Chapter 4: Lies, Blame, and Bolognese (Part 1)
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 11:48 pm
Chapter 1|Chapter 2|Chapter 3|Chapter 4|Chapter 5|Chapter 6|Chapter 7
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Chapter 4: Lies, Blame, and Bolognese
The musky smell of sweat hung in the darkened room, invading his senses, acting as a constant reminder of his shame, and turning Taro's thoughts toward despair. If he'd had the willpower, he would have gotten up off the floor and opened the window to at least let in some fresh air—the cold might also have done him some good—but he didn't want to risk being seen, and it was just easier to remain unmoving. The very idea of exposing himself to the animosity and ridicule of his classmates was simply too awful to bear, so he opted for becoming a recluse. Not only had he severed his only two lasting friendships with a single punch, but he had begun to believe it was his fault.
There was no guard assigned to his door following the incident, but that didn't matter. No self-respecting warrior would dare run away from a mistake, so he entertained no thoughts of escaping without facing the punishment for his crime; the laws of Bushido might even demand that he perform Seppuku for his shame, though he didn't have the guts for that, or a sword for that matter. He knew his being some kind of warrior was just a fantasy based on exposure to too many Shogun movies and melodramatic Manga, but the reasoning stood. Having convinced himself that his actions were unconscionable, malicious, and just plain shameful, he had decided to accept, and was ready to face whatever punishment society deemed necessary.
Well, that may have been an overstatement; he was terrified of facing his parents, his sister, or anyone back in Kyoto when the inevitable expulsion was made official, but he knew running would just have made things worse. So he sat on the floor in the dark, leaning against the door to prevent intruders from breaking in and seeing him in his disheveled state, and he waited... and waited. Time seemed to have lost all meaning, though not only because he couldn't see his alarm clock past the backpack he had thrown on it haphazardly upon returning from the offices after giving his statement. No, it seemed time no longer existed for Taro Arai; his time was over, and all that remained was for the band to play its sad, sad song.
“Taro?” came an unexpected voice, “Are you there...? Taro?” Almost inaudibly soft, sweet, and oozing with loving concern, it sounded like Molly.
However, that seemed impossible; conscientious and thoughtful, the moment she saw Takashi's jaw, Molly would have written Taro off as being irredeemable, and rightly so—he was a monster. Considering that, the chance of her coming to visit him just seemed too improbable, so Taro thought he must have been dreaming. Unlike the monster who could once have called himself her friend and now sat in deserved darkness suffering from maddening hallucinations, Molly was above such degenerate behavior as he had displayed in the library. Despite her missing legs, she had grace and poise, and would never have assaulted someone over words, no matter how vile or hurtful—not even if they attacked her personally.
“Outta the way, Mols—this is a job for a more practiced throat!” came another voice, this one much louder and shrill, though somehow equally sweet in tone. In the meantime, Taro managed a slight chuckle at her likely unintended double-entendre and assumed he wasn't actually hallucinating—if he hallucinated Miki, she'd be in his room already.
“TARO, you SHIT!” Miki screamed, probably loud enough to echo all the way to Bangaladesh—the farthest place he could think of at the time. “Open your God-damn door, asshole!” she barked, her tone becoming louder and more threatening with each word, “If you don't open this God-damned door,” she started kicking his door with every other word, “I'm gonna KICK the FUCKER... DOWN!”
Her footwork notwithstanding, Miki always had a way with words, though Taro was in no mood to hear them, nor did he think they were deserved. “Go away!” he shouted as loudly as he could manage, rapping his head against the door as he sorowfully whispered, “I'm not worth the effort...”
Her voice cracking with irritation, Miki threatened, “You live on the first floor, Taro, and I can break your window with my stump!”
“She'll do it, I've seen her bust a store window!” came a third voice, this one followed by a tired snort—apparently they had dragged Suzu along for the pity party.
“That was in a dream, Su-” Miki started to say, apparently deciding not to bother arguing before she finished. Instead she started kicking the door hard enough to make Taro bounce, and he shook his head in disbelief. “Open this door this fucking instant, or I swear to God I'll-” she paused once again, and the rapping stopped as she muttered sarcastically, “Oh, good idea, Mols! Where was that BEFORE I kicked my toe bloody!?”
