Chapter three, 2017, shards, segment five

Thomas had grabbed Ulf in his class room, and he in turn threw a quick call for Yukio and Kyoko while they ran down the stairs, through the cafeteria and towards the pool. When they reached the pool Ulf managed to get through to Ryu and had him and Christina run for the dressing rooms in case the information about where Jennifer had been called to was wrong.

Damn! For all her cheekiness she’s too damn trusting. Ulf wondered what made the girl believe she was immune to the rampant bullying sanctioned by Kareyoshi and his goons.

Racing to the gym he noticed four girls beelining in their direction as well. Then he was around the corner.

Not again!

A sudden roar from his right made him flinch and when he recovered he saw Thomas ahead of him screaming with rage.

It wasn’t Noriko this time, and they were to late as well. Six boys held down two girls while a seventh and eighth raped them.

Thomas threw himself into the group. There was nothing as schooled as what Ulf had learned, but the former professor held some dark secrets of his own. Between raging roars the boys fell to the ground one by one, and Ulf barely arrived in time to kick away the legs for the last one standing.

When that student fell to the ground Thomas had already beaten the boy raping Jennifer into something hardly resembling a human face.

Ulf kicked the second rapist unconscious just as shrieks caught up with him, and in moments four girls were busy covering Jennifer and the other girl up. Once again girls reminded him in the most humiliating way possible how he always got his priorities wrong.

“Thomas, please stop! You’ll kill him.” Ulf didn’t move an inch to stop his junior from beating the unconscious boy into an even bloodier piece of pulp.

One of the girls hugging Jennifer to her stared at Thomas, and in her face Ulf saw a predatory grin of satisfied approval which scared him into action.

“Thomas! Jennifer needs you.”

That got through. He rose from the prone body and crawled to where his girlfriend cried hysterically in the arms of her temporary safe haven.

A little bit away three girls sat in silence, two of them cradling the third who stared ahead with all light gone out from her eyes.

It could have been Noriko. Ulf sensed the relief in that thought, and that in itself filled him with self disgust. To clear his mind he settled for giving any assailant stirring a vicious kick to the abdomen while he made a phone call.

“Behind the gym. Where you found me last year. I’ll call for ambulance.” He killed the call and dialled 119. It took two tries to convince the other side that half a dozen ambulances were needed.

As he finished that call he looked up and met the stares of Ryu and Christina who had arrived. From further away the sounds of agitated voices grew closer and Ulf realised more than Yukio and Kyoko were on their way.

“Christina, please help her!”

The look he got in return was colder than anything he’d ever seen in her face, but when she walked over to Jennifer, making an effort to trample the nearest heads of the prone boys, Ulf realised Christina’s anger wasn’t directed at him.

He felt helpless and decided to walk away a bit unless he’d start maiming people to vent his rage and frustration. From the cafeteria Yukio and Kyoko arrived with some of the staff in tow.

Those are Kareyoshi’s goons. I don’t like this.

Three teachers came running. One of them had a dark rumour clinging to him that he actively participated in the bullying in his class. Ulf didn’t know if that was true. Himekaizen had become a hotspot for rumours since Kareyoshi became principal.

Then they arrived, and Ulf immediately got reasons to believe in the rumour.

The teacher stared at him. “Who started the assault?”

Ulf shook his head. “We interrupted a rape. There were eight of them and...”

“Can you prove that? You have a history of violence.”

What? Ah, yeah, Red Rose. “Eh, that was another rape situation.”

The first response was a growl. “You know, you’re quick to accuse your victims of rape.”

This isn’t happening. “You fucker. What about you being a bit more considerate of the girls here?”

The teacher glanced at the girls sitting on the ground. “I don’t see any girls here. Some cheap sluts and whores, sure.”

It took the combined strength of Yukio and the two other teachers to hold Ulf still after he kicked the arse to the ground.

When the police arrived, accompanying half a dozen ambulances, both Ulf and Thomas were promptly shoved into a car each. Aggravated assault, the teachers reported. A female officer stood surrounded by the girls taking notes of what they said when the car Ulf sat in drove through the back entrance and towards whatever police station they were headed for.

