Ryouko and Fuji found a quiet space in the rest areas near the school building. Under the shade of the trees adorning the campus were newly-furnished benches which were placed there recently as part of the school council’s beautification project. The area was usually packed during lunchtime as it became the favourite hang-out place of most of the students but they found it almost deserted. The few students who were scattered there are currently in the middle of packing their lunches and going back to the building. Figures, since it’s barely half an hour before the next bell rings.
As soon as Ryouko and Fuji settled on one of the benches, they found solitude. Fuji passed her the container with the promised donuts inside and each of them took a piece.
Meanwhile, Ryoma lost his targets with the crowd going back to the school building and it took a few minutes before he saw where they were. Narrowing his eyes at the brown head of Fuji, he followed suit and positioned himself by the wall of the school building, quite a few meters away from them. He didn’t want to be caught snooping and he isn’t even curious of what they might be talking about. He just wants to keep an eye on Ryouko. Or at least that’s what he believes. The truth is, he’s itching to eavesdrop.
It frustrates him that Fuji seems to always get entangled in matters with Ryouko and he really couldn’t think of a reason why that should happen. The other regulars are their seniors as well, but none of them gets involved like how Fuji-senpai does. What is with him?
Ryoma’s inner self scoffed. “Outside school, it’s Atobe. Inside the campus, it’s Fuji-senpai. Just amazing, Fujioka Ryouko. Truly fascinating,” he thought sarcastically.
Going back to the bench that the infuriated dark-haired boy had been staring at so dreadfully for the past five minutes, the two occupants shared a fairly quiet meal. Fuji watched Ryouko nibble half-heartedly around her glazed donut, circling and circling and munching on the edges. If it was the normal Ryouko, the donut would’ve disappeared in under a minute.
Her eyes lingered on the tree ahead and seemed to see right through it. It was obvious that she is not seeing the tree and is also probably oblivious of everything else in her surroundings, including Fuji.
“It’s not delicious?” he asked.
“No,” she answered absentmindedly. It took a second for her to process her answer and suddenly got flustered. “I mean, yes. No, that’s not right,” she said, looking confused.
“It’s a trick question, not answerable by yes or no. I see you’re not really focusing,” Fuji said and took a second donut from the lunch box.
“I’m not,” Ryouko admitted without any resistance. “Sorry, senpai.”
“No need to be sorry,” Fuji replied. “Clearly, you’re not here at the moment,” he commented, glancing at the faraway look in her eyes.
“You’re pretty sharp to notice that, senpai,” she said blankly.
“Where are you right now, if I may ask?” he queried.
“In L.A.,” Ryouko answered truthfully. “On that day, on that summer, four years ago,” she added.
Fuji nodded his head in understanding. “The fire incident…” he mumbled.
“You’ve heard?” Ryouko asked, looking sideways at him.
“Everyone did,” Fuji replied.
Ryouko sighed once again. Normally, she would’ve been embarrassed that such a weakness of hers was laid bare in front of so many people but she didn’t have the energy to care. Her mind is busy thinking of other things.
She took the donut from her lips and sighed. “If I could go back in time, would I be able to do something so that things would be different? My grandpa Suzuki always says, time is the most precious thing in this world. Once it passes, you can’t do anything about it. And so we must learn how to make choices. There is no such thing as a wrong or right choice. Only, you have to choose what would make you regret less.”
Fuji looked at her raptly and listened sympathetically with a look of understanding. “Your grandfather seems like a very wise man,” he commented.
“He is, actually, though he doesn’t look like it,” Ryouko answered.
Fuji smiled at the light insult. Ryouko is the only person he knows who badmouths her own grandparent but has good relationship with them at the same time.
Ryouko played with the donut in her hand, twirling and circling it as she continued. “Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I made a different choice. What if I took Ryoma’s side? What if I didn’t take anyone’s side and looked for evidence first? If I went to the shed first before making a statement, what would’ve happened… Would Ichi and I be the same as today? Would the accident happen or not? Would Ryoma and I be separated or not? I know it’s useless but I kept on playing simulations inside my head for the past years. I was a child back then and I know I’m still a child but I have higher IQ than normal children. It’s only natural for smart people to wonder about things like these, although it’s useless.”