Taro's eyes widened as the tumblers in his locked door started clicking, and he remembered giving Molly a key to his dorm; she often came hunting if he didn't show up at their meeting spot before walking to class. His eyes started searching the darkness for some way to bar their entry, but he didn't have time, so instead he braced himself against the door. Almost as soon as he planted his foot on the carpet, he heard the knob turn and groaned as the kick plate dug into his back.
“Ow, what the fu-” he started to say, slamming his other foot against the sidewall to try getting some leverage. Being barefoot didn't help matters, and he was soon skidding across the carpet trying to fight against the force of at least three intruders, who, when combined, easily outweighed Taro—though not by as much as he would have liked.
“Let us in, jackass!” Miki shouted, giving the door a hard shove, “Stop blocking the-”
“Why are you even here! Haven't I suffered enough!” Taro cried, grimacing as the rug scraped against his foot, then snapping an angry glare up at Miki as she poked her head in through the opening, “Come to make me feel worse, did you!? I thought we were friends!”
“We ARE friends, Fat-Ass,” she balked, the nickname not helping improve his mood.
“Well, we shouldn't be after what I did!” Taro shot back, finally relenting as he curled up against the sidewall; adding rug-burn to his list of problems wasn't worth the effort. “I'm damaged goods,” he muttered, folding his good arm across his chest and pouting like a child, “Or haven't you heard?”
“God damn! Have you even been out of this room since Wednesday?” Miki grumbled absently, sniffing the air and starting to gag.
As Miki—coughing all the way—stepped into the darkened room and snapped on the light, momentarily blinding Taro, another blurry figure, made distinct only by the twin braids across her shoulders, stepped in behind her. Molly glanced around the room for a moment, then settled her gaze on Taro's disheveled form and smirked. Taro expected an angry scowl, or something more akin to her stink-eye from her after what he had done, so he thought his eyes were playing tricks when her whole face was suddenly engulfed by a toothy grin.
“Y'know, being sequestered to your dorm doesn't preclude the use of the showers...!” Molly chided, the grin turning into a wince as she squeezed her nostrils shut with one hand.
“It smells like day-old sex and shame in here,” Miki remarked, picking Taro's backpack off the alarm clock. Turning it over and raising an eyebrow as she dropped it on the bed, she laughingly added, “But, at least you're still feeling virile...” she paused and glanced at Molly, “That's the word, right?”
Groaning, Molly answered, “Yea... well, sorta...” she shook her head and turned back to Taro, “Anyway, you should probably take a shower...”
“And change your clothes,” Miki added.
“And kill the mice under your bed!” Suzu joked from out in the hall, which made Molly shriek, and leap up onto her knees atop Taro's desk chair. Laughing uproariously, Suzu then stuck her head in through the door and shouted, “PSYCHE!”
“Gosh darn it, Suzuki!” Molly snapped, her obvious ire barely making a dent in her saccharine tone.
Pointing a complimentary thumbs-up at her laughing friend, Miki remarked, “Nice one, Snoozu!”
“I do what I can~!” the sleepy girl replied, leaning against the door and turning a drooping smile at Taro, “You've looked better, Big Guy... and I mean that in a completely platonic, non-sexual way.”
“Noted, I'll tell Aaron you were good,” Taro replied flatly, turning toward Miki, who seemed to have been leading their excursion. “And just what am I showering for?” he asked, holding his arm out wide as he added, “Filth should live within itself, don't you think?”
Folding her arms, Miki scolded, “First, put your arm down—you're losing friends...”
“I'll be in the hall, Pit-Stains,” Suzu added, disappearing as advertised.
“Second, I'm guessing nobody told you, so I won't be mean... but they lifted the sexua- sequest- Um...” Miki sputtered and scowled, then shook her head and yelled, “The fucking house-arrest bullshit!”
“Sequestering,” Molly stated.
“Yeah, that!” Miki agreed, then narrowed her eyes and barked, “Shut the fuck up, Missy Mnemonic!”
A snicker from the hall prefaced Suzu's remarking, “Wow, Miki... that was actually impressive! You said that whole word-”
“You too, Snoozu!” Miki yelled, aiming her stump out the door.
Taro typically caught onto things slowly, and this case was no different; it wasn't that they weren't being direct, but he hadn't been paying much attention. However, as the three girls bickered among themselves, Taro started to understand what they were trying to tell him. Apparently it was good news, or at least that's how it seemed. In any case, the three girls were too engrossed in their argument to notice him raising a curious hand.