Halfway there Ulf gathered his thoughts together. Kareyoshi again. And where had he found students who’d go as far as committing the atrocity? What kind of infighting used children as tools to be abused to reach a goal? Was there even a goal worth scarring kids for life? Ulf didn’t think so, and even if there was he refused to accept it.

At least the rapists would see long prison sentences ahead of them. Not that it helped the girls at all. Sometimes Noriko still showed that haunted look in her eyes, and Ulf couldn’t even begin to understand what kind of thoughts and feelings went with it.

Chapter three, 2017, shards, segment four

“Did you get the last ones?”

Yukio grimaced and shook his head. Jeniferu had made collecting data about anything concerning the freshmen a breeze. With most of their friends juniors the second years were covered as well, but a lot of seniors still resented them.

“Can’t be helped then,” Kyoko said. “We’ve still got six of their classes and most of the clubs.”

“And?” Yukio looked at his girlfriend, but he already knew, or at least guessed the answer.

Kyoko smirked. “It’s as Urufu said. Traditional Japanese food. Displays about Japan and even a couple of old plays. Nothing foreign will be part of the cultural festival.”

Noriko’s hand grabbed his shoulder and Yukio felt Urufu’s girlfriend shaking with laughter. When he turned around he saw how her other hand grabbed Kyoko’s just as tightly.

“What is it?” he wondered when she wouldn’t stop.

Finger dug deeper into his shoulder. “Urufu, you wonderful moron!”

“Huh?”

Noriko’s laughter subsided into a wide grin. “Kareyoshi’s just as ignorant of history as Urufu said. Look here!” she said, let go of his shoulder and bent between him and Kyoko. When she reached the table she placed her hand on the section for food stalls.

Yukio looked at where Noriko pointed. “And?”

“Yukio, really!” Noriko giggled and stabbed her index finger at two stalls. “Ramen and tempura.”

That ramen was a rather recent introduction from the mainland was hardly unknown, but tempura? Still, it wasn’t exactly enough to warrant Noriko’s level of hilarity. “What else?”

Noriko squeezed herself between them, but when Kyoko shot her an angry glare she backed away and returned to the other side of the table. “Sorry,” she said.

Kyoko nodded consent and it was as if the girls had never clashed at all just moments earlier.

Noriko spread out the papers and showed entry after entry where Kareyoshi’s ideas of a pure Japan showcased something imported.

“He’s so clueless it’s funny.” Then Noriko’s face grew sombre. “And now for the not so funny part.” She opened her bag and dropped another paper onto the table.

Yukio read it and shook his head. “Morons!”

That outburst had James turn his head from behind the counter. Yukio used it as an opportunity to order another round. Something hot this time. Autumn came early this year and the asthmatic air-conditioner no longer had any problems keeping the temperature at check.

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” Kyoko noted when she was finished reading the single page Noriko had added. “Micromanagement is bound to fail, but I’m not surprised.”

“They really never took note of Urufu at all, did they?”

Yukio looked at Noriko. She might be starstruck but she wasn’t an idiot. “I don’t think they could understand. Took us long enough, and we see him almost every day.”

“But still. The student council assigning individual tasks?”

“That’s just Kareyoshi being so scared of losing control he’s shitting his pants.”

Around them club members laughed at the vulgar outburst – the freshmen not until Irishima High’s vice principal guffawed. Yukio wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not.

Then the older man rose from his chair, pushed his spectacles up the bridge of his nose and walked to their table.

“May I inquire about what merited such an, eh, spirited remark earlier?” he said when he arrived at their table.

Yukio watched as Noriko wordlessly handed over a stack of pages. Vice Principal Noguchi, because in difference from Kareyoshi he did deserve both titles and honorifics, read them in silence and smirked when he came to the end.

“Funny,” he began, “I thought they called us uptight as Irishima High.” Then his eyes got a sharper touch to them when he met Yukio’s stare. “Your comment on this, young man?”

Yukio dared smiling a little. Closer to two years with Urufu had built confidence he didn’t know was there to begin with. “As long as the context merely stays complicated it should work just fine,” Yukio said.

Vice Principal Noguchi scowled, but Yukio wasn’t taken aback.

