Sukeban

The nurse coughed lightly as she finished wiping off the dried blood from Tomomi’s face. She tossed the used tissue into the wastebasket before pushing herself to her feet with a small sigh. She grabbed onto her First Aid kit, moving to the next injured teenager without a single word to Tomomi. It had been this way with all of the girls the nurse had treated so far, she felt no need or want to speak with any of them. She was only here to do her job.

Tomomi leaned back in her chair, her head falling back against the wall. The crying that once shook her entire body had come to a standstill, only a small sniffling sound coming out of her now. She wrapped her arms around her still burning abdomen; she didn’t even need to look at her stomach to know it was probably covered in bruises. Feeling the bruises was enough for her.

The brunette was seated on a plastic chair just outside of the principal’s office in the Administration Offices. To her left sat Yukako, her body leaned forward and her head bent downwards. On her right was Haruna, the eldest of the group staring silently at the wall on the other side of the room. Rina sat next to Haruna, her hands covering her face as a soft crying sound came out of her. She was now as terrified as Tomomi had been earlier.

Directly across from the girls sat Hana’s group of five, although there were only four of them present at the moment. Each girl was waiting patiently for their turn to see the principal; he was speaking to them and giving them their punishments individually. He had started with one of Hana’s girls and she had been in there for quite some time, Tomomi could only imagine the words being exchanged behind the closed doors.

“I’m going to make you regret this, Ono,” Hana growled lowly, just loud enough for the group of four to hear her. Tomomi glanced over at Haruna to see the boss was now glaring daggers at Hana.

Tomomi could see the damage Hana had done to Haruna’s face. A large bandage was taped to her forehead where Hana had created the large gash, but Tomomi could see that it was already turning red from all the blood. She could also see the three claw marks on Haruna’s right cheek where Hana had scratched her skin.

Haruna scoffed, turning her head away from Hana. She wasn’t going to do this. She knew exactly what sort of stunt Hana was attempting to pull and there was no way she would fall for it. She wasn’t going to let Hana get her in any more trouble. She felt bad enough as it was.

Haruna was feeling responsible for the entire thing. She didn’t know how, but she knew Hana had somehow found out about Tomomi being one of hers now. There was really no other reason for Hana to go after her like that. She had a responsibility to protect Tomomi as her leader and she had failed to do that, Tomomi’s and Yukako’s injuries were her fault. But deeper than that, Haruna had only just remembered the mistake she had made in attacking Hana.

Hana now had the excuse she needed to expose Rina’s secrets; she had the motivation now to break their deal. Haruna had failed Rina as well, she had failed everyone. Haruna hadn’t even thought about that when she had attacked Hana, she had been too angry to think about that. The pain in her head should have crippled her ability to fight but when she saw Rina and Tomomi cowering in the corner, she let the anger take over. Even if she may not fully trust Tomomi, she knew Mami did. When Mami saw Tomomi so broken and bruised, Haruna knew the blonde would be upset. That was enough to make Haruna angry.

The girls were given a sudden jolt when the principal’s door opened, one of Hana’s friends slinking out of the office. She sat down in her previous spot, sinking down with her arms crossed over her chest and a sour look on her face.

“Miss Ogawa, please come with me,” the principal stated, catching Tomomi by surprise. The brunette jumped a little in her seat before she hurriedly pushed herself up, her body screaming in protest to the sudden standing motion. Tomomi ignored her body’s protests though as she moved forward slowly, it was about as fast as she could go with the throbbing pain taking over every inch of her body.

Tomomi slinked past the principal and into his office. She quickly took the seat across from his desk, her head bowing in shame. She could hear the principal take his own seat before he cleared his throat. She glanced up through her locks, cringing when she saw the principal looking right at her. He reached for her file, sliding it across the table to her.

“Miss Ogawa, I truly don’t understand. You have been a flawless student your entire life, you’ve never done anything like this. I don’t understand why now, of all times, you would throw that away. We want to get to the bottom of this so I need your full honesty. Why did this fight happen?”

“I-it was Hana. She-she attacked me and…” Tomomi’s sentence trailed off, the young brunette breaking down into tears. She felt so scared; she didn’t know what to do with herself right now. She wanted to tell the principal everything about Hana but if she did and Hana found out, would the senior girl come back for another dose of revenge on her? She didn’t want another run-in like this.

