Chapter fourteen. Apologies, shock and tickets

The scene that unfolded in the hallway near class 3-2 was worthy of being captured, if not by an artist or a professional photographer, then at least by a mangaka, and the latter would not even have to try too hard. The scene looked somewhat out of place to an inexperienced eye, and the faces of all those present at the same time looked not just surprised but downright caricatured.

— Kazumi Hideki-san, I'm sorry, — a girl from class 2-1, a year younger than her classmates and Hideki himself, kept bowing, apologizing, and trying to shove an envelope into Hideki's hands. Moreover, she was one of the most beautiful girls in school and an active idol; the latter, however, let those present not know, at least most of them, but Hideki himself knew perfectly well.

And how did it come to this, and what to do about it?

***

The beginning of the week went well, which was worth the bulging eyes of Haire and his backup singers and the surprised look of Gila Terikoto when he entered the classroom as if nothing had happened very shortly before the start of the class hour.

As soon as Gila saw him, she immediately dragged Haire out of the classroom almost by the ear. After both of them returned just before the start of the class hour, Gila looked annoyed, and Khair looked extremely unhappy. Both cast displeased and annoyed glances at Hideki. However, they have yet to dare to take any action.

During the lunch break, Kyoko got up, took out a wrapped box of something, approached Hideki, and said something quietly to him. He nodded, and they both left. They came out quietly and calmly and generally behaved calmly, which could not be said about Gil or Khair, who was almost boiling with anger. Hideki and Kyoko returned quite lively, and — lo and behold, Hideki even smiled a little.

Kyoko refused Gila's attempts to talk to her, but when Gila tried to detain you after school, Hideki suddenly approached them and blocked the attempt with his:

"We agreed to go home together, Kyoko-chan. I'm sorry, Terikoto-san," Hideki bowed, but even his bow to Gila looked mocking, "but we have to go.

Gila only cast evil glances, she didn't have enough courage for something else yet. Khair was still in shock that their wonderful plan had failed. He had already run to the home economics office three times today, found no trace, and almost came to the conclusion that he was going crazy. However, after talking with my friends, I calmed down. But I couldn't figure out what had happened. Why is Anpan-kun not twitching, not indignant? Why didn't you file a complaint? Unclear.

And he wasn't afraid either. Haire thought that if he were in such a situation, he would be scared. How did he get out of it? And you won't ask... to ask about this topic is to admit publicly to your bad deed. And if he does complain? Doubts and fear gnawed at Khair and his assistants. And every day, they got more and more nervous, which required some way out. It's some excuse. A sign that they were right.

It was very important to them.

If Hideki was afraid, they could justify themselves at least with the primitive thesis "Survival of the fittest." Hideki is the weakest; he is afraid. Everything in the picture of the world is normal.

If Hideki complained about them, that would also be a normal outcome. He is justifying them morally. He is weak, complains to the teachers, and sneaks at him.

The situation in which he does not complain is not afraid and becomes even closer to Ame-san than before their fake relationship ended exasperated Haire.

Haire's throwing was incredibly infuriating for Gila, who hoped that Hideki, even by accident, would pay attention to her exactly as a girl.

Neither Kyoko nor Hideki, who went home together, thought much about all these tosses — they still had an important conversation postponed, and not even one.

"Can I come visit you, Hideki—kun?"

This phrase greatly surprised Hideki and even knocked him out of his rut a little, but he nodded affirmatively. - of course.

— You see, — Kyoko lowered her gaze, — I want to tell you something, but I don't want anyone even to hear me by accident, so I don't want to sit in a cafe or in some other place where anyone can be.

— At your place, as I understand it, is also not an option ... — Hideki drawled. — I see.

"Although everything is a little better than I feared, I would not like to," Kyoko nodded and continued, slightly throwing Hideki off balance with her pressure, "So how is it?"

— Do you want to go straight after school? Kyoko nodded again, and Hideki thought a little. However, he quickly decided that there was no particular problem.… But his room... well, it will be possible to pour tea in the living room and tidy up. — good. I can't guarantee that Sis won't subject you to almost a third-degree interrogation, but if that doesn't bother you, then I agree.

—That's great,— Kyoko smiled. Even though she had certain doubts and Hideki's sister, Yumiko—chan, was a little afraid, but she was not going to stop; it was too late for that.

They left school together and even got to Hideki's house without much incident. However, as soon as they crossed the threshold of the house, Kyoko only managed to say:

— Sorry for the intrusion.

And in the blink of an eye, a small and cheerful hurricane named Yumiko appeared in front of them.