Fuji couldn’t help but smile at how she was able to insert that bit of self-praise in her serious narration. He opened his mouth to comment. “Well… The eight-year-old you made a choice. If the twelve-year old you were in that situation, what would you have done then?”
Ryouko was surprised to hear the question she had been asking herself during her sleepless night in the hospital. With the question taking the form of words through Fuji-senpai, she was forced to think again.
“Honestly…” she said ponderingly. “I don’t know.”
Fuji took a light inhale and dusted confectionery sugar from his fingertips. “You said that your grandfather told you that there are no right or wrong choices. I also think he’s right about making the choice that you would regret less, but the thing about choices is you would only know what kind of regrets you’ll have after you’ve made your choice. Unless you could tell what the future holds, you wouldn’t know what the better choice is.”
Ryouko looked at Fuji in surprise. She nodded as his logic made its way into her head. It was something that she had already realized along the way and forgotten because of her desire to escape. It was a relief that someone like Fuji-senpai is present to remind her about it.
“It’s no use contemplating on what would’ve happened. My current choice is to do something about the consequence of the choice I made,” she said and couldn’t help but sigh. “Again, I am back in a circle.” She stared at the half-eaten glazed donut between her fingertips, her teeth marks clearly embossed on the edges. “My thoughts are like this donut; just round and endless and going nowhere. When I think I’ve found an end, I just go back to where I started. It’s pathetic, really.”
“That’s not true,” Fuji suddenly said. “You’re doing your best to deal with the consequences of what happened in the past. Anyone would be able to see that. Though you are afraid of hurting people in the process, you’re bravely facing the situation. What you need to do is to make the people involved understand what you are doing. Make them see it from your point of view so that the pain you’ll cause them may be lessened, even if just a notch lower. Tell them that you want them to trust you, to support you. Among human beings, communication is the best key to understand each other. You shouldn’t expect the other to just empathetically read your thoughts and see things from your point of view. You have to voice it out.”
“Putting things the way you said it, I guess I really did act selfishly,” Ryouko told him.
“Nah. Everyone is guilty about this kind of thing every once in a while. That’s the way with people. Trust, empathy, understanding; we need these in our lives to be able to live peacefully but why do you think arguments exist? It’s because these aren’t so easily achieved,” Fuji commented.
“Well, I still think I’m guilty of being selfish. I guess I did take it for granted that I would be trusted, that he would understand me empathically. Because it’s Ryoma… Only because it’s Ryoma that I expected that. I took for granted that he would understand. Because he knows me well, more than anyone else, more than myself,” Ryouko said.
This sudden statement made Fuji freeze for a second. A feeling coursed right through him but he wasn’t able to recognize it. Bitterness, perhaps? Why though? Why would he feel that?
He looked sideways at Ryouko and smiled good-naturedly. “I sure can’t help feeling a bit jealous,” he said.
Ryouko swerved her head in his direction, her face a mask of surprise. “Jealous?” she repeated.
Fuji shrugged. “I’m envious of your deep friendship. I have a lot of friends but none of whom I could trust empathically the same way you do with Echizen,” he replied.
“Oh,” Ryouko said, blinking. Hearing the word ‘jealous’, she was suddenly flustered. Perhaps, she had been too sensitive lately. She willed to calm her heartbeat which for some reason, doubled up in speed for the last few seconds.
“I think you should finish that,” Fuji suddenly said, interrupting her thoughts.
“Huh?” Ryouko said blankly and looked at him.
Fuji pointed at the barely-nibbled donut in her hand.
“Oh,” Ryouko said and took a big bite. The sweet hardened glaze cracked from the donut and stuck to the corners of her mouth. She chewed, unaware of the mess stuck on her mouth.
Fuji let out a soft chuckle.
“What?” Ryouko asked, wondering why he suddenly laughed.
