. Somehow she had ended up in the infirmary.

She saw a Yukio she'd never seen before in her life, and a Kuri-chan smaller than she could ever remember her friend having been.

“Happy now? Desert her when she's assaulted and tell her you hate her when she tries to help you? Just die you bitch!”

What is he saying. Don't do that to Kuri-chan!

“I'm sorry. It's all my fault.”

What's your fault Kuri-chan? Something was wrong with her. Kyoko felt it even if she couldn't understand what had happened. It was as if she was dreaming. I fell into the wall, she remembered.

“Just shut up and go to hell!”

Yukio, what are you doing? Can't you see she's hurting?

“I'm sorry...”

“I don't want to hear you're sorry. You hurt my Kyoko so just go away and die!”

Why are you so angry with Kuri-chan, Yukio? Kyoko's head began spinning again.

Someone grabbed Yukio. Someone slapped him. Hard.

“Shut up! She made a mistake, OK?”

Why Hitomi-chan, why did you slap Yukio?

Watching Yukio being hurt turned Kyoko's stomach all over again, and she bent to her side and retched again.

“Leave her you idiots! She has a concussion!”

What's going on? Why is nurse angry? Darkness took her again.