“That’s also the main danger, sensei. They’re likely to be lulled into an illusion of safety and for that reason becoming less able to handle what Urufu so fondly calls ‘incoming shit from the left’.”

“Incoming shit?”

“From the left, sensei.” Yukio smiled. “That’s when complicated becomes complex. In this case it’s likely to occur shortly after we open for the public.”

I would happen earlier. Small things. Unimportant things. Things on a scale the student council could handle by burning excess energy that would be needed later. Still it wasn’t the main problem.

“Sensei, we can handle a boring cultural festival, but I’m worried there are only shards left of the meaning behind having one.”

“To promote cooperation and initiative,” Noguchi-sensei said.

“Well, this year we’ll be doing what we’re ordered to do, and taking initiative most certainly isn’t that.”

“I wonder,” Noguchi-sensei said, “why you transferred back.”

“Couldn’t leave Urufu all alone, could I?” Yukio sipped some of his lukewarm tea. That wasn’t entirely true. “Because it’s so much fun being around him, even when it isn’t. Because he makes me grow.”

“Because they are our friends,” Kyoko said.

“Because we love them,” Noriko added.

In her case the word love held a slightly different meaning. The couple still hadn’t gone public with their relationship. Not after someone kicked Noriko down the stairs just after the new trimester started. As for his own relationship with Kyoko, well the armed guards were back. Urufu’s guardian just loved sticking a thumb into Kareyoshi’s eyes, and twist.

“Now this is funny,” Noriko said.

Yukio brought his mind out of his thoughts. “What is?”

“This. It specifically says every class is assigned logistics duties throughout the entire festival.”

Yukio shrugged. “We had to last year as well.”

“But it wasn’t made explicit like this.” Noriko looked at them. “Something stinks.”

Chapter three, 2017, shards, segment three

“And that’s how it is,” Jirou said.

Well that explains why Christina’s gone on a crusade, Ulf thought.

“Urufu, I planned to come back as well, promise.” Then Jirou first looked down and after that glanced at the door to the café proper. “I want to stay with Sango, but I’m too afraid about what would happen to her if she transferred back. I guess I’m not as strong as you.”

Ulf couldn’t answer that. He was enough of a dinosaur to understand why you would want to protect your girl. His own egalitarian ideals be damned. When it came to hurting girls he was just as old fashioned as the morons he despised. In his world hurting boys simply wasn’t as bad. He knew he was wrong in thinking so, but he just didn’t care.

“So we’re staying at Irishima High. I’m sorry.”

Despite fuming with rage Ulf grinned. He couldn’t but feel pride from seeing how what he taught rubbed off. “So you called her and you both got your parents onboard?”

“All six of us,” Jirou said. “I think the rest wanted to stay anyway.”

“Six?”

Jirou grinned. “Sakura and Nori as well.”

That made four.

“Midori and Ando.”

Ulf didn’t know those two had planned to return as well. Two? “When did...”

That bought him a laugh. “Just after midterms. They kept it a secret. But really Urufu! You must have noticed her new hairdo.”

He hadn’t.

“I’d hate being your girlfriend,” Jirou said and smirked.

“I apologise.”

“It’s not me you should be apologising to,” Jirou said. He looked down and keyed some more notes for club activities into his laptop. “You know, you’re strange somehow. At times you’re just like the hero of last year’s cultural festival, and then suddenly you’re so socially inept I’m astonished.”

Ulf rose from his chair. The conversation was turning into a direction he didn’t like. “It’s just girls,” he said. “I really don’t get them, even if I pretend I do,” he added.

Pushing the narrow door open Ulf left Jirou and the dangerous topic behind him. There was no way explaining the discrepancies between his experience and the way he looked now. At least understanding girls was a hole in his abilities, a constant since his first days as a high school student, and Ulf hoped that awkwardness was enough to keep up the facade.

Ulf barely made it halfway to the counter before he walked into Sango. Literally. She reeled from the impact and fell backwards just to land on her behind on the other side of the counter.

“Sorry,” he said.

She blushed red. “No it’s my fault.”

“Your fault?”

“Sango, stop eavesdropping,” Ulf heard from the inner room.

Eavesdropping?