Rolling his eyes, and having to yell over their screeching, Taro asked, “Are you saying the school-board made a decision?”
His outburst turned all three faces, each grinning a little too much, straight back to face him. Miki was the first to reply, “Kinda?” she shrugged, nodding toward Molly, “You read the report, Mols—you wanna explain the long and short of it?”
Sighing loudly, Suzu stated, “This should be good...”
Taking a deep breath, which made her chest puff out comically, Molly explained, “They haven't decided what to do with you yet, but, considering the mitigating circumstances, they've come to the conclusion that it wasn't an unprovoked attack, and sequestering you in your dorm, especially over the holiday, is unwarranted—furthermore, you'll be allowed to move around the school grounds, attend your shifts at The Beijing, participate in extracurricular activities, and go back to class starting tomorrow... A formal inquest is scheduled for the first Monday in January, but it's expected you'll get off with little more than a slap on the wrist and some community service...!”
As Molly gasped out the remainder of her breath, and nearly collapsed for lack of air, Suzu, quite contrary to her idiom, threw out her arms and exclaimed, “You're free! Free as a bird...!” then settled back to her more indifferent demeanor and added, “And we're hungry, so you're cooking...”
~^~
After a shower, which the girls made very uncomfortable by standing just outside the bathroom door, Taro redressed, donned his coat and the festive red winter hat Suzu insisted he wear, and followed the girls out across the school grounds, all the while trying not to stare at their shapely behinds—he seriously needed a girlfriend. Lumbering along a few paces behind, Taro tried to ignore their conversation, though the chill in the air made their voices carry more than usual. Most of what they were saying sounded like the typical girlish things they were always prattling on about, but he caught a few stray bits that seemed to hint at a particularly nasty rumor going around the school—something about pants-wetting.
At first he tried to catch up so he could listen, but one of them would turn a glare over her shoulder every time he got within range. That seemed unfair considering all he really wanted to know was how—or by who's genius—he'd gotten off the hook, but they were fond of keeping secrets. In the meantime he could speculate all he wanted, so he did. Someone could have been in the library the whole time, but Taro figured he would have seen them. Considering that Hakamichi and Mikado were just leaving when he arrived with his former friends, he entertained the possibility that one of them had returned for some reason, and wound up witnessing the altercation. However, since one of them probably would have stepped in before things escalated, that didn't seem likely.
Whomever and however it had happened, he was glad for the reprieve, though he wished it had happened sooner. Ever since the foreboding conversation with Nurse and the Dean, Taro had been preparing to face expulsion, a bleak future, and, perhaps worst of all, having no friends. During one particularly dark moment, he even wondered if they might cart him off to a juvenile detention center, or some kind of institution for the criminally unstable. However, someone had convinced the school-board that he wasn't a degenerate, and Taro felt like he owed whoever that was a big, mushy hug and free culinary services for life. Unfortunately, it seemed clear that the girls weren't telling him who his savior was, purposely keeping him in suspense.
“Hey, you gonna walk back there and stare at our asses the whole way?” Miki blurted suddenly, making Taro halt in his tracks.
Giggling, Suzu added, “I don't really mind—Aaron can't be bothered Skyping me, so I've been craving some attention...”
“Don't encourage him!” Molly groaned, then held out a hand toward Taro with a welcoming smile, “C'mon, Big Guy, it's warmer up here~!”
Tentatively, if only because he still wasn't sure what was really driving them, Taro joined alongside the girls. Much to his chagrin, they immediately started talking about the fight, but he expected that would come up eventually. Although the jerk probably deserved more of a pummeling, Taro had decided punching Takashi was wrong, though Miki disagreed. According to her, it was a long time coming, and she said that in the same situation—which she seemed to know more about than should have been possible—she would have followed him down and kept hitting until Takashi's face resembled raw hamburger. Suzu nodded in agreement, and, perhaps most surprisingly, so did Molly.
Actually, not only did Molly agree with enacting further violence against Takashi, she even wanted to include Lezard in the righteous pummeling. The corny euphemisms she used often made Molly sound much less impassioned when compared to Miki and Suzu, but Taro got the sense that she would have been the first one throwing punches; she was quite the spitfire when riled, and he had experienced her mean left hook. As they walked the rest of the way into town, the three girls discussed all the nasty ways they would punch, kick, throw, and otherwise mangle Takashi and Lezard. Apparently, whatever had happened, it was enough to turn all three of the girls completely against his former friends.