Fuji responded by reaching out a hand and wiped the powdered sugar stuck on her lips with a single graze of his thumb. Ryouko backed off in surprise.
“Oh,” Fuji said, seeing her startled expression. “Sorry. Was that out of the line?”
“It’s fine. I was just…” Ryouko said and wiped her lips. “I can do it by myself,” she added and cleared her throat to hide her embarrassment.
Echizen Ryoma raised an eyebrow at the lip-wiping scenario and huffed. “Way to go. Very smooth,” he said sarcastically and glared at Fuji’s naturally smiling face. His gaze shifted to Ryouko and got even more annoyed at the half-shy expression on her face. “Is she doing that on purpose?” he asked aloud and huffed again.
Meanwhile, whilst the two were back to conversing, a girl with familiar brown pigtails could be seen roaming the corridor to the entrance of the school building, her neck swerving from left to right and her brown eyes seemingly to be looking for something or someone.
Finally she caught the head of black hair visible just outside the clear glass windows. Tired from standing up near the wall, Ryoma had retreated to the nearest bench, silently fuming about why Ryouko and Fuji’s conversation seem to be nearing no end. ‘Conversation’ was not really the word for it; ‘flirting’ was a more suitable term for what he had been witnessing for the last ten minutes.
Whilst Ryoma’s thoughts were running rampant, Ryuzaki Sakuno went out of the building and timidly approached him, her nervous state preventing her to notice his folded arms, crossed legs and stiff back, an obvious body language of ‘do not disturb me’. “R-Ry-Ryoma-kun…” she finally squeaked out after standing for three seconds half a meter away from him.
Ryoma who was oblivious of her presence was a bit startled. “That surprised me,” he said under his breath and sighed. “How long have you been there?” he asked, looking up at her.
“I just ummm… I went to your classroom to share these with the other freshmen,” she said, her face pink as a peach, and produced a small lunchbox from behind her. “These are… some brownies. They’re samples for what our class is going to sell for the cultural fest. We’re having a snack booth.”
Ryoma looked skeptically at the brownies. “Why would you go to all the trouble to find me just to give me these?” he asked.
Sakuno’s face went even pinker. She couldn’t possibly say that sharing the snacks with the freshmen was an excuse and it was really him that she wanted to give them to. She just pursed her lips, the shade of her face going darker by the second.
Ryoma was in no mood for sweet things. Although it was rude of him to refuse, he was about to send her away. Then he felt his stomach growling. He impulsively placed a palm over his belly. That’s right. He hasn’t gotten a bite to eat yet. Looking at the remaining time before the next bell rings, he would have to starve until dismissal time. They were having rehearsals and discussions about the play after classes and he doubt that he could sneak some time to eat something.
Looking at the brownies again, they seem more scrumptious. Making sure that his hunger is not made obvious, he said blankly, “Thanks. I’ll have a few.”
Delighted at his answer, Sakuno handed him the container. “May I have a seat?” she asked and looked purposefully at the empty space next to him.
“Sure. Whatever,” Ryoma answered as he took a brownie.
‘Have a few’ was an understatement. He finished three-fourths of the brownies with only three more pieces to spare. Sakuno watched him with eating with a slight smile on her face. It was too good to be true, sitting next to Ryoma and watching him eat something she made. Well, that scenario actually happened before when she made a bento box for him but that wasn’t really a good memory to her because he called her bento ‘mada mada dane’ which means that it wasn’t good enough for him. But now he was eating the brownies deliciously without stopping. It really made Sakuno very happy.
Ryoma must’ve been starved too much because he was too busy eating to notice Ryouko and Fuji standing up from their seats. Ryouko was first to swerve towards the direction of the school building but stopped short when she caught sight of Ryoma and Sakuno sitting on the bench nearest to the entrance. Ryoma was holding a blue lunch box on one hand and eating something from it with the other hand. Sakuno watched him eat with a smile on her face and said something to him, her brown eyes filled with gentle delight. Ryoma responded with a nod and said a word of reply. They were too far away for even Ryouko’s superior ears to hear what they just said and she surprised herself by suddenly wanting to learn how to lip-read.