— Kyoko-chan, you've come! How are you already with my brother? Or have you not decided yet? Have you kissed before? Did you even hug? I understand that I should not wait for my nephews soon, but I want to…

Kyoko was not exactly surprised by such pressure, but just trampled for a few seconds, but managed to recover:

"I'm glad to see you too, Yumiko—san!" First of all, thank you so much for calling me back then. And secondly, I'm sorry that I…

Yumiko made violent gestures of denial but, on the contrary, bowed to Kyoko:

— Kyoko-chan, my brother, didn't tell me, but I can think, and I understand that nothing good happened to him…

What else the girls would have said to each other is unknown, but both were rudely interrupted by Hideki himself:

— Yumiko, make Kyoko tea, please, and talk. I'm going upstairs for a few minutes.

— Do you want to clean the room? Should I remove the porn magazines? And hide magazines with cute girls?

— Yes, yes, — Hideki held his muzzle with a brick.

Hideki went upstairs; Yumiko sat Kyoko down in the living room and whispered:

— Actually, he doesn't have anything like that.… Well, or I didn't find it. But it's unlikely, I was looking very well," Yumiko raised her hand in a victorious gesture. — That is, I didn't find porn, but there is a robe with cute girls on the cover very similar to you, Kyoko-chan. And there is manga. But there are no porn magazines. Even if you buy it yourself, I'm ashamed of how you bought it, and I have a brother for this. All right, all right. Don't frown like that, Kyoko-chan; I was joking, That is, about what to buy myself; I was joking, but my brother really doesn't have them.

Kyoko, of course, was ready for a lot, but Yumiko managed to chatter and confuse her.

— And how was Yumiko-chan's family meeting? — I finally found a suitable topic for Kyoko to talk about.

— As usual. Grandpa was unhappy that his older brother did not come. Dad, on the contrary. Mom… Mom… Apparently, it didn't matter. Okay, in general, nothing like that, only Dad threatened to deprive him of pocket money; he forgot that he had done it a long time ago…

Kyoko didn't know what to say and just took a sip of tea.

"Not for the first time. Don't worry about your brother, Kyoko-chan. My brother once said that as long as he cared, at least for me, he would still have the strength. Then he found that part-time job; you were there; he mentioned it once, so you saw Mato-san. Just don't leave your brother, Kyoko-chan… And he will have three times more strength.

"I won't give up, Yumiko-chan. No way. Even if he is against it..." Kyoko sighed, "And he was against it…

— That's great;— unable to control her emotions, Yumiko jumped up to Kyoko, who had already put the cup on the table, and hugged her impulsively — continue to take care of my brother, Kyoko-chan.

The cup she touched, fortunately empty, rolled on the table, began to fall, and was intercepted at the very ground by the toe of Hideki's foot, which had already descended and gently rolled down without the threat of crashing.

"Be careful, little sister...— said Hideki. — Kyoko, let's go to my room.…

— Should I wait for my nephews? Ah! Brother! This is domestic violence! Yumiko, who had received a snap, stared at her older brother resentfully.

— Don't talk nonsense; we need to talk. And don't eavesdrop; if and when it's possible, Kyoko will tell you herself.

—Okay," Yumiko muttered, "stupid brother.

***

Kyoko made a circle around Hideki's rather small room. A bed, a table by the window, shelves to the left of the table, partially above the bed, a wardrobe, and a chair — and that's it. No posters, no jewelry, no posters with undressed girls. As well as no trace that they were. Even though she was already at Hideki's house, being in his room felt different... more unusual, more exciting. Kyoko hoped that she hadn't blushed after all and desperately sat down on Hideki's bed for herself.

—Hideki-kun," she breathed, —that's what I wanted to tell you. Sit down…

Hideki pulled out a chair from behind the table and sat down opposite. Kyoko rather hurriedly, as if fearing that Hideki would not listen to her or hide her embarrassment with such a quick speech, began to say:

— Hideki-kun, my sister, and I have loved idols since childhood, and their atmosphere and the way they move and sing seemed amazing, brilliant, and dazzling to us… And that's what we wanted, too. They usually start at twelve, and since I turned twelve, I've been waiting a year for Katari to turn twelve. As soon as it happened, both of us, as a gift, and we were born in the same month, asked for help to get to the audition. My parents, as always, were busy, but they were able to arrange for us to get to the first qualifying round. And we even got on a local reality show. We were promoted as the Kikari twins; my sister and I are very similar, especially if we put our hair together the same way and pick up makeup… It's very hard to tell the difference.

"I'm aware of that,— Hideki chuckled, unable to resist.

Kyoko looked down for a second but recovered and turned her gaze to Hideki.