Even if it turned out he still got expelled, it seemed he hadn't lost all his friends, and as they neared the town, Taro decided it was better to enjoy his freedom, just in case it was fleeting. As expected, they soon approached the Beijing, which was usually closed on Friday nights, but he and Molly both had keys, and the owner didn't mind them using the kitchen as long as they kept it clean. That usually meant bringing their own supplies, too, but, as they stepped inside, he noticed a canvas bag waiting on the counter-top; evidently their trip wasn't an impromptu excursion. Molly hit the lights as Taro moved to inspect the bag, and the girls each took a seat as he started rifling through its contents.
“Fresh tomatoes and basil, yellow onions, portobello mushrooms...” he muttered, shifting the bag onto its side to access the remaining contents, “That looks like ground lamb, olive oil, vermicelli, and... is that balsamic vinegar...? Yes... Yes it is...” he paused and looked toward Molly, “What am I making?”
“Lots of something good,” she replied, giggling as she spun around in her swiveling barstool, “Anything using those ingredients—chef's discretion~!”
“This is all Italian stuff, though... good Italian stuff, but...” Taro said, pushing everything back into the bag and hefting it onto his shoulder, “Is that a hint?”
“Just go make something, Fat Ass!” Miki barked, grinning at his reaction to her newly-adapted term of endearment, then planting a hand on each hip and thrusting out her considerable chest. “You think I keep this girlish figure by eating Top Ramen and Cheese Doodles?” she added derisively, aiming a glare at Suzu before the snippy narcoleptic could formulate a snappy comment, “I need carbs, and protein, and-”
“Don't mind her,” Molly stated in a calm tone, still spinning on her barstool, “She hasn't been eating well since Ig and Oog suckered you into almost getting expelled...”
“She's practically wasting away,” Suzu added, leaning heavily against the counter with a Cheshire grin, “In another day or two we'd be carting her off to a hospital—come to think of it, don't let her have any!”
With a suggestive sway of her hips, Miki flit her eyebrows at Taro and countered, “I'll show you my boobs if you hide Suzu's portion!”
“Like he hasn't seen 'em before!” Suzu accused.
Turning to squint narrowly at the blue-haired girl, Miki snarled, “That was one time, and I was drunk... so it doesn't count!”
Taro grinned at the memory as he stated, “I think it counted...”
“Who asked you, Thunder-Gut!?” Miki snapped, then pointed at Suzu and added, “And you! Stop reminding him!”
Sighing, which may also have been a yawn, Suzu muttered, “I doubt he needs any reminders...”
“That's... probably true,” Miki admitted, shrugging as she sat down on a barstool. Chuckling to herself, she added, “Things you can't unsee, right?”
“I'll always remember it fondly,” Taro said, which drew an eye roll from Suzu.
“You're starting to sound like Takashi and Lezard, there, Big Guy,” she muttered, probably not meaning a word of it, though it hurt nonetheless, “Should we go back and tell them to lock you up again?”
“Aww, that's just cruel, Snoozu,” Miki chided, then shook her shoulders provocatively and taunted, “'Sides, you're just jealous he hasn't seen your little bee-stings!”
Her typically smooth, indignant tone only mildly interrupted by another yawn, Suzu countered, “That's 'cause I don't get drunk and start dancing on tables!”
Pointing at the door with her stump, and pointing an angry finger at Suzu, Miki shouted, “That's it, Suzuki! D'you wanna step outside!”
“Fine!” Suzu yelled, slapping the counter energetically, though she barely seemed able to keep her eyes open.
The everlasting voice of reason among the trio, Molly tapped the counter lightly, just loudly enough to catch everyone's attention. “I have a solution,” she said with as straight a face as she could manage. “How about we all flash him?” she suggested jokingly, “Then he'll have no reason to favor either one of us.”
Punching the counter, Miki grabbed at the bottom of her shirt and threatened, “I'm game!”
“He'll still end up favoring Miki!” Suzu balked, her grogginess starting to limit the indignation in her tone.
“I was just kidding!” Molly sighed, landing her forehead in an upraised palm, “Ugh, morons...”
