Sukeban

“Please have a seat, Miss Suzuki,” the principal told her. Rina nodded, shakily walking over to the open seat. She felt like she was going to fall any minute now, the fear coursing through her making it hard for her to stand. She really just wanted to turn and run away. She didn’t want to face being in trouble like this again, not so soon after the last time.

Once she was seated, Rina bowed her head, refusing to look up at the principal. She could hear him moving and shuffling around. She could hear the sound of papers being moved before the principal coughed lowly. She glanced up, seeing him staring right at her. Seeing that, her eyes darted back down to the ground, her hands gripping her skirt tightly and bunching it up.

“I’ve rewound the security tapes and I can see that you’ve not had any active part in this fight, you were simply trying to help Miss Ogawa. Is that accurate?” The principal asked her. Rina simply nodded her head, unable to give him a verbal answer. “I’m glad to hear that, although I wish you hadn’t been involved at all. Since you were not an active participant, I’m only going to give you a three day suspension. You’ve gotten lucky this time but don’t count your stars because that will change if this behavior keeps up. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Rina replied lowly. The principal nodded. He got the easy part done and over with, giving Rina her punishments for breaking school rules had never been hard. For someone who seemed to get in trouble fairly regularly, Rina was good at accepting her punishments and showing remorse for her wrongdoings. The principal never understood how such a sweet girl could be such big trouble.

Now he had to focus on the bad part. Now he had to address what Hana had told him. He wasn’t sure if he fully believed Hana’s story or not, it was quite a peculiar one. It was harder to believe after he had just caught the senior girl in a rather massive lie. Still, he had to check it out. If one of his younger students was really living on the streets as Hana had claimed then he needed to address it regardless of how real or not real he believed it to be. It was his duty as head of the school.

“Rina, I want to ask you a question… Where are you living?” The principal could see the way Rina’s body tensed at his question. She tried to cover it up quickly but she hadn’t been quick enough before the principal had seen it. “Do you live with your parents?” he continued to prompt.

“Yes, sir. I live with my parents, why do you ask?” Rina’s voice was soft and it sounded like she was on the verge of crying, which she was. She was scared. What if he asked to meet her parents? She couldn’t even begin to think of how she would explain her way out of that one. She had no plans on what she would ever do if any of her teachers or principals asked that. It was something she had always tried to avoid thinking about.

“Are you being truthful with me?”

“Of course, sir. I would never lie to you,” Rina said. She was doing her best to hold back the tears but the poor her fear pulled at her heart, the harder that was becoming. She had to keep herself together; she couldn’t keep letting herself fall apart.

“I’m asking you this because Miss Kiriyama has told me something that I find very interesting.” Rina’s face drained of color when she heard his words. She didn’t… She couldn’t have… Not even Hana would be that low to do something like that… Could she?

“W-what did she tell you?” Rina couldn’t disguise the stutter and she couldn’t disguise the fear that was clearly evident on her face. All of the control she had had over her emotions was gone in the blink of an eye.

“She has claimed that you’re living on the street and have no contact with your parents. Is any of that accurate?” Rina could feel the tears welling in her eyes. She blinked hard, forcing them back. She couldn’t cry. She had to be strong; she had to compose herself. She had to find a way out of this.

“None of that is true,” Rina stated finally. She coughed lightly, shaking her head and regaining her composure. She had to embody everything the girls had taught her so far. She had to embody their strength and courage; she had to embody their ability to sweet talk their way out of anything. She couldn’t be weak, it wasn’t an option.

The principal didn’t respond to her. Instead, he leaned forward on his desk, laying his elbows down on the top of it and clasping his hands together. He laid his head against his clasped hands, his eyes never leaving Rina. He didn’t know who to believe. He had hoped that he would have been able to distinguish which teenager was lying but after talking to Rina, he still couldn’t decide who was telling the truth and who was lying.