Suddenly the entire café opened up in laughter, and Ulf stared nonplussed at the grinning faces by the table.

Oh!

“Fine, I’ll believe the part about girls,” Jirou’s said, and Ulf could hear that it was strangely broken as if the guy tried choking down a guffaw.

Huh?

“Moron,” Sango said, rose, brushed off her skirt and pushed her way past him and vanished into the inner room.

“Moron,” James whispered in a voice that was certain to carry through the entrance and to the street outside.

What did I do now?

“Moron-sama.”

Ulf searched the tables for the voice. Back in the corner he saw its owner sharing a table with Kyoko and Hitomi.

If Noriko called him moron-sama he must have made some kind of mistake. Ulf made a mental note to ask her about it when he escorted her back home. Girls crushing on him he was able to read, and girls playing games of power were no problem, but all too often their everyday thoughts and reactions were beyond him.

He nodded at James’ silent question for his order and made his way between the tables.

The club was, he noted, as large as ever before, but only nine members wore the Himekaizen uniform, and officially they weren’t even members since the student council disbanded the club. Or rather Kareyoshi disbanded the club.

Halfway to where Noriko sat Ulf heard the bell above the entrance jingle and even before the door closed again an angry voice reached him.

“Hamarugen-san, what’s the meaning of this?”

Meaning of what? This was slowly turning into one of his idiot days. He turned and met the glare of a senior in a Himekaizen uniform. “How may I be of help, sempai?” Ulf said with as deliberate as excessive formality.

The senior briskly walked between tables and faced Ulf. “What kind of stunt did you pull with the student council?”

Huh? Yes, definitely an idiot day. With a sigh of regret Ulf sat down by the closest table. Sharing some time with Noriko would have to wait. He opened his palm and invited the senior to share his table, and as by silent agreement both of them waited for James to arrive, first with Ulf’s order and a little later a cup of Earl Gray.

During the shared silence Ulf glanced at a stack of papers the senior held in his right hand. The reason for the outrage was probably to be found there.

“So,” Ulf began after they both had their first sip of hot beverage, “could you please fill me in in what way I overstepped this time?”

He got another glare in return.

“Hamarugen-san, we both know you ran the show last year, so when the current student council breaks all tradition it’s clear you’re the one behind it.”

Now Ulf really wanted to know what he had done. “Please enlighten me,” he said. Whatever it was he was certain Kareyoshi or his goons were behind it.

For the first time the stare Ulf got held surprise rather than anger. “Look,” the senior said and placed the stack of paper on the table, “every class and club got tasks assigned for the cultural festival. No voting, no suggesting, just an order to do as we’re told.”

“Kareyoshi you little fuck, why don’t you just go die in the gutter?” Ulf growled.

He stared at eyes widening. He grabbed the papers and as he read irritation grew into anger and wrath.

Chapter three, 2017, shards, segment two

“Kyoko, could you join me for a while?”

Kyoko rose from he chair and followed Hitomi. One of two club members who had been assigned to her class before Kareyoshi handed out expulsions like candy on a children’s fair. Hitomi was also one of the few to return from Irishima High and the closest to a friend Kyoko knew in her class.

An oversight from Kareyoshi’s side. The few returnees were all assigned to their old classes.

A week into their second trimester Kyoko felt happy for Hitomi’s presence. The airhead had proven to be… less so. If truth be told had proven so since long before they were expelled en masse.

“What is it?” Kyoko wondered when they were out of earshot from prying ears. Out of earshot meant walking all the way to the pool.

Hitomi shook her head, waist long hair dancing around her hear as she did so, and searched for somewhere to sit down.

Kyoko hugged herself while she waited. Summer had turned into autumn far quicker than normal.

“Here,” Hitomi said and patted the ground beside her.

Kyoko sat down. “So, what?”

“Two things. First I want to thank you.”

“Thank me?” There was no reason for the beauty from Yukio’s old class to thank her.

She received a surprisingly naughty smile from Hitomi. “Yeah, thank you.” Then she scratched her knees in a most unladylike way. “I’m grateful you showed me how to drop the pretence.”

Kyoko just nodded. There was sure to be more to come.

