Sukeban (Discontinued)

Chapter 20: Suspicions

“Forget this thing!” Mami shouted, tossing the Rubik’s Cube to the floor. From the action, Yukako burst into a fit of laughter, saying something about knowing Mami wouldn’t be able to do it. Mami huffed at her friend’s laughter, crossing her arms over her chest. “This was stupid anyway.”

“Why did you two even bother?” Aina asked from where she sat near Haruna.

“Well it’s not like we’re doing anything else of importance,” Mami cracked off. Haruna raised an eyebrow at Mami’s comment, seeing the blonde smirk at her. Sometimes she hated it when Mami did this. Mami was always trying to get a different reaction out of her but Haruna didn’t want to react any differently. She didn’t want to show emotion, she didn’t want to be weak like that again. The girl Mami had made friends with was dead and gone; Haruna had made sure to bury who she used to be and she wasn’t letting that weakling come back. She didn’t understand why Mami couldn’t accept that.

“Does this mean you’re bored, Sasazaki?” Haruna asked her. Mami’s smirk only grew when Haruna addressed her. She was going to do her best to get Haruna laughing; she would always do her best to accomplish that. She would someday change Haruna back.

“Yeah, pretty bored, Ono,” Mami responded, saying Haruna’s last name just as sarcastically as Haruna had said hers. “We’ve just been lounging around for hours; it’s not as if we’re doing anything so I thought I’d give me and Yukako something to do.”

“Well forgive me for thinking you all deserved a break,” Haruna shot back. Tomomi glanced in between the two of them. She wanted to think Haruna was angry at Mami from the look on her face but she didn’t think Haruna really was. The smirk on Mami’s face told her the two of them might be joking or something like that. Tomomi couldn’t be sure; she always had trouble reading the two of them when they interacted like this.

“Are you sure you want to give us a break and not that you were just being lazy?” Mami countered.

“You’ve really got a knack for getting yourself in trouble, don’t you?” Haruna asked her. Mami laughed softly, looking rather proud of herself.

“Trouble is my special talent, isn’t it?” Tomomi looked at Haruna, her eyes widening when she saw the faintest smile on Haruna’s face. She had never seen the boss smile unless she was preparing to hurt someone in some way. Right now though, it looked like the boss was smiling because she honestly enjoyed Mami’s rhetoric.

The smile didn’t last long though, the unemotional demeanor that Tomomi saw so often on Haruna quickly made its way back to the eldest brunette. Haruna had let hers control slip for only a moment for she regained it. Haruna did have to admit to herself though; it felt nice to let her control slip, even if just for a second.

“What time is it, by the way?” Sumire asked. Aina was the one to look at her phone to read the time.

“It’s almost five, I guess this means we’ve got to get you home now, huh?” she asked the young girl. Sumire nodded her head, looking quite sad at the prospect of having to go home. Aina noticed this, slinging an arm over her shoulder and pulling her into a half hug. “We’ll see each other tomorrow; I’ll be there to get you right when your parents leave.”

“Go home, Sumire. I don’t want you getting into any trouble again, it took us long enough to untangle you from the last time you almost got caught,” Haruna told her. Sumire nodded, fully understanding the boss’ words. She knew the boss wasn’t being uncaring of her situation; this was just how Haruna acted towards everything. She had grown used to it.

Sumire’s parents were rather hard to deal with; they never wanted her going anywhere. They always thought their daughter stayed home by herself as they wanted her to. They certainly would never let her out of the house ever again if they knew she was hanging around people like these girls. Sumire’s parents were the cause for all of this though. If they weren’t so strict with her, she never would have found the urge to act out and she never would have met Haruna that fateful day. She was happy she had though; she had never had friends before Haruna let her join.