“Miss Suzuki, you understand that this is a very serious matter, don’t you? You are fifteen; you are not old enough to be out on your own, nonetheless living on the streets. If what Miss Kiriyama told me is true, I will need to alert the police immediately. We cannot turn a blind eye to this; it would be neglectful of us. It’s not safe for young girls on the streets.”

“Sir, please believe me when I tell you that I am telling you the truth. I have no idea what Hana is talking about. I do live at home with my parents and I have a healthy relationship with them.” Rina was trying to control the wavering in her voice; she didn’t want to give anything away.

“I do hope that you are telling me the truth, I would never wish this on any of my students. However, as protocol follows, I need to confirm this. I wish to meet with your parents.”

Rina instantly bit down hard on her lip as a knee jerk reaction to her words. It was the only thing she could do to stop herself from crying at that exact moment. She had feared this and now one of her worst fears was being realized.

“Miss Suzuki, are you all right?” the principal asked, having noticed her silence. Rina shook her head before blinking hard. She forced out a smile, trying to make herself seem confident and happy.

“I would love for you to meet my parents but they’re so busy, I’m not sure if they’ll be able to make it,” Rina attempted to lie. Her voice wavered a bit but she was almost positive that the principal hadn’t heard the wavering. The principal sighed softly, scratching the back of his head. This was not going as well as he had hoped it would go; Rina was being awfully difficult right now.

“I will still need to contact them,” he said. He grabbed a pen and paper, pushing them towards Rina. “Please write down your parents’ phone number for me.”

Rina paused for a second but she quickly pushed her body into gear. She grabbed the pen, scribbling down a set of numbers. She had no idea what she was doing; she was just doing the first thing she could think of. She couldn’t give him her parents’ real phone number so she gave him the one she always gave the school. She gave him Aina’s. Aina was a classic con artist; she could smooth talk her way out of anything. She knew that the older brunette would be there for her no matter what.

Aina was the first one she had thought of. She knew that if anyone could convince the principal not to ask to see her parents anymore, it would be her. All Aina had to do was pose as her mother over the phone and she could get Rina out of this… At least, that’s how it all had happened in the past. Rina could only hope and pray that it would be the same this time.

When Rina was done writing down the number, she pushed the paper back towards the principal. He grabbed it, quickly reading over the number before nodding in satisfaction. He put the paper aside before turning to Rina.

"You said your parents will be busy, didn't you? Do you think they'd be able to come pick you up?" He asked her.

"I don't think so, sir. I'm very sorry about the inconvenience," Rina apologized quickly. The principal sighed heavily, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

"That is quite a predicament."

"Sir, if it's not too much trouble, I could go home on my own," Rina tried to explain.

"It's not protocol to let newly suspended students leave on their own," he said. Rina nodded, wishing he would just let her leave already. She was having trouble keeping her composure; she didn't want to be sitting here anymore. "Please go wait outside, Miss Suzuki. I will decide what to do from here."

"Yes, sir," Rina said. Rina quickly pushed herself out of the chair, hurrying out into the waiting area again. She was more than just a little eager to leave the office; she couldn’t hold her control for much longer.

As soon as she sat down next to Haruna, she could feel the tears slip out. Her fears were becoming real. Hana had really exposed her secret to the principal. If they couldn’t find a way out of this, everything was going to fall apart. She was going to lose everything that kept her going in life.

Haruna noticed her girlfriend's distress instantly. She glanced over at her to see Rina had her arms wrapped tightly around her waist, he eyes shut tightly. She could see the tears slipping down Rina's cheeks and the dreadful feeling from earlier got that much worse for Haruna. Rina was a sensitive person but even she wouldn’t cry this hard over a punishment for fighting; she knew it was something more.

"Rina?" Haruna asked softly. She wanted to touch Rina; she wanted to hold her but she restrained herself. She couldn't do that in public, it wouldn't end well. She had to keep control for Rina's sake, for both of their sakes. She could hold Rina later. For now, she had to resort to words to help Rina.

