Transition And Restart

They must have joined the opening ceremony together, because they were still together, standing in the staircase just inside the door to the roof . Ulf knew they had, but he wasn"t sure, because he was still in a daze from the news just days earlier .

He didn"t want to put the lid on, but Kyoko"s father had, rather understandably, been in a fury, and he had the contacts needed to dig deep enough to unearth Kareyoshi .

"Because the moron is not merely a first cla.s.s a.r.s.e, he"s an imbecile a.r.s.e to boot . "

How anyone with such an epic lack of braincells had been entrusted with the knowledge of the arrivals was beyond Ulf, but he was, and as such untouchable .

Yukio leaned on the crutch he had received, more for comfort than any real need . It was the kind of antiquity still popular in j.a.pan and the US with the support in the armpits rather than around the lower arms . "And why are we here?" he growled .

"Time to lose a friend," Ulf thought . "You can"t . Until we have the proof needed we can"t start a manhunt . "

"Who cares about proof?" Ryu wondered . He was as furious as Yukio .

"You should, you know . " Then Ulf regretted his actions last summer . Even with solid proof, manhunts were best left to the police . Society seldom benefited from vigilantes . "Because it"s not the right thing to do," he said and prepared for the worst . "Besides we"re told not to . "

Yukio let go of his crutch and hammered him to the floor in response .

Ulf stood up just to be docked once more . The pain was nothing compared to watching the faces of his best friends .

"Where"s your loyalty?" Ryu asked .

"We don"t go after him because there are better ways . " Ulf touched his bruised chin with his hand . It hurt . He deserved it, but that didn"t make ambushing Kareyoshi any more right . He"d have wanted to, but Amaya"s explicit orders combined with his memories from last summer told him to stay his course .

"You had no such qualms last summer . " Ryu gave him a disgusted look and stormed away . A few moments later Yukio followed .

"You shouldn"t have said anything," Christina whispered . "You could just have told them to wait . That you had a plan or something . "

"And lied to my best friend? Would that have made things better? To betray him later?"

"Whatever . I"ll talk to them . " And with that Christina ran after their friends .

Only Noriko remained .

"Aren"t you going as well? Family and friends first, and all that . " Ulf knew that was uncalled for as soon as he said the words, but he sullenly refused to apologise .

"You"re hurting . That"s why you"re mean . Family and friends, and all that . That"s why I"m staying by your side . " She gave him a look filled with sadness . "I don"t agree with your thinking, and you not with mine, but I"ll stand by you in this . Because it"s important for you . "

"But I would have preferred Christina by my side . " The moment the thought ran through his mind he regretted it . He gave Noriko a grateful glance before looking down . "I should probably go to the infirmary and tell them I fell . "

"So the school staff is OK lying to?"

Ulf glared at Noriko . "You know as well as I do that school staff is directly involved with the lies . "

She flinched at his words .

"Sorry, that was mean of me . Yes, I"m afraid I"ll have to tell a lot of lies . That we all have to . " The worst lie being that Amaya stood behind all those lies when he knew she was spreading rumours among her old colleagues .

She hadn"t told him a lot, but apparently j.a.panese gun-laws more or less guaranteed that the police eventually would hunt down the gun-toting killer, beyond the grave if needed . "First your sister and now your friend . I"m so sorry, Amaya . "
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"Urufu?"

He looked at Noriko"s concerned expression . "Yeah . I"m off for the infirmary, and you"d better find Nao lest he starts thinking we"re doing funny c.r.a.p behind his back . "

"He wouldn"t," came Noriko"s curt reply .

He probably wouldn"t, Ulf silently agreed, but he wanted to be alone for a bit .

"I wonder how long Christina and I have left," he wondered as he walked down the stairs . Noriko followed him for two floors, and then he heard the sound of her footsteps vanishing into the left wing second floor .

"Infirmary," Ulf told a teacher who wondered what he was doing in the corridor after cla.s.s began .

"A month, two? Doubt two . They"ll schedule her to death if we don"t break up, and that"ll have her fail her exams for sure . f.u.c.kers!" It was unfair, but life was unfair . "Guess we have to make every moment count . " He grinned despite his dark thoughts . "Make a lot of memories as they are so fond of here?"

But in the end he accepted that he had very little reason to despair . Whatever he felt paled in comparison with the h.e.l.l that was Kyoko"s life at the moment . "G.o.ds I wish there was something we could do! I wish this s.h.i.t never happened, but that"s a bit late now . "

With that line of thought he had pa.s.sed vending machines, locker rooms and cafeteria, and he stood outside the infirmary . It was time to lie his heart out . Like how he had seen Christina do a few times he plastered a stupid smile to his lips and slid open the door .

"Anyone here?" he called . "I seem to have had a little accident . "

He got no answer, and when he looked inside it was empty . Smirking he rummaged through a cupboard in search for something to apply to his chin . After that he"d have to wait . There would be a lot of waiting from now on .