![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spottoLookit. THAT is here agains! OMFG.
PART FOUR
Her back faced the corner of the public showers; Ako peered around the room with cautious eyes. Once all the searches were done, they were all sent to this one big room and Ako quickly fled to the corner to hide her appalling scar. She held up a small tube of shampoo and a tiny bar of soap. They were all provided with the bare essentials, and she had heard that in order to get anything more than this, you needed to get sent money by relatives to go buy some at the prison shop. She certainly didn’t expect there was a shop that sold chocolate bars, drinks, and more accessories in a prison.
Ako sighed and remembered what happened with Officer Oukouchi. She could not answer what the officer had asked her, and remembered the strange look the guard gave her. She knew after that, that the cop had probably expected she had something on her, and so when she saw that hideous alteration on her back, that the officer was probably not going to treat her as nice anymore. He started scrubbing her arms when she saw a few girls approach her. Ako’s pulse started to speed up.
”Ah, so you’re the girl we heard that didn’t like public showers, huh?” One of them said, her eyes narrowed greatly, almost scaring the dirt off of Ako.
”Oh…uh, you must’ve confused me for someone else!” Ako tried to say, but once again she found her voice to be breaking or quiet whenever replying to these dangerous strangers. Why couldn’t she just reply normally? Was it really that hard?
That same girl grinned, “No really, what do you have to hide?”
“Uhh…uhm…nothing…just nothing,” Although several drips of water were sliding off Ako simultaneously, she could still feel that one drop of sweat slicking down her neck.
”Turn around,” the strange inmate’s demand was stern and sounded serious. If Ako didn’t comply, there would be dire consequences.
Ako stepped backwards and felt her back hit the wall. Her tiny bar of soap escaped out of her shaking hands, but that was the last of her worries. She gritted her teeth, not knowing what to do, and she really didn’t want them to know of the disgusting mark on her back. She decided to remain stubborn.
One of the girls grabbed Ako’s shoulder, jerking her to the side, trying to force her to turn around, but Ako surprised herself and actually didn’t budge. The girl smiled, and tried to grab Ako’s other shoulder, but Ako blocked her from doing so with her hand. She was slightly shaking but tried to best to try to defend herself. She wasn’t someone fond of fights, especially being in one, but she knew what Yuuna had told her, so she had no choice. The larger, taller, stronger girl yanked Ako towards the ground, kneeing her in the stomach. She could feel the bones of the girl’s kneecap strike her abdomen. Ako fell onto the ground awkwardly and in pain, but still managed to keep her back hidden.
Hunched on the ground, Ako looked up, staring at the girl who had a smug look on her face, “Heh, you really don’t want to show that back of yours, do ya’?”
Ako said nothing, clenching to her lower torso in considerable pain. She was kneeling, in a stance perfect for someone to shoot her execution style, but she didn’t move an inch. Her legs were shaking under her, and her eyes were swelling up. She could feel her mental shield breaking; she looked weak.
”Awww, is the little flat-chested whore crying?” The leader of the girls laughed. She kicked Ako in the thigh, attempting to get her to fall over to see whatever horrible thing she was hiding on her back. Ako once again, did not budge, but she could not control the emotion pouring out from her eyes. She gritted her teeth in agony.
A hand wrapped itself around Ako’s neck, fingers almost digging into her flesh. She could feel a fingernail pressing onto her jugular vein. She saw one of the girls holding up her hand in a fist. When that girl pulled her arm back, Ako winced, closing her eyes, awaiting the blow.
But none came.
”Get your wrinkly hands off Ako!”
”It’s the Kid!”
Ako opened her eyes and felt the hand that had grasped her neck get yanked off, scratching her neck in the process. She looked up and saw Yuuna had blocked the incoming punch and had jumped on all three of girls. There was a stinging pain on Ako’s neck, and she felt scratch marks on it after rubbing it with her hand. Luckily she could not see her own neck, or she would see red lines, which even that could cause her to faint due to her phobia to blood.
Yuuna was quickly overpowered by the size and the number of the other girls though, and she fell on her back in front of Ako, desperately trying to fend off the annoyed girls. Ako stood up, about to help her saviour, when suddenly the three girls that had attacked her were thrown back. Ako was bewildered.
”GASP!” Yuuna immediately kowtowed, and grabbed Ako’s head, forcing her to kowtow. Not an action Ako particularly liked, since it actually exposed her back…
”What’s going on!?” One of the girls said.
”Be quiet and kowtow you idiot!” The leader girl spat back.