Tomomi had heard Haruna say her name. She leaned forward a bit, peering around to look at Rina to see what was going on. She could feel her heart drop when she saw Rina crying. What had happened? Whatever it was, Tomomi already felt responsible for it. If she hadn’t let Hana go after her like that, none of this would be happening right now. None of them would be in this amount of trouble. This was all her fault.

"Rina, what happened? You need to tell me," Haruna encouraged her in just as soft a voice. She was trying to make it so the girls across the way didn't hear the conversation. She really didn’t need Hana figuring out anything else about them.

"She told." The words were spoken so softly that Haruna hadn't actually heard what Rina had said. Haruna sighed softly, running a hand through her hair.

"I didn't hear you," she stated simply. She could see Rina's body beginning to shake as the crying got worse. Haruna was really beginning to feel useless right about now, she didn’t feel like there was anything she could do to help Rina at the moment.

“She told them.” This time, both Haruna and Tomomi had heard Rina’s words. Even Tomomi knew instantly what Rina was talking about, and her heart broke even more when she did realize. Rina was in even bigger trouble than anyone else was.

Haruna’s head snapped over to look at Hana, the senior girl’s face going pale when she saw the death glare Haruna was giving her. The brunette’s breathing became heavy, her hands clenching into fists. Any control she had in herself was quickly slipping away as the absolute fury replaced it. She made a movement to get up but found herself stopped when she felt a hand on her arm. She looked over at the hysterical brunette.

“Please don’t,” Rina choked out. Rina knew that Haruna was in a lot of trouble for what she had done to Hana, the last thing Rina wanted was Haruna ending up in even more trouble. Besides, she knew hitting Hana would do none of them any good. This is where fighting Hana had led them; more fights wouldn’t lead to anything else other than more trouble.

Haruna wanted to break her arm away from Rina and launch herself at Hana, but she knew Rina was right. The brunette didn’t even have to speak more than that one simple word. It was enough for Haruna to know what Rina was thinking and she knew deep down that Rina was right. Going after Hana right now would serve them no good. It would just put them in further trouble and probably worsen things for Rina if Haruna so blatantly overreacted like that.

Instead, Haruna resorted to simply glaring at Hana. It was about all that she could go right now; she was at a loss for any other ideas. The only thing Haruna knew at the moment was that someway, somehow Hana was going to pay dearly for this.

***

Tomomi had never felt more ashamed of herself than when her parents walked into the office. Neither her mother nor father would look at or speak to her. They were making it crystal clear how disappointed they were in Tomomi for what she had done. When her parents got there, they had sat quietly, not acknowledging anyone in the room. All Tomomi could do was fidget nervously, not having anything to say. She wanted to say something to her parents but when she could feel the harsh emotions coming off of them, the words were always stuck in her throat. She didn’t want to say the wrong thing and make them even angrier with her.

Tomomi had seen the sympathetic look Yukako had given her. That look told Tomomi that Yukako had probably gone through similar experiences to what she was going through now, but it didn't make her feel any better. It didn’t take away what had just happened and what Tomomi knew was about to come.

It had stayed this was for some minutes before her parents were asked to come in by the principal. They couldn't have been in there for more than five minutes before they came out again. Her father gave her a simple 'come', to which she reacted immediately. She had kept her head down, following after her parents.

She only lifted her head once to steal a glance at her friends, Yukako being the only one to look at her. Rina was still crying too hard and Haruna had her head in her hands, mumbling something to herself. The trip home was no better; her parents refuse to speak to her nearly at all, only giving a simple command every now and again. Tomomi made sure to immediately obey any order her parents gave her, she didn’t need them any angrier. She wanted to do whatever she could to calm them down.

