Things Can Go Wrong

Chapter Nineteen

TANOSHI

It's Monday morning, and the first thing I can think of is the amount of dread that I have for today. I've been worrying since Friday's gang meeting, and I've been thinking of scenarios in which I either get killed, brutally beaten or worse by Satsujin.

Slowly, I do my usual things in the morning, however I do try and make myself look not nervous for today, and more representable for no apparent reason. I'm not seeing Tenshi today, nor am I usually this formal, but just so I take more time, I make myself look extra sharp. Usually I always have my shirt unbuttoned, wear shorts and I almost never wear ties or smart shoes, but today I've gone the whole hog; my shirt is fully buttoned, I'm wearing an alarmingly white tie and for the first time in months, I'm wearing my polished black trainers, rather than my usual multi-coloured Air Max 95s.

With thirty minutes to go until school begins, I drag myself out the door of my apartment and after walking for around ten minutes, I find myself in a convenience store near school buying sandwiches and other pieces of random food and drinks that I really won't be needing or eating, purely because I'm nervous.

As I'm finally finishing up buying stuff, I hear two girls pass me, and I slowly look behind me to see Tenshi and an older girl chatting to each other as they buy lunch. Tenshi looks surprisingly good today - her long black hair is tied into a bun, she's not wearing her usual blazer and shirt, and she seems happy. The presumably older girl next to her is a few inches taller than Tenshi, and she also has black hair with sparkling red highlights. She seems a lot more relaxed than Tenshi in terms of uniform - she's not wearing a blazer, her shirt is relatively small and tight, revealing the outline of her bust, and she's wearing a fairly short skirt, revealing the majority of her thighs.

In short, the other woman seems a lot more confident than Tenshi.

Just as I decide to go ahead and talk to Tenshi, I see her walking out of the store, and I then decide that it wouldn't be the best idea to go chasing after her trying to talk to her, as it might creep her out, along with the other girl.

So, after trying to distract myself, back to reality and within a couple of minutes, I'm at the school reception, making my way to my tutor classroom. The further I walk into school, the more my chest sinks with anxiety, and I begin to tremble after I walk into my classroom. As per usual, the day goes by normally, and I don't talk to anyone across the first half of the day.

I then remember that I have music with Suji after lunch, and I begin to feel even more awful inside. As much as I wanted to avoid Suji today, I know that secretly I can't and I'm going to have to face him at some point. A lot of people would just tell me to get over it, but it is pretty hard to do so when you are standing neck and neck with a smoker, cheater, criminal and everything in between. Especially, when that person affects you mentally.

I want to make my way to the fields where the gang and I usually meet up, but today nothing can hide my anxiety and the one thing I want to do is hide. Nevertheless, I have to go out, so I make my way from math class and begin to walk towards the fields.

As I'm passing the IT department, I notice the girl next to Tenshi in the store from earlier, and she looks extremely distressed by something which I can't exactly put my finger on. Just as I wonder to myself, I get my answer, as I see Suji emerge from one of the classrooms and he holds a can of pepper spray up against her forehead.

I'm not exactly sure what's going on, so I go into the classroom next to me and watch from there. I begin to hear quiet conversation that gradually grows louder and louder, and I also hear frantic footsteps.

It doesn't take long for me to figure out what's going on through small bits of conversation.

"Your brother wanted to leave, but we aren't letting him."

"How do you feel, Sora?"

I hear Sora's muffled cries, and she pleads for Satsujin to not pepper spray her.

"He copped out." one of Satsujin says menacingly.

"Now, we can't lose a single person." Suji says.

"Bring your brother back for us, yes?" Suji adds, laughing as he takes the cap off of the pepper spray can.

I see Suji signal for the rest of the gang to go by bringing up six fingers, three on his left and three on his right, a common thing that he did when I was in the gang, and I know I have to do something. From my own experience, this usually means that he is about to fucking raise hell, and I have to do something, no matter what he's got in his hand.

So, I wait patiently until it's my time to go.

"Tell me how you're gonna get your brother back."

"I don't know how." Sora says, sniffling.

"Tell me-"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

And with that, I bolt towards Suji as he manages to spray Sora slightly. She winces in pain and screams , before looking down at me wrestling Suji to the ground, holding his head firmly as I trap him.

"YOU THINK IT'S ALRIGHT TO PEPPER SPRAY GIRLS, SUJI?" I shout as he struggles to lift himself from my weight. I know that if I go any further, I'll probably get expelled, so I keep him pinned down to the ground and call for a member of staff to come and sort everything else out.

Very luckily, I see Mr Eko run past me and heads straight to Suji, pulling him back up as I regain my balance, my throat throbbing in pain. I look at Mr Eko, and then point to Sora, who is holding the pepper spray can and bawling her eyes out. Mr Eko looks at me menacingly and tells me "Tanoshi, just go."

As much as I want to go, my attention is drawn to Sora, and I offer her my hand. I whisper to Mr Eko that I'm going to take her to the school nurse, and he nods slowly while keeping Suji under his grip.

She grabs my hand, and while crying, places her arm around my shoulder trying to regain her sight. I slowly walk to the first aid rooms at the other end of Koenji High. Just as I'm about to enter the first aid rooms, I see Jack run up to me, and he immediately attempts to question why I wasn't in the fields today, before he stands gaping at Sora. I mouth to him that Suji is truly back, and he nods before running off to his next lesson.

We reach one of the first aid rooms, and upon me turning the lights on, I squint at how bright the lights are before they slowly dim to a perfect amount of light. I sit down next to Sora and I whisper to her "You are alright now."

She doesn't do anything, and instead just stares down at her skirt and trainers. I can tell that she's quite shocked, so I don't talk to her for a little while, before a nurse comes and asks her what happened. She doesn't say a word, so I have to intervene and I have to explain everything that happened.

The nurse hands her a small bowl and walks off and after a couple of seconds the bowl fills with water thanks to the automatic water dispensers beneath the bowl. She cups some of the water with her hands and puts the water over her face, slightly whimpering as she does. After she's finished, she looks up at me solemnly and says "Thanks for that." and I quickly nod.

I ask her if she needs anything else, and she shakes her head before hugging me. It feels surprisingly nice, purely because I haven't had a hug from the opposite sex since I was with Kyou. Either way, I return the hug, smile at her and walk off quietly.

I feel a little bit less nervous now, purely because of what happened, and more importantly because Suji's probably being berated by every staff member under the sun, and as much as I hate snitches, I had to do it for Sora, in some way.

On a more positive note, I walk to music and upon walking in I see that my teacher has brought out those old Yamaha keyboards from the 90's.

Time to press the DJ button, I guess.