A girl stood there. She was not that tall, shorter than Yuuna and the three bullies, but was taller than Ako. Her blonde hair blew in the nonexistent wind like some cool badass and her arms were crossed. She stared down at the kowtowed girls.
”What going on, aru?” She asked.
Yuuna smiled, “Oh Master Ku! These girls were beating up this newbie here!”
”S’that so, aruka?”
Ako looked up and finally recognized the girl who had just arrived. She was the same girl who got shot by Captain Tatsumiya earlier. She apparently had some great authority. Ako thought that maybe she was their gang leader, or someone equally as powerful.
”We were only trying to see what was behind her back! Curiosity!” The leader of the bullies said, still kowtowing.
Master Ku closed her eyes and smiled. Her expression was very goofy, especially her mouth, that resembled the number three turned on its side. Ako felt no fear towards this girl, who looked like a fun person to be with. How someone so harmless and fun looking grabbed this much authority was a mystery to her.
”That no mean you can beat person up, aru! No do again, promise?”
The three girls nodded, got up, and walked away. Before they did however, the leader gave off a menacing glare towards Ako, who stepped backwards in fright. They then marched off. Master Ku looked at Ako for a moment, who suddenly realized her back was exposed for all to see. She immediately stood back up.
”Ako! This is Master Ku, or Ku Fei, but we all call her Master Ku,” Yuuna introduced, “and Master Ku, this is Ako, my newest cellie!” Ako shook the inmate’s hand.
Master Ku smiled, “Friend of Kid is friend of mine, aruyo!”
”You were the one who stopped those girls right? If so I must thank you,” Ako said.
”It no problem, I no like to see fight if it unfair!” Master Ku explained, “It three-on-one and then three-on-two! That no fair, right, arune?”
Yuuna nodded, “Heh, for helping us, I’ll pay for your nikuman tomorrow!”
”Really, aru!? THAT BE GREAT!” Master Ku lightening up considerably, then she stepped back to her showerhead, waving at Yuuna.
Yuuna put her hands in akimbo, while Ako just stared at Master Ku walking off. They stood there awhile, with water from the showerheads splashing senselessly onto their backs.
Ako’s eyes started to get damp as she turned to look passionately into her hero’s eyes, “Yuuna…Yuuna…”
”What is it Ako?” Yuuna looked at her as she grabbed the soap to do some washing on herself.
”YUUUUNA!!!” Yuuna’s waist was conquered by Ako’s slim hands as the newer inmate jump-hugged tightly onto her knight in shining armour, knocking her over. The water of the showerhead camouflaged her tears well as she felt so unbelievably relieved that Yuuna had returned, and that she definitely did not ever want to part with her cellmate ever again after that whole experience.
Yuuna was not feeling the same, though, “Whoa! Ako! People are looking!” But the wailing girl was not listening, just too thankful that the one person she could rely on was finally back, and she had no plans in letting go anytime soon. Realizing this, Yuuna found herself embracing the poor girl back in pity, and a little remorseful for even leaving her alone in the first place.
”You do realize you look completely awkward, wet and naked like that?” A cynical spectacled girl pointed out, a little disgusted by the view.
At this moment, Ako did not care one little bit no matter how awkward the sight looked. She could not even comprehend how very relieved and happy she was that Yuuna had returned. It was so terrifying being alone in such a dangerous caged environment, and always having to watch your back. She felt like she was going to die of fear before even dying of a heart attack, much less actually getting stabbed by someone.
They had been hugging for almost two minutes.
”Uhm, Ako…you can let go now,” Yuuna muttered.
Ako shook her head, refusing, “If I let go, you might leave again!”
”I won’t leave again! I just got back!”
”But you might leave again later!”
”No, I won’t!”
”How do I know!?”
”Because now I know leaving you alone is really bad, so I learned my lesson and won’t do that again.”
”Promise!?”
”Oh geez Ako, you don’t need to get into any complicated—“
”PROMISE!?”
”Okay, fine! I promise! Gah.”
That was probably the first time Ako actually smiled while locked up with no freedom. She was about to release her arms from Yuuna’s waist when she noticed some of the guards coming over. They finally noticed that all the other girls had left the showering room.Bath
”Looks like you two got a little too close, hm?” She said. Although her tone sounded serious and harsh, she was actually smiling, amused at the sight.
Ako quickly released her arms, stepping back, “Oh! I’m sorry, Yuuna!”
”Heh, you never learn, Ako…” Yuuna said, “Y’know, I know we aren’t supposed to apologize, but damn, I regret leaving you alone, the hell was I thinking!?”