Now here she was, seated on the couch and waiting for her parents to start in on her. She knew it was coming. Her mother sat in a chair near the couch, crying softly as her father paced back and forth. Tomomi could feel the throbbing in her abdomen come back but she didn't dare touch it, her hands staying on her lap. She didn’t want to move even so much as a single inch right now. She licked her lips, her tongue running over the still open wound above her lips. She cringed from the feel of that, she could only imagine how her face looked. She hadn't looked in a mirror yet so she hadn’t been able to survey the damage Hana had done.

"Would you like to explain yourself?" It was the first sentence her father had spoken in what seemed like forever, certainty the first since they had come to get her. She had wanted him to acknowledge her but now that he was, she was wishing he hadn’t. She couldn’t stand the tone in his voice.

"Papa..." Tomomi began but found herself cut off by her still angry father.

"Fighting? Gangs? I thought we raised you better than that!" Tomomi cringed at the loud and angry tone of her father. She hated being yelled at and the conditions this was coming under only made this feeling for her worse. Tomomi sniffled back the tears, her hands clawing at her uniform skirt. Her father sounded so disappointed in her and she knew her mother was disappointed by the way she was crying. She couldn’t stand this. She’d always done her best to never disappoint her parents.

"It wasn't my fault..." She choked out.

"Then whose fault was it? What were you even doing hanging around people like that? You should know better than to go around people like them." Tomomi continued to sniffle as the tears made their way to her eyes. She had never wanted her parents to find out about this, she knew they would never understand.

Why did this have to happen?

"Tomomi, we're worried about you. You've never done this before but you've gotten into two fights in just a few weeks. What happened? Why are you acting out? Are your mother and I not giving you enough attention? Have we done something wrong to make you act like this?”

"No, papa. It's not your fault."

"Then what is it? Honey, I just want to understand. Why have you let yourself get involved in this? Was it peer pressure? Did they force you? Just give us a reason, help us understand.”

Tomomi wanted to answer but she didn't have an answer. Her parents would never understand; they would never see it the way she had... She wasn't even sure she saw it the same anymore. Did she still have the same reasons for being in this gang? She didn't know; she almost felt like she didn't. She had her reasons, she knew that much, but how could she ever explain them.

"If you're not going to speak then we're done here. I can’t handle this right now. Tomomi, we need to set some ground rules. First of all, you're grounded for two weeks. Second of all, you will come home straight after school every day and you will have no contact with these delinquents, is that clear? I expect you to be in this house when we get home from work, I'm trusting that you'll do this. Third of all, you will not leave this house for any reason unless you are with us. Can I trust you with this?”

Tomomi cringed from the way her father had said that last sentence. The disappointment hinging to his words told Tomomi very clearly that she had completely lost her parents' trust this time. They were more than just disappointed in her. Everything was coming crashing down around her.

"Yes, papa," Tomomi responded softly. He father wanted to take pity on her when he heard the tearful tone of her voice but he knew he couldn't. Tomomi had to learn her lesson; she had to see why what she was doing was wrong. Somewhere they had gone wrong with raising her and now it was time to correct that.

"Good. Now go to your room.”

Tomomi simply nodded without another word. She pushed herself off of the couch, bowing her head as she slinked past her parents. She couldn't look at either of them and she got the feeling that they didn't want to look at her.

Tomomi quickly made her way up the stairs, dashing into her room. She shut the door and she could feel the tears begin to slip down her face. Her back pressed against the door and her body slid down to the ground, the tears taking over.

What had she done to deserve this? She had only wanted to become a stronger person. She had only wanted to find some group to fit in with.

She knew that the gang fought but she never counted on being part of that. She definitely never counted on her parents finding out about all this, she hadn't thought about that. Oddly enough though, Tomomi's biggest heartache wasn't her parents’ disappointment, it was the idea of never seeing the girls again. In such a short time, she had grown so attached to them. It felt nice to be wanted by a group for once; Tomomi had been a loner with one friend for so long. She had never known this feeling before and now that she had it, she didn’t want to let it go.

