School Girls' Stories

Chapter 47 – Fuji’s punishment

The rumor of Shai’s pregnancy was quickly washed away by the tidal wave that Fuji and Danko had caused with their malicious argument in front of the entire classroom. Stories spread across the school so quickly that by the time Fuji and Danko’s punishment was decided Shai had been forgotten, which in fact had been Fuji’s plan the whole time. It was admirable for a girl who felt so much anger. It also gave Yuki and Shai a glimpse into Fuji’s heart. The girl who was the strongest of the three, a girl who had been there for all of her friends, had finally just… lost it.

Fuji sat in the principal’s office, Danko next to her, and Mr. Tennison behind them. The principal’s eye was twitching. He had no clue what to do. Here he had a girl who looked to be nothing but trouble, and a girl who was his best student. There were many problems just on the surface of this. He could not in good conscious give Fuji a different punishment than he gave to Danko. Neither had been punished before, though he suspected many things of the older girl. There was just no proof that she was all of the things he expected her to be.

It did not help that the teacher sticking up for one of the students was about to become her step-dad, and though Mr. Saotome was not the hippest man in the world, he knew the rumors of Mr. Tennison’s alleged relationship with a student, and yet that had yet to be brought up to him either.

The vein in the middle of his forehead throbbed and both Fuji and Danko sat further back, straighter, in their chairs. “I do not even know how to begin to describe the disappointment I am feeling in both of you right now,” Mr. Saotome began in a resigned voice. He knew he needed to sound firmer, but what could he say. Fuji looked frightened and defiant all in one glance, Danko just looked pissed.

“You disrupted a classroom,” Mr. Saotome continued, “you have spread rumors, you have turn my school from a house of scholarly teachings to a house of sins. You think I do not know what goes on outside of this school, but I know of the lesbian relationships and the engagements.” Both girls took deep gasping breaths and held it. “I do not want this type of taint on my school, and I have little choice but to-”

“Do not dare to expel my daughter!” came a snapping voice from the doorway. Fuji, Danko, and Mr. Tennison turned towards the door, Mrs. Chenbaro’s magnificent figure framed in the doorway, Shinji Taiikuka slightly behind her. “I have already been informed of this raucous, and I rushed right out of a business meeting. There is a way we can handle this, and if you must suspend her, you must, but she was taking her personal right to protect a friend because that vicious little liar was spread malefic prattle about my daughter’s half-sister. It is unfair and unjust that she be punished so severely for doing what is right for blood and for family.”

Fuji’s mouth dropped, quite literally. She stared up at her mother unseeing. This was twice her mother had come to her defense, and both times she had been doing something that should have broken the woman’s heart. Perhaps playing the part of rebellious teen had made Mrs. Chenbaro realized how precious Fuji was.

Mr. Saotome cleared his throat and nodded solemnly. “I can not give Fuji a better punishment than Makenke.”

“Makenke Danko is a heinous deviant who spread these calumniations,” Mrs. Chenbaro snapped. “My daughter was only playing the part of panoply. She was doing what is right.”

Mr. Saotome barely knew what she had just said, and his head hurt too much to worry at this point. He let out a sigh and sat back in his chair, looking up at the three people who were only playing the roles of Fuji’s parents. “Until I can make a decision, both girls are suspended for an undetermined amount of time. When I make a decision, both sets of parents, meaning Makenke’s and Miss Chenbaro’s, will be contacted. For now I want both sets of parents out of my office, along with their children. Go home, it has been a long day.”

No one argued, but Fuji and her family had won. Danko walked ahead of them, nearly stomping completely off. She was just about down the hall when Mr. Saotome popped his head out of his office and called, “And Makenke, I will be calling your mother.”

“Feel free,” Danko mumbled to herself. “She won’t even listen.”

Fuji watched Danko stalk off, her parents standing behind her. She tried to go for something that would leave out the awkwardness that had suddenly been pulled over like a thick blanket. “Well, I figure I am grounded for a year,” she mumbled, not turning to face the adults behind her.

“Close,” Mr. Taiikuka laughed, leaning forward and embracing his eldest daughter in an unusual display of emotion. “It was nice of you to stick up for Shai like that.”

“Oh,” Fuji said, quite surprised at his reaction. She felt like Shai with her usual shyness and even felt a blush coming on. “Shinji, I would never let anyone hurt Shai.” She called him Shinji, which was the closest thing she could call to friendly. He felt weird with her calling him Mr. Taiikuka, and she felt odd calling him Dad. They had settled for Shinji.

“Thank you for not allowing her to get hurt,” Mrs. Chenbaro said to Mr. Tennison. “I love my daughter, but she does some of the most foolish things.”

“I could not help myself,” Fuji sighed. “I wanted to just… hurt her. She had Kaori sent away and now she was tearing Shai’s life apart. For what? What did we do to her but be happy, while she is miserable and reaping the benefits of her own anger?”

“Bitterness will do that,” Mrs. Chenbaro sighed. She took a larger sigh then and looked to her daughter, brushing beautiful strands of auburn out of her eyes. “I think you, Shinji, Teiyoku, and I should sit down and have a conversation together,” Mrs. Chenbaro said.

Fuji gave a small nod, but then suddenly shook her head. “Not today,” she said. “I know it needs to be done, we need to fix our fractured fairy tale, but right now… I want to just go home and find some ice.”

“Ice?” Mrs. Chenbaro’s eyebrow arched.

Fuji held up her right hand, and the red swollenness of it all had all three adults gasping. “It hurts!”

Passing the classroom of her friends Fuji slowed down, though three adults were trying to push her out of the school. She waved in at them and gave them a thumbs up, then kept walking out of the school, feeling good while feeling angry. Her tension had run out of her body in that one strike, and now she was coming down from the adrenaline, but it felt good to be real. It almost felt better to be real then to play the part of the girl with the strength, and by the time they were out of the school she wanted to skip, except that her parents were still glaring over the top of her head. All she could do was smile.

A/N: I am still looking for anyone who would like to do fanart! I think it would be great to see people\'s perspectives on any of the characters or scenes.