386 Chapter four, 2017, petty revenge: 7 (1/2)

”I've been here before.”

Kyoko looked at Noriko. Ueno park. They all had been.

”At this café I mean,” Noriko said. ”Had a talk with Principal Nakagawa,” she added.

”When?”

”Just after the nightmare began,” Noriko muttered.

'Kareyoshi, of course.' ”The pig!”

”Principal Nakagawa is a pig?” Jeniferu asked over her coffee.

Kyoko giggled. ”No, Nakagawa-sensei is decent. I just guessed he spoke with Noriko about the pig.”

”The pig?”

”How dense can you be girl?” Hitomi glared at Jeniferu. ”Kareyoshi!”

Across the table Tomasu looked as if he was about to grab Jeniferu and protect her from the verbal onslaught, but just as he reached for her something in his eyes clouded over and he dropped his hands and stared down at the table. Something was off.

Kyoko let her her eyes wander to Jeniferu. She looked both hurt and relieved. Yes, something was definitely off.

”We're here,” Noriko said, and Kyoko saw her stare at Jeniferu with murder in her eyes, ”to talk about just that.”

'Why would she be angry with Jeniferu?'

”Thomas, I want to, but I can't. Not right now.”

Kyoko looked at Jeniferu, and as she did so she saw Hitomi's dark glance. That the beauty had cast off her image as an airhead was no longer news to Kyoko, but her face expressed an understanding that made Kyoko feel left out of the loop. 'What's going on?'

Kyoko sipped some of her tea and waited for someone to let her in. She wouldn't have been asked to postpone her date with Yukio for no reason.

The sound of a mug clacking on the table told her the time had come. It was Noriko's mug.

”Kyoko, please don't hate me, but could you tell Jeniferu what happened to you?”

Kyoko frowned. ”What happened...” Ah, the nightmare! ”You mean the attacks?”

Noriko nodded.

”The attacks?” both Hitomi and Jeniferu asked in unison. Tomasu just stared at her.

She had an inkling where this was going. ”Jeniferu. First I need you to tell me what's going on. I don't want to hurt you with my ignorance.”

For the first time Jeniferu looked like a broken girl and only Noriko's hands on her shoulders kept her in her chair.

”I've been so scared. Ever since...”

So her brash attitude towards anyone who asked had been a show after all.

”But Tomasu...” Kyoko began.

Jeniferu looked like she was about to start wailing, but she grabbed the edge of the table with her hands and stopped the tears. ”I'm scared of him.”

'What?'

”I'm so sorry Thomas. I love you, but you scare me, and you've done nothing wrong.”