Immediately, Ryouko placed a hand on Fuji’s arm. “Senpai,” she said.
Fuji looked down at her and blinked. “What is it?”
“Let’s go round the back and take the entrance there. It’s a lot closer to the stairs,” She said, still unable to take her eyes off of the two people on the bench.
Fuji noticed the strange look in her eyes. “But the entrance is right there, we can just—” he said and lifted his head to look at the entryway to see what she was staring at. But before he could see anything there, Ryouko had placed both hands on his arm and made him turn around.
“Back entrance, senpai. We can’t have you running late for the next class because of me,” she said hastily and grasped his wrist. Fuji was then dragged like a dog and could only let her take the lead. He wasn’t even able to say a word in edgewise.
It was at that moment that Ryoma had placed his attention back to the bench where his targets were sitting. Surprise settled in his eyes when he saw no one there and his eyeballs quickly scanned the vicinity. Catching the corner of the school building, he barely saw Ryouko and Fuji sneaking away to the back with Ryouko dragging Fuji by the wrist.
It took a second for Ryoma to process what he just saw. Without a word, he stood up from the bench.
Sakuno was startled with his abrupt arise and blinked questioningly up at him. Before she could ask what was wrong, he mumbled a quick ‘thanks’, shoved the empty container back at her and started for the building entrance.
~~~
Because they took the long route back, the bell had rang when Fuji and Ryouko reached the first years’ floor.
“Go ahead,” Fuji said as he told Ryouko to proceed to her classroom.
“I’m so sorry for making you late, senpai,” Ryouko said, her face a mask of sincere apology. Her eyebrows knitted together in her frustration. She hated getting someone involved in a mess that she made.
Seeing the lines between her eyebrows, Fuji placed a forefinger on the skin above her eyes to straighten out the wrinkles.
“No frowning…” he said. “I don’t like to see you frowning.”
Ryouko blinked and immediately ironed her face.
“I’m also sorry,” Fuji suddenly said.
“For what, senpai?” Ryouko asked in confusion.
“I invited you to eat and at the end you only got to finish one donut. I figure you’re still hungry. My invitation turned out to be useless,” he said.
“Not at all, senpai. It’s because of you that I got to eat something,” Ryouko countered.
“Well, you should go now and say that you went to the washroom so you won’t get scolded,” Fuji told her. He was about to climb the stairs when Ryouko called out to him.
“Fuji-senpai.”
He looked over his shoulder. “Yes?”
“Thank you,” Ryouko said. “For the donut and for the talk. It really calmed me down,” she added almost timidly, her eyes looking bashful.
From the view several steps up, her lashes looked longer and lusher, framing her doll-like beautiful eyes. She pursed her lips and fidgeted. Seeing her like that, she seemed more like a normal twelve-year-old junior high school girl. It was sweet to see her like that but also disturbing. She’s about five times cuter.
“No problem,” Fuji said with a smile. “You’re free to talk to me if you have something weighing on your mind. I don’t mind listening.”
Ryouko smiled back at him. “I can do the same though I don’t think I could help that much.”
“Maybe you can start by calling me Syusuke-senpai instead of Fuji-senpai. I was waiting for someone to actually call me like that but no one does. I’m on my last year of junior high you know,” he said jokingly.
“Syusuke-senpai…” Ryouko mumbled under her breath and she looked thoughtful.
Hearing her call his first name, the good-natured smile on Fuji’s face disappeared.
“It doesn’t sound half-bad,” Ryouko said and shrugged. Looking up at him from the foot of the stairs, she smiled cheekily. “Thanks for the meal and the pep talk, Syusuke-senpai. I’ll see you later.” After that, she bounced towards the corridor and proceeded to her classroom.
Fuji stood rooted on the spot for a few seconds before continuing up the stairs.
“Have I fallen for that girl’s charms?” he asked himself in deep contemplation. “I did?” he queried again.