”It’s okay…I should be the one in shame. I should’ve trusted you from the very beginning…”
Yuuna unexpectedly flicked in Ako in the forehead just then, parallel to when Akira did the same earlier, “No, you shouldn’t have! What if your cellmate happened to be one of the girls beating you up! You wouldn’t have survived if you submitted like that! You made me earn your trust, that’s what! Unless you still don’t trust me…do you?”
Ako looked up at the few scratches and bruises her cellmate received from the fight against three people, and smiled, closing her eyes, “Yes…of course…”
”So, explain to me where those injuries came from,” Officer Oukouchi eyed suspiciously, “and stand up already.”
”Uh, we got into a f—MFF!” Ako’s mouth was once again covered by the hand of Yuuna, as they both stood up.
Yuuna chuckled, “We fell down!”
”…you fell down.”
”Yeah, it’s amazing. We were just taking a shower and stepped on a bar of soap on the ground, and slipped! Can you believe that?” Yuuna continued.
Officer Oukouchi rolled her eyes, “Nope, I can’t.”
Ako noticed Yuuna’s expression going from happy to a completely opposite emotion. She stared at the officer again, who did not flinch.
”…but I’ll let you go this time,” she said.
And Yuuna was up in her usual spirits again, “Ako! We better stop standing here butt naked or we’ll catch a cold! Let’s get dressed and to the food room, stat!”
”Actually, she is coming with me. We still have to do the medical check-up, let’s go, Izumi-san,” the officer explained, escorting Ako out.
Ako watched Yuuna wave at her as she collected her belongings and left the shower room to change. Ako grabbed a nice clean batch of her prison outfit, and put it on, along with a bra and panties. She was cuffed by the officer and escorted to a room the size of a cell. The window was the same as the vertical windows in a cell, almost like the room was created by converting it from a cell. Inside were two more people. Ako recognized one immediately, it was that ‘Ojou-sama’ she had seen earlier, and another woman sat there.
”Welcome, Izumi-san! What are the last two numbers of your ID?” The other woman asked, typing on a computer.
Ako recalled a rather long number given to her, and managed to remember the last two numbers, “Oh, uh, 05.”
”Thank you. My name is Chizuru Naba. I am unfortunately the only psychiatrist here. This lady here is Konoka Konoe, she is unfortunately the only doctor around here,” the woman said. She had long flowing auburn hair, and a beauty mark on her left cheek.
The lady continued typing on the computer, and Ako noticed an abnormal number of leeks lying all over the place. There were leeks in frames, and leeks on the table. It was a rather strange form of decoration. The framed leeks looked like awards that Chizuru Naba achieved. At least the walls didn’t look like the dull grey of a cell unlike almost everything else in here. The leeks were a little too strange to Ako though, but she didn’t make any comment on it. Ako was finally un-cuffed here. After all, she had to do things, and if her arms were stuck in one position she wouldn’t be able to do that.
As Ako stripped down to nothing but her bra and panties, she turned to Officer Oukouchi, and decided to pass the time by asking her a few questions, particularly some of Yuuna. Her cellmate didn’t seem too open with her own life, talked a lot more about everything else, so she was curious. After all, it seemed like the officer and Yuuna knew each other before this place.
”Uhm, Officer Oukouchi…can I ask you something?”
”Go ahead.”
”Do you know anything about…Yuuna? You seem like friends. What about you, as well?” Ako asked. She had a sudden curiosity in the officer herself. She didn’t expect the officer to go into much detail, but was rather surprised.
”Yuuna? Hm. We were friends before this whole ordeal. We went to the same school together,” the officer explained, “Strange thing is, we were on the opposite ends of society. Her father was struggling to earn any income, and was still studying to try to become a professor, while my family was fairly well-off, upper middle class even. In school, it was common that the poor and the rich weren’t associating with each other at all. Yuuna and I were an exception to that rule. We were both pretty athletic, so we had some things in common with each other.
“One thing we both certainly did not have in common was what we did outside of school. I was often at a pool swimming, and Yuuna loved basketball, but she never did much of it outside of school. She had a strange fascination with guns, and I had a strong sense of justice. She never told me directly, but I knew she spent her time outside on the streets doing whatever delinquents did at that age. She probably did pretty minor stuff, like shoplift or graffiti, but I’ll never be entirely sure because as you’ve said, she doesn’t talk about it much.
“Our lives both changed too, also at the same time. I decided to pursue a career of justice, and was offered a recruitment boot camp that trained for several of those fields. That same day, it was raining harder than it ever had before. I remembered that downpour because Yuuna came knocking onto my door in a frantic frenzy, completely drenched…”
And such a scene could only be contained in a flashback…
Bang! Bang! Bang!
