Sukeban

Tomomi drew in a deep breath, her hands beginning to shake while she stared up at the tall school building in front of her. It was only her second day back but unlike her first, Tomomi had yet to encounter the others. She'd managed to find them outside the school gate yesterday morning but it didn't appear that Tomomi would be so lucky this time. She would have to face walking into the school alone now and this time, walking into school truly did scare Tomomi.

With another deep breath, Tomomi forced her legs to begin moving. It was just school. What was the worst that could happen? Hana and her friends were still suspended and she figured no one else would dare touch her knowing she was now close to Haruna's gang. They were so feared that she assumed no one would risk it, but that didn't stop the fear that taunted her.

She clutched her bag tightly when she got into the halls and made sure to keep her head down, not desiring to meet what would surely be looks of accusations and dislike towards her. There was no way for Tomomi to block out the whispers that came towards her though. She could hear her peers gossiping and whispering about her; Hana's news really had spread fast across the student body. Tomomi whimpered softly, wanting to leave the school. She didn't want to keep hearing all this whispering and gossiping.

Her pace quickened a bit while she walked down the hall and she allowed her eyes to lift for a moment. She nearly stopped in her tracks when she saw a familiar black bob of hair stuffing books and papers into her respective locker. She had seen Mao a few times yesterday but had been too scared to approach her. How would Mao respond if Tomomi did? Mao was no doubt going to be angry at Tomomi for being anywhere near Haruna and Tomomi didn't really know how she was supposed to explain herself. She didn't know how she was going to explain her motives to Mao.... They weren't the same as when she first began. She had an added reason to want to continue being near them but she couldn't explain that to Mao. Not yet at least.

Tomomi had pushed herself off to the side now and had completely stopped. She chewed on the soft skin of her mouth, contemplating what to do. She couldn't ignore Mao forever; she would have to confront Mao sometime. And she didn't want to lose her friendship either. If she avoided Mao for too long, would it only further hurt their friendship? Just the idea of that happening was hurting Tomomi. She knew what she had to do now.

"Mao!" Tomomi called out. She could see some of the other students in the hallway turn to look at her for the shout, including Mao. As she made her way over to Mao, she could see the black haired girl scoff and turn away from her. Tomomi's footsteps faltered with the hurt the action had cause but she pushed herself forward.

She weaved in and out of the students until she had successfully made it to Mao's side. She stopped, placing a hand on Mao's shoulder on for her friend to shake her hand off. Mao closed her locker in a way that told Tomomi how upset she was and gathered her bag to leave. Tomomi stopped her by grabbing onto her arm, stopping her in her tracks and forcing her to turn around to finally face Tomomi. The brunette tried to give her a weak smile but she was unable to when she saw the angry look on Mao's face.

"Mao.... Can we please talk?" Tomomi asked in a squeakier tone than normal. Mao didn't respond right away but after a few moments of silence, she finally pulled her hand away from Tomomi just before turning to face her fully. Tomomi wanted to be hopeful but the continued angry look Mao was giving her wasn't helping.

"Unless you're going to explain yourself than I'm not interested in speaking to you," Mao told her harshly. Tomomi gulped back her fear and took a small step away from Mao. She gripped onto the bag handle with both hands, her eyes training themselves on the ground. Tomomi knew she wouldn't be able to say any of this if she looked at Mao. "Just tell me, is it true? Are you really part of Haruna's gang?" Slowly, Tomomi nodded her head.

"I am..." Tomomi paused, taking in another deep breath. "But I can explain why!" she said in a hurry after her pause.

"Then explain why. Just explain why you of all people would side with someone like them!" Tomomi flinched from how loudly Mao had said those words. She considered asking Mao to go somewhere more private with her but at the moment, Tomomi had a strong hunch that Mao might not be exactly accepting to the idea of it. She had no choice but to explain it here, with all these people passing them, and hope she didn't say the wrong thing.

"Mao... Please don't be so loud..." Tomomi begged her weakly. Mao didn't respond and Tomomi took that as her hint to keep talking before Mao attempted to leave again. "Look at me, would you? I'm weak and spineless. I've never stood up for myself and I've let everyone push me around. I just... I wanted that to stop... I wanted to be someone who could stand up for themselves and I thought that they could teach me how to do that."

