102 Chapter three, 2016, field trip revised: 9 (2/2)
Nakagawa stared at her. 'Hammagren, what are you doing to our kids? Changing Japan, starting with this school, you said?' ”That's a novel standpoint,” he observed in lack of anything else to say.
At that time Matsumoto-san arrived with a frown on his face. He went straight for their table without a semblance of hesitation.
”Yukio?” Takeida-san asked and glanced at Nakagawa just as she blushed a little. She looked as if she couldn't decide whether to be happy to see what so painfully obviously was her boyfriend again or be worried about the message he brought.
”Sorry, but he's not coming down here.”
”What do we do now?” Takeida-san asked after sharing an exchange of looks with Matsumoto-san. ”Where does he want us instead?”
'What are they talking about? And they don't seem very worried.'
Matsumoto-san shrugged and combed his hair with his fingers. ”He didn't say, but we can't use the dining-hall anyway. The rest of the bunch are coming down the mountain for late lunch, and after that I guess they're off for the beach.”
”Yukio, sit down and eat. I'll handle it. As long as Urufu says he'll run the afternoon events I really don't care what he's planned,” the Wakayama brother said and downed his glass of soda. ”Besides, it's supposed to be our field trip.” He smirked. ”I guess I could run another walking talking session, but I'll keep it beach side.”
The Wakayama twins grinned, and Nakagawa saw how their worries ran off them. With the vigour of youth they started devouring their food, and there was very little conversation around the table after that.
Somehow they kids had communicated that everything was fine, and even though the 'how and what' of that communication eluded him, Nakagawa satisfied himself with trusting their assessment of the situation.
He had another promise to take care of, one he had given to Agerman. Thinking back on how Ashiga-san developed over the years since his arrival her request made sense, even though Nakagawa was certain she had nothing to worry about. Still, hearing that from a medical expert would be the best way to feel secure.
With a sigh he rose from the table and went in search for Ashiga-san. He wanted someone he trusted to handle the logistics before he took a taxi to the local airport.
With Hammargren back in action and Agerman never out of it he felt reassured the Red Rose situation could be contained at least until school started again. After that all bets were off and with this year's arrival experiencing personal hell in that rat hole Nakagawa could only hope that the problems could be resolved during autumn. After that it would be touch and go with him going into forced retirement.
But first he had that promise to keep. For the first time in over twenty years he was going to ask the enemy for help. They owed him anyway. They had as little interest as he with the direction things were taking at Red Rose, but they were just too involved with that school to afford getting involved with some dirty problem solving.