”Hold on, stop knocking so much!” Akira called as she quickly ran towards the door. She opened the door slightly to see her friend Yuuna dripping wet, and took the chain-lock of the door off, letting her in, “What happened, Yuuna? What’s going on?”
Yuuna stepped inside the house and closed the door for Akira. She was breathing heavily, and her pulse could not slow down. Akira could tell her friend was distressed, and Yuuna needed time to even conjure up the energy to speak. Yuuna’s hands were still stuffed into her jacket pockets and she was slightly shaking. Akira decided to let her friend sit down on the couch for a while, as she went to make tea for her. In the middle of pouring the hot water of the kettle in the teapot, she heard her friend start to speak.
”Akira…Akira…”
”Hm, Yuuna? What is it?” Akira asked, more focused on the tea instead of what Yuuna was saying.
Yuuna mumbled something that Akira managed to hear a bit of, which quickly caught the tea-making girl’s attention. She ran back to Yuuna leaving the tea on the counter, “What, Yuuna? What did you say!?”
Akira stood in shock as she watched her friend finally reveal her hands from the inside of her pocket, covered in blood, “I…I did something really bad…Akira…”
”You didn’t…how bad!?” Akira asked, trying to make sense of the situation at hand.
Yuuna’s hands were shaking now, her teeth clenched, and her eyes almost watery, “Something really, really bad…”
”…so you came here?” Akira said, her eyes still frozen on the blood dripping from Yuuna’s hands. What did she even do? What did she do that was really, really bad, and involved blood? Akira did not want to imagine such a thing.
”I don’t know what to do…you’re the only person I can trust right now…I-I’m scared…”
Akira sighed, continuing to stare at her friend who was in a huge mess. There was nothing she could really say to the girl sitting there, dripping water and even blood onto the furniture and floor. Akira took a deep breath, and gulped. The silence almost lasted forever.
”You should turn yourself in,” Akira finally said, putting her hand onto her friend’s shoulder. The rain only started falling harder after she said that, but anything else she could tell the panicking girl would not be good for her.
Yuuna finally looked up to face Akira. Her face was a complete mess, and her hair was all over the place, it barely looked like the side-ponytail Akira was used to seeing, “But what about my dad…he already is trying the best to support me…and now…now this. I can’t just…just…” The girl could not continue.
”You can’t change the past, but the best thing to do now is face the consequences,” Akira said, “It’s hard, but running away from your problems, literally, is just going to make it worse.”
The drenched girl could only nod, and then another silent pause. Finally, Yuuna looked up again, this time staring out the window where the rain just kept going, “Can you…come with me to the p-police station…?”
Akira grabbed her jacket, preparing to step outside in what looked to be a huge storm, “Sure…”
Ako looked at the officer, whose eyes had a glint of sadness in them, still remembering that day quite clearly. Ako turned around, and Chizuru Naba had finished taking photos of her scar. The psychiatrist asked her to finally open her mouth to inspect her teeth, and after that, Ako put her clothes back on, one-by-one. Officer Oukouchi finally re-cuffed her. The walk back to her cell was in complete silence, and finally, Ako stepped in, only getting un-cuffed using the tray slot. She watched the officer walk off from the cell she stood in. She turned around to see Yuuna, sound asleep, with the television still on. It was already eight o’clock. Ako picked up the remote and shut off the TV, getting up to the top bunk of the bed. She took out her same piece of paper as yesterday, and wrote on the other side.
I’m trying to get used to this place, but its way too violent.
I almost got beat up today by these three scary girls, and I met two inmates, Evangeline, that scary serial killer, and Master Ku.
When I look at someone walking around, I guess the first thing I have to assume is that…they’re criminals, and they’re here for a reason.
But at the same time, when you look at someone like Yuuna…
She doesn’t seem like someone who could be in here, could she?
I guess…everybody makes mistakes…even the really horrible ones.
They’re mistakes too.
Ako folded up the paper and again put it under her pillow. She lied down and stared at the ceiling, just thinking for a bit. She had finally been in this place for one day. A lot had happened to her, or could’ve happened to her. The only reason she was still here almost intact was because of the sleeping girl under her. She was a little more comfortable now with Yuuna. She finally decided that the girl could be trusted, and that she had little choice not to, after all. Even if she had the choice though, Ako knew she would trust her anyway. Yuuna was a very ideal cellmate, besides the fact that it looked like Yuuna ate her dinner.
And this time, for some reason, sleeping in the same room with a potential murderer did not bother her.
