Sukeban (Discontinued)

Chapter 31: Confessions & Plans

"What is your friend doing with Hana? Do you have anything to do with that?"

Haruna was getting impatient now. After she had asked her initial question, she had been met with nothing but silence from Tomomi. It was annoying and frustrating her. She was so close to figuring something out and now Tomomi was deciding to be difficult. She wanted to keep her cool but with her emotions running so high, Haruna was having a lot of trouble controlling herself.

To Haruna, it felt as if everything was coming undone around her. Everything she held dear and everything she had controlled for so long was all coming undone. The people she loved were getting hurt and she was losing any control she ever had. And Haruna hated that. She hated feeling out of control like this; she had to reel things back in. Tomomi was making that hard to do.

“Answer my questions, Ogawa,” Haruna snapped roughly at her. Tomomi whimpered, biting down on her bottom lip and refusing to look at Haruna. She didn’t want to do this. She knew this would probably happen when she planned to confess her involvement with Hana but she hadn’t been truly prepared to out her best friend to someone who could probably easily kill Mao.

“Tomomi, you need to give us an answer. We’re all a team here, it’s not okay to hide anything from us,” Mami said from where she still sat. Tomomi looked up at her, sniffling back the emotions that clouded her vision.

“This is your last chance. Answer my questions willingly or I will force it out of you,” Haruna warned her lowly. Tomomi squeezed her eyes shut tightly, wrapping her arms even tighter around her legs. She was trapped and cornered by the gang; she had nowhere to run now.

Please forgive me, Mao.

“Mao was… She did… She was the one who told Hana,” Tomomi muttered in defeat. The brunette’s words were met with silence. Tomomi looked up, her eyes still hidden by her hair. She could see the boss frozen in front of her, her hands clenched at her sides and her eyes showing her blind fury very clearly.

Haruna couldn’t believe it. All this time of searching and wondering, and the culprit had been right under the nose. The person who had ruined Rina’s life was so close to one of her girls and to the entire gang. She was right there this entire time and Haruna had been unable to find that out. She must be losing her touch, she should have seen this ages ago.

“How long have you known it was Mao and did you have anything to do with it?” Haruna said lowly. Tomomi got a shiver from the tone that Haruna used. It didn’t sound angry per say, but it was definitely very creepy in Tomomi’s opinion. That tone and that look terrified Tomomi to her very core.

“I didn’t have anything to do with it and I’ve only known for a few days…”

“Oh? So you hid it from me, did you?” Haruna growled. She took a few steps closer to Tomomi and the brunette had the sudden urge to scramble away. Her back was already against the wall though so there was nowhere for her to scramble to. She wanted to find a way to protect Mao from Haruna but right now, she got the feeling she had to protect herself from Haruna. The bruises on her body began aching at the thought of how much worse Haruna could make them feel.

“I didn’t mean to, honest I didn’t. I was… I was scared… I panicked. I didn’t know what to do,” Tomomi said softly. She sniffled again and saw Mami stir from behind Haruna. Oh no. Could Mami be mad at her? She hoped not. She couldn’t even handle one of these girls being mad at her, nonetheless two of them.

“Haru, go easy on her. I think she’s being honest when she says she didn’t know what to do. She’s still new, you know…”

“She still hid it from me!” Haruna yelled and whipped her body around. Mami coughed lowly, crossing her arms over her chest and attempting to keep her cool with the boss shouting at her. She knew Haruna was just running high on emotions right now and not thinking clearly. The trouble for Mami was that she had just as little control over her temper as Haruna had over hers.