"Tomomi..." Mao's tone was softer now and Tomomi searched her eyes for forgiveness, but she still saw the betrayal and anger that Mao's eyes had held this entire time. Mao sighed softly, scratching the back of her head and shifting nervously on her feet. "Why didn't you tell me? You didn't need to have to join a band of criminals to accomplish that."

"Don't call them that." Tomomi had said her words impulsively, she hadn't thought about the defensive statement until after it was said. Seeing the clearly shocked look, Tomomi knew she had to explain herself and fast. "They're not as bad as everyone thinks. If you met them..."

"I don't want to meet them," Mao interrupted her. "Look at what they do to innocent people; you shouldn't be around people like them. You can learn from someone else like Hana."

"She really has you fooled, doesn't she?" Tomomi's words were mumbled with sadness when the realization of how fooled Hana had Mao. Mao was so concerned about Tomomi being near a dangerous person like Haruna that she didn't even notice she was hanging around someone who was even more dangerous than the brunette could ever be.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mao asked in a defensive tone that nearly matched the one Tomomi had used before. Tomomi's grip on her bag handle tightened more until she was sure her knuckles would begin to turn white from how hard she gripped. She drew in a deep breath for what felt like the hundredth time before she gave Mao a pleading look; she prayed Mao would believe her when she said this.

"Hana isn't who you think she is. She's dangerous; you shouldn't be around her Mao. She was using you; she was going to tell Haruna you told her Rina's secrets." Tomomi trailed off and watched as Mao's eyes widened in fear. She knew that would scare Mao; everyone was scared of getting on Haruna's bad side. Mao needed to hear it though; she needed to know how dangerous a person Hana really was. She had to save her best friend.

"Does-does Haruna know that it was me?" Tomomi was beginning to feel guilty when she heard the fear and panic lacing Mao's tone. Just the thought of Haruna knowing had caused that much fear in her, but Tomomi knew that Mao had to know if she was going to repair things between Mao and the others.

"She does..." Tomomi let her sentence trail off when she saw Mao take a step back. Tomomi reached out, grabbing onto her arm to try and reassure Mao. "Please don't be scared. We can fix this. I talked to Haruna; if you come and talk to her about it then we can fix this. If you just meet them then you'd understand. Please, Mao..."

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" Mao ripped her arm away from Tomomi again, stepping back a bit more. Tomomi's eyes wandered the hallway and she could see people were glancing at them but most seemed to be trying to pretend they weren't paying attention.

"You know me, I wouldn't trick you. Nothing bad will happen, I'll make sure of it. Just please come see them with me; it's not something we should talk about here." Tomomi was desperate for a yes or anything similar. She just wanted to know that Mao was beginning to trust her again. She couldn't take this distrust any longer.

"I'll talk to them." Mao whispered out. Tomomi wanted to smile at the agreement but she knew she couldn't. Not with these sort of circumstances looming over their heads. "When would I need to meet them?"

"I don't know yet, I'll have to ask but, Mao... Thank you." Mao scoffed lightly, turning her head away from Tomomi.

"What are you thanking me for?" She muttered. Tomomi smiled for the first time since encountering Mao; she smiled at the shy way she had muttered her words. Even if she knew Mao still bared ill feelings towards her, she could also see that Mao was slowly beginning to understand. The only problem that remained now was figuring out a way for this talk to actually go positively. She didn’t expect that Haruna, or any of them, would be able to keep any kind of manners during the talk on their own.

“I’m thanking you because you’re giving me the benefit of the doubt,” Tomomi responded to Mao. The black haired girl in front of her only nodded, unsure of how to respond to Tomomi’s thanks. “I should get going; classes are starting soon and…. Oh no…”

As Tomomi’s words trailed off and the worry slowly began to etch itself on her expression, Mao turned around to look at what Tomomi had seen. When she saw the familiar blonde coming down the hallway, she knew instantly where the ‘oh no’ had come from. Mao turned to look back at the brunette who was too busy watching Mami carefully as she walked closer towards her with Aina in tow.

