Sukeban

Mami held her arms crossed over her chest, her body leaned back against the metal lockers with one foot tilted back and pressed hard against them. Her eyes scanned the crowds, watching each of the students pass by them, hoping that a certain brunette would pass by as well. Aina and Hinako were present as they always were in the morning but Tomomi had yet to show… It had Mami a bit worried about where she could possibly be.

When she thought of how Tomomi had yet to show up to school and the bell was only minutes away from ringing, she thought back to how she had reacted towards Tomomi yesterday. It was just a light touch with barely any skin contact and yet Mami had walked away in such a huff. She hadn’t thought about how walking away so quickly would make Tomomi feel; her mind had simply been focused on getting away and not giving into the feelings that told her to wrap Tomomi up in the hug she so desperately wanted to give the brunette. One simple touch had caused an overwhelming swirl of emotions that Mami never wanted to feel.

She had thought that asking Yukako to come be with her would make her feel a bit better about what she had done to Tomomi and about what she was feeling, but it hadn’t made her feel much better at all. She hadn’t counted on Yukako laying into her like that; she hadn’t counted on Yukako saying anything worth truly thinking about but she had. After Yukako left, Mami continued avoiding going home, not wanting to deal with her mother.

She wandered about the streets of Tokyo, her mind clouded by her thoughts of Tomomi and her own feelings. It had been almost 8 at night before Mami found her way back home only to find that her mother hadn’t been home after all and wouldn’t be home that night. For once, Mami wished her mother had been home. With her mother gone, Mami was alone with her thoughts and her thoughts simply wouldn’t leave her be.

The guilt wrapped itself around her heart with a strong grip and adamantly refused to let go. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to know the fragile Tomomi had probably gotten hurt by Mami’s quick to leave action. Tomomi was the kind to get hurt over even the tiniest of actions. Just the thought of having hurt Tomomi, no matter how minimal, was causing guilt in Mami’s heart that she didn’t think she would be able to ever feel. Why did she have to be so hotheaded? Why, just for once, couldn’t she think about how Tomomi felt before doing something?

“H-hi, guys…”

The feeble voice that Mami had come to know so well rang through her ears, instantly capturing her attention and making her turn her entire body towards the left. She felt a wave of relief crash over her when she saw Tomomi standing on the right side of Aina now, her bag clutched in one hand and her other hand absentmindedly twirling her hair. The relief Mami had felt was quickly washed away though when it occurred to her that Tomomi hadn’t made a movement to come near her like she usually did… Was Tomomi avoiding coming near her?

“Tomomi! We were really beginning to think you’d be absent from school,” Aina chimed in, giving Tomomi a smile and a small wave. Mami watched as Tomomi’s face changed to an apologetic smile, her hand moving from twirling her hair to scratching her cheek nervously.

“I’m sorry about that; I just got busy with my parents this morning and ended up running pretty late,” Tomomi told them. Mami’s body tensed and she looked away from Tomomi, instead moving to look down the hall. She had a feeling Tomomi was lying about that. Had she really hurt Tomomi enough where the brunette who hardly ever missed school really considered missing school? The thought was only making Mami’s guilt worse.

“I hope it was nothing serious,” Hinako commented from the other side of Mami. The blonde scoffed lightly; light enough that no one heard her. She looked down, her fingertips beginning to dig into the skin of her exposed forearm. She allowed her teeth to sink into her bottom lip, trying to will away the thoughts that clawed at her mind.

“Of course not!” Tomomi said, trying to use her usual happy tone. When she glanced at Mami though, she couldn’t feel any true happiness. She could see the way Mami looked down and ignored her, not even acknowledging her since she had walked up to the group.

The night before when Mami had left in such a hurry, Tomomi was sure that she had seen fear in the blonde’s eyes. But… Was it possible that fear was really anger? Could a simple action like that have made Mami angry? Tomomi didn’t want to believe it. What Tomomi wanted to believe was that Mami was about to tell her that she liked Tomomi as well before Rina had come stumbling in… Tomomi didn’t want to give up on that hope and she didn’t want to believe such a little action could set off Mami’s temper. She knew even Mami’s temper couldn’t possibly be that short.

“Ne, Mami, what’s the plan for today?” Hinako asked, giving Mami a light shove to call her attention. Mami looked up, glaring at Hinako for the action which only caused the younger brunette to laugh at her glare. Mami scoffed at the laughter, turning her vision back down to the floor.

