189 Chapter five, 2016, days of waiting: 6 (1/2)
A feeling of impending doom clung to the school when Ryu arrived the first Monday after their midterm exams.
With exams over and done with the main dish on the rumour mill menu ought to have been the student council elections.
However, what most students spoke about was a disgusting rumour about Red Rose Academy and systematic rapes with racist overtones. It was the kind of rumour that needed to be quelled immediately, and Ryu was here to douse the flames with petrol. In case the rumours blew out of all proportions Principal Nakagawa had promised to step in and add dynamite to the fire.
After changing shoes by his locker Ryu walked past the wall where the top fifty students from each year were soon to be posted together with their results and headed for the stairwell to his wing.
He rushed to his classroom and during each and every break he joined the subdued conversations he heard and said all the wrong things. Before lunch was over the entire first year floor of the right wing rumbled with barely suppressed indignation.
Just prior to class he checked his mailbox for more instructions from Kuri. There were none and he decided to move on his own. One email later he had suggested he'd honour his promise to attend a goukon. If he was honest with himself he had nothing against meeting Ai-chan again, and it was with a tinge of a bad conscience he planned to use her for spreading the rumours to Irishima High.
Like most of his classmates he went through the motions of attending class. This close to the exams most were more interested in the results than any topics covered by their teachers, and it seemed the teachers understood as well. Homeroom mostly consisted of self-studying. Planning their participation in the annual marathon race took up a fair chunk as well. After that came club hours, which he used to spread the rumours even further.
The next morning irritated conversations about Red Rose ran between the shoe lockers, and later the same day, in the cafeteria. When it was time for club hours Ryu made his excuses to Kuri and told her what he had planned for his karaoke session with a few guys and girls from Irishima High.
He left school and headed for the same karaoke bar they used to celebrate their cultural festival a few weeks earlier. Had he been given a choice he'd have preferred to meet at the Stockholm Haven café, but for this kind of occasion a sterile karaoke room was the norm.
Ai-chan stood waiting for him inside the doors despite Ryu being close to half an hour early.
”Wakayama-san,” she greeted him.
Ryu shot her an exaggerated look of irritation. ”Hasegawa-san, what a pleasant surprise,” he said and bowed formally.
Ai-chan blanched and took a step backwards. ”Why so awkward?”
”How would I know Hasegawa-san? I'm at a loss for words Hasegawa-san.”
”Stop it!”
”If you stop being so stiff I'll do so as well. OK Ai-chan?”
She blushed and stammered. ”Fine, whatever!”
”My name being?”
”Waka… Ryu-kun.”
”Good. Now, why so early?”
Ai-chan took the opportunity to study her shoes and didn't answer, which made Ryu grin a little. When it came to reading the signals in the boy meets girl game he was an expert. It made him never having had a girlfriend doubly amusing.
”Waiting for someone?” Ryu teased.
”I'm waiting for you,” Ai-chan responded, and her eyes filled with determination. ”If you didn't get that I'm interested in you then you're denser than I thought.”