— Everything was going pretty well on the reality show up to a certain point; we went together as the "Kikari Twins" and were always going to work together. We moved higher and higher in the rankings, passed the qualifiers one-eighth, and passed in one-fourth. Both Katari and I were thrilled to see our dream of becoming idols getting closer and closer. Parents… My parents smiled discreetly and congratulated me. Aoi, well, the older sister, you know her, constantly praised us and said that she was proud of us… We were preparing... and then… Then..." Kyoko paused and took a few deep breaths. Hideki knew perfectly well what she was doing; he had once used a similar method so that no one would see his tears and stroked Kyoko on the shoulder, trying to calm her down. Kyoko inhaled and exhaled one last time and finally continued, "Then, two days before the next round, they came to us and warned us that we were playing the quarterfinals separately and helped us make two different numbers. On the day of the semi-finals, we were separated in the morning. And on stage, we both realized exactly what we hadn't been told. "And now, attention, the most intense round of the semi-finals! You saw them at the qualifiers; you followed them in the one-eighth and quarterfinals! Today, for the first time, the Kikari twins are against each other! I saw Katari's shock and fright and decided that, as an older sister, I should take care of her! I smiled at her. And she lost. No one would have noticed it—no one except the coach and Katari herself.

— And how did Katari react? Hideki already knew the "how," but it was necessary to help Kyoko, who was still in upset feelings, gather her thoughts.

— At first, she was surprised that she won, or rather, that her grades were significantly higher. Then she reviewed my performance… And I realized that I had lost on purpose. She saw my training, and we were on par… Almost. That's why I had to make some blunders; otherwise, there was no guarantee that she would win.

Hideki wanted to hug Kyoko, to calm her down somehow, but he was afraid that it would be too aggressive on his part, and Kyoko might get scared, so he limited himself to patting her shoulder once more.

— Since then, Katari has, well, not hated me, but almost. More precisely, I almost hated it until recent events. I'm sorry, Hideki-kun, you were also partially involved because of me. Because of my past selfishness. Kyoko jumped off the bed and wanted to apologize and fell to her knees in doge, but Hideki was restrained, jumped up from the chair, and gently hugged her, not letting her fall.

"Hush, it's okay, Kyoko, it's not your fault. It's, at most, your sister's fault, but that's not all. I understand correctly that all this," Hideki shook her head vaguely, but Kyoko understood what he meant, "was not your younger sister's idea.

— I have not yet fully understood all the prerequisites, and I do not understand all the motives of Gila Terikoto, but it seems to me that the following happened…

Kyoko sighed…

And finally, I was able to continue:

— As I understand it, at first, my sister just let it slip that I didn't come fully dressed, and then Gila successfully managed to blackmail me. Khair, I think, was a little inadequate for another reason: just a week before, he confessed his love to me.

— And, I take it, was refused? Hideki couldn't resist sarcasm.

— That's right. Kyoko confirmed and continued, "As I think Gila's main idea was to get me to confess to you, I should have been rejected and become a target for bullying. And an easier target for Haire. Maybe he wanted to "save" me, maybe Gila just wanted to show that I wasn't worth it. Anyway, the plan didn't work; I didn't listen to Gila. And they decided to take revenge on you, to show you, like, I betrayed you, and to show me you, in a pathetic way. In the hope that I won't figure it out. And you are unlikely to get to a frank conversation.

— Most likely, their plan would have worked. Hideki said thoughtfully. — Even if I had stayed with my hands, I would hardly have continued to communicate with you. And your sister didn't like the "nasty fat man," and Gila convinced her that she needed to help get rid of me.

—Yes,— Kyoko Nodded. — She's coming to apologize.

"I don't need to, but if you think it's the right thing to do..." Hideki shrugged his shoulders. — Then I won't mind.

"First of all, she needs it herself..." sighed Kyoko.

***

What Hideki didn't expect was that Ame Katari would choose such an inappropriate time and place for her to apologize. And I did not expect at all that her apologies would take such a material form.

— Kazumi Hideki-san, I'm sorry, — the girl bowed once again, — I hope you like my little gift, — and then she planted another social bomb on Hideki: he took a step forward and whispered almost in his ear;— On Saturday, my sister, and I are going to buy swimsuits. Don't disappoint my sister, Hideki-kun. And me.

After these words and actions, Ame Katari left, sending a few not-so-good looks toward the center of the class along the way. Gila Terikoto, as Hideki noticed, visibly shuddered after these glances.

The words spoken by Kyoko's sister became clear after Hideki, during a break, opened a white envelope without inscriptions and unfolded a piece of paper lying there. Kyoko apologized; today, she had lunch with her sister, which was quite rare due to the fact that she was constantly busy. And Hideki went to have lunch near one of the entrances to the roof, which was tightly brewed. However, as Hideki mentally told himself, even he could take this lockdown. Naturally, if he had the right tool.

— Two tickets to the indoor pool... are valid from this Sunday. Yes, this is going to be another test.… Invite Kyoko… Even if I suspect she won't mind at all. Well, there is another problem… However, I think I can muster up the courage.…