Tomomi's hysterics were interrupted when she heard the phone chime inside of her bag. That's right; her parents had yet to take her phone. She didn’t know if they were ever going to take it. Tomomi crawled the short distance to her bag, kneeling in front of it and digging out her phone. She flipped it open, her tears wanting to become worse when she saw it was from Mami.

Haru told me what happened. Don't worry, Hana will pay for this.

Tomomi instinctively shook her head as she read the message. No, she didn't want that. She didn't want any of the girls to get into any more trouble for her. She had already caused enough problems for Haruna and Rina because of what had happened today, the last thing she wanted was to get Mami in trouble. She just wanted this entire situation to disappear.

No. You'll get in trouble.

It was the only reply that Tomomi could think of to type. She didn’t know what else to say at this point. Sniffling, she pushed herself off the ground, pushing her phone into the waistband of her uniform skirt. She slowly made her way over to the door, quietly tiptoeing out of her room and down the hall into the bathroom. She slinked into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind her. She let out a shaky stream of breath as she walked over to the mirror, closing her eyes just before she got to it.

She took in a deep breath before she let her eyes open slowly, a gasp escaping her when she saw her reflection. She raised a shaky hand, running her fingers over the still open cut above her lip. The nurse had helped the cut stop bleeding but Tomomi could see it hadn’t completely closed yet. It was hard not to notice the cut; it was the first thing Tomomi had been drawn to. The angry red mark stood out so harshly against her pale, porcelain skin. Tomomi sniffled softly; the tears flowing down her cheeks that she could now see had a small bruise on her left cheek.

She took in another deep breath, her hands gripping the bottom of her shirt. She let out her breath, yanking her shirt over her head in one swift movement and letting it fall to the floor. She hesitantly looked up at the mirror, her tears becoming that much worse when she saw the blue and purple bruises decorating her abdomen. There didn’t seem to be a spot on her stomach that didn’t have some size bruise on it.

Tomomi brought a hand to her ribs, gently running her fingertips of one of the bruises. She hissed in pain as her body became swarmed in the pain when she touched the bruise. Tomomi hastily wiped away her tears before turning away from the mirror. She could feel her phone vibrate and chime from where it still was in her skirt waistband. She quickly pulled it out, reading the next message.

I don’t care about getting in trouble! She needs to pay for hurting you.

Tomomi wanted to be thankful that Mami wanted to defend her and get revenge for her but she couldn’t be thankful. She couldn’t be thankful over the idea of Mami getting in trouble for her. She didn’t want Mami in trouble; she didn’t want anyone in trouble. All she wanted was for her problems with Hana to simply disappear.

Please don’t, I’ve already gotten too many people in trouble so far.

Tomomi put her phone on the back of the toilet before leaning down to start the tub. She pushed the plug down, sitting down on the edge of the tub as she waited for it to fill with water. Her feet tapped on the ground, her hands wanting to touch her burning abdomen.

She hated herself. She was so weak; she had made herself an easy target for Hana. If she had actually grown any stronger then she probably could have protected herself. At the very least, she probably could have thought of a way to avoid that confrontation but she was too weak to think of a way out of it. She was even too weak to ask any of the girls for help like she should have. Now it was all too late though.

The brunette sighed softly, turning off the water finally. She stepped out of the rest of her clothes before tying her hair back into a ponytail. She lowered herself down into the water slowly, letting the water flow around her and nip at her bruises. It didn’t hurt though, the warm water felt comforting to her aching body. It was like the warmth wrapped itself around her like a secure blanket that was taking all of her pain away.

Tomomi slipped further down into the tub, keeping on arm propped up on the side of it. She leaned her head back against the wall, her eyes closing as she attempted to let her mind drift away. Her mind wouldn’t drift very far though, not with these thoughts still around. No matter how much she tried to forget about her problems, her mind wouldn’t let her. It wouldn’t let her enjoy a relaxing bath without forcing her to think about all the problems she had caused.