She looked up to see that the principal had leaned back in his chair, nodding his head silently. She sniffled softly, looking back down and beginning to twist her hands together. What was she supposed to say? She didn’t have anything else to say.

“Thank you for telling me the truth,” the principal said finally. Tomomi’s eyes snapped up, her watery eyes showing her surprise now.

“Y-you believe me?”

“Normally, I wouldn’t believe the accusation of an honor student pulling something like this but… I’ve seen the security cameras. I know who started it and I know that what you just told me is the truth.”

Tomomi wanted to feel a sense of relief that the principal knew who exactly had started the fight but she could also feel a sense of dread that told her this was not all going to be good. Her fears were confirmed when the principal sighed, leaning forward slightly.

“Still, you were an active part of this fight, Miss Ogawa. You understand that we have a zero tolerance policy on fighting, am I correct?”

“Yes, sir…”

“I am truly sorry to be doing this to such a good student but I cannot let anyone off without a punishment. Since you are such a good student though, I will go easy on you for this one time. You’re suspended for three days, Miss Ogawa. Please go back out and sit down, I will phone your parents soon and have them come pick you up.”

Tomomi nodded and without another word, she pushed herself shakily out of the chair. She could feel the pain shooting through her again and a new wave of tears hit her. She did her best to ignore it all though. She pushed herself out to the waiting area again, collapsing down onto the chair she had previously been in. The girls were sitting silently for minutes on end, waiting for the principal to call the next girl until Tomomi could feel a hand be laid on her thigh.

She looked over to see that the hand belonged to Haruna. The boss’ body was hunched forward, her hair hanging in her face so Tomomi couldn’t see her expression. Tomomi’s breath caught in her throat as she observed the older girl carefully.

“I’m sorry,” Haruna said softly, “this shouldn’t have happened.”

Tomomi wanted to ask what Haruna had meant by that but she wasn’t given a chance to before the office door opened again, the principal stepping out. Tomomi looked over at him to see him surveying the group of girls sitting outside of the office, the disappointment on his face evident.

“It’s your turn, Miss Ono,” he said finally. Not making a sound, Haruna pushed herself out of the chair. She quickly doubled over in pain, her injured leg being unable to support her too well. Rina had bolted up immediately as she saw Haruna begin to falter. She caught the shorter girl with ease, holding her up and preventing her from falling. Haruna gave Rina a small smile but pushed the younger girl’s hands off of her.

“Go sit down, I’ve got this,” Haruna told her. Rina was hesitant at first but she nodded nonetheless. The younger girl sat down while Haruna pushed herself up, wobbling as she attempted to support her own body weight.

Once she got a good support of her weight, she made her way into the office, walking past the disappointed principal. When she got inside, Haruna took a seat where she knew the principal would want her. She had been in his office so many times for fighting that it was almost a second home to her at this point. She knew exactly what was coming, nothing about this surprised her.

The principal made his way around the desk, taking his seat and sighing heavily as he stared at the senior girl in front of him. He really didn’t know what it was with Haruna. It was so rare to see a female student be as violent and unruly as she was. No matter what he did, nothing seemed to get through to Haruna. He didn’t believe Haruna was truly a bad person at heart. He wanted to help her but if nothing would get through to her then he had to take drastic measures to protect the rest of the student body.

“We meet again,” the principal finally spoke up. Haruna sat back in the chair, crossing her arms over her chest and refusing to look at him.

“We meet a lot,” Haruna countered him. The principal sighed at her response, squeezing the bridge of his nose in frustration. Haruna’s mouth was one of the problems; she didn’t know when her words were inappropriate.

“Will you tell me what happened today, Miss Ono?” Haruna paused, her jaw tightening. Was there a point in telling him the truth? He wouldn’t believe it. No one ever believed Haruna; they always blamed her for everything. Where was the harm in trying though? If he called her a liar then it would be nothing new. “Who started this fight?”

“Hana did.”

“Why would she do that?” Haruna rolled her eyes at his question. If she knew that, things would be much simpler. If she knew Hana had been planning this, they could have all avoided this encounter with the principal.

“I don’t know. What I know is that the three of us were skipping class and we came upon them beating on Tomomi. We were only there to protect her from Hana.” For the principal, that was a very curious thing for Haruna to say. Haruna never protected anyone from anything unless it was one of the girls who he knew was in her notorious gang. To him, it didn’t really make any sense. He didn’t see it as possible for a soft student like Tomomi to be in a gang but he also didn’t see any other reason for Haruna to protect Tomomi.