END OF PART FOUR
You know whenever a story gets a flashback, my writing turns to shit. I predict that might just happen. >>;
I suck at Soldat. ;__; *sadness attack*
PART FOUR
Her back faced the corner of the public showers; Ako peered around the room with cautious eyes. Once all the searches were done, they were all sent to this one big room and Ako quickly fled to the corner to hide her appalling scar. She held up a small tube of shampoo and a tiny bar of soap. They were all provided with the bare essentials, and she had heard that in order to get anything more than this, you needed to get sent money by relatives to go buy some at the prison shop. She certainly didn’t expect there was a shop that sold chocolate bars, drinks, and more accessories in a prison.
Ako sighed and remembered what happened with Officer Oukouchi. She could not answer what the officer had asked her, and remembered the strange look the guard gave her. She knew after that, that the cop had probably expected she had something on her, and so when she saw that hideous alteration on her back, that the officer was probably not going to treat her as nice anymore. He started scrubbing her arms when she saw a few girls approach her. Ako’s pulse started to speed up.
”Ah, so you’re the girl we heard that didn’t like public showers, huh?” One of them said, her eyes narrowed greatly, almost scaring the dirt off of Ako.
”Oh…uh, you must’ve confused me for someone else!” Ako tried to say, but once again she found her voice to be breaking or quiet whenever replying to these dangerous strangers. Why couldn’t she just reply normally? Was it really that hard?
That same girl grinned, “No really, what do you have to hide?”
“Uhh…uhm…nothing…just nothing,” Although several drips of water were sliding off Ako simultaneously, she could still feel that one drop of sweat slicking down her neck.
”Turn around,” the strange inmate’s demand was stern and sounded serious. If Ako didn’t comply, there would be dire consequences.
Ako stepped backwards and felt her back hit the wall. Her tiny bar of soap escaped out of her shaking hands, but that was the last of her worries. She gritted her teeth, not knowing what to do, and she really didn’t want them to know of the disgusting mark on her back. She decided to remain stubborn.
One of the girls grabbed Ako’s shoulder, jerking her to the side, trying to force her to turn around, but Ako surprised herself and actually didn’t budge. The girl smiled, and tried to grab Ako’s other shoulder, but Ako blocked her from doing so with her hand. She was slightly shaking but tried to best to try to defend herself. She wasn’t someone fond of fights, especially being in one, but she knew what Yuuna had told her, so she had no choice. The larger, taller, stronger girl yanked Ako towards the ground, kneeing her in the stomach. She could feel the bones of the girl’s kneecap strike her abdomen. Ako fell onto the ground awkwardly and in pain, but still managed to keep her back hidden.
Hunched on the ground, Ako looked up, staring at the girl who had a smug look on her face, “Heh, you really don’t want to show that back of yours, do ya’?”
Ako said nothing, clenching to her lower torso in considerable pain. She was kneeling, in a stance perfect for someone to shoot her execution style, but she didn’t move an inch. Her legs were shaking under her, and her eyes were swelling up. She could feel her mental shield breaking; she looked weak.
”Awww, is the little flat-chested whore crying?” The leader of the girls laughed. She kicked Ako in the thigh, attempting to get her to fall over to see whatever horrible thing she was hiding on her back. Ako once again, did not budge, but she could not control the emotion pouring out from her eyes. She gritted her teeth in agony.
A hand wrapped itself around Ako’s neck, fingers almost digging into her flesh. She could feel a fingernail pressing onto her jugular vein. She saw one of the girls holding up her hand in a fist. When that girl pulled her arm back, Ako winced, closing her eyes, awaiting the blow.
But none came.
”Get your wrinkly hands off Ako!”
”It’s the Kid!”
Ako opened her eyes and felt the hand that had grasped her neck get yanked off, scratching her neck in the process. She looked up and saw Yuuna had blocked the incoming punch and had jumped on all three of girls. There was a stinging pain on Ako’s neck, and she felt scratch marks on it after rubbing it with her hand. Luckily she could not see her own neck, or she would see red lines, which even that could cause her to faint due to her phobia to blood.
Yuuna was quickly overpowered by the size and the number of the other girls though, and she fell on her back in front of Ako, desperately trying to fend off the annoyed girls. Ako stood up, about to help her saviour, when suddenly the three girls that had attacked her were thrown back. Ako was bewildered.
”GASP!” Yuuna immediately kowtowed, and grabbed Ako’s head, forcing her to kowtow. Not an action Ako particularly liked, since it actually exposed her back…
”What’s going on!?” One of the girls said.
”Be quiet and kowtow you idiot!” The leader girl spat back.
A girl stood there. She was not that tall, shorter than Yuuna and the three bullies, but was taller than Ako. Her blonde hair blew in the nonexistent wind like some cool badass and her arms were crossed. She stared down at the kowtowed girls.