Tomomi found herself suddenly startled when she heard her ringtone go off. Her body shot up from the water, the brunette groaning from the sudden burst of pain. She shook her head, trying to clear the burst of pain from her mind. She reached forward, grabbing the phone off of the back of the toilet and flipping it open without ever having looked at the caller I.D. She really wished she had when she heard the voice speak.

“You aren’t seriously blaming yourself for this, are you?” She could hear Mami ask angrily. Tomomi’s body tense, her breathing freezing in her throat. Why couldn’t she have just looked at the stupid caller I.D? She was on a roll with making bad decisions today.

It’s not that Tomomi didn’t want to talk to Mami – hearing the blonde’s voice was rather soothing actually – it was more so that she had no idea what she would say. Facing the girls was something she hadn’t thought about, she had done her best not to think about it. That was another thing she didn’t know how she was going to accomplish it or what she was going to do about it. She didn’t really know how to face the girls after this.

“Tomomi, are you there? Please answer me; I want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m here…” Tomomi replied softly. She could hear Mami sigh in relief before the blonde muttered something under her breath but the receiver hadn’t picked it up so Tomomi couldn’t clearly hear what Mami had muttered. “Why did you call me?”

“Because I’m worried about you, damn it. Your last message really sounded like you were blaming yourself for what happened with Hana, this is something I thought we needed to discuss with actual talking and not messaging.”

“Oh.” Tomomi didn’t really have anything else to say.

“So are you blaming yourself?” Mami prompted her, knowing full well the shy nerdy girl probably wouldn’t know what to say at a time like this.

“I-I guess so. I mean… It is my fault. If I was stronger…”

“Stop that!” Mami’s sudden shout had instantly caused Tomomi to stop talking. She could feel her heart skip a beat when Mami shouted like that. “This isn’t your fault; you didn’t do anything to provoke Hana so stop blaming yourself.”

If only Mami knew… Maybe she wouldn’t think like that. Maybe she would think that Tomomi deserved it. Tomomi didn’t want Mami to think like that, she didn’t want any of them to think like that. Perhaps it was an irrational fear but Tomomi had every reason to be scared. But she couldn’t keep it to herself. Now that she had rejected Hana, she knew this was bound to get out. She knew Hana would tell Haruna not just about Mao but also about Tomomi’s involvement with Hana. If the girls heard it from Tomomi before they heard it from Hana, there could be a possibility that they’d be more inclined to forgive her.

She had to suck it up and tell her. She had no choice anymore, she couldn’t keep hiding it.

“Mami… I need to tell you something. I need to tell you all something.” Tomomi’s voice wavered as she said the words. She could feel the tears beginning to come back to her as she slipped her body further into the water. She could only imagine the way the others were going to react to this.

“If it involves the others, I think it’s best to be said when they’re around. You’re suspended as well, right?”

“Don’t remind me,” Tomomi choked out. She could hear Mami mutter a soft apology before continuing.

“Meet us after school then, okay? We’ll wait for the others to get out and then meet at the usual place; you can say what you’ve got to say then.”

“Mami, I can’t…”

“Why not?” Tomomi could tell that Mami was becoming frustrated but she didn’t know from what. She didn’t know if she was the cause of Mami’s frustration or if the blonde was just frustrated with the entire situation.

“I’m grounded. I’m not allowed to leave the house for two weeks without my parents.”

“Tomomi, there’s this little thing called sneaking out,” Mami told her. Tomomi gulped nervously at the suggestion, she had never snuck out of her house before. “Your parents work late, right? Until 6 or 7?”

“Yeah…” Tomomi didn’t know much else of what to say.

“Good. You can sneak out and meet us then, we’ll have you back before your parents get home. They’ll never know you were gone. Trust me, Tomomi. We’ve done this many times, we’re experts at it. We always get Sumire home on time so we’ll be able to do it with you too.”