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Chapter 4: Lies, Blame, and Bolognese
The musky smell of sweat hung in the darkened room, invading his senses, acting as a constant reminder of his shame, and turning Taro's thoughts toward despair. If he'd had the willpower, he would have gotten up off the floor and opened the window to at least let in some fresh air—the cold might also have done him some good—but he didn't want to risk being seen, and it was just easier to remain unmoving. The very idea of exposing himself to the animosity and ridicule of his classmates was simply too awful to bear, so he opted for becoming a recluse. Not only had he severed his only two lasting friendships with a single punch, but he had begun to believe it was his fault.
There was no guard assigned to his door following the incident, but that didn't matter. No self-respecting warrior would dare run away from a mistake, so he entertained no thoughts of escaping without facing the punishment for his crime; the laws of Bushido might even demand that he perform Seppuku for his shame, though he didn't have the guts for that, or a sword for that matter. He knew his being some kind of warrior was just a fantasy based on exposure to too many Shogun movies and melodramatic Manga, but the reasoning stood. Having convinced himself that his actions were unconscionable, malicious, and just plain shameful, he had decided to accept, and was ready to face whatever punishment society deemed necessary.
Well, that may have been an overstatement; he was terrified of facing his parents, his sister, or anyone back in Kyoto when the inevitable expulsion was made official, but he knew running would just have made things worse. So he sat on the floor in the dark, leaning against the door to prevent intruders from breaking in and seeing him in his disheveled state, and he waited... and waited. Time seemed to have lost all meaning, though not only because he couldn't see his alarm clock past the backpack he had thrown on it haphazardly upon returning from the offices after giving his statement. No, it seemed time no longer existed for Taro Arai; his time was over, and all that remained was for the band to play its sad, sad song.
“Taro?” came an unexpected voice, “Are you there...? Taro?” Almost inaudibly soft, sweet, and oozing with loving concern, it sounded like Molly.
However, that seemed impossible; conscientious and thoughtful, the moment she saw Takashi's jaw, Molly would have written Taro off as being irredeemable, and rightly so—he was a monster. Considering that, the chance of her coming to visit him just seemed too improbable, so Taro thought he must have been dreaming. Unlike the monster who could once have called himself her friend and now sat in deserved darkness suffering from maddening hallucinations, Molly was above such degenerate behavior as he had displayed in the library. Despite her missing legs, she had grace and poise, and would never have assaulted someone over words, no matter how vile or hurtful—not even if they attacked her personally.
“Outta the way, Mols—this is a job for a more practiced throat!” came another voice, this one much louder and shrill, though somehow equally sweet in tone. In the meantime, Taro managed a slight chuckle at her likely unintended double-entendre and assumed he wasn't actually hallucinating—if he hallucinated Miki, she'd be in his room already.
“TARO, you SHIT!” Miki screamed, probably loud enough to echo all the way to Bangaladesh—the farthest place he could think of at the time. “Open your God-damn door, asshole!” she barked, her tone becoming louder and more threatening with each word, “If you don't open this God-damned door,” she started kicking his door with every other word, “I'm gonna KICK the FUCKER... DOWN!”
Her footwork notwithstanding, Miki always had a way with words, though Taro was in no mood to hear them, nor did he think they were deserved. “Go away!” he shouted as loudly as he could manage, rapping his head against the door as he sorowfully whispered, “I'm not worth the effort...”
Her voice cracking with irritation, Miki threatened, “You live on the first floor, Taro, and I can break your window with my stump!”
“She'll do it, I've seen her bust a store window!” came a third voice, this one followed by a tired snort—apparently they had dragged Suzu along for the pity party.
“That was in a dream, Su-” Miki started to say, apparently deciding not to bother arguing before she finished. Instead she started kicking the door hard enough to make Taro bounce, and he shook his head in disbelief. “Open this door this fucking instant, or I swear to God I'll-” she paused once again, and the rapping stopped as she muttered sarcastically, “Oh, good idea, Mols! Where was that BEFORE I kicked my toe bloody!?”
Taro's eyes widened as the tumblers in his locked door started clicking, and he remembered giving Molly a key to his dorm; she often came hunting if he didn't show up at their meeting spot before walking to class. His eyes started searching the darkness for some way to bar their entry, but he didn't have time, so instead he braced himself against the door. Almost as soon as he planted his foot on the carpet, he heard the knob turn and groaned as the kick plate dug into his back.