“Survive the school day. How does that sound for a plan?” Mami asked, adding on a hint of sarcasm to her last words. Hinako laughed at Mami’s sarcasm; even she could tell something was wrong with Mami. Mami didn’t get this snarky and sarcastic with the girls over such simple questions unless something heavy was on her mind, although Hinako knew that Mami wouldn’t ever consider telling anyone.

Mami Sasazaki, please report to the principal’s office.

The announcement that had come over the P.A system just after Mami had finished her sarcastic comeback silenced any attempt Hinako might have for a comeback. Mami sighed at the announcement in an automatic reflex. Sighing had usually become her response to being called into the principal’s office; it happened enough to have an automatic response. Although Mami didn’t see what she had done this time to warrant a trip to the principal’s office. Other than back talking to one teacher, she hadn’t caused much trouble since coming back to school.

“Sounds like you might not make it through the entire school day,” Hinako commented. Mami growled lowly before she picked up her back, shoving past Hinako and shoving her into the lockers with a thud. She stalked down the hallway, clutching her schoolbag tightly enough that her knuckles were beginning to turn white.

“Geez, Hinako. What’s up with you today? It’s not like you to try and piss Mami off like this; you’re really asking for trouble right now.” Mami could hear Aina lightly scolding Hinako as she walked away, pushing past and shoving aside the students in her way.

“She’s upset. I know you can see that, Aina. I was trying to give her something to distract from whatever is bothering her… Do you think it worked?”

Mami couldn’t hear the response that Hinako was given in response to her answer but she had heard enough to emit a low growl. Had she made it that obvious that something was that wrong with her? She was getting worse at concealing her feelings. What was wrong with her? She used to be so much better at this but ever since Tomomi came into the picture… It was as if the control she was had once slowly slipping away from her.

The teenager made it to the office, stalking past the secretary without a word to her. The secretary was more than happy for Mami to not speak with her; she never did like dealing with the trouble students like Mami was. The blonde made her way towards the back of the administration offices just before opening the door to the principal’s office.

“Good to see you coming so quickly, Sasazaki.”

Mami rolled her eyes at the tone the principal had used. She ruffled the back of her hair, walking in and shutting the door. It was only when she had shut the door and looked up did she see a sight that sent a chill through her spine. It was something she had feared seeing someday, but one she couldn’t understand why was happening now of all times.

Standing behind the principal on either side of his chair were two armed police officers.

“Please sit down, Sasazaki. We need to have an important talk.” Mami gulped softly, biting down on her lip and clenching her hands tighter into fists to control herself. She walked forward, sitting down and keeping her eyes on the principal and off the officers.

“What did I do this time?” Mami asked in a rough and harsh tone. From the corner of her eye, she could see one of the officers raise his eyebrow in response to her disrespectful tone. Mami couldn’t care though. If she was in trouble then it’s not as if the tone she used was going to matter much; the principal would probably be happy to see her arrested for whatever he was attempting to blame on her now.

“For once, you are not in my office for causing trouble… Even I am surprised,” the principal commented. Mami scoffed at the faked happy tone he used causing the principal to chuckle softly.

“What’s with them in the back?” Mami asked, motioning her head towards the officer to the right of the principal.

“Please just settle down and be quiet. I informed you that you were not in trouble, did I not? Now please listen to me.”

Mami only grunted lowly in response to the principal, crossing her arms again and sinking down slightly in the chair. The principal nodded his head as if satisfied with seeing Mami agree to quiet down. He leaned back in his chair, coughing slightly.

“Yesterday after school hours, we encountered a bit of a problem with a group of students.” Mami raised an eyebrow at his words. It couldn’t be any of her girls; she knew where they all had been at yesterday and that wasn’t in school. “The action prompted us to check the security cameras, even having to roll them back a few days for more evidence. When we rolled them back, we saw something very interesting. I think you’d be interested to see this as well.”

Mami furrowed her eyebrows together, the confusion the principal’s words had caused only deepening the more he spoke. The principal coughed lowly, motioning to a small TV set up towards the right of the room. He grabbed a remote from his desk, clicking a single button to play the tape within the recorder of the TV set. Mami turned to face the TV, her eyes carrying a bored expression as she watched the tape play.

The teenager had been expecting to see herself or one of the girls doing something stupid on the tape - something they hadn’t been caught for yet. The group did do quite a lot that the school didn’t always catch them for. She couldn’t remember doing anything recently warranting the police, though she knew the school was eager to get rid of her and the others. They would probably use even the smallest infraction if they could.

