My Friend the Harem Protagonist

Chapter 39: Rats in the Trap

It was strange to be in the disciplinary office without Ayami. I'd spent so much time with her in detention that to see the room without her was odd, even more so with Haru sitting at his little desk.

"Do you think we're in danger?" I asked Haru. News about Karin had gotten around fast. Ayami was visiting the hospital as much as she could, leaving Haru with more paperwork than he could handle.

"From Aya? Not us, but the other girls might be. Aya knows that Shin and I are friends so hurting me means showing him an ugly side. Plus you're with me and you aren't interested in Shin."

"So all the other girls should be worried? She let Miyu go though."

"Miyu's a good talker, but if it's a fist fight she won't last a minute. Aya can take her out whenever she wants."

I thought Haru was a little too set on Aya being out for blood. Intimidation could be just as effective and half as messy. "If you're right then Ayami isn't a threat either. So she'll probably go after Masaki next."

"That'll be tough because Masaki has been barricading herself in that old house after school every day, and I don't have proof but I think Miyu's been staying there too."

"So we're the only ones who can still move around. It sounds like all the girls will just take each other out."

"What do you mean?"

I sat on Haru's desk cross legged. It was supposed to look suggestive to try and distract him, but my legs just disappeared inside my long skirt. It looked like my torso was resting on a big cone. "It's not really our fight anymore. We were trying to keep the girls away from Shin and Aya, but now Aya's doing that for us."

"Yeah, but we weren't trying to hurt them. Karin might be out for the rest of the season, on her last year too."

I felt a little pang of guilt, just a tiny one. "Alright, don't tell anyone I said this but Karin is probably the best fighter out of all of us."

"I think most people know that already," Haru said.

His answer annoyed me, but he'd been working for a few hours so I let it slide. For now. "What I'm saying is that there's no clear outcome in a fight with Aya. Plus, if Shin sees it the wrong way it looks like we're going after his girlfriend."

"So we outsmart her. We don't have to win physically, she just needs to be outmaneuvered."

He seemed so set on this. It was frustrating me because we'd put all this effort in because Shin was oblivious to the danger. Now Shin was getting his own protection so we should be home free.

Haru must have seen the frustration in my face. He put his pen down and awkwardly put his hand over mine. Even if it was clumsy I still felt a little skip in my heart. I frowned deeper to suppress a smile, because not looking tough wasn't an option.

"I can understand not wanting to do this anymore, but he's my friend and I want to see it through to the end. So if you'll help me I'd really appreciate it."

I sighed. I'd have to work on my defense when he was being genuine. "All right, as long as I'm nowhere near her fists." I leaned toward him for a kiss.

The door flew open and Ayami strode in. I wanted to throw a book at her and tell her to leave, then I noticed how out of it she looked. There were deep circles under her eyes and her braid was a mess. It was the only time I'd ever seen her look anything less than pristine.

She glanced around her office, then seemed to realize that Haru and I were here. Her gaze moved to the papers on Haru's tiny desk.

"You're doing those wrong," she murmured. Ayami yawned and headed for her desk. She slumped down in her chair and looked ready to fall asleep.

"How's she doing?" I asked.

Ayami opened her eyes. "She's awake now, and nothing Aya did will be permanent. It might be awhile until she's back at a hundred percent though." Ayami didn't say anything more than that. She just sat there with her eyes closed. It took a moment for us to realize she was asleep.

I looked at Haru and he shrugged. Both of us crept over to her chair and leaned it back so she was lying down. Then we draped her school jacket over her like a blanket. After that we left the office and turned out the lights.

"Didn't you have more paperwork to finish?" I asked Haru once we were in the hallway.

"She'll probably do it in her sleep," he replied. We headed for the entrance to get our shoes. I wondered how Ayami would handle this. Teasing her aside, she really was good friends with Karin. A small part of me hoped it would make her more mellow when it came to handing out detentions.

Haru's phone buzzed right when we were about to leave. I saw Shin's name on the screen before he answered. Shin's voice had his usual bubbly cheer, even through a grainy speaker. It was hard to make out what he was saying, but it was something to do with Aya.

Haru said his goodbyes and hung up. He turned to me with a worried expression. "Aya didn't go to school today. She got permission to spend the day doing cardio up by the old section of town."

"You mean where Masaki lives?" We'd both been out casing Shin's house before the big fight, so we knew when someone was checking a place out. Now we had to figure out our next move.

"I think it's too early to get on Aya's bad side," Haru said. I was a little surprised since he'd been so gung ho about protecting Shin. This was very like him though, trying to outmaneuver everyone.

"You have a point, once the element of surprise is gone we can't get it back. But I'm still going to warn Masaki. Hopefully she's prepared for something like this."

Haru looked out the window as though Aya might be lurking out there. "If anyone is prepared for something like this, it's her."

Author's note: Ayami alternates between sleeping four hours during the week and twelve hours during the weekend. Somehow it works

-SleepEasy