“Ow, what the fu-” he started to say, slamming his other foot against the sidewall to try getting some leverage. Being barefoot didn't help matters, and he was soon skidding across the carpet trying to fight against the force of at least three intruders, who, when combined, easily outweighed Taro—though not by as much as he would have liked.
“Let us in, jackass!” Miki shouted, giving the door a hard shove, “Stop blocking the-”
“Why are you even here! Haven't I suffered enough!” Taro cried, grimacing as the rug scraped against his foot, then snapping an angry glare up at Miki as she poked her head in through the opening, “Come to make me feel worse, did you!? I thought we were friends!”
“We ARE friends, Fat-Ass,” she balked, the nickname not helping improve his mood.
“Well, we shouldn't be after what I did!” Taro shot back, finally relenting as he curled up against the sidewall; adding rug-burn to his list of problems wasn't worth the effort. “I'm damaged goods,” he muttered, folding his good arm across his chest and pouting like a child, “Or haven't you heard?”
“God damn! Have you even been out of this room since Wednesday?” Miki grumbled absently, sniffing the air and starting to gag.
As Miki—coughing all the way—stepped into the darkened room and snapped on the light, momentarily blinding Taro, another blurry figure, made distinct only by the twin braids across her shoulders, stepped in behind her. Molly glanced around the room for a moment, then settled her gaze on Taro's disheveled form and smirked. Taro expected an angry scowl, or something more akin to her stink-eye from her after what he had done, so he thought his eyes were playing tricks when her whole face was suddenly engulfed by a toothy grin.
“Y'know, being sequestered to your dorm doesn't preclude the use of the showers...!” Molly chided, the grin turning into a wince as she squeezed her nostrils shut with one hand.
“It smells like day-old sex and shame in here,” Miki remarked, picking Taro's backpack off the alarm clock. Turning it over and raising an eyebrow as she dropped it on the bed, she laughingly added, “But, at least you're still feeling virile...” she paused and glanced at Molly, “That's the word, right?”
Groaning, Molly answered, “Yea... well, sorta...” she shook her head and turned back to Taro, “Anyway, you should probably take a shower...”
“And change your clothes,” Miki added.
“And kill the mice under your bed!” Suzu joked from out in the hall, which made Molly shriek, and leap up onto her knees atop Taro's desk chair. Laughing uproariously, Suzu then stuck her head in through the door and shouted, “PSYCHE!”
“Gosh darn it, Suzuki!” Molly snapped, her obvious ire barely making a dent in her saccharine tone.
Pointing a complimentary thumbs-up at her laughing friend, Miki remarked, “Nice one, Snoozu!”
“I do what I can~!” the sleepy girl replied, leaning against the door and turning a drooping smile at Taro, “You've looked better, Big Guy... and I mean that in a completely platonic, non-sexual way.”
“Noted, I'll tell Aaron you were good,” Taro replied flatly, turning toward Miki, who seemed to have been leading their excursion. “And just what am I showering for?” he asked, holding his arm out wide as he added, “Filth should live within itself, don't you think?”
Folding her arms, Miki scolded, “First, put your arm down—you're losing friends...”
“I'll be in the hall, Pit-Stains,” Suzu added, disappearing as advertised.
“Second, I'm guessing nobody told you, so I won't be mean... but they lifted the sexua- sequest- Um...” Miki sputtered and scowled, then shook her head and yelled, “The fucking house-arrest bullshit!”
“Sequestering,” Molly stated.
“Yeah, that!” Miki agreed, then narrowed her eyes and barked, “Shut the fuck up, Missy Mnemonic!”
A snicker from the hall prefaced Suzu's remarking, “Wow, Miki... that was actually impressive! You said that whole word-”
“You too, Snoozu!” Miki yelled, aiming her stump out the door.
Taro typically caught onto things slowly, and this case was no different; it wasn't that they weren't being direct, but he hadn't been paying much attention. However, as the three girls bickered among themselves, Taro started to understand what they were trying to tell him. Apparently it was good news, or at least that's how it seemed. In any case, the three girls were too engrossed in their argument to notice him raising a curious hand.
Rolling his eyes, and having to yell over their screeching, Taro asked, “Are you saying the school-board made a decision?”