Seeing herself with her friends was not at all what Mami had seen once the tape starting playing. Instead, Mami was seeing herself walking down one of the school’s hallways with her mother by her side. The more seconds that ticked by in the video, the faster Mami’s heart began to beat. It was all coming back to her. Now she knew what the principal was referring to except that she hadn’t thought about that moment being caught on tape.

She could see her mother’s hands moving around in anger as she yelled at Mami for her possible failure of second year. It was only a few seconds into the footage did Mami get a glimpse of the moment she had uselessly been hoping wasn’t on the tape. The moment Mami saw the footage of her mother shove her roughly and her body slump against the lockers, she could feel her heart momentarily stop. The screen went black seconds after that but Mami didn’t move her vision from the TV set.

“I’m sorry, Sasazaki.”

The soft apology from the principal captured Mami’s attention. She turned her vision towards him again, instantly narrowing her eyes into a glare and growling lowly at the principal. Sorry? What was he sorry for? He didn’t have any pity for her; he didn’t care what happened to her. Where was the point in showing this to her when no one actually cared?

“I knew that you must have had problems at home given how unruly you act at school. Bad behavior like yours is often a sign of struggles with a student’s home life, but never could I have imagined that this is what could be going on back at your house. You have my sincerest pity and sorrow, Miss Sasazaki.”

“Cut the bullshit,” Mami cut him off harshly. “I don’t need your pity; it’s not as if it’s real anyway. Besides, there’s nothing going on at my house. This? This was a moment of anger. Nothing more. You’re overthinking it and wasting your time.”

“That’s very defensive of you,” the principal mused, lacing her hands together and leaning forward on the desk slightly. Mami rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest again and looking away from him still with the sour look on her face. What else was she supposed to say? She wouldn’t tell them the truth. What good would it do anyway? It wouldn’t help; she would just be thrown into the system until she was of age. It wasn’t as if that was any better; she’d rather deal with her mother.

“You’ve got everything wrong. Go spend your time doing something actual useful for this could, why don’t you? Just let me go back to class,” Mami grunted out lowly.

“I’m afraid that I cannot allow that, Sasazaki. We cannot let you go back to class, I’ll need you to go with these gentlemen and answer some questions. We need to get to the bottom of what is truly happening here. This is not an issue we take lightly at this school.”

Mami’s body froze and for the first time, she made eye contact with one of the officers. The officer gave her a pitiful look that made Mami’s stomach churn. She never did like people looking at her as if she were some helpless and delicate flower. She was the farthest thing from it.

“Mami Sasazaki, was it?” One of the officers spoke up, stepping forward a bit. He looked down at the sitting teenager who did her best to keep her harsh look. “You need to come with us and that will not be optional. We’ll take you out of here in handcuffs if you refuse. Coming with us and speaking to us will be for your own safety, we implore you to come willingly.”

Mami scoffed and looked away from the officers. What was she supposed to do? She didn’t want to go with them and risk slipping up but it was clear that the officer spoke the truth and it wasn’t her truth. She was going one way or the other. That didn’t mean she had to go willingly or easily though; she still intended to make this as hard as possible.

“I’m not going,” Mami answered finally. The principal sighed heavily, hanging his head in frustration. Why had he even bothered to hope Mami would make anything easy? The officer stepped forward more, bearing down at Mami with a harsh look.

“If that’s the way you would like to make it.”

***

Tomomi’s nails clawed at the hard wood of the desk top, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip and her eyes constantly blinking to will away the tears. Her free hand twirled a pencil, tapping it against the textbook the class had been assigned to read silently from to complete an assignment. Tomomi couldn’t focus on the assignment though; she knew she wouldn’t focus the entire day at this rate any longer from what she had seen just seconds before she had made it into class.

The bell had rung not long after Mami had left prompting the trio of girls to go their separate ways. As Tomomi scurried throughout the hallway towards her classroom, she had noticed a group of students gathered near one of the windows and gossiping among themselves. Tomomi had walked past them but as she got past them, her curiosity got the better of her. She inched closer to the window as she scurried, looking out it to see if she could spot what the others were looking at. She almost wished she hadn’t bothered to look at all once she did.

From the window, Tomomi had a small glimpse of the front of the school property. Near the school property was a familiar blonde facing an officer with her hands secured tightly behind her back by a pair of silver handcuffs. Her heart stopped as she watched a police officer grip Mami’s arm and force her off the school property and out of sight. When Tomomi felt the tears prick the back of her eyes, she walked quickly off towards her classroom, never stopping to look out the window again.

