School Girls' Stories - New Generation

Chapter 35 – Christmas Eve – Part 4

“I can not believe you acted that way with Nakago,” Fuji said quietly to Danko as they sat in the room, their eyes hazed over by the cloud of alcohol in their system. “I was sure that when you saw him you were going to strangle him.”

Danko let out a bout of laughter. “I was going to,” she admitted, “but there were too many teenagers around. I can’t show them that violence is the answer, though for someone like him it is the only way to get through to them. Let him have his fun with his daughter, but tonight, as he goes home, he may regret meeting me in a dark alley.”

“It’s odd,” Fuji admitted, “having almost everyone here. It’s sad how our lives turned out, after all we went through.”

“Oh, so you are unhappy you are rich and still look like a model and have Amatsu still doting on you, and you have the most beautiful daughter ever?” Danko laughed. “I wish I had your unhappiness.”

Fuji sighed. Danko knew what she meant, but both of them were skirting around the issue, not wanting to admit the sorrows that were really there. “What about Shinwa,” Fuji pointed out instead. “He was famous, he was in movies, television shows, and the lead singer of a band, and instead, now, he’s forced to play at weddings and other rare occasions that are meaningless in life.”

“But Yuki and Kyoei did well for themselves,” Danko countered. “Yuki has her own comic series going and Kyoei is the morning talk show host on a great radio station. They made their dreams come true and are doing great for themselves.”

“Shai’s not a tennis star.”

“No, she’s a mother,” Danko offered. “I think Shai was always supposed to be a mother. Her kids may be slightly out of control, but they know what they are doing and have direction because Shai fought so hard for them.”

“Slightly,” Fuji snorted. “Some of those kids need to learn a real lesson.” Her eyes were flaming and Danko wondered how much she had missed in her absence.

“You know-” but Danko never was able to finish her thought process. Fuji and Danko had both already hit the ground running before the sentence had begun. The gunshot from only a few rooms away, echoing in the quiet hallways, was enough to have them moving, and Fuji’s heart aching and worrying for her daughter.

~*~

“Wow, Dad, you suck,” Bliss laughed at Kyoei, then flushed, not sure if she should be calling him dad in front of Nakago. Both Kyoei and Nakago pretended not to notice.

“Come on, I’m not that bad,” he denied.

“I beg to differ,” Shinwa laughed. “I’ve already hustled about eighty-two dollars out of you. We can keep going, though. I need to pay off a credit card after all this Christmas shopping I did.”

“What Christmas shopping?” Link barked. “We have, like, three presents under our tree, all addressed to Mom.”

“Santa hasn’t come yet,” Shinwa said.

Link rolled his eyes towards Bliss who was sitting on the barstool next to him. She smiled and almost laughed before she remembered who she was with and suddenly fell somber. Was she supposed to be having a good time with Link? Was she not supposed to dislike him because he was a Kiseki, and always tormenting her?

“Shu, I heard you found an apartment,” Yuki said, trying to change the subject away from Christmas presents, and trying not to notice the obvious tension between Bliss and Link.

Shu nodded, looking a bit grumpy. Shai was the one who interjected instead, not allowing Shu to answer and start blaming Kyoei, which was exactly what he wanted to do. “He found a nice apartment that is only a few blocks from the college,” she smiled happily. She did not add the high rent and that with the costs he would either be able to afford rent, or afford the drugs, and she was hoping he stuck with the rent and went to school regularly, which Shai agreed to continue paying for if he paid his own rent.

“Well that sounds nice!” Yuki cried happily, noticing the tension and trying once again to change the subject. She looked to Sora and smiled at him, hoping that he would have some good news for her. “Did you decide what you were going to do after high school, sweetie?”

“I’ve decided I should not go into the army, or any of the above,” Sora pointed out. “Instead I’m going to go to the community college until I can figure out what I am going to do.”

Silence. Someone dropped their pool cue, not liking the sound of what just came from Sora’s mouth. This boy had known all of his life he wanted to join either the marines or the army, and now he was talking about going to a community college? Did they tell him no and stifle him, or did they…

“Fuck that,” Shinwa snapped. “You are going to some shitty community college, no offense Shu, but I didn’t raise you that way.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Three Memeshii voices butted in, glaring at the Kiseki head of household.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Shinwa said, backed into a corner. Nakago looked like he was trying not to laugh as he hustled Kyoei out of another twenty dollars by mere distraction. None of them were allowed any more words. The sound of the gunshot was faint, but the sound of the whole house erupting into life, maids, family, all running towards the sound was thunderous in the den. Everyone looked upwards and panicked, racing up the stairs to find what was happening.

The travel up the stairs felt like slow motion to them all as people gathered around the door, Fuji and Danko shoving on it, trying to break it down, Yuna and Waza standing, dripping wet, in robes borrowed from the spare bathroom, Darrke and Tiera both looking frightened. It was quickly easy to figure out who was inside of that room, which made the sound of the gun that much more frightening.

“Rhapsody!” Fuji was screaming at the door, trying to break it down, her worry for her daughter giving her an adrenaline rush that had the door splintering under her foot and fists. “Rhapsody!”

When the door creaked open the urgency suddenly died, Fuji freezing, afraid of what she would find inside of Ashe’s room. Amatsu was the one who pushed through the crowd and into the room. Lying on the floor, curled up and gagged and bleeding was Devilin, a quick glancing showing a gunshot wound to his leg. The balcony window was open and without thought Amatsu was running to it, even before he heard the frightened cry of, “Dad!” coming from below. Amatsu ran onto the balcony and looked down, his son standing below and locking eyes with his father, Rhapsody held tightly in his arms. Ashe waved and then bounded across the lawn towards a car that had been left idling in the long driveway. There was no time to think, Amatsu was jumping one floor down from the balcony to the grounds below and rushing towards anyone’s car, yelling for a valet to throw him a pair of keys to the one in front. He was not letting them go that easily.

“Amatsu!” Fuji cried out. She watched him take Yuki’s pink little car and start driving off. Yuki was already on the phone with the police, calling for an ambulance to come and help Devilin. Fuji walked over to Devilin and ripped the gag away from his mouth, her eyes hurt and worried as she looked down at a man she once though about loving. “I want to know exactly what happened and what my husband is chasing,” she snapped.

“It’s Ashe,” Devilin coughed out. “Ashe has Rhapsody.”