“Maybe I did,” he answered aloud. “Let’s just see what happens,” he mumbled under his breath and smiled slightly.
~~~
When Ryoma reached the classroom, his classmates were making their usual after-lunch dissonance with the boys taking the lead, horsing around as they please. His bronze eyes scanned the whole room and saw no trace of Ryouko. He made for his seat, dodging people along the way.
“Oh? Echizen!” Horio said as Ryoma was sitting down. “Ryuzaki came by with brownies earlier. I think she was looking for you.”
Mami hissed at Horio’s sudden statement. “Well, that was an unnecessary piece of information that no one needed to hear,” she thought in annoyance. Of course she knew that Ryuzaki Sakuno bears a one-sided crush on Echizen Ryoma. Anyone who would miss that must be missing love cells in their body. But as for Ryuzaki Sakuno’s romance, Mami did not care less. It was mean but she couldn’t afford anyone driving a wedge between Ryoma and Ryouko not just because she ships them but because of the most important play for the festival. No one is allowed to ruin the chemistry between her Marian and Robin. No one! Not even the great Amaterasu herself (supreme goddess in Japanese folklore).
“Saw her,” Ryoma told Horio nonchalantly.
“Ooh… I smell something sweet in the air and it’s not brownies,” Horio said teasingly and raised his thick eyebrows knowingly. Mami wanted to throw a book at his stupid head.
The teacher arrived and the students filed back to their seats, noisily scraping the feet of their chairs against the floor. “Quietly,” the teacher said, reprimanding their noise. The mayhem subsided.
Ryoma listened to the drone of the teacher’s voice and tapped his foot impatiently. What on earth is taking Ryouko so long? Where the heck is she? Why did he arrive earlier than her? Why did she and Fuji sneak out at the back of the building? His thoughts made his hand tighten to a fist and he could not focus on what the teacher was saying.
Just as the professor was about to recap their last lesson, the classroom door slid open.
“Sorry I’m late,” Ryouko said upon entering, bowing respectfully at the teacher.
“Did you not hear the bell ring five minutes ago, Ms. Fujioka?” the professor asked.
“I had to take a trip to the toilet,” Ryouko said, smoothly providing her excuse.
“Well, that happens. Be more wary next time,” the teacher said, accepting her excuse as a valid one and gestured for her to go to her seat.
Ryouko bowed once more before making her way to the back of the room. She threw Ryoma a sweeping glance before sitting down. Ryoma did not look up from his textbook and seemed to continue his earlier behaviour of giving the cold and silent treatment.
She put her attention to her own desk and took out her textbook. The lecture then started but it was not enough to serve as distraction to the two troubled youths.
Ryouko could only listen to the lesson half-heartedly for she was busy casting glances at Ryoma every five minutes. He had eaten something, that was something to be relieved about and Ryouko was freed from the guilt of being the reason why he would have possibly skipped lunch. But the means to how that was remedied did not actually please her. Of all people, why Ryuzaki Sakuno? She knew that her thoughts were not reasonable and she ought to thank Sakuno for giving something for Ryoma to eat but still…
And it could’ve been just her imagination but the aura around Ryoma seemed twice icier than how it was in the morning. His deliberate ignorance was made more obvious and there was some coldness in his eyes.
Ryouko sighed internally. If he hadn’t finished cooling off, there was nothing she could do but wait until he does. What she needed to do is be patient and be understanding. She should not force him to make up with her like what she almost did earlier. All the complicated thinking was making Ryouko’s brain bleed more than advanced algebra and geometry combined. She willed herself to focus on the lesson. All the staring must make Ryoma even more uncomfortable.
But little did she know that the moment she stopped glancing at him, Ryoma became even more irritable and anxious. “Why isn’t she looking at me?” he wondered. Just that morning she couldn’t take her eyes off him but now… That thought faded to be replaced by another. Is she possibly… ignoring him back?
