Who Am I?

Chapter Seven: Finding Something

Naoko ran straight to the bathroom as soon as Kencho had set her free and left the room. She turned the water on hot, not caring that it was practically burning her pale skin as she scrubbed herself. She wanted his touch off her body. As she was in the shower, she found herself crying. She just let it all out, crying loudly in the shower. She'd never been an emotional girl, but now she needed to cry to herself. Nobody could hear her through the soundproof wall anyway.

The rest of the night time dragged by slowly. Naoko hadn't been able to sleep, her thoughts disturbed by what Kencho had done to her. Her body ached from the scalding hot water she'd showered in, and now she couldn't be bothered to move. She didn't want to leave her room even though it wasn't exactly safe here.
"Naoko?" She could hear Megami's voice behind her. She had her back to the door, and hadn't heard it open. She didn't move, wiping the tears from her cheeks. Megami noticed them, sitting on the bed beside Naoko. "What's wrong?" She asked, noticing the tears in her eyes. Naoko sniffled and sat up, looking at Megami.
"Last night, your brother came into my room and forced me to have sex with him." She confessed shakily. Megami was very surprised by Naoko's confession. She never thought her brother would be capable of that, and she still didn't.
"No. He wouldn't do that. No way." Megami was in complete denial, which surprised Naoko. Megami wasn't the type of girl who denied anything without proof. This time she was acting on instinct, and her instinct was dead wrong. "I don't understand you sometimes, Naoko. I don't think I ever will." She got up and left, leaving Naoko alone with her thoughts. She knew for an absolute fact that it had happened, but didn't know why Megami didn't believe her.

She found herself wandering aimlessly around the school building. She didn't exactly want to be around Megami right now, so she had to find her own place to go. She stopped outside the mysterious info club room, looking up at the camera that was pointing directly with her. She went over to the curtain and pulled it back, seeing darkness.
"Hello?" Naoko asked timidly. She could feel the camera watching her, relieved the corridor was empty. Nobody was around to see her awkwardly talking to what most people thought was a curtain behind a pane of glass. "I know someone is in there, and I wanted to be your friend. It must get lonely in there by yourself all day." Her voice was soft and persuasive. She just wanted someone she could turn to who would believe her unlike Megami. There was silence from the other side of the room, and there was silence outside of the room, although that was soon broken by the sound of Naoko's phone receiving a text message. 'I appreciate the gesture, but I will not come out of the room. I only communicate through text.' Naoko read the message, sighing a little. "It's alright if you don't want to talk to me in person, but you can text me and we can talk like that if you want." Naoko told her, walking away dejectedly after closing the curtain again. After a minute, a message flashed up on her phone. The message was from the person on the other side of the curtain, but it was just a smiley emoji. She put her phone away, going to the classroom. Hopefully her bullies would leave her alone today.

The day dragged by slowly. As cleaning time came to an end, Naoko decided against going to meet Megami. She wasn't so sure she wanted to be around her right now. She didn't know someone was sneaking up behind her until she felt a bucket of dirty water being dumped over her head.
"Whoops! You should, like, totally learn not to get in my way." Musume laughed wickedly as Naoko turned around. The other girls with her laughed too, but she noticed one of the girls missing. She sighed and turned around after stammering out an apology, not wanting to talk to Musume anymore. She took a few steps, her foot slipping out from under her. Someone had tipped soap on the floor for her to slip over, and it worked flawlessly. She fell on to her back, her skirt flipping down and exposing her black panties. "Aww. Look at you." Musume said mockingly as she and all four of her friends surrounded her. They basically trapped her on the floor looking up helplessly at them. "You're so pathetic. I'm so glad I'm not you." Musume continued. Undoubtedly she would've continued, but someone came to stop them.
"Musume, leave that poor girl alone." All five girls seemed to look in the same direction, which prompted Naoko to look over too. She could see a tall boy wearing a martial arts uniform with a red band around his left arm. She quickly deduced that he was the martial arts club leader.
"Sorry Masuta-kun." The girls said in unison before running off. Naoko was surprised someone was able to step in and make her bullies stop. The martial arts club leader sighed and walked over to Naoko. He extended his hand to her, helping her up and stay steady on her feet.
"You okay?" He asked. She sighed and shook her head. She wasn't okay, and it was blatantly obvious. "Why don't you come in? I'll lend you a martial arts uniform to wear while your clothes dry, and I can teach you a thing or two about defending yourself." He offered. She smiled and nodded. That would be nice.
"Thank you, Masuta-kun?" She said a little awkwardly. She couldn't be sure that was his last name, since he had yet to properly introduce himself to her. He laughed, leading her into the club room.

"My name is Masuta Budo. I should probably ask yours." He said awkwardly, leading her into the room. She looked around, somewhat impressed by how traditional it felt compared to the rest of the school.
"Yeah. It's Tanaka Naoko." She introduced herself properly to him. He smiled and handed her a spare uniform, guiding her over to the changing booth. She changed quickly, finding the uniform to be just the right size for her. She came back out of the booth, carrying her damp and dirty school uniform.
"Just put your things over there. You can wear that uniform home tonight if you want, just make sure I get it back tomorrow." Budo told her kindly. Naoko did as he told her to do, coming into the middle of the room. "Alright. Let's start with some basic defence moves." He showed her, and she seemed to be able to mirror them flawlessly. She couldn't remember if she had taken martial arts classes while hypnotised by her parents, but if she had it seemed to be muscle memory. Budo was impressed. "Have you taken martial arts classes before?" Budo asked curiously.
"Not that I can remember." Naoko admitted, smiling anxiously. Budo nodded once, relaxing his position. She did the same, watching him curiously. She couldn't read him that well.
"Alright. Let's try sparring." He suggested, getting into a sparring position. She copied his position, readying for a sparring session. "I just want a feel of what you can do. Contact is allowed, but not serious contact like the type that'll hurt or leave bruises. Clear?" He asked, and Naoko nodded. They began to spar, and soon enough Budo realised Naoko was really good. She'd definitely done this before. He upped his game as he found her upping hers. She was actually having a lot of fun with this.

They ended their sparring session as 5pm rolled around. Time for the start of club activities.
"Would you like to stay for club activities tonight?" Budo asked a little sheepishly. Naoko nodded, smiling softly. Maybe she had found a club she would enjoy.
"Sounds good. Thank you, Masuta-kun." Naoko smiled, falling towards the back of the group. She didn't want to be a distraction to the actual club members. Budo didn't seem to mind too much, kinda glad she was here to join in club activities and even the number of members here. He wasn't interested in her romantically, but his intentions may just be more pure than those she was currently around.