”What going on, aru?” She asked.
Yuuna smiled, “Oh Master Ku! These girls were beating up this newbie here!”
”S’that so, aruka?”
Ako looked up and finally recognized the girl who had just arrived. She was the same girl who got shot by Captain Tatsumiya earlier. She apparently had some great authority. Ako thought that maybe she was their gang leader, or someone equally as powerful.
”We were only trying to see what was behind her back! Curiosity!” The leader of the bullies said, still kowtowing.
Master Ku closed her eyes and smiled. Her expression was very goofy, especially her mouth, that resembled the number three turned on its side. Ako felt no fear towards this girl, who looked like a fun person to be with. How someone so harmless and fun looking grabbed this much authority was a mystery to her.
”That no mean you can beat person up, aru! No do again, promise?”
The three girls nodded, got up, and walked away. Before they did however, the leader gave off a menacing glare towards Ako, who stepped backwards in fright. They then marched off. Master Ku looked at Ako for a moment, who suddenly realized her back was exposed for all to see. She immediately stood back up.
”Ako! This is Master Ku, or Ku Fei, but we all call her Master Ku,” Yuuna introduced, “and Master Ku, this is Ako, my newest cellie!” Ako shook the inmate’s hand.
Master Ku smiled, “Friend of Kid is friend of mine, aruyo!”
”You were the one who stopped those girls right? If so I must thank you,” Ako said.
”It no problem, I no like to see fight if it unfair!” Master Ku explained, “It three-on-one and then three-on-two! That no fair, right, arune?”
Yuuna nodded, “Heh, for helping us, I’ll pay for your nikuman tomorrow!”
”Really, aru!? THAT BE GREAT!” Master Ku lightening up considerably, then she stepped back to her showerhead, waving at Yuuna.
Yuuna put her hands in akimbo, while Ako just stared at Master Ku walking off. They stood there awhile, with water from the showerheads splashing senselessly onto their backs.
Ako’s eyes started to get damp as she turned to look passionately into her hero’s eyes, “Yuuna…Yuuna…”
”What is it Ako?” Yuuna looked at her as she grabbed the soap to do some washing on herself.
”YUUUUNA!!!” Yuuna’s waist was conquered by Ako’s slim hands as the newer inmate jump-hugged tightly onto her knight in shining armour, knocking her over. The water of the showerhead camouflaged her tears well as she felt so unbelievably relieved that Yuuna had returned, and that she definitely did not ever want to part with her cellmate ever again after that whole experience.
Yuuna was not feeling the same, though, “Whoa! Ako! People are looking!” But the wailing girl was not listening, just too thankful that the one person she could rely on was finally back, and she had no plans in letting go anytime soon. Realizing this, Yuuna found herself embracing the poor girl back in pity, and a little remorseful for even leaving her alone in the first place.
”You do realize you look completely awkward, wet and naked like that?” A cynical spectacled girl pointed out, a little disgusted by the view.
At this moment, Ako did not care one little bit no matter how awkward the sight looked. She could not even comprehend how very relieved and happy she was that Yuuna had returned. It was so terrifying being alone in such a dangerous caged environment, and always having to watch your back. She felt like she was going to die of fear before even dying of a heart attack, much less actually getting stabbed by someone.
They had been hugging for almost two minutes.
”Uhm, Ako…you can let go now,” Yuuna muttered.
Ako shook her head, refusing, “If I let go, you might leave again!”
”I won’t leave again! I just got back!”
”But you might leave again later!”
”No, I won’t!”
”How do I know!?”
”Because now I know leaving you alone is really bad, so I learned my lesson and won’t do that again.”
”Promise!?”
”Oh geez Ako, you don’t need to get into any complicated—“
”PROMISE!?”
”Okay, fine! I promise! Gah.”
That was probably the first time Ako actually smiled while locked up with no freedom. She was about to release her arms from Yuuna’s waist when she noticed some of the guards coming over. They finally noticed that all the other girls had left the showering room.
”Looks like you two got a little too close, hm?” She said. Although her tone sounded serious and harsh, she was actually smiling, amused at the sight.
Ako quickly released her arms, stepping back, “Oh! I’m sorry, Yuuna!”
”Heh, you never learn, Ako…” Yuuna said, “Y’know, I know we aren’t supposed to apologize, but damn, I regret leaving you alone, the hell was I thinking!?”