Could it be true? Had Mami really been arrested this time?

No. Tomomi didn’t want to think like that. She didn’t want to think that they could possibly be putting Mami behind bars. She couldn’t accept that; she couldn’t accept losing Mami. But what else was she to think when she saw Mami in handcuffs? An arrest seemed like the only likely possibility and knowing how Mami acted, Tomomi didn’t feel like her fears were too farfetched.

Tomomi’s teeth sunk deeper into the soft flesh of her lip at the thought. She squeezed her eyes shut, lowering her head to allow her hair to fall in her face. She could feel a single tear roll down her cheek and no doubt drip onto the textbook on her desk. It was when she felt the tear did she quickly wipe her eyes and push herself out of her seat. She walked steadily up to the front of the room and over to where the teacher was grading papers at his desk.

“Sensei, can I please go use the restroom?” Tomomi asked in a meek tone. The teacher looked over at her with a curious expression but retrieved a hall pass regardless.

“Make it quick, Ogawa. You’ve got an assignment to finish.” Tomomi nodded her and turned around without another word. She was quick to leave the classroom, unsure of how long she could hold the tears in any longer. She wasn’t strong enough to keep holding the tears in.

As she walked down the hallway at a quick speed one of her hands flew up to cover her mouth as a small whimper escaped her without her permission. She could feel another tear escape her eyes and her pace picked up, desperate to get to the bathroom and praying no one would be in there or come in. At the fast pace Tomomi was walking at, it didn’t take her long to reach her destination that was just down the hall.

Tomomi felt relieved when she pushed the door open and saw nor heard anyone else in the bathroom. Another choked whimper left her as she hurried over to one of the sinks. Her hand fell from her face and she gripped onto the sides of the sink, her body hunching over slightly as she finally let the tears fall. She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing away all the pain and worry that was etching itself into her heart.

Why? What was going on? Tomomi didn’t understand it. First Haruna disappears and then Rina is taken away. Now Mami… Now Mami might be taken away as well. Possibly even permanently taken away from them. The group had seemed so tight knit and strong but now everything seemed to be falling apart. Tomomi felt a bit of guilt but she could admit that Mami’s arrest was her biggest worry and concern. She knew it should be Haruna’s disappearance and Rina’s secret being found out but Tomomi couldn’t stop the intense worry that washed over her whenever she thought about seeing Mami in handcuffs.

“Stupid Mami…” Tomomi choked out between her tears. Tomomi had sunk her teeth deep enough and hard enough into her bottom lip for her to taste a bit of copper in her mouth but it didn’t faze her. The taste and small amount of pain that the new bite wound on her lip caused her was nothing compared to the anxiety and fear the captivated her.

She was having such a bad reaction to seeing Mami with the police. There was a part of Tomomi that didn’t want to have this sort of reaction or care at all about Mami possibly being arrested. Mami was a bad girl. Tomomi had heard the stories of troubled stories like her and she had always been told to avoid trouble students. Tomomi couldn’t help it though. The feelings had grown to the point where Tomomi found the thought of living without Mami to be nearly unbearable. It didn’t matter to Tomomi how unruly and troublesome Mami might be. She needed Mami to be there.

“Tomo…?”

The brunette in question whipped around, fearing the worst for who was behind her. She wanted to relax a bit when she saw it was only Mao but she felt incapable of relaxing even a little bit. Mao must have followed her out of class when Tomomi left so hastily. The short haired girl gave her friend a small smile, coming nearer to Tomomi.

“Why are you crying? What’s wrong?” Mao asked in a gentle tone. She knew that when Tomomi got this upset it was best to approach her as cautiously as possible lest she only get further upset. Tomomi was often too emotional and sensitive for her own good.

The brunette wanted to answer her friend but she found herself unable to. When she opened her mouth, no sort of words came out. Only soft whimpers and squeaks from the crying were coming out of her mouth. Even if she could form a sentence, what would she say? She couldn’t tell Mao how she felt for Mami; she couldn’t tell her why the idea of Mami being arrested hurt so badly. Mao was still getting used to the idea of Tomomi even so much as being around them; she didn’t feel the short haired teenager would have a very good response to finding out Tomomi’s feelings.

“Oh, Tomomi…” Mao said softly with a sigh. She gently wrapped her arms around Tomomi’s body being just as careful with her actions as she was her words. She held the brunette tightly, feeling Tomomi wrap her arms around Mao’s body as well and bury her face in her friend’s shoulder.

Tomomi was already fearing the worst for Mami.