School Girls' Stories: New Generation - Finale

Chapter 15 – 8 Hours Remaining (6:00 AM)

Lilis and Bliss sat on the couch in Fuji’s sitting room looking at the pacing figure of Yuki. Their ears were filled with hateful words, and much to Lilis’s surprise, most of those hateful words were aimed at Bliss. Link and Darrke had both been condemned to the foyer if they wanted to be even close to the women they love, and Yuki knew that they were listening at the door, but she hardly cared. She was right about Bliss all along. Bliss was nothing but trouble and once again she would be doing everything she could to separate this hellion from her son. They were cousins for God’s sake; she should not have needed any other excuse to keep them away. She would end up just like Kaori.

Yuki stopped pacing and gripped to the mantle of the fireplace, trying to remain to any shred of composure. Her daughter, Yuna, had lost her baby. Harmony was very close to losing hers, Shai was staying with her daughter until she knew for sure. How could Shai remain so calm by Harmony’s side when Yuna’s baby was dead? Yes, Yuna was a slut, but she did not deserve to lose the baby. What had she ever truly done to these girls to deserve this?

She had done everything she could to Yuki, she had done every little thing in the world to make Yuki mad or to shame her. If anything Yuki should be the one to want to kick and scream at her daughter, but she would not, could not. No matter what, no matter anything, that was her daughter.

“Why?” Yuki finally asked, turning to both women and looking to them again. “Why would you continually try to hurt her?”

Bliss shifted uncomfortably, obviously out of words. Lilis was the one to speak up. “They did it deliberately, Aunt Yuki,” she said softly. “They were taunting Rhapsody with Ashe’s affair.”

“One, then that remains between Yuna, Harmony, and Rhapsody,” Yuki pointed out, “Second, it is only an affair when they are in a committed relationship.”

The girls had no argument to that.

“And don’t think that just because Rhapsody is not here that I’m not as furious with her as I am with you two,” Yuki growled. “And Mercedes, that little-”

“Yuki, that is enough.” Shai stepped into the room, silencing her best friend and walking over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and looking her in the eyes. Both women stared at one another for a long time, almost like a silent conversation going on between the both of them. Yuki’s hard gray eyes softened with Shai’s help and suddenly she looked deflated. Both Bliss and Lilis watched in amazement.

Shai turned to both girls, always the pleasant princess, even when in a crisis. Many would never have believed that once she had grown desperate enough to have thrown herself from a building, hoping to kill herself. After that day she had never been near suicidal again and had always accepted everyone and everything with a stride, even when angry she was never truly as angry as she could be. Shu was the only one to see the real brunt of her anger.

“Harmony’s baby will be okay,” she assured the girls, though it was more an assurance for herself. Neither Bliss nor Lilis felt any real emotion for the baby in Harmony’s stomach, a baby created out of spite for Rhapsody, not love for each other. Both sides had been trying to hurt someone, and coincidentally it had been Rhapsody from both sides. “As you heard, Yuna’s baby did not make it.”

Bliss and Lilis nodded solemnly. Lilis’s stomach was tied tightly into knots. She did not know if she should still tell Yuki the truth tonight about Darrke and herself, but she wanted them to know. It seemed to be a night for revelations, but now was hardly the time.

“With Yuki’s permission,” Shai continued, strong as she usually could be in times of great need, “I would like to use Fuji’s connections with the local Judy Myu to make sure you girls, all of you, including Mercedes and Rhapsody, receive a few hundred hours of community service.” Yuki opened her mouth to speak but Shai trudged on. “I’m disappointed in you Bliss, Yuki has lost a grandchild for it, as has Fuji.” Fuji, who had been standing silently in the corner, blanched at the thought of grandchildren. “There will be no end to Yuki’s pain for this, but what has made me decide to do this instead of jail is between Harmony, Yuna, and I. I will let Yuki know as well when no one is around. Bliss, Lilis, you may ask all you want, and I know you will, but you will never be privy to the information I received while in that hospital room holding my daughter’s hand.” Shai turned to Yuki and said, “May I speak with you alone before we talk more to the girls.” Yuki nodded and just as simply Bliss and Lilis were dismissed to the hallway to await judgment from the parental figures in their lives.

“They are murderers, Shai,” Yuki hissed. “The baby may be unborn, but they deserve worse than this.”

Shai, calmly, looked to Fuji who sighed and walked out of the room as well. She would never be able to keep the secret from her own children and both women knew it. Shai turned back to Yuki and reached out for her hand and squeezed it gently. “Your daughter was not upset she lost the baby, Yuki,” Shai explained to her. “When you left Yuna was up and about and in Harmony’s room. When they thought I was not listening Yuna told Harmony that now she had lost the source of income, she had lost the money. She admitted caring little about that baby.

“That baby would have been a bright light for us, but as it is, Yuna and Harmony are bringing the lives of their two children already down. When Harmony has her baby I am going to fight for the rights to take them both away from her so I can raise them.”

“You still want to raise children?” Yuki asked incredulously. “After what happened with our own?”

“Yes,” Shai smiled. “Yes, because I’m so proud of my children, all of them, even Harmony. Harmony is dumb, she’s made awful decisions, but without those children I believe she may turn into a better person. She said things I will never reveal to you, to Yuna, that made me reconsider how thoughtless she was. Yuna, however, is thoughtless and wants only the money Ashe would have given her to be pregnant. They lied to him, Yuki. They both told him they were using protection. They made sure they were pregnant that night, they did all they could to be pregnant.”

“That is my daughter you are talking about,” Yuki snapped. “That was my grandchild!”

“Yuki, listen to me,” Shai gripped Yuki’s shoulders and both women stared at one another. “What Bliss, Mercedes, and Rhapsody did to those women is unforgivable, but what those two women are trying to do is not forgivable either. We need to be strong, and dole out punishment as they see fit.

“Besides, with Bliss doing community service here in Illinois, she won’t be able to go back to New York.”

“So she can be closer to Link!” Yuki snarled. “I want her gone.”

“Yuki, just promise me you will sleep on it and tomorrow, after the wedding, we will make decisions,” Shai said.

“Fine,” Yuki nodded. “Fine, I promise.”

The door opened again, Fuji in the lead of Darrke, Lilis, Bliss, Link, and a very pale Tiera, who seemed to have joined the group after a romp with her boyfriend. The group all looked sick and tired.

“I think… we have a problem,” Fuji began, then remembered her level-headed businesswoman type and began again. “It seems the girls were not the only one committing atrocities on life this evening. Darrke, I think you have something that you need to explain to your mother and Yuki.”

Yuki’s eyes were filled with horror and Shai looked speculative. Shai knew her son, and though he had done many things in his life that she never agreed with, she could not see murder being one of them.

“Mom, Yuki… Tonight I committed a sin that will never be forgiven,” Darrke explained. “I did what no one could forgive me of, not even my wife.” Eyes widened. “Yeah, this was not how Lilis and I wanted to tell you, but she and I are married, have been since she was pregnant. Lily is mine, by the way.” Shai’s eyes were wider than Yuki’s. “But, that isn’t what I am here to explain to you. Tonight… I shot Waza.”

“What?”

“Well, let me explain,” Darrke said before the two women could advance. “It was in self defense!”