”It’s okay…I should be the one in shame. I should’ve trusted you from the very beginning…”
Yuuna unexpectedly flicked in Ako in the forehead just then, parallel to when Akira did the same earlier, “No, you shouldn’t have! What if your cellmate happened to be one of the girls beating you up! You wouldn’t have survived if you submitted like that! You made me earn your trust, that’s what! Unless you still don’t trust me…do you?”
Ako looked up at the few scratches and bruises her cellmate received from the fight against three people, and smiled, closing her eyes, “Yes…of course…”
”So, explain to me where those injuries came from,” Officer Oukouchi eyed suspiciously, “and stand up already.”
”Uh, we got into a f—MFF!” Ako’s mouth was once again covered by the hand of Yuuna, as they both stood up.
Yuuna chuckled, “We fell down!”
”…you fell down.”
”Yeah, it’s amazing. We were just taking a shower and stepped on a bar of soap on the ground, and slipped! Can you believe that?” Yuuna continued.
Officer Oukouchi rolled her eyes, “Nope, I can’t.”
Ako noticed Yuuna’s expression going from happy to a completely opposite emotion. She stared at the officer again, who did not flinch.
”…but I’ll let you go this time,” she said.
And Yuuna was up in her usual spirits again, “Ako! We better stop standing here butt naked or we’ll catch a cold! Let’s get dressed and to the food room, stat!”
”Actually, she is coming with me. We still have to do the medical check-up, let’s go, Izumi-san,” the officer explained, escorting Ako out.
Ako watched Yuuna wave at her as she collected her belongings and left the shower room to change. Ako grabbed a nice clean batch of her prison outfit, and put it on, along with a bra and panties. She was cuffed by the officer and escorted to a room the size of a cell. The window was the same as the vertical windows in a cell, almost like the room was created by converting it from a cell. Inside were two more people. Ako recognized one immediately, it was that ‘Ojou-sama’ she had seen earlier, and another woman sat there.
”Welcome, Izumi-san! What are the last two numbers of your ID?” The other woman asked, typing on a computer.
Ako recalled a rather long number given to her, and managed to remember the last two numbers, “Oh, uh, 05.”
”Thank you. My name is Chizuru Naba. I am unfortunately the only psychiatrist here. This lady here is Konoka Konoe, she is unfortunately the only doctor around here,” the woman said. She had long flowing auburn hair, and a beauty mark on her left cheek.
The lady continued typing on the computer, and Ako noticed an abnormal number of leeks lying all over the place. There were leeks in frames, and leeks on the table. It was a rather strange form of decoration. The framed leeks looked like awards that Chizuru Naba achieved. At least the walls didn’t look like the dull grey of a cell unlike almost everything else in here. The leeks were a little too strange to Ako though, but she didn’t make any comment on it. Ako was finally un-cuffed here. After all, she had to do things, and if her arms were stuck in one position she wouldn’t be able to do that.
As Ako stripped down to nothing but her bra and panties, she turned to Officer Oukouchi, and decided to pass the time by asking her a few questions, particularly some of Yuuna. Her cellmate didn’t seem too open with her own life, talked a lot more about everything else, so she was curious. After all, it seemed like the officer and Yuuna knew each other before this place.
”Uhm, Officer Oukouchi…can I ask you something?”
”Go ahead.”
”Do you know anything about…Yuuna? You seem like friends. What about you, as well?” Ako asked. She had a sudden curiosity in the officer herself. She didn’t expect the officer to go into much detail, but was rather surprised.
”Yuuna? Hm. We were friends before this whole ordeal. We went to the same school together,” the officer explained, “Strange thing is, we were on the opposite ends of society. Her father was struggling to earn any income, and was still studying to try to become a professor, while my family was fairly well-off, upper middle class even. In school, it was common that the poor and the rich weren’t associating with each other at all. Yuuna and I were an exception to that rule. We were both pretty athletic, so we had some things in common with each other.
“One thing we both certainly did not have in common was what we did outside of school. I was often at a pool swimming, and Yuuna loved basketball, but she never did much of it outside of school. She had a strange fascination with guns, and I had a strong sense of justice. She never told me directly, but I knew she spent her time outside on the streets doing whatever delinquents did at that age. She probably did pretty minor stuff, like shoplift or graffiti, but I’ll never be entirely sure because as you’ve said, she doesn’t talk about it much.
“Our lives both changed too, also at the same time. I decided to pursue a career of justice, and was offered a recruitment boot camp that trained for several of those fields. That same day, it was raining harder than it ever had before. I remembered that downpour because Yuuna came knocking onto my door in a frantic frenzy, completely drenched…”
And such a scene could only be contained in a flashback…
Bang! Bang! Bang!
