405 Chapter six, 2017, Christmas carols: 4 (1/2)
”I'm scared.”
Yukio's hand held hers in a firmer grip. Kyoko sent him a grateful thought for his concern.
”We'll be known as the school perverts after this,” Kyoko said. ”My parents are going to be so angry.”
”Then let them!” Yukio stopped her midway through the corridor connecting both wings. ”I'm with you.”
Kyoko listened to the silence around them. Through the windows her eyes followed the great sails and the wires stringing them to the walls. From the second floor she saw the structure in the canvas, how torn they had become and where rust ate the wiring.
”Yukio, I'm trying to live my own life now, but it's hard.”
He didn't say anything, but from the tapping of his indoor shoes against the floor Kyoko guessed he was thinking furiously.
'You always care for me, and whenever I feel bad you always try to turn it into a fault of yours.' ”Yukio, it's my parents, not you. Besides, we agreed to do this together. They're our friends.”
He shuddered. ”I'm scared as well, you know.” A slight tug from his hand told her he wanted to be in time for next class, and Kyoko decided that the rest of the conversation had to wait until after school hours.
This was, she thought as they walked through the empty corridor bathed in a grey winter's daylight, not the smartest way. But it was, probably she hoped, the fastest. Make Ryu angry enough to scare him. Shake him around until he understands that something has gone awfully wrong.
She hoped they got through to him before it was too late. Else their establishing the rumour as them being the school's pervert pair would all be for naught.
They passed the stairwell and after that they headed for their classrooms. Kyoko waved at Yukio before she entered hers.
A lesson filled with classic Japanese went by in a flash and after that they had the last long home room session for the year. As usual what was foremost in the teacher's mind concerned studies. It was as if breaks were something evil that disturbed the schooling of students.
She left school in a state of confusion. Yukio stood waiting for her by the gates. Any other day and they would have shared the stairs down to the shoe lockers, but after their amazingly public display the gates felt better. Fewer people would get to ask them questions that way.
In the car home she held his hand, and none of their body guards said anything. Kyoko guessed they felt a change in the air; how she and Yukio both were more subdued. She guessed they didn't understand the reason, but adults were usually better at letting things go without the need to understand everything, and she was grateful for the silence.
This happened once before, Kyoko thought. Noriko that time, in a failed attempt to save at least something from the mess that had been Kuri-chan and Urufu. So much has happened since then.