Marionette

Cosmos, Chapter Thirty - Arashi no mae no shizukesa [嵐の前の静けさ]

The revelation that Isogai was facing the possibility of expulsion was something that had plagued Amaya relentlessly. She'd barely been able to focus enough on her supposed report once the facts had sunk in on her, and thankfully Koro-sensei appeared too preoccupied with something that afternoon to notice her fleeing the campus along with everyone else.

Again, she was met with the silent treatment from Samuel, though he ate his dinner without complaint, small piece of chicken and all. Shortly afterwards, he ran right back upstairs and locked himself in his room.

Beyond that, she'd been flagged down by Reiko dragging Yuta along with a request to cut both their hair again. She appeared to be overly fond of her much shorter hair, and it reminded Amaya that in spite of Karma's jokes about it, the boys really had asked if she could help out with the Boutaoshi match.

Should she get her hair cut short and sneak into the numbers like they said?

She'd been meaning to get her hair cut since she had the spare money for once, but she wasn't sure if sneaking in like that was really the best thing to do. She had already decided she was going to help in any way she could, but this? It wouldn't be beyond Asano to wring them out for "cheating" if push comes to shove.

Amaya's thoughts engulfed her for the rest of the evening, to the point that she barely noticed Karma's absence that evening. And even if she had, she had no idea as to where he could have wandered off. She never made much of a point in prying into his whereabouts, after all.

The planning for the Boutaoshi match had gone ahead in greater detail since the afternoon before, and at Amaya's arrival at the satellite campus, she felt a fair few gazes fall upon her rather weary form from through the classroom window.

In fact, she found herself rather surprised to see Mimura and Okajima approach her as she swapped her shoes over.

'Morning, Amaya-san!' Okajima greeted her, earning a rather meek nod in return.

'Morning...' She responded, though not without a rather curious glance between the two boys. 'Umm, what's up?'

'Well, we were wondering if you came to a decision about helping us out with Boutaoushi.' Mimura spoke up, though the rather hopeful look he wore across his face quickly shifted towards a rather sheepish edge. 'I mean, not that we don't understand if you don't want to, don't feel like we're trying to push you into it.'

Amaya's brow furrowed at the sudden amendment, though she just palmed it off to her ongoing silence.

She let out a breath as she roughly ran a hand over the back of her neck.

'Look, I already decided I was going to help however I can, so you guys really don't have to worry about that. I owe Isogai-kun a lot, after all.' She began as she looked back at Mimura from a glance at Okajima, though eventually a sigh escaped her. 'Anyway. As I said yesterday, I couldn't care less about having to cut my hair or anything else if it's needed. I just don't know if that will work.'

'Huh? Why not?'

And yet, Okajima seemed to adopt a rather lewd grin as the cogs in his head started working.

'Ah, is it because of your--'

'It's not that!' Amaya shook her head with a sigh as she stepped around the two to head to the classroom. 'My luck is just that cursed that I'll probably be recognized by someone there, anyway.'

'Oh... That makes sense.' Mimura agreed, though Okajima still wore that lewd look across his face. 'But even so, will you help--'

'Of course I'll help in any way I can, but please don't be surprised if my bloody luck ends up causing more trouble.' Amaya dismissed as she disappeared around the corner.