Sukeban (Discontinued)

Chapter 17: Offers

“Who is your friend, Mao?” Tomomi heard Hana ask in a sweet voice. By this point, Tomomi was practically hiding behind Mao. She was standing behind her friend, doing her best to hide herself from the group of five girls in front of her. Hana was acting like she didn’t know Tomomi, and that was probably what scared Tomomi the most right now. The brunette knew she should be thankful that Hana wasn’t blowing her secret but at the same time, after what Tomomi had seen Hana do, she didn’t really trust the girl. There had to be a reason Hana was acting like that and that possible reason is what scared Tomomi.

“This is Tomomi,” Mao answered. She stepped aside, grabbing Tomomi’s forearm and giving her a pull forward. Tomomi stumbled, only staying on her feet because Mao still held her arm tightly. Tomomi slowly lifted her vision from the ground and up to Hana, the senior girl with her head tilted to the side and a kind smile on her face.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Tomomi,” Hana told her. Tomomi gulped, her hands clenching and unclenching as she struggled to find words to speak to Hana. She didn’t know what to say to Hana but she knew she had to say something. If she kept acting like this and Hana really didn’t remember her, this behavior could cause the senior girl to remember.

“I-it’s nice to meet you too,” Tomomi stuttered out finally. She saw Hana give her a satisfied smile before the senior girl turned to the familiar orange haired one beside her. The girl smirked at Tomomi before breaking attention with her, turning to Hana as well.

“Yoko, why don’t you and Mao go and get us a room, we’ll wait here for you,” Hana suggested. The orange haired girl nodded her head, pushing herself off the metal bench that she had formerly shared with Hana.

“Let’s go, Mao,” she said and linked her arm with Mao’s. Mao dropped her grip from Tomomi and instantly, the brunette wished that she hadn’t. She felt so alone and scared without Mao’s grip on her. It was just a reminder that Mao was planning to leave Tomomi alone with someone who may or may not really remember her and want to hurt her.

“I’ll be right back, Timo,” Mao told her friend before Yoko dragged her away. Tomomi gulped, bringing her bag in front of her and gripping the handle tightly with both hands. She let her head bow, her hair falling into her face.

She knew this had to be the universe’s way of punishing her for being disloyal to Haruna and the others. Or maybe this was the universe’s way of punishing her for ever having gotten involved with them in the first place.

“Tomomi, please come sit with me for a moment,” Hana offered her. Tomomi could hear the demand hidden beneath that sweet tone Hana continued to use, but Tomomi refused to move regardless. The fear that seeing Hana again had struck in Tomomi kept her body paralyzed.

“I’m fine over here,” Tomomi squeaked out.

“That wasn’t an offer, Tomomi. That was an order, now get over here.” In just a few seconds, Hana’s tone had completely changed. Tomomi looked up cautiously, noticing the senior girl was glaring at her. She knew it. Hana did remember her; she was just acting like she didn’t in front of Mao. But now that Mao was absent for who knew how long… Things were about to go back to normal.

“O-okay…” Tomomi murmured her response, her feet carrying her over to where Hana was seated with slow and ridged movements. She sat down next to Hana on the bench, deliberately sitting as far away from the senior girl as she could get. Her bag dropped to the floor beside her, her hands beginning to pick at each other as they sat on her lap.

“Mao doesn’t know, does she?” Hana started with her first question. Tomomi’s movements came to an abrupt stop, her body stiffening. No. She didn’t want to go here; she didn’t want Hana ratting her out to Mao. She couldn’t face that, not right now.