“Answer me honestly now, Miss Ono… Is Tomomi affiliated with you in any way?” Haruna paused, the silence settling in. What did she tell him? If she told him, it would risk Tomomi’s secret being revealed. But then again, Hana was probably going to reveal Tomomi’s secret to the entire school so it’s not as if it mattered much anymore.

“I guess the cat’s coming out of the bag now, huh? Yes, Tomomi is one of mine now.”

“Great,” the principal groaned softly.

This is just what he needed. Haruna’s gang was growing while he tried to disband it for good. If it was growing then that meant he needed to resort to different measures; clearly the measures he was taking now weren’t enough. He had to stop these girls and get them back on the right track, or at least get them out of his school.

“Thank you for telling me the truth, Miss Ono.” Haruna was taken aback by the words; the shock was clear on her face. She never thought she would hear those words leave anyone’s mouth. No one ever believed her.

“You believe me?” Haruna asked after she had regained her composure. The principal gave her a smile before nodding his head.

“While we had you waiting, we reviewed the security footage and it showed us exactly what happened. I do know that Miss Kiriyama is the one who started the fight, but I wanted to make sure you were going to tell me the truth.”

Haruna smiled at the news. Hana had made a grave mistake when she attacked Tomomi. She had forgotten about the security cameras littered around the school. Most times, Haruna hated those damn things as they had led her to getting caught so often but right now, she was happy for them. They were going to lead Hana into getting caught for once in her life.

“Regardless, you were still an active part of this fight and that cannot go ignored. Since you were honest with me, I will soften your punishment. You’re suspended for a week, Miss Ono.”

“That’s pretty light,” Haruna noted.

“Good things happen when you’re an honest and good person,” he responded. “Better things would happen if you would be an upstanding student.”

Haruna glared at him and the principal could only shake his head in response. He knew she wouldn’t like that comment. He wasn’t done here yet though; he was just beginning with Haruna.

“Miss, Ono, there is one other thing I must converse with you about. Fighting is something you do very often; I cannot even count the number of times you have sat in my office for it. Up until now, I have been very patient with you. I don’t believe you or the others are innately bad people. More so, I think you’re lost souls that can be turned around.”

Haruna snorted in response to his sentence, rolling her eyes and looking away from him. Turned around? That was wishful thinking. Nothing in Haruna’s life would ever turn around for the better; she had accepted that long ago. Her life was a lost cause and so was she.

“I don’t know what happens at any of your homes or everyday lives and I sympathize if your home life is rough, but we cannot allow this to continue on. I have tried everything within my power to get through to you but it has been unsuccessful. You have given me no choice in this matter; you’re forcing my hand in this. You know very well that we have a no tolerance policy for fighting and up until now, I have tried to be kind to you.”

Haruna could feel fear wash over her for a second but she pushed it down quickly. Whatever the principal had to say to her was nothing, she could easily handle it. She could handle anything anyone threw at her.

“I can’t do that any longer. Miss Ono, this is your final warning. If I catch you fighting on school grounds again, I will have you expelled from this school. You will not be allowed to graduate, not that I think you have the credits or grades to even graduate at the rate you’re going.”

Haruna’s jaw tightened, the glare on her face deepening. So that was it? He was really ready to throw her out of school. Haruna had always said she didn’t care about school or what happened at school but with this knowledge hanging over her head, the teenager couldn’t help but feel a bit worried about the possibility of expulsion. It had never been a reality before this.

“Now remove yourself from my office. I will contact your parents to come and pick you up, the suspensions start immediately.”

Haruna shoved herself out of the seat, ignoring the pain in her legs. She didn’t care how much pain in caused her; she only wanted to get away from this. She made her way out of the office, taking her seat next to Rina again. The younger brunette looked over at her, instantly noticing something was wrong with her. She reached out to grab Haruna's hand only to have the older girl take it away. She expected that, Haruna didn't like them acting like a couple at school. Someone could notice. It still made her sad though. Haruna was struggling and once again, she was trying to hold herself away from everyone.

"Miss Kiriyama, it is your turn. Come with me," the principal called out. Haruna looked up as Hana pushed herself out of the chair, throwing a glare at the eldest brunette.

Hana followed the principal into the office, sitting down and waiting for him to begin. She would talk her way out of this; she could talk her way out of anything. She had been thinking about how this little meeting would go and she knew just how to get herself and her girls out of it. Those four would take the full blame, Hana would see to it. The principal started out his meeting with Hana much as he had the others, with a heavy sigh that expressed his frustration and disappointment. He really was tired of having to deal with these sorts of things.