Just as Tomomi expected, Mami did stop next to the duo who had pressed themselves against the lockers. Tomomi gave her a sheepish smile before Mami looked Mao up and down, scoffing and turning her head away. Mao glared at Mami, an action that was quickly stopped by a harsh look from Aina.

“Let’s get going, Ogawa,” Mami said, nodding her head down the hallway. “Classes are going to begin soon and we all need to have a little talk.” Tomomi could tell by Mami’s tone that she wasn’t going to be given an option on whether she wanted to come or not. It was come or else, and Tomomi didn’t really want to find out what the ‘or else’ would be this time.

“Right. I’ll talk to you later, Mao.” Tomomi waved to her friend as Mami and Aina set off again before she followed after them. She had to keep up a faster pace to keep up with the duo but once she settled into the pace, she found no struggle in keeping up with them.

The girls winded their way through the school for only another minute before they encountered Hinako pressing her back against the lockers, her hands crossed over her chest and her bag leaned up against the lockers. Any of the other students in the area quickly cleared out when the three of them joined Hinako, an action that made a small dose of guilt come to Tomomi. She was just like the others now; people would be scared of her like this now as well.

“What did you need to talk about?” Hinako asked when the trio stopped near her. Aina let herself fall against the lockers, her head falling back onto the metal while she waited for Mami to speak up. Tomomi didn’t relax as much as they had. She kept herself beside Mami, her hands still gripping her bag tightly and her feet shifting nervously every few seconds.

“I talked to Haruna yesterday.” Those few words of Mami’s were enough to gain back the full attention of Aina and Hinako. Both of them were alert now, eager to hear any news of their missing leader.

“Where is she? Is she okay?” Aina questioned quickly. Mami put her hand up, silencing Aina from asking anymore questions. The brunette huffed, leaning back against the lockers again.

“Haruna is okay,” Mami began, “but she said she won’t be back for a while. I’m guessing not until her suspension from school is up. Haruna instructed me that until she gets back, I am your leader.” The silence took over their group, each of them exchanging a glance. They didn’t mind Mami as a leader but for Haruna to just willingly hand over control like that? It didn’t sit right with either Hinako or Aina; it didn’t seem right that someone like Haruna who always had to be in control would willingly relinquish that control even if only temporary.

“Why is Haruna missing anyway?” Hinako took the opportunity to question. Tomomi glanced at Mami, hoping for an answer but knowing the blonde wouldn’t give one. As she expected, Mami shook her head in response to Hinako’s question. The youngest of them sighed softly but nodded anyway. “Fine. Then what are we going to do? Do you want us to carry out Haruna’s plan for Hana? We all know how much she wants to see her pay.”

“No,” Mami responded in a rough tone. “Hana is unimportant right now. Rina is of our importance. I’m sure we’ve all heard everyone saying how she was taken away by the police yesterday. Haruna is worried for her; we need to find her and get her out of the police’s custody.”

“How are we going to do that?” Aina asked. She was sympathetic towards Mami. It was Mami who had gone with her to the principal’s office and unknowingly delivered Rina to the police. Aina knew that Mami was probably blaming herself for Rina landing up in such a spot.

Mami wanted to respond to Aina but she had no ideas on how to respond. She had no ideas on how any of them were going to accomplish getting Rina out of this mess. She had no ideas on how to get any of them out of this mess. There had to be a way, but what?

Just as Mami was about to respond, the girls were startled by the sudden ringing of her phone. She grumbled lowly before digging in her bag. Her grumbling stopped when she looked at the caller I.D. she instantly dropped her back, unlocking the phone.

“Rina?” The name got all three of the remaining girls’ attentions. “Where are you?”

The three of them watched helplessly as Mami conversed in short sentences and answers with the brunette on the other side of the phone. None of them could hear a thing Rina was saying, they could only guess what it might be based on Mami’s expressions. But Mami was doing a good job of keeping her expression stoic, something she had learned from Haruna.

Mami hung up the phone and locked it again before sighing softly. She picked up the schoolbag and dropped the phone into the bag. She looked at the three girls who were looking at her expectantly and gave them a smile. When Mami spoke though, Tomomi could feel her heart sinking and the fear coming back.

“It appears we’re not going to be in school today after all.”