School Girls' Stories - Year 3

Chapter 31 – London Assignment

Shinwa sat in his cell, alone thanks to his lawyer bribing the prison guards to not force a pretty boy like Shinwa to be alone. All Shinwa really did while in his tiny little cell, his new home for what seemed like it would be an eternity, and for him, it just might be. How had things gone so terribly wrong? This was not what he was supposed to be doing while in London. He came to London to work, and yes, while there, he slipped a bit. He knew he did some of the things he should not have, and in his guilt he had betrayed the one person he could have relied on, the one person he could have told the truth to, and when he knew the end was coming instead of telling her what she wanted he watched her walk away. It was easier that way, really, he knew it.

What was worse? His show, following his incarceration, had easily replaced him, killing off his character. What if he somehow did not go to jail? It was already too late for him, they had given up on him. If he did not go to jail he would return to Japan a broken man, and he would be forced to see Yuki, a girl who believed the wrong thing, and would be told more and more lies, and who would never forgive him. He would not blame her, though he would try to win her back, and when she finally told him no for good… he would be worse off than if he was to rot in jail for the rest of his life.

And… it was all her fault. It was all that damned Ririka. It took her no time to adjust to London night life, the fast pace of the rainy streets, and the underground dance clubs and drug habits. While Shinwa tried to be a good influence he slipped, he knew he would, but… but it was Ririka. Damn it all, he was innocent. But who could he tell that to? Even his high priced lawyer, who was going to cost him the last of his money, did not believe him. He just nodded and smiled when Shinwa told the truth and went through his paperwork, coming up with an even better story.

Shinwa stood and walked to the cell bars that looked out upon the hallways. He did not know why he did it, or why everyone in the cells seemed to do so. Possibly so they could torment the innocent man who walked passed them through the halls, making sure they were behaving themselves. The prisoners gathered at the edge of the cells, caged animals, feral, wanting to be released. Even the innocent ones were just crouching tigers, waiting to pounce on fresh meat, for they knew where their fate lied. Shinwa was not a famous enough face for him to slide so easily, like OJ Simpson or Winona Ryder. No, he was still not famous enough to go to jail for life, and it would be how he was remembered until the end of the next year, when he would be forgotten and lost.

Shinwa paced inside of his cage, not sure what to do from this point. In a few more days he would be going to court, sitting before a judge, and awaiting the verdict on the rest of his life. He hated the wait. If he was going to go to jail forever he would like to know now that his life was over. If, somehow, some miracle was going to save him, he would like to know that now. Why the wait? Was this early purgatory for the sins he had pledged upon himself and those around him? Was he really never going to see Yuki again and be able to tell her the truth?

“Shinwa.” Damn, he was starting to daydream; he could almost hear her voice in his head as he paced through the cell. “Shinwa?” Wait, that voice was not in his head. He could hear that voice clearly, hear the ringing tone of it, the clear bells of the beauty that was a plain girl whom he thought was beautiful and loved, and he turned towards that voice was surprised by the radiance of her beauty, of the brightness of her smile, though she looked anything but happy. He almost slid through the bars with his excitement to see her, though his excitement to see her made it even harder to think.

“Yuki?” he asked hesitantly, still unable to believe it was her.

“Shinwa!” she cried out, rushing away from the guard who was leading her and running towards the cell, her hands wrapping around the bars before the guard could snap at her to stand back. “Shinwa!” Her excitement was uncontainable. She pressed herself closer to those bars and held tight, looking him in the eyes, and for a moment, for that brief second in time, she forgot all of her anger, all of her doubts, all of her fury. It was out the window when he first glanced up at her with those dark circles under his eyes, looking deflated and defeated. Even when she had seen him at the school fair, and his eyes had been glazed over, he had not looked so bad.

“Yuki,” he sighed out, and it was the only words they were allowed to say to one another before the guard came over and pried Yuki off of the bars, pulling her forcefully away and back into the middle of the walkway.

“She says she knows you, Pop Star,” the guard growled, “but every girl who comes in here says they know you. So, are you gonna visit this one, or not?”

“I want to visit her!” Shinwa said, a bit too eagerly which had all of the guys in their cages going, “ooooh,” like little schoolchildren, and Shinwa knew he would regret it later, but he did not care. She had come all of this way to see him, the least he could do was see her.

Ten minutes later they sat across from one another in a room where a guard stood on the side of the room, giving them privacy, but not enough. Now that they were together the awkwardness began. She did not know how to begin her interrogation, and he did not know if he wanted to tell her the absolute truth or the lie everyone else knew.

“Shinwa, I need to know…” Yuki began, at the same moment that Shinwa leaned forward and said, “Yuki, there’s something I have to tell you…” deciding with honesty over his lies, now if only the last one he ever counted on could believe him.