Sukeban (Discontinued)

Chapter 24: Trickery

Tomomi pressed her body against the cold, metal lockers while her eyes looked over the head of her shorter friend. Her eyes were trained on Haruna; the agitated boss leaned up against the lockers only a few feet away from her. She was far enough away that Tomomi couldn’t hear what the group was saying, but they were close enough that she could see their actions. And Tomomi certainly didn’t like what she was seeing.

Aina and Hinako were the only two around Haruna, the two girls pointing at various students that passed the girls. Haruna would shake her head every time, saying something to the two girls. Tomomi could notice the glare on her face, she seemed so angry but Tomomi didn’t see a reason for her to be this angry. This wasn’t all that Tomomi had seen Haruna do today though. It was barely the beginning of the school day and already, she had seen Haruna shoving and pushing around other students, ones who seemingly had done nothing wrong to Haruna. Tomomi had seen Haruna do a lot of bad things but all of these seemed so unprovoked that it startled Tomomi. After the way she disappeared for two days, it only made it that much more startling to the meek brunette.

This was the first time Tomomi had seen the older girl since Haruna had disappeared Saturday afternoon. The boss hadn’t come at all on Saturday and she never showed up on Sunday either. The brunette was beginning to wonder if Haruna would show up for school at all on Monday, but here she was as if she’d never disappeared.

Tomomi was surprised when the girls didn’t really do anything on Sunday; none of them seemed to know what to do without Haruna’s leadership… Or perhaps they just didn’t want to do anything without Haruna there with them. Tomomi wished Haruna had come though. All day Sunday, she couldn’t help but notice Mami and Yukako constantly staring at her, it had begun to give her the creeps after a while. It definitely wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

Tomomi was torn between being angry at Haruna for the way she acted and wondering why she was acting this way. The younger girl did wonder if the reason she disappeared had anything to do with how she was acting today. Tomomi still didn’t know where Haruna had gotten off to; she didn’t think any of the girls did know where Haruna had gotten off to. Tomomi didn’t exactly think it was anything good though, even she knew that it wasn’t like the boss to just up and disappear like that. She seemed to hate lateness so much that it didn’t make sense for her to just up and go like that.

“Tomomi, what are you staring at?” Mao’s sweet voice had broken Tomomi out of the daze her thoughts had put her in. She looked down at her friend in time to see Mao turn around, Tomomi’s heart stalling in her throat. Mao could notice Haruna and instantly, she knew that was what Tomomi was looking at.

It worried Mao. She had noticed lately that Tomomi seemed to be taking an increased interest in Haruna and the others lately. She didn’t understand why her meek friend would ever be interested in being near people like that but it worried her. Tomomi was such an easily influenced person; it would be easy for the gang to manipulate her into doing their bidding. Mao didn’t want her friend becoming just another pawn to them.

Tomomi looked back over at Haruna just in time to see her shove a student. The male stumbled, backing away from Haruna as he got to his feet before rushing off down the hallway. She could see the way Haruna rolled her eyes and scoffed, pushing herself back against the lockers and crossing her arms over her chest again. Even that was strange for Haruna. The boss did have a habit of being unnecessarily rude to people but to just off and hurt someone passing by like that, it was odd for her.

“I hate her so much,” Mao growled out lowly. She huffed before turning back to Tomomi, going to hugging her textbook against her chest, her schoolbag pressed tightly against the back of it.

“Mao, don’t say things like that.” Tomomi couldn’t hide the worry in her voice; it was obvious as the sunlight. On any normal day, she knew Haruna wouldn’t hesitate to hit Mao for saying something so brash like that. But on a day like today, when Haruna seemed to be worse than normal, it worried Tomomi even more as to what Haruna might be capable of doing to her best friend.