“You and Yukio both showed me what’s important, and you’re the main reason I decided to come back.”

Kyoko nodded again. She didn’t really understand.

“Kuri’s the other reason. Without her I don’t think I could manage.”

“Kuri-chan?” Kyoko said. “Why her?”

Hitomi pulled her skirt down her thighs and smiled. “Yeah. She’s the number one beauty of this school. I wanted to be in the beginning, but Irishima High taught me why I shouldn’t.”

Once again Kyoko nodded. This time with more real understanding. Hitomi had usurped that position during their stay at that school.

“In the end I didn’t like the resentment much,” Hitomi said. “Here I can stay in her shadow and be myself.

Kyoko wondered about that. Kuri-chan might be the number one beauty here, but Hitomi still defined the traditional idea of perfect Japanese looks in a young woman. Or maybe not. Hitomi’s uniform no longer followed regulations, and she had done something with her hair as well.

“I want to be me, and I prefer this me.”

“The other reason?” Kyoko said. Gratitude or not. There was a more important reason for Hitomi to drag her out here.

That brought a grimace to Hitomi’s face. “It’s Ryu. I don’t like what he’s doing.”

What Ryu’s doing? Don’t tell me…

“Look, it’s not like I’m in love with Urufu or anything, but I’ve grown fond of him.”

Kyoko waited for Hitomi to continue, but the words still made her smile. Urufu was bound to attract a lot more attention now.

“I saw what he and Kuri did to each other, and if he finally moved on to Noriko then I’m happy for both of them.”

Ryu, you bastard! “And her brother still won’t let them be?”

This time it was Hitomi who nodded. “And it really isn’t about Urufu. As I said...”

“You’re really doing this for Noriko, aren’t you?” Kyoko interrupted. Despite knowing that Urufu sometimes was all too fragile Kyoko also realised she was one of very few persons who knew this. For everyone else the idea of protecting Urufu had to be absurd – he protected people, not the other way around.

“I know she’s got great grades, but she’s so small and...” There was no need to interrupt this time. Hitomi’s voice petered out into nothingness.

Kyoko grinned despite her anger at Ryu’s meddling. “Look, Noriko’s a midget sized bulldozer. I don’t think you have to...”

“She only pretends,” Hitomi said. “I know how strong she seems, but I’ve seen how scared she really is.”

Scared? If Hitomi said she’d seen Noriko afraid of something she probably had, but still.

“I don’t think you need to worry about Urufu dumping her,” Kyoko said, but something in her stomach churned. Kareyoshi. It’s got to be him. Something happened and Noriko didn’t tell.

“I didn’t expect us to be the only ones to transfer back,” Hitomi suddenly said.

Kyoko felt grateful for the change of topic. “Neither did I.” And she hadn’t. At least a few more, but in the end only Hitomi apart from the founding club members showed up for school start.

“The club really is an Irishima High one despite its name now.”

Kyoko nodded.

“Strange. I know a few who said they’d come back.” Hitomi grimaced. “Maybe...”

“Maybe what?”

“I got this strange call a just before summer break ended.”

“Strange call?”

“Uhum. Someone told me to stay at Irishima High or bad things would happen.”

Kyoko stopped in her tracks and stared at Hitomi. “What?”

“I know, stupid prank or what? Well anyway, the calling number showed so I had my father call the police anyway.”

Are you for real? How could you possibly not be scared after that? “Hitomi, don’t you….”

“As I said,” Hitomi began, and the iciness in her eyes told Kyoko that her initial belief the beauty was an airhead was just about as far from target as possible, “we take very badly to threats in our family.” Then she smiled. An outright evil smile. “Especially when the idiot calls over a landline belonging to the new head of the PTA.”

“What did you do?”

“Kyoko, I know you’re involved in something smelly. I won’t ask, but I dislike being told what to do or not.”

“Yes?”

“After dad called the police I called Urufu’s guardian. She’s police as well, but I thought she might take a more personal interest.”

You called Sato-sensei? Suddenly Hitomi gained a whole lot of respect in Kyoko’s eyes. Why escalate a little when you can start by nuking the target?

Chapter three, 2017, shards, segment one

“Sorry.”

