Noriko
glared at her phone when it rang.
Since
Urufu’s suspension she refused to enter the school and spent her
days at the Stockholm Haven café instead. Usually an insanely stupid
thing to do, but with the vice principal of Irishima High giving
interviews where he described Principal Kareyoshi as the second
coming of Adolf Hitler the fallout was certain to be minimal, if any
at all.
Irishima
High had a stellar reputation, but Red Rose Hell less so, especially
now when it had all but gone belly up.
Vice
Principal Noguchi never lost an opportunity to insinuate that
Kareyoshi was tied to Red Rose’s darker pasts.
Then
there was the thing with her phone ringing.
What are you
thinking?
While
she could afford playing the truant, her brother definitely couldn’t,
and he just rang her during school hours.
“Noriko
here.” It had better be good.
“I’m
on a date with Kuri,” came the moronic response.
“You’re
what?”
Noriko
rose from her chair and went inside the inner room.
“She
wants to know Urufu’s midterm results. She says it’s important.”
What?
Damn you! “Why don’t she ask him herself?”
“Sis!”
On
the verge of biting his face off Noriko realised why Kuri avoided
contacting Urufu directly. Both of them danced around each other in a
futile attempt not to hurt the other more than necessary.
“I’ll
ask him,” Noriko said and nodded as if her brother was present and
not at the other end of a phone call. “I’ll call you back.”
Noriko
looked across the table. A dozen club members, all of them among
those who made it into the top fifty in their respective year, sat
around it, mesmerised by Urufu as he ran a lesson in English, in
English to boot.
That
was his idea of teaching a foreign language. Speaking it and
demanding that the rest of them did likewise. She hadn’t believed
him when he told them it was the superior method, but that was a year
ago. Now she knew he was right.
“Urufu,
you’re going to fast for them,” Noriko said and looked at Ai-chan
and a Himekaizen freshman whose name Noriko couldn’t remember.
A
dozen club members, and three of them belonged to Irishima High.
Their vice principal sitting in the café proper meant their presence
was sanctioned by their school. He probably considered this an
advanced class, which it was.
“Tomasu-kun,
could you take over?” Noriko said. The former Stockholm university
professor in classic Japanese should be a massive overkill for the
purpose of teaching high school English in Japan, but she couldn’t
tell the rest of them why she knew that.
He
turned. “Sure, but why?”
“I
need to speak with Urufu.”
Tomasu-kun
gave her a knowing look and grinned. By his side Jeniferu-chan did
likewise.
I wish, but
it’s not really that way. Yet.
“Noriko?”
She
listened to his voice. During the last months his Japanese had
audibly improved, but that wasn’t why she clung to his words. Crap,
I have it bad this time.
She
did so the last time, and the time before that. Noriko knew that, but
those were memories, and this was now.
She
looked at his hands when he made his way to the door she headed for. Large hands, larger than her brothers, the way all of Urufu was
larger than her brother. Only when it came to effortlessly socialise
with others did Ryu shine brighter. Or? Well, that was why she asked
Urufu to follow her now.
Noriko
heard his walk behind her through the door to the inner room, under
the bell as it jingled when she entered the pavement outside the café
and into the noise of cars and people. Daytime this was the world of
adults, and more than a few of them glanced at them, or rather their
school uniforms.
I
really should have worn casual clothes, but Urufu said skipping
school wasn’t a reason to skip school. Sometimes what he said
just didn’t make any sense, but in the end everyone at the cafe
wore their uniforms despite being absent from their respective
schools. Well, the Irishima High students kind of didn’t count as
they had their vice principal present.
“Yes,
Noriko?”
“It’s
not about that,” she said without thinking.
“About
what?” Urufu responded. A teasing note played in his voice.
“About
me confessing to you,” Noriko admitted. “I already did that, so
get over it!” To her embarrassment she could feel her cheeks
heating up. That definitely took some of the edge away from her
response.
They
walked a little down the street, and she suppressed an urge to take
his hand when he came up beside her. Because it’s not like that
between us.
Unable
to bear his silence, but grateful that he didn’t push her, Noriko
took a left turn at an intersection and walked into a ramen shop. The
very ramen shop they ended up in after Urufu’s disastrous
midsummer’s dinner last year.
He
remained silent while she ordered for them both, and it wasn’t
until they were both seated by a table that his eyes showed his
impatience.
“Your
midterm results,” Noriko said when their noodles arrived. I need to
know. Kuri needs to know, but I think I can guess why.
She
stared at her bowl, grabbed a pair of chopsticks and went to work on
her food. Her request must have sounded insane.
From
across the table she heard Urufu eating his meal. They’d finish it
in silence. Noodles weren’t the kind of food you could spend time
chatting over. They’d get soggy in no time at all.
From
time to time Noriko stole glance at the man she had fallen in love
with for the third time, or probably had never fallen out of love
with, which meant she cheated on Nao during their entire
relationship. Or had she loved Nao honestly? She wasn’t sure, but
she thought so. There were mostly fond memories of him from the half
a year they spent as a couple.
Then
Urufu downed his broth and grinned. “What about yours?”
Noriko
had expected him to do this. “You saw. Second.”
He
nodded back at her. “As a matter of fact I didn’t. Suspended,
remember.”
There
was that. “Your midterm results,” Noriko persisted. She couldn’t
let herself be led astray by him.
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