Ryoma bit the inside of his cheek and scribbled pettishly on a blank page in his notebook. Just one talk with Fuji-senpai was enough for her to suddenly change her behaviour? Just how fickle and easily swayed is she? Since when did she become like this? He doesn’t know this side of Ryouko at all.
The rest of the class hours were prickly and painful to both sides but from the way they were going about their individual activities with no regards for the other, there was no trace of the discomfort that they felt throughout the afternoon.
The person most anxious about how the two seem to be ignoring each other was Mami. She was starting to have a terrible inkling and it was slowly and painfully forming a lump at the pit of her stomach. She didn’t like the feeling a single bit especially because in times like these, her instinct usually proves right. Crossing her fingers, she prayed earnestly that the gut feeling was just an after-effect of the double cheesecake and ice cream sandwich she had after eating two helpings of rice for lunch earlier.
However, the answer to Mami’s escalating sense of foreboding was revealed two hours later when all havoc burst out. Sadly, it was only the beginning of the worse to come.
~~~
The bell to signal the end of classes couldn’t have been more welcome. The students actually let out a delighted yell at the merry sound and it was not because classes were over but because they could continue with what was left off with their interrupted excitement about the cultural fest yesterday. As soon as the professor vacated the room, Class 1-2 cooperated to get the chairs out of the way.
They found their respective groups and under the class rep and Mami’s orders, began with the continuation of the discussions for the class play.
After distributing hand-outs of instructions and guidelines to the production team and stage people, Mami went to the circle of casts. Everyone except two was conversing enthusiastically about the script.
“I read everything last night. I have to hand it to Ayase. The story is pretty interesting. I couldn’t put it down,” Jun commented, flipping over the pages of the script like a book.
“Shhh… Don’t let Mami hear you,” Shuu said. “Her head is swelled enough. There’s no need to praise her.”
The others laughed at this and Shuu made a face.
“I got the most scenes with the Sheriff of Nottingham, mostly just talking and devising schemes,” Miyako said. “Half of Prince John’s personality is just acting intimidating.”
“You should practice to make your voice sound deep,” Jun told her.
“Maybe I should,” Miyako replied, taking a mental note.
“Sir Guy barely says anything. He’s there in almost all the scenes with all the villains present but he’s only just standing and nodding his head,” Shuu told them. “From time to time he voices out his opinion. His longest lines are from those scenarios when he fights with Robin. I guess he’s a serious-type. Not my type at all.”
“Little John also have very little lines and anyways, all he does is assist Robin,” Jun said. “That’s fine by me since I only have to follow Ryouko-san’s lead.”
“How did you find the script, Ryouko-chan?” Miyako asked.
“It’s okay. The details are well-written. It would be easy to follow exactly how the writer wants the scenario to play out,” Ryouko answered.
Miyako turned to the serious-faced dark-haired boy on her right. “How about you, Echizen-kun?”
“Just alright,” Ryoma answered.
“What’s with your face, Echizen? Is our Lady Marian devising ways on how to seem more feminine?” Horio joked.
There was dead air after that for Ryoma did not even bother to react at the obvious teasing. The atmosphere suddenly felt heavy.
Noticing this, Mami immediately went to the rescue. “Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen but can I borrow our two main leads for a while? The leads are the key factors to this play. I wanna explain all their scenarios in detail.” She smiled and looked expectantly at Ryoma and Ryouko.
“What about us? We also need explanation,” Jun said.
“Oh you’ll do fine on your own. Just discuss with the characters that you have the most scenes with, except for the two main leads of course. Run some lines. Discuss some scenes. You can also do ad-libs. I’ll be checking what you came up with after I talk to Ryouko-chan and Echizen-kun and comment on your acting,” Mami told them. She took both by the wrists and whisked them away towards a corner at the back of the room where she placed three chairs facing each other.
When they were seated, there was more than enough silence to make Mami run a cold sweat. She swallowed her nervousness and put her inkling behind her. Smiling a radiant smile, she began to say the spiel that she thought of earlier.
“So, how did you two find the script?” she asked.
“It was okay,” Ryouko answered.