Tomomi paused, letting the silence come into the conversation. She didn’t really favor the idea of sneaking out but she really didn’t have a choice. It was either sneak out or not see the girls for two full weeks, and she couldn’t let that happen. Hana would surely get to them first if she didn’t see them sooner than that. The brunette let out a shaky breath before she answered.

“All right, I’ll do it,” Tomomi told her.

“Good. Tomomi, you don’t have to worry about a thing. We’ve got everything under control; you’ve just got to trust us. You’re one of our own now; we’ll care for you like it.” Tomomi could hear that Mami wanted to say more but the blonde paused. Tomomi could hear a shout in the background yelling at Mami to get off the phone, Tomomi could only assume that was her mother.

“I guess you have to go?” Tomomi asked lightly.

“Appears that way, wouldn’t it? I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, Tomo.”

The two girls exchanged their goodbyes and Tomomi locked her phone afterwards. She sat forward, setting it back in its place before leaning back and slipping into the water even more. There was no turning back now, she had to come clean and hope for the best.

***

Sitting in her room, Mami hung up the phone, sighing softly after she had done so. She felt responsible for this. Her suspension ended tomorrow and if it had only ended a day earlier, she could have been there by Tomomi’s side. She should have been there. She saw Hana with Tomomi that day; she knew something was wrong between them. She should have been protecting Tomomi but she hadn’t been.

She sat her phone down onto her desk, leaning back in her desk chair just as she heard her door be pushed open. The blonde swiveled around in the chair to face her mother. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for her mother to start talking. Mami had nothing to say to her, she had no desire to talk to this woman.

“Who was that?” her mother asked point blank. Mami shrugged her shoulders, bringing her arms up to set them behind her head.

“A friend,” she responded simply. Her mother rolled her eyes in annoyance at Mami’s answer before leaving her room without another word. Mami smiled at this, happy her mother had chosen to simply leave over the other things she could have chosen to do.

Mami turned around in her chair again, leaning her body forward onto her desk. Her hands came up to her face, one hand running itself over the wound that her mother had left just days ago. It had healed, now all that needed to happen was the scar had to fade. Mami huffed at the memories, tossing her hands back down onto her lap before leaning her head back against the chair.

Her eyes gazed at the ceiling in thought. What could Tomomi want to tell them? Was it about Hana? Mami could only hope that the brunette would finally confess it to them, although she would have preferred Tomomi saying it a lot earlier so they could have prevented this.

All her life, she had never thought she was love material. She never fell in love with anyone; she never even had any crushes on anyone. That is, not until that brunette walked into her life. From the first moment she had started to get to know Tomomi, the nerdy brunette was turning her world upside. She was forcing Mami to feel things she had never felt before. She was forcing Mami to think of things she had never thought of before.

Mami found herself worrying about Tomomi. Sure, she worried about all of her friends but this time, there was something different. There was a special worry that surrounded Tomomi. Mami felt like she might just be scared of the thought of losing Tomomi. Tomomi made Mami want to be a kinder person; she made Mami want to be gentler. At least with Tomomi that is. Mami never wanted to hurt Tomomi; she only wanted to protect the fragile girl.

And Mami truly didn’t get it.

She had never felt this way with any of her friends, not even with Haruna. These feelings went beyond friendship and that scared Mami. She didn’t want to even think of the word that was trying to weasel its way into her mind. There was no way. She would never feel that kind of emotion for anyone. She would never let herself be weakened by that kind of thing; she knew she was better off on her own with just her friends.

It didn’t stop her heart from feeling and her mind from thinking though. Mami felt utterly annoyed by all of this. Why did one girl have to ruin it? Why did one girl have to turn everything upside down for her and cause such a confusing mess in her mind? She was fine living how she was before. She could have lived without ever feeling these emotions.

Mami let out a heavy sigh, her head dropping down onto the desk. She was starting to think she could finally understand how Haruna must have felt when she had first met Rina.