His outburst turned all three faces, each grinning a little too much, straight back to face him. Miki was the first to reply, “Kinda?” she shrugged, nodding toward Molly, “You read the report, Mols—you wanna explain the long and short of it?”
Sighing loudly, Suzu stated, “This should be good...”
Taking a deep breath, which made her chest puff out comically, Molly explained, “They haven't decided what to do with you yet, but, considering the mitigating circumstances, they've come to the conclusion that it wasn't an unprovoked attack, and sequestering you in your dorm, especially over the holiday, is unwarranted—furthermore, you'll be allowed to move around the school grounds, attend your shifts at The Beijing, participate in extracurricular activities, and go back to class starting tomorrow... A formal inquest is scheduled for the first Monday in January, but it's expected you'll get off with little more than a slap on the wrist and some community service...!”
As Molly gasped out the remainder of her breath, and nearly collapsed for lack of air, Suzu, quite contrary to her idiom, threw out her arms and exclaimed, “You're free! Free as a bird...!” then settled back to her more indifferent demeanor and added, “And we're hungry, so you're cooking...”
~^~
After a shower, which the girls made very uncomfortable by standing just outside the bathroom door, Taro redressed, donned his coat and the festive red winter hat Suzu insisted he wear, and followed the girls out across the school grounds, all the while trying not to stare at their shapely behinds—he seriously needed a girlfriend. Lumbering along a few paces behind, Taro tried to ignore their conversation, though the chill in the air made their voices carry more than usual. Most of what they were saying sounded like the typical girlish things they were always prattling on about, but he caught a few stray bits that seemed to hint at a particularly nasty rumor going around the school—something about pants-wetting.
At first he tried to catch up so he could listen, but one of them would turn a glare over her shoulder every time he got within range. That seemed unfair considering all he really wanted to know was how—or by who's genius—he'd gotten off the hook, but they were fond of keeping secrets. In the meantime he could speculate all he wanted, so he did. Someone could have been in the library the whole time, but Taro figured he would have seen them. Considering that Hakamichi and Mikado were just leaving when he arrived with his former friends, he entertained the possibility that one of them had returned for some reason, and wound up witnessing the altercation. However, since one of them probably would have stepped in before things escalated, that didn't seem likely.
Whomever and however it had happened, he was glad for the reprieve, though he wished it had happened sooner. Ever since the foreboding conversation with Nurse and the Dean, Taro had been preparing to face expulsion, a bleak future, and, perhaps worst of all, having no friends. During one particularly dark moment, he even wondered if they might cart him off to a juvenile detention center, or some kind of institution for the criminally unstable. However, someone had convinced the school-board that he wasn't a degenerate, and Taro felt like he owed whoever that was a big, mushy hug and free culinary services for life. Unfortunately, it seemed clear that the girls weren't telling him who his savior was, purposely keeping him in suspense.
“Hey, you gonna walk back there and stare at our asses the whole way?” Miki blurted suddenly, making Taro halt in his tracks.
Giggling, Suzu added, “I don't really mind—Aaron can't be bothered Skyping me, so I've been craving some attention...”
“Don't encourage him!” Molly groaned, then held out a hand toward Taro with a welcoming smile, “C'mon, Big Guy, it's warmer up here~!”
Tentatively, if only because he still wasn't sure what was really driving them, Taro joined alongside the girls. Much to his chagrin, they immediately started talking about the fight, but he expected that would come up eventually. Although the jerk probably deserved more of a pummeling, Taro had decided punching Takashi was wrong, though Miki disagreed. According to her, it was a long time coming, and she said that in the same situation—which she seemed to know more about than should have been possible—she would have followed him down and kept hitting until Takashi's face resembled raw hamburger. Suzu nodded in agreement, and, perhaps most surprisingly, so did Molly.
Actually, not only did Molly agree with enacting further violence against Takashi, she even wanted to include Lezard in the righteous pummeling. The corny euphemisms she used often made Molly sound much less impassioned when compared to Miki and Suzu, but Taro got the sense that she would have been the first one throwing punches; she was quite the spitfire when riled, and he had experienced her mean left hook. As they walked the rest of the way into town, the three girls discussed all the nasty ways they would punch, kick, throw, and otherwise mangle Takashi and Lezard. Apparently, whatever had happened, it was enough to turn all three of the girls completely against his former friends.
