Transition and Restart, book one: Arrivals

Chapter six, 2016, springtime in summer, part three

June slid towards July, and with the new month approaching came an end to the remorseless raining. And the next thing just had to be a thunderstorm. Sometimes I just hate this place.

Christina stared out the entrance. Umbrella or not wouldn't matter. This was worse than the downpour that heralded Ulf's disastrous midsummer's party.

I knew it could rain like this here in Japan. It did last summer but I still just can't believe it.

Outside water literally roared down from the sky. Within hours the tamed rivers would become gurgling chaos of brown water thundering to the ocean. But for Christina the here and now was more important.

It was as if an unruly water-god mischievously flicked a switch on and off. Ten minutes glaring sunshine, five minutes staggering thunder followed by the skies dumping drops the size of a swimming pool over anyone stupid enough to be caught outside.

Then a drizzle and after that maybe a quarter of an hour with murderous sunshine boiling the water on the ground. Steam rose and turned the outside into a sauna and the next you knew another round of thunder rolled in and it started all over again.

Three hours she had waited. She wasn't alone. Three hours.

***

Three hours he had waited. He wasn't alone. Three hours.

But Urufu never showed.

Yukio ordered his third round and looked at Ryu-kun. The latter shrugged and ordered as well.

It was Friday evening and Ryu had joined him in anticipation of meeting Urufu here at their mall.

The two of them spent the time recounting what had occurred at Red Rose Hell close to a year ago. Ryu-kun looked relieved that the girls had decided to go shopping and then sleep over with Noriko-chan.

Yukio could understand that. There were things you didn't talk about with your sister. Especially not those things.

He filled Ryu-kun in on what Urufu had said. How they were forced to wait and how it was likely that any repercussions would wait until after summer break ended.

They talked about what the right wing loonies could possibly do. They weighed the risk of a physical attack. They made a few contingency plans. They built trust and friendship, and they dropped the honorifics.

And they spoke about how there was a fourth one.

One that had to be found. One that he didn't want found.

***

One that had to be found. One that he didn't want found.

Even though Ulf had pressured Yukio into service he never planned to drag his friend into a disgraceful deed. Some things were the right things to do but the right things to do weren't always graceful.

And Yukio never wanted to find the fourth assailant, the ogre. As far as Yukio was concerned three of the guys had ceased to exist never to resurface. That Nakagawa had managed to get two of them expelled was a nice bonus but even that was distasteful. Going after the fourth personally was tantamount to dirtying yourself and your family. Ulf knew that Yukio truly believed that.