The boy he had pushed moved aside and Ryu quickly bowed. It was his fault, but there hadn’t been any need to push back that hard. He met the eyes of the boy as he rose. They shone with disdaining irritation.

Now that’s a strange reaction.

Then understanding grew. Without his neck tie his second year status was invisible, and Ryu’s uniform was even newer than those of the freshmen. Expulsion rescinded his parents had decided to buy him a new one instead of the one he was bound to grow out of before his third year.

Ryu shot the other boy his most winning smile and moved on. He could take a push or two. Life was perfect after all. Ever since she cheated on him once Kuri had been everything he could ever dream of from a girlfriend.

Despite a schedule packed to the rafters she spent every available moment with him. Admittedly those weren’t as many as he’d want with the new trimester starting and students preparing for the cultural festival, but Ryu wasn’t one to complain as he saw the effort she made to spend time with him.

“Sorry.”

Ryu fell forward, but being a natural athlete he rolled on his knuckles and came back on his feet.

Now that’s more than just strange. This time it wasn’t him walking into a fellow student. The push from behind had been deliberate.

“No problem,” Ryu said after he turned.

“Ryu!”

Hitomi? He stared at the girl. Behind me?

There was a sudden sound as if someone had fallen into the shoe lockers.

“Sorry,” Urufu’s voice said behind his back.

“I’ll kill you you...”

Whoever had started speaking went silent and there was another loud crash from the other row of shoe lockers.

“Sorry about that.” Urufu’s voice again.

Ryu turned just in time to see a boy fly face down into the floor.

“He’s got a knife!” Urufu shouted, and all of a sudden Kuri’s bodyguard appeared out of nowhere and dragged the prone boy out on the school yard where the goons from Vogue stood ready to take care of him.

“What the hell?”

“I’m not too fond of you right now, but Christina will have my hide if I allow anything to happen to you,” Urufu said. “That goes for you as well, Hitomi,” he added.

Ryu looked over his shoulder and noticed her with both hands over her mouth.

“What’s going on?”

Ryu backed away from Urufu and stood by Hitomi’s side waiting for Urufu to answer her question.

“The shithead’s trying to scare everyone who returned to Himekaizen away.”

“Urufu. Why the violence?” Hitomi asked.

Ryu watched in amazement how Urufu’s face twisted into fear and rage.

“Someone pushed Noriko down the stairs.” Urufu’s shoulders slumped after the words left his mouth.

Noriko? What the…

“Next time you should break their arms,” Hitomi interrupted his thoughts. “Kuri might be an idiot for making people hate her, but Noriko’s never done anything wrong. You owe her. She’s in love with you, you oaf.”

She was more than just in love with Urufu, but this was their first day at school with the ceremony a mere quarter of an hour finished. Hitomi was unlikely to know how things had developed after most of the club members left the resort.

Ryu studied Urufu’s face. Nothing. The man turned boy just stared at his shoes. “I’ll do something about that,” he said.

“Where’s sis?”

“Infirmary. I caught her when she fell.”

“Who?”

Urufu stared outside where two men thoroughly despised by Kuri threw a Himekaizen student into a waiting police car. How did it get here this quick? Kuri, you might want to reconsider your opinion about those goons.

“I used the alarm. Amaya’s really, really, really angry right now.” Urufu’s face twisted into fear again. “Sorry. I have to get back to Noriko.” He turned and ran down the corridor.

Ryu stared after Urufu’s back. “Hitomi, I need to see how she is.”

She slapped him on his back. “Off you go.”

He ran after Urufu just as his girlfriend’s voice reached him, but he didn’t stop.

“Hitomi, you decided to return?”

“Yes. Can’t leave you idiot’s alone,” was the answer he heard.

Despite worrying about his sister Ryu grinned. Maybe a few more would return, and maybe together they’d be able to face whatever Kareyoshi threw after them.

As he arrived at the infirmary Ryu threw open the door and got inside. While it slammed into its slot loud enough to wake anyone who tried to sleep here, the back Ryu saw through the curtains, bent over one bed didn’t move at all.

“I’m not made of glass,” Noriko’s voice said from behind that back side.