Even if it turned out he still got expelled, it seemed he hadn't lost all his friends, and as they neared the town, Taro decided it was better to enjoy his freedom, just in case it was fleeting. As expected, they soon approached the Beijing, which was usually closed on Friday nights, but he and Molly both had keys, and the owner didn't mind them using the kitchen as long as they kept it clean. That usually meant bringing their own supplies, too, but, as they stepped inside, he noticed a canvas bag waiting on the counter-top; evidently their trip wasn't an impromptu excursion. Molly hit the lights as Taro moved to inspect the bag, and the girls each took a seat as he started rifling through its contents.
“Fresh tomatoes and basil, yellow onions, portobello mushrooms...” he muttered, shifting the bag onto its side to access the remaining contents, “That looks like ground lamb, olive oil, vermicelli, and... is that balsamic vinegar...? Yes... Yes it is...” he paused and looked toward Molly, “What am I making?”
“Lots of something good,” she replied, giggling as she spun around in her swiveling barstool, “Anything using those ingredients—chef's discretion~!”
“This is all Italian stuff, though... good Italian stuff, but...” Taro said, pushing everything back into the bag and hefting it onto his shoulder, “Is that a hint?”
“Just go make something, Fat Ass!” Miki barked, grinning at his reaction to her newly-adapted term of endearment, then planting a hand on each hip and thrusting out her considerable chest. “You think I keep this girlish figure by eating Top Ramen and Cheese Doodles?” she added derisively, aiming a glare at Suzu before the snippy narcoleptic could formulate a snappy comment, “I need carbs, and protein, and-”
“Don't mind her,” Molly stated in a calm tone, still spinning on her barstool, “She hasn't been eating well since Ig and Oog suckered you into almost getting expelled...”
“She's practically wasting away,” Suzu added, leaning heavily against the counter with a Cheshire grin, “In another day or two we'd be carting her off to a hospital—come to think of it, don't let her have any!”
With a suggestive sway of her hips, Miki flit her eyebrows at Taro and countered, “I'll show you my boobs if you hide Suzu's portion!”
“Like he hasn't seen 'em before!” Suzu accused.
Turning to squint narrowly at the blue-haired girl, Miki snarled, “That was one time, and I was drunk... so it doesn't count!”
Taro grinned at the memory as he stated, “I think it counted...”
“Who asked you, Thunder-Gut!?” Miki snapped, then pointed at Suzu and added, “And you! Stop reminding him!”
Sighing, which may also have been a yawn, Suzu muttered, “I doubt he needs any reminders...”
“That's... probably true,” Miki admitted, shrugging as she sat down on a barstool. Chuckling to herself, she added, “Things you can't unsee, right?”
“I'll always remember it fondly,” Taro said, which drew an eye roll from Suzu.
“You're starting to sound like Takashi and Lezard, there, Big Guy,” she muttered, probably not meaning a word of it, though it hurt nonetheless, “Should we go back and tell them to lock you up again?”
“Aww, that's just cruel, Snoozu,” Miki chided, then shook her shoulders provocatively and taunted, “'Sides, you're just jealous he hasn't seen your little bee-stings!”
Her typically smooth, indignant tone only mildly interrupted by another yawn, Suzu countered, “That's 'cause I don't get drunk and start dancing on tables!”
Pointing at the door with her stump, and pointing an angry finger at Suzu, Miki shouted, “That's it, Suzuki! D'you wanna step outside!”
“Fine!” Suzu yelled, slapping the counter energetically, though she barely seemed able to keep her eyes open.
The everlasting voice of reason among the trio, Molly tapped the counter lightly, just loudly enough to catch everyone's attention. “I have a solution,” she said with as straight a face as she could manage. “How about we all flash him?” she suggested jokingly, “Then he'll have no reason to favor either one of us.”
Punching the counter, Miki grabbed at the bottom of her shirt and threatened, “I'm game!”
“He'll still end up favoring Miki!” Suzu balked, her grogginess starting to limit the indignation in her tone.
“I was just kidding!” Molly sighed, landing her forehead in an upraised palm, “Ugh, morons...”
(Although I should probably mention that Aaron sits in Lezard's place, conveniently next to Suzu and Miki. Lelouch is still there, and in fact hangs out with Lezard.)