Chapter two, 2016, school festival, madness beginning: 9

Christina watched the play from behind. They were better than she expected, the students from 6:1.

'I'd have liked to be part of them, but then 6:1 wouldn't be 6:1.'

Lights and sounds were close to perfect. Having professionals handling it did wonders, and Uniclo were adamant when it came to who ran the all-important lights. In the end she caved in and let them use highly skilled technicians for the sound as well.

'I'd prefer being in 6:1.' That thought still haunted her. Due to Ryu and her 3:1 had become a popularity circus. The Watabe twins didn't help and nor did Noriko's close to perfect test scores. But that wasn't the real reason, was it? 'I want to spend more time with Ulf.'

They waved once and hugged once, but that was it for the festival thus far.

Over the radio she heard him running the festival in a way that would have had her consider kidnapping during her years as The Billion Dollar Empress. Superb organisers were usually hard to come by, but until now she had believed the rumoured genius to be a fairy tale.

Until now. Listening to how critical problems dissolved and noting how less critical ones climbed a self-escalating ladder of importance filled her with an almost sexual desire. She accepted that part of herself. How watching almost inhuman competence turned her on.

"Kuri-chan!"

Christina winced and swivelled on her chair. 'Crap, she saw my face!' "Yes, Hitomi-chan?" That girl was way too perceptive, and a beauty in her own right. She had seen, and Christina was certain she recognised what she saw.

"Missing Urufu-kun much?"

Christina felt her cheeks heating up. No way she could play the innocent any more. "Yeah, I do. What of it?" She was surprised how hoarse her voice came out.

Over the radio another terse conversation played out, and another minor disaster vanished.

"Nothing. I envy you," came Hitomi-chan's frank answer. "Had you chosen Ryu-kun I'd make him mine."

'You wouldn't, but I can't tell you the reason why.' "You like him?" Facing a rival made it easier for her to dial down her racing emotions.

"No," Hitomi-chan answered and climbed into her dress for the last act. "He'd look good by my side, that's all."

That was one aspect of Japan Christina couldn't come to terms with. When the kids here grew beyond their years they acted like adult in ways that scared her. "Would you really settle for a trophy that way?"

"Yes, why not?" came the surprisingly calm answer. "But you got him first. I guess I ought to congratulate you," Hitomi-chan said and climbed the stage.

'She really doesn't understand how much I love him? A trophy?' It was a sobering thought. If most who knew they were a couple saw him as her trophy boyfriend then more rivals were bound to line up after the festival. 'I don't want that. He's mine!' Her possessiveness frightened her a bit. Too much like how she used up people and discarded them during the years when she built her empire.

"No, I didn't get him first. I just fell in love with him first," Christina whispered to the stage. Pangs of loneliness gripped her, and fear. 'Am I losing him? Sato-sensei is our handle from today onwards, and she wants us to break up.' Lieutenant Colonel Sato. A formidable adversary. 'I'll fight you all the way. If I lose him at least allow me to make it my own fault you bitch!'

More students entered the stage around her. A few of them threw her questioning glances.

'I need to get my act together.' She rose and started handing out the remaining props and clothes she had prepared earlier.

The play would conclude without her help from now on and she turned her attention to the last preparations for the fashion show.

From the back doors her models started arriving. Ryu merrily chatting with Nao-sempai, the second beauty from the left wing clinging to them like a stamp to an envelope and a stunningly good looking Midori-chan. Make-up artists had worked miracles with her hair.

Everyone on the beauty contest short list were pressed into participation, including a shocked Kyoko and a swearing Ulf. And Yukio as well, even though he didn't know it yet. Noriko knew of her own participation though, but to Christina's surprise she didn't protest at all.

Even the Watabe twins grinningly accepted together with a couple of girls from the softball team. Those four were central for the display of sports clothes. Ryu would wear some as well, and Ulf had the build for it, but he moved like a gorilla whenever she forced him to wear sports casuals, so she gave up on that idea.

Strangely enough he walked with an aura of self-confidence in those awful outdoors clothes of his, but he only frowned when she showed him Uniclo's line in that section.

Christina had her own plans for him. Costumes and sports jackets. No one else, not even Nao-sempai could compare when it came to dressing up and still behave like someone in jeans and T-shirt.

'Because those were your jeans and T-shirts for half your life. I want to see you in a high quality costume when you're thirty. Damn, you'll probably look like a Greek god!' And that thought had her all flustered again. 'I guess...' She blushed even more. 'I guess…' That seed of a thought both scared her and filled her with joy. 'I guess I want to marry you.'

Helplessly in love. Not as a teenage girl but an adult with a good grasp of what forever meant. 'I'd share my life with you. I'd age with you. I'd love you forever.'