Oh, she’s comforting him, not the other way around. Ryu made to take another step inside but hesitated. Urufu together with his sister made ire rise in him, but Urufu had broken her fall after all. Still, that didn’t make it right for him to touch Noriko like that.

Ryu started to move to the curtains when he was suddenly tugged back.

“Oh no, you don’t.”

“Kuri?”

She dragged him outside, and from the corner of his eyes Ryu saw Hitomi slid the door shut again.

“After we hurt each other, and the rest of you as well, now when we’ve finally moved on you’re not allowed to break those two up.”

What’s with their lack of decency? “She’s my sister and...”

Hitomi’s slap came as an utter surprise.

“Incest-san, get the hell out of my sight and don’t return until you’re ready to crawl on your knees and beg forgiveness!”

“Please don’t hit my boyfriend!”

“The next time I see him doing anything to hurt Urufu or Noriko I’ll kick his balls into his stomach.”

Kuri remained silent after that, and Ryu found no words to use. Next after Kyoko Hitomi pretty much personified the idea of proper and cultivated. An illusion, he knew that, but one she kept to. For her to drop all pretence like this he much have done something extraordinarily ugly.

June 24, 2040, apology

Kyoko looked up when she heard foot steps closing in. Kuri-chan; she still recognised the distinctive sound of shoes touching ground. The sound of a professional, and the sound of a profession that eventually bled into the very essence of Kuri-chan.

“Got something you want to say?” Kyoko said.

Kuri-chan sat down beside her. “It’s about the third summer,” she began.

Kyoko nodded. “Noriko’s on the way here with some tea. Let’s wait for her.”

Kuri-chan shook her head. “I owe her a separate apology. This one is for you.”

Kyoko hugged her knees and waited. Third summer, the second one in Himekaizen, hadn’t been the best of summer vacations for any of them.

“I’m sorry I led Ulf on the way I did despite being together with Ryu.”

But from a friend that made no sense at all. But from a friend.

“Yukio and I didn’t really care,” Kyoko said. “We took Urufu’s and Noriko’s side, and I’m not going to apologise for that.”

A thin shimmer behind her spoke of yet another absurdly early Swedish morning coming to life. It would continue to do so for hours in the same, lazy way evenings took forever to become night. This was nothing like Japan at all. Even nature was different.

Kuri-chan draped a blanket across her back. “It’ll get colder still,” she said after tugging it in across Kyoko’s shoulders. “I know,” she said and sat back. “Ulf told me. Still owe you an apology though.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t give you one back then. An apology for the lack of one.”

Her face, still beautiful like an angel’s despite her reaching 40, turned, and Kyoko silently sat facing Kuri-chan like she had so often during the years their friendship remained unbroken. It wasn’t any longer, had been both broken and mended somehow; yet Kuri-chan remained her most important friend.

“I’ll accept that apology,” Kyoko said. “Thank you.”

Kuri-chan rose. “I’ll go find Noriko now.”

Because that apology has to be the real thing. Kuri-chan, you’re a much better friend than you think. Kyoko turned and stared after the receding back of what was, despite everything, the best friend she had ever had.

Chapter two, 2017, ends and beginnings, segment ten

While her world broke down just a little more Christina surprised herself by honestly feeling happy for Ulf. Bitter, yes, angry, yes, hurting yes, but happy still. She hurt him so much, and whenever he was in pain it hurt her as well.

She stared at Noriko. No, the midget didn’t gloat, but in Noriko’s eyes Christina saw a determined flame. The girl was ready to take even her on if she tried to get Ulf back.

I like you Noriko. I like your guts. You’ll be good for him.

But still it hurt.

“I’m happy you found someone to love,” she said. Then the words registered in her mind. What am I saying? I broke up with him. How petty a human have I become?

“I’m not. Not him. I’ll never agree to it.”

Christina looked at Ryu in surprise. She knew how she felt about his little sister’s crush on Ulf. She hadn’t expected him to come clean about it though.

“Ryu?”

And why is Yukio getting involved?

“Yes Yukio?”

“Shut the hell up! Good thing Noriko’s your sister and not your property. Agreeing with it, blah! Shithead!”

“Look, she’s my...”