“Fine for me,” Ryoma said after her.
“Were there any particular scenes that you want to elaborate?” Mami asked. This was met by stone-cold silence. After three seconds, Mami sought help from Ryouko.
“Anything? Please?” she asked, her smile wide contrary to her almost pleading tone.
Ryouko didn’t really have anything to say so she browsed the script and randomly selected a scenario. “How about this? The part where Marian warned Robin about armed brigands in the woods with the people’s taxes as bait. The Sheriff had hired the brigands to do away with Robin without getting himself involved. No one could’ve guessed that a sheriff would hire brigands. But Robin was informed that the Sheriff had started to doubt Lady Marian and that he was thinking that she might be the one leaking information to Robin’s team so Robin still went despite her warning and barely got away alive.”
Mami was truly grateful for Ryouko’s cooperation. If one cooperates, she would only have to worry about pacifying the other. “That’s actually a key scene,” she said, diving into merry explanation. “It would show how much Lady Marian trusted Robin and how much Robin cherished Lady Marian. She was upset that he didn’t listen to her and that he still put himself in danger despite her warning but her relief that he was alive overshadowed that. Without scolding him, she accepts his apology and supported his decision. It wa—”
Ryoma suddenly voiced out his opinion and cut midway through Mami’s explanation.
“Is she stupid?” he said as if scoffing.
The two girls were surprised at his sudden outburst and stared at him.
“If she truly cared about him, she should have gotten mad. He was almost killed. She almost lost him. If he cared about her the same way, he wouldn’t have been so reckless. Why would she forgive that so easily?” Ryoma said.
Although startled, Mami was ready to give a response. “Well, that’s because—”
“That’s because she understood why he did that,” Ryouko suddenly said, interrupting Mami. “What he did was for the greater good. He also just wanted to protect Lady Marian. If he did not show up in the woods that night despite the tip-off that a large portion of the people’s taxes were stolen by other thieves, the Sheriff would suspect that someone had warned Robin beforehand. The only ones present inside that room when he talked about the brigands were Sir Guy and Lady Marian and Lady Marian was just called in to pour them drinks. Sir Guy couldn’t have been the one to warn Robin. Of course Lady Marian would be the one to be placed under suspicion,” she narrated, making her point firmly.
“Well that’s more reason for her to get mad. Lady Marian’s personality in this script is righteous, courageous and she hated being saved. She fended for herself ever since her father died and she knew how to protect herself as well. It was not enough reason for Robin to put himself in danger in order to protect her. That would hurt her pride and her feelings. Knowing that you are partly to blame why someone dear to you is hurt, that would severely wound Lady Marian. I don’t think her reaction in this scenario fits the kind of personality she has throughout the entire storyline,” Ryoma retorted.
Mami tried to say a few words. “Well, actually—” And failed.
“Lady Marian is kind and understanding as she is courageous. She does hate being saved, I agree that there’s a bit of inconsistency in her reaction if we base it on that but she and Robin has enough understanding between each other to comprehend the meaning behind their actions. In the end, they did what they did to protect the other. If Lady Marian gets angry, what would Robin do? What would he feel? He would feel that Lady Marian did not see the meaning behind his action and she ignores the fact that he just truly wanted to protect her,” Ryouko launched into a counterattack.
“Was she asking to be protected? She put herself in between Robin and the Sheriff according to her own will. She knows just how dangerous that is. Robin’s help was unnecessary and if he was killed there, that would scar her forever, because she’s part of the reason why such a thing happened. Did he even consider that?” Ryoma argued.
Things were getting heated and Mami was breaking out in cold sweat.
“Well he didn’t die did he?” Ryouko said, almost sounding sarcastic. “Why would Lady Marian dwell on something that did not happen? She was relieved to see him alive and well, despite how dangerous the situation was, isn’t that enough?” she added, her tone getting higher and the volume of her voice rising.
Mami looked at one face to the other, her heart in her throat. This was starting to play out unexpectedly. Why on earth are they so obstinate with the actions of the characters that they would be playing? She as the author didn’t even have these kind of thoughts while writing! What should she say to stop them?