"Miss Kiriyama, I never thought I would see you in my office again so soon for fighting on school grounds. You’ve changed a lot in the past few months, you’re much more aggressive. Did something happen at home?”

“No, sir. My home is fine, my parents are fine. It’s not that at all. Haruna just causes so many problems. She’s so violent and crude. She and Tomomi attacked us, you see. For no reason at all too, I was only protecting my friends,” Hana insisted. She faked her tears and her sadness. She faked everything to get underneath the principal’s skin. She was going to make sure Haruna paid for this in more than one way.

“What did Haruna say the reason for the fight was? Did she say anything before she allegedly attacked you?” Hana’s body froze; she hadn’t been expecting the principal to question her. Usually, whenever Hana got in trouble, she could just cry and beg for forgiveness and that would be it. She would never be questioned because the teachers felt too sorry for her.

“I don’t know, Haruna didn’t say anything,” Hana said. She couldn’t think of a reason to answer that question, she would just have to try and avoid it the best she could.

“You mentioned Miss Ogawa and Miss Ono, but where do the other two come in? What part did Miss Suzuki and Miss Kurosaka play?” For the second time, Hana froze. She forgot about them. She hadn’t thought about those two brats and hadn’t included them in her story. Now she didn’t know how she was going to add them in.

“Sir, I don’t really know. I was so preoccupied with Haruna that I didn’t notice anyone knew come in. I really am sorry that I couldn’t be of more help,” she explained. The principal nodded his head, sighing softly. He was very disappointed in Hana right now, he only wished that she would tell him the truth but he could now see that she wouldn’t do that.

“Your story is quite odd, Miss Kiriyama.”

“Why is that?” Hana was getting a bad feeling. She had never had the principal treat her like this. She was a perfect student! No one was supposed to question her; she was supposed to be able to get away with anything she wanted to.

“I say this because while we were waiting for the nurse to help you nine, we rewound the security cameras.” Hana’s eyes widened at his words. She couldn’t believe that she had overlooked that detail when she went after Tomomi. “Your story is odd because the cameras showed a completely different story.”

“Sir…”

“Silence. I am highly disappointed in you, I hope you realize this. You’ve always been such a good student but these last few weeks, you’ve done a complete turnaround. I am not sure what has caused this and for right now, I am uninterested in knowing what has caused it. I am disappointed that you would lie to me like this and I am disappointed that you would attack an innocent student.”

“She isn’t innocent,” Hana said. She was doing her best to get this plan back on track. She wasn’t supposed to be getting blamed for anything! Those damned cameras were ruining everything for her, how could she be so stupid to overlook that detail?

“From the cameras, I would say she was. Miss Ogawa never took any step or action towards you in a violent manner, you began the altercation and you began the fighting. For this, I will give you the maximum punishment of two weeks suspension. I want you to go wait with the others, I will call all of your parents after this and have them pick you all up.”

“Yes, sir,” Hana said through gritted teeth. They were really going to pay now. “But before I go, can I talk to you about something? I’ve wanted to for so long but Haruna has stopped me.”

“Does it pertain to the fight?”

“Well… No, it doesn’t. But it is important. It’s about Rina and her home situation, I feel like someone needs to help the poor dear,” Hana said. She wanted to smirk but she kept that to herself, instead keeping the concerned and saddened look on her face. She couldn’t give herself away with this; it was the perfect opportunity to exact the biggest revenge on Haruna.

“All right, I’ll spare you a few minutes. What is it that you want to tell me?”

Hana smiled. She was going to enjoy the aftermath of this. This would surely break Haruna into pieces, hurting Rina in the process was only going to be an added perk. She could take out two birds with one stone doing this. Hana looked up at the principal before she opened her mouth, telling him everything she knew about Rina.

Back out in the waiting area, the girls were beginning to wonder what was going on with Hana and the principal. She had been in there for some time. Just as they were beginning to wonder, the door to his office opened, Hana stepping out. She slinked over to where she had previously been sitting, taking a seat and smirking at Haruna.

Haruna’s blood ran cold when she saw that look. She looked over at Rina who seemed oblivious to the way Hana was looking at them. Haruna’s fears only got worse when the principal spoke.

“Miss Suzuki, please come with me. We need to have a talk.”