243 Chapter four, 2017, dark and bitter: 2 (1/2)

The day after Kyoko's discharge from hospital, Noriko saw Kyoko arrive at school in a car her father drove. It was only temporary, but still, watching one of her friends driven to school gave her a bad taste in her mouth. It reminded her too much of the prison that was Kuri's life these days.

'Kyoko, will your family do the same to you?'

Kyoko left the car, and to Noriko's surprise, so did Yukio.

'Oh, maybe not. Did you gain their approval in the end?'

”Kyoko, lean on me if you get tired.” Yukio waved to the car. ”Thank you Mister Takeida.”

'Now that's a western greeting if any. You really spent too much time with Urufu.'

Then the next car pulled up by the gates, and this time Noriko only felt bile in her mouth.

Kuri left her guards and waved at Kyoko, then Noriko received her own set of waves as Kuri noticed her.

”Hi gang,” Noriko said in a weak attempt at raising the mood.

”Ko-chan!” Kuri shouted and ran to her friend.

Noriko smiled and continued waving. She wasn't about to interfere when the two best friends met at school for the first time in weeks.

Around then Urufu came biking, threw Noriko a quick wave and continued to the bike stands.

Ryu was already in their classroom, and the juniors were somewhere around Kyoto. The only way to get a full week was to include the weekends in the trip.

'You're happy for the cultural festival now, but I didn't see any of you visit Urufu at the hospital.' It was a bit unfair, because Urufu had no friends among the second years, and Nao had joined her during one of her visits. However, being fair wasn't in Noriko's mind right now. She was too scared for that.

She turned and started walking across the gravel to the school entrance. Halfway there Kyoko and Kuri made her company, and she saw Yukio waving to them from where he had joined Urufu.

While it was still winter, she felt the first promises of something else in the air. If it was a difference in smell or something else, she couldn't tell, but there was a difference. Noriko tried tasting it, but intangible as it was she gave up and went inside. A few steps later she changed into her indoor shoes and headed for the right wing stairwell, amidst the usual chatter from her fellow students on their way to their respective classes.

Himekaizen was eerily silent during their breaks, with the second years away on their trip to Nara, Osaka and Kyoto, and more and more of the seniors voiding classes in favour of studying for their university entrance exams.

Lunch break was just as strange, with little or no problems for the freshmen getting a table in the cafeteria. Noriko joined her brother, and no one complained about them holding chairs, so that even Kyoko and Yukio could be seated when they arrived after everyone else.

While she understood it was only part of a yearly rhythm, this was still a first for Noriko.

A first for Kuri and Urufu as well; their memories of the Swedish high school system, from decades ago, told a very different story. No entrance exams, and most definitely no acceptance of large amounts of absence during the end of their third high school year. For once Urufu was adamant on not knowing what it was like now; he had experienced differences large enough, second handedly from conversations with his children, to understand that his school years were different from theirs.

Noriko ate her food while talking about everything and nothing, but all six of them avoided the topic that was foremost on her mind. It was as if not talking about the attack on Kyoko and Yukio would make it go away. There was something about this kind of lying by omission that didn't play well with Noriko. Especially as Urufu and Kuri both had opened her eyes to it, but now when they faced things that go bump in the dark, none of them wanted to talk about it.