Trouble

Chapter 25

September

Day 1

12:00 pm

It's a Wednesday and it's time for lunch. Mai and I are second years now. Classes are a little bit harder and there's definitely more homework. It's not been easy with me working after school, but I've managed. Naru has asked me to consult on a few small cases which I agreed to but some of them I couldn't do it. I had to catch up with homework. He was understanding about it and Suzuki-san has been understanding too. She let me have an extra night off, so I could do homework. It's not good for me money-wise, but I need it, so I can make it through school. So, money is going to be tight for a while until I can figure out how to juggle school and my job. "I can help you make a schedule!" Mai said excitedly when I explained it to her.

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah! I had to do this last year. I don't know how you managed it though." She said smiling.

"There wasn't as much school work." I said sighing. "It was manageable."

"Okay, give me until after school and I'll have it written down for you." She said with a look of sympathy.

"Hey Aki, Mai." Michiru greeted as she and Keiko joined us at the table.

"Are you guys excited for the school festival?" Keiko asked excitedly.

"Oh yeah, I didn't go last year." I said thoughtfully. I was still getting over the thing with Ichirou-san.

"I ended up working during it at SPR." Mai said sighing. "But Naru let me have it off this year."

"That's great!" Michiru said excitedly.

"Aki, I think you'll enjoy the festival." Keiko said smiling. "Every year each class has a theme for the festival."

"Really?" I asked excitedly. "Like a maid café or spook house?"

"Exactly." Michiru said giggling.

"When are we choosing what to do?" Mai asked curiously.

"I think Shima-san said he wanted to discuss it after school today." Keiko said thoughtfully. Shima-san is our class president. He's really nice to everyone and makes sure everyone is involved.

"I think I have time to vote, but after that I have to go to work." I said frowning. It makes me sad that I can't do a lot of school related things during the week.

"I bet if we talk to him, we can do it this weekend. You're off on weekends, right?" Michiru asked curiously.

"Yeah. I wonder if he would go for that." I said shrugging.

"We'll never know unless we talk to him." Mai said smiling. We finished our lunch quickly and went to find Shima-san.

"Hey class president!" I greeted him as we found him at a table with his friends.

"Oh, hello. What can I do for you?" He asked politely.

"We heard you wanted to talk about what we're going to do for the school festival after school today." Michiru said smiling. "We were wondering if we could do it Saturday instead. Aki has work after school and she wouldn't be able to stick around for the whole discussion."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Shima-san said sighing. "I've already talked with the teacher. He said we had to do it today because he has a lot of papers to grade."