Ryoma continued with his arguments. “If Lady Marian doesn’t give the right reaction to what he did, there’s a possibility of him doing it again. Would he be lucky enough to escape with minor injuries for the second time? How well could anyone guarantee that? Lady Marian has to make him understand how stupid his actions were and that he should not do it again,” he said, his voice also becoming louder with each sentence.
Hearing the phrase ‘how stupid his actions were’, it struck a chord in Ryouko and she stood up with both fists clenched tight. Her chair made a loud scrape against the floor, catching everyone’s attention.
“By doing what? By distancing herself from him? By being mad at him? What for? Robin realizes just how much pain he caused her. He understands that. Does she have to rub it in?” she said in a loud voice, almost yelling.
Her outburst made all the class members stop what they were doing and place their focus towards the back of the room.
Hearing this, Ryoma huffed and he also stood up, his chair making a hostile scraping sound. “Yes she indeed has to rub it in. He realizes how much pain he caused her? He didn’t show that! He understands, you say. On what way did he show that? If he understood, if he realizes the pain he would cause her, he wouldn’t have done what he did in the first place. Why risk causing hurt to someone you care about? Unless he didn’t care enough, he wouldn’t have done that.”
The whole class stared at Ryoma and Ryouko in stunned and confused silence. The two glared at each other obstinately with fire in their eyes. No one had ever seen any of them get so worked up. They were even half-yelling. No one knew how to react.
It was Ryouko who broke the silence first. “I think I need some time alone to internalize my lines. I’ll practice at home.”
With that, she marched towards her seat, grabbed her bag and started for the door. No one dared stop her for anyone who does would be murdered on the spot. The look in her eyes told them to let her be. They haven’t seen Ryouko so angry since her transfer to their school. No one thought that she could display such anger, especially inside the school premises. She was too much of a model student to do that. The same could be said for Ryoma.
As Ryouko walked out, he only stood on the spot with his fists tightly clenched. A minute after Ryouko had gone, he also spoke up. “Washroom,” he said and went to the door.
In hopes that he might go after Ryouko, Mami stuck her head out through the gap in the door, followed by her bewildered classmates who snuck glances through the window. But Ryoma had taken the opposite way from which Ryouko went. They followed him with their eyes and saw that he swerved left at the far corner of the corridor and disappeared which indicated that he did enter the men’s room.
Mami went back inside the room, looking dejected. They also filed in inside and resumed their activity.
After the incident, no one could do their duties in peace. They were full to bursting with curiosity at what happened but Ayase Mami was in no condition to be interrogated. She was sitting at the back of the room, trying to pull her hair by the roots. Miyako stood by her with a sympathetic look in her eyes. She was also dead curious about what happened but held her tongue to give support and comfort to her best friend.
One would think that such drama would make uproar. Well, usually it does. But this situation is a bit special because of the people involved and because of the fact that everyone is mystified about what happened. Ryoma and Ryouko are very popular not just in their year but throughout the school. None of them really wanted to gossip about their idols especially when they understand nothing of the situation. It was frustrating that the drama happened right in front of their eyes and under their noses yet they understand nothing about it. The groups resumed with their discussions but the noise they made was about as low as rumbling ocean waves in a distance.
When Ryoma entered the room again, the class became ultimately quiet, not daring to mumble a word nor breathe heavily. You could’ve heard someone fart in that deadly silence.
Ryoma approached Mami who had composed herself upon his entrance. “I’ll run my lines over at home and send you a video of my practice later, Ayase. I’m not feeling well so I should just go home,” he told her.
“Oh. Okay,” came the only two words that Mami could come up with.
With that, Ryoma gathered his things and proceeded out of the room.
Chapter 112 or more like Chapter 111 part 2. Can you guys just consider that I died and rose from the dead? *makes zombie noises* I'm really sowwy! 😭😭😭
I hope you guys aren't so upset with me. *blinks eyes* Love you guyzzz!