Chapter three, 2017, shards: 9

"It's an outrage!"

"They can't do that to us. You need to act Principal Kareyoshi."

Ulf walked past the door. It didn't matter that it was closed. The shouting was heard in the corridor where parts of the teaching staff stood eavesdropping, for which you merely had to be within a classrooms distance from the headship's office.

'You're wrong,' Ulf thought. 'They can, and they did. Or rather Christina did.'

Once again Himekaizen was crawling with media people, or at least they crawled as close to the compound as was possible. A few Japanese, but as the prosecutor had opened up a case to enforce the Japanese censorship laws Japanese press was fairly absent.

Media from Seoul and the US wasn't. Just as Ambassador Cooper had threatened the Himekaizen rapes had blown up into an international scandal.

Ulf grimaced and went for the stairs. 'How could you? She's your daughter.' But maybe being a diplomat was akin to being a politician. Humans were bricks in a game, even if they were relatives. Then his thoughts went to Christina who had orchestrated the entire thing, and Ulf's mind soured.

'If that's what it takes to build I global empire then I believe you'd be better off if you never built one in the first place.' Because if Christina knew what kind of strings to pull now she probably knew it before he met her as well.

'I need someone sane to speak with.'

Ulf walked down the stairs, walked, not ran or jumped like Ryu used to do during their freshman year here. 'Noriko? No, I don't think so. Ah… Of course!'

Ulf hoped Yukio wouldn't be too angry if he borrowed his girlfriend for a while. In ways she knew more about Christina than he did himself. After all they were best friends since middle school.

"Heard about that American slut? Really think she was raped?"

Ulf backed around the corner when he heard the voices.

"She's a foreigner. Probably likes it rough. You know what they're like."

After a moments hesitation Ulf decided to avoid the confrontation. He stayed out of sight while the two first year boys overtook him and continued down the stairs.

Pigs like those were everywhere. It wasn't anything specific for Japan. The rape laws here, however, were a different matter. If the victim didn't press charges then nothing had happened, and in this case it meant only one rape had occurred, even though the police did their best to convince Jennifer to drop her charges as well.

He came down to the entrance floor, walked to the shoe lockers, switched and just as he passed trough the doors he wrapped his jacket around his shoulders and stepped out into a rapidly cooling world.

Across the gravel Yukio and Kyoko stood waiting for him. Yukio with a face so grim Ulf could see it from where he walked, and Kyoko for once showed the same expression. Behind them Ulf saw their armed body guards standing under the sakura trees lining the streets embracing Himekaizen.

'If she's that angry I doubt she'll help me.' Ulf bit his lower lip. 'If anything she'll help Christina instead.' Which was a problem. While all the current members of the PTA suffered from archaic views on foreigners far from all of them were rabid psychopaths the way Kareyoshi was.

Thus far Christina's rumour mongering had gotten two members fired from their jobs according to the information network Ulf trawled with the help of Amaya. Those two, as far as Ulf could discern, weren't really bad people, and he felt unease about how things slowly spiralled out of control.

'I'll ask for her help. At least that I can do.' So he walked up to Yukio with worms crawling in his stomach. What had happened to the two girls was beyond the pale, but as much as he wanted a lynch mob to take care of those involved, rationally he knew that wasn't the way to go. 'So I'll ask for her help.'

"Yukio, mind if I take Kyoko for a short date?" Ulf asked.

Yukio glanced at Kyoko, but his eyes never really left Ulf's. "I she doesn't then I don't."

"She might. I'm not asking you for anything nice," Ulf said and turned his attention directly to Kyoko as he finished the sentence.

"Is it about Kuri-chan?"

Ulf nodded at her. "The Haven is a bad place for this. I was thinking Asakusa."

Yukio stared at him, but it was Kyoko who voiced his concerns.

"That's across the entire city."

"I know," Ulf said and pointed a thumb at the body guards and the car.

"I don't mind, but Yukio comes along as well," Kyoko said.

"I'd really prefer if just..."

"You don't have a say in this. If it's about you and Kuri-chan, then you don't get to talk with me alone," she interrupted. "If it's about the two of you, then it concerns the two of us."

Ulf smirked. What could he do?

"Still want that talk or not, man?" Yukio said. "I'll stay in the background, but if she says I'm tagging along then I'll do as she says."

There wasn't anything more to do than throwing Yukio and Kyoko both a stare each filled with admiration. There was no coercion from Kyoko's side, and there was absolutely no chance Yukio wouldn't join.

Ulf needed to talk, so he shrugged and followed his friends to the back seat of the car. He shuffled to the right and tried to make himself as small as possible when Kyoko squeezed him into the corner to fasten her seat belt. When he finally got some free space to breathe again he saw Noriko rushing across the gravel.

Then Yukio entered, seated himself and the car drove away.

Through the rear window Ulf saw Noriko panting and staring after the car, and just as they turned around a corner his phone blared alive in his pocket.