Sukeban (Discontinued)

Chapter 38: Tutoring

She knew she had stalled for long enough. She had attempted to use the tutoring as a way to forget what she had just seen and for a while, it had been working. The trouble Tomomi’s science lectures were giving her had taken away all thoughts except those pertaining to science. When they moved to math, however, her mind began to wander. She was much better at math so her mind didn’t have to focus completely on the subject.

Since she didn’t have to focus completely on it, Rina had found her mind wandering again. She had found it wandering back to Haruna… Back to those moments she saw at Haruna’s house. She found herself getting fidgety and frantic again as she thought of all the possible things those people could be doing to her. Who were they even? They weren’t Haruna’s parents; Rina knew who Haruna’s parents were and she had never seen those two before.

The troubled brunette pushed her body back up into a full standing position, her eyes gazing into the mirror in front of her. She could see the tears shining in her eyes and she diverted them down to her hand that clutched the cellphone inhumanly tight. Her hands were shaky as she slowly unlocked the phone, finding her way into the contacts.

She had snuck Omar’s number into Haruna’s phone when the boss wasn’t looking. She was positive that Haruna didn’t know she had done it, the boss never did check through her phone very often. Most of the time, the phone was in Rina’s possession anyway.

Sure enough, Rina came across the number. That was how she knew Haruna hadn’t bothered to look through her contacts since Rina had put it in or else the number would have been deleted and Rina probably would have gotten an earful for it.

The brunette clicked on the number, bringing her thumb to hover over the call button. She could feel her breathing get caught in her throat. Could she do this? It should be a simple call. All she had to do was call Omar and tell him what she saw happen to Haruna. He could get her out of there but… What would happen to her afterwards?

Rina lived the life she did because none of the girls wanted her to be sent to a foster home – they didn’t want her taken away. If she called Omar and told him about the abuse… Would they take Haruna away? Rina didn’t want Haruna to suffer anymore but at the same time, she didn’t want to lose her either.

She knew it was selfish; she knew she should put Haruna’s needs ahead of her own but she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t imagine life without Haruna; she didn’t think there would be a way for her to handle living without Haruna by her side. Maybe Haruna was rough around the edges and hard to get along with but Rina had seen a softer side of her; Rina knew who she really was inside.

A few tears began to fall down Rina’s cheeks, some of them landing onto the screen of the phone she held. What did she do? She couldn’t make a decision. Even if she did call Omar and have him go get Haruna, would Haruna even want him to? Haruna was always adamant that she didn’t need anyone’s help and she certainly wouldn’t be receptive to the help of an officer, retired or not. Doing this could make Haruna so angry at her and Rina always hated it when Haruna got angry with her.

If she talked to Haruna… They could solve it together. She could tell her about seeing the abuse. If Haruna knew that Rina knew, maybe Haruna would tell her. Maybe they wouldn’t need to get Omar involved after all…. But what if she didn’t see Haruna tomorrow? What if they kept her at home?

Rina couldn’t stop the small yell that left her lips as she dropped the phone into the sink, rustling and pulling at her hair in frustration. All of these what ifs were driving her crazy. Why did this have to be complicated? Why couldn’t anything ever be easy for them? Rina only wanted to help Haruna. Haruna had helped and saved her so often but now that Haruna needed Rina’s help… Rina felt powerless to actually be of any use to her.