143 Chapter one, 2016, the value of friends: 4 (1/2)

”I'm not going to apologise.” Yukio still seethed with anger at the memory.

”I don't expect you to,” Urufu said.

They sat under the great sails outside the cafeteria. With only a day until the cultural festival the place had seen a transformation from student hangout to what looked like a festival area with almost finished stalls.

On the other side of the building, close to the soccer field, the international food plaza was also nearing completion, and the two friends had taken a short lunch break.

”You know, Christina was in the wrong this time. I'm not going to defend her,” Urufu said when Yukio didn't say anything.

It wasn't fair to his friend being this stubborn, but Yukio just felt helpless when Kyoko got hurt. ”It's not your fault,” he started, ”and I don't want to say bad things about your girlfriend, but it's...”

”It is my fault as well,” Urufu interrupted. ”Christina's behaviour was out of line, but I agree with her initial assessment.”

'When did you start learning Japanese words like that?' ”What do you mean?” While Urufu's grasp of kanji was still awful his spoken Japanese evolved faster than was decent.

”The bullying has to stop. If we're going to fight Red Rose Hell we can't afford this kind of shit on our own turf. Anyone try to screw you up they have to be put down mercilessly.”

Yukio stared at his friend. ”That's harsh.”

”Uhum.” Urufu took another bite of his atrocious noodle sub and swallowed it as if it deserved to be called food. ”Look, I didn't get to run a company because I was so damned friendly with everyone. I've fired a few arse holes, and once I made certain an idiot was blacklisted. Illegal yes, but damn that got the attention of any wannabe racists.”

'He can be cold sometimes.' ”Didn't you get into trouble for that?”

”Hell yeah! We had to pay a hefty fine, but the dick stayed blacklisted all the same. Well worth it.”

Suddenly Urufu laughed at the memory, and Yukio stared at him again.

A few students, mostly freshmen, looked in their direction from the stalls they were finishing.

Urufu played in a totally different league. Not for the first time Yukio felt inadequate. ”Man, sometimes I just don't understand why you stick around with me. I give you headaches and I'm just a school kid.”