“Shut up you moron!” Ko-chan said all of a sudden. “Agreeing with it? Are you stupid. None of us care if you agree with anything or not.”

“You don’t have the right to...”

“And neither do you, idiot bro.”

“If you don’t break up with him immediately I’ll...”

“Tell mom? Please do. Or dad? That would, if possible, be even more stupid.”

“Noriko, I’m you’re brother. You have to...”

“How tainted did you become. How much of Red Rose is part of you?”

Christina didn’t have to look twice at Yukio and Ko-chan to see the open disgust in their faces. That Noriko shared it stunned her, but what scared her the most was the burning contempt in Ulf’s eyes.

I expected more of you. Ryu’s disapproval was more understandable than what the rest of them believed. “Ryu, I’m also over fifty,” Christina said.

She searched his eyes and received a nod of understanding.

“I know, but that’s different.”

“Is it? How?”

“Well, I’m a guy and...”

“You really don’t want to go there,” Christina said. “Especially not with me.” She probably sounded more irritated than she was. Japanese gender values were very different from those in Sweden, but at least she hoped her friends understood there wasn’t a trace of racism in Ryu’s anger.

He backed down, just as she had expected.

“I still don’t like it,” he said and entered the spa.

She waited for him to make it halfway to her.

“You don’t have to like it. I disagree with you, but no one can force you to like it.”

Ryu smiled at her and Christina saw exactly the wrong kind of hope in his eyes.

“That still doesn’t give you the right to control your sister,” she added to shoot him down as firmly as possible. Everyone was entitled to their opinions, but acting on them was a different thing.

“She’s still my...”

“She’s not your anything.” Christina glared at her boyfriend. “While she’s a minor your parents have the right and responsibility to make decisions for her. You, none at all.”

He pouted. Ryu actually pouted. “You’re just taking his side as always,” he said and glanced at Ulf.

Damn, sometimes he’s just a kid. Christina was too angry to feel uncomfortable around Ulf and Noriko despite what she had done just days earlier.

“No, I’m taking Noriko’s side.”

“Tell us when you’re done. Listening to the two of you makes me sick,” Yukio suddenly blurted out and stepped out of the pool.

Ko-chan kept her silence but followed him. Christina was sure she saw her shoulders rise in frustrated rage.

Noriko stretched uncomfortably from where she had nestled under Urufu’s arm as if to seek shelter from the verbal onslaught. The discomfort however, Christina noticed, had nothing to do with being naked so close to someone else. I anything Ulf was Noriko’s only safety here, and that hurt in more than one way.

“Look,” Ulf said, “we’ll let you and Ryu talk things over.” He gave Noriko enough room to sit up properly. “I’d like some tea anyway.”

“Ulf, please...”

“Christina, you did nothing wrong, but sometimes you’re dumb as a post.”

Christina thought for a moment if she would get angry or not. Ulf verbally insulting her was so unusual she didn’t have the luxury of an instinctive reaction, and in the end she was glad she didn’t.

“Explain,” she said.

Ulf was halfway to the doors, and Noriko had already gone inside. “They’re still kids. I see what you tried to do, but it was too little too late.”

“Ulf?”

“Until he apologises,” Ulf pointed his index finger at Ryu who by now sat beside her, “they’ll never understand that you only tried to partially cover for him.” Ulf shot a glare at Ryu. “You’re an arse kiddo. Grow the hell up!”

Ryu half rose. “You don’t have the right...”

“As your friend I can only wonder if you’re a moron or not.” Ulf suddenly grinned and shook his head. “Telling Christina and Noriko what is right or wrong for a woman. How bloody stupid can you get?”

“This is Japan...”

“And I’m trying my best to get the hell out of here, but they refuse to hand me a passport. Don’t ever try that shit on me again!”

Christina shuddered despite steam rising from the spa. Rapidly becoming infatuated by the boy by her side didn’t lessen the fear of Ulf suddenly deserting her at all.

“Ryu, he said he wanted some tea,” she said in an attempt to defuse the situation.

“I am. Have a nice chat.” Ulf turned and headed for the doors. Almost there he turned once again. “Don’t forget homework. Summer’s almost over.”