”Hold on, stop knocking so much!” Akira called as she quickly ran towards the door. She opened the door slightly to see her friend Yuuna dripping wet, and took the chain-lock of the door off, letting her in, “What happened, Yuuna? What’s going on?”
Yuuna stepped inside the house and closed the door for Akira. She was breathing heavily, and her pulse could not slow down. Akira could tell her friend was distressed, and Yuuna needed time to even conjure up the energy to speak. Yuuna’s hands were still stuffed into her jacket pockets and she was slightly shaking. Akira decided to let her friend sit down on the couch for a while, as she went to make tea for her. In the middle of pouring the hot water of the kettle in the teapot, she heard her friend start to speak.
”Akira…Akira…”
”Hm, Yuuna? What is it?” Akira asked, more focused on the tea instead of what Yuuna was saying.
Yuuna mumbled something that Akira managed to hear a bit of, which quickly caught the tea-making girl’s attention. She ran back to Yuuna leaving the tea on the counter, “What, Yuuna? What did you say!?”
Akira stood in shock as she watched her friend finally reveal her hands from the inside of her pocket, covered in blood, “I…I did something really bad…Akira…”
”You didn’t…how bad!?” Akira asked, trying to make sense of the situation at hand.
Yuuna’s hands were shaking now, her teeth clenched, and her eyes almost watery, “Something really, really bad…”
”…so you came here?” Akira said, her eyes still frozen on the blood dripping from Yuuna’s hands. What did she even do? What did she do that was really, really bad, and involved blood? Akira did not want to imagine such a thing.
”I don’t know what to do…you’re the only person I can trust right now…I-I’m scared…”
Akira sighed, continuing to stare at her friend who was in a huge mess. There was nothing she could really say to the girl sitting there, dripping water and even blood onto the furniture and floor. Akira took a deep breath, and gulped. The silence almost lasted forever.
”You should turn yourself in,” Akira finally said, putting her hand onto her friend’s shoulder. The rain only started falling harder after she said that, but anything else she could tell the panicking girl would not be good for her.
Yuuna finally looked up to face Akira. Her face was a complete mess, and her hair was all over the place, it barely looked like the side-ponytail Akira was used to seeing, “But what about my dad…he already is trying the best to support me…and now…now this. I can’t just…just…” The girl could not continue.
”You can’t change the past, but the best thing to do now is face the consequences,” Akira said, “It’s hard, but running away from your problems, literally, is just going to make it worse.”
The drenched girl could only nod, and then another silent pause. Finally, Yuuna looked up again, this time staring out the window where the rain just kept going, “Can you…come with me to the p-police station…?”
Akira grabbed her jacket, preparing to step outside in what looked to be a huge storm, “Sure…”
Ako looked at the officer, whose eyes had a glint of sadness in them, still remembering that day quite clearly. Ako turned around, and Chizuru Naba had finished taking photos of her scar. The psychiatrist asked her to finally open her mouth to inspect her teeth, and after that, Ako put her clothes back on, one-by-one. Officer Oukouchi finally re-cuffed her. The walk back to her cell was in complete silence, and finally, Ako stepped in, only getting un-cuffed using the tray slot. She watched the officer walk off from the cell she stood in. She turned around to see Yuuna, sound asleep, with the television still on. It was already eight o’clock. Ako picked up the remote and shut off the TV, getting up to the top bunk of the bed. She took out her same piece of paper as yesterday, and wrote on the other side.
I’m trying to get used to this place, but its way too violent.
I almost got beat up today by these three scary girls, and I met two inmates, Evangeline, that scary serial killer, and Master Ku.
When I look at someone walking around, I guess the first thing I have to assume is that…they’re criminals, and they’re here for a reason.
But at the same time, when you look at someone like Yuuna…
She doesn’t seem like someone who could be in here, could she?
I guess…everybody makes mistakes…even the really horrible ones.
They’re mistakes too.
Ako folded up the paper and again put it under her pillow. She lied down and stared at the ceiling, just thinking for a bit. She had finally been in this place for one day. A lot had happened to her, or could’ve happened to her. The only reason she was still here almost intact was because of the sleeping girl under her. She was a little more comfortable now with Yuuna. She finally decided that the girl could be trusted, and that she had little choice not to, after all. Even if she had the choice though, Ako knew she would trust her anyway. Yuuna was a very ideal cellmate, besides the fact that it looked like Yuuna ate her dinner.
And this time, for some reason, sleeping in the same room with a potential murderer did not bother her.
END OF PART FOUR
You know whenever a story gets a flashback, my writing turns to shit. I predict that might just happen. >>;
I suck at Soldat. ;__; *sadness attack*
