Okuda, the biology teacher was standing at the entrance to the girl's bathroom.

 

 

 

 

 

She stared at Toshi. Slowly she raised her hand and pointed at the wall. Toshi stepped closer to look at the wall in question and saw a single word: WOMEN.

 

Toshi clicked his tongue, "Ah. That explains why everything is pink." He looked back over at the four girls, "Boy is my face red." He bowed towards them, "I am ever so sorry for making this mistake I hope you can-"

 

Okuda grabbed Toshi's chin and turned it so she could look at him better. "What happened to your eye?" Before Toshi could answer she walked past him and started to examine the girls. Naora's bloody nose was a dead giveaway that something had happened. Okuda focused in on her, "Explain."

 

Naora looked to the side to avoid Okuda's gaze, "Well..."

 

Toshi interrupted loud enough to have his voice cut through the air, "Slipped!" Okuda turned to look at Toshi. He pointed at himself, "I slipped as well." He gestured about, "A whole LOT of slipping."

 

The teacher narrowed her eyes, "Slipped?"

 

Toshi shrugged, "Kinda comical if you ask me."

 

Naora stared at Toshi like she couldn't believe a word that was coming out of his mouth. Her jaw hung open. One eye was wide open while the other was squinting and twitching slightly. Okuda turned to look at Naora. Naora looked back, then coughed. She put on as innocent a face as she could, "Slipped." She nodded once, "Like he said. Quite..." She stared at Toshi, tilting her head slightly in the process, "Comical."

 

Okuda looked angry. The kind of anger you get when someone bald-faced lies to you straight up and expects you to buy it, "All of you. To the Nurse's office. NOW." She walked over to grab Ruri and pushed her towards the door.

 

 

 

"Then all of you are going to the Principal's office where you will explain how all this so-called 'slipping' happened."

 

---

 

Eventually, all five students were standing in Principal Ritsushima's office being grilled.

 

The principal, getting increasingly annoyed that nobody was talking, was having a hard time proving anything because bathrooms don't have cameras and there were no other witnesses. The principal had finally reached her limit, "Everyone out!" The five turned to leave when the principal added, "Except you, Toshi. The rest of you wait outside." Toshi winced and remained standing as the others filed out. Ruri was the last one. She made eye contact with Toshi, giving a supportive thumbs up as she closed the door. Toshi sighed and turned back to face the principal.

 

Ritsushima held her fingers in a Gendo pose as she looked at Toshi. They both remained still, watching each other in silence for quite a while. Eventually, the principal spoke, "If you tell me what is really going on, I can help you. If you keep silent, I can't do anything." Toshi looked confused for a second, then let out a soft 'Ah' sound as his brain reversed things. He nodded and stared at the floor, then looked up, "You want the truth?" The principal nodded.

 

Toshi looked around for a second then zeroed in on Ritsushima, "The truth is, the teachers in this school have had weeks, at LEASE, to fix the problem. You either aren't willing, or unable to." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder, "Where I'm standing, you don't give two shits about Ruri. If you could have helped her or wanted to fix things, you would have." He dropped his hand, "Truth? I don't trust you. You have zero credibility. So I'll fix it." The principal dropped her hands and started to speak when Toshi interrupted, "I. SLIPPED." His words were strong and cutting. He glared at the principal as if daring her to argue the point. She sighed and gestured for Toshi to leave and walked out behind him.

 

The other four were standing in the waiting area in front of the secretary's desk. As the principal walked out, she cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "Go back to your classes, HOWEVER, if any of you SLIP again..." She eyed each one in turn, "I'll suspend all of you from school." She swept a finger over all of them, having it slowly pan back and forth, "So if one of you slips up, you all slip up, GOT IT?"

 

Toshi stood next to Naora and put an arm around her pulling her in tight, "I Have No Doubt That Naora-Sensai here will make sure no harm comes to any of us younger students!" Then looked at her with a big grin. Naora was taken off guard, but adjusted quickly. She put an arm around Toshi in return, "Of course! Upper-class men have an obligation to look after their juniors!" She looked very serious as she slowly nodded towards the Principal, "We are all in this together, after all."

 

"Bullshit." The principal pointed at the exit, "Get out."

 

Toshi let go of Naora, bowed, then started out, pausing to check his pouch to make sure he didn't forget it again. All five of them wound up in the hallway and began heading back to their respective classrooms. Toshi looked at the clock and noticed that it was too late to get food in the cafeteria anymore with a sigh.

 

Naora glanced about as Toshi and Ruri started off, then hurried to catch up with them, "Wait." Her two flunkies followed behind.

 

Toshi turned to face Naora. She sized him up for a second then asked, "What's the deal?"

 

Toshi looked around, "Going back to my homeroom."

 

Naora shook her head, "You were in there with the Principal, alone. You were a guy in a girl's bathroom with-" She pointed at Toshi's face, "-a black eye." She shrugged and acted like she was tossing something into the air, "Why didn't you tell the truth?"

 

Toshi snorted, "In case you forgot, I ran into the girl's bathroom and threw the first punch."

 

Naora did the one-eye big, one-eye squinting thing again, "Okay... Well. You could have lied then. They'd believe it."

 

"But I'd know I lied." He shook his head slightly, "Look. Ruri is my friend. You fuck with my friends you fuck with me." He pointed to the principal's office, "I don't go crying to mama." He pointed at himself, "You gonna put me in the hospital?" He pointed at Naora, "I'm gonna put you in the morgue if you go after someone I care about."

 

Naora leaned to the side to look at Ruri who was somewhat hiding behind Toshi, then straightened up to look him in the eye, "If I hadn't kicked you in the balls myself, I'd swear you had ovaries."

 

Toshi quipped, "Maybe when I turn eighteen, we can compare who's bigger."

 

Naora's eyes went wide at that as her two friends behind her let out a long 'Ooooo...' sound.

 

Naora blatantly looked down at Toshi's crotch then back up to his eyes, "I... look forward to that." She glanced at Ruri then back to Toshi, "Fine. I'll leave her alone and I'll tell everyone else who hangs out with me to do the same." The two girls behind her looked at each other, more than a little surprised. Naora stepped up to Toshi and put a finger under his chin tilting his head up slightly, "But Pochi-kun owes me." Her tongue briefly licked her upper lip.

 

Toshi impersonally stared back, "If your request doesn't screw over anyone I care about, and I am legally able to do it, sure. I owe you."

 

Naora let out a soft snort, "Anyone tell you that you talk like you're fifty?"

 

Toshi just shrugged, "I like being accurate."

 

Naora pulled her hand away, "I guess we have one accurate agreement, then." She rubbed her nose where it was starting to bruise as she stepped away, "Sorry about your eye." Naora gave Toshi one more look up and down, before turning to head back to her class.

 

Toshi stood there and watched her walk off, before turning away himself. Ruri looked from one to the other, then hurried to catch up with Toshi, "I..." She went silent as she was at a loss for words. Toshi took a deep breath and noisily let it out before lightly bumping shoulders with her. Ruri looked at Toshi, her face displaying far more emotion than she was comfortable feeling. Instead of speaking, she stiffened her upper lip, nodded once, then continued walking on in silence.

 

 

 

 

 

The